Arriving in Sydney: Pubbing & Malaysia Fest

Leaving Melbourne behind, I took the Greyhound and continued my journey back up north, this time across the Eastern coast line of Australia.




Met up with my cousin in Canberra, a small town with a big heart.

Took up snowboarding, met Brett the hot instructor.

Fine dine with my cousin in a posh restaurant,




Found love with Spy Valley Gewurztraminer from Marlborough New Zealand.


Anyone can get a hold of this bottle for me? I'll buy it off your hand. :D


Last I saw the bottle was in Hong Kong.

So fast forwarding the trip into Sydney. From Canberra to Sydney, I took Greyhound service again which lasted for three hours and landed in Sydney in the depths of the night.


I love the coach service here in Australia, the bus drivers were always so funny.

Quoted from one of the introductory speeches one particular coach driver gave:

Driver:

"Right ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Greyhound, thank you for taking Greyhound service. We hope you have a pleasant ride and I am obliged to remind everyone to fasten their seat belts as it is the policy of the company to inform its passenger of the safety procedure of Australian transportation.

So now that I have informed you that, it is no longer my responsibility if in case the bus was to crash and kill you. If you wish to do so, you are welcome to come to the front of the bus and I shall pass you my name and contact so you can address your will to me."


Continue:

"Please do not switch off the air condition flap on top of you as this will interrupt the overall air conditioning system of the coach. If you find it too cold during your journey, just direct the aircond to the person next to you to annoy the hell out of him."


Ha ha! I love them OZ humours!


Anyway, at the chilly winter Sydney central, I waited patiently for my host to come pick me up (on foot).

Kif, a fellow blogger just graduated from Sydney. (who has recently decided to move back to Malaysia, good choice good choice, welcome back Kif)




The second day, Kif dumped me to his housemate, Kevin, to fulfill his work commitments (what great host -.-, just kidding :p).

So having gone through a terrible heartache, Kevin took me out pub hopping in Sydney town.


The infamous Sydney monkey bar. No I did not go there, though I wanted to.


Two of us had a total of two bottles of wine that night.




By midnight, we were almost pissed drunk, half dancing, laughing, walking left to right all over Darling Harbour.




The lights became more twinkly that night. Right before we both ended up puking in separate toilets in a closed mall nearby.

Amen.




Sydney was so much different compared to Melbourne. The town of Sydney was pretty cramped, reminded me of how Hong Kong was like. But with wider roads.


Burger King's are called Hungry Jacks here.


Lots of tall building surrounding driving lanes and pedestrian paths. I like the walking culture here, places were easily accessible anywhere within 10-15 minutes of walking. Other than that, there were lots of buses connecting throughout the city, people coming in from the urban area day in day out.

I did enjoy looking at some of the old architectures Sydney has, usually mix among the new. Like this church.




Darling harbour was probably the prettiest and most touristy part of Sydney.


Just imagine, this was before alcohol.


The next day Kif took me out for a stroll around Sydney.

I watched the bridge at Darling Harbour opened (twice!) for ferries to go through. Lucky me.




There were lots of pubs and nice restaurants around the area. Like the Hurricane which was famous for their overpriced pork ribs.




Though some argued that Angus was much better in terms of size, taste and price.

After Melbourne, I was pretty much overdosed on Chocolates. The last thing, believe it or not, I wanted was a rich chocolate drink. BUT! Who could resist visiting this particular Chocolate cafe when the name of the cafe is Lindt Cafe!







I mean, it's Lindt man!! Everybody knows Lindt! It's only the most famous chocolate ever, I adore their super thin excellence slice!

So the first thing when I arrived at Daring Harbour was to pay a visit to Lindt Cafe.




It's located next to a fountain of dancing cranes.


That's me trying to dance with a metal crane


Lucky for us, there was a Malaysia Fest going on in Sydney when I visited, organized by the Malaysian student Alumni there. So we decided to pop by for a visit.




According to them, Sydney hosts one of the biggest Malaysia Fests around, all thanks to those hardworking Malaysian students. :D




It wasn't difficult to spot where the event was held, as every one mile you walked that day in Sydney, you'll pass by a yellow t-shirt wearer bearing Malaysia Fest '08.


kudos to you guys.


You'll be blind not to notice.

There were many familiar names around.




Even Penang Gurney Drive is there.




Meet Edward (his name is not Ben).




Who runs a Kopitiam in Sydney. He has a stall set up at the Malaysia Fest too.




One of his food captured my attention.




It was the biggest Chicken Satay I've ever laid eyes on. It's like the size of a hotdog!

Having entered my fourth week in Australia, I was actually beginning to miss Malaysian food back home. Satay included.

So I quickly look for the price tag shown on the side to check out how much were these to make my purchase of my first Sydney satay.

Guess what I saw?


(conversion rate was AUD1 to RM3 back then)


WTF! 4 pieces of satay for AUD6 .

Edward, you.. you... you..... day light robber!

That's it!! I'm quitting my job to sell Roti Canai in Sydney!