Biked around undulated hills of an island: 2 hours
Quokkas met: SO many!
So very excited to see the other side of Australia! Western Australia is almost half of the entire country, and it’s just massive. I love me a comparison map so I had to dig this up.
Australia is mighty big
Turns out Perth is the 3rd most isolated city in the world. Unsure how it ranks but I guess it’s not including small towns, but this is an interesting map too:
I love data and maps
Perth had a huge mining boom but it’s died down some. Still pretty big, and actually is the 4th populous city in the country (took over Adelaide in the 80s).
Downtown Perth (it was weird seeing Rio Tinto on a building)
The beaches were pristine and so lovely! It’s finally turning into spring here, so it’s great and warm out (70sF mostly). The waters here are safer.. in a way. No jellyfish (those are in the Swan River!) so only great white sharks are the concern. Simple. Swimming in Australia is an adventure. What isn’t an adventure here?!
Waves were just outside of my window
Cottesloe is gorgeous
So many surfers out and about this morning
I got a wave in my latte!
My first night was at a sweet Airbnb, literally across the street from Cottesloe Beach. Got to fall asleep and wake up hearing the waves hitting the beach. It was gorgeous walking along the white sand beaches and getting to explore Freemantle. It’s great and full of cute shops and cafes.
I love seeing different countries as the center of maps
Jaffle pies from Jester
Denise got to go down memory lane and I got to see where she grew up. All her schools and where she used to live. It’s so nice getting to see where your friend’s roots are. We got to try jaffle pies (like a panini press). Seriously, I need to look into a source of meat pies outside of this continent.
Perth itself was a little too spread out for me. Full of cars but I never saw anyone on the streets. I knew people were around but just never knew where they all were hiding. The Swan River is massive and swirls right through the city.
Kings Park is a massive public park and is almost 100 hectares larger than Central Park. Everything here is crazy big! Very nice military memorial too.
DNA tower
Eternal Flame at the State War Memorial
The highlight for me was heading over to Rottnest Island. It’s a short 30 minute ferry ride away and it was given that name by Dutch explorers “Rats’ Nest” since that’s what they thought all the quokkas were. They’re far from it! This island is a protected wildlife area and over 10,000 of the little creatures live there.
They’re so tame!
This was right after he came up and ate our carrot cake when I wasn’t looking.
We’re all ready to hang out with tiny marsupials!
We rented bikes and rode the undulating hills of the place. It’s gorgeous and it was perfect biking weather. Mostly cloudy that cleared up as we cycled our way across the little island. Denise was a pro riding with a chariot carrying the kiddos.
Superheroes sometimes get their bikes stuck in the tracks
Lighthouse ho!
The paths across the island were well paved
We’re nothing if not sunsmart
Denise carried these two like a pro!
The waters were super clear and a shade of green so luminous! We rode around and fed ourselves a superb lunch of a potato topped pie and WA’s iced coffee version, Chill. I think it’s my favorite one so far! Each state seems to have their own version (Big M in Victoria, Farmers Union in South Australia, etc.).
Chocka Mocha Chill & pie. Delish!
Lots of the land is protected bird hatching area too–this was for fairy terns
We had some excellent beach time
Parker Point Drive
Didn’t see any quokkas during our bike ride, but I realized that they were all closer to town, where all the food bits were to be found. They’re seriously so cute. About the size of a chicken and not afraid of humans at all. Famous for taking selfies so I had to do it! Scored some sweet ones and they’re just SO darn cute. I mean it may not be as good as Hemsworth’s but it’s darn near close.
Thank you, Western Australia for the hospitality and I cannot wait to visit again one day!
It’s been lovely in Melbourne these days. I’ve achieved the critical “ear” status with Tilly (her comfort blanket), so I’ve overjoyed with that. So nice getting to spend time with these little ones and watching them grow up.
Food adventures have also continued and I got to try a new pie shop in town, who’s specialty is the lasagne pie. Give it a second and it’s super tasty! Their pastry chef studied in France and really nailed the pie dough. I also tried out the cream of mushroom pie, and man was it great. Why don’t these exist in America?! Sigh.
Cream of mushroom (bottom) & lasagne pie (top)
Zinger pie & coffees
I’m equal opportunity when it comes to pies, so I had to try KFC’s zinger pie too. Okay, so the pastry isn’t as good but I still loved it. Just a touch of spice (zing!) and it went perfectly with a coffee.
We used to be on the same school bus!
Had some delightful date nights too! Met an old high school mate that I hadn’t seen since 1998! He’s been in Oz this entire time and I got to meet his little boy too. It was so great reminiscing. One of the things I love about international school is that there’s usually an old school mate everywhere I visit. Sure, I only get to see one at a time, but it’s still an excellent thing.
Tian and I tried out a nice fusion spot, to use my last gift card from my Bay Area book club. It was really nice and I actually got to eat wallaby! It was in a flaky pastry and it was pretty good! I think I’ll stick to see them in the wild, looking all cute and fluffy.
Tian & I post-Anchovy
Moroccan feast with Annie
Annie and I got to try out a Melbourne institution, the Moroccan Soup Bar. It’s all veg and it was so nice having a night out with Annie. Superb fare! Seriously, the vegetarian/vegan fare here is so good. I mean options everywhere.
We piled into the car and went on a road trip up north to NSW/Sydney area for my cousin’s 40th birthday / baby shower. It’s roughly SF-LA distance, so around a 9.5 hr drive. We passed a few of Australia’s Big Things! Big Watermelon and Big Merino!
Big Watermelon has a cafe and produce market
The Big Merino was immpressive.
It was a nice drive, that we broke up a bit staying overnight in a small town. We got to go to a Paragon Cafe, which was a series of cafes that were on the main highway along the East coast (ala Route 66 in the States). These were mostly started by immigrants and had that old soda fountain vibes. It was awesome getting to eat in one of these older diners.
This one was established in the 1940s
Iced mocha is quite the dessert drink
Also, just a PSA, if you order an iced mocha in Australia, you’ll get something rather different from what you’d get in the States. It’s got a scoop of ice cream and whip cream on top. Also, a milk shake is literally syrup in mix (ala chocolate milk). If you want what I consider a normal milk shake, it’s categorized on menus as a “thick shake”. Things you learn.
My cousin recently bought her own dental practice just north of Sydney. It’s awesome to see her doing so well and being very pregnany at the same time. All the cousins gathered by the beach for the week to see her.
If you need a dentist and you’re living near Sydney, I’ve got your lady
Uno for all!
We’re at Gosford!
It was a splendid week of sun, card games and a sweet reptile park. The newest babies in the family got to meet and we had plenty of beach days. Up here the water’s mostly safe (with the standard jellyfish and all that).
Baby Joey was tired from all the fun in the sun
Sunsmart Tilly with her watermelon pop
She LOVES the beach
These two are seriously adorable. Pre-beach kisses.
The baby cousins finally meet!
Meni’s birthday is just a day before mine so I got to celebrate up north as well, with a yummy sponge cake (we’d just watched the Aussie classic The Castle recently).
