3 Nights in Brisbane

It was a whirlwind of a trip. Arriving late one evening followed by series of meeting and then the conference. It was a great opportunity to network but the decision to leave straight after the conference end reduced the stay a bit more.

I only had a couple of hours in town on the whole but caught a glimpse of what Brisbane had to offer during my dinner events and the quick outings.

The skyline as I crossed the Victoria BridgeSome interesting cafe they have hereAnd the food was top notch ...The important thing was sorting out what to buy for the boys and Anita. No real time for sightseeing. Especially my hotel - Mantra South Bank - was right across the road from the conference venue.

Brisbane is actually a nice modern city. Very hot - the reason why I preferred Melbourne - with real hot sunshine. It hardly rained during the times I was there. The sky was blue, with none of the pollution of KL.

The City HallOut shopping ....They don't have Burger King here ....Calling it the night ....I would have loved to stay there a bit longer with a quick trip to Gold Coast only an hour away. I get to catch The Wheel of Brisbane and pat a koala, but by the time Sunday arrived, I just wanted to fly home and my schedule after would be packed. And sure enough it was.

I should plan for an extra day of rest next time ...

Just Landed

It wasn't the smoothest of flight although I must say the food on the flight was surprisingly good. Maybe I was starving.

Landed in Brisbane about an hour ago, and is now en route to the hotel. There was a long wait for other delegates and I was able to grab one of the local prepaid SIM - which came with 10GB data! Crazy!

So, it looks like I wouldn't be off line after all. The program starting from tomorrow afternoon would be packed. At least I will have tomorrow morning off. It would be events and meetings one after the other right after - including dinner on both Friday and Saturday evening.

And a nice cosy bedAnd then I would be leaving on Sunday late afternoon. No rest after that.

Best to enjoy some free time later, catch on a bit of a rest, shower and ironing. But dinner first!

Decision made and plan changed

Irfan watching Animal Mechanical!, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

The last couple of weeks has been a difficult one for me on the personal front! No, my wife still loves me ... or at least she said so. No, UMMC has not sussed me out that I am not that cool a doctor. But it became clear that my planned Australian sojourn is just not viable. My close family expressed deep reservation about uprooting my family for the coming four years and after some deep thinking .... they have a point! However, I don't think this if any, is an appropriate forum to discuss it in detail.

So, I will stay put. I will consider my options. There are a few. I still think that research is something I want to do in the future apart from teaching. It is not that I am not keen to see patients, but I feel I can be a more effective physician if I broaden my horizon. At the end it will come down to personal choices and I realise there are so many advise you can seek but there will come a time when you, yours truly will have to swallow the pill and face the music.

Should any of my friends read this, yes, you all will still have to put up with me for the foreseeable future. I must say that my seniors has been anything but understanding about my decision. Since I made it, I have to confess that I have an extra spring in my step. My family was certainly happy with it, and at this point I think that is more important.