Counting down

Today is the last day of my gap year; day number 365. Three hundred and sixty five days of doing something new for the first time, but today I’m also doing something for the last time. This is officially my last post for 2013 :)

I re-read my post from December 31st 2012 where I wrote that I will post up new things that I did which made me grateful for the day.I think I can say that I've achieved this. Some new things I did were just insanely amazing and I was grateful that I had the opportunity to do each of those, but on the days where I did something small, I was grateful that I'm lucky enough to have some down time. So many people in the world can't enjoy life's simple pleasures like going to a park and reading a book, or watching a movie so I'm thankful that I am able to do this.

I hope all the readers out there know how much I appreciate all the encouragement and support over the year. Thank you to everyone for letting me be myself on this blog and for letting me write the way I do without any criticism or put downs. On that note, I should probably say I'm sorry for all my spelling and grammar mistakes. 

A huge thank you to all my wonderful friends and family who were so willing to go along and do new things with me. Seriously, thank you thank you thank you! All those experiences were made so much better by having you beside me to share the experience with. Thank you for giving me your time and for being so patient with me as I go full tourist-mode and take photos of everything. Thank you for letting me take photos of your food...while it sat there and got cold (I'm sorry!). 

This has been an incredible journey. I hope you enjoyed following my adventures as much as I enjoyed having them. More importantly, I hope you all had your own adventures which made the year memorable for you :)

In that same post from the 31st December 2012, I wrote that I wasn't sure what 2013 would bring. Now that it has come to an end I can see that it brought me incredible new experiences which have brought me even closer to those I love so dear, a better insight into what my home town of Perth has to offer, a taste of what the world outside of Perth has to offer, a better sense of myself and what I'm capable of and of course, a mother ship of amazing memories.

I don't know what 2014 will bring, but whatever comes, good or bad, I’ll take it all. I’m putting all my trust in God’s hands. Faith and my relationship with God plays a huge part in my life. Without it, my feet would stumble wherever I walk. So, I'm grateful to all that God has given me, for all the blessings, but also all the obstacles that I faced and the lessons that I learnt from them.

So I was doing a bit of procrastinating just now, and I found out that one of my favourite Tumblr sites has also come to an end. It's called Just Little Things. It's a blog that lists little things that we do and/or should appreciate. I've been following it for a few years now and even one of my suggestions was approved and posted up on the blog (i think it was "the chocolate at the bottom of an ice cream cone")! I had no idea that the blog was counting up to 1000 little things. However, now that the blog has reached number 1000 "Counting your blessings and realising just how amazing life is.", there won't be as many new posts put up. Instead, past posts will be put up so that the blog remains active. 

Blogs can be pretty amazing. Just Little Things and 1000 Awesome Things was where it all started for me. I read these posts daily and it helped me to appreciate my life. As a result, I wanted to take that appreciation of life and time to the next level and do something new everyday and therein my blog came to be. 

I really do believe that happiness is a choice. I don't remember the exact day or anything, but years ago I just decided to Google some blogs that might encourage me to see life through happier eyes. And because I was proactive, I found two amazing blogs that have completely changed me for the better. Even though these two amazing blogs have ended, and my gap year blog will end too, what's important is everything that happens next. What really matters is that I can still wake up everyday from now on and be able to appreciate how great life can be. 

So let's count down to the new year and I wish you all the best for each and everyday :D Don't be scared to try new things!

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

....

New Year's Eve

We leave for our tour of north Vietnam in the early hours of tomorrow morning, so today was a free day for us to explore the part of Saigon that we’re staying in. All the women in the tour group went out and got manicures, pedicures and our hair done. Pampering is definitely something everyone needs to do on holidays, and what’s better than being pampered for a fraction of the price that would be charged back at home.

Afterwards we went out for lunch at a place called Bánh xèo Ăn Là Ghiền. Banh Xeo is also known as Vietnamese pancakes. They are more like a crepe than a pancake, but are much thinner. The edges are crispy and is thicker towards the centre. It's filled with any fillings you like; generally pork and shrimp. It's yellow like an omelet but the colour comes from the turmeric which is added into the batter mixture which also contains rice flour, corn flour, coconut milk and water.  

I was happy to see that they had a vegetarian section on the menu which took up a full page! Cool man! There were heaps of different vegetarian fillings, but I ended up going with the mixed mushroom one and the cassava one. They were even good enough to give me some vegan dipping sauce, which is pretty much like nuoc cham, except they substitute the fish sauce for soy sauce.  

What I also liked about this place was that they cooked the banh xeo behind a counter out the front of the restaurant. I ordered some take away for my mum and my friend and I had a good time watching them being made. They had special skillet type woks. They poured the batter along the edges so that it would pool into the centre. This way, the edges are super crispy. They had take-away boxes for the banh xeo, and put that all together in a big bag with the fresh salad that you traditionally eat it with, and of course the nuoc cham. So cool! I don't think take-away banh xeo will ever become a thing in Perth. But I'll cross my fingers for it to happen. 

The view from my hotel in Saigon :)

I also had a boiled jackfruit seed today (the two things in the front). I love jackfruit (the yellow thing on the left), and now that I know the seeds are edible, it just makes the fruit even more awesome. The seed tastes pretty good too! A bit like a chestnut :)