Well I got home about 10:15 on Friday night. The flight was a bit of an endurance test as I was determined to switch to UK time as soon as we left Hong Kong to minimise the jetlag. It doesn't seem to have worked as I fell asleep on the dinning room table Saturday night at about 9:00 pm. On the flight I watched four films and two episodes of Top Gear, slept for about an hour and eat two airline meals.
Airlines have such strange ideas about food. We left Hong Kong at 14:35 and were given a meal about an hour into the flight they called dinner. We there then fed again about 2 hours out of Heathrow with a meal called Snack. Both of these were three course meals, or four if you had the cheeses and the desert. Both were served with an apperitif, wine, water and liquers. But one was Dinner and one was Snack!
We landed on time at Heathrow then waited half an hour on the tarmac until a gate was free at terminal three. I think the gate was somewhere near the M25 as I had to walk about a mile and a half to immigration. Once through immigration it was on to the baggage reclaim and by the time I got there my bag was already out so proceeded quickly to customs. The Nothing To Declare channel was devoid of staff, except behind the two way mirrors. On one of the stainless steel tables there was a pair of purple latex gloves. Guess someone should have declared something earlier in the day.
Home safely now, feeling a bit better Sunday. have managed to go to Sainsburys and do the shopping and am about to start trying to rebuild my laptop.
Sunday 10 December 2006
Thursday 7 December 2006
Well I am on the way home at last. Here you can see the Cathay Pacific Airbus that will transport me over China, Russia, The Arctic and down through Northern Europe (At least that's the way it says it goes in the inflight magazine. There is also a picture of my hotel and one of the Christmas deccies at one of the posher hotels
As usual I have no idea where the pictures will end up and where the text will be.
I walked back down to the star ferry last night and took some pictures across the water to Hong Kong Island. It was quite surreal walking round sweating in my shorts and T shirt amongst Christmas trees and piped Christmas Carols. Christmas is huge and there were decorations and displays everywhere. I suppose it may be for the local populatiopn, but all could be the multinational stores just finding another way to make money.
Nathan Road was really busy, so I walked along some of the side streets that run parrallel to it on the way back. This meant I went through the Temple Street night market, an intriguing collection of stalls selling everthing from underwear to screwdrivers.
Got back to the hotel about 10:00 pm, having eaten out. Decided I wasn't brave enough to try the local Chinese and went to the Mong Kok spaghetti house for Lasagne and Garlic Bread. Having looked at the people eating in the local Chinese restaurants it seems noodles in asoupish broth is very popular. as the menus were all in mandarin and I couldn't identify the broth I thought pasta would be more enjoyable.
Slept from 11:00 through to 7:00 so missed Tai Chi in the park again. Had bfast in the hotel and then got the shuttle bus to the airport. The bus picked up at 4 more hotels so I also got a tour of Kowloon side. Got to the airport about 11;15 and the check ins were open so \i checked in, had a walk round the shops and nearly bought an Olympus digital SLR, then came down to the lounge to check my mail have a beer and write this.
I will post a final instalment when I get home.
The Hong Kong flight left Sydney on time. But arrived about 5 minutes late. I took a taxi from the airport and that immediately told me I was now in Asia. At the airport I asked the man running the taxi rank if the taxi’s took credit cards. “Yes yes” was the answer. When I got into the taxi I asked the driver if he took credit cards, “Yes yes” was the answer. After a death defying trip into Kowloon from the airport that included the taxi driver flashing hooting and shouting at a Supercharged Mercedes that would not get out of his way we arrived at the hotel. I got out my credit card and the driver said “No No cash only” I said “I asked you at the airport if you took credit card and you said Yes” to which he answered “Yes yes cash only”
Fortunately I had changed my left over ozzie dollars and ozzie travellers cheques into HK Dollars at the airport. I f I hadn’t done that the only way to pay him would have been to suffer the hotels exchange rates and a cash advance on my credit card, ouch. I’ve just counted up the HK dollars I have left after my dayout and it looks like I shall have to eat in the hotel restaurant so I can put it on my card. Breakfast in the hotel was good and the restaurant menu looks good, it is Cantonese.
