blushingjoy

brightness in the sun

2012-02-06T21:03:00.000+11:00

top: zara / skirt: cue / heels: wittner

How funny! We finally cracked 30 degrees for summer yesterday before the weather descended back into its gloomy state today. What is going on? Really, I am loving the cooler months. The past few years, our summer has been long periods of sweltering heat accompanied by crippling bushfires that's destroyed families, homes and dreams so I'm relieved that we finally have a summer without all that devastation.

I bumped into an old friend at the shopping centre across from work a couple of weeks back and caught up for lunch with her today. In fact, she was my very first housemate out of university! I can't believe that it's been 6 years since I graduated. We were such wide-eyed innocent kids trotting into the adult world back then. I still remember we were very smitten with the place we were gonna rent but the day we moved in, it somehow lost the flashiness from when we inspected the place. We looked at each other and went, "6 months and we're out!" That was the term of our contract!

It was fantastic seeing her again. The adult world is truly a hard place. The first 3 years after university was an epic adventure. I definitely felt like the world was my oyster and there was nothing that could stop me from achieving what I want in life. The last 3 years though, I had the veil lifted from my eyes and it has been one of tough lessons and disappointments. I don't regret anything that has happened but no longer do I feel invincible like I once did. I am still optimistic that I'll eventually come up on the other side victorious though. That's the cycle of life, isn't it?

another brown take

2012-02-01T20:44:00.000+11:00

dress: poem / cardigan: witchery / necklace: thrifted / stockings: target / flats: mollini

Here's another take on the little brown dress I seem to wear every other week or so. I am seriously surprised by how versatile this piece can be. I bought this little brown dress in Bangkok maybe about 4 years ago now and pulled it out of my 'waiting to be worn' collection mid last year. Yup, you don't have to say it, I've already been told countless times I'm a little strange in that respect but, I never envisaged it to be that dress that I'll covet/go to in moments when I can think of nothing better to wear!

pouffy skirt

2012-01-05T19:15:00.000+11:00

blazer: topshop; top: h&m; skirt: third millenium; heels: new look

There were a couple of outfit shots captured in December that I've not posted yet so here we go. This was early in December because you can see all the painters tape on the skirting and newspapers around.

I love love love this skirt. There are quite a number of clothes in my closet that are from so long ago that I can't remember that I will never be able to bear the thought of being apart from. The skirt is from my uni days and definitely one of those pieces of clothing I hold dear to my heart. Back then I was a poor uni student on a budget who got the skirt on sale and it came down mid calf. I wore it oh so proudly with my genie shoes to lectures and tutes and thought I was oh so very fashionable! Until, I started working and realised that I looked like a bag lady in that skirt! How being in the workforce changes a person's mindset so very quickly!

happy new year!

2012-01-03T11:07:00.000+11:00

via

Happy New Year everybody!! Did you do anything exciting to bring in the New Year? The hubs and I stayed home and watched the last season of 24 and prepared for Maxxie to be absolutely terrified of the noise from the fireworks but in the end he was non-plussed about it all! How funny!

The two of us been flat out busy in December and I'd imagined most of you probably felt the same with organising get togethers, putting up Christmas decorations, buying presents. Here's a lil of what we got up to last month:

date night!! this time last year, we were halfway around the world on our honeymoon. we've been missing the food that we sampled during our time there and recently, the hubs discovered The Dip, serving hotdogs and buffalo wings here in sydney! yummo!

this time every year, we've always been somewhere overseas, dipping our toes into some marvelous adventure and so on our honeymoon last year we agreed that this year, we'd be spending christmas at home and so here we are with our very first christmas tree ever!

more date nights and outings with friends

meet maxxie, the new addition to our household. you and i know that i've been wanting a pet cat for a long long time. after dingo passed away back in august, i didn't think it was right to get a new pet so soon after but i've been eyeing him on the petrescue sites for months and one day, ryan woke up and said he wanted a cat too! i freaked out a lil because i never thought this day would ever come. took us another month but he's in our life now. because he's soooo ridiculously timid and gentle, his foster carer thinks that he might have been abused in the past but he's doing so well with us. he loves coming up for pats and playing catch (the mouse, i think). and last week, we caught him sleeping with abandonment! we thought the lil guy never slept! i have had to learn to be super duper patient with him too since i always want to carry and cuddle him and he'll be timidly trying to get away from me. i already love the guy to bits!

eating gourmet chocolates at work and getting a desk gnome from the boss for christmas! wa hey!!

i must have been a good girl this year because I got some really awesome pressies from santa this year!! yay!! i also got some stuff off the zara uk website and my in laws are gonna forward them over to me. can't wait!!

we had a traditional aussie feast on christmas day with the family. just so you know, it's all seafood. allow me to gloat while i say this - the sydney fish market is but a hop, skip and jump away from our place so we didn't have to get up ridiculously early and brave the traffic jams and the crowds like the rest of sydney to get the glorious feast above. :)

my mum's playing wii. can you believe it? ahhh, she wasn't very good at it but she was a good sport. then we all lazed around and watched spooks! mum and dad are hooked on it now.

christmas eve picnic with friends at nielsen park! i made cupcakes and the weather was just perfection! we've been in a grey and rainy rut for over a month here in sydney until that morning so it was very nice to have beautiful weather on christmas eve (and christmas day too!). and then i got rbt-ed. if i have to say, this was the most exciting bit because i have never been pulled over ever in my life! look at the policewoman, she was just as excited as i was! ;)

art decorating is underway in our household! on the left are pictures that we've put up in the entrance way, and on the left is our living area. it's been a slow but steady process and i'm loving every moment of it. i'll post more about it in the new year!!

2011 was a rollercoaster ride for me so now that we're in 2012, I'm making goals to stabilise my life, like saving some moolah, finding a more permanent role and finishing off that last CPA module. So adult-ish, I know. What are your new year's resolutions???

ghost

2011-12-22T21:19:00.000+11:00

heading towards white

2011-12-15T22:10:00.000+11:00

From purple to w h i t e... yay!! I promise I was helping out, not just taking pictures!! ;)

corporate blue

2011-12-14T20:45:00.000+11:00

top: kookai; cardigan: primark; skirt: cue; heels: wittner

Remember the papers I was cramming for a few months back? Alright, I was cramming because I had been procrastinating too much in the first place but we all do that, I'm sure. Guess what?? Results came out last week and I passed! I even got a credit for one paper. The end of CPA is sooo near, I can taste it. One more paper and I'll be done with studying. I can't wait!

snapshot

2011-12-13T22:23:00.000+11:00

@ darling harbour with da sista

floral in spring

2011-12-10T20:45:00.000+11:00

dress: primark; flats: lulu guiness

I wore this to a wedding about two weeks ago and was tossing up between heels and these flats and I am so glad that I decided to go with the flats. We didn't know there was parking for wedding guests and searched forever for public parking and then had to rush uphill to get to the venue! Yup, thank goodness I was wearing flats! I love this dress - it's absolutely perfect for spring and I must have gotten it for less than 20 pounds when we were in the UK in May. Bargain! Since our seasons are the reverse to those of the northern hemisphere, I hadn't had the chance to rock this outfit until now. It'll be perfect for catch-ups with friends or weekend lunches with the family, I reckon!

cupcake love

2011-12-07T22:26:00.000+11:00

It was a quiet celebration for our November anniversary. The hubs was still adjusting to his new braces and also had to go away for work so we settled down for a quick dinner and a lil cupcake treat before he rushed off.

Happy anniversary babe!

simple chic

2011-12-06T20:43:00.000+11:00

top: banana republic; pants: gap; heels: wittner

My arms hurt, my legs hurt, even my butt hurts! This whole painting business is definitely giving me a full body workout. Wait, does that mean that I was unfit? But I've been running at least twice a week for the past month, so how can that be??

Anyway, I thought painting was gonna be easy-peasy but as it turned out, there is actually so much to do. There are even more walls than we accounted for - you know those ones inside the cupboards, by the windows, the ceiling skirtings... ahhh!! So far, we've primed all the walls except for the kitchen area. I'm hoping to get it done during the week and get some paint on some of the walls before my folks return to help on the weekend. Wish us luck, we definitely need it!

pure stark white

2011-12-02T21:39:00.000+11:00

Can I show you some pictures that have been tugging at my heart to paint our place lately? Look here:

and then looky here:

peepmystyles

even more whitey lovelies:

mochatini

houzz

So we'll just have to blame them pictures coz our lives are going to be turned upside down again. Gosh, now that was a bit dramatic but we finally decided to give the painting a go. We just woke up one day and decided that we really don't want to live with our yellowy white walls any longer and we want white, just pure white walls!! We've been sugar scrubbing the place this week and we're going to prep it tomorrow. I've also enlisted the help of my parents to paint on Sunday which hopefully means that we'll be finish by the end of the weekend. Too ambitious? Maybe before Christmas then!

so pretty!

2011-12-01T21:26:00.000+11:00

(the decorista)

We're heading into the hotter season here so I shouldn't really be looking at winter stuff but the coat is oh so pretty that I can't help myself!

white and lacy

2011-11-30T21:21:00.000+11:00

dress: sportsgirl; shoes: primark

Truly, I have not been out enjoying the sun at all but somehow, I've managed to get a nice lil tan going. Ryan looked at me the other day and wondered how in the world I've managed to turn brown in a matter of seconds! I ain't complaining since I've vowed to stay away from the beach from now on and slip, slap and slop whenever we have to go out so knowing that I'll still get a lil colour going is awesome!

my relationship with havainas

2011-11-29T21:23:00.000+11:00

top: kookai; skirt: saba; necklace: thrifted; thongs: havainas

I go through havainas like a kid on sugar. They break on me every 6 months or so, which in my books should mean that they're not very well made for my feet but yet, I can't stay away from them. Living in the city is wonderful! It means that Ryan and I get to walk to work most days and instead of trudging around town in heels and killing my calves in the process, I wear my thongs to work and have a bevvy of heels sitting in one of my drawers. It's like a mini working heels wardrobe! Hehe... Two days after this photo was taken, my havainas, god rest their soles (can't help the pun!) finally broke down on me. Right between home and work! I had to walk to work barefoot and it was not a pretty sight!

our lil nook

2011-11-28T17:41:00.000+11:00

I posted about my sister moving out of our apartment and how excited we were to have the place to ourselves. And indeed, I did promise some "after" pictures. You know what, the painting and decorating never did happen. All we did was throw out a whole load of stuff and let me tell you, it was a LOT of stuff! We were making 3 trips each weekend to the charity bin to get rid of stuff. After all that cleaning up, it was our busy season at work and I had my CPA exams and the thought of painting the place then was just too much to bear.

We had our very first guests to the apartment since the sister moved out a few weekends back and we scrubbed and cleaned the place from top to bottom like cleaning nazis. The place looked so lovely after all that work!! The hubs made breakfast and I played with their baby. We're still undecided about painting the walls but I have to say our place has never looked so good in months - I'd say the perfect time to share a couple of photos of our lil nook. ;)

There are still bits and pieces that I'm working on like looking for a round coffee table and getting a floor lamp for the living area but we're quite happy to take our time looking for the right furniture now. Can you see my Superman mug there?? You'll see a snippet of its handle better in one of the pictures below. I love it! We got it a few years back up at Movie World in the Gold Coast.

Oooh, here's the remnants of the orchids that Ryan got me for our first anniversary two weeks ago and this is looking towards our entrance and the kitchen.

Our hangout place. One of the couches is a sentimental piece - it was the first couch I bought when I moved out of college. From Ikea, baby, since that was all I could afford back then. When we moved into this apartment a few years later, Ikea had already discontinued the line but lucky us, we found someone who was selling theirs on Ebay. And the blue blankie sitting on the arm of the couch - I've had it since I was a little kid so it's here to stay. I'm such a sentimental fool.

And our coat rack, which at the moment is more of my scarf rack since the winter coats have all been stored away for spring! As you can see, the place looks quite nice when it's all tidied up. I love our apartment now. It doesn't feel as cluttered and it's cosy and nice. Hopefully you enjoyed the mini-tour. :)

hot spring

2011-11-16T21:24:00.000+11:00

top and skirt: banana republic; heels: august ryan

The weather was oh my goodness me warm that day. Don't get me wrong, I'm in my element when it's warm but it was a crazy 37 degrees and the air was hot and dry. Perfect if you were heading to the beach to work on your tan but not when you had to go to work. Oooh wait, at least you got to be in a nice air conditioned building so maybe it's not so bad after all. :P

it's green

2011-11-12T20:22:00.000+11:00

top: h&m; cardigan: witchery; jeans: zara; flats: witchery

It's been a crazy busy week. I've had to catch up with all the work that's been piling up while I was on study leave and also, it's month end. There's been a couple of days where I felt like I had done three days work in a couple of hours and I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I fell in love with these coloured jeans from Zara when we were in the UK back in May but didn't end up getting them when I lost my wallet. Someone pickpocketed it and I lost 60 pounds, which could have gotten me almost 2 pairs of the jeans! Can you tell I was absolutely gutted! Amazingly I saw them in the Zara store here in Sydney a few weeks ago so I made a grab for the green, the purple and the mustard coloured ones - making up for lost opportunities, you see. :)

polka dot colours

2011-11-11T20:18:00.000+11:00

top: fly; skirt: anthropologie; stockings: leona edminston; heels: august ryan

eekables!

