Winter Vacation Part 1: Australia!

I've uploaded pictures from my trip to both Australia and Japan onto Facebook. I've included the links below for your viewing pleasure.

Australia:

Around Sydney
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022710&id=49200032&l=33549

Blue Mountains Tour
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022709&id=49200032&l=6ddd7

Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022711&id=49200032&l=0b039

Japan:

Tokyo
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022712&id=49200032&l=71958

Imperial Gardens, Nijo Castle, Fushimi-Inari Shrine
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022713&id=49200032&l=fa35d

Ginkakuji Temple and Kiyomizu Temple
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022715&id=49200032&l=201fd

Tenryuji Temple and The Golden Pavilion
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022714&id=49200032&l=3f3e5


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I’m in Australia! I am currently under the covers of my very comfy twin bed in the very cute twin room that Shana and I are sharing. We are in the small town of Cairns, having just arrived late yesterday evening from Sydney. Today was so amazing that I was totally inspired to start on this blog entry, despite the fact that I am weeks (by now about a month) behind
on my usual entries.

Let’s start from Day 1. We left on Tuesday, January 21 around 4 am to make our early morning flight first to Hong Kong and then to Sydney. The flight to Hong Kong was a short hour and a half, but it was 9 hours before we got to Sydney. The first flight wasn’t bad at all, except I was sitting next to a woman with morning breath (understandably so, I suppose, it being 6:30 am and all) who kept hitting me. She was a very petite woman so I didn’t quite understand what the problem was (it clearly wasn’t space), but it was a little frustrating. AND THEN on the long flight I was next to a lanky tall Swedish guy who couldn’t keep his body parts to himself. Not only was his arm on the arm rest, it was also over it and in my space for a great deal of the trip. Once I got an elbow in my armpit. The funny thing is, he never once said anything to me. Huh. I had also woken up that morning with a killer sore throat, one which I feared would turn into a full blown cold, and it did. The sore throat went away in a few days, but I stayed a runny, coughy mess for the rest of our time in Sydney.

I was really frazzled when we got to Australia. We were riding in a car driving on the wrong side of the road, people were speaking English, and there were good-looking guys everywhere. I felt really idiotic, and I would like to blame it on the fact that my ears were clogged (they were, but it wasn’t the only source of the problem), but I was having a hard time understanding people. I had to ask the cute concierges to repeat their questions, and usually I think I ended up with a defeated look on my face, shaking my head, and saying “I’m sorry, I can’t understand you.” Not only is inflection different in Australian English, but many phrases are unique and more British styled. Shana seemed to understand everything, which only made me feel like a bigger idiot. I was happy to hear this week when being interviewed for private tutoring that the employer had talked to a few other people, but found that it was hard to understand them, especially the Australian! Hah! Ok, back to the first night…We found a convenient store right away and stocked up and water and cold medicine for me. We started planning our agenda for our first three days in Sydney, and found ourselves quite hungry, so we ordered midnight room service. We sat on the bench at the end of our beds, our legs dangling in front of the lovely little white-clothed cart complete with a single daisy, watching I Love Lucy and eating our huge plates of pasta.

We decided to get a little bit of a later start on our second day to make sure we were well-rested. We went downstairs to book our tours, walked a few blocks to the Botanical Gardens, and spent a few hours there. It was absolutely beautiful in the gardens, but it was incredibly hot, and we both felt worn out pretty quickly. After we looped around the water edge to take a few pictures with the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge in the background, we went back to the hotel for some air conditioning and a nap. I had fallen asleep before the Inauguration was broadcasted the night before, so we watched the rerun of President Obama’s speech as we dozed off. After we woke up from our 20-minute-turned-2-hour nap we took the bus to Bondi Beach on the other side of town. The weather had started to cool off, but it was only because rain clouds were rolling in, and we had about 20 minutes on the beach before it started to rain. We headed up to the shops and found a cute little pizza place where we ordered Margarita pizzas. We ordered a Fanta and a Coke, and Shana introduced me to Spezi (a mixture of the two sodas), which she drank quite often during her year abroad in Italy. We asked for a third glass and carefully mixed the sodas together until we felt the proportion was just right.

