week-long overloadddd, pt. 2

Continued from previous post...!


By the time we got back to UniLodge I was exhausted, but barely 30 minutes later we were out the door again to see the Chinese New Year Launch Celebration and Markets at Belmont Park, which is located up the street from Central Station. The entire park was transformed by tents and tents upon market stalls, and a giant stage with performers. Note: the following pictures were taken on Jane's camera, since mine was, uh, without battery since I forgot the battery in my room. Whoops.

The tents and lanterns.

Me, peacin' out my fob signs among other azns.

The crowd in front of the stage.

The little boy that I wanted to kidnap because he was so cute! My friends thought it was too weird (read: creeperific) that I took his picture.

And, of course, there were the lion dances:

Emblazoned with Sydney on the side.

And, a little camera-whoring:



While we're still on the topic of Chinese New Year, I'll recount my CNY feasts. Feast 1: Beijing duck with my friend Kelly on Sunday night (proper CNY). Then Feast 2: pure sumptuousness with the remainder of friends on Monday night (New Years Day).

I'll just share one particularly funny picture:

AHAHAHA. This is a picture of Becky after she ate the WHOLE edamame bean, instead of just the inside. Awww, poor thing.

The whole gang after a splendid dinner.

Anyway, here we regress in the timeline and jump back to Friday night to after the CNY Launch Celebration. So I go back to UniLodge, shower, take a one hour nap, and then it's whoo, out we go again!, this time to drink inconceivable amounts of alcohol on the roof of UniLodge. The glass of riesling + shot of vodka + half of a beer does NOT sit well with me, and the rest of the night was a shitshow of getting downtown, finding a dance club, finding out that the cover charge to the dance club was $20AUD, then finding another bar down the street and finally fulfilling our promise to drunkenly dance. Somewhere along the way I was hit on by an Indian guy (this is new, I am thinking), and eventually I cab it back to UniLodge and end up consoling a friend who made terrible choices and ended up making out with a random creeper while at a hiphop dance club. And phew, what a mess. (Epic fail.)

I am through with those types of Friday nights for a while.

Saturday morning/afternoon I went to Paddy's market in Chinatown to do some souvenir shopping, and later that night we caught an outdoors symphony concert at The Domain, a beautiful city park about 20 minutes away by bus. They played many Australian composers as well as Mozart and Tchaikovsky. As the daylight faded and the night ushered in, hundreds of birds greeted us around the park. Well, that's not entirely accurate. ACTUALLY THEY WERE BATS. Hundreds of bats just chilling out with us on the lawn, listening to Tchaikovsky. It was a great night.

Sunday was possibly even better; having woken up late and making myself a leisurely breakfast, I left the room at around 3PM to meet up with friends to ride the monorail around the city. The monorail, somewhat like the public transporation in Chicago, is above ground and I got some great shots while in the air. It was definitely worth the $4.80AUD. :)

Me in front of the Monorail Station.

After the monorail, we walked through Taronga Park to get back to Darling Harbour and catch the last few hours of the aquarium. Take all the best aspects of the Shedd Aquarium (Chicago), the Aquarium of the Bay (San Francisco), and the national Aquarium (Baltimore), combine them, and you've got the Sydney Aquarium. Really, it was such a delight. (Plus, I really dig aquariums--who knows why.)

Here are some highlights:

Huge sea turtle.

Coral from the Great Barrier Reef.

Dugongs! (Like the pokémon!!!) They are similar to manatees.

This picture is for Andrei, and he is the only one who will likely find the humor in it.

Okay, later this week I'll update about Australia Day-- it's the Australian analog for the 4th of July. Lots more pictures coming up!

Peace, love, and umbrellas,
Xu