Basketball and Cricket

My sporting weekend...well, watching that is.

On my way home last Friday, I got a call from my friend telling me to get off the bus now and head back to the city coz he had an extra ticket for a basketball game. Its the game between the Sydney Kings and the Cairnes Taipan of the National Basketball League (NBL). This is their professional basketball league equal to the NBA. Well, not exactly equal because they suck! They play like high school. Not even as exciting as the college NCAA. Most of the players were caucasian, they had a couple of blacks (but we think they're Americans who never got the playing time in the NBA so they joined the NBL).

The Kings won! Yay! The Sydney Kings have won the last three championships of the NBL. Unfortunately, most people probably don't know that because Australia is just not into basketball. Forget that they have Andrew Bogut who currently plays for the Milwaukee Bucks or Andrew Gaze who played with the San Antonio Spurs in the early days, Aussies still prefer cricket and rugby over basketball. Australia winning a cricket game could be top news of the day.

Next day, I was invited to go for dinner at Pancakes on the Rocks and a karaoke night at the Retro Bar on Sussex St (by Darling Harbour). So I got to meet a few more people and hopefully through them, I can branch out. Its really hard to meet people and get your own circle of friends. Anyway, I didn't do any singing coz the bar was public. You get up on stage and sing infront of people you don't know. I guess that's better than people you know coz you'll never see these people again.

Sunday was the big cricket game between Australia and Sri Lanka. My first taste of Australian cricket. As I call it, being cultured. I went with Natasha and a couple of her friends to the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). SCG was packed that day.

I'm beginning to understand cricket now. It gets complicated on how the players get taken out of the game. But scoring, I'm getting it. Of course with international competition comes rowdy fans between the two countries. You won't believe how many Aussies and Sri Lankans were thrown out of the game.

Here are some pictures:

Watson's Bay

Another nice place to visit is Watson's Bay. Here's a website talking about Watson's Bay (so I don't have to retype a whole new story):

http://watsonsbay.visitnsw.com/HolidayLocation/TNSW500224CR.htm

That's the great thing about my weekly red pass which costs me $32 AUD a week and includes all my bus transport (as many times as I want at most places in the city) plus trains and ferries to most places. So I have to take advantage of it.

The ferry to Watson's Bay was free, of course, passing by ferry stops to the Garden Island (Botanical Gardens), Double Bay, and Rose Bay (take Wharf 4 in Circular Quay to catch the ferry).

First thing when you get off at Watson's Bay, you'll see Doyle's restaurant. One of the expensive restaurants here in Sydney. This is the original one. You'll find a branch at Circular Quay by the docking area overlooking the Opera House (expensive because of the view).

I started walking towards the South Head, one of the two stretches of land separating Sydney Harbour from the Pacific Ocean. Along the path was a walkway strategically placed so that you'll walk pass by Lady Jane Nude beach (sorry, no pictures taken or will be shared on this blog). Great views...I mean overlooking the South Head. Besides, the nude beach was mostly older men and probably a couple of young guys...gay guys! Hey, Sydney is the #2 gay capital of the world next to SF, if not #1. Someone actually told me that Sydney may have already surpassed SF to become the #1 gay capital of the world. Below are some pictures along the way:













The Hornby Lighthouse at South Head

I didn't realize there's more to see besides Doyle's, the Hornby Lighthouse, and Lady Jane. There's the Mrs Macquarie lighthouse and the Vauclause House. I'll have to come back again. Anyone interested in coming with me next time?

So I took the ferry back to Circular Quay, went straight to the Custom's House where I had my chai tea and read a book. I waited til about 6pm then I walked to the Domain where they had a free Jazz concert from New Orlean musicians. Its similar to the Xmas Carols in the Domain back in December where you bring your picnic basket, relax, and just listen to the music...except they don't have the "Hoff" this time.

Through the Eyes of Celestine

Hey all!

I've created another blog. This time, it will only contain pictures I've taken along the way.

Be the judge. Beauty is in the Eyes of the Beholder.

Here is the website (http://pictures-celestine28.blogspot.com/) or you can click on the link from my original blog (it is called "My Picture Blog" - how original!)

Any comments, good ones, will be appreciated. Thanks!

January 2006 - Sydney

Leeeeet's see. The first couple of weeks of the year 2006 has really been uneventful. That's why I haven't updated my blog for a while. Jan 1, 2006, however, is in the record books for being the hottest new year's day in Sydney. That's eventful! And I took part of it for being here. Sigh!!!

But even then, I still went out to check other parts of Sydney. Next stop...Wooloomoolloo. Yup! That's an aboriginal word (but I don't know what it means). A lot of the towns/cities here are named after aboriginal terms. Just like California towns/cities are named after spanish terms as it used to be part of Mexico. At Wooloomoolloo (let me just call it wooloo for short...better yet, just woo), I wanted to check out the 'W' hotel (yes, its one of the branches of the same name, the 'W' hotel, in San Francisco). FYI before I forget...this is just for my reference in the future...take the 311 bus from Circular Quay if I want to go back there again and I plan to. Or get off at the city townhall, walk to Liverpool St and catch the 311 bus.

