November 4th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Everyone’s Fucking, But Me!
4th October 2008, Saturday
We woke up late to have breakfast at A1 along Sydney Street. Curly and Al took me to this really nice Lebanese cuisine. Lattes and cappuccinos are selling at AUD2 to AUD2.50 per glass. Two thumbs up for the Lebanese bread at A1! Sometimes, on weekends, this place would be packed to the brim. It was a lucky thing that we came a bit early to beat the crowd. We had the nice Lebanese bread, garlic, minced lamb and pizza. They were superb!
Along our morning walks, I couldn’t help but took a photograph of this. Haha! I didn’t know I could be this far and still be reminded of Franco!
We took the tram to Queen Victoria’s Market for Curly and Al’s weekly grocery and fresh produce shopping. I found that the chocolates or nougats sold here are not the cheapest. You could probably get cheaper nougats in the airport and cheaper chocolates at Safeway (equivalent to Tesco or Giant in KL).
It was a good and sunny day in Melbourne. The air is still cold and crisp. There were street musicians, people lining up to buy hot dogs, people sitting by the sidewalk cafés to enjoy the sun, etc. Everyone would be seen having the sunnies on and caps and hats. Ah.. what a feeling!
Since I was still stuffed with Lebanese food, I didn’t try the sandwiches or hotdogs that everyone was eating. I think the sandwiches are quite delicious judging from the queue and also, horde of people sitting at the benches eating their quick lunches with their dogs.
Al advised that, when you take pictures here, try to be discreet or if you happen to see a hostile looking vendor, it’s wise to ask for permission before taking pictures. They don’t like it if you shove your camera up their goods to take pictures. Thankfully, I didn’t step on anyone’s toes here! He only told me this the night when we got back home!
After the grocery shopping, Curly and Al went about their daily business. I decided to catch a tram to town to check out the Dream Festival exhibition along Yarra River at Birrarung Marr. It’s a festival of art and music that celebrates dreams, ideas and aspirations. This is the first time that Melbourne has this large scale of outdoor gallery of giant artworks for public. I guess we were pretty lucky to be here at the right time. Since everyone in Melbourne is supporting a healthy lifestyle – this event is alcohol free! How cool is that?
We then took the last Melbourne Tourist Bus Shuttle ride at 4.30 pm around the city to check out some tourist spots. The shuttle runs daily, every 15-20 minutes from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm, excluding Good Friday and Christmas Day. You would be impressed that their City Ambassadors, all dressed in red are volunteers. Most of them are elderly people and they always offer you tour advice and give you prompt directions with a smile. For info on the stops made by this FREE shuttle bus, please click here. There is also a City Tram which also comes free of charge!
We got home by 7 pm to prepare ourselves to go to Greyhound that night. It’s a pub to watch the drag queens in action!!
The pub was packed. I was surprised that there was not a smell of smoke anywhere in the pub. Melbourne is supporting a smoke-free clubs and pubs. So if you would like to smoke, there is a garden outside for you to smoke.
The drag queens are fabulous! They are not as pretty and young as the ones you can find in Thailand but they are doing pretty much the same thing. Lip synching songs and dance in full costumes splendor! And some songs, I guess they alter the lyrics and it was funny. Especially one song where they sing, “Everyone is fucking, but me!”.
I had a great time dancing and drinking. After all, Curly said, nobody is going to recognize me as I am not a Melburnian! It’s okay to embarrass myself here! But nobody would even bother about you! They are too busy looking and singing along with the drag queens!
On how I was being kissed.. I was standing there as usual, holding my camera to snap pics of the drag queens. Along came a bespectacled guy in cotton vest. Yes, nerdy. Think of Henry in Ugly Betty. Since the dance floor was packed, there was no table around for people to put their drinks, so they would place their drinks at the tables arranged at the side of the room where I was standing. I helped this guy to put his glass since he couldn’t reach the table himself.
He was happy that I helped him and gave me a peck on the cheek to thank me. How come I don’t get this when I club in KL? Lol! Curly and the rest were deliriously happy when the guy pecked me on the cheek! Haha!
We ended the great late night out, going home in the chilly windy night to our welcoming warm beds in Brunswick East.