Happy Friday!!!! I'm so glad this week is over, it's definitely been a long and tiring one. I thought I'd take advantage of spending Friday night in and blog about my Melbourne trip last weekend with my two girls - Regina and Rossalin. One of the advantages of working is being able to afford to pick up and leave for the weekend whenever you want, but the downfall is not being able to really go any longer than those two/three days. So we booked an 8pm flight from Sydney to Melbourne on Friday night and raced to the airport after work, bags in hand.
After arriving at the airport at 7.20pm, we were told when checking our bags in that our flight had actually been cancelled (thanks for the notification Jetstar...) and that we were to be put on a 10pm flight, arriving in Melbourne at midnight. After a two hour wait and a more-or-less two hour flight, we finally landed in Melbourne, tired and ready for bed. Long gone were our plans of ditching our bags at the hotel and going out for a drink, as a night in was sounding more and more appealing. The whole reason we were in Melbourne to begin with was to shop so we thought we'd keep our eyes on the prize and rest up for the next day.
We hopped in a cab and headed into the city, where we were staying. Because I was so tired, I jumped out of the cab leaving my phone on the seat only realising it was gone when we were in line to check in. I was pretty calm at first, maybe because it didn't quite hit me yet but before I knew it Rossalin was calling hoping the taxi driver would hear, and Regina using Find My iPhone to track it down. We jumped in the first cab we could find and explained the situation. I felt like the FBI, showing the driver a map indicating where my phone was. It was so frustrating because being a taxi, he kept driving around with my phone in the back seat, but after going around in circles and starring at each taxi driver we passed down, I actually got my phone back!!!!
This definitely woke us up and the adrenalin rush was making me hungry so I suggested my family's favourite supper place in China town - Ling Nan. Ling Nan makes the most scrumptious crab noodles you will ever taste. EVER. However, it turns out they were out of crab and only had lobster. It was close to 2am and we were hungry and in the mood to celebrate so lobster with egg noodles in XO sauce it was 😱😁
On Saturday morning we headed out to the infamous Hardware Societe where I had the scrambled eggs served with house cured salmon and caviar and other goodnesses, and a matcha latte on the side. The interior for the place was so cute and the food delicious. Definitely worth a pop-in if you're in town.
Next stop was Hosier lane. This is one of my favourite places in Melbourne because it has so much life and colour to it, right in the middle of the city. Filled with urban art, the laneway is covered with artists remarks of the world, tags, scribbled words and names, and everything in between.
After a stroll through Hosier lane, we started our journey through the laneway boutiques and stores scattered across the city (though as you can see, I got started a little earlier hehe). I didn't take any photos throughout the rest of the day, apart from Flinders station of course, as I was busy swiping some plastic; but I did manage to capture the damage done by three girls with huge smiles and very sore feet at the end of the day. You know what they say, shopping is cheaper than a psychiatrist!
One of my favourite things I picked up was this clutch from The Daily Edited. They have a stall at David Jones in Melbourne and as I'm a sucker for anything with my name on it and love everything grey, it was love at first sight. I decided to get purple monogramming to stand out and be a little different which is strange cause I don't actually really like the colour purple... but in this instance, I absolutely loooooove it!
Having skipped lunch after a big breakfast, we were hungry by 6pm and headed to Chin Chin for some thai/asian fusion dinner. With a 1.5 hour long queue, we were absolutely starving by the time we managed to get a table. To me the food was good, but the dessert........... o m g the dessert was AMAZEBALLS. No joke, one of the best I've ever had! We tried two - the grilled banana roti bread with condensed milk and cinnamon sugar, and the coconut sago with sweetcorn ice cream praline and puffed wild rice.
I know the photo doesn't look very appealing but it was taken in very dim lighting with my phone! Honestly though, best coconut sago of my life. Chin Chin also does reeeeeeally good cocktails so as it was pouring down with rain out, we had girl talk over lychee cocktails and it was the best.
On Sunday morning, we headed for a quick breakfast as Regina had an earlier flight to Brisbane to catch. As we parted ways, Reg headed to the airport while Rossalin and I headed to our massage.
I had found this place - Sakura Lounge - being number one on trip advisor, and again in Timeout, and though it didn't look like anything fancy, decided to give it a go. It was down an alley way in the city and though I was a little unsure of it, it was so worth it in the end!
Rossalin and I booked the couples room (#lesbihonest) which had an authentic Japanese feel to it with beds laid out on the floor. We laid down and 90 minutes later woke up feeling absolutely no tension in our backs/shoulders/neck. It was incredible! She didn't rub or 'massage', but lightly pressed various points. I remember thinking that I wanted to ask for her to add a bit more pressure as I wasn't really feeling it all that much, but thought I wouldn't because I felt awkward it being too far into the massage to mention. So glad I didn't though cause it was absolutely perfect.
The rest of the day was spent walking through the Crown complex and around the city. We were even able to stop by a small dumpling place that was recommended by my sister. They had lines out the door and I must admit the dumplings sure were good! I ordered the xia long bao and this may be a weird thing to say, but their chilli oil is so freakin good! I wanted to take the whole tub home with me!!
In the afternoon, we ubered it to the airport and flew back home arriving in beautiful Sydney at sunset, my favourite time of day :)
Thank you for reading!
I hope you have a good weekend ahead
x E