The 'W' hotel is located by the Woo wharf and the hotel shares the building with residential homes. From what I hear, one of those residents is Russell Crowe. The hotel is really nice. Very trendy. Nice reception area, nice cafe and bar. Will definitely check it out again later on.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels/search/hotel_detail.html?propertyID=1295

The other "uneventful" thing during this new year's weekend was that I had to work on Jan 2nd so we can do our year end closing of our books. The finance team worked that day (and I'm sure other finance depts from other companies had to report to work, too). The city was pretty much "dead" except for employees from finance departments coming in to work and those unlucky ones who have run out of vacation days. By working on Jan 2nd, which is a holiday, I have accumulated 2 vacation days in lieu of that. Not bad at all. Wooohooo!!!

The following weekend, I've organized a bowling event where bowlers who scored 200+ are frowned upon. And sure thing, none of us scored 200+...not even 125+. That night, I was invited to a trivia night. It was a fundraising event for some kids to go to the Philippines and help renovate an orphanage. To my surprise, a lot of the questions were about US history and a lot of them knew the answers. On the other hand, do we know a lot about Australian history?

Next day, I went to Piermont to check out Sydney's fish market...its supposedly a tourist spot so I had to check it out. I think I've mentioned before that I'll be a tourist in Sydney forever. I was hoping to get some cheap seafood but because the place is touristy, Paddy's in Chinatown was cheaper. Oh well.






During the week, the finance team celebrated our year end closing by going to dinner at Phillip's Foote restaurant at the Rocks. Its a steak house. You choose your meat and you BBQ it yourself. I told my boss, "man, I have to work hard for my own food?" He says, "oh, you Americans!" He doesn't like the US and George W Bush (well, nobody likes Bush anyway). But remember, my boss works and reports directly to our US HQ...and he hired me! He calls Americans 'Sepos' as in septic tanks. I told him I've been applying for a credit card. He says, "oh, they don't issue credit cards to Sepos." He wishes! Anyway...my motto is, if the company is paying, order the most expensive one. So I ordered the fillet mignon. After dinner, we went to check out "The Establishment"on George St, one of the "it" bars in Sydney these days. Another place to check out if that's your thing to do. I asked my coworker. It appears Aussies hang out more in pubs and bars than going out dancing/clubbing. They just love their cold beer over here!

My first Christmas and New Year's in Sydney

I can generally say that my first Christmas in Sydney was relatively hot/warm compared to all my Xmas celebrations in the Northern Hemisphere of the planet Earth. Something different. One of my coworkers actually told me that her feeling of a real Xmas is with cold weather, just likes the ones on American TV and movies. Same with an article I read about an Aussie's "true" feeling of Xmas when she first celebrated the holidays in NY with the snow, the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center, the Xmas lights, and the hustle and bustle of people doing last minute Xmas shopping on 5th Avenue. I mean, they sing Xmas songs like, "Dashing through the snow" or "oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh" or "jack frost nipping at your nose". Its summer over here! I think secretly they all would like to have the typical cold weather on Xmas holiday that the rest of the world is used to.

We started off our Xmas attending a latin midnight mass. The next day or a few hours later on a warm Christmas day, we joined our roommate Natasha's family for a picnic at Centennial Park. Nice and relaxing day. Not much action this weekend but eat. The next day, Dec 26th, is Boxing day in Australia (just like Canada). I guess this is kindda like my 4-day weekend to replace the non existent 4-day Thanksgiving weekend I missed this year. On Boxing day, we went to Hunter Valley wine region similar to our Napa Valley in California. I'm sure you've been to Napa Valley during the Summer. That's how the weather was like when we went to Hunter Valley. But dissappointingly, most of the wineries were closed on Boxing day, which is a public holiday in Australia. Well, none of us has never been there and nobody told us including the dumb lady at the Information Center at Hunter Valley. Oh well, what can you do. If and when I go back should be around fall/winter. Too hot to go now! Dec 27th is shopping day...just like our biggest day after Thanksgiving shopping day. Mad house everywhere!!! I don't think I need to do that again...besides, its more expensive here than in the US. Imagine, this same exact item I bought back in the US for $1.99 costs $16.99 here. And another item for $15 in the US was $45 here! Yikes!!! FYI. They are a season behind here with fashion. And what I've started to do was get online for the US Winter Sale, get them ordered, and ship it here in preparation for our winter here.

Hunter Valley






As for our New Year's celebration, we went to Mrs Macquarie's Point overlooking the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. There were two fireworks presentation. One at 9pm for the kids show so they can go home and sleep early. And the adult version...nothing explicit about it...the only difference is the fireworks are more and better and it happens at midnight, obviously. By the way, new year's 2006 is delayed by 1 second all over the world. Its a "leap second", as they call it. The Earth's rotation rate generally slows down or speeds up throughout the year. Some facts to note:

"Time is determined by atomic clocks that are synchronized with the Earth's rotation, and an international community of scientists has agreed the two should never differ by more than nine-tenths of a second...the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which coordinates universal time, uses sophisticated software and many atomic clocks and determines averages to deliver the best time possible."

And as such, we get one additional second in 2005...woohooo!!!! Happy New Year + 1!!!

The fireworks in Sydney were great...I'm sure you've seen clips of it on TV. Fireworks on the bridge and on barges overlooking the famous Sydney Opera House. Beautiful!!! I think next year, we should rent a boat and watch it to get a full 360 view.