Monday, 6 August 2007
Koh Samui - 14th July 2007
It was a Saturday night.... so next up was a quick bite to eat at Red Snapper and then back to the room to prepare for a night out!! Around 11pm we were ready to embark on our favourite club Q Bar, so after bartering with the cab driver (we were not being rolled this time), we got him to take us up the hill to Q Bar where we walked straight in to be greeted by Pepe who runs Q Bar and we were all overwhelmed to be back... we started the night with our memorable Espresso Martini's and then drank the night away -met lots of people and many famaliar faces. We ended up visiting a Black Moon party afterwards and danced the night away to then be invited back to a Beach Party.. finally stumbled through the door very early hours of the morning!! There goes Sunday!!
Monday morning we were back in action and ready to hit the beach/pool and sunbeds - so off we went down to the pool, landed a great spot and didn't move for the rest of the day... apart from to jump in the water every now and then to cool off... just read and watched all the people go by and of course enjoying cocktails! Tuesday was spent much the same and both nights we were lazy and ventured only down to dinner at The Library, although we couldn't complain about the Thai food it was divine and so cheap... we were eating at the hotel and only paying about £4 a meal... and couldn't even fit dessert in!!
Wednesday was spent again on the beach relaxing and that night we had Hamish and Robby arrive in town so we organised another night on the town - starting a Q Bar to visit Pepe and Jane and then many more bars in Chaweng that night... again walked home early hours of the morning... Next night we had to venture out with Hamish and Robby but luckily it was for a quiet dinner on the beach. It was amazing Thai food again, thanks to our host Em who knew where to take us - it was gorgeous!
Yes you guessed it... the next day was again spent lazing by the pool lapping up the sun, we were very lucky and continued to receive great weather throughout our stay (Well almost). Friday arrived and we were meeting Bill and Caroline for dinner as they just flew in on Wednesday also from London. Bill had booked us into Dr Frog, a new restuarant up on the cliff overlooking Chaweng - it was stunning.... this is when the weather decided to turn on us and we were just finishing up dinner and the storm hit... it was amazing all the lights started to go out in Chaweng and the town became all dark.... along with our restaurant - although lucky enough we had enough power to keep the DJ going so all was well.... we ended up heading into town to meet up with Hamish, visited Q Bar on the way and they were all waiting around for the lights to come back on... yes that includes the Air Con too.... it was warm... but we found somewhere in Chaweng who had a generator along with the rest of the town and enjoyed a few drinks.... soon enough the town came back alive and light... the transformer had been changed!!! We continued the night dancing away to bring in Hamish's birthday!
Stay tuned... still more to come and photos too:-)
Friday, 3 August 2007
Hong Kong - 11th July 2007
First up was Hong Kong and after a lovely relaxing flight (with great champagne... and the new Business in upper deck was divine!!) we arrived in the great city of Hong Kong. We went straight to the hotel to check in, staying at the Mandarin Oriental www.mandarinoriental.com/hongkong in a harbour view room, which was the most amazing view and hotel was stunning on Hong Kong Island!! It was our first night in town and we had the afternoon to wander about... yes of course into the shops, they are everywhere in Hong Kong and all air conditioning - you don't even need to put a foot outdoors from your hotel, the whole city is connected... well most of it anyway!! Sal was lucky enough to walk into Jimmy Choo and guess what Sales were on!!! 50% off... who could resist... obviously not us... we walked out to another 2 fab pairs - lucky me!! We thought we had better head back to hotel after that quick little spree as we had dinner to get ready for, we were being picked up by MYOB GM of HK - Shelia and her hubby at 8pm to dine at Aqua http://www.aqua.com.hk/, which of course we were looking forward to as it was on the harbour and you had a great view of Hong Kong Island and all the wonderful lights. We enjoyed a fantastic meal and great company over the delights of a bottle of Bollinger (our fave champagne!!) After dinner we headed off to Felix Bar at Peninsula for a quick drink, wasn't impressed so headed back to hotel bar - M Bar for a Cosmopolitan - fast becoming our fave cocktail!!! (after 6 seasons of Sex & the City in one month what choice do you have - but admittedly they are yummy!!).
