Melbourne Here We Come

This will be the only second Christmas away from home for us. The first one was years ago when we spent it in Genting Highlands. We had the worst turkey dinner ever in one of the hotels - the crowd was so big they couldn't cope and our turkey came with white skin and half-frozen meat. Genting, as many of you know, is a huge concrete maze of cheap amusement arcades, casinos and hotels. The air was stuffy and stale. What a pity, because the highlands are really cool and pretty but bad design has made the place like a kinder version of hell. It totally convinced us that Christmas should be spent at home. Our pastor is right. Christmas away from home means a commercial celebration of Christmas without "Christ", especially in Western countries.

Yes, I've been busy getting ready to go to Melbourne this Sunday. We, or rather my hub, had last minute guilt pangs last Sunday and decided to bring Wey, our youngest, so that he wouldn't end up living inside the computer room while we are in Oz. That meant buying a ticket for him at the prevailing high season price so he could be on our flight. Then on Tuesday, Ming was feeling rejected and miserable and we both felt terrible about leaving him at home (he has school till 14 Dec) and so there was a last minute frantic scramble to get him a seat too (he'll fly Royal Brunei Sunday instead while we'll transit for a day and half in Singapore. Haha, I get to shop. I hope.). And then there's all those visas to get and money to change. I just came back from Wisma Merdeka empty-handed. The town is out of Australian $$. Is everybody going there for Christmas too?