Cairns You Pronounce Cairns?

We couldn't, at first (the Australian pronunciation removes the "ir" so it sounds like "Cans").

We arrived Monday after a short flight from Sydney and were surprised to gain an hour - the town is virtually due north of Sydney (but the difference is due to daylight savings time, or so we were told!). First stop was the Budget rental car desk where we met Ian, perhaps the most friendly and helpful Australian ever. He gave us various maps and recommendations and also noted he had visited 41 out of all 50 US states - more than either of us! We got settled into our rental car, which will be taking us down the coast back to Sydney over the next three weeks, and Alex tried to adjust to sitting in the right seat and driving on the left side of the road. He seemed nervous at first but definitely has the hang of it now!

A little nervous at first but now he's a pro. Tomorrow I get to try...

The Cairns airport is only ten minutes from town so we were able to check in to our hostel quickly. Neither of us got much sleep during the previous night so after booking a reef tour (thanks Ian!) we headed straight to the water.

During "stinger season" you can't swim in certain areas of the water along Australia's coast because of the jellyfish migration. However, the beachside towns have compensated by either putting up large nets or creating an alternative swimming space. In Cairns there is a huge public swimming pool and park called The Lagoon, located right off the beach. We found a great spot under a palm tree and perched there for most of the afternoon, reading and taking multiple dips in the pool to cool down.

One of the nicest public pools I've ever been to!

Low tide view from The Lagoon.

One more shot of the beach as the water disappears.

Cairns is a pretty laid-back beach town, at least during this time of year. We suspect that it gets more crowded once the holidays near but there wasn't much action at most of the shops, bars and restaurants. We picked a cute little Greek spot for dinner, Fetta's, and left only after we'd seen our fair share of plates get broken (but before the owner - who seemed quite drunk at this point - started pulling people out of their chair to start dancing).

Tomorrow we get up early to explore the Great Barrier Reef so we are pretty excited!

Sydney, Briefly

Alex and I have considered dropping the "honeymoon card" at various points during our trip but we generally feel awkward and uncomfortable about it, especially because we are essentially on a yearlong honeymoon! We finally decided to try it at the Hong Kong airport since our flight to Sydney by way of Seoul was a long one; we figured "Why not ask?" The check-in desk agent was perfectly nice to me but stated that unfortunately our flights were very full and she couldn't upgrade us. She said she'd let the gate agent know if anything changed and we walked away toward security thinking "Well, it was worth a shot." After grabbing a quick bite we started to board and were stopped when our tickets set off a loud beep. I started to sigh assuming something hadn't been checked properly but was stunned when the agent informed us we had been upgraded to business class! It worked! Alex and I were basically giddy about our good fortune for our entire journey: champagne for the newlyweds? Yes please! Dinner with wine pairings? Don't mind if we do! I can't believe this nice check-in agent actually did follow through and succeeded in giving us an upgrade but I am so happy we asked! I am really going to have to restrain myself from bringing it up every time we check in to a flight or hotel now...

We arrived in Sydney completely exhausted after nearly 24 hours of travel but awake enough to appreciate the warmer temperature. Our room wasn't ready yet (we have actually been surprised occasionally and allowed to check-in super early, but not this time) so we dropped off our bags, grabbed some massive caffeinated beverages and headed to Sydney Harbor to walk around.

What "they" say is true: the harbor views can't be beat. 

View of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge.

The sun was shining and there weren't too many other people around so we had a really nice walk through the area surrounding the Opera House and nearby park. After a quick lunch near our hotel it was check-in time...and once we got to our rooms it was nap time! We knew it would mess up our sleep cycles but we just didn't have the energy to do much else. The weather coordinated nicely with our timing (almost an endorsement of the unscheduled nap): it started pouring as soon as we got to our room so we stayed indoors for the rest of the afternoon. (We may or may not have been binge-listening to Serial and are almost out of new episodes).

We ventured out in the rain to buy an umbrella - we really should have packed one - and enjoyed a nice dinner at nearby Onde. Really great food if you're ever staying near Kings Cross in Sydney.

