Jean's arrival in Sydney

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5-Jan-2011

I finally arrived in Sydney last night. I told my friends Rachel and Shirley about 7 years ago that I would come and visit them sometime...better late than never! I bid a choked-up good-bye to Aaron in Hanoi two days ago. He was preparing for his trip to visit his sister in Shanghai. I'll miss him a lot, but at least it's only for a month. After some last minute haggling (which I won't miss) for a suitcase to carry the paintings I bought the other day, I caught a cab across Hanoi to the airport. To get a good deal on my trip I flew from there to China to spend the night in Guangzhou airport before flying out to Sydney the next day.

Before leaving Hanoi I read that without a visa I wouldn't be able to leave the airport in China, but to my surprise when I got there they put a 24 hour stamp in my passport and set me free! There was some confusion about whether I was supposed to collect my bags, but luckily after a while, I found them and grabbed my trousers and waterproof jacket (the warmest clothes I had) before transferring them to the next flight. I found a desk that advertised hotel rooms and enquired about their cheapest rate. They quoted it in Chinese currency and I asked for a conversion to USD and if the took credit cards. Having not expected to leave the secure bubble of the airport I suddenly felt very alone and unprepared, not knowing a word of the language or having a penny of the currency. I looked around the airport for their retiring rooms, but didn't find them. I found another help desk that was quieter. This lady quoted me a better price. It was probably still high for China (about 16GBP), but it included transfer to and from the airport.

Outside it was freezing and I was thankful I rescued my extra clothes. The window in the hotel bathroom let cold air in. I snuggled under the two duvets they provided and wondered how Aaron was going to survive the next month. I got some sleep before my early morning call.


At the airport
I flew from  Guangzhou to Sydney and was thrilled to see Rach's smiling face at the airport  to greet me. It was already very late so we headed straight home. I'm very lucky Rach is still on summer holidays, so today I saw my first sights of Sydney. We went to Bondi beach which is amazing! It's a huge expanse of white sand with bright blue waves crashing in. I can only imagine how beautiful it must have been before all the development went on behind it. It was nice to meet Rach's boyfriend and friends for lunch - it's been so long since I've been socialising with friends! However after getting used to prices in Asia I will admit that I was a bit shocked at the cost. At least the dish was so huge it lasted me two meals! Rach is very keen to take me sight-seeing, which I'm very excited about, but I also told her not to worry too much because we have all year to do that. For now I'm quite happy to go grocery shopping and start working on settling-in, getting a bank account etc. What a pleasure it is to stroll around a big, brightly lit store and buy peanut butter, muesli, orange juice...

Bondi beach



Comments

sly said…
That looks like paradise, Jean!
31 March 2011 at 07:52
Unknown said…
I love the photo of you both on the beach.
31 March 2011 at 14:40
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