Two days til New Years

We went to one of the temples in Bangkok today. You'll have to excuse me for not remember the name of it, but I know that it's not the famous golden Buddha temple. They're quite strict in the temples. You're not allowed to wear any bottoms which are shorter than knee length, and everyone must take off their shoes and hats before entering. For all those in short shorts and skirts, they have sarongs which you can buy to cover up the legs. It was quite lovely inside, and I was surprised at how crowded it was. 

For lunch today we ate at The Royal Dragon Restaurant which was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1992 as the world's largest restaurant. As in, it has enough seating for about 5000 customers. It's a lovely restaurant with both indoor and outdoor dining, and heaps of karaoke rooms. The food is delivered by guys wearing roller blades, which I though was quite cool. The service is friendly, and the food was pretty good too :)

Today was also the last day of our Thailand tour. It has been wonderful opportunity to go and see parts of Thailand. At the beginning of the year, I certainly wouldn't have guessed that I'd be on this tour, soaking in the Thai culture, tasting all the delightful food and meeting all the lovely people that I've met. I really am privileged to be able to just go on holiday like this. It certainly has been a pleasant new experience. A big thank you to Vietravel, the touring company that organised our itinerary and took us around! The next leg of the journey is Vietnam again for another tour. Goodbye Thailand :)

The beautiful view this morning from the Prince Palace Hotel. It's a really gorgeous hotel. I would recommend it to everyone!

I also wanted to share with you something that made my day. When my dad was booking the tickets for the tour, he forgot to notify the airline of my dietary requirements so that I can have vegan food on the plane. I was pretty lucky on the flights to Vietnam because they had spare vegan food, but on the short plane ride today, they didn't have any spares. The meal consisted of a dessert dish which I thought was cake but actually turned out to be jelly, an Asian chicken salad (luckily the chicken wasn't mixed in with the salad) and water and juice. 

When I told the flight attendant about being vegan, she tried her best to make some adjustments but in the end she said that I could eat take out the chicken of the Asian chicken salad and she gave me a two packets of roasted nuts. The meal was actually pretty filling, so I wasn't going to go hungry or anything, but the flight attendant came back about 10 minutes later and gave me the container of fruit that she was given for her meal. She said she wanted me to have a good meal. It was such a lovely act of kindness and it made my already good day, a million times better. I think it's those nice things that people do unexpectedly that really reach inside and tickles the part of you that feels. I think I make a bigger deal out of acts of kindness more than other people do, but that's just the way my brain works. It's incredibly touching when someone does something nice for me. Over time I've made conscious effort to not take anything anyone does for me for granted, and as a result, even the smallest of things makes me gush with maximum levels of joy and appreciation. 

Thai airlines everybody. Fly Thai airlines. One good experience is enough for me to want to tell everyone to fly with them :P

Three days til New Year

 It's day four of our five day and it feels like we've been here for a week. We've just done so much in such a short amount of time that it feels like more time has gone by. 

The first on the itinerary today was a place that sold medicines make from snakes. A lot of Asian cultures use herbal and animal medicines to cure ailments and improve the body. There was a cool snake show going on as we walked through the door. They loved scaring the audience by pretending to throw the snakes at us. As they were bringing the snakes around for us to touch, one guy grabbed my hand and tried to scare me that way...didn't work though. Better luck next time :P

The guy trying to scare me by grabbing my hand

Today was also our shopping day. We headed over to a new department store called Isetan in Bangkok. It was about 4 storeys high and was just filled with really high-end and fancy stores. Lots of brand names. It was fun walking around and having a look at everything on sale. The prices weren't that much cheaper than what you'd find back in Perth, but there were plenty of stores I've never been to before so it was refreshing to see all the different styles of clothing. 

For dinner we went to the Baiyoke Sky Tower in Bangkok. It is the tallest tower in Thailand, measuring in at 309 metres tall. There are a total of 2 060 steps from the bottom to the top, and it takes over an hour to reach the top by foot. That would be a great workout. Calves of steel after doing that. The tower is a hotel which includes a whole list of other attractions. There are heaps of buffets (including a fruit buffet!) and restaurants, fitness club, a roof top bar and there is a gold range nearby. There is also a revolving observation deck at the very top that we went up to after dinner. The view of the city was great. It was a windy night, but it didn't spoil the view :)

Lastly, I just want to mention that the buffet we ate at was amazing. It was an international buffet. The variety of foods was amazing, and all of it was well cooked and delicious. One new thing that I tried and absolutely loved was the deep fried taro. I have so much love for taro, and when it's deep fried, it's just magical :P I think I should experiment more with deep frying. There could be so much more fatty goodness out there ready for me to discover. 

