Sunday, July 17, 2011

Highlights from the land down under Part 1

Prelude..

Despite my delusion that I'm actually a celebrated travel-photojournalist, I've only been to 2 continents my entire life. Asia and Europe. When the opportunity to hop down under for a meeting in Australia, I was ecstatic excited lost for word. I've long wondered about life in the Southern Hemisphere - winter in July, gazing at the Southern cross, seeing a kangaroo/koala/platypus/Australian in their natural habitat and catching a glimpse of the famous Outback. The list goes on.








So, the moment I stepped onto the Qantas flight, I was very happy just because there is a skycam. It's so interesting seeing the plane I'm on departing and landing. It helps having a running commentary about 'flying' from the person next to you. Cool...








Winter is surprisingly mild in Sydney...according to my irritatingly-immune-to-cold-weather friend R, who walked around wearing a T-shirt while I was shivering my light jacket. I think it was the cold, biting wind which I couldn't adjust to...living in the eternal sauna-like Malaysia/Singapore almost my entire life. However, I began to love the cold after a while, especially after a warm meal.






Talking about meals - food in Sydney is superb. Aside from the fast food @ Oporto on the first night (yeah, we were THAT tired to notice), each meal in this exciting city seem to be really good. Dinner @ Mazzaro, courtesy of our sponsors gave us an early inkling of what to expect in the following few days. It was yummy!





My main course was this pan-fried salmon with crackling skin ( I don't know how they made this impossibly-crunchy dish) that reminded me of the best roast suckling pig back home. Dessert was a trio of ice-cream and I poached some of poached pear from my neighbour. Finally, I'm living my Masterchef Australia dream. Hooray!






What best to accompany such gluttonous dinner/wine session but a quintessential jaunt down Elizabeth Street to the nearby Sydney Harbour area. Weather was superb as we gape at the pretty bridge and the Opera House. Nice...



to be continued

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