The Greatest Love Affair

Hello again, my sweetheart Sydney!

How are you doing today? I hope you’ve missed me, because I have been thinking a lot about you these days. My Ummi said I should make a quick move before something bad happens, whatever that means to her. Alright, let me just tell you something that you’ve been waiting for – our greatest love affair.

No. 1 – Great People

The greatest love affair between us is, of course, the people I met during my short trip with you. Please allow me to narrate this at great length because this is my most favourite part of the trip.

First, I met the mother of the naughtiest cat in Sydney – Angelina Jolie. The strangest thing was, we never met face-to-face, but after two good hours chitchatting over yummy hand-made noodles and spicy fried beef, we were like two good old friends meeting up again after ten long years of absence. Oh, talking about dinner, she took me to the Silk Road Chinese Restaurant at Chinatown, which was surprisingly Halal! I know it didn’t matter to you, but I’m sure you would love the spicy taste of them. And Angie walked me through the New Town, which was such an adventure. It was still abuzz with activities even late at night. This was weird by your little brother’s standard. For flashy late-night actions, you truly rock, Sydney! (hey, I’m sorry for the unexpected ticket, Angie. Purr… meow!)

Second, I met my work-mate, Husna, and her cute family. It was really kind of her to pick me up near my hotel and brought me to her house for a great dinner. And Qistina was such a spoilt darling! She was so so shy she wouldn’t even say a word to me. She must be scared of you, Sydney – a blonde girl with blue eyes. But Husna said her daughter could speak well whenever she communicated with her in English. That’s amazing, right? But the highlight of the night was when Husna’s hubby took me to the Royal Botanical Gardens, sneaked near Mrs Macquaries Chair and snapped some great photos with you, dear Sydney. You truly looked sexier at night! (Thanks Amir, now I know there is a night-mode function for my camera)

However Sydney, I also met some not-so-nice people. First, the “Santa Claus” in-charge of the open-top tourist bus was pissed off when I asked him about the direction of the bus. “Can you see these people are lining up? Get into the line!” he said angrily to me in front of 30 other tourists. He didn’t even answer my question. I felt like a useless tourist. He must be so damn tired delivering millions of gifts during Christmas all over Australian continent. I wanted to say, “Fuck off, you old man! Go back to your Day-Care Center and die a long painful death!” Of course I didn’t say that, Sydney. I just left him there in peace. I’m a kind bloke, you see.

Second, I got on the Hotel Manager’s nerve when I rang him early in the morning on my last day. He was still sleeping. “Hello Daniel,” I said. “I know you ask me to leave the luggage in the room and you will ask one of your staff to bring it down to the office, but can you just come down now? I don’t think it’ll be safe if I leave it in the room.” I waited for his response. Then he said, “Can you just do whatever fucking thing I told you yesterday? Don’t do this to me again, okay!!” he hung up the phone rudely and angrily. I must have upset him for disturbing his sweet sleep and for not trusting his staff. But how could I trust him again after his “hospitable” treatment to me? He might as well burn my luggage out of sleep deprivation. So I played safe, putting my luggage under the trusted care of Central Station Management.

But I was not discouraged by these poor treatments, Sydney. I knew I would meet a lot of kind strangers out there. Indeed, I did have some interesting conversations with them. At Chinese Garden, I met Dave, an English man who thought that I was a Filipino boy. When I said that I was a Malaysian, he tried very hard to say some Malay words he learnt from his Malaysian friends. “Saya suka nasi lemak, tapi tak suka sambal,” he said. “Then why bother? It’s not nasi lemak anymore,” I said. He laughed heartily. He took some pictures of me using his professional camera and said, “You are very photogenic, pretty boy!” I quickly said good-bye after that.

