Melbourne, 2011 (Part II)

Today’s bla: I’ve got a surprise which will land hard and big next week. Please prepare for that.

Get ready for the longest post this blog has ever published!!!

Recap..!

This is our group (Malachi and Zephaniah) – Annual Methodist Youth Conference (AMYC, 2011 Melbourne)!

Can’t really see me here.. but that’s the point! We had SO MANY PEOPLE! God bless us all!

 

… so from Part I, we have concluded the AMYC and off our journey starts – Post AMYC!!!!

This was taken during the bus ride from Rawson Village (campsite) to Mantra, our hotel. We had about 50 people staying in the same hotel post-AMYC – mostly Sydneysiders and Brisbanians in that particular bus. Sounded like barbarians.. Anyways, I’d imagined the Mantra Hotel would be so happy to have so many of us.

 

Mantra on the Park - 333 Exhibition Street
(I’d give 8/10 for my stay there! 10/10 if they had a gym)

The rooms were awesome posum!!! Maybe it’s because they felt like such a huge upgrade after our few days of stay at Rawson Village. ;)

Because most of us leave on different times we decided to have rooms specific as to when we are leaving. So, me, my sister, Nick, Wendy and Ruby were staying together since we are leaving 2 days earlier than others.

That’s Wendy loving and thankful for the washing-machine and dryer above. We hadn’t wash our clothes for 4 days in camp and everyone was grateful for the washing machines. It was definitely a funny experience!!

The rooms are fully furnished with a working kitchen, balcony, 2 separate rooms, 2 toilets (showers), a TV, a Sony radio with iPod port, washing-machine, dryer and auto-functioning AC. It was such a nice place considering we paid $50 per night per person. I paid $150 for 3 nights’ of stay! WORTH IT!!!

The iPod port is the best invention I reckon! Because Nick and I are Jay Chou fans, we kept Jay Chou songs in a loop in the mornings!! Waking up to Jay Chou songs in a gorgeous room is haven!

Nick had the queen sized bed (picture); my sister and I shared a room with two single beds; while Wendy and Ruby shared a king sized bed in another separate room with an attached bathroom.

Anyways, when we reached Mantra, everyone was super tired (got like 3 hours of sleep the night before) but very excited at the same time. To most, it’s where the actual fun begins!! Heck, we were in the Melbourne city! The fun possibilities and places are so many!!!

Wendy thought it’d be a great idea to save on breakfast for 2 of the mornings and so we went out to get some groceries the minute we arrived – Coles at Melbourne Central. Since we have a working kitchen we thought why not use it. We got bread, eggs and Nutella, juices and milk. We also had some leftover instant noodles from camp.

 
It costs us $4 per person only, for our room!!! And I have to say, the Coles in Melbourne CITY is actually cheaper in terms of some food grocery. Like the Mars bar I bought, it was $0.81 there; Brisbane city is $1.50 and $1.00 if it’s on discount. Some Woolies and Coles operate their business till 11pm too! That’s more like it. That’s what a city should be like!

Enjoying the scenery at the 14th floor. It was cold, windy, dry and bright. It wasn’t the summer experience we have in Brisbane.

 
Looking at the miniscule people and cars down below. Actually, I must be honest! The weather was perfect! Just nice for us Malaysians! Chilled and airy. But we weren’t prepared for this because we are from Brisbane! It’s like 33 degrees in Brisbane woi!! We brought all shorts and shirts…

Me and Nathan; along with Kathy, my sister, Ruby and Wendy at Tica Tera’s (Italian Restaurant) famous for its oven-baked pizza. I was super hungry that time (could eat a horse) but it wasn’t very good. :(

I ordered the medium Salmon traditional pizza – it’s a tad too x5352 savoury for my liking and it was awfully dry. I’ve definitely had better pizzas before. Teka Tera’s @ Lygon Street.

After that we all headed down to Queen Victoria Market (Suzuki market) which to my understanding happen to open and operate on Wednesdays only. Kathy brought us there because it’s one of the must-go places in the city.

It was PACKED, crowded and bustling with food and people!!! The atmosphere was like that one of Asian countries food-market!! BBQ-smoke-filled area, bustling people, people bargaining and the air of excitement.

SO many people!!! The atmosphere was awesome! With this magnitude, I don’t think there’s another place like this in Australia. Funny thing was when I can hear Malaysian accents every now and then! A lot of students here la!!!

Anyways our stay and sleep in Mantra was arguably the best throughout the year! We were always physically tired but never mentally exhausted. At the back of our mind we would be thinking about which room to crash and play! Since we pretty much know everyone that means we have about 12+ rooms we can go to for party!! We would play big 2, watch movies, talk, push-up poker and mingle till early in the morning. Our usual sleeping-time was about 4am.

First thing we do when we wake up was also big 2. #addicted Heck we even taught a white person (Kathy) the Asian game of Big 2. She is definitely a fast learner. She was also the one who had egg allergy too :(

We don’t just play the game, we feel the cards, we talked and mingled with people. Having back the fun we prolly missed throughout the year of uni-hell.