It’s always awkward touching someone’s belly
Happy 40th!
Tilly helped me blow out my candles
We went to a reptile park just near my cousin’s place and it was where little Joey was able to meet a real joey! (Fun side fact: we found out that a joey is the name for all baby marsupials). It’s a great park! Not too big to cover it all and the koalas we saw were the most active I’ve ever seen. They’re only awake 4 hours a day and these were so alert and active. Rainbow lorikeets joined us for lunch and we got to hold a python and even baby Tasmanian devils!
Look at the brightness!
My first time with Joey strapped to me
I loved the cohesive theme in the playground
Sup, Koala
Baby Tassie Devils
Joey mets a real joey!
We’re holding a python!!
I gotta get better at seeing people more often than every 10 years!
On my way out of town, I had a few spare hours and got to catch up with another high school buddy, Henry. It was awesome as it had been over a decade since I’d seen him too! We bonded over tasty Malaysian food, and I love how most of my high school friends and I get to eat awesome Malaysian food every where we meet.
Onto Western Australia next! It’ll be my first time to the West Coast. Excited to head to the most isolated city in the world—Perth.
30 movies watched (film festivals really up those numbers)
2 books / 2 graphic novels read
2 mooncakes eaten (and the festival is still 2 weeks out!)
8 Xi’an soldiers seen up close and personally (only 7992 left to see in China)
The time I’ve been waiting for has finally arrived! The Melbourne International Film Festival is an epic 18 day festival with 300+ movies. Frankly, it’s kind of too long but I’ll take it since I got to see 20 movies, my personal record. It’s one of the oldest film festivals in the world (est. 1952). San Francisco Intl. Film Festival is the oldest in th States (est. 1957).
Melbourne Central theater is one of the bigger venues
I got to meet Duke the Astor cat too!
The Capitol was such a lovely venue.
The audiences were SO nice and emotive. I’ve found that Aussie audiences are rather conserved, and mostly very silent–even in super fun movies like John Wick 3. I miss Oakland crowds for movies like that or horror flicks. I’m so glad that the film festival crowds were more lively.
Because you’re here, I’m gonna give you the breakdown of all 20 movies I watched. This festival takes heavily from Cannes, with a few nuggets from Sundance and SWSX. Here goes!
Cold Case Hammarskjöld (US/Denmark) – Mads Brügger is a quirky fellow and makes a fascinating documentary. It pulls you in and goes places you’d not expect with humor and investigative journalism.
The Dead Don’t Die (US) – This was a great one to watch with a sold out crowd. Zombies, Bill Murray and Adam Driver? I’m in. I liked where they went with it too.
The Peanut Butter Falcon (US) – Sweet and earnest but not outstanding. I like that Shia LaBeouf makes different choices in his projects though. Wish more people did that.
Young Ahmed (Belgium/France) – Interesting and relevant topic of youth extremism but it didn’t get deep enough for me.
Brittany Runs a Marathon (US) – This is the only movie that’s ever made it want to start running (and that’s … something I don’t do). Jillian Bell does a great job covering what you know happens but much more about mental and physical walls we all suffer from. Touching and funny and maybe 20 mins too long. Still recommend!
Alice (Australia/France) – This was one of my favorites. SXSW Grand Jury prize winner for a reason. It’s a small movie production-wise, but it felt bigger than that. Emilie Piponnier was such perfect casting. Issues of empowerment, sex work, and gender imbalance are handled so nicely. Great movie.
The Souvenir (UK) – One paper this still is appealing (Tilda Swinton working with her daughter; Scorcese executive producing, etc.) but I totally didn’t like it. It’s been polarizing elsewhere too but I found it frustrating. Ugh. Yea, that’s a pass from me.
Midnight Family (Mexico) – Crazy fascinating documentary on a tight-knit family operating a private ambulance in the bustling metropolis that is Mexico City. Questions of morality and survival combined with a truly endearing family and very much life-and-death situations make this superb. Please find this!
Extra Ordinary (Belgium/Ireland) – This was lots of fun. Horror comedy, but much heavier on the comedy. Maeve Higgins (whom I’d only ever heard of in this episode of Everything Is Alive) was such a charming lead. Loved the dry and simultaneously occasionally more slapstick humor. I had a blast watching this.
Frankie (France/Portugal) – Solid but a slower pace and rather muted performances all across the board. Lovely to see Portugal again and the delicacies of family strains and relationships were well-portrayed.
Matthias & Maxime (Canada) – Xavier Dolan isn’t someone I knew of before this and he was great in this. Both leads were superb and I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The tight knit group of friends was superbly written (the dialogue was so good) and a bit of the camera work was too experimental for my tastes but it was only in bits, thankfully. I still think about this movie now.
First Love (UK/Japan) – SO much fun. I don’t love gore but Takashi Miike (100+ films made!) is a master. Yakuza, Chinese gangs, ghosts, and a love story yet I followed it all and had a blast the entire time. Funny to boot! He did 13 Assassins too, which I also loved.
Okko’s Inn (Japan) – Sweet Ghibli alum made animated movie. A very Japanese story, and sweet but not exceptional. Made me hungry, as all Japanese food animation does.
I Lost My Body (France) – Such an amazing animated film. What only the French can achieve so easily–macabre yet charming. Innovative as I haven’t seen animation in ages and I loved the characters. It should be on Netflix shortly!
Skin (US) – Jamie Bell is great, per usual, but is it horrible to say it’s a run-of-the-mill White supremacy story? Didn’t love all the other cast and it’s a powerful true story, but it was just fine.
One Child Nation (US/China) – Intriguing documentary that goes far deeper into China’s one child policy than I’d ever gone. Fascinating work and I enjoyed it a bunch. Amazon got it so it should be streaming soon.
Animals (Ireland/Australia) – Powerful drama with a great job by both leads. Adulthood approaching ardent party besties and all the life choices that comes along with that process.
Martha: A Picture Story (US/Australia) – Charming documentary on graffiti photographer Martha Cooper. It’s really about how she looked at the things others ignored and saw the beauty (and continues to) in the nooks and crannies of society. In the Q&A the director said *every* interview request she made was a solid YES, which never happens in documentaries. She’s well loved by all that know her and it was evident in the movie. Lovely film.
Honeyland (North Macedonia) – Magical documentary that is so interesting you consider the events were staged (they weren’t). Like a good documentary, it truly gives a window into a world I didn’t know existed and all without narration. Stunning shots too.
It was a super fun festival. Venues are nice and central to town and I appreciate a ticketed festival too (vs. a pass where you can hop into movies but may have to line up to get into things). Australia is far away so I get how there weren’t a ton of Q&As but that’s the bit I really love. I managed to get into a few and I loved those movies even more after hearing from the filmmakers. I miss that connection and it’s one of my favorite parts of other festivals.
This was a great theater with changing lights
Martha Cooper at her Q&A.
Mike and Eric visited during the festival too, so we got to hang out like we did back at Cal. Loved getting to spend time with them and to show them around Melbourne. So much fancy brunch and tasty coffees!
