cross-breed

Saw a cross-breed dog this morning....it was so funny. It had the perfect face, ears and color of an Alseshan , a pomeranian's bushy tail that curves upwards, furry coat and the height of a full grown german shepard!!!

FLU Vaccination

Company sponsors a free vaccination for all its employees…and one comment from a fellow employee: “They do this to ensure no one takes sick leave!!” For some people nothing can be straight forward when it concerns their employer.

OZ Trip - the WOW factors

Lets start with the points in favour of Oz.


The Wheelchair friendly buses are a boon to parents using the pram. There is a place allocated for the wheelchairs and prams and can be secured tightly using a belt, so that you don’t have to worry about it moving when sudden brakes are applied. Also there is a place to store large baggage and strollers if not in use. Saves a lot of space and makes it easy for the other commuters to move around.

You can find vegetarian food almost everywhere. Its a pleasant surprise, since in Singapore, you have to search high and low for a veggie burger!!! And the best surprise was that the veggie food (burgers, pizzas and some Mexican items) tasted really good. We found a very good Indian restaurant at Glebe Point Road in Sydney. It was a north Indian restaurant named "Flavour of India" and the sabji was fantastic...I have not found such a good one even in Singapore. The only gripe was that it was open only from 6pm to 11pm.

There are lots of passes available and some good maps and guides. So it shouldn't be a problem to get around the city. We had got the Orange pass, which covered the city and the beaches like Bondi and Manly. It included bus and ferry rides for a whole week. This comes at the same price as a one-day trip on the Explorer Bus, which covers only the city.

Another one is the See Sydney & Beyond Smart Card. You can save a few dollars if you plan well and this card is pretty useful. You can get it for 1,2,3 and 7 days. I feel a 1 or 2 day card would be sufficient. We had taken the card for a single day and were able to save around 20 to 30 dollars each.

Having a kid around is in some ways a blessing...you get preference in most places and you can cut queues :) It also helps in breaking the ice...and gets you friends easily.

The people are friendly and go out of their way to help you. One incident was when a lady asked the bus driver for change for 100 dollars. He didn't have and so asked the other commuters. At least three people stood up and went to the driver immediately with the change. It was like they were waiting for it!!! There were incidents when we just had to look at our maps and people came to us and offered help. There was this old lady, who gave us directions to a place and then went and requested the bus driver to stop for us a bit further down the bus stop as we had a kid!

Back from Australia

Back after a fun filled week. It was especially wonderful for us, since this is the first time that the three of us have been alone together for more than a week. Living as a joint family with my hubby's brother's family and going on trips with others has always resulted in us having atleast another family with us wherever we go. So this was the first time in years that we were alone. Diwali and hubby's birthday were small celebrations with just the three of us.

Another point that was different during this trip was my thought process...it was connecting all sights and scenes to what and how it would get translated in my blog :))

More to come in the following days...