What to see in Sydney

For this itinerary, I assume you have the Multi 1 ($40) for the transport around Sydney. The map for Multi 1 network can be downloaded from here. If you do have Multi 1, try to take the ferry as much as you can to get the most of your $40. A return ferry trip from Circular Quay to Manly is already $14 and it’s totally free with Multi 1.

Public Transport:
Train: Railcorp / City Rail
Bus: Sydney Bus
Ferry: Sydney Ferry
Trip planner


Queen Victoria Building (QVB)
Entry: Free
Nearest Transport: Town Hall train station























Suggestion:
1. Queen Victoria statue, located outside opposite the Town Hall.
2. Discounted home wares at Queen Victoria Basement
3. Cafés… tons of them!

Sydney Opera House
The most obvious symbol of Sydney and Australia
Entry: Free for the outer area
Nearest Transport:
1. Circular Quay train station
2. Circular Quay wharf for ferry
















Suggestion:
1. Take the Essential Tour ($30 / person) to go inside the Opera House
2. Watch one of the performing acts.


The Rocks
Entry: Free
Nearest Transport:
1. Circular Quay train station
2. Circular Quay wharf for ferry
















Suggestion:
1. Spare a few minutes (and maybe a few dollars) to watch the street performers, ranging from Aborigine music to fire or knife juggler
2. Scenic photo spot with the Opera House at the background
3. Weekend Market (Fri, Sat, and Sun) $5 for ½ liter beer at Lowenbrau during happy hour (4-6 pm everyday)


Harbour Bridge
Nearest Transport:
1. Circular Quay, Wynyard, & Milsons Point train station
2. Circular Quay wharf for ferry
















There’s 3 way to enjoy this magnificent steel construction:
1. $0 to walk across the bridge
2. $10 to climb the pylon (not to be mistaken with climbing the bridge itself)
3. $200 to climb to the top of the bridge

Note: It is very rewarding and unique to climb to the top of the bridge, but you are not allowed to bring or take any photo with your own. Now… to me, this is just BS.


Darling Harbour
Entry: Free
Nearest Transport:
1. Darling Harbour wharf
2. Pyrmont Bay wharf
3. Townhall Station
















Suggestion:
Take the ferry from Circular Quay (Darling Harbour service) to Darling Harbour and soak in the scenic view of the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, and Sydney’s sky line.

Other attraction within Darling Harbour:
1. Star City Casino
2. Sydney Aquarium
3. Wildlife World
4. King Street Wharf for waterfront dining
5. Harbourside Shopping mall

Transport from Sydney Airport

Some of my friends are coming to Sydney to visit me (or simply to crash into my living room, saving their lodging cost), so instead repeating the same information over and over again to each of them, I’m gonna make them read this entry instead.

First thing I normally explain is about the Australian immigration, which I have done in my previous entry.

One of my friends even asked me exact questions in the immigration card, as he was afraid to tick the wrong box. He argued that he might declare about bringing illicit drugs out of confusion. Right… maybe English was not his favorite language.

Second part is about Transport (from the Airport) and it's always the favorite subject for them to bombard me with their questions (Why? When? Where? How? How much? How long?)

Okayyy… Let’s start with the fact that Sydney airport is actually well connected to the Sydney city itself, and so much closer when it’s compared to Japan Narita airport to Tokyo.

Although the public transport is not as good or clean as Singapore, there are a few transportation options available: train, bus, taxi or rent a car. Check out the following link to get a better understanding of Sydney Airport.

Train
There’s an additional charge on top of the train fare itself. Check the total fare from the airport to your destination station from here.
















Bus
It is damn confusing to calculate the exact bus fare in Sydney. For the first timer in Sydney, I suggest to ditch the bus option all together. However, if you insist, you can purchase the ticket from the bus driver and pay on the spot for a single trip. Good luck.
















Taxi
The most convenient option but certainly NOT the cheapest, and also the “hospitality” of the driver when you mention that you don’t know the exact destination location.

Car Rental
If you know the way AND know a cheap place to park the car, then this option might be the solution for you. My favorite car rental so far is Budget Car Rental and Avis.























So let’s compare a single trip from Sydney Airport…
Say we take Town Hall station as the destination we want to go from Sydney Airport.

