It's the Late Show

Ever since uni days, I have loved the Late Show.

David Letterman's sense of humour is strangely appealing to me. His irreverence and sarcasm in particular have always been something I've found to match my own personality and tastes.

Many a night, I found myself slowly fading into my sleep in my university dorm whilst listening to Letterman's opening monologue and finally switching the television off once he had finished with the nightly top ten.

To find myself standing in line out front of the Ed Sullivan Theatre was something else.

Waiting to go in to see the Late Show LIVE sent shivers down my spine.

As I slowly went inside, I felt almost like a little kid again, waiting to open my Christmas presents.

The guests for the evening were Nathan Fillion and Larry Miller which was pretty great. The musical item at the end was played by the Jayhawks.

Just seeing Dave in person and his interactions had made the trip to New York completely worth it!

The High Line

One of the first things I found on my wanderings in New York was the famous High Line.

This is the culmination of a modernisation project of the old raised railway tracks that ran through the Meatpacking District and Chelsea.

Instead of demolishing these old railway tracks, they have been converted into a raised public walkway and gardens.

I think it's a fantastic idea.
The area has been transformed by the High Line. An area that was once industrial and run down has become a focus for development, with the High Line drawing people in.
It's just such a New York thing, something so out of place in the a bustling city that seems to fit in so perfectly.

New York state of mind

As a child, New York was a place that I always wanted to live. It seemed to be a place so full of life and activity that never stopped.

Even through uni, it all seemed a likely possibility.

Changes in the global economic situation have now made this seem far less likely.

Instead, trips like this may have to suffice.

I was in New York!

The greatest city in the world, the centre of the universe... etc etc!
It was not disappointing me at all.
The vibe from walking in this city, the activity and the constant rush of people can be immediately felt.

So much so in fact, that I don't think that I've ever been to a place that has created this much immediate excitement in me.

Delays

It's very nice to be flying off again.

The rush of knowing that I would soon be in new surrounds and out of my comfort zone was exhilarating.

Even a bit of industrial action resulting in some delays couldn't shake me.

I was more than content to merely relax in the airport and wait for the call to come through.

Cheap shot

My theory on how to win any form of bake sale or bake off is to keep it simple and appeal to people's base desires.

None of these fancy dishes, with lah di dah techniques to really do anything special other than to confuse the paying public who are really just trying to satisfy the 4:00pm sugar craving

Something with chocolate in it.

That's usually the answer, and there much that is more tantalising to the hungry eyes of an office worker than a nice, thick, slice of brownie.

Hotel nostalgia

I found myself at a strange hotel recently.


Not strange from the perspective of the hotel itself, but rather from a personal perspective.

It was a hotel that I stayed at with my parents when I was about 5 years old. My memories of this place and my trip with the parents continue to colour my thinking about hotels and what it is to go on a trip.

My memories are of a sparkling hotel with service beyond imagination. There were smiling faces everywhere and a uniformed bell boy to take our bags to our rooms.

Things have changed a bit.

It's not the sparkling, brand new hotel it once was (after 20 years, who can blame them?)

But much of the old quirks that I liked such as the inner court yard are still there.

It was a nice walk down memory lane. It was like looking at a faded photo though, it lacked the sharpness and vitality that my memory gave it.

More nuptial fun

The weddings seem to continue....

It is a constant reminder of the passing of time and that my own childhood is fading fast into my memory. Instead, there is the growing spectre of responsibility looming... the horror of it all.

However, none of that was going to stop me going to the wedding of my old friend Tammy. A wedding, regardless of what implications it may have on those getting married, and regardless of what terror it seems to create in me with thoughts of growing up, is still a fantastic party.

I've known Tammy and her family since I was a kid. Growing up as friends with her brother, I was always welcomed into their home, particularly when I was a starving uni student. Being able to go to her wedding was a great, though I found it a bit odd seeing her all grown up when I had still sharp memories of her as a primary school kid beating me at Nintendo.

Branding

I understand the power of branding. I still remember it in the classes of marketing I took back in university.

But how far can branding really go?

At what point does it move from being the "mark of quality" to being a way of tricking suckers out of their money?

I found an example of the latter the other day after having had a nice steak with Kieran during our lunch break. On our way back to the office, we walked past a store that was selling a water pipe. It wasn't just any water pipe though, it was a "Porsche" water pipe.

Who would buy this?

Does the Porsche brand really carry that much swagger that they are now deemed to be the most trusted and true makers of water pipes?

It all seems a bit much for me.

Too much?

I paid $9 for a loaf of bread the other day.

Is that too much? I think it's too much....

Even the packaging that the bread came in seemed a bit too much.
That being said, it was damn good bread.

Sitting on the bus

I think I have fallen into a rut in Sydney.