We experienced amazing weather in Hong Kong, the 2 times I have been there previously you were never able to see the Peak... but every day was clear, so we made sure we headed up to Victoria Peak to view Hong Kong on the Peak Tram - wow was it steep... Once up to the Peak we came across Pearl on the Peak (Aussie Chef - owns Pearl in Melbourne), so we sat down and enjoyed a champers and a snack and managed to meet the Manager and were able to score the best table for the most amazing view later that night. Later that afternoon we headed back to hotel and worked out at the gym then got ready to visit the Aqua Bar (upstairs from restaurant) to view the Light show - every night at 8... we made it just in time and were lucky enough to see the show - it was gorgeous - so many lights:-) We then headed back up to the Peak for dinner... which was an amazing night with the most amazing food and wine... after a 3 hour dinner and getting to know the staff we decided to head out and visit some bars, we came across a couple and spent the night dancing and meeting people - it was a lot of fun!
It soon came to say our farewells to Hong Kong once again and head off to our honeymoon destination Koh Samui - Thailand.... but not before we experienced 'High Tea' at The Peninsula... off we went to see what was on offer and it was devine!! Will post pictures soon...
Dinner with the Prince - 20th June 2007
Wednesday, 20 June 2007
Bath - 1st June 2007
Sunday saw us rise just before 10am.... and then again off for our poached eggs and the weather was on our side again for yet another stroll around Bath. We had a realxing day seeing more wonderful buildings. We ventured past the Roman Baths, but as we visited them nearly 2 years ago we didn't feel the need to go back in there, but they are definitely worth a visit. Here is a picture from our first trip to Bath.
Thursday, 3 May 2007
Paris - 27th April 2007
We got to Paris around 9pm so headed straight to the hotel and were lucky enough to land a room where you could actually move - if you have ever been to Paris you will understand! We quickly freshened up and took to the streets to find somewhere for our first meal in Paris, it was around 10pm so quite late, but we finally found a place where we could sit outside (the weather was absolutely gorgeous - 19 degrees at this time), anyway we sat down attempted to read the menu of which had no idea it was all in French!!! This is when I realised I should have taken more notice in French class in High School... The only words I remembered were the obvious 'Oui', 'Bonjour', 'Merci', 'Auvoir', 'J'adore', 'J'aime', of which were not going to help me order dinner.... fortunately the waiter was in no hurry to deliver service to us so up we got and escaped! We then found a lovely place on the corner which spoke English and had the best Champagne list in town... well we were in France!! We ordered a gorgeous bottle of Billecart Salmon Rose.... beautiful and enjoyed a great dinner!
Saturday morning we rose and went on the hunt for Breakfast... which shouldn't be too difficult, we ended up down at Champes Elysees - which is where every other Tourist was too... so we took some back streets and found a great little local cafe (yes another French menu...) but we worked it out and ended up with Pancakes... cannot complain;-) We sat there for an hour or so watching the world pass us by and the other customers who would come and go... many with their dogs - the french love their pets... they even dress them up and they not only wear collars and leashes.. but get scarves too - to match their owners - quite cute really! We ended up ordering a champagne after Breakfast and enjoyed the sunshine!
We finally dragged ourselves out of there and went walking to discover Paris and the Eiffel Tower... which is lovely but the tourists do really take the glory from it.... you could hardly move - so a couple of snapshots and we continued along our way. We then came across another great little cafe... so down we sat and yes another bottle of champagne was enjoyed along with some magnificent food - I swear all you do is drink and eat....!
We wasted the afternoon there and then went back to relax in our hotel for an hour or so before dinner was due.... we had made a reservation at a place on the river overlooking Paris and the Eiffel Tower so would of been lovely... but the taxi never arrived on time and our reservation was cancelled - not happy... but we got over that and remembered of another restaurant we saw during the day at The Westin and thought we would try our luck there.... fortunately they had some spare tables and again we enjoyed another fabulous evening of service, food and champagne... we even found a chardonnay from France we enjoyed:-) As we left our waitress provided us with some bars we should visit, so off we went to hit the town.
