The Arrival

I was so exhausted and could not remember much of our arrival except for the following:

• A burly customs officer looked at my disembarkation slip and asked me if item #2 meant I brought a gun. I vehemently said no and explained that I checked item #2 because I brought medicines. I was really puzzled why they placed those under the same category.
• We all had to open all our luggages and have them x-rayed and inspected manually.
• The Sydney airport is not that huge compared to Narita and Changi international terminals, but equally impressive.
• I bought an international prepaid call card in the airport for fear that I might not find other stores in the city selling call cards but later on regretted my ignorance, or shall I say, my paranoia.
• It was very hot and the taxi we got on had no air conditioning system... we felt like we were being roasted.
• There was a St. Patrick's parade held near our accommodation and some roads were blocked so we had to drag our bags for 2 blocks.