Tram ride home

I had a late start this morning in order to have one final morning of relaxation. It was nice but was then back to the grind. I headed into our office in Adelaide. It is a pretty small office but everybody is very friendly. I finished up the preparations for the next three days of meetings and then headed out.

Instead of taking a taxi ride back to the hotel, I opted for a 10 minute walk to the tram stop. It was a beautiful day today. Started out rainy but the sun came out this afternoon and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The temps were still pretty chilly but that made my walk even more enjoyable. I had a short wait at the tram stop and then a 15 minute tram ride back to the hotel. It was a nice option to be able to take the tram instead of being in another taxi.

Am just finishing up some work for the evening and will be heading to bed soon. They are replaying all of the center court matches from the US Open so have had them on in the background. Go Kim Clijsters on your comeback! It was actually a great match to watch and I think I spent more time watching it instead of watching my computer screen. But hey, it is the evening so I shouldn't feel bad about it.

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Adelaide

I had a more active day than yesterday. I still didn't do a heck of a lot but I did wander around downtown Adelaide and found parts of the city I haven't seen before. To get from Glenelg to Adelaide you can take a tram for $4 each way. When Alan and I were first here 7 years ago it was an old fashioned one car tram. Unfortunately and fortunately, now it is a modern three car tram that looks more like a train. It carries more people and was certainly being heavily used but I miss the nostalgia of the old-fashioned tram.

I got off the tram at the Rundle Mall stop. Rundle Mall is a pedestrian street that is about 8 blocks long and has lots and lots of shops. I wandered through a few of them and didn't really find anything to buy. Within Rundle Mall are a couple of traditional shopping arcades. I always like wandering through them because it is kind of like stepping back in time. Here is are a couple of shots from one of the arcades:

As a side note, I went into a couple of bookstores since I finished my book yesterday. Holy cow are books expensive here! A simple crime novel that is a small paperback would typically run you about $7 in the US - here they were $20 each. I really need something new to read but couldn't stomach spending more than twice what I would spend in the US. Most of the books that are here in Australia are actually published here so the cost isn't due to importing them. Who knows...

After doing a bit of shopping I decided to wander a couple of streets over. I ended up walking through the festival and arts area that is right on the river. It is really nicely done and there is some great outdoor art there as well. It is Father's Day here today so there were quite a few families out picnicking on the lawn and out on paddle boats on the river.

Right near this area is the Railway Station. I figured it was just the old rail station building and wasn't in use. To my surprise, it is still a functioning rail station. Here are pictures of the building as well as the clock within the station:

From the railway station I stopped in to the South Australian Museum. There was free entry today since it was Father's Day. It was an interesting museum but it was such a nice day outside that I didn't spend too much time inside. I did a bit more shopping to pick up some groceries for the hotel room and some local chocolates for Alan and I to enjoy when we are in Hawaii in a few weeks.

I headed back to the hotel in Glenelg on the return tram. I realized that in order to eat the salad I bought at the grocery store I needed a fork so headed back out to the local grocery store. On the way back from what was supposed to be a quick trip I got pulled into the local bookstore. Thank goodness for local bookstores! Their normal prices were the same as the other shops in Adelaide, however, they had two great big sale tables and I found a new book for $5.95. I also found some greeting cards that were on sale (these are also insanely priced in Singapore). I'll start reading the new book tonight and if I like it may go back and get a couple of the other books from the same author.

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Sleep, seriously lazy Saturday, and a sunset

The upside of living in Singapore and traveling all around is that I get to see a ton of new places. The downside is jetlag and lack of sleep. In addition, I've mentioned that I have quite a few late night teleconferences which also contribute to a lack of sleep. Don't get me wrong, I really like my job and really like to travel. But inevitably, every few months, I get so exhausted that I really miss sleep. I made up for it last night and this morning...I slept in until 10 am. It was SO wonderful! Almost 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep. And since I had no plans today I really didn't feel guilty about sleeping so late.

After having such a good night of sleep I decided to continue with some relaxation today. I stayed in bed until almost 4pm reading and watching replays of the US Open. Looking outside at the Adelaide cityscape I realized I was missing out on a pretty great day but I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed my seriously lazy Saturday.

