9 Dec 2010, Bayside Market

Woke up to find it raining and windy. We stayed in Days Inn Ocean Front, which is situated in a not-so happening street. However, I like the location as there are grocery stores around the corner. Furthermore, microwave is provided in the hotel room.

So, we "ting" our leftovers in the microwave and that was our breakfast. Then, we began our first exploratory day on foot and by bus. We bought a 1-day pass at $5/person. Since it's raining, we visited the Bayside Market first, then only we strolled along the happening streets at Miami South Beach.

It took an hour of bus ride to reach the Bayside Market. By the time we reached there, it had ceased raining.

Lunch: $17

In the food court at the Bayside Market, I was delighted to find a fish-like fish. It's kind of difficult to find a whole fish on a dining table in the US. Without doubt, I ordered this snapper. What they did was to grill the fish dry-dry on butter+garlic powder+cheese+seasoning. Though it's kind of "wasted", it's still delicious.

We had our fishy lunch at the food court that overlooks the pier.

After lunch, we took a bus to South Miami Beach. We took the wrong bus, ending up we had to walk a few streets to the shopping district, Lincoln Mall. However, we enjoyed the architecture of the colourful houses. With coconut trees around, I find the place very similar to Penang; with palm trees around, it has the ambiance of the Middle East.

Interesting Christmas setting, with palm trees and pine trees.

I thought Lincoln Mall is a mall. Well, it's not. The pedestrian street with rows of shop houses on both sides of the street is the Lincoln Mall. It's akin to the 南京步行街 in Shanghai.

This boutique is decorated with hundreds of real sewing-machines. At the centre of the shop, there is a huge antique textile machine.

At the end of the day, both of us were too tired to dine in a restaurant. We ta-pao "economy rice" from a grocery store. The yellow rice, spiced with unknown herbs, was very tasty. The "beef curry with potato" turned out to be stew beef in tomato sauce.

Spending of the day for 2:

• Transport: $ 10
• Food: $41
• Internet: $1