Surprising Sydney (day 2)

Hostel Surprise
Second day in Sydney, began with a breakfast of canned spaghetti and tuna and a pack-me-up luggage. Yeah, again, we had to pack our luggage 'cause we were still in status quo of accommodation. brought or luggage downstairs, we went to the reception desk. but it seemed like the british girl had been replaced by an irish guy for that shift. so i guessed i had to explain the circumstances all over again.

me: hi, good morning
IG: hey, how can i help you?
me: uh... *explaining the problem*
IG: okay, let me check if we can get you any room for tonight *browsing browsing*
me: *crossing fingers*
IG: i'm terribly sorry but i guess we don't have any more available room for today. however, we may give you a free spare room for one night but you have to move again tomorrow morning
me: seriously?
IG: we're very sorry
me: okay then, as long as we won't be stranded on the street
IG: uh, wait let me check something though *calling somebody on the phone*
me: *poker face*
IG: well! we can get you a room for two! a private room you have your own shower, you don't have to check out-and-back-in again until your last day of staying
me: uh, but our budgets are only for dorm...
IG: doesn't matter, you only pay for your reservation, 4 people dorm, right? this is a complimentary from us
me: *happily surprised, but didn't show it on my face* ah, okay then, thank you so much!
IG: here are your keys. sorry for all the inconvenience, have a pleasurable staying.

so, puput and i went back upstairs, put our stuffs in the room and then released all of our 'postponed' screams. HOW LUCKY WAS THAT? a double private room for $160/night became $50/night for both of us!

2nd Day City Tour
However, we couldn't be spending the whole day just screaming and couch potato-ing in the room couldn't we? We had the whole city to explore! So we got out and started our day-2 journey. We had planned to explore the western part of the city that day, including Paddy's Market, IMAX theatre, and we wanted to tour museum to museum using my ISIC card so that we could have a discount.

According to the guide, we could take a Sydney free shuttle to get to Paddy's at Haymarket. The weather was not so nice, it was rather cloudy and windy, with 80% chance of rain. So indoor activity was preferred. When we got there, it started drizzling already, so we decided to check inside the market...but...the checking plan turned into SHOPPING plan which actually was supposed to be last thing to do in the day. and for the result, we carried the shopping bags along for the rest of the day.

after shopping, we decided to check on the nearest museum from Haymarket, which was Powerhouse Museum. when we got there, a sign surprised us: Welcome to Harry Potter: The Exhibition. OMG! we were wondering where this exhibition was and now it was right in front of us! after a thoughtful discussion, we decided to attend the exhibition although it was pretty pricey: $32. Since it was such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity knowing we were in Sydney when it was being held and we thought it must be impossible for such event to go be held in Indonesia.

so, we automatically canceled the museum tour for Harry Potter's sake, and it was way worthier. well, i'm a huge fan, so..








we visited the IMAX theatre afterwards. The theatre has the largest screen in the world. we didn't realize that the back door of the theatre goes through to Darling Harbor which is again, Opera House complex. but we went up to the pedestrian bridge instead and walked through the city center to browse around real quick. The city center was real big, with many high class brand stores. It was full of people, cars, and crowds, but still less crazy than Jakarta. Of course, some people think Sydney is bigger than Jakarta. Well maybe it is more popular, but not bigger at all. Jakarta is currently number 6 biggest city and largest metropolitan area in the world after Tokyo, Seoul, Mexico City, New York, and Mumbai. But don't get me wrong,that actually what made me like Sydney way better than Jakarta: a big city which doesn't exhaust you (but maybe your wallet ;p).






Night 'Out' with Harry
I did say I browsed the city real quick, and get home, because in the evening i planned to meet up with Harry, a friend i knew in Adelaide.

We met up at King's Cross area and headed to a jazz club called Fishbowl nearby. He ordered two pints for us, it was too late for me to say i don't really like beer but the bartender gave us anyway. when it came to pay time, for an unknown reason, Harry's credit card didn't work. he tried it for several times, but same result. we both got no cash, so we decided to cancel the club thingy and went around the city instead, and ended up at Harry's apartment.

He lived in a really nice apartment, with its own swimming pool and gym, and he said he lived there for totally free. The company where he works for paid for it, such a lucky young man! He cooked me a delicious dinner and we talked until it was over midnight. he asked me to stay overnight 'cause it was still raining outside and pretty dangerous. of course, that was Sydney at 2 am Saturday, and my hostel located in a 'dark' area, so i, decided to stay.

Surprising Sydney (day 1)

During my stay in Australia, I didn't travel a lot. I just visited couple of big cities such as Melbourne and Sydney (since I've already been to Perth, 4 years ago, I didn't go there again). Since my story in Melbourne was less interesting than Sydney, so I'm gonna write about my magical trip in Sydney first.

So, Sydney was pretty much my stopover from Adelaide to Jakarta, only it took 5 days lag. I took off Adelaide on November 24th after a rushing lift from my bern-bern (from home to airport), and arrived in Sydney in 2.5 hours-ish). I was so lucky that I didn't overweigh my checked baggage, although my cabin baggage clearly exceeded the allowance (but nobody cared, so..). I met Puput at the carousel and we went to the hostel together (after 1 hour waiting for the shuttle picking us up), with lots of baggage i supposed we looked like total weirdo asians.

long story short, we arrived at the hostel. we went to the reception desk straightaway and (expect to) make a quick check in. so, i will illustrate the check in process in dialogues.

me: hello
receptionist: hi, how can i help you?
me: uh, we already made a booking via hostelclub.com under my name, my last name is Fahadi
r: ok, lemme check
*5 mins awkward silence*
r: uh, it seems like we cannot find your name, so i think hostelclub made a mistake, you were not enlisted as out guests
me: *shocked* what do you mean? i have the booking itinerary, here you go *showing the email on my blackberry*
r: yeah i got that, this isn't your fault, but also not ours. however i'll try to find you guys a room for tonight although i can't guarantee you can stay there as long as you've planned, 4 nights right?
me: yes *straight face*
*more awkward silence*
r: right! we found you a room for 4 people, so you're gonna pay for that price, is that okay?
puput: yeah, better than being hostel-less
r: ok, so blah-blah-blah *explaining the key deposhit, and other shits*

still shocked, we went upstairs (to the 2nd floor without elevator -- aussie's 2nd floor is american 3rd floor) with our huge bags and suitcases and got into the room. the room was decent, actually better than the room i had in Melbourne. we had couple hours of nap and whatnot, and then we were getting ready to go exploring the city. first day's plan: royal botanic garden and general area of circular quay (opera house, etc).

when we were about to go outside the hostel, we were trying to check the map to show us which direction we should take, and then this Hungarian man looked (had been looking, actually) at us and,

Hungsarian man: hey girls, you look lost
putri and I: *grinned, chuckled*
putri's and my mind: we ARE lost, dear sir, what do you expect?

(another) long story short, we got to the circular quay. as soon as we saw the Opera House, we chocked, well--I chocked, could hardly breathe, like, I was seeing something I only got to see in pictures or TV. I guess Puput's feeling is not that different from mine, well maybe even more overwhelmed: she studies architecture, so Opera House for her was like Hollywood for those who studies arts/acting/filmography. It was Australia, at the end of spring, and I still wore late winter coat!!! Because it was cloudy with bits of rain and stuff, but we didn't care, we took pics and whatnot and enjoyed our first day of living the dream :)









Well, at least that was the moments we could get to forget about the shocking hostel booking-fiasco and have fun.