Ubud

A day in Ubud!

I did a yoga class at The Yoga Barn with a lovely American couple we met where we were staying. The grounds of The Yoga Barn are really beautiful and they have lots of great classes.
Post yoga refreshments.Local art.A cozy little cafe in Ubud.At about $46 for 100 grams we weren’t buying any Luwak coffee! Kids fishing in the main street.Temple entrance.

Uluwatu

We spent a day down at Uluwatu which was so beautiful. It’s the Bali that everyone imagines!

Andrew & Dewa walking through the cave to get to the beach at Padang Padang. The cliffs and crystal clear water of Padang Padang. Waves that go on forever. Still amazed by this ability… All the mopeds down this way are fitted with racks for surfboards. Respect locals. Not a bad place for a coffee. So many waves. Take your pick! The beautiful cliffs and water of Uluwatu from the Monkey Temple. Andrew in his temple sarong 🙂 This monkey looks like he’s plotting to kill us… Monkey family. Off to a ceremony.

Sanur, Bali

We were sad to say goodbye to Thailand but really excited to spend the last 3 weeks of our amazing journey in Indonesia. Our first stop was Sanur for 3 nights at Diwangkara Holiday Inn.

The gorgeous gardens at Diwangkara.Breakfast at our hotel was great…particularly the pancake corner 🙂Reassuring sign to see…You can get married in a giant blue diamond by the ocean in Sanur haha!Beachside restaurants. This ability will never cease to amaze me!Beautiful doors everywhere in Bali.Some refreshing beverages.Bali footpaths leave a lot to be desired.Chillin’ on his bike…My mini ‘Transport in Bali’ series…The more on the bike the better right?Post ceremony side saddle. There’s nothing you can’t carry on a moped… I’ll leave you today with this lovely scene 🙂 

Chiang Mai

After the hectic vibe of Bangkok it was lovely to change when we arrived in Chiang Mai. We stayed at the wonderful Galare Guesthouse. With lovely gardens, big verandahs and a fantastic restaurant it was the perfect place to relax. It was lovely being able to sit in the garden by the river while eating at the great restaurant at our hotel.Cute little cafe in Chiang Mai.Beer truck!Minding the store…Chang in Chiang Mai.

We dedicated our stay in Chiang Mai to food!

On our way to our first cooking class with Thai Farm Cooking School.Safety first!Our lovely teacher 🙂Learning all about the rice varieties.Sweet eggplants.Coconut!Veges at the market.Chiang Mai cab.Delicious ingredients.Vegetable soup.Tasty noodle dish that I cooked.Chillies and my thai green curry paste.Another visit to the local markets.At the markets we spotted these pink eggs. Our cooking teacher explained that they’re duck eggs which are soaked in horse urine for 3 months until the inside turns black and jelly textured. Why you ask? Thai people believe eating these makes you live longer. I’m not sure I’d ever get through enough of it to get the benefits!Funny signs at our second cooking class.Trays of ingredients.Making our curry pastes.Penang curry paste.Massaman curry, fried rice and pad thai – YUM!We came away from the two cooking classes with some fantastic recipes! I can absolutely recommend Thai Farm Cooking School to anyone who visits Chiang Mai 🙂

Bangkok

Next stop – Thailand! When we arrived in Bangkok we were very eager to dig into some amazing Thai food and experience the renowned hustle and bustle of the Thai capital.Not sure how safe this is…Or this actually.Restaurant on wheels – go where the business is!Our hotel – Amber Boutique Silom.We caught the local boat along the river to visit one of the temples.I will never again say anything about the Brisbane River looking dirty!It was obviously high tide when we got off the boat as this lady’s little shop was well and truly flooded.Wat Pho.The giant golden Buddha is so impressive.It’s difficult to show in photos just how huge it is!Young monks at Wat Pho.Delicious grilled squid from a street vendor.The fruit stalls everywhere are great. Pomegranate juice and dragonfruit are my new favourites!
Typical Bangkok scene – busy, dirty, crazy and somehow endearing.The tiniest McDonald’s ever?We went searching far and wide for the best street food in Bangkok and were lucky enough to have an amazing street only 5 minutes walk from our hotel in Silom. We tried almost every place on the street at least once.Our fave street food vendor!Yummy seafood pad thai and chicken panang.
On Saturday we paid a visit to the famous Chatuchak Markets. It was insanely busy and already 40 degrees by about 9:30am so our shopping didn’t last that long. You simply can’t believe how big this market is unless you see it for yourself. It covers over 35 acres!There’s something for everyone at Chatuchak Markets! There’s food……and feather dusters……flowers and knives…
 …and a lovely cafe to escape from the heat!

