i love these things and more...

puppy clucky

2009-09-30T22:14:00.000-07:00

I'm still running with colour...
This time the colour is natural and dappled across big rolls of puppy fat and soppy loving eyes.
My sister and i are in love with these little munchkins.
British bulldogs. Quite possibly one of the most adorable dog breeds out there.
Perfect for apartment and indoor living, they sleep a lot so if you are out for a day then they'll probably not realise. I could totally imagine one sitting with me wight now at my desk.....snoring through his blocked nasal passage, daydreaming about.... well probably nothing at all.

extra cute: Pankin the chimp with James.

nude shoes

2009-09-21T19:08:00.001-07:00

my latest obsession. My pair of the moment are a round toe patent dusty pink pump. Perfect for work and even better with my hounds tooth pencil mini in the weekends. The colour makes your skin luminous and my not so long legs appear longer.

Loves these - esp ones where i can see my red nail polish peeking out. HOT!

1: Pour la victoire - eden nude suede

2: miu miu back seam pump

3: Pour la victoire - elena peep toe shoetie
4: alexander mcqueen 2 tone patent peep pump

These are supposed to be bridal - F that. I think they're perfect for a long ladies lunch overlooking the ocean or a subtly hot date night at home. Just make sure you get the chance to prop your pretty feet over his knee!

xx

slo mo.

2009-04-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

the clip says it all. This is my new favourite. It makes me feel reflective, at peace, happy, inspired all at the same time.

Heaven (Fully Flared Intro Video Remix)
Uploaded by UNKLE_UK

For my Dziadek

2009-04-08T02:18:00.000-07:00

Dziadek is my grandad...also known as 'Jacket' when i was little as i couldn't pronounce the polish version. These beautiful wood carvings made me think of him. I haven't seen him or my Babcia for way too long. Maybe 3 years, which makes me sad and i'm vowing to go and see them this christmas no matter what.

Dziadek is an amazing wood carver and i remember being about 7 or 8 years old sitting down in the basement of their home watching him carve. Me chatting about all sorts of stuff, drinking his special tea and eating sour plums that he got off the tree earlier that day. Grandads are great aren't they?

It will take him 6months of solid work to complete this table. Someone in Turkey has commisioned this piece to be used in their entertaining area.
Half finished wall piece...
little bit sexy? non?

Old fashioned love

2009-04-07T03:55:00.000-07:00

The Taj Mahal. What an incredibly beautiful, awe inspiring memorial. As you walk through the main gate you are semi confronted semi presented to this magical monument. Sitting at the end of perfectly manicured and classic gardens, its size and proportions - it is as wide as high, attribute to it's perfectness. I love the Persian scriptures and perfectly handcrafted symmetrical detailing on it too. Built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to remember his favourite second wife by when she died during childbirth to their 14th child. Obviously not an impotent ruler like a large majority of the other emperors in Indian history! In almost all cases it was never acknowledged, even when they had up to 500 concubines and wives and not a single baby was born. is that a man thing or what?!

My camera died about 10 shots in so unfortunately i don't have the full array of garden, tomb and sunset shots. I'll be back there again soon though...hopefully with the rest of the fam too :-)

Barbers and Bollywood

2009-04-02T00:12:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a bit forted and Palaced out. Like you do when you spend 3 weeks in Europe looking at churches....We have the red fort and the Taj Mahal coming up and i'm definitely hanging for them both but apart from that i'm not going to anymore.
We're now in Jaipur. I had a hectic last day in Udiapur and stupidly thought that i'd be able to get perfumes here. I can't. I'm gutted. Thats one more reason why i need to go back to Udiapur. I don't really like it here. Known as the pink city because the old town was painted all pink as a sign of hospitality in the 1800's when king Edward the IV visited. (i don't know my roman numerals so not sure if that is correct) The shopping is pretty average and the city's just bigger so not as easy to wander around. It just feels like more of a shit fight and my tolerance level is pretty low today so i'm going to go to the museum and art gallery instead. Its just so much more affordable buying art overseas esp cos you can barter them right down. I pretty much get them down to 50% of their asking price and if they don't accept you just walk away and come back later. I wish we could do it at home!

Travis just got his hair cut at a very local barber down the road. It was his best yet and all for 30rupees, so about $10. They guy even gave him a 5min head massage afterwards. It looked seriously good, so much so that I wouldn't mind going back for a trim this afternoon. Or maybe not...
love the chair

hard at work...

