ramblings of one who thinks too much

St. Kilda beach.

The Sunday before my birthday, we tried hitting the beach to get my skate on. I decided not to bring my penny on this trip (big mistake) so we bought a 17” wooden cruiser. The wheels don’t work so well. Probably try to change out the wheels and see if I can go boarding again before the end of this trip.

Sixth day in Melb. (13th March 2012)

I woke up and had leftover churros for breakfast then I started packing. Was moving over to Daniel’s from Lee’s. TOO MUCH STUFFF. Somehow it was already hard fitting everything in my luggage. But that totally didn’t stop me from buying more stuff. (Future me would be berating current me.. you will find out why in a few more posts)

Reached Dan’s at around 3pm. Funny how his apartment was above a beauty parlor and Lee decide to go in after sending me off. So amusing I swear. I kinda unpacked and familiarised myself with his apartment. My bedroom was essentially the living room which was rather awkward considering I was sharing the apartment with 2 boys. Anyhow, we headed out at 5:30pm as Daniel had class and I was meeting my dearest twinnie Joanna for dinner.

Met Jo at Fed square and we pretty much just roamed the city and she brought me to QV which was this pretty cool mall. But we ended up in the basement and explored Woolsworth and I forgot what was the other hypermart. We are just grocery junkies man. We did some aimless wandering in the arcades which were closed by then and other shops. I still don’t understand this close by 5pm thing in Australia. But they lead a good life so who am I to say anything. Especially since I get stuck working beyond working hours even when office hours officially end at 7pm. We couldn’t decide what to eat so we just ended up eating at a sushi roll place. The sushi rolls in Aussie are a creature of its own. I don’t even know if I know how to describe it.

After dinner, we walked back to Fed Square cos Jo was gonna take the train from the central station. We lied down on the (synthetic) grass and chatted. It was nice just being able to chill out with a friend like that and talk without a care. One day.. I swear.. Jo and I would have our own empire one day. An empire full of space monkeys, giant squids, octopi, dinosaurs, candy and just awesomeness. (:

I tried walking home after that awesome hang out session only to come to a fork in a road, took the wrong turn and ended up in some dodgy alley. It was so funny as I was on the phone with my mum and she was like “OH NO!! WHAT NOW?” and I was like “MUM.. I WILL CALL YOU BACK.. I should call Daniel for help.” Well.. I did eventually find my way back to the apartment. I enjoyed it though.. getting lost but not so much since it was at night. Wanderlust might have ended in tragedy.

Fifth day in Melb. (12th March 2012)

Celest stayed over and when we woke in the morning, Lee made us yummy stacks of teeny banana danish pancakes. Topped with icing suger.. it was awesome!

The Moomba parade was going pass Lee’s apartment so we watched it from her balcony. My favourite was when like 50 over lil kids dressed like chefs were marching down in front of this giant blender float with dancers in flowy costumes swinging around the pole pretending to be the colourful contents of the blender. Spectacular.

Then we headed out for the Moomba festival. It was really hot but the wind was soooo cold. I must say it is really odd sensation. It wasn’t as crowded as I expected but there was quite a lot to see. Food stalls, games stalls, colourful rides. Love it! Nothing like this ever happens in Singapore. I took so many photos and I was really pleased with them. OH then I found the churros store! So I had my churros fix. Hot out of the oil covered with cinnamon sugar. Nothing could be better.

Later that evening I met Ying for dinner where we attempted to find yabbies/crawfish at a seafood restaurant. Ordered the seafood platter and a whole grilled snapper. It was goood but sadly it was crayfish and not crawfish. We vowed to find yabbies somehow during the course of my trip.

We went back to the Moomba festival cos I wanted to take some night shots and to watch the fireworks. The firework display was epic. I don’t know how else to describe it. But it was really well orchestrated! Almost brought me to tears…. I AM JOKING. We checked out the game stalls after the fireworks, most of which was closing but we managed to knock the teeth off some bullies and won a purple eared stuffed dog which was quite cute. It was fun! (:

I had a slurpee that night when we stopped over at a 7-Eleven while walking to her car. That was the first slurpee I had in years.. Made me feel like a kid again!

When I got back to the apartment, Emmy was whining but Lee was really tired so I walked him. It is actually quite interesting walking a cat. Because, really, the cat is walking and you are chasing. But I enjoyed that feline and human bonding session. He is a really beautiful cat and that was also my last night at Lee’s.

This day marks the mid-way point of my trip in Melbourne. Mixed feelings. I was so happy with the time I’ve spent there but at the same time as each day passed, I was dreading the day I needed to head back home.

Fourth day in Melb. (11th March 2012)

Woke up, had toast and headed to Planet Shakers. I was a little apprehensive at first, like I usually am when I have to attend a new church. But it was great. The people were warm, worship was non-pretentious and the sermon was poignant. I ended up enjoying myself more than I thought I would.

Headed to Queen Victoria Market. It was so amazing.. I wish we had markets like that in Singapore. That said, the meat section is quite scary.. It looks like a slaughter house. Everywhere you turn, you see carcasses, red, blood…. you get the idea. But outside, it’s all these fresh, brightly coloured produce with the vendors hollering, amazing atmosphere.

Bought yet another hotdog for lunch. It was so juicy with cheese oozing. Topped it with onions and ketchup. NOMSTASTIC.

I walked around the marketplace while eating and ended up with a hat. It came very handy a few days later. But that’s another story.

After buying groceries, we headed back to the apartment. We were going to meet Celest at this event called Sundaylicious. It was at South Wharf or something. I helped Lee prep a whole bunch of eggplants while she took a nap cos she was having a massive headache. That woman needs to sleep more.

