Thailand- Phuket

Ahhhh Thailand... the land of smiles, and there is no doubt in my wind as to why.. the beautiful beaches, the daily massages, foot scrubs, facials and anything else nice you can do for your body, the shopping, the drinking by the bucket load and of course the partying!

As much as I love Dat Girl, it was good to have some time where I couldn't actually do anything as well! Some family members were holding the fort for me and instructed me that I must try not to think about it... I have to admit, it felt nice.

 

We went away with 9 of our closest friends, so to say we came back a lot more exhausted than when we left would be an understatement. Although I can honestly say that we made the most of EVERY moment. The most time that was spent in any of our hotel rooms was when we were sleeping... one of our resorts didn't even have TV's in the rooms, which was even better as it forced (even though it was voluntary) to spend more time on our private beach.

 

I have many many photos, but for the sake of your finger on the scroll bar, I will try to limit to a few per day....I'm going to split it into two as well 

 

 

Night 1 

 

 the first buckets for some in our group, and my first ever public pole performance, which was encouraged by my fiance, who when seeing a girl rub up against a pole said "Come on Sarah... you can do better than that". Ey, if the fiancee approves, all is okay :)

 

 

 

Day 2

 

The day was spent having fish eat our feet, shopping, drinking cocktails and getting massages.

 

 

 

 

 

 Night 2

 

Dinner at a Mexican restaurant, lanterns, an infamous Thailand type of show and then a night where the terrible threesome consumed waay too many drinks

 

 

 

 

 

Day  and Night 3

 

Struggled to get up on this day, let me tell you! Once I hauled A and my girl Alana out of bed, we met the others to check out the shopping centre.... go bowling, get facials, go on a 4D ride, visit a few more markets, get a pedicure and then finish it all off with a family dinner on the beach and our own fireworks.

 

 

 

Day 4

 

It was an early start on day 4, as we headed out on a snorkeling tour, but it was wayyyy worth it..... The initial 40min  boat ride was rough and unfortunately our idea to sit at the front of the boat was not a good one. We were airborne for a good amount of the trip.

 

 

 

 

Night 4

 

Phuket Town night markets... lots more shopping! Wooohoo!

 

The boys also got into the crickets, worms, frogs etc... I was happy to watch their faces and not take a taste test.

 

The next day we flew to Koh Samui.....

 



A Tad Excited

Tomorrow I will be on my way to here...

 

 

 

I am going to Thailand for 9 nights with 10 friends.

 

I will try to take photos and post about it when I return.

 

xx

Manila Shopping

The shopping in Manila is FABULOUS!! If like many others, you have been to Bangkok and loved the shopping, you will DIE when you shop in Manila.

off to shopping we go!!

Filipinos are so friendly and helpful, the malls have everything you could imagine and the shopping is soo cheap, you will think Thailand is expensive!


Also, if you are like myself and don't speak another language and usually get by, by learning "hello", "goodbye", "thank you" and "how much".... you will find it very easy to get by in Manila, as the majority of the people speak English use formal English. Every morning we were greeted with, "good morning sir, good morning mam" (as I'm typing this I am saying it with a Filipino accent).

I bought this little piglet on our last day in Manila, it is really freaky because it is actually 3D..

your nose pops out and is hard and all! hahaha

While we were shopping, none of us carried handbags, we kept all our valuables in our travel wallets or our bras (mum styles lol), but in saying that, we did feel incredibly safe in the shopping malls. Upon entering each mall everyone is greeted by security guards who check your bags and give you a lite little frisk. You continue to see the guards throughout the mall and with the weapons that they are carrying, you get the feeling stealing $5 from someones pocket would not be worth the risk.

A LOT and by a lot, I mean way more than in Australia, of American chain stores can be found in Manila malls, from Forever 21 to American Apparel. They also have stores like Top Shop and Zara, so again, unlike some other countries, the fashion is similar to ours and you will not struggle to find something you like.

We found a few somethings on our first trip.

