Sydney 30th: Day 1 (Sunday 28 October)
Having come to the conclusion that I won't get the printed photobook done before Christmas, let alone printed and sent to Sydney, I've decided to post it all here first, do the book properly with words like I did for Japan. So here we go, Sydney 30th Birthday Extravaganza Week!
Due to the rushed nature of booking tickets (recap: the week was originally supposed to be in and around Adelaide, but Alex got blood clots in her everywhere and couldn't fly, so we went to Sydney instead. This happened about a month before scheduled start) we ended up on Jetstar for about three times as many dollars as I generally like to pay going to Sydney. I've really only had bad experiences with Jetstar and, well, they didn't disappoint. Or they did. Whatever; Jetstar sucks. We (Linda and I; Hanh would fly over later) were delayed by I think two hours going over? Idk. We were tired and indulged in horrendously overpriced packets of chips purely because we were bored shitless.
Finally got to Sydney to meet ma girl Alex at the train station, and in we trained to Sydney. It's been a long time since I've actually taken the airport train all the way into Circular Quay, something I've always loved. You're underground the whole time--bearing in mind this is what a good chunk of tourists will do--so you're hidden away in the tunnels under the city, and then suddenly daylight and BOOM. SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE AND SYDNEY HARBOUR AND SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE AND SYDNEY FERRIES AND... FSCKING SYDNEY. Sydney knows what it's got and it knows how to flaunt it. That said, that was all we saw of the harbour at all this time around. I've lost count of the number of times I've been to Sydney, didn't need to see the bridge again.
So, because the plane tickets and the food were going to be quite pricey, we stinged on the accommodation as much as we could and went Airbnb the whole way.
We stayed in Haymarket, right in the heart of Chinatown, and our room was at the end of this little alleyway, which would have been really sweet if not for the creepy places someone dodgy could hide in the dark and jump out at you. Still, the cloud designs and little cherub things were neat!
The overhang on the top right of the first photo was our building :D
We got a view! The room itself was very much an Airbnb room, three beds crammed into one room, two couches and a TV and a very small kitchenette. There was a sign next to the lift on the bottom floor saying anyone hosting Airbnb guests in the building would be evicted. So. YEP.
Lunch! Ramen from Gumshara just around the corner in Chinatown. That broth was SO rich and amazing. Best ramen outside Japan.
Alex is excited for lunch. This whole holiday was about food, just so you know.
Chinatown gate!
I liked this shop's optimism. We wandered around Chinatown and environs for a while, because Linda has a Thing for Korean face masks and also I don't know that I've ever been to Chinatown Sydney? It really felt like being in Asia, sort of a mix of all the Asian cities I've been to--KL, Singapore, Bangkok, Tokyo, Osaka, and Linda and Alex also threw Hong Kong into the mix. I mean, look at the street shot there. Doesn't look like Sydney. Didn't at all feel like the Sydney I've become used to, so that was pretty cool and different! Always something new every time I go to Sydney. I love this city.
Uncle Tetsu's Angel Garden! Which is famous for Japanese cheesecake!
So Linda got a matcha soft serve that looked like a puppy. It was so goddamn cute omg.
Alex and I got the share platter thingie with a little slice of every one. They were so light and fluffy, sort of halfway between a sponge cake and a cheesecake.
Vanilla, matcha, chocolate, three-cheese, 'angel' (whatever that meant) and... one other. I forget. But they were all really yummy.
Yes they are, Chinatown shopping centre floor.
GREEN BUILDING I want to live there. I made a point of taking more photos of just general streetviews this time. Like I tried in Japan, but I think I did a better job this time.
Sydney is such a cool city omg. More just general wandering, sort of looking for a teeny tiny street of teeny tiny restaurants called Spice Alley. It was just around the corner from the green building and it was super cute. Also, if you go to that there Google Maps link and chuck a u-ey, you'll see right across the street is Automata! Where we would later be going to dinner.
Misfits! Which is a cocktail bar Alex took us to because I wanted to go to a hip and groovy cocktail bar.
It was indeed hip and groovy. I loved it.
Cocktails! And Alex got a sub-par glass of rosé, but the cocktails were all amazing.
Look at me being all cliché taking photos of going cheers. Mine was so good that on the next round, Alex and Linda each got that one.
Tadaaaaa. The two boobs sitting in mine are lychees!
My coaster had Grace Jones on it. Linda had old school Wonder Woman, Alex had a band with like eight band members that we did figure out, but now I can't remember. Most hipster cocktail bar I've ever been to and I loved it. I love a good tasty cocktail bar. No dinner happened, btw, because of Jetstar not delivering us to Sydney until 3pm, so we had a late and big lunch followed by cheesecake. Jetstar robbed us of an awesome dinner.
Pretty lights on the road back to our Airbnb. That queue on the left was to get Emperor's Cream Puff. It was a loooooong queue so we knew we'd have to get some at some point.
