With a bit of a lazy start to the morning, we got up and out of the hotel. We spent most of the day at Darling Harbor near the exhibition halls. There is tons to do down there. First things first, we purchased tickets for the IMAX.
We decided on the 3D movie playing as it only seemed right to see a movie on that screen in 3D. We had some time to kill so a short walk brought us to a mall area with a food court.
Back to the theater for one really awesome movie! A bit pricey, but hey, when are we going to be back in Sydney again? Similar to Korea, the tickets are assigned based on a particular seat which means you don't have to arrive early for "a good seat".
Afterward we walked around and looked at the war museum ships and other historical paraphernalia.
We split up as we entered Paddy's Market and Chare, Mylinda and I shopped while the rest went to the hotel.
The shopping lacked any great deals as the shops were closing up. I did purchase some dried fruit and nuts as they pack well and provide some good energy throughout the day. Plus they reduce hunger, which is nice because dried fruits and nuts are cheap while restaurants are pricey here.
Back at the hotel we all rested. Late that evening we were all peckish so we all walked down to Kings St. looking for a good restaurant. We settled on a Turkish to go place. Really good food!
Off to bed to prepare for the next day!
More to come...
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sydney - Day 5
Sunday morning early we set out searching for the best route to a little church near Baffin and Parramatta.
After locating the correct cross streets, we stopped at a Hungry Jack restaurant to get a quick bite before arriving at church. Hungry Jack seems to be in some way related to Burger King (same looking sign, similar menu, same post-meal heartburn). While Hungry Jack may have been related to Burger King, it must be BK's ugly, red-headed, pot-smoking, annoying nephew-by-marriage! In a word "gross".
Anyway, The Brethren church was similar to many other churches I had been in with wonderfully warm Christian hospitality and items in the worship service designed to focus attention on Christ. What made it different though, was the format. Every male in the church was encouraged in a pre-message time to share something. This something could be a passage of Scripture, a prayer, a word of encouragement or even lead in one of the countless songs in their song book. Really interesting approach to the worship of God.
After the service and tea, we sought out Croyden station, made our way to the hotel and set up plans for the day.
We decided on Chinatown for the afternoon and stopped to lunch at a "Thai" restaurant that was decidedly more Chinese than Thai. Still, the food was extremely tasty.
One of the girls headed back to the hotel to check on the invalid while Chare, Mylinda and I walked around Paddy's market and Chinatown doing yet some more shopping.
We were going to do an IMAX movie at the "world's biggest IMAX screen, but it was going to be a late night if we did that and we all really wanted to be together for the movie.
We met up with Lisa at Darling Harbor and rode the ferry back to Circular Quay. From there we rode the bus back to the hotel and ordered pizza again (mostly because we could) and enjoyed another much needed rest.
More to come...
After locating the correct cross streets, we stopped at a Hungry Jack restaurant to get a quick bite before arriving at church. Hungry Jack seems to be in some way related to Burger King (same looking sign, similar menu, same post-meal heartburn). While Hungry Jack may have been related to Burger King, it must be BK's ugly, red-headed, pot-smoking, annoying nephew-by-marriage! In a word "gross".
Anyway, The Brethren church was similar to many other churches I had been in with wonderfully warm Christian hospitality and items in the worship service designed to focus attention on Christ. What made it different though, was the format. Every male in the church was encouraged in a pre-message time to share something. This something could be a passage of Scripture, a prayer, a word of encouragement or even lead in one of the countless songs in their song book. Really interesting approach to the worship of God.
After the service and tea, we sought out Croyden station, made our way to the hotel and set up plans for the day.
We decided on Chinatown for the afternoon and stopped to lunch at a "Thai" restaurant that was decidedly more Chinese than Thai. Still, the food was extremely tasty.
One of the girls headed back to the hotel to check on the invalid while Chare, Mylinda and I walked around Paddy's market and Chinatown doing yet some more shopping.
We were going to do an IMAX movie at the "world's biggest IMAX screen, but it was going to be a late night if we did that and we all really wanted to be together for the movie.
We met up with Lisa at Darling Harbor and rode the ferry back to Circular Quay. From there we rode the bus back to the hotel and ordered pizza again (mostly because we could) and enjoyed another much needed rest.
More to come...
Sydney - Day 4
The strangest Christmas so far...
We slept in till 10am and then headed for the city central. We found a Starbucks to purchase some souvenir mugs and of course, to buy a simple cup of joe (yeah right on the simple part).
Chare and I set out on our own and the other two ladies went to find the church we would attend on Sunday.
