I have been absent from the blogging world and I'm not even sorry, because I have been in OZ! Down Under! In Australia!....I've been on vacation and it has been fantastic!
I arrived in Australia after a day of traveling - it is much further from Thailand than you would think - that and I had to spend a couple of hours hanging out in the Singapore airport as part of my layover. The Singapore airport, though, is like a luxury shopping mall/movie theater/masseuse/5 star restaurant all rolled in one. The Singapore airport is one of the bourgeouise-iest plaes on the planet! I think there's a butterfly garden in the place. Come on. Crazy. So I held up in the airport for a few hours, slept, ate some sushi, painted my nails and enjoyed the hustle and bustle of Singapore travel life.
Got to Perth and had to get all fancy for my uncle's wedding. Although, fancy isn't really something I do after living in Thailand for a whole year, so when pictures were taken, it looked like the photos captured in horror movies when they are doing their foreshadowing - indicating that someone is going to die - and the person gets all blurry and shit in the image. Yeah, that's right, no pictures could capture my "fancy" self. I'm kidding, there are pictures, but the digital world will have to wait for the photographer to send them round. Stay tuned.
The wedding was really beautiful. Really really beautiful. In fact, I got all teary eyed like the type of girls I mock, just cause it was all about love and flowers and commitment and pretty music. Fuck, it was really just romantic and shit. Haha. To give you a little bit of the background story though, my Aunt Jackie passed away a couple of years ago after being diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer. She went really quickly and it shook the entire family tremendously. Well, after a few years, my uncle started dating again and met a woman, Bev, who he decided to commit his life to - this last weekend was their wedding. On top of that, the two families coming together was like a new chapter and made me think about promise and second chances and never giving up on living and loving. So, yeah. The ceremony was in this little picturesque church, which is the oldest in Perth, and the weather was prefect for the ceremony. After the ceremony, we all went to this beautiful winery where we partook in wedding reception festivities, fabulous food, hilarious speeches, and a delicious meal - long into the evening. I was so happy to be a part of it.
After the wedding weekend, backyard brunches, and chilling in Perth for a few days, we headed down to the vacation home in Margaret River - a place down the coast of Western Australia. Margaret River is like Napa Valley meets English countryside with Steve Irwin flare. Margaret River is like the Boulder, Colorado of the Australian desert - caving, surfing, beaching (It hosts the Master's Surf Tournament yearly), but driving down the country avenues, you are surrounded by vineyards, olive farms, dairy cows, and luxurious estates - just to paint a little bit of a picture.
I could go into all of the details of my trip, but here are just a couple of things that got me psyched.
1. Wine tasting.
2. Simmo's Ice cream - made with local ingredients and probably sugar coated with a billion calories, but it was fantastic!
3. Drinking water out of the tap.
4. People who speak English/Asking for directions from people who speak English
5. Swimming in the Indian Ocean. It was balls cold, but I got to see cool stuff like a bright red starfish, an octopus, and royal blue water.
6. G+Ts on the balcony watching the sunset (Gin and tonics - these are staples in my family).
7. Olive farms. Olive oil is amazing! Amazing! ...and literally having stuffed olives and feta in some basil infused olive oil basically made my life.
8. Cheese! Cheese! Cheese! Thailand does not do cheese and so after a year of pad thai and curry - cheese was like a piece of heaven. I had almost forgotten about the majesty of Brie!
9. Umm wildlife! I saw a fucking Kangaroo from our balcony and almost peed my pants I was so excited. I was like a child and all I wanted to see were wild animals!
So, I basically ate and drank for an entire week and freaking loved it. We went to chocolate factories, fudge factories, vineyards - name it and Margaret's River's got it....well the good stuff at least. It was a blast and it was a a ton of fun hanging out with family and laying on the beach and playing card games and cooking together. I miss this whole being around family thing and it was absolutely phenomenal.
Interestingly though,
In Thailand, we call the unsettled feeling in your stomach from the combination of spices, peppers, and unfamiliar/unidentified foods - Thai Stomach. It's the - something is justttt not right, bordering on "I need to be about 5 feet from a toilet" - type of feeling. We make jokes about this all of the time in Thailand, but I actually had a mild case of 'Western Food Stomach' from all of the wine, bread, and cheese I was consuming. I was feeling so weird until we went into downtown Perth last night and I had some Indian curry. Haha! Today, I felt great!...and I think I'm going to write up a diet revolving around spice and caffeine and market it next to Dr. Atkins. It's going to be the Chilibean Diet: Coffee and Chili and What It Means For You!
I'm headed back to Thailand this afternoon for a week with my mom - showing her the Thailand sights and all. She's using a timeshare in Patong - haha and ohhh she'll see some sights! Can't wait! Until then, I'm grabbing lunch with a fellow Bangkok Bandit turned Perth, OZ resident, Megan, before I board a plane. Last minute face time and a perfect conclusion to a great trip.
Well, Australia. It's been real, it has been fun and until next time - G'day mate! (haha I'm not normal and I realize this!)
:)
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