$60 Poorer

We finally went to Moomba on Sunday evening. The heat kept us away in the day. After less than 15 minutes of wandering around, we paid $60 to go on the Slingshot ride, an exciting burst of a journey that lasted no more than a couple of minutes. It was a scary ride at first but after being flung upwards really high and then returned to bounce really high again; the ride just fizzled out afterwards. The second half of the ride felt like Cameron and I were just strapped side by side bouncing in a giant Jolly Jumper. LOL. Was it worth it? No, of course not! We walked away feeling like fools for wasting our money. My legs were a little wobbly after the ride and luckily, Cameron caught me just in time or everyone who stood around watching would have a big laugh witnessing me tumbling down the stairs to get off the platform. It was $60 for the ride but there were also t-shirts ($25 each) and DVD available for purchase. Luckily we didn’t pay for the extras. From memory, I think the ride was $90 last year. Nevertheless it was unbelievably crazy of me to waste money like that. No more! Moomba may be over for another year but come this weekend, we will be spending money again – the 2008 Australian Grand Prix is on again at Albert Park. Although I dislike the warm weather, I am secretly hoping that it will be so warm on the weekend that we don’t have to go. We haven’t bought tickets yet. Some warning bells have been ringing on and off inside me for the last couple of months. I kept thinking that we will be in some kind of financial turmoil. I even had a nightmare of Cameron buying a new car last night! This is why I am reluctant to part with any money lately.

Moomba 2008 It's On Again!

Who doesn't love long weekends? I absolutely look forward to them these days. I was itching to go to Moomba all day but stayed home to get some studies done. We did go and have a little look on Friday evening when we were on our way out for dinner in the city but there wasn't much going on at the time. It was like no one was aware that Moomba is on again. We will definitely be going tomorrow. I am quite tempted to go on the big slingshot ride. Sorry, I don't know the name for the ride but it does look like the riders get blasted from a giant slingshot. That is just so cool!

A Couple More Photos

Here are two more photos from the weekend. These were taken at Crown Casino. Now that I finally got them loaded up, I am off to slumberland. I need my beauty sleep.

Photos & Chinese New Year Experiences

Here are a couple of photos taken on the weekend when we turned up for the Chinese New Year celebrations at Melbourne’s China Town and Crown Casino. The event at China Town was more chaotic than in previous years. There were a few changes that I was not very happy with, but I guess everyone involved was doing their very best. I just wish that Crown would celebrate this fun cultural event on the weekend before or after China Town’s turn. My neighbour told me that Chinese New Year is usually celebrated over 15 days (commencing from the eve to the 15th day of the New Year). So, if China Town is celebrating it on the weekend after the actual date of the Chinese New Year, then Crown should celebrate it before or after that. Then everyone can easily make it to all of the venues. We didn’t even get to the Docklands to see the Dragon Boat race on Sunday. There was just too much happening on the one day. I reckoned that China Town should have top priority because it is after all Chinese New Year we are talking about. People will still turn up even if the events are planned for different weekends as long as they don’t clash with another Aussie event. That happened this time because Sunday was the final day of the St Kilda Festival and as a result, the number of non-Asian Aussies was clearly lower on Sunday evening at Crown.

For free events like these to work it also requires the attendance of some bossy people to ensure enjoyment for all. These days crowd controllers do less, so it is up to bossy people with guts to tell other people to sit down so that everyone else can enjoy the performance on stage. These bossy people were no where to be seen on Sunday night and we ended up standing and getting squashed for around 4 hours. This is made worse because many people do not observe other people’s right to a little bit of personal space. If you think that Cameron and I have an advantage over most of the people around us, my 5 foot 7 inch height can never beat someone an inch or two shorter than me, because they usually have their little 3 year old child on their shoulders as well. It’s not easy trying to sway left and right and ducking the squirming precious little ones just to watch the performance on stage. It was really quite horrible but where else can we experience such cultural events in Australia if we didn’t take part last weekend? Cameron was not bothered one bit but then again, he is well over 6 foot. He was reaching the clouds! I did try to tell some people in front of us to sit down but to no avail. People with precious bottoms absolutely refuse to sit down on the steps (like some lowly coolies) to enjoy the beautiful free entertainment. They prefer to stand. It wasn’t like we were all rocking away at a rock concert. Everyone was just all squashed together in an upright position. Needless to say, I didn’t enjoy the event down at Crown as much as in the previous years. May be it is all in Crown’s interest to have everyone standing up. Those who can’t stand for hours can cut their viewing short to try their hands at a bit of gambling, watch a movie, do a bit of high end shopping or dine at Nobu and the like. People like me who were there for the cultural experience, should really be grateful that we were offered such wonderful shows on the stage despite the physical discomfort.

