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Published: January 27th 2010
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1 full day in Bangkok and two nights staying at the New Siam riverside -about 50yards from New Siam 2.It was actually on the riverside, at least the restaurant bar and swimming pool was. Our room on 6th floor overlooked the city.
Bangkok was even busier than I remembered and the taxi driver told us there are 12million people in the City.
We ate Pad Thai in the wild Orchid, shopped in the Koh Saon Road, walked from our hostel to visit the Royal barges,went down the river to a beautiful shopping mall selling the most gorgeous Thai silk clothes and cloth of every colour-Once again I wished I had more luggage space!!
We ahd a quiet time in Bangkok and did not manage to visit the Blues Bar- We will leave that for the next time we are their with our friends!!Not sure when that will be but there definately will be a next time!
I am always sorry to leave Thailand - there is a little part of me there but I have now found another place I love!!
Sydney! Down under - the other side of the world - where you tried to dig to, through the
sand on Gullane Beach or through the earth, in your back garden, when you were a child!!
We arrived in Sydney fter a 9 hour flight from Bangkok. Unfortunately the person sitting next to me was at least 3 times my size and i had to reach under her belly which overspilled on to the armrest, to reach the controls for my back of the seat TV screen! You wouldnt get that in First or business class now, would you?Of course I couldnt say excuse me or anything as I didnt want to hurt her feelings.
We were welcomed to Sydney by a text message from our friend Danny as soon as we arrived.It was very thoughtful of him and Rob and I so appreciated it.
We got a minibus to the hostel and eventuslly got into our room at 2 pm. The room is good with ensuite bathroom and plenty of space but very expensive for a hostel! $120 a night. The rest of the hostel is very hostelly with communal kitchen and laundry and pretty scruffy.
Rob is not very keen on it especially as we are not allowed to have any alchohol in our room!! so we
have now cancelled all the other hostels we have booked on the trip and changing them into hotels!
They are no more expensive and in fact in some cases a whole lot cheaper - so future flashpackers take note!!
I had never appreciated just how wonderful a place Sydney is - having never been to it! How lucky all those convicts were to be sent to Van Daemons Land although I dont expect they appreciated it at the time. However the scenery and the landscape would have been stunning.
Sydney is built around 4 or 5 harbours with frequent fast ferries connecting them. There are lots of beautiful boats everywhere, in marinas and sailing in the bays. The harboursides are full of cafes shops and restaurants and everyone seems to be out enjoying themselves in the sunshine. The schools are still on their summer holidays - They go back on Thursday so there are lots of families out with their children.
Rob's birthday was on 25th January and we met Dan that night. He took us to a great wine bar he knew. it was very busy as most of Australia was gearing up for the following day,s holiday -
Australia Day!
We were quietly enjoying our drinks and catching up with Danny when all of a sudden I felt a very cold shower on my back!It felt like an enormous amount of liquid but as it happened was just over half a glass of wine. It had been knocked accidentally out of a lads hand which is when it splashed on me, But luckily his friend did an apparently wonderfully accurate catch which Rob witnessed! He caught the glass right way up and still half full!
Everyone was very apologetic and offered to buy us a bottle!! As it was so warm it dried in no time we all laughed about it and congratulated the man on his catch! He should probably be playing cricket for Australia!
We went on to have a great evening with a delicious meal in a great Vietnamese Restaurant where we ate the owners recommendations mmmmmm....
The next day was Australia Day and we were thoroughly impressed by the way the Australians enjoyed it.We went to Sydney harbour and listened to the Welcome address in the park. we watched all the boats in the bay as they sailed around decorated with flags. We watched
everyone enjoying themselves in the sunshine and most wearing the Australian flag in the forms of teeshirts shorts and dresses. Most people had transfers of the Australian flag or I love Aussie on various parts of their body. The funniest one I saw, was a young lad, with an otherwise bare chest, plastered in transfers in the shape of a bra!
We made our way back to Darling Harbour for the evenings entertainment. Leo Sayer was playing and Julian Clary was on stage!
The Governor of new'South Wales introduced the Australians of the Year 2 people who were celebrated for making the most contribution to the country! A Doctor of Psychiatry who worked with youngsters and a lady who had set up a service to provide meals to those in need by getting restaurants to donate all the food they did not use! Quite an undertaking and a very well deserved honour. Then we were introduced to some of Australias new citizens. There was a little individual film about them all where they had come from and why they had chosen the country as their home. All these people who were being celebrated went on a decorated boat and sailed
around the harbour waving to everyone and it was all relayed on a big screen.
One gets the impression Australia is a truly egalitarian country with no racism or sectarianism and that has certainly been borne out by the people we have met.
After watching the fireworks(not nearly as good as Edinburgh's!) we went for a drink and met some people who lived up the coast.They were very friendly and Rob gave them a laugh when he said he had noticed there was to be a thong competition. Rob of course thought thongs were of the Borat variety ie skimpy pants!! unfortunately for him, here they are Flip-Flops!!People race in their flip flops!
Today we went to watch the surfers on Bondi Beach and were very impressed by how clean and beautiful the beach is and so close to the city.
I noticed an advert for Lifeguards. If you are 15 yrs or over you can go to the Lifeguard Academy for a week and learn to be a Lifeguard on the Australian beaches for the summer!
Tomorrow we pick up our hired car and start to head North. so its goodbye to Sydney and Au revoir and thanks to
Danny. Our next stop is Port McQuarrie where we now have a hotel instead of a hostel!
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penny
non-member comment
hello
how lovely to see all yr pics - its like having a vicarious holiday (quite a bargain really!) - and Happy Birthday to rob - sadly no massive burns night celebrations here - just a quiet acknowledgement through the mists and chills as the damp gets damper....and alec tickle is still busy at yr house and we are about to have our january sale for 3 days this w/e ...loads of gossip re community council who locked andrew out of the meeting on monday and proceeded to force the chair and sec to resign - village is now full of indignation! joyce-y on a diet and i've been once to "moan groan and tone" at glendaruel which was surprisingly good tho i still seem to be the same size. hope your trip north goes well - i loved all the wildlife in aus and the roos especially! is it very very hot? well have fun and know you are missed love panda x