Tuesday, July 1, 2008

1st impression of Bribane

I am in Brisbane right now for a two-day business trip. This is my first time to the Sunshine State, and it turns out a good timing to get out of Canberra--no sunshine there in the past couple of days (windy and showers).

1.5 hours flight away I am in Brisbane. A perfect sunny day but strangely it is not hot. Maybe my body hasn't tuned in yet. Or perhaps the hotel I am staying in is beside some tropical forest land, which functions as a natural air conditioner.

I haven't had time to see much of the city yet other than a 20 minute cab trip from the airport to my hotel and a short leisure stroll hunting for dinner. Two impression so far: 1) the city seems to be rather crowded at least compared to both Canberra and Perth, 2) things are cheaper compared to Canberra. Gasoline price is below A$1.5/liter, something I haven't seen in Canberra for a while. On the other hand, two upscale shops in my hotel's neighborhood seemed to just close up, one organic and one gourmet grocery/food store. Shame. I ended up having dinner at a rather dodgy looking Thai restaurant, whose main vegetable courses have a price tag of $11 (that is about the price for dessert in a Canberra restaurant). I have to admit I didn't expect much but the food was pretty decent.

Hopefully I'll have some time to explore the nice part of the city a bit. Will report back.

No comments: