After another delicious breakfast in the restaurant, I contacted the daughter, Priya, of Mr. Dass and his wife, who I wanted to meet up with. Andrew and I then departed to visit the Markets at Circular Quay on the way to the Metro station to take the train to Kingswood, which is a suburb of Sydney. I would estimate, based on the distance, if we left from Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver, to be fairly far into Surrey, where we needed to go. Priya had given me directions which seemed pretty simple – get on the metro at Circular Quay and change at the Central Station (where we got off the Indian Pacific Train where there also is a Metro station) and then stay on the Metro to Kingswood. I was trying to type this into Google Maps so I could follow it however to no avail! I then resorted to the nice bellmen who knew me as they had to put the ramp down for me whenever I came back to the hotel to get us sorted out.
The bellman printed out a route for me and said something in a fairly heavy Indian accent that I did not understand, about train servicing work. The route looked fine to me and so into my purse it went and we were off to check out the Markets!
We walked around to the Circular Quay again and up some of the side streets to check out the market stalls. It is a VERY well organized market that happens on weekends in Sydney. I was looking for 2 things – a lanyard for my phone as my current one had broken and also flowers to take Mrs. Dass who was in the hospital. I was successful on my 2nd item only – which was awesome! I found a vendor who hand crafted paper flowers for wrists, headbands and chokers! Of course I bought a headband for myself and I bought a wrist band for Mrs. Dass. I thought it would be a perfect “flower” gift for someone in the hospital who cannot have a lot of flowers! I have included a picture of the headband that I bought which the wristband matched so you can see how beautiful the artistry is!
Now, as we were at Circular Quay, and I had my handy instructions from the bellman, it seemed very simple to get to the Nepean Hospital to see Mr. and Mrs. Dass again. I had heard from Priya in the morning that Mr. Dass had remembered me and was looking forward to meeting me again! We got to the station and found the lift to go upstairs to where the track was located. A station attendant actually flagged me down and asked if I needed a ramp to get onto the train, which I asked if it was level and he said yes, so then I said I thought I would be okay. Sure enough the train arrived and it was a level entrance like the Skytrain however the gap was about twice as wide! So basically I just jumped over it instead of rolling over it so my wheels would not get caught.
We rode 3 stops then changed, according to the bellman’s directions to another train. This time I was sitting next to the train map and I was plotting out all the stations that we had to go to and change trains, which were 4. We had done 1 change already. In looking at the map I realized that the instructions that Priya had sent me were MUCH more direct! So I messaged her and told her what the bellman printed out for me and she said it did not make sense. So Andrew and I got off the train and turned around, heading back a couple of stops to where we could catch the direct train like that Priya told us to take instead. That is where things fell off the rails, as the saying goes.
First, the station I chose to get off at was not wheelchair accessible! Yes, I could go up the escalator (not supposed to but hey – if I need to it is possible) however the other track we needed to change to was up STAIRS and that was a no go for me! AGAIN the station attendant asked me (these station attendants are awesome!) where I was going and I mentioned Kingswood and that is why we are trying to get on the Number 8 line. She then told us to get back on the same train in the same direction, which came again in 10 minutes and go 2 more stops and change to the Line 8 at that point as there are lifts at that station. Sounded good – however she then told me in understandable language what the bellman mentioned to me which I did not comprehend – Line 8 has track maintenance going on as it is a Saturday so the train stops about half way and we need to then get on a bus which will take an hour to get to the next station – it will be an express bus though. She had an app on her phone for helping people and I took a picture of what I was to do and then we were off – to go 2 more stations and then switch tracks to come back through this station above and onward until the bus bridge where we needed to get off.
Getting of at the station where the train stopped, Andrew and I were VERY confused as to where we were and where the bus stand was for the bus we were supposed to catch. I asked someone and they sent us to one side of the station and then that was incorrect so we walked back and at that point, Andrew asked another person and he pointed us in a different direction and then came running after us and took us up the lift and directed us to the correct bus stand as he was “horrified” he gave us incorrect information! We got onto that bus and sat down and right in front me was a screaming child! Oh joy. I just cannot get away from them! Luckily an elderly gentleman gave the child in the pram a “lolly” and everything settled down and she eventually fell asleep on our 50 minute drive along the express way. Needless to say, if Andrew and I had continued on the route that the bellman had given us, we would have been at the Nepean Hospital by now!
According to what the train attendant had shown me on her phone, the bus was going to take us to a certain train station and then we should take a different train (which also stops at this same station) back 2 stops to get to the Nepean hospital. Priya had messaged me that she would pick us up at the Kingswood station station where we were to end up, which I thought was great! As the bus came off the Highway, one of the passengers sitting across from us said to one of his kids – “see that is the Nepean Hospital” and sure enough, written as you can see below, sideways up the building it said Nepean Hospital! Skip getting on a the train going 2 stations! There was at taxi stand at the train station where the bus dropped us off and we took a taxi back instead. Enough travel on transit for that day! We left Circular Quay at 12:30pm as planned (actually a couple of minutes earlier) and were supposed to arrive at Kingswood station by 2pm. It was now 4pm! We saw a LOT of Sydney along the way however it was time to visit my friends parents!
I did let Priya know that we were in a taxi and arriving at the hospital very shortly. It is a BEAUTIFUL hospital – a public hospital like in Canada however newer. We arrived on the floor that Mrs. Dass is located and I turned the corner and ran right into PJ’s dad – just as I remembered him from 25 years ago! It was great to see him again! He is Fijian with white hair and quite statuesque looking with a big smile! He was so happy to see me and Andrew and made us feel at home right away.
Andrew remained in the very nice lounge area and had coffee with Mr. Dass while I went down to Mrs. Dass’s room and met with her and Priya along with some other relatives that were visiting, including PJ’s younger brother who is now a grown man! The last time I saw him he was about 14 years old. Like his dad and mum, along with his sister, he is also a very well known Fijian Indian musician in the Sydney area. In fact he had to leave soon for a concert after I arrived, however it was great seeing him again. I was surprised how many memories of my times with PJ came back to me when I was there – some of my memories were a bit confused from a time perspective, as they were affected by some of my treatments after my accident, however they came back nevertheless. One of the most interesting of them was the interactions with Mr. Dass and his philosophical outlook on life. He is a very well traveled and studied man and I remembered when back sitting in the lounge with Andrew and Mr. Dass, just how much PJ and his dad and I got into some discussions about people and the meaning of life as Mr. Dass had observed it around the world. It was at that time, Mr. Dass told me he had written and autobiography a few years back and would love to give me the book and he had one at home for me!
I then went and spent some more time talking to Priya and her mum, who unfortunately has the same brain cancer that PJ passed away from in 2004. Her mother is doing okay and her brain cancer was operable and she is recovering now. It was interesting as the neurosurgeon visited when I was in the room with Mrs. Dass and Priya and Mrs. Dass came to life and gave the neurosurgeon all kinds of grief about being in the hospital and wanting to go home! That is a sign of someone who is recovering in my impression! About that time Mr. Dass popped into the room then and invited us to dinner at Priya’s house. He said he had asked Andrew’s permission to ask me which I thought was amusing but awesome from a cultural perspective! I of course agree as ANY food cooked by the Dass family in my mind is AWESOME! I had one of my top 10 meals cooked for me by Mrs. Dass which was curry Dungeness Crab! Obviously not getting that down here, however their curry meals are lovely! After Mrs. Dass had her evening meal, we all climbed into a VERY small car that Priya had borrowed (trunk did not work so walker was beside me in the back and Andrew and I shared the back seat) with 3 bags of food and went to her house which was a very nice 3 bedroom house where she and her parents lived near the hospital.
A friend of Mr. Dass brought over some Kava and we took part in drinking some of it – Andrew more than me – that was his first time trying it – then Mr. Dass found a bottle of some bubbly wine that Priya had won at some point in time and Andrew opened it and we all sat down for dinner. Oh boy, I knew from the past that Fijian’s eat with their fingers. I had forgotten to tell Andrew about that. Priya did a very nice job in bringing Andrew and I forks for our food when she realized that fingers were not our style. If I had been alone I might have been okay however I had not washed my hands since the hospital! We had curry chicken and potatoes, jasmine rice and dahl. Well that is what I had! Andrew and Mr. Dass also had some other unknown and heat unknown dishes that had been prepared – breaded fish etc along with the bubbly wine. I knew that the curry chicken and potatoes was very mild as it had been fed to Mrs. Dass so it would probably be okay with me and it had no flour in it. Dahl and rice – right up my alley! It was an awesome meal and we finished it off with some VERY sweet mango’s!
It was now getting late – about 10:30 pm, so I called an Uber and we were driven an hour back to our hotel in comfort! Before leaving though Mr. Dass gave me his book and I promised to read it and keep in touch with him! It was a really inspiring and though provoking afternoon – remembering the past, their eldest son, my friend, who had passed away, Mr. Dass partially grieving the future of his wife passing away and also the life that they left behind in Fiji so they could be in Australia with their daughter. It was an experience I did not expect on this trip, but something I will treasure!
Now, tomorrow, we are going to take a sunset cruise! Also I am aware that Andrew is interested in a certain Whitecaps Soccer team and how they are going to do in the playoffs! Let’s see what happens!