Travelogue ✈ Sydney Day 5 Ferry Cruise

Overlooking the opera house and the habour bridge from the ferry, heres an iPhone/instagram shot.

Pretty nice shot from iphone dont ya think! amahzin!

Travelogue ✈ Sydney Day 3 Featherdale Wildlife Park

Early Mornings

Being a tourist can be a tiring thing!

Travelogue ✈ Sydney Day 2 Paddington Tiger Mottle {NomNom}

The second day was scheduled for the city sighting bus tour and we decided Paddington to be our first stop. Before we bid Paddington goodbye for Bondi, we stopped by at Tiger Mottle for some light eats-

Eat: Third * on chalkboard menu Panfried Califlower +Butter Breadcrumbs, Eggs with Herbs + Aioli Dressing on Olive + Rosemary Toast

Sips: Tea Craft Organic Masala Chai tea and Mocha 

Timeout awarded 4 ☆s for this good coffee and real food sidewalk cafe and so we marked it as our must visit in Paddington- if TimeOut says its good, it must be. This is that kind of space one would yearn to sip a cuppa with a good read in the hand, or do some catching up in a sophisticated neighborhood on a lazy afternoon.

Not an ardent coffee fan, I got the Masala Chai Tea otherwise usually conversed as Chai Tea for convenience. I'm gonna blog about some encounter with Chai Tea for the rest of the blog post and leave the tasting/ambiance review part to Google, Timeout and many other fantastic bloggers  ↖(^ω^)↗

♪  Some Chai Tea Time ♪

Ironically with Masala Chai Tea being an Indian Spice Tea, I am more familiar with Teh Terik  and Lassi at those Indian Roti Prata eateries. I may not have visited enough Indian restaurant to draw such a comparison which in any case, I would love to know where is good for Masala Chai Tea in Singapore besides Starbucks.

It has only been my day 2 but I have noticed that Chai Tea is fairly a big thing here as compared back home in Singapore. There are dedicated selves space for it in Coles/Woolsworths/Super IGA and it makes a common suspect on the cafe drinks menu. Again, perhaps I have not paid enough attention to the Chai Tea in our NTUC/Cold Storage/ Carrefour/ The Market Place and our cafes to comment, it does appear that Chai Tea is more like a way of life in Sydney as compared back home.

I used to intern for an American Born Indian Boss and he would ask his maid to make tea everyday and that was the first and the best Masala Chai Tea I ever had. Aromatic, filling and comforting especially served warm. I didn't knew it was called Masala Chai Tea until later as he always just refer it as tea.

I could still remember how alien it was- the concept of a delightful milk tea with spice is very new and that naming it is a struggle.

Now that we got on to the naming part, some of you might already know about the pleonasm. In fact, there seems to be a community online being really upset about the whole Chai Tea pleonasm. I remembered chancing upon an image saying Chai or Tea, not Chai Tea online and I was fascinated.

I later found out about the etymology of Tea and Chai when My Language Change professor brought it up briefly during the Language Contact and Cultural reconstruction lecture. He said back in time when the Portuguese first traded and brought back tea from Guangzhou, the Cantonese people there called it chàh .  The Portuguese then spread it to India, Central Europe like Czech, Russia which explains why the use of Chai in some places.

The Dutch and the British wanted to be different from the Portuguese and thus went to trade for tea in another part of China being Fujian or Taiwan where the min dialect speakers called it  tê  which was then spread to Western Europe and most prominently borrowed into English as Tea. As we have seen, trade routes affect the spread of languages and through the languages we can associate the similarities in different cultures.

Beyond the unforgettable aromatic velvety taste, I could understand why people would call it Chai Tea even tho it literally means Tea Tea because for us it means a special kind of tea. I guess the association with Masala Chai = Spice Tea is so strong that people drop the Masala and used Chai to mean Spice and added Tea to mean Spice Tea. Of course it would sound ridiculous to those who refer their Tea as Chai but for people like me who see Tea as Tea finds 'Chai Tea' more therapeutic and appetizing than 'Spice Tea'.

So that's that on whats running in my mind  upon every Chai encounter and to side track abit, the  Panfried Califlower was yum and it tasted like mashed potato! Enough said, Im gonna leave you a cute illustration for some Chai Tea Ice Cream making!   ︶ε╰✿

aww
lydd

Travelogue ✈ Sydney Day 2 Paddington

Travelogue ✈ Sydney Day 1 { Quick Shout Out! }

Alo!

currently  updating  from Four Point by Sheraton hotel over the wifi at $29/3days!

a quick flashblack for our Day 1:

Darling Harbour is so quiet and dark by 4pm so we decided to hunt for their grocery store/ supermarket for some light shopping. What is worth mentioning is the self check out station at Coles Supermarket, u get to be your own cashier,  totally awesome.

tiring day, will catch up soon.

bikram yoga tmr morning at 6am darlinghurst.

ciao ciao

Travelogue ✈ Sydney Day 1

Arrival!