2011-11-10T23:10:00.000+11:00

top: thrifted, pants: satch; heels: august ryan; necklace: folk

eekables! I am jumping on my toes excited. I've just put in a reservation for the iphone 4s to be picked up tomorrow at the Apple store. woo hoo!

We bought this necklace in Buenos Aires last year on our honeymoon and I haven't had the chance to break it out yet. See, I'm not very good with accessorising but I'm learning. And this necklace, it clangs.... I sashay down the corridor and you could hear me coming from a mile away, clink-a-clang-clang. Like cows with bells but it really makes the outfit, don't you agree? Ahhh... the price you pay for trying to look pretty!

starlight

2011-11-09T21:15:00.000+11:00

I don't know if it's a case of getting older but I get really picky about songs that I actually enjoy nowadays. That said, I don't mind listening to the top 40 on the radio in the morning, some of those chart songs ain't too bad but
I have a serious crush on Rachel Yamagata (and Damien Rice!).

Her and Damien Rice.... they should get together and do something together and I'll be in heaven!

eschalot

2011-11-08T17:47:00.000+11:00

Eschalot will always have a special place in my heart. When we first moved to Australia, this was where our parents used to take us for daytrips. Australia was so big and foreign and this lil town that existed just 2 hours drive (far enough for us!) from where we lived was like a little oasis for us. :) Funny how after so many years, the lil country town has not changed very much and the best thing is, their pretty fine restaurant with amazing food has stood the test of time! And it's my parent's favourite place to go to for special occasions so it was a no brainer when deciding where to take my parents for their birthdays.

amuse bouche

kingfish ceviche with blood orange, fennel, cress & chive oil

seared scallops with witlof, jamon, Avruga & leek soubise

twice baked goats cheese souffle with heirloom tomatoes, oregano & eggplant caviar

blue eye trevalla with with scampi ravioli, snow pea & bisque

lamb rump with white bean puree, olive & roasted fennel

bangalow pork fillet with sauce charcutierre, boudin noir, gruyere dauphinoise & pea puree

roast breast & confit leg of Thirlmere duck, sanjiovese poached fuji & creamed chard

bayleaf pannacotta with limoncello jelly & guava sorbet

molten chocolate cake with beetroot, candied walnuts and cocoa

cuttaway creek raspberry souffle, yoghurt sorbet & biscotti

petit four

berowra waters inn

2011-11-07T22:25:00.000+11:00

dress: country road, sandals: h&m

This was definitely the highlight of our 1 year anniversary celebrations. I was sooo glad we decided to make the trip out to try the food out because it was pure amazingness. I didn't anticipate how far this place was going to be though - up north from the city and just as I thought, it couldn't have been any further north, any further and we would have entered the bush. It was tucked away in a cavern of a suburb hidden away from civilisation! Well, it felt like that to me anyway.

We figured we'll go all out for our meal so decided on the eight course degustation. I stuffed myself on the butter. It was sooo good that I couldn't help myself. You know what, my cholesterol level must probably be back to where it was at the start of the year again now. Shhh... don't tell my dad!

amuse bouche

chilled vichyssoise, oscietra & salmon caviars, beignets of hawkesbury oysters

sauteed prawn tails, oxtail & native pepper croustillant, celeriac, sheeps milk yoghurt, lemon beume noisette

steamed razor clam, local mud crab meat, spaghettini, garlic, chilli, lemon & parsley

local quail, yabbie, green asparagus, spiced tomato, coconut broth

demi tasse of cauliflower & truffle soup

and then we had snowy mountain freshwater trout, leek hearts cooked in ash, israeli cous cous, smoked cream, which i forgot to take a picture of. It was lovely but see, this was when i realised that we were halfway through my meal and I had not had a sip of my wine at all and if i was gonna drink it, it was gonna have to be now now now or i wouldn't sober up in time to drive back home. So i gulped down a mouthful and got happily tipsy and well, forgot to take a picture until halfway through the meal. This is what alcohol does to me.

organic chicken, foie gras, roast duck, oriental broth

roast yearling veal rack, potato - white onion puree, baby spinach, wood mushrooms

lemon goats cheese cheesecake, berries, mascarpone sorbet

coconut panna cotta, pineapple coconut turnover, lychee sorbet, mango, passionfruit

You know what, I actually can't believe that it's been one year already since our October wedding. That's crazy! So many things have happened since then that it feels like we've been married for longer than that. But noooo, just one year ago, I was crazily studying for an exam two days before the wedding, making sure everything to do with the wedding was good to go and that our honeymoon plans were kinda on track. Then at this time last year we were travelling around the USA and South America. Oh, how I miss travelling! Coming back from our honeymoon to reality was definitely tough but we've had a great first year of married life, and really I can't ask for a more patient, caring and loving husband as the hubs. He is absolutely amazing! One year and counting... and I can't wait till the next anniversary now!!

spoilt

2011-11-03T21:37:00.000+11:00

That is how I've been feeling this weekend. Totally and utterly spoilt! The hubs was out the door bright and early on Saturday and he came home with flowers in one hand and the grocery shopping in the other!

There was also yummy Colefax chocolates which I've never tasted before but they were all so rich and decadent! I think he's trying to get me fat. ;)

He made me my favourite bacon and egg for breakfast hash browns, mushrooms and tomato, just as I like it!

And for dinner with and breaded pork chops with loads of veges! Yummo!! Spoilt indeed!

from here to there

2011-11-02T22:10:00.000+11:00

dress: from taiwan; belt:h&m; stockings: levante; heels: august ryan

I had mega huge plans for my time off last week. Yeah, I know I was meant to spend the time studying but I was in superwoman mode where all things are possible in one week. Needless to say, what ended up happening was me cramming all hours of the day right down to the very hour before the exam trying to cram in the darn financial reporting information. It was not a pretty sight!

I'm loving that it's all over for the next 3 months until the new semester starts up again. If all goes well, I should have just that final last module to go so fingers crossed I did not stuff up these exams!

the start of our celebrations

2011-10-23T18:59:00.000+11:00

Top: Kookai, Skirt: H&M, Shoes: H&M, Earrings: Folk, Bangles: Thrifted and H&M

It was, I have to say, the most awesome of all Fridays last week. My awesome partner in crime at work, Mr T came back from his holidays, the weather was oh my god, definitely spring and so awesome, I went on holidays for a week and .... most importantly, it was the start of our October wedding anniversary celebrations.

We headed off to a local restaurant a stone's throw away from our place after work that night to Graze and had the most amazing night. They gave us the best table in the house, we ate some really delicious food, clinked our malbec glasses and talked about everything!

Being the cheap drunk that I am, I tried to control my wine intake but the malbec we had was just too nice to let Ryan have all to himself. Result was a red faced tipsy drunk me at the end of the night who woke up with a throbbing headache the next morning. Sigh.... but so worth it!

to a wedding

2011-10-20T19:49:00.000+11:00

Dress: Cue, Shawl: from India, Clutch: H&M, Heels: Zara

This was our second wedding of the year and we have another to go before the end of the year and one in the new year! It is definitely that time when all of our friends are starting to get hitched! A close friend is getting married back home too which I unfortunately won't be able to make it. Quite disappointed as I was looking forward to a roadtrip with my girlfriends. Lol... caring more about the benefits that goes with weddings than of my friend actually getting married. Shame on me!

The wedding that day was absolutely lovely. The rain held off long enough for the ceremony to proceed before the heavens opened. At least they had the ceremony where they wanted. It was a pretty special place, overlooking Sydney Opera House & the Harbour Bridge! They're off to Europe for 5 weeks for their honeymoon too, lucky chaps!

versatile brown

2011-10-18T22:01:00.000+11:00

dress: Poem, cardigan: Satch, belt & shoes: from Singapore; necklace: Tiffany

It's the start of the week but I'm pretty psyched for the end of this week to arrive now! I'm having the whole of next week off. Woop dooby doo! Even if it's because I have two incredulous exams and I will be trying to cram all of the syllabus in 4 days. Arrgghh!!

And, la di da... did you know that one year anniversary is coming up? *swoon* Can you believe we would be married a year at the end of this month. Incredible how the time just fly. It's going to be a pigging out celebration this year and I just can't wait! Yippeee!

labour day blues

2011-10-17T22:04:00.000+11:00

Top: Kookai, Scarf: from Thailand, Trench: from a random store in KL, Skirt: Larry Gwen, Shoes: Midas

It didn't bother me leading up to the day but getting ready for work that morning while the hubs slept in was tough! I still can't believe that I had to go to work on a public holiday. No, don't worry. I am definitely getting that time back but it still sucks, ya know? I didn't think he was gonna wake since he has been working late the whole of last week, but wake he did and drove me to work too! Yippee doo... I was all dressed up to brace the windy cold out there when I actually didn't have to.

Say hi to my forlorn chilli plant. It is alive but wilting and I have no idea why!! I'm putting the poor little thing in my study as it will get the most heat here - from our heater. Hopefully, that is what it's missing.

stripes and beer

2011-10-07T22:34:00.000+11:00

Top: H&M, Blazer: Camilla & Marc, Pants: Anthropologie, Heels: Nose

It's Friday and I was looking forward to a nice spot for dinner and maybe a couple of drinks to welcome in the weekend. Instead, last minute work beckons for my friend, 30 mins before our dinner date. Sigh... c'est la vie for us. Definitely a blessing in disguise for me because those heels were absolutely killing me today. I had very angry looking blisters that I think will take forever to heal when I got home. Serve me right for not wearing them in first! Instead, I trudged home to the boy, cosied up and had Macca's for dinner!

florals & stripes

2011-09-22T18:43:00.000+10:00

I love Karla's sense of style. The weather is warming up around here and I can't wait to sport a look like that. So cool!

adele - someone like you

2011-09-20T13:00:00.000+10:00

Gorgeous voice...

changing weather

2011-09-17T07:48:00.000+10:00

Top: Marcs, Cardigan: All Saints, Jeans: Diesel, Necklace: Oasis, Boots: Witchery, Earrings: thrifted from sister

Off to a housewarming this afternoon, actually we're already late because I just couldn't decide how to rug up best. Oh well, can't wait to see their new place and catch up with them and everybody else!! Toodleeloos!!

stubborn for spring

2011-09-16T11:33:00.000+10:00

Wool top for Kookai, Necklace from Oasis, Skirt from Urban Outfitters, Stockings from Target, Shoes from Primark

I am always literally running out the door in the morning. According to Ryan, I am the most disorganised person in the mornings for work. If it weren't for him, I would have forgotten either my keys, my work pass, my phone or my lunch at home and by the time it hit me, it would be too far to go back. Just like today, I had my heart set on wearing a pretty skirt (it's date night with the hubs tonight so I wanted to look pretty!) but the weather wasn't in my favour but I just couldn't let it go. So I pull everything I had to find something that would allow me to wear the skirt and still keep me warm! So it was back to the boring woolen greys and black and they were perfect. But maybe when it's not spring conditions, you should relent because the wind was havoc to my pleated, floral skirt!

day before friday

2011-09-15T11:28:00.000+10:00

Dress: Poem Bangkok, Cardigan: Saba, Belt: Ribbon belt for another dress, Stockings: Leona Edmiston, Shoes: Midas

It was such a promising start to the week until today. There was sunshine and most importantly, there was warmth. But the weather forecast for the rest of the week now is rain, rain and more rain!! I am actually looking forward to this weekend! We have a friend's housewarming party and I've just started running to keep fit so please please, rain, come now, do your deed and be gone, please, by the weekend.

quick update

2011-09-13T07:43:00.000+10:00

So I'm just going to pretend like I'm not been away for so many months. Somehow, I don't think I'm very good at balancing work and life. Life's been so busy since I started my new job and even though I've missed penning down my thoughts and our adventures here, I never seem to be able to find the time. Bah! The hubs and I have had a great time the last couple of months. A lil of this and that that has been happening:

As you all know, I found a job pretty much as soon as we got back from the UK. It's going great!! You know, that sorta great all jobs usually are. :P But there is this fantastic patch of grass about 10 mins walk away with this amazing view and the weather is warming up for spring now so perfect lunch spot, here I come!

Cherry moved out! Oh gosh, I turned into a cleaning nazi during this time. We must have scrubbed every corner of the apartment twice and I can't believe the amount of stuff we accumulated during that time too!! At least all that is out of the way now and we're now into the decorating phase. The apartment is coming around nicely now. It went from above (don't mind me in the picture but look at that mess!) - you can't see it but there is also a set of drawers right opposite the foot of the bed so there was hardly any room to move. I don't know how we lived like this all this time!

And now it's this! Awesome isn't it? You can't see it again but I'll get a better shot sometime soon. We've gotten rid of the clothing rack, moved the desk into our second bedroom, which we've turned into a study and the set of drawers that used to be at the bottom of the bed is now where the desk is. There is soooo much space everywhere now! I wanted to cover those dark purple wall we have in brilliant white but it looks like that is not happening now so I'm thinking of maybe getting a massive painting and hanging it there instead. We'll just have to see what happens. Eeek!!