Eric having his first Aussie meat pie!
Coffee flight at St Ali
Extra Ordinary with the boys!
I’ve known these guys for 18 years now!
So many tasty brunches
Look another one at the same cafe!
Roos living in the vineyard
We went to wine country too, just an hour away. We got to see a mob of kangaroos that live in the vineyards. It was adorable to me, but kind of sucks for the winemakers. They’re quite pesky and in low-rain years the roos can really ravage the grapes (their kangaroo arms are exactly grape height).
Checked another thing off my Aussie bucket list: attending a footy game! Aussie Rules Football is a fast-paced, frenetic game. I loved the oval field. Makes every seat great without those odd corners! It’s a super wide field too, and the play spreads all over.
The MCG is a gorgeous venue and we scored great weather too!
Ball resembles rugby, but with different rules. The egg shape ball made for lots of funky bounces so tons of changes in possession. No pads or body armor at all–so similar to rugby there, but there’s bounces, kicks and hand balls (basically punching it to pass). Goals switch each quarter (20 mins long) and none of those irritating NFL TV timeouts so the action is at a nice pace. A clean catch “a mark” can even happen while using another player’s body as a spring board, sometimes with players jumping off other people’s shoulders! They’re crazy athletes.
I didn’t see many fouls at all, as everything seemed game but I guess you can only tackle from the shoulder to the knee, so that’s good to know.
The whole gang out for the footy match!
Got to watch the game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, or the MCG. It’s the most famous stadium in Australia and the final (ala their Superbowl) is played there each year, no matter the teams. That night’s game had a ~70K crowd, and they were loud! So glad to catch a game at the ‘G! It turned out to be the last game of their regular season, then it’s a bye week then playoffs begin.
But really, it’s the food I came to report on. Meat pies! Hot jam donuts! Of course, there were fancy espresso machines too, so I had a nice soy latte there too. Good ol’ reliable Melbourne. Let’s see how many movies I can see next week! 😉
Had to have a meat pie
Eating a jam donut is more difficult than it looks
In our quick four day time together, we really packed it in. I mean, we’re related so meat pies were high on Sean’s list. That’s my brother alright. He’s gotten super into coffee as well, so took him to as many coffee spots as we could fit in time and considering caffeine tolerance.
This was SO good. Put cheese inside a sausage?! YES.
Tomato sauce & fancy chutney. Yum.
I keep trying sausage rolls but pies beat them every time for me!
Dukes
Padre
Hector’s Deli— here Sean noticed they did a weird thing: espresso shot into the milk, THEN frothed.
These are the LITERAL people that picked my coffee beans. Awesome.
Our cups came with tasting notes and lots of details on the beans & roast
Unfortunately we didn’t get to see all the family but had some time with them early on so Sean could meet baby Joey. They’ll be in the States so he can see them when he’s back! I do so love how small the world has become with travel.
Sean and Joey
J showing the factory downstairs
Wattle is the floral emblem of Australia. That’s where the green and yellow came from!
Exploring Abbotsford Convent grounds
I hadn’t known how large of a Greek population was in Melbourne before I arrived here, so we went to a Greek institution, Jim’s. There’s no menu and you just tell them what you’re feeling like eating and it magically arrives. The calamari was divine but a little disappointed by the tasteless octopus. Love the BYO though and the table of two guys next to us walked in with a six-pack each. Ha.
Lamb chops
Superb calamari & that’s a slab of Greek cheese, saganaki
We had to take a break between meals so took Sean to the Melbourne Museum. Love the Melbourne Story exhibit there, which gives you the entire history from settlement to now. Tram & train history, and my favorite bit is the map and data visualization map of the neighborhoods, when they were established and a running population count. You see it start as a tiny settlement in the 1835 to the 2nd most populous city in Australia (5M now).
Dark but this webbed fork for asylums was interesting. Made for inmates’ safety.
Phar Lap, who famously won the Melbourne Cup back in the 1930s
Love a good museum exhibit. The dinosaur bits were excellent and discovered a giant prehistoric wombat, the diprotodon. A wombat the size of a small car! Imagine the snoring.
Epic blue whale skeleton
Creepy spider crabs
Look at all that taxidermy
The bird collected all those bottlecaps to impress the ladies with the colorful nest design. Works on me.
Hit all of my greatest hits: Hot Star (tasty tasty Taiwanese fried foods), Pidapipó (gelato), and my favorite market ever–South Melbourne Market.
Hosier Lane now has a big Post Malone piece up. Last I was here it was Drake and before that Marshmelo. Such great pieces too. I’m only coming by monthly or so, so I wonder how often it’s changing.
Colors!
They had a big Hong Kong piece up
Always a fun alley to check up on the local street art. Wonder which pop star will take over Post Malone.
We decided to drive out to check out the Yarra Valley, their wine country. It’s a nice 1 hr drive out of town. It was an overcast day so it was pretty quiet out there. We hit up Domaine Chandon, the bubbly producer. They have vineyards across the world: Brazil, India, California and Australia. We had fun on the tour and Sean went for the splash sampling.
When did he get so classy?
So many different bubbles
We’re inside a bubble!
Love a good vineyard
Went to a smaller neighboring natural wine producer and Sean did another tasting. He tried 8 wines for $5! It was awesome being able to talk to the actual winemaker. She also had worked as a makeup artist in the film (the Hobbit movies!) & television (Sons of Anarchy!) world so it was nice to pick her brain on the local industry. It’s super nice out there.
A sheep JUST gave birth to triplets while we were there!
Wines I’d never heard of like viognier & marsanne
Funky brewery
Got to go out and try the nightlife a bit too. Checked out a craft brewery, Moon Dog. I got to have my first dessert sour ever, called In The Crumble, The Mighty Crumble. It was really nice! The bloody mary ale was nuts too but a whole glass of that could be hard. Sean tried their pale ale, one of their best sellers. It was a funky place.
Very pretty
Hidden bars are kind of common here too. Denise gave us a solid lead and we went to Galah (an Aussie bird), which we entered through a bottle shop. It was hip and cozy and I tried the Budgy Smuggler (Aussie for a Speedo) and Sean had the Galah (the shades of the drink matches the bird). Super yummy and fun to explore the bar scene a bit. Gotta test things out for any future visitors. 😉
Bring it on, festival!
I’ve been waiting for the Melbourne Film Festival to start and Sean joined me for my first movie of it, a doc by Mads Brugger, Cold Case Hammarskjöld. He last did The Ambassador back in 2012, where he got into the blood diamond industry. Mads is a funky Danish man and it comes through in the doc. He’s funny and it was a compelling case. Great doc and I’d recommend it but I’m rather partial to documentaries.
The festival is 18 days long and right now, I have 18 movie tickets so it’s going to be a great 2 weeks to come! Thanks for visiting, kid brother!
I swear I like living in Melbourne but July was a busy travel month so I ended up out of the country a lot more than in it.
I went back for my 20th high school reunion and my brother joined me there then followed me back to Melbourne so I could show him around.