First up was Buddha Bar - quite a cool bar, but after waiting 30 minutes for a bottle of wine we thought best we should move onto the next one - jumped in a cab and ended up at a club called 'Le Cab', this was awesome landed the best table in the house and mingled with the crowd and met many people throughout the night. We ended up calling it a night around 3am! and it was supposed to be a quiet night!!
Sunday was spent strolling through Paris and seeing more of what it has to offer along with more food.... it was really warm around 27 degrees so we were taking it easy and just relaxed. Our train was leaving around 5pm, so that afternoon we headed to the station and caught our ride back to London!!
We had a lovely time in Paris and will definitely go back soon:-) As there is so much more to experience!!
PS. We saw the most bizarre thing while walking around the Paris... refer to the picture to the left!! We are so used to seeing sccaffolding all over buildings when they are refurbishing, but in Paris they actually put up an image of the building on a massive canvas so it still appears normal - every building being renovated had the same thing - looks very odd when you first see it... especially if its windy as in the pic!!
Friday, 27 April 2007
Dirty Dancing - 24th April 2007
It was a school night, so we were behaving - yes our heads were alittle sore the next day - but Dirty Dancing was worth every second!!! Anyone coming across let me know and will be happy to come along with you again:-)
Breakfast in Chelsea - 22nd April 2007
Girls Night Out - 21st April 2007
The night began in Soho at a place called 'The Boardwalk', where we all enjoyed a great (cheap too...) dinner and of course a bottle of Champers! There was 5 of us and 4 were from Australia... I swear we are taking over the world! Anyway we finished dinner and we all wanted to check out the latest 'Prince William or was it Harry' (I just can't keep up) club called 'Mahiki' in Mayfair.
We finally got into this bar and thankfully found a table and enjoyed our first Mahiki cocktail... first of many!! We sat there and continued going through the menu and were impressed with the quality of the cocktails and the service was fantastic - no going to the bar... the waitress was all ours:-) We really enjoyed ourselves and met 2 american girls who recently moved across too... then met a Danish and Swedish girl - so it was a girls night out all round! The bar is a tikki lounge: those Polynesian-inspired rattan beach cabins that were all the rage in 1950s California and the music was 90's wedding songs... which was perfect for the girls!!
The night ended up around 3.30am (yes the lights came on....) and we all headed home to annoy our better halves.... surprisingly sober (I was!!!) It was a great night and we are now busy planning our next one!
Wednesday, 18 April 2007
Prague - 5th April 2007
It was time to go home after our 4 days in paradise (well at times the tourists didn't help the peace...) they were everywhere!! But then I guess we were one too... so can't complain too much! We had a wonderful time met lots of amazing people, we were out one night clubbing and ran into yet again more Aussies, but amazingly enough one of them was from Rochester - where I went to school and knew my brother - what a small world? We had a blast and if the chance arises we will definitely visit Prague again!
The Gym Begins - 27th March 2007
We have had our induction and have a program so have been able to hit it all on our own. There is lots of equipment and a great pool along with heaps of classes (if you like that thing...) but we are yet to venture in there ... yes especially with my co-ordination!!
We have decided to go in the mornings as we feel much better and more inclined to go, otherwise you get home at night and it's usually late and by the time you cook dinner you end up giving it a miss - so we need to be strong and get up at 6am... luckily the weather is improving. We are having 19 - 25 degree days - just gorgeous:-)
Cambridge - 24th March 2007
I will start with our weekend in Cambridge, England. We were looking to go somewhere close by just for Friday and Saturday night so we headed to Cambridge by train... and this was an experience. Have you caught the rail system in London? We got to the train station with plenty of time, started looking around for the screens to tell us what platform the train would be leaving from, but to our great surprise the screen told us we must all line up under the letter E... which was before all the platforms.... then the train arrives and they make an announcement which platform your train departs from and everyone starts running (and I mean running) to the train to line up at the doors for at least 10 minutes before they open, so we are all crammed in like sheep waiting to get on this train... and reason is because they all want a seat!! It was a bizarre experience to watch and to think that is the best system they can come up with for 1000's of people trying to board train everynight.