After 13 years and 4 months with us, we let Dingo go. I don't know what happened but he started suffering from epilectic fits and seizures and it has been painful to see him degenerate like that. He could hardly stand up towards the end, wasn't himself anymore and at one time had 16 valiums in his system to stop his seizures. We tried to wean the valiums off him but then at the very end, the seizures started and wouldn't stop! I'm already missing him so much!

On to a happier note, I celebrated turning (yikes, should I even say my age?!) another year older. My family's never been big on birthdays and I never like celebrating it anyway. Sweet hubs still wanted to make a day out of it so he cooked me ceviche (I didn't know it was so easy to make!) and quail, which has to be the best birthday meal ever!

And to top it off, I got a Tiffany's love bracelet from him too! I have the best hubs in the world!

i want

2011-07-09T18:20:00.007+10:00

via

a place to call home

2011-07-02T15:29:00.013+10:00

We're finally getting the place to ourselves!! Woo hoo!

I don't think I've ever mentioned it on my blog but for the past few years, we have been renting an apartment together with my sister, Cherry. We lead very different lives, my sister and I, but it is still very nice having her around. We do hang out together at home once in a while but it's definitely not a regular thing. It makes it easier for my parents when they drive into the city to visit us too. No need to go to two different places. Sometime last year, we realised that we were over sharing a place with each other. Ryan and I were getting married and wanted to have a place all to ourselves and Cherry didn't want her big sister watching over her every move anymore. It was just time.

Cherry decided that she'd move out because she's only looking for a one bedroom apartment while Ryan and I wanted a two bedder so that we can turn the other room into a study/work area. You wouldn't believe the amount of junk we've accumulated in our time here so it'll be good to move all of that into the other room. After many months of searching, Cherry finally found a place just down the road from us. She moves out next week!

Now I'm finding that I get drawn to home inspiration sites. We can't wait to turn this place upside down and put our own personal touches into it. Here are some of the home decoration ideas that I'm loving at the moment:

via here

via here

I don't know if you noticed but white everything is one of the features I'll be going for. Our apartment doesn't get an impressive amount of light in during the day and when we first moved in, we just assumed that maybe our windows are not facing the right direction. But over the years, we realised that maybe it might be the colour of our walls. One of the walls in both our room and the living area is painted a dark purple and even when you open the blinds up all the way, the rooms still don't feel bright enough. It's like the dark purple is sucking as much light out of the room as it can. But all four walls in Cherry's room are white and my oh my, the light coming into her room during the day is just amazing! That's why I'm going for white.... that's the first thing on my list. :)

a working lady

2011-06-28T22:28:00.032+10:00

Everything's frantic around here lately. I slept for 3 days the first time I flew to the UK. Funnily enough, I didn't get any jetlag when we flew over this time but when I got back, it hit me like a sledgehammer. It was horrible. I would sleep all day during the day and stay up the whole night tossing and turning, getting up and waking Ryan in the process when he had to work the next day. It was not good.

My recruitment agent has been busy as a bee while I was gone too, trying to line up interviews and set one up for the week we got back. I was suffering from jet lag and I had a job interview. Great! Somehow or other, I must have managed to perform really well at the interview because I got a job offer on the day itself to start the following Monday. So after almost 5 months of looking for a job, I'm finally employed again. Happy days!! :)

london: nordic bakery

2011-06-25T20:03:00.097+10:00

We were in London for 4 days and (thanks to me!) our time there mostly revolved around shopping. On our one day set aside for sightseeing, we popped into Nordic Bakery in Soho for a leisurely breakfast. Surprisingly, the shop was almost full with people having their breakfast meetings. It was awesome! They all looked so carefree in their business casual attires. If we pretended to be scribbling away on a notepad while having breakfast together, we could have been having a breakfast meeting too just like them.

Coffee

Tosca Cake

We couldn't decide what to have and service was sparse. The lady at the counter didn't bother to greet us nor try to serve us. We could have stood there until the cows came home and I don't think she would be bothered until another customer walked in. We had to flag her at the counter to serve us.

Rustic oatmeal cookie

Everything looked so good that we decided that we would get a couple of their bakery items and share them between us. We got the Tosca cake, Rustic Oatmeal Cookie and their infamous Cinnamon bun. Their Cinnamon bun was to die for. It was sticky, sweet with loads of cinnamon and delicious. Everything we got was somehow sweet and sticky. The Rustic Oatmeal Cookie was crunchy yet sweet and sticky. And the Tosca cake was dense with loads of almonds. It was served cold and because it was so dense, it was quite a workout to finish it! I think if it were served warm, it would probably be easier to eat and wouldn't lose any of the sticky sweetness that makes it so good.

Their famous Cinnamon buns

Bar the poor customer service, the food was actually pretty good. They've definitely not scrimped on the ingredients and the servings are generous. We had quite a meal between us but I'd say a cinnamon bun and a coffee would be enough to fill you for the morning! Then it was off sightseeing!

london: baozi inn

2011-06-24T20:02:00.025+10:00

We stopped by for a quick meal at Baozi Inn in nearby Chinatown before seeing Warhorse down in Covent Garden. Ryan had picked this place out after it good a good review in our Timeout guide to London. It was good value for Chinatown and a bit off the beaten track so not so full of tourists - the place was quite cosy and the food seemed very authentic so it was the perfect place to grab a bite before rushing off to see our play.

Chengdu dumplings in garlic and chilli oil

Sichuanese Spicy Beef Noodles

Beijing pork noodles

london: photo diary

2011-06-23T13:30:00.039+10:00

Our gorgeous hotel room in London

Shouldn't be texting while riding. :P

My, that building has a huge powerpoint!

St Paul's Cathedral from the Tate Modern

I wish I grew up in France. They go on school excursions to London to see museums! What luck!

At Borough Market getting a duck sandwich.

Yummy yum yum

Purple mushrooms!

Hanging out at the Borough

My pear and walnut gluten free cake

His cherry and chocolate swirl cheesecake

Tower Bridge on a rare blue sky day

Another blue sky day after the rain

whitstable: the granville

2011-06-22T17:47:00.005+10:00

We wanted to treat the in laws to a nice meal while we were back in town. We could have all gone to The Sportsman and enjoyed the tasting menu together but they are very fussy eaters and there is a high chance that they wouldn't have liked the tasting menu. Luckily, I found out that The Sportsman has a sister restaurant in Canterbury called The Granville and they liked what they saw on the website's menu and hence, our food adventures continued there....

Chicken liver parfait with toast & pickles

Pear, walnut & roquefort salad

Smoked local widgeon

Roast chicken

Crispy duck with sweet chilli salsa and sour cream

Grilled salmon with pesto sauce

Roasted pork belly with apple chutney, potato mash and vegetables

Lemon posset with eton mess, blueberries and mint

Ryan's nan proclaimed it the best meal she'd ever had! And the in laws gave it their thumbs up too. And well, we weren't disappointed as well. It was great to spend time with family over a great meal and a glass of wine. As I've said before with The Sportsman, I can't wait to come back here again albeit it'll be a few years before our next visit.

whitstable: the sportsman

2011-06-21T21:24:00.015+10:00

We went a-eating at The Sportsman!! I had been looking forward to this day for quite some time now, since the last time we were in the UK in fact so that's what, two years ago? The pop-in-law (then future) pointed out the Sportsman on our last trip there on the way back from visiting castles for the day and I vowed to myself that we'd be checking that place out on our next trip.

Eating our way from Dubai to Brighton and now Seasalter, it wasn't surprising that we felt like total gluttons 4 days into our trip. We could feel the weight piling on too, with no form of exercise in sight except walking around town most days. The Sportsman was to be our most indulgent meal ever so we decided that we would work for it by walking the 2 hours from Whitstable to Seasalter in windy weather. I was very proud of myself seeing as my level of fitness is in fact non-existent, I made in there intact!

There wasn't any doubt that we were about to have a fabulous meal after reading rave reviews from UK food blogs like Essex Eating, Nordic Nibbler and Bristol Bites (yup, I did my research). So here we are, about to have fabulous food!

We started with Pickled herring, soda bread and cream cheese with pork scratching and apple mustard. Best pork scratchings I've ever had! Okay, it's the only pork scratchings I've ever tried but they were so good that we went to the shops to get more. I know that they're so not the same seeing that these are home made but I thought that they might be a close substitute. We got those packeted ones from Tesco and they were horrible!! Yakkity yuck!! I hated them... it tasted like air freezed fat mostly.

Baked oysters. I can't actually remember what toppings they had on the oysters.

Poached rock oysters with hollandaise sauce, pickled cucumber and avruga caviar.

Rosemary and onion bread, soda bread and dough bread with home made butter

Chilled asparagus soup with milk foam

Slip sole with seaweed butter

Part I of turbot fish and seaweed stock to use up all parts of the fish

Part II of turbot fish - braised with smoked roe sauce

Monkshill lamb belly with breadcrumb and mustard crust with mint sauce

Joint, shoulder and lamb shanks from Monkshill farm

Rhubarb granita sorbet

Cream cheese ice cream with meringue

Dessert platter - strawberry ice cream, short bread, dark chocolate truffles, dark chocolate mousse with caramel at the bottom

I have to say that we both enjoyed our time here tremendously. This meal was even better than our splurge at Joel Robuchon. Each dish was thought out with care and we were given more than enough time to savour and enjoy our meal and the service. Not like Joel where we had to finish just as many courses in half that time. I know I shall be looking forward to catching up with family every time we go back to the UK but I now have something else to look forward too. How lucky am I that the parents-in-law live in Whitstable. :)

brighton: residence pop up restaurant

2011-06-08T21:58:00.001+10:00

While looking at what mischief we could get ourselves up to in the UK, I came across Residence, a pop-up restaurant that was on during the 2011 Brighton Festival, exactly when we were to be down there. As you know, the two of us love going on food adventures whenever we travel, so it was no surprise that I spotted this but what really caught my eye was that they were adopting a 70s theme and giving all these classic 70s dishes a modern twist! Our timing was a lil tight as they only open Tuesday to Saturday and we were due to arrive Sunday night and leave Tuesday afternoon. But I was determined to make it happen so I emailed them and we got in for Tuesday lunch! I was sooo excited!

We managed to squeeze in Matt too as we didn't know but he had gotten that day off! Ryan and Matt were quite excited at the menu, which was quite surprising as neither of them grew up in the 70s but they'd heard of the a lot of the dishes before and knew what they were.

Pimms and lemonade. This was mine and the only alcoholic drink on the table. I don't usually drink but I couldn't help myself since it was Pimms (such an English drink) with a 70s modern twist! :)

Ryan and Matt had the Scotch egg served warm with a homemade tomato chutney . Ryan had been looking forward to this dish ever since I showed him the website! The two of them loved it - Ryan just that lil bit more, I think. So much so that he got another one when we visited Borough Market in London and another one from Marks and Spencer for lunch before our flight home.

And I went for the Asparagus soup served with flaked smoked haddock. I don't normally get soup whenever I see it on the menu. I don't know... soup to me feels more like something you have at home but with all the 70s theme going on, I figured I might as well see if there is anything different to the way they do their soup. Sounds crazy I know... how different can soup get?? Funnily enough, apart from pumpkin soup which we can find in abundance in Australia, I've never had any other soup like that before and I enjoyed every bit of it. I think it's the perfect winter soup to warm you up on a cold winter's night. Might just try to make some myself this winter! Yee ha!

They weren't serving the Confit duck leg in an orange sauce served with dauphinoise potatoes which I had my heart on having so instead, I went for its alternative, Steak & ale pie served with mustard mashed potatoes.

Ryan picked the Chicken kiev with garlic butter served with a parsley and cheese mash...

and Matt had the Poached salmon with a rich, warm Hollandaise sauce with buttered Jersey royal potatoes. We were all pretty pleased with what we picked and we polished everything off. Two courses and we were again full! Definitely did not expect such big servings with everything! I'm a light drinker too, so usually a sip of any alcoholic drink and I'm all woozy. That day, I did not get drunk one bit and it had to be all the food soaking up the alcohol. They were quite big servings and we still had desserts to go.

Profiteroles with hot chocolate sauce

Creme caramel

Baked alaska. I'd not heard of Baked Alaska until that day so just in case you've never heard of it either, here's a Wikipedia description, .."dessert made of ice cream placed in a pie dish lined with slices of sponge cake or Christmas pudding and topped with meringue. The entire dessert is then placed in an extremely hot oven for just long enough to firm the meringue." Loved the meringue and the cold ice cream inside and the sponge cake!!

brighton: the ginger pig

2011-06-07T21:24:00.001+10:00

We were treated to a very nice dinner at The Ginger Pig by Matt and Jane during our time in Brighton. Yup, I have a fantastic bro-in-law. :) It's a gastropub located just 5 minutes outside the city at a very nice converted old building near the water. Obviously, I don't know very much about historical buildings so all I can offer is that it's an old building. Hehe... A very nice looking one though. :) Inside, it has wooden interiors and dim lighting giving it a cosy and warm feel which was very welcome seeing as Brighton was quite windy and temperamental while we were there.