I finally broke the laziness and got up and went for a long walk along the water. The weather was brisk, the sun shining brightly, and the waves were very active. I realized that the sun was starting to set so I came back to the hotel and took a quick shower and headed right back out again. The sun set around 6:00 pm and was absolutely beautiful. I plopped down on a bench to watch it and take some pictures. It was fun to see and even better to enjoy the very temperatures in the low 50s.

I ended the day with a nice dinner at a local restaurant. I had a great salad (something I always eat a lot of when in Australia since they are hard to come by in Singapore) and a nice glass of South Australian red wine.

Here's to another great night of sleep!

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Domestic flight

I am so used to the security routine at airports. Pull out the laptop, pull out the ziploc bag of liquids & gels (when is this ridiculous rule going to go away), take off your shoes, keep your ticket in hand... Flying domestically in Australia does not hold to the same rules. The liquids and gels thing is not enforced here. You do have to pull your laptop out but that is it. It seemed a bit weird not having to go through the same routine before getting on a plane. The other thing that was different was that you don't have to be a ticketed passenger to get through security. It was strange to get off a flight and see a number of family and friends of the other passengers waiting right at the gate. It has been 8 years since that was allowed in the US.

Even though there were a number of differences in security, I made it safely from Sydney to Adelaide. The Qantas check-in gal even got me on an earlier flight which was much appreciated. The weather here is so very different that Singapore. The current temperature is about 55 degrees and I am loving it!

I have no plans for Saturday and Sunday. The only goal I have is to catch up on some sleep. Here's to sleeping in!

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Late night shopping

Unlike most of the rest of the world, Australia tends to close up shop at around 5 or 6 pm daily. The grocery stores and some of the pharmacies will stay open a bit later but all of the other stores close in the early evening. The only night that there is 'late night shopping' is on Thursday when the shops are open until 9 pm. It is a bit odd since almost everything in the US is open until 9pm and in Singapore things seem to never close...although, they don't open until 10 am.

I guess that this is a good way to have people end up at home instead of just going out shopping. Although, if you want to pick something up after work it obviously isn't possible. I wonder how much additional money would hit the Australian shops if they stayed open later more nights than just Thursday?

A friend of mine who used to live in Australia asked me to pick-up something for her so I was out during the late night shopping tonight. There were a ton of people out shopping. I wandered through some of the stores and found a couple of cute tops at one of the local stores. I always think it is interesting to see the different styles in the other parts of the world.

On a another note, there are also some different and sometimes unusual flavors of yogurt here. The latest that I tried that I really like is banana and honey comb.

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Sydney...again...

Am headed back to the airport this morning for another trip to Sydney. This time I won't say that I hope this is my last for awhile since I already have tentative trips scheduled for both October and November. The perk is that I'm actually only in Sydney through Friday afternoon and then headed to Adelaide for the weekend and next week.

Next post from Down Under...

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Religion

I go to a personal trainer at my gym. He has become one of the people who provides me with information about things going on in Singapore since we have an hour to chat each time I am at the gym. He is currently adhering to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. During this time, he fasts from sunrise to sunset. It is a true fast as nothing is allowed to go into his mouth during this time...no food, no water...nothing. He told me that they fast as a reminder of those less fortunate and also that if many of the people fast then there may be additional food for those less fortunate.

Tonight, I had a session with him from 6:30 - 7:30 pm. The sunset is around 7:15 - 7:30 pm. Although, when I asked him he said it was setting at 7:12 pm today...I guess you pay attention to these things when you are fasting. Typically, Muslims will fast from the morning prayer which is around 5:45 am until the evening prayer (there are a total of 5 during the day) which is at sunset. If you are near a mosque at this time, he said they will announce the evening prayer and this is how you know you may break fast. Since he was working he obviously wasn't near a mosque, instead, in the midst of what had to be a million squats (today was lower body day) he received 2 phone calls (from his wife and mom) and a text (from his brother) telling him he could break fast. In addition, there were a handful of other people working in the gym that pulled out water bottles or food for the first time today.

I realized tonight that for the most part my only exposure to religion has been to Christianity. I am certainly aware of other religions that are in the world but haven't really known too many people who believe and practice other religions. Coming from the US it seems a bit odd that my first exposure outside of Christianity has been to the Muslim religion...but also a bit cool. This was one of those days that I am glad I am having this experience and learning new things.

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