I had about 6 hours sleep on the plane but I was still tired when I got to the hotel. Was in bed by 1:00 am and slept right through to 6:30 am. Which meant I missed Tai Chi in the park at dawn. Was out of the hotel by 7:45 am and walking down Nathan Road past all the closed shops. I popped into Kowloon park to find that I wasn’t the only one who missed dawn and there was a group of about a dozen locals doing Tai Chi. I recognised some of the moves but it certainly wasn’t 108 move Yang that I am familiar with. So a combination of shyness and lack of knowledge left me watching rather than joining in. Maybe tomorrow before I fly.
From Kowloon park I walked all the way down Nathan Road to the Star Ferry. Then took the ferry across to Hong Kong Island. The views are amazing. How so many people live on so little land becomes apparent as soon as you get on the ferry and see the towers rising above the sea. I walked past a couple of construction projects on the way down Nathan Road, all the scaffolding is made of bamboo and cable ties!
From the ferry terminal on Hong Kong Island I followed the signs along the elevated walkways to the Peak Tram station. Then took the peak tram to the summit of the peak. The tram and summit are owned by Madame Tussauds and like their other ventures it is impossible to do much at all without passing through their merchandising and sales outlets. After going up 5 floors of shopping on escalators I managed to get out onto the rooftop viewing platform, the view is amazing. Out over the sea you can see all of the outer islands and across almost to Macau. Looking inland you can see the whole of Hong Kong and up into the mountains of the New Territories, which if they weren’t there would mean you could see into real China.
I came back down the peak and had a walk round the Central area on Hong Kong Island, even found Marks and Spencer’s. In most places there are two layers of pavement, one at the side of the road and then an elevated section above. There are also some fantastic escalators and shopping centres hidden in the middle of office blocks. Had a walk around a market and then headed back to the ferry terminal.
At the ferry terminal a new shop was being opened and a group were performing a Chinese Lion Dance to celebrate. Stood and watched for a while then caught the ferry back Kowloon side.
Walked back up towards the hotel using side streets parallel to Nathan Road, not sure I would want to use some of them at night, felt conspicuously tall and white in places. Using the side streets did mean I got to see the Tin Hau temple, Jade Market and Ladies Market. Now the Jade Market sells Jade, so guess what the Ladies Market sells? Wrong it sells everything. From dodgy DVDs through to Brass Buddha, also found a stall selling puppies, I think as pets, although there were a couple of Korean restaurants around.
I was approached several times by Indian gentlemen who wanted to make me a suit. One was so persistent that I negotiated with him for two double breasted suits and four shirts, then walked off in the opposite direction when he said we should go to his shop. He had followed me for nearly ten minutes, even though I said “No Thank You” several times at the start of his pitch so when he was still following me after 200 yards I thought I might as well wind him up.
I can’t believe how cheap the Rolex watches are here. Also designer handbags seem to be very cheap at the market too. I am sure they are all genuine. There are nowhere near as many camera and computer stores as I was expecting. I was talking to the waiter in Starbucks at the top of the peak and he said a lot of the electrical businesses have gone to Singapore and the internet. Evidently the overhead of a Hong Kong shop was so much that it was difficult to make a profit and the internet is much more attractive to them.
I am planning to go out in a bit and get something to eat and take a trip back down to the star ferry so I can photograph Hong Kong by night. I’ll post the pictures when I get home.
Fortunately I had changed my left over ozzie dollars and ozzie travellers cheques into HK Dollars at the airport. I f I hadn’t done that the only way to pay him would have been to suffer the hotels exchange rates and a cash advance on my credit card, ouch. I’ve just counted up the HK dollars I have left after my dayout and it looks like I shall have to eat in the hotel restaurant so I can put it on my card. Breakfast in the hotel was good and the restaurant menu looks good, it is Cantonese.
I had about 6 hours sleep on the plane but I was still tired when I got to the hotel. Was in bed by 1:00 am and slept right through to 6:30 am. Which meant I missed Tai Chi in the park at dawn. Was out of the hotel by 7:45 am and walking down Nathan Road past all the closed shops. I popped into Kowloon park to find that I wasn’t the only one who missed dawn and there was a group of about a dozen locals doing Tai Chi. I recognised some of the moves but it certainly wasn’t 108 move Yang that I am familiar with. So a combination of shyness and lack of knowledge left me watching rather than joining in. Maybe tomorrow before I fly.