Went to a Bollywood film last night. The cinema called the Raj Mandia was big, old and beautiful and right out of the 70's. The film was a new release. An action/love story. It was all good until he proposed, pulled out a sax and did this really cheesy love song....i couldn't help but cringe...no wonder a lot of Indians are so cheesy to westerners....they think that sort of behaviour is normal!

Udaipur...finally a place with water

2009-03-30T03:54:00.000-07:00

Thats a little peacock painted on my crappy short nail by a minature artist. For generations his family have painted minature arts for the royal family. Back in the day minature art was like a photograph. When the maharana was celebrating he woul have his artist depict the scene then within a day or 2 he would have it finished for the king to recall.

This place is the most greenest city I have seen so far. I even walked across a palace lawn with grass. It was so nice to feel grass on my feet again! Staying in a pretty hot hotel, overlooking the lake with the famous white palace in it. (Accommodation has become paramount in this country. It’s so mental that you just need a nice place to stay, revitalize and get away from all the craziness. I’m loving the 2 english channels that most of the hotels have to watch friends re-runs or movies on, especially when I have been sick. Nicole Kidman was here yesterday and left the very shop where I am going to get my henna done tomorrow. Something else that was interesting and kinda fun - I randomly starting talking to a local shop owner who turned out to be from the caste that practices face and palm reading….he told me so many things about me and my life, what I am thinking about + that i think way topo much + what’s coming up... It was just a regular conversation then he kinda kept throwing things in…I have never had someone be so direct and correct about my life and my personality. Ask me about it and I’ll tell you all the details!

On the shopping front, I have a coat being made for me (yep i know!)….the design is fucking cool and it’s in a soft pea green colour. Made from merino wool and lined with this pink silk that has a green sheen (when I describe it, it sounds quite awful but believe me, it’s hot!)….here’s hoping for a cold winter when I get back to oz.

Have found some beautiful oils too; Opium, sandalwood, red jasmine and vanilla. I’m going to get a bottle of each so that I can mix them up at home for my own perfume. Anyone else want some?

Had to see the doc again today too. My tummy is still screwed. This time the doc was really thorough and has prescribed me ciproxan which was what my doc prescribed for me back in oz to bring with me on my travels. I just forgot to pick it up. Oops.

So another day here then we’re off on overnight train to Jaipur. Apparently that’s the place to buy shoes….i probably shouldn’t buy anything more though! I seriously don’t know how I can bring it all back. I’m thinking I may have to send a massive bag of stuff + all my hiking gear back from Dehli before Thailand. Though I’m just freaked out that it won’t all get there!

In the middle of nowhere

2009-03-30T02:56:00.000-07:00

After Jodhpur we drove south to a small village and stayed in a super nice havalei. I had a gorgeous massage and we went out that night on a local village safari. Basically to see how Sheppard villagers still live today. I felt weird doing this. Kinda intrusive though they were just as interested in us, and the girls even had the cheek to comment on how my skirt and scarf didn’t match. Here I was just trying to be culturally sensitive and cover my shoulders. After that I took it off. Just shows you that no matter where you are in the world, girls in groups can be real bitches. (they obviously weren't really offending me but it was still an interesting insight)
Awesome shots though… I especially love the ones of the kids

Local women carrying their daily water back to their family home in big pots. The married women wear bangles right up their arms.

The Jain temple of XXXXXX (i'll get back to you with this) Dates back to the 15th century. The Jain temples are dedicated to different Jain Tirthankaras or hermits. Various animal or human figures are carved on the marble walls in the famous dilwara style. This one was nestled in the middle of no-where and was so beautiful. All marble and carved to perfection.

Me and Travis in the temple after being blessed by the priest and dotted with an orange dot.

Our Hotel's courtyard
Our room and me all dotted up from the welcome.

The colour scheme was gorgeous. Lots of orange and blue with painted murals with mirrors.

Jodphur

2009-03-30T01:28:00.000-07:00

it's only been less than a week but we have already been to 4 new places...from Jaisalmer we took a local bus to Jodhpur, the blue city and home of the horsey pants. The place we stayed at was pretty average and you could tell when we were close cos you could smell sewerage. nice. I was so close to throwing up about 3 times when we'd pull into the driveway on a rickshaw. With our guide totally checked out, we have pretty much done everything on our own and changed the itinerary completely. (We have just learned that this is his last trip as he is going off to live in Spain with his girlfriend of 3 years?!)

