Monday, 30 August 2010
The bus ride from the airport to the hotel was interesting. I was the first stop, and it still took about 20-30 minutes to get there. Turns out hotel is in Chinatown, but it's only 2 blocks from the train station I need tonight. And the price of the room was worth being able to take a shower! Although, it was NOT the hotel the woman from Travel Services at the airport gave me a flyer for: it was a different location, and with different amenities, one of which was no free Internet access. I don't really want to pay $10 for a few hours. I'll try to find a coffee shop, or use the air card I bought.
* * * * *
The room is tiny, but clean. It took me more than a few minutes to figure out the lights in the room. Turns out you have to put your room key into a slot the light switch is built into, THEN you can turn on the lights! Thank goodness I had a flashlight with me so I could see once I closed the door.
There was a window on the wall, but it's really close to the next door wall. Not of any use other than getting a bit of fresh air into the room.
Here are the photos of my hotel room.
* * * * *
Oh, yes! A shower! I feel SO much better now! And awake. And annoyed that a bottle of stuff in the toiletries broke open during the trip and spilled out. I just hope none of my clothes got ruined.
* * * * *
I think visiting the Sydney Tower is what I shall do today, then walk around exploring a bit. That will help me decide what I would like to do here next week. I asked at the hotel front desk how to get there, and was told I should take the bus, and that I could buy tickets at the store next door. I bought 2 one-way bus tickets, so I could get there and back. I can't really tell from the tiny map if it's a mile away or five. There was a large bus stop around the corner, and I had to ask for help from the bus info kiosk about which number bus to take. I didn't have to wait long, and I was on my way.
I got off at the suggested stop, but I didn't see the Sydney Tower. It must be behind a tall building from my point of view. I wanted to eat lunch first anyway since it was about 11:00am, and breakfast was 7 hours ago at 4:00am. There were SO many stores around there, and a shopping mall, too! So I popped inside to check out what shopping in downtown Sydney was like.
* * * * *
People here are much harder to understand than I thought they would be. So far most people I've encountered don't speak English as a first language! The rest just seem to mumble a lot. I keep having to ask people to repeat things. It's like they're afraid of being heard clearly and understood.
So, lunch was in the underground food court of the mall near the Sydney Tower. There are many restaurants from home: KFC, McDonald's (Quarter Pounder w/Cheese Extra Value Meal $6.75), Burger King, Subway (the $5 Foot Long is $7). When I travel I always try to eat someplace I can't eat at home, so I got a kebab at A La Turko. $11 for the beef kebab, chips & a small drink. But the best thing is that the soda here has sugar! Real sugar. Not corn syrup. Happy sigh.
Gloria Jean's Coffees are everywhere. I swear I've seen 10 of them in 10 blocks, but only 1 Starbucks.
After lunch I headed back up to street level in search of Sydney Tower, but still I didn't see it. I spotted a large sign pole, but it doesn't mention the Tower either. Hmmm… then a street worker asked me if I need help, and when I said yes, I was looking for the Sydney Tower, he said "You mean that?" and pointed straight up. Yep. Couldn't see it because it isn't like other city towers I've been to that start at street level. He kindly directed me to the entrance, which was hard to spot due to all of the renovation construction going on.
At $25, this is not a cheap tower to visit, but the views of Sydney were magnificent. They offer a Sky Walk option, where you go outside the building, another story higher than the all-indoor observation deck. Even though they harness you to the building, I still gave it a pass. I'm brave, but not THAT brave! Plus, it cost an extra $35, as well.
After visiting the Sydney Tower and taking oodles of photos, I decided to go back through the mall again, this time on a different floor. There are at least 3 levels just to the mall, maybe more. It's actually colder inside the mall than outside, since it's open to the street; I guess the wind just blows through. I'm finding that there are a lot of buildings like this, where the ground floor is open-air.
I found the Pandora store! I thought I'd have to really search for it. I bought a kangaroo charm for my travel bracelet. That was when I realized that everything here has the tax already built in. I thought it was just the food. But the price they quoted me was what I paid. I'm definitely not used to that, but I like it!
I've decided to try walking back to my hotel. I'm not sure how far it is, probably a mile or so, but I remember there was a Starbucks and I'm hoping they have WiFi access so I can get online and check a couple of things and send a Tweet that I made it to Sydney safely.
* * * * *
I feel like an idiot. I am sitting in a Starbucks on George Street in Sydney, and I can't figure out how to get connected to their $3/hour Internet. All I want to do is email myself some info from an app on my iPad so I can post it on the Blog. But nothing I do makes it want to work. And apparently there isn't WiFi all over here like there is at home. Grumble. And the vanilla latte tastes funny, too, like it's been made with spoiled milk. Oh, well, I guess it wasn't meant to be, neither the coffee, nor the Internet access.
I wandered down George street, popping into another mall, and finally found my way back to the hotel. I was a bit ticked off, but not entirely surprised, that the man at the hotel's front desk gave me the wrong directions to the bus station. Well, not wrong so much as not the shortest way to go. Why is it that people never seem to know their way around where they work?
I headed back to the room with the intent of resting my poor aching feet, and getting the Air Card to work. Of course, it wouldn't. Stubborn thing. So, since I was feeling exhausted, and there was about 2 hours for me to kill in a boring hotel with no Internet access, no window, and only 10 channels on the TV, most of which were news and sports, I set the alarm on my Aussie cell phone, and took a nap. True to my nature, I hit snooze about 3 times, but I had set the alarm for 2 hours before the train leaves, and the train station is supposed to be only a block or two away.
Oh, I did find a second Starbucks on the way back to the hotel.
Here are the various photos I took around Sydney (not including the ones from the Sydney Tower).