Every time I’m in Malaysia, it’s a never ending series of feasts and family. Phew and this trip was no different. So many favorites hit (especially anything I missed when I was back in April).
Chee cheong fan HK style is my fav
Pan mee with century eggs
Cheese naan is a first but yummy
Nasi lemak bungkus
Lovely chicken rice
Mochi in peanut dust
Cold desserts work great in this heat
ABC – air batu campur (mixed shaved ice)
Beans, jelly and nut goodness is hidden below
Bubur cha cha – taro/yam dessert
I used to call these rat tails or worms. So good.
This is my fav preparation of them
KL now has quite a few trendy hipster cafes too, and tried those out. Fun seeing some fusion food mixed in with traditional stuff (jackfruit salad, cincalok fried chicken, etc.).
Steph & I enjoying hipster fusion
CFC – decent but not shrimpy enough
Coffee spot where I waited out a quick tropical storm
Loved the jackfruit salad and the salted egg rice
Sean and I also got to relive some serious childhood memories going back to the Royal Lake Club. It’s where we used to go every weekend for my dad to play squash (read: yell super loudly in a confined space) and us kids swam and read the entire Asterix & Obelix catalogue. It was trippy being there and seeing the pool and the restaurant we would excitedly run to each Saturday. It’s funky going into a dusty crevice of my head that I hadn’t thought of returning to. Nothing bad but funny how memory works.
Sean’s mind being blown being back at the pool we spent a lot of time at
Something as simple as a roti kosong (empty) with dipping curries was delightful
Literally every weekend for 6.5 years
We were duly excited to be back at the Buttery
It was Sean’s first time back in 7 years so we had to hit up some old favorites. We used to go to Esquire Kitchen as a special treat to eat their mantou buns dipped in a fatty pork dish. The restaurant itself had become more casual dining but the dish was just the same.
The mantou buns were super soft and perfect for dipping in the pork sauce
Yup, pretty fatty
We got to hang out with my cousin David’s new son, Jayden. Love me some Asian babies.
Sean & David haven’t seen each other since they were 10!
Giant savory steamed egg dish
Fish curry, claypot tofu and pork short ribs
Jayden’s a bundle of cuteness
All tables should always have large containers of raw chili and garlic
So nice seeing (and eating) with family
The Taiwanese boba trend was hitting Malaysia hard and there were so many all over! Most had a rather sugary brown sugar flavor, and this one even had fresh wok made boba simmering constantly for your cup. It was some of the best boba I’d ever had but it was far too sweet.
That’s a lot of boba
So sweet & full cream milk only
Mall food courts have some stellar food options and the Starling mall has one of my favorite. It’s got lei cha, a savory Hakka dish that is just divine. Healthy and super healthy. I need to look for it in Melbourne (and the States!).
Seriously love this dish. Savory tea!
Soup loh see fan
Never had dry bak kuh teh before
Aunt & Uncle selfie
Chinese donuts & curry puffs
I’m used to only eating these with congee, but you can dip them into coffee too!
They were having a Thai food festival too and it was so nicely done. A crazy array of Thai snacks (I wish bags of chips didn’t take up so much luggage space, otherwise I’d have brought them all back with me).
Tubed condensed milk!
Nicely done festival
I wanted to try every one of these chips
My reunion was tons of fun! I’ll admit I didn’t remember everyone but it was still lovely to catch up and hear how everyone has been and rehash old school memories. International school was such a great, diverse experience to have. Everyone is different and came from far-flung countries and it got you used to how friends can be transient but you can still stay close. People flew in for this reunion from Japan, The Hague, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore (one guy from SG flew in for 3 hours–just for this dinner!).
Nice photobomb, stranger
Wanie & I were inseparable in high school
Fun hanging out now that we’re old enough to go to bars
20 years later!
We had to make the most of our short trip, so Sean and I tried out the high speed train to Penang (4.5 hrs one way). Neither of us had been back there since we were little kids. It’s street food is known to be world class and they weren’t wrong. My aunt gave us all the leads (even drew us a map so we wouldn’t miss any hawker stalls) so we did pretty amazingly in our 24 hour sojourn.
20 min ferry to the island
You share the ferry with cars
The city is bigger than I remember
We went to Pulau Tikus (Mouse Island) market for dinner then again for breakfast
Phew, a feast was had
White mee starts out white then gets more red as the chili sauce is added
Freshly charred chicken satay
A master at work
Rojak is fresh fruit & veg covered in savory sauce
Kalamansi plum juice–so refreshing
Apam balik – peanut pancake
Best kaya toast ever
I miss mangosteens. Lovely fresh soft fruit goodness
The best kuey teow soup I can remember! So much flavor in each dish. We had to compare two duck kuey teow soup hawkers next to each other just to compare and they did each have their differences! Mostly in the broth but one had noodles slightly less al dente. I’d happily alternate hawker stalls each time I went to the market.
Love the short bean sprouts
This man makes magic
Looks the same but it does have different flavor
A trip to anywhere isn’t complete without us trying out whatever local specialities McDs has to offer and this one had nasi lemak McD (with fried chicken and a nice spicy sambal), cempedak (jackfruit) McFlurry and a corn pie. Love how McDs actually try to localize rather well. Love trying them out.
Nasi Lemak McD was pretty great. The spicy fried chicken was so juicy!
Corn pie-yes. McFlurry was way too artificially sweet.
I wish I had time to try this one…
We got to meet another cousin we hadn’t met before, of course over far too much food. Alex was a ball of feistiness and it’s lovely to keep expanding the family circle with each trip.
Tau fu fa–who doesn’t want tofu for dessert?
Malaysia has stepped up its coffee game
I want to meet a new cousin every time I go back to Malaysia
It was especially wonderful to travel with my brother back to where we spent so many formative years. Next, our food adventures continue to Melbourne (but taking a short break from Malaysian food–don’t worry it won’t last too long).
Shock from realizing we’re STILL eating on this trip (6th meal of the day?)
From London I went to the final destination of Portugal. It was my good friend’s 40th birthday so the only due birthday celebration is to go to a country everyone wanted to visit and dine and relax in oddly California-esque environments.
Those party animals have been in Portugal for a few weeks but since I had my London layover, I was the last one to join the Portugal party. A short 3 hr flight away and I was there (gah, in Europe so many countries are under 3 hrs away! NZ is 4 hrs away from me right now).
I hit the ground running and landed and went straight to a group dinner on a beach, south of Lisbon. We had a sea bass (christened “sea beef”) so big one fish could feed all 13 of us. Saw a stunning sunset, that didn’t end until near 10p. It’s so nice being so north up here.
What a dream crew
Baby squid
Best sea bass I’ve ever had
Such a nice, slow sunset. 8:38p to 9:42p
The house was a divine concrete oasis, perfect for lounging. Enjoyed many moments laying about, reading, swimming and napping. Such a nice balance from the London bustle. Lisbon was a 30 min drive away, so we were quite tucked away on a raspberry farm.
