Air Travel

This semester, in addition to Australian History & Politics and Sustainable Enterprise (think green business initiatives of the future), I decided to sign up for an International Management Field Study: essentially a 10-day trip to Kuala Lumpur and Penang, Malaysia, where I'd experience living in a Muslim culture firsthand and tour various business facilities in order to gain a broader understanding about how business is conducted in Southeast Asia.

Thirty-nine students - most of whom had never met before the info meetings leading up to the trip - and two advisers embarked on this journey on Thursday, 9 April. Jo, a sweet, well-traveled gal I'd met at the second meeting, picked me up on her way to the airport, where we met up with Courtney (another well-traveled soul who became the token photographer on the trip), Jeremy (who was looking forward to scuba diving in Malaysia. Who'd have thought?), Alecia (a quick-witted girl I soon became good friends with) and James (who was flying to Singapore straight after the trip. Jealous!)

Soon after boarding the Malaysia Airlines plane, the stewardesses walked around with the usual cups of water and orange juice...and beer. Apparently on long journeys, according to Jo, it's normal for an airline to provide free beer and wine, but nevertheless, I was pretty stoked on this information. I grabbed a beer (which turned out to be Tiger, a tasty light beer that's brewed throughout SE Asia. Apparently it's also available in San Francisco. Hmm...) to start, then Jo and I happily sipped small cups of red wine with our lamb-and-potato airplane dinners while we discussed traveling (she's curently planning a four month trip to South America) and Australian music festivals (she's been to several of those too.) Since we all had our own TVs, my magazine lay forgotten as I sat back to watch Revolutionary Road (a sad yet heartfelt movie starring Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet - I highly recommend it) and Adam Sandler's latest Bedtime Stories (yes, I'm a kid, but don't see this movie. Terrible.)

Upon arriving in KL, the lot of us boarded our charter bus and met Billy, our fabulous, funny tour guide for the next week. Feeling sleepy after the 8-hour flight, we were pretty subdued on the bus as we made our way towards the Ancasa Hotel.

Since the hotel was conveniently located next to Chinatown, those of us who still had a little energy left headed out for a quick bite on Petaling Street (aka "the street of fakes" - might as well have been New York's Canal Street). The group dispersed to shop while I followed Jo (whose mother is Malaysian and thus has a fair bit of knowledge about the cuisine) to a small noodle stand to share a plate of noodles and chicken covered in a dark sauce (will include the name once I remember...)

So, it's been a few days since I said goodbye to all of you and flew 13 hours to the southern hemisphere. Here's how I got here:

First, United Airlines told me my flight was overbooked by SIXTY PEOPLE (because of World Youth Day and the Pope's presence in Sydney), that I had not yet been assigned a seat, and therefore might have to fly out the following night instead. After waiting anxiously by the gate and watching the waiting area empty, I was the second-to-last person called to the desk...where they handed me a business class ticket. I flew to Sydney in a reclining chair next to a sweet Aussie lady, with white tablecloths and free wine, for just over 700 dollars.

My sister/best friend Katie and my loving parents in the SFO elevator.

Once I got to Sydney, I was able to navigate my way (with two suitcases the size of me) to a van that took me and a bunch of other college-aged people to our hotels and hostels. The driver was crazy and made a lot of random stops, but I had a blast bonding with everyone in the van: two guys from the Univ. of Arizona who were going to spend two weeks backpacking and longboarding around Australia, a British girl from Nottingham (Robin Hood!) who's going to the Univ. of New South Wales, a girl from Germany going to study marine biology in Darwin (northern Australia), an Austrian girl in town for her boyfriend's piano competition, and a girl from South Korea...we were a melting pot on wheels. We were all staying in different areas, so this was a nice way to briefly tour the city. I was dropped off last at my hotel by the Circular Quay, which is kind of like Fisherman's Wharf at Sydney Harbour. I could see part of the Harbour Bridge from my 12th floor window.

Since I actually slept a lot on the plane (thank you, melatonin sleeping pills), I felt awake enough to quickly shower at the hotel and then set off to explore my new city. I started at ANZ bank (right across the street), where I opened an Australian bank account before continuing my exploration. I walked though this little square at Martin Place adjacent to Pitt St (where my hotel was; it's one of the main streets downtown), past Sydney Hospital and the Library of NSW (both of which look like castles), and ultimately hit the Royal Botanical Gardens. That place was beeeautiful - lots of exotic plants (the only one I recognized were the Birds of Paradise), lawns, fountains...and people jogging. It was probably 11 or almost noon and there were tons of people running through the park or having business meetings while walking along the paths. The weather was amazing for winter - sunny, probably 65 degrees Fahrenheit - so I'd probably do the same thing on my lunch break.

I saw the Harbour Bridge and Opera House just ahead of the gardens and my god, those are two incredible pieces of architecture. The bridge is a good 10 stories high and 1,650 feet long (although according to my current traveler partner Bill Bryson in his book "A Sunburned Country," it is 0.25 inches shorter than the arched Bayonne Bridge in New York. Whoops.) Like the Golden Gate Bridge in SF or the Statue of Liberty in NY, the Opera House and the bridge are the monuments that show you've really made it to Sydney. I took a ton of photos then, and returned the following morning at sunrise (thanks, jetlag) to take more. I hope to see a show at the Opera House, but like Bryson, I'm pretty much obsessed with the bridge. It's stunning and powerful and probably the scariest thing to climb, but I still hope to do that too.

The lovely Opera House and proof that I really made it to Sydney!

Other cool things I've done...

- Saw the Pope TWICE. I technically can't count the first time because I wasn't even sure which car he was in (coming from a service near the Royal Botanical Gardens), but I definitely saw him in his little "popemobile" waving down Pitt St that evening. Whoo hoo!

- Met a nice guy from Colombia who was in town for World Youth Day - we went to a bar and had a couple VB's (Victoria Bitter - a beer I actually really like here) and taught each other essential phrases in Spanish ("Quiero una cerveza" - I want a beer) and English (I taught him "party foul" when he spilled his beer. Haha.)

- Had dinner and breakfast at a cafe overlooking the harbour at the Circular Quay. Beautiful view and funny people watching...all the people from World Youth Day travel in packs by country, waving their national flags and singing anthems or something.

Stopping to capture the sunrise over the harbour.

- Took a walk through Hyde Park (reminds me more of Central Park than Golden Gate Park though), past St. Mary's Cathedral (where the Pope has held a couple services), through Paddy's Market (downstairs is like a confined, indoor Canal Street) and saw, in the distance...UTS!! My university is on the outskirts of the city, and from the outside it's not the most attractive building. I walked through it and past a bunch of the offices and classrooms, which made it look better. I have orientation next week and classes start the last week of July.

- Since I was in the area, I also took a walk to Chippendale, where my apartment is located. It's a student housing building made of townhouses for 58 or so students, and while the area looked a little dodgy at first, the street itself is actually nice. It's hard to describe, so I took lots of photos. The area, with its little avenues and sweet terraced homes, reminds me a lot of a quaint little neighborhood you'd see in England.

- On my walk back, I passed a ton of shops - one of which was Kookai, a store I'd been to in Paris when I was 13. I walked in and was just browsing around when one of the salesgirls started talking to me (she liked my accent.) When I said I was from CA, she flipped - apparently she'd just spent the winter in South Lake Tahoe as a ski instructor and absolutely loved it. Oh, and she goes to UTS. Small world.