Auckland

Kia Ora!*

Hello I'm back! And I brought home two kiwi birds with me. Hahaha.

Waste no time! Here's the lowdown on my trip:

The flight to Auckland
The security officers didn't even ask whether I brought any liquids on board :) If there's one thing I like about the flight is the food. I think MAS had improved a lot in terms of food. I love the breakfast menu. I had omelette + hash brown + sauteed mushroom + sausage + asparagus. And it's the best omelette, hash brown, sauteed mushroom and sausage I've ever eaten.

Arrival
Arrived at Auckland International Airport on Saturday morning. Auckland is 4 hours ahead of KL, so there's not much problem adjusting our biological clock. The airport is pretty impressive, it's near the sea. But the ground staff isn't as friendly as those in Heathrow Airport. But whatever. It's a CITY right? People who lives in cities are rude and stuck up. I've lived in a city my whole life.

Transport & Getting Around
Sadly, Auckland has no train. This trip will be so much fun if there's train around the city, like in KL and London. We had to take the bus everywhere. Either bus or walking. Usually we'd walk. My boots were killing me. I swore I was going to dump those boots into the garbage bin once I get back in KL.There's a free bus, it's called City Circuit or something. It goes around town only. It's a hybrid, using gas-electric. It's environmental friendly.The busses are always ON TIME. If on the display it says it's coming in 5 minutes, it really came in 5 minutes.

The hotel
We stayed in City Life Hotel, in Queen Street. It's right in the middle of the city. It's not a five star hotel, but it's OK. Lots of cabin crew stayed there too. We were upgraded to a suite. Approximately RM200 per night for a suite?? Totally worth it. In KL, you'll never find a suite for anything less than RM1000 per night.
It has one bedroom with two single beds, living room, a bathroom, wide screen TV with a sofa bed, and a kitchen. It's so complete, it has an electric stove, dishwasher, kettle, plates and bowls and all the cutleries, washing machine, dryer.

Food
It's hard to find halal food here. We can only eat fries in McDonalds (coz the McD there served bacon) and not all the kebab restaurants are halal. Lots of Malaysian food available, but they served pork as well. So for four days, I've been living on a steady diet of instant noodles and toast. And kiwi fruits. Kiwi fruits are cheap.
Oh, and the food is very expensive too. In Malaysia, I used to think that a bottle of mineral water that cost RM2-RM4 is expensive. But in Auckland, it's even MORE expensive. You can never find a bottle of mineral water lower than $2. Mostly bottled water there cost around $3. That's RM7. I vow I will never complain about expensive mineral water whenever I eat at McD, Manhattan Fish Market or Dome after this.
In Malaysia, u can get a set of kebab+rice+fries+salad+drink just RM12.50 or less, but in Auckland, with the exact same price, you can only get a small portion of rice with bits of chicken and chilli sauce.
There's a Nandos restaurant in Queen Street but I didn't dare to eat there.
Oh, and there's a Cadbury chocolate called "Perky Nana"! Chewy banana coated with chocolate. I hate it.
And they have Cadbury Pinky, chocolate coated caramel and pink marshmallow. I don't like marshmallow, but it's low fat. So I bought it.
One thing I like is Mrs.Higgins cookies. It's like Famous Amos, only better. The cookies are huge and chewy. I love the double chocolate chip cookie. Simply yummy.

The weather
It's winter in Auckland, but it's not as cold as in London. In London, I felt like I was going to freeze to death, but in Auckland, I can walk outside wearing t-shirt and a light jacket. It's always raining there, but I don't mind. It's not like Malaysian rain. In Malaysia, it is always a downpour. In Auckland, you don't even need an umbrella.

Shopping
Auckland isn't a shopping haven. There's not much trendy shops. There's a shopping mall near my hotel, it's called Westfield mall. Sad to say, Ampang Point is better than that. Their Tesco is called "Warehouse" and Tesco is way better. Whenever I'm in the Warehouse, I feel like I'm in the early 90s.
The things there are very, very expensive. I only went to souvenir shops. All the souvenir shop owners were bored of seeing my face, coz I went to their shops many times. My mum bought bracelets almost in every shop. She shopped more than I did. Mostly they sell honey products, kiwi products, and erk..placenta face creams. But the cars there are cheap. But I didn't go to Auckland to buy a car :p

LIST OF THINGS I BOUGHT:
For myself
-Sling bag (I wanted to buy the Wicked Sista makeup bag but it's expensive)
-Lilac scarf (at Victoria Park Market)
-Paua shell purse (it's so small and cute and I love small purses)
-Colourful paua shell bracelet (usually paua shells are blue)
-Necklace with paua shell pendant in the shape of "N"
-Kiwi fruit plush (I don't even like it but my mum insisted that I buy it)
-Small kiwi bird plush (I don't like this either but my mum think it's cute)
-Large kiwi bird plush(It's cute but think twice before buying it, mum said I should buy it, else I will regret once I'm back in Malaysia)
-Keychains

For my friends: Keychains

For Asye
-snow cap
-keyrings
(Waa so miserable la my souvenirs for my bf)
ActivitiesDay 1: walk up and down Queen Street. Window shopping at souvenir shops. Surveyed the price. Didn't buy anything yet. Went home, watched TV.
Day 2:walk up and down Queen Street again. Bought some stuffs. Went back, watched TV. The TV programs are up-to-date, but the movies are not. During the time of my visit, National Treasure and Narnia Prince Caspian were just about to be shown in cinemas.
Day 3:walk up and down Queen Street. At night, my dad's friend treated us fish and chips at a cafe in Sky Tower. For the sake of fish and chips, we braved the Auckland night rain and climbed up a hill and arrived there in 10 minutes, as promised. It's the LARGEST and MOST EXPENSIVE fish and chip I've ever eaten. It cost $21 (approx. RM52.50) and one plate and feed 10 people. I didn't finish mine of course.
My dad's friend is a chain smoker, and I felt like suffocating. My dad told him that I love going to London and it really made me seem like a spoilt brat. He thought I'm studying in London, so you can imagine my embarassment when I had to explain that actually, I'm studying in a miserable little university called Uniten. He asked me how many students in my batch, coz he said number of students indicates how well the university is performing (Really?). I said there's not many. But when I said I'm reading civil engineering, he seemed pretty impressed.

Day 4: Went to Victoria Park market. It's like Central Market. Cheap souvenirs there. Then took the free bus and went sight-seeing around town. Went to Sky Tower.

As you can see, I travelled thousands of miles just to spend my time walking up and down Queen Street.
And most of my pictures are taken indoor, coz it's always raining.
So that's everything you need to know about my trip. Complete. Looking forward to next trip. I hope it's Dubai.
**It means "Hello" in Maori