Baanrimtaling Guesthouse, Chiang Khong // Simple living on the river // Huge spider

From Chiang Mai we bused to Chiang Khong and boated to the Laos side of the river and the town of Huay Xai. Considering we were crossing into another country it was surprisingly easy. Wait in line on the Thai side for a passport stamp. Pay a small fee for the 5 minute boat trip across the river. Wait in line and pay for a visa and stamp on the Laos side. Done.

Snakes in alcohol // Sunset over the Mekong // Communist flag // Beer Lao

Huay Xai is a typical border town. Specialising in tourist fare: cushions for your boat trip, tickets for your boat trip, sandwiches for your boat trip. We could have tried to jump straight from Thailand onto the 2 day boat but we were in no rush. It gave us a chance to meet Mr Singkham the lively 71 year old French/Laos/English speaking proprietor of Aramid Guesthouse who had some pretty strong opinions of stupid French tourists and the Laos government. It was ok though as he seemed to like us.

After stories of horrible nine hour trips stuck on wooden seats next to the motor, we were well prepared for slow boating. Arriving very early, armed with cushions, we were pleasantly surprised by a near empty boat full of comfortable ex car seats. We chose 3 at the front of the boat (far away from the engine) and settled in for our long wait.
Our first experience of Laos time sees leaving time rolling around, with a full boat, waiting for another tour bus. There is no way they’ll fit with us so another, bigger, boat is drafted. Tour bus fills second boat and it leaves an hour after schedule. We finally leave 15 minutes later. First in first served does not apply.

Day 2 is supposed to leave dead on 9 (we’re early again to get good seats) so when they’ve only pulled up one boat, and there are still stupid fucking tourists coming down the hill at 9.10, I can’t quit believe the audacity of some people. Once again, showing up late gets you a less crowded boat that leaves first. Lame.

The two days are really nice though. The Mekong river is a lot rockier than I expected. Quite rugged and beautiful. There are so so many trees.

At the start of day two I saw my first elephant being ridden across the way!

There are plenty of fisherman and swimming children to observe. Houseboats and huts. A prison. A cave. A mudslide. And if a previously boat phobic person can praise it there is nothing to be afraid of.

Just promise me you won’t take the speed boat!

See all the Huay Xai – Luang Prabang photos on Flickr

The slow and arduous task of labelling, sorting, and uploading to all the places has begun. I was at least smart enough to not take my nice camera away for 3 months so I didn’t spend too long behind the lens trying to get everything right. I pointed. I shot. I didn’t bother to edit because these photos aren’t getting any better.

Our first stop in Bangkok was full of temples. And temple fatigue. Wat Pho, which houses a giant reclining buddha, was ridiculously ornate. Millions of pieces of pottery cover the stupas (the spires) to make flowers and other patterns. You really haven’t experienced opulence until you’ve seen the temples dedicated to Buddhism in Asia. All gold, all the time.

My favourite building was the white fort we found. Dirtied up with years of Bangkok dirt and fumes it was just the right amount of worn down grandeur. Plus it looks like a castle.

It was a shame to find that any photos we’d seen of Bangkok’s temples backed by beautiful skies must have been photoshopped. That city is way too full of pollution to see the sun. No wonder it’s so seedy, it hasn’t seen light in decades.

See all the Bangkok photos on Flickr

Beautiful yes. But as with most beautiful things in Vietnam the experience is being ruined by scammy tour agencies selling you the world and delivery a piece of dirt. Our day trip to Ha Long Bay with The Sinh Tourist was excellent. Our day trip from Ha Long to Cat Ba, booked at the pier, was bullshit.

My advice is skip Ha Long City and go straight to Cat Ba Island via Haiphong boat. You get all the views and not so much of the rip off.

Or go to Ninh Binh where the jutting mountains are just as magical but set in river and rice paddy.

Yes, yes, Valentines day is a crappy Hallmark holiday. But I’m such a fan of love that I can’t resist acknowledging February 14 a wee bit. Plus it’s technically the anniversary of when Brend and I started “dating”, and by dating I mean the NZ equivalent, which isn’t really dating so much.

Plus, I really really love food.

The acquisition of an iPhone has afforded me the opportunity to take a step back from my addiction to the Internet while simultaneously fuelling it by making sure I always have access. I can go days without turning my laptop on but am still checking twitter, facebook, and email every moment of the day. At least I’m no longer getting sucked in to hours long rabbit chases through the cyber sphere. Well, not as often.

Thanks to Jason’s gift of the hipstermatic app my iPhone pics look a little better than they really should. I have my new toy (Canon 550D) for everything else.

Do I make the same promise of just putting up whatever I damn well please on this here site to ensure you here from me more often? No. Well here’s some pictures then. More soon.

1. Thanks. That’s pretty much exactly what my teenage ears wanted to hear. I felt so mature laughing at the absurdity of you getting my age wrong by 10 years.

And

2. Were you high?! There’s no way I looked 24 when I was 14!

I’m far more mature looking at 24 obviously!

p.s I’m actually 17 in that photo on the left so the photo is kind of redundant but it’s the oldest digital photo I have of myself.

p.p.s Awesome flatmate Jason took the photo on the right along with a few others, but I decided to use the one in which I was making the stupidest face.

p.p.p.s My Aunty just put up a picture of my 14th birthday on Facebook. How convenient.

Time for a life update.

Things are trucking along in the Cupcake Factory. We’ve had a couple of good weeks of sales which is promising. These are a few of the new designs, I’ll be showing you a few more on Friday for the competition! (or you could just go check out the shop)

My 101 in 1001 list is going sloooowly. Subscriber numbers are climbing steadily (yay, Hi!) and I should reach my goal of 200 soon.
I made ambrosia for the first time but didn’t take any photos. Woops.
Tattoo planning is under way, a book is being read, and I’ve tried a few new recipes.
The list of things I have not done however is longer.