The bus ride from the airport to the hotel was interesting. I was the first stop, and it still took about 20-30 minutes to get there. Turns out hotel is in Chinatown, but it's only 2 blocks from the train station I need tonight. And the price of the room was worth being able to take a shower! Although, it was NOT the hotel the woman from Travel Services at the airport gave me a flyer for: it was a different location, and with different amenities, one of which was no free Internet access. I don't really want to pay $10 for a few hours. I'll try to find a coffee shop, or use the air card I bought.
* * * * *
The room is tiny, but clean. It took me more than a few minutes to figure out the lights in the room. Turns out you have to put your room key into a slot the light switch is built into, THEN you can turn on the lights! Thank goodness I had a flashlight with me so I could see once I closed the door.
There was a window on the wall, but it's really close to the next door wall. Not of any use other than getting a bit of fresh air into the room.
Here are the photos of my hotel room.
* * * * *
Oh, yes! A shower! I feel SO much better now! And awake. And annoyed that a bottle of stuff in the toiletries broke open during the trip and spilled out. I just hope none of my clothes got ruined.
* * * * *
I think visiting the Sydney Tower is what I shall do today, then walk around exploring a bit. That will help me decide what I would like to do here next week. I asked at the hotel front desk how to get there, and was told I should take the bus, and that I could buy tickets at the store next door. I bought 2 one-way bus tickets, so I could get there and back. I can't really tell from the tiny map if it's a mile away or five. There was a large bus stop around the corner, and I had to ask for help from the bus info kiosk about which number bus to take. I didn't have to wait long, and I was on my way.
I got off at the suggested stop, but I didn't see the Sydney Tower. It must be behind a tall building from my point of view. I wanted to eat lunch first anyway since it was about 11:00am, and breakfast was 7 hours ago at 4:00am. There were SO many stores around there, and a shopping mall, too! So I popped inside to check out what shopping in downtown Sydney was like.
* * * * *
People here are much harder to understand than I thought they would be. So far most people I've encountered don't speak English as a first language! The rest just seem to mumble a lot. I keep having to ask people to repeat things. It's like they're afraid of being heard clearly and understood.
So, lunch was in the underground food court of the mall near the Sydney Tower. There are many restaurants from home: KFC, McDonald's (Quarter Pounder w/Cheese Extra Value Meal $6.75), Burger King, Subway (the $5 Foot Long is $7). When I travel I always try to eat someplace I can't eat at home, so I got a kebab at A La Turko. $11 for the beef kebab, chips & a small drink. But the best thing is that the soda here has sugar! Real sugar. Not corn syrup. Happy sigh.
Gloria Jean's Coffees are everywhere. I swear I've seen 10 of them in 10 blocks, but only 1 Starbucks.
After lunch I headed back up to street level in search of Sydney Tower, but still I didn't see it. I spotted a large sign pole, but it doesn't mention the Tower either. Hmmm… then a street worker asked me if I need help, and when I said yes, I was looking for the Sydney Tower, he said "You mean that?" and pointed straight up. Yep. Couldn't see it because it isn't like other city towers I've been to that start at street level. He kindly directed me to the entrance, which was hard to spot due to all of the renovation construction going on.
At $25, this is not a cheap tower to visit, but the views of Sydney were magnificent. They offer a Sky Walk option, where you go outside the building, another story higher than the all-indoor observation deck. Even though they harness you to the building, I still gave it a pass. I'm brave, but not THAT brave! Plus, it cost an extra $35, as well.
After visiting the Sydney Tower and taking oodles of photos, I decided to go back through the mall again, this time on a different floor. There are at least 3 levels just to the mall, maybe more. It's actually colder inside the mall than outside, since it's open to the street; I guess the wind just blows through. I'm finding that there are a lot of buildings like this, where the ground floor is open-air.
I found the Pandora store! I thought I'd have to really search for it. I bought a kangaroo charm for my travel bracelet. That was when I realized that everything here has the tax already built in. I thought it was just the food. But the price they quoted me was what I paid. I'm definitely not used to that, but I like it!
I've decided to try walking back to my hotel. I'm not sure how far it is, probably a mile or so, but I remember there was a Starbucks and I'm hoping they have WiFi access so I can get online and check a couple of things and send a Tweet that I made it to Sydney safely.
* * * * *
I feel like an idiot. I am sitting in a Starbucks on George Street in Sydney, and I can't figure out how to get connected to their $3/hour Internet. All I want to do is email myself some info from an app on my iPad so I can post it on the Blog. But nothing I do makes it want to work. And apparently there isn't WiFi all over here like there is at home. Grumble. And the vanilla latte tastes funny, too, like it's been made with spoiled milk. Oh, well, I guess it wasn't meant to be, neither the coffee, nor the Internet access.
I wandered down George street, popping into another mall, and finally found my way back to the hotel. I was a bit ticked off, but not entirely surprised, that the man at the hotel's front desk gave me the wrong directions to the bus station. Well, not wrong so much as not the shortest way to go. Why is it that people never seem to know their way around where they work?
I headed back to the room with the intent of resting my poor aching feet, and getting the Air Card to work. Of course, it wouldn't. Stubborn thing. So, since I was feeling exhausted, and there was about 2 hours for me to kill in a boring hotel with no Internet access, no window, and only 10 channels on the TV, most of which were news and sports, I set the alarm on my Aussie cell phone, and took a nap. True to my nature, I hit snooze about 3 times, but I had set the alarm for 2 hours before the train leaves, and the train station is supposed to be only a block or two away.
Oh, I did find a second Starbucks on the way back to the hotel.
Here are the various photos I took around Sydney (not including the ones from the Sydney Tower).
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