January 18, 2008

Sydney's Central Station

A bilevel train

I spent a lot of time on public transit today. :) This morning we researched which bus would take me to the Chatswood train station (the closest one to where we are, here in North Ryde) and there is a bus pick up at the MacQuarie Center. So I thought I'd just drive there and park the car (they advertise that they have 4200 free parking spots) and catch the bus- sounds good right? My troubles began with trying to get to the bus stops, which are on the outside of the building in a very obvious spot, right out front. The issue is that you have to park somewhere deep in the bowels of their parking structure, which is ridiculously tortuous and twisty. So I couldn't just walk out the way I came in- I wasn't even sure where I was exactly in the structure. I decided to go into the center (which is a 6 story mall basically) and I had a difficult time figuring out how to get out the right doors. As you can imagine, getting back to the car later was a problem as well. :) Add to all this that the spot I had to park in was under the ramp for the level above me....I took a picture of how close the roof was to this ramp. :)

There was less than 6 inches. :)

I caught the bus, which doubles back on itself several times during it's route to Chatswood, so that took about 30 minutes. Coming back from Sydney it took over an hour due to the rush hour traffic. To top it all off I found out on the way to the train station that the bus stops just in front of our hotel! Argh. Well it was good for me to practice patience anyway.

The train ride into Sydney took a little longer than usual because the train kept stopping for some unknown reason. They had to turn all the electricity off at some point, so a helpful voice came on warning us that they were turning off the stuff to try to reset the train. After that off we went. There had been problems on this route all day. When I finally get to Sydney it is now pouring down rain- buckets, like almost a torrential downpour. I had picked up an umbrella, which was a good move. :) I've noticed different opinions in different parts of the work in regards to getting wet. In Michigan people didn't seem to mind getting wet enough to actually carry an umbrella- especially on campus, we all just, well, got wet. No biggie. In the UK I bought my first umbrella in about 20 years because people stared at me and I was obviously not a local walking around getting wet. When in Rome you know? :)

The benches on the train can be reversed- if you pull on them they move in an ark to face the opposite way. Pretty cool.

A view on the train.

Sydney is just as interesting in the rain, but I was heading for Paddy's Market to get souveneirs and such things as people travelling to far away and exotic places generally want to buy and bring back. No problems there- the market is cool and it wasn't too busy because it was early enough in the day. I got a discount because I kept buying stuff from the same lady- that's usually how it works. :) I had an interesting lunch- Paddy's Market is in Chinatown, and I decided to eat at this Taiwainese place called Mother Gui's something or other. The place was packed full of Asian faces, so it seemed like a good bet.

A very Asian looking market- except the walkways are very wide, there are no beggars, and no deep fried tarantulas.

Another aisle of the same market

Many of you know that I like to try new foods, exotic foods, and even potentially bad tasting foods just for the experience. I find lots of new favorites that way. Let's just say that what I had for lunch was not a new favorite. In fact, I think it was one of the hardest things for me to eat since I first ate a century egg in 1999 at Focus. (By the way I've learned to like century eggs.) I ordered bean curd with preserved egg (aka century egg). I like bean curd, and I like century eggs, so no problem right? Well, the problem is that this bean curd was extremely strong and had a very strong fermented flavor...and a squishy pasty clumpy slimy texture. Believe it or not the century egg was the best part of the dish. Anyway the sauce that was on it was very strong tasting of fermentation as well, and for the first time in about 8 years I actually had to repress a gag reflex when the bean curd hit my tongue. Fortunately for me, I like these kind of situations- I'm forever encouraging others to try new foods and to test themselves to not make bad faces while they eat something bad tasting. I'm happy to practice what I preach, and I'm also happy to say that the American family who came in after me and ordered kung pao beef thought I was out of my mind that I seemed to be enjoying this dish that looked so nasty. :)

My tasty lunch experience. Those dark brown blobs are century eggs- they're preserved in this very strange way, so that the yolk turns dark greenish and is slimy and mushy, and the white is a translucenty green/grey/brownish. It's an acquired taste. :)

The restaurant.

Anyway after all these adventures I made my way back to the train, got on it, and had an eerie sort of experience where a guy in the train in front of me clearly stared at me, got up from his seat, and came into my car and sat right across from me and stared at me some more. Of course at that moment the train is in a dark tunnel and almost stopped due to these line problems. I had just made up my mind that if the train didn't start moving I would go and sit next to some people I'd seen who were sitting on the upper deck when the train started moving, and this guy got off at the very next stop. Ladies who travel let me take this opportunity to remind you all to have a game plan in case something like this happens, and a plan for what to do if a guy approaches you in a situation like that. I am very careful when travelling alone, even when I'm with G, and I hope you ladies are careful and alert as well.

G and I heard that there was a night market in Chinatown on Friday nights so we went back in....and couldn't find any night market. :) But we did have a decent Chinese-ish meal (turns out the restaurant was for tourists) and very tasty bubble tea. We also found a place that has Durien gelatto (like ice cream.) In case you are unaware, durien is a loved or loathed fruit from SE Asia which smells/stinks like a rotting carcass. It can be awful, but some people like the flavor of the fruit. We were too full to take on durien flavored anything but since G's never had it we're going back next week sometime to try it. I had it in Cambodia and I think I could learn to like it if I hold my breath while I eat it. :)

An Aussie $50- an ATM surprisingly gave me one today.

We'll let you know the results of the durien taste test when it happens. :)