Cost Travel Time
Train $15.80 + 40 mnt
Bus + $ 7 + 60 mnt
Taxi + $ 50 + 30 mnt
Car Rental + $ 55 / day + 30 mnt

If you travel alone, train is a better option. However, if you travel in group, taxi cost / person might be the same cost with the train.

Kyoto Restaurant (Food) Guide

Most people will include Kyoto as their part of itinerary when they visit Japan, especially for the first timer. I did not need any help to find list of temples & shrines I want to visit when I visited Kyoto for the first time, as there's simply too many.
















What I found rather difficult was finding a good restaurant! Well partly it's because of my ridiculous expectation (must taste good, cheap, traditional Japanese atmosphere, and English menu).
















After 3 times in Kyoto, I finally found this free guide book, "Kyoto Restaurant Guide Book - A selection of Kyoto's best restaurant".























It's published by Kyoto City Tourist Association, in English, complete with the location map, suggestion menu & price for each restaurant! Download the PDF version from here.

















They have 2 other guidebooks that will be useful for your travel in Kyoto:
1. Kyoto Tourist Guidebook
2. Kyoto Sight Seeing Map
















Bring this guidebook along with you. Or else you will end up in the supermarket searching for food like I did.

The "Ugly Truth" of Singapore

After my previous entry about things that I do miss from Singapore, I feel compelled to tell you the ugly side of Singapore that not so many foreigners would notice, and absolutely no Singaporean will ever admit.

Especially for those who is thinking to move to Singapore merely just because of the dollars, I suggest you read this.

Things I DON’T (and will never will!) miss about Singapore:

1. My damn f***king kiassu ex-landlord
Be very careful and plan your move when it comes to pay rental deposit / bond money to your landlord. They will try as hard as they can to find any kind of reason to confiscate the bond money. Don't even think that the property agent will help you, as they will all disappear once they got the commission money.























2. Throat chocking property agent commission
In Singapore, you must pay commission fee (different from bond money) to the property agent and the rates normally is 1 month rent for 1 year rental contract. And right after you pay the money, they vanish into thin air and you must deal every damn problem directly with your landlord!

With such easy money and so many foreigners looking for a place in Singapore, maybe the Singapore government is trying to convert its entire citizen to be a blood sucking property agent!

3. Train / MRT culture
The smell, shameless, pushy, shitty look you got even before the train door open are priceless. The moment the train door opens, you can experience the tsunami force hit you.


















4. The non stop, all year long, hot & humid weather
Singapore only has 2 seasons; Dry/hot (not summer) and wet/rain seasons. During the dry season, top temperate is about 33’C to 35’C. During the rainy season, temperature is not that different, just add a lot of water from the sky. Tropical rain in Singapore can be compared to light storm in US or Australia.

5. Sky rocketing property price
2009 price is about S$ 600,000 for 2 bed room government flat and about $S 1 million for 2 bedroom private apartment.























6. Poor Customer service
The most popular reply I got from them is “There’s nothing I can do” and on the second place is “We’ll get back to you soon, and the worst was "So what do you want me to do?" And the worst part is, it was a bloody doctor in the hospital who asked me what do I want the him to do. Shit! Who's the doctor here?

7. “You can speak or understand Chinese” assumption
So your appearance look just a bit like Asian, do you think they will politely try to speak in English to you first? Nothing will stop them not speak to you in Chinese.

















8. “5 C” attitude from the Singaporean women
They want: Cash, Credit card, Condominium (not apartment), Car, Country club membership. I did hear about this before I moved to Singapore, and I thought maybe only the super pretty / rich girls behave like this. Reality: Even the super ugly one has this attitude!

















9. Car Prices
No matter what kind of car or what year is the car, you need to purchase a “license to buy a car”. I’m not joking nor my English is poor when I wrote that sentence. Summary: Just like you need a driving license to drive, in Singapore, you need a license to buy a car.

10. Lack of variety of meat options at the supermarket
Unless you go to “Expat” or “Foreigner” supermarket which charges 75% more expensive, most supermarkets stock 95% of their shelves with pork, chicken, and seafood. Then the 5% is beef with very limited choice.

Things I miss about Singapore

When I left Singapore a couple month ago, I never ever thought that I could find 1 thing that I would miss about the island nation. Yet here I am, a few months after I left Singapore, I came up with a list.

Compared with Australia, Sydney in particular, here are the top 10 things I missed from that little island.