We really had no plan as we arrived back to Circular Quay (btw, "Quay" is said "key") so the most appropriate thing to do appeared to be riding the longest ferry ride out to Manly Beach. The ride was rather hot, but we did get to see almost the entire North side of the harbor.
At Manly Harbor, we saw what at first we thought was Manly Beach and after walking its short distance, we consulted a map. Wouldn't you know it, we were only at the harbor beach! A short walk later and I saw the longest, light yellow beach I have ever seen. Perfect time to be there too, in my opinion, because it wasn't terribly hot and people were making their way back from the beach. Walking this stretch of beach was a much longer, more arduous task.
After our walk, I convinced Charity to stop and get some fish n chips. She was not overly thrilled with the idea as she has an unnatural aversion to almost any water-borne product. Once tasting that crispy white fish and amazingly fried potatoes, she was hooked! (Truly no pun intended...)
We then boarded the ferry once more and sat on the port side so we could see the south side on the return trip. After all, the south side is where the opera house is and it does look nice from the water.
Back to the hotel we went and finished our day lazily as it has been another day of walking everywhere!
More to come...
We slept in till 10am and then headed for the city central. We found a Starbucks to purchase some souvenir mugs and of course, to buy a simple cup of joe (yeah right on the simple part).
Chare and I set out on our own and the other two ladies went to find the church we would attend on Sunday.
We really had no plan as we arrived back to Circular Quay (btw, "Quay" is said "key") so the most appropriate thing to do appeared to be riding the longest ferry ride out to Manly Beach. The ride was rather hot, but we did get to see almost the entire North side of the harbor.
At Manly Harbor, we saw what at first we thought was Manly Beach and after walking its short distance, we consulted a map. Wouldn't you know it, we were only at the harbor beach! A short walk later and I saw the longest, light yellow beach I have ever seen. Perfect time to be there too, in my opinion, because it wasn't terribly hot and people were making their way back from the beach. Walking this stretch of beach was a much longer, more arduous task.
After our walk, I convinced Charity to stop and get some fish n chips. She was not overly thrilled with the idea as she has an unnatural aversion to almost any water-borne product. Once tasting that crispy white fish and amazingly fried potatoes, she was hooked! (Truly no pun intended...)
We then boarded the ferry once more and sat on the port side so we could see the south side on the return trip. After all, the south side is where the opera house is and it does look nice from the water.
Back to the hotel we went and finished our day lazily as it has been another day of walking everywhere!
More to come...
Monday, December 27, 2010
Sydney - Day 3
Our third day of travel, second day in Sydney, began rather slowly as we didn't get up early to say the least.
Once again, the day was marked for shopping, but today was Paddy's Market. Paddy's Market embodies the idea of an American flea market without all the toothless rednecks and the babies with bottles of Coke or Pepsi instead of milk.
Everything from cell phone accessories to fresh foods waited around each corner. After an hour of searching for just the right souvenirs, we set out once again for the hotel to prepare for the afternoon's program.
On the way back, we stopped for Subway sandwiches to go and enjoyed our meal together at the girl's room. After a good meal like that, rest arrived on the agenda. A short nap later, we all readied ourselves for Sydney Opera House.
While the program, artistically speaking achieved a level of notoriety, I did feel like they missed the whole point! At several points during the program, I couldn't help thinking that the powerful words and music lost strength with the manner and attitudes of the singers and performers.
While I know that the celebration of Christ's birth is simply that, an opportunity to party and a rest from work, I cannot help but feel sad at the people all around that have the Message in their own mouths and fail to comprehend it!
While the program was a bit different, we did get to see quite a nice show and we did get to see that show in a beautifully odd shaped artifice.
We then walked for a little while looking for some inexpensive food and ended up at McDonald. Some terrible food and free wifi later, we headed to the hotel. One of the girls then had a horrible night, next day and even the following day which kept her in the hotel room.
Another day down Down-under.
More to come...
Once again, the day was marked for shopping, but today was Paddy's Market. Paddy's Market embodies the idea of an American flea market without all the toothless rednecks and the babies with bottles of Coke or Pepsi instead of milk.
Everything from cell phone accessories to fresh foods waited around each corner. After an hour of searching for just the right souvenirs, we set out once again for the hotel to prepare for the afternoon's program.
On the way back, we stopped for Subway sandwiches to go and enjoyed our meal together at the girl's room. After a good meal like that, rest arrived on the agenda. A short nap later, we all readied ourselves for Sydney Opera House.