Anyway off we head to Cambridge, get there shortly after an hour, jumped in a cab and found out the hotel was about 8mile from Cambridge (1st lesson - check hotel location to town...), so that was disappointing as had to travel to town the next day, which we went in by bus and walked around all day, looking at all the gorgeous little streets and stunning buildings, namely the universities - just the architecture was amazing. It was freezing and wet, so we did spend a couple of hours in some great cafes drinking coffee, wine and reading the paper - while of course people watching! Massive tourist town, we were also lucky enough as it was graduation day so we saw all the students marching around town in the caps and gowns! It eventually came to dinner time so we found a nice romantic place for dinner that night (and another bottle of Moet.... it is so cheap - we are in our element here)!!
Then on Sunday we did the same just walked around and of course where there are shops.... you do some shopping - Karen Millen had a sale, so picked up a great top, dress and skirt:-) The shopping is just amazing in London!!! Although must stop soon....before we are broke!!!
Sunday afternoon we headed back to London by train during the day so it was great to see all the scenery as we went through.... one tick down lots more to go:-)
PS. Unfortunately we forgot our camera for the weekend and were unable to take any pics....
Friday, 9 March 2007
The Next Challenge...
We have now been here nearly 2 weeks, and has it flown. We landed on 24th February and moved straight into our new apartment - which came fully furnished and all we needed to do was unpack our suitcases and go grocery shopping! We decided we were not allowed to convert back to AUD$ as this became too distressing, therefore we only go by the £ and this way it all seems to be affordable!!!
We started at work on the Monday and everyone has been wonderful and friendly and very welcoming. We all went partying on Friday night, so saw everyone with their hair down and were able to show everyone we were human too:-)
Weather has been gorgeous (for London terms), around 11 degrees each day with the sun shining - who said it was cold and dark in London...
Overall all our experiences here to date have been pleasant and nothing has been difficult at all... best of all we have already planned our first trip to Paris next weekend - can you believe that you can have a weekend in Paris for less than £500 .... we leave Friday night by the Eurostar (train) and arrive home on Sunday evening... looking forward to seeing the 'City of Romance'... It was really funny I had a friend call up and said we must catch up.. she lives in London, so we both went through our availability and the easiest way was to catch up in Paris:-)
Well that is enough from me at the moment and will definitely let you all know about next weekend:-)
PS - Update.... Next weekend never arrived in Paris... disappointing as it was we got to the Train Station that night and all trains were cancelled due to a fire on the railway... so we had to head home with our heads low... but got home had a great idea that we should go partying, so called up some friends and headed to a new funky bar in Knightsbridge called 'The Townhouse' and then off to 'ChinaWhite' a great Club in London.... luckily the person we were chatting to was the owner of Townhouse and straight on the doorlist:-) and had an awesome night....
http://www.chinawhite.com
While I am here I might as well provide an update on another special night we had with an English friend of ours Bill (who we met in Thailand on our honeymoon). We caught up for dinner in London at this really amazing restaurant called 'Sketch' - the food was fab and so were the drinks.. and of course the company. But the most bizarre thing about this place was we went into the little bar prior to dinner to enjoy a cocktail and it was a small room with the bar as the centre circle and then guests would all sit around the outside of the room, whilst we were drinking and chatting away we all noticed the music they were playing was quite odd... it was an American chatting about Apartments he had just bought and so on... then we realised as we looked up there was an American sitting on the other side of the room and it was his conversation we were listening to via the speakers... therefore they were probably listening to our... lucky we were keeping it clean:-) We were then up for dinner and also had to venture to the bathrooms... this was another bizarre experience... you went upstairs and there were these cocoons everywhere and they were actually the cubicles for the toilets, you would have to open the door and enter one and then lock yourself in - very weird feeling... check the website out.... All in all a fab time and we are looking forward to going again!
Our Special Day!!!
I just wanted to share some of our wedding album photos... and the memories that they hold for us both...:-)