Walk for Harmony

It was Sunday afternoon when I went out and had lunch at Dessert House with Heng Cheng. The plan: Amran was to join us later in the afternoon for the Walk for Harmony - a walk to celebrate Victoria’s multiculturalism.

Had a pretty decent Wat Tan Hor. Then we left the city and headed for Carlton Gardens, which was about 10-15 minutes walk away. Passed by a petrol station on Victoria Street (if I remember correctly). It wasn’t Shell, Mobil, or Caltex. It was 7 Eleven. YES. Couldn’t take my eyes off it as we walked pass. Around this time Amran called and said he couldn’t make it.

When we arrived at 1pm (the time the walk was suppose to begin), the park looked sorta empty. But it’s a huge park. So yeah, walked over to the other side where there was already a whole lotta people gathered and ready to.. walk.

Like I said earlier, this event was to celebrate the state of Victoria’s multiculturalism. So naturally, people from all walks of life were present on the afternoon. Those elderly women are from Guang Dong, China.

After doing a little research.. “The Karen are the largest of the ethnic minority groups living in the mountain ranges of eastern Burma and northwestern Thailand.” So they’re refugees or migrants here in Melbourne perhaps. Really enjoyed their traditional songs(?) and noises xD

And of course, the oh-so familiar sounds of the Chinese drums which defined the rhythm of the lions’ movements. Not forgetting those dragons as well.

And judging from the headband of the lady in the left picture, these are the Brazilians! And the guy in white with the drum on the left there’s the same guy who taught and guided us in the Bushdance during orientation in February.

Many nationalities present in Victoria came forward to be part of the celebration on Sunday. That’s a friendly looking cop on a horse!

Who would’ve thought you’d see the Australian flag and a dragon head in the same picture? Haha those are the Karen in the crowd.

Obviously those are the Sikhs, and that’s a goat that came to join in the celebration! All the time through, each group of people were lined up on the park lane, playing their traditional instruments, cheering, and singing - just being real proud of their home countries.

When Chinese lions meet local dogs xD Anyways, during the opening speeches at around 1.40pm, the sun finally came shining down on us. And soon after that, the walk began!

Down La Trobe Street we went! It was huge. The mass of people, I meant. Hopped up onto one of the tram stop railings to snap a few shots. Not much elevation gained there == Oh and that white thing over my shoulder’s the free XXL T-shirt they gave out which has the Walk for Harmony logo on it - like the one on the balloon in one of the previous pictures.

The Guang Dong women again! Right in the middle of the tram tracks, lines, railway. Whichever’s the right term for it. And there’re the dragons going round and round at the intersection of Swanston and La Trobe, taking advantage of the opportunity to run around in the middle of the road when the lights are red. Yup, traffic was of course stopped to give way to us, the walkers! (who were taking our own sweet time xD)

There’s the Golden Lion again with the drummers and gong-ers and ‘chingching-ers’ following real close behind. INSTRUMENT players?

Don’t let that dragon ball escape!! Erm, corner of Collins and Swanston. That’s just the middle part of the walk. There were already plenty of people ahead, and more at the back.

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I stuck close to the lions and dragons. Nice la to hear the familiar drum sounds. Hahaha? OKAY we’re almost there!

Woohoo!! Lion dance and Flinders Station. Honestly, that looks a little.. weird to me. People in Melbourne, or even those in Malaysia or wherever or whoever’s reading this, what do you think? ANYWAYS. We arrived at Federation Square at about 2.45pm.

Banyak orang. That’s the big screen. Had to wait for the camera to come our way for this shot to be taken by Heng Cheng. See if you can spot me in it! xD

There were a few brief speeches by a few VIPs? Then it was the entertainment by John something and the Black Sorrows. Good mix of jazz and country right there. Stayed for only a few songs before heading to Arrow (Heng Cheng’s place), watched Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, with some Krispe Kreme donuts and a cold bottle of Bundaberg Lime Bitter?

Later in the evening, we wanted to catch the news to see if we were gonna be on tele. Mana tau while switching channels (waiting for that segment of the news to come on - yup, Nine News covered the event), watched The Simpsons for a little too long. When I switched the channel back to Nine, so ngam the newsreader ended the segment. Blah. After the episode ended, we headed off to Chinatown. Brought him to this place where he belanja-ed.

15 dumplings for only $6.80 - that’s a deal for you right there! I had seven of those plus the white rice with deep fried salt and pepper duck, which was AWESOME. Don’t even remember having deep fried duck in Malaysia before. And yeah, I’m kinda.. into duck right now. Don’t ask me why. A friend just told me that duck meat IS sold in Queen Victoria Market. Definitely gonna look for it this weekend! (can’t be found in supermarkets).

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So that was my Sunday. First day back in college was pretty chilling, today was a full day, pretty tiring. Got back my EAP and E&D results so far, pretty good. There’s Math and HOI tomorrow. That oughta be interesting!

Oh and Happy Belated Birthday Anabel Yaeiou!! Don’t kill me when you see this. HAHA your post will be coming up after this! Till then.

Appreciate nice, long, HOT showers.