So Jodhpur we went to a circus which was pretty much like what they must have been like in the 50's. Full of animals like elephants playing cricket and hitting the ball into the audience...which i caught. weird human acts where 5 girls would hang from steel rings by a piece of cloth and spin around up into the air, dodgy motorbike tricks where i was sure at least 1 person would die, strange dwarfs, ringmasters that look like that famous old porn actor....very odd but lots of fun. We were all pretty over indian food so both nights we ate pizza hut....how bad is that?!!! it was so good though.

We also managed to get into the incredible Unmaid Bahavan Palace hotel. Perched high above the desert capital of Jodhpur, Umaid Bhawan Palace is the last of the great palaces of India and one of the largest residences in the world. It was supposed to be 100$ for us just to get in but for some reason when we decided that it was way too exey for us they just let us in. I officially celebrated my birthday there in the veranda bar/restaurant overlooking the gardens, listening to Rod Stewart crooning away. It is quite possibly one of the MOST beautiful, most opulent places I have ever been too. (i don't haver any pics from the inside) Everything is marble inside and golden sandstone outside. There is a library with the oldest books and massive oils littering the walls, the foyers and halls look up into the main dome of the palace. The flowers are all exquisite, there are stuffed cheetahs positioned up one of the staircases and a trophy room...its all very posh but i love it. You have servants following you around waiting on you hand and foot too….it’s seriously insane. The palace, which served as the principal residence of Jodhpur’s royal family is definitely a place where I would like to be whisked away to for a weekend.

Camel Safari

2009-03-24T05:20:00.000-07:00

Alice the camel had only 1 hump...which i don't think really classifies them as camels..
Camels long ostrich neck and my new bracelets

We trekked out about an hour and half into the 'desert'/ middle of nowhere. We had a dinner out there and local nomads entertained us with music and dancing. We slept the night under the stars and i had the company of a local mangy but very adorable dog who slept right next to my bed. I wish i could have touched it but dogs here are seriously mangy. Riding the camels was good fun. They're super comfortable to ride and like dad said, they barely make a sound when they walk. Travis and I even got our trotting enough for us to race...which I won, so that was even better. Con's of camel riding is their stinky breath. It smells like the worst morning breath you've ever smelt mixed with dirty knickers. Sorry it's true.

The camel i won the race with

Me and my buff. I know i'm vain

Jaisalmer...the golden city

2009-03-24T04:37:00.000-07:00

I think we're about 2 weeks into the trip now, my gastro has finally gone after i called the doctor and got some serious medicine. A little note to any other travellers - Gastro here is bacterial and not viral like in aus, where you just suffer for a day or 2 then its over...i suffered for 5 and that's been plenty. So, these past few days have really only been my first where i have felt 100%. I think it has taken a while to adjust to this country too. I pretty sure I experienced a bit of culture shock...how could you not? The constant stink of cow shit, sewerage & incense, especially when you're ill, is enough to want to board the next flight out of here. At one stage i wanted that. I last wrote on my birthday morning which was all fine but then i pretty much cracked it later on. I felt crap, i wasn't with all my friends and family& our guide was/is a shit. It was just rubbish. We went for a drink at this old fort which was amazing and would have been great to have dinner at but instead we left and had dinner at some crappy place. I was so close to tears, then i was like, fuck it, i can't do anything and if i leave this place and tour i know i'll regret it. It was definitely a turning point for me. Giving up the tantrums at 26. great. So 2 towns later and we are in Jaisalmer. It is called the golden city because of all the yellow sandstone that is used. At the centre of the city is the huge fort dating back to sometime around 1126 and spanning 5km in radius. Inside the walls there is the palace and a labyrinth of alley's full of the most exquisite shops selling miniature paintings on silk and postcards from the early 20's and 30's, camel wool and silk pashmina's embroidered with beads and sequins, maharaja pants that balloon out & silk dresses and skirts made from every single pattern and colour imaginable, intricately beaded wall hangings and throws for your bed, couch, table....its just an endless shopping mecca and for the first time i can understand why people like to come to India. I was just saying to Gemma there's a few great business ventures to be made from this trip...and possibly some buying trips in the future.? Yesterday and today i had a full body ayurvedic massage. The lady who runs the place is stunning. She is like a royal goddess and i couldn't believe that she was 42. I wish i had a picture of her. She was married at 14 to her husband who doesn't work because he has depression. She has 2 sons and 1 daughter, though 1 son and 1 daughter are adopted, all of them work in the massage parlour and because of her sons profession she is finding it hard to marry him off...the local families think that it isn't good enough?! So, instead Baiju is allowing her son to go to Calcutta to find a wife. how sweet! In Calcutta you don't have to have arranged marriages, so hopefully he will find a wife! Reason i know all this is that i had lunch with them today after my massage...another nice surprise :-)

my new skirt...love!

