Coffee...oh, specialty coffee!

"Coffees! Come get your coffees!"

My active imagination -> the blonde fellow in dark blue apron wrapped around his crisp, light blue collared shirt yelling to the customers passing by on the pavement from his coffee "laboratory" namely Market Lane Coffee. (Well, it did look like one!)

Melbourne is famous for specialty coffee. There's great coffee everywhere I went. It was another morning hovering like an empty soul in QV Market, in search for good coffee to perk me up. I remember reading an article from The Star paper about the coffees of Australia(Melbourne was in it!) right after I got home from my trip.

We had found ourselves again at Market Lane. This tiny coffe house with whitewashed walls, was introduced by Chanchan's friend, Penny. Located on the same row as McDonald's at QV Market.

Chanchan was queueing up for our "dunno--how-many"-th coffee for the week. Two days before I had ordered a cappuccino from Market Lane. This time, I had a short macchiato. I would say it was quite accidental that I bought something different from what I am used to. Well, I am a coffee lover but not an expert!

So, I placed an order for a macchiato, and the guy pipped, "Short?" Since I had no idea how it tastes like drinking a short - I had gone along with it because it seeemed to be a good idea to try something different in a foreign city. He mixed and stirred, and then my healthy dose of coffee was ready in a white paper cup. Beautiful chocolatey-looking brew...aaahhh...Took a whiff, and then a sip to jolt me awake with its aroma; my eyes twinkling and I found myself smiling, ahaha! As I was a little baffled as to why the macchiato was much, much, much more bitter than cappuccino without sugar, I plopped a teaspoonful of brown sugar into the beautiful mixture, which was a HUGE mistake. OHHHh!! Brown sugar turned my macchiato into a sourish concoction! Bad move.

Market Lane... good coffee!

Market Lane coffee "lab".  Slowly enjoyed with breakfast bought from QV Market.

Oh, do remember - do not repeat my mistake of mixing sugar into macchiato. It does not work that way.  Ouch!


A couple of other coffee stands/coffee houses we went to were:

• Di Bella Coffee stand at Queen Victoria Market
• Seven Seeds at Berkeley Street (near Elizabeth Street)

Each regular sized coffee cost me around AUD3.80 or AUD4..not bad at all!

No photos of Seven Seeds :( but I managed to salvage a couple of photos of coffee at Di Bella's :D

Creamy and foamy, yum yum yummm

Getting around Melbourne with Wifi and 3G service

A modern backpacker in a city should always move with the times. Gone are the days when we backpack, holding a paper map in our hands. The advantages of strolling in a foreign city with a smartphone or a tablet are abundant. I like Melbourne for the free WiFi connections I could get in the cafes and restaurants. But when I am walking on the street, I could be as lost as newbie in town.

My friend had earlier recommended a handy application for my iPhone and iPad if we are in search of gastronomic experiences. You could download UrbanSpoon, which gives you the best reviews of eateries in Melbourne CBD. Using this, we managed to make our way to Koko Black, a popular chocolate cafe which also sells rich Belgian chocolate (oh, the chocolatey luxury!) at Lygon Street which was many, many stones' throw away from our apartment. Before getting a 3G prepaid package, we made good use of the Wi-Fi in the apartment to snapshot a map to Koko Black :)

There are a few mobile network operators in the city, some of the common ones; Optus, Telstra, Vodafone. I was looking for an operator which gives me 24/7 connection even out of town when I move southwards, near the suburban and coastal areas on the following week. After googling for reviews prior to landing in Australia, I opted for Telstra. Pretty cheap for sharing among 3 people on a trip as it was only AUD30. With 3G, we had more options on our hands - where to eat, who to call for emergencies, hiring a car, making last minute accomodation bookings, people contacting me...uhhh very long story (stay tuned for more).

Surfed the net and made calls locally using this prepaid package.

Very affordable package, ain't it? Connection was satisfactory too.

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Koko Black could also be found at QV Market by the way. BUT nothing beats a nice walk along Lygon Street though, passing by Argyle Park and admiring all the Victorian-styled buildings on our way there.