After we polished off our pizzas we browsed the stores, stopping in a sort of hippie beach store to try on sun dresses, and The Sunglass Hut. I had left my cheap, scratched sunglasses in Taiwan, and decided that our special trip to sunny Australia called for my first serious sunglasses purchase (funny that it was raining that afternoon). The store was about to close to so I thought it might be used best as a preview to what I might be looking for, but we asked the saleswoman for her opinion and she picked out a cute pair of dark red Ralph Lauren frames. I tried on a few other pairs that weren’t bad, but they were all boring brown, and it was clear that the red pair was it. Unfortunately, we discovered that everything in and around Sydney closes before 7pm, and so after stopping by the Harbor for some night shots, we returned to the hotel. We were pleasantly surprised to find that Sydney had great TV, something we’ve been missing in Taiwan, and were just in time for a mini House marathon.

On Day 3 we took our official tour. We had to be downstairs at the ungodly hour of 8 am to be picked up for our trip to the Blue Mountains. We started with a small wildlife park, home to many koalas, kangaroos, a very large crocodile, and my new favorite, wombats! All I could think about was getting to “cuddle up to a koala,” the phrase used in just about every brochure that offered a “koala encounter.” The wildlife park was great, but I was a little scared to get too close to the animals. The koalas were incredibly cute, but very sleepy and not as cuddly as you might think. Apparently they sometimes kick with their back legs and/or pee on you, so I tried to keep a bit of a distance when taking my picture with them. As for the kangaroos, we'd been told that we could scratch the kangaroo under the chin and near their armpits while we were feeding them, but be sure not to touch their ears unless we wanted to be punched or kicked into unconsciousness. As you can see from the pictures, I was a little hesitant at first about the whole feeding thing, but it turned out to be quite fun (until the emus came over and started pecking with their ginormous beaks).

After lunch we took took the world's steepest rail car down into the rain forest to get a view of the Blue Mountains. We walked for about an hour or so along the paths, and then took a tram back up the mountain. We drove up the mountain a little further for a closer view of the three stone peaks, and then went on a bush walk. There were a few different path options, but I think we all opted for the one that would not have any snakes--our tour guide assured us that we were quite likely to encounter quite a few on other routes.

On the way down the mountain we stopped at Alleuria, a very quaint town with a Christmas shop, an old-fashioned candy store, and a few cute shops. Shana and I made stops at the first two places, and then wandered into an antique store hidden a bit back on a stone alley. I found a cute tie-dyed dress that I used for a cover-up in Cairns, and a very unique ring that I have been wearing since I bought it. I seldom buy rings because the desire to wear them passes quickly, but this one is different. I've gotten a lot of compliments on it too. The metal seems to be having some sort of reaction, and it's turning my finger green, but I still love it!

Shana and I were pooped when we got back from our tour, and we flopped down on our beds and immediately scoped out the TV situation. We got hooked on Don't Forget the Lyrics, and finally dragged ourselves off our beds when we decided that we were hungry and soon would be too lazy to move at all for the rest of the night. We decided on a fast food dinner of Hungry Jack's (that's Burger King in Australia), and returned for some more quality TV watching. Later that night after I had showered I went into the bathroom to throw something away. I wasn't going to be in there for long, so I didn't bother to turn on the lights. Big mistake. Water always leaked under the shower door, and the marble floor was still quite wet from when I had showered. I walked in with purpose, hit the puddle, and wiped out. I mean totally wiped out. My right foot flew up in the air, followed by my left, and then all of my limbs flailed as I started falling. There was nothing to grab on to and I knew I was going down hard. Luckily, my butt broke my fall. Shana heard a thud, but was kind enough to ask if I wanted her to come in or not. I needed a few seconds to regain myself, so I tried my best to play it off, and brush it off. My pjs were soaked, but I decided to stay on the floor for a bit while I uttered "oww, owww, ohhh, owww." And then I broke into laughter, which didn't help with the bruised tailbone.

