Another weekend in Sydney – New South Wales – Australia – June – 2018

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Australia, Capitol Theatre, Chippendale, Concrete Jungle Cafe, New South Wales, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, school friends, Spice Alley, Thai food

My annual catch up with school friends

I left school ‘many’ years ago and for the past fourteen years a few of my school friends and I catch up annually.  This year  with my friends Belinda, Lianne and Michelle we went to Sydney to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the iconic Capitol Theatre.

(www.priscillasydney.com.au)

 It was an extremely funny musical and the costumes were amazing but of course no photos allowed during the show so took one of the stage before the musical started and the classical statues wearing feather boa.We laughed pretty much non-stop for two hours after which we popped into a local bar for a cocktail before heading back to our Airbnb.We decided to walk back towards our apartment and on the way found this fabulous Thai restaurant where we enjoyed satay tofu, salt and pepper tofu, curried vegetables (and tofu) and my friends ordered two meat dishes.  I think we were ‘tofued’ out at the end of the evening but we all said the food was exceptional.

The next morning Belinda left very early to get home (her train journey was over two hours) so Michelle found a great local cafe on-line called Concrete Jungle that served vegan dishes.  Great find!!I started off with a pot of peppermint tea and the girls ordered coffees, followed by poached eggs on sourdough toast.  This came with a side of avocado (more than anywhere else we have seen – half an avocado!).  I ordered a vegan dish of coconut feta and quinoa fritters with coconut labne, avocado, fatoush salad and hazelnut dukkah – oh my goodness I have never tasted coconut feta but it was the best and the rest of the dish was amazing!!When we finished I wanted to walk through an alley I had seen the previous evening –  Spice Alley – what a great find.

We wished we had eaten there the previous evening with its gorgeous coloured lanterns, wooden stools and seats and a large range of Asian restaurants.  But we decided we were more than happy with our Thai choice.Spice Alley is quite small but definitely worth the visit to see its paved pathway, colourful signs and street art…And vibrant posters of Asian women and lovely rooftops above the restaurants…It was so lovely walking through mid-morning as the restaurants were just in the process of lunch preparation so no-body was around.We finished our walking tour and stepped onto another slightly wider paved street that runs parallel to Spice Alley which has more lovely restaurants and an actual Tuk Tuk parked on the kerb.  We walked a little further to Central Railway Station through the country train station which is rather lovely with a beautiful clock hanging in the grand concourse…And time to depart once more until we meet next year!

 

 

Chairman & Yip Restaurant – Barton – Canberra – Australian Capital Territory – Australia – January 2018

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ACT, Australia, canberra, Chairman & Yip, Chinese cuisine

Dinner at a great Chinese restaurant in Canberra

I wanted to thank some friends for something they did for me last year so I thought a dinner out at one of Canberra’s Chinese restaurants would be ideal…it was!

Since its opening in 1992, the Chairman & Yip has become one of Canberra’s longest standing and highly regarded restaurants.  A couple of years ago it moved from the centre of the city to a suburb just out of the city.  I last time I dined at its previous location was in 2015 and really enjoyed the cuisine.  I am not sure why it moved but for parking reasons I am glad it did.  The city is so hard to get a park without paying enormous fees.  

The new restaurant’s interior is dimly lit with lots of black gloss with dark red drapes and chairs – all I think adds to its ambience and the middle section of the restaurant hosting a whiskey bar with lounges and all sorts of whiskeys from around the world.And tables are very nicely presented…We ordered a couple of dishes to start;  the Sichuan style crispy chicken with barley and caramelised onion and salt and pepper tofu and we also shared a bottle of white wine.  I did like the serving bowls the dishes arrived in!We also ordered the roast duck and mushroom pancake and a mushroom vegetarian pancake for me. These were put together at the table by our waiter so whilst it doesn’t look that great in my photo both were delicious.  I also borrowed a photo to show what they look like inside.

(source: http://www.thefoodpornographer.com)

Another dish ordered was the fish of the day (can’t remember what it was) but my friends said it was very healthy and tasty and finally the sweet and spicy eggplant which came with sesame, shallots and fried peanuts. I think the eggplant dish was the most delicious and it looked pretty colourful and appetising when it arrived.

(source: http://www.tripadvisor.com)

A really nice evening and an excellent way for me to thank friends for being so generous.

 

 

 

Street Art and buildings – Hong Kong – PRC – April 2018

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buildings in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, prc, Street Art, travelling with friends

More great things to see in Hong Kong

On a hot Saturday in Hong Kong, my friend Naomi and I took the free shuttle from our hotel to Central to meet another friend, Raegan who was coming in from Guangzhou on the train.  We found a nice little bar to grab a drink and get out of the heat which allowed us all to catch up especially with Raegan as I had not seen her for some time.We then decided to take a walk along Hollywood Road checking out some of the antiques (overpriced) and also some of the street art along the way.Hong Kong has such lovely old streets and bars and we walked past one in particular with Chinese umbrellas hanging from the ceiling and waiters wearing traditional Chinese costumes.I was able to get a good shot of one of the waiters taking his break…We found a lovely little tapas restaurant for lunch where the food was really good. Lots of vegetarian options and both friends were happy to eat mostly vegetable dishes but I forgot to take photos.  After a fabulous afternoon we went back to Central to the shops before Raegan had to take the MTR over to Kowloon for the train back to Guangzhou.

