Sydney and Melbourne with Steph August 25-31, 2006

During the second week of Steph's mid-term break at the end of August, Pat offered to fly us both to Sydney for our first taste of Australia, the Land Down Under! We had a wonderful time together, having not seen each other since April, and really enjoyed our few days in Sydney, then in Melbourne. Both cities are lovely, clean and very interesting, although they are quite different. The weather was very pleasant, cool but generally sunny with only a couple of brief rain showers. I enjoyed wearing long pants, long-sleeved shirts and a jacket most days, while Steph was happy to shed a few layers as it had been much colder in N.Z.!

I flew to Sydney direct from Kuala Lumpur on Friday, August 25th, arriving about 8 p.m. Steph arrived the next morning from Christchurch and met me in our room at the Crowne Plaza overlooking Darling Harbour. It was a perfect location with easy access across a pedestrian bridge to Harbourside with its many cafes, shops, IMAX theatre, etc. The first morning we enjoyed breakfast outside there and listened to a youth jazz band visiting from Sapporo, Japan! From there we headed to the weekend craft market at The Rocks, held underneath the famous Harbour Bridge, then over to the Opera House for a tour of that beautiful structure. It rained briefly while we were inside and afterwards we noticed a rainbow just above the roofline! (See Steph’s blogsite: www.stephanienz.blogspot.com)

On Sunday we took in Morning Prayer at the Anglican Cathedral downtown then went up the SkyTower for a great view of the city in all directions.






Sydney Harbour
and islands







We found the greatest breakfasts at Bacio in the Queen Victoria Building downtown and enjoyed browsing in the beautiful old building, full of upscale designer shops!












QVB








One morning after breakfast we took a ferry from Circular Quay over to Manly, which took about 30 minutes. Manly is a popular beach town with lots of great shops, cafes and a beautiful promenade along the beach. That was “Shoe Day” as Steph found two pairs at a little shop in Manly then we both bought new sneakers later on back in the city!








Steph on the beach
at Manly











We didn’t partake in the famous Bridge Climb as we found the price pretty steep ($240 each) and you are not permitted to bring along your own camera for pictures of the harbour! However, we noticed it was still very popular and perhaps another time…







Harbour Bridge
from Circular Quay














Sydney skyline
at Circular Quay







The beautiful Opera House is every bit as gorgeous up close as it is from a distance. Interestingly, the roofs are made up of many little tiles (1.056 million) in glossy white and matt cream colour and is actually comprised of three different buildings, which hold five separate theatres. Debbie Reynolds was having another sold-out concert there the day we toured, but we bought tickets for an organ concert featuring the music of Mozart and Saint-Saens on our last evening in town. It was held in the huge Concert Hall with nearly 3,000 seats featuring the organ with over 10,000 pipes!






















On the ferry
returning from
Manly













Darling Harbour







On August 29th, we flew to Melbourne in the morning, which took about an hour. We took a shuttle bus to our hotel, the Marriott Downtown, and began our sightseeing on the free loop tram around the city centre. After a great lunch at the famous Young and Jackson Pub, we visited the Immigration Museum, which we found fascinating. It outlined the history of immigration to Australia from the past up to the present. We headed for some great chocolate at Koko’s…not to be missed! It was getting chilly so the hot chocolate helped to warm us up!







Downtown
Melbourne


















Flinders Street
Station,
Melbourne





On our second day in Melbourne, we caught a tram to St. Kilda, located on quiet Port Philip Bay, about 30 minutes from downtown. We got off at Luna Park, an amusement park dating from 1912 featuring an old wooden roller coaster, and walked along the boardwalk by the beach. It was a popular venue with cyclists, walkers, rollerbladers, babies in strollers and dogs of all sizes! A few brave souls were swimming and we watched a swim suit photo shoot while enjoying coffee at one of the cafes near the hot sea baths.








The beach at
St. Kilda







On our last day in Melbourne, we took the tram once again to the famous Victoria Market, where we wandered around the stalls of fresh produce and souvenirs. I brought home a lovely chopping board for Pat made out of camphor laurel wood, native to Australia. It smells like Tiger Balm and apparently the camphor in it discourages the growth of any harmful bacteria!