Opening hours of Koko Black

The interior of Koko Black on Lygon Street looked inviting and cosy. We were seated next to the barista's coffee (or chocolate??) counter and served by a very friendly waiter.

Below is a breakdown of the costs of our first meal of the day. (Yes, we didn't have proper breakfast!)

• Chocolate florentines - 5.50
• Hot belgian chocolate - 6
• Soy dark chocolate - 6
• Chocolate affogato - 6

Totalling up to AUD 23.50

Very rich chocolate content for the chocolate lover!

Before leaving, I even purchased 2 small blocks of Belgian chocolate to take home. I had never imagined they could create a chocolate recipe with ginger!

The apartment

We chose to stay for 4 nights in Melbourne CBD before moving on south. Here are a few photos:

The apartment on Wills Street. Highly secured. You need a security card to activate the elevators.

A not-so-comprehensive view of the apartment unit itself. Cosy, nonetheless!

Cost of my stay at Wills Street apartment :
AUD120 for 5D4N

Within our 5 days, 4 nights stay in this unit, we had an "exciting" encounter. The other half of a couple who rented the master bedroom had accidentally plugged his CD player without using an adapter into the wall socket which caused the electricity to trip. It was a BLACKOUT - woo!! They were quite apologetic, but we didn't mind it at all :P

During the blackout, we took it as the perfect opportunity to revel a little in the chilly night with the flashlights we brought along, happily chatting away while waiting for our pot of red dates to boil. We have summer and rain all year at home. This was the chance to have some "fun", ahahaha.  After what seemed a long 15minutes, the landlord came over to sort out the matter and the ambient lighting was back to normal.

If you reading this, and wondering why do we drink the juice from red dates on our trip, there's a particular reason for that. According to traditional Chinese medicine, red dates are a good source of iron. Revitalising drink if we had walked ourselves to exhaustion. It wasn't easy to get our hands on red dates in Melbourne. On our city excursions the second night we were at Melbourne CBD, we chanced upon an Oriental shopping mart which was somewhere along Londsdale Street called the Laguna Oriental Supermarket located on the first floor of Queen Victoria building.

Laguna Oriental Supermarket basically has almost everything an Asian needs; from toiletries, junk food to herbal ingredients. I suspected it was opened by a Malaysian as I saw alot of familiar looking biscuits and coffee brands. Nice!

Surrounded with Asian groceries.
Smile! :D

Holding out for the best Ka-CHING! rates in town

Money. This is the deciding factor whenever I travel on a budget. Everytime I spend money in a country which holds a bigger currency than my country... (owrghh! Wallet screaming out in pain!).... part of my preparations entails frequent checks on the rates at the money changers around KL at least 3 weeks before.

While searching for the best Australian Dollar rate in town, I did something extra before skipping out on a short trip to the nearest friendly-Money-Changer's booth! I pay a visit to the Bank Negara Malaysia's Ringgit Foreign Exchange rates website. (Disclaimer: BNM only as a guideline for my own tracking purposes to compare rates with banks and money changers.)

Well, I usually observe the rates on weekends and midweek so it would be convenient for me to run my errands together with exchanging currencies.

Talk about killing several birds with one stone ( ･_･)ﾉ⌒●~* ﾎﾟｲ!  

After 2 weeks of observation and comparing the prices to some of the money changers in town, I discovered that there IS actually a money changer in Pavilion shopping mall that adheres closely to the currency fluctuation shown on BNM's website, and they offer cheaper rates compared to the ones along Jalan Bukit Bintang.

Half-hearted as I am to divulge information of the getting good rates in KL, in hopes that their business will not turn brisk and then affecting the currency rates they are currently selling :P - do look for a money changer's booth located on the crowded Pavilion sidewalk that leads to the outdoor cafes and restaurants - La Bodega, CBTL, Starbucks etc on the ground floor. Try look for it! That's the only one, you can't miss it.

When you travel, go somewhere that will make you happy!

One fine Sunday morning, my usual travel buddy; none other than Chanchan, and yours truly set out to the nearest Coffee Bean & TeaLeaf outlet, with books, pencils and a Galaxy Tab. What could be more relaxing than sipping coffee and discussing something painful.... something like, route planning.


