Day 1 in Brisbane
Posted by: Fats in: Mga Pulong atbp > Takaw at Sursur!November 30, I felt rather sorry having to leave when Alwin wasn’t feeling well. He has been staying in my room with my mom and Edward. Alwin wanted me to leave Edward behind but I told him Edward had to come with me so he could get his passport stamped. 
I did promise Alwin that I’d bring home a dinosaur for him. (I kept this promise of course).
It was about 4:30PM when I got a taxi. The driver previously was in Taiwan working in rubber tire factory. He said he had to quit (together with 6 others) after less than 2 years because he couldn’t bear the heat - he said it felt like his internal organs were being melted.
Rather heavy traffic but I got to the airport by 6PM (enough time for 8:40PM flight). On the way in a woman asked if I was muslim or Tausug. She is from Mindanao, on her way to the Middle East to work.
During check-in I was asked to remove all liquids and creams and such things from my handcarry bag. Some security guy also wiped all my bags with a small piece of paper (which they put in a machine that supposedly detects if there are any dangerous materials in the bags). Funny, it reminded me of the custom of shopkeepers touching over their merchandise with the money from the first sale for the day. 
At Philippine Immigration I managed to get Edward’s passport stamped. The Immigration woman was in a rather bemused mood before I got to her because there was a couple before me (an big old Australian and a small middle aged Filipina) complaining with the fees they had to pay because the Australian guy had overstayed. Anyway, I was just so happy that the Immigration woman was amused enough to stamp Edward’s passport - and she even signed it.
I did get a bit of a shock on the way to Immigration because the security guy there who looks at everybody’s passport and boarding pass before being allowed into terminal fee counter and immigration greeted me “Merry Christmas” which clearly meant “where’s my money?” I told him “it’s too early for Christmas!” I was really pissed and ashamed.
Amnyway, after immigration was another security check, a long queue (the men’s queue was short but the women’s was like over 5x longer!)
I texted home that I was already in the airport waiting for boarding time (in about 2 hours). Flights to Guam, Kuwait and Korea were cancelled because of typhoon Reming which was coming in from the east towards the north. Our flight, which heads south, would take the south western direction to avoid meeting the typhoon head on.
Had dinner (goto (tripe) congee with egg) at Yen Ching Chinese fast food, quite expensive with a small bottle of mineral water (altogether PhP125). And then I was off…
December 01 I arrived in Sydney in the morning but wasn’t able to catch the flight to Brisbane, so just took the next one an hour later. Sydney Quarantine people let my cacao and tuna skin pops through without checking them out, which was a relief. However, I didn’t manage to get Edward’s passport stamped at Australian Immigration, though, because the Immigration officer looked really grumpy.
At Brisbane airport I changed US$100 and bought Air Train Tickets (AU$18, quite expensive but should be cheaper by 6 dollars at the stations!) to South Brisbane Station. From there was just a short walk to the Queensland State Library where I met Courtney from the AUT. It was 12:15PM when I got there, too early for the Artists Talks (1PM). We helped Kim prepare food for the talks, carry stuff to the auditorium.
Artists’ talks started a bit late, and later, the airconditioning in the auditorium started reaching freezing point so I really just had to go out! (And so did other people!) The Library building’s new so aircon and security systems were still a bit out of control.
Past 5PM, Kim helped me check into Rendezvous Hotel (at AU$156/night - whoah!). But it was a very cozy small hotel … and I was really really so tired…
Around midnight, I woke up and I went out to get some water and milk tea at 7-11 along Edward Street. Then walked over to Queens Street for a grilled chicken burger (Hungry Jacks, at around AU$4+) which was not really very eatable but all the better eating places were closed already. I was back at the hotel an hour later. I was quite surprised at how many people there were out in the streets past midnight - bars and night clubs had long queues of people waiting ….
I didn’t want to because I knew it would be expensive (but turned out to be quiter cheap, around AU$4), but I made a phone call to my ex-partner … I told him I missed him which was quite true, and which either meant that the better memories of our being together were weighing in or I simply didn’t like being in Brisbane … Although I have to admit that after a few more days, I felt more comfortable and happier being in Brisbane…
To be continued.
