Greetings from Down Under! I felt a bit superior for about a second about traveling to three continents in one week, but then remembered that Mark had (again) bested me years earlier on his journey to Cape Town, South Africa, by way of London. Ah well....
Sydney is lovely and cold (about 50 degrees Farenheit) a very nice change from S'pore. The city is, overall, much more European feeling than I had anticipated. It's nice; people are polite, the skyline is pretty, lots of homeless though, atleast compared to S'pore where there are practically none.
We've taken in the aquarium, zoo, views, and toured the CBD and Rocks areas. Still have the Harbour Bridge climb ahead of us, and hopefully we'll make it out to Bondi Beach. The plan for tonight is to take in some good live music and Mod Oz cuisine (maybe eat some Kangaroo).
The whole time I've been here I've been assessing the city by "could I live here?" standards, and I'd say, so far, it makes the cut. Lots of local bands and international acts touring through (something sorely lacking in S'pore), good public transportation, nice pubs, four seasons with mild winters (the days are really short though now, sun goes down about 5pm). Many of the good qualities of Singapore (safe, not U.S. and thereby different, interesting wild life) and many other things S'pore lacks (bands, good beer, cold weather, more polite people).
We saw an anti Iraqi war protest on the fourth of July. It was anti George Bush and anti John Howard. While I agree with the protesters and their cause, I felt odd, almost ashamed, after seeing them walk by. I'm with the Dixie Chicks, I'm ashamed that man is my president.