More Sydney to come!
'narti originally stuck this at Dreamwidth cos she had to use it for something.
Due to the rushed nature of booking tickets (recap: the week was originally supposed to be in and around Adelaide, but Alex got blood clots in her everywhere and couldn't fly, so we went to Sydney instead. This happened about a month before scheduled start) we ended up on Jetstar for about three times as many dollars as I generally like to pay going to Sydney. I've really only had bad experiences with Jetstar and, well, they didn't disappoint. Or they did. Whatever; Jetstar sucks. We (Linda and I; Hanh would fly over later) were delayed by I think two hours going over? Idk. We were tired and indulged in horrendously overpriced packets of chips purely because we were bored shitless.
Finally got to Sydney to meet ma girl Alex at the train station, and in we trained to Sydney. It's been a long time since I've actually taken the airport train all the way into Circular Quay, something I've always loved. You're underground the whole time--bearing in mind this is what a good chunk of tourists will do--so you're hidden away in the tunnels under the city, and then suddenly daylight and BOOM. SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE AND SYDNEY HARBOUR AND SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE AND SYDNEY FERRIES AND... FSCKING SYDNEY. Sydney knows what it's got and it knows how to flaunt it. That said, that was all we saw of the harbour at all this time around. I've lost count of the number of times I've been to Sydney, didn't need to see the bridge again.
So, because the plane tickets and the food were going to be quite pricey, we stinged on the accommodation as much as we could and went Airbnb the whole way.
We stayed in Haymarket, right in the heart of Chinatown, and our room was at the end of this little alleyway, which would have been really sweet if not for the creepy places someone dodgy could hide in the dark and jump out at you. Still, the cloud designs and little cherub things were neat!
The overhang on the top right of the first photo was our building :D
We got a view! The room itself was very much an Airbnb room, three beds crammed into one room, two couches and a TV and a very small kitchenette. There was a sign next to the lift on the bottom floor saying anyone hosting Airbnb guests in the building would be evicted. So. YEP.
Lunch! Ramen from Gumshara just around the corner in Chinatown. That broth was SO rich and amazing. Best ramen outside Japan.
Alex is excited for lunch. This whole holiday was about food, just so you know.
Chinatown gate!
I liked this shop's optimism. We wandered around Chinatown and environs for a while, because Linda has a Thing for Korean face masks and also I don't know that I've ever been to Chinatown Sydney? It really felt like being in Asia, sort of a mix of all the Asian cities I've been to--KL, Singapore, Bangkok, Tokyo, Osaka, and Linda and Alex also threw Hong Kong into the mix. I mean, look at the street shot there. Doesn't look like Sydney. Didn't at all feel like the Sydney I've become used to, so that was pretty cool and different! Always something new every time I go to Sydney. I love this city.
Uncle Tetsu's Angel Garden! Which is famous for Japanese cheesecake!
So Linda got a matcha soft serve that looked like a puppy. It was so goddamn cute omg.
Alex and I got the share platter thingie with a little slice of every one. They were so light and fluffy, sort of halfway between a sponge cake and a cheesecake.
Vanilla, matcha, chocolate, three-cheese, 'angel' (whatever that meant) and... one other. I forget. But they were all really yummy.
Yes they are, Chinatown shopping centre floor.
GREEN BUILDING I want to live there. I made a point of taking more photos of just general streetviews this time. Like I tried in Japan, but I think I did a better job this time.
Sydney is such a cool city omg. More just general wandering, sort of looking for a teeny tiny street of teeny tiny restaurants called Spice Alley. It was just around the corner from the green building and it was super cute. Also, if you go to that there Google Maps link and chuck a u-ey, you'll see right across the street is Automata! Where we would later be going to dinner.
Misfits! Which is a cocktail bar Alex took us to because I wanted to go to a hip and groovy cocktail bar.
It was indeed hip and groovy. I loved it.
Cocktails! And Alex got a sub-par glass of rosé, but the cocktails were all amazing.
Look at me being all cliché taking photos of going cheers. Mine was so good that on the next round, Alex and Linda each got that one.
Tadaaaaa. The two boobs sitting in mine are lychees!
My coaster had Grace Jones on it. Linda had old school Wonder Woman, Alex had a band with like eight band members that we did figure out, but now I can't remember. Most hipster cocktail bar I've ever been to and I loved it. I love a good tasty cocktail bar. No dinner happened, btw, because of Jetstar not delivering us to Sydney until 3pm, so we had a late and big lunch followed by cheesecake. Jetstar robbed us of an awesome dinner.
Pretty lights on the road back to our Airbnb. That queue on the left was to get Emperor's Cream Puff. It was a loooooong queue so we knew we'd have to get some at some point.
More Sydney to come!
'narti originally stuck this at Dreamwidth cos she had to use it for something.