1. Cheap taxi fare
With flag charge at S$2.50, Taxi cost about S$10 to S$15 to practically anywhere in the town. Even from the airport it would only cost about S$15 to S$20 to the city center. Compare to when I had to pay A$ 46 from Hyde Park to Maroubra (total of 11.5 km) in Sydney!!!

















2. Cheap public transport fare
The public train (MRT / SMRT) cost about S$2.10 one way for the longest distance. And no surcharge for airport line what so ever.
















3. Ez-Link card
Instead of using paper based ticket, 1 plastic card is enough for both bus & train in Singapore. It's convenient, rechargeable balance, hassle free determining the fares, and "greener" as most likely you will stick to only 1 card, compared to multiple paper tickets.

4. The food
Where do I start talking about the food? Singapore has all kind of cuisine from practically every country, starting from dirt cheap (S$0.70 for breakfast) to high class fine dining.


















5. Long / late trading hour
Not only they have yearly "Great Singapore Sale", they also have "Late night Shopping" where very last Friday of the month, shopping malls open up till midnight.


















6. Low income tax rate
Free tax for the first S$20,000 income, and 3.5% for the following S$10,000, and so on.


7. Easy access to the airport
How to go to the airport? Read reason no.1 above and hail a taxi! Or simply hop on the train for less then S$ 3.50.


8. Fast & efficient immigration process at the airport
The longest I waited at the immigration booth is 15 minutes.
















9. Holiday Destination options
Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Hongkong are all within 3 or 4 hours flight and has many budget carrier.
















10. GST refund
GST rate in Singapore is 7% and as a temporary visitor, you can get back the 5% GST you spent for your shopping at any shop in Singapore.

Australia Customs & Immigration

Australia probably has one of the strictest custom & quarantine regulations in the world. Everybody without exception will be checked once they arrived in Australian soil.

I found a “gift” on one of my package I sent from Singapore to Sydney:













First is the travel documents / visa. For some who hold certain countries passport, it could be as easy as apply visa online. For others, well… gonna takes more than just your time and money.
















After the travel documents, comes the quarantine section by AQIS. What you can not take into Australia? AQIS has provided the answer and brochure (PDF) for that.















Filling out “Incoming Passenger Card” can be quite an adventure for those who has no clue what the question is about. So help your self, download the PDF of Passenger Card and ask your friend or family to help you. Asking a stranger may not be a good idea to help you with this task.

And if you think Australian is not serious the immigration, for your convenience sake, they have made this whole customs & Immigration things into a TV series.

Moving out

Recently, my Koala Permanent Residency has been granted! I have been waiting for this news for almost 1 year. So without wasting another day, I throw my resignation letter and kiss goodbye to my old job.
















First problem is done, now comes the second… packing & sending my stuff. Oh how I wish I have Monica from Friends to help me with packing.















I had no idea how much stuff I had accumulated during my 4 years life in Singapore. What I thought would only be less than 100 kg, has swelled to a whooping 250 kg, spread over into 23 boxes!!!
















After asking around for shipping price quotation, I found out that Singapore Post “Speed Surface Service” does actually has the cheapest rate. Unlike cargo, they go by weight like a normal parcel, but still it’s so much cheaper compared to freight forwarders.















Singapore Post website states it would take about 5 – 7 weeks for my stuff to arrive from Singapore to Sydney. Well, in reality, it took over then 8 weeks before it arrived. So you might want to recalculate the timing.

Kurama

On the third and final day of my 3 day Kansai Thru Pass, I decided to go Kurama, located in Kyoto’s outskirt. From Kyoto, I cycled to Demachiyanagi station, and then continued by train to Kurama station.













There are only 2 things to do here; see the temple on top of the mountain (Kurama Dera) and then to soak in Kurama onsen.













Entrance fee to Kurama-dera is 300 yen. After that, you have 2 options: to walk your butt up to the top or to take the cable train to the top for additional 100 yen. Being a lazy bum, it took me less then 10 seconds before I reached my pocket searching for 100 yen coin.













With the red lantern all over the mountain, the height, the view, and the fresh clean air, Kurama-dera is surely one of my favorite place around Kyoto. It’s surrounded by mountain and not so many people, left alone tourist, can be seen around.