From Kowloon park I walked all the way down Nathan Road to the Star Ferry. Then took the ferry across to Hong Kong Island. The views are amazing. How so many people live on so little land becomes apparent as soon as you get on the ferry and see the towers rising above the sea. I walked past a couple of construction projects on the way down Nathan Road, all the scaffolding is made of bamboo and cable ties!
From the ferry terminal on Hong Kong Island I followed the signs along the elevated walkways to the Peak Tram station. Then took the peak tram to the summit of the peak. The tram and summit are owned by Madame Tussauds and like their other ventures it is impossible to do much at all without passing through their merchandising and sales outlets. After going up 5 floors of shopping on escalators I managed to get out onto the rooftop viewing platform, the view is amazing. Out over the sea you can see all of the outer islands and across almost to Macau. Looking inland you can see the whole of Hong Kong and up into the mountains of the New Territories, which if they weren’t there would mean you could see into real China.
I came back down the peak and had a walk round the Central area on Hong Kong Island, even found Marks and Spencer’s. In most places there are two layers of pavement, one at the side of the road and then an elevated section above. There are also some fantastic escalators and shopping centres hidden in the middle of office blocks. Had a walk around a market and then headed back to the ferry terminal.
At the ferry terminal a new shop was being opened and a group were performing a Chinese Lion Dance to celebrate. Stood and watched for a while then caught the ferry back Kowloon side.
Walked back up towards the hotel using side streets parallel to Nathan Road, not sure I would want to use some of them at night, felt conspicuously tall and white in places. Using the side streets did mean I got to see the Tin Hau temple, Jade Market and Ladies Market. Now the Jade Market sells Jade, so guess what the Ladies Market sells? Wrong it sells everything. From dodgy DVDs through to Brass Buddha, also found a stall selling puppies, I think as pets, although there were a couple of Korean restaurants around.
I was approached several times by Indian gentlemen who wanted to make me a suit. One was so persistent that I negotiated with him for two double breasted suits and four shirts, then walked off in the opposite direction when he said we should go to his shop. He had followed me for nearly ten minutes, even though I said “No Thank You” several times at the start of his pitch so when he was still following me after 200 yards I thought I might as well wind him up.
I can’t believe how cheap the Rolex watches are here. Also designer handbags seem to be very cheap at the market too. I am sure they are all genuine. There are nowhere near as many camera and computer stores as I was expecting. I was talking to the waiter in Starbucks at the top of the peak and he said a lot of the electrical businesses have gone to Singapore and the internet. Evidently the overhead of a Hong Kong shop was so much that it was difficult to make a profit and the internet is much more attractive to them.
I am planning to go out in a bit and get something to eat and take a trip back down to the star ferry so I can photograph Hong Kong by night. I’ll post the pictures when I get home.
Well I am sat in the Quantas Club Lounge at Sydney airport. I’ve had a couple of their free drinks, a couple of their free coffees and some of their free lunch. I am sure they sell the tickets as business class, what I can’t work out is, what business are the three screaming kids who are running round the tables in? Maybe they are in the business of disruption. Perhaps they are in the employ of a major multi-national and they have been sent here to upset the travellers of their competitors. It’s working.
The course in Wellington finished well and the feedback was good. The sales and marketing director and HR manager took me and a couple of others out to dinner. This was possibly the worst planned project I encountered here in the antipodes. The restaurant they wanted to go to does not take bookings so we did a 15 minute taxi ride from my hotel, got there and found out they were full until 10:00 at the earliest. We then rang another place and they said they could do a table for 5 at about 9:00 pm and we could have a drink in the bar. So we took another taxi 10 minutes back towards my hotel to the restaurant. When we arrived we told them we had rung and the maitre d’ looked blank, told us we would have to wait until 10:00 to 10:30. So we left there and walked 5 minutes across the road to another restaurant, full of office Christmas parties, but with a table for 5! So after a taxi tour of Wellington I ended up 5 minutes walk from my hotel. The food was excellent. I had venison and we accompanied it with an excellent bottle of Greywolf, a full bodied ozzie red.
