The sights of Perth and FremantleSo full disclosure ... I wasn't terribly impressed by Perth. The city itself was slightly more exciting than Columbia, South Carolina. Most shops and restaurants close by 6 or 7 pm so when I got to my hostel at 11pm at night . . . well I went to bed hungry. There was a 24 hour McDonald's about 10 minutes walk away . . . I wasn't that desperate. My first day there I explored the city. Walked down to Elizabeth Quay and followed the shore path to the Kings Park and Botanical Garden. Explored there for awhile, just walking around. Saw the DNA tower and went up. Saw some strange plants and animals (see below pics). I found the grocery store and got some food to cook back at the hostel. After lunch I did some clothes shopping. In Vietnam, I am size L or XL depending on the store ... so it was nice to be labeled as normal size in Australia. I had two free days after my day on Rottnest Island with the Quokkas. One was spent mostly in the hostel recovering from sunburn and reading books (read 3 total on the trip). The other, my last day in Australia, I took the subway down to Fremantle and went to Little Creatures Brewery upon the recommendation of my Australian housemate, Clare. Borrowed a bike from the brewery and explored Fremantle a little bit. Saw the rainbow container arch, apparently cost $175,000 to make ... most of that was to pay the crane operator. I hear the Fremantle Markets and E Shed Markets are nice as well but they're only open on the weekend. The Oddities of PerthI don't really have much to say about the oddities of Perth but here they are for your perusal. Quokkas of Rottnest Island |
Got to see the actual binturong at the "creatures of the night" show not in their habitat. They're huge, fluffy, and adorable. | Did get to see the pangolin but picture quality was terrible. Will say though, if you get a chance to see one, you should. A few facts about civets:
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Other cool animals not pictured above:
- Hog badger
- bearded pigs
- some variety of Himalayan mountain goat ... had super curly horns and an Uncle Ho beard
- African Cape Buffalo ... apparently they democratically choose where to go eat grass each day. They all face their bodies in the direction they want to go and majority wins
- Greater Asian Rhino (aka Indian rhino) ... the ones with what look like armored shoulder plates
- Indian porcupines: now these guys were weird as fuck (sorry mom/dad/grandma) ... There were six of them. 5 were sleeping in a corner. Not like in the corner but literally with their noses into the corner, the same corner. The sixth one I guess was very distressed about the fact that the corner was full and proceeded to run in circles (literally) behind the others. Also their bodies seemed rather cone shaped with their quills. See terrible drawing below: ... you're welcome
In the morning (definitely slept in) after breakfast, I headed downtown. Tyler had said to do the giant trees at the Gardens at the Bay but I didn't have time for that and the merlion/helix bridge combo. So I headed for the merlion ... it was covered for maintenance. Bad decisions were made. Oh well. If you don't know about the merlion ... Google it, Singapore is famous for it. (don't feel bad. I didn't know about it until I started watching this weird Japanese dating show on Netflix ... Thanks Justin)
I looped back around after the helix bridge and got to see the giant trees from afar but did not get to go up them like I was told to do (and it was $25 which I wasn't going to pay when I only had time to go up and come right back down ... That's what I get for sleeping in).
I head back to the hostel to check out then to the airport. As it turns out . . .
a) Singapore airport does their security at the individual gates so it was useless to get there 2.5 hours ahead of time
b) Turns out my flight was delayed . . . which I didn't find out until after I was already at the airport . . . Could've gone up the trees . . .
c) Sunscreen is a dangerous item. They took my sunscreen at the airport because it was over 100ml. WTF would I do with sunscreen on an airplane? At least I wasn't the guy who had his duty free alcohol confiscated (he opened the sealed shopping bag before going through security which is apparently a no-no . . . it looked like some pricey whiskey too)
a) Singapore airport does their security at the individual gates so it was useless to get there 2.5 hours ahead of time
b) Turns out my flight was delayed . . . which I didn't find out until after I was already at the airport . . . Could've gone up the trees . . .
c) Sunscreen is a dangerous item. They took my sunscreen at the airport because it was over 100ml. WTF would I do with sunscreen on an airplane? At least I wasn't the guy who had his duty free alcohol confiscated (he opened the sealed shopping bag before going through security which is apparently a no-no . . . it looked like some pricey whiskey too)
General thoughts on Singapore:
- It's very clean. Seriously, every single car looked like it had been washed, waxed, and polished that morning. Every single bus, street maintenance vehicle, . . . Every single one. I think I might have seen one construction vehicle that might have gone through a dust patch an hour before... maybe
- They like their shopping. Every subway station has its own shopping mall. Every office building and apartment complex has its own shopping mall. The airport (before gate security) was a shopping mall. It was very bizarre.
- I think I'd like to go back and visit again but I'd never want to live there. It seems to be very much about appearances and I just don't care that much. Also they drive on the other side of the road.
Shannon
Math Teacher living and working in Hanoi, Vietnam
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