Then, while walking through the bushy setting in the garden, I saw a few girls trying out some fancy costumes of Chinese empress. I knew they were all Malaysian girls, judging from the way they put on their tudungs. Don’t you look pretty in that tudung, Sydney? Anyway, you know what I did Sydney – while these girls were busy taking each other’s photos, I just slipped in the middle of them and said, “Malaysians right? Take my photo with you!” They were amused by my cute stunt. After a brief intrusion, I quickly left them alone. I think I have learnt how to be a casual Aussie boy, haven’t I Sydney?

Now, on my way to Manly Beach, I met Steven Young, a professor from the University of Glasgow. When he told me that he had just started a travel blog, I was very excited with the prospect of reading a professor’s thoughts based on his anecdotal experiences, not from his dry journal articles. “I wouldn’t write a blog if not because of my daughter’s insistence, but I know my writing will benefit not only my daughter, but also the generations to come,” he said wisely. Frankly speaking, Sydney, I was nervous during the whole small chat because, for god’s sake, I was talking to a professor on a ferry! But Steve was a down-to-earth man who offered his kind assistance to help me find the Bike Hire shop at Manly Beach. We actually had a hard time looking for the shop. But he just knew how to get around. “It’s always best to ask the locals,” he said. I put back my beloved map inside my bag and followed his style. And we found it at last, thanks to his intuitive strategy.

On the cliff tops at Manly, I met another two kind gentlemen. First, while I was admiring the great view of big islands from the cliff, an old Aussie man came to rectify my confusion, telling me that what I saw was not the islands, but part of the bigger mainland of Australia. When I asked him why the place was called Manly, not Womanly, he said, “You see, young man. When Captain Cook arrived here hundreds of years ago, he saw a lot of aboriginal men with manly attributes, so he called this place Manly”. What a manly decision! I hope pretty women like you don’t get offended by this history, do you?

Few minutes afterwards, I met Kai, a German guy, who said that he was frustrated because he couldn’t spot any whales from the ocean. I smiled and said, “Well, they must be here. It is New South ‘Whales’!” Kai laughed and said that it was a brilliant thought. Don’t you think I’m brilliant, Sydney?

Alright, while I was riding a bike, I met Yom, a Cambodian guy, who happened to be studying at the same University of Melbourne. He lived in Springvale, the suburb in Melbourne where, as he claimed, the Cambodian community gathered and reproduced. He’s such an interesting person whom I would surely look up again in Melbourne. “You are too young to study for PhD,” he said. Oh, he has no idea, Sydney.

Finally, on my way back to Circular Quay, I met Alex and Miriam, two sweet ladies from Germany. They were so young, just turned 21 years old. “Oh I’m 34 years old this year,” I said to them, to their delight and surprise. “Don’t worry, people in Bangkok looked at me with the same curious thing in mind. Even worse. They said I looked like a money boy!” I just cracked a bad joke. Don’t get jealous, Sydney. The girls didn’t bite me.

You see, Sydney. I talked to a lot of strange people on the streets. But I don’t want to mention about many other strangers whom I bluntly said, “Hi, How are you?” and asked whether they were kind enough to snap a photo for me. Once I was happy with my cute pose, I would say a brief “Have a good day” ritual and that was it. Such a pathetic gesture, don’t you think? Haha, I knew you would think so. But at least Sydney, I am happy now thinking of the chances to connect to a lot of people, though for “pathetic reasons”, as you might call it.

So, my darling Sydney, you’ve heard of all my stories. Do you like them? I must say that these whole discoveries of new places and faces made my short trip a truly worthwhile experience. Life unfolded and lessons learnt. And for all these great love affairs between us, I will always love you and adore you as a special girl in my life.

Er, would you marry me, Sydney? :-)

*  *  * 

Angelina Jolie’s Mama and her strong paws

Loverly Husna and her beloved family

Muslimah Empresses and their Emperor

Steven Young and his Young scholar

A Manly man and his not-so-manly protege

Kai and his whale-theory guy

Yom and his university-mate

Alex and Miriam and their money boy, haha

*  *  *

p.s. Click here for My DDeghak Tales in Sydney