While the program, artistically speaking achieved a level of notoriety, I did feel like they missed the whole point! At several points during the program, I couldn't help thinking that the powerful words and music lost strength with the manner and attitudes of the singers and performers.
While I know that the celebration of Christ's birth is simply that, an opportunity to party and a rest from work, I cannot help but feel sad at the people all around that have the Message in their own mouths and fail to comprehend it!
While the program was a bit different, we did get to see quite a nice show and we did get to see that show in a beautifully odd shaped artifice.
We then walked for a little while looking for some inexpensive food and ended up at McDonald. Some terrible food and free wifi later, we headed to the hotel. One of the girls then had a horrible night, next day and even the following day which kept her in the hotel room.
Another day down Down-under.
More to come...
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Sydney - Day 2
Ok. So this post will take up from our arrival at the Sydney airpot.
After finding the subway entrance, we went purchased, what can seem, somewhat expensive week passes for the subway/ferry/bus for in and around the city center called the "MyMulti1". The reasoning behind this was with as little as 18 trips this pass paid for itself.
Anyway, we got on a very clean and well-maintained double-decker subway car. A few stops down the line we transferred to a bus to take us the rest of the way. Of course, the first time I ran my ticket through, the ticket scanner swallowed and refused to give it back! The driver, and this is a testament to both the Aussies and the Sydney transit system, said he would take my name and info and get the ticket back to me.
As we arrived at the hotel (Rydges Camperdown) I was sure I had some form of lost time ahead as I tried to get my pass back.
The hotel had only the one room available as we had arrived a bit early. That one room was still glorious as none of us had the ability to lie fully down since we left our own beds 36 hours before in Seoul. The girls were able to start getting cleaned up from the trip and I zoned out qacross the foot of one of the beds.
About an hour after we arrived, Charity went down to see about more towels and see if our room was ready. She came back with an envelope with my name on it and my pass. Yes folks, one solitary hour later I had my pass back. Way to go Mate(s)!!! (sorry had to do that somewhere...)
After a short rest we set out to see what we could see. First we walked for awhile looking for a good lunch spot and finally settled on Opoto, a chicken sandwich place with better than McDonald's food. Then we went shopping! (*note: exclamation mark placed for female readers as this does not necessarily reflect the views of the author*). After shopping we returned to the hotel to offload the bounty.
Then we backtracked to Central Station and them rode the subway to the Central Quay station to buy tickets for the following night's Christmas Eve "The Great Christmas Caper".
The harbor area was very cool and the Opera House definitely made the highlights list.
On the way home, Charity and Mylinda went for some groceries. This short trip brought a bit of a shock as the price of goods here in Sydney far exceeds those in the States and even in some cases that of Korea!
The rest of us rode on to the hotel and even ordered Dominos pizza (although the pizza left a little to be desired) before packing it off to bed.
More to come...
After finding the subway entrance, we went purchased, what can seem, somewhat expensive week passes for the subway/ferry/bus for in and around the city center called the "MyMulti1". The reasoning behind this was with as little as 18 trips this pass paid for itself.
Anyway, we got on a very clean and well-maintained double-decker subway car. A few stops down the line we transferred to a bus to take us the rest of the way. Of course, the first time I ran my ticket through, the ticket scanner swallowed and refused to give it back! The driver, and this is a testament to both the Aussies and the Sydney transit system, said he would take my name and info and get the ticket back to me.
As we arrived at the hotel (Rydges Camperdown) I was sure I had some form of lost time ahead as I tried to get my pass back.
The hotel had only the one room available as we had arrived a bit early. That one room was still glorious as none of us had the ability to lie fully down since we left our own beds 36 hours before in Seoul. The girls were able to start getting cleaned up from the trip and I zoned out qacross the foot of one of the beds.
About an hour after we arrived, Charity went down to see about more towels and see if our room was ready. She came back with an envelope with my name on it and my pass. Yes folks, one solitary hour later I had my pass back. Way to go Mate(s)!!! (sorry had to do that somewhere...)
After a short rest we set out to see what we could see. First we walked for awhile looking for a good lunch spot and finally settled on Opoto, a chicken sandwich place with better than McDonald's food. Then we went shopping! (*note: exclamation mark placed for female readers as this does not necessarily reflect the views of the author*). After shopping we returned to the hotel to offload the bounty.
Then we backtracked to Central Station and them rode the subway to the Central Quay station to buy tickets for the following night's Christmas Eve "The Great Christmas Caper".
The harbor area was very cool and the Opera House definitely made the highlights list.
On the way home, Charity and Mylinda went for some groceries. This short trip brought a bit of a shock as the price of goods here in Sydney far exceeds those in the States and even in some cases that of Korea!
