To Melbourne and Beyond!

Bad title?  Too much of a play on Buzz Lightyears saying?  Too bad, my blog.  ;)

Okay, so I need to add a little to yesterdays entry to fill in what I missed.  Typing this from a plane on my phone so forgive any typos; I'll correct them tomorrow....or not.

First, I left out some of my conversation with Ali the Iraqi taxi driver in Sydney.  Ali was joking about how that typically when people hear he's from Iraq they worry and act nervous.  He even joked as he held up the transponder to pay a toll "it is only a transponder, not a nuclear weapon; I promise" as he winked.  I have to say, Ali is a character and he made me laugh.

Now the flight to Melbourne!  So we're all flying to Melbourne.  The "we" consists of four other coworkers representing different business partners.  You might say, why is Paul telling us about a boring one and a half hour flight???  Well, I was entertaining from what I'm told.  Now keep in mind, no alcohol; just some headphones and Big Bang Theory on the little screen.  It was very funny!  I was rolling laughing and, as I'm told, entertained the people with me quite well.  So yeah, I enjoyed the flight!  I'm not sure the other people around us liked it, but the flight attendants did.  

Enter Melbourne.   What a beautiful city.  Not as nice as Sydney, but really nice!  Did you know there is a huge Chinatown in Melbourne?!?!  Well, now you do!  Lunch was extraordinary and authentic.  This place was straight out of Shanghai.  I had some chicken in a peanut curry sauce.  The duck one of my coworkers had looked great too.  The cracklin on it was perfect and made in a open oven visible when you walk in.  The tanks around the room were packed with fish and crabs.  Every now and then a cook would come out and grab one and head back in the kitchen.  Talk about fresh ingredients - this takes it to a whole new level.        

After lunch we were all done for the day and it was off to the hotel for a relaxing evening.  Usually I run around and explore, but this time I stayed in and enjoyed a relaxing night before getting up this morning to get on this plane. 

BORING! Yes, very perhaps.  But I had a blast!

Sydney Under Glass

It's been a few days since I posted last.  I know, duh!  If you're reading this you already know it's been several days.  What have I been doing??!!  hmmm, good question - let me see if I can give you an idea.

So I arrived in Sydney as most of you saw in my pictures.  Sydney is amazing!  I really like the rhythm of this city.  The people are really what did it for me.  First, I must say that I walked all over the city and saw some amazing sights.  The harbour is a fun place, but this leads me to my first observation of these folks.  There were really only two types, those running and those smoking; well there were some who were smoking and running, but they are just crazy.  There are so many smokers here - it's crazy!  I think someone forgot Australia when they started telling the world that smoking is bad for you. 

WAIT! 

I really should backup so you hear everything in order; you see, when I finished my meetings with Qantas I was at my hotel right next to the airport (ugh, never doing that again in Sydney).  So I had to take a taxi downtown to the harbor.  I flagged a taxi like in any other city and we were off.  A very nice smiling gentlemen picked was driving, his name is Ali.  Ali as it turns out is Iraqi and moved to Sydney around 20 years ago during the Iran/Iraq war.  Ali and I talked the whole way downtown through traffic.  His family had moved to Kuwait during the period when he moved to AU (Australia).  Ali went to visit them several years later, just a week before Saddam decided her wanted Kuwait for his very own.  Well, then Ali and his whole family moved to Sydney, where they still reside.  Mind you, he wasn't telling this as a sob story and with all honesty - I was really asking a lot of questions.  So with his back-story established, I asked him where I should go and what I shouldn't miss.  His response when I told him I only had the one night left "You really need a week to just scratch the surface of this city."  Well, I didn't have a week I had a few hours, so after Ali dropped my by the Harbour, I went for a walkabout.  Yes, I used the term - get over it!  :) 

My walkabout - so really, this is a great term and very accurate.  My legs and back are incredibly sore to prove how great this concept is!  I walked all over the city and harbor.  I even rode a ferry to the other side just so I could walk back, sad, but true; it's that fricking amazing here!  I did want a late lunch eventually and I found the best place for it - Sushi!  Not just any sushi, but sushi overlooking the harbour and Opera House.  My waitress was "Amy" from Japan.  I say "Amy" because this can't possibly be her real name since she just arrived from Japan three weeks ago'ish and is a student full-time and waitress part-time, like so many other people in this city.  She spoke horrible English, but her English was much much better than my Japanese, so she explained that she is from a suburb of Atsugi and moved to AU for better opportunities.  Sounds so familiar...hmmm...oh, we get people looking for that stuff too!  Well, the food was excellent and the staff were..dare I say it - incredible.  Seems to be a theme here, you'd think I was talking about an Aston Martin. 

So with Lunch over, I proceeded to continue my walkabout and explore.  I had a 1800 Dinner meeting scheduled with my Airline people (too many of them), travel agency director, and NZ guy (Leighton, whose family cooked an incredible meal for me the other night, traveled to AU with me).  So now were back where I started - the weird duality of smoker vs. runners here.  I finally sat down to people watch a bit and to enjoy some Olympics.  There is a giant screen outside of the Customs House in the harbour so I sat at the outdoor bar, ordered a Hendricks & Tonic and watched people and the Olympics all at the same time.  With it being winter and about 50 degrees, I was completely comfortable.  I will offer one piece of advice though, when outside of the US, remember, when we're demolishing your host country in a sport (all really) it is bad form to cheer too loudly.... ;)  Although I didn't follow this advice, but had a great time with the Aussies, who I think were plotting to throw me into the harbour at one point. 

So this dinner thing - the Sydney Cafe is located in, you guessed it - the Customs House that was right behind me; huh, you'd think I planned where to end my day or something.  The customs house is a very old structure that has been well maintained and contains some amazing art, several very posh restaurants, and a weird under-glass replica of the city that you walk over in the main foyer.  Freaked the military guy from the 109th out in fact when I pointed it out to him while we walked over it.  I guess he was expecting a normal floor....  Okay, so dinner.  We had more wine and food than really should be possible to order at one time, and it was really really good.  Not just good, but damn good, to the point that when I bring Melissa here, this place is where I'm taking her out to Dinner first, so she can eat at the best place in Sydney - good.  At this point, well, around midnight in AU, I went back to my hotel and crashed for the night.  Meetings in Melbourne were on tap for the next morning, so a plane ride too....