Hong Kong

Welcome to Hong Kong!The trains look as though they go on forever…Apartments in Hong KongMasses of people crossing the street.
Fruit and vege markets.This lady was just pulling along these boxes in the middle of the road in peak hour traffic…A fancy foyer.A typical main street in central Hong Kong.
We bought Andrew’s niece a little asian dress and the lady was very keen to demonstrate that it wasn’t flammable. Night market.The way the buildings are lit up at night is very impressive.Double deck trams!Hong Kong LOVES malls…Ngong Ping 360 cable car ride.Climbing the stairs to the big Buddha.
Because they wouldn’t want you having too much fun…The selfie master in his fancy suit.A water buffalo just wandering the streets.Giant incense sticks. You can’t see it in this shot but they were as tall as me!The incense haze.Cable cars over the water.More hustle and bustle on Hong Kong streets.One of the many sights on this trip that has made me want to be a vegetarian.Locals at the market.Roses from the flower market.
A guy randomly walking along the street with his macaw.Hong Kong street food near the night market.

Athens

Hello Greece! It was a short and sweet visit for us with only 2 days to explore Athens but it was definitely worth it, even if only for the amazing food!

Oh and this view…Part of the Acropolis.Dakos salad….sooooo good.There was some seriously cool street art in Athens.The place we stayed had a great balcony overlooking a pedestrian street lined with cafes. More cool street art.Spice shop.Take a close look at just how much garlic is in this photo!Seems like you wouldn’t want to leave your car anywhere too long in Athens.Meat and garlic hanging from the ceiling….why not?Fun shoes!Why do they make the coolest kids clothes?! I want these in my size!Cafe lined streets in the city centre.The meat market was really upsetting…but I guess this is reality we have to face if we want to eat meat.Gorgeous Greek architecture.Look like this fat cat has had a few too many gyros.This marks the end of our time in Europe sadly. Next up ASIA!

Milan

Milan…one of the fashion capitals of the world. And you can tell!I was constantly impressed in Europe by how glamorous the woman manage to look while riding bicycles.Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. One of the worlds oldest shopping malls, opened in 1877.Placing your heal on the genitals of the bull on this Turin coat of arms and spinning 3 times is said to bring good luck. The number of people doing this has caused significant damage to the tiling and there is now a hole in place of the bulls genitals.Matching camo pants…this couple clearly didn’t call each other to find out what the other was wearing today!Old school Milan tram.The Duomo.Amazing vine covered apartment block.The Imaginarium has a special kid sized door!!I think this is such a good ad.
An amazing sculpture outside a church in Milan.Beautiful autumn leaves in Sempione Park.I want her bike!

Florence

Staying in Florence was a bit of a last minute decision but I’m very glad that we got to see this beautiful city!

Arno River that flows through Florence at sunset.Motorbike madness!Florence is all about art and craftsmanship. There’s so many fantastic little shops selling all sorts of creative goods.The Duomo.Florentine leather.The colourful streets of Florence.The fruit in Italy was unbelievably good.So many varieties of pumpkin!Ponte VecchioAndrew’s new shoes.We stayed with the most wonderful couple in Florence, Marco and Cristiana. They made us feel so welcome and had the most gorgeous apartment.Best Air BnB breakfast ever!Their cute cat, Micromilla.There really are motorbikes EVERYWHERE in Italy.View of Florence at sunset.They certainly love their bikes and their dogs in Florence.
Hmmm…don’t know what this was about!Funny table…An abandoned building with US $1 bills stuck all over it.One of the fake David’s.The fake handbag selling crew.Farewell Florence…it’s been great xx

Rome

Our first stop in Italy was Rome. It was amazing to see this famous city in person. It definitely deserves it’s reputation.

The Colosseum was fantastic!We sat down to look at our map to work out how to get back to our place and we were sitting exactly where the photo on the map was taken from.Lots of wonderful cafes everywhere.Sunset from our apartment.There seemed to be ruins every corner we turned!Mmm…lunch.I’ve never seen so many Smart Cars!
Pantheon.Trevi Fountain(I know you can’t see any of the water from the fountain but there were people crawling over the whole area in front of it).

We went to The Vatican but just stayed outside as the lines were insane.And we ate LOTS of pasta 🙂