Anyhow, at the event, I tried this swedish pear cider , Rekorderlig. It was sooooo good. And it has this strawberry and lime cider too. Crisp, sweet and light. Love it! (note: I just found out that Group Therapy at Duxton serves it.)

Conversation got weird cos these Australians were talking shit about Singapore and when I defend my country, they say I’ve been brainwashed. “What do you know? You’re from Singapore.” Well, no surprise but I got bored so I headed out to snap some photos. The sunset was beautiful.

Went back when they started calling, thinking I hooked up with someone in the restrooms. Hilarious. Anyway, we got back to the apartment and started cooking dinner. Eggplant lasagna. Now that’s a recipe I will work on till I perfect it.

I decided I should write down a list of things I definitely wanted to do for the rest of my time in Melbourne. Can’t wait for Moomba the next day.

Third day in Melb. (10th March 2012)

Went to the People’s Market Flea. Had like hotdogs and fries. There weren’t many stores there as it was this was a new flea but there was quite an array of things. Home-made soap, handicrafts, clothes, jams, clothes etc. I bought some peppermint soap that I used during my trip and a 3D “find bin laden” puzzle book.

Then we headed to Habour Town where there were many factory outlet stores. I bought two pairs of shoes from Betts for a total of A$35. What a steal! The funniest thing that happened there was when I wandered into a shop selling clothes predominantly for body builders and i was wondering why the clothes were so small. Then this massive ripped dude like took his shirt off, I was like “woah”, and tried on the S size. Man.. those fabrics are amazing. They stretched till it was second skin on him. At that point, I pretty much made a beeline for the exit and got my intimidated ass outta there.

Then we took the tram to St. Kilda beach in hopes to find some Yarra Valley wine tasting thingy. The beach was gorgeous with many couples and families just chilling, enjoying the sun and the sea. Then we found out that the Yarra Valley thing wasn’t a fair or a free wine tasting event. It was a fancy buy a glass of wine and sit around pretentiously kinda event. So we left, sat by the beach and chilled. IT WAS COLD. Imagine having to put on a jacket in the sun. I got peckish so we walked to the bakery nearby, got cannelloni and trammed back to the city.

Lee said she was going to cook dinner but when I got back, she hadn’t gone grocery shopping at all. We headed out, bought seafood and I cooked butter “chicken” just that it was fish and squid instead of chicken. By then it was 9 or almost 10. We were watching either F.R.I.E.N.D.S or Will & Grace while eating. I can’t remember. Or some gay show which title I can’t remember.

Conversation got awkward when Lee asked me if I would have kids. And it kinda escalated to a point where she called me homophobic. Which was weird if you ask me.

Slept at 2am I think.. it was a loooong day and we had to be up for church the next day. I remembered being rather exhausted.

Second day in Melb. (9th March 2012)

Took a walk down towards the city from Lee’s apartment to meet Daniel at the Art Centre. We took the tram down to the city where I bought my MetCard. For those who don’t know, this is the “Metro Card” that gives me access to the trams and trains in Melb. What I found interesting was the system they used. It was pretty primitive in my opinion and I am not too sure how effective it is.

Basically, the first time-in allows you unlimited rides on trams for the next two hours. The second time-in or any time-in after 3pm, entitles you to unlimited rides for the rest of the day till 3am. Each time-in would cost you around AU$3-4? I honestly don’t find it very economical. I think Singapore’s public transport system is a lot better.

We travelled down to Brunswick Street where we had lunch at Little Creatures Cafe. If you find that name familiar, it’d probably because you have drank their ale. They have pear cider too! Daniel and I shared a burger and a pot mussels. The fries that came with the burger was really crisp and meaty. I think the ketchup was home-made too. It was goood. One thing I realised as well was that Australia had good coffee. Like coffee from anywhere would taste better than the coffee you’d get in cafes in Singapore.

After lunch we pretty much covered the entire area around Brunswick. We checked out a few gourmet food shops. The first one we went into was really fancy and it had all these chutneys, cheeses, jams, sauces and stuff. I think they had meat too. The second one was a small little place selling organic vegetables, cheese, crackers and fancy compotes that were paired with cheeses. We helped ourselves to quite a bit of the samples. -sheepish-

Daniel brought me to this art supply shop that specialises in book-binding and silk screening. It was really cool. There were a few shops that specialised in paper. So all they sold was specialty paper like Japanese paper, fine italian calligraphy paper, etc etc.

There was also a furniture shop with their workshop at the back. They had everything from cupboards to mixing spoons to stools, all of which were customisable and totally made in the back of the shop. I thought it was really cool. Would love to work in a place like that.

We checked out a few outlet stores. Daniel bought a long green winter coat and I bought a red leather tie. Then we headed back to the city as we were trying to catch free food films showing at Federation Square as a part of the Food and Wine Festival.

Armed with sushi rolls (which were really tasty and cheap due to closing time, 3 for AU$5) and BOOST, we settle down on deck chairs under the glaring sun to watch the foodie films.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi - a documentary on the most celebrated sushi chef in Japan.

El Bulli: Cooking in Progress - a molecular gastronomy restaurant turn culinary institute.

I had pie from Pie Face for dinner that evening while waiting for El Bulli to start. It was starting to get really cold. I think the temperature dipped to about 12 degrees that night. I ended up borrowing Daniel’s newly bought coat as a blanket.

Took the tram home that night. Got off a few stops early but it was nice just walking home in the cool weather.

I could really get used to living in Melbourne.