Saturday, we tried out a new burger restaurant very close to home, the less than creatively named, “Eat Burger” We got a flier in the mail and it certainly looked the go, so we wandered down to a little lane behind the SOGO complex down the road and found ourselves in a little, spic and span American style diner. There was sauce and mustard on the table, 50s style posters on the wall and the burgers when they arrived were surprisingly delicious: a good find, but we won’t be able to frequent this place too often if we’re going to keep our waistlines in trim. We’d never really had a proper floor by floor wander through the SOGO except in the madding crowds of opening week, so we thought this would be a good chance. It was great fun looking at all the product and we eventually lost all track of time and place in the “Hands Tailung” shop up on the 7th floor. Housing all things Japanese, the range of goods went from the curious to the bizarre and it’s intriguing to find all this stuff that you never knew you needed, but somehow can’t possibly live without! Showing remarkable restraint, we walked out with just a coffee cup with the Italian flag emblazoned and a tiny iPod speaker in the form of a large die (and yes, it works really well).
It was great to meet up again with Leon and Nicole today and spend a little time catching up. They’re Queenslanders here for a weeklong visit, but we know Leon from his time here before. He said it was 7 years ago that he left, and we could hardly believe it. Nicole, his partner was over here for her first visit and she was taking everything in her stride, even surviving a Saturday night straight off the plane in the crowds of the Shilin night market: a real badge of honour, we reckon! They came round mid morning and we had a good catch up, and also talked about some of the harsh realities of living overseas and back home: a refreshing talk to have. I gave them the keys to the scooter in case they want to use it through the week and we tentatively organized to get together for dinner and a couple of beers mid week. Leon also handed over a whole stack of "Rugby League Week"s he'd brought over especially to give me: I'll be able to distract my self for a while reading all those!
Off to Miramar after that, lunch at Auburgine enroute, and before we went in to the flics we ran into our visitors again half way up the cinema building! They had lunch at the teppanyaki shop in Tienmu North, a place Leon remembers well from his time here and were just having a wander…coincidences. We had booked our tickets online earlier, which was just as well, because the huge cinema was just about bursting at the seams. Ironman 2 has only just opened and its big action appeal and fairly limited dialogue is a great match for a public hearing the movie in another language. It was a good fun movie, visually stunning and star studded. It was enjoyable to listen to all the in jokes, joking homage to other superhero franchises and just generally a real sense of fun that seemed to pervade. A curious note was right at the end. Somehow, everyone knew to stay till right at the end of the credits when there was a little fade out teaser to a possible 3rd installment. Normally everyone walks out as soon as the credits role, which often annoys us. How did they know to stay this time?....bizarre!
The weekend weather was sensational, just hovering round the 30 degree mark, but not too humid just yet. We think we might finally be seeing the belated onset of summer. Photos: Great fun outside the SOGO with brave souls taking to the skies in what I sensed was a tentatively tethered balloon! Cass pretty in orange, and the girls using each other as a pillow. I’m reading the thought provoking Nikky Gemmel book, “Why You Are Australian: a letter to my children” and Cass is reading, “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett.
