Looking for a cheap place to go in Melbourne? Don’t have any money and literally want the cheapest but best food money can buy? Sick of Mickey D’s?  How ’bout Lentil As Anything? The vegetarian, Middle Eastern/Indian/Asian/Moroccan style restaurant designed with the poor backpacker/artist/musician/vagabond in mind.  Its delicious food, in generous portions served to you by volunteers.  (kinda sounds like a soup kitchen doesn’t it?)  You can order anything off the menu…freshly made coffees and teas included, and then you only pay for as much as you think your meal was worth.

I know its kind of blurry, but this was the sign on every table.  It basically said this place ran off of donations and volunteers.  It was created so people who might not have much money one week, could still come out and eat, drink and be social.  They would pay whatever they could, and then many another week, when their bank account was a little fuller, they would pay a little more–all balancing out in the end.  

Me, Ruth, Kristina, and the 2 German girls that we now live with tried it out on Saturday night.  None of us had too much money, so it sounded perfect.  And it was.  It was a great, friendly little atmosphere, with pretty good food:

Mixed Vegetable Curry

Pumpkin Curry

Okinowanaki (?)–potato, cabbage, onion, other stuff pancake

The Germans–Hannah, Debbie, and Kristina

Best news of all…this isn’t the only restaurant of its kind in Melbourne! Whoever thought of this brilliant idea, mad mad props to them.

One fateful night while we were at Bev and Micks’ Backpackers…having a drink and meeting some fellow travelers, Ruth was chatting an English girl who happened to have a moustache tattooed on her index finger.  Ruth fell in love with it immediately, and as befits her personality, she instantly wanted one herself.  I mean what a good conversation starter.  Or you know…awkward moment…conversation is dragging…’look! I have a moustache!”.

So we all experimented with it a little last night…just with pens of course.

And then today, an oridinary, everyday Sunday afternoon, we went and got Ruth her knew source of entertainment.

And we all know that only the most ridiculous photos are to come…

The first Sunday I was in Sydney, a whole flurry of plans was born between me, Ruth and Jenny.  While sitting on the beach, we decided that we all wanted to get out of Sydney and we decided to rent a camper van and drive down the coast to Melbourne.  On the way we would stop whenever we wanted to–seeing the sights and anything else random.  We thought it would be a good chance to see more of Australia, without staying in any one place too long.  So this was the plan for a few days, then we decided that we were running out of money, so we should try to go fruit picking before that, make some money and then drive down.  We found a farm that does blueberry and raspberry picking around this time of year in a place called Coffs Harbour—about 500km north of Sydney.  We had to stay in Sydney for 2 more weeks anyway because Ruth had signed up for these qualification courses for the next two Saturdays, and the berry picking didn’t start until the end of September—in a word, perfect.  So we were just waiting, walking around Sydney, hanging out at the Blue Parrot, drinking ‘goon,’ the infamous and cheap wine-in-a-box…so then the Monday before we are scheduled to leave rolls around (we’re checking out on Tuesday morning).  We call up to Coffs Harbour and they tell us that fruit picking is slow this year so it won’t be starting for another 2-3 weeks.  Hmm….our wallets aren’t liking those odds—we just can’t afford to wait around another few weeks without employment.  So we start looking at other fruit picking options up near Brisbane and in the outskirts of Sydney and between Sydney and Melbourne, but it seems that everywhere we look the fruit picking season is slow and won’t pick up for a little bit yet.  It was extremely frustrating to say the least.  So in about an hour we completely changed our plans and Ruth and I bought a one-way bus ticket down to Melbourne.  We both wanted to end up in Melbourne for a while anyway, so we decided just to go down and see what happened.  Jenny wanted to go north before going south, so we might still meet up with her before the year’s over. 

Anyway, Ruth and I got on an 8am bus the next morning, after another pretty crazy night out at the Sugar Mill and Ruth threatening to slap an Irish guy, and buckled down for a long 12 hour ride.  It wasn’t too bad because we both got seats to ourselves so we could stretch out a little bit.  We got to Melbourne about 10pm and checked into our new hostel, which was more like a hotel with bunk beds.  After staying for 3 weeks in the Blue Parrot which felt more like home than a hostel, it was weird going into a super clean, super big, super sterile environment.  I think it took us 3 days to talk to one of our roommates, and there were only 4 of us!  We spent most of the time that we were booked in the hostel looking for another one that was smaller and more friendly.

