When I did my pre-trip research on places of interest in Perth, Hay Street was listed as one of the shopping places. Though I wasn't exactly on a shopping trip, as compared to Bangkok, it doesn't really hurt to see what 'shopping' is like for the Australians right?
There are individual shopping malls in every suburbs (ie. Garden City Mall, Westfield Carousel, Broadway Fair, Belmont Forum) but Hay St and Murray St are two very long streets, connected to each other and dedicated for shopping at Perth City. Firstly, I like the concept of their shopping street here. Both streets are closed to traffic and the streets are very wide for pedestrians/ people to walk about and there are also benches for people to rest. It also provides a platform for buskers to strut their stuff.
There are several arcades that run off either Murray Street Mall or the Hay Street Mall, such as the Carillon Arcade. There are two main departmental stores- David Jones and Myers. The former is a very atasan place so the stuff there are quite expensive needless to say. We had our lunch at Carillon Foodcourt and we went for Japanese.
Fang had a bento set while I had the beef rice. Nothing fantastic, the beef portion was generous but a tad too stiff :(
We went hopping from store to store but stuff here are not that affordable compared to Harbourtown. Then again, Harbourtown is like the factory outlet mall so I guess it definitely has to be cheaper than the city. While we were strolling along the wide street, this building caught my attention. It's not surprising though since it is sandwiched between other modern shopping malls.
Just like how they have a Chinatown at Northbridge, here's a British town at Perth City. To be precise, it's known as London Court. The setting and architecture is of the English influence but ironically, things sold here are Australian stuff, so it's not exactly very attractive after all.
I like this picture though :D
Well, there was a particular shop that sold British confectionary... I felt like a little kid in a candy store awed by the amount and variety of chocolates, candies, cookies and biscuits. I spotted Jaffa Cakes and immediately bought it as Eiling loves them (see I so sayang you) even though it costed me $6.95 (about RM17) only to find out that in London, you can get it for £1 (about RM5.30). Sighs, kena conned triple-fold!
The emblem reminds me of the England football jersey.
I also saw a Scientology Church! Maybe we can find Tom Cruise here. Heehee. However, shopping here is not too great IMHO as everything is so pricey :(
Statues and sculptures are a common sight but this one is particularly interesting. Perhaps it is done on purpose for ladies to have a chance to pose a picture looking at you-know-where in broad daylight :p Well since it is done intentionally, I've got to reciprocate the intention by staring at you-know-where for the picture right!
Australian cops doing their patrolling on bikes and in shorts. So cute! Now can you imagine our polis doing the same?? Huge belly, wearing shorts, trying to balance the bicycle......... and probably firing water cannons to disperse the crowd at Petaling Street? Heh, interesting.
