A Short but Sweet Trip.

“Hurry up and go pack all your things. We're leaving early morning tomorrow!” scolded mom from downstairs.     

  

I groaned as my mom yelled. She has been nagging at me since the early morning. But there is something about my mom yelled at me that makes me feel cozy inside. Yeah, I know it's kind of weird for me to say that but that just reminds me of how deep she cares for me. "I should just start packing or else she'll be nagging the whole night," I whispered to myself.

"I couldn't believe myself that I am 'going out' from Malaysia for the first time tomorrow! Woohoo!" I screamed quietly to myself while packing. I never went out from this country for 18 years of my life and this is the first time my mom brought me together for her business trip. 

           It was 6 o'clock in the morning when we headed out from the house to the international airport. There were 38 of us altogether for the trip. I was quiet disappointed because I was the only teenager during the trip but I tried to socialize with my mom’s colleagues along the trip. After three hours waiting, I heard the call for our flight. “Finally, this whole waiting is torturing me.” I think I was very nervous because my tummy was having butterflies.  I can feel the adrenaline rush inside my body when I stepped on the airplane during the boarding time. “Okay, this is it. See you in a week Malaysia and see you soon Australia!” I whispered to myself while looking for seat 5A near the window. What usually took me like 2 hours the longest in the plane, took me like 5 hours for the journey.

          It was around 2pm when we reached Perth International Airport. As soon as I touched the ground I can feel the cool breezes touched my skin. It was very refreshing.  The climate was very different than Malaysia. We were told beforehand by the tour manager that it was mid Spring in Perth and reminded us to use moisturizer as it would break the skin if we don’t use it. Even though the breeze was refreshing but we still need to drink water to avoid dehydration. 

          We met our tour guide at the entrance of the airport and took the bus to the hotel which took us like 30 minutes for the journey.  After checked in at the hotel, our first trip was visiting the Kings Park. It was a luscious botanical garden that overlooks the center of Perth, with a breathtaking vista of gleaming skyscrapers, the deep blue Swan River, and the greenery of Perth's trees, all laid out at my feet. I was between the sun and the city that time and it was really rather memorable.

Picture taken originally from Kings Park view, Perth, Western Australia.

That was not the only thing that fascinated me. After visiting the Kings Park, we went to visit the Caversham Wildlife Park. I was very excited when I saw what I had been dreaming of all this time. It's not an everyday life that you can see kangaroos and koalas surrounding you. At first I was scared to approach them because I remember people saying that "Don't go near the kangaroo or they will box you." Trust me, it was all lies. They were very tame and I felt like I was at home feeding my own cats. However, the koalas were a different story. They sleep all the time and it was rare for you to see their cute eyes as they sleep for 21 hours. The day ended after we went to visit several tourist attractions like the honey, wine and chocolate farms. 

      The next day, we went to visit Mandurah where there were a lot of real estates and a beautiful ocean along the way. We even took the cruise to visit around the place and saw some dolphins swimming and jumping in the ocean. Wow. "Fascinating.." I thought to myself. I couldn't take my eyes off for a second. It was too good to be true that I was even here. 

Mandurah view from the cruise

        The journey of my life in Perth ended very fast as it was very short but sweet experiences. I found happiness along the journey. Serendipity has changed my life and my approach to how I find meaning into my everyday life. There is always a surprise, a useful incident.  Even if the word serendipity is one of the top ten most difficult word translate in the English language, I think almost everyone has experience a life situation in which a serendipity was the main character of it.