Travelista

Tourism Beyond Bars

3plepl8 — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 13:01:00 +0800

Simple definition of prison from Mr Goog reads:

A building to which people are legally bound as a punishment for crimes they have committed or while awaiting trial.

What differs a prison from a jail then? These two terms, originally carry different meanings with the latter houses convicted criminals for a shorter period of time. It is smaller in size thus provides less amenities compared to a prison. However, they can sometimes be used interchangeably. Penitentiary and correctional facility are a few other names used to describe a prison. With crime rates on the rise around the world, many new prisons were opened to cater to the demands for more inmates as well as to provide better facilities to them.

With the existence of those new and modern prisons, many older prisons have ceased operations and turned into tourist attractions. Money spent for the upkeep of those prisons to better equip the flocks of tourists who seek to experience the grim life behind bars when one was merely identified by numbers rather than his real name. I could imagine the grisly pictures of the interior of a prison, from the cells to the dining hall to the room of death when it existed to serve its purposes. And now, many of those old prisons are more of an object of history and luckily that is the value sought after by travelers. And here is the short list of 10 former prisons and detention centers around the globe which are opened for tours. The list was happily acquired from CNN Travel Edition and arranged in no particular order.

Alcatraz, US

Top of the list of the to-tour prisons is none other than The Rock or formally Alcatraz. Its original name given by a Spanish seafarer who founded this tiny island in the 18-century was The Isle of Pelicans, which sounded like alcatraz, a type of bird in Spanish. It's located on an island with the same name in San Francisco Bay, California. This facility was a maximum security prison which simply translates to no-breakout level of security.

Former famous inmates of Alcatraz include Alphonse 'Scarface' Capone aka Al Capone; the Chicago crime boss, George 'Machine Gun' Kelly; a bank robber, bootlegger and kidnapper, Robert 'Birdman of Alcatraz' Stroud, Alvin Karpis, Roy Gardner, and Henry Young among other tough prisoners. Alcatraz, as an island or the prison itself have appeared more in pop culture than any other penitentiaries. Maybe Escape from Alcatraz (1979) and The Rock (1996) were just two of the better known movies filmed around this famous island.

Buy your ticket to Alcatraz by joining Alcatraz Cruises' tour and be sure to read a few of its history before setting foot onto the island. The knowledge will add more fun to the trip for sure.

[Photo credit: National Park Service, USA]

Old Melbourne Gaol, Australia

I'd seen one of the former inmates of Old Melbourne Gaol while visiting Sydney's Madame Tussaud's not so long ago. I mean his wax model, not the real him of course. Ned Kelly must have been a famous criminal who was also hailed as hero by some in Australia during his lifetime that deserved him a wax model. In whatever way people remember him, he met his maker while detained inside this prison. For 87 years since its opening in 1842, this old gaol complex housed inmates of many criminal backgrounds from brutal murderers to petty offenders and homeless citizens.

Find out how your time in Melbourne can be spent in this old prison located right in the center of the city. I think the best way to experience the Gaol's grim stories is by taking the night tour.

Devil's Island, French Guiana

As its name implies, this penitentiary building located on an island (Devil's Island) in French Guiana was deemed inescapable, just like Alcatraz. It is surrounded by dangerous waters full of sharks and strong currents. For inmates detained here between 1852 and 1953, nothing was really impossible here. For most prisoners held there, it was their life at stake.

From records, there were several escape attempts with both successful and unsuccessful results. The most famous, successful one should be the escape by Clement Duval in 1901. After escaping the prison and island, he fled to New York and lived there for the rest of his life.

More of this island and its turbulent past can be experienced hands-on by joining some cruises or tours in this South American region.

Oxford Castle, England

Little known about this castle which is located in the well known university town of Oxford. Built in 1071 AD with heavy influences of the Saxon architecture, the castle contained a prison within its compound which served as a place of incarceration for political prisoners during the English Civil War by King Charles. Among the condemned who spent their life behind bars in this castle prison were father killer, Mary Blandy and Anne Green, an innocent convict who miraculously survived hanging. I'm wondering how these two female prisoners can brutally outperformed bad guys in England from that era. Any escapees? Never heard one.

For more tales of murder, romance, betrayal, and execution of those former inmates of Oxford Castle, this tour is a perfect choice.

State Prison of East Jutland, Denmark

Next, we fly to northern Europe into the country of delicious pastries, Denmark. In the city of Horsens, about 200 km from Copenhagen, lies its state prison called Statsfængsel. Jens Nielsen and Peter Lundin must have been two of the more famous inmates of this prison. Nielsen was the last criminal to be sentenced to death for attempted murder in Denmark when he was beheaded in 1892. On the other hand, Lundin the mass murderer, is kept captive till today at another prison in the Scandinavian country. Escape story for this prison belonged to one Carl August Lorentzen, once a safe cracker turned burglar. He fled this prison by digging 18-meter long tunnel but only to be recaptured days later.

More info on this prison can be found here. Materials and historical artifacts on Horsens and the prison are put together at Horsens Museum, located just outside the prison walls.

Eastern State Penitentiary, US

If its sole purpose was to break one's mentally, solitary confinement did its job well. For penal reform, not really. Welcome to the home of total solitary confinement, the most brutal kind of mental torture one can have in a prison lockup. This practice was started here at the Eastern State Penitentiary, once a supermax detention facility in Philadelphia.

It used to be the most famous and expensive prison in the world. With strict disciplinary requirement and state-of-the-art architecture of that time, it was the world's first true penitentiary. Among famous inmates held in here were Al Capone, the all-time America's Most Wanted (I guess before he was sent to The Rock) and "Slick Willie" Sutton, a bank robber. Escape? Don't dream about it.

To get a spooky experience inside this real, abandoned prison at night, Terror Behind the Walls would be a good one.

Kilmainham Gaol, Ireland

When visiting Dublin, the capital of Republic of Ireland, other than going back to the middle ages at Dublin Castle and taking a stroll around Spire of Dublin monument, one can take a little trip not far from the city center to Kilmainham Gaol. The prison was built in 1796 and had become a symbol of Irish nationalism under the rule of British empire. Many Irish rebellions were captured by the Brits and detained here. Irish Parliamentary Party leader, Charles Parnell was one of them but Eamon de Valera was the more famous inmate at Kilmainham. He led to the country's independence from Britain and won the Irish Civil War later. Execution of prisoners by public hangings were common. Gallows were erected in front of the prison complex as death sentence for murderers and robbers.

Now, Kilmainham is a huge museum. It contains heritage of Ireland that one may find it interesting.

Port Arthur, Australia

Tasmania, Australia. It's where UNESCO's World Heritage site Port Arthur is located. With several prisons across the country, Australia seemed to be a land of convicts once during the colonial era. Port Arthur's prison known as Separate Prison was in operation from 1830 until 1877. Almost two decades after it first opened its door to prisoners, the prison management changed the punishment method from flogging to solitary confinement. The switch from physical to mental punishment was to promote repentance to convicts. However, it is said that Port Arthur is known more for its restless souls of the dead since there are about 1500 graves without mark were recorded.

If you want to challenge yourself after hours looking and reading on the history of Port Arthur's ruined prison buildings, join the Ghost Tour which runs almost every night. Whether there are ghosts or not in Port Arthur, it's for you to find out the truth. For those who want to get closer to the roaming spirits of Australia's few most haunted buildings, join this tour instead. You'll get to experience ghost hunting using professional scientific equipment built for that purpose.

Hostel Celica, Slovenia

By 1882 during the Austro-Hungarian period, Hostel Celica was formerly a military prison within military barracks in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The prison was mostly used to keep prisoners of war before Yugoslavia was formed after the collapse of Austro-Hungarian empire. In 1993, the military barracks and its whole area was turned out to be an art square or gallery. After further refurbishment to the prison cells, Celica was reopened to public in 2003 providing reasonably-priced hostel accommodation mostly to tourists.

Robben Island, South Africa

Looking at the beautiful setting of Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town in South Africa with Table Mountain in the background, I couldn't get to believe its past as a place to keep prisoners away. It existed as an island prison throughout the 17th and 20th century and used to put political prisoners in exile.

The most famous South African revolutionist who fought against the apartheid, Nelson Mandela was once detained on Robben Island for 18 years to complete his 27 years behind bars. That was the price he'd got to pay fighting for the freedom of his country. After his release, he became the President which he well deserved. As the result of the independence, Robben Island too was listed as a World Heritage site, a symbolic to the victory of democracy against racism and oppression.

A museum on the island keeps the events of what happened there during those painful years in the history of South Africa. More information on Robben Island can be found here.

