Melbourne

So, yeah, I'm up in Thailand now. Before, I would write most of these blog posts (especially the long ones) on my MacBook before posting them. However, as a safety precaution, I decided that I wouldn't be bringing my MacBook with me to Southeast Asia. As a consequence, that means that my blog posts will either be shorter or less frequent than they were before. Additionally, fewer pictures will be posted. Sorry guys, but I gotta take care of my MacBook. I love it too much :)

Anyways, I just spent six days in Melbourne. I was at this clean and new hostel called the Urban Central. The hostel had nice services, but it was pretty big, and the staff was generally clueless. They bounced me around between three different rooms during my six days there. They overbooked the hostel and many people were forced to be shuffled around, just like me. They wanted to change my room one more time, but I put a stop to it. They were also generally rude or unfriendly, and that's no fun. There's a night club directly beside the hostel and, on my last night there, it was open until like 3 AM playing very loud dance music. With the constant thump-thump-thump of music, it was hard to get any sleep... especially after my roommates came back at like 4 AM and made noise. One guy, seriously, started talking on his cell phone at 4 AM! I was forced to kick the guy out of the room until he finished the call.

I spent a couple days in Melbourne hanging out with my friends Charles "Chaz" Wong and Daphina Wai. We went out for a swanky sushi/sashimi meal at a swanky Japanese restaurant, went for drinks in an alley (literally), breakfast, and cupcakes. It was fun to hang out with them again.

I also spent a few days hanging out with Joe Clancy, his parents, and his girlfriend Natalie Thompson. We had dinner at his place, went on a road trip to Point Nepean, and went out for drinks at some cool bars (also in alleys). Joe left NeoEdge for Australia about two months before I started working there... so I just missed him. However, we've been talking for a while and I feel that he's already a good friend. It's too bad that I didn't get the chance to work with him in Toronto.

Melbourne is a cool city. I definitely like it more than Sydney. It seems to have a better scene for food, cooler bars (many of them in alleys), a more multicultural mix of people, and a more accessible transit system. It's a very livable city. In my short time time, I spent a lot of time hanging out with friends, rather than acting like a tourist. I know that I will return to Melbourne in the future (I have to get my MacBook back from Joe Clancy, of course!), so I will always have time to do the touristy stuff when I get back!