Our Problem with Authority

In my post about the LTFRB vs Grab and Uber, I mentioned not wanting to rationalize why LTFRB was going after organized colorum instead of going after the abusive taxi cabs, etc. This post will be me trying to rationalize their stand.

This is important. We hate authority. We always have. And I'm not talking about Filipinos. Every single person in the world hates authority. We hate being told what we can and can't do, what's morally right and wrong, what's legal or illegal. I believe it's more the punishment that can't stand. When we're given the punishment, we hate it. When someone who has wronged us gets a smaller punishment than they deserve, we hate it. And with authority, comes the authority to impose penalties and punishments.

This is all reminiscent of a two siblings who get into a fight. This happens a lot with my nephews so I'll be using them as an example. Most of the time, they're the best of friends but if something comes up where they do get into a fight, they can get a bit unruly. Most of the time, it happens when one of them doesn't follow the rule that they should take turns in playing with games on the phone. My sister then comes in, stops the fight and declares, "No one plays with the phone!" One of my nephews will then protest saying, "But he got to play with the phone more!" This complaint is heard but doesn't change the verdict of the judge or the person in authority.

No one will say my sister was in the wrong in using her authority to discipline her children. One of them will say that the ruling was unfair but it doesn't mean the authority of my sister would in any way be diminished.

A common complaint I hear when a government agency takes action is that they should be addressing another problem first. Case in point would be when news spread that this administration would be imposing a nationwide smoking ban. Many critics were quick to point out that smoking poses less of a health and environmental risk than say, smoke belching from old trucks and jeeps that infest our roads. Does this information (even if it's true) take away from the fact that a nationwide smoking ban would be a great idea? Conversely, this also doesn't mean that banning smoke belching vehicles from our roads would also be great idea.

Both are great ideas and in a perfect world, both would take effect yesterday. It just so happens that this administration decided to act on one before the other. Most people view these issues as flowchart where one action should come before another when in fact, it's more like a branching tree where you could successfully implement one or multiple policies independent of each other and still move forward. This is a common theme in any time, under any administration, and in any culture.

We believe we know better than the ones in authority. That may very well be the case, but without actually being that person in authority, we may never truly know if we know any better. Persons in authority, especially in governments will have to weigh several things on their plate and thus they may perceive things differently from the rest of us. While we may think that getting Uber and Grab drivers off the road is a wrong move by the government, we need to affirm their law abiding policies. They saw an illegal activity and answered with a punishment corresponding to the gravity of the offense. Is it unfortunate that it had to fall on a service which the riding public loves? Yes, but we should affirm the government when they protect the law.

This is not to say, however, that we should just let the authorities use and abuse their power. What we must realize is that authority lies in the office and NOT on the person sitting in the office. We should respect the office and all that it hopes to defend. The picture I used in this post is that of Donald Trump. He's not the most popular guy in the world right now and for good reason. You can say all you want that you hate him. Some people might like him. But whether you hate or like him, no one can say they hate the office of the president (this could be another topic I could comment on).

Our duty as citizens/netizens should be clear. We applaud the authorities for upholding the law. We should also hold them to uphold the law equally. Going back to the smoking and smoke belching analogy, we shouldn't be saying, "Catch the smoke belchers first and then smoking can follow." We should say, "Catch the smoke belchers next!" Lastly, we must hold them to truly uphold any and all laws we have. We may not like it but we have laws for a reason and they need to be followed. Even if no one follows it and even if no one enforces it.

Bad Bad Badminton

Anyone who knows me knows I'm not the most athletic person. Never enjoyed playing basketball in any point during my life; Never kicked a soccer ball thru any goal posts as a kid; Never did serious training for running or swimming. My life as a kid was pretty straight forward: Wake up, go to school, come home, do homework, pray, sleep - That was it.

My dad attempted to get me into some sports though. His choices for sports for me were golf and tennis. I quit golf after a golf mate of mine stood me up one too many times in the golf course; Junior golfers aren't allowed to play by themselves so I ended up going home. I quit tennis after everyone in the beginner class promoted to the intermediate class except me.