Closer to home

Last but not least, I should not forget the one in my own backyard. Although it's almost vanished to make way for Bukit Bintang Triangle City, Pudu Prison which has long been vacated (since between 1995 and 1996) and in 1997, the main gate was opened to public contained a lot of memories to the former inmates, their families and prison warders. Once Malaysia's most-wanted notorious criminal in the early 80s, Botak Chin had his last day in this prison as well. He was executed by hanging in 1981. The history of the jail complex started way back to year 1891 when Malaya (the then name for Malay Peninsula) was under the British administration. Constructed in phases on a former Chinese cemetery ground using workforce from the convicts, it was finally completed in 1895. At the time of writing, what left of the century-old prison is only the main gate and small part of its front wall.

Also check out Jerjak Island, which used to be a temporary detention island.

In memories of Sergeant 1025 of Taiping Gaol. Al-Fatihah...

Map to Vaguely Kinky Destinations

3plepl8 — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 22:16:00 +0800

I have to admit that I used to hate Geography subject at school. Back to my younger days, all I remember about Geography class was how boring for me to look at topographic maps and some weather charts. Contour lines and color-coded climatic condition on those maps left me with more unanswered questions. Plus, I didn't care to ask. Despite all that, I wasn't that bad. I knew how proud I was upon learning that my birthplace was and still the wettest place in Malaysia. In contrast, Jelebu in Negri Sembilan is the driest town in the country.

Unfortunately, Geography wasn't the only one. I disliked History too. It contains just too many names, too many dates for me to remember. And it's nowhere I could use those information other than on the exam paper. So I, more than often fell asleep while Mr.Q was busy writing some facts copied from the textbook on the blackboard (or was it a whiteboard?).

Those years of passive and indifference were gone and I only started to appreciate more of them decades later when I realized how useful and interesting to know what caused natural events on earth around me. And history is very interesting indeed. I was moved every time I learned new stuff on the History channel. It's good to know how I came to stand where I'm standing now.

Since 2013 is not really a travel year for Sekupang, it is the right time for me to take a look at a map, probably to shortlist a few possible next destinations. When I was busy Goog-ling on some interesting places, I came across one article which link I forgot to save. It was about this one guy, a Geo-technologist and a geographer. Notice how many of word 'Geo' are there to describe him. I can't even differentiate between them. But anyway, he has come out with a compiled list of vaguely rude place names of the world and have them plotted on a map which is quite interesting to look at during our free time. It contains hundreds of places with rude or kinky but most of the time funny names. Places names like Longdong Avenue in Shanghai or Slut in Sweden could mean something great in local language or dialect but for English readers, these could raise a few eyebrows.

However, Mr Gale didn't seem to know many 'rude' place names in South East Asia and nothing in Malaysia. He only got a few Dongs in Thailand and Semen in Indonesia but I don't understand why he included Phuket in that map. I need to be more imaginative here. Owh I got it. I believe there are a few places with funny, if not rude names in Malaysia too. There are Janda Baik (good widow), Batu Burok (ugly rock), Batang Berjuntai (dangling schlong?) but no worries, these names are all meaningless in plain English. I think in this case, older Malaysians did a good job not to name a place after something rude and embarrassing when it is read blindly in English so visitors won't titter when reaching to a place here.

Mystical Valley of Falling Waters

3plepl8 — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 16:25:00 +0800

From the surrounding beyond the station exit, I learnt that Katoomba is only a small township in the Blue Mountains region. I guess I was in the middle of its town center once I crossed the street to the Blue Mountains Trolley Tours office. One lady was attending the counter when we made an entrance to the office. Actually nothing much that she could help us with since we were already aware of what to do once we set foot in Katoomba. To make it worse, all tours seemed unrealistic and uneconomical to us when we only had 3 hours or so to get around Blue Mountains. So, we decided to take the Express Trolley Shuttle Service instead, which can take us to Katoomba's main attraction - the Echo Point and perhaps to Scenic World as well. By then, we already taken our mind off other beautiful places, other scenic lookouts around Blue Mountains when all we've got to see within limited hours were everything within Katoomba.

Since the next shuttle would arrive at Stop #1, in front of Carrington Hotel in about half an hour, we tried to look for a place to grab our lunch. I checked out one Indian restaurant but nothing on the menu looked interesting. So, we walked further downhill (south) on Katoomba St before we found a convenience store by the name of Go-Lo not very far from the hotel. Its name reflects the prices for most items available in there. From my observation, their prices are significantly cheaper compared to stores in Sydney. Anyway, we found what we wanted and checked out at the cashier. Our lunches were some tortilla wraps with a can of tuna flakes. We were about to look for a nice place to enjoy our food when the shuttle bus suddenly arrived a little ahead of its original schedule. So, we had to postpone our stomach restoration activity, again.

We hopped onto the bus with a long lineup of other tourists. Since this was not a prepaid shuttle service, we had to pay around A$2 (not sure exact amount) for a one-way trip to Echo Point. The short 3 kms trip south ended somewhere along Echo Point Road where all passengers alighted minutes later. Now we have arrived at Echo Point, a lookout area where one can enjoy 180-degree view on the famous Three Sisters of Blue Mountains along with the Kedumba Valley, the Tableland, Jamison Valley, and Mount Solitary.

Being one of the highlights in Blue Mountains, Echo Point received many visitors on daily basis. On the day we were there, though, it wasn't crowded at all. Combine that with a super fine weather, the mysterious part of Blue Mountains that stood high above lush rainforests and deep valleys in front of (and below) us became more interesting to look at.

This experience would be even better when we know the story behind the three rocky formations known as the Three Sisters. However, there are two versions of the legend that I've come across although there maybe more of them. Perhaps these two are the most accurate ones that describe the origin of Three Sisters.

Three Sisters' myth and legend #1 - Bunyip the Evil Creature

Once upon a time in a mystical land called Gondwana, there was a tribe of indigenous people called Gundungurra. The tribe's witch doctor, Tyawan and his three daughters Meenhi, Wimlah, and Gunnedoo lived there happily. At the same time, there was also a huge evil monster called Bunyip who dwelled inside a deep hole within the beautiful valley. Bunyip's evil deeds were topped by its love to feast on human flesh, especially those of young girls. Everyone was terribly scared of Bunyip. One day, Tyawan had to pass Bunyip's hideout and to do this he needed to creep quietly across it as not to disturb the dark creature. Obviously, he couldn't take his three daughters along and that forced him to leave them safely on a cliff above a rocky wall. Those girls were waiting for him on the cliff top when Tyawan descended the cliff down towards near the Bunyip's hole. All of a sudden, a huge centipede was spotted by Meenhi closing in to them. Shocked, she screamed and picked up a stone and threw it at the centipede. It wasn't a good throw, though, and the stone rolled over the edge of the cliff and crashed into the valley below it leaving an echo all across the mountainous valley. The rocks where they stood on then shook and split open and that left them standing on a ledge. Down in the deep and dark hole, Bunyip was awaken and angry by the disturbance. It rushed out the hole and saw the three girls stood there in fear. Tyawan, who was not far away from the hole realized the critical situation that his daughters were in and without hesitation he withdrew his magic bone and pointed at those girls. Instantly, each of them turned to stone. Tyawan did this to drive away Bunyip from his daughters and he would turn them back to human forms when everything was safe out there. He was wrong that day. Bunyip, who was quite close to him gave him a chase through the forest and mountains before he got trapped. He later used his magic bone again and turned himself into a Lyre bird and flew away, away from Bunyip's threat. It was during this crucial escape that Tyawan had dropped his magic bone just after he changed himself to a bird. He'd successfully saved his daughters and himself from Bunyip's wrath but one mistake he made had turned the event around. Regretful, he glided down to the forest and until today, still in searching for his long lost magic bone in the form of a Lyre Bird. Meanwhile, the motionless Three Sisters now stand there while watching their father (now a Lyre Bird) looking for the magic bone and be able to turn them back into Gundungurra girls.

Three Sisters' myth and legend #2 - Forbidden Love

Deep in the Jamison Valley, once lived three beautiful sisters named Meenhi, Wimlah, and Gunnedoo amongst the Gundungurra tribe. They fell in love with three brothers from their neighboring tribe, the Dharruk. They wanted to get married to each other but according to tribal law, marriage between the two tribes could not happened and totally forbidden. Feeling dejected, the Dharruk warrior brothers took matter into their own hands. They decided to take the three sisters by force and that means tribal warfare. Knowing their intention, Gundungurra's clever man (Kuradjuri) turned the sisters into stone and promised to turned them back to their former selves once the war had ended. Unfortunately, the Kuradjuri was also killed in the battle with Dharruk people. Since Kuradjuri was the only person with such a strong spell, until now, no one could ever break his and change the sisters back to live forms.

