On Sydney

We just returned from Sydney. It was a short yet a nice visit. If Malaysia is truly Asia, then I would think that Sydney is truly Australia.

 

Sydney is not the capital of Australia. Canberra is. However, Sydney is the biggest city in Australia.

 

To get into Australia, you would need a visa to enter. Please refer to the Australian Immigration website to check for any restrictions that may apply. For a Malaysian, they are two routes for visa application. You can either apply for the e-visa that cost only AUD20 or pay AUD 120 for the conventional visa application. The latter is much more detailed and you will spend more time filling it. The process is simple and user friendly. The system will respond by emailing you the approval letter once you have cleared immigration. That easy.

 

The cheapest route to Australia from Malaysia is still by using the AirAsia. A direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney is available. The flight took about 8 hours. The time difference between KL and Sydney is about 3 hours.

 

We stayed in Devere hotel. It was a good location, very near the Kings Cross train station and the bus stops right at the hotel. Taxis are aplenty. For those that partake revelry, Kings Cross is probably the place to be. There are plenty of bars in the vicinity. Strip bars and adult shops are also there. I was concerned with the location of the hotel at first when the first taxi driver who took us from the airport to the hotel advised us not return home too late at night, especially during the weekend. Passing Kings Cross might not be safe as the place get a bit rowdy and feral with people fuelled with alcohol. In such instances, using common sense is the ultimate weapon to avoid oneself from getting into trouble.

 

Generally Australians are very nice and a friendly lot of people. They have this civil pride which I think is exemplary. They care for their environment. They are aware of their surroundings. They help as they need to, regardless of skin colour and creed. They are truly civic minded. I am quite ashamed to say that Malaysians are not as friendly and as helpful as the Australians.

 

In Malaysia, people honk in anger when you cross the zebra crossings. Whereas in Sydney, the pedestrian crossing the zebra crossing is given the priority.

 

In Malaysia, rubbish is left after the street vendor ends their day business. In Australia, the vendors maintains their surroundings, keeping the place clean as usual after ending their day.

 

In addition to that, I remembered seeing a man picking up litters on the road and put it in the rubbish bin. That happened at Queen Victoria Building. In Malaysia, that is seldom the case. I do still see a higher level of civic mindedness in Kuching though. Most of the time, Malaysians feel ashamed , or rather shy to pick up litters from the road and place them in the bin. The usual comments I frequently hear are, "It's the job of the rubbish collector or the road sweeper" or "We pay our taxes to the government, so the road sweepers are the ones paid to collect rubbish". That is the kind of mentality affecting the society now.

 

Oddly enough, I have seen Malaysians who have returned from developed countries brimming with proudness that they had lived "overseas" and telling everybody how clean it is in those countries, but at the same time, littering unscrupulously on the streets. How shameful! It seems like those years in the developed countries did not developed them well enough.

 

In Malaysia, thank you is only offered as they are told to, usually in hotels. But in Australia, people appreciates others more. I remembered when the passengers at the end of bus yelling "Thank you" to the bus driver at the end of our destination - Bondi Beach. Everyone appreciates the bus driver. May be that’s the reason why most bus drivers in Malaysia are rude and in the hurry at all times, critically when you are in the midst of disembarking the bus. They are an unappreciated lot. If only Malaysians can appreciate this part.

 

Word of thanks is offered almost at all times, as long as there is a human interaction that is fit for appreciation.

 

When asked for help for direction, I still remembered the elderly gentleman, in his suit, walked us to the road that leads us straight to our destination. He was patient in trying to explain the direction to us. We felt sorry for taking some of his time.

 

Well, there are many places of interest in Sydney and its surrounding. Getting around is pretty easy with the extensive transportation coverage. If you plan to stay there for a week, purchase the MyMulti2 ticket, which is enough to get you around places of interest. It is convenient that way. Please check out the link here.

 

The stations (bus and trains) can be downloaded in the PDF version. If you wish, you can also download the app "TripGo" on your smart devices that tells you real time on your current location and gives you an idea on how to get from point A to point B, by using public transport.

 

Some of the places that you should not miss are Darling Harbour and its vicinity, Sydney Harbour and its vicinity, Blue Mountains and the nearby beaches (Bondi and Bronte Beach). Be sure to see a Kangaroo or a Koala bear in any of the wildlife parks around - Wildlife enclosure at Darling Harbour, Taronga Zoo and Featherdale Wildlife park. It is a missed opportunity if you had not the chance to see animals unique to the Australasian Continent such as the wallabies, the platipus, wombats, emu and the cassowary.

 

Please note that some of the tickets are cheaper when purchased online.

 

Not to worry much though, once in Sydney, you can easily find a map that list out all places that you should visit. One brochure that I find useful was the "Sydney by foot" from the hotel. It gets you to all the "must see" places on foot.

 

For the shopaholics (and Malaysian), I would suggest that you go to The DFO Homebush and Birkenhead Point Outlet Centre in Drummoyne. I could not figure out why, or if the things here are cheaper, but Malaysians seems to love these two outlets. Most probably, Malaysians find it convenient to have household items and "branded" clothe wear under one roof. We were lucky that we were in the  Christmas holiday season. There was a sale of household items at the basement of the beautiful Queen Victoria building. Another important tip, visit a country during the festive seasons to get a bargain. 

It was memorable given the limited time and unintended happenings - little one was down with fever on the 4th day of visit. I would consider to come back again some other time to make up what was missed in this inaugural visit.