It took us a while to decide on what to have for dinner. They had so many nice things on the menu - so difficult to pick what to have. We were especially intrigued with the wild rabbit rilletes with pickled carrots, pea mousse, peas and mustard on the starter menu. As soon as I saw it, I knew that I was going to have it. And before I knew it, Matt & Jane decided that it looked pretty good so we all went for it, sharing between couples. This, for me, was the star of the evening. I loved how it was presented on a wooden block and it was utterly delicious. The combination of rabbit rilletes with pea mouse and the mustard was just amazing.

Then it was time for our mains. Ryan went for the Roast rump of veal with braised veal croquette, roast garlic puree, wilted lettuce, capers, lemon & parma ham.

Matt had the Lamb, leek & raisin pie with creamed mash potato & spring greens.....

and Jane had the above. This was one of the blackboard specials so I couldn't look it up online but remembered it was a black bream dish.

Grilled fillet of brill with jersey royals, beetroot, shaved fennel salad & a orange dressing. I really like my fish. It was fresh and very nice except I thought the combination of ingredients lacked flavour. Too subtle for my liking. I like flavours that are more distinct but it was still a lovely dish.

For dessert, Ryan and I shared the tonka bean pannacotta with poached rhubarb & ginger ale jelly. If I wasn't already so full, I think I would have wanted one all to myself. This was superb. The tonka bean used to make the pannacotta gave it such a distinct flavour. It was quite surprising really because I didn't think I was going to like it when I tasted it for the first time but I ended up polishing it off in the end.

Matt & Jane shared the set of dark chocolate cream with olive oil jelly, sea salt & orange madeleines for their dessert and they really love it. I'm not a big fan of dark chocolates (more of a milk chocolate person) but it looked very decadent and yummy and they enjoyed it very much! The olive oil jelly was a bit weird though. I didn't try it but it looked rubbery!

I love trying out good food when we go travelling. I know we get a great selection of restaurants in Sydney too but we definitely don't get gastropubs or good pub food in Sydney. It's definitely an English thing and seriously, the food that you get in those pubs is quite surprising! I never expected to get such quality meals in pubs ever. We went to a couple more gastropubs while we were in the UK and I can't wait to share them with you.

brighton: photo diary

2011-06-06T23:22:00.001+10:00

Pretty cobblestone sidestreet

Eyeing the pier on a cold and blustery afternoon

Chicken & stuffing lattice. Yummiest thing ever!

dubai: photo diary

2011-05-24T01:18:00.034+10:00

We didn't do much in Dubai. Between the heat, our discovery of Sega theme park in Dubai Mall (wheee!)and getting over our jetlag, we didn't get to see as much of Dubai as we hoped. Then again, we did head into the Gold Souk to check it out. I had a whole different picture in my mind - open marketplaces with a lot of colour and atmosphere and a lot of haggling going on here and there. I think we might have ventured into the wrong souk for that though. I mean, who is going to be displaying their gold wares out in the open really?

Pigging out at Aroos Damascus for breakfast. We picked a few things from the menu but it looks like we've ordered everything here! There was sooo much food! We got tabouleh, hummus, falafel, chicken (which hadn't arrived when I took this picture) and some bread. Yummy yum yum. It set us up for the day before we crashed at check in time.

The light in our room. Pretty ain't it? I want one for my apartment!

And finally, the view from our room. I'm glad we choose to have that room with the Burj Khalifa view. We crashed as soon as we checked into our room that afternoon so didn't get to see the Burj shining in the night. I woke up quite early to get this shot though. So tall!!

sydney: bistro papillon

2011-05-23T22:41:00.032+10:00

We caught up with some friends over dinner right after my exam the week before we left for the UK. Phew! That was a long explanation! It was at this very French chic bistro in the city called Bistro Papillon. I was feeling happy and light after my exam and got all dressed up for our double dinner date too. Except I decided to wear a sleeveless thin dress in autumn. What was I even thinking? I had on a coat over the top but I thought that the bistro we were going to was going to be big and warm and toasty. Turned out it was small and cosy so everytime the door opens, a gust of chill autumn wind would rush in. I ended up leaving my coat on the entire night. Not that in mattered too much but I did feel a lil silly.

The interior

Escargots de Bourgogne.
Burgundy Snails baked in Garlic and Parsley Butter served with Baguette
This was lovely! We hardly get snails in Sydney restaurants, let alone awesome ones like these! Having these brought back good ol' memories of our time in Paris a few years back. We had snails just like this!

Pate de Foie de Canard
Homemade Duck Liver Parfait, Orange & Red Capsicum Relish & Baguette
Our friend actually got this for his entree but I ended up polishing it off like a greedy lil girl. It was amazing! And I usually dislike pate. I was crestfallen when the waiter came by and took it away. He was so quick, we didn't even realise when he did it. I wanted to keep it for later. :(

Salade de Chevre Chaud
Grilled Goat's Cheese Toast with Walnut and Pear Salad
This was just okay. Ryan got it and he kinda expected more. It was pretty much cheese on toast presented on a plate.

Papadelle au Canard
Braised Duck Papadelle Pasta with Mushrooms, Pancetta, Herbs and Baby Spinach

Poisson du Jour
Freshest Catch from Sydney Fish Market

Supreme de Caille au Poivre Vert
Roasted Quail Breast wrapped in Pancetta with Green Peppercorns and Mushroom Sauce
This was my main. Two of my favourite ingredients, peppercorns and mushrooom so it was a no brainer from the beginning that I was going to love it. And then you have the quail, wrapped in pancetta, in that awesome sauce - need I say more?

Filet de Boeuf Sauce Marchand de Vin
Pan Fried Beef Eye Fillet with Eschalots and Red Wine Sauce

Classic Creme Brulee

Tarte Tatin aux Pommes
Apple Tarte Tatin with Maple and Walnut ice cream

Profiteroles
with Vanilla Ice Cream and Hot Chocolate Sauce

It was a good night of delicious food and great company. Already, I can't wait to go back for our next meal. That duck pate is calling my name!

trendy clutches

2011-05-22T18:05:00.003+10:00

via here

There seems to be a big clutch trend going around right now and I have to say that I'm in love with it. I'm still on a self imposed shopping ban until I find a job (boo!) but it doesn't count on holiday!! :) Bright colours seem to look good but the classic neutral will go with everything. Decisions decisions! Or maybe we'll just get both colours. What do you think? Loving the trend like I do?

leaving on a jet plane

2011-05-13T00:06:00.054+10:00

via

We're off to the UK tonight for two weeks for a friend's wedding. It's been really hectic at home trying to organise everything before we go away. We're so excited - we're stopping over in Dubai for a night and are looking forward to tucking into some local delicacies. Hopefully, we won't be too jet lagged for it. Then it's onwards to the UK catching up with friends and family before, during and after the wedding! Can't wait!

looking smart

2011-05-12T18:14:00.003+10:00

Miss Selfridge dress, Country Road sweater over the top, Witchery boots, Leona Edmiston pins

Ryan wasn't too pleased that I didn't inform him that I was packing smart for our trip to Tasmania. He was quite upset saying that he "looked like a tramp next to me since I was dressed up all smart". I didn't think I was all that dressed up but I guess anything other than my usual get-up of t-shirt and jeans would be considered dressed up.

port arthur: felon bistro

2011-05-11T17:42:00.001+10:00

We weren't expecting such a fantastic meal at Felon Bistro, seeing that we got a dinner as part of our Ghost Tour at Port Arthur. But it was blimmin' fantastic!

For our entree, we shared the locally farmed Ranonch quail, perfectly grilled and served with a fresh salad. This was surprisingly good and very brave too. There was no sauce or gravy to complement the quail which meant that you were having the quail as it is, which is why I thought it was very brave.

Ryan had the Tasmanian blue eye dusted with cajun spices and served on a hot bed of bacon mash with a delicate lemon beurre blanc and he reckoned that the bacon mash was awesome.

I had the Tasmanian porterhouse steak with a red wine jus and accompanied by fresh salad and locally grown vegetables and it was quite good. Would have preferred just a bit more jus to go with the steak though.

And for dessert, their decadent chocolate pudding served with plump local berries, hot chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream was heaven on a plate. The chocolate pudding was pure chocolate. Ryan and I had to fight it out for the last bite!

back to tasmania

2011-05-10T13:22:00.001+10:00

Two Easters ago, we mossied on down to Tassie and drove down the west coast from Launceston to Hobart. We stayed up in the Cradle mountain national park one night and it was amazing. We had our own little cottage, woke up to wombats and rabbits scrambling around the property, and had a old fashioned wood fire to warm us up at the end of a long day hiking. Oh, and it was fur-ree-zing cold.

This Easter, we continued our journey from Hobart up the east coast and once again we had the time of our lives. The scenery was a lil different. Lots of farms and seaside towns with breathtaking coastal views. And it was fur-ree-zing cold! It was probably not the ideal season to visit these places seeing as we wished at each stopping point that we could don our swimmers to enjoy the dazzling blue-green waters and sink our feet into the powdery white sand, but we stayed rugged up instead and just enjoyed the view as it was just too cold to do any of that! We're lucky that we're only a 2 hour flight away. Mr. Gary must have flown a fair bit further to get here because he was the only one game enough to brave the freezing cold water at Wineglass Bay while the rest of us watched in amazement.

We'll definitely be back for another roadtrip one day. I reckon, east coast in summer and the west coast in winter would be the ideal combination.

Anyhoo, here are some of the antics we got up to while we were there.

Marvelling at Tasmania's wonderful scenary. There is something undeniably beautiful about Tasmania. Somehow, everything feels like it has come right out of a fairytale, like you're going back in time to a moment before modernisation had reared its ugly head and taken over the world.

In the Separate Prison at Port Arthur. It was quite eerie being in there, even in the day.

We capped the day off with a Ghost Tour that night. That was one spooky ghost tour and I'm still a lil weirded out by it. Ghosts don't follow you home back to Sydney right?

Day 2 saw us driving up towards Bicheno. We randomly decided to stop at Spikey Beach and well, look at that! That's one amazing view there!

Blackberry ice cream @ Kate's Berry Farm. Yum!

Day 3, we were up bright and early to get to Freycinet National Park. The photo above was captured looking down towards Wineglass Bay from a lookout point. The walk to get there wasn't too bad and it could have been our easy peasy exercise for the day. But no, the husband said it's beautiful down there on the beach so why don't we go down there and check it out now that we're here. It was far! 300 steps one way, mind you.

So I pretended to take pictures like this one on the walk. Really, it was to catch my breath and give my poor unfit heart a break.

But oh, the view was amazing. And look at what we found. A wallaby hanging around the bay.

Quite unperturbed by all the attention it was getting, even basking in it!

And the view. Pretty spectacular, isn't it? I guess it was worth those 300 steps down to the bay. But golly, the walk back up was surely a killer!

Did you know that oysters have no cholesterol in them? I didn't know that! I grew up thinking they were chock full of cholesterol and can only be eaten on special occasions to limit the effect of the cholesterol on me. Imagine my delight when my doctor told me that they have no cholesterol! A well deserved treat after the walk. :>

Another random stop, this time at Friendly Beach. I don't think you will ever go wrong with any random stop. They are all just as breathtaking as the last!

This was a lighthouse at a different lookout point in the Freycinet National Park - we stopped there and did a short walk around the base with great views of the cliffs below and wineglass bay off in the distance.

Marveling at the Bay of Fires

Fish & chips for dinner on our last night. yum yum!

And digging into Mt Elephant Pancakes for brekkie before flying out. It was unfortunate that there was a power cut that day as we dying to try their special of smoked salmon, camenbert and mushroom savoury crepe but we had to settle for one of the dessert pancakes instead. Never mind though as the desert pancakes were very nice too, I had a blueberry one and Ryan went for Black Forrest.

windswept

2011-04-29T18:34:00.004+10:00

Bardot jumper, Kookai top, Kathmandu thermal, scarf from Bangkok market, Zara pants, Witchery ballet flats

Trying to look stylish in the cold is hard work. The outfit I laid out was sans the scarf, thermals and wool jumper until I looked out the window and saw wind blowing the life out of the trees and common sense got the better of me. Three layers of warmth-inducing tops later and I was good to go.

Did anybody watch the Royal Wedding? I'm so against the media fuss and frenzy but sat down to watch the ceremony last night. It was pretty amazing and I thought they look so great together! All the best to them!

easter in tassie

2011-04-22T16:40:00.020+10:00

when we were in hobart back in 2008

We're off galivanting around the east coast of Tasmania this Easter. I hope you have a wonderful time this long weekend whatever your plans are and that hopefully it also entails lots of treasure hunts of easter eggs!!

See you back next week!!

holstee manifesto

2011-04-14T08:40:00.002+10:00

via Brain Pickings

out for a spin

2011-04-12T18:15:00.003+10:00

I went out today.

Except for interviews, I haven't been out of the apartment for ages! Geez, that actually sounded quite sad. My friend, Jen took the day off today so we met up in the city to do a little window shopping before heading into Hyde Park to just hang out, feel the grass with our feet and enjoy the sun on our faces. It truly was a glorious day!

