Asia Trip - Part 2

Hong Kong from the Peak

Hey Chia!

PART 2

Hong Kong

Hong Kong... auggghh! Hong Kong was all about the shopping for me. Bought heaps and heaps of work clothes. We also were able to eat some good beef brisket, tasty dim sum, and really really tasty McDonalds! Haha!

Kev and I also met up with his family. We first met up with his Aunt, and got some great eating tips from his cousin named Clement (can you believe it?!? There is another Clem out there!) We then met up with his Uncle on another day, and we visited his Grandma. I found it interesting meeting them. I could see Kev's mom when I saw his Aunt, and the same with his Uncle; I could see Kev's dad. I like meeting families. I've always liked playing the 'Lets find the similarities' game. It's a little game I've always played with myself since I was young. Perhaps it is because previously, I had never had anyone that looked or resembled me. I couldn't see where I got my features or mannerisms. So yea, seeing people who share characteristics, still really fascinates me.

On the way to meeting up with Kev's uncle, we visited the Wong Tai Sin temple where they had these statues of all the Chinese animals!

Kev's rat

Me and the Ox

After we had a look around, I got Kev to do a fortune reading. I've never had an Asian version, and the lady we got gave us a face and palm reading. From what I remember, I am a gold ox, and Kev is a soil rat. She said that it is very lucky, as the soil loves gold as it 'looks after it'. I thought it was sweet. She also said that I should continue to work in my job, but when I turn 32 years old, I ought to start my own business as it will be very successful. HA! Oh geez. What business? I got no idea! She also said that I should try to marry before 32 and have 2 children before the age of 36. After that, having children will be difficult for me. Boo. She also said that I have a weak kidney, and this will be an issue if I don't exercise. How fun.

For Kev, she said that he will be successful in his job, but that he has to be careful around some people. I didn't understand her too well about this, but I interpreted it as that he will be successful, but there will be people who will try and take away his success or something. She also said that he ought to be married before the age of 34, otherwise he will have difficulties with his wife if he married after. So she said earlier the better for him. She did mention that Kev will have problems with his throat and stomach later in life. Specific isn't she?

It was all interesting. Obviously its just for fun. I did find it to be a completely different approach to the Western fortune readings.

We also did this awesome tour called 'Dialogue in the Dark.' You can find out more information here. This tour was pretty much an insight into how it would be if you were blind. We were taken into a dark room, given a blind guide stick and we were on our way. We had a tour guide too! In the tour we followed her voice, and she led us through a rain forest, onto a boat, crossing the street, shopping in the market and figuring out what fruit was on sale, the movies and then finally, eating at a cafe. It was really fun and insightful. I was a bit freaked at at the beginning, because I could not see any light at all. But after a while, your other senses take over and it's amazing what you can do blind. But I know that it will take a long time to adapt.

Macau

We also made a trip to Macau. Whereas everyone else had a day trip to explore Macau, Kev and I had bought a overnight package at the Venetian. The package included an overnight stay, A reserve tickets to the Cirque du Soleil show, boat tickets back to Hong Kong, and breakfast. Unfortunately, because we had to get to the Hong Kong international airport early the following morning, so Kev and I couldn't use the breakfast or the boat tickets. But the package was awesome for the room and the show! Here's a snapshot of the Venetian:

The entry

Our luxurious bed, and awesome living room.

Our cool bathroom

The shopping and casino part of the Venetian

Eating egg tarts beside the canals and under the painted sky!

We also saw that the Venetian had an 'Ice World' exhibition which was only being shown from May to September 2011 and once we saw that, I asked Kev if we could just stay inside of the Venetian to explore it. It is such a huge place. We couldn't even cover all of it in the day that we were there! The canals and painted skies gave us a never-ending day, and time flew by so fast, that before we knew it, we had to get ready for the Cirque du Soleil show.

Ice World was pretty amazing! It felt like only 20 minutes, but we were actually in there for a little over an hour! It was freezing cold despite the warm jackets they gave us. My hands were killing me near the end, as they were always out holding my camera. They hurt so much, that they were stiff and my fingers became swollen when we left! Fat fingers! Eww!

