Spontaneity is the best kind of adventure- Trip To Toowoomba (Queensland)-2

part 1

As I was tasting every ounce of the exploding chocolate shot at Max Brenner, an idea strike my mind. 

"Hey why not do another unplanned thing?" 

"Let's book an airbnb and stay one night at Toowoomba." 

After a quick search in the Airbnb app, randomly chose this place owned by superhost couple- Kevin and Amy. Their accommodation rate was affordable and not too far away from where I was at (Grand Plaza Shopping mall) And they replied promptly. So I got checked-in quite fast. 

                          

The houses in their estate were charming and magnificent. They owned a double storey house with separate entrance to the airbnb accomodation.

They occupied the 2nd level of the house, leaving the entire first level to airbnb guests. Met Kevin who warmly welcomed me with Vietanmese rice cake and tea. Both Amy and Kevin were the nicest and friendliest hosts I've made. They shared  their life experience and how it was a struggle initially as immigrants in Brisbane when they came here in 2011 especially for Kevin who couldn't get a job despite having done a Phd in Animal Husbandry at Uni of Queensland. They had to face so many financial difficulties, managing two kids and their childcare fees which amounted to several thousands a month. They applied for PR to cut cost on the high cost childcare fees but that meant Kevin had to break his scholarship bond given to him for his studies and they had to pay back every penny of the 100k. After many struggles, they opened their own manicure/pedicure business and have been running it successfully with just two of them managing it. I was pleasantly surprised when Kevin told me that he also does manicure and that it was more profitable that way without hiring other employees.

While chatting, his two young energetic daughters came down and sat beside us. Kevin turned to them, spoke to them in Vietnamese language and code switched to English. He also told me that there weren't many Vietnamese in the area so it was tough for the kids to learn Vietnamese language and hence he made sure he talk to them in Vietnamese language and hoped that they would pick up the language. 

His hospitality, the way he narrated his life experience, was truly emotional and inspiring ! 

After spending a night at their place, I left Toowoomba the next day (Anzac day public holiday). Kevin suggested that I  take a drive around the place before leaving as he wanted me to see the more beautiful and 

million dollar houses in the estate. I drove to the other side of his estate. Just like he mentioned, the houses were amazingly pretty. Calm, quiet and peaceful. Since it was a public holiday, I saw barely less than 5 people out for walks. 

 

At that moment, I received a picture from my friends in Singapore- an image of the crowded Jewel on a Saturday.

I sent her back this picture.

The early morning cold weather in Toowoomba was quite an unexpected thing. Because the weather dropped to almost a single digit, body really went bizarre with an instant throbbing headache. Looking at the crowded Jewel image, slightly added on to it. Since it was a public holiday, most of the cafes were closed.

Irony.

I looked the Jewel image again and went, 

"Ok lah, this is one thing I miss about Singapore."


Had to search for any available cafes that were opened on a holiday. And it took me 15 minutes to get to a nearby Macdonalds since it was the only opened cafe in the area. The headache didn't stop. I had no choice but to continue with the drive. Reaching Brisbane, the weather changed. It became hotter. So body reacted to it even more weirdly. The throbbing one-side headache became an unbearable migraine.

I was really craving for rasam and tofu sambal. Reached home to a rasam-less and food-less kitchen. Dumped all the bags in the hall and miraculously wished for rasam and tofu sambal  to appear. No  amount of tiger balm and peppermint oil helped to ease the pain. The lack of rasam in my body and the lack of means to get one, made the pain worse. At one point, I felt nauseous. These were the times I really wish I magically get teleported to Singapore.

Yes just for rasam and tofu sambal.

The closest alternative was to get Tom Yum soup. The public holiday shutdown wasn't helping the situation. The nearest shopping mall was closed, most of the restaurants were closed. One can see the aimless and zombified Asian students roaming on streets from one closed shop to another, hunting for food. Finally managed to get Tom Yum soup and stir fry tofu.


And took a 3-hr nap after that! The headache was quite bad that it didn't go away for almost 2 days. Guess it was the body yearning for rasam and tofu sambal.