Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Brisbane half-day excursion
Saturday, March 18, 2007
Brisbane
Wayne had a badminton tournament in Brisbane today and we tagged along to support him. It was just a medium-scale competition where everything from knock out to the final completed in one day. Wayne won the open grade final. He is good in badminton, no doubts and his partner in the men’s double not bad too.
We watched two games and then he sent us to the nearest bus stop before the next game started. From there we hopped on the bus and headed to china town in Brisbane city. It was already 4pm. All the shops were started closing and we realized it was not a right time to wandering around China Town at this late time. The China Town there did not impress me much. In fact, I don’t feel like visiting for the second time other than getting cheap Asian groceries. The place is not clean and feels slightly unsafe as the hooligans are all active and loitering at the city after the sun set.
We walked around China Town for about one hour for some grocery shopping at the major Asian food stores. We then moved to Brisbane CBD by train. We stopped at the central and went to the famous shopping area, which are Queen Street and Adelaide Street. Most of the posh fashion boutiques are located at these two streets. At one of the souvenir shops, there was one guy greeting to me, I think he is a Korean tourist. Most importantly, he is handsome!! (Don’t feel jealous BIE!)
The pubs lying at the city area were overwhelmed and packed, then only we realized today was St Patrick’s Day. It is some sort of Irish celebration. They do body painting, drink green beer and wear green. This celebration denotes lucky beginning, hence the clover leaves play a main role as well. Due to celebration atmosphere, the people outside the pubs and surroundings became a bit aggressive. They acted weird and it nearly scared us away. Some of them even asked us to join the party and some greeted us strangely. We loitering around the streets and had subway for dinner before heading back home.
The train frequency for gold coast express is low. May be it was Sunday. We waited for 35 minutes at the train station to catch the train back to Helensvale and it took 75 minutes to reach. The whole journey was so uncomfortable and I really need to comment about the train. The seats are not high enough to rest our head. We tried to take a short nap in the train but there was no way that we could rest well because our head were swaying around without any support. It was just horrible. When the train reached our destination, we alighted with that woozy mood as if still having the nap. Worst still, we need to walk back home in that tired condition because no one could pick us from the station. At one point of time, we nearly wanted to take cab home but we don’t dare to risk our pocket. So …walk lo!
This walked was shorter than the movie world one, only took 50 minutes. The funniest part was Wayne reached home 5 minutes after us, what a joke! Sigh….but I guess it was a good exercise for me as I missed the badminton session on Thursday. And walking through all the roads that we normally passed through by car, could actually give different sensations. It was slower in pace, allowed more times to enjoy the night scenery, and caught few star gazing moments. I’m always wanted to figure out which stars represent the southern cross constellation since it could only be seen at the southern hemisphere. I must see them before I go!
The day ended in a neutral mood. If the journey back was not that tired, it might sound better. Congratulation Wayne!! for winning the match and became Queensland number one.
Labels: Excursion