Most days seem to be relatively similar to the last and worst of all, I find myself seeing nothing new.

I've only been living in Sydney for a few years. I'm amazed that I've so quickly reached a stage where I no longer explore and no longer seek out new things to see.

I don't quite know what has led me to this behaviour. I love the feeling of being in a new place that I am unfamiliar with. There's a strange rush of uncertainty.

As lame as it may sound, I finally experienced some of the feeling of being somewhere new from being on a bus of all places.

Rather than jumping on my old bus back home, I thought I'd try a bus that went a different route.

It was deserted. However, strangely enough I felt the lack of familiarity that I had been seeking. As the city slowly past me by and shop fronts I had never seen sped past, I started thinking about the need to actually keep searching this city for some of the sites that I clearly hadn't been to.

Ikeaaaaaaa

Is it weird to buy food from Ikea?

I used to think it was (and maybe it still is), but I have developed a strange occasional hankering for the Swedish meatballs they sell.

I picked up this bizarre liking from my Swedish friend Adam when I was in the UK. To my surprise, he told me that Ikea was actually one of the few sources of Swedish food that he and his friends had access to.

Who would have thought that Ikea was this source of cultural comfort for the Swedish community?
The meatballs aren't even that great.... but there's something strangely appealing about them.

Bored

I really need to get out more.

The other day, I needed to hang up my laundry, so I cleared everything off the line that wasn't mine. I gathered up all of my housemate Josh's clothes and dumped them into the basket.

Clearly there was some residual moisture, as a day later, when I tipped the basket onto his bed, I was presented with this.

It's a clothes terrine!
When you start finding things like this amazing, there is definitely something amiss....

Banoffee madness

I really need to stop making these.

They're delicious and they are hard to turn down, but they really aren't good for you.

It's sickly sweet, it sticks to your teeth and it is so damn rich.

Add to that the ridiculous price of bananas in Australia at the moment and you really have to wonder about why I still make them?

I am talking of course about the simple banoffee pie.

They really are incredibly simple to make.

All you need to do is boil some tins of condensed milk, make or buy a pie crust, scoop on the toffee and then slice on some bananas.

It is the lazy man's dessert and yet it always receives a rapturous response from those receiving it.

No more. This must stop.

My teeth and body can take no more!

Food on a stick

Easter is a time in Australia that is usually reserved for religious contemplation and family get togethers.

It is also the time of the Royal Easter Show.

I have never been to the Sydney Royal Easter Show. This is probably due to the fact that I've only been in Sydney for three years. However, the fact remains that I haven't been to ANY Easter show since I was about 8 years old.

This was a little bit exciting for me. I was probably a bit too excited to be honest, particularly since I'm not a child.
Still, I was determined that this would be a fun day. It was an opportunity to go and look at the rural displays and the farming exhibits.
Everyone seemed happy to pet the baby animals and we even saw the "Fonzy", the world's biggest Holstein Fresian bull..... oh the amazement of it all!
My brother and I ran off at one point from everyone else in order to get into the true spirit of the day with some carnie rides. After a couple of fast spinning rides, I was close to throwing up, but persevered on.

The most important part of this day for me was the carnie food.

I was determined. This day would only involve eating food that came served on a stick.
The show provided more than ample opportunity for me to achieve this goal.
Who knew that food on a stick was such a prevalent thing?
I was even able to indulge in my love of the show "Arrested Development" by eating a frozen banana from a frozen banana stand.
There are definite disadvantages to eating food on a stick. The main one being the incredible illness that seems to follow....

Big casinos

The casinos in Macau are so imposing. Like small mountains rising out of the ground.

The most imposing of all of these casinos is the Venetian.

This thing is huge.

It is so huge that on the inside, it has recreated a city scene of Venice for it's shopping mall section. This is including the canals and all!
You get a surreal feeling wandering through this false reality.

The attempt to recreate Venice in this clearly fake manner is done with such care and detail, and yet this seems to bring it even further from being the reality.
Wandering through the gigantic halls of the Venetian, I found myself lost on numerous occasions. I was constantly searching for the maps in a futile attempt to find my bearings, but this usually only helped for a few moments. Everywhere you walk within the Venetian, there are sights to see.
As you walk through the main halls, it is genuinely impressive. It is hard not to look at what they have created with awe. It is a symbol of humanity's ability to build and create.
I also found it interesting as a symbol of humanity's ability to warp and distort though. Wandering past the singing gondoliers, I remembered when I had been here a few years ago and had been confronted by Italian gondoliers shipped in for the purpose of singing to the patrons. It has clearly been a long time since then.

The Italian gondoliers have now been replaced by what I am assuming, is their non-union Chinese equivalents.

Annoyingly unfortunate

My trip to Macau also gave me the opportunity to further embrace my love of Cirque du Soleil.

