im back home, so uploading some pictures that were on my last day in melbourne, and some pics on suiyi's camera that i thought were nice. =) from now on, i will not be updating this blog but i guess it serves as a good memory of my time in melbourne. heh.


that day we were on the ferris wheel, we were sitting in the wheel car directly behind a group of four children who were really cute - they were screaming happily and waving frantically at their parents below. this shot we took when we waved at them and they waved back. the oldest boy went, "are we going to be famous?" (imagine aussie accent + cute boy) sweet! haha.


it was cold up on the ferris wheel though. >_<


on my last night out in melbourne, suiyi brought me to this mexican restaurant which had great food. seriously. the website is cute too - 3 amigos. an extensive list of cocktails, beers, and basically alcoholic stuff. but suiyi had a fruit punch today, and i opted for a mango el nino - a gold tequila cocktail with lime, mango and caramel. sweet, but good. ^^


best nachos in the world. best best best. makes me want to make them. i will, you know. i think i know how i can do it. if i find good corn chips, though. corn chips in singapore tend to be rather thick. the thin ones with hollow centres taste better. =)


my seafood paella. it wasnt really real paella, but anyhow it was good. the scallops were really fresh and so, heavenly.

okay.. hatsuyuki from now on!

velda.

velda downs a foster's.
11:32 AM

sorry ah, first picture is food liao. tt was sunday's dinner. gourmet pizza washed down with lychee infused vodka. it cnt get better than tt eh.


mine was called [4 stagiono]. its pizza with tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, ham and artichokes. but i took out the artichokes and added mozzarella because cheese is my weakness. hah!


nice menu above the pizza kitchen and filipino-looking chefs. good atmosphere as well.


the next day a trip to brunswick street, the more alternative sector of town, according to suiyi. music people, arty people.. you get the idea. we stopped at a spanish chocolatier called san churro and had churros. -_-" but it was good! hot churros dipped in dark chocolate sauce and chocolate milkshake. decadent decadent.


we returned back to the city centre and went to the windsor hotel. always wanted to take a look at the hotel, because its the only grand hotel in melbourne, built in 1886, i think, and i wanted to see how different it was to raffles hotel. loved the front entrance alr.


the "ladies' powder room", as they call it. pretty! but not as nice as raffles. heh. unbending loyalty to my former employer. as andre would agree, RH has the best shittable toilets outside your own home. hahaha.


thought i looked stupid trying to get a picture of myself in the telephone booth. the booth was an old elevator transformed to well, a booth, so it was quite cool.


and since we were in the area, i decided to look for the best chinese restaurant in the world, and really the best - from all the rankings there are of restaurants - flower drum. you cnt get a table without booking months in advance.


its so discreet the door has no signs on it. could see the manager standing just inside the door though. wish i could eat there. wish i could eat there. ahh!

coming back soon!

velda.

velda downs a foster's.
1:34 AM

happy easter everyone. loads of shops in melbourne were closed on good friday, but still because of the number of shops here,quite a number were still open in the city. ahha. so this easter weekend was dedicated to a bit of sightseeing and shopping, obviously. i dont know why, but i bought stuff for people rather than for myself on thursday night out. hmm.


this is chadstone, a huge shopping mecca near hughesdale station, tts about err, maybe 45 minutes out of the city by train. its really big, and i dont think suiyi and i finished walking the place.


but after buying stuff for people.. (you willknow when i get home), we went to [the pancake parlour] for dinner. ate until super full. tts me trying to pretend im glaring at the menu thinking of my order. sorry very lame.


oishii! looks good eh? ^^ tt was my dessert, for goodness. tts why i ate until i was about to burst. >_<


the next day.. finally, the real reason why i came to melbourne. like i said, i was not very impressed by RMIT university, and the moment i stepped down the tram outside the univeristy of melbourne, i felt good. below are some pictures of the place, loved it. it had the feeling of an old, established institution, and was really beautiful.


suiyi has pictures of me on her camera pretending im a student walking down the pathways, reading book on the stairs etc. ^^"










this beautiful building was the archaeology centre or something. nicee..


look! tts a classroom or lecture theatre door! suddenly feel like taking archaeology...


returning back to the city after that rewarding trip to unimelb, a sort of funfair was set up to celebrate the comedy festival, and suiyi and i got on tt ferris wheel. it was great to see the yarra river from the top, but it was freaking cold and windy. i love ferris wheels though, so i enjoyed myself. =)


and today.. went to richmond to do more factory outlet shopping.. - the number of factory outlets in melbourne itself is astounding. in case u are wondering, this is tom, my chef lego badge thingie i bought at the camberwell market last week. super cute lah! but i dropped his hat somewhere today, damn.