MY BIRTHDAY!

2009-03-19T04:38:00.000-07:00

Finally i reach 26 years old. I swear to god that every year i feel like i'm at least a year or 2 behind myself. Today i'm in Mandawa. A small town in Rajasthan about 6hrs drive south of Dehli if you are sucicidal. Our driver was. We played chicken with every single car, motorbike, camel and bus that came our way on the potholed road/highway. It was so surreal but for some reason i justified it all because we were doing it the local way?...and this was how they all drove?

This morning, we visited some beautiful Havalei's (houses) that in their day would have been the most opulent homes in the world. Each Havaeli has around 20 rooms and is richly decorated with hundereds of frescoes depicting the lives of their deities. Our accomodation is also in a famous Havalei and it honestly feels like i've stepped back in time...It is all stone, highly decorated with tiny windows, open rooftop where we done by candlelight, large courtyards with reclining chairs and bourginvilla flowers and vines......gorgeous.....

Varanasi early morning boat ride

2009-03-19T03:52:00.001-07:00

Heres a few shots from my 6am boatride along the Ganges. Its a beautiful experience and way less hectic than alking along the banks. Esp considering i had been part of all the chaos the night before. Garland of flowers from the cremation ghats

Pilgrims and locals washing, praying and getting ready for their day. It was Sunnday so a lot of people were being quite social and washing together.

pondering....or half asleep

Bunches of young boys and men practising yoga

Varanasi to Dehli

2009-03-17T06:19:00.000-07:00

Instead of waking up and having a nice massage and facial before leaving i ended up with a severe case of food poisioning. (yes jess you were right..it was bound to happen.)
It was 6am when i started spewing and i didn't stop until about 2pm when i boarded my flight to Dehli. I was paraletic to the point that i couldn't pack my bags or shower without blacking out at least a dozen times.
Its embarrassing to say that I even spewed in the cab on the way to the airport. Thank god it was only water...but still it was like a foutain coming out and i pretty much got it all over myself. nice.
Suprisingly driver didn't even notice a thing. I'm susecting its cos we were in the most ropable traffic and the overall smell of the city covered the rest up.
Security guards and littel old washer women looked after me for about 3hrs. They checked me in, washed my face and hair cos i had such a fever then sent me on my way. Despite the fucked up tummy bug i can't help but think very fondly of everyone that has helped me on the way, esp as when i arrived i thought they were all such an unfriendly bunch.

photos to come of Varanasi. I'm getting kicked off the internet

Famous last words

2009-03-17T06:03:00.000-07:00

Words that were used on a daily basis..sometimes 10 times a day depending on how much we were walking..
Annihilated- with reference to the toilet or bedroom
Immense - lee describing everything
Carpark - Nat and Phil still to fight
Would you like to have some hot drinks? - Our guides at every stop
Jummi jummi - "lets go"
Pass me the vaso - the weather fucks your lips and nose up. That stuff is a lifesaver
Do you have espresso? - After we reached Namche Bazarre - around 3200m Travis finally gave that one up

Everest Base Camp 5363 meters

2009-03-17T05:48:00.000-07:00

Breathtaking, feeling slightly lethargic from the altitude and walking for 5hrs across the worlds longest glacier. It covers 14.5 km and is all ice covered with rocks.

We celebrated our achievements with shots of Everest Whisky and group hugs...awww

Some of my favourite pics from Nepal

2009-03-17T05:06:00.000-07:00

Local porters carrying massive loads. This ones full of empty water bottles. Its insance how much they carry...They are real little troopers
My marilyn, britney, mariah buff. Cheesel but it was so dusty at times it was a godsend.

Check my socks out....over leggings....yeahhhh! haha

The highest hotel on earth. We had high tea of course!

Getting casual in the front row...our first group shot at Lukla...

the last 24 hrs

2009-03-15T05:26:00.000-07:00

Thought i might share what i got up to since arriving in Varanasi, India.

