Sunday, April 3, 2016

Arriving in Perth

After we landed at Perth airport, getting through immigration and custom was a breeze.  Singaporeans can use the automatic clearing system.  It works similar to the one in Singapore.  You scan your passport first, then instead of using thumb print for identity verification, they use photograph.

Perth Airport Terminal 1

There are three terminals at Perth airport, terminal 1 is for international flights, so that's the only terminal you need to know.  The terminal building is quite small, but you need to know one shop, Optus.  Optus offers pre-paid sim cards for travelers at $2/day.  It provides you with unlimited calls and SMS (domestic only), and 500MB of data each day, and it is on Optus' 4G network, which is really fast.  Don't leave the airport without getting one.  However, as the shop is small, customers are many, you have to be more patient.

From the airport to Perth city, we decided to take a cab.  There is a shuttle bus too, but it will cost $15/pax, while the taxi to Perth city center is ~A$40, so it makes sense to take a taxi if you are in a group of 2 or more.  In our case, our taxi fare ended up as A$44.

Our hotel was Perth Ambassador Hotel at Adelaide Terrace.  The location is very good.  Just 10 minutes walk down to the water front of Swan River, 17 minutes walk to city center, or you can choose to take the free RED Cat bus.





We booked a twin room, but they gave us a triple room.  The room is spacious, but the interior design is a bit dated.  They also still use room key, those physical room keys, instead of the modern electronic card keys.  Other than that, it is quite clean, and comfortable.

After we settled in, we took a walk around the hotel.  Surprise surprise, we found out that the Perth Mint is right behind our hotel.  I will write more about the Perth Mint in the coming days.  For today, just enjoy its exterior night view.  It is a treasure trove in there, but it looks so ordinary, you may just pass by thinking it is just one of those Victorian-era buildings.

Perth Mint at night

And we decided to have our dinner right across the street of the Perth Mint.  We enjoyed our meal while admiring the beauty of this building.


We ordered a pizza for dinner, but it is not your ordinary pizza.  This pizza is folded, like an omelette, but it is a pizza.  There is a special name for it, but too bad I didn't really catch it from the friendly waitress.  It retains the crispiness of a pizza, at the same time, it retains more juice than a conventional pizza.  Thumbs up!


Last but not least, we arrived on the 15th day of the lunar month, it was a full moon night.  We had the view of the Perth Mint, and the full moon in the sky while enjoying our dinner.  Don't you think it was a great enjoyment?

Other posts about Perth are at: Journey to Perth 2016




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