That search brought us to over 15 different hostels until we finally landed on Bev and Micks Backpackers.  They have really good reviews, that’s true, because the people are all pretty friendly, but the rooms were upstairs to a bar so it was loud and kinda crazy most nights.  You couldn’t really choose to get away from it like most other places.  I’m sure living on top of a bar would have been far more entertaining if I wasn’t trying to save money.  But it was only $100 for the week, and it was just a 4 person room, which is an exceptionally great deal if you’re not familiar w/ hostels.  Most other places were charging upwards of $160 a week for a 10 person room!  So we figured it would do for a few days while we looked for a job and another place to stay.

Melbourne is a beautiful city…it’s much colder than Sydney is at the moment, but it is very European with cafes and tiny boutiques lining the streets.  I was really glad we decided to come down—until about the 3^rd day when it seemed like I’d never get a job and I’d never find a decent place to stay!  Job-hunting is really quite depressing, especially when you’re looking at places you would so easily get at home, but you’re competing with so many people that you’d never get it here!  I thought it would be easy to work at a café or a bar or a restaurant, but all of the places that were looking for work wanted, no demanded, experience.  I worked in Eat N’ Park for 2 years, but after that, none of my work experience has been in the food service industry.  Who would have thought that would come and bite me in the ass?! 

After about a week of really depressing searching, we decided to swallow our pride and go work for a call center.  Bleh.  Not the best job in the world by far, but we get a base pay plus commission on top of that.  And the people in the center are all young travelers and its in a pretty good location.  Basically it could be a lot worse! And the day we got the job, we also found a decent little apartment that got us out of bunk beds and smelly hostels!  So that’s where I am now…job and apartment! No paycheck yet, but its on its way!  So if anyone calls and asks you to switch your electricity retailer…just give them a minute of your time…

 A stay in Sydney wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Opera House.  And not just a tour (although those are very nice too) but going to see an actual show!  So Ruth and I decided against the wills of our empty wallets, that we were going to see some sort of opera or other such musical performance at the famous shell-shaped building.  We didn’t want to see a dance show or a normal play because part of the allure of the Opera House is its fantastic acoustic properties.  I heard all about them in the last tour I did of the place, and apparently the building was designed so the acoustics are perfect. 

So we got a little brochure of what was playing, and we decided to go see an operetta called The Mikado.  We were pleasantly surprised that tickets were only $60 bucks—not bad when you are expecting to pay over a hundred.  So…the Mikado.  We had no idea what to expect. 

This is outside the Opera Theatre–no camera’s allowed inside!  

Whoops! My finger slipped and I accidently took a picture of the stage.  My fault.

 So anyway, The Mikado–we knew it took place in old-school Japan and it starred on of Sydney’s Opera stars who was the Phantom of the Opera for about 5 years, and it was about a forbidden love or something like that…but that’s about it.  Oh…and it was supposed to be funny.  That did no justice to the show we witnessed.  It was absurd!  Let me just give you the synopsis as it was given to us at the beginning:

“Nanki-poo, son of the Mikado(the Mikado is the emperor of Japan…or something to that effect)., has fled the royal court to escape the clutches of the elderly Katisha, who wishes to marry him.  Disguised as a wandering minstrel he arrives in the town of Titipu (are we appreciating these names yet?? Just wait) to be reunited with his beloved Yum-Yum (!!), whom he hopes to marry.  Much to his dismay he finds that she has become engaged to her guardian Ko-Ko, a tailor.  Having been condemn to death under the Mikado’s severe anti-flirting laws, Ko-Ko has subsequently been appointed Lord High Executioner, on the grounds that before executing anybody he must decapitate himself.”

So are we confused yet?  We were, but the story kind of works itself out as it goes on.  Basically it’s a comedic romp through ancient Japan with a lot of modern twists.  One of the songs talks about the annoyances of Facebook and people who talk too loudly on their cell phones!

There are other ridiculously named characters such as Pitti-Sing (Yum-Yum’s sister) and Pooh-Bah (Lord High Everything Else), Pish-Tush, Peep-Bo…(I think they chose Japan as the setting so they could use silly names)–I don’t know if you can actually read the text on this picture… With all the dancing, singing, joking and general ridiculousness it was not the show I’d expect to see in the Opera House…but it was definitely amusing.  We tried to take some pictures, but unfortunately no photos were allowed inside the theatre.  As for the acoustics…I can only assume they were amazing because I’m pretty sure no microphones were used and you could hear everything throughout this pretty large theatre.  So good job designers! Well done!

