Ken moves to Sydney (24th June 2011)
Ken arrives in Sydney today - finally, he's coming here! He was meant to arrive last Friday but had postponed his flight a week later. Ken's coming to Sydney is not for a short visit; like us, he has packed up all his belongings for a permanent move to Sydney. Good for me because I will now have another friend in the same city! :) He will be staying with us for the first couple of weeks while job hunting and getting his bearings of the city. I know what it's like moving to a new country on my own and not knowing anyone - not the greatest feeling when you have so much to worry about from where to stay to looking for work. The least we could do as friends is put him up for the mean time (even though he'll be sleeping on an inflatable mattress in our living room) while he concentrates on getting a job (the job part, not much we can do for him). Hopefully he will find one as quickly as I did and soon he'll be one his way to setting up his new life in the big smoke.
I rushed home from work to meet Jono and found that Ken still hasn't turned up. Jono had booked a table for 4 at 6.30pm tonight at our favourite Thai place, Thai Pothong - Claus was in town for the day so we were catching up with him as well over dinner before his flight back to Melbourne. Both he and Ken were running late so we had to move our dinner booking to 7pm. Hmm, 6.40pm and still no Ken. He was meant to be here by now and I can't get through to his NZ mobile number...Jono and I decided that he would go meet Claus at the restaurant while I waited for Ken at home. And I'm glad Jono and Claus had started with dinner as Ken didn't turn up till 7.30pm! Turned out his flight was delayed and the queues through customs etc. took so long with the sudden mass of arriving passengers (probably because airlines are back up and running today - many flights were cancelled due to the volcanic ash cloud). Plus his taxi driver got a bit lost finding our place - I had the feeling that it might be the case when I saw a taxi driving up and down our street slowly, as if looking for the street number, and soon enough got a phone call from Ken that they couldn't find our place (he called me using the taxi driver's mobile). Poor Ken literally dropped his bags at the apartment and then had to walk about 20 minutes to the restaurant with me. Would have let him rested a bit but we were terribly late for dinner and I was SO hungry!
By the time we arrived at the restaurant, Jono and Claus were pretty much done with their dinners. I was picking on their leftovers (the boys ate too many starters while waiting for me and Ken so couldn't finish their mains) while I waited for my Red Duck Curry (mild boneless duck red curry with lychees, pineapples, tomatoes and sweet basil) - mmm, their Steamed Mixed Seafood always reminds me of otak-otak in Malaysia. Yum! I can see Ken enjoys it as much as I do, picking on whatever remains we can scoop out from the dish and having it with rice. The Red Duck Curry was also lovely and the lychees were a nice complement to the curry. In fact, most of the dishes we've tried here are delicious and so is the service (ok, so maybe they aren't so prompt with bringing out our beers but they are very prompt at serving you rice at your table). Cost us $175.15 for the table which included starters, mains and beers.
It was nice to catch up with Claus even though it was brief. He left us for the airport around 8.45pm and the rest of us settled our bill and headed out in search for Corridor bar on King St. During Ben's visit to Sydney, we tried to go in to this wine and cocktail bar only to be told they were closed...AT 12AM! Who closes this early on a Saturday night??? Apparently they do!
The bar was crammed with patrons and true to its name, the setting felt very much like hanging out in the corridor of a flat, giving it a chilled out vibe. You can choose to sit near the bar watching people pass by, the cocktail lounge upstairs or the outdoor deck. Jono and I each had a cocktail (Jono got a Plum Pisco Sour while I had a Rosetta cocktail that had a black tea base), and Ken tried a pint of Little Creatures beer. Cost us $40.50 all up for drinks which was expensive but to be expected (cocktails are never cheap unless you make your own at home). Cheers to Ken for starting a new chapter of his life in Sydney!
We made our way up to the cocktail lounge and chatted over our drinks. Hmm, my cocktail sure tasted a lot like drinking chilled tea except it had alcohol in it. In our chit-chat, we found out that this was Ken's first time in Sydney. Well, there are definitely heaps of things to do and see here in Sydney and you'll have plenty of time discovering places - we are still finding new places to eat, see or do in the city every week!
