A weekend is Sydney
Trip Start
Feb 25, 2004
1
33
49
Trip End
Ongoing
Sydney, Australia
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
After spending nearly 6 months in Asia it was definately nice to get back to a culture that i was used to. Allow me to explain..... During my time in Asia i hadn't drank milk once!! Silly things like having baked beans, being able to drink water from the tap and eating a decent jacket potato were all things that i definately took for granted whilst living in the UK and were nowhere to be seen whilst i travelled Asia. I was sick of eating a diet of fried rice dishes. There are other reasons why it's good to be out of Asia. The fact that westerners are constantly seen as a walking $ sign and that everyone who talks to you seems to do so in order to line his/her pocket. For example, in Vietnam, westerners will commonly pay 10 times as much for things as locals!! Very infuriating!!!! I was hassled by 6 yes SIX beach sellers in a space of 5 minutes whilst in Bali who were selling all manner of things ie the usual stuff like ice creams, fruit, drinks. And the unusual stuff like bows and arrows, calenders, photo albums and drugs (actually, that last one would be the usual stuff you get offered on beaches in Asia!). It can get very infuriating when you want to be left alone but are instead hassled to buy a bunch of crap! However, the good far outweigh the bad - music CD's for 30p each (Saigon) accomodation for 20p a night (Nepal) and beers for much less than a quid for a large bottle (everywhere in Asia!)
So, I'd better actually talk about Sydney. I arrived in the morning and got a cab to Sarahs friends place who kindly offered to put me up for the weekend, thus saving accomodation money which would eventually end up in the beer kitty! On day one Sarah kindly took a jet lagged and moody travelling scarborough on a guided tour past the harbour bridge, to the opera house and onto manly beach. All of which was good and it was cool to catch up with her. That evening cash saved on accomodation was well and truely spent on beer, wine and shots! A hazy night ensued but my practice in Bangkok had me prepared for a heavy night!
The following day we did the touristy thing and headed to Bondi for the day and chilled out, listened to music and generally caught up with each other, followed by an thai meal in the evening - and the compulsory bottle of red - most Australian restaurants operate a bring your own scheme and charge a few bucks for corkage.
The following day we flew to Fiji to commence our 4 day mini break there. All is damn good!