I anticipated the Bridge Climb the next day to be more than unbearable given my wipe out, but it wasn't so bad at all. We scheduled our climb for 9:50 am, and as we walked over to the bridge, it seemed like the relatively early morning hour hadn't helped. The wind started blowing just as we began our climb up the pylons, saving us from extreme heat. They had advised us to wear only underwear under our protective suits, and we were each equipped with a hat, bands to hold our sunglasses around our necks, and two wet bandannas worn around our wrists to keep us cool. We ended up having a great climb "family," meeting two very cute older couples from Scotland and the UK. We also met a really sweet girl from Germany who had been working in Australia as an au pair (I love that she said "au pair"--totally reminded me of the ABC Family movie), and was soon on her way to New Zealand for more traveling. Our tour guide Michelle was spunky, fun, sweet, and encouraged posing in all of our pictures. She made the trip super fun, not rushing us, and chatting with us the whole way. It was a really memorable way to end our time in Sydney. After the climb we stopped at a cafe across from the hotel for an amazing lunch (I had a chicken sandwich and the most amazing banana smoothie), and then we went to Pitt Street for some shopping. I was so excited to find sales everywhere, which was even more perfect since clothes for the fall and winter were coming out, and I was able to buy some really great summer outfits for my remaining time in Taiwan. I got some really cute Gladiator sandals, as Shana and I call them, peep-toe flats for teaching, and some really nice skirts and tops. We made a quick stop at the Health Club in the hotel to clean up before we headed to the airport for our flight to Cairns.

Just when I was starting to get over my cold, Shana started coming down with one herself. We were both pretty miserable on the plane to Cairns last night, although we tried to make it better by having some fun in the airport while we waited to begin boarding. We bought banana bread and a chocolate croissant, eager to get our fill of baked goods, and browsed a cute shop called Witchery.

The flight did have its ups, namely watching The Duchess and having Indian food for dinner. Apparently Australian airlines aren’t as cheap as those in the U.S. and are still willing to feed you over normal dining hours. The Butter Chicken was quite delicious, actually. When we reached the taxi queue a very funny thing happened: there were absolutely no taxis in sight. It took a little bit, but one company finally caught on and called its men out to pick up the groups of people waiting. We had a really great cabbie who gave us plenty of tips on things to do in Cairns.

When we arrived at the hotel, we met Ian (note his name isn't really Ian, but I forgot it after the first night, never rediscovered it, and will therefore name him after the character mentioned below), the really sweet concierge who looks stunningly similar to the leading guy who plays Amanda Bynes’ love interest in What a Girl Wants. The hotel has kind of a beachy feel with a great view, not quite as upscale as the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Sydney, but one that is quite nice and feels incredibly cozy at the same time. We got cleaned up and spent some time looking at brochures on snorkeling, rafting, dining, tours, etc. We were both ready to drop off, with the long, hot day of climbing, shopping, and traveling, and decided that today would be a day for sleeping in--we wanted to be well-rested for our snorkeling trip, probably the thing we’ve been looking forward to the most. I woke up at 9 feeling pretty good, but Shana was even worse. I went down and met Michael, the other concierge, and booked our snorkeling tour for our last full day in Australia. I had been more excited to go white-water rafting than Shana, so I booked a half-day afternoon trip for myself, and then headed out to the local grocery store to stock up on drinks and cold medicine for Shana, and rafting gear and lunch for myself.

After lunch I left Shana in bed, watching the Aussie teen surf romance marathon that I discovered that morning browsing through the channels in bed. She was a bit delirious; however, she managed a weak but genuine conversation before I left. It went something like “I hope you meet the love of your life...I have to be out of commission for a purpose.”