A summary of my time in Sydney wouldn’t be complete without a quick description of the Sugar Mill–and No, it’s not a local candy factory.  It’s a bar/restaurant/club located in the heart of Kings Cross (aka. Redlight district) that offers specials throughout the week.  Our favorite night, oddly enough was the Monday night offer—all you can eat pasta or $10 steak, fries and salad, $9 jugs of beer or sangria all night (jug=pitcher) and $3 pints of beer from 6-9.  The food is what sold us the first time we went, and it really was an impromptu evening.  Ruth, Jenny and I decided to go, we mentioned it around the hostel and all of a sudden we had a group of about 10—and that was just for dinner.  A bunch more people joined us around 10pm when the ‘night club’ scene turned on.  And when one of the girls who worked at the hostel came ane got about 4 FREE jugs of beer.  It was another night that really started a whole bunch of friendships in the hostel.  The people that went that night formed a weird kind of family for the next couple of weeks and we definitely repeated this kind of night out quite a few times.  At the Sugar Mill we met a bunch of trannies (literally dressed up in drag)

 and there was an acoustic guitar player who played the best mix of songs that really got the crowd going.  We went back to the Sugar Mill every Monday night we were in Sydney, and a few random nights besides—and of course it was where we went for my, Ruth and Jenny’s goodbye fiesta! (yes…we were that cool that we had a goodbye party).  In conclusion—if you’re ever in Sydney in the Kings Cross Area, especially on a Monday night…now you know where to go.

And these are just a few of the crazies…probably more for me to remember than you…

  Anders–probably one of the most attractive men I’ve ever ever met.

‘Irish Brian’ and Ruth..and Norwegian Thor in the background

‘American Bryan’–one of the nicest and oldest looking 21 year olds I’ve ever come across. and then of course Ruth.  My other half in this crazy down under adventure.

 Good ol’ Jenny.  She was supposed to be with us in more of our adventures, but I’m sure we’ll meet again.

 Thor (Norway), Anders (Denmark), and Bryan (US of A)

So this is really not in chronological order, but I guess we’ll all have to deal with that.  The first Friday I was in Sydney, I met 2 really nice American guys, Travis and Dallas, both from California (as about 98% of all traveling Americans seem to be).  Anyway, Travis being the nature lover that he is, had already booked a Blue Mountains tour and without much difficulty convinced us to join him.  So at 7am on Friday morning (which wasn’t too bad thanks to the ongoing jet lag), the three of us were outside waiting for our shuttle.  We got onboard with our rather pessimistic and monotone tour guide Glen, picked up about a dozen more people around the city, and then we were off on our hour journey outside the city.  Glen entertained us by telling us rather boring trivia about Sydney, and then went on for about 10 minutes on the aboriginal culture and how at least Australia is not the first to overrun and terrorize their natives (hint hint, nudge nudge America).  So that’s where I lost interest and tried my best to sleep through his voice.  About 50 minutes in we pull over into a national park, which isn’t too interesting because its all rather brown due to lack of rain in the north.  Then we spent about 20 minutes looking for a wild kangaroo which we luckily ended up finding thanks to another tour group.  They are surprisingly hard to spot in the wild since they just blend into the background.  Tricky little buggers, really.  This whole time, however, I’m under the misconception that this is the Blue Mountains, and as you might imagine, I’m quite disappointed because I’m not seeing the sheer beauty I was promised.  It wasn’t until we loaded the bus and again passed the sign saying ‘National Park’ that I realized this was just a little side adventure.  Phew!

About 15 minutes and some curvy roads later, we reached our first destination—a beautiful lookout point overseeing waterfalls, and gigantic cliffs.  It was absolutely breathtaking.

The cliffs look like they were just sliced apart, that’s how clean the sides were.  And you could see all the different layers of rock, and how time has affected the formation.  Quite nice.  We then took a little stroll down to another lookout—same general area, but a different angle.  And then of course we stopped for ice cream at the nearby icecream truck(??)

 After that Glen gave us some time for lunch in a nearby town, and gave us some options to ponder for our post-lunch activity. 

