USA: First bite of the big apple

New York City. One word. *SQUEAL*

Mascot: About to get on the plane in Sydney. Needed some sugar to get me gee'd up about 20 hours of plane rides ahead.
JFK Airport New York: Looking as fresh as daisies after 17 hours of flights (for some reason I thought it was going to be 20?).
View from bus window as we arrive in the city. Getting excited now!
So we get to the hostel that we booked for the first two nights and the sign on the door says the building is condemned! EEeeek. Hehe - luckily I'd read about this on Hostel world. It was just a meeting place before being taken to the actual hostel. Lucky. The hostel is in the best location ('Hells Kitchen' - 9th street where there are lots of cute restaurants, deli's etc and only 2 blocks to Broadway Theatres and Times Square)
Times square baby!! Eeepa.
Look. Even monks go on holidays! (am a little obsessed with monks after recent trip to Thailand/Laos)

So. I got talking to a guy in times square who had just graduated from Parsons The School of Design (if you watch Project Runway you would be excited too!). And... he managed to sell us tickets to a basement comedy show. Straight off the plane and already getting amongst it.
Kenny Ortega - funny fellow.

The end of the beginning

The trip home from Asia saw us spend 4 very rushed days in the country before flying out again for the States. Hectic hectic times. Trips to the hospital to visit very very sick aunt/ running around getting cash/changing enrollment to vote/packing up house/squeezing in catchups with some lovelies/packing bags for the next trip!


Here we go again - 4:30am starts. We go to the airport too late to check in our luggage so we had to be delayed to the next flight - eek. Not a great start to the trip, but better than forgetting passport which is what the Big Sissa did before we were due to fly out to Asia.

Thailand: Scuba and relax!!

So the Big Sissa desperately wanted do to some Muay Thai kickboxing training while we were in Thailand. She found a kickarse training facility in Rawaii (Phuket) and we booked tickets to fly down from Laos. I booked accommodation close to the kickboxing training camp which was described on the net as 'double bed, garden-facing room'. In the 'comments' section in the online booking system I asked if we could have separate beds in the room (by this stage in the trip I was pretty keen for some space). When we arrived we found we had separate BEDROOMS!! Our booking had been upgraded to a two bedroom ocean-facing apartment - it was enormous!

This time of year in Thailand is the build up to the wet season. There were the most fantastic storms and lightning shows out over the Andaman sea each night.

After all the travelling around over the last few weeks we thought we deserved some R&R and pool time. Life's tough.
While the Big Sissa was keen for Muay Thai, I scouted around to see what I could do for the week. The top three options were surfing, yoga or scuba. Miss R weighed in on the decision and scuba was the winner.

So my first day of scuba was spent in a classroom and in a pool - needless to say there are no photos of this. I wasn't even sure if I would like it as I can't stand the sensation of snorkling and being able to breath underwater. The first time using the scuba tank regulator was really uncomfortable, but after I calmed down a bit it was the best feeling.

On day 2 - out to the islands we went!

I'm pretty sure everyone looks hot in a wetsuit and with a scuba tank on their back!
We did three dives that day. When I say 'we', I mean my diving instructor Mike (a German guy in his mid thirties with a long blonde ponytail) and me. I signed up for group classes, but due to the low season it just ended up being a private lesson. Noice!

There were others on the boat but when we dove it was just the two of us. The first dive we saw a few baby stingrays, plenty of pretty fish, colourful coral and also some mean looking fish. We also swam around in the middle of a giant school of fish for a while. When we got back on the boat I asked a german couple if they saw the stingrays. They said they hadn't but they saw plenty of barracudas. I said 'oh, I didn't see any of those' to which Mike responded 'That was the giant group of fish we were swimming through for ages!' (Note - they were baby barracudas and also I've since been informed that barracudas' are pretty scary - who knew?)
Mike got out a laminated guide pointing out all the species of fish and coral that we had just seen and that we might see in the next two dives. I pointed at the turtles and asked if we would see any - Mike repeated his answer from the day before (I'd also asked the day before when we were in the pool) that it was pretty unlikely. WELL... about five minutes into the last dive Mike tapped his tank to make a noise and gave a hand signal to indicate 'TURTLE' (nb: hand signal is the cutest thing. Get me to show you one time). Then a giant turtle came gliding towards us in the water, appeared to look briefly at us and kept gliding along with its arms paddling in wide circles as the strong current dragged it along the coral ocean wall.

It. was. amazing. I was the happiest girl and let out the biggest squeal. Sound travels pretty far under water - I hope I didn't scare the turtle. But wow. It made my day.

At the end of that dive we filled our BC Vests with air and popped up on the surface. The current at the island of the third dive was so strong that we had been dragged to the end of the island and were close to being in open water far from the island. Another group from the boat surfaced just near us and together we waited for the boat to pick us up. I didn't let on at the time, but I felt like one of the divers from the movie 'Open Water'. That is a dramatisation of two divers who were left out in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef at the end of the dive. Yep. I was pretty scared! I was pretty glad when the boat arrived in the distance and headed our way. Aside from being out in the middle of the ocean, my instructor decided it was the perfect time to test me on the 'dragging the instructor back to the boat' exercise. Wow - he really didn't have great timing! But at the end of the day it was the best experience getting to scuba dive. I'm pretty sure I'm hooked!

And for those who are wondering how the Muay Thai went - it didn't. The Big Sissa was much more partial to relaxing by the pool.

Laos: turning 27

The Big Sissa thoroughly spoiled me!