Sunday morning we both woke up late and disoriented. We went to the gym in search of some energy and were excited for a beautiful day in Sydney. Unfortunately, by the time we had showered the storm clouds had replaced the sun again. (The locals said this weather has been abnormal so we hope it clears up!) Alex and I headed out with our umbrella anyway and walked in and out of the shops on Oxford Street for shelter when it started to pour really badly. I bought a few - practical! - items and strolled around until most shops closed around 5-6pm.
 

Rainy day shopping on Oxford Street.

A park along the walk down Oxford Street.

Wet and still a little out of it, we headed to a tapas place by our hotel, Jekyll and Hyde, for dinner. After a glass of wine and some amazing small plates, we are off to bed so we can wake up for our flight to Cairns tomorrow. We didn't get to do a whole lot in Sydney but we'll be back for five days at the end of our Australian roadtrip so we are excited to continue our sightseeing here!

Top Takeaways - Thirteen

We spent our last (cloudy, dreary) day in Hong Kong taking it easy and preparing for our fairly long journey to Australia via Seoul. We headed to Santorini for a light, Greek lunch, saw Interstellar (mixed feelings, but mostly confusion) and headed back to Little Bao for our final meal in Hong Kong. Here are our top takeaways from the past week.

Mid-flight moonrise on our flight from Hong Kong to Seoul.

1. Personal space is apparently something we have taken for granted. People in Hong Kong had no problem running into us while waiting in line, brushing past us on the subways or standing inches away from us on elevators, busses, etc. Definitely took a little getting used to.

2. Hong Kong feels really crowded, with no organization to the chaos. People are often glued to their mobile phones and pay no attention to anything else when waking around the city.

3. Despite the lack of order when it comes to walking down the street, we found riding the subway to be incredibly easy and an efficient way to get around. Both Tokyo and Seoul had very intuitive subway systems too, but Hong Kong is so much smaller than either of those cities that we found it even easier to use.

4. The topography is very similar to San Francisco - lots of steep and narrow streets. The Soho part of Hong Kong is actually accessible by multiple escalators on the streets so people can get there without gasping for breath. We learned this the hard way the first time we walked around there!

5. The city feels very international - more like London than New York. There are many people from different backgrounds / countries who live and work in the city.

6. English is spoken everywhere. This isn't to say that English was scarce in Japan or South Korea, but because it is one of the official languages of Hong Kong, English was ubiquitous.

7. Hong Kong was probably the most expensive city we've been to so far in Asia. We enjoyed almost all our meals here, but the prices were comparable to (or even slightly more expensive than) what we would expect in New York.

8. We get the sense that the weather is pretty dreary here all the time. It was cloudy and rainy for each of the five days we spent here. And I asked one of my friends who has been here for work a few times and she said every time she's been the weather has been the same. Makes us feel a little better about the lousy weather we had, but something to keep in mind if you're considering a visit here.

9. The currency conversion is trickier here than Japan or South Korea. I think we were spoiled by the ease with which we could do rough conversions in our head (in Japan, divide by 100; in South Korea, divide by 1,000) so forcing ourselves to divide by 7.5 in Hong Kong was a bit of a pain. Good thing the Australian Dollar is almost 1:1 with the US Dollar!

10. Overall, we experienced what a lot of Westerners experience when visiting China: culture shock. As mentioned in #1 and #2, this most obviously manifested itself when we were getting around the city; however, there were other small things we noticed in our interactions with the locals that would be considered rude in America (when is the last time someone sitting at a table next to you hacked up a deep, throaty ball of phlegm and spit it on the floor next to you?). Anyway, we didn't really know what to expect coming in, but now appreciate why some people find Chinese culture off-putting.

Peak: Seeing the light show and colored skyscrapers on Victoria Harbor

Pit: Our minor altercation with "Joe" really set us off on the wrong foot with Hong Kong

Next Stop: Sydney, Australia

A Day in Macau

...is more than enough. Since Macau is only a one-hour ferry ride from Hong Kong, we figured we would spend a day checking out Asia's version of Las Vegas. While neither of us really gambles, we thought it would be a fun, glitzy place to walk around and explore the area's history (the island was originally colonized by the Portuguese). I would summarize our findings as: not much culture, not much to see, way too many people. We had another dreary day so we definitely weren't seeing Macau at its best, but still didn't feel like the city had any real charm or character.

