Today I spent my day in the city. Didn't really plan on going, but since I had to drop my brother off at work in Mt Lawley and my sister off in the city, I decided to stick around for some shopping. However, due to being a Sunday, at 10am in the morning, except for cafes and a few souvenir shops, nothing was open. I could see all these tourists wandering around the mall looking as if they were lost in a ghost town.

Since most shops wouldn't open for at least another hour, I headed towards the river for a walk. On a whim, I decided to catch the ferry down to South Perth. I hadn't taken the ferry in ages, riding from one jetty to the other cost me 60c. After a bit of a walk around, I caught the ferry back to the city again.

Was feeling a little hungry by then, wanted to grab some lunch before heading to Empire Toys to blow money on manga. I wanted to have satay for lunch, so I headed for Satay Spot in Carillion City, my favourite place for good satay at a reasonable price. But when I got there, it was closed, even though the opening hours says that it opens from 11am on Sundays. I couldn't see anyone inside, but the lights were on, and I could see a boiling pot. I bought the newspaper and a honey milk bubble tea and sat at a nearby food court to wait.

At around 12pm, they still weren't open, so I headed towards Empire Toys. I picked up several volumes of manga while I was there, since I only visit every month or two. Whenever I visit Empire Toys, I always try to walk away with at least one volume of manga. My past two visits were kinda disappointing where they didn't have anything that I really wanted, so I ended up buying stuff that was in my "buy if there is nothing else interesting" list.

This time, I got: Kimi Ni Todoke volume 5, (Kaichou wa) Maid-sama volume 4 & 5, Mushishi volume 8/9/10, Natsume's Book of Friends volume 3, xxxHolic volume 15, and Yakitate Japan volume 22 & 23. Volume 8/9/10 of Mushishi confused me. Why was it being sold as this thick single volume? Sure, it's cheaper, but I like the regular size of manga. I'm afraid the spine of this thick volume will get damaged more easily. I also saw a volume of School Rumble in a similar format, but since I couldn't remember which volume of School Rumble I'm up to, I didn't buy it. Maybe next time… All together, I spent $190 on manga today.

Sunday in the City: Today's Loot

Next stop was JB Hi Fi. Headed straight for the anime DVDs of course. There wasn't much I really wanted to buy. I used to buy whatever I wanted, but nowadays, I'm more hesitant to buy what I have already watched, since money doesn't grow on trees. I picked up the Complete Collection of Planetes, watched the 1st episode a while ago and it seemed interesting. I also considered buying Bamboo Blade Collection 1 & 2, but in the end, decided not to. Was tempted to buy more volumes of South Park DVDs, but I couldn't remember which ones I already had.

Finally, decided to see if Satay Spot was open so I could get some lunch. It was a little past 1pm, and yes, they were open! I bought a medium mix-and-match satay meal containing two prawn, two beef and two chicken satay sticks. Yummy~

Afterwards, I headed to Borders to browse while waiting for my brother to finish work. Borders sells locally released manga at cheaper prices than Empire Toys, but Borders doesn't shrink-wrap their manga, so the manga section is always blocked by 'manga cows' who just hang around and read manga without buying anything. They read entire volumes and leave them lying around when they are done grazing. As a result, I find that most of the manga at Borders is damaged, finger marks, bent pages, damages spines… If I do buy manga there, I pick out one that's still in good quality. If it's damaged, even if it's the only volume left, I won't buy it. Gawd I hate those manga cows…

I headed to the lower level of Borders to browse the humour section. That's when I got a call from my brother saying that he had finished work and was at Perth station. My brother and I hung around the city a little longer before picking up my sister from work at Myer then heading home.