See! I am in London too Chia! London in Ice World!

Kev in Paris!

Zaia was really good! I have never been to a fixed Cirque du Soleil show. I can see why it is so much better than the travelling shows that come to Perth. At the Venetian, the performers use the whole theatre in their performance! Zaia appeared to be about space, earth and exploring new horizons. It was amazing, but Kev and I were both pooped from our trip, and as we walked out of it, we both admitted dozing off in certain parts. Eeeep!

Zaia balloon that we caught from the end of the show

Highlights of this part of the trip include:

1. Eating dim sum in Hong Kong. Some of the dishes were super yummy and they were all made fresh!
2. Shopping at G2000 - We all bought a lot of things here. I love it! Except that I couldn't fit the pants. The girls here have short crotches and super skinny thighs. I also loved Uniqlo! I didn't realise how awesome this Japanese 'basics' shop was! Everything fits too!
3. Kev and I went to get business shirts tailor made. We went to two fittings, only to find that on the third fitting they were unable to make the alterations, and we were leaving the next day. Augh! Now we are waiting for them to send the shirts to us for us to try it out. At least they were willing to send the shirts to Australia without demanding us to pay for the shirts until we were satisfied with them.
4. Karaoke! OMG I loved our ktv session! We sung a whole lot of Chinese songs which made me remember the characters and yea... I had a really good time. It has been ages since I've been to ktv!
5. Using the subway. The Hong Kong underground system is awesome! So efficient and super clean too!
6. Me having the worse cough, headache, and aching intercostal muscles ever! (it hurt when I breathed in, and when I coughed). Actually, add to that, Kev and Amy's fevers (add in Amy throwing up one night), Wilbur's nausea, and Chinny being some kind of sick and sleeping a whole 24 hours. Oh and Bels and Lena being hungover after a big night out. Yea people still got sick in Hong Kong.
7. Drinks with Ying up at Soho, after riding the longest escalator that just kept going up and up. Drinks with Ying, Ben, Thien, Jesi, and Kev led to discussions about whether soccer players who stop a goal with their hands are cheats, and then it just went down hill from there- to who would you kill to save 300 people, would you kill your mom to save millions etc. Oh and it was super hot in that bar. Except for the toilets. The toilets were a refrigerator. Nice!
8. Hanging with friends! I love this game on the iPhone! Its like words with friends, but quicker! I suck at scrabble, and I never have enough time to analyse and find a cool word to play. But hanging with friends is pretty much hangman, and the rounds to a game are quick! Super funnnnnn!
9. Mango desserts. They were yum.
10. McDonalds after going up to the Peak. That Maccas was super yum. The burgers were juicy, the friend chicken was juicy, everything was tasty and juicy! I can see why people would eat there if the food was always like that. In Perth the burgers at times are super dry.
11. Going to all you can eat Japanese in KL, which included all your can eat dessert (Haagen daz!)
12. Eating as many KL dishes in one day with Amy before we returned to Perth. Man I was full, but I was satisfied. I missed out on roti though. 
13. Watching some weird movie with Megan Fox where she was some sort of demon that ripped up guys to stay young and beautiful, while Ben drank almost a bottle of patron after losing too many times to Bel, Ben Ng, Thien and Thien's brother (who lived in KL).

Ah... I am sure that I have left out plenty of memories from this trip, but to write them all out would take forever! I am happy to have visited Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macau and KL. It was a whirlwind of a trip!

Asia Trip - Part 1

Hey Chia!

I've returned, and have just watched Masterchef. Wow, I am really back at home.

This trip has been the longest holiday that I've had in a long time, and it really felt like so when I was away. But now, I can't believe that 2 weeks have zoomed by.

Vietnam was such a wonderful surprise for me. I had no idea what to expect, and not only that, the only thing I knew or heard about Vietnam was that there was a war, it was colonised by the French, it is a communist country, and the Vietnamese here are psycho who chop people up. LOL. Shows how much I knew!