After scouting out some sandwiches for lunch we spent a few hours checking out the town center and walking around the nearby historical sites.

Macau's central square - Largo de Senado - full of other tourists and cheesy Christmas displays.

St. Dominic's Church, which still holds mass every week.

Old vs. new. On top of the Monte Fort, looking out toward the Grand Lisboa Hotel.

Cannons protecting the fort.

The Ruins of St. Paul's, one of the more interesting Portuguese-era relics.

Crowded streets in Macau.

This was probably my favorite spot during our time in Macau - we waited a while for everyone to clear out for this shot.

Once we had explored the historic center of Macau, we took a taxi to the Venetian so we could check out the gambling scene and walk around the fancy shops located there. The resort is basically a massive interconnected compound and definitely feels similar to Vegas, with two notable differences: no smoking and no alcohol. We were surprised by the lack of drinking, mostly because we assumed alcohol consumption is largely correlated to increased gambling / money spending, but learned that Chinese people view gambling as more of a sport or "investment" and take it rather seriously. In addition to the lack of free beverages, the minimum bets were also much higher, so basically Macau casinos held no allure for us.

It was no surprise that the inside of the Venetian looked identical to the one in Vegas!

Before we caught the ferry back to Hong Kong, we grabbed two of the famous egg tarts from Lord Stow's but the thick custard pies weren't really our thing. We were glad we stopped in Macau - when in Rome, right? - bur definitely don't consider it a "must-see" while in Hong Kong. Tomorrow is our last day here and we are getting pretty excited for some sunshine in Australia!

Dim Sum and Then Some

Tuesday morning was cloudy – but not yet rainy – so we set out to hike Dragon’s Back as planned. Compared to our recent “climb” in Seoul, this hike was a breeze! It only took us about two-and-a-half hours to complete and much of the trail was nearly flat. While I imagine the scenery is spectacular on clear, sunny days, we had mostly grey, misty views of the landscape. We still managed to get some decent shots of Hong Kong, but decided to postpone our afternoon cable car ride to Victoria Peak (after our barely-visible shot of Christ the Redeemer in Rio we’ve learned our lesson!)

Near the highest peak. You can also see the trail way in the distance as it forms a "Dragon's Back."

A little windy and misty at the top!

Overlooking Shek O Country Club.

Not a bad view given the weather conditions!

After our hike we headed to Central Hong Kong for a late lunch and strategized about how to spend the rest of the day. I debated getting a pedicure (hey, it’s been months and we are heading to the beach this week!) but given the forecast of rain for the next two days I decided to wait in case I really get desperate for a rainy-day activity. Instead we headed back to our hotel to relax, catch up on some emails, read and get cleaned up before dinner.

By the time we were ready to eat it had started to rain but since it was only drizzling, we headed to our intended destination: One Dim Sum. Now while I like to think of us as amateur foodies-in-training, I am well aware that Alex and I are amateurs at best when it comes to high-end cuisine (I mean, come on, I consider Skyline Chili a basic food group and Alex is allergic to half of most menus). That said, when I read that the cheapest restaurant to ever earn a Michelin star was located 15 minutes from our hotel in Hong Kong, I was determined to go. We were a little nervous given Alex’s nut allergies (sorry for the repeat references in this post babe!) and our limited exposure to dim sum, but we were WOWED! For less than US$17 we had six delicious dishes and unlimited tea and left feeling full and happy. I know we just raved about Little Bao – and truly it was incredible – but we have never had such an amazing meal for such a cheap price, ever.  I’m starting to feel like we throw out restaurant recs too often (and really, TripAdvisor so frequently steers us in the right direction), but if you are ever in Hong Kong, you must go to One Dim Sum. Where else can you spend less than $20 for a world-acclaimed meal?

After checking off our first Michelin-starred restaurant during the trip (is that an accomplishment? It feels like one), it is time for bed. I’ll be dreaming of dumplings and hoping for better weather!