The venison was evidently local and deer hunting is a popular pastime. I read a very interesting article in The Dominion (Wellington’s newspaper) about an unfortunate gentleman who had gone pig hunting with a friend. Wild pigs are very common on the North Island and pig hunting is very popular. They identified and pursued a fine specimen which whilst being chased ran over a cliff. Now that’s unfortunate enough, but one of the hunters was running so fast after the pig that he couldn’t stop and he fell to his death over the cliff after the pig! Dangerous business this hunting.
Managed to get 4 and a half hours sleep before having to get up to catch the plane. The taxi driver was an expert on British politics and talked all the way to the airport. I asked him how he knew so much and he said “I have a contract with the British High Commission; I take all their staff to the airport”. Is this a threat to national security?
The flight out of Wellington crosses the north end of the south island (after it takes off from the south end of the north island, keep up). The mountains on the south island looked fantastic. It was completely clear and the view was like a geography lesson. The huge volcanic mountains with great glacial valleys leading down into flat bottomed river valleys with meandering rivers forming ox bow lakes and silt and sand spits running out into the sea. Fantastic.
I’ve picked up my email from the public internet access here at Sydney airport and I was going to update the blog from the business lounge, but the connections here are not free! So I’ve written this lot up in word and I’ll post it as soon as I can.
Took some stick about the cricket. They should never have lost that one.
The course in Wellington finished well and the feedback was good. The sales and marketing director and HR manager took me and a couple of others out to dinner. This was possibly the worst planned project I encountered here in the antipodes. The restaurant they wanted to go to does not take bookings so we did a 15 minute taxi ride from my hotel, got there and found out they were full until 10:00 at the earliest. We then rang another place and they said they could do a table for 5 at about 9:00 pm and we could have a drink in the bar. So we took another taxi 10 minutes back towards my hotel to the restaurant. When we arrived we told them we had rung and the maitre d’ looked blank, told us we would have to wait until 10:00 to 10:30. So we left there and walked 5 minutes across the road to another restaurant, full of office Christmas parties, but with a table for 5! So after a taxi tour of Wellington I ended up 5 minutes walk from my hotel. The food was excellent. I had venison and we accompanied it with an excellent bottle of Greywolf, a full bodied ozzie red.
The venison was evidently local and deer hunting is a popular pastime. I read a very interesting article in The Dominion (Wellington’s newspaper) about an unfortunate gentleman who had gone pig hunting with a friend. Wild pigs are very common on the North Island and pig hunting is very popular. They identified and pursued a fine specimen which whilst being chased ran over a cliff. Now that’s unfortunate enough, but one of the hunters was running so fast after the pig that he couldn’t stop and he fell to his death over the cliff after the pig! Dangerous business this hunting.
Managed to get 4 and a half hours sleep before having to get up to catch the plane. The taxi driver was an expert on British politics and talked all the way to the airport. I asked him how he knew so much and he said “I have a contract with the British High Commission; I take all their staff to the airport”. Is this a threat to national security?
The flight out of Wellington crosses the north end of the south island (after it takes off from the south end of the north island, keep up). The mountains on the south island looked fantastic. It was completely clear and the view was like a geography lesson. The huge volcanic mountains with great glacial valleys leading down into flat bottomed river valleys with meandering rivers forming ox bow lakes and silt and sand spits running out into the sea. Fantastic.
I’ve picked up my email from the public internet access here at Sydney airport and I was going to update the blog from the business lounge, but the connections here are not free! So I’ve written this lot up in word and I’ll post it as soon as I can.
Took some stick about the cricket. They should never have lost that one.
Monday 4 December 2006
Well here is a picture of the Hotel in Wellington, The view from my window and something else in my room. Post comments if you know what the something else is.
Nearly didn't get here as strong winds over the tasmanian sea delayed the inbound flight to Sydey. Wellington airport operates a curfew and the pilot would not take off from Sydney unless he knew he could land at Wellington. Good idea really. We finally got off the ground from Sydney and after a very high speed and bumby flight caused by the strong tail winds we got into Wellington in 2 and a half hours landing around 12:15 pm. By the time I cleared customs and immigration and got the car to the hotel it was 1:00 am Wellington time.