This was my fav door to sit by
I liked the concrete everything
Such a lovely open space in the house
I know you tend to reference memories familiar to you but Portugal did truly remind me of California. The weather and the environment and even the smells felt similar. I think the same brush and trees were growing around too. Gotta say that it didn’t help there was a bridge there was a spitting image of the Golden Gate bridge. Turns out it’s the same manufacturer!
April 25th bridge
This bridge reminded me of the Dumbarton bridge!
Wavy tiles all over Lisbon
One difference I loved was how low the skyline was. No huge skyscrapers about and you mostly had a clear view of the sky wherever you were in town. The undulating tiled sidewalks I very much fell in love with. It was wavy but smooth, and it was a nice way to stay focused while you’re walking since you’d trip if you even tried to look at your phone while walking.
Francisco’s birthday lunch was at a delightful piri-piri chicken spot in town. It’s a tasty salt rub that is so delightful. Simple but very delicious. Oodles of side dishes too, especially the tasty rice pilaf-esque side.
We topped the meal off with watching the new Spiderman movie! It’s called Homem-Aranha. Rather fun and I believe Tom Holland is the best Spiderman to date.
It is such a nice and walkable city. Wide boulevards and gardens all over the place. Statues at many street corners and it can be rather hilly too. It was really nice to wander around, and there are little coffee stands all over the place too. Great street art all over.
Love the colors
Give that landscaper a pat on the back
Einstein’s motto was: Money, Bitches and Weed
Isn’t that inviting?
Portal to Lisbon
It’s even pretty on the insides
Largest flag in Portugal
Art everywhere!
Loved the late night dining and outdoor seating
The streets can be rather narrow too so you can see that in their smaller trams. They have to make tight corners so they have their wheels closer to the center of the tram car. Such iconic little trams.
Iconic yellow tram
Less iconic but still cute red tram
Had to try the pasteis de nata (custard egg tarts), which were heavier than I expected. They’re not like the dim sum egg tarts that I can down pairs of, as after just one Portuguese tart, there’s just a richness in the custard not in the yum cha kind. Both good in their own ways. Tried the prego (steak) sandwiches too. The bread is very soft and sort of English muffin-like. Croquetes of a few kinds (codfish + chorizo, beef + pork, game sausage, & tuna). Simple and tasty. It seems to be a trend here and I like it.
Talk about a deal for €1,70
Not super photogenic but mighty tasty
Yum!
Went for coffee and vanilla gelato
This market was excellent!
It was the ultimate pampering to get to hang out with professional chefs. They made a homecooked meal my last night and it knocked my socks off. They turned a €7 pork loin into juicy magic. Deanie got featured in the NYT that day! I’m so thankful to have such awesome friends.
Perfectly roasted pork loin
Best leftover breakfast spread ever
Cherry dessert Dutch baby pancake
My final group dinner!
The master chefs
Thank you Sesimbra and I will never forget my time with Barack O’llama.
Barack, I miss you
Happy Birthday, Francisco!
Portugal 4 eva!
This return was a little different. Went Lisbon -> Paris -> Abu Dhabi -> Melbourne. My first time flying Etihad and I loved it. Superb movies (The Inventor, Fyre Fraud, Project Gutenberg) and I got to see Paris from the air. Ate some macarons at the airport too. Not a bad deal. My screen on the plane was larger than my iPad! Good job, Etihad. Finally back in Oz for a beat… then I’ll fly away again next week. 😀
I swear I enjoy living in Melbourne but just been on a bit of a travel kick lately. Travel just seems like the total smart way to spend my time while not working. It’s only the whole lots-of-time-but-no-income predicament, but I’ve never regretted travel ever (even you–five-days-of-food-poisoning–Barcelona).
I had a short two week stint back in Melbourne after Hong Kong before heading out and winter sure was chilly over here. A low of 35F/2C was hit! It’s COLD here. I’m gonna say for sure I expected Oakland winters but it’s chillier by far. I finally gave up and went out and got an electric blanket and I’m so very happy I did.
Before I hit the EU adventures, I wanna share that I went to the Immigration Museum in town (thanks again for the membership, my dear Bay Area bookclub!) and I always am amazed by how similar Australian history is to the US one.
After their gold rush in 1851 (same time as the California Gold Rush), which brought in a lot of immigrants from all over the world, they implemented an immigration policy favoring British migrants over all others for the first four decades of the 20th century. These policies didn’t officially end until 1973! It’s sad to see the settlers being so unfriendly to immigrants when the settlers themselves are immigrants. Fascinating stuff.
It’s right in the policy name. Sigh.
Reminds me of the good ol’ USA
I hadn’t been back to London since 1998 so it was neat to get to visit again. I didn’t realize how many people would be there now! High school, college, current and ex-Pixar folks all over. It’s such a hub it makes sense but it still surprised me realizing how many folks I knew in that town.
This is me after 28 hours of travel
Melbourne is rather far away, so it was a few connections getting to London. Melbourne -> Kuala Lumpur -> Amsterdam -> London Heathrow. I didn’t mind the connections since it just meant more movie time for me. Since you asked: Keeping Up With The Joneses, Alita: Battle Angel, The Meyerowitz Stories and a few David Attenborough docs. Grabbed myself an Oyster card then hopped on the Tube into town to drop my bag off with Anthony.
The best way to stave off jet lag is to keep busy, so I immediately went exploring! Headed past St. Paul’s Cathedral and straight to the Tate Modern. So many floors of amazing free art! The building alone is a lovely huge space to enjoy. Mostly modern art but nice to see Monet and Kruger and such all mixed in. I’d be here all the time if I lived in London.
St Paul’s Cathedral
Exterior of the Switch House
The building alone is superb
Truisms by Jenny Holzer
Kruger’s work was the base for Supreme’s branding (without permission)
The Acrobat Schulz by Albert Birkle
Yup.
The Turbine Hall in the old Bankside Power Station.
Kept the walking tour going strong and hit up the British Museum next. Also didn’t realize it was free (donation appreciated) and spent ages checking out all the goodies they had to offer. The Egyptian stuff was great but so was the newest Islamic World room. Loved the Money exhibit and the lovely atrium space they had. Apologies to any British, but the museum felt a bit like a glorified trophy case at times. They displayed and treated all the pieces with utmost care and superb detailed signage, which I appreciated.
Parthenon reliefs
Sunny day perfect for museum-ing
David Bowie print in the Japanese section
Hyperinflation art
Money themed grates
Powerful art pieces of Saudi travel permission from a husband for wife’s travel
Rosetta Stone!
If this makes it so my glasses can now read all languages, it’ll be worth it
These bath shoes evidently are to prevent slipping? Hmm.
Great Court full of sunlight
Great pieces in the Egyptian hall; Amenhotep III here.
At plays you can feel the emotion right in the room. So powerful!
Duncan, Sam and Anthony were seeing a play that night, so I was able to snag a ticket and joined them. It was an awesome play (Bunk from The Wire!) but by the end of the play, I’d be up for ~40 hours so I was nodding off. I never knew the story of Death of A Salesman so it was cool watching this version. The cast was all superb and I think it heads to Broadway next.
