Sydney

Two weeks in Sydney, enough for me to make a comparison about Brisbane and Sydney in some aspects.

Sydney is very busy, indeed. However, it is bring me to remember the busiest city in Indonesia, Jakarta. Even though, Sydney is cleaner, more orderly and more convenient compare to Jakarta. But, the people who walk in hurry and in long step in the morning and noon make me not comforted. I almost never heard people say thank you after they had serviced or say sorry if they did something little bit wrong. Wow, in my opinion the Brisbane people more polite than here. Some people still say thank you to the bus driver when they dropped off from the bus. The skyscrapers also located side by side in very little space, very tightly. It does not give us open space to see far away.

In term of food, it is easy to find halal food in CBD Brisbane. Lots of restaurants provide halal food such as Malaysian restaurants, Turky kebabs, middle east restaurants and fast food restaurants such as Nando’s Chicken, even Mc Donald’s. However, in Sydney, even though the liaison officers had sent a link to the halal food restaurants and butchers, the location of the restaurant are so far from CBD. I must go to suburb if I want to. As a result, instant noodle is the main dish every eating time. Thank you to ‘indomie’ for serving me with various taste’s. Moreover, for fresh food such as vegetables and eggs, the prices also higher. For example, a small kebabs price in Brisbane is AUS $5 compare to AUS $6.50 in Sydney. And a bundle of pokcoy is less than AUS $1 in Brisbane compare to AUS $1 in Sydney. So, I think, cost of living in Sydney must be more expensive.

The weather in Sydney is too cold for me. Brisbane is not as cold as Sydney. The reason is because Brisbane city located in the north of the continent and near of the equator line, so weather in Brisbane not too extreme in winter and not windy as well. Sydney? Cold wind blows every day..

Traffic in Sydney is very busy, especially in rush hour in the morning and after work hour. And, I see some people cross the street ignore the sign at traffic lamp. Brisbane does not have monorail, but train system in Brisbane also integrated with bus and river transportation. So, in term of transportation Brisbane is as good as Sydney. But, the fare in Sydney more expensive and I refer to walk rather than using public transportation.

From the description above, I conclude that I love Brisbane most than Sydney.