Necklace from Zara

 

Apart from the malls in Manila, the 7 elevens and convenience stores are also dabomb.com. Yes, that's right I said convenience stores! Convenience stores in any new country are always fun, but when they sell bottles of STRAWBERRY FLAVOURED vodka for $1.25AUD and chicken skin flavoured chips, they are even better.

Our first night in Manila, we didn't arrive until about 11pm, so we just headed to the local 7 eleven..

 

This was our haul for only $13AUD

and when you drink a lot of that... this is what happens!

In between our shopping adventures, we also sampled, okay DEMOLISHED a truck load of food...

soooo many choices!

Jollibee is a chain fast food restaurant that we spent waay too much time at.

It was delicious and of course cheap!

Yum with cheese please :)

There may have been a few sneaky cocktails at malls too!

Note: arm is not actually THIS huge lol.

Another great thing about shopping in Manila is that in addition to the masses of shops, restaurants and cocktail stops, the malls usually have other fun activities you can do and of course... they are cheap too!

Fair at Mall of Asia

Zip lining...

that is actually us about to take off, for the low low price of $3.

A busker, who challenged my friend to a dance off.

I don't think he has seen a booty shake like that before!haha

  

YES THAT'S RIGHT- they even have mechanical bull riding!!

and after one too many jugs of long island iced tea (in the mall) this is how you end up!! :P

After riding a bull, if you are still a little tipsy and in a mall, you can always head to the game zone!

Sing a little and play a little...

After playing all the games we ended up with TONNES of tickets and no use for them, so we gave them to some school children, who I think thought we were strange, but they loved the tickets anyways!

On a serious note..

This post comes with a WARNING... be careful not to shop TOOOO much in Manila, because if you do, you will end up with thousands of pairs of shoes and they will have to open a shoe museum for you - just like Imelda Marcos :) 

I'm off...

Tomorrow is the day we have waited for, for a while now... our trip to the Philippines!

I am sooo excited and I love the feeling of excitement I get before an overseas trip, it makes me feel young :)

I have ALMOST finished packing... This was my list. I am a mad list maker and it always gets adapted along the way.

We first fly in to Manila for some shopping and exploring. Most activities I have looked up seem to cost around P500, which is approx. $10 AUD. So I will be enjoying this holiday $10 at a time :)

After a few days in Manila, we fly to Boracay for some cocktails, tan time and water adventures!

I will take lots of photos of my fun in the sun to share with you all.

Until I return... take care xxx

TGIF

Yey!! It's Friday!! Every Friday I am amazed that I have made it through another working week and excited for the weekend as I put on my casual work attire. Today's bright outfit has made me particularly excited for the sunny weekend which is coming…

These blue jeans are from years ago when bright jeans were in

(and yes my stuff is everywhere- moving fml :( )

I have been actually busy at work this week (shock horror!) and still trying to unpack from last week's house move, so I haven't had much time to blog and so here is my wrap up…

Breakfast Cocktails mmm

 Besties!

Last weekend A, his bestie and my besties headed up to Diamond Beach, just north of Forester for a weekend of relaxation and it was just what the Doctor ordered!! I have been feeling really overwhelmed lately with a lot of things in life and have been taking this out on A so a weekend with nothing to think about was great to remind me how fun life actually is :)

Monday was date night and I went to my first ever Nepalese restaurant- Everest Kitchen in Marrickville. The place wasn't much to look at, a bit stuffy and run down, but it was full and once the food came out you could tell why..

This was the massive entree and my first ever task of goat, it was sooo yummy- I would definitely have it again.

Over the past year or so I have been easing myself into spice, so much so that I handled everything without a tear. Yey for my taste buds and nom nom nom to Nepalese food :)

I also tried the infamous Spice I Am on Wednesday for the first time and the food was great, I especially loved the spicy pork Thai sausage salad. I feel that we have all eaten Thai a million times these days, so when I try a dish I never have before I get very excited :)

Ohh and this week a few more pictures from Sandy's  Wedding were released, including one of me… my mouth looks a little funny in this picture, but I still like it simply because it is one of those "only a photographer could capture" photos.

Well I'm off to a few thirtieth parties on the weekend and another venue appointment, lets hope it is a sunny one… Enjoy your weekend xxx