Our Pictures from Sydney

We stayed at the Wentworth Sofitel in Sydney, a stones throw away from Martin Place. It was located only short walk to Pitt Street mall and a 5 star hotel. We definitely enjoyed our stay there.

The nice lobby of the hotel - A lobby clues you in about the 'nice-ness' of the hotel room before you step into one. This one was looking pretty good!

Our room - We liked it. Our conclusion made in the lobby was not wrong!

The view of the hotel courtyard from our room window.

It was a complimentary stay thanks to the pharmaceutical company sponsoring the conference Alex was there to attend. Our breakfasts were included as well and I thoroughly enjoyed the spread which included healthy options; fresh varieties of yogurt, bread and even an entire honeycomb right out of the bee's nest! I didnt manage to get a shot of that though.

What's a blog entry without a food shot? :)

Alex looking rather sleepy at breakfast

After the hearty breakfast, Alex went off to his meeting and I spent an hour at the gym trying to compensate for all the calories consumed just an hour before. Its been awhile since I got to run on a treadmill and I really loved that I got to run at the gym. After showering, I walked to Pitt Street mall for some retail therapy.

Apparently Hummer limos are frequently used as bridal cars in Sydney. I spotted this one while walking on my own on that Saturday afternoon.

That Saturday evening we met up with old family friends from Penang, Uncle Kher Hwa and Auntie Christine. Daniel their son was there as well but we missed their daughter Lydia because she was at the youth service at the church. We had a yummy dinner at a Korean restaurant named after the famed Korean series about a lady in the palace and her wonderful cooking. I can't remember the title of that series at this moment...

After dinner we went for a walk at Circular Quay. Had to walk off our heavy meal! :)

We watched a busker do his show for about 20 minutes at the quay.

After somewhat walking off our dinner, the family took us to a dessert place in Chinatown and its here that I got to have my favourite.. the black sesame dessert with glutinous balls! So yum!

We got back to the hotel at 9.30pm and had plans for the second part of the night, that was to meet up with Alex's sister and family for drinks. While we were freshening up in the room, we heard an alarm go off. Momentarily a look of sheer panic crossed both our faces because we were up on the 16th floor and if we had to make a run for it, things could look ugly. Talk about drama.... Anyways, Alex quickly rung the reception for details and was told it was our building that set off the alarm and it was on the 5th floor. However we were told not to worry. Me being rather paranoid, told Alex we are better off heading down to the lobby anyways and be closer to ground just in case the receptionist didn't know what she was talking about. We were meeting his family in the hotel lounge so it wasn't completely unnecessary :) Yes, I can justify my paranoia.

The fire truck parked outside the lobby with its lights ablaze.

We sat in the hotel lounge, ordered 3 pots of tea and had a relaxing chat. We were surrounded by very nicely dressed people who had just finished their formal dinner in the hotel ballroom. I spent much of my time in the lounge checking out the ladies and their outfits.

The next day was our last morning at the hotel. After having breakfast plus a long relaxing bath, we checked out and headed to the Lindt cafe where we had our last indulgence before leaving Sydney. Iced mocha and iced dark chocolate! So very rich and satisfying!

I had a relaxing time at Sydney. However I can't say the same for Alex. He was attending the conference most of the time and only enjoyed the room at night. But his sacrifice wasn't without rewards. All the networking and the building of bridges that he did over the 2 days will work in his favour at a later time. As for immediate rewards, I was definitely the sole beneficiary that weekend!

cheryl