These are two different stories that have been associated with the early days of such unique rocky formations. As we looked at the Three Sisters, we forgot to do one thing - to listen to Tyawan's cry for his daughters while his search for the lost magic bone continues. To me, the best place to get an unobstructed view of Three Sisters and its surrounding valleys is from the Elizabeth Lookout at Echo Point. There are two viewing decks and both offer similar picturesque scenery of Jamison Valley and its mountains to the western and northwestern sides of the deck while Gangarang Range, Narrowneck Plateau, Kedumba River, and Scenic World are on its eastern corners. On a clear day and to those with good eyes, a bushfire-spotters tower can be seen on Narrowneck Plateau.

After an hour at the Echo Point lookout enjoying some good views, we walked through the Three Sisters Walk (entrance is next to souvenir store) towards the Giant Stairway. It was a relaxing and easy 15-minute walk, at least up to the Giant Stairway. Some amount of fitness is required to go through Giant Stairway before one can reach the Three Sisters.

Luckily we've been there in the late afternoon or else I would have been sweating a lot doing the stairway. I don't remember how many steps to reach the Sisters but it worth a try. Finally, I made it to the lookout point on Three Sisters. I joined other bushwalkers who made it there from Scenic World which is located on the other side of the valley. They took more than an hour to reach the Sisters and I could see how exhausted they were. I guessed it must have been quite a challenging route because it involves a lot of climbing. From the lookout on Three Sisters, I saw the Tableland, land of the Gundungurra people on my left and Kedumba Valley far right in front of me.

Kedumba? That sounds more like Katoomba isn't it? Yes, even Katoomba has several variations of its name and those include Kedumba, Go Doom Ba, Arcatoomba, and Goodomabah. They may sound different but all referring to the shiny falling waters at Katoomba Falls & Cascades, Bonnie Doon Falls, and Minnie Ha Ha Falls in Blue Mountains. Perhaps we should visit some waterfalls and cascades in Blue Mountains some other time to see those magical falling waters. Soon after, we walked back to Echo Point and waited for the shuttle bus to arrive. At 5.20 PM, it was unbelievable but supposed to be the last bus back to Katoomba town center for the evening. With that understanding, we therefore couldn't take a visit to the Scenic World. It was a little too late in Katoomba.

The bus dropped us at the same bus stop near Carrington Hotel. We didn't have anything to rush to, so we took our time enjoying our late lunch (remember wraps with tuna?) on a bench somewhere inside the hotel's garden. It was springtime and many types of flowers were blooming around the garden and this added some values to the majestic, more than 100 year-old hotel. It was built in 1880, originally known as The Western Star before being changed to The Great Western years later. The hotel now serves as an industrial icon to Katoomba. I went and checked the hotel's nightly rate and it costs about the same as another 4-star hotel in Sydney.

We finished our lunch and lazily walked to Katoomba train station. At this point we realized our trip was nearing its end before we flew out the next day. Many shops which were opened earlier when we arrived at Katoomba were now closed except several restaurants and bars.

While waiting for the eastbound train back to Sydney, we felt disappointed that we couldn't make it to Blue Mountains a couple of days earlier by car. There would be a lot more places and sights to explore in the region. Despite some unsatisfactory results, we were still thankful that finally we've been introduced to the nicest place throughout our trip in Sydney and for having the nicest day since we arrived Down Under. As the train left Katoomba, from the western horizon we saw a glowing reddish orange colors of the sun gently closing down a lovely day at the Blue Mountains.

This entry finally wraps up our Sydney 2012 trip.

CityRail and Its Onboard Art

3plepl8 — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 11:56:00 +0800

It's not over yet. I'm still writing about Sydney. I don't know, it's just keep coming but no worries, if you're tired of it and want it to end, I guess you're getting closer. In fact, I myself am struggling to churn out what's left from my memory box about our little trip in Sydney. So, I better get back to business before I forget more things. The succeeding scene took place right after our shopping time that Sunday morning, approximately around 11.30 AM.

One hour or more later, we came out of Paddy's Market with our shopping bags and walked back to the direction we came earlier. 10 minutes later we reached at the Grand Concourse area of the century-old Central Station. The station is a beautiful stone and brick construction opened in 1906 but the clock tower building was completed and opened 15 years later (1921). At the concourse, there is a stone (or bronze) figurine of the building designer, the former New South Wales (NSW) Railway's Chief Engineer, John Whitton. He was also known as the father of NSW railways. Over a century, Central Station has become the main hub for railway transportation in Sydney and the largest in NSW providing connections to the whole of Australia.

Without further delay, we bought a return MyMulti3 train ticket (A$11.60 off-peak) to Katoomba from the ticketing counter at Central Station and boarded the 12.18 PM train at Platform #12, Blue Mountains Line. It was scheduled to arrive at Katoomba in 2 hours before it continued to its terminus at Lithgow. In that 2 hours journey covering over 100 km distance, the train made more than 20 stops along the way. I guess that is more than the number of stops that KTMB trains would make from Johor in the south to Butterworth in the northern Peninsula Malaysia. Or maybe about the same. The good thing about CityRail service is the punctuality. I could happily rely on NSW's public transport website for train schedules to plan my trip way ahead of time.

Despite all the plus points the train service deserves, one thing about it left one big question mark to me. From outside the train everything looks fine. Once I stepped into the coach I felt like the carriage was somehow invaded by bunch of local morons. There were graffiti tags all over the place; on the floor, wall panel, seats, and even windows. Mostly were spray painted but some were scribbled using either pencil or a mixture of blunt and sharp objects. Graffiti is art, one might say. Yes, I agree with that but only if it's done at proper places.

But writing their tags alone is far from creating a piece of art. It's a damaging behavior at public places. It's ugly, an eyesore. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing anything like this in India, where train is one of the major transportation means. What are those people thinking by doing this act of vandalism? One article claims they did this because they want to claim a space and make a statement through colors they painted. To me, they just want to tell others they exist. Art comes second to publicity.

When the train moved on to meet its schedule, more of these so called street arts can be seen along some walls and drains in several suburbs' neighborhoods. I can't remember where it ended but Blue Mountains scenery fast took over from what we've enjoyed once the train passed through Sydney's western suburbs. When the train stopped briefly at Lawson station, I couldn't believe that we actually have made it to Blue Mountains again after what we faced a couple of days before, at that same area. Fast forward everything and we then reached Katoomba Station. As expected, most of the passengers disembarked at this little station, including ourselves.

Stay tuned for more of Katoomba...

Little Bargain at Paddy's Haymarket

3plepl8 — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:36:00 +0800

Tired of my Sydney little stories? Don't be. This could be the final installment of my (and wifey's) trip to the capital of New South Wales, Australia. That Sunday morning the weather was moderately fine with ample sunlight and blue skies. I still had my light jacket on, nevertheless. According to plan, we were supposed to go for shopping before anything else. So, we took a bus from a nearby bus stop on Randwick main road, just outside the Malaysia Hall building where we stayed the night. Don't ask me what was the bus number 'cause I don't remember but basically all buses passing by the area will go to Central Station and that was our destination. We alighted about 15 minutes later at Eddy Avenue, just opposite of the Central Station. From there we took a short walk across Belmore Park and onto Hay Street before continuing westward. Where to? Our target was none other than the Haymarket, part of the well known Paddy's Market. It's located about 10-minute on foot from Belmore Park. A market? Yes, you read it right. It's a place to shop, remember?

Judging by the look outside the market building, I can say it was there since a very long time. The red brick and stone construction signifies Paddy's as one of the traditional markets in Sydney.

When I cross checked with an official Sydney web guide, it's proven that the market has become a local landmark since 1834. It is also the oldest traditional markets in not only Sydney but the whole of Australia.

It is said that there are thousands of stalls in both Haymarket and Sydney Markets. These two market areas are now known as Paddy's Markets. Originally, these markets were set up to sell fresh produce, livestock and hay to the early settlers of Sydney. Other than those, the markets were also a place for cheap pre-owned goods, entertainment and sideshows which attracted early Sydney population.

So, who's Paddy that owned these marketplaces? According to word of mouth (some say legend), the name Paddy refers to the poor Irish immigrants, the main customers. They comprised one third of the colony's population in Sydney during those early days. Paddy's Markets moved its location a few times over the century. Its first location was at The Rocks before been moved to Cockle Bay and then to the Queen Victoria Building (QVB). In 1993, the markets moved to its current location at Haymarket. Second site for Paddy's, which is known as Sydney Markets was established in 1976 at Flemington, about 15 km away from Haymarket.