I've forgotten my camera cable so i'll update with photos shorty..

Landed late yesterday afternoon and headed to my guesthouse via the mental streets of Varanasi.It is mad. I thought that Sydney people liked their horns...My driver had is hand on his horn the WHOLE trip in from the airport. We dodged cows, people on bikes, rickshaws, motorbikes, pedestrians. Not a single traffc light works and in some way the chaos works for them here. I had the window down and was inundated with so many random smells. AS we got closer to the city there were some nice smells and for a while i started o worry that i liked the smell of burning bodies?!

Anyway, the random night started when some hippy traveller dude who is now on permanent vacation came to the hotel for some dinner. He ended up takng me out after dinner to see some of the sights. In hindsight i prob shoudn't have gone. New city, people, easy to get lost, dangerious etc etc. Lets just say i've learnt from it all.

Firsty we walked about 1hr along the Ganges from the southern end, where the assisi ghat is, all the way up to the burning ghat that is fired up 24/7.
Its a real eye opener. At this stage it was around 9pm so there wasn't a lot of people out. The river was super still and glowing in this murky haze of pollution and moonlight. You could see garlands of marigolds floating on the shores, tinsel from the burnings, rubbish, little wooden boats all brightly painted and moored. There were monkey's and goats, packs of howling dogs and massive cows going about their business amongst the local homeless people and riverside sellers.

The burning ghat is a hive of activity. The lowest caste people prepare the bodies. Each body is shrouded in something that looks like a sari then dipped in the river. The family buy the wood and lighter fluid by the kilo. The son of the dead wears a simple sari thing and had has head shaved specifically for the ceremony.

The burning itself is surprisingly natural. you can see the body catch light and the skin drip and melt. It sounds kinda sick but when you stand there you really get that there is nothing but a body lying there burning and being returned to the earth.
There is a sense of completeness about the ritual that i don't think you achieve with a burial either.

At this stage it was about 11pm and i was starting o worry that I wouldn't be able to get back into my gated guesthouse. We started walking back and my hippie friend stopped into one of the tiny temples that sit on the banks. Inside we were blessed by this beautiful gentle holyman. He pasted brown stuff on my forehead, then we were offered lassi to drink out of small clay bows. It was made from the dafney flower, curd, sugar and weed. It actually made me nervous drinking it..i kept having minor freak outs that this was all gong to go horribly wrong and i'd end up fucked or dead somewhere. Thing is you can't just say no to their hospitality. After about 10 cups of the stuff we wraped things up. The holyman got back into his normal clothes and we walked back towards home. The holyman took us intop temples that you couldn't normally go into, showed us the oldest buldings and even older arworks. We visited the orphanage that mother teresa had set up too.

so we were walking walking walking...and i'm like fucking hell i need to go back. i was super tired & still feeling slightly dodged out by the whole situation. All i coud think of was, my mum would kill me if she knew how stupid i was being, But what do you do I didn't really know my way back + it was late and walking around on my own would have been way too dangerous.

Down some back ale the holyman asked us to come into his home.Hs brother answered the door and we were taken up a windy staircase onto the roof where he had his home. It was so humbling. THis little rooftop was half open and half closed where his family includng a wife and 3 kids - 16, 12 and 9 shared this shack. The kids were all sleepy and woke up as we arrived. Its like no matter how little they had they offered everything. I spoke to he kids about school and the wife cooked us all a smal meal of chapati and this amazing spicy potato dish and tomato like salsa/chutney to have with it We smoked a cigarette that was just 1 leaf of tobacco rolled into a smoke. They were so proud to have us there and to share their little world. The wife even brought out her 2 little pets. A guinea pig and rabbit that were so tame. Al i remember is how much she adored them.

Finally i got home around 1.30am. The gate was locked and i had to scale the fence. WTF?~! I was so dodged out cos some random guy on the street watched me. For the rest of the nigt i as freaked out that someone would follow me in and bang my door down.

Anyway, it didn't happen. I woke up with massive mosquito bites and eyes like sandpaper. It was about 5.30am and i was about to head off to the ghats for an early boatride which was beautiful. My little guide was a true gentleman and gave me a full run down of the city's, temples and rivers history.

right i've just looked outside and its dark again so i better go home.
I'm going to have a massage from my host lady who is totaly divine and i also have to try her special stuffed potato. yum.

