Lost in Translation (Departure+Day1, Singapore- Auckland)

Ignore my face... it's windy n freaking cold ya noe..

Sky Tower

Streets of Auckland

Over New Zealand

I'm sitting in my dad's apartment now in Auckland NZ, it's 11pm, which means bout 7pm in Spore. Right then, to how we get here.

Checked in with my Grandad at 5 at Changi Airport T2, took off at 6 for a one hour flight to KL. The plan was to transfer to a NZ airlines flight from KL direct to Australia. Unfortunately, one hour later, we were told by the pilot that as the haze of KL was too thick, we had to divert to JB airport.

song bo, on my first flight by myself summore... we hung around JB airport for half an hour before reboarding the plane. By then there had been some showers n the haze had cleared enough somewhat for the plane to land. Still, it was thick enough that i could actually see a wall of dust infront of the plane, illuminated by the plane's floodlights.

By the time we arrived at KLIA, it was too late, a Malaysian airline rep. told us we had missed the flight and that we had to be transferred to a flight to Sydney, before proceeding on another flight to Auckland. Barely had time to take in the sights of KLIA, all i can say is that its quite new, but very empty. it looks something like Spore expo, so not very pretty. But their skytrain is cool, passing by next to planes on the way to the underground tunnel.


For the Sydney flight, we took a Boeing 747 which was great after the crammed jet we took to KL. The onboard entertainment system was simply fantastic. I brought along an Mp3 n a laptop, but after seeing the entertainment system, didn't want to play them anymore. It had everything from movies and music, tv, radio, flight information and even a travel guide and info on any city u wanted to find and maps of the city even.

Didn't sleep much that flight, as i watched Austin Powers 3, which was pretty disappointing, and a soppy korean movie, bout an ugly guy who hides from his chio blind gf after she regains her sight.

Arriving at Sydney airport, had to search for a transfer desk and tell them bout our flight transfer and all that and arrange our next flight. Sydney airport though famous, is pretty crappy compared to Changi, not much shopping, n security's real strict too.

On the final Air NZ flight to Auckland, slept most of the way, didn't realise that we landed till i felt the bump of the airplane landing. By then it was 2 o clock local time, which makes it 16 hours flight time. Enough to travel to london. Haha.

After waiting for like 15mins at the baggage carousel, realised my bag wasn't coming out, so had to report it to the baggage lost n found.They said they would call when they found my bag. The experience of airport duty really helped me a lot, caus otherwise i'd be pretty freaked out.

Met my dad just outside the arrival doors, and just as i stepped outside the airport doors, was greeted by a blast of super cold air outside. Just a taste of things to come.

First place my dad brought me was the top a 600 year old volcano which had a great view of Auckland. The winds were plus it having just rained left me shivering real bad. No suprise since the temp was close to 10 deg plus.

Auckland, and in fact the whole New Zealand is built around old volcanoes around the place. The earliest people to reach were polynesians then the europeans around the 1800's+. It's bout the size of Japan but the populations only like 4 million!!! Aucklands the largest city with 1/3 the total pooulation and already i find it v. quiet on the streets. wonder what the farming south isle will be like?

After taking a short tour around town and dinner in a Chinese area, ( Auckland is full of mainland chinese, Koreans and Japanese, like 1/3 of the people here) it was bout 8 plus. Even though it was raining and freezing outside, we went back to my dads apartment.

K my dads apt is not wat u'd call big. it's essentially a one room apt in the middle of the heart of the city. it is well furnished and clean though. it's bout the size of half a classroom with a small but v clean wash room, a sofa, small kitchen, Pretty big tv, and small bedroom at the back with a balcony. All Ikea kinda furniture so pretty cool. except my dad's pretty messy.

we decided to take a walk around the sorta Orchard Road area, close to where my dad lived.

Looks really cool at night, with the neonlights reflecting off the wet road. but not much shopping to speak off. no malls, not many high rise buildings, only a handful, shopping limited to local clothing, vcd shops, lots of car sales, car parts... tt's pretty much it. Only seen 1 Adidas word in the WHOLE CITY, which is quite zzzzz...... no banks, no watches, no electronics, no handphones, that kinda shows NZ as pretty back dated in terms of technology...

overall my first impressions of Auckland is like a slightly backward, less pretty, colder, quieter version of Australia. hope it will get improve as we move toward the countryside. The people like dun come out much, don't see many schools, though many foreign students, basically nothing much to do. People here like drink at bars, do graffiti and pretty slack.

see if can post some pics. the internet here real slow. and keeps on disconnecting too. missing out on soccer news as NZ only play rugby caus of their famous "All Blacks".