Then, I decided to take a different route home and found some secret places near where I live. Imagine that! My usual 15 mins walk home took 2 hours. I must have been in a funny mood because I then come up with the brilliant idea of doing a "What I Wore Today" and dragged out the tripod, pushed all the mess into one corner of our room (so you don't see it) and had fun posing. Must be all the fashion blog influences.

Ta-dah! This was the best of the lot. I wear this ensemble a lot. It's my lazy go to outfit (isn't it everybody's?). I love that cardigan. It's wool but really thin so it keeps you warm even on the coldest of days without having to get too bulky. Perfect since it did get quite chilly later on during the walk. Ahhhh.... it was a good day.

our sydney wedding

2011-04-08T22:59:00.000+10:00

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Our wedding photos are back! Well, actually, I'm lying. We got them 3 weeks after returning from our honeymoon but we've not found the time to go through them until last weekend. It took us a while but we managed to cull them to a respectable number to put on Facebook for our friends and family and now, we just have to find the time to pick the photos for our album. Judging from past record though, we'll probably get there in another 3 months! *kidding*

Enjoy!!

autumn is here

2011-04-04T17:21:00.009+10:00

The weather has been cold and grey this last week. Feels to me like Mother Nature is saying, "Cmon now, you're meant to be in autumn mode so no more of these hot and sunny breaks. Bring on the wind and the chills." I don't like the cold very much. Even though I'd welcome the cool change that autumn brings after a hot and sweaty summer each year, the onset of winter and what comes with it - biting wind, icy cold rain and freezing temperatures, I dread it. I know you think I'm exaggerating since we don't even get snow in winter here but I've been brought up in hot and humid conditions and am so not built for the cold. Brrrrr....

It's been quite a depressing week with the whole job search though. One of the jobs that I really had my heart set on - I managed to get to the last round and spent days practicing for d-day, performed really well at the interview and then some effing idiot working internally within the company decided to apply for the role at the 11th hour, just as they were deciding. Yes, I am gutted but what can you do?

Ryan's been lovely waiting on me hand and foot this weekend to get my mind off things. Yesterday, we had warm bacon and egg salad for breakfast and my favourite salmon dish with chilli courgettes for dinner and today, he made fish curry which was delicious! I felt sooo spoilt!

a day out

2011-03-01T15:49:00.009+11:00

The whole job seeking saga has been quite depressing. Being cooped up at home all day didn't help either so I decided to drive out to our spot today and study a lil, chill a lil and just enjoy the sunshine before autumn greets us. It was marvellous!

I should really appreciate days like this because once I find that job, I won't be able to take days out like this again. Here's to not having to look for a space to park 2km away on a gorgeous day like today. Here's to not having anyone stumble on your spot and shock you from your calm reverie.

Ahhh, this is life!

the birthday boy

2011-01-27T18:30:00.051+11:00

It's the second year in a row that Ryan's had to be overseas for work on his birthday. Such a waste too as his birthday falls on Australia Day which is a public holiday is Australia but because he's overseas, he's had to work instead. Booo...

We had a small celebration at home just the two of us the day he got back and I went all out and made him a feast when he got home from his trip. Chilled cucumber soup, scallop ceviche, pan fried salmon and Eton's mess.

Oh, and his lemon meringue birthday cake. I wished I could brag that I made it but I didn't. Searched all over the city for a cafe that sold one though. Hehe....

Happy birthday, hub bubs! Love you loads!

prolonging the holiday

2011-01-21T14:52:00.018+11:00

@ home with Dingo.

I'm house-sitting at my parents' house while they go back home to Malaysia for my grandmother's 80th birthday celebration. The only and last time we left Dingo all by himself was back in April 2010 when we all went back for the family wedding and there was no other choice but to put Dingo up in a boarding kennel for just over a week where he apparently howled night and day thinking that we'd deserted him. Needless to say, he was very relieved and overjoyed when Dad picked him up.

It's the first time in close to 10 years that I've spent more than 3 days at home and I'd like to think that Dingo is enjoying my company tremendously. I spent a few hours grooming him and playing catch with him and taking him out for walks every second day. I'm going to miss him when my parents come back and I go back to the city.

my 2010 recap

2011-01-12T16:05:00.098+11:00

Now that I've finally gotten our honeymoon posts out of the way, I thought it's time (albeit very late) to do a 2010 review because even though there were some tough choices to be made during the year and a few lows, 2010 has been overall an epic year for us. Here goes:

Apr
Made the tough decision to quit work for a while. Had our mini-moon in Nikoi Island which was amazing before flying back to KL to have our wedding for my side of the family. Had a backpacking trip around Cambodia, shopped and feasted in Bangkok and then popped into Chennai for a friend's wedding.

Jul
Won a trip to Vanuatu for a week which included a scuba diving course. It's our first time in the South Pacific ever. I am now a certified scuba diver!

Aug
Travelled back home for my best friend's wedding, spent time with family, celebrated my birthday with them instead of Ryan this year and took a side trip to Hong Kong and Taiwan

Oct
Got married to my best friend, my lover, my twice-already-married-to-me husband for the very final time at the most beautiful place in Sydney.

Nov-Dec
Spent the next two months honeymooning around South America and Coastal California.

Ahhh, 2010 was a fantabulous for us!

and we're in hollywood!

2010-12-29T23:46:00.076+11:00

Yup, yup, we are in Hollywood!

We didn't do too much sightseeing in LA unfortunately. There was the obligatory touristy stop at Hollywood Boulevard and the Walk of Fame. Ta da! Ryan with one of our favourite actors, Robert Downey Jr (or at least his hand and feet prints!). We all love him, don't we, people?? :)

We met up for brunch with Mo at the lovely Old Vine Cafe set in a quirky shopping area and had a free brunch, courtesy of the family who we gave our table away to. I guess you can say it's good karma coming back to us!

The two of us shopped even more. This is at The Grove , which was near where we stayed.

And feasted on Umami burgers twice while we were there.

And spent our last few hours in Santa Monica wolfing down sushi. Freakishly, it was also the first place we went to when we first arrived right at the start of our two month odyssey!

driving down highway 1 to santa barbara

2010-12-28T20:45:00.036+11:00

A quick stop in Harmony, population of 18 people! Imagine that!!

Another pitstop at Pismo Beach, where you can find a huge population of Monarch butterflies

Did we jet off to Denmark and then back again?? Lolz... in Solvang where everything's Danish!

Kitschy cottages and a windmill!

Snacking on aebleskiver in Solvang

Back on the road towards Santa Barbara

The hubs at the beach front. Oh yea, we've arrived at Santa Barbara baby!! The home of the Bold and the Beautiful! hehe...

Another gorgeous sunset!

cambria: indigo moon cafe

2010-12-27T23:25:00.098+11:00

We searched all over town for a place to eat for dinner. It was mind boggling how almost every restaurant and cafe in town was completely booked out for the night. We finally settled for Indigo Moon Cafe. They looked like they were busy too but they did offer us a table. Next time we're back in the USA, we're definitely making all our reservations at least a few weeks before we arrive.

From my vague recollection, it was a cosy cafe/restaurant on a main street. Inside was warm and toasty and relaxed and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

We decided to share a starter since it was getting quite late and we're not very big dinner eaters. Crab cakes seem to be very popular in the USA and we loved them so it was no surprise that we went with their Blue Crab Cakes with chilli lime sauce. It was sublime. The chilli lime sauce gives the crab cakes a refreshing tangy kick which is perfect to start off the night.

I didn't feel like having anything too heavy that night so I went with pasta. I love my carbs and anything with tomatoes in it. I had their Fettuccine, Jumbo White Shrimp, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, white wine lemon sauce sans parmesan because I can't stand the stuff and it was perfect! You know, I've never actually tried artichoke hearts in my life. I've seen them being used in all those cooking shows that are all the rage on tv now but I don't really know how to cook them and you rarely ever see them on the menu back home. There is not much taste to them but with the pasta, I thought it was a good vegetable alternative.

Ryan decided to try their Aged New York Steak with blue cheese butter, onion rings and mashed Yukon Gold. Anything with onion rings, that boy. Lolz, we actually can get them at Burger King back home but it ain't the same you know. It's an American thing! He liked his steak ok too. It was a lil more well done than medium but it was still nice. And the blue cheese was divine!

We left feeling perfectly sated after the meal, ready to tuck in for the night at our bnb but lo and behold, we got back and they left cookies and milk for us to munch on before bed. Talk about being spoilt!! Homemade cookies as well. We definitely gained a couple of kilos that night. Nom nom nom cookie monster style!

driving down highway 1 to cambria

2010-12-27T19:43:00.052+11:00

Waking up to this view... sigh

Breakfast overlooking the sea in the morning

Going for a walk

Gorgeous scenery. Can I retire here??

Our bed and breakfast

Jellyfish in the aquarium

A quick drive to see how the filthy rich live

Amazing views

By Bixby Bridge

Views down the coastal highway

Chancing upon an elephant seal colony a few miles before our stop for the night.

Waiting for the sunset

Four poster bed at our next bed and breakfast! Woo hoo!

monterey: red house cafe

2010-12-26T23:40:00.046+11:00

It was difficult finding somewhere to eat in Monterey. It felt like the whole world was there on holiday like us. What happened to family time during Christmas??? :P All the good restaurants seemed to be booked out and we thought that we might have to make do with a crappy restaurant but thank goodness, Red House Cafe told us a table would be ready in 15 minutes.

Bread for our entree

Dungeness crab cakes - Fresh, pan seared crab cakes served with a lemon basil aioli

I don't remember what I had but I'm guessing it was a steak fillet.

Cheeseburger

Lola berry pie. That's what I thought the waitress said until I got back to the hotel, went on google and found out that it's actually olallieberry pie. What a cute name for a pie!!!

We had a lovely time at the Red House Cafe. It was a delicious American meal and I already miss our lolaberry pie.

driving down highway 1 to monterey

2010-12-26T21:33:00.020+11:00

christmas day in san francisco

2010-12-25T17:19:00.042+11:00

It was grey in San Francisco on Christmas Day this year. Because everyone is at home with family opening presents and having egg nog and all the shops were closed, the plan was to drive out to the Golden Gate Bridge to get our touristy photos taken and then on to Muir Woods to explore the area. Here it is:

It was so gloomy!! And would you know it but as soon as we started to head to our car to leave, it started to pour!! We continued on anyway, hoping that maybe the clouds would part and the sun would peek through. It happens sometimes, doesn't it? The rain didn't let up at all though, even after spending 2 hours in Walmart looking at eyeshadows and what nots. :(

Our trip ruined, we decided to drive back to our hotel and have a date with the tv and Carl Jr Burgers! I have not had root beer in YEARS!! And I mean like since I was a kid forever and ever ago. It was like a blast from the past to the days when my dad would bring us to A&W back in Malaysia and they have it even better there, we get ice cream on top of our root beer so it's like an ice cream float. Mm mm!! And onion rings.... yummy! We tucked into our meals while watching back to back episodes of Law and Order on tv. Best time ever!

We also laid out all our shopping too because just the day before, we bought a brand new suitcase to fit all our shopping into. Lolz... crazy ain't it! I swear we purchased our entire year's worth of new clothes in one day. It is sooo cheap over there. I don't think you can get a Banana Republic equivalent skirt in Australia on sale for $20 bucks! Like for real??? And the flight tickets cost just a lil more than my annual trip back home to Malaysia!!

This was our pre-Christmas shopping and we continued shopping our way through America after Christmas too. Yup, we were one of those Aussies helping the USA prop up their GDP, that's for sure! Seriously, I think it was sooo worth it though. I have not had any need to shop for anything here in Australia yet and yeah, I've only been back for about 2.5 months and am unemployed so have no desire to spend any moolah but things are really cheap compared to Australia and you guys there have petite sizes too!! Wahhhhh.... score!!! No alterations required!

Anyway, that was our Christmas Day. I don't think Ryan and I have ever had a traditional celebration on Christmas Day since we got together. Next year though, we've vowed to stay back in Sydney and have Christmas trees, Roast Dinner and all the trimmings. Looking forward to it!

san francisco: commonwealth

2010-12-23T00:28:00.120+11:00

Commonwealth was where we celebrated our one year wedding anniversary. You know, the registry wedding one. Albeit a bit late. We booked it in before we left just because we knew that we were going to have trouble finding good places to eat because of Christmas. And it was perfect! It looked like a hole in a wall place on the outside and it's actually quite tiny but very cosy on the inside. Ohh, and warm!! Very important for me since it was cold in the SF winter. :)

The service there was excellent. It's largely due to the tipping culture which I have a hard time figuring out in my head but generally, I've found that service in the USA is really very good. Although, when do you know the right time to tip is? Like the first day we arrived at Alamo car rental in LA and we were walking around the car yard looking for our car. One of the employees showed us to it and we put our bags into the car boot and started the car ourselves and he asked me directly for a tip! Say what? We just got off the plane and all I had on me was a one hundred dollar note and 3 one dollar notes so obviously we gave all three dollars to the guy and he went, "This it??"

