Conditon: partially cloudy
It's good to know that my CF card wasn't corrupted beyond repair. Managed to extract the photos, reformat and everything's up and running again, including photos of the pig-out with wifey and mom...
Fresh steaming siew mai
And it seems that gun control does not extend to the sale of gunpowder, look what I found in a provision shop in the Little Vietnam area of Richmond...
smoking during tea time is a hazard
...either that or they've got really strong stomachs. If they labelled tea leaves as "Special Gunpowder", I shudder to think what the real McCoy really does...no wonder the US lost the Vietnam War. Never mess with anyone who drinks gunpowder.
Anyway, mom was really on a roll during a trip to Queen Victoria Market. Buying things left, right and centre, with aplomb.
mom in action
QVM is a must-see for any visitor, especially for 1984-ville denizens who grew up after the era of the wet market. It's large, varied and mostly cheaper than what you'll get in other parts of town. Especially the fresh meat prices near closing time. As wifey puts it ever so elegantly, peenge ga lau sai (literal: cheap until diarrhoea)
AUD$10 per tray, no bull prices here...
No marketing experience is complete without a Mexican Band
Might even find a gem or two, like Denis the sweet store owner, who's about the only person who can sweet-talk his way into mom's heart even when she's at her calculative best...
Mom parting with 50 bucks for a bag of sweets.
Denis the smooth talker.
Well, do pay him and his store a visit when you're in town. It's quite a sight and the stuff's a bit cheaper than what others have elsewhere.
Colours run riot in this store.
unearthing gems in the market
And it would seem that wifey decided to get into the act of buying sweets too. At Myer, which is about the largest shopping store in Melbourne (kinda like Robinson in Singapore), they have this moving conveyor belt of sweets, like sushi except that it's got nothing else but sweets. Cute idea...
Wifey making her grab.
Trying to keep a happy face, at $33 a kilo it's tough...
One thing about Myer is that it's big. I mean BIG as in, spanning 3 buildings and 2 streets. It has it's own 7-storey building, plus 2 others which it partially occupies, 2 levels of linkway between them and it's own mobile phone relay station. No kidding...
You see, in Melbourne your Nokia mobile phone displays operator logo, profile and the area you're in. So in the above photo, the 1st line shows I'm roaming with phone company Telstra, the 2nd shows the phone in Discreet mode (silent) and the third shows I'm currently in the Richmond area. In Melbourne city, the 3rd line normally shows either "Melbourne" or "Melb CBD" and while at mom's home, it shows "Brighton"
Guess what it showed while I was in Myer shopping...
Myer's big, 'nuf said.
suitably impressed
Well, let's hope I don't go back to 1984-ville with a similarly-sized belly...
1 comment:
looks like you're really enjoying yourself :)
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