I seriously don't want to write a lot about Haymarket that we went. To sum it up, it's generally a market square that got almost everything that could be of interest to visiting foreigners such as souvenirs, fancy t-shirts, snacks, etc. Most traders are of Chinese origin, not from China but from other countries like Indonesia, Taiwan and maybe even Malaysia.

So it has become a very familiar place for Asians like us. In fact, I didn't feel like I was in Sydney at all when I was there. I did feel awkward somehow to be home away from home. Anyway, if you happened to shop at this place, keep your bargaining skills handy. It works with little reduction in the selling price from most of the stalls but don't expect too much lower. At certain stalls, no haggling would be entertained, though.

Waxy Maxy Madame Tussauds Sydney

3plepl8 — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 21:56:00 +0800

Fun continued for us later that evening with another ferry ride from Circular Quay (Wharf #5) to Darling Harbour on a Sydney Ferry (Darling Harbour / Balmain East line), with a brief stop at Milsons Point after making a pass under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This same stop will get one to Luna Park too. Luna Park is well, an amusement park for families. As our ferry was about to leave the dock at Milsons Point, another boat passed by with a bunch of uncivilized locals on, who started mooning at our ferry. They could be drunk but how on earth they got intoxicated while paying a visit to Luna Park, a decent-looking theme park with kids? Jackass Oi!

Next stop was the Darling Harbour Terminal, where we disembarked onto King St Wharf 3. From there, we continued on foot to Aquarium Pier.

En route, I was approached by an idiotic bloke who thought he was one of the Wallabies crew, David Pocock. Yeah, maybe he looked like one but looks doesn't make you smart or a star. I don't care if he was really the Poo-cock. I'm a Wallabies-hater anyway. With silly face, he wanted to have a photo taken with me. I was stunned before I realized I actually put an NZ tee on that day. Damn it! Wrong territory at the wrong time, if you catch the drift.

We continued to walk about 100 meters more before we reached the entrance of Madame Tussauds Sydney right next to Wild Life Sydney and Sydney Aquarium. After exchanging our promo e-vouchers, which were bought from ExperienceOZ for AUD20 each, we made an entrance to the most famously realistic wax museum in the world that promised an interactive star-studded journey through music, sport, film, history, and more. Amongst other Madame Tussauds exhibition houses are located in London, Amsterdam, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Tokyo, and several more around the globe.

So, why this attraction was named after a French woman? Let's turn back time and see how it all started. In 1761, Anna Maria Grosholtz was born in Strasbourg, France. At a young age of 16, she picked up the skill of wax modelling from a well known wax modeller, Dr Philippe Curtius, who happened to be her mother's employer. Since then, she carved her way to fame by creating wax figures of numerous important figures in French history. From Voltaire to Marie Antoinette and later Maximilien Robespierre, she was the person behind each of their death masks, during and after the French Revolution.

In 1795, Marie got married to Francois Tussaud but migrated to London and the UK 7 years later. In London, her two sons from the marriage with Francois; Joseph and Francis helped her setting up her first exhibition that was called the Chambers of Horrors. By 1850, she died at the age of 88. In her spirit, Madame Tussauds opened doors to the world of wax models in several locations as mentioned earlier including the one we were standing right in front.

With the red carpet welcome, Madame Tussauds and its 'A-list' party is best to be seen rather than to be heard. Thus, I leave you guys with some of the celebrities that we had spent some time with that evening. I mean their wax figures.

Before the exit, don't forget to grab some souvenirs for the loved ones back home.

The Bridge of Many Returns

3plepl8 — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:55:00 +0800

This is a post about a bridge, no doubt about it. This is about a well known bridge not only in Sydney but in entire Australia, generally. Known as the coathanger due to its design architecture, Sydney Harbour Bridge has become an icon of Sydney and Australia since its first opening in 1932. Built connecting Millers Point of Sydney CBD (where The Rocks is located in) and Milsons Point on the North Shore, it spans 1149 meters across the major harbour of Sydney and 134 meters from the top to the water surface. Beside motor vehicles, it serves to carry rails, bicycles, and pedestrian traffic too.

Being one of many to-dos in Sydney, getting and walking on the bridge has been one of our objectives too while in Sydney Harbour-The Rocks vicinity. There are 3 ways to be up there. As usual, I would go with the most economical option. Did I say it was free? First and most probably the most expensive experience one can have with the bridge is the one currently being offered by BridgeClimb company. Three adventure packages (Express Climb, Discovery Climb, Bridge Climb) are open for selection depending on one's available time to spend as well as fitness level and all three packages will take you to the bridge summit.

There are a few limitations though for any of these bridge climbing adventures:

no drunk climbers
ladies with less than 24 weeks pregnancy requires a fitness certificate, signed by a doctor.
ladies with over 24 weeks pregnancy cannot climb
must age over 10 years old with at least 1.2 meters in height
no cameras, no video equipment are allowed during climbing

Other than these limitations, all non-acrophobias can climb. The cheapest ticket price for adult is AUD198 (night climb) and AUD138 for a child. All prices include a group photo at the peak, a certificate, a company cap, and a free entry to Pylon Lookout.

Here comes the #2 option to get to the bridge, the Pylon Lookout and enjoy magnificent view of the harbour, the city, and the bridge itself from higher angles with a fraction of the previous BridgeClimb adventures ticket. In order to get there, one needs to climb 200 steps up to the pylon summit. No worries, there are exhibits telling about the bridge's history and the progress during its construction.

Special features include big screen AV show presented in one of the chambers of the pylon. Admission to Pylon Lookout can be combined with any of the BridgeClimb's packages but separate admission will set you back at AUD15 (general adult) and AUD6.50 for children aged between 5 to 12. No fee for children under 4 years old.

Like I mentioned earlier, there is a third way to get on that very bridge. In fact one needs to go this way too to get to the Pylon entrance. Since that afternoon we were walking around The Rocks, so we extended our walks a little further than George Street. Easiest way to start is from the Sydney Visitor Center on Playfair St. We turned right on Argyle St. and head west only about 100 meters before we saw Argyle Stairs on our right.

We climbed that up onto Cumberland St. We crossed the road and were taken to the Bridge Stairs. We needed to climb two levels up before we ended on the pedestrian walkway, on the eastern side of the bridge. No bicycles, skateboards, or roller blades are allowed on this footpath. They should go on the western side of the bridge instead.

Once on the footpath, visitors will have 1km plus of fascinating views of Sydney Harbour, Circular Quay, Fort Denison, up to Luna Park on the North Shore.

We burnt some calories, so as others, by walking up to 500 meters to the midsection of the bridge. Then we came back to where we started. That's 1km already, isn't it? And we concluded our free Sydney Harbour Bridge walk in under 1 hour mark. By the way, Pylon Lookout entrance is located on the first pylon you can see if you're walking from The Rocks. Above us, groups of bridge climbers were walking on the metal beams to the bridge summit.

All in all, this is one good experience while in Sydney that cannot be missed. Choose among those three options of getting up to the icon of Sydney. The more you pay the more adventurous you could be.

Sydney Harbour Due East

3plepl8 — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 22:39:00 +0800

Before we set foot to the oldest point in Sydney, we had actually probed somewhere off the harbour as soon as we reached Circular Quay a few moments ago. Yeah, I know this entry came out pretty late but it actually took place before we were drooling over the tongue rolling, hornblasting effects from the didgeridoo performance at The Rocks.

Wharf #4 at Circular Quay Ferry Terminal, that's where we waited for the next Sydney Ferry on schedule set for Watsons Bay once in every 30 minutes. This particular ferry route is simply named as Eastern Suburbs route. Why? Because the ferry will stop at several points along the Sydney's northeastern coves. From the ferry map, we were informed that the ferry will stop at each of these locations:

Circular Quay (the terminal)
Garden Island
Darling Point (Mon-Fri only)
Double Bay
Rose Bay
Watsons Bay (the end before making a 'u-turn')

After 10 minutes wait at the wharf, a medium-sized passenger boat docked in. The size of the boat may be equal or slightly larger than those boats used between Lumut Jetty and Pangkor Island. But of course, this one looks newer, of modern models.

Clearly, a placard with the destination it might be heading can be seen from where I stood. Other passengers, mostly foreigners, queued up to get onboard, so did we.

According to my original idea, we would've alighted at the first stop eastbound but due to a misunderstanding, we changed the plan. It was the Garden Island where the ferry should have stopped. Instead, the boat captain just made a low-speed cruising in front of the Garden Island jetty. "What the hell he's doing?", we looked at each other in disbelief. I guess the captain had a point in doing that which we'll get to know in just a moment.