After lunch, he explained, we would be doing to long walk.  Well…that was just one option.  Here’s the layout—there’s this gigantic cliff and then 1000 stairs leading down into the rainforest valley below, a 45 minute walk through the rainforest and then 1000 steps back up.  The steps are steep—like a constant ladder.  

Then there are a few less intense options—there’s a train and a cable car that go up and down the mountain.  So you could take the stairs down, walk through the rainforest, then take a relaxing and well-deserved ride in a train or cable car back to the top.  You could take the train/cable car both ways, or you could be insane and walk down and back up.  This might not have been so bad if Glen had not given us a time limit.  We would have 2 hours to complete this whole tour and meet him back at the bus at the top.  As much fun as I think walking up stairs are (I kept thinking about how exhausted I felt after walking to the top of a duomo in Italy…and that’s only about 300 stairs on average!) I decided to walk down, take the 45 minute (level) walk and then take a cable car back up…to see the area from a different perspective.  Travis joined me in this really good decision, as did a lot of other people from the group…there were the few however, that wanted to brave the stairs, including our friend Dallas.  I can’t imagine they actually had time to enjoy the sights with the threat of Glen leaving without them lingering in their minds.  But Travis and I had quite a nice time…except for the 10 minutes when an old woman we were with lead us astray and we were walking down this creepy unmarked path for a while.  Other than that it was beautiful.  The main attraction of this particular valley of the Blue Mountains was a rock formation called the 3 Sisters.

Story to follow: There were these three sisters who were in love with three brothers from a neighboring and rival tribe.  This was a big No No, since the tribes were all about war and not about love, peace, and babies.  So in order to protect the girls, a witch doctor was called in.  He turned the girls into 3 giant rocks…why rocks, who knows…but whatever…I guess they couldn’t be run through with spears any longer.  So the girls were supposed to chill as rocks until the war was over, and then the witch doctor would turn them back.  Problemo humungo–witch doctor dies in the fighting and he’s the only one with the power to turn the chicks back.  So they are trapped forever in large, formidable bodies.  

After we got to the top, there was a brief period of time where we thought Glen had left without us, and then he threatened to leave without this one English guy who wasn’t at the correct pick up spot.  No on on the bus noticed that he wasn’t there until about halfway out of the park (whoops!) and Glen actually talked about just going back down and leaving the poor guy.  As I said, Glen wasn’t the best of tour guides.  Luckily we found him and all was right.  Then after a nap in the van we found ourselves back in the heart of Sydney.  We grabbed some beer which we all truly deserved, and went on to a party in our hostel, which I would say is the start of all the crazy adventures that followed.

OPERA HOUSE AND SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE

 

So anyway, after a gorgeous walk around the harbour and then through Circular Quay, the ‘hub’ of Sydney harbour where you can sit outside at a cafe, walk around wit some gelato, or stop and watch a variety of street performances, I headed up through the heart of the city.  

One other major discovery I’ve made my first week is a place called Harry de Wheels.

Its literally a little shack right along the water that has grown incredibly famous over the years.  It is covered with pictures of famous people who have come from around the world (Pam Anderson has many pictures up on the wall)  just to taste this Australian delicacy.  So what is it famous for? Hot dogs and meat pies of course…but not just your average dog or pie.  They’re stacked with chili, cheese, onions, mushy peas, mashed potatoes, gravy, hot sauce, etc (although not at the same time).  I chose the house favorite:

THE TIGER: MEAT PIE TOPPED WITH MASHED PEAS, MASHED POTATOES, AND GRAVY

 And there it is. MMMMMmmmmmm.

So that about wraps up my first week in Sydney, aside from a few entries that deserve their own post, which will be coming soon!

This is a post that really has no category or title–other than things and people I really will miss who helped define my life in Taiwan, and who haven’t gotten fair attention on this site.

Chia-ling.  aka. ‘Noodle Lady’.  Chia-ling owned the noodle shop directly below our apartment and was a favorite among us…for both her food and her personality.  She speaks excellent English which she claims to have learned from watching TV. She also says she learned to cook from TV–guess that goes to show what TV CAN do if applied correctly!  Chia-ling was one of the most helpful and supportive people we met in Kaohsiung–always ready to help, always ready to have fun and hang out, and the cook behind the infamous ‘Dani Special’.  Ask for it.  Its pretty darn tasty.