Ok, enough already! I will stop the whingeing now. Below is a list of brief descriptions of the photos above. I am forever grateful that we have a great education system in place in Australia that requires children to attend schools on Monday mornings. Towards the end of the evening, families in front of us began to leave and their vacated spots allowed some of us (including Cameron & I) a chance to move forward a little. My height became my advantage from then on and I finally got to snap a few photos.

1. Two groups of lions met up and kow-towed to each other. How cute! (Melb ChinaTown)


2. People flocking to checkout the market stalls. (Melb ChinaTown)

PS. I will post a couple of photos taken at Crown Casino in another post. It is not working right now for some reason

2008 Chinese New Year Celebrations @ Crown & China Town

I dashed down to Crown Casino after work last night to meet up with Cameron and Winnie + her family for dinner. Winnie bought us din din to thank us for 'looking after' her apartment while they were away. I told her she didn't have to but she insisted that we join them. Apparently little Michael was over the moon when he learned that we were coming. He was very happy to see us last night, eagerly explaining a few things Chinese to us. (I have written a post about Michael's antics a couple of weeks ago that I still haven't posted. I think I will do that in the next few days.)

If you are in the city this weekend, be sure to visit Crown Casino. The riverside has been transformed into a Hawker's Bazaar with many interesting things on offer for everyone to enjoy. For those who love food (who doesn't?), do try those pork jerky squares or Maxim's custard tarts. Other than the usual folk dancing, martial arts demonstrantion and lion & dragon dancing, there's also Tommy the Noodleman. The picture above is of Tommy and a volunteer making noodles. Visit also the Atrium @ Crown to see 'The Emperor' - an interesting show of sound and light. I think the Emperor is meant to be the beautiful dragon that comes to life during the show. In my opinion, Tommy the Noodleman actually look like this dragon. Compare the two and tell me what you think. LOL.

While the celebrations at Crown in recent years seem to overshadow the celebrations in other parts of Melbourne (particularly China Town), I reckon this unique cultural experience is not complete without a visit to old China Town on Sunday. I will be there tomorrow to take photos of our Millenium Dragon. I thought his name was Dai Loong. Who changed it? There's also dragon boat racing down at Docklands but I don't think we will manage to get to so many places in one day.

Stella and her parents have also decided to visit Crown. Now that she is learning Mandarin at school, her dad will not give this experience a miss. Hopefully the little Missy do not find the noise overwhelming this time. She loves the lions but not the noise of the fire crackers. She is easily affected by sudden loud noise or movements.

Okay, I have got one email to reply and then I will have to go.

The African Village @ Southbank

We visited the African Village, erected temporarily as part of Australia Day celebrations on the grassy area next to Hamer Hall. It was absolutely good fun. I have been wanting for someone to organize something like this for a while. I know so little about Africa and judging by the reactions of some people to some incidents that occurred at the end of 2007, they are a misunderstood lot just like previous generations of migrants from various parts of the world. This type of cultural experiences help everyone to understand each other a bit better. Cameron said that there was also a Bollywood thingo going on at Fitzroy Gardens. We gave that a miss because we have already been to a Bollywood event a couple years ago.

Here are a few photos I took at the African Village. Most of the photos didn't turn out as well because of the glare from the sun. Here are the better ones:

1. The top photo is of a guy making the roof of a hut.
2. The same guy then joined his mates to play some music. Check out the other guy's hat!
3. This little guy decided to join in as well. I desperately wished that he would turn his head my way but he didn't.
4. According to a board, this is a display of Southern Sudanese Weaving Craft. A lady came over to greet us when she saw that I took an interest. I desperately wanted to ask if they use them as a platter to display fruits at home but was too shy to.