EPISODE 29: GOLD COAST HOSPITAL & SOUTHPORT

My 1st visit to the Gold Coast Hospital, and so far, have never ventured out to Southport yet and today, finally conquer another zone..

Mum Beryl had fallen ill and was hospitalised several days, so I went to visit her. Brought with me some vege soup which I hoped she would be well enough to try.

Parking was really hard to find and after circling around, finally found one metered bay. Beryl was in isolation ward, as they couldn't figure out yet if she had TB. So, before going in to see her, I had to don a mask, vest and rubber gloves, yikes! Felt like I was going into an operation theatre or something. She was happily watching tennis on TV, so she was probably not in too bad a shape.

She didn't recognise me initially because I was so covered up!! but was happy to see me, unfortunately no appetite to eat the soup I brought. We chatted for a bit and it was a relief to see she was not too sickly. Just that they had to keep her in for observation in case what she had was infectious and they were draining fluid from her lungs. Interestingly, her doctor came in to check on her and turns out he was also a Malaysian from KL with a heavy 'ah' accent. So I thot it pretty funny, here was Beryl in the same room with her Malaysian friend and Malaysian doctor...

When I left and discarded the gloves, they left that sickly rubber smell on my hands, yikes, hate it!! I was sweating all over from the coat and mask I had to put on; my fingers were clammy wet from sweat... hope they take her out of isolation soon, poor lady... and poor visitors if they need to put those on everytime.

Later went off to explore Australia Fair shopping centre to unwind after that sweaty hospital visit. Needed some fresh air, had a coconut drink and sandwich for lunch. Southport is one of the busier parts of Gold Coast. It is also one of the older areas and they are going to be building an airtrain station here soon to faciliate workers and students in this area. It is also home to Griffith Uni and Tafe college as well, next to Australia Fair.

Lots of Asians and internationals swarming this side of town- probably students for those colleges. I went to this Asian store and saw some mooncakes but then decided they weren't worth buying. Not exactly craving for them either. At $31.00 x 3= now that works out to about RM$93 per box of 4!! um...kinda like eating gold nuggets. ..nah it's alright! shelve it...