The rafting trip was wonderful! The Foaming Fury van came to pick me up a little after 2, and I was greeted by Magnus, an incredibly good-looking guy who informed me he would be my guide for the day (I thought Shana might have actually been on to something). The bus was pretty full, so I got to sit up front near the guides and was able to chat with them a bit. They were all very young and tons of fun, and I knew the trip was going to be great. When we got off the bus and suited up, I noticed that four of the people were speaking very clear Mandarin. I got really excited since I’ve felt that I haven’t spoken Chinese in forever (it’s only been 5 days—quite a short period of time, but one that makes me feel excited given that it shows how comfortable I am with speaking the language), and couldn’t help but ask where they were from. It turns out they were from Taiwan, so I got SUPER excited and told them about the Fulbright. We got caught up in talking, and when the guides told us to split into groups of 5, it was obvious that we were a perfect fit. It’s probably a good thing too, because they only understood a little English, and any 5th person might have felt out of the loop. I sat at the front of the raft both for language and maneuvering purposes. Magnus, the first guide whom I met, took us on as his group, and I was excited to actually raft with him. He was very patient, which was much needed considering I was probably the strongest of the passengers and the only one who could really understand what he was saying.

We went over three or four major Class 3 rapids, all of which were a lot of fun. It was ridiculously hot outside, so I welcomed every patch of white water as it meant I was likely to get soaked. After we got over the major rapids at one point, we steered ourselves toward the side of the river to wait for the other rafts to come down. Magnus asked if I could move to the other side and sit at the front of the raft to keep it against the rocks. I scooted over, sat down, and the next thing I know I was sliding over the side of the raft. I felt my butt go first, then my thighs, and then all of a sudden my feet were over my head and I was falling in. It all happened very quickly and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it except laugh. I’m sure it looked hilarious, but when I came up, all of my new friends were gasping and asking if I was okay. Magnus popped up in the water next to me and didn’t make a big deal out of it, except I couldn’t crawl back into the raft, so he had to pull me in. I knew from the swimming we had done earlier that it was common for people to have to be dragged back in, but I felt like a prize idiot that he had to do it again. He’s incredibly strong, so all he had to do was count to 3—I jumped and he hoisted me up by my life jacket. He pulled me up quite a ways, so that when I tried to bend over to get in, it was kind of awkward and my head ended up in his shorts. I ended up sort of flopping into the boat, and he laughed and said, “well, that’s one way to do it.” I think he said something else about the thing about his method being that it worked but wasn’t so graceful. I couldn’t stop laughing, what I do when I’m nervous and/or embarrassed, and then he added “that’s the first time this has happened, especially sitting in calm water.” Again, I kept on with my hysterical laughter and he asked, “are you embarrassed?” I had no choice but to fess up. It was pretty funny though. I had to stifle the rest of my nervous laughter in my life jacket, and shake it off as fast as I could. I never fell off going over rough water, something that others did, but I don’t know if that’s something that should comfort me or make me feel even more idiotic.

On the last leg of our journey we had to keep a slow, but constant paddle, so there was quite a bit of time for talking. Magnus asked me where I learned to speak Chinese (I had been translating some throughout the trip) and I found out where he was from (originally Sweden). My friends asked me about the Dragon Boat Festival, something a little similar to a crew regatta that happens every May in the memory of a Chinese official who demonstrated his loyalty to his state and king by throwing himself into the river, so I was able to share a little piece of Chinese culture with Magnus. At the end we all took pictures together, and he swept the Taiwanese girls off their feet and turned them half vertical before they could even protest. I was wise being the last girl to go, so I stood 5 feet away from him until he promised to just stand next to me.

When I got back Shana thought she felt well enough to go to dinner, so we walked to the other side of the downtown area to the Green Ant Cantina. The restaurant was half in, half outside, and it was a pretty low-key place with great food and yummy cocktails. We took a detour on the way back to walk along the Esplanade along the water and to go in search of ice cream. We had seen tons of commercials for the Australian equivalent of Cold Stone and were on the hunt. We did find a Baskin Robbins, probably my personal favorite, and I have to admit, it felt kind of glorious to have ice cream melting all over my hands. Of course, it's just as hot in Taiwan and something I could certainly experience there...I suppose the scenery just reminded me a little more of summers at home.