Travelogue ✈ Sydney Day 0

Sydney 1 Min Check




The Planning

{ The City }
Time Out Sydney *recommended!*
Slices of Sydney
Sydney Wiki Travel
NSW Government


{ What to do in Sydney }
20 Things you must do in Sydney, Time Out Sydney
Sydney Best Markets, Time Out Sydney
Sydney attractions and Activities Trip Advisor
The Ten Best Markets in Sydney
Sydney Business Itinerary
One Week in Sydney Wiki Travel
Explore Sydney Harbour by Ferry


{ Getting Around }
Free CBD Shuttle Bus 555
City Rail Station maps
Monorail
Manly Ferry Timetable and Map


{ Packing } 
Packing Checklist
Power Plug Type







The Itinerary

8 Days 7 Night Sydney Tour

25/7 Wed - Around Darling harbour, Paddymarket, Chinatown
11.40am: Welcome to Sydney Aiport!
1pm: Reach Hotel/check-in & washup
1.30pm: Free-n-Easy at Darling Harbour 3.5km
o Cockle Bay (lunch here; cockle bay @ Ice-Cube)
o Walk along harbour towards Tumbalong Park/Chinese Garden and to Sydney Entertainment Centre
3pm-5pm: Paddy’s Market
o Walk around Chinatown area: Dixon St
o Walk to Harbourside
    (Foodcourt, has a large collection of souvenirs, and other Australiana. Open until 9PM most nights)
o See Pyrmont Bridge
o Go to Star City Casino
o Walk Back to hotel

Ref Links:
Darling Harbour Wiki Travel 
Darling Harbour Map
Chinese Garden Self Guided Map 


26/7 Thurs - City sightseeing on Sydney Explorer Bus
Take red route and on 2nd round stop at #5 then blue route at #D
7.30am: Wakeup,Breakfast.
8.15am:  Reach  Albert st (depart 8.30am)
- Busstop #E Paddington (till lunch 2-3pm)
- Busstop #F Bondi Beach (till early evening 5pm)
- Busstop #6 Kings Cross (stop at J take bus at #5) , can explore DarlingHurst Rd/Victor St
*Hotel taxi to albert st to board the tour bus
*Tax from Kings cross back to hotel
*Cost: A$40 per pax for bus

Ref: Links:
East Sydney,Wiki Travel
Area Guide, Slices of Sydney
Kings Cross Area Guide, Time Out Sydney
Sydney Explorer Bus Route Map
Bondi  Urban Walkabout Map
Paddington Urban Walkabout Map


27/7 Fri - Blue mountains
Tour  A$95 per pax


28/7 Sat City East- Paddington, Surry Hills, DarlingHurst
 9am: Wakeup, Breakfast
 10am: Paddington Market
 Walk along Oxford St [Paddington] to Crown St [Surry Hills]
*Taxi to Paddington Market and back to Hotel at day end

Ref Links: 
Surry Hills Urban Walkabout Map
Darlinghurst Urban Walkabout Map
Paddington Walking Trial Google Map

29/7 Sun- The Rocks + Ferry Cruise
9am: Wakeup, Breakfast
10am: Rocks Market
          Rocks walking tour
          Take Manly Ferry (MyFerry2 return ticket)
          Lunch and walk around Manly Marketplace, Manly beach
          Walk to the Rocks along George st and return as well to Hotel

Ref Links:
Rocks Walking Tour Goggle Map
Rocks Walking Tour Sydney Architecture
The Rocks Urban Walkabout Map
One Week in Sydney Day 2 Wiki Travel
Manly Ferry Timetable and Map

30/7 Mon – Short Town Hall Walking Tour + Whale watch + Free-n-Easy
7am: Wakeup, Breakfast
 9am-11.50am: Short Walking Trip:
                         o Route:  1.3km, 18mins
                            Highlights: B Queen Victoria Building, C State Theatre, D Pitt Street Mall,
                                            E Sydney Tower, F Sydney Town Hall / St Andrews Cathedral
                          o Lunch
 12.45pm-3.45pm: Whalewatch A$75 per pax
Evening: Free-n-Easy [either one]
                o 1. Shopping @ Pitt Street
                o Or 2. Sydney Aquarium + Sydney Tower Eye + Madame Tussauds [extra $58.5 per pax]

Ref Link:
CBD Urban Walkabout Map


31/7 Tues – Sydney Fish Market
7am-4pm: Sydney Fish Market
Evening: Royal Botanic Gardens [Macquarie chair stroll for photoshoot]
Night: Sydney Opera House , Meet friends


1/8 Wed - home/last min shopping
7am: Sydney Fish Market to pack home
10.20am: Leave Sydney city for airport
10.50am: Reach airport.
12.50pm: Departure for Singapore

ALO (✿◠‿◠)