We headed home around 10pm and helped Ken set up his bed for the night. "Hey Ken, can you come and feel if this is firm enough?" said Jono, who was referring to the inflatable mattress but we all cracked up laughing at what he just said. Ah, our inflatable mattress - such an innocent household item that triggers the most inappropriate conversations hehe :P
I rushed home from work to meet Jono and found that Ken still hasn't turned up. Jono had booked a table for 4 at 6.30pm tonight at our favourite Thai place, Thai Pothong - Claus was in town for the day so we were catching up with him as well over dinner before his flight back to Melbourne. Both he and Ken were running late so we had to move our dinner booking to 7pm. Hmm, 6.40pm and still no Ken. He was meant to be here by now and I can't get through to his NZ mobile number...Jono and I decided that he would go meet Claus at the restaurant while I waited for Ken at home. And I'm glad Jono and Claus had started with dinner as Ken didn't turn up till 7.30pm! Turned out his flight was delayed and the queues through customs etc. took so long with the sudden mass of arriving passengers (probably because airlines are back up and running today - many flights were cancelled due to the volcanic ash cloud). Plus his taxi driver got a bit lost finding our place - I had the feeling that it might be the case when I saw a taxi driving up and down our street slowly, as if looking for the street number, and soon enough got a phone call from Ken that they couldn't find our place (he called me using the taxi driver's mobile). Poor Ken literally dropped his bags at the apartment and then had to walk about 20 minutes to the restaurant with me. Would have let him rested a bit but we were terribly late for dinner and I was SO hungry!
By the time we arrived at the restaurant, Jono and Claus were pretty much done with their dinners. I was picking on their leftovers (the boys ate too many starters while waiting for me and Ken so couldn't finish their mains) while I waited for my Red Duck Curry (mild boneless duck red curry with lychees, pineapples, tomatoes and sweet basil) - mmm, their Steamed Mixed Seafood always reminds me of otak-otak in Malaysia. Yum! I can see Ken enjoys it as much as I do, picking on whatever remains we can scoop out from the dish and having it with rice. The Red Duck Curry was also lovely and the lychees were a nice complement to the curry. In fact, most of the dishes we've tried here are delicious and so is the service (ok, so maybe they aren't so prompt with bringing out our beers but they are very prompt at serving you rice at your table). Cost us $175.15 for the table which included starters, mains and beers.
It was nice to catch up with Claus even though it was brief. He left us for the airport around 8.45pm and the rest of us settled our bill and headed out in search for Corridor bar on King St. During Ben's visit to Sydney, we tried to go in to this wine and cocktail bar only to be told they were closed...AT 12AM! Who closes this early on a Saturday night??? Apparently they do!
The bar was crammed with patrons and true to its name, the setting felt very much like hanging out in the corridor of a flat, giving it a chilled out vibe. You can choose to sit near the bar watching people pass by, the cocktail lounge upstairs or the outdoor deck. Jono and I each had a cocktail (Jono got a Plum Pisco Sour while I had a Rosetta cocktail that had a black tea base), and Ken tried a pint of Little Creatures beer. Cost us $40.50 all up for drinks which was expensive but to be expected (cocktails are never cheap unless you make your own at home). Cheers to Ken for starting a new chapter of his life in Sydney!
We made our way up to the cocktail lounge and chatted over our drinks. Hmm, my cocktail sure tasted a lot like drinking chilled tea except it had alcohol in it. In our chit-chat, we found out that this was Ken's first time in Sydney. Well, there are definitely heaps of things to do and see here in Sydney and you'll have plenty of time discovering places - we are still finding new places to eat, see or do in the city every week!
We headed home around 10pm and helped Ken set up his bed for the night. "Hey Ken, can you come and feel if this is firm enough?" said Jono, who was referring to the inflatable mattress but we all cracked up laughing at what he just said. Ah, our inflatable mattress - such an innocent household item that triggers the most inappropriate conversations hehe :P
I betcha you didn't expect the Hobo to be sleeping in the living room for 6 weeks.....
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