The Great and Wonderful Australia

Australia totally lived up to my expectations. Granted, we only stayed in Sydney and surrounding areas, but that showed how cool the country is.

We got in on Saturday morning and were surprised at how chilly it was.  Our first decision was to visit Bondi Beach. 

With sunshine ahead, we sat in the sand and just relaxed.  Later on, we settled into our apartment, and then finished the night by walking to a local pizza place.

Despite waking up to wet and cold conditions on Sunday, we still had a packed day.

Amanda and I met our friends Kathryn, Christina and Chris for brunch by the beach.  Then we took a great walk to view “Sculptures by the Sea.”  While the exhibit was cool, I was more impressed with the nature sites. 

Afterwards, we met up with another Singapore friend, David Isaac.  I loved the coffee shop we visited - the hot chocolate was awesome. 

From there, we drove to Chris & Kat’s place for a barbecue feast (the start of our love affair with beef on this trip). The night was full of great food and conversation.

Monday, we’d planned to go on a walking tour of Sydney, but as there was more wet weather, it became a museum day.  We visited the Jewish Museum of Sydney and The Rocks Discovery Museum.

Both taught us about how the English made Australia a penal colony. It was cool to see how Jews have made a major impact in Sydney and throughout the country. As for The Rocks museum, it showed again how colonization destroyed native culture - really quite sad.  We really enjoyed learning about that history though.

That night we met another group of Singapore friends, Elliot & Giovana.  They brought their beautiful baby girl to our ribs dinner.  Another great night of conversation, and yes, meat again. (Getting to dinner was adventure, full of missed turns and driving on the Sydney Harbor Bridge)

We spent Tuesday-Thursday in Hunter Valley - one of the main wine producing areas in the country.  The weather and atmosphere were perfect. The sun hit on the vineyards and hill sides.  We had contrasting meals - one night in a fancy schmancy restaurant, the next, going into town to get Thai food! 

The two best activities were  taking a tour of wineries and then visiting the zoo (although, there was an epic nap that gets consideration).  The zoo was very cool as Amanda and I got to pet koalas and also see kangaroos.

We headed back into the city and spent the next couple of days with Kathryn and Chris. 

With the weather being better, we took the walking tour around Sydney.  This was one of the highlights of the trip for sure.  The guide doesn’t charge for the tour, only working off tips.  He was very funny, and the three hour tour did a great job showing off the downtown/harbor area. 

At night, we visited The Great Synagogue in Sydney. It was one of the most beautiful shuls I’ve ever been in.  It felt like Westminster Abbey, but Aussie Jewish style. Sadly, for as beautiful as the shul was, there weren’t many people there, and the service was not our style.

We followed that up with one last meat paradise meal - Hurricanes.  This place is famous for their ribs, and it’s clear why.  We had such a great meal there. 

We went to brunch the next day before heading back to Singapore.

OVERALL NOTES

• Australia seems like a place Amanda and I could live in.  Although, it definitely comes with a heavy price tag.

• Driving on the left side of the road wasn’t as bad as I expected.  After the initial airport to apartment drive was over, it became more comfortable.  Still, I kept turning on the wipers when I meant to put on the turn signal.

• The food there is wonderful.  I could see a new wardrobe being needed if we stayed there too long.

• The best part of the trip to me was the people. It was so much fun to visit a new country, but getting to see friends made it truly special.

Amanda and Michael’s Myanmar Top 5

I haven’t done  a travel blog in a while, so wanted to try a different approach with this one.  Instead of going over every detail of our trip, I’ll instead share our top five experiences.

Shwedagon Pagoda

This is probably the iconic image of Burma, and we went to visit on the first day of our trip.  The gold temple is quite a sight to behold.

While we got there at dusk, the visit really became fantastic when the sun went down.  The gold of the temple is sharper with the night sky.

Candy Kids

Throughout our travels in SE Asia, young children have often come up to us asking us to buy things or wanting donations.  Amanda and I feel it’s better to give them something of use rather than money, which may not really go to the kids. So, this time around we finally smarted up, and brought with us granola bars.

The best part is one group of kids came up to Amanda (which by the way, happened very rarely), she gave them the granola bars and then they ran off saying they got candy! I wonder what they thought when they realized they’d been tricked by a nutritious cereal bar.

Bagan Sunset

There are about 2,000 Buddhist temples in the city of Bagan.  We visited quite a few during the day, and then at sunset, we climbed up one to get a better view. 


The height really helped to show that as far as the eye could see, it was one temple after another.

Inle Market

This is in my top 5 vacation things we’ve done while living over here. Inle Lake itself is very impressive with floating gardens, houses on stilts, and beautiful temples. I loved the market the most.

We woke up early, got in our little boat, and ventured over to a market that’s open only once a week.  Farmers and villagers from the surrounding towns come early to sell their fruits, vegetables, candies, etc. 

Unlike many of the markets we’ve been to in SE Asia, this one really felt authentic. It wasn’t half for locals and half to sell cheap knick knacks for tourists.  Many of the villagers wear traditional tribal outfits with head dresses and long pants.  I just loved the place.


Yangon Synagogue

We finished our trip back in Yangon.  On Friday night, we visited the old synagogue that was built in English colonial times.  It really reminded me of the shul in Singapore.  The biggest difference is that this one is now almost exclusively used for show, as opposed to use.  The community there is down to about 20 people.  It’s great that the synagogue is still being taken care of, and we loved getting to be there on a Friday night.