My Lonely Planet later proceeded to tell me how much I'm meant to give to the bellboy ($2), the chambermaid who makes my room each day ($3-$5) etc. Heck, they actually do something tangible for me like bring my luggage up to my room or clean my room and give me nice new toiletries. You point me to my car and I gave you $3 and you think that's too little. Bro, I think you've already ripped me off my only three US 1 dollar bills I've had in my treasure chest since I was a kid. *shaking fist*

Anyway, this post is meant to be about our awesome meal at the Commonwealth. The restaurant gave us a glass of champagne each to commemorate the occasion too which I thought was really sweet. I've never ever filled in those special request boxes but I did this time and forgot all about it, so having them acknowledge it made the experience all the more wonderful. And we were so wrongly dressed for the occasion, the both of us in our backpacking outfits since they were the only ones that gave us any warmth!

I found the food at Commonwealth really creative. The combination of ingredients on paper sounds like it might not work but it works. This is what we had:

squid and pork belly, jidori egg salad, potato croutons, herb vinaigrette

sea urchin, sweet potato tempura, chrysanthemum leaf, shiso, scallion, yuzu kosho

duck confit crepe, persimmons, walnuts, frisee, mint, pomegranate

grilled lamb cheeks, chanterelles, cauliflower, almond crumble, douglas fir

frozen sabayon, persimmons, pomegranate, candied walnuts, spiced brioche croutons

yuzu curd, olive oil cake, huckleberries, pine nut brittle, creme fraiche ice cream

we lurve san fran

2010-12-22T03:20:00.117+11:00

As I always seem to say about every city that we've been to, I want to move to San Francisco too! I really should have been born into a vagabond family. Our first day in San Francisco was gorgeous and sunny, the perfect weather for a walkabout. We stayed at Parc 55 which was in a really dangerous area. For us. It is so darn close to all the shops! :) Westfield was adjacent to our hotel and Forever 21 was literally across from us. Major damage to our credit card was iminent! A snippet of what we got up to on our first day:

Breakfast at Fisherman's Market. I had the Porchetta Sandwich based on the Best Italian Culinary traditions from the Roti Roti stall. It was Pork Loin rolled into the Pork Belly with Crispy Skin on and spiced with Organic Fresh Herbs, garnished with Onion Marmalade and Curly Cress/Arugula. I don't like sandwiches and I don't like bread but this sandwich was whoah amazing! Why do you think I want to move to San Francisco?? We don't get stuff like this here for breakfast and for less than $10 too! Yummo!

The best view for breakfast. We bought our breakfast and settled in on a bench close by to enjoy the view.

Lone seal sleeping close to the Harbour. I tried my hand at creating a gif on the seal bobbing its head up trying to get into a more comfortable position. I likey!

Christmas cable cars!!!

Dungeness crabs. They looked so good but we didn't try any this time. :( It was between them and the clam chowder and clam chowder won. Haha...

Clam chowder. So cute, it's served in a big bowl made out of bread! Nom nom nom

mexico

2010-12-20T21:26:00.031+11:00

We hung out in our hotel room in Mexico. After a week of roughing it in Cuba, we were overjoyed when we saw the luxury of our first proper hotel in a while. We decided to just stay in and catch up on some sleep and recharge our worn out bodies. This constant travelling really takes a toll on your being!

Our flight the next day was not until later at night so we knew we were going to have to hang out around the city after checking out. We strolled around the town centre and were very glad that we'd decided to stay in the day before. The streets were absolutely rammed with people, locals and tourists and the like. There were families from out of town visiting, shoppers getting their last minute Christmas presents, hawkers toting their wares, policemen out to book those illegal hawkers, it was absolute mayhem!

We had yummy ice cream (again!). I have to say, the ice creams in South America are the bomb. Freddo's in Buenos Aires was the absolute best but every other one that we tried during our trip was just as good. I don't think I'll be able to have ice cream back home in Sydney without comparing it to our experiences in South America. The flavours that they have there are just a hundred times more amazing than the ones we have back home. Sigh.... I'm already missing the ice creams there!

And for lunch, we splashed out at El Mayor, a nice restaurant overlooking Templar de Mayo. It was a beautiful day and the food was delicious.

cuba: havana & vinales

2010-12-18T21:27:00.296+11:00

Cuba was absolutely breathtaking. I was enthralled by the place and wrapped up in their history and I'm no history buff. By the end of our trip, I was sourcing out the Lonely Planet guidebook on Cuba left by other travellers to read up on its history. Never knew how they became a communist country so it was very revealing reading how it happened and seeing the effects with your very own eyes.

The colourful and restored old buildings transport you back to a time when Cuba thrived. The backlanes give you a thrill of being somewhere exotic and music and heady aromas fill your senses. Whatever information and pictures you've read on Cuba, it is even better when you're there. The first thing you'd definitely notice when you're there is the lack of billboards and Western influences. No McDonalds, no billboards screaming out for you to buy Nokia smartphones or Heinz Tomato Ketchup. :) It kinda makes your heart feel uneasy, like something's not quite right knowing you're in a strange place and you don't like it. It made me feel afraid somehow. I guess you realise that this place works with different rules and rules that you are not accustomed to. You do get used to it after a few days though.

We stayed in casas while we were there. There are really only two types of lodgings available to you if you're visiting Cuba. The all inclusive resorts near the beach or locals' residences. Being flashpackers, we couldn't afford to stay in those all inclusive resorts and it's not really our style so we searched for casas instead. I have to say though that if you're ever planning to stop in Vinales for even one night, search for Casa Villa Basita and try to book a room there. Rates across all casas are generally standard so you're never gonna be ripped off but the reason why I'm plugging her is because she cooks the most awesome home cooked food ever!!

I was really gutted coz we had some very awful food at our casa in Havana and didn't want to risk it again when we got to Vinales so very politely turned her down the first night we were there. We relented for our final night there and had the most amazing spread for dinner. Homemade potato chips and bread for starters, freshly made salad and moist and succulent chicken and perfectly cooked pannacotta for dessert. Oh my goodness me, Ryan and I went back to our room that night beating ourselves up for not giving her a chance and very devastated that we won't be able to sample her food again as we were leaving the next morning!! She is the nicest lady too, very motherly and you feel like royalty living at her place!

Back to the trip, I thought that splitting our time between Havana and Vinales in our one week there was perfect. It gave us a taste of the city and the country. One of our most memorable moments was doing a tour of a cigar factory in Havana. They showed us the process from selecting the leaves for the cigar to rolling them up and packaging them for sale. It was very well run and impressive. Those guys spend 9 months studying the art of rolling cigars before actually starting to work there so it is like a proper skill set. It is one of the better paying jobs in the city too so anyone who gets it is normally one of the lucky few. One of our favourite things about the place was that they have a "reader" who reads out over a microphone the daily news in the morning and a novel in the afternoon to keep the workers entertained. You get the feeling the set up and the place hasn't changed in decades because everything is done by hand.

In Vinales, we worked out our leg muscles walking out of town into the fields checking out farmers crops and up mountains to find breathtaking views over the valley. We accidentally trepassed onto a farmer's land without realising it and were taking pictures of his cow when he came out to feed it. He didn't try to get rid of us and we didn't know any better until a couple of days later when we walked past again and saw that he had barred his gate (it was not barred before). Ooops! That was when we realised what actually happened.

But beneath all that, gorgeous architecture and landscapes, friendly and accepting locals, there are traces of hardship that linger. You can feel it even if you can't see it. For me, the most obvious evidence was the stray animals around the towns. Walking skeletons, I called them and it breaks your heart looking at them and not knowing what to do. You want to feed them to rid them of the hunger that you can see in their eyes. But yet, you know that by doing so, you're prolonging their suffering as once you leave, they'll be back to square one again, hungry and scurrying arounds looking for scraps. It was painful watching them and how the locals have no feeling for them. I watched one morning as three kids taunted these stray dogs with food only to throw it tissue papers instead. That was it! I went to a shop and bought cake for the dogs and fed them in front of the kids. I know that in a country where each household barely has enough staples to support themselves and their family then of course, animals suffer. But I think they should be taught that animals have feelings too and should not be treated in such a way. When compared to that, us in the developed world putting down animals doesn't seem too harsh. At least they're not suffering any more.

I digress. I did enjoy Cuba very much. It's one of the few countries that still retains much of its traditional ways, the people we shared our time there with and who put us up were genuine and friendly. They open up their home to you and make you feel so welcome even though they don't have so much to offer. I would very much love to go back there again one day.

chile: doggies

2010-12-17T11:54:00.026+11:00

I swear, hotdogs are like the South American version of fast food. You can find them everywhere! That said, we only discovered them in Argentina (Peter's Hot Dogs, yo!) and then again, in Santiago and I can't believe we hadn't tried a hot dog like this before! I think they are the best invention for a cheap and tasty fast food. All you need is a hot dog roll, boil that sausage up and add huge dollops of sauce, anything that takes your fancy. Oh, some fresh diced tomatoes and avocadoes will bring your hot dog up that extra notch and give you some much needed greens and hey presto you're done!!

We've made them once ourselves since being back home and we loved it.

chile: santiago

2010-12-16T21:25:00.063+11:00

Stayed @ Casaltura

Feasted on empanadas and pies from the local supermarket on our first night

You can't see it from this far away but that's a Coca Cola Christmas tree. You'd think they would have done it up a lil nicer. :P

I love how there are always people hanging out in the main square. Some just sit and rest, some are in groups catching up with the latest gossip, it feels like a proper community even in a big city like Santiago. It's a nice feeling.

In a church

The National Palace

At the top of beautiful Serro Santa Lucia park with a 360 degree view of the city

Indulging in the best ice cream

Checking out a contemporary art museum

Prominent people from the past?

A disappointing dinner in a makeshift whale belly. The restaurant was impressive looking though!

brazil: rio de janeiro

2010-12-15T21:23:00.135+11:00

My massive dslr camera was left in our hostel room under lock and key while we were in Rio de Janeiro. After hearing horror stories from fellow travellers and being adviced to dress down as much as possible, keep a low profile and not carry any valuables with us, we decided that we'd rather be camera-less for a few days than have to go through the saga of reporting it lost, claiming insurance and in the end, not have a camera to document the rest of our trip.

Instead, we relied on Ryan's blackberry and my iPhone for this part of the trip. Rio was a melting pot of sexiness and griminess. In the major touristy areas, away from the city centre, the beaches were pristine, the people were good looking, the shopping centre was great and you felt quite safe (as long as you kept your wits about you.)

We stayed at Lagoa Guest House. To be honest, we were quite shocked when we pulled into our hostel. The pictures on the website gave us the impression that it was in a quiet suburb on a quiet street but the taxi stopped at a house in the middle of a busy street! We learnt to love our location in the days to come though. It definitely took me a while to realise just how awesome the location was. I thought that we would have to get taxis everywhere we wanted to go due to safety issues and out on that busy street?? Man, I wasn't at all impressed! But we found out that just around the corner, we could catch regular buses anywhere we wanted to go. And on our last day, we discovered the subway which was really close by and convenient too. Also, about 4 blocks away was a major eatery street and also supermarkets were close too so we would go there for our daily acai berry smoothie fix and dinners. So yeah, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I can't stress enough how much our daily 'acai' fix was enjoyed by the two of us. Some days we even had two hits, one for breakfast and one for dinner! The stuff is amazing and tastes great mixed with some granola or nuts. It's cool and chilling like a sorbet - so tasty and good for you too! I wish we could get it in Australia!

The hostel wasn't the greatest. Our room was very basic, the door to the bathroom was hanging off the edge of its hinges and the window in the bathroom was broken. But we had a tv in the room with cable. You know how we feel about cable tv. :)

We spent our first two days around the major sights of the touristy part of town - Ipanema Beach, Leblon, Copacabana Beach, checking out the Jesus statue up on Cordocodova, eating around town and snacking on acai and moqueca wherever we could.

I'm notorious for wearing down all of my Havianas thongs within 6 months and they're about half the price in Brazil so I stocked up them bigtime while we were there. It was tricky trying to fit 5 extra pairs of thongs into our backpacks as well as all that shopping I did in Buenos Aires but we just about managed to squeeze everything in!

Rio's town centre though was a whole different story. It is quite a big town, and yet it feels like it is not big enough to cater for the number of people that live there. I was very nervous when we got off the bus. There were people everywhere, just hanging about and you can feel very clearly that you're being watched. It was quite unnerving. We had to walk through a park to get to the other side and the park, a beautiful park in its own right, but it reeked with urine and there were homeless people every 2 steps watching you too. There was a local walking through the park in front of us and we quickly followed him all the way to the other side. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, if they wanted to rob us I guess but it made us feel a little bit more safe for a while. We only went into the town as we wanted to check out Santa Teresa, a suburb close by with cobbled streets and ageing mansions as well as a mosaic staircase that a Chilean artist had been working on for about 20 years! And despite all of the scariness of getting there Santa Teresa was really really nice, we got a tram up the hill all the way to the top and there was a great view from up there. We also had a delicious lunch at an Amazonian restaurant there called Espirito Santa. Unfortunately they didn't have the famous Amazonian berries which taste like chocolate but we tried some other crazy fruit flavoured juices and had some fantastic fish!

