7/10 HARBOUR TOWN

My legs were so sore by the time I climbed out of bed, I couldn’t even stand straight. This must be the sequel of riding motorcycles instead of bikes, having the air condition all the time during the past two years of my college life. It had been a time that the roommates had changed and it was pretty steady at the moment. Don the Taiwanese guy added our Facebook the other day and he would be taking classes in Perth for two months. The Korean will be leaving on Saturday, as for the two ladies from Taiwan, they weren’t going anywhere for they were looking for jobs around the neighborhood. A Middle East guy checked in last night and so did a blonde foreign girl but they disappeared into thin air in the morning. As for Roxie and I, we will be leaving for Melbourne only in a 4-day time.

We circled around haft of Perth yesterday, the South and the East part, and it’s time to add in some leisure and relaxed essence to our trip. I might have consumed about 8 pieces of toast in the morning because they were so delicious with the creamy butter and cheese slices! We arrived at one of the bus stops in Northbridge and took the free yellow cat ride, heading towards the lovely shopping centre Harbor Town. There were many outlet stores over there and they were on sale most of the time, giving the poor and budget-slimmed backpackers a chance to shop.

Some of the prices were still too high for our standard even on sale, those were the shops we skipped directly. The first store that really drew our attention is one called City Beach. It was like heaven to Roxie and it was full of shorts and T-shirts witht such a low price. As for me I looked around randomly like vultures searching for stuff with cheap prices. There were several accessories and outfits were one a 30-40 AUD deal but were sliced down to about 10AUD in the sale. There were this cute totem shorts and a vest that Roxie picked, and I found myself a simple blue shirt accompanied by a pair of nice shorts. Roxie’s shorts was tagged 29AUD in the sale but was cut down to 9 by the time we paid for it at the counter and that gave us a surprised delight; my shirt was also slashed down again from 10 to 5. Since we often go window shopping, or real shopping back there in Taiwan, I know pretty much about the prices of garments. A normal T-shirt’s price range goes from about 500-1000NT, as for shorts and pants of the ladies’ they were like 800 and above. We were glad to have found some really great deals and trophies in the first shop.

As shopping continued, I found myself one of the boots that costs 69AUD. Those boots were mostly imported in Taiwan and the real good ones were above 3000NT. I had always been craving for a pain of those and it came to a time where I had to make up my decision and it felt just like Sophie’s choice: 69AUD for a pair of boots, or not. As I tried to figure out whether it was worthy, a sign that read”men’s boots half price to 7/10” today’s 7/10 the last day of sale! And that meant I could have the boots for about 34AUD. Today must have been my lucky day and that’s when I hesitate no more and fished for my wallet. One thing that I regret a little bit about is that the cups and didgeridoos I saw in the souvenirs store at Harbor Town were much cheaper than the ones I bought in London Alley for my parents! But what could I have done with the money spent already?

The Town was too big and wide ranged for our legs, we were already exhausted before we could even get to the second floor. That’s when we decided to take the bus home. Dinner was another two plates of spaghetti but with tuna and creamy garlic sauce instead of ketchup. Roxie’s cooking skill improves day after day and I felt just proud of her, I myself was a help in the kitchen, too. Hope they had Woolworths in the rest of the cities otherwise we will definitely be very disappointed. We left the hostel and headed West after finishing up the spaghetti, it’s time to do some exploring!

We entered the state library to look up the train schedule of Fremantle for the next day. There was this creepy foreigner that moved his computer away from us with this odd expression on his face. I took a glimpse and saw that he was checking out some Asian porn! And he sometimes he just side his head and took a peak at us, gross! I joined Roxie in the hand and strode out of the library. What kind of person does that, to look at porn in the library?! And what if he’s our new roommate!!!

Woolworths had these milk that’s only a dollar a litre and that was cheaper than water in Australia. Sometimes we love to take a stroll between the center and Northbridge just for the view and atmosphere at night. Luckily we didn’t bump into that pervert on the way back! There were a bunch of people practicing street running and we stayed to watch, they were pretty awesome until one of the guys performed a back leap and knocked a female biker off her bike…We were starting to get use to the weather here in Perth, cold but dry. From the time that we dressed ourselves so tight against the strong wind to the shorts and T-shirt we were wearing at the moment, I was pretty sure that we’re starting to blend in with the locals.

Another Korean guy and a bald foreigner moved in today and the bald one will be leaving tomorrow, what a shame. The new Korean guy looked pretty much like the original one and we were all guessing whether they have any blood relations. By the way, the two Taiwanese ladies decided to accept the job as housekeepers in Britainnia on Williams and it’s pretty much an embarrassment to be bumping into them at work. Another task that I accomplished today is to make a reservation at the backpackers inn we will be staying in Melbourne. We were all proud of me due to the strong accent and muffled pronunciation of the receiver…