Since we travelled on a Saturday, the boat didn't stop at Darling Point for some reasons. Minutes later, it slowed down for Double Bay but I don't recall anyone got off the boat here. Or even if there was, it was almost unnoticeable. Next up was Rose Bay. About a dozen passengers disembarked at this point.

I'm not sure what are the attractions at Rose Bay but definitely they were up to something. At the very least, they wanted to get something to bite for lunch. For us and the rest of the passengers on the boat, we continued on to Watsons Bay.

As I saw our last stop, Watsons Bay jetty and its surrounding from 30 meters away, we quickly made up our mind about stopping and getting onshore at Watsons Bay. Weekenders could be seen having their picnics while some others had an afternoon walk on the beach. The scenery was very relaxing but not really for us to enjoy.

Finally, we decided not to waste more time at just one place. As all other passengers headed their way out of the boat's (or ferry) main door, we got back in and told one of the boat crews that we wanted to set off at Garden Island. He nodded as we walked to the back of the boat. It waited for another 5 minutes before heading back west.

Both of us stood by the exit when the boat made an approach to the jetty of Garden Island. I asked myself whether anyone else were coming with us. We saw none others but two guys from Malaysia. They were sort of tailing us since the very start. Curious, we had a brief chat and so I found out they were just gotten to Sydney a day earlier. So, that answered the question why the captain hesitated to make a full stop at this jetty earlier. Why wouldn't anyone else care to get on this so called island? It is among the less known attractions at Port Jackson area and we Malaysians are very curious to know what there is.

There are a couple of things that can be done on Garden Island. The main attraction lies on the eastern side where the Heritage Center of Royal Australian Navy (aka museum) is located. This is where we could go back to the black and white era of Australia's navy. This is where artefacts of local navy's history are kept with many items on display have never been seen by the general public. Those items came from several major battles which the Aussie marines took part, locally and abroad such as the Battle of Sydney, the World War II, the Cold War, and the Persian Gulf conflict. Admission to the Heritage Center is free but it only opens from 9.30am till 3.30pm daily. Expect to spend 1 to 2 hours on this part of the island. However, we didn't have that time luxury so we didn't make to every corner of the island.

From the memorials section in front of the navy museum, we went up a flight of stairs to one open space that looks like a garden.

A walk through the garden towards the back from where we came took us to the next interesting part of Garden Island. It was the tall lookout post which is equivalent to a three-storey building. The view from up there is rare despite it offers similar main subjects of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. In addition to these two iconic structures, it provides almost unobstructable 360-degree view of the city's skyline, Sydney Harbour and Port Jackson.

Considering limited time that we had that afternoon, we left the island 30 minutes later when another Sydney Ferry came to our 'rescue'.

On our way back to where we started the ferry ride (Circular Quay), the boat cruised right in front of the Opera House and Fort Denison. Further north but clearly been seen together due to its size was the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Since I didn't mention anything on either of those icons of Sydney or Australia in general, here are some abstracts on them.

On my left, the Sydney Opera House:

opened in 1973 after 16 years in construction.
architectural masterpiece of 20th century.
currently used for musical concerts, theatrical plays, and other performing arts.

Then on my right, Fort Denison:

former defence facility.
contains old cannons which get fired daily at 1pm.
get there by water taxi or private tour.

And in front of me was the bridge...the Coathanger. Find more about how I (or we) did the bridge walking in the next entry.

The Start of Sydney

3plepl8 — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:07:00 +0800

Saturday morning, I woke up from a good night sleep and rushed out of the bed towards the door. Yes, a door, I wasn't dreaming. Upon opening the door, I saw the blue sky with a lot of sunshine, giving me a good start for the day. After a hot shower, we took a simple breaky of whatever we had left from the night earlier. Protein and carb, that's all we needed for a long day ahead of us. While munching our food, we quickly got our schedule reorganized for the final two days in Sydney. Some were scrapped out of the list as time wasn't so permitting after we've lost half a day on the road to the Blue Mountains.

We returned the room key to the same lady who attended us the night when we registered into the lodge. We then loaded the car trunk with our luggages and headed to our next place to stay, located not far from Randwick Lodge. The Malaysia Hall Sydney offers the cheapest kind of accommodation we could get in the city. Strictly for Malaysians, though. For $12 a night per person in a twin-shared private room with ensuite bathroom, it was good enough for us especially when we just need a few hours of good rest after a long day out. Since it was quite early for us to get into the room, we left our baggages at one corner of a room before we hopped back into our rented car and drove to Mascot, where we would have to return the car at East Coast rental office, the same place we picked it up two days earlier.

We didn't find it too hard to get to that address without a GPS unit. We accomplished that just by following the route to Sydney Airport. Mascot township can be found just before reaching the airport. As with any rentals, we've got to fill up the fuel back to the original point during pickup. 20 liters of E10 unleaded petrol cost about $30 and that was the amount of fuel that has been consumed by the car for two days. However, I forgot to note down the total mileage covered on that same period. I guess it might be close to 500 kilometers from Sydney to Kiama, then to Blue Mountains region before came back to Sydney. Return procedure was pretty easy. First upon arriving at the car depot, the car was inspected for any damages. Everything looked good and I signed a release paper. The whole process took 10 minutes top.

From the rental office, we walked to Mascot train station, about two blocks away that took us about 15 minutes on foot. At the train station, we bought a MyMulti Day Pass from the ticket counter that cost $21 (now increased to $22) each to make our trip easier.

The Day Pass enabled us to travel on any modes of public transportation in Sydney except for taxicabs (duhh) and Sydney monorail service, for one (1) day, to any destinations. We got down to the subway platform but the train only arrived 10 minutes later. I noticed the public transport (bus or train) frequencies in Sydney are a little low. Perhaps Sydneysiders prefer to drive than taking public vehicles.

A train then arrived at the platform but we were not sure it was the right train to Circular Quay. Assuming all trains passing the platform were going the same direction, we boarded the middle coach, upper deck. Yes, Sydney CityRail is equipped with double-deck coaches. However, the train was full of shitty graffiti which most of them were hard to comprehend. More images of the ugliness of Sydney graffiti can be seen later. Suddenly, an announcement was made by the rail operator, in light Aussie accent. "Due to upgrade and maintenance works..., City Circle line is temporarily unavailable.... Please disembark...Central Station...City buses...". Filling in those blanks, that required us to get off at Central Station, just two stops away from Mascot and changed to city bus Route #5 outside the station that would take us to Circular Quay.

The bus was provided as a free service that day, most probably as a courtesy for the service disruption of the CityRail. We jumped onto the bus and 20 minutes later we were already standing in front of Circular Quay Ferry Terminal.

However in this post, I'm going to skip the fun of Port Jackson water (if there's any) and concentrate on the place nearby where all got started for the city called Sydney. This place was named The Rocks. Why? I seriously don't know why the city founders named it that way but this is the area of the first settlement in Sydney established by Captain Arthur Phillip, the commander of the First Fleet in the late 18th centuries.

He was later became the first governor of New South Wales. This fact made the Rocks as the oldest part of Sydney. Although the area was once dirty and busy docks, now it has become a tourist hot-spot in the center of Sydney.

As we walked along the western pier in Circular Quay, two major landmarks of Sydney (if not Australia) can be seen right in front of us. First and foremost, the Sydney Opera House, a unique building that is known as the symbol of Australia. Then, the Sydney Harbour Bridge aka the Coathanger.

More of these significant attractions of Sydney will be highlighted later. For now, I just want to recall how sweet and melodious a didgeridoo sound can be. That morning, a two-piece band, consisted most probably of local aborigines, were busking their traditional musical pieces not far from the ferry terminal. That was the first time I ever heard a live didgeridoo performance from a pro, or at least a semi-pro individual. As typical buskers, donations were expected but no harm if you just stand there and watch their performances. They also sell their music collections on CD which cost $10 each.

We moved ahead towards a flock of doves which were fed by a kind-hearted man who I prefer to call him Birdman (not the American rapper). Birdman got himself some food in both his hands and those doves quickly surrounded him, begging for more food. We then left those birds which were on feeding frenzy and walked to the center of The Rocks.

There was a flight of stairs that we needed to climb in order to get to the upper side of George Street, where a weekend market was held every Saturday and Sunday. This place was called The Rocks Market. It is the place where local traders put variety of local-made handicrafts, knick knacks and home-made food up for sale. Judging by the number of visitors around the market area, I think it's one of the major attractions at The Rocks.

