Day 1: Saturday, Feb 9, Sydney.

Saturday consisted of walking around downtown Sydney. Sydney centers around a harbor with finger-like inlets, somewhat like the Chesapeake. I actually felt somewhat at home, since the harbor area is divided into several boardwalks called quays (pronounced “keys”) that reminded me of Singapore. The public transportation is good and extensive, but somewhat frustrating if you haven’t memorized all the routes. Unless you’re at a major bus stop, the stop doesn’t mark what buses stop there, times, routes, etc. The bus system connects with a light rail in the city, a train system for the suburbs, and a ferry system that goes across the harbor.

There is a heavy European influence, and I don’t just mean in the government, unit system, etc. Clothing styles, etc. resemble European fashions, and so do facial structures and features. You can also see a lot of Scandinavian blood. I found out that until the ‘70’s or so, Australia would practically pay Europeans to come to Australia because they wanted to populate it with “good stock.” They also almost forcibly removed aboriginal children from their culture in an attempt to raise them in a Western manner. These kids are called the “lost generation.” The state of the aborigines sounds very much like our Native Americans, but worse. Rampant alcoholism and child abuse, tribes depending on casinos, etc. There seems to be a real debate over whether to send in police to forcibly clean up what should be self-governing tribes. The newly-elected government is actually going to formally apologize to the aborigines this week. Everyone is waiting to see exactly what words he uses.

I’ve also noticed that there are internet cafés/kiosks everywhere. There will be two on opposite sides of the street, there is at least one every few blocks, and there are even computer stations in the mall. I’m not sure how much they cost, but I don’t know if that means people are willing to pay to just randomly check their e-mail from anywhere or if people don’t have or don’t pay for internet in their homes. There are also a lot of “gaming cafes” that advertise fast computers where you can blast someone away in the latest internet multiplayer game.

Last but not least, our walk downtown revealed lots of pizza and kebab shops, as in shops that sell both pizza and kebabs. It seems like an odd pairing, but maybe it tells you something about the ethnicity of those who run the stores.

We ended up eating dinner in Chinatown. It was good food, but it was also a great experience. Sydney has a very large Chinese and Japanese population for obvious reasons. I’m not sure what their immigration policies are towards these countries, but I know they actively try to keep out Indonesians and others from the Indochina peninsula. Regardless, there are a lot of young people who only seem to speak Chinese/Japanese, so I’m not sure if it means they are coming here as young kids, if their parents came here and the kids grew up only speaking their native language at home, or if they do speak English but choose to speak their native language everywhere possible. This set of the population definitely takes its dress/cultural cues from China/Japan. (I don’t mean to lump them together, but I haven’t been to Japan and thus am generalizing.) The upshot for us is that the food was very authentic, which may or may not have been a draw to some members of my family. We passed an upscale karaoke place that brought back good memories of China.