Okay, enough of the painful memories. After that embarrassing experience, I just decided to give up on sports altogether. I wasn't going to be good at it anyway and no one wanted to play with someone who wasn't good so I never bothered.

It was summertime and I didn't have anything to do for the summer so my mom thought it was a good idea to bring me along to her badminton group in Cebu Country Club. I'd watch them play and never understood the rules even after several sessions. During that time, parents didn't give their kids iPhones to play with when they were bored so when I told my mom I was bored and wanted to go home, she said I should score their games - This, my friends, is class A parenting.

I was hesitant at first but the alternative was to wait in the bench and do nothing so the choice was pretty clear. That's when I started to enjoy watching badminton. I never held a racket or hit a shuttlecock before that but I enjoyed watching the game.

During one of their sessions, one of my mom's badminton friends couldn't go so they would be short one person. At the time, my mom got a trainer with three friends and so they could play doubles with no worries. My mom's solution was brilliant, "Jon can play!" I played my first game of badminton and needless to say, I wasn't very good. After her other friend had left, my mom stayed behind and asked the trainer to do some one on one with me! This became a regular thing for me and I enjoyed it a lot! Some days, we'd come earlier to train before my mom's friends would arrive. Mom even bought me new shoes and I loved how I looked in them.

I remember very little from my interactions with the trainer but I remember him saying I was good at anticipating shots. I remember he told me to take things one step at a time. Footwork was important so he always told me to run to where the ball would be and he'd praise me for simply reaching the area the ball would land. Next thing he taught me was that I has to extend my arms ar far as I could. Smashing came next and he always told me it was better I hit the net than have it go too high above the net. I looked forward to badminton sessions with my mom then all of a sudden, it stopped.

I had finally connected with a sport and because my mom's friends got busy, it had come to an abrupt end. I was sad sure, but this didn't last long as I was able to find a group of friends of my own to play badminton with. Nigel and I became classmates and he was looking for a group and I said I'd love to play. Now, me and Nigel weren't even in the same circle of friends. We just happened to share this one passion. Not too many people played badminton that time so we actually had to ask a teacher to play with us. As for the fourth person, we had to force one of our friends every week to join us even if they didn't know how to play. After some time, our group was more or less the same - Me, Nigel, Mr. Rivera (Buddy), and either Vienna or Sheena. This group continued until the end of high school.

When it was time for me to leave Cebu for college, it would be a temporary good bye to my badminton buddies. I did try out of the Engineering Varsity Badminton Team but that didn't work out so hot for me. So during college, I didn't have much badminton time. Every time I came home though, two things were sure to happen. I'd meet with my barkada but only two of them would show up and the old badminton group would get back together. It wasn't until my 4th visit that I realized none of them played when I wasn't around even if I was the only one who left Cebu for college. lol.

After college, I got a job at a big development company and they had an existing badminton group and just like that, I was back in the game. It felt great being back on the court and smashing balls to my heart's content (Just realized that there doesn't exist a way to say this without sounding even slightly dirty). I did have to leave that job but I continued to play with them at this old badminton court in Makati. They played much better than what was used to and that always excited me.

At my new job, I found out that a few of the people there played badminton as well although they did so very casually. I asked if I could join and we all had a blast. Word spread that the group was growing and even new employees were joining in - new employees, who had been members of their college's varsity team. I got excited every time I got to play with them. That was a good solid two years of badminton fun.

I had to leave and come back home though and it was back to my old badminton group. Nigel, Buddy, and a fourth person, who we'd have to scour our contacts for. Alas, time had taken its toll on us. People were getting busier and busier and that left me again without a group.

I did try out other forms of physical exercise like going to the gym and swimming but without the thrill of a competitive game, there wasn't as much drive for it. When I started to ask my girlfriend out on dates, I found out she likes to run so that became our regular date; a running date. After a few months, I asked her if she wanted to try playing badminton and she just said she didn't want to play. It broke my heart a bit but that wasn't going to be a deal breaker. Eventually, I was able to convince her to try it out. I think she still didn't enjoy it as much until a time when some of her friends started joining us or when we would join her friends.