The Tube was fun to take but I found I preferred taking the double deckers instead. 1) You get phone service, 2) such fun views from the top decker! You can look into first floors and everything (not that I needed too, but it was just kinda neat). I loved the efficiency of double the seats with the same vehicle footprint (most were hybrid too).
The full English breakfast was dreamy. Perfect for a day of walking miles exploring but otherwise would send me straight back to bed for a nap. Tried a cornish pasty and a traditional pork pie, but still prefer an Aussie meat pie. The pasty had too many potatoes and things and I just wanted more meat. The pork pie wasn’t warm (is that normal?) and was okay but just didn’t do it for me. Had to eat some Indian food while I was there so did get some tasty curries and such in. The coffees definitely weren’t anything to write home about, but Melbourne has spoiled me in that respect.
That hit the spot.
Kind of Spam-like, which isn’t a bad thing
Superb Indian grub
The crust-to-filling ratio seemed off
So many more potatoes and onions I didn’t know to expect
Couldn’t not visit the British Library–the largest national library in the world. Saw Turing’s Enigma Machine and there and the Magna Carta! Loved how they displayed the King’s library, a set of 65,000 volumes from King George II & III.
I love how it’s so centrally displayed
Turing was a genius!
Hogwart’s Express just a running start away!
The library was right next door to King’s Cross station so I had to take a peek at Platform 9 3/4. It’s a part of Harry Potter history! The official Harry Potter store was packed out (even had to stand in line to get into the store!) but didn’t see anything too critical to own in there. Living abroad has taught me better souvenir and knick-knack management. That combined with carry on luggage only helps keep general “stuff” to a reasonable size.
Anthony is great at group selfies. It’s quite the skill.
With the VFX industry going strong in London, it was nice meeting up with some old & current Pixar buddies in London. We met in Hampstead (SO picturesque!) and ate at a spot that was opened in 1585! This country as so much history everywhere, especially compared to the States and the even newer Australia (est. 1901). You kind of have to take a beat to think about how old everything really is.
My Aussie cousin has been in London for a few months so he got to show me around his neighborhood too. So nice to see college friends (some living there and some happening to be in town at the same time) too! Explored Hyde Park and Shoreditch together. I love how much of a hub London is so people are always passing through!
Met Johnny in plant cafe
Hyde Park was bustling on the sunny day
Kathy’s splitting time in London and HK
Got to meet the newest member of the Long family.
A high school friend of mine lives north of London so I hopped on a 3 hr train to go visit her and her family. My geographic knowledge of the area isn’t great so I had to look it up and it’s just a ferry away from Isle of Man. It’s the most north I’ve been so far in the UK but I do plan to return. She’s just south of the Lake District, where Beatrix Potter wrote the Peter Rabbit stories.
It was nice to get out of the city and see a bit of the countryside. Castles and one of the most famous witch trials were in Lancaster. I got to meet her family and catch up while we explored the area. The highest part of Lancaster is Williamson Park, which housed the Aston Memorial that has been called the Taj Mahal of the North since it was dedicated to his 2nd wife. Krishna and Bernd gave me history lessons on the War of the Roses and how it inspired lots of the dynasty fights in Game of Thrones too. Things you learn!
Origin of Lancaster Castle still is unknown
Most recently, it was used as a prison until 2011
My allergies were going nuts with all the pollen
It was worth it for all peaceful walking
Ashton Memorial
So much waterside walking. Canals and rivers all over.
What a nice place for Dhara to grow up
This sign makes sense now
International school in Malaysia to the UK
Felt like I sure packed a bunch in a few days so I definitely shouldn’t wait too long to return. So many friendly faces to visit and I’ll need more time to explore. Be back but maybe when I live in a place that isn’t a 24 hr travel day away… 🙂
Last time I was in Hong Kong was 15 years ago and I clearly forgot what time of the year I made that visit. It definitely wasn’t in June. It was sooo hot and sticky out but we made the best of it! Sticky weather can’t stop this vibrant city from moving along.
My good friend, Mike, from Cal has lived there since (and before) graduating, so he knows this place well. It was wonderful getting to spend time with his family and see his world a bit. It’s a world with really nice cars. 🙂
Mike!
We hit the ground running and took advantage of the cooler evenings out and drove up to Victoria’s Peak. It was so nice out there late when all the tourist buses are gone and you can just take in the epic views. Some of the buildings had turned off their lights but it was still lovely out. The density of the high rises here is astounding! The terrain is super hilly so where they can put a building, they’ll squeeze it in!
This view is just insane. Such density!
Had a lovely typical HK breakfast of scrambled egg sandwiches and soft soft pineapple buns. I loved the HK tea-coffee mix (called ying yang… get it?). It’s a lot more tea-forward than the Southeast Asian kind that I’m used to in Malaysia. It’s different but I think I like the sweet kind too.
Now that’s a breakfast I could do everyday.
I kept getting distracted seeing “Bay Area” signs and didn’t realize that the HK area is referred to as the Greater Bay Area. Neat! Let’s see how much I can explore!
There’s more than one Bay Area in the world
I picked this weekend so we could have more time with the kiddos as it was a school holiday (for a big Dragon Boat race). We all got to head out together to see the Big Buddha on Lantau Island. It was a gorgeous windy drive up the mountains to see the Tian Tan Buddha pop out.
See the mini Buddha in between the hills?
There we go
268 steps to the top
Lovely weather after weeks of rain.
It was a nice clear day out so you could see the neighboring islands clearly. It’d been raining a lot the week prior so the skies were clear, which was great. The Buddha’s a good 34m tall and overlooks the Po Lin monastery.
We also went to see a typical fishing village, Tai O. Janis’s family actually is from there, so it was neat checking it out. It was well known for seafood like shrimp paste. We saw sheets of it laying out drying, and also salted egg yolks! I thought they were dried apricots at first… such deep yellows! Yum. I wish salted egg was more popular outside of Asia. It’s even in chip flavors at 7-11!
Dried shrimp
Salted egg yolks!
I wish I could’ve eaten more
Tai O fishing village
Food here was stellar. Love the snack game here. Food on sticks is something I’ve always been partial to, so the fried shu mai on a stick was lovely. Classic egglettes (hollow light waffles), fancy pork buns (the bird necks are edible, made of pasta!). Had mantis shrimp for the first time (each is the size of my forearm!). Breakfast noodles with fried eggs and spam. It reminded me of saimin in Hawaii. Nothing wrong with that. Claypot rice is a classic HK meal too, so we had to have it.
You had me at shiu mai
Egglettes
Fancy pork buns
My kind of breakfast
We went to a hospital cafeteria for this dish!
Mantis shrimp
Feast! Fried oysters and other goodies
I won’t forget the lovely fruit desserts. I had the mango with tau fu fa (silken tofu). So good, especially in this hot weather! Also had a few cheese teas while I was here. It’s a Taiwanese trend that’s big here now. McCafe even has a cheese tea line! It’s a foamed cream cheese layer that’s poured on top of the normal milk or fruit tea. It’s a nice, slight savory taste to the tea. They even had a nice swivel top to the cup, ala parmesan cheese, so you can temper how much cheese you’d like per sip. It’s really quite nice!