The rest of us rode on to the hotel and even ordered Dominos pizza (although the pizza left a little to be desired) before packing it off to bed.
More to come...
Friday, December 24, 2010
Sydney - Day 1
After 17+ hours of travel and about two more simply getting to the airport in Incheon, we arrived at Sydney International airport in the southern part of Sydney.
Just traveling that far took some doing so I will recount our travels in as excruciatingly precise detail now...
First, we rode the bus from Bongcheon (봉천) in Seoul (서울) to ICN. (Ok, so it isn't exactly excruciatingly precise at all.) We then boarded a China Southern plane heading for Guangzhou, China. Supposedly, all we were doing in Guangzhou was transferring to another plane, however there is a story here so I must stop to recount it:
The arrival was ordinary enough and the amenities and staff of the China Southern airlines was decent and well received. However, the transfer was simply strange and a bit idiotic.
First we stood in an immigration line for twenty minutes only for them to take some information and then direct, not just our small band of five, but every passenger not staying in country to a small "holding area". Then began the awkward eye contact communication with statements and questions like; "You look perfectly normal for a spy?"
And...
"I wonder if this is because of the extra bag of peanuts I took on the plane..."
Even perhaps...
"I guess this will be my first experience in a Chinese prison."
Then we had what could only amount to the Losers (I suppose we were all winners, but the prize was nothing to speak of) Lottery. These officials would walk up with a stack of passports and announce the names of the people in English. Well, that is if "English" is spoken underwater and heard from the large end of a badly tuned kazoo.
After receiving our passports back, we then went through "customs" (hello! WE AREN'T EVEN STAYING IN YOUR COUNTRY!!!) where an older lady checked me for weapons and drugs via a pat-down--awkward!
We then boarded another plane for the 9 hour flight to Sydney which passed reasonably uneventful.
The contrast between Giangzhou and Sydney's security experience were night and day. While China was curt and rude, Australia was pleasant and hospitable. China's nearly two hours of immigration and customs dwarfed the twenty minutes of wait time in Sydney--and that was with us picking up checked luggage!
Quite technically this concludes day 1 of the Sydney trip as a 24 hour period has expired. Day 2 will be on the shorter side as I will only cover it from the hotel to bed time so as to follow a diurnal framework from here on out.
If you are reading this before the new year, you may only be seeing these pop up in groups every couple of days as finding wireless Internet is difficult at times.
Mote to come...
Just traveling that far took some doing so I will recount our travels in as excruciatingly precise detail now...
First, we rode the bus from Bongcheon (봉천) in Seoul (서울) to ICN. (Ok, so it isn't exactly excruciatingly precise at all.) We then boarded a China Southern plane heading for Guangzhou, China. Supposedly, all we were doing in Guangzhou was transferring to another plane, however there is a story here so I must stop to recount it:
The arrival was ordinary enough and the amenities and staff of the China Southern airlines was decent and well received. However, the transfer was simply strange and a bit idiotic.
First we stood in an immigration line for twenty minutes only for them to take some information and then direct, not just our small band of five, but every passenger not staying in country to a small "holding area". Then began the awkward eye contact communication with statements and questions like; "You look perfectly normal for a spy?"
And...
"I wonder if this is because of the extra bag of peanuts I took on the plane..."
Even perhaps...
"I guess this will be my first experience in a Chinese prison."
Then we had what could only amount to the Losers (I suppose we were all winners, but the prize was nothing to speak of) Lottery. These officials would walk up with a stack of passports and announce the names of the people in English. Well, that is if "English" is spoken underwater and heard from the large end of a badly tuned kazoo.
After receiving our passports back, we then went through "customs" (hello! WE AREN'T EVEN STAYING IN YOUR COUNTRY!!!) where an older lady checked me for weapons and drugs via a pat-down--awkward!
We then boarded another plane for the 9 hour flight to Sydney which passed reasonably uneventful.
The contrast between Giangzhou and Sydney's security experience were night and day. While China was curt and rude, Australia was pleasant and hospitable. China's nearly two hours of immigration and customs dwarfed the twenty minutes of wait time in Sydney--and that was with us picking up checked luggage!
Quite technically this concludes day 1 of the Sydney trip as a 24 hour period has expired. Day 2 will be on the shorter side as I will only cover it from the hotel to bed time so as to follow a diurnal framework from here on out.
If you are reading this before the new year, you may only be seeing these pop up in groups every couple of days as finding wireless Internet is difficult at times.
Mote to come...
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