Hi Cody, thanx for your infor on Melb and sydney. (I asked for your iti some time back). It was really useful.
Hi kite and other gals, Here's some of my personal feedback for those keen on melb trip. For your free day you may want to drop by Queen Vic. I think it'll be quite a shame to miss it. They are closed on mon and wed though. You can grab things to eat there and get souvenirs fr there too. The things there are pretty affordable (cheaper than sydney i realise). Check out the accessories there (if you are keen on shell accessories which are quite in now), winter wear (you may want to buy some for future use, all these are exp in singapore) esp the boots..those flat ones without heels..i dun seem to see a lot in singapore. And they look nice. I see a lot of girls there tucking their jeans (no..no..not baggy ones pls) into the boots..quite stylo!
I should think it's best to skip those souvenir shops in town and get them all fr queen vic. Some are rather unique ( I can't find in Sydney) and prices are ok. So here's where you want to try grab stuff for folks back home.
Even if you are not big on shopping, it's really good to walk ard Queen Vic. It's Big..so allot more time.
And if you do visit Queen Vic, inside the place where they sell all the hams, chicken kebabs, chicken wraps, cakes, breads etc. There is this stall selling nougats..the caucasian guys there when they see asians, they will shout out to you and ask you: Malaysia or singapore?
They talk very well, can even say "dun pray pray" a la Phua Chu Kang. and all the "lahs, lohs". I nearly wanted to buy from them untill i saw a white worm wringgling in their nougat. Urm...it's really up to you if you wanna buy from them. ( i have the name if you wanna know)
If you are visting winery in Yarra Valley. (Domaine) Chandon (think i got the spelling wrong) is a nice vineyard to go. Fergusson is very commercialised i think. Wine sampling requires AUD3 per small mouthful. Not sure if this is a common practice but the one i went to in sydney is FOC.
By the way Cody..i din like Minh Tan 2. Find the noodles so-so. And the dim sum sucks. So Big (think its meant for ang mohs to eat).And it's really out of the way.
Mei Kong is good though. It's crowded but you just need to wait for a while. It's just opp all the APT, AAT King booking office.
At nite can also visit crown casino. The fireballs outside the crown casino quite nice. It starts at 8pm. Every hr it will start and each time lasts abt 5 mins. So prepare your camaras..can try to do a video clip too.
If you like weekend market. You can also try the sunday mkt at St Kilda. They have rather unique things and are all selfmade. Dun bother buying kangeroo or koala bears elsewhere which are all made in china. There's one stall here selling handmade ones at AUD5 each or 2 for AUD9. I dun see anywhere else selling a made in aust at this price.
One stall sells small (palmsize)boomerangs at 3 for AUD10 each. Makes a gd souvenir too. After the weekend mkt, you can walk along St Kilda Beach..it's quite nice. Or visit Luna Park. It's an old amusement park but the entrance with that laughing face is an icon there. Wlk along Acland st or barkley St, it's jam packed wif rest and coffe joints. Soak in the atmospehere there. There is one thai rest at Barkley called Tien Tien. they do lunch at 7.50. (Considered affordable in aust. Go there, u will know why i call this cheap already..sigh) I luvr their spicy beef with rice. (the sweet sour prok is so-so thou)And the rest's ambience is nice!
Another sunday mkt is at Victorian Arts centre. It's more arty farty i feel. But still good to just browse ard..
Factory outlets are at bridge rd and swan st(think country road, portmans, esprit (i think sydney cheaper), wichery etc)..the NIKE and adidas at smith street are quite good too and they have some surf/beach wear shops there.. I heard from a couple fr perth that footscray has gd shopping too. Too bad i din have time to check it out..