To entertain our hungry stomaches, we stopped at one stall selling corns and drinks. Those corns were proudly grown in Australia. Yeah, right. I can get similar quality corn at a night market near my place at a fraction of the price. A combo of one stick of corn and a can of soft drink cost $5.

I realized the high price but since we were starving and already out of food supply, money didn't really matter. We've got a selection of toppings (chili paste, butter, etc) to add some taste to the corn. We opted for the usual butter. Corn with chili paste? Are they kidding? A few oriental tourists tried the chili paste on their corns and ended with funny faces. Spicy, maybe.

After finishing the last drop of our drinks, we were back on our feet again. We strolled along Playfair Street, a pedestrian-only alley (on weekends) up to the intersection of Argyle Street. At the corner just after The Rocks Square, we found the Sydney Visitor Center which is located on the first floor of the building.

Here, we spent some time looking out for interesting stuffs to take back home. Unfortunately, we only managed to get some more information on Sydney attractions. Nothing more. 15 minutes later, we left the Visitor Center and by using some help from the map and verbal direction from a lady promoter at the center, we tried to get ourselves to a higher ground in Sydney. To be continued...

All $ signs used in this article are referring to Australian Dollar (AUD).

2013 in Malaysia's Tourism

3plepl8 — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:08:00 +0800

First of all, Happy New Year 2013! It's not very late for such a greeting, isn't it? Since the globe continue to spin despite the end of Mayan's Long Count calendar, everything goes on just as usual. After two long weekends (Christmas and New Year), Monday blues hit me almost every day now. Hopefully 2013 would give me some unique and wonderful escapades. Of course, I'm talking about travel and what are there to see and explore in 2013. Since today is only the third day of January, it is best to look around my backyard, as a start. In short, let's look at what Malaysia is offering to the tourism communities this year.

Terengganu came first in announcing 2013 as Visit Terengganu Year or simply TMT2013. Inline with the announcement, a logo was created as promotional trade mark for the event. Based on the shape of a turtle (what else), the logo carries a lot of meanings, relative to the state of Terengganu.

Descriptions of the logo:

A: Turtle has become an identity of Terengganu Darul Iman.

B: Flower motif symbolizes Terengganu as a state that is popular with its batik and songket crafts.

C: Yacht symbolizes Terengganu native people, traditionally were very keen seafarers. Also it reflects Pulau Duyong and its well-known shipmaking industry and annual Monsoon Cup yacht race event.

D: The capital of Terengganu, Kuala Terengganu has been declared as the Heritage City by The Sea.

E: Special font used to reflect the characteristics of Terengganu.

F: The sun as a symbol of beauty of the state highlighting its beautiful islands and beaches.

G: Engraved decorative pattern tells us about rich craftmanship of wood and copper-carving in Terengganu.

Can't wait to go to Terengganu, can you? But maybe now (early of the year) is not the most suitable time to visit Terengganu just yet. With monsoon season across West Malaysia and floods at several areas in the East Coast of Malaysia Peninsula which may offer you a different kind of experience (often bad rather than pleasant ones), maybe Terengganu is best left alone, at least until April. Come May, when the dry season arrives, islands with white sandy beaches are just one of the treasures of Terengganu which is a worthy getaway, waiting for visitors to explore.

One thing that surprised me is the absence of an official website for Terengganu tourism. As at the time of writing this article, what supposed to look like a formal web address, a Joomla-based portal is empty. Urghhh.

In the meantime, 2013 is not only a year for Terengganu tourism. In fact, this year is the start of the back-to-back Visit Malaysia Year 2013/14 (VMY). The last time we had VMY was in 2007. Malaysian Government targets 26.8 million foreign tourists within this VMY period and more than RM62 billion in total revenue. What a figure? In order to achieve those targets, the government has announced RM358 million to be allocated for tourism development effort. The outcome of such a huge amount of money we'll see once the VMY is officially launched this year. Maybe we'll see Malaysia tourism won't be centered around its capital Kuala Lumpur only but spread across the peninsula too. Perhaps Penang, Malacca, and Sabah are no strangers to foreign visitors but other tourism low-profile states like Kedah, Perlis, N.Sembilan, Sarawak, or even Perak could benefit more from the financial allocation to promote each of the states' attractions to visitors, foreign and domestic. Other than attractions and happenings throughout the year, one more thing that makes 2013 a special year to visitors is because of the general election, which will be held within the first half of the year and promises a close battle between the ruling party and the opposition coalition.

I think Tourism Malaysia has taken a good first step in its course to upgrade the local tourism to a higher level. From my observation, the official website is upgraded in its look-and-feel department. Although in beta, the website looks good apart from one typo (English version), long loading time (could be due to my slow internet connection too), and some missing information (not all interesting places are covered). I wish they could come out with information-laden tourism website like the one belonged to Korea Tourism (english.visitkorea.or.kr). I basically can find any places of interest in South Korea just by searching inside its website. Awesome.

Whatever it is and wherever you go, I wish y'all a happy and prosperous 2013. Happy traveling!

Day of Grey in Wintery Spring

3plepl8 — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 17:21:00 +0800

I woke up the next morning to the nerve-wrecking sound of huge wind blowing through the door gaps. I peeked outside and saw heavy rains and strong winds. I started to think about typhoon hitting the coast and for once, regretted my decision to have a seaside accommodation. After a light breaky of scone and soda water, we checked out of our inn. While returning the room key at reception, we received an unconfirmed bad news from the caretaker about some snowing somewhere northern of Kiama. Even to him, it was an unpredictable weather (snowing) since spring has begun a couple of weeks earlier. And we were in NSW for its springtime and weren't at all equipped physically and mentally for any unexpected weather-related events that we were about to experience.

The guy also mentioned to us about how crazy the Kiama blowhole was that morning when he took his dog out for walk. After a brief morning chat, he later wished us a good journey northwest and without hesitation, we rushed to Blowhole Point once again to witness it performing its best after a dull action the day before. Rain was getting heavier when we reached there minutes later. With strong wind and rain water jet streamed from up above, visibility was limited to only about 20 meters and that made driving quite a dangerous business. So we pulled over right in front of the blow hole.

I had to turn up the windscreen wiper speed to maximum in order to slightly see what was going on in front of us. We heard loud thuds and saw water gushed out from the blow hole after huge waves continuously hitting the shoreline, as well as our car. We first enjoyed the wildness of the situations but then conscience kicked in when our cute car was shaken and literally moved a little by the power of such natural phenomenon. We looked around and only another pick-up truck was still parked there. In no time, I engaged the gears and throttled away.

Since the surroundings were all grey that morning, we decided to take up Princes Highway route to Wollongong, not the more scenic Grand Pacific Drive. With that, we had to skip an attraction or two which were originally in our to-dos for the day. Somewhere before reaching Wollongong, we merged into Picton Road before finally got onto Hume Highway. It was a long journey and bad weather made the trip even longer. Or at least, felt longer. That was only half of the way en route to Glenbrook, our next scheduled stop. From Hume Highway, we exited onto Narellan Road towards Camden. Finally, we took a ramp on Western Motorway toward Blue Mountains and drove along until Glenbrook.

We stopped at Glenbrook Visitor Information Center, approximately after 150km of driving. We stopped for some early souvenirs from Blue Mountains region as well as toilet break after more than two hours behind the wheel, for me. It was midday and lunchtime but we just took a bunch of junk food earlier, so didn't feel really hungry. It seemed the rain didn't want to go away, and we started to have a faded excitement about the day at one of the must-see regions in NSW.

I even thought about many hours spent on preparing the itineraries for the Blue Mountains scenic drive alone, that was about to be trashed. But we were still hopeful at this point. There were still handful of other things to do on a wet day in the mountains. From Wentworth Falls to Leura to Katoomba and Blackheath, there were really something. Half an hour later, we hit the road again with towering hopes.

There were a few townships we passed by including Blaxland, Warrimoo, Valley Heights, and Faulconbridge along the Great Western Highway, before we reached to what seemed to be a massive traffic deadlock we'd ever experienced outside KL. It all started somewhere around Linden and for about 8km, we were dragged, together with other drivers, moved forward only a few meters before another stop.

We were clueless and only after we tuned in to local radio station did we know what caused the crawl. On the other side of the road, cars came from opposite direction been decorated with snow on their roofs. Traffic later came to a complete halt at Lawson when we asked other drivers about what was going on. A bus driver explaint to us about a road closure at Katoomba due to thick snowfall. Having realized that Katoomba was still another 20km or so ahead of us, manual transmission car, and we'd already wasted 3 hours in the jam, all hopes by then went down the drain, fast.