Some of the dessert section

Four days til New Year

Today we packed up all our gear, checked out of the hotel in Pattaya and headed for Bangkok. Before going to our new hotel, we spent the day at Safari World, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Bangkok. We watched heaps of different shows with all kinds of extremely well trained animals. We also did a safari tour where we saw just a huge array of different animals such as zebras, giraffes, buffalo, deer (pretty much anything and everything with antlers and/or that resembled Bambi), and just about everything else you might see out on an African safari. Definitely a worth while place to check out.

This bear has what looks like a mane. I thought that was cool :)

Now, what a really want to brag about is a show we went to called Cookin' Nanta in Bangkok. This was hands down one of the best performances I've ever been to. I have never seen anything quite like this and it was so unique and refreshing. Cookin' is a show where kitchen utensils and props are used to create music and rhythm. I would consider this a comedy performance. There is little dialogue, with some of the most hilarious non-verbal performances I've ever watched. 

The plot of the show is that there are three chefs who work together in a restaurant run by quite a strict manager. One day he sets them the job of preparing a 10 course menu and puts his nephew in charge. Having a new cook in the kitchen disrupts it's normal dynamic, and so they have to find a way to work together to meet the one hour deadline. 

It really is just the most amazing show. Some of the talent is absolutely incredible! The musical talent is amazing, and they do so many tricks and stunts with the kitchen props. Truly great stuff. The show did a world tour in 2012, so now I'm going to be keeping an eye out for a second tour. Cookin' is so good!! I want everyone to experience how great this show is!! 

The set :)

Five days til New Year

Ermergherd four days til new year! I cannot believe how quick this year has gone, and yet some of the things I did at the beginning of the year seem so long ago. I'm struggling to get my head around the fact that this time last year I was on my holiday in America. I can still remember it so vividly. It's so weird that some things feel like forever ago, yet others are still so fresh in my mind. I've just done to many things that my perception of time has all been muddled. Brain, what are you doing?

Ok, back to my Thailand trip. Today we went to a lovely island called Koh Sak Island. It was about a 10-15 minute boat ride (speed boat, mind you) from the beach near where we're staying. It was a lovely day to spend at the beach. There were a few water activities for tourists to do such as scuba diving, banana boat rides and jet ski rides. My friend had told me about the banana boat so I gathered some of the other people I'm holidaying with together and we rode on that. It's a pretty fun activity. For this particular one, we had 5 people all sitting on an inflated tube which got pulled along by a jet ski. The aim is to not get thrown off. We all managed to stay on, but I think the guy riding the jet ski was going pretty easy on us. 

We didn't have a great deal of time allocated for the Island, so instead of doing all the water activities, we just swam in the ocean instead. It was seriously so lovely. The water was clear, not ridiculously salty, the view was gorgeous with some lush green cliffs in the distance and the sun wasn't scorching hot, and the water was perfect temperature. I'm not a fan of being out in the sun, but I could have stayed at this beach all day if I had the chance.

The rest of the day was super busy. We went to this elephant park where I took some photos with elephants and watched an elephant show. Don't get me wrong, they train these elephants to do some seriously amazing tricks, but a part of me felt so sad for these big fellas. I hope they get well looked after. 

Throwing a basket ball into a hoop

This is a baby elephant stepping over me

We then went to a lovely place called Nong Nooch Garden and Resort and had a bit of a walk around there. It was a lovely garden with lots of cute displays are beautiful flora. It was very serene. Next stop was the Alangkarn Theatre were we watched a performance about the origins of Thailand. The costume and set were amazing. They even had elephants up on stage. These creatures are so amazing. It was strange to see them so domesticated.

I love these pots. They were all around the garden. Each one with a unique facial expression.

Finally, we ended the night with a performance called Tiffany's Show. Kid you not, this was just an entire song and dance show with Thailand's finest transgender performers. It isn't a show that would suit every one's taste, but I guess the tour guides just wanted us to get a taste of what Thailand has to offer. Everyone on and off stage was male by nature but wow, some of these performers were hot. As in, they looked like extremely attractive women. There were of course the few that were obviously male by their face and physique, but most of them just looked so much like women. Gorgeous women. 

After the show, the tour guide was telling us that there are some women who walk out of a show upset because there are men who are prettier than them, but what he tells them is that these men get so much work done to their face and bodies that they're barely their real selves anymore. It's all just fake. At the end of the day. these guys remove their costumes and twenty layers of makeup and probably don't look anywhere as good a woman who still has her natural face. I totally agree with what the tour guide was saying. Anyone can look beautiful with the right makeup and clothing. A natural face is so much rarer these days, but it's what should be encouraged amongst women. 

It was quite lovely inside the theatre building.

This is a portrait of one of the performers who is dressed half as a man, and half as a woman. You can see the performer in the photo below on the left.