It then quickly became a weekly thing for us. We play every Sunday morning and have breakfast after. Just recently however, we started joining a group of badminton players on Tuesday nights. While we can't attend every week, we join when we can and since they're more advanced in their skills, it makes me want to improve even more. This is the first time I've thought about getting a new racket as well as new shoes.

Badminton has been a part of my life for the past fifteen years and still enjoy every second of it. Whether I'm playing with new players who are still learning the basics, or playing against pros who could teach me a thing or two, I enjoy every second I'm on the court. And one thing I love even more about badminton now, is that my girlfriend has become as much a badminton addict as I am now. Nevermind his stomach, the true way to a man's heart is thru his hobbies.

I'm really happy how far me and badminton have gone and I can't wait for what the future has in it for me. This is the sport that I can honestly say I can play for hours and hours without getting tired.

Should I go back to Japan?

I just posted a week and half ago about my recently concluded Australia trip. More recently, I was able to visit the International Travel Festival (ITF2017) in Ayala Center Cebu last July 14-16 and although I don't have any personal vacation trips planned in the near future, I took a look around and asked myself, "Should I spend this money on traveling or keep it for my future?"

Traveling doesn't come cheap. Airfare is already pricey by itself (this is only a small percentage of the total expenses) and you'd need to book a hotel, spend for food, museum tours, train rides, etc. I'm still paying for some of the things I bought in Australia using my credit card. I've even told myself on numerous occasions that even if someone offers to pay for my airfare, I still wouldn't travel. Sometimes, airplane seat sales give you this manufactured need to travel and spend money which could be used elsewhere.

My sister has asked me yet again to go with them on their trip to Japan. I'd personally want to try traveling to Osaka for a change but she's got her heart set on Tokyo and I can't blame her. Her kids really want to try going to Tokyo Disneyland.

During the ITF2017, I was looking around for airplane ticket rates, hotel rates, train tickets, amusement park tickets, everything and I might not be ready to go for another major trip so soon. I've already got a Bali trip coming up - I'm excited for this one since it's another country I still haven't been to. But Tokyo, Japan for the third time in my life might be stretching it. I still think it'll be a great experience but I feel like I'd be looking at the same painting from a slightly different angle as compared to saving it up for another future trip where I could see another painting altogether.

I'm going to have to break the news to my sister soon that I won't be able to go with her on their Japan trip. Unless, some generous soul out there would like to sponsor my entire trip, then that would change everything (This has happened before and I was packing my bags right away. Lol).

Call me a cheapskate but yeah, money isn't unlimited for me and I'd rather save my money for a rainy day than spend it enjoying myself.

So that's all. I really do hope I can go to Japan this March and I'll be praying that some generous soul (like my dad) will sponsor my trip as a gift to my sister; I'm their tour guide when they go abroad. It'll also be my first time to get the chance to see some cherry blossoms.

Capital T for Truth

Disclaimer: This is not a post about a specific religious or political view. This is just a post about what I believe Truth to be

Back in college a good friend posted on Facebook asking if there existed a Truth with a capital T. A lot of our other friends answered right away that there was no Truth. Each person has his/her truth but no one could say for certainty that one person's truth should be imposed on someone else's truth. I found this very disturbing especially coming from a lot of my friends who were intelligent individuals. I don't usually comment on posts but I made the exception in this case.

I forgot what I said exactly but it came in the form of, "Yes, there is a Truth. Everything we believe in like Science and Religion exist because there exists an absolute Truth which we feel the need to understand.

