Port Vila Market

When I lived here last year, I would go to the Port Vila Market every week to stock up on fresh produce.

The vendors are mostly Mamas from all over Efate who come to Port Vila to sell their harvest. The Mamas (often with their small children) stay and sleep in the market for as long as it takes for them to sell all their produce and only then will they take the long trek back to their own villages.

Bargaining (and tipping) are not part of the Ni-Vanuatu culture so don’t even bother.  My very Asian mum finds this hard to fathom and still try to no avail to bring the prices down.

The market doesn’t offer a wide variety of fresh produce. Often, it’s a hit or miss kind of experience. One week the market is full of mud crabs, carrots, and lettuce; the next week there is none to be found at all. But that is the beauty of going to the markets every week, you’ll never know what you will find.

bananas and young coconutsMama arranging her stacks of pechay

There’s an empty chair here. we guard it closely.

Hello from sunny Port Vila!I haven’t really been up to much. Still finding my feet in this sandy place.

However,  I did manage to

• help mum move from our lovely house with this view

view from Villa 5 of Sea Side Villas

to an apartment at The Melanesian Resort with this view

from Unit 28 of The Melanesian

• Be my obnoxious local self exploiting resort facilities without paying a single Vatu while bonding with my brother

Rex & Tusker @ Le Lagon

• Catch up with beloved old friends and hear the gossip about the colourful characters in this city

Will & Poli, Rusty for lunch at La Tentacion

• and even out my tan

Le Lagon

I hope i had more exciting news.. but alas.. the island makes me lazy.

But he’s coming on Wednesdays and adventures will be had then!!

I

WE CANNOT FRIGGIN WAIT!!!

Ale Tata! Lukim yu!

(that’s Ok bye! See you! in Bislama)

Aaaaaaaaaaand.. I’m back..

In Port Vila, where I spent half of last year. This place is and will always be the place that shook me to my very core, where I have learned so much about myself and that caused me to shift my paradigm,.

This is against my nomadic nature, to come to a place where I have already hunted and gathered. I am one to move on, never coming back because I’ve already harvested the thoughts, lessons, and experiences I could from a place. But having said that, I acknowledge that  I am what I am today because of the nourishment that this beautiful paradise so generously offered me.

But I think this is going to be good for me. I see now that coming back,  allows me to reap the benefits of the seeds that I sowed last year. The friendships have bloomed but stay rooted to where it was planted, lessons are still waiting to be picked from the tree and acres of adventures still await.

That is not to say that it has been without difficulties. There is something both painful and overwhelming in the realisation that the place where you breathed, talked and lived has evolved without you. The place itself has changed. So many new buildings, shops, cafes that did not exist last year have popped up all over the place. In such a transient place such as Vanuatu, many of my friends have gone and those that have remained are somehow  different. And of course there’s me. I am not the same lost little girl who didn’t know what to do with herself. To come here knowing that Melbourne is now home gives me a whole new perspective.

The changes are refreshing and yet a bit off putting. I long for the familiar but the difference that a year can make is encouraging. I left this place with a heavy heart with threads that flopped in the wind, which slowly unravelled me. But leaving allowed me to  pick up another piece of me and weave myself another life in Melbourne – one that is proving to be a beautiful tapestry of experiences. In my three weeks here I hope to tie up the loose ends I left here, finally hang what I have woven on my wall to look at every once and a while so I don’t forget.

One Melbourne Morning

I’ve got to admit despite my rant about mornings.. I thought Melbourne is esxpecially photogenic in the morning..

morning schmorning

Last Thursday, for the first time since I arrived in Melbourne I had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning.

We stepped out into the street and I looked around with eyes still heavy with goo and proclaimed..
I don’t see what the big deal is.. Mornings are stupid. It looks like evenings only you have to wake up for it and it smells like disinfectant.

I’ve never been a morning person and I don’t think I ever will be.
Simply because, as I already so eloquently said,  I think mornings are stupid.