The Venetian is the location of the Cirque show "Zaia"!

This was going to be exciting. I had only worked in and seen big top shows. This would be my first ever experience of one of Cirque's arena shows.

I was feeling very excited!
I wandered up to the ticketing desk and with a big grin said "One adult for tonight's show please!"
The man behind the counter looked at me blankly.

"There are no shows on tonight sir".

Oh no....

Oh no no no!!!!

There were no shows on for the entire period I was in Macau. The show was on holiday.

Fantastic.

Beautiful Macau

Macau gets alot of tourists these days. And I do mean ALOT!

The tourists from mainland China are literally pouring in across the borders. They are arriving by boats, trains, buses and on the planes.

Yet surprisingly, the small enclave of Macau really doesn't feel that packed or crowded. The thousands upon thousands of tourists charging into Macau have certainly made the place more lively, but not to a detrimental level.

Macau has still kept its colonial feel. The streets still have the old cobble stones, the buildings have not been torn down and replaced with glass and steel monstrosities and there is a beautiful combination of Portuguese and Chinese buildings. I love being able to wander around in this amalgamation of Europe and Asia. It makes me feel as though I'm somehow wandering through some sort of alternative universe where Europe and Asia developed in unison.
Strangely enough, I also get the same feelings I had when I was walking through Istanbul. However, there the coming together of East and West was more subtle and blended, whereas here there were stark contrasts between the Western and the Eastern.
From most vantage points, the evidence of the growing modernisation of Macau could be seen.

Standing at the very top of the ruins of St Paul's, you can see the imposing silhouette of the enormous Grand Lisboa.

This huge casino is one of the many casinos that has brought the tourists to Macau. It's also one of the reasons that I'm able to enjoy Macau without too much distraction.
In a strange paradox, the tourist boom that has resulted from the casinos has also protected Macau from being completely overwhelmed. The casinos have had the effect of containing the tourists within their own complexes. The majority of the people coming to Macau find themselves moving from one casino complex to another, with only quick tours to the important tourist checklist items. The casinos have become self contained worlds for the tourists that do not need to be exited. They cater to every gambling need and want.
For me, this entire situation is fantastic.

Macau feels livelier for the tourist influx, but still buffered from feeling overwhelming.

Macanese treats

My love of the former Portuguese colony of Macau is not limited to the architecture and streets. A big part of my love for Macau stems from the food.

Over the years, I have spent an enormous amount of time gorging myself on Macanese cuisine, which is an amalgamation of the cooking cultures of Portugal and Southern China, along with a smattering of South East Asian, Indian and even African influences.

Of particular importance to me were the Portuguese egg tarts.

Portuguese egg tarts, or "Pastel de nata" are a Macanese specialty. They combine the delicate egg custard with the light crispy pastry with the crunchy sweet caramelised bases.

I probably went a bit overboard with the number I ate, but I couldn't help it. I knew that this would be the last decent Portuguese tarts I'd be having for a while, so I ensured that I gorged myself appropriately. I've had "Portuguese egg tarts" in other countries and back home in Australia, but it's just not the same. In fact, it's worse than not the same, they're usually terrible. The egg custard normally tastes bland, the pastry chewy and there is almost always a lack of the crunch that I have come to expect.

That being said, eating 12 in a day was probably still excessive....
The other Macanese specialty I decided to focus on this trip was the pork chop bun.

Unlike the Portuguese egg tarts, there really isn't a standard to expect with these pork chop buns. Every store seems to have their own take on the pork chop as well as the bun. For the pork chop, some places deep fry, other shallow fry, some are crumbed, some are marinated. It's completely up to the maker of the pork chop. I found one shop in particular that marinated their pork chops in a curry sauce. For the bread, a portuguese roll is normally used, but some places vary to use other breads such as chinese style steamed buns. All of these is served with no garnish. Why would you need a garnish when you have so much flavour and texture from the pork chop and bun already?
Even in the most touristy of touristy places, the Venetian, I was still able to get my fix of a pork chop bun.

A Macanese adventure

I was sick of being bored by the monotony of Hong Kong. The constant sameness of the streets was starting to get me down. How much pleasure can a person derive from moving from shopping centre to shopping centre?

The crush of humanity was also weighing on me. I needed to go somewhere that wasn't as crowded and where the pace of life was slower.

The answer to my troubles were very simple.

Starring me in the face really.

It was time to leave Hong Kong and make my traditional side trip to Macau.

Macau both calms and excites me all at the same time.

I love this place! It's quite possibly one of my favourite places in Asia.

Unlike other parts of Asia, the old colonial heart of Macau hasn't been flattened. It remains an important part of the modern developments.

And besides all of that, the place is just pretty.

It's a lovely old city that isn't just a mass of concrete, steel and glass.
Can you feel the serenity?