With pre-booked lodging at Blue Mountains, tight schedules in and around Katoomba and Blue Mountains region, we were forced to cancel all of them. I'm not sure we were just lucky or part of terms and conditions for booking cancellation, but unlike insurance claim, hotel booking can be undone in case of no-show caused by natural disaster. Quickly though, we thought of other possibilities. A detour was indeed needed. Since we had no backup plan for this kind of situation, we resorted to choose to head for Sydney. I got our Hyundai Getz to jump a road divider and we were then heading in the eastbound direction on Motorway 4.

We made a brief stop to have a bite of our late lunches and to reschedule back what we'd missed. So, what was next? From Motorway 4, we made an entrance to Sydney CBD via Anzac Bridge, the longest cable-stayed bridge in Australia.

Sydney's skyline can be seen from several points along the bridge but with no stopping rule on the bridge, we didn't bother to break Aussie road and traffic laws. We went on, guided only by a physical map which was printed out of GoogleMap website. After a few wrong turns, we managed to get to Bondi before it was too late.

Right on Bondi Street, we cruised at low speed along the beachfront. Wind was strong but it was all sunny but chilly late afternoon. To locals, it looked like the perfect weather to them. Some were cycling, jogging, skateboarding, while a few surfers tried their luck at tackling the strong, endless waves at Bondi bay. For wifey and I, we could only get out in the open for a while before we both trembled, tried to fight the coldness. Since it wasn't the right day to come to Bondi, the beach was almost empty. At that time, we were just a few days away from a sculpture exhibition, an annual event at the 1km-Bondi beach.

As the sun was about to set, we left Bondi to begin our mission of accommodation-hunting. Remember, we haven't had any reservations made for the night after we've cancelled the one at Blue Mountains? We tried to look somewhere around Randwick area, not very far from Bondi and found an old-looking but decent lodge. After haggling for cheaper rate, we secured a room for the night just below $100 mark. For walk-in rate, the price wasn't so bad. That night, after a tasty dinner of Japanese and Oriental mixture from Woolworths nearby, we went to bed with a new hope for the next day in Sydney.

Kiama & The Blow Holes

3plepl8 — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 14:44:00 +0800

We left Wollongong's old fortress and headed south for our last 35km journey of the day passing through several coastal towns along the way. Shellharbour and Minnamurra are two of the more well known weekend getaways among local tourists for their close proximity to Lake Illawarra, which is popular for its water recreational activities such as fishing and sailing. We went on and off the Grand Pacific Drive and Princes Highway before making an exit at Kiama intersection. Since we enjoyed the sceneries along the way to Kiama, we didn't really feel the driving despite the narrow and busy Princes Highway. All I know was we managed to get to our scheduled destination on time. And again, we've forgotten that we'd actually missed our lunch.

I drove into Kiama town which looks a little sombre but peaceful. I just followed its main road passing one of a few Kiama's landmarks such as the iconic pink Italianate post office (built in 1887) until we saw a huge signage reads Blowhole Point.

I quickly realized we were already on Blowhole Point Road, where Kiama's best attraction is located. This is about a mini wonder of nature, an unusual rock formation that spouts plumes of sea water high into the air with a great whooshing sound. Kiama Visitors Center is located just before the parking area of Kiama Blowhole. This is the place to check out if you're after maps, guides, or even souvenirs. There is also a heritage lighthouse (built in 1887) nearby.

When we arrived at the main Kiama Blowhole, the weather was calm, almost no wind blown from either directions. To get a decent action from the big hole, we needed to wait for almost five minutes on the viewing platform after each blow.

Although decent, it wasn't as great as I expected coming from the BIGGEST blow hole in the world. BIG here means the size of the hole. Despite a mediocre performance by the main blow hole, it wasn't a total disappointment.

We knew it was beyond our control. Whatever the result was, we were glad to have experienced the blow hole as we didn't get to see the actions from Punakaiki of New Zealand like what Chawanna did.

So, before the sun was about to disappear, we made haste to find its little cousin, the Little Blow Hole, located about 3.5km from Blowhole Point Road.

Not as popular as the bigger one, this little blow hole is situated within a housing area but is adequately signposted. You just need to open up your eyes a bit not to miss any signs.

As we parked our car, suddenly I saw dots of water sprayed on the windscreen. I thought it was drizzling but later amazed by what we were about to see. It was the vigorous sprays of water from what they called little blowhole.

Assisted by strong wind blowing from the north, the water sprays reached remarkable heights and distance. There was basically nowhere to hide from the water vapors depending on the direction of the wind blows. That evening, I even got wet from the viewing platform built purposedly for viewing that particular feature of nature. We were finally satisfied by the performance of the Little Blowhole more than what we had earlier with the other blow hole.

After all the whoomp and thump actions of both blow holes Kiama could offer, we checked in to our motor lodge before heading to the nearby Centro Kiama to get some groceries from Woolworths supermarket. We were starving, remember. That night we really enjoyed our dinner of healthy wholemeal pita wraps with canned tuna and caesar salad in a basic Room #5 at Kiama Ocean View Motor Inn.

By the way, here are a little information on blow holes that worth noting in case you're going to Kiama to experience one.

How it's formed?

As dyke which composed of soft basalt rock cuts through the latite rock platform, a tunnel formed under the headland over million of years when the basalt rock eroded in a faster rate than the latite platform above it. Part of the rock platform will eventually collapse thus creating a natural feature called blow hole.

Who found it in Kiama?

A British naval surgeon, George Bass was the man who explored many parts of Australia's coastal regions. Together with Matthew Flinders on a whaleboat to explore southeast coast of Australia, he noticed the natural feature of Kiama main blow hole in 1797. This is the information printed on a visitor board at the location of the main Blow Hole BUT the real credit should have gone to the local Aborigines (Wodi Wodi tribe) who'd settled in Kiama long before Bass found it and referred to it as Khanterintee which means mysterious noise in their local dialect.

Best time to see it in action

Due to similar location for both big and little blow holes on Kiama coastline, the best time to experience both blow holes in action is when the wind is blowing from the northeast. This is the direction where the wind from the open sea produces the strongest waves that will surge through the tunnel opening below the headland before air is compressed in the rear chambers and building enough pressure to force the trapped water up these blow holes. However, to wait for the wind to blow from this particular direction will be quite tormenting. Don't worry, you can still see any of these blow holes spray out water just by waiting for the whoomp sound from underneath the platform. The blow effect varies depending on the speed of waves coming into the tunnel, though.

Fortress of Wollongong

3plepl8 — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 14:28:00 +0800

We continued south along Lawrence Hargrave Drive passing by a few small towns like Austinmer, Thirroul, and Towradgi before merged back to the Grand Pacific Drive (GPD). Once entering North Wollongong about half an hour later, we knew we were getting closer to one of the Wollongong's landmarks. Located on the top of a hill called Flagstaff; a lighthouse and a set of three cannons were used to be part of Wollongong's first line of defences on the open sea of Tasman. We slowed down at Endeavor Drive, the road which led us to Flagstaff Hill Park and the end of the Wollongong Harbour.

A couple of boat charters (probably for fishing) were seen in between Flagstaff Hill and the Historic Lighthouse aka Wollongong Breakwater Lighthouse. Harbourfront seafood restaurant is located here too but I think it was either closed that day or out of business already.

After making one complete round about Flagstaff Hill, we decided to stop for a few moments. Flagstaff Hill aka Flagstaff Point offers a combination of wonderful scenery of Tasman Sea overlooking the harbour, part of the city and the historical background of the headland. For local folks, they use it as a training ground for various physical activities.

Some may go for picnic or just stroll along the coastline to enjoy some breezy evening. Since the main attraction here is its history, let's dig some. In fact, to explore on occurrences around the harbour area since centuries ago, Wollongong Harbour history walk could be quite helpful.

Flagstaff Point or Signal Hill got its name after a flagstaff erected somewhere nearby. Flags were used to guide shipping movements and to warn incoming vessels of sea conditions at the harbour mouth. In 1829, the current cape headland which was then known as Wollongong Head was a site of army barracks and a stockade where 300 convicts were kept.

Those convicts were at that time consructing the first harbour of Wollongong. In late 1800s, as possible threat from the Russians was worrying, some kind of defence system was put up to fend off any attacks from the sea front. As what I can see on Flagstaff Point, there were three 68-pounder cannons with each could reach weight of 4 tons or more.

Some may call this place as Flagstaff Hill Fort for this. However, these cannons' firepower wasn't the greatest with their effective range of only 1.6km, firing out 68-pound ammunition. A few years after its installation on the Flagstaff Hill, these guns were obsolete and disused since enemy battleships can easily outrange the cannons and bombard the important port.

