Day +2258 : Melbourne Retreat - Home sweet home

I am fine today.

We did the packing in the evening on the last day. Both Ps. Tan and I have check-in luggage capacity of 15kg but I found out that my luggage is almost 10kg overweight. The solution is easy - I just need to purchase another 10kg of luggage capacity.

I went online and add another 10kg but immediately I found out that I had a problem - I had no mean to pay the fee as both bank transfer and credit card payment required a transaction authentication code which would be delivered through the hand phone and my phone didn't have access to telephone service in Melbourne. I searched Google Talk and see who was line that might lend me a helping hand and very fortunately, Richard was online and he processed the payment for me immediately.

When I checked in the luggage in the airport, I asked the check-in counter staff to label my luggage as "fragile". The staff asked me what was inside the luggage that needed the label. "Honey," I told her. And answer brought me trouble as the staff asked me to open the luggage and let her see the honey.

He asked me to wrap the honey using plastic bags three times. The problem is where to find the plastic bags? Fortunately, she saw a towel in the luggage and asked me to wrap the plastic container of the honey with the towel.

The flight was delayed 15 minutes and yet it arrived in KL 25 minutes ahead of schedule. The pilot must be speeding and I wonder if the act of speeding was caught by any speeding camera in the sky :-)

There was no one sitting on the next two seats, so I lay down and sleep through the flight though not so comfortably :-)

Lastly, I thank God that we have this opportunity to have a very good fellowship with each other. I also enjoyed a very good rest - sleeping in the cold under a fresh environment is a great blessing :-) I also express my gratefulness to Rev. and Mrs. Rev. Lau for taking care of all our transport, accommodation, and meals during our stay in Melbourne.

Inside the airbus

Arriving LCCT

Something that I brought home for the family :-) Very sweet strawberries, finished almost instantly  upon arriving.

Avocado

Sweet potatoes - big and sweet. More than a kg per piece. 

Quite a lot of nuts

And this concludes my posting of this retreat.

See you next post :-)

Day +2257 : Melbourne Retreat - Dinner at Springvale

I am fine today.

After a day of busy shopping, Rev. Lau brought us to a Chinese and Vietnamese Restaurant for dinner.

Jeffrey, the second son of Rev. and Mrs. Rev. Lau is in between them :-) He is studying in Monash University.

The portion is very big

I ordered this one but can hardly finished it

To be continued and see you next post :-)

Day+2256 : Melbourne Retreat - Lunch with Rev. Lau's family again

I am fine today.

Rev. Lau's eldest brother-in-law treated us a lunch on Friday, the last day of our stay in Melbourne. We had dim sum again in a Chinese restaurant (帝国皇宫酒家). The dim sum here is a lot better than those in KL.

The restaurant

Many Chinese newspaper for free

This one really nice :-)

To be continued and see you next post :-)

Day +2255 : Melbourne Retreat - Visiting Carribean Markets

I am fine today.

The market opens three days a week - Wednesday, Friday, Sunday. When we when there on Friday, we found out that very few stalls were open. Rev. Lau told me that the market was very busy and popular last time. It seems that its business is on the decline for reasons that we don't know

I bought 3kg of honey here from a stall operated by a Taiwanese lady. The honey cost AUD8 per kg. I found out in other place later that this is not the cheapest one :-( We could get as low as AUD5 per kg but I guess, there might be a difference in quality.

Last day shopping

Self pay system. First time I ever see this, not a bad idea

This is post office and also a shop

Very big bones for dog

To be continued and see you next post :-)

Day +2254 : Melbourne Retreat - A great home cooked dinner

I am fine today.

Rev. Lau prepared for us a very delicious dinner on the third day. We had lamb chop, lamb soup, prawn and  salmon fish. Though I ate quite a lot lam chop in the restaurant, this one is the best :-)

To be continued and see you next post :-)

Day +2253 : Melbourne Retreat - Seafood is abundant

I am fine today.

There are plenty of seafood in Melbourne, many of them I seldom or never see here. If we have more time there, I believe Rev. Lau, the great cook, will be able to cook for us all those nice seafood :-)

Ps. Tan noticed that a ceiling exhaust fan was not working and being an expert in this field, he offered to replace it, and thus we had a chance to visit Bunnings Warehouse, a D.I.Y warehouse where we can find almost anything. While I wish I could have more time to eat more nice food, Ps. Tan wish he could have more time to study all the innovative tools and stuffs displayed in the warehouse :-) He said he need at least one day to complete the study.

What is this? It must be delicious

Lobster

Crab

Very big - we seldom see such as big one here

Soft shell crab

Cooked lobster and fresh lobster tail

Octopus - very big as well

Fresh abalone

Another 7 eleven petrol station - in fact we see this everywhere

Bunnings Warehouse - a huge D.I.Y warehouse

To be continued and see you next post :-)