View of Sugarloaf Mountain from a shopping centre. That was the last place on our list to get to. If you look across behind where we took the photo from, you should be able to see the Jesus statue from there. But the weather was all foggy so our trip there would have been fruitless anyway. We got a tip from a fellow traveller we met at the top of Cordocodova that you can see Urca from one of the shopping malls in Botafogo so we did that instead. Brilliant views!!

brazil: foz du iguazu

2010-12-14T21:10:00.041+11:00

A bright and sunny day finally! Even the spider came out to pretty up its web. We visited the Brazillian side of the waterfalls and the waterfalls were even more spectacular today than when we were on the other side. Somehow, the blue skies made everything look even more spectacular and it made me wish that we could go back to the other side to see the Devil's Throat.

The view from this side of the border is limited compared to the Argentinian side but just like Puerto Iguazu, it was very well run and organised. We took a shuttle bus from the entrance of the park and there are a couple of stops you can get off to do various things like walking treks and some tours too if I'm not mistaken. We were there purely for the waterfalls so we didn't consider doing the others.

There were bus loads of tourists at the waterfalls today and this was a prime photo spot (picture of us together). It was pretty cool because somehow the tourists just form an automatic queue to take turns to have their pictures taken here. See that sleeve on the right hand of the photo, there was this idiot who cut the line and just stood there and waited until his friends got to their turns. It was really annoying because we all couldn't get our photos taken there, which had another waterfall too. I was quite mad and wanted to tell him off but all the tourists in front of me just beared with it and took their picture where we had our picture taken in the end so I didn't say anything too. Have we really turned into a society of just putting up with bad behaviours??? Bah!

More amazing waterfalls

A different view

A walkway to get as close as you can to the waterfalls. Ryan had a go but because I had no intention of getting soaking wet again, I stood by and watched while he had the time of his life getting as close to the power of the water and soaked to the bone.

backpacking honeymoon drama

2010-12-13T09:11:00.025+11:00

It wouldn't be the perfect backpacking honeymoon without a lil drama. Every single traveller would have their own dramatic story and for us, drama was finding out that your bank had incorrectly cancelled both your credit cards and blocked access to your bank account funds and you were fast running out of cash!

Secondly drama was getting to the Brazillian consulate in Buenos Aires only to find out that you have to book an appointment online in order to get your visa. And getting back to our hostel and finding out that the next available appointment was in 2 weeks when we were due to be in Brazil in 3 days!

Drama was extending our stay at Peurto Iguazu to get my visa into Brazil (our last chance!), getting to the consulate first thing on Monday morning and finding out that they are not processing any visas until Thursday as they were moving to a new place - next door. wth!

Drama was praying on the way through Brazillian immigration that I'd be able to get through with my other passport which had less than the required 6 months left on it and whooping with joy when they casually stamped my passport and waved me through. We would have been stranded in Argentina for another week with no way of getting into Chile otherwise!

Then, after this ordeal, drama was getting off the bus too late without realising in Foz De Iguazu then having to negotiate a ride with taxi driver to our hostel when we only had Argentinian Peso's to pay with and hadn't had any luck finding anywhere to exchange money near where they dropped us off with our limited Portugese. Unkeen on wondering around any longer with all of our gear in a dodgy part of town we overpaid by quite a bit to get the hostel which turned out to be only about 2 minutes away!!

So our dramas were all compressed into one week between Argentina and Brazil. It was stressful, it was hectic but the trip would have been incomplete without a lil drama! :P

argentina: puerto iguazu

2010-12-12T21:07:00.047+11:00

The Devil's Throat at Puerto Iguazu and it was amazing!! How can so many waterfalls exist in one place?? There's the tiny ones to the huge ones to the ten in a row ones. It's like a waterfall exhibition! I wondered what it would be like if you sorta jumped down the Devil's Throat into the bottom. I mean for you to survive at the bottom of the falls but the experience would be crazy exciting!

I have to say that the National Park there was very well run. Like a perfectly oiled machine. Everything was just done very well. The walkways give you a fantastic view of every single waterfall that is worth seeing, there is plenty of signage on every walkway, you get a information brochure at the entrance which explains how the park works, how to get around, what tours are available and there are rangers at every point to help you out as well. It was great!

The only bummer was the weather. It was grey and dreary and drizzling down when we were there. The sun came out for a teeny bit at the end of our day though but it was still a disappointment because the waterfalls would have looked amazing against the blue skies. At least our trip to Foz du Iguazu was sunny. :) We got there really early and planned our route. It was our last day in Argentina too so we had to be quite careful with our cash as we didn't want to take any more money out and wanted to use up as much as we could but it had to be enough to last us until we left too. Quite a headache!!

No idea what this animal is but it was very brazen to jump onto a table and steal their food. There was a lot of people about too!

That's pretty much our strategy each time we're in a new country so predicting our expenses each time was tres important. We had enough to do the ecological tour and a jet boat trip around the waterfalls that day and still be able to leave Argentina with hardly anything at the end of our stay. I found the ecological tour to be ho hum since we'd already done the Pampas Tour in Bolivia. It was very similar except that you see more animals on the Pampas Tour than on this ecological tour. All we saw on this tour was a caiman. :(

The jet boat trip around the waterfalls is a big recommendation though. See, I don't think anyone's really jumped into a huge waterfall before just because the power of the water coming down at the bottom of the fall would surely be fatal. This jet boat trip gave you a close encounter experience with them though and it's really really cool. It only goes for about 10 minutes and every one of us in the boat was thoroughly soaked at the end of it. The smart ones came prepared and stripped down to their swimmers and had a poncho to cover themselves but the rest of us (ahem, Ryan and I) who forgot to bring our swimmers with us got wet, even with our ponchos on.

last days in buenos aires

2010-12-11T14:07:00.051+11:00

We spent out last days whizzing through all the essential sights that we'd been procrastinating about seeing while we were in BA. Gosh, we could have really gotten used to the life there. It was so great!!

We caught a cab to the other end of town to check out the home stadium of BA's local football team, La Boca then whizzed back into town to the cemetery to check out Evita Peron's grave. We spent much longer than we intended to there - almost 3 hours because I was enthralled with all the rusty doors and cobwebs accumulating everywhere. Ryan had to literally drag me out the doors or we wouldn't have made it back to Oui Oui for our last brunch.

All full and satisfied and a lil sad that we wouldn't be coming back for brunch forever and ever, we then went to check out the Big Flower and frolicked around in a park people watching as the sun sets behind us. At the end of the night, we went back to Don Julio for our very last steak meal and a glass of malbec and bid a 'sad but hopefully one day we'll be back' adios to Buenos Aires.

buenos aires: oui oui

2010-12-10T23:02:00.058+11:00

Oui Oui!! That's the best place for brunch! We're already missing you so very much.

We woke up to a grey and dreary morning in Buenos Aires this morning and our planned walking tour around Recolleta went out the window. Okay, it didn't just get thrown out altogether just delayed to another day. Instead, we stayed around our room for a lil bit while trying to figure out a new plan for the day when Oui Oui came into our minds. We didn't plan to try any cafes while we were in Buenos Aires but since the weather was crap and I had sworn myself off shopping after the day before, going to a cafe sounded like a great idea.

We took a cab down to Palermo but got dropped off at the wrong intersection because Ryan's pronounciation was off. It was hillarious!! But when we found out that Oui Oui was the next suburb, another 20 minutes walk away, we hailed another cab. When we finally got there,we thought that it was the cutest place possible. It had this retro French vibe and a good sign was that there was a healthy amount of customers enjoying their brunch on a weekday.

We couldn't decide what to get for the longest time. There were muffins and waffles on their counter top, breakfast, sandwiches and hamburgers on their menu and their desserts sounded even more enticing. That's the best thing about brunch, you're not restricted to having just breakfast stuff, you can pretty much have whatever you want.

I saw eggs benedict on one of their blackboards for 40 pesos and went for it. Only to realise while waiting for my order that I've never actually had a good eggs benedict back home so why am I getting it here?? Lolz... I shouldn't have even thought that because it was delicious. I pretty much licked the plate clean!

Can you guess what Ryan got?? A croque madame. Everytime we go to a cafe with either a croque monsieur or croque madame on the menu, he ALWAYS gets one or the other. He wasn't disappointed either, proclaiming it one of the best croque madames he's ever had.

And because of our main dishes were so fabulous we caved in and got this mousse dulce de leche. I told you that their desserts look super enticing! We were happily satisfied already but we just had to try it. It was heavenly and we literally savoured every spoonful. Lolz.. I know I'm really singing their praises here but it really was that good. Yup, that good that we came back and had exactly the same dishes on our last day before flying out of BA. :)

buenos aires: el basqueano

2010-12-09T23:11:00.061+11:00

Because we were spending almost a week in Buenos Aires, we bought the Time Out magazine for the place which was really useful as it had specific places to check out.

One of the places to eat in the book that sounded really interesting was this place called El Basqueano. Honestly, I was intrigued when I first read about it but I wasn't too keen on it. This was what it said in the book about it:

Despite rave reviews from food critics from around the world and from film director, Francis Ford Coppola, this red-hued restaurant remains somehting of a hidden secret on the BA gastronomic scene. Why? Possibly because chef and owner Fernando Rivarola has ignored the obvious choice of beef and instead, filled his menu with creative dishes prepared from Argentina's most exotic fauna, yacare (caiman) comes spiked on a kebab stick; llama in slivers of carpaccio; and Patagonian lamb is wrapped up tightly in pastry. Original, friendly and surprisingly delicious, the seven-course menu allows diners to savour delicacies like pheasant croquettes, a millefeuille of duck, cream cheese tart with strawberries, and optional flight of wines to accompany each dish.

I didn't think it was up my alley but Ryan was all for it, talking about it for days trying to squeeze this place in into our already packed schedule. My, I felt like I was losing that adventurous streak and becoming boring!

Amuse Bouche

Another amuse bouche - 5 ways of beetroot

Carpaccio de Llama con Gelificado de Alcaparras

Empanada de Yacare con Salsa Agridulce

Trilla Marinara

Nandu Marinado con Papa Pondant y Caramello de Cebollas

Jabali con Reducccion de Cerveza Negra y Huevo Trufado

Palate cleanser - spearmint sorbet

Texturas de Manzana

Nuestra Interpretacion de la Copa Melba

And us, at the end of the meal, just about to leave.

By the end of the night, we'd had beetroot, llama and crocodile meat. It was without a doubt the most interesting and I have to admit, also very delicious but I'm still a lil shocked that this time it was Ryan who was raring to try such a meal when 4 years ago when we met, he would have run one thousand miles in the opposite direction if I had suggested such a meal. So proud of him!

buenos aires: peter's hot dog

2010-12-09T17:52:00.005+11:00

A few doors down from Pizza Guerrin and we saw hot dogs on sale with a gazillion multi coloured toppings and we just had to try some.

buenos aires: pizza guerrin

2010-12-09T15:38:00.016+11:00

We ate like the thrifty locals at Pizza Guerrin, standing up at the counter while the locals gawped at us, the obvious tourists with our big cameras and no Spanish skills!

buenos aires: la brigada

2010-12-08T23:59:00.008+11:00

If I remember correctly, we had dinner here after the tango show. Again, past 10pm. We even walked all the way there. Go us!! We were already living like the locals!! Everywhere in Buenos Aires is so walkable as long as you don't mind taking 15-30 mins getting there. And even though it was quite late in the night, it is still considered early for the locals so we never ever felt like it was too unsafe to walk in town.

The inside of the restaurant was like a sports shrine. They had all kind of soccer flags hanging on the ceiling and posters and signed sports shirts on the walls. It was very clearly a sports fanatic kind of place.

Some salad to offset all the meat we've been indulging.

We shared a chorizo sausage. It was delicious. The way they cooked their meat is just something else.

Ryan's massive steak

And my reasonable sized steak. I finished mine that night but Ryan's was a bit too rare for his liking and it was huge!! My eyeballs popped when it first arrived on our table and I was so relieved when he served it to Ryan instead of me! We found that sizes varied between restaurants so you never knew how big your meat was going to be.

And us at the end of the night all full and bloated again. Ryan looked soooo happy there getting his Argentinian meat and wine fix. Heck, he looked like a kid every night at dinner while we were there!

buenos aires: tango

2010-12-08T12:29:00.001+11:00

@ cafe tortoni

buenos aires: don julio

2010-12-07T23:12:00.016+11:00

The best steak we had in Buenos Aires hands down. And just as affordable too!!

It's been a hit and miss event ordering steak here in terms of their sizes because you never know how big or small it's going to be. Whenever you try to communicate with the waiter if he thinks it will be too much, he just shrugs and hand signals, "Depends how hungry you are."

We got there after 10pm. It was our first time having dinner that late but finally, we were in tune with the locals and lo and behold, there was a queue! We definitely weren't expecting that and it did made us wish that we were on tourist time for a while. Lolz... It wasn't a massive wait though luckily. A mere 15 minutes later, as promised by the head waiter and we were in the door, seated with menus in our hands in no time at all. Very efficient!

