A day out with mama

I had Friday off work and couldn't think of a better way to spend it than opping with my mama. I'm hoping to do a review of Toowoomba op shops soon so stay tuned.

Here are some of the things I got ...

Pierre Fontaine ballet flats - $2. Excuse the feet!

Don't Ask Amanda skirt - a bit pricey at $6 but loved it

Halter neck dress from Sussan circa 1990 - $3

Set of four Freedom cups and saucers - $4 for the lot

And some more additions to my ever growing Pyrex collection!

Big shout out to the most talented hairdresser in the world - my twin sis ~ thanks for always making my hair look AMAZING

And I couldn't resist throwing in a pic of my baby - always SO tired!

       

Over and Out XOXO

Rainbow Cake courtesy of my dear friend Betty

thank you Mrs Crocker for greatly assisting me in my first attempt at making the oh-so-fun cake in my previous post!
People don't really need to know that I only realised I'd forgotten to add the egg until the cake batter was divided into bowls and coloured - but hey, it all worked out in the end ...

Op Shop finds post to come later today

Over and Out XOXO

Cake and Compliments

OMG, my pal and workmate Lisa just introduced me to a lovely blog ... i am baker at http://iammommy.typepad.com/i_am_baker/

OMG, can you say wedding cake?! What a work of art!

And as promised, a big shout out to my oh-so-stylish friend Lisa. I love when people tell me I look skinny so THANK YOU FOR MAKING MY DAY (even though some people just think it's the clothes I'm wearing hehee) xxx

Danang

Our overnight train journey from Nha Trang took us to Central Vietnam's largest city, Danang. As mentioned in my last travel post the train journey had gifted me with a somewhat unpleasant hangover + a good dose of light-headed-ness, nausea and runny/blocked nose. YES, it is possible to have a runny and blocked nose at the same time.

Anyway, it was a 45 minute drive from Danang to our actual destination Hoi An, and on the way our tour stopped at a place half way between the two cities at the infamous China Beach. It was gorgeous, and a perfect day to have a dip in the ocean.

We also visited Marble Mountain which was stunning once we had climbed up the gruelling 200+ steps to the top. Way more gruelling than it would have been without the aforementioned hangover, dizziness,  nausea and nose issues. In this precinct we also visited a STUNNING natural cave and saw actual gun shot holes from the Vietnam War.

We also had an awesome lunch at a little Homestay place - I wish we actually got to stay there! After a couple of hours lazing about in the sun we drove the last 20 or so minutes into Hoi An - the city I was MOST excited to visit. It claims to be a shopper's paradise. My next travel post will deliver the verdict ... until then,

OVER AND OUT

XOXO

Intermission

I couldn't wait any longer ... my travel blog is taking so long to write and I have some SUPER exciting news.

The boy and I got engaged on our 2nd last night of our holiday in Kuala Lumpur!! I thought it would be ages until I got to writing about Malaysia so couldn't help but spilling the beans.

Now, let me get this straight. I GOT THIS RING BEFORE THE NEWS ABOUT WILLS AND KATE CAME OUT. I am in love!!! It is a three carat topaz with nearly a carat worth of diamonds.

 

I am LOVING (and hating) the blog community for the the bucketloads of wedding blogs out there. LOVING because there are so many thrifty and gorgeous vintage-esque ideas; HATING because I can't stop reading them!

Anyway, I am so getting coloured shoes and the spring range from Nude Footwear is stunning! Check out their website at www.nudefootwear.com.au. Now they aren't cheap but gosh they are pretty, and a girl deserves to be spoiled for her wedding day doesn't she?

I'm totally loving these!

  

Happy to hear from anyone out there with hints and tips!

Over and Out XOXO

Nha Trang take 2

After getting roasted the previous day our group all decided to head to the mud baths at Nha Trang to replenish ourselves. It was quite an odd, but nice feeling ... except when it went it your mouth.

The worst part though was going through a high pressure 'gauntlet' of water to wash off all of the mud - OUCHY!

Later that night we were boarding an overnight sleeper train to Danang so we decided to get a bit 'tiddly' to ease the pain of 12 hours on a not-so-high-class train. We visited a couple of places with the group including the bar where we got stuck in the flash flood and the oh-so-la-de-da sailing club.

I think the other members in our tour group thought we were a bit bogan-ish because the boy and I got excited that they were playing Bathurst on the big screen with only a couple of hours delay but hey, we enjoyed it. I also enjoyed THE best burger of our trip here ... a scrumptious lamb burger ... I mean, I know you aren't probably going to get the best quality burgers in Asia but sometimes you can't help what you crave and if you try enough, surely you'll get one that is half decent!

 
 
 
I think most of us achieved our goal by the time we boarded the train (see pissy pics above) and I think it was a good idea.  The train ride was bearable but by the time the train had reached our destination I was really unsure whether I'd managed to get any sleep at all. Even worse that that was that I was feeling the effects of a decent cold which had developed overnight combined with a not-so-nice hangover.

Cruiser anyone? Check out the decor ...

Oh how much fun the next day was ... to be continued in my next post about Hoi An!

