dandenong market
the trip to dandenong was made possible by an ex-colleague who settled here 2 plus years ago. in fact, john has been instrumental in helping me settle down without getting into too many newbie's woes as with someone who is new in any environment.dandenong is a pleasant 20mins drive away from vermont south. i understand that it is one of the major satellite cities in the state of victoria. we were there mainly to familiarize ourselves with the wholesale market there. the market itself is big, though nowhere near the size of queen victoria market in melbourne city. obviously, the former is designed for practicality while the latter is a tourist destination. the first thing we noticed were the relative affordability of the fresh produce there. this
is especially true when one buys in bulk. trays of strawberries in 10 punnets goes for a mere $10. closer to town, one pays $3 for a punnet in a coles or safeway. if one is into carbo-loading, dandenong market is a must-stop because you can get a sackful of potatoes weighing 10kg for only $5. the list goes on. of course, you can buy in smaller quantities for a smaller family like ours, but dandenong market makes a good monthly visit at least when we plan to stock up our fridge. the same goes for poultries and seafood. prices are generally lower. we ended our trip with a short walk to the town centre and a meal at the market where i was introduced to a southern chinese migrant called sam. sam runs a small chinese eatery at the market. it is a popular joint amongst caucasian and chinese alike. we were treated with some nice fried beef kuay teow and mingwei had singapore noodle. i couldn't quite figure out why is it called so since it tastes like nothing we found back home. i guess the important thing is mingwei lap it all up. he must have missed singapore.
(more pictures below. click on picture to enlarge)
salmon prices are almost half of what we can find in vermont south.
st. kilda
we drove to st. kilda with our new ride today(sunday, 30/11). the forecasted rain did not materialize and we were treated to beautiful sunshine with temperatures hovering around the 28 degrees celcius. st. kilda is a place to see and be seen on a sunday. there are many alfrescos that line the streets there; and there's luna park for those who are seeking thrills in the form of rides and the st. kilda craft market is also a nice stroll away if one is looking for knick knacks and have a spare buck to spend on things you don't really need.
needless to say, it was very crowded today.
we didn't really spend too long there as the parking were exhorbitant there to say the least. $7 bucks for 2hours parking. when we were in dandenong, parking was $0.20 per hour. so, we just stroll around o'donnell park and its surroundings to just familiarize ourselves with that area and soak in the atmosphere. we promised the kids that we will bring them to luna park before too long as it was very crowded today. we watched street performers and like in singapore, no trip is complete without the mandatory stopover at mcdonalds :-( we had ice cream cones and apple pies there. the kids then had a good time feeding our leftover popcorns to the pigeons and a short run about at the park before we drove home.
(more pictures below)
watching street performers just outside the entrance of luna park. 
run about at the park. 
strolling along the pathway at the st. kilda sunday craft market.
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