Our getaway week in Australia was coming to a swift end...we had to fly back to Sydney in mid-afternoon to catch our respective flights home on the evening of August 31st. Steph left first but I had several hours to kill in the Sydney airport as I was flying back to KL on an overnight flight (definitely not my favourite time). I was back in Kuantan by 10 a.m., planning my next trip to Australia! The people are friendly, the food is wonderful and the scenery is spectacular! What more could you want?

Thailand - August 1-6, 2006

The month of August began a serious bout of travelling for us which continues on as I write this
(two months later), thus the reason why there have not been any updates to this blog recently! My apologies...they will come eventually!

Pat and I flew to Bangkok on August 1st as he had meetings with all the Asian P&G plant managers. We spent one night at the lovely and newly renovated Marriott Hotel downtown and went straight away to the famous Jim Thompson store to buy some silk. Prices ranged from 500 Baht/metre and up (about $15 CAD) and we nearly filled a suitcase with various colours and prints. Pat has had four short-sleeved shirts made up already (dark colours with tiny elephant prints on them) while my dressmaker is working on a beige linen jacket and a burgundy two-piece suit to wear to Steph's graduation in December in Auburn!















I had a free morning while Pat visited the Bangkok P&G plant so I checked out the new and very elegant Siam Paragon Mall downtown. We had seen it under construction during our first visit to Bangkok with the girls in May 2004. This is a view of the ground floor which houses mainly restaurants, cafes and gourmet grocery shops. I had a lovely Italian lunch before returning to the hotel for my drive to Pattaya with another P&G spouse and her daughter.

















Our driver took us in a van 2 1/2 hours south of Bangkok to the resort town of Pattaya on the Gulf of Thailand. We stayed in the Marriott Hotel there for one night with this view of the pool below. Pattaya is a busy town, full of tourists and a rather seedy-looking downtown core. To get to the beach, you walk through the hotel garden and cross a busy street (not easily done!). Until a severe thunderstorm sent folks scattering, I spent most of the late afternoon poolside, joining Pat and the other managers for an al fresco Thai-style dinner.














View of the pool area from our balcony















The next morning, while Pat was in a meeting, I took a private Thai cooking course with two delightful young chefs in the poolside kitchen. Below you will see the fresh ingredients all ready for the three dishes we made and which I later enjoyed for my lunch! The first dish was Tom Kha Gai, a chicken soup with coconut milk and galanga, a type of root not unlike ginger. Typically Thai food can be quite spicy and this is due to the combination of some or all of the following flavours: dried chillies, coriander seeds, lemon grass, kaffir lime peel, garlic, shallots, peanuts, shrimp paste, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamon seeds, star anise, cumin and peppercorns. All pounded together in a large mortar, these make the curry paste needed for the Panaeng Nuae (Beef in Panaeng Curry).
























Panaeng Nuae























Finally we made the famous Phad Thai Talay (Fried Noodles Thai Style with seafood), using rice noodles, pickled turnip, peanuts, dried shrimp, bean curd, chives, bean sprouts. This version is set inside a thin omelet, note how the corners are turned back for presentation!
















Orchids anyone? These are the “common” variety that I often buy from Noor, who runs Eeva Florist in the wet market here in Kuantan. She sells 10 stalks for a paltry RM15 (about $4.00CAD), and since they last for about three weeks, it is indeed a good investment! This picture is taken in the lobby of a hotel on Phuket Island on Karon Beach (south end), which we believe was booked for us in error…at least it sure didn’t look like the one we thought we had booked! Anyway, it was far too big and impersonal for our liking, so after one night, we set off down the beach to check out a different spot. We found The Beachhouse nearby and the desk clerk offered to show us to their sister hotel on Kata Noi Beach down the road. We fell in love with the small and very peaceful surroundings of Mom Tri’s Villa Royale and there we spent a lovely weekend. Check out their website: http://www.villaroyalephuket.com/ Our room looked just like the one portrayed in these pictures! The food was wonderful and the restaurant highly rated. Service was superb and we splurged twice on massages (I also enjoyed a facial) in their lovely spa!
















Surf’s up at Kata Noi Beach! It was monsoon season in August so the surf was quite high and the water dangerous for swimming. If you look closely at the right hand side of the picture, you might make out some tiny specks, which are actually surfers waiting for the next big one!









Breakfast room at Villa
Royale…what a view!





















A waterfall garden near the entrance to the hotel.









One of the three lovely
pools onsite.


























Pat arranged to go diving on Phi Phi Island off the east coast of Phuket one day. Here he is in all his gear!

Until next time, jumpa lagi!