The Boy has had some big projects on at work. He also made a model using cardboard and the laser cutter. That was a very long night for him followed by a full day of work. I forgive him for spending his spare time doing work though because he wears awesome paisley ties on occasion.

Chickie Little’s baby shower was on the 13th. It was lots of fun and very exciting to know that in 9 weeks (give or take) a brand new baby girl will be coming into the world.

All in a day in Wellington. The iceberg that was placed in the harbour last month was instead sitting in town at Queens Wharf.

And Gravity coffee bragging about how they’re not as discriminatory as all the other corporate fuckheads.

What would my life be without food? I got more free food from Wagamama. Learnt how to turn tortillas and garlic into delicious garlic tortilla things. Learnt that the breadmaker is great for making frittatas. And received a delicious gift of candy from my friend who had just visited USA, Canada, and Sweden. The orangey looking ones are maple syrup, so good. The NY squares are chocolate. The black box is “moose poo”, it’s a mix of liquorice and salt and tastes like ass.

I’ve been saving up all my photos from the last 6 weeks so I could do an A to Z recap. :D

A is for All In – I had a game of poker with The Boy and a friend and I wooped their asses. I think the shiny shiny cupcakes and hearts we used as chips gave me special powers.

B if for Baking – Chickie Little has been at it again. She’s made a few new things this month, one of them being lemon meringue pie (one of my absolute favourites!).
C is for Cherry Coke – The supermarket closest to us is one of the biggest and best in the country. They have a few UK imports now and cherry coke is one of them. It was my first time trying it. Quite nice but I’m not sure that I’d regularly spend $2 on a can.

D is for Deer – Remember those shoes? The store I bought them from had a big display honouring Babycham and the Babycham deer. Too cool!
E is for Entourage – I watched all 6 seasons this month. 0_0
F is for Flowers – My friend Shonali gave birth to a beautiful little boy. I gave her these flowers on a visit to the hospital.
G is for Grass Car – Spotted when we attended Craft 2.0 at the New Dowse.

H is for Hangover Cure – Whenever I feel sick, hungover or otherwise, I can count on an e2 to get me perky again.
I is for Iceberg – As a publicity stunt an “iceberg” was placed in the Wellington harbour to bring attention to global warming.
J is for Jewellery – Lots of new stuff added this month. My favourite of the moment is the little ghost.
K is for Kitty – That crazy crazy downstairs cat has been stealing our attention all month!

L is for Large Insects – This one being a Weta. The Boy looked over at me from the kitchen and said “Kim, don’t freak out, but there’s a weta”. 0_0 Weta have a reputation for being huge scary insects, thankfully this one was a baby, and The Boy thought it was dead. It was only playing though. I’m so glad I have a boy around to deal with this type of thing (and by deal with I mean put outside, not squish).
M is for Maranui – This much beloved cafe (and surf club) of Wellington caught on fire and was gutted. It will be back in about a year, but until then Wellingtonians mourn. The Boy’s sister is a manager and world class barista at this cafe so we’re hoping for it to be back ASAP.
N is for the New Dowse – I saw it for the first time with the girls this month while attending Craft 2.0.

O is for Oddities of Nature – These funny cluster things are strange looking.
P is for Photographs – Sometimes the blurry shit ones are my favourites.

Q is for Quirky Street Art – While driving to breakfast we noticed another fence that had been covered in art. I love it when installations like this go up. The fence is going to be there regardless because it will soon be turning into a construction site, so you might as well use the space wisely.

R is for Recipes – I’ve been trying out a few new ones. This mushroom and courgette bread was pretty damn delicious.

S is for Spring – I think it’s making a comeback. I’ll just ignore the torrential rain which forced its way under our front door a couple of nights ago.

T is for Tui – These beautiful birds love the kowhai that’s flowering right outside our house.
U is for Urban Wetlands – I took a walk down to Waitangi park after a doctors visit and snapped some photos of the urban wetland they have going. I really love what they did with the area, even if it cost a shitload.
V is for View – This is what I can see from my blogging chair. Usually the blinds are down because I lounge around in my robe all day. But when I take photos inside I pull it up like this to get more light.
W is for WordCamp – I blogged about the fun.

X is for X rays – I had a bone scan about 5 years ago. It checks the density of your bones, and because I had been on steroids for a while my first scan showed I was at the low end of the acceptable scale for bone density at my age. This time around I’ve been off steroids for over a year and my bones are looking a bit stronger and developing as they should be. Yay.

Y is for Year End – Or so The Warehouse would have you believe. Who actually buys christmas wrapping paper on the first of August?!
Z is for Zero – Which is how much I’ll be paying for my next meal at Wagamama. This photo was taken at my last meal at Wagamama. We had received vouchers from the Entertainment Book to say sorry for the crappy meal we had a Cafe Pica. Wagamama then held a competition for the best photo taken while eating at one of their restaturants and I got second prize. :D Another $40 worth of vouchers for me. Sweet.

OK, not really. But I am off to Oz.

All going well I’m there right now, basking in the plastic, beaches, and “culture” of the Gold Coast. Don’t be too jealous.

I’ll be back in a week but I’ve got a couple of posts to go live while I’m gone. Comments and emails and purchases will all be dealt with when I’m home. xx

1. Gold Coast, Australia, 2. Tracks to Surfers, 3. Morning at Broadbeach, 4. cimg0531, 5. Steel rails, chasing sunshine round the bend, 6. cimg0646, 7. Sunset Surfers Paradise Australia, 8. Smile for the Camera, 9. cimg0524, 10. cimg0490, 11. Gold Coast, 12. Gold Coast Burleigh Heads 09, 13. Cutest Koala