Tomorrow im flying to Dehli to meet my group.Hurrah!
I'm looking forward to being with a group again. Being on my own is exhausting.
I miss Nepal and my old group + and i miss talking to my mumma and papa. I really have to get a sim tomorrow.

X

to base camp and back

2009-03-14T00:20:00.000-07:00

So much has happened since my arrival in Kathmandu...(firstly there was pretty much no internet on my way up or down from base camp and when there was i really couldn't be bothered going online)
The money situation was ironed out early on, i met up with my awesome group of 6. 5boys and another girl who ended up pulling out early on. Just my luck that i end up being the only girl on the trek. haha.

We headed out early for the flight to lukla. (a pic to give you an idea)Its one of the most dangerous airports in the world. coming into land the runway is pretty much on a 45 degree angle..its just wack, but kinda fun. Once we landed one of the guys whos an air traffic controller pointed out that the same flight in yeti air crashed as it was approaching late last year.

So without running you thorugh each day i'll try and summarize the 2 week trip in a few paragraphs.

In total we climbed about 2,500 metres
We had 2 guides, both nepalese Ashok and Indra and 3 porters suria, richard (obviously not his real name) and pimba
Each day we woke up around 7am, packed our bags, handed the big pack over to the porters who each carried 3 packs. Bear in mind these guys are young. Around 20years old and carrying 30-40kg all the way to base camp.

The teahouses that we stayed at were basic, clean rooms which i ended up having mostly on my own while the boys paired up. Each teahouse has a communial eating area with a big stove in it and thats where you spend most of the night after walking all day.

Each place has a menu, and its pretty much the same in each village, just meals get more expensive the higher you get. This is because some poor barstard has to carry everyhting that you see in a teahouse from lukla...these guys are often around 40kg and range from 18-50ish and they carry around 100kg - sometimes up to 130kg up the twisting, ruggad paths to the village/shop that needs it. Their life span in short as they fuck their backs up so bad. Most live to around 45.

after brekkie we start walking. Usually for around 6hrs per day, stopping for hot drinks, lunch and then the final destination for dinner. you at alot but it doesn't seem to affect you. I haven't been this toned in years. Its ace and i'm devastated that i'm about to go to india where apparently all you do is eat....noooooo but yummmmm!

i am no where near done but need to catch this plane to Varanasi & call my ma and pa else they'll think i'm still stuck up in the mountains....

TBcontinued

Arriving in Kathmandu

2009-02-27T21:04:00.000-08:00

Not one to escape a drama, i landed in Nepal yesterday with a rather large problem. No cash for my Visa. Yep i stupidly though there'd be banks and ATM's all over the plavce, when in actual fact there wasn't really anything. I ended up going all the way through customs (leaving my passport with the customs guys...yes dodgy but i had no choice) to an outside ATM, that didn't really work. It kept blanking out and the 'security' guard who micro managed my transaction had to go around the back of it to kick it into action?!! WTF!

So apart from that, the highlights so far are:
Crazy taxi ride with my new friends to the hotel. Hooning through the streets, dodging rickshaws, people, goats etc
The hotel/guesthouse. It's large and colonial and gated off from the madness.
Making friends with a guy i met at the airport when i was having a mare. Totally chiled me out.
Walking through the town looking at al the temples and almost getting lost while trying to navigate our way back to the hotel...
eating a mixture of seeds and popped corn with chili from the side of the rd
Having drinks in a beautiful candelit garden bar
Weird things that have happened:
The whole money debarcle
Having a little boy kiss my feet about 100 times....he wanted money
saw a man the size of a 10yr old child walking down the street carrying a fridge on his back
having one of the nicest glasses of red wine (cometothink of it maybe it was australian wine?)
For around 6hrs/day parts of Nepal have no power

Happy days though. Slept like a baby last night. The days are really warm, nights cold. Going to sort out my gear today. I can buy some awesome pants and down jackets for around 120 AUS. They are all NOrth Face rip offs but will do the job. Meetings with my group in a few hours too....hopfully i'm not stuck with a bunch of whiiiieeenning americanos.

Will have a sim card by tomorrow so will post the details then.

58 days away - Nepal and India here i come!

2009-02-23T18:28:00.000-08:00

Today is my last day at work. Its stinking hot outside and in, the sky is blue, my workload is slowly peertering out to zilch...it is such a weird, lovely feeling knowing i'm about to go on my very own adventure and not return for 58 days! Bliss!

