Saturday, November 10, 2012

Sydney 6D/4N Itinerary - Day 3

Date of Travel: 16-21 Aug 2012
Fireworks at Darling Harbour on some/most Saturday nights

Today started out with a trip to Paddington market. Sydney has quite a number of weekend markets to take a browse at, and someone had recommended Paddington to me, as opposed to the Paddy's market nearest to our hotel. Upon getting off the bus, we found a butcher directly opposite Paddington market and loved loved loved the pies there. I had a beef mince (A$4.90) and HH had the quiche (A$3.95). Both tasted so lovely, that I couldn't resist and went back to buy a turkey drumstick (A$3.50).
This is Paddington Market

Sydney 6D/4N Itinerary - Day 1 & 2 (Part 2)

Date of Travel: 16-21 Aug 2012
Sydney view from Harbourside

After checking in and freshening up, it was time to grab some food! Walking around our hotel area, we found nothing of interest. HH had the inspiration to visit the suburb of Newtown, because there were many book shops there. Newtown is actually what I call a "Student-Area", mainly because the oldest Sydney University is located there. With HH's great navigation skills, we caught the bus outside UTS Sydney and I was so shocked to see that many Asians when we passed by Sydney University. I felt like I was in Hong Kong honestly. This was totally different from my visit in 1997, there were more asians than caucasians! We finally got off at King Street, and strolled past the many book stores there. Many many Thai and Vietnamese restaurants offering set lunches from A$6.90. So cheap. But no, i don't want my first meal to be Asian!

Sydney 6D/4N Itinerary - Day 1 & 2 (Part 1)

Date of Travel: 16-21 Aug 2012


Our best memory of Sydney - the coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi beach



AirAsia X launched their KUL-SYD route on 17 Jan 2012. This launch was in a hurried manner, as they were contesting with Jetstar Asia and Scoot Airlines to see who will open their bookings first for this much coveted route. They kept saying they wanted to launch it, but there was no announcement on when or what travel period etc. It was pure luck, that I was sitting in my office on the morning of 17 Jan, and kept checking and the booking suddenly opened. The highly sought after Hari Raya long weekend was still at an unbelievable price of RM571.00 nett per person, so we snatched it up without hesitation. August is the perfect season to visit Sydney, for the 2nd time in my life. Side note: during my 1st visit to Sydney in 1997, I absolutely loved it in every way, and branded it one of my top 3 destinations across the world!

Next up is hotel booking. We like to stay at the hub of transportation (not necessarily at the heart of the action). Transport is tremendously important to us, as we move around a lot. What better place than at the Central Train Station. The Mercure Sydney is just right next door to the station, and we got it for an unbelievable price of RM1369.41 for 4 nights, for a 4-star hotel in Sydney. This was possible by booking it from AirAsiaGo when they gave a special code to get an additional 15% off. We loved the Mercure, where we could walk to almost anywhere, or could easily hop on a bus to anywhere else. I would stay here again if I were ever to return.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Bangalore 4D/3N Itinerary

Date of Travel: Not yet!

Bangalore, the metropolitan city. Photo credit: http://www.pc-progress.com/en/Default.aspx?courses-2012-Bangalore

I had offered to mum to bring her for a holiday for Chinese New Year 2013. She was very keen to visit India, and I began my research on where to go. The easiest would be to travel with AirAsia and find a simple tour there. I showed her images of wherever AirAsia flies to in India, and she picked Bangalore. She was afraid of visiting places that looked like the India features on The Amazing Race. :) Mum chickened out in the end, so I won't be going. So here is the itinerary to share. Please note that I have never been to India before, and the following is based on pure research.

Bangalore is a metropolitan city, the IT hub of India. It has subways and buses, a pleasant weather all year round, and people speak English! November to February is the best time to visit during winter, where there is almost no rain and temperature is between 15 to 25°C.

Flight:
Friday 8 Feb 2013, AirAsia AK1211, 1500-1635
Monday 11 Feb 2013 AirAsia AK1212, 1715-0005

Price of Air Ticket = RM810.18 (as of time of writing this)