when we got down at richmond station, we were caught in the crowd of people on their way to watch an australian rules football match. they were all decked out in their team colours and everything; like tt kind of atmosphere a lot.


last picture of the day: look at the latte art! we were in this italian/middle eastern/i dont know what cuisine cafe, and the barrista did this! i was really impressed - tt is really seriously scarily beautiful.

velda.

velda downs a foster's.
11:51 PM

just some pics from what ive been doing these past couple of days.. btw, andre's back from his PRC trip.. wahah. finarri!


south park on tv. its the manbearpig episode from the tenth season.. why oh why doesnt singapore show south park?


met suiyi for dinner, but before that, went up to her studio to have a little peek. this is how it looks like from the second floor down. the big R suiyi just bought; and its so big she couldnt bring it home.. so she just.. erm.. sort of left it there. haha.


opposite her workplace was a bar called revolver, which had a thai restaurant at the back. realised that ever since arriving in melbourne, we had dinners at many many asian restaurants ah. ^^" so we decided we had to have pasta soon.


the next day, i went out to the city to do a spot of visiting shops i wanted to go, before gg for the opening show of jim henson puppet up! was kind of afraid i wouldnt get the jokes, but it was hilarious. was laughing till tears came out of my eyes. which hurt, because my skin peeling from dry weather. haha.


and finally we went for angmoh food, at a place called the italian waiters' club. was really noisy, but i kind of like it. also had a lot of pasta varieties i have no idea about, and the menu was in italian. so it was like "tortellini alla crema" and "fettucine paglia e fieno".. tmd what is it?! haha. quite funny actually. but tts an abstract picture of the bruschetta we had. yummy!


enjoying my tortellini bologna. beef all the way~ haha.


went home via parliament station. the escalator is veryyy long.. and very slow. probably took us like 2 minutes to get down it. haha.

velda.

velda downs a foster's.
10:49 PM

australians have a sense of humour as well i guess. haha. at the prahran station while waiting for the train. we were at prahran town hall where there was a warehouse sale of CK jeans. wahh very tiring to search for nice jeans man. so i bought a jacket. corduroy, andre! selling price=$199; bought it for $69 aussie dollars. saved $130.


southern cross station, which has just been refurbished. the platforms 9 and 10. platform 9¾?! er, my sense of humour is like, up till there only, sorry ah. >_< haha. but quite cool right. the station very big mah, i was amazed.


shopping at direct factory outlet. why doesnt singapore have these kind of cool ideas? its a big shopping space where all the factory outlets from all the shops across australia gather. so i bought loads of stuff.
nine west satin flats for $49 - probably saved $50 a least
country road shorts for $6 (freaking!) - original price $85 (why the hell sell at $85 in the first place!) - saved $80
black tee for $10
jeans for $19.95, cnt rmb from where leh.. but cheap!
cnt rmb if i bought other stuff...


vietnamese pho at night for dinner. very good.. the soup was to die for. and the small portion was in such a big bowl. i dont know how anyone can finish the big portion. ^^"


the next day at melbourne central. melissa! i spotted krispy kreme donuts, but there was a queue and i wasnt in the mood for sweet stuff. so i took a picture. haha. dont really know if i can bring them back though. =)


breadtop! floss buns? i wasnt sure, because i wouldnt step in.


we went to queen victoria market to see if we could get some nougat for people back home, but because we were distracted by shopping in melbourne central, the shops all close le. hahaha! but got camel ride for $5. remember sitting the pony ride there the first time i was in melbourne, and my grandpa took a picture with the butcher at QVM.. heheh.


the pet shop was nice, because they had a lot of cute birds. these are zebra finches, and they like to sit next to each other on the perch. very sweet. and ten dollars only. how i wish i could buy the whole cage. haha.


and this guinea pig damn cute lah! they have this trademark pertinent expresssion, dont you think?


this was really funny. because we were in queen victoria market, and it was approaching easter, they put a bunny hat thingie on queen victoria's head, and printed the image on the posters everywhere. i dont know whether i should laugh or cry.



RMIT university. too many asians about, it was scary. and the architecture and design of the building... not much to write home about. not an altogether charming feel i have about the uni though. heard our senior managed to get 1½ years advanced standing in tt place though.

more next time eh. =)

velda.

velda downs a foster's.
4:15 PM