The next day was also pretty laid back. Shana and I decided to take a walk around the downtown area and do some shopping. I got a new swim suit for snorkeling (it was on sale too!), and some gifts for friends. We decided to spend the evening swimming, and walked down to The Lagoon. From the way it was described we thought it was a roped-off section of the ocean to be used for jellyfish-free swimming, but when we got there we found a salt-water public swimming pool. It was really crowded and mostly surrounded by pavement, so we took a little walk by the water, and headed back for the private pool at the hotel. Swimming there turned out to be a lot of fun. We met a Vietnamese family with three little girls, Ann, Vicky, and their baby sister. The girls were born in Australia and had adorable accents. They were also incredibly curious and both asked (and volunteered) a lot of information, including home addresses and hotel room numbers. I was thrilled to play with kids who spoke English as a native language. Ann showed me how she could swim and tried to talk to me as I bobbed around with Vicky on my hip and tried to answer her endless "why" questions--"Why do you have so many earrings?" "Because I like earrings." "Why do you like earrings?" "Because I think earrings are pretty." Their dad thanked me for keeping them entertained, but really, I was quite glad they were around.

That night we had a tasty meal at the Bushfire Grill, well-known for its Aussie barbeque. Our waiter Bruno (yes!) came around with a variety of meats that had been cooked over an open flame on long skewers. We told him the cut of meat we wanted and he provided us with all the beef, chicken, sausage, and lamb (mostly beef--we love our beef) we could eat. The meal included veggies, salad, and potatoes, and at the end we were served grilled cinnamon-sugar glazed pineapple. In need of some ridiculously rich chocolate, I ordered the chocolate trio (white chocolate mousse, chocolate caramel brownie, and fudge cake) for dessert.

The next day we woke up early for our 8 am snorkeling departure to the Great Barrier Reef. It was quite choppy on the way out since the rain was moving out with us, but by the second dive, the sun was out. The water was a bit rough in the first location, no good for Shana who was already seasick from the ridiculously rocky ride out. Still, the reef was stunning and I was in awe of everything I saw. A very large fish circled our group quite a few times, cocking his eye each time to check us out. He was pretty cool, and I couldn't help but swim off a few times to follow him around. Shana scored some amazing shots with a big sea turtle who swam toward the surface after being spotted on the floor. The second dive after lunch was even better. The reef was more shallow, and the sun was out, so everything was clear and sparkeling. I realized that we could let go of our noodles that they gave to keep us afloat if we got too tired, and our really sweet photographer managed to have me dive down for some pretty cool shots with coral. Some areas of the reef were only 4 or 5 feet deep, which made me a little nervous since I didn't want to kill any of the coral. I had learned halfway in to the first dive that I would need to break away from the group of snorkelers to avoid bumping into the others and having enough space to maneuver and explore. I got better at using the flippers and really covered a lot of ground the second time around.

After getting cleaned up we went to Barnacle Bill's, a seafood restaurant, for dinner. I had promised myself that I would get a good seafood meal before I left, and when they were out of crab legs (which, by the way, happens to me a lot), I decided on the lobster. Dinner was delicious. There were people out and about for Australia Day, a very big event, and we stopped at Cold Rock (think Cold Stone Creamery) for cups of our specially mixed ice cream complete with mini Australian flags.

Back at the hotel we packed up our things and decided that we'd sleep in a bit before our noon flight. We were surprised to find about 40 of us on the ginormous plane to Hong Kong. Shana and I thought we had it made, and were prepared to take up a whole row each for some quality sleeping when the nosiest tour group ever moved in behind us. Go figure...no one in first class, over half of the other economy seats open and they had to be right behind us. We still had quite a bit of space, but it wasn't nearly as peaceful as we would have hoped. We did, however, get to watch more House!

Back in Taipei I met up with a friend and we spent the day together walking around the city. We wandered around back alleys near Taipei Normal University, trying to find an Indian restuarant that we had once seen in the area, but settling instead on Thai food. After lunch we went to the zoo, saw the koalas (I was kind of disappointed to discover that you could see them in places other than Australia), and then went shopping. I packed for Japan that night, spent the next day with Shana and her relatives, and then it was off to Japan!