Wanted to quickly jot down some thoughts before I completely get swept up in real life again. It's always great to realize that there are things in life that can still amaze you, things you're still not jaded about.
So the best part of this trip was probably the people. And indirectly, through the people, getting to experience the city properly. As much as I love traveling with my family, family trips are always about family bonding. Guided tours bring you to and from the hotel without truly experiencing a place. And it's hard to try to mingle with locals when you've your whole family, or worse whole tour group around you, creating this repellent bubble that screams 'Foreigners'.
Traveling with friends, especially friends who have very nice friends who go so far out of their way (like all the way to another universe) to bring you around, is awesome. I feel like I have such a clear picture of the cities I visited.
More importantly, I am humbled by the gestures of humanity I've seen. Okay, it's not save-the-world epic, but I met a person who rented a car to drive us for hours and hours over several days, who let us sleep in his bed while he stayed up so he could drive us an hour away to the airport for us to fly to Sydney, who accompanied me for the evening because my flight was 6 hours later than my friends'. He took me shopping though he was obviously bored and took me to dinner and dessert with his friends. And here I am, almost a complete stranger. And just so many other people who were so quick to extend a warm welcome, to make you feel comfortable. It makes me reconsider my perspective on kindness, my preconceptions and limits.
Might also be the weather. It just makes you more energetic, like you never really get tired.
Other random things I loved from the Melbourne/Sydney trip:
- The coincidence of meeting my senior Wan Yi at the paeds programme in U Mel. What a great day to arrive to find her there. The brunch we had with another FOD graduate.
- The slow pace of life and the friendliness of the people. Makes me feel sad I can't go around saying 'Hi, how're you?' to people back here without them thinking I'm a weirdo.
- The endless eateries and dessert places in Melbourne. And they all have such pretty names and pretty decor.
- How proud the people I met were of Melbourne.
- How happy the dogs are at Sydney. Wish I could bring my dogs there so they could live happily ever after, walking along pavements and sniffing at grass instead of the pathetic life here. The weather is invigorating and I can imagine my dogs being less smelly, less allergenic.
- The old caretaker with the white beard at the ANZAC War Memorial at Hyde Park. You could feel his love and dedication for the place in how he showed off the building. Also in how pleased he was when I told him it was a very nice place.
- The walk from Coogee to Bondi Beach. Breathtaking. Even the part where we walked half an hour in the wrong direction, thanks to me.
- How the street shops leave their lights on at night. It makes the view of the buildings from the streets so much prettier and you can even window shop while walking at night.
- Jersey Boys! 105AUD tickets and the best seats in the theatre.
- How my initial 10 hour wait at the airport to go back to KL turned into VIP day shopping (where prices are slashed store wide only once every season, and it was the very day I was there!) and meeting more new friends.
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