In order to check out punctually we got up
at nine and wandered out of Old Swan Barracks after simple washing and
cleaning. The new lodgment wouldn’t be available until twelve and that just
left us solo on the street. Northbridge’s main street William Street seemed
pretty desolated in the morning, and just quite unfriendly. The weather was
killing every bit of our body warmth with wind that cut our skin like icy
blades. We visited the state library and it was nothing alike the ones we have
in Taiwan, it was full of original books! (Of course haha) The library also
provided us with free but limited internet and that just gave us the
opportunity to contact home. The original plan was to take the free BLUE CAT bus
and go straight to the CBD, then transfer on RED CAT to the ROYAL KING’S PARK
(a renowned giant park for its natural habitat and botanic garden) But due to
Roxie’s weak situation, she threw up in the rubbish bin several times, might be
the weather or the odd fried rice we consumed last night, we crossed out the
original plan.
We made our way to some of the local
coffeehouse and traditional shops and sat by the city rail watching trains come
and go. The snack we brought from Taiwan might’ve just given Perth a slight
touch of our home and here comes nostalgia. We’ve been strolling around for so
long and the time on my watch appeared to be twelve, and it just made no sense
that all the shops still kept shut, even for a Saturday. We headed back to
Britannia on William’s to see if we can get our hands on the check in.
In the “lobby” (a small space in front of
the counter), several passing lodgers whispered morning to us and we were like:
Oh my God what’s with the people here do they all get up this late every day? There
goes a saying that paper never holds fire and that’s when Roxie asked one of
the Australian for time. His time was slower than mine by two hours. I thought
that Perth and Taiwan have no time difference isn’t that right? It seemed that
the time on my watch had gone to a different time zone by accident which meant
that we checked out at 7 : (
I would love to lie down and be unconscious
in a minute to make up all that sleeping time I had lost. Actually, Northbridge was popular for its
night activities and clubs, in that case if people really sleep to 12, that’s
just the trend they have here.
Britannia on William’s is just so much
bigger than the place we stayed last night with so many floors and facilities. It’s
like a medieval castle we’re living in and sometimes you get lost. Roxie popped
some pills and took a rest, by the time she got back to her feet we’re ready
for our adventure again to Perth CBD! It would be a shame to not use the fully
equipped kitchen without buying some ingredients back and cook ourselves! I was
determined to fish for some big and cheap steak.
We saw Australia’s biggest and earliest bank
on the way, one of Perth’s landmarks. McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken
didn’t seem to differ much from those we had back home. With our sunglasses on
we swam sardines with the crowd into the underground food court and with yaps
and surprises, we located Pearl Milk Tea! It cost about 150 NT a cup while it
was roughly 1/5 the price in Taiwan but what the hell. The pearls were too hard
and not to our satisfaction and the milk tea tasted a little bit sour but I
guessed it was good enough for the foreigners. Rump steak was nowhere to be
seen and that’s when our eyes got attracted to some Indian pides. That’s when
we decided to give up steak for the moment and go for the pides. But Roxie
promised me to cook me some spaghetti tomorrow. It was kangaroo meat they used
in the pides and tasted both bitter and sour, I should have checked beforehand
if there’s a next time.
On the way back a few souvenir stores got
our attention and I saw those cool boomerangs that Dad would definitely love. But
it would have been stupid to carry those big heavy hardwood in my bag from the
first stop. After stopping at a museum for one of the exhibitions, we decided
to be early prepared for our breakfast next morning. The famous supermarket
Woolworths was nowhere to be seen and my GPS just clicked out in the evening.
Luckily we found a convenience store that sells weird looking toast and
chocolate spread and milk. Thank god.
By the time we got back it was already pitch
dark outside and few people were on the streets. The atmosphere in the hostel
was pretty heated though and everyone seemed to be chattering out loud. One of
the Korean guys chatted with me and called me handsome. I was really flattered
for all I think about me was some kind of dorks. In the eight people room we
were living, there’s another Taiwan guy Don and two Germany girls that kept
yelling “shit” in their language. A Swedish guy that used his computer all day
and one Indian man that was always friendly enough to chat around in his
accent. The roommates were nice but all seemed to be in their sheets pretty
early, I guess it’s time to click out. Night night.
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