OMPIE!! My very reliable and very pink and slightly broken scooter!  The reason why I need to own a scooter in the near future, the cause of so much joy (and the indirect cause of a burn on my leg).  If you ever get the chance, you have to drive a scooter.  It was one of the best things I ever did…no regrets at all!  She’s now in the capable hands of my friend Gered, who will be flaunting her awesomeness all over the east coast.  (tear…wish it were me).

The ginormous lap of Ronald McD.  Seriously…every burger went straight to this guy’s hips.  But I will miss seeing his lap occupied by young ladies, grown men, and the occasional small child.  

Cisian Elementary School.  My home away from home.  The first and last school I will ever work at.  And home to some of the best students in Kaohsiung…and possibly a lot of other places too.

And last, but not least, the Hello Kittiness of it all.  This little kitty made her appearance everywhere! from burgers to bags!  There were Hello Kitty car lights and scooters, shirts, shoes, keychains, pants, masks, jewelry, headbands, printers, pretty much anything you could dream of!  This particular room is one of two Hello Kitty themed places in the Taipei International Airport.  Here we have the Hello Kitty nursery.  They other would be the Hello Kitty gate with flights mostly to Hong Kong.  LOVE IT.

Alas…goodbye Taiwan.  It was nice to meet you.  I had a great time, did a lot of cool things, and met a bunch of great people.  I wish you all the luck.  Perhaps we will meet again someday.

Love,

Dani

So very conveniently, my dear friend Laura found herself with a job in the Philippines this summer.  And lucky for me, many flights to the Philippines have a layover in Taipei!  Obviously we had to have a wondrous reunion!

Unfortunately she didn’t have time to explore the sights of the south, but we were able to see a good amount of Taipei.

There was, of course, and on request, another visit to the Hello Kitty Cafe. (You’d think they’d know me by name now!). And then the oh-so-popular Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, still sweet though.  We also went to a fairly large nightmarket with sweet shopping and food stalls alllll over the place, a great vegetarian buffet, a famous dumpling place, and a few hip, classy, and normally (for us) unaffordable bars.

We were also able to do stuff that I hadn’t been able to do yet in Taipei, such as visit some temples:

and go on one of the most intense hikes ever!  This is probably because the majority of the hike were stairs up a mountain.  Phew…and I thought it was hot and sweaty on level ground!

We laughed, we cried, we slept.  We went to visit some hot springs, which are surprisingly not very refreshing after the winter months. We stayed in one of Taipei’s best hostels ever called The Camel’s Oasis (stay there–you’ll be doing yourself a favor!), met a fun Malaysian guy, and basically had a very low-stress, high-fun weekend.  It was all-in-all a very good way to wrap up the year.

The last day of school was slightly anticlimactic…for the English teachers anyway(umm…ok for me).  None of my classes came to our classroom for the entire last week–with good reason though.  There was an sixth grade basketball tournament, graduation performances to practice, and good ol’ fashioned debauchery.  The halls were filled with screaming children, but it was hard to be annoyed.  The idea and the euphoria of the last week filled even us (note to all students: teachers are just as excited, if not more so for breaks, vacations, school cancellations, etc.).  The only time I saw students was when a few would come in and have me sign their yearbooks or fill out a little profile card.  Most of the time I watched old movies on my computer–not bad really.  The last day no one came at all.  I was, however, invited down to one of my favorite classes for their last-day-party.  

When I got down there, kids were barbecuing on the floor! I was expecting chips and juice or soda, and maybe some strange Taiwanese snack, but not freshly grilled meat! Once you got past the slightly sweet flavor that I found in most meat here, it was really quite good!  So after a quick nibble, I was able to leave for the afternoon and mentally prepare myself for the graduation ceremony that evening.

Being a foreign guest I was invited to sit on the stage facing the entire student/parent/guest population, which was nice because I got to see everything, but it was also harder to figure out what was going on since it was quite obvious when I whispered to someone else.  

But students performed

…from dancing, to singing, to instrumentals…these kids are amazing.  To study as hard as they do and still have time for that?! Wow.

Then top students got awards, a few people made a speech, and then poof! it was over!  Before I knew it everyone was dispersing and going their own separate ways.  It was kind of a sad way to leave the school, but I did get to say goodbye to a few students before they got away!  

And although they could be frustrating at times, I’ll never forget these kids.