Parramatta Getaway

Time to catch up with Santa today. This getaway was probably sort of an unplanned date. To be honest, we planned it during our midsession-exam period which was about a week ago, but we did not exactly figure where to go to. At first we were planning to go somewhere far by ferry. But then, we took a short detour instead to Parramatta which was a train away! I psychologically think it is more closer on a train ride than a ferry ride. However, it is pretty much the same. I know, super weird, huh. Anyway, I kept on rambling on important stuffs. Let's start on the real dish of this blog post!

Both us decided to meet up at the central station in the city. And from there we took a train ride (around 30minutes) to Parramatta! Another thing we haven't actually planned was where to eat. So along the train ride, I was texting people who have been to Parramatta about their recommendations. They said something about "laksa" so I just googled it and found a decent restaurant with a great review.

Upon arrival to Parramatta Station, we took a look at the map provided just before the exit. It was just a 5-minute walk everywhere around the radius of the station which was cool. We did not have to take a bus to wander around the suburb. I think it is called a suburb. It is definitely not a city, because if it was, then there would be two cities which was a bit bizarre. Anyway, I just typed in my thoughts to elongate the paragraph even more. Yay me!

Speaking of writing blogs, I haven't been putting much effort in my blog lately. This is mainly because I don't have the "time" to write. Not to mention, sometimes I even got a mind fart of vocabularies during the process of blogging. Usually I started with uploading the photos, but then, while waiting for the photos to be uploaded completely, the writing mojo just faded away and in the end I only wrote captions below the photos and a few lines at the end of the post. What an enthusiastic blogger huh..

Anyway we wandered around to find this laksa restaurant called "Temasek". It rings some familiarity to my ear somehow. It was incredibly hot that day. I felt parched as well. In addition to this, I think I was in a flu-stage symptoms. These made me feel even worse. What bumped me more was that I saw this restaurant sign but the dyslexic me read as "The Mask", it was supposed to be "Temasek". We walked past by it a few blocks away. Up till the point where I was enlightened to browse the image of Temasek. It was a good thing the lion logo was similar to the one I saw. So, we turned back and finally we were so close in filling our tummies with good food.

the laksa place! Temasek!!

chicken laksa

oh pardon my super lame face

The first bite of the laksa tasted okay. I preferred the laksa provided in UNSW. But after a few spoonfuls of laksa, it tasted good. First taste impression really matters to me. So far, best laksa in my laksa list category is the Matthews Laksa in UNSW.

Santa and I talked about everything we missed while having lunch. After lunch, we felt a bit guilty of devouring so much oils in one go. Then we decided to walk to the park and the famous Parramatta River.

found a cute abandoned shoes. It's cheetah print, I bet the toddler is FABULOUS.. Just kidding

old Government House

super weird canonball

there is actually a mattress inside this pavilion. guess where it is. Hint: it's on the left side.. I wonder if there is someone sleeping there at night

we almost took another wrong turn in finding the river. we were getting so far away from it

finally! it is gorgeous isn't it

i had to take this photo. i just HAVE TO

aww lily pads

clovers

this was a public art which we coincidentally found

we took a photo inside the Artist Studio building

After finally reaching our goal to find where the Parramatta River is, we decided to go to the Visual Artist Studio which I thought there would be a free exhibition of arts that we could see. However, the building was there but when we entered and went up to the second floor, we could see nothing but empty rooms. These rooms are like classrooms. But no one was in it. There was no art displays either so we quickly went out of the building. And went to the huge Westfield instead!

we should eat here sometimes! what a cute cafe

the building walls are too adorable

bought a yogurt lassi from a juice bar outside of a Dymocks sale stand. What amazed me more was there was a sale at Dymocks. I bought one cookbook which costed 2$. It was a hardcover and really in good condition.

We headed back to the central station in the city. Our feet were exhausted. We decided to have dinner at Chef's gallery in the city. Unfortunately, with our great luck, we had to line up and wait for 30 minutes before we could get any table. The place was booked.

just realised this picture was tilted. lol

In the end, after so many "no"s in which place we should eat, we ended up in Darling Harbour eating Madmex.

this is not spicy at all speaking from someone who has really sensitive chilli taste buds

for dessert we went for some gelato at Movenpick

lol what a derp right haha

kevin bumped into us! He didn't even recognise me! gahhh KEV! -_-

posing as aussie as we could be. LOL. wannabes....

We talked a bit more during our dessert session even after Kevin left. We headed back to the bus stop near the central station and the most unexpected experience happened. We were both walking down an empty alley while suddenly there was a guy asking if we could help them take photos since he wanted to show that he could take a better photos than his two other friends. I thought I could help in taking his photo but instead he put his arms around me and Santa and started posing for the photo. I did not expect to be in the photo. Weird. Then when I thought it was all over, his other two friends took turn in taking photos with us. He didn't even do the selfies right. He didn't even get my full face on the photo. Anyway, when it was all over we scurried as fast as we could, and when we were about to cross the road, we saw that they were behind us. There was a group of people next to us who was also hindered by these guys insisting to take selfies with them.

You might think that this was the end of the weird stroll around Sydney, but it's not over yet! When I departed with Santa and took my bus to Coogee. There was a stranger asking whether this bus was going to Coogee. I told him Yes. And then I thought it would be the end of him asking questions. But then, he suddenly asked where I was from, and even my name. I stupidly answered. The next thing I knew, the bus stopped at the last stop which did not look to me like the last stop because it was really far from the actual stop. This guy who called himself George, went down the bus with me and we walked together. I was super paranoid that he might do something bad to me. Then, he asked if I had a phone with me. I quickly told him that my phone was dead in which I lied. -_-. Afterwards, he asked if there was a public telephone around. He was visiting his friend who was staying in Coogee and he wanted to contact him. I was a bit unsure where the public telephone was at the time. I felt that there is a phone somewhere there so I pointed my finger there. Finally, we departed, I was relieved and I speedwalked my way home! I kept on glancing my back to check if he was not following. Thank God that I reached home safely.

Why should the world be so messed up that even I myself could not trust anyone with anything. This is totally another point to add up to people to long for the day to come soon!