Thursday, September 23, 2010

I'm Back!

I've spent the past couple of weeks travelling around Australia and its been a blast. There were many things to prepare and attend to but it was all worth it. My wife and I visited Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast and Brisbane in a space of a couple of weeks and left with many fond memories and pictures. 

A kangaroo gets close
There will be more posts on the trip after the photos have been sorted out. I do plan to make them into an album as well but that will be much later. Here are some thoughts on the trip...

- Zebra crossings (the ones without traffic lights) mean nothing in Malaysia but over there, they are very important. Pedestrians always have the right of way on zebra crossings ... a concept that I found very hard to get used to. I almost ran over 2 people and had to remind myself to slow down and look out for people each time after that. 

- Koalas sleep 20 hours a day! And don't call them koala bears. They're not bears.

- 50% of the people we meet in Brisbane are Asians. 

- It must suck to be a tourist from China. Souvenirs are all made in China and I wonder how its like to fly over seven thousand kilometers to a foreign land and buy products at prices that will cost a trivial sum if they had bought it at home. I didn't see any Malaysian products there though I did pity the fella who was driving a Proton Persona (Wira). 



This kangaroo got too close...heheh
- Planning a trip all on your own as opposed to going for an all-inclusive tour package (like our Korean trip last year) is a lot more fun but tiring. No one is there to greet you at the airport, take your luggage and ferry you around. You have to read maps, learn train routes, decide between different modes of transport, etc.  It was a great experience but will think twice before doing something like this again. 

- Nothing beats the feeling of coming home. Really.