This is 2nd time I live in overseas. I lived in Singapore for 10 years before I came to Sydney. Lifestyle in Singapore is a bit different from Malaysia, but culture is pretty much the same. During my first few years in Singapore, I felt the discrimination as I was a "new" Malaysian with Malaysian accent when talking. Slowly I picked up singlish and got rid of my "Malayish" as time goes by, and I do not feel the discrimination anymore. Could it because of inferior feeling or something? After living in Singapore for so many years, I feel like at home more in Singapore than in Malaysia. Transportation in Singapore is very convenient, good services and not so costly. Although transportation in Malaysia is less costly compared to Singapore, but the service is bad and inconvenient, I always feel like I am legless while in Malaysia.
Now, I have to start my life all over again. First of all, I have to get rid of my Singlish! I felt the first discrimination in Sydney when I was buying something at a butcher. I was waited there for about 5 minutes, but the sales guy keep serving local people and ignoring me. I tried to make an order, and he said with unfriendly tone "Can't you see I am serving a customer?" I was really angry, am I not a customer? Why should I wait for so long? But another sales girl saw my "black" face quickly come by to take my order, that was the first time and the last time I patronised that butcher.
Transportation in Sydney is relatively expensive if compared to Singapore. For example, in Sydney from Bankstown to International Airport subway ticket costs A$12.40 for day return ticket; in Singapore from Jurong to Changi Airport MRT ticket costs about S$6 or lesser. The distance is about the same, about 20 minutes if driving, but the cost is so much different. However, own a car in Sydney is a lot cheaper than in Singapore, that is one of the causes for higher cost of public transport I guest. There are some differences between Singapore and Sydney’s subway, one of them is the technology. In Sydney, commuters have to insert the ticket at the entry gate in order to get train; this is similar to old system in Singapore. Currently Singapore is using Tap-and-go system, commuters only need to tap the ticket/value stored card on the card reader, and the gate will open if the ticket/card is valid. They don’t even need to take out the card from their handbag. However, I like the double deckers trains in Sydney.
Girls, retail therapy after work? You can only shop at supermarkets as shopping centres closed at 5pm sharp! The worst is most of the shopping centres closed on public holiday! We went to city for shopping on public holiday once, most of shopping centres were closed. I remember only Market City at Chinatown was open, but some shops in that shopping centre were closed. There are a lot of nice restaurants in Sydney offering various types of cuisine. I am curious about the pricing for some restaurants. For example, one bowl or ramen costs A$8 at the food courts and same price or a dollar or two more in the restaurant. Dine in food court with self-service and disposable cutlery, and dine in restaurant full service and nice ambience by paying almost the same price, which would you chose?
Shopping for groceries in Sydney is a good experience for me. Price for the same item is varied from shop to shop. Fiancé and I were shopping at Vietnamese Street (not sure what is the street name, we named it Vietnamese Street as a lot of Vietnamese shops there) in Bankstown, we were looking for a stone to sharpen the knife. The price at 1st shop is A$2.50, 2nd shop is A$3.00 and 3rd shop is A$1.50. All three shop carrying same brand, of course we bought it from 3rd shop. Since then, I started visit different shops for grocery.
Have you tried frozen durian before? I found big frozen durian here, it looks like Thai durian. They were not smelly, even if I when sniffed it a few millimetres apart from my nose! I miss smelly durians which I can smell it from as far as 5 metres away. Tropica fruits are very expensive here, that’s why we have only apples and oranges in the fridge. Sometimes we have no choice but to buy expensive fruits to satisfy our tastebuds. Any marketers out there reading my blog?? Please do something... bring cheaper tropica fruits to Aust.
I am absorbed when writing, my tummy is protesting… she wants food!
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