Author: Sydney Aaliyah Michelle

Contemporary Romance writer, voracious reader, movie watcher, tattoo lover & enthusiastic traveler.

P – Population

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle8 Comments

I am always curious about the population of cities I visit.  Mainly because when I moved to China, I was fascinated and shocked about the fact that within a 150 mile radius of where I live is the entire population of the United States. Let me spell that out for you.  Within a 150 mile radius there are more than 300 million people.

That is just amazing to me.

There are 10 million people in the city of Shenzhen, where I live; 25 million in Shanghai, my favorite city in China, 19 million in Beijing and 8 million in Dongguan where I work.  In all there is a total of 1.3 billion people in China.  That is a hell of a lot of people.

So, when I heard about the population in Australia, this time I was shocked and fascinated.

There are only 22 million people in all of Australia; 22 million.  In a place that has a land mass bigger then the United States there are only 22 million people.

300 million in the US and 22 million in Australia.

The US doesn’t feel overcrowded.  At least not where I am from.  I figured that Australia would be even more spares.  Although 85% of the population live within 50 km of the coast line.  In a way it just doesn’t feel like there is a lot of people in this city.  We went to play golf today at The Australian yesterday.  A private club that was established over 130 years ago.  Even though it was raining, we were the only people at the course that day. Even in the rain, you would never find an empty golf course in China or the US for that matter.

Having dinner at any major restaurant in any major city in the world and you would need to make reservations at least a day in advance.  For some restaurants you need to make reservations weeks in advance.  We had dinner at one of the best seafood restaurants in Sydney.  It is called Manta.  There was no one at the restaurant.  We got right in.

In general, it feels like fewer people are in this city and that is a strange felling for me after living in congested Southern China.

But, there is one other population fact the I believe Australia has every other nation beat.  There are more sheep in China then people.  I am talking 4x more sheep in Australia then there are people.  If the sheep every got together and wanted to take over, they would have no problem.

Moral to this story, keep the sheep happy.

O – Opera House

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle2 Comments

My first day in Sydney and already I have had the trip of a lifetime.  We arrived at 6:45 am.  Breezed through customs and got to the hotel around 8:00 am. Had breakfast and then hit the streets.

Living in China there are a number of things that I just have to go without because either they don’t make them there, they don’t sell them there or they don’t have my size.  I was able to find four things today that I would never find in China.

Cute shoes in my size – 9West – Westfield off of Martin Place

Australian oysters – Garfish on Manly Wharf

Stongbow Cider – we talked about this before

Peanutbutter M&M’s – everywhere

And, to top it all off, I got to finally see the Sydney OperaHouse up close.  It is an impressive building and I was excited about seeing this Australian landmark.  I am a little surprised with the fact that it is not really that big.  I thought it was much bigger.  I am talking, Louisiana Superdome big.  It was more like Frisco, Texas Community Center size.

Regardless, the highlight of the trip so far is seeing the Opera House from a boat on the Bay.  Beautiful.

N – New Zealand

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N – New Zealand #atozchallenge
I wanted to do a post on New Zealand for N because I was made aware from my former employees in no uncertain terms that Australians and New Zealanders are not the same.  Apparently, there is a big difference between the two countries despite their close proximity to each other.  Since I am traveling, I am so happy to have found this great post from leftofthesettingsun.wordpress.com who spelled out the differences perfectly.  Check it out.

Chris's avatarLeft of the setting sun in November

Enough is enough. I’m sick of it, do you hear? Every time I turn on the radio or open a newspaper I’m confronted by some idiot politician or half-wit commentator making some stupid comparison between New Zealand and Australia, invariably at New Zealand’s expense. Generally this is followed up with the immortal threat about everyone leaving here to go there. Well, I’ve done that and come back, and I think it’s a bloody stupid comparison. If you want somewhere to compare New Zealand to, try New Caledonia. Or Jamaica. Or even Ireland. Any post-colonial island nation would make a better comparison than Australia, and they aren’t even our closest neighbour (and we certainly aren’t theirs). Here are nine whole significant reasons why Australia is not New Zealand. Anyone who wants to compare the two countries needs to come up with good reasons why most of these aren’t important.

Money

Australia…

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M – Musicians From Australia

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Icehouse – 80’s pop rock band who had two big hits in the US Crazy and Electric Blue. The former was written by John Oats or Hall and Oats fame.

 

Crowded House – 80’s and 90’s rock band that found more fans in the alternative scene then the pop scene.  The too only had two hits in the US.  One of my all time favorite song – Don’t Dream its Over.  You might also remember Something So Strong.

 

Midnight Oil – The champions of one hit wonders.  Beds are Burning.  I can still see the video and the crazy looking ball headed lead singer and that dance he did.  It was such a rally cry song that demonstrated their quest for social change especially in support of aboriginal rights.    I still love this song.

 

  Savage Garden – They are a little singsong poppy for my taste but they did have a couple of big hits in the States.  I Want You and Truly MadlyDeeply are pretty good.  It was a radio station in my hometown of Dallas that starting playing their song I Want You that got them signed in the US.  I have to claim it.

INXS– One of my all time favorite bands.  I got to seethem when I was fairly young. It was my first concert. I was a hugefan and was really sad when the lead singer Michael Hutchence died in 1997 under suspicious circumstances.  My favorite songs are Never Tear Us Apart, Need You Tonight and Mediate (great video).


Who Owns Your Tattoo? : Inked Magazine

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Who Owns Your Tattoo? : Inked Magazine.

I don’t do illegal downloads; movies or music.  I don’t plagiarize and I only use my photos or public domain photos on my blog.

But, are my tattoos someone else’s property?  I didn’t draw them.  I have portions of two Van Gogh paintings replicated on my body.  I have a flower that I found on the internet replicated and I have letters that represent a saying that I didn’t write.

Did I infringe on someone else’s copyrights for my own benefit?

Legally I am safe because I don’t make any money off of my body art.  That sounds bad.  What I mean is that no one has offered me money to show them my tattoos.  Sounds even worse, but if someone wanted to pay me, I would share the proceeds.

But, it still begs the question, who do my tattoos belong to?

Meet China Jordan – the artist gave it that name.  I just call him CJ.  A free hand drawing on my ankle by Gabe Shum then tattooed by Gabe Shum, referencing a stuffed animal that  I purchased at a souvenir shop, commemorating the year of the bull in China in 2010.