And morning people will say…

But the air is so crisp in the morning .. That’s ok the only thing I like crisp are my chips.
But coffee is so much better in the morning… uh… no it’s not. It’s just as good at brunch time.
But the newspapers are fresh off the press!… I like my papers previously read. That way I don’t get newsprint on my fingers and that smell is gone too.
But the glorious morning sun on your face!! .. Is annoying in my honest opinion. I like my sun well over head and not glaring on my face
But breakfast food is amazing! … I agree and that is why brunch was created.. For people like me.
You can see your breath in the morning… so what? As long as I’m alive I know I’m still breathing I don’t need to see it.
But it’s the start of the day.. When people are most alert and optimistic.. I like meeting people in the afternoon.. When the day has already jaded them a little bit but there’s still a little hope left for the rest of the day.

Having made my stand about how stupid mornings are..
I don’t regret waking up at the butt fuck of dawn..

Because the look on Jack’s face when he got his new iPhone 3GS..

SO TOTALLY WORTH WAKING UP FOR.

//

Hot cocos & churros

Because I’ve been wanting churros for ages since we had a free taste of the one in Elizabeth Street we went here:370 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Victoria. Between Bimbos & Joe’s Garage

walls in stalls & $4 pizzas

Went to Bimbos for $4 pizzas for Philippa’’s birthday. Man.. even on a Monday that place was packed! Good thing they came a little before 7 and they were able to secure a table. But even then seats had to be shared.

The first time I went there, I was expecting real rubbish pizza but for $4, those pizzas are amazing! My personal favourite is the Calabrese with a generous amount of salami with just the right kind of zing. If you manage to make your way to the bar to place your order the pizzas would come within 10 minutes. As the night progresses though.. the wait gets longer. But who could complain with $4 pizzas anyway? Plus.. they have a good selection of beer on tap to wash down the pizza with.

I could have taken photos of the adorable lamps in the courtyard or the interesting ambience downstairs (although it might have been too dark to take a photo of anything) but what really tickled my fancy was the ‘decor’ in the stall at the ladies.. Am I weird? But it was cute and uh… informative.

warming up in black & white

Even thought I am off to beautiful, warm, sunny Vanuatu in less than a week, I Jack still insisted on getting me another scarf and a pair of gloves that actually fit my teeny tiny hands.

When I get back from my 3 week holiday with a deep tan and spoilt by the tropical heat, I’ll have new winter warmers for rugging up!

Thanks Jack!

Fridays are for FUN

Jack & I were feeling celebratory (for a reason that will remain undisclosed) and planned a night of ‘things we’ve never done together before’. So we started with an early dinner at Houndstooth on Johnston Street inspired by this rave review.

The place is a great find! Excellent service, awesome atmosphere (if it is nice out, ask to be seated in the courtyard), great music selection and sumptuous and cheap food!

Finished the meal at 7:30 and made our way to the Comedy theatre along Exhibition Street. Saw Avenue Q and loved it!

Avenue Q: it doesn’t suck to be you

I had my first ever theatre experience in Melbourne last Friday (unless watching Arj Barker during the comedy festival counts?) and I couldn’t have asked for  a better introduction to what Melbourne theatres have to offer. Avenue Q was fantastic! There I was fully expecting a crass version of sesame street with lots of cussing and rudeness but was very very pleasantly surprised to sit through a hilarious and stimulating show led by a talented cast that sang brilliantly memorable songs.

The musical tackled subjects such as pornography, one’s purpose in life, homosexuality, racism, sex, relationships, failures, helping others to make yourself feel better and the real world. These perennial topics were seamlessly weaved into the lives of the residents of Avenue Q in catchy songs like “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist”, “The internet is for porn” and “What do you do with a B.A. in English”.

I loved the venue too! I remember watching The Producers in L.A. from nosebleed seats because we were skimping on the ticket. The place was so gigantic (I forget which theatre it was now but it was somewhere in Hollywood) and ended up renting binoculars for $25. The Comedy Theatre in Melbourne is good sized in that even if you’re on the last row the actors don’t seem ant-size.

Thought provoking, easily relatable, a little bit controversial and hilarious to boot! Go on.. watch it.. let’s see if you don’t go home skipping while siging “It sucks to be me”.