Day 14 - China Town
Having gorged ourselves on too many cakes over the past few days we opted for a cheap round of toast to prepare us for the day ahead. After doing some research on the public transport we decided to brave it and take a tram into the city. We stopped by the local 7/11 and purchased our tickets and hopped on the first tram, CBD bound.
Being only 2 days before Christmas it was BUSY! The main shopping plazas were teeming with shoppers eager to grab a late deal and none were keen on a slow pace around the streets. We absorbed the potent atmosphere and headed to our first destination, Block Arcade. The first thing to greet us was a very extravagant Afternoon Tea shop called Hometoun. The queue of orientals outside suggested it might be a good tourist attraction, but one look in the window at the cakes on display suggested it was most likely ever so slightly outside our price range! It probably would have been more at home inside Harrods. Opposite to the tea shop was a spice shop that looked just as impressive. Much like a sweet shop, large plastic tubs lined the walls all filled with exotic spices and herb mixes, ready to be scooped out into bags. The smell was heavenly and the prices were just a high. The last shop in this arcade was an Aussie version of Hotel Chocolat called Haigh's; hundreds of different varieties of chocolate and truffles lined the shelves, but sadly no samples!
From this arcade we stepped into another, much more user friendly and affordable. The area was laden with Christmas decks and music which really got us in the Christmas spirit. So much so that Clarkey ran off to buy presents because she could no longer contain her excitement! Lucky Holly!!
After wondering around for some time we became hungry so headed to China Town in search of the highly recommended Flower Drum. Unfortunately this gets booked out months in advance, so we popped across the road, all 3 meters, and ate at the HuTong Dim Sum dumpling bar. Over come with joy at the prospect of eating Clarkey couldn't decide what to eat...unusual I know....so wanted to sample everything. After 5 rounds of dumplings and some noodles and 4 refills of Jasmine Tea we were sufficiently full and ready to head back.
On the way back we headed past Mayers. We had read in the guide book that at Xmas people will queue for hours to look at their shop windows, all 5 of them. The windows all contained a mechanical Christmas story, so you had to start from the first to understand the theme. Each window had moving parts, animatronics and Christmas joy in bucket loads. They were very impressive, but just walking behind the queue was sufficient enough to understand the fuss, without having to wait for hours (well for Holly anyway).
We returned back to St Kilda in time to meet up with Holly's old Netball friend, aptly named Holly too. After meeting outside the gaping mouth of Luna Park the 3 of us went to Captains Baxter's for a few beers. During this time we had our first glimpse of the Melbourne sun, after 3 days of cloud...yippee! The temptation of drinking in the warm summer sun could not be resisted and resulted in a slightly tipsy Clarkey! Tut tut! After chatting for a few hours, catching up on missed time and a
good old gossip we parted ways, never knowing when we might meet again...dot dot dot.