When we boarded the flight to Ho Chi Minh from Kuala Lumpur, Thien asked me 'So how do you feel Anna? First time to Vietnam!' I felt, well excited. Actually I was more like curious. Vietnam seemed so foreign to me culturally, and I wanted to know more about the other half of my heritage. When I asked Thien what he felt about coming back to Vietnam, he simply sang:

I'm coming home, coming home, tell the world that I'm coming home.

As the plane took off, those lines just played over in my head:

I'm coming home, coming home, tell the world that I'm coming home.
Let the rain, wash away, all the pain of yesterday.
I know my kingdom awaits, and they've forgiven my mistakes.
I'm coming home, I'm coming home, tell the world that I'm coming...

It was perfect really. Except I have never been there, and all the mistakes made were not made by me, but by people whose lives were changed by difficult circumstances, people and circumstances that no longer exist today. It's in the past.

I was also feeling...wonder. The fact that only in 2008, I did not know anything about my past, where I came from, and that the idea of me going to Vietnam was not even an option for me. I was not interested. It was impossible. I'll admit, I was scared.

But when we all arrived in Vietnam, Thien revealed the smells, tastes and beauty of this place.

A tired Thien, our awesome tour guide

I love it! The food is so delicious! Here I thought Pho was the bomb, but no, there are other dishes. Fresh salads, dishes with flowers and the fresh leaves of mint, coriander and other stuff that I don't know the names for, expect that it was yum. For me, I loved the Bun bo Hue, and I really would love to eat it more, or learn to make it.

Bun bo hue!

I don't know the name of this, but it was such a delicious entree!

I forgot the name of this dish, but the green stuff is a flower!

OH! One of the coolest dishes was at this ice-cream chain called "Fanny". So many innuendos were made. Especially after me, Doris, Joyce and Amy had gone to a random hotel for buy 1, get 1 free drinks. We chose a shot called "Blow Job" and after that we were craving cheap blow jobs and creamy deserts from fanny. The ice-cream dish that blew us away was this:

Ice-cream sushi!

This was amazing! The sushi was ice-cream and was coated in black sesame which was the 'seaweed wrap'. The sauce was chocolate 'soy sauce' and strawberry jam 'chilli sauce'.

The other desert that was awesome was this:

Spring rolls!

The Vietnamese people are also so very lovely! Very different to the image of a hardcore race of people which had been etched into my imagination from our uni days. I thought that the Vietnamese would be angry people with knives to chop anyone who displeased them. But instead, the people were all so very kind and sweet. There was one girl who worked at the check in desk at the Light Hotel in Nha-Trang who had a sweet temperament. She was kind, and well... overall very gentle. I kept sneaking looks at her. Her mannerisms, her hand gestures, her smile and her soft voice. I hoped that my birth mom was like her. My imagination and my gut feeling tells me that she was like that.

I really want to go back to Vietnam and eat more food, explore more of the country side, and visit my birth parents' villages.

Kev and I in Nha-Trang at the Micro Brewery called Louisiane

Other highlights of the trip include:

1. Chinny Surprise. I had been pestering him about this trip. Then, on the night before we left, I pestered him once more. He simply said for the final time that he wasn't coming. In my head I just thought 'oh god, he never comes!' When we finally arrived at the Hotel in Ho Chi Minh, there was Chinny, strutting his stuff to us. I lost it. I screamed/shrieked like I've never shrieked before and jumped him in happy surprise. Everyone was stunned by Chinny's appearance. The only person who knew was Thien.
2. 12 people bumper cars! We hogged up a round and just went crazy! It was super awesome fun not having to worry about other random people, and just focusing on crashing into your friends. It was huge! We so should have played it more instead of doing just one round. It was super cheap!
3. Kung Fu Panda. I was a bit 'meh' about watching it while overseas, but it ended up being the perfect movie for me to see in Vietnam. It was all about Po and him finding himself and learning about his past and birth family. It also dealt with his relationship with his adoptive father. So cute!
4. Fresh Seafood at the markets in Nha-Trang. This was an awesome meal.
5. Everyone getting sick. I don't know why, but everyone got sick during Vietnam and the beginning of Hong Kong. Perhaps we were overdoing it? The fruit smoothies- I loveeeeed the fruit smoothies, especially the ones with yogurt!
6. Thien always having to usher 2 taxis and then explain directions to one driver, then run down to explain the same directions to the other driver.
7. Speaking about taxis - one of the taxis getting into a car accident on the way to the Bun bo hue restaurant. Driver kicking that group out, and then that group hailing another taxi to drive them to the restaurant. Little did they know, that the drive was less than a 30 second drive down the road.
8. Thien initally always ordering awesome food for everyone... same drinks and dishes for everyone! Until people started figuring out things they liked, and then it got all complicated. Sorry dude.
9. Massages! How can I forget about the massages. They were hillarious at times, when these tiny women wrap their arms around you and fling you in the air. Doris and I had an experience when our towels didn't quite stay on and our ladies when flying everywhere! Thank goodness for those modesty curtains.
10. Manicures and Pedicures. Amy and Doris had issues with their nail polish not drying quick enough. Amy's nails were spoiled and retouched twice and was even given special slippers so that her toe nails wouldn't touch anything!
11. 'I'd like to have 1 blow job.' *looks around* 'Make that 2 blow jobs... wait, We'll have 4 blow jobs.'
12. The steam rooms. The guys loved them at the massages, then the girls rocked them at the New World Hotel in Ho Chi Minh. Awwww soo good.
13. Kev eating all the food regardless of the sourness and spice; and sweating it out! *HugZz* Loves you for getting in on it! ^______^

Stay tuned for Part 2 - Hong Kong!

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday Chia!!!

I hope you had a great day! Sorry for waking you up so early!!

I'm currently on my way to work. Pretty exhausted from the holiday, but will get back into the swing of things soon! I'll try and blog tonight with photos from my trip!

^___^

My first Contiki trip

Hello Anna...

I was in Leicester Square last night and the bouts of high pitch screaming told me something was on and of course it was the premier of Harry Potter-no-idea-which-number-movie-because-I-never-got-into-it-but-wish-I-did. There were all these mercs parked up which I assume were the mode of transport and the area was fenced off so only those with tickets could see the cast turn up.

On a totally different topic, just two hours ago I had a sudden moment of clarity and decided at the end of this month to go on a Contiki tour for 14 days. I intend to see it is a birthday present to myself and to excuse myself from finding work during the school summer holidays. I will be visiting Paris, French Riviera, Rome and Amsterdam. It works out well because I will be back for 2 weeks before you get here :) It pains me to think that I still have to pay rent even though I won't be here for a total of a month or so! :(

Sunday is my 26th birthday!!! Boy has that crept up on me. I will be hosting a picnic that was meant to be tomorrow afternoon but is now postponed to Sunday. London weather you will always win!!!! :(

That is all!

Madame Butterfly

Hi Anna!

You have been missed :p It feels a little strange to be blogging without you.  For all our readers, I hope you haven't given up on our blog yet because of our lack of posts :P

Last night I made my way to Trafalgar Square to watch the free live screening of Madame Butterfly. My goodness it was SPECTACULAR! Extra bonus that it was free and along with that a huge crowd, but it was just lovely to sit and enjoy my first opera performance with everyone else. I didn't think I'd be interested in opera, but now I'd definitely consider going to another! The leading man was absolutely mesmerizing and I was amazed at their voices! The storyline reminded me of Miss Saigon, and after some Googling I found out that Miss Saigon is actually based on Madame Butterfly.

I'm extremely pleased that I met up with a bunch of 'strangers' from the networking site to watch it. I thought I wouldn't be able to find the organiser because I left the house in a hurry and forgot to note down her mobile number, but bless her, she was carrying a sign and that made it easy! All the girls were incredibly friendly and we may meet up again next Wednesday for the free live screening of Cinderella! If not, I'd definitely go solo because these free events don't come around in winter and I'd better make the most out of it.

Two of the four girls that came

Huge turn out in Trafalgar Square. A lot of people came prepared with wines and picnic food

The beginning of the opera. This is the view from where we sat.

