1) The food is very good. It’s all about fresh produce and glorious, fresh seafood. I had oysters five days out of ten that I was there. The oysters at Otto were the best. They were served with salmon roe on top, amongst other things. You also have to go to Golden Century, the Chinese restaurant that’s open round the clock. It’s an institution.

2) Even though you’re in a big city, you’re always surrounded with nature. You’ll see heaps of trees, parks, gardens, etc. Oh and birds. There are birds everywhere! It’s all about the birds. I made friends with a group of seagulls near the Opera House.

3) It’s a very health-conscious city. There are tons of people running, jogging all over the place. In between the shows (on a weekday afternoon), Rumi and I saw at least three dozen guys collectively doing ab crunches and situps in the park.

4) Everything you need is right under your nose. It’s very convenient city to get around. Cabs are plentiful (you can hail them on the street like New York, unlike in Europe) and all the places you need to go is within a 5-20 minute cab ride.

5) The beach is a stone’s throw away. Bondi beach is super beautiful!

6) Speaking of Bondi beach, Bondi Icebergs is one of my favourite places in town. Be sure to visit in the afternoon and have a very late lunch followed by cocktails during sunset. The view is spectacular.

7) People are super friendly and helpful. Sydneysiders are very curious, very chatty and very smiley. They’re kinda like good looking, healthier, all-natural versions of British people in Los Angeles.

8) Sydney feels very safe. There aren’t many cities in the world where I feel safe (I got mugged in Paris twice for instance) but Sydney seems to be safe enough. Maybe because there are tons of Asians (there are areas of Sydney where I feel like I’m in Singapore or Hongkong)??? I mean, Asians, in general, are mostly peaceful people…

9) You have a take a sunset cruise along Sydney Harbour aboard someone’s yacht. It’s magnificent.

10) There are tons of hot guys. I kid you not!!! Lord have mercy on me. Several blogger colleagues could not stop staring at hot guys left and right. Just look — don’t talk or touch!