Melbourne Fun – Day 2

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Melbourne trip – day 2 is now available on YouTube.

Besides the taxi ride from the airport to our homestay place, we used public transportation throughout our trip.

I bought a Metlink zone 1 tram ticket for a week (choice of 2hrs, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly). The cost was about $29. The ticket can be used on any local buses and trains.

Today, we took tram to the city and then changed tram to Melbourne Zoo. The zoo admission fee was about $24.40. Frankly, I am not a big zoo fan. But I really wanted to see the butterfly garden, so I went.

Well, I didn’t think Melbourne Zoo was that great. It might be good for a family trip, but for me, it was a bore.

Back from the zoo and had a walk in the city. I can’t say enough of the friendliness of the Melburnians. I must have talked to at least 50 locals during my trip (asking for directions, recommendations, or just chit-chats), and all were very friendly and sweet. 🙂

Melbourne – Day 1

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My Melbourne day 1 trip video is now available on YouTube.

I miss traveling with my sister, Joanne. We are the only singles left in the family and we really wanted to travel lots before we got tied down by other responsibilities. It was a lot of fun traveling with her to Melbourne, although the Scorpio had to do all the travel research.

It wasn’t the best time to visit Melbourne since it was late fall in May. But since my sister hadn’t experienced any cold weather, I thought it would be “cool” (cold to be exact) to show her autumn and finally she could wear jackets and boots that she wasn’t able to in Malaysia.

Joanne said to me before the trip that it was hard for her to imagine how she would feel living in 10C weather. As soon as we reached Melbourne, she could feel the coldness in her every cell. 🙂 haha.

We decided to go with Joy’s homestay which is located in Glen Huntly (20 minutes from the city by Metro tram). It was a little inconvenient to live in the suburb, but I really wanted to travel and to live the local way, so I chose homestay accommodation.

I’ve planned to do travel research online, so I was caught off guard to find out that there’s no internet in the house. Ooops!

So, I had to use other options: internet cafe, guide book, visitor center, or just ask the locals. 🙂

I loved how my sister and I just hung out, spent time together, to do whatever. It didn’t matter. Siblings are forever.

Watch the video for the summary of our day 1 trip in Melbourne.

Also, thanks to AirAsia X for making our trip more affordable!

Back from Melbourne

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Flew back from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

I can’t believe I survived one week without internet.

I was a little surprised to discover how much free time I have without internet!

KL’s weather is so hot and humid. The traffic is horrible. I can never stay here for long.

I am happy to see my eldest sister though. It has been a while since three sisters hanging out together. Just the three of us, no boyfriends/husbands/kids. I wish my third sister was here. Then, it would be a perfect sister reunion.

Health Care in Malaysia

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Health care in the United States leaves a lot to be desired.

In Malaysia, it’s a different story. Read below:

“Malaysia offers medical assistance to tourists and residents under the dedicated Malaysia free health care and medical assistance plan. This universal health care plan ensures that medical assistance is available when and as required. The Malaysia free health care and medical assistance plan is drawn from revenues that come out of tax and insurance coverage.” Read more here.

The infant mortality rate (IMR) is a standard in determining the overall efficiency of healthcare.

Malaysia’s IMR (number of deaths of infants under one year old per 1,000 live births) in 2009 was 8.9. USA’s IMR was 6.3.

If you have sickness and go to public clinic or General Hospital, you might have to wait in line for a little bit, but you only pay RM1 (clinic) to RM5 (Specialist @ GH) per visit. OMG! It’s soooo affordable.

I accompanied mom to GH for a body check up yesterday. Here’s a short report on the visit.

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I accompanied mom to the gynecology department at GH. Cost of visit: RM5 (including medicines, scan & everything else)

Submit the prescription to the pharmacy counter at GH, take a number and wait for the medicine. You don't even have to take out your wallet, the med is free. :)

Submit your prescription to the pharmacy counter at GH, take a number and wait for the medicine. You don't even have to take out your wallet, the med is free. 🙂

Go green effort at the General Hospital - bring your own bag to carry your medicine (in three languages since Malaysians are multi-cultural).

Go green effort at the GH - bring your own bag to carry your medicine (in three languages since Malaysians are multi-cultural).

Received lots of medicine for my parents (diabetes, liver & heart problem ...) from the pharmacy at the General Hospital . Retail value: > RM1000. Mom paid $0.

Received lots of medicine for my parents (diabetes, liver & heart problem ...) from the pharmacy at the GH . Retail value: > RM1000. Mom paid only RM0.

Guess how much my dad paid for his heart surgery?
USD 10k? USD 100K?

My dad had a heart surgery a few years ago (a spring was inserted into one of his heart arteries), and he paid a grand total of RM 200 (USD62). That’s including numerous check ups and medicines. Can you imagine how much you would need pay to have the same surgery in USA, without insurance?

I feel safer in Malaysia when it comes to health care. 🙂 Everyone is protected here.

So, if I have a serious illness and can wait for a few days, I shall buy a ticket home (from USA to Malaysia) and get treated here. 🙂 At least I won’t end up buried in debt after the treatment. 🙂