Secret Smile..

I sent a message to my sister, telling her I was excited to go to the city for an ANZAC Day parade one day, and she replied to me: " wah.. seronoknya dia!.. pelik tapi, masa kat msia tade pun excited nak pe gi perarakan hari merdeka!" hahha.. well.. she’s right.. in a way.. but i wasn’t actually excited to go see the parade.. the main reason was to dwell in the culture of the people here, as long as im doing nothing wrong, and to have a break from my restless schedule. it has been a month since i went out.

the weather was good. cold, cloudy day, but good. the best was the ‘feel’ of the day. everyone was dressed up in uniforms, with rows of war medals of themselves and their fathers’/grandfathers’ who had been to war.

O yes, I should tell you what ANZAC Day is. its started when Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed on ANZAC Cove in Gallipoli, Turkey on the 25th April 1915. This landing has been commamorated ever since in Australia, New Zealand and Turkey. (www.anzacday.biz). They even landed in Malaya, in Johor, Muar, Parit Sulong, etc.. where my family is fram, and seeing that banner with my ‘kampung’s name in the parade really touches me deep. i thought, "these are the people that helped us against the evil Japanese a long time ago"… I snapped a few more pictures of that particular troops. maybe i’ll show them to my grampa one day when i get back to malaysia.

Today, there were no more soldiers left from the World War I, but a few from World War 2, some are already in wheelchair and cruthes. some move in army cars and trucks. i got a photo snap of a lady in the parade, wiping tears of her eyes with an old photograph of a soldier in her hands. probably her late husband who died in the war. flowers and cards were placed on the monuments, as a commemoration to the dead soldiers. young troops also joined the parade, as they are the future soldiers of the country.

i went there with my flatmate, supanee. we bought a small australian flag each. going around the city full of australians, we really feel like tourists. we met a few ex-soldiers, 2 ladies from world war 2, and a dashing gentleman with 3 rows of medals - his, his father’s and his grandfather’s. haha.. that was clearly an enjoyable day.

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