Brisbane Revisited

Ah.... To be back in Brisbane, after about 6 - 8 years (last visit according to Passport was in 1997, although I alway thought that it was in '99).... The city still looks familiar, and yet unfamiliar... There were of course some changes, like some new buildings, or refurbishing the old buildings, and yet when you walk through Myer's Centre, the shops seems have changed.

There seems to be more Asian food, especially Japanese and Korean food; Of course mixing with the usual Chinese - Hong Kong style - food that has been there since my year of study there. There are even new flea market, now at King George's Square which apparently is still not as busy as those in Riverbank and Southbank. Thought of going up to Mt Cootha to have a bird's eye view of Brisbane CBD and it's surrounding area, but in the end - the stomach was growling so much that food takes precidence. Actually, I think I chicken out due to the sudden unfamiliarity of the roads... I always thought that since I have walked and driven around Brisbane previously, driving would have been easy. Well, my "incident" with looking for the Mariott's car park has shaken my foundation. Heh.


It's a sad thing that I did not have the Sunday afternoon to move around Brisbane. Could have spent the time more fruitfully, but well, duties calls. Had to work. Imagine, working on a Sunday afternoon. The worst part was that we took the whole afternoon from 2 pm till after 6 pm, with only about 10 mins of grace to get the server working as to what it's almost is!!! It was good enough for the demo, although later the customer seems to be more interested in getting their questions answered than to see the demo. There were some areas which the system are good for, but was not highlighted... Anyway... Had another seafood entree with (finally!) a Prime rib of beef... Sad to say, the beef was overcooked! Ask for medium, you get medium well to almost well done - and this does not happens in 1 place only. Had the same issue when I was in Melbourne. Somehow they seems to have problem in getting the beef cooked correctly. It's always overcooked!!!


Well, now that I'm back home, I seems to be avoiding seafood, well, except for Salmon. Had that in the last 2 days of Chinese New Year because of "Lo Hei". My last chance to have that dish before the Chinese festive season ends. It's a good thing that I came back early for this trip, it would have been a waste to have miss that dish which is taken at most 15 days in each year. Ok, I am a fan of it... but not the restaurant's version. We decided that it's just too expensive to have it there... The ingredients are sold widely during this period, so making it easier to do it at home. You could have 3 plates, with lots of the fish slices, with the price of 1 plate served in the restaurants. I have no idea why I like it so much... Maybe it's because I have come to like sashimi so much that raw fish is no longer an issue with me - Yeah, I used to avoid it when I was young. Now, I am almost taking sashimi at least once a month.


Right, getting back to the subject, got distracted by the raw fish part... Yeah, I was avoiding seafood because almost every other meal, it's a seafood meal!!!! Hey, what do you expect when you are staying in Gold Coast! So, now that I am back, need to stop so that I don't overload the cholesterol! Well, had seafood (again!) buffet on Sat when I reached Brisbane.


Anyway, it's sad that I lost contact with quite a lot of friends, whom I believe are still in Brisbane. Had a walk from Mariott to King George's Square. It was still the same, except that on Monday morning, there were loads of tourist from China there taking turns to have their pictures taken with the kangaroos statues; along with the flock of pigeons and some kiwis (!!) apparently. Had some photo opportunities, and then walked toward the botanical gardens. It happened that QUT's Gardens Point campus (where I spent my year studying) is situated next to the botanical gardens, so it was killing 2 birds with 1 stone. They seems to have added some new buildings there, like the Garden Theatre; along with Z building. I don't recall Z building while I was there. Oh yeah, they name their buildings after alphabets! Well, almost all - except for the library.


Come to think of it, could have drove to the street where I used to stay in, but I guess the morning is too short to revisit everywhere that I have been to - Milton, where there are cafes; Toowong and and St Lucia, UQ's campus is in St Lucia and they have nice sandstone buildings; High Gate Hill and West End, stayed at High Gate Hill and used to shop for groceries in West End's Woolsworth. Of course, not forgetting Southbank and Riverside... Did not even have time to visit Koorong, in the next suburb which I forget what it was... Somewhere near the cricket ground... Think it's call the 'gabba or something to that effect....

Oh well... Let's hope my next visit will not be after another 6 - 8 years.....