老爸老妈，干爹干妈 - 墨尔本之旅 (二）

Day 258

17th April 2011

Booked a car late last night with Europcar and got a shock this morning when I went to collect it. "I'm sorry, we have no record of your reservation." WTF?! Mr Tan thought that they probably overlooked my booking and didn't arrange for any car, so they claimed that they have no record of my reservation. Hopped over to Budget but they don't have any car available too! ARGH! Called Thrifty and thankfully, they have one available! But the pickup location is in the city. Mr Tan had to work today so I told him not to accompany me but I was really glad that he insisted on accompanying me to pick up the car because the worst is yet to come. 

There was a run this morning and the road linking my area to the city was CLOSED. There was no way that I could get into the city! ROAR!!! Our usual tram wasn't running and we took a cab, hoping that it would get us there. The irritating cabby took a few turns and then told us to get off because he didn't want to get caught in a jam and we still had to pay him for that journey. He earned $8.80 for NOT getting us to the destination!! I was FUMING MAD!!! MAD!!! MAD!!!! Not to mention that having 4 seniors waiting for me at the hotel set me into a panic mode. Luckily Mr Tan was there to calm my nerves, otherwise I would be totally lost about what to do. In the end, we had to walk almost 30 minutes to get to the city. We finally managed to get the car at 11am, I'm an hour late.....What a way to start the morning. 
Thank you, Mr Tan. :) You saved the day!

 

First stop of the day was Queen Victoria Market. It was very crowded today as there was an event at the market - La Plaza del Mercado, a Latin American celebration. There were plenty of food stalls, loud music blasting from the speakers and even stage performances. Godma loves hats, she bought 2 today! She couldn't stop shopping, haha. I think I will be bringing her back there on Thursday to shop. The minute we stepped into the seafood and meat area, Mama Goh immediately turned to Mr Tan and asked, "这里是什么地方？" and Papa Goh took out his fave 风油 and started applying. LOL. 

Because of Godma's shopping, we were late for our lunch appointment with Mrs Ong, Godma and Godpa's regular customer at Lagoon. Papa Goh couldn't eat anything as he was having vegetarian food today and he missed out on Pacific House's yummy roasted duck, char siew and roasted pork! The bill came up to about $110 and Papa Goh paid for it. He deemed it to be very expensive, especially when it isn't a fancy restaurant and we mostly had simple fare. Well, everything is expensive here and most of the time, you aren't paying for better quality goods. You are made to pay more because of the inefficient, rude and black faced service staff. Absolutely hate these people for ruining the meal. The staff at Pacific House today were terrible, terrible. For the same amount, you can certainly get better food and service in SG.

Richmond isn't the nicest place to shop but I thought it might be interesting for them to see "Little Vietnam" but I couldn't be more wrong. Papa Goh was totally turned off by the lack of cleanliness and he kept rubbing 风油. I'm very certain that after this trip, they will NEVER want to visit Australia ever again. I asked Papa and Mama Goh and both of them confirmed that statement without any hesitation. Papa Goh couldn't stop complaning about how old and dirty the whole place looks and the lack of good food. He said he would rather visit Guangzhou than come here again, unless I'm still here. He'll come here for me. Awww...so sweet! :) 

Godpa saw a very nice crab and he wanted to cook Chilli Crab for me tonight! Sadly, the crab was bought by another lady while he went to search for chilli and tomato sauce. My Godpa is so cute! All the can think of is cooking for me! I brought them to Victoria Gardens for some retail therapy but needless to say, nothing caught their eye. Godpa did buy 2 pencil cases for his granddaughters though and Papa Goh bought a gift for Guma! If only Guma was here too...I miss her so much...

I could see that Papa and Mama Goh were tired but Godpa was all ready to hit the jackpots again so I dropped Godpa and Godma at the casino before sending Papa and Mama Goh back to the hotel to shower and get some rest. The plan was to head to the casino at a later time and have dinner with Papa Goh after 11pm. I bought KFC for Mr Tan who came home after QV market as he had work to do. By the time I reached home, I was exhausted but was glad that Papa and Mama Goh could get some rest.

After the short rest, Mr Tan offered to accompany me for the rest of the night. We picked Papa and Mama Goh at 9pm and headed to Woolworths so that Papa Goh can buy some biscuits and snacks for the long trips tomorrow and the day after. They ended up buying lots of Tim Tam and chocolates to bring back as gifts! I also bought a Pre-paid SIM so that he could make overseas call and I can reach him for the next 2 days. In case they are back early from the trips, I can bring them for dinner or supper. We finally had dinner with Papa and Mama Goh at 11pm and sent them back to their hotel around 12. I'm TOTALLY EXHAUSTED. I hope the next 2 days will not be too tiring for Papa and Mama Goh as they are doing the Phillip Island and Great Ocean Road tours. Will try to see them at the hotel tomorrow night! Love them so much! Muack!