A friend of mine from Texas is currently in Australia. He arrived last week and is currently staying in a hostel in Kings Cross. I picked him up from the airport on a Monday morning at 6am before I had work and as a gift he had got me a bottle of fine whisky from the duty free. I think I noticed him holding onto the bottle a little too tightly as he handed it to me - clearly some regret was forming in his mind once he realized alcohol is 23 times more expensive in Australia. That Wednesday, we went drinking at the Wanderer which is a great pub in Central to celebrate his birthday. The drinks were cheap (because my roommate was working there), the company was good, and the music was awesome. Sadly though, I think I'm kinda failing at my responsibility to be a good tour guide to Australia - I'm at work on the weekdays and he wants to go clubbing on the weekends. It was actually kind of disappointing to find out in the car that he didn't want to do any cultural activities in Sydney - he just wanted to get wasted every night. I dunno, my policy when I travel to somewhere new is to do the touristy stuff in the morning when you're sober, then fill in the gaps of time with alcohol.
This reminds me, I'm planning a trip to Indonesia early next year. I'm planning on meeting up with my Spanish friend who recently got a job in an embassy in Jakarta! I really don't have the specifics sorted yet. Actually I don't have the over arching picture ready yet either. But at this point, I'm thinking of hitting S.E. Asia first, then heading to Qatar and maybe a few carefully selected places in the Middle East, and finishing it off with Eastern Europe. I've been guilt tripped into experiencing Istanbul by a work colleague of mine. We'll see how awesome it is. I really wanted to fit Canada or California in there somewhere, but they're just too far away :( Why can't the world be shaped differently :(
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