Melbourne

I was in Melbourne a few weeks ago. It was my first time in Melbourne, the last city in Australia that I've not visited. It looks similar to Sydney to me, with the addition of security guards everywhere after sunset, even McDonald's and Hungry Jacks.

In the morning, I took a 20 minute walk to Queen Victoria Market. It's where the locals buy their groceries and where tourist see the 125 year old market.


Even the Power Rangers and some Camels were here.

Facts:
Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne is a historic landmark, a tourist attraction and an institution for Melburnians. This vast, vibrant centre of trade and commerce was officially opened on 20 March, 1878 and has served consumers' needs for more than 125 years. Spread over 7 hectares, it's the largest open air market in the southern hemisphere. Almost one thousand traders sell everything from exotic Australian fruit and vegetables and local and imported gourmet foods, meat, fish and poultry, to hardware, manchester, clothing and authentic Australian artifacts and souvenirs.

It looked like any other market that I go to with my mother in Malaysia minus the foreigners. There are a lot of Chinese and unhappy 'aunties' around. I thought I have wasted my 20 minute walk to some place I am very familiar with, but as I walked further, I realised I was wrong.

We don't see sheep and cow skin sold in markets in Malaysia. And know what's the best thing? They sell wine in Queen Victoria Market too.

I went to buy a dozen of oysters, some scallops, mushroom, and two thick slabs of porterhouse steak, chuck it into my cooler box and flew it back over 3402 miles, and turned this...

Into this...

Unfortunately, it only looks good in the photo. The steak was tough and the scallops tasted like it was frozen. I came to the conclusion that it's the cook's fault because the only thing that tasted great was the oysters, that didn't require any cooking.

NEXT UP: Christchurch, New Zealand.