Mango mango!
McDs had an okay tea
Hey Tea’s was solid!
What I’d not seen before, that I noticed during dim sum, was double sets of chopsticks. I guess the inner one is for eating your meal and the outer one is for serving. They started to do the double sets when SARS hit Asia, so it’s a hygiene thing. Makes sense.
I loved exploring the neighborhoods and seeing how they were different. Went thru Wan Chai, Central, Causeway Bay, Mong Kok and TST. The hilly terrain makes is just so unique. The nature is growing all over the place, despite the modern edifices and fancy cars driving by. I love that. These tree roots are everywhere and the place is just so actively.. alive. Found a few Space Invader pieces around town too!
Love those roots
Space Invader at PMQ
Yakult tram!
Kung Fu Space Invader
More trees
Kinda bummed I didn’t but this toy dim sum set…
I liked how the subway system kept the AC in, with walled train corridors. Kind of wish the escalator row had that too. It covers 2,600 ft (800m) in distance! I got there so early it was fun watching them shift it. It’s in the downward direction until 10am, then in the upward direction from 10a-6p. Takes 15 minutes to do the shift and they have people standing in front of each section at the shift to ensure people aren’t on it at the time. Kind of interesting to see.
MTR station
Escalator row
In a totally crazy thing, I bumped into someone I knew outside a congee spot! She was only in HK for 20 hours and we managed to see each other! I love when that happens. The world is so small!
Haven’t seen her in years!
I joined Mike for his regular weekend driving groups and it was just like old times in college, except he’s stepped up his car game (I’m still stuck on Honda Civic mode). His mates have some of the fanciest cars I’ve ever seen. We hit some high speeds and we can get the empty roads by leaving the house at 6am on the weekends. They all know exactly where the speed cameras are too (they do label quite a few of them too… with hilariously antiquated clip art).
Seriously, these made me laugh
Wing doors!
Look at that line up!
David Brown –classic car moded with modern specs
That green Aston is literally one of a kind!
Goodness. It’s like being at Motorama
Mike promised me a ride in his Aston Martin if I visited, so here we go!
I happened to be in town over the first protest day, Sunday June 9th. Folks were encouraging me to go as I didn’t realize how safe HK was. It was the largest protest at 1M people (that’s 1 of 7 HK residents!) since the British handoff. It was all against the Chinese extradition law, expected to pass the coming Wednesday. It was immense to see all those people, babies in prams and grandparents–all out walking in their dissent. It did get a bit violent at 1am that night, sadly. I accidentally joined in as I was meeting my high school friend for dinner on the protest route! We were 30 floors above it (insane to see the scale from up there). It was awesome catching up after 20 years and I’ll see him again next month at the high school reunion!
We had 20 years of life to catch up on
Epic protest on Hennessy Rd.
The protest managed to get the law delayed and their sister protest last Sunday was double the size! 2M folks out and marching. Nuts.
I decided to to the hit up the Museum of History to learn more about HK. It was a great museum (and free)! So many awesome exhibits and got to see and learn so much about how this unique spot came to exist. I love when they have proper life size pieces to explore (e.g. a junk boat and a double decker tram).
Tram
Bun tower!
Paper gods
Hoklo babies had style!
Classic junks
Wrapped up my trip with a visit to Hong Kong Disneyland! Now only Shanghai left to complete my Disney Global theme park bingo card! HK is the smallest park in the world (68 acres/6.5 million visitors annually). In comparison, Tokyo Disneyland is 115 acres/18 million, and Anaheim Disneyland is 84 acres/18 million. I was glad to have visited here after Shanghai has opened to ease up the traffic at the park.
It’s super cute! It’s trippy how similar it is to Anaheim, as the main street feels *almost* identical. It’s Sleeping Beauty’s castle, just like in Cali, but it was under renovations so it wasn’t super majestic at the time. Found out they changed the layout of the park to stick to proper feng shui rules too.
It was an almost perfect replica of the Anaheim Main St.Vending machines in Adventureland.
The park has some fun, unique rides. Guess they don’t love scary rides, so Mystic Manor is their version of Tower of Terror. It’s not scary at all and is about a world explorer and his pet monkey (I swear is reuse of Abu in Aladdin) finding a magic musical box that makes inanimate objects animate. Love the laser work in that ride!
Silly Albert
The Manor itself
Lord Henry Mystic and his pet Albert
Big Grizzly Mountain was super fun as a roller coaster too! Toy Story Land is superb too! Great details and the scale was so perfect. The rides there are a lot more kid-friendly, too. Not like Paris with their 360 loop roller coasters.
Portugese egg tarts!
I’ve always loved these popsicle stick benches.
Potato tornado
Toy store
Yes, I took a picture of the bathrooms
Army Men drop
I didn’t mind the rain as it kept the crowds down
They had a Marvel bit too! Iron Man Experience is essentially a re-skinned Star Tours with a smidge of Soarin’ in there, as you fly across the HK skyline from the park. The new Ant-Man & Wasp ride was a more modern Buzz’s Astroblasters. Hyperspace Mountain is Space Mountain but now Star Wars branded. It was fun!
Iron Man is Star Tours I guess
You got to shoot laser guns after getting shrunk down
You’re welcome!
I love the little park details too. They sold more Asian wares (bowls/spoons and character nail clippers!).
No, my house isn’t filled with these.
Seriously. Character nail clippers!
Didn’t know these were a thing.
It was so nice to get to visit HK again and see my buddy Mike as a great father to his two little ones. I won’t wait as long next time to visit, promise!
No books or movies consumed this week as I followed my cousin out of town on one of her locoms. It’s a term I hadn’t heard of in the States, but it’s essentially being a sub for a doctor. They’re often out of town since there’s a lot of country out here and it may be hard to get a consistent medical support out in the smaller towns.
It was nice to see how life is life in the smaller towns all across Australia. We went to Horsham, which is still in the state, around 3.5 hrs away by car. I stayed home with J and helped take care of the two little kids and we explored the area.
Horsham has a population of 16,000
The Grampians National Park was in the region so we got to check it out too. The weather was a bit rainy so instead of anything as glorious as the visitor pamphlet…it was more foggy trees. Hopefully I can come back and camp when it’s not too wet out. The terrain reminded me a bit of parts of Hawaii too. It’s supposed to be quite good for rock climbing too.
Halls Gap is the gateway into the Grampians. You could see the sandstone mountains from the town center.
So sure, we didn’t get to see much of the national park, but I got to see my first Big Thing! Evidently there are a ton of these items across Australia (people set their road trips around them!) and this is my first. It was near where we were staying so we stopped at the Giant Koala. Learned he was christened the name Sam, after a famous koala that passed away during the 2009 Black Saturday wildfires.
Sam stands at 14 m(46 ft) tall!
I got to spent a lot of quality time with Annie & J and the kids. It was a big week! Joey figured out how to turn over all on his own! He still hates it when he’s on his tummy but he sometimes can turn himself back over. Ha. He’s getting there.
