was in sydney for a week in nov to conduct a global program at one of my company's subsidiary office. and while i was there, many many meetings were arranged for me to get to know the people there, not to mention the non-stop emails from singapore that had to be attended to at the same time. then again, it was not all work and no play. managed to steal away on 2 evenings to catch up with ps (a friend from singapore who migrated to australia) and my cousin (and his partner). and that was really good. and it was during this week that australia voted to legalise same-sex marriage.
on the day i landed, i took the opportunity to visit the harbour bridge areas (including the opera house), qvb and oxford street. one cannot visit sydney without visiting the opera house right? and i was shocked with what i saw - huge crowds of people, and i mean huuuuge. i don't remember it being so crowded. when i last visited it about a decade back, there were lotsa spaces when i visited opera house and the sydney harbour bridge areas. this time, it was so jam packed with people, it was impossible to take a photo of the opera house without more than half the background filled with people. sighs... i left the place almost immediately after i reached.
i also visited oxford street - sydney's gay street. this gay mecca was a place not to be missed for me. but i was disappointed. the place was dead. my first visit to oxford street was in 1994 and i visited the place again in the early 2000. back then, the place was so vibrant. there were lotsa activities, crowds, lights and sounds... and people from all over the world converge there to witness the lively gay scene. and there were many many gay bars that compete to show who was more rauncy - lives shows, a-go go-boy shows, etc. while i didn't visit any of these shows, it was in one of oxford street's porn shops that i had my first live view of orgies, blowjobs, etc. but all these had disappeared. it was all quiet when i visited it. even the porn shop that i walked into looked tired, dated and almost dead. my cousin shared that if i wanted to see the crowd, i should visit it on fri and sat midnight. then again, he acknowledged that the level of energy these days could not be compared to the past.
i had dinner with ps on one of the evenings. time flies, it had been 4-5 years since she migrated there. and it was really good to be able to catch up with her. i was so happy to know that she's been relatively well and to see that she's in good shape and generally happy with her life. it was such a huge contrast to the life she led when i first know her almost a decade back. also, i met up with my cousin and his partner too. had the chance to visit their house (for the first time) and it was really nice! it felt really warm to have a family member whom i could talk openly and i believe he felt the same too. it was also obvious that both he and his partner had aged. they looked older physically than when i met them the last time. then again, it’s the path of time that all of us have to go through. i was happy that they are still doing great.
anyway, i was glad the programs ended well. didn't have as much time as i'd like to myself. nonetheless, it was good to catch up with ps and cousin.
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