She quickly messaged me saying that she knew even before she posted that question and I would be among the people who would say outright that Truth with a capital T existed and she wanted to talk about it. Looking back, I could've explained it better but I was still happy with the response I gave her. I could sense she was truly curious and wanted to know more on the subject. (I think I'll ask her again now, if she believes in a Truth)

I chanced upon this image that one of my friends posted. It illustrated his belief in relativism. He captioned it, "We look at one thing with different perspectives. No one can claim monopoly of truth."

I actually like this image as it explains pretty well what absolute truth is and what it is not. One view of this picture says someone can see the Truth and say, "It's a blue circle." and another person can say, "No, it's an orange square." My friend's point in his post was that both persons can't claim to tell the other they're wrong. Instead, both of them can claim to be true; thus, truth is relative.

I'd like to tweek the text in this picture a little bit. Instead of saying, "This is true," I'd like to replace it with, "This is a perception of truth." There still exists only one Truth but there exist an infinite ways of viewing the Truth incorrectly or shall I say, incompletely.

I'd like to use an example, the Earth's movement around the Sun. Before the Copernican model became accepted, a geocentric model of the universe was considered true. It was never true but that was our perception of the truth given out limited knowledge. In fact, saying that truth is relative, pretty much disregards everything that science sets out to do, which is to get a clearer picture of this absolute Truth. You might say that before, we saw cylinder as only a blue circle and after numerous scientific discoveries, we discover, "Oh! This blue circle can actually sometimes be an orange square and sometimes, it's a mix of both." My point in this is to say, that we may never get to see the actual Truth of the universe's workings but with every scientific breakthrough, we get a clearer and clearer understanding of the Truth and our perception of the Truth comes closer and closer to the actual Truth. Certainly, there also exist people who insist on their perception of the Truth to be true even when they're clearly false (i.e., Flat Earth Society - I still can't believe these people exist.)

Well, how about religion? So far, my very few examples only include scientific truths not religious or philosophical ones. I say the same line of thinking. There exists a Truth about religion. All religions have a perception of the truth which may or may not represent the truth well. Some may even deny the Truth outright and pass it off their perception of Truth.

I will concede that every person will have a different perception of truth. But to say that each of those perceptions is in fact true, would be a step back in our intelligence. Imagine if we allow scientific facts or for that matter, mathematical facts to be subjected to relativism. "This is my truth and you can't impose your truth on me," is a statement I hear a lot and it sounds great but can have a lot of dangerous effects.

This exists a Truth, people and the closer everyone knows this Truth, the better for mankind.

My thoughts on the LTFRB vs Grab and Uber Drama

LTFRB has ordered a hug chunk of Grab and Uber operators to cease operations starting July 26 and their reason is hilarious. Their main reason for this decision is to ensure the safety of the riding public.

This, among all other things, is what's fueling the anger towards the LTFRB. It's as if the members of the LTFRB live in a sort of naive bubble where they say, jeepneys, buses, taxis are all registered with us therefore they must be safe! Nothing could be further from the truth. I've never been personally victimized in these modes of transportation but I definitely do not feel any safer knowing they're registered. I've been swindled by taxi drivers. Buses feel like a roller coaster they move in the highway. Jeepneys stop where they please and are often the causes of traffic especially in Cebu. These, the LTFRB should realize, are all safety risks and hazards. These problems have been around for as long as I can remember and there was no no word of concern from LTFRB on these issues.

I must add, however, that Cebu Taxi drivers are probably the best ones in the Philippines. They don't refuse any fare, they give proper change, they don't drive you around the block several times to get the most out of the ride, and they have a little blue light on the top of their cab as a form of silent distress signal in case something life threatening does indeed happen. Manila, this is how you guys should do taxis. Cebu buses, on the other hand, are a different animal and I'd just depress myself talking about that animal.

I understand the LTFRB's reasons for its decision. Let's call a spade a spade and unregistered Grab and Uber cars are just an app based colorum, which is still illegal. Now, why they chose to go after the safest and most reliable form of colorum is beyond me and I won't even start to try to rationalize it (actually, I will but in a separate post). Uber and Grab need to have play within what is legal if they want to continue operations in the country, which some of their drivers have fulfilled.

