PICTURE YOURSELF IN…

Sydney

BY BREKKE FLETCHER

It's a weird time. The pandemic may be on the wane, but it still feels like a different world than 2019. It also feels like a great swath of humanity just wants to forget it happened – pretend it didn't happen or act like it doesn't affect the way we view the world. And I can't forget it because the world is different now. And we're different. And the places we love are different.

It was half-way through my conversation with Philip Tang, a Sydney-based Lonely Planet writer, that this paradox occurred to me. There's a before, and an after, inside all of us. Before Covid-19 marooned him in Australia for two years, Philip was always on the road, spending time in his beloved Mexico City, popping hither and thither on assignment for Lonely Planet.

Our talk, which I thought would be about what makes Sydney so singular and exciting to travelers, became a meditation on the complex, evolving relationship one can have with a previously escaped and eschewed hometown. Philip's "reloving'' of Sydney took him by happy surprise, and with long walks during lockdown, he saw the city anew: its architecture, history, buildings, the landmarks, parks and parties.

He's ready to travel again, now that he's free to.

But for now, he's happily at home, and in love,
with Sydney.

Q. Would you tell us a little bit about yourself?

A. I grew up in Sydney, and my background is Chinese and Vietnamese. I've lived here my whole life practically. I've also lived in Melbourne for a decade, London for five years and then Mexico City for five years, and that was my base before…

Q. Beforetimes!! It's so weird. How'd you end up back home?

From Mexico City, my plan was to pop by Australia on my way to Japan, for what I assume would be my next update for Lonely Planet. That popping back became longer and longer and longer.

You know, we weren't allowed to leave Australia, legally, for nearly two years.

Q. So you were trapped.

A. I always wanted to run away, to explore the world, and I did that. I do that.

It was kind of strange, because Sydney had changed so much. I was familiar with it, but it was also foreign to me. I had new eyes for the city. I just realized how many beautiful things there are and how many things have changed. It has become a better place.

The best way to see Sydney? Take long walks.

Q. In what ways, do you think?

A. The city used to be somewhere people would come to and leave. People didn't really linger. Maybe you'd come in for an event, or a special occasion. But there were long stretches of Sydney where there was nothing good to eat.

Now, it's much more of a social place, where you want to sit for ages and talk with people in everyday ways and enjoy it. It's forever changing and for that reason it's interesting.

Check out the Glebe Markets on Saturdays

Q. How do you account for this pivotal moment?

A. It's really because of how much of a world city Sydney has become. Over a third of people who live in Sydney are born overseas. That's a massive number.

I think Sydney has finally realized and accepted its place in the Asia Pacific. There's lots of different people from Asia and Southeast Asia, and in those places you do live life outside and you eat outside.

Maybe you don't have a lot of space inside, and you don't mind living in a city.

Now it feels like Sydney's a city with lots of people moving around, hanging out at cafes and in markets. It feels busier. It's got youthful energy.

Q. You can leave now, but you haven't. Why not?

A. You know, I've gotten used to it. I mean, I will still travel, and I'm dying to travel again. But over the last few years, I took these long, two-hour walks into and out of the city. I got to see a lot of places that I assumed they would be like before – dead and really quiet. But then I saw all these cafes and shops everywhere.

And Sydney is overflowing with nature, like nature is trying to take back the city with all the banyan trees with their roots literally coming out of the sidewalk.

It's on those walks – and I took a different route each time – I saw again how beautiful Sydney is.

Q. What is one of your preferred walking routes?

A. This is pretty much entirely along waterfront paths, with a few zig zags and detours. Start from Sydney Harbor and The Opera House, then walk through Piermont, to Darling Harbor and end in the suburb of Glebe.

Australia's Aboriginal Heritage Now Front and Center

Two names are better than one. Tourism Australia is educating visitors by adopting a dual naming system for major locations and big cities, such as Sydney/Warrane, to emphasize the importance of Aborignal languages, history and culture.

Learn more

Best Recs

A few of Philip Tang's Sydney favorites to save for your next trip

Eat

Grab an Australian brunch before/after the beach at The Little Kitchen (Coogee). Order the smashed avocado, an Aussie invention, or Kedgeree with cod and egg. Also be sure to swing by The Grounds of Alexandria, for a coffee and a chill hang in the garden.

See

Wendy's Secret Garden in Lavender Bay is beautiful. It has views of the harbor. An artist and his wife created it, and I don't think many people know about it.

Listen

Listen Local, a playlist curated by Australian rapper, Briggs, who said upon its release in June 2020, "This isn't the be-all, end-all registry of Indigenous artists, but it's a head start."

The annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, which happens the first week of March. It's so great to see people walking around the park, covered in glitter, sidestepping protruding roots. And everyone's glistening a bit because it's humid.

Watch

Kath & Kim, a TV comedy, is a parody of the suburban middle class aspirations of Australians. And then The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which starts at a gay bar in Sydney, then move into the desert. It really shows the sassiness of Sydney. And that soundtrack!