I did take some photos though of the wonderful buildings of Hong Kong, on our way back to the hotel; some colourful, some with washing drying on a clothes line from a tiny balcony…Some shiny and new…Some very old…And one particular building reminding me of the Flatiron building in New York.I will always love the busy streets of Hong Kong; stores open until late with Chinese signs selling everything from household goods to fresh vegetables and meat and dried seafood.And whilst not a building, there is also the Hong Kong Eye…smaller than some others and although we did not take a ride, I can imagine the views are spectacular.Another great day in Hong Kong.

 

 

Soweto – Pretoria – South Africa – December 2017

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Apartheid Museum, Desmond Tutu, Hector Pieterson, Nelson Mandella, Pretoria, South Africa, Soweto, Soweto Uprising, zebra

Arriving in Pretoria then a day tour to Soweto

After a fabulous time seeing lots of animals in Africa, I arrived in South Africa to stay a few days with two Aussie friends who are living in Pretoria.  My friends organised a private driver to collect me at the railway station (after my trip on Rovos Rail).  It was a pretty confronting part of town and even though I was in a car I still didn’t feel all that safe.  My friends told me later that is why they don’t come into that part of town ie it’s unsafe and nor do a lot of taxi drivers hence the private driver.

On my day of arrival, my friends drove me a couple of kilometres to the top of the local mountain to see fabulous views across Pretoria.  And they were…But before we reached the top, we were so lucky to see a couple of zebra and some other animals – photos not so good as took them from a moving car.It was amazing to see the zebra with a backdrop of the city just standing there next to the road…Geoff who was driving pulled up very close to the zebra and as we were quiet they didn’t move for quite some time.  This allowed me to take some photos close up; it makes you realise how stunning [and unique] these animals really are.That evening we went out to dinner at a local restaurant – a fun night where we enjoyed pizza and some great South African white wine.  Geoff told me that he and his wife Sue regularly go out early for dinner but he is very careful on the roads especially when stopped at traffic lights – the chance of carjacking is very high both during the day and evening!

Home invasions are a possibility too.  My friend’s home as I previously mentioned in another post, is enclosed by a five-metre brick fence with razor wire at the top and an armed guard response.  The bedrooms are located at one end of their home and at night we locked ourselves in with a steel security door.  People call them escape or panic rooms, a concept made famous by the movie of the same name with Jodie Foster as the lead.  But it’s a good solution to the growing threat of crime and associated violence in South Africa. My friends told me that all the homes around their area have these safe areas within.

The next day, Sue organised me a day tour to Soweto and I was picked up outside their home around 8am. There were six of us on the tour including the tour guide/bus driver.  We drove to Soweto which is located in the city of Johannesburg and stopped just outside the township to take photos of the welcome sign…Driving from Pretoria I saw many shanty towns along the way and our driver explained that some are connected to electricity and water but many others do not have any electricity or running water and I dread to think how hot these homes are in summer as the majority are made from corrugated metal and sheets of plastic and others are made from plywood and cardboard boxes.(photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

We then visited two museums. The first was the Apartheid Museum which I found very sad to learn more of the history of apartheid but at the same time incredibly interesting.  So much I didn’t know!  There are twenty-two individual exhibitions in the museum including the several about the life of Nelson Mandela; his original car and replicas of his cell (wow so small).  And a great photo display at the entry of Mandela’s face throughout his life.The second was the Hector Pieterson Museum.  Hector was a student at a local high school in 1976 who was marching with 10,000 other students from his high school to the Orlando Stadium.  This was a result of what is known as the Soweto Uprising.  Mass protests erupted over the government’s policy to enforce education in Afrikaans rather than their native language.

 

 

Police opened fire in Orlando West on the 10,000 students and rioting ensued.  Twenty-three people died on the first day in Soweto, twenty one were black, including Hector and two were white people including a lifelong humanitarian.  Again it was dreadfully sad to read the accounts from people who were there and relatives of the deceased including the sister of Hector.

Our next stop was the street in Soweto where both Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu lived; actually Desmond Tutu still visits his home and our guide told us his daughter still lived there.  Mandela’s home is located at 8115 Vilikazi Street, Orlando West and is now a museum as it was donated to the Soweto Museum Trust by Mandela in 1997. Once there we were able to go inside and see Mandela’s bedroom, study, lounge and tiny kitchenette all with many photos and posters on the walls.  It was so incredibly small and this is where Mandela was held under house arrest for all those years.
We were also shown the bullet hole in the wall above a red framed window and told this came from one of the many attacks on Mandela and his family by the Apartheid Police…And an interesting fact from our tour guide…the name Soweto comes from South West Townships of which Orlando is part of…a huge day of learning for me.

This is definitely a tour to take if you are either in Johannesburg or Pretoria.