On the other side of the same coin, the government needs to step up their game and LTFRB needs to act on the permits of the individual drivers. Uber and Grab both offer a different way to get around the city and one which is very accessible to foreign tourists, who may already have the Uber app on their smartphones.

In my humble opinion, I'd like to forth several things the government must do to win back the favor of the riding public:

1. Enforce all traffic laws strictly.
2. Reeducate the public about the correct traffic laws and the fact that they're LAWS and not suggestions.
3. Make ride sharing legal but in a separate category as other PUVs. Tax them if you need to!
4. Modernize mass public transportation. Wouldn't it be cool to pay your jeepney fare through a tap of a card which you can reload at any 7-11? Seriously, why aren't we doing this yet.
5. Lessen road widening projects and encourage more mass transportation projects
6. Stop renewing the permits of old and dilapidated jeeps, cars (even private ones), and buses
7. Put a stop to all illegal forms of public transport (colorum)

I'll stop my list here but that's were I'm at. Did I wish they did these actions in order? Yes, but in any case, I'm still glad they started with something even if I don't agree with it.

To close, I'll just say that if Grab and Uber are indeed considered colorum, then I don't see them actually fading away any time soon. Our traffic enforcers are all too used to this kind of thing. Starting July 26, they'll apprehend any Uber and Grab drivers on the road. This will probably go all the way until August 25. After this, these enforcers will just ask for an amount from the driver so they won't be caught. After a few more weeks, they won't even catch the drivers anymore and we'll be back to where we started.

This, my friends, is why we don't have nice things.

My Aussie Trip

Last October, me and a friend of mine, Hamilton (Ham for short), bought tickets to Australia. Our primary purpose was to visit my best friend, Lucky. Our secondary purpose was to go sight seeing in the land down under. My tertiary purpose: to visit a country outside Asia.

Yup! This was my first trip away from Asia.

My family wasn't big on traveling when I was young so the furthest I've been up until I went to high school was Leyte. So you can imagine the leap to Australia was a big thing for me. It would mark a lot of firsts in my life:

• First time outside Asia
• First time in the southern hemisphere
• First time to travel to a country during the winter season
• First time I'd see/touch snow
• First time I flew domestic in a foreign land
• First time I'd travel abroad for more than a week

You get the picture. I often say to my friends that whenever I travel to an unfamiliar place, the sense of wonder in my eyes never goes away. I get amazed by the silliest things when I travel and Australia was no different.

I'll be talking about five aspects of my travels... you know, just so I have a guide while writing this post. I'll be talking about the people, the food, the things to do, the sights to see, and one of my favorite things about travelling abroad, the transportation system (I'm not even joking about this one).

People

When we landed in Sydney airport, I can't say I was overwhelmed by their friendliness. I guess there exists a natural law that prohibits immigration personnel from being too friendly. Don't get me wrong; they weren't rude, they were just not friendlier than normal. Me and Ham took an Uber to Central station where we'd meet up with Lucky. The Uber driver was nice enough but it was when we were waiting in the station that I met my first friendly Australian.

She had seen me and Ham with our big bags and asked where we came from. We told her we came from the Philippines and she went on to talk about someone she knows who knows someone from the Philippines. Australians love their small talk and even though we had to leave shortly after we started talking, I won't forget that friendly old woman.

Australians are just naturally friendly, I guess. If they're not, they're just pleasant people to interact with. My only idea of how Australians are was from Masterchef Australia and I always said they seemed like the nicest people... and they are!

From time to time, I'd interact with an immigrant but I can say that the locals are the ones who are really nice people. I'm used to going into a restaurant/fast food chain and being greeted with, "Good morning, sir! Welcome to _________." That's nice and all but to be greeted with a "Hey, guys! How are you?" just seems more natural and genuine. I even felt more "peaceful" when they'd say, "Peace be with you" as mass. By the way, special mention to the priest in the church in Melbourne. He took time to talk to me and ask me about my vacation so far. Ahhhh. Australians, don't change.