This coming Thursday is the day. I leave at 10.15pm for Bangkok, then a quick transfer to my first destination KATHMANDU! wooo. I looked it up on google earth last night, not quite what i expected. From what i could see (there was no street view) there's a lot of dirt roads and ruggard looking houses and shops. A bit like a shanty town, which i'm sure its not.

So, before i get there i have the next 2 days off in Sydney. I plan on picking up the last of my supplies
- needles (in case i need to get jabbed in India)
- my last Hepatitis shot from the doctor
- iodine for drinking water
- final laser hair removal (priorities i know! but once again it just makes me feel better knowing it all sorted down there)
- random traveling clothes so that i at least feel respectable and still like myself not some random tourist

Other things i need to do are, pack my bag, have numerous farewell dinners, lunches and coffees with friends.

Things I should have done more of or at all:
- wear in my hiking boots more....considering i am climbing to base camp everest...i really should have thought about this more. i hope that my feet don't die when i'm halfway up the mountain.
- save more money (everything but food, hire of extreme hiking gear has been paid for already. I have about 4K for the 2 months that i am away)
- read more about where i am going.

I'm psyched. Must go and sort out more stuff that keep popping into my head.
Will definitely to to keep this blog updated over the next 2 months. I work in the digital space, so you would think that this would be easy task... but in reality i think i get sick of being online 24/7...so we'll see. maybe i can scan in a postcard!

chunky jewellery

2008-12-22T15:03:00.000-08:00

Was just browsing Interview mag and came across these featured pieces by Fenton... they're are unreal! I have started to become quite fond of more chunkier jewellery, especially necklaces. About a year ago, my now ex boyfriend bought me home a big ass, bold Marni necklace. it was black & white and quite tribal with bright yellow links around the neck. kinda like this one below. I used to feel like it was too much for me but a year on it's bringing out a new me. A bold persona and a bit of a wild woman. With the new year looming i'm thinking its about time for a new one...

Cheery Christmas

2008-12-04T21:00:00.000-08:00

These are so sweet and make me feel all excited about Christmas time!
Natalie Kilany is a UK based illustrator.

ohhh

2008-11-29T22:57:00.000-08:00

these Louboutins are so me. black suede with polished leather tips and heel plus studs to set them off. fuck. I just need to figure out how i can afford/justify them when i am supposed to be saving for my big trip. what to do?!

cute

2008-11-27T20:49:00.000-08:00

i love these 2 pics. i like the way you can only see the school girls little feet and their pulled up socks. it's like they're in their own little world in that booth. so cute. makes me wonder the amount of times that i have been wrapped up in something... completely unawares that someone else can see me. (kinda cute, but could be weird too) Anyways the pics are from the book Arcade Mania!:The Turbo-charged World of Japan's Game Centers.. I admit. I still haven't read the book...but i will, mainly cos i want to look at all the pictures of the people that spend their days and nights consumed by these fascinating places. These 2 girls look like they're having fun + they're super pretty too. The last time i was in a sticker booth was in Italy, on the way down to Sicily. it was 2am in the morning and i was with my girlfriend Bo-bames. The whole situation was pretty dodgy. I think we were killing time before the next train came. the pics turned out dead awful but what was to come was even worse. anyway i'll save that story for another time.

I plan on going to Japan next year. Hopefully my parents stick to the plan and move there too. Then i can dress up and hang in Harajuku with these girls. That would be rad.

Pub lunches on Fridays

2008-11-27T18:06:00.000-08:00

A good pub lunch on Friday can be one of the most satisfying ways to end a week of work.
No only is it tradition in the advertising world, it is more than acceptable to drink at least 4-7 wines or beers, eat a big dirty steak and stumble back to the office 3 hours later (hmm it's about time i do that again)

Pub lunches are also good for getting you through the hangover from Thursday night & sub sequentially serve as a good foundation (and stomach lining) for a Friday night out too. They allow your crew to vent, bitch about work & clients as well as make plans for the weekend.

In my opinion the best pub lunches are at The Royal because it's across the rd from work, The London, The Glenmore, The paddington arms for super cheap steaks & The Nash for almost anything.

mmm hungry . Time to go out for 1 right now.

mi mi mi how pretty you are!

2008-11-26T00:31:00.000-08:00

Not a lot to say really...other than these beauties by Morrissey are 2 of my most favourite things right now. Why? They are peep-toe, patent and have a platform.. plus they're magenta pink, which is killer, especially when you wear loads of black.