We stayed in an amazing boutique resort on the edge of town in Luang Prabang, spent the day swimming and having massages/spa treatments and then went out for dinner at a French/Laos fusion restaurant which was voted #1 Laos in New York Times. When we got back to the hotel there was a vanilla cake with chocolate ganache icing and macaroon decorations! Wow oh wow!


It doesn't look like I'm wearing swimmers here - but I am.Perusing the spa menu.
Dinner - in 35 degree heat.
Lychee swing cocktails.

My birthday pressie! White topaz in rose gold circle in a sterling silver band. The disk flips over and the other side is a solid rose gold circle in the middle.
Banana leaf parcels with sauted mushrooms, coconut cream mousse, eggplant and dill with black sticky rice. Nom nom.
Dessert was lotus leaf and mint tiramisu! Sooooo good.
The chocolate ganache cake and macaroooooons.

Laos: cooking up a storm!

To market we go... to check out where all the produce comes from.


This is a banana flower and all the baby bananas ready to grow.
Nom nom!
Back at the cooking school.
I made a garnish. Yep, thats right. I'm pretty talented.
The Big Sissa in the middle of cooking a delicious tofu yellow curry.
Learning the art of folding banana leaf parcels. I have ALWAYS wanted to cook with banana leaves but never known how. Now I do.



Stuffed bamboo shoots and stuffed lemon grass.
Chicken Laab - a lao speciality.
Sticky black rice and mango - delic!
The fruits of our labour.

I was chatting to the group about my suspected leeching the previous day when one of the men doing the cooking course mentioned he was a physician and that perhaps I should be concerned as we are meant to have the natural blood clotting process as it stops infection. Additionally, his wife piped up and said a friend of hers was recently bitten by a leech and was very ill as a result. He offered to have a look at the bite to check it was ok. So, in a corner back room of the cooking school, a leading NSW cardiologist gave me a free consultation and looked at the leech bite on my bum! haha. He said I'd definitely been bitten, but its fine and I won't die. Phew!

Want to hear something gross?

Skip this post if you don't want to hear a kind of gross story. I'll spare you the pictures at least.

So... I had a huge stack down the stairs of our hotel in Chiang Mai and ended up with two very large (palm size) and very dark (black black black) bruises on my bum cheek. It hurt momentarily when I fell, but apart from that it only hurt to touch them. This, mind you was the day before we headed up to Chiang Kong to the slow boats. I was a little apprehensive about having to sit on the bruises for two days straight but there were no dramas.

Anyway, on our first day in Luang Prabang (Laos) we took a tuk tuk up to some amazing waterfalls. Think, several aqua green pools and a huge water fall which cascaded down into the various pools. We'd met up with a bunch of girls from our slow boat trip and were having a swim in the waterfalls when everyone started to feel little fish-like thinks brushing against their feet and legs. I wasn't too worried and just brushed them away.

Later that night back at the hotel one of my bruises felt very very itchy. I had a look and this bruise was no longer black/blue but was a reddish skin colour with two red bite marks at the top. SO... the gross part is I'm pretty sure my bruise was leeched! I'm pretty sure the leech sucked the clotted blood from the second bruise. I didn't feel anything at the time, but the lack of colour and the itchiness are tell-tale signs. I was a tad worried and googled leeches but according to google I'm pretty sure I'm not going to die of parasite infection but instead, have undergone (unbeknowns to me) an ancient therapy of leeching!

Laos: I'm in love - Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang (LP) in Laos is the most gorgeous little town!

It sits on a peninsula, bordered by the Mekong and the Nam Khong rivers. There are big french colonial guest houses over looking the rivers, a number cute restaurants (and some gourmet) and wine bars line the main street, there are great night markets and there are a large number of temples which means novice monks can often be spotted including during the processional giving of alms at 5:30am in the morning (an offering to the monks which is usually rice). The town is also UNESCO World Heritage protected which has helped preserve the quaintness of the town including the french colonial architechure.

It was such a relief to get off the boat in such a lovely town!



First stop after getting off the boat (and having a long hot shower) was fooood! The big Sissa and I have discovered our favourite meal in Laos - Dom Sum, a green papaya salad with tomatos, baby eggplant, chilli, and a sweet and sour sauce from cane sugar and lime juice. This is all mixed together in a giant mortar and pestle. Lao food is actually very similar to northern Thai food and they make this salad in Thailand also. Its very handy that the Thai's just reverse the words and call it Sum Dom.


Day 1 in LP we caught a tuk tuk with another aussie couple out to the Kuang Si waterfalls.
There were monks (I was kind of stalking them to see if they would strip down and get in the water - call me a pervert, but we have been told they go through a stage when they can't touch women, or even brush against one, they rarely look you in the eye, so I was intrigued as to whether they would swim with women. I gave up following them so I don't know if they did swim or not).
The turquoise pools of water - later the scene of 'the leeching' - and a rope swing into the deep blue waters.


We had every intention of getting up on the first morning at 5:30am to watch the procession of monks down the main street for the giving of alms however one thing lead to another and it was so nice to have a bit of a sleep in. So the following morning we woke up early to observe the giving of alms. It was a nice time of the morning - before the heat of the day had set in - and peaceful watching the procession of monks.


Following the giving of alms, we climbed the stairs of Phu Si hill (yes I do believe its pronounce Pussy?), a large hill in the centre of LP. We climbed about 200 stairs before we reached the ticket office and realised that a) we had to pay an entry fee and b) we didn't have our wallets as we'd just ducked out for a walk. Sooo, back down the 200 odd stairs to the hotel and then back up again. My gluts will thank me for it!



On the way to cooking class... the glasses came out again. I couldn't see sh*t and the sun was in my face, but I love them. hehe.

'sweet mate - for the good time' - hilar