Food

This is a tricky one. I didn't know much about Australian food except fish and chips and Vegemite so I don't think there's much in the way of good Australian food. Or maybe I just didn't try it. What I did get to try was authentic Korean cooking as well as Japanese cooking. Korean grill, Raw Beef, Ramen, Sushi, Sashimi, Donburi. These are the things that make me happy.

Now, I must say that Sydney has a lot of Asians. Vietnamese, Koreans, Japanese, Chinese and Filipinos are all over the place. I guess this explains why I noticed Asian cooking more than Western cooking. I did get to try a kangaroo burger, which they say has leaner meat. I couldn't notice the difference much compared to pork. But I noticed they use a lot of beet root in their food. It was a good change for me so at least I got to try out a different kind of burger before leaving Australia.

Street food isn't something you see so often so as soon as I realized that this wasn't going to be a food tripping travel, I was happy and content with the next few items I was looking forward to see in a foreign country.

Things to do

This was a big issue for us when we were planning our trip. Our original tickets had us in Sydney for 11 days. Cebu Pacific then moved our return flight by 2 days so we had to fill 13 days with activities for us to do.Technically one day wouldn't count as it was the day of our flight back home but still. This was not a small task. As a guide, this was how our trip to Australia was planned:

Day 0 - Layover in Manila
Days 1 to 3 - Sydney
Days 4 to 7 - Melbourne
Days 7 to 9 - Sydney
Days 9 to 10 - Thredbo
Days 10 to 12 - Sydney
Day 13 - Go back home :-(

Our fear was basically this: we'd have 2 to 4 days where we'd either have nothing to do, or spend more than our allotted travel budget to fill these days with things to do. Fortunately, we didn't have this problem. We had a total of 8 whole days in Sydney alone and I can't think of a dull time. We were either trekking, walking in the parks, window shopping, going to the beach. Museums were plentiful in Australia but we just opted out of those activities. We did go to a zoo and luckily for us, Taronga Zoo was still celebrating the birth of a baby elephant and I got to see one before it turned one month old.

Just talking a walk in a park or on any of the trails, you'd find little pieces of art. One in particular captured my eye as it showed a free diver and a scuba diver and I enjoy both these activities. Public performances are a common sight in the streets of Australia - a singer, dancer, contortionist, juggler, and even magicians. These performances are really nice to watch and observe and the best thing about them is you don't need to look for them. You, literally, just bump into them.

We did set a day or two for Thredbo. I was already in a country experiencing winter and I was not going to let the trip finish without getting my first hand experience with snow. I could've opted to try out skiing or snow boarding but truth be told, I wasn't in the mood for wiping out during my first snowy experience so I contented myself with sliding down a kiddie slope in a toboggan and getting my picture taken with a snowman.

Yup! Snow. Snow made 5 hour drive to Thredbo and 5 hour drive back worth it.

Sights to see

We had lucked out when we booked the tickets last October to schedule our trip during Vivid Sydney! The Sydney Opera House looked it's best during Vivid Sydney. Even Taronga Zoo had a bunch of installments for Vivid Sydney and although we didn't stay for the night, they still looked pretty awesome! Harbour Bridge looked amazing on our first night out.

We did get the chance to see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge at different times/angles - at night during Vivid Sydney, in the morning on a ferry, during sunset from Mrs. Macquarie's chair, up close and personal when I peaked inside - and each time, it looked new and took a little bit of my breath away. I was seeing a landmark that defined Australia in my head and it felt unreal that I was seeing this structure up close.

Our brief visit to Melbourne saw us drive through the Great Ocean Road on our way to see the Twelve Apostles. Again, it was another sight worth the long drive. One could really appreciate the forces of nature that shaped the apostles over the years. I'm actually curious to find out what they would look like in 20 or 30 years. Many tourists might even be in awe as seeing the Pacific Ocean, looking into the distance and realizing how vast that ocean is but for me, it wasn't something especially breathtaking; Siargao's view of the Pacific spoiled me, you could say.