We'd had a feast the evening before and so we weren't very hungry earlier on in the evening - hence the late night dinner. The waiter thus recommended the lomo steak to be shared by the two of us.

It was smaller than we thought it would be when it got to our table. Maybe we were hungrier than we thought. After all, each person's hunger level is subjective isn't it? We promptly got another one while we shared our steak and the second one was just as divine as the first!

sightseeing in buenos aires

2010-12-05T21:51:00.062+11:00

Buenos Aires was more of a gastronomic affair for the both of us, sprinkled with bits of sightseeing and shopping therapy for me.

We stayed at Chillhouse and it was awesome. Taxis were abundant and there was a shopping centre close by with a metro line into the city. We didn't find out about the metro until our second-to-last day there but taxis were so cheap anyway.

Clockwise from top left: Gorgeous old buildings, taking a nap at lunch (how I wish I could sleep anywhere like that!), colourful newstand and a cute kiosk

From the top (l-r): Check out that girl posing for me :), huge Christmas tree in Pacifico, map of San Telmo, the crowd dancing to the beat in San Telmo, our daily fix of Freddo ice cream, Puerto Madero, statue in Plaza Mayor, grafitti, alone on the streets

buenos aires: mochica

2010-12-04T23:12:00.017+11:00

We were craving some ceviche that night. We were 3 quarters through our South American trip and we'd not had any ceviche since San Pedro (which was not very long ago actually but still, we'd not had it often enough). The guys at Chillhouse recommended Mochica which was just down the road from us and after a long day in town, we were quite happy to go somewhere local. Again, we weren't expecting anything fancy but my oh my, the restaurant looked fancy-ish.

Ryan had his glass of malbec while I settled for the Peruvian corn syrup. I loved it!! I could get used to the Peruvian lifestyle of seafood ceviche everyday and purple corn syrup.

Complimentary chicken kebab amuse bouche. Told you the restaurant was fancy-ish.

My main... the ceviche grande!! It was humongous!! It was all different kinds of ceviche with different mixtures of sauce. And wait for it....

... the last bit to my already gigantic ceviche serving. Gobsmacked we were. Thing is, the waiters never ever warn you if you've ordered too much and because we'd been caught out a couple of times ordering too much food, we would ask if we'd ordered too much but the language barrier made it too difficult sometimes. I mean, all is well when we ask the question in Spanish but then the reply is a barrage of words and we're completely lost. That's punishment for not learning Spanish before we travelled.

Ryan's reasonable looking main. I walked out of the restaurant that night feeling like a true humpty dumpty. But oh my, the ceviche was good. Ryan's rice was meh~. It looked like an Asian stir fry meal and the meat was tough so I wasn't a fan.

buenos aires: el desnivel

2010-12-03T23:14:00.020+11:00

Our first dinner in Buenos Aires was at El Desnivel in the San Telmo area. We got in late in the afternoon on a Sunday and rushed into town to check out the last of the market stalls and music and dancers gyrating through the streets. We wouldn't get a chance otherwise as we were due to leave the following Saturday and the market was only on the weekends. As the sun set, it was time to look for a place to fill our rumbling tummies and we could look no further than El Desnivel which had been recommended time and time again in guide books, Tripadvisor and on various blogs.

The waiter was funny and he helped us pick out our dishes. We loved our steaks! They were perfectly cooked and just so juicy and tender. Just thinking of the myriad of fantastic food we had while we were there is making me want to go back there already. We decided to be adventurous and try 'sweetbreads' which was on the menu without actually knowing what they were. I didn't think they were going to be some kind of meat! Ryan liked them but I thought they had a weird texture and taste. We asked our waiter what it actually was at the end of the night but between our horrible Spanish and his basic English, we couldn't figure it out. I didn't mind it too much but I probably wouldn't order it again after finding out what they were when we got home. :)

a day in salta

2010-12-02T20:45:00.048+11:00

Ack! We arrived in Salta after a long 9 hour journey on the bus from San Pedro with no Argentinian pesos on us. It was close to 8pm there and all the banks were closed. We'd not been able to use our bank cards at any ATM machines around South America so it was no surprise when it didn't work in Salta too. In the end, we had to walk from the bus station to our hostel. It was soooo far!!!

We checked out the town after breakfast the next morning.

Pretending to be all cultured and checking out a contemporary art museum in town.

Empanadas! Yummo!

Iglesia San Francisco

Bird's eye view of Salta

Taking a break from the sun for a moment

Inside Inglesia Catedral

Treating ourselves to some delicious treats from an Italian pastry shop

i beat you!

2010-12-01T23:15:00.004+11:00

the best thing to while away the time on the road (like 10 hours on a bus!), "rat on the run" for i phone!

at the argentinian border

2010-11-30T23:54:00.002+11:00

freaking 2 hours wait to get our passport stamped... not happy!

bolivia: salar tour . day tres

2010-11-28T08:09:00.010+11:00

Not a long day as we had to get to the border by 10.30am. We woke up at 4.30am to make the 5am journey to check out some impressive geysers, have an imaginary dip in the hot springs because we didn't bring our swimmers and see another lagoon before our guide dropped us off at the Bolivian-Chilean border where we caught our bus over to the other side.

Last group pic

We spent about 3 hours getting our passport stamped and luggage searched before making it into San Pedro de Atacama. We heard that the customs people in Chile are picky about bringing food over and were advised to binge on our chocolate snacks before going over the border since they usually confiscate and destroy them. I decided to declare it anyway because you never know, we might get away with it and muahahaha, we did!! Heaven!! All my chocolates are still with me and I didn't have to binge on them... :)

We got to San Pedro de Atacama tired and boiling hot in our layers of clothing that kept us semi-warm during the freezing cold night and arrived in super sunny and hot San Pedro with no place to stay!! Ack!! We picked out a hostel from our Lonely Planet book, turned up and took the double room they offered and had our first shower after 3 days and then trotted out to a nice meal at Cafe Export in town.

bolivia: salar tour . day dos

2010-11-27T20:09:00.010+11:00

Going through an army stop delving deeper into no-mans-land

And here we present to you, the magnificent volcano in the background.

At this magnificent lagoon populated by an ever decreasing number of flamingoes due to a drought that has lasted over 4 years. Many of the lagoons that we drove by on our trip had all shrunk over the last few years because of the drought. At the ones that we stopped at, you can see the dried salt remnants on the areas that were once filled with water. Hopefully it'll pour like cats and dogs there soon or there will be no more lagoons left. :(

Waiting ever so patiently for them to lift their heads out of the water. Up close, the water has a shimmering blackish sheen to it, filled with blue green algae that the flamingoes feed on. Most of the time, their head is in the water fishing these algae out.

More flamingoes

And a lil bird near the edge of the water. This picture feels Christmassy to me, with the white gorgeous bird on a white saltwater edge.

As we were leaving, this fox came running through in front of our jeep. We stopped and it looked back at us for a while before running away. Cute lil thing, isn't it? I've never seen a fox up close before!

Laguna Verde. See those white bits around the edges? They're the bits that have dried out.

The infamous rock tree

And our last stop for the day, arriving at Laguna Colorado, named after the red lagoon in the background. I don't exactly know what makes the lagoon the colours they are. Some say it's the algae living in the water . Up close though, the water is not red but just a normal blackish blue.

Impressive eh? Our hostel for the night was right by this lagoon so when we arrived, we spent some time prepping ourselves up for what our guide said is going to be a -12 degrees night in a room with no heater, a thin wool blanket and a sleeping bag which might not help since our room also had a broken window patched up with tape.

It was a 20 minute walk from our hostel to get here and it was magnificent! I have to say this is the most beautiful place out of the other lagoons that we've been to.

We were 4800m above sea level, the wind was just howling through with no mercy and even with 4 layers of clothing, you can still feel the chill biting into your skin. We didn't spend very long here. I really admire the people that live here. Walking back, we saw our guide, in mechanic overalls that must not be very warm, trying to fix our punctured tyre. I, in my 4 layers of thermals and jackets, couldn't wait to get into the building to get some warmth and here he is, in nothing more than an overall, with no doubt some layers underneath, working like the cold is nothing!

If you wanna know about our sleep that night, it was my worst nightmare imaginable. The cold was unbearable. I slept in all my warm clothing, with my beanie and gloves in my sleeping bag with the wool blanket on top of me and a hot water bottle inside the sleeping bag to keep me warm and I woke up throughout the night still freezing cold. I thought I got brain freeze in the morning since my head was so cold and in pain! The toilets were dismal too, the taps did't work and the loos did't flush. Needless to say, you can imagine what kind of state it was in, especially the next morning. Urrgghh!! Definitely a memorable experience!

bolivia: salar tour . day uno

2010-11-26T14:02:00.005+11:00

First stop on our tour is Cementerio de Trenes, a graveyard of rusting locomotives about 10 minutes outside Uyuni.

And 30 minutes into our trip, as we left the locomotives graveyard, our jeep's tyre burst!! Good thing we had a spare tyre in our jeep but that was our one and only spare tyre and we've already used it before the trip actually started. Worry worry worry... we're going to be in the middle of nowhere for the next 3 days with no spare tyre. Yikes!

Once we got that mishap out of the way though, we made our way to the salt flats, which were quite close by too. If you didn't want to go away for 3 days, I think it's very possible to do daytrips out to the salt flats from Uyuni. We played the perspective game with each other, tasted the salt to make sure it's real and had tonnes of fun!

Our next stop was Isla Incahuasi, or Cactus Island. In the middle of the salt flats somewhere. How did this place come to exist, I don't know. It feels like someone came and piled on a lot of soil at this spot and left it there and since the most hardy of all plants would be a cactus, it is no surprise that it is one of the only plants you can see here.

And heading to our camp for the first night, we caught the sunset, stopping a while to take a group shot. We also saw a group of cyclists cycling in a line on the salt flats. We saw them at Isla Incahuasi and heard from our group that they were cycling from Alaska to the most southern point of Argentina. The wind outside was chilling to the bone, even during the day so it would have been freezing as the sun sets. Looking at them cycle, you are overcome by this sense of awe. I think I made my first resolution for the new year then to get fitter next year.

Our salt room for the night. The whole room and the beds are made from salt.

uyuni in pictures

2010-11-25T20:48:00.003+11:00

We had one day in Uyuni before starting out on our Salar Tour. It's a small town... and it feels extra-terrestrial at times. :) The brown one storey houses and dusty cobble stoned streets are a stark constrast to the brilliant blue sky. There wasn't a lot of people about unless you were in the centre of town which magnified the whole extra-terrestrial feel.

bolivia: pampas tour

2010-11-23T13:59:00.014+11:00

I love love love this picture. This is our plane to Rurrenbaque. A 19 seater plane and the smallest plane we've ever been on. There is only one seat on each side and 3 up the back and you have an open view of the pilot's cockpit which is really really cool!! It was a bit scary at times as we were flying in not so very nice weather over mountainous regions and snow capped mountains, which was really amazing, but the pessimist in me did surface maybe once or twice wondering if we did crashed, how is anyone going to find us in this remote place?

But we landed safely in the pouring rain at Rurrenbaque's brand spanking new landing strip. Before this, all flights here were dependent on the weather. If it rains, the flights either get delayed or even worse, cancelled because they basically had to land in a field! So we were very lucky that this landing strip got built before we got there or our plans would have been upside down that day.

We were in the Amazon Basin to do a pampas tour, which is a tour of the wetland savannas. After a 3 hour long journey on unpaved roads, we arrived at our jungle base camp raring to venture out into the wetlands. And it did not disappoint at all. For the next 3 days, we spotted monkeys and caimans, capyvara and loads of different kind of birds that we've never seen before. We also saw an owl taking a nap in the afternoon sun and a couple of shy pink dolphins bobbing their heads out of the water near us to check us out. I wondered how they survive with the caimans around but our guide said that they hold their own pretty well against the caimans but they usually steer clear of each other's territory. We battled ferocious mosquitoes on a daily basis, having to cover ourselves in at least 3 layers of clothing to ensure they did't get their stings into us. We learnt it the hard way on the first day. I had at least 10 bites around my legs and bum area when we went out on the first day. Through my jeans!!! You've been warned if you're ever to do a pampas tour. :)

Ryan caught a catfish fishing the traditional way with just a piece of wood and some string too. So cool!! I, on the other hand, caught nothing. :( He was just lucky. :P Our guide though caught the best fish of all. He got a piranha!! Wow... he held the fins between his fingers and showed us its sharp teeth before releasing it back into the river. Really, apart from the swarm of mosquitoes that we encountered on a daily basis, everything else was a highlight.

Oooh, something gruesome but part of reality, I saw a family hacking up a cow in their front yard on the way back to Rurrenbaque. I was shocked and horrified but our guide said there are no shops anywhere around where we were so a lot of bartering is done between families. One family might grow vegetables and the other have animals on the farm. It was quite an eye opener for me as though I've heard of stories and seen pictures, seeing it real life was quite traumatising. It was quite brutal and throughout the rest of our journey, Ryan and I would see a lot of "uncomfortable scenes" but have to accept that it's part of life.