The court yard of the main temple is full of sakura trees. Unfortunately I came her in winter, leaving the trees without a single leaves on. I will be back here during the sakura season one day.













To get to the onsen, I walked back to Kurama station to catch the onsen’s free minibus which transported me for free to the onsen’s door step. I chose the lunch + onsen package for 7,000 yen.













The food was not disappointing, while the indoor onsen is just average. The outdoor bath, however, is quite an experience to try. The view of the mountain is just spectacular! By “spectacular”, I don’t mean the naked male bodies around me!

Arima Onsen

On the second day of my 3 days Kansai Thru Pass, I decided to its furthest travelling distance it allows me to travel, Kobe / Arima Onsen.













Arima Onsen is not as easy as Nara to get to. It takes around 2.5 hour train ride from Kyoto, and change lines a couple of times. But I have been intoxicated by onsen from my last trip to Japan, and Funaoka Onsen alone was not enough to satisfy my urge.













From Wikitravel and Japan Guide, I learned that there are 2 ways to get to Arima Onsen:

1. The fun & expensive way Via Mt. Rokko and then descend to Arima Onsen using ropeway.
   
2. The cheap & easy way Using train from Kyoto (Hankyu Line) to Arima Onsen station.

View Kyoto to Arima Onsen by Train in a larger map

Heck, I have spent so much money & time to come all the way to Japan, why should I choose only one way? I decided to combine them! I took to the easy way to go to Arima, did sight seeing, soaked in onsen, and came back to Kyoto via Mt. Rokko.













I have made a detailed Google Map and separated it into 3 parts:

• Kyoto to Arima Onsen station (by train on Hankyu Line)
• Sightseeing in Arima Onsen
• Arima Onsen to Kyoto via Mt. Rokko

Kyoto to Arima Onsen station (by train on Hankyu Line)
Kansai Thru Pass covers all expenses in this way. It’s a pretty darn good deal considering the distance between Kyoto & Arima Onsen. It’s difficult to explain by words, please refer to the map I made in Google Map.

Sightseeing in Arima Onsen
If you have booked an expensive onsen trip / package, chances are: there will be someone waiting for you at the train station. If you are on a budget like me, I would suggest Tourist Information Centre as your first stop.













It’s located just 5 minutes walk from the station. If you plan to go to Mt. Rokko, make sure you ask them the time table of the ropeway.

They have a very complete sightseeing map / brochure with all onsen, what to see in Arima, restaurant, etc. Download the English version of the map here.

I came to Arima onsen with 2 things in my mind, to try either the Gin-no-yu or Kin-no-yu onsen and to try Kobe (Wagyu) beef.













I arrived in Arima 3 hour before lunch time, so I walked around first, tried the free foot onsen...



















Ate manju...













Japanese croquette...













And finally I soaked in Gin-no-yu. The best way to spend cold day is to soak in bloody damn hot onsen water.













Now is time to taste the wagyu beef. I found this kiosk or (restaurant?) while walking back to the bus stop.













Instead of Kobe / Wagyu beef, it’s selling “Tajima Beef”, with hand written explanation claiming Tajima Beef is the origin of all Kobe / Wagyu beef.













It's probably the most honest restaurant in Japan too, with this poster posted outside its door:













Anyway, I tried 2 stick of it’s Tajima Beef + rice for 1,000 yen. The taste doesn’t disappoint me.

Arima Onsen to Kyoto via Mt. Rokko
Kansai Thru Pass does not cover most of the cost in this. Bus (from Arima Onsen) to Mt.Rokko Ropeway station costs 100 yen.

I recommend buying a package ticket in the ropeway station which covers:

• Ropeway to Rokko Sancho Station
• Mt.Rokko bus
• Cable train to go down from Mt.Rokko
  

After that, you can use Kansai Thru Pass again on the Train to Kyoto.
Refer to the map I made in Google Map.













When you reach Mt. Rokko, before you take the bus to cable train, I made my walk to Jukkoku Observatory, where I saw a scenic view of Kobe city harbor. Well that’s probably the reason why most people even bother forging extra yen to go up the mountain in the first place anyway.

Walk to the right sight of Mt. Rokko station, continue under the bridge, until you find your self in an open space with full view of Kobe city harbor below. The night view from here is breathtaking, but I did not wait until its dark because I chose not to miss my connection bus.












Refer to my Google Map for easier view of the route I took.