Sydney - Day 3! City Tour!

Half day city tour, passed by the business district, populated with human robots with humorless expressions on their faces, all decked out in the same grim black outfit on their way to work. Some yawning, none had a smile on their faces.

Uninterrupted view of Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge.






















Luna Park, an amusement theme park right next to the Harbour Bridge, was a gift from the English people to Sydney for putting up with all the noise pollution during the construction of the bridge. This was ironic because the roller coaster ended up with the fate of being removed as residents had complained of the noise pollution.

Seafront Lookout over Middle Head and Pearl Bay Marinas.

I have to say I am terribly disappointed at the landscape of Sydney, expecting a city much more glamorous, but instead got a KL-lookalike. There were times where I thought I was strolling the streets of KL, what with the run-down shopping centres in the major shopping districts and dodgy signboards fronting the stores. I can finally understand why people would liken Melbourne to a ‘Little London’ because it really is so much more beautiful.

It was difficult spotting a single Aussie, as the majority of the throngs of crowds were made up from people from all over Asia, especially those of Hong Kong, Japan and Korea citizenry. Everywhere you turned, there was sure to be someone speaking a foreign tongue. In fact, that was the only kind of language I heard 99% of the time. We were the only rare ones who communicated in English.

Was crossing the road late at night when this dude with his head sticking out of a taxi driving past yelled, “Sayonara! Konnichiwa!” at me, mistaking me for Japanese, because of the way I dressed. It was weird because he committed a linguistic faux pas, saying bye first, before saying hello. Not at all surprised and quietly flattered, because most people assume I’m from China. In fact, I’ve been mistaken from everything from Malaysian to Indonesian. And, being mistaken for a Japanese was something novel to me.

Got mistaken for a Korean too. Entering a storefront, the store employee greeted me with a cheerful "Annyonghaseyo".

This reminds me of a time I was buying coffee at Starbucks. When it came to my turn, the guy behind the counter asked me, “So, where are you from?”

And, before I could answer, he rushed to guess. “You are from China right?”

“Er, no. I’m from Singapore.”

A wave of disbelief flashed across his features, before he exclaimed, “You have got to be kidding!”

“No, why?”

“You serious?! Are you really from Singapore?”

“Yes, why? Is it so surprising that I’m not from China?” I asked, but didn’t get a reply, as the guy couldn’t stop smiling and shaking his head in disbelief.

Back in Melbourne, strolling the streets once again, a young Caucasian dude greeted me and my sister with, "Oh, konichiwa, konichiwa!” which was a first since I’ve been here and very very strange.

It is so immensely frustrating that all the shops in Sydney close early, similar to Melbourne. And, we ended up strolling before dark and empty storefronts. The only places that opened till late at night, besides the rare local major franchises, were Asian groceries supermarkets and eateries.