Melbourne and things.

September 27, 2013

To be quite honest, I was dreading writing this post. Not that I don't want to tell you or anything, but simply because so many things happened over the past week. Well, might as well start somewhere.

Thursday after my last post, my module class had a trip to Chinatown. Strange, I know. We were guided by a man who is a very prominent figure in the Chinese community in Sydney. He even got to run through Chinatown with the torch during the Sydney Olympics in 2000! Anyway, he led us on a tour of the street and gave us a brief history about Chinatown and the migration of Chinese people to Australia. Before I arrived, I only heard from Brian that Australia was known for being racist against Asians, so I had no idea how crucial the anti-Chinese sentiment was to Australia's development. At the end of the tour, we were treated to dim sum at East Ocean Restaurant. It was okay, but I definitely miss my Flushing dim sum. Can't wait to eat it when I'm home!

On the Friday, my friend, Cara's parents invited us all to dinner at their hotel room. They were staying at World Tower (I think) on the 69th floor. The view was STUNNING. We had a build your own taco dinner, which was really yummy. Reminds me that I want to make fajitas at some point. Anyway, it was a really nice night just chilling and talking with my friends and Cara's family. Later that night, Inez and I also took a dip in the pool on the 61st floor. Such a nice hotel. Must be expensive though.

The next day, a bunch of us went to check out Glebe Market, which is kind of an arts & crafts/thrift shop market. It was alright, but I didn't buy anything. Later that evening, I volunteered at the BEAMS festival, which was an arts festival in the Chippendale area. My shift was extremely boring and I wouldn't do it again, but the festival itself was pretty awesome. There were some really nice art pieces brought to the festival and some cool street art done on walls right before the festival started.

On Sunday morning, my program departed for Melbourne, Victoria. To be honest, I wondered why we were going to Melbourne. Sydney's supposed to be the best city in Australia, right? I soon found out how wrong I was. I loved Melbourne. It was reminiscent of New York's past, though still with the technological capabilities of today. That night, my friends and I grabbed dinner at a Greek restaurant. A bit pricey, but still yummy. We ended the night at Chuckle Bar, which was literally the space between two buildings with some lights strung up. I really liked the atmosphere there. We were exhausted from another long day, so we walked back to the hotel and just relaxed in the room.

Monday was reserved for the Great Ocean Road tour with Go West Tours! We departed early in the morning and made our way to the start. Throughout the day we saw so many beautiful beaches. They were so clean and empty. We also had a glimpse of a couple kangaroos and a few koalas. I managed to get a couple awesome pictures with the help of my zoom lens (muahaha!). Toward the end, we saw the Twelve (or eight) Apostles, the  London Bridge, which did fall down, and the Loch and Gorge. It was quite a sight. Even though I got somewhat motion sick on the bus, it was so worth it to go on the tour, because who knows when the next time I'll have the chance to see them will be! After getting back to the hotel around 10, we were exhausted and called it an early night.

Since we only had three days in Melbourne, Denise, Inez, Laura, Kunchy, and I decided we should get up early and explore. We ended up leaving the hotel around 7(?) and went to the Queen Victoria Market. It was supposedly open since 6am, but the vendors were not even set up by 7:30, so we just went to a cafe for some brekky. Later, we went to lecture and then most of us had academic tours starting at 10:30. The tour I went on focused on the laneways of Melbourne. Way back when, the laneways were originally used for services and sanitation between buildings. Now, they have been transformed into malls, cafes, bars, and canvases for street art.

On this night, we went out to Fitzroy to eat dinner at Naked for Satan, which is a tapas restaurant. It was pretty great because each piece was only a dollar and they had plenty of options. We basically took 1-2 of each for the five of us to share. Our final bill only came out to $6 per person and we were pretty full. Next, we went down the street to check out The Alchemist. It was a quiet bar, but looked really antique. Inez and I shared a passion fruit drink. I forgot what it's called, but it was pretty good. After leaving this bar, we went back to the central business district of Melbourne to check out the Rooftop Bar and then The Croft Institute. The latter is a bar with a mental institution theme. It was pretty cool and slightly weird. Their drinks came with syringes, which was a nice touch. After this, we were starving, so we went to a 24 hour Chinese restaurant that looked a bit sketchy on the outside but fine inside. Shared some food then went back to the hotel and crashed after another long day.

Wednesday was our last day in Melbourne. We got up early to eat brunch at Hardware Societe, which was delicious, and grab coffee at Patricia's, which I wish I could have again. Melbourne is well known for coffee by the way! I had another tour, this time "Taking it to the Street," which was about street art in Melbourne. Their laneways of graffiti and murals are actually the biggest tourist attraction for the city and I can see why. Some of the art was really impressive and there sure was a lot of it. I learned about one artist, Ha Ha, who was legendary for his political stencils and ability to cover an entire bridge in one night without getting caught. Apparently, he dressed as a security guard so if the police came by, he would say that he caught some kid spray painting and they got away. Talk about clever! Anyway, after the tour, I walked the streets a bit, just taking everything in. Laura and Jessica met up with me at the mall for lunch and we killed a few hours before returning to Sydney.

I see why Sydney is where the tourists go, but if I have the option of returning to Australia in the future, I'd definitely want to take a stop at Melbourne. On that note, I should also mention that Melbourne and Sydney have a long standing rivalry, similar to New York and Boston. However, while Melbourne resembles New York, it's personality seems to align more with the Bostonians. They are more relaxed, a bit more friendly, and they are focused much more on their rival than their rival is focused on them. Many in Melbourne mention Sydney, while it seems few in Sydney mention them. Either way, Melbourne was an awesome city with great coffee, and I definitely want to return one day. What I'm not looking forward to? Writing this Melbourne paper, writing my wine paper, and a final for each class...yay. Well, until next time...