Monday, 9/15 - Melbourne

Day 6

Today was the chilliest day since I'd arrived - rainy and windy, and I didn't really have adequate clothing for it. I spent the day at Federation Square and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), which had some amateur short films and video games. Next door at the Design Center there was a poster contest with a "Power of Numbers" theme that had some pretty decent work.

After that I went to the library to try to use the free internet, but since there was a huge line I went to the upper floors to check out some exhibits of antique books and the history of Victoria.
After killing some time at the internet cafe I found a payphone to call Ai, another Couch Surfer who'd offered to hang out. Talking to him on the phone, my first impression was that he should do voiceovers because of his almost alarmingly soothing way of speaking. He picked me up from the train station and he took me to a place where I could try Malaysian cuisine for the first time. I got some amazing curry laksa, a kind of soup with coconut milk, various types of meat and seafood and veggies and all kinds of good stuff. I was kicking myself later for leaving the leftovers in his car, especially since every meal was so valuable when I had little money and was mostly eating microwavable junk.

Ai turned out to be a really interesting guy as well, and an excellent conversationalist. He was another who'd been traveling for a long time - he'd just returned from a 2 year stint working in the US for the Australian government. He had lots of interesting stories from that time, including randomly meeting a bunch of pro wrestlers (one of whom later went on to become a murderer) and eating with them at Denny's, and another time getting to go to some Hollywood dinner party with a Couch Surfing friend where he got to sit next to Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn.

After dinner we went to another place he liked for dessert - I got a coconut hot chocolate and we split a really good piece of berry cheesecake with ice cream. Here I finally discovered that you don't have to tip, and that it's typical to have to go up front to pay rather than them bringing you the check. Thankfully I hadn't eaten out on my own yet so didn't have the chance to make a fool of myself and reveal my ignorance.

Near the dessert place was a large movie theater with a full-service VIP room. We didn't see anything but the ticket guy let us in just to take a look around. We sat in the comfy VIP chairs for a minute and went outside to take a picture with a cardboard cutout of Wall-E and Eve.