The weekend went by quickly as usual! On Friday night I caught up with Shaz and her friends plus I invited my new friend Penelope to come along. We enjoyed our vodka cocktails at this place called Vodka Revolution and they sold interesting flavoured vodka shots like bubblegum, jellybean, pineapple etc. Unfortunately I wasn't in a party mood and left early.

I always make a note to remember the mixers but I can't remember apart from blueberry and vodka!

 The next day I went to Regent's Park. I have to say I wasn't very impressed with the park from what I saw. I didn't get to explore all of the area because there was a sudden change of cloudy weather and wind so I only had the chance to read a little before heading home. However, looking at the pics below, it does look quite pleasant so perhaps a revisit and hope for more sunshine.

And saving the best for last......  a close uni friend had given birth to her first child!!!  Congratulations on your baby daughter Satoko! I cannot wait to see photos of your little bundle of joy :)

Dinners with friends

Hi Anna! I wonder where you are now?

On Wednesday night I went to watch Bridesmaids with a lovely girl called Penelope who I met over the internet. We got along really well the first time which is why I didn't feel uncomfortable about going to a movie with her.The movie left me in stitches! I loved it and it was great to laugh with someone else too!

Meet Penelope!

After movies  we had dinner at Carluccio's which is a resto down the street where we both live (yes coincidentally we live on the same street). I look happy about the seafood salad prior to tasting it, but it actually wasn't that great :(

 Last night I caught up with Vanni before she left for Spain. She's been in London for 4 days, but was doing a few tours etc and I haven't had the chance to catch her because of work. I really wanted to try this Mexican place called Wahaca  in Soho for ages but last time I went the place was packed with a 45 min wait. Luckily we stumbled upon this place again and it wasn't busy.

Happy!

 The food was delicious and quick to arrive! Now I  know what I've been missing out on all my life!

Chips and salsa

 

Slow cooked pork tender and tangy,  perfect combinations!

 After that we walked around the Soho/Leicester Sq area and we went inside this HUGE M & M store just for fun. Vanni seemed to know a lot more about the area than I did! I was absolutely disorientated.

London M & M. I wonder if they taste different?

Multil coloured M & Ms! I couldn't buy them because I'd feel like I'm buying imitation M & Ms since they are not in their usual colours like back home!

M & Ms everywhere

I was good and left chocolate-less :D but now I feel like baking double chocolate chip cookies!  I can't believe they have an entire store of 4 levels dedicated to M & Ms.

If I ever go to a costume party I'd consider this outfit!!!

Hope you enjoyed the pics! Have a lovely weekend everyone and hope July is a wonderful month for you :) I know it will be for me because a friend is due to give birth to her first baby! I'm so excited for her and anticipating the news of her arrival :D

All I want to do is cook!

Hi Anna!

Glad you haven't been posting any food pics! Otherwise I'd be feeling so hungry right now! The mud photo is hilarious! You all look quite relaxed though. Now why is Chinnie sitting in the front with the girls....? Looking lovely in the night out too! No wonder the photographer was lingering around :P

I've been hit with cooking mania and tonight rather than looking up some worksheets for the class tomorrow (I've had a pre-booking which means that I know which school and class I'll have) I'm searching on my favourite website www.allrecipes.com for recipes!

Today I made these brownies that turned out more of a cake texture (have to stop making it a habit of all my baked goods ending up like a cake texture when it shouldn't be!) because I left it in the oven a touch longer than required. Nevertheless they were DELICIOUS! Best thing is that it took less than 20 mins to prepare and bake.

The icing was incredible! You could get a tooth decay/ heart attack just by looking at it! I had to crop the picture as the container it was in had smudges of chocolate icing all over.

I think I shall host a picnic in Hampstead Heath next weekend if the weather permits and prepare some tasty finger food! I'm thinking sushi, samosas, pies, brownies and more! Oh and since you're in Vietnam it reminded me of fresh Vietnamese spring rolls! I'll have to make these soon except a trip to Chinatown will be required to source the ingredients. How I wish I had all my girl friends back home to come along!!! :( :( :(