Clearing customs was interesting. The New Zealanders are very strict on what can be bought into their country. They don't want any nasty visitors bringing in plant diseases etc. So they x ray your baggage to check it isn't full of grass cuttings or anything. I have a colapsible walking pole in my suitcase. The X Ray mad said "Are you carrying an ornamental sword sir?" I quickly answered "No it's a walking stick". "Do you go walking sir?" He asked. He then looked at my boots, still the only shoes I can get on over the swollen ankle and immediately decided I was a walker. He then proceeded to open my suitcase to check that the walking pole was not contaminated.
The car driver was a huge Maori man with a great relaxed attitude and because the city tunnel was closed for cleaning he took me on a guided tour of the bays of Wellington. It is a long time since I came here last but I had forgotten how beautiful it is. Even this morning in the usual Wellington morning fog it still looks great. The mountains come right down to the sea and the residential areas are full of quaint wooden houses with corrugated iron roofs painted in a rainboiw of colours. The commercial district of high rise offices is interspersed with fabulous old wooden houses. The control tower at the airport is on the hill between two bungalows.
The course went OK, couple of cynics in the audience but generally a good bunch.
I have been out for a walk this evening but as we didn't finish until 7:00 pm it was getting too dark for pictures and for walking about on my own. I'm pretty sure Wellington is still a safe place at night but the newpaper is full of stories about an armed brawl in a Rotarua pub last night. I bet the people don't still leave their houses unlocked like they used to.
Off to bed early as I won't get much sleep tomorrow night. The taxi is due at 5:00am to take me to the airport. Supposed to be going for a beer with the Sales and Marketing Director after we finish tomorrow so I probably won't manage an early night.
Saturday 2 December 2006
Just got back from ‘briefing’ Julie. Her flight was delayed out of Heathrow and she said Cathay Pacific had all sorts of problems in Hong Kong, probably the knock on effect of the typhoons in the Philippines. I’ve checked with Air New Zealand and my flight out of Sydney to Wellington is still showing on schedule, so fingers and toes crossed all should go smoothly. I used my trip from Sydney to Wellington as an example for risk management on Tuesday morning and after the problems they came up with I was wondering if I would ever get there.
Earthquakes usually come out as very low probability when you do risk analysis in the UK, but when you are going to Wellington it all becomes a bit more significant. They have a tremor every day, significant shakes every month and big ones now and then. I understand the whole place is engineered to cope with it though????????
Last night the hotel concierge told me there were some good Indian restaurants in a place called Kings Cross. What he didn’t tell me is it is also full of strip clubs, serious drinking bars, backpacker’s hostels and most of Sydney’s homeless and drug addicts. I found somewhere to eat though and had excellent vegetable samosas, a mixed vegetable curry, peshwari rice and a huge nan for $AU9.95, less than £5! The walk to Kings Cross took me across Hyde Park, would have been quite pleasant if it hadn’t been lashing with rain. Interestingly Liverpool Street is also near Hyde Park. Wonder where those first Sydney settlers came from then.
I’ve just packed everything in to my suit case ready for the next part of the trip to Wellington. I noticed that the plastic shell of my suitcase has been broken on the way out so I went to the shop and bought some duct tape. It’s a cheap impersonation of real Duct Tape and I’m just hoping it will be ok.
I hope I’ll be back online in Wellington Monday night, which will be Monday morning in the UK. The time difference from Sydney is 3 hours so that makes it 14 hours in front of the UK I think. The flight time is 3 hoursish.
Earthquakes usually come out as very low probability when you do risk analysis in the UK, but when you are going to Wellington it all becomes a bit more significant. They have a tremor every day, significant shakes every month and big ones now and then. I understand the whole place is engineered to cope with it though????????
Last night the hotel concierge told me there were some good Indian restaurants in a place called Kings Cross. What he didn’t tell me is it is also full of strip clubs, serious drinking bars, backpacker’s hostels and most of Sydney’s homeless and drug addicts. I found somewhere to eat though and had excellent vegetable samosas, a mixed vegetable curry, peshwari rice and a huge nan for $AU9.95, less than £5! The walk to Kings Cross took me across Hyde Park, would have been quite pleasant if it hadn’t been lashing with rain. Interestingly Liverpool Street is also near Hyde Park. Wonder where those first Sydney settlers came from then.