Six days til New Year: Thailand

I was hoping that on my tour of Thailand I’d get free wi-fi at the hotel, but unfortunately you don’t get any free wi-fi anywhere in Thailand; or at least not at any of the places I’ve been to so far. So that’s why my posts are a little delayed. 

 Today was the first time I’ve ever been to Thailand. It reminds me of Vietnam but the traffic is less hectic and the ratio of motorbikes to cars is far less. The roads are also different. I like to think of them as multi-storey roads that all criss cross over each other and loop around. I've seen them in America but we don't have roads like that in Perth so I don't ever really know how to describe it. Apologies!

We’re staying in Pattaya City, situated along the east coat of Thailand for the next 5 days.  Our hotel is pretty much right on the beach and is in the heart of all the markets and  restaurants. It seems to be a popular tourist city because I’m seeing at lot of Caucasian people around the place, hanging out in bars and roaming the streets. Our tour group has two tour guides who will be taking us around to all of the lovely tourist attractions. I’m looking forward to what Thailand has to offer, but regardless, any new experience is what you make it and I intend of making the most of my time here. 

The hotel we're staying at in Pattaya City :)

A view from my hotel window.

Eight days til New Year

So grampa has Wi-Fi at his house. Good on ya Gramps! Now the blog can go on. At least for the next two days anyways. After that we head off to Thailand, where I'm hoping there will be free Wi-Fi in the hotel rooms.

In the early hours of this morning, which now seem like a lifetime ago, we boarded our plane and headed out on our big group tour of Vietnam and Thailand. I've never travelled overseas in a big group before, but I think it's quite a nice experience and I see the appeal of why people go out and do contiki tours. Mind you, I'm not on a contiki tour, or anything even remotely like that. I'm travelling with my family and some other families from our church community. But I don't know any of the other travellers so it's nice to make new friends. 

I have also never been on holiday with my brother before, so this is a nice first for us :)

I was really worried that it would be difficult to stick to my vegan diet while travelling around Asia because they love to put fish sauce and oyster sauce in everything. Back in the early days of being vegan I would ask for the vegetarian option every time I went into an Asian restaurant, but I quickly learnt that you have to specifically state that you don't want any fish sauce, oyster sauce, shrimp paste or egg etc. Some people don't understand what being vegan involves, which is fine, so from now on I just list off everything I can't have. Sometimes their reaction is funny. 

Despite being worried about not finding vegan food, we've actually done pretty well so far. Our first stop off was at a nice little place that whipped up some stir-fry veggies for us. Surprise surprise they didn't have anything vegan on the menu, but they were lovely and made something for me anyways. I did not expect the veggies would be so delicious, but they were. It was a very simple dish consisting of cauliflower, broccoli, mushroom, carrot and garlic in what I assume to be vegetable broth, but whoa it was so good! So yeah, so far so good in terms of hunting down vegan food. 

Vietnam is very different to how I remember it 7 years ago when I last came to visit. For one, the staff in the airport are so much nicer and more friendly. I used to be so scared of going to the Vietnamese airport as a child because everyone just looked so stern and like they would slap me if I looked at them wrong. But this time around, there were so many smiles, and everyone offered to help with getting luggage and finding a taxi. Yay for kindness! It definitely shows. 

The roads are also very different to how I remembered them as well. I guess in 7 years, that's plenty of time to do road construction, but I'm quite impressed at how wide and tidy some of the newer roads are. I hope it stays in this condition for a while. Don't get me wrong though, as you travel further from the city, you get the roads that are bumpy as anything.

What I liked about travelling around today was seeing all the food carts. We saw a cart selling Vietnamese fried bread. They had something called banh tieu which I absolutely love, and they served it piping hot fresh out the oil that they deep fried the yummy goodness in. I can't find an English wiki page for banh tieu, but it's basically like a sweet kind of dough which is deep fried and sprinkled with sesame seeds. It's cool though, because it's hollow on the inside. So you're pretty much just eating crispy fried dough. But these ones were golden and a bit soft. So good. So good. 

 

We also bought some deep fried pork buns from that same cart too. Why didn't I ever think of deep frying a pork bun. Of course! That's like a million instant deliciousness points added to it when it's deep fried. Even though I didn't have any because they had meat and egg in them, I still wanted to share it with you guys. Plus it was something new for everyone in the car who ate them.

The last thing I'll say before I stop rambling is that I really like the old building here. They definitely look old, but you can tell that once upon a time they were all new and brightly coloured. I see lots of faded blue and yellow walls, but it has this cool rustic look it it. Everywhere I looked in Ho Chi Minh City, I saw a wall that would have looked great with some street art on it. I love hunting street art, and I hope to find some in the weeks to come. I don't why this fascinates me so much, but it does. I think I just like seeing people's talents on display. 

The only street art I've been able to find so far.