 
Our hearty breakfast – milk, Nutella on toast, eggs and orange juices. That’s Hannah and Wendy by the way. Wendy was sort of our leader for the EMP representatives. ;) The hen with the chicks!

 
Our mini group. Because of the magnitude of our group (40+ people) we always had to wait around for people. But I have to say the fun to mingle around was awesome!!! The waiting part wasn’t all that great though. All we need was that one person who goes to toilet and the rest would have to wait up. Eventually most of us went on our own in mini groups of 8 to 10. It’s a lot more efficient.

We didn’t visit any of the recommended places like St Kilda or Philip Island but we did roam around the CBD for days! Heck most of the people were so familiar of the city they know which places have water taps and toilets!! Or maybe that’s just me..

The major streets we always go was Russell Street, Swanston Street, Burke Street. At the end of the trip almost everyone knew our way around without maps!!!

 
The ladies at Melbourne Petaling Street (mo er ben tang ren jie)! It look so much like a real Chinese place! SO deh ASIAN!!!

Aidan from Melbourne booked all of us (50 people) to Crystal Jade along the corner between Little Burke Street and Russell Street for Dim Sum on Thursday morning. It was the best dim sum I had for a long while now. We had 5 tables and each of us looked #likeaboss when we walked into the restaurant. I heard a couple patrons counted: “waseh this group got 48 people le!”

I walked passed him swift and #likeaboss ;)

 
That’s John Moritz. One of the legend in camp.

We ate like there’s no tomorrow too!! Our table had Albert Wong, Peter and Aidan!! They took care of the bill! THANKYOU!!! We wanted to split the bill but they foot it in the end! #paiseh For the other 4 tables it was Dutch’s treat.

 
Imagine all of those for us!! Some of us skipped breakfast and were having brunch so they were really famished.

 
Next stop was to DFO across the bridge. Their DFO’s have got Armani Outlet, Guess, Burberry and etc. Such a difference! But not like we could afford them though but it was huge!! Funny thing when I went into Armani and wanted to try on a pair of washed denims and the price tag screams $550, a discount from $899. How to buy like that?!

Waiting for the time to pass @ Federation Square. Seriously we looked very cool because of how many of us were there. LIKE AN ASIAN INVASION!

That’s also where SBS and the GAY and LESBIAN.fm radio station was that day!!

Jenn and Anita from Sherwood. Some of the cutest ladies ever! :) Anita (right) has the best smile I’ve ever seen. You can’t help smiling when she smiles.

Tiff: IS THAT SUPERMAN?!!
Joshua: Nah.. It’s a spider in front of your face hanging from your hair.. #jokes

Hey! It’s those two again!!!

 
The five of us in room 1403. The funniest thing was when Andrew Tan mistaken that for 1703. Imagine the stranger opening the door at 1703.. HAHAHA!!

  
We also visited the St Paul’s Cathedral opposite Flinder’s Station and Federation Square! It was magnificent!!!! It was my first time stepping into a Cathedral this size. I heard it could easily accommodate 1000 people.

That’s how cool it looked inside!! Boy I wish all churches were like that!

We also went to Flinder’s Street – degraves place for some coffee!! It’s a street lined with coffee stores on both sides! What a coffee culture!! They called it the coffee strip.

SEE HOW MANY PEOPLE THERE FOR THE COFFEE!!!!!! Before turning into that street, you can literally smell the strong coffee aroma. I love it!!!

There was this Belgian Waffle place along the coffee strip too! I didn’t want it in the first place but since everyone was trying I thought why not. It was alright, nothing too great to bug upon. I shared mine with Angie, she had the maple one.

Angie took this photo! and look at my eye bags! LOOKS LIKE THEY’RE SWOLLEN!

If you need tips or advice on contacts be it colour or how to wear it properly, find her!!!

The night we spent with the Sherwood peeps before they flew off on Friday morning. I was told they didn’t sleep! I don’t know how they could do without sleep.. I guess I’m getting a lil’ too old for that..

The Melbourne peeps were awesome enough to hold a BBQ at Alexander Park 1km from Flinder’s Street. Again, we had about 50 people. We finished 100 sausages in minutes!

 
I remember this! This was the morning of the last day! We thought to ourselves what’s visiting Melbourne without tasting and trying Crazy Wing?!! A lot of people talked and discussed about this!! And we are Malaysians! WHAT’S SPICY TO US?!! So off we went! #likeaboss

Crazy Wing is a franchise famous for it’s chicken wings, and on their menu they have different levels of spiciness. Crazy Wing is the hottest one can get! In my book, it could easily passed as one of the hottest food in Australia. It’s basically chicken wings scattered and marinaded with Sze Chuan’s chilli powder and sauce. I am salivating just by looking at this picture.. #wth I remember when it first came to our table, the smell itself can put tears into my eyes.