Over and Out XOXO

Nha Trang

Our next stop after visiting Dalat was to head east to the coastal town of Nha Trang. Oh how nice it was to arrive here. I'll steal the description from our tour itinerary to describe this beautiful town.

With fabulous sunny weather for most of the year, clear blue water surrounding a string of offshore islands, and a beach that spans the whole length of the city, its little wonder that Nha Trang has become Vietnam’s premier beach resort

We arrived around lunchtime, settled into our hotel and then headed down to the beach. We hired some sun lounges and lazed about in the sun for a couple of hours all whilst being constantly harassed to buy fruit, postcards or have all sorts of beauty treatments right there on the beach. Later on I actually ventured back to get my legs threaded on some advice from a fellow tour group member, Kate. She made it sound like a walk in the park but NO, it was not. I was twitching and squirming the whole way through it! The only good thing is that we had a beer to get us through the torture. After that Pat and I decided to go for a bit of a walk and, surprise, surprise ... we ended up at a bar ... And then it started to rain. It rained A LOT. So much so we were caught in a flash flood. It was awesome and I am so bummed that I didn't have my camera with me to take photos. So we sat there as the only two people in that bar and shared a couple of fruit cocktail buckets for a measly figure of about $4 ... mmm. That night our tour leader had arranged dinner at a local restaurant and we were to meet in the hotel lobby at 6pm. The boy and I pondered whether we should just ring the hotel and tell them we couldn't make it but eventually decided to adventure out into the knee deep water back to our hotel about 200 metres from where we were. We were laughing the whole way back and I can honestly say that was one of the best parts of the holiday. We joined our group, soaking wet and enjoyed dinner at a local 'grill your own BBQ' restaurant.

The following day was what our tour leader Minh kept describing as a swimming trip and a swimming trip it was! We headed out from the port at Nha Trang past gorgeous floating villages and then anchored at a spot for most of the day.

I never realised how much of a scaredy cat I was until it came to jumping off a boat ... I'm not really scared of heights - just scared of jumping.

The day was awesome ... the boy and I neglected to put on enough sunscreen and were totally roasted by the end of the day. Possibly the weirdest thing about the day was all of our group spent many hours trying to get back onto the boat by way of two tyres tied to the side. It took a long time before any of the girls mastered it but much to my disgust (sorry Holly I'm just jealous) Holly made it up ... the photos just don't do this challenge justice.

 
totally not glamourous shot of me showing how hard it was to get up!

We had an awesome day and then headed back to have dinner at a restaurant called 'Good Morning Vietnam'. The boy and I were suffering majorly from sun stroke and he give me the evil eyes when I still ordered a Tiger beer. Oh well, why not. Needless to say, he was right and I should have drunk water.

more to come about Nha Trang in my next post --- yep I loved it!

Over and Out XOXO

Dalat

On day 5 of our tour we spent the best part of a day travelling north from Saigon to Dalat. The bus ride was probably 7-8 hours but much to our surprise the bus actually was really nice and comfortable which made the ride more pleasant. A good proportion of Vietnamese honeymooners visit Dalat but I wasn't totally taken with its charm.

Our hotel was by far the worst we have been in so far and on the first morning we were woken and kept awake but a group of touring university students yelling at the top of their lungs from the wee hours. Even though the town of Dalat was not my favourite, the activities and food we had here were great. Our tour leader Minh organised a sightseeing tour around the town and the first stop was the railway station ... luckily we only stopped there for 10 minutes because there was nothing too exciting there. We then visited a temple which was interesting and it was amazing to see how immaculately clean the monks keep their buildings as well as the grounds. Next stop was to visit a waterfall where we had the option of walking down and back to see it OR taking a 'rollercoaster' ride. The ride was a mere $2 so we all chose that option. The rollercoaster was a windy course where you could control how fast or slow you were going by using the brakes or the accellerator at the sides. Just as each member of the group was starting to get in their seat and go it started to spit. I was 3rd last to go and the rain just got heavier and heavier. It was AWESOME. Probably the highlight of my trip so far. By the time I'd reached the bottom I was pissing myself laughing and was absolutely soaked. Some of the girls took photos of me arriving at the bottom which are classics. I can't wait to see them on facebook.
We all agreed that if it wasn't pouring rain we would have went on the rollercoaster again. The rollercoaster ride was more of an event than actually seeing the waterfall! After the rain had subsided we headed to a local village called the 'Chicken Village'. It is so named after a man and a woman from opposing tribes fell in love and wanted to be married. The groom's family said that if the girl wanted to marry their son that she had to go find a special kind of chicken, as well as 5 water buffalo and something like 20 hand made silk scarves. The unfortunate thing for the girl is that there is no way she could have ever found this particular chicken and she died searching for it. After that the two tribes decided to break their grudge and now live harmoniously together. The highlight of the boy's day was being told that he deserved 10 water buffalo if a girl in the tribe decided they wanted to marry him - he was pretty chuffed (even in these days the girl must give the boy's family 5 water buffalo and 20 silk scarves!)

(Since it is probably close to 4 weeks since I was in Dalat I might leave the post at that : )