I’ve just packed everything in to my suit case ready for the next part of the trip to Wellington. I noticed that the plastic shell of my suitcase has been broken on the way out so I went to the shop and bought some duct tape. It’s a cheap impersonation of real Duct Tape and I’m just hoping it will be ok.
I hope I’ll be back online in Wellington Monday night, which will be Monday morning in the UK. The time difference from Sydney is 3 hours so that makes it 14 hours in front of the UK I think. The flight time is 3 hoursish.
Friday 1 December 2006
Saturday in Sydney
Well after updating the blog last night I decided to go out to eat. I had my eye on the curry restaurant at Darling Harbour. However it was not to be. The first Friday in December is traditionally the night for the works Christmas party and nearly all the bars and restaurants in Darling Harbour were closed for private functions. So I went to get my beard trimmed instead.
Now I know I am spoilt at home as the same person has been cutting my hair for 20 years and still charges me the same price, but……. $AU50 (>£20) for 10 minutes in the chair to put a blade through my beard and number one through my hair! Went to the markets for a mooch round this morning and noticed I could have bought some clippers for $AU16.50, cut my own hair and then thrown them away! The only good point was that the Chinese barber said that if I wanted to stay in Sydney he could find me one of the girls from his family to marry and he guaranteed me Australian citizenship. I am not sure if he was joking or not.
Anyway after I recovered from the shock of the Chinese barber I went into the shopping mall/entertainment complex to find food. The selection in the food court was fantastic. OK there was a Macdonalds, but there was also Sushi, Chinese, Thai, Traditional Australian (Barramundi and chips or lamb and 2 veg), Italian, Iranian, Turkish and a Mongolian BBQ! So I got my curry, Chicken Thai Green Curry with boiled jasmine rice for $AU 9.50, and very nice it was too. I had a fantastic Italian ice cream for afters, a Starbucks coffee to finish and all for less than the cost of a starter in the hotel.
Got up around 8:00 am. The hotel is full of people in Sydney for the weekend and the queue for bfast was horrible, so I walked across to Starbucks for coffee and a croissant. I then took the monorail to Paddy’s market. Well actually the monorail is circular and you pay a flat fare of $AU4.50 so I took the monorail all the way round the circle and then the two stops to Paddy’s Market. The market is the oldest and largest market in Sydney and runs from Thursday to Sunday. Some of the poultry and fish was far more exotic than it is in Leeds indoor market and the range of pirated DVDs, Watches and Clothing was terrifying.
I then walked the entire length of George Street up to Circular Quay. As happiness is a journey, not a destination, I went to Manly again, this time on the ferry. I have to say though that the ferry to Manly and Manly itself both make me happy. I sat for about half an hour just watching the surfers. If this bloody ankle wasn’t still so bad I would have been down the hire shop for a wet suit and a boogie board, but you can see from the beach how strong the rip is and just walking out through the waves would have torn my ankle apart again.
From the beach I went to the Manly craft market. Now I don’t want to spoil the surprise Sharon & Lauren, but I was looking at some fabulous Australian gemstone pendants. The old man selling them saw me looking and immediately came over to ask where I came from. Thinking he would be like so many others I had met with no English geography, I said “Between Oxford and Birmingham” to which he replied “Warwick and Leamington way?” Turns out that he worked for 40 years in mining and quarrying and lived for 3 years between Cheltenham and Evesham where he ran a Cotswold stone quarry. He was also an Opal miner in the Australian outback for 10 years and worked in quarries and mines all over the world. When he retired he bought a property 160kms north of Sydney. After he had been there a week he was digging over the garden and found some stones in the garden, so he built himself a stone cutting saw to see what they were like inside. Now people bring him stone from all over New South Wales and he cuts polishes mounts and sells it. We chatted for about 20 minutes, but unfortunately apart from the Air Balloon in Cheltenham I didn’t know any of the pubs he asked about. He also told me that a couple of weeks ago he gave that great British poet Pam Ayres a set of his stone table coasters when she came up to his stall in Manly. The following week he received a signed copy of her latest book in the post. He now spends all week cutting and polishing stone, drives to Manly Saturday morning and sells it at the craft fair, sleeps in the car Saturday night then goes to another craft fair in Sydney Sunday and drives home Sunday night. Not bad for a 70 year old.