Both of us had picked our favourite destinations, and it was time to fit them into our itinerary. Chanchan wanted to look at penguins and the planning was quite easy-peasy. As for myself, it was not that easy to plan and we had to mull it over after stuffing our faces with breakfast.

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I had been busy scribbling in my planner the week before with my very best..ahem, Doctor Yen writing, detailing all the carefully selected lodgings and points of interests that our piggy banks could afford, and also the kind of places that my inner child would love to visit.
Inner child said, "Hmm, I would love to visit a theme park!"


And so, Doctor Yen thumbed through the Lonely Planet guide book and wrote down a short prescription that would make even the saddest inner child happy. Doctor Yen would love her Inner Child to visit Luna Park in St. Kilda! Inner Child's eyes sparkled with joy upon catching a glimpse of the picture of the gaping entrance on Luna Park's website that Doctor Yen was carelessly scrolling through. And so, it was brought to Chanchan's attention, where she gladly helped to fit into our very busy sight-seeing schedule.


"But what's there to see in Luna Park?" The grave and mature side of Chanchan had emerged.


Inner Child tugged at Doctor Yen, and whispered, "Because it was built in circa 1910, like those I saw on TV! There will be many things to play and seeeee...I want to experience what I saw but could not touch!"


So, I grinned at Chanchan and replied, "Oh, it's ok. We will not be taking up much of our time there because I won't be going on the rides anyway. I just wanted to take photos!"
Ok, it's partly true because if I couldn't go on the rides, I will just satisfy myself by taking photos.


Oh well, but then again I know you could have guessed that Chanchan already knows my real intention =D =D


As helpful as she was, Chanchan checked the opening hours and we decided we could spend at most a few hours to stroll and take some fun photos. End of story.


It was a big YAY for me, as I know when I reach there, my Inner child will let loose and make me happy!!

A food excursion to the south of KL

It was September the 24th, 2011; 6:45pm. I was late - chasing the train to Sri Petaling. Mich was waiting for me in her car wearing spanking short shorts. Myself, in a scruffy, brown long Tee I got for MYR10 in Bangkok's Platinum Mall.

Both of us had an agenda that day. To backpack to Melaka without doing any prior hotel booking in advance. Totally....pushing our luck. But, never say die right?

And so, off we zipped down in her cute and tiny Kelisa using the Alor Gajah freeway to Melaka town. Mich drove at 80-90kph. Girl talk all the way. Munched some choc. Took us 2hours. Not too bad!

Our Kelisa turned into the quaint little town of Melaka. Streets were dimly lit up. It was almost 9pm. NINE PM?! We had no idea where to stay, where to eat. And that was the start of our little adventure.

So first, we went to Jonker Street. Found a little corner to park and pay. Here's Mich doing a quick pose in front of the lovely pre-war shophouses painted in red.

While procrastinating to look for a place to stay the night, both of us walked along this street and turned into the Jonker's food and shopping avenue - the pasar malam. People and hawkers were swarming the street. Food everywhere, artisans selling their goods. Upfront there was a stage sponsored by Mamee, and there was some event going on. Live karaoke ftw!

Mich bought some "kuih bahulu" and we munched and munched till we reached Jonker88, a small kopitiam that sells Malaccan-styled noodles with a very popular ais kacang/cendol stall located right at its entrance. So we put our backpacks down, heaved a sigh of relief and ordered our food. I was itching for some cold, icy dessert and so, I joined the insanely long queue of foreigners and locals alike for a bowl of ais kacang!

After our food, we walked around the dark and quiet alleys of Jonker Street. Pubs are everywhere, people drinking quietly/noisily. Looked quite fun. I even saw a quaint little temple at the corner of an alley!

After that, we went to look for lodging. Went to the Baba House, and there was one room left with no water! Disappointed, so we walked and walked again, knocking every door that we think would offer us a place to sleep but there was none! Hence, we decided to drive out of Jonker, towards Melaka Raya.