Sze Chuan people can really eat spicy stuff..

Ladidah, I was the first one to eat it!! The first bite was nothing; so I took the 2nd bite. And hell started in my mouth.. Here’s some pictures of me suffering.

 
Just look at Paul trolling beside me. I was thinking, “really? hot? Nah, it shouldn’t be THAT hot”.

“Goodness me! I will definitely feel that on my other end tomorrow!”

“Can anyone tell me when it stops burning please?!!”

Paul: HAHAHAHHAAHAHA!!!!!!

 
10 cups of water followed after that and look how Emmeline was trolling beside me!! I felt like a star because the people around my table were taking videos and photos of me crying. In the end I went out to the nearest 7-Eleven and got myself chocolate milk! The cashier laughed: “haha! Crazy Wing? Enjoy yourself man!”

Now, rewind and go back a few nights onto dinner..

We went to Taiwan Cafe (Taiwan Xiao Chi) along Swanston street near McDonalds and Chatime. The food was cheap and awesome!!! Best thing was that they kept Jay Chou albums and songs in a loop! Best background music in a restaurant ever!!!

 
Emmeline, Tiffany, A Tan and I in Taiwan Cafe.

I reckon Melbourne food is both good and cheap! The Asian food there is relatively cheaper compared to Brisbane’s. I reckon it’s because of the many fierce competition of many eateries there so the quality and price has to be very good for patrons to visit. One can have SO MANY choices in terms of quality and price. That’s one of the great love I have for Melbourne – nice food.

It’s different in Brisbane. If Market Square in Sunnybank Brisbane closed down, WE ARE SO SCREWED! Plus it isn’t all that cheap!

 
Meet Valerie with her love for Chatime! We took this picture at GPO (General Post Office)! She’s the cousin of Christabel and niece to my dad’s good friend, uncle Thomas. Small world man!

 
Immediately after the Crazy Wing experience, we headed down to Monga along Russell Street. We met the Perth people (12) there. They recommended the Durian Fritters and we ordered ‘em. It was the bomb!! Literally a bomb explosion in the mouth!!!! Basically durian flesh in a big ball deep fried as fritters. 5 of those big durian fritters done to perfection plus a scoop of durian ice-cream in a serve!! It was awesome - $10.70!

If you go there, try it. You won’t regret it.

The breakfast I had before Crazy Wing, Malaysian Laksa @ Melbourne Central’s ThinkAsia. My laksa wasn’t all that great; but the stuffs (chicken, fish balls, prawns, eggplants) were more than the noodles itself. Good value!!!

Cousin Kathleen had the Malaysian Cha Kueh Tiaw and it was so good!!! Very authentic! You have no idea it’s fried in Australia.

 
Talking to Jonathan like an adult! He sort of saved Kathy’s (yes, that white lady) life the night before when she had some allergic reaction to some egg-contaminated sushi. Jonathan is a practising doctor and we cared for her before she caught a plane back to Perth at 5am.

Guys, it’s good to have doctor friends ;)

 
This is the last night (Friday)! Having some hang-out time with the Melbournians! They were so hospitable we felt so much love coming from them! It was incredible! They are the ones who caused most of us our post-AMYC-depression.

One of the best street post @ Melbourne Central!

The Asian group! All Malaysian in this table @ Lord Of The Fries!

Jasmine to Nick before they all left for their train.

Jasmine: Eat this later!!
Nick: But we're full!!!!!
Jasmine: EAT OR I KILL YOUUUUUUU!!!!!
Nick: T___T

 
Bake House along Swanston Street with all the Melbournians! Valerie was having the salty-fish fried rice I think. The portion was ginormous and it was very good!

Christabel Teo!! (Audrey if you’re reading this, DO YOU REMEMBER HER?!) Ian’s sister and cousin to Valerie!

Our last facial expression before we leave, beat, tired and sort of depressed because we are leaving :(

 
Definitely a fun trip. I slept in the plane like a log.

The Sydneysiders and us just before we leave for our respective gates! We are going to miss them all!!

I didn’t really shop in Melbourne (yeah I know..) but I realised it has a lot of international brands and franchises. It’s definitely a shopping haven but I shall reserve that for my next visit ;) Turned out to be a good thing when I bought nothing at all because I only spent a lil more or less $100 just for the food in 4 days and 3 nights. :)

That aside..

I love the food in Melbourne, both cheap and nice.
I love the company we have in Melbourne.
I love how they have trams and horses on their roads.
I love how people walked like Singaporeans in the CBD – fast.
I love the shopping there – all international and not just Jay Jays.
I love the choices they have in all regards.

I love everything about Melbourne except the UNPREDICTABLE weather..

 

Came back from the toilet and found out..

THE WEATHER IS TROLLING AT US!

 

O HAI! THIS IS MELBOURNE WEATHER! MUAHAHAHA!

Melbournelove, JOsh