Canberra

I went to Canberra on Tuesday to make a new passport at the Thai Embassy. Poor Jo had to wake up early to send me off at the airport at 6.30 am as my flight was scheduled to leave at 8.15. The traffic was not so bad so I had some spare time to plan for my travel in the capital city of Australia.

The plan touched Canberra Airport at about 10 am. I was going to take a shuttle bus into the city and make my way to the embassy after that. But luckily the lady at the information desk helped me find the embassy address and suggest me to take a cab. It cost about 20 dollars but was worth it as I later knew that it would take at least half an hour to walk from the city to the south side of the lake. Anyway, the passport procedure didn't take too long and I got to talk to some nice people at the embassy. One person later drove me to the Office of Educational Affair that takes care of my scholarship. The people at the office is also very nice and they brought me out for lunch in the city. I had a really tasty Combo Laksa at Noodle House, an Asian restuarant in Sydney Building. Yummy..

Then I got dropped off at the Parliament House by the kind 'Pi Pi'(Thai word for older people). I met up with Sophie, my lecturer's daughter, who works at a Ministry there. She is so lovely and friendly. Sophie showed me offices of the Ministers and also the one of John Howard, the Prime Minister. We got some drinks and went to the enclosed courtyard for a rest from all the walking. After we parted I wandered around the public gallery section a bit and headed off to the Floriade.

Floriade is an annual flower festival in Canberra to celebrate the arrival of spring. It took me about 30 minutes to walk there from the Parliament House. On the way, I passed by the old Parliament House and had to cross the lake. There are huge parklands in Canberra and great bike paths especially around the lake. Flower beds in Floriade are arranged into country themes. They are really beautiful but as it is an early period of the show, many of them didn't look quite impressive. After spending over an hour with the flowers, I went to the National Capital Exhibition which is basically next door. The audio-visual display of the creation of Australian national capital is very impressive. I wish I can do that sort of thing for a place in Thailand someday.

Well, after a good amount of walking along the lake, I contacted Sea, a fellow Thai scholar who studies at ANU. We went to a talk on Job Opportunity in Thailand at ANU and meet some more Thai people as well as people from other countries who are learning Thai. Then we went to have dinner at a Thai restuarant where Sea and her housemate usually work for. I had stire-fry chicken with bamboo and Sea had masman curry. We also had some glutenous rice with egg custard for dessert. Yummy, again. =)

A night on a couch at Sea's unit went alright although I didn't actually go to sleep until 2 am. Waking up to watch the news about military coup in Thailand at 1.30 was also interesting. I left Sea's place before 9 am and walked around in the city a bit to take some more photos. Then I caught an airport bus at 9.45 am to catch my 10.35 flight. The bus arrives to the airport at 10 am and my check-in went smoothly. That's the shortest trip I've ever travelled by air. But I kinda like how it makes me feel a bit like an on-the-move career person, so quick, effective and totally opposite to my real nature. =P