Melbourne proper—day 5

Here I am in a cozy and posh little backpacker’s inn (direct phone: 011-61-3-986-08-236 until about 7pm Wed evening—US/EST). It’s very exciting to finally soak in the city-central “culture” and “scenery”—starting off in South Yarra for three nights (a posh-posh neighborhood south of the river—RIVE SUD of Melbourne, perhaps??—on the other side of the CBD (central business district) or the downtown area of Melbourne. Can’t stop thinking that Buddha/Alli/Arturo as though would all love this area: style, attitude, STYLE, ATTITUDE and MORE STYLE!!!). In some ways, I think I am even spoiling myself as I have a room all to myself (http://www.hotelclarement.com/) with even a TV!!!—we’ll see if I even bother to turn the damn thing on while I am here. Communal toilet and showering areas, but hell, who really needs those things at your fingertips when you are “out and about” all day-long—most days.
I must confess, I have been ultra-blessed for the past 5 days as my friend Rob’s parents (thank you, thank you, thank you, the “LEWS”—you rock!!!!) who live in the city-limits of Melbourne and have been SUPERB hosts—gracing me with my own room, bathroom and super-tasty home-cooked meals every night!! I was starting to enjoy it a bit too much ^_^ heh heh—can’t get too spoiled or how am I to survive the next parts of my 3-month journey????

I’ve taken a few days off from the wide-world-of-internet and the instantly gratifying blog (with some headaches)…as I have simply become obsessed with typing and uploading photos and almost forgotten that “experiencing the new surroundings” was even more important than up-dating everyone else in the world who grazes through my blog (btw: for those of you who don’t know, you “can” comment at the end of each blog—just click on the “comment” link at the end of each entry. It sure has been a nice surprise when people I call on the phone say: I’ve been following you on your blog!!! I guess in many ways I have been thinking that this blog was only a self-gratifying journaling session on a “public domain”; masterbatory writing in one form or another).

à Iffyu’ re’hhly won’ta noh whoh’ ooooZ’ zzzl’yyyk, com’on ovah’n checkeet’ yyoawt yoh’sehf, mate!! HA! (Man, that was hard to write…but yah, the Aussie accent is something to experience first hand!!!! They like to swallow half their words into one-breath—Rob was telling me that they like to make everything into monosyllables and that’s really not far from the truth. Just pretend you got a big piece of kangaroo meat in your mouth while you’re spitting out a few words and a chunk of food!!!!).

So for the past days, I’ve been “cruising” the streets on average 5-7 hours/day, walking an absurd distance of 5-10 miles a stretch. Without a doubt, my feet are tired at the end of each day but honestly, I can say that I am getting to know the streets, sights and scents (this one is hilarious: I was walking today down the street, minding my own business of “licking-the-store-windows”—“lèche-vitrine” as they say in French—in South Yarra as it is filled with shops, cafés and bars. I came across the most familiar smell of fried chicken and the first thing that came to mind was: KFC. And lo-and-behold, I looked up from my languorous stroll and there it was: SIR COLONEL SANDERS, in his familiar red and white costume and “oh-so-friendly” smile!! So dear friends and family, if there is one thing you can never escape even on the tail-end of the other side of the planet: no matter where you goà KFC smells like KFC! Or rather: corporateAMERICA, well…corporateAMERCA, *sigh* and enough said).

After 4 days of heavy use, I can comfortably claim that I know the Melbourne tram/bus transit-system well enough that I can pretty much find my way to or back anywhere (even when I’m on the wrong bus, going in the completely opposite direction)!! Mostly by series of errors or moments of feeling a sense of intense loss and exasperation, I have managed to arrive in one piece, at least, to most of my destinations. Well, it goes without saying that many of such times, I have had to carry the burden of tardiness—especially when I have had a set-time-of-arrival. But as most things go in my life at the moment, there is no “time” or hard-pressed demands for my punctual attendance—if even my attendance at all; if I don’t make it today to so-and-so-museum or market, there is always tomorrow or next week(??). It is a wonderful feeling…and a remarkable sense of freedom that I cherish every minute of my days.

Today, for the first time, I made the connection with my life-style to my dearest and closest heros: Henry, [henry miller] who lived and wrote while he ex-patriated himself to Paris in the 30’s (and wrote a few of his best works—without the internet!??!! Can one even fathom such times?!!???). Of course, I am mostly traveling and not drinking myself into epiphanic moments of tell-telling inspiration (at some bar or café). But certainly, I have a lot of time to live at my own pace and to meet people at every corner of the street; be they mentally-hiccupping-individuals with more time on their hands than one can desire, or like me: the lonely, adventurous, wanderlustful traveler (looking for a friendly face to perhaps share a meal, a drink or a few good stories).

I am anxiously awaiting my first “Melbourne” meal as it is the south-hemisphere’s mecca of culinary-dégustation; every street is overflowing with restaurants from every ethnic variation one could possibly desire!!! The aromatic temptations lurk at every corner and I am always tickled silly from the tip of my nose all the way up my olfactory nerve endings!!
I have still not changed my mind yet about being “in love at first sight” (or at “first smell”, as it may be). I am truly amazed by everything in Melbourne (Richmond neighborhood with all the Vietnamese groceries and restaurants) and look forward to spending more time here, exploring.

Though, my newest and latest of loves (and there are so many!!!) is for the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Center, where I have found a competition-50-meter pool (with 10 lanes!!!), for the handy-dandy price of A$5.70/entry!!! I can enjoy my needs for a cardiovascular fulfillment as well as a hot-tub, a steam-room and a sauna. What a bargain!!! And my-oh-my what a modern facility it is (it puts so many places I have swum at in the last three months, to utter shame!!!)!! My new secret-plan is to get a job in this athletic facility when I come back (in Oct 2005) so that I can take advantage of all of its incredible amenities (for free perhaps??). Why not? Work for play? What better way to live? ^_^

In any case, to return to my regular blog format…here are some top photo picks (pic.pix) for the past few days:


Not sure that this photo needs too much explanation. There are either a whole lot of diabetic folks that travel around OZ and need use of syringes in public places, or there are a whole hellova lot of heroine/needle-users in this country. This is my third encounter with such a disposal system in a bathroom and though at first I wanted to take a picture in the country-link train, I thought I was demented for wanting to document such a thing!! But now, I can’t help myself—this is in the Queen Victoria Mall…a respectable high-end shopping establishment in downtown Melbourne! “Hooray” to the “safe disposal” of potentially hazardous syringe needles—whatever their use!?







Again, my strange fascinations take me into a bathroom…and once again, i am “stricken” by the aesthetic planning of public bathrooms in OZ. There is an aspect of design that is really unbelievably breath-taking in their public places. And, being the germa-phobe that I am, it is so comforting to experience a well-lit, public-space where you feel that you might have few “private” moments.










Melbourne is most definitely in a “growing” phase of construction with a few examples of their sky-scraping buildings in mid-construction. TBA.










The skyline in the city may not be as stunning as many other
cities in the world…however, they seem to be very busy at work at the moment…

The Royal Botanical Gardens in the Kings Domain of South Melbourne were quite a delight (even on a cloudy day)!! Free and spanning more than a few square miles, I enjoyed a few hours of self-taught lessons in botany, arborology (??—speciality in trees???) and herbology. This is a garden that I will have to revisit again very soon—as I was swept off my miniscule-knowledge-of-plants/trees/vegetation-feet—Brian Carlson, if you are reading this: I will post more picture that I took of this place on my snapfish account (snapfish, login: fuji@mizar.lod.com; passwd: fishywara). I am sure that you will enjoy!!!