A Singaporean In Australia

We had dinner with the good neighbours at a fantastic eatery at the east of Punggol, near the river that splits Punggol and Tampines. I like the dining experience. The place had high ceilings like a warehouse. I could not remember a single detail about their renovations, because it means fucko to me. And it should, to you and everybody else as well because these meaningless features one of the major reasons why food prices have gone up so much. Needless to say, the food wasn't value-for-money though it tasted like the way it should be. I couldn't really remember the name of the place either. It was probably along the lines of 'Pit stop' or something like that because I remember mentioning to Jen that place would make a brilliant pit stop for our night cycling trips back in the school days if it was already established back then.

What stood out was that the business owner bothered to put up a mini children playground within their premises to entertain kids for enough minutes for parents to dine before they peed or get bored of the place. For my case, the former happened first but such an interruption did little to disrupt our comfortable dining. Such a set up is common in Perth but a rarity in Singapore. Needless to say, I doubt the restaurant will exist beyond my next few returns. Bless the makan place and boss, whatever their names are.

After dinner, my neighbours did a Lou-Hei on the eve of my departure. It was fun making a racket but depressing at the same time because it was only an hour away from our last sleep in Singapore. Again, it became more apparent what we really miss in Singapore. Food wasn't in the list at all, at least for me. Neither was the flowing river like they sang in the songs nor the new billion-dollar garden that I never visited. It was always about the people that mattered to me.

None of the previous departure day felt good, even though we looked forward to return to Perth. This wasn't an exception. Watching mum reluctantly released Albany from a last hug left a sourish feel. She would tell me how 'different' the place felt without hearing Albany's voice in the house during our phone chats over the next few days. I could resonate well with that, after being away from Albany for a week during my last return to Singapore.

Two hours was a long time to contain any curious toddlers. So Changi Airport provided what Perth Airport didn't and that differentiate flight waiting between a nightmare and breeze. Ironically despite the vastly abundant "pro-family" amenities in Perth, Perth airport isn't, at least for now. Even more ironically, everything else outside Changi Airport and what's-their-name Punggol restaurant in Singapore, isn't "pro-family".

So we lugged our bags back, crammed with household items, gifts from TT and the others, Albany's toys, clothes and shoes, some food (no space left for Bak Kwa) and found Sham & Rob smiling widely at us at Perth Airport. Sham didn't know how important it was to me when she said our return "completes the family" or something along that line. That felt so different, so different to the time our feet first touched the same ground two years ago. Sham's words made me realised how far we had came since.