On the ferry on the way back from Manly it started to rain and when I walked out of Circular Quay a huge thunderstorm started. My coat was at the hotel. So Lauren, next time your Mum makes us pack a rucksack before we got out for the day I bet she’ll say “Remember what happened in Sydney, you got soaked to the skin because you didn’t pack your coat”
Now I know I am spoilt at home as the same person has been cutting my hair for 20 years and still charges me the same price, but……. $AU50 (>£20) for 10 minutes in the chair to put a blade through my beard and number one through my hair! Went to the markets for a mooch round this morning and noticed I could have bought some clippers for $AU16.50, cut my own hair and then thrown them away! The only good point was that the Chinese barber said that if I wanted to stay in Sydney he could find me one of the girls from his family to marry and he guaranteed me Australian citizenship. I am not sure if he was joking or not.
Anyway after I recovered from the shock of the Chinese barber I went into the shopping mall/entertainment complex to find food. The selection in the food court was fantastic. OK there was a Macdonalds, but there was also Sushi, Chinese, Thai, Traditional Australian (Barramundi and chips or lamb and 2 veg), Italian, Iranian, Turkish and a Mongolian BBQ! So I got my curry, Chicken Thai Green Curry with boiled jasmine rice for $AU 9.50, and very nice it was too. I had a fantastic Italian ice cream for afters, a Starbucks coffee to finish and all for less than the cost of a starter in the hotel.
Got up around 8:00 am. The hotel is full of people in Sydney for the weekend and the queue for bfast was horrible, so I walked across to Starbucks for coffee and a croissant. I then took the monorail to Paddy’s market. Well actually the monorail is circular and you pay a flat fare of $AU4.50 so I took the monorail all the way round the circle and then the two stops to Paddy’s Market. The market is the oldest and largest market in Sydney and runs from Thursday to Sunday. Some of the poultry and fish was far more exotic than it is in Leeds indoor market and the range of pirated DVDs, Watches and Clothing was terrifying.
I then walked the entire length of George Street up to Circular Quay. As happiness is a journey, not a destination, I went to Manly again, this time on the ferry. I have to say though that the ferry to Manly and Manly itself both make me happy. I sat for about half an hour just watching the surfers. If this bloody ankle wasn’t still so bad I would have been down the hire shop for a wet suit and a boogie board, but you can see from the beach how strong the rip is and just walking out through the waves would have torn my ankle apart again.
From the beach I went to the Manly craft market. Now I don’t want to spoil the surprise Sharon & Lauren, but I was looking at some fabulous Australian gemstone pendants. The old man selling them saw me looking and immediately came over to ask where I came from. Thinking he would be like so many others I had met with no English geography, I said “Between Oxford and Birmingham” to which he replied “Warwick and Leamington way?” Turns out that he worked for 40 years in mining and quarrying and lived for 3 years between Cheltenham and Evesham where he ran a Cotswold stone quarry. He was also an Opal miner in the Australian outback for 10 years and worked in quarries and mines all over the world. When he retired he bought a property 160kms north of Sydney. After he had been there a week he was digging over the garden and found some stones in the garden, so he built himself a stone cutting saw to see what they were like inside. Now people bring him stone from all over New South Wales and he cuts polishes mounts and sells it. We chatted for about 20 minutes, but unfortunately apart from the Air Balloon in Cheltenham I didn’t know any of the pubs he asked about. He also told me that a couple of weeks ago he gave that great British poet Pam Ayres a set of his stone table coasters when she came up to his stall in Manly. The following week he received a signed copy of her latest book in the post. He now spends all week cutting and polishing stone, drives to Manly Saturday morning and sells it at the craft fair, sleeps in the car Saturday night then goes to another craft fair in Sydney Sunday and drives home Sunday night. Not bad for a 70 year old.
On the ferry on the way back from Manly it started to rain and when I walked out of Circular Quay a huge thunderstorm started. My coat was at the hotel. So Lauren, next time your Mum makes us pack a rucksack before we got out for the day I bet she’ll say “Remember what happened in Sydney, you got soaked to the skin because you didn’t pack your coat”
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