We also got to see some other things like the Bathing Boxes on Brighton beach, the Eureka Skydeck, and the Etihad Stadium. I'm clumping these three together coz even if I did enjoy our visit to them, they paled in comparison to everything else we'd seen in Australia (i.e., snow. Yes, everything takes a backseat to snow).

One last place I'd like to mention however is St. Mary's Cathedral. We were supposed to hear mass here one time but our schedule forced us to hear mass in another church. This place was amazing. I'm not going to pretend I know the architectural terms for this style so I'll be honest in saying I got my info from Wikipedia. The Gothic architecture just looked so stunning! I love the churches here in the Philippines but this one just had a different feel to it. Inside was so peaceful and solemn, it made me want to pray. I even noticed the some other tourists came in and offered their prayers as well. I'll always think what it would feel like to hear mass there. Oh well, that's something to do for my next visit.

Transportation System

Call me a geek but I seriously geek out over a foreign country's transportation system and I try to memorize it. I get amazed how seamless everything seems to be. A quick check online shows that you need to ride a train to this station then transfer to a bus when you get there before you finally reach your destination. Here, you'd have to think, "The train will cost me X pesos and the bus will cost me another X pesos. When I get there, the jeep will cost another X pesos." There, the system was so ingenious.

It'll cost you X AUD to go from point A to B only, Y AUD from B to C only, and Z AUD from C to D. But if you plan to go from A to D while simply passing through B and C, it'll charge you a totally separate fare which is less than (X + Y +Z) AUD. I still don't get how they do that but the geek in me wants to try to program that thing.

Of course, this thing isn't isolated to Australia. Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan all have these systems in place but Sydney's train system was probably the most complex. I was able to understand Tokyo's trains pretty well and those were in a language I didn't understand. But had I been left behind on a platform in Sydney, there would probably be a 75% chance I'd get lost or ride a train that I shouldn't. This is because the train tracks in Sydney service more than one route.

In Singapore, for example, if you ride the purple line, you'll end up on the end of the purple line and a quick look at your little guide will tell you exactly what station that will be. Sydney is different, some trains look like they'd go the same direction but diverge upon reaching a certain stop. And say, you miss your stop, it's not as simple as going to the opposite side of the platform and taking that one back to your stop. I get why this complication exists.

Sydney has all its trains and they're all interconnected so seamlessly it doesn't become as tourist friendly as the ones in Hong Kong where there are signs everywhere which practically tell you, "You are now standing on the platform where the Red train will stop." Not to say it's more complicated. They actually have a phone app where all you need to do is enter your starting point and destination and it tells you exactly what time you need to be a platform 18 to catch the express train to your next stop where you'll have to transfer to platform 4 where you'll have to wait 3 minutes to ride the train which will bring you to your destination. Pretty handy, I'd say.

Melbourne, on the other hand (from what I saw, at least), went with trams with some train stations for further distances. They even had a Free Tram Zone which we used to our heart's content to get around because free things make everything better. They had the same issue I had with Sydney trains in that I couldn't tell for certain whether a tram would move straight or turn at the corner. As a result, we did have to leave a tram we didn't need to since we didn't know which way it would go. As it was my first time riding trams in a city, I still enjoyed the experience very much.

We didn't ride buses all that much but we did few times. I was impressed with how strict the time table was for their buses. If the time table said the bus would arrive at 3:47PM at that stop, it would. I wish I could've ridden the buses more in Sydney. My only other point of comparison would be taking the buses on EDSA and I think we can all agree that isn't the most pleasant experience.

Wrapping up

I'm actually surprised at how this post unfolded. The transportation system in Australia took up the most space. I must really be that kind of geek. Lol.

I really enjoyed my Aussie trip and I wouldn't mind going back there again and again. I've never said this about another country but I wouldn't mind living there. My heart is still stuck in the Philippines so I'm not leaving any time soon but if I were to live abroad, I'd definitely consider Australia the most.