Some 30 years later, another lighthouse was brought up to replace the older Breakwater Lighthouse which was found unsafe for operation. The new lighthouse was called Wollongong Head Lighthouse, mostly to reflect its location.

With its heritage state, the lighthouse is also Australia's first fully automatic electric lighthouse. Minutes later, we left Flagstaff Point headed back onto GPD and National Highway 1 (NH1).

Grand Pacific Drive: Going Coastal in Illawara

3plepl8 — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 13:42:00 +0800

Half an hour on the road, we basically had passed Sydney suburbs and headed onto one of the most famous tourist routes off Sydney metro, the Grand Pacific Drive (GPD). It wasn't so hard to reach this point as we only followed the direction towards Illawara or Wollongong.

At the first exit where GPD signage was seen, we turned left onto a road that didn't look so touristy to me. It was almost empty with cars passing us only once in a while. First ten minutes on that route could be quite a moment to remember with a nice-looking lake and weird signposts but after that, boredom crept in. "Isn't it supposed to be a scenic route?", one of us grumbled. All around us were nothing but pale vegetations apart from the black tarmac we were on and grey sky up above. We also did refrain ourselves from going too fast on Australian roads despite we were surrounded by only bushes at that time. The speed was maintained somewhere between 80km/h and 90km/h. We realized that we were still on schedule, so no hurry at all.

As a co-driver for the first half of the trip south, I almost fell asleep when suddenly we saw a mileage sign for Stanwell Park. That added a little joy to us, knowing we were getting closer to our next destination on schedule. Minutes later we already stopped at the first scenic point along Lawrence Hargrave Drive after had driven slightly more than an hour. That place was Otford Lookout which is located just minutes away from Bald Hill. We stepped out of our car and started to shoot our videos. A breathtaking view of the well known Sea Cliff Bridge can be enjoyed from the lookout. Far beyond the bridge is Illawara township, which can also be seen from up here. Another car stopped by, snapped some photos and left minutes later. I guessed they were tourists too. A group of young bushwalkers gathered nearby where we stood before ascending the slope to take on the Royal National Park coastal walk. They might have came up from Otford train station located not far from there.

We continued on and our next stop was Bald Hill. It seems like a popular spot for tourists, based on the size of the car park area but when we reached there, we only saw a few local construction workers having their lunch break. Bald Hill is in fact one of the most popular lookouts in Illawara and it is also known for its hang gliding activity.

The flying activity and the name of the main road here were all connected to one big name in Australian history, Mr. Lawrence Hargrave (1850 - 1915), the pioneer in aviation who kickstarted researches on flying machines that we've seen today. A memorial in his name was erected just next to the car park and it was somewhere closer to the beach at Stanwell Park that Mr Hargrave had experimented his first model of box kites, which successfully lifted him for almost five meters off the ground in late 1894.

Other than the memorial, Bald Hill offers almost similar 360-degree views as what we had at Otford Lookout earlier but we still took more than 15 minutes to enjoy the scenery around us with moderate wind blown from the vast Tasman Sea. The Sea Cliff Bridge was seen closer and unobstructed from up here compared to Otford, though.

As groups of black cloud were seen coming our way from the north, we hopped into our ride and hit the road again. For a moment, we didn't remember that we haven't had anything to eat since onboard meals from Pak Nasser earlier that morning. Since we were taking the GPD which brought us closed to the coast, we kinda skipped a few small towns already. So, we postponed our lunch to sometime later. At this point, we were a bit behind schedule. So, our next stop was the Sea Cliff Bridge. We saw the bridge earlier but now we're passing on it from Coalcliff to Clifton. I wanted to stop but there was nowhere a vehicle could stop on the bridge. Wifey drove a little further until finally we found enough space on the road shoulder to park our car. The bridge was built with a footpath on it. Perhaps bicycles can use it too because it's wide enough for walkers and cyclists to share it. In fact, the surrounding view is best enjoyed on walking pace. Since we didn't have the time luxury for that, we just walked a little bit before getting back inside the car.

The same location where the bridge is standing now has a long history back to 1878 when coal mining industry started. I guessed that was why the village there, Coalcliff, got its name. There used to be a jetty and railroad to transport coal extract out of the mine. Mining activities were halted many decades ago and finally the mine was closed in 1992. Lawrence Hargrave Drive is one of the scenic roads in New South Wales (NSW) and Australia, in general but before 2005, it was notorious for rock falls, mud and rock slides due to marine erosion and heavy rainfall. Why was it so? The answer lies in the fact that rock formation of the cliffs consists of coal, clay stone, and sandstone. Since coal isn't a strong type of rock, it decays very rapidly when exposed to weather extremes of the ocean. When the coal layers are broken, other stones collapsed too, risking any vehicles on the road and led to road closures.

In 2003, a decision was made to push Lawrence Hargrave Drive outward from the cliff faces, away from the danger of falling boulders. The idea of building a bridge connecting Coalcliff and Clifton was then laid out. Construction of the new bridge commenced in mid-2004 and completed one and a half year later. Since the opening of the bridge, it has become an icon to the people of Wollongong and NSW. Being a major attraction along the GPD, Sea Cliff Bridge is really one thing not to be missed. A minute later, we left Sea Cliff Bridge in our mission to reach the next town before the sun disappeared.

The Arrival Down Under

3plepl8 — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 21:46:00 +0800

It needs no introduction that this country which is known as the land down under (my foot) is famous with its hopping roos and didgeridoos. At first I was a bit reluctant to get myself into this country again after 2009. Not that I had experienced something bad during my earlier trip to Gold Coast which in fact was one of my favorite destinations, especially when sexiest beaches are involved, but...just wasn't feel the right time for another round of freaking auwwzzaayy experience. However, decision was made, tickets were bought. [Pressing fast-forward button] A few months after then-to-be second trip to Australia was confirmed, I still had no idea what to expect. Expect the unexpected? I'm not really a fan of surprises unless they are the pleasant ones. So, after a few major changes to the original itineraries involving many irksome nights, wifey and I were set to fly another 10-hour long southeast to the Australia's most populated city, Sydney. With another version of thick ' trip cookbook' in hand, we flew out of Malaysian airspace on a calm Wednesday night, sometime in October.

I don't recall anything special went on during our nighttime flight. There was a slight delay in departure and the rest was history. I spent half of the entire 10 hours sleeping and woke up only for morning meals before forcing my eyes to rest for another few hours or so. [Pressing fast-forward button, again] When the pilot announced that we would be reaching Sydney in minutes, I (actually we) was feeling a bit anxious. I couldn't wait to get off the plane and get some uncompressed, fresh air. The touchdown was smooth despite the cloudy weather with light shower earlier that morning in Sydney International Airport. Nevertheless, we were optimistic that the weather would be fine again later once we reached our final stop for the day.

Queuing before the passport check, everyone received a warm oppa kangaroo-style 'Hello mate' greeting from an airport officer, who looked happy performing his duty. Just kidding, he didn't do any of Psy's catchy moves but his joyous humor did cheer us up after a long flight. Good enough, we spent no more than 10 minutes at the immigration. That was quick. Since we had nothing to declare (no food, no dope, no ciggies more than 50 sticks) at the customs this time, we walked through a fast 'nothing-to-declare' lane towards the exitway which led us straight into the arrival hall. I quickly scanned around the area. I didn't see what we were looking for. What was it?

Normally, the best thing to do when we're lost or in a state of unsure is to cry for help. I mean ask. Luckily, there was a mini, unsigned information booth manned by a very nice lady in her fifties. Politely, I asked for the direction to Bay 35 while showing her a map printout. It was where we should be picked up by a shuttle bus to collect our rental car. She pointed to a direction while doing some explanation. I guessed it wasn't a place too hard to find, so we walked up to that direction. Minutes earlier, I've informed the rental company of our arrival at the airport using a payphone near the information counter. Small change can be acquired from the money changer nearby and 50 cent was the minimum amount to make a call. I didn't know that making a call in Australia is quite expensive. Fish.

The courtesy pick-up service from East Coast rental reached at Bay 35 just as soon as we got there. The driver came out from the van and took our luggages onto the vehicle. Not a word was spoken. No fancy 'Hello mate' or 'Good morning' here. Silently, he drove the white van to Mascot township, where the office was located. [Pressing fast-forward button, one last time] Once behind the wheel, we can't wait to hit the road. With myself in the driver seat and wifey as the navigator aka living GPS, we then rushed out of Mascot heading south in our 1.6-liter Getz.