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AU#4 Greater Sydney
May. 20th, 2006 04:48 amThe tall spires of Gallipoli Mosque rise majestically above Auburn, one of the most culturally diverse sections of Greater Sydney. We went there to fetch ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
miladycarol's mother-in-law. Before we left the district, though, we walked a little ways to the shopping center. On the way, we passed a fun little cafe called Sweets on Queen. It was not a candy store or bakery, but a hookah cafe! In the evening it is generally packed with both men and women smoking diverse tobaccos from hookah pipes and drinking tea and coffees.
Milady explained that the Big W here generally had lower prices than other stores in town due to constant pressure by the asian women to make prices close to what they would pay from street vendors in Cabramatta. The shoppers were worth watching themselves in various stages of covering from headscarves to full burkas, chattering in a dozen different languages.
We then made our own way the Cabramatta, aka Little Vietnam. Never having been to Vietnam, I likened the place to a city in Thailand, with numerous small shops and stalls filled to the brim with bargains from shoes to laundry detergent. We proceeded down a little alley to a vegetarian restaurant and had a fantastic vietnamese meal.
The next day found us in Newtown. This district is a bit Haight Ashbury, a bit Robson Street and a lot Australian. I felt very much at home amid the hippie clothing shops, the scent stores and the natural foods stores. I scored a copy of the German Serenity poster at a poster shop!! There were numerous vegetarian cafes to choose from. We found a Thai place for lunch that served a tofu version of larb along with green curry with tofu and massaman curry with gluten chicken. A visit to the Froot Store rewarded me with a rainbow kitty sticker for my Prius. I swilled beer at a real Pub before dining on veggie green papaya salad (almost as good as mine) at a vietnamese place, and finishing it all up with black sesame vegan ice cream from the shop next door.
*sigh* Life is good.
miladycarol's mother-in-law. Before we left the district, though, we walked a little ways to the shopping center. On the way, we passed a fun little cafe called Sweets on Queen. It was not a candy store or bakery, but a hookah cafe! In the evening it is generally packed with both men and women smoking diverse tobaccos from hookah pipes and drinking tea and coffees.Milady explained that the Big W here generally had lower prices than other stores in town due to constant pressure by the asian women to make prices close to what they would pay from street vendors in Cabramatta. The shoppers were worth watching themselves in various stages of covering from headscarves to full burkas, chattering in a dozen different languages.
We then made our own way the Cabramatta, aka Little Vietnam. Never having been to Vietnam, I likened the place to a city in Thailand, with numerous small shops and stalls filled to the brim with bargains from shoes to laundry detergent. We proceeded down a little alley to a vegetarian restaurant and had a fantastic vietnamese meal.
The next day found us in Newtown. This district is a bit Haight Ashbury, a bit Robson Street and a lot Australian. I felt very much at home amid the hippie clothing shops, the scent stores and the natural foods stores. I scored a copy of the German Serenity poster at a poster shop!! There were numerous vegetarian cafes to choose from. We found a Thai place for lunch that served a tofu version of larb along with green curry with tofu and massaman curry with gluten chicken. A visit to the Froot Store rewarded me with a rainbow kitty sticker for my Prius. I swilled beer at a real Pub before dining on veggie green papaya salad (almost as good as mine) at a vietnamese place, and finishing it all up with black sesame vegan ice cream from the shop next door.
*sigh* Life is good.
