I have been keeping a fairly low profile in this hostel. Throughout America, and to a lesser extent New Zealand, there was a good mix of people & ages & nationalities everywhere I went. But in Sydney, or at least in this particular part of it (King's Cross), it seems like there are only dumb & shallow gap year students intent on having all-night conversations made up solely of the words 'ohmygod', 'like' and 'Facebook'. Yawn. And admittedly just about all of these annoying young things are English.
On a more positive note...last night (Tuesday) I went to the opera - Verdi's 'Otello'. No prizes for guessing the venue. I didn't know they had standing room at opera houses, but evidently they do, and that's how I got in for a piffling AU$40 (20 quid). Three hours is perhaps a bit long to stand, but then it's not much longer than a footy match with extra time and penalties, and I'd never object to standing all the way through that. And in the event I managed to blag my way into an empty seat at the interval. Not the greatest opera ever written, but it was entertaining enough. Surprisingly, this particular Othello was very much a white Othello (I think the boot-polish option is frowned upon these days). It's a good job Militant Black Guy wasn't there.
Right now I'm keeping a close eye on the news as my travel plans for South East Asia could be adversely affected if Thailand and Cambodia do end up going to war with each other. Come on fellas, sort it out. Scissors paper stone or something.
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| Bondi Beach (apparently this is 'winter') |
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| Bizarrely well-maintained camper van |
