Melbourne, 9-12 June '10: The First Night

Okay, I know this post is delayed by a gazillion years but... hey, better late than never, right? (I seem to be telling a lot of other people that these days, too. =p) So I'm gonna try logging my trip to Melbourne before I barter off everything I remember in exchange for forgetfulness. :-/

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The flight to Melbourne was long and boring. We flew Jetstar so there was no in-flight entertainment except for what we had on the iPhone. We tried watching some movies on iPhone but... The Fiancé just had terrible B-Grade stuff uploaded there so we gave up after awhile. The highlight of that flight would have been my trip to the bathroom. -_-'''

By the time we landed, it was dark out.

We went to Baggage Claim and ended up waiting at the wrong conveyor belt. My fault, actually. I didn't realise there were two flights from Perth arriving at the same time so I just walked to the first belt marked 'Perth'. (I seem to pay less attention to things when I'm not alone. Haha.) Thank goodness The Fiancé noticed the boo-boo soon enough and dragged me to the next conveyor belt – the right conveyor belt.

We grabbed our bag,
then went out in search of a cab.

Boy, was it cold!
Much colder than it was in Perth.

Oh but I have more bone to pick with Melbourne other than its weather. Melbourne's airport cabbie system is p-a-t-h-e-t-i-c. Even the Skypark Subang Terminal is more organised, I tell you. -_-''' In Melbourne, there's a waiting line. But everything's so messy! I blame the attendant. He was so not in control of the situation. So much so that people started hailing their own cabs and getting into them while others who were waiting in line (like us) got pissed. >(

But we eventually got a cab and
whoa... that's another story altogether!

The cab driver was crazy! He was speeding, flashing cars, and honking. His petrol tank was empty. (A bright orange petrol tank on his dashboard was mocking me all the way into the city.) He kept talking to himself in soft whispers. And his car's central locking system only allows for the driver to unlock and open the doors. There was no lock to pull to open anything once you get in and shut the door! Wah, panic man, I tell you. If I was alone, I would have freaked out maximum.

But we got to the hotel in one piece
and checked-in without issue.

That wasn't the end of the first night drama though.

We asked how far Chinatown was from the hotel and the Front Desk said it would be impossible to walk. A cab was necessary. But after that horrific cab ride we just had... we decided to screw it and order in. Got the pizza delivery number from the guy who checked us in, proceeded up to our room, found it, went in, ordered the pizza, and took a good look around.

Hmmm.... less than satisfactory.

Firstly, it was freaking cold – colder than it was outside. And secondly, it looked nothing like it did in the website. So that was pretty disappointing. The only thing that lifted our spirits was the digital clock that was sitting on the bedside table:

A good omen.

We saw that as soon as
we plugged in the keycard. =)

Next thing we did was turn on the heater. But guess what? It only blew out COLD air! No matter which button we pressed and how many knobs we turned, it stayed cold. Like, FREEZING cold. So, after a lot of frustration, we called the front desk.


Dude came in, walked around the room, messed with the curtains, and told us he couldn't find the aircon/heater remote. WHEN IT WAS PLASTERED ON THE WALL RIGHT NEXT TO THE BED. *faints* So we told him, "It's ok just forget it," and let him leave cos we figured the machine was just taking longer than usual to warm up.


There was a lot of other nonsense in between like the hair-dryer and the towels and the sauna but I shan't go into that. (Actually, I cannot remember liao.) But between waiting for the heater to start behaving like a heater and waiting for the pizza to arrive, we decided to look up Russell Street where Chinatown is on. (Or something like that.) Well, guess what? It's so not a cab ride away lorrr. Just a few blocks down the road! Wth.

By the time we were done feeling pissed
with the Front Desk, we were cold, tired and hungry.

Sleep would have been good at that point. But it was way too cold to even think about having to come out of the bathroom and into the freezing room. So, since there didn't seem anything we can do about the room temperature but wait, we decided to watch Family Guy and laugh at Stewie to feed our hunger instead of hit the cold streets of Melbourne again in desperation.

Then suddenly, the phone rang.
YEEESS-SSS-SSSS!!! Pizza's here!

And I tell you, it was THE most AWESOME pizza.

I'd recommend it to ya but now,
I can't for the life of me remember
the brand anymore. Haha. Peace.