Joey’s a roller now!
I’ve achieved hug status with Tilly, so that’s major too. 🙂 We made cookies together and explored town when it wasn’t raining. She got very close to a group of wild kangaroos! Learned that the collective noun for kangaroos is a mob (derived from Aborigines). I even saw some kangaroos on the side of the road boxing! (Happened way too fast to take a picture.) Saw a wild emu too. It’s awesome seeing all the wildlife out and about.
Babychino cheers!
I mean, they’re so chill with us
Tilly the baker
She wanted to get closer and closer to them!
HUG!
One of the best things that I’ve always liked about smaller towns is the lack of light pollution, so I was able to see the Milky Way on the clear nights! Jen told me about a star cloud that’s only visable from the Southern Hemisphere, so I went hunting for that too. I saw it! Pictures are impossible with just my phone, but that didn’t stop me from trying. You can actually see little white stars (I’ve circled Alpha Centuri and the Southern Cross). I use a fun Sky Guide app that helps me identify what I’m looking at. It helps so much with the constellations and gives their backstories too.
I know it’s dark but that’s with just my iPhone!
I saw it! The Milky Way too.
On the way back, my Aunt & Uncle joined in and we explored Ballarat together. It’s the Gold Rush capital of Victoria and we went to Sovereign Hill. It’s an awesome open-air museum depicting the town back in the beginning of the gold rush in the 1850s. It’s filled with costumed actors that you can interact with and learn information about the time.
Family field trip
You could freely wander town and talk to anyone in costume
Great interactive presentations too (this one had all their provisions from back then)
I swear I didn’t try to take a picture of this dude’s butt. It was incidental.
Loved the details and it was neat to see the shops and all their period-specific state. I really enjoyed learning to write with a quill and ink pot in the school house.
Writing with a quill pen was neat.
Church
All the shops were still operating and you could buy their wares!
Horse and carriage tours went around town.
There’s a Gold Museum too, which had recreations of some of the HUGE nuggets that were discovered there. This one, Welcome Stranger, was only found 2.5 cm under the ground!
Look at the faces of those miners!
This nugget… sheesh
I love these, where they should what the town used to look like a long time ago so you can see how things have changed
The presence of gold brought many immigrants seeking fortune. The Chinese referred to Victoria as “New Gold Mountain”.
It was really nice to get out of town and learn some about Australia’s history and when the Chinese came over. What a smooth transition as next post will be on my Hong Kong trip!
finally calculated how many seasons of TV I’ve watched while here… and it’s a lot. 40+! So… that’s I think why the books & movie stats have been lower than they were in the beginning. 😀
2 house plants killed (I think one may be salvageable… not I think I’m being optimistic)
So took it easy this week since I’ve been travelling a bit lately. It’s a bit rainy this week too so it was easy to just chill out at home again. I’ll be hitting the road again soon, so I’ll enjoy the calm before the storm while I can.
It’s super basic but I was keen to go to my first Aussie sausage sizzle. It’s basically a fundraising BBQ. This last weekend was their national elections, and almost all polling places have a sausage sizzle going on. Just super simple, sausage in plain white bread (why pay for a hot dog bun when a loaf of bread is so cheap?) with grilled onions for a whopping $2.50. I went to a local primary school so this sizzle and bake sale was for the school itself. This being Melbourne, they also had vegan/halal offerings and a proper espresso machine too! Sheesh. Voting is mandatory ($50 fine for those that don’t participate) so folks pretty much make it out. They make it easy and you can mail in and I was visiting a friend that just gave birth and voting groups were going room-to-room doing ballots for those new parents that’d be too busy to make it out on Election Day. So smart!
Solo’s are bubbly lemonade
They had fancy teas too
I heard this before but I think Australia is the Canada of the South. The base level of politeness and chillax is wonderful. That’s been lacking from the States lately so it’s nice to see cordiality again.
Thought I could share the few Aussie-isms that I’ve experienced and love. I’ve already shared quite a few, like the Ute that makes me smile whenever I see it on the road (which is rather often), all their furry-yet-deadly creatures, meat pies galore, parents-with-prams parking and also Malaysian food up the wazoo.
The ubiquitous “How you going?” from everyone. Baristas, cashiers, shop workers, Uber drivers, etc. It’s just SO Aussie and I love it. It’s ever so slightly not what is said in the States that it’s just a charming getting all their own.
I know they’re not the only country to do this, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE not having to tip ever here. Folks are paid a fair living wage everywhere, and tax is always included in the totals you see on the price lists, so all totals are nice round numbers too. They eliminated 1 and 2 cent coins back in the early 90s. This is already a signal to how pragmatic they are about things here. (Side note:
It’s small but I’ve noticed that folks tend to sit in the front seat in Ubers/cabs here. It’s a minor difference but sort of nice. You get to chatting with the driver pretty fast that way and it doesn’t seem as ‘business’. I guess not everyone wants that, but it’s just interesting to note.
The slang! Shortening of most things and funnily enough, sometimes lengthening of things! For example for names:
Barry = Bazza
Jon = Jono, Dan = Danno, Jack = Jacko
Jason = Jase
For just general stuff the list of slang is endless:
Bottle shop = Bottle o’s (where you buy booze since you can’t buy liquor in grocery stores)
Being in the Commonwealth, there are a ton of British-isms that many folks don’t even seem to know if it is a British-ism or a uniquely Aussie thing.
Lawyer = Solicitor
Fairy lights = any string lights
Footie = Soccer
Plaster = Bandage (ala Band-Aid)
Not sure if this is British, but for neighborhoods, they say the direction after the place, e.g. I live in St Kilda East. Watch movies near Carleton North. Pub trivia in Collingwood North. Yet it’s not consistent either, but it is funny that the direction is after the place name.
There are a few Melbourne only bits I love too. Endless superb coffee available everywhere. I wish I could handle more than two cups a day, but even at that, it’d take me ages to cover all the cafes in this town.
Milk Bars – I guess back in the 90s or so, grocery stores weren’t open too late so everyone had these smaller local grocers where they could go get milk, bread or something quick. At first I was confused that folks here really liked to drink milk, that they needed these milk bars all over the place. They’re sadly mostly closed down as most grocery chains are now open until midnight. You can still see remnants of those older shops all over the place.
It’s basically a mom-and-pop convenience store
Otherwise, nothing too exciting going on. I actually went on a run the other day, so that’ll be a nice way to explore town too. Glad it’s mostly flat in this city. 🙂 But if anyone knows how much I dislike running, that’s no small thing. Gotta balance out all that TV binge-ing a little bit and you can’t complain about it costing nothing at all to do.
Finally collected enough frames from Op Shops to put up a gallery wall in my living room. I love seeing familiar faces everyday and it makes my apartment feel more like home with pictures everywhere!
I’m out of town all next week seeing a bit of the countryside outside of Melbourne so that’ll be exciting. Gonna explore a nearby national park and maybe see some wildlife too!
What Em's Eating Now 