Round and round we went near Dataran Pahlawan and we chanced upon this shophouse which has a backpacker's inn upstairs, called Samudera Backpackers inn in Melaka Raya. It was around MYR75 per night. Place was pretty clean and it is run by a Malay owner who also stays there with his family. Before going to bed, we went downstairs for some beer, basking in the warm night of Melaka town. And that was that, till we woke up the next day.

Some pic-cies of Samudera Backpacker's inn...

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The next morning's cloudy sky was drizzling. We were up by 7am, and headed out an hour later to Jonker Street again for food. Bought a full 6hour parking voucher and parked right up 1512 for a short brekkie. One convenient thing about buying parking vouchers, is that some shops do sell them. Phew! And it was just next to 1512. Businesses open late on a Sunday. We only managed to have our western platter after 9am. I quite like the otak-otak that I ordered as a side dish. It tasted a tad different, somehow.

Next, we continued on our journey to look for Kenny's Delights. According to Mich, this Nyonya eatery was opened by the Baba & Nyonya actor and it's one of the must-eat locations. And to my delight - the wooden house on stilts has vintage decor and red cloth covering round tables for family eatouts. A few families came out for lunch that Sunday. What a happy noon!

A feast for the eyes and the stomach :P

Home was beckoning to us. Full stomachs want to rest and sleep! Took us half a day to taste only a small part of Melaka. But oh well! I will be back someday =D

TIP-ping TIME! Preparation for the next backpacking destination : MELBOURNE!

Yes!!! May 2012 is approaching and tomorrow's the beginning of April!

How excited can you get thinking of an upcoming overseas backpacking experience in May?

For me... TONNESssss :D

Below is a setup for writing down all the budget travelling items and pricings before making a decision on where to stay, how to get there, and what to see.

Today I'll be solely blogging on my preparatory notes on <<<Accomodation>>>.

Now, would you please roll your eyes onto the pic-cie on the right>>>>

- Book (borrowed from Angie)

- Lappie (for Googling HostelWorld and travel sites - thanks for the links Vay!)

- Notebook with calendar, doubling up as a planner to jot down all the items to make comparisons

- Stickers (it came with the notebook)

- a sticky cat (which has got nothing to do with my research :P)

As of last week, I caught up with a friend who just got home from Melbourne and she lent me a really nice book from Lonely Planet. Apart from the book, she dispensed a really useful tip for first-timers like me, with regards to applying an Australian visa. You can actually do it online! There's no need to visit the embassy.

Head over to the Australian immigration website and look out for the online ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) link. The good thing about this is, if you are travelling by AirAsia, you don't need to bring your printed visa application along. AirAsia would already have the details in their system.

I have yet to submit my application, and there's one month left and lots to do still. I feel like the White Rabbit (not the candy from China, but the character from Alice in Wonderland).

Today I have the luxury to sit down, prop myself against the lacquered coffee table and divide each page of my notebook into columns. On each page, I put down the following details;

1. The dates I'll be at Melbourne CBD, South of Melbourne, Great Ocean Road
2. The hostel I'm interested in, rent-per-day (yes, price may differ each day depending on the hostel)
3. Facilities; Laundry service and Wifi is a must! Free breakfast is a wonderful option. And..does the hostel have a tour/travel desk? Aircond? Ceiling fan? Hairdryers?
4. How to get to the hostel from Southern Cross Station, how far, how long it may take
5. Surrounding facilities ; e.g. any Coles supermarket around to get bottled water?

Last, but not least, remember to jot down the details of checking in/checking out, cancellation policy, contact details, address of the hostel. Compile it into a few pages and then show it to your group of travel buddies. And then, make your pick!

So far I've checked, the price for a night's stay is around MYR100. I am torn between moving hostels in Melbourne. Or should I make my stay a tad boring by cooping up in the same hostel for a straight 5 nights?

Aaaahhh well, I shall now get back to my very exciting planning task. I am considering to make a trip to St Kilda and stay a few nights, to satisfy my inner child at Luna Park (opened circa 1900)!! Free entry, paid rides..yeah details, details... I have to remember to budget properly! Accomodation makes up a big chunk of my wallet. If I am not careful, I would be overspending.

Shall blog on preparing for commuting around my points of interests the next round.