Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Melbourne Trip 2008 =D..重访墨尔本2008年...再びメルボルン2008年の旅...

Above: Is there a 'QuanJude' in melbourne now??!! Thats the same name as the famous Beijing establishment world-renowned for its 'Peking Duck'....


Above: New Melbourne development...



Above: Famous cheese-sticks...

Above: Skybus into the city....
Above: Entering departure area. I think these are Qantas pilots...

I went back for a visit to Melbourne during the long weekend here in NSW..it was the first time back to Melbourne for me since i moved up to Sydney in 2006. I missed it dearly and enjoyed going back to some places i used to visit during my uni days and also got the chance to visit Melbourne Uni and the law faculty building again as well as made the effort to revisit my highschool in Melbourne, where i spent my first year in Melbourne studying Yr12...didn't get enough time though and missed out on going to Brunswick St, Smith Street, and having gelato and MOST importantly, durian ice-cream at il dolce freddo on lygon st ( i had dinner at lygon, just realised on the last night that the ice-cream stores close on mondays!)...so that was a pity..oh well..there's always next time heh?

I got to meet and take a photo of my Yr12 Legal Studies teacher, i was surprised that many of my Yr12 teachers were still teaching there, after 7 years!!! The law faculty building looked the same as it was 2 yrs ago but the law library added new on-the-wall screens and changed the entire special loans area as well as changed the entrance by making the once-exit only into the entrance AND exit and blocking off the old entrance...

It was pretty nostalgic and i made it to the NAB-sponsored Dreams Festival which was on the weekend that i was there...so i got to see the absolutely amazing and dream-like fireworks at close range near the banks of the Yarra River and it was one of the highlights of my melbourne trip! There were also art displays and floats on the Yarra River that night at the Dream Festival which was simply fantastic...oh yeah, and i got to do a walking trip down Chapel Street, Melbourne's premier shopping strip and had dinner at TGI Fridays there...was good.

Met up with old friends and classmates, some of whom i hadn't seen since 7 years back so it was pretty nostalgic...

I managed to visit Great Space Cafe on Collin Street , my favourite cafe during ALL my yrs in melbourne (where they arguably serve the best bacon n eggs n ice choc n friand )and walk up beautiful Collins St, visit Victoria St for the famous Vietnamese Noodle soup at Yong Kei, walk the beautiful Melbourne gardens for which it is famous for, had pizza at the late-night pizza place near flinders sta., and visited a pub in the cbd cos i was bumming at a friend's place on the first night there....and of cos melbourne has THE best shopping (NOW i appreciate how much better shopping, esp small-lane shopping, is in melbourne compared to sydney)....sigh..i love melbourne:-)

However, there were also major upsets during this trip there, the full list of which i shall not say here, suffice to say that i missed my flight on the first day and had to spend money on ANOTHER ticket on Qantas Airlines and also i lost my house keys as well whilst over there....but then the good thing which came out from the Qantas flight (my first time on Qantas mind you; in all my years in Australia)was that i happened to chat with this lady sitting next to me and she happened to be the little girl in the very first Vegemite commercial back in the 50s (or was it 60s??) ...it was so cool, she was being paid to attend this special Kraft event celebrating i dun know how many years of the discovery of vegemite; so that was really really cool..she has been interviewed for the nightly news and women's magazines n i thought it was pretty cool to be sitting next to this mini-celebrity and what more iconic of Australia than the vegemite?!


Above: Famous and delicious Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup on Victoria Street..

Above: The iconic Melbourne Central clocktower area where people meet up with friends...like me..haha.

Anyways, it was great visiting Melbourne again.....
Ps; more photos on my online photo album link on the right-hand side...
i miss melbourne :D

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Melbourne is a nice city, but you need relos living there so you can stay with them. Much more convenient, especially when they live in the city. I went down in Sept and had a great time.

hcpen said...

aimlesswanderer: yep, its a nice city hey? i did end up living in the cbd the whole time..it really is much more convenient;)

Anonymous said...

Yeah, public transport isn't that great in some areas, but sticking close to the city it is ok.

While I was there I sampled 2 of the chocolate cafes, mmm, great on a cold day, bad for health. You should visit them regularly.

hcpen said...

aimelesswanderer:ooohh yeah, i love chocolate cafes in melbourne, the vibe there is so much more arty and cultured compared to sydney, i love max brenner..koko black is ok..

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure about the arty bit, but they have some chocolate cafes that we don't. A Guylian one at Circular Quay opened up recently, that should be interesting.

hcpen said...

aimlesswanderer: oh, i didn't know about the new cafe at circular quay, should try that out sometime=)

Anonymous said...

Yeah, you are so scrawny, I haven't been that skinny for a long long time! Nowadays I have to watch what I eat.

hcpen said...

aimlesswanderer: yeah; but i'm at least TRYING to gain weight (but to no good results sadly...)

Anonymous said...

Ironically most people need to lose weight, and would LOVE to be skinny enough to need to eat unhealthy food to gain weight. Oh well, enjoy eating all that nice food!

And do some weights.

hcpen said...

aimlesswanderer: yeah, i will, if i am not too lazy..hehe..