Everyone thinks i am insane to take a bus down to Melbourne. Due to the short of cash and extra time i have, i am willing to take a nearly 12 hours return bus trip to Melbourne. The bus ride was smooth till it stopped on the side of the highway at 7.30am. I woke up and thought we might have a flat tyre or some engine problem. Unfortunately i was right when the bus driver came back with the flat tyre announcement. He was trying to get it fixed for the past 20mins before the announcement. He mentioned that we are 45 minutes away from our destination and GreyHound is sending down another bus down from Melbourne because he can't unscrew the tight bolts. All the passengers and i were stranded on the side of the highway for 2 hours before we saw a mechanic truck arrived instead of a bus. What a bullshit! At the end, the mechanic fixed the flat tyre and we were back on the road. I reached Melbourne at 10.30am, which was 2.5hr later than the scheduled time of arrival.
The weather was fantastic when i stepped out from Southern Cross Station. I waited for Ryan, a friend from Sydney who i will be staying with during my stay in Melbourne. I was also surprised that there are more trams in Melbourne than i can remember from my last trip 5 years ago. My first activity of the day was to refresh myself at Ryans' before heading out to meet Kenneth (Danish friend) near Melbourne Central for lunch. We wondered off to Southbank and found ourself having lunch at Crown Casion food court. I had this amazingly huge and tasty hawaiian chicken burger with seasoned chips. Yum but i was so full after. Since it was Kenneth's day off. He decided to show me around. We took a walk to check out Docklands, the next harbourside area. There was this odd art piece of a cow stuck on a leaveless tree. The ground was also numbered, which runs from the stadium tracks nearby.
I also got to check out Kenneths' place at Flemington before heading to South Yarra. It was a lovely 2 bed-room townhouse in the suburbia. Of course, i was at South Yarra for Chapel Street and Commercial Road, which are renowned for shopping and gay area respectively. I decided not to go into any shops on my first day in Melbourne because i did not want to splurge yet. By the time we finished our chilled drinks at Gloria Jeans on a warm sunny day with occasionally cool breeze, it was time for dinner. We wandered back to the city to meet his boyfriend, Tomasz and Ryan for dinner at Red Tongue Cafe. The area was very Newtown-like. The caesar salad i had was average with too much anchovies. Since everyone except me have to work the next day, i decided to rest early and call it a night.
Day 2
The itinerary for the day was meeting up with Eason, a Malaysian guy who i only met once in Sydney. Before showing me around in Melbourne, we had lunch at a shanghainese restaurant. Again, nothing fantastic but just average chinese set lunch. However, the day ended up with us doing a lot of window shopping along Lt Collin St and Collin St. I took a break during midway of the shopping trip because i promised to meet a guy (Matt) i chatted from Gay.com. He took me to Section 8, a licensed cartwheel cafe in a old parking lot along a lane-way. Melbourne is famous for such quirkiness. The conversation with Matt was interesting and decent like our previous first conversation online. After that, i met up with Eason again but this time his boyfriend was with us. We had tea snack at Chilli Padi, a Malaysian cafe. I also managed to meet a few of Eason's friends (2 Muslim-Malaysian girls) from Perth at Max Brenner. It was quite interesting when some Malay words were used in our conversation. My dinner was some chinese take-away from a food court. I was invited to have a few drinks at Kenneths' before heading out. I finished his half full Swedish Christmas drink containing cognac. It was 1am when Tomasz and i decided to head out to Peel. I was told by a few friends that Peel was very interesting and fun.I found Peel interestingly fun and trashy in some points. They have separate sections for different music and ambience (the lounge for chill-out, the trashy pop remixed for trashy dance, the house/trance style for real clubbers). For those horny gay men, they have a whole floor dedicated to cruising and sex, which is known as the back-room. I spent most of my night out dirty dancing with Tomasz and his friend, Sam to the trashy pop music. It was already 5am ish when i crashed at Tomaszs'.
Day 3
I woke up having a slight hangover and a desire for greasy unhealthy food. After refreshing myself, Ryan suggested we should take a walk around the botanical garden and along the Yarra river before we end up wasting the perfect day outside. The garden was far more better than Sydney's. The river bank was the perfect spot for barbecues and picnics. By the time we finished the walk, our stomachs were crying for food.We headed to Southbank and i got myself parmagina chicken snitzel with salad to satisfy my hangover desire. I decided to ring Brad, a Sydney friend that just recently moved here. We all met up at a bar along the river at Southbank for a few drinks in the late afternoon. It was very nice to spend the day like such after a night out especially we got to cruise on the hot bartender, Paul from Germany. 
The highlight of the night was more drinks and dancing at various clubs. First off, it was Exhange at 9.30pm. The drag show was fantastic with fabulous boys as back-up dancers. We also complimented a very cute boy. We told him that he looks like Ashton Kusher. He then replied that Ashton is hot and he himself is not. We told him we definitely think he is. His smile just lighten up the room and me. I went all shy and looked away for a moment when Brad was doing the talking. 
Next stop, it was the AussieBum show at Market. It was like Arq in Sydney but with a nice lounge to chill on the second level. How can you miss such a show? Hot guys in hot trunks! I then went to Peel with Kenneth and Tomasz after, leaving Brad and Ryan behind. 
Day 4
It seemed like a routine that i came home to Ryans' in the morning from Kenneth & Tomaszs' again. Ryan and i planned to hit the beach and stroll along the market at St Kilda if the weather was good. It definitely was and i spent my first half of my afternoon there. The next half involved swimming in the pool, spa and afternoon nap at Ryans'. This night i was craving for pizza and Ryan brought me to Smokehouse at South Yarra. They are one of the best pizza i ever had. Very unique pizzas they had. Tandori chicken with yogurt. Weird mix, isnt it? I think it was a perfect way to spend a sunday minus the crap service at the cafe we did lunch.
DAY 5
After catching up with Matt over morning coffee at a cafe on a laneway, it was time to shop! Shop! Shop! Shop! I hardly had any cash left in my bank account when i bought everything i had my eyes on. Little collin street to Collin street to Crown Casino to Chapel street. Thats where i went for my shopping. I was very pleased with my shopping but i wish i have more cash or maybe not. Hehe..
By the time i knew it, i was leaving Melbourne. I am missing everything Melbourne has to offer. I will be back.
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