The People's City

One of my unfinished business is to pen down my travel thoughts. And I must admit I’m terrible in this. Glad that I have sorted out the photos chronologically and now slowly getting around to it (Yes I know, after so long!).

The next pit stop after Melbourne was Adelaide. The moment I touched down at Adelaide Airport, I already had a line of agenda ahead of me. I felt somewhat like a celebrity - going places after places, meeting people after people – Bestie Ling definitely had everything in control! Hah.

Besides exploring the other pockets of Adelaide, I spent two good days exploring Adelaide City. It’s a city that is big enough to walk about, but small enough to navigate around. With everything nicely situated in a square grid, it didn’t take me much mental effort in locating the landscapes and coordinates. It definitely made my travelling easier without having to flip through the maps, and take pictures AND keep an eye on the road all at the same time!

My travel routine involved a visit to the local museums, art galleries, botanical gardens, quaint coffee shops and random walkabouts. I’m also a sucker for lakes and rivers. I loved seeing how gooses and swans paddling effortlessly along the riverside, just like the one behind Adelaide University. I also loved seeing the shimmering reflections on the river and more often than not, the seamless blending of nurture and nature between building structures and floating rivers that form a picture perfect. Quite an idyllic and therapeutic sight. There’s the one thing that Melbourne City falls short of.

I have people telling me how boring Adelaide can be. Such unexciting news. It’s true that Adelaide comes nothing close to Melbourne – it’s definitely not a thriving cosmopolitan city, nothing as glamorous as Melbourne. But it does have its own charms and characters. It’s a city that brimmed with such warmth and kindness that create this invisible connection which glues people together. The different demographic of people thronging Rundle Mall, smiling and gently nodding to each other displayed a strong sense of community. I didn’t need to try hard. Even for a stranger like myself, I felt very much welcomed. I call it the “people’s city”.