UmPireth

22nd Nov, 2016.. 10 PM in the night. So far good without hiccups. Reached Cochin airport almost on time prompting the airline staff to call me. Document check and immigration were all ok and the immigration officer was keen to know a lot about me and my trip.

Air Asia once again proved it's quality to be punctual and rose on time. It was a short haul flight to KL, just kissing 4 hours. The flight was empty that I could fully stretch and sleep in the 3 seater. Reached KL at 6 local time which is 2.5 hours ahead of India, the same time difference as that of Perth. My flight to Perth was in the next 4 hours and I used to time to finish off my packed breakfast and to charge my devices. As usual on time and there was a small thamasha with the Malaysian immigration people casting doubts on my photo in the passport. All his colleagues and senior was a Tamil and it was a 5 minute fun.

Boarded the flight which took off sharp at 10 local time. Had the preordered food and coffee after some sleep. Watched a movie, slept some more and got ready for landing. Landed in Perth bang on time. Immigration customs etc, everything got over so quick without any hiccups. Got a Vodafone SIM which was also useful in getting change. As soon as I came out of the airport, the bus was also available to reach my hostel.

City is hot, summer being active with 30 degrees C.. Bus fare is comparable to Bangalore's airport buses and I had to pay less than ₹ 250. Reached the hostel just about an hour post landing in Perth.

Hay Street Traveller's Inn

Hostel reception guy, a Singaporean was very kind and informative. Gave me a 4 Sharing room where the other guys were Italians on working holiday visa. Took me around the hostel and it was all so neatly organised. The hostel I had stayed in Adelaide was crowded and noisy. This was compact and spacious too, right in the city centre. He also explained me about places to visit and transportation options. Spent some in the hostel to familiarize myself and stepped out for my city visit. Since it was already 6 and places closed, embarked on a walking trip around the city.

 All major attractions were at walking distance.  Places of interest that I visited - Annalaksmi - a Tamil run Indian buffet type restaurant serving lunch and dinner. It was situated right on swan river front with a wonderful ambiance. Highlight of this restaurant is, you can pay how much ever you want and it was run by some spiritual trust. However my timings was always missing and I couldn't eat there, just drank coffee twice.

City is largely calm and sort of laid back. Swan river was big and nice. Slept early due to travel walking and little bit of tiredness.

Woke up in the morning on 24th, had breakfast and checked out. The Gujarati born New Zealander who was staying in the hostel pampered me with lot of eatables. Though I checked out from the hostel, plan was to use it till evening and it sort of worked :) kept the luggage in the office room and visited in the afternoon time to charge the phone and take a nap. To make use of my visit to Perth, covered Perth mint which was next to the hostel.

The gold discovery episode in Australia was explained and the highlight of the demonstration of love gold making. The gold metal (which is constantly recycled) is melted in 1200 degree furnace, poured into the dye and cooled. The resultant gold bar weighs some 6 kilos and worth around $350K..

The mint exhibition time was sort of odd due to which I missed lunch in annalakshmi. After a failed trip to annalakshmi, returned to hostel for charging and vacating. On the way to WACA which was the ultimate purpose, went to Swan river to touch the river. I couldn't believe that the river water was salty, maybe due to its close proximity to the sea.

Next stop was WACA conference call room which was little bit confusing due to the multiple gates. After a semi round around the stadium, reached well ahead of time. No one had reported yet and I was told to wait till the organiser arrived. Took a walk inside the stadium and felt elated of being there. Small ground and even the capacity was lesser. Like India, no big fences to safeguard the players from the crowd. After a while, participants started coming one by one.

After Matthews arrived, we assembled in the conference room by around 10 minutes to 6.. after the conference which lasted till 8:45, cleared my doubts with him and left for the airport. This time also, annalakshmi dinner was missed as I won't be able to reach before 9.. finished some snacks on the way and satisfied my hunger. Tried my luck in the casino and made some decent profit in poker. Could have continued more but the last bus to airport was at 11:30 and I didn't want to risk going in the next day early morning bus.

Reached airport at 00:00 hours and my flight was more than 6 hours hence. Was searching for a place to sleep and got one to relax myself. The flight to KL was slightly delayed and finally left at 7:30 local time, reaching KL at about 1 PM.. i wanted to take transit visa and enter KL city, as i get with free by the virtue of my Australian PR. however, i got delayed due to currency exchange etc and was finally able to take a bus only by around 2:30 PM.

Having reaching KL sentral close to 4 PM, didnt have much time, but for a small stroll around the city and a light supper. The place was full of Tamil people. while the tamil population in Malaysia was only around some 10%. Took the return bus at around 6 PM, which was slightly neck to neck due to the traffic that usual in a friday evening. After immigration and security check, reached the gate comfortably and boarded the flight. the 3.5 hours journey from KL to Cochin was bit adventurous (read: shaky) due to the numerous air pockets that existed in the sector.  Reached Cochin on time, by around 10:15 PM local time and cleared immigration formalities in a short while. My train was 2 hours later from Alwaye station and it got me till Salem. Couple of more trains, to Jolarpettai and Bangalore and reached home at 1:30 for lunch.