Saturday, November 11, 2006

New Life in Sydney......雪 梨 新 生 活 ...シドニーの新しい生活

This post should have been written like in Sept but now its already Nov....wow...time really flies...been more than 2 months since i've moved to Sydney already...so an update on my life for those who have been following my blog...i arrived in Sydney in early September and have been at the College of Law in St Leonards undertaking the Practical Legal Training mandated by law to become qualified to be a lawyer in Oz....i am currently staying in Artarmon which is a mere station away from St Leonards which is really convenient for me as i can wake up late...
It only takes me about 1 min to get to the next station for classes and its one station to Chatswood(the largest suburban 'city-area' like melbourne boxhill) the other direction which i frequent regularly for shopping,food, and Chinese and Korean dvd rental...hehe....

Well, living in Artarmon is a refreshing change from my Melbourne life....for a start, in all my 5 1/2 years in Melbourne, i have ALWAYS lived in the downtown area and so i have never experienced living in the suburbs in Australia AT ALL...and so living in Artarmon is a good change for me....it allows me to experience suburban Australia first-hand and enjoy taking the train...which i previously never needed to do.....Artarmon is like Little Tokyo as there are so many japanese restaurants near the station and two japanese groceries and one japanese video store (of which i am a member)...

Further, as i live on the northern side of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, i have to take the train across the Sydney Harbour Bridge every time i go to the city area which means i get to pass by the Sydney Opera House at least twice a week which is a breathtaking sight...

Well, i find Sydney a much bigger and cosmopolitan city as compared to Melbourne...i mean i was amazed at how much bigger the city area was and the main street George St is like SO MUCH bigger compared to Melbourne's Swanston St...and the Chinatown is definitely better too...more choices in terms of shops and restaurants...and i find the food in Sydney, the Asian food on offer MUCH BETTER....i mean i thought Australia didn't have nice authentic Taiwanese and Japanese food but boy was i wrong....i definitely like Sydney's food choices compared to Melbourne, i have found some places serving cheap and yet VERY authentic Asian places in a mere 2 months of being here as compared to not having found a single authentic Taiwanese place in Melbourne in yrs living there. I mean there are nice places but nothing compared to this place called 'CHO Dumpling King' (糕 家 餃 子 館 )which serves one of the most authentic Taiwanese fare in Oz and it wins definitely cos of its super duper authentic Taiwanese side dishes 小菜 which is not found in Melbourne Taiwanese rests....the ones i tried all had side dishes but none were really up to the mark except this one in Sydney which is located in Prince Centre, 8 Quay Street, Chinatown...so Sydneysiders, do go try if u haven't already....another 2 places I would recommend is Ramenkan (ラーメン館)and Menya( メン屋) which serve like extremely authentic ramen that is cheap...again u can't find good ramen eateries in Melb that is also cheap...at least i haven't found any in all my yrs of living in Melbourne although good ramen
is definitely obtainable in Melbourne for a hefty price such as Chocolate Buddha at Fed Square. In case anyone is wondering how i would be able to judge whats authentic and whats not, well in terms of Taiwanese and Japanese food i can, given that i have lived in both Taipei and Tokyo before....

I like Sydney alot as i like the busier and cosmo quality that it has....however i do miss melb too....been to many places when i 1st arrived in Syd cos my parent's friend who is the head chef at one of the classy Malaysian restaurants at Cockle Bay Wharf in Darling Harbor brought us around in his car...and so i have been to a whole host of places already...here goes the rough list: Darling Harbour(of cos duh...), Hurstville, Beverly Hills (not the one in LA, ) had a sumptious Chinese course here with lobster noodle and oysters,etc...yummmm..alot of Chinese seafood restaurants here), Botany Bay, Manly Beach (which means i've been to the northern and southern edges of Sydney...took the ferry across to Manly on a stormy rainy night...it was soooo cold that night but the experience was great, took tons of pics of Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour. Bridge,Sydney City nightview..), Bondi beach, King's Cross, and some other places which i can't remember....

Been really busy the whole time cos this course is intensive...i have to go to college every weekday from 9 30am to around 3 30pm....but now its relaxing abit more cos most of the difficult subjects are finished already.....and we get to leave on Fri at 1pm usually so its basically Fri whole day free....managed to go to the Japan Festival at Darling Harbour and it was fantastic!! So many japanese girls in yukata..for a moment i thought i was back in Tokyo for the summer festival (natsu matsuri) with so many japanese people walking around...it was nice seeing all these japanese people having a good time listening to the taiko performance as well as the Sydney skyline behind.....

Planning to go to the Thai Food Festival tomorrow(which means today given that it's midnite now) which is also going to be held at the same place in Darling harbour....i absolutely LOVE and let me repeat that, LOVE Thai food festivals....given that i simply adore Thai food, i seldom miss Thai foodie fests...been to the one in Melbourne earlier this year, went to the Thai Food Festival held in Yoyogi Park in Tokyo last yr and so i'm not gonna miss the one in Sydney!! (For those who live in Tokyo and am viewing my blog, like Kaneko san, be sure to go and enjoy the Thai Fest. held annually as the food and live music is superb...the one in Tokyo is definitely way better than the one in Melbourne which is alot smaller in scale...)

Phew...what an update, also i have bought tickets to the Japanese Film Festival (the 10th Anniv this year) and wondering if anyone wants to go watch with me...so if u live in Syd and am interested leave a comment on my blog and i will get back to u...i have tickets to 'The face of Jizo' 'Hayazakanohana' and 'When the stars converge'..

Finally, i am still looking to make new friends in Sydney so if u do read my blog and am interested in being friends, do leave ur contacts and blog in my comment section and i will definitely reply EVERY SINGLE person....

徵 友 :如 有 興 趣 與 我 做 朋 友 的 話 ﹐ 敬 請 留 言 留 下 聯 絡 方 式 與 部 落 格 ﹐ 謝 謝
友達募集中:日本人だったら是非コメントをしてイーメルを教えてください。ありがとう!


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heya..i got linked to this blog from CBL =]..you live in Artarmon? so interesting how youve described it. I used to live there from when i came to Aus (2yrs old) till i was in year 1 (5yrs i think) went to Artarmon public and got dragged all around Chatswood by my grandma hahah..I need to come check the place out again its been tooo long i prolly wont recognise it hehe..Yeah >_< this reply is way late arr oh well :D

hcpen said...

paulstar: Yep, u should go check it out though it prob hasn't changed all that much i am sure...hehe:)

Anonymous said...

serz? that was like..14yrs ago, id be lucky to even know how to get to my old school haha so for me it will be like going to an entirely new place =]

hcpen said...

paul: haha...well give it a go..and Merry Christmas and a happy 2007:)