Blue blue skies.... and what we ate!

That's the beautiful blue skies I was referring to and Perth's skyline from King's Park. So many things have changed for the place I once called home for 5 years. Boy and I had a great trip back there and totally pigged out on great food and fantastic company.

Vietnamese food is super awesome in Australia because of the good quality of meat they get. I've tried vietnamese food in Vietnam itself... still prefer the ones in Australia. This is a Bun.. a vermicelli noodle bowl with grilled pork. Its a healthy meal with lots of shredded veggies. The magic lies in the small bowl on the right. The nuoc cham. That, when poured over it turns it into an awesome meal!

This one is  a beef ball horfun. The horfun is no less silky than the ones we get in Ipoh and the broth is just heavenly. It is served with a large plate of raw bean sprouts, basil leaves and lemon wedges. Super yummy. Boy almost finished this gigantic bowl for lunch.

A roast beef dinner my beautiful girlfriend cooked for us. The roast beef was prettily pink, done just right. Along with the crunchy veggies, we wolved it all down.

We went to Sandalford wineyards and had wine tasting! I'm not much of a wine drinker but I must say they do have some easy to drink wines. The lighter ones are like grape juice and cranberry juice. Prices were super reasonable compared to what we pay in Malaysia too.

The wineyard had big sprawling grounds and the kids had a great time running around, jumping up and down and generally having a ball of a time.

This was a version of eggs benedict for a breakfast in Fremantle.. rather blah. Didn't they know that eggs benny are meant to be served on toasted english muffins? Hrmmmm

Michele's Crepes!! This was an old favourite from my uni days. We went to queue for it and then discovered that it is now manned by asians. I later found out that the business was sold a few years ago... that explains the difference in quality.

Ordered a ham cheese mushroom crepe.. I took two bites and boy had half... we gave the remaining to my girlfriend's furkids. They seemed to like it.

And for the grand finale.... we had this fantastic Italian dinner at Garganos, Claremont.

Mozzarella cheese on tomatoes drizzled with olive oil

Beef Carpaccio with Parmesan Cheese

My favourite.. fresh spaghetti in a cheese sauce with shaved black truffles and mushrooms. To die for.

Half a portion of a t-bone steak. Humongous and nicely done.

My gf's fish.. which I wasn't able to even try.... was getting seriously full by now

Veggies!

The decadent desserts trolley

My choice.... profiteroles!

We also had Fig gelato and Strawberry gelato... indeed a sumptuous meal!! I asked to roll back home but my girlfriend wouldn't leave her car there....

The fabulous sunset on our flight home...... Thanks Perth, for leaving us beautiful memories and a few additional inches on the waistline!

Home sweet home....

Sometimes, when you learn to appreciate different things in life, life becomes incredibly beautiful.

I've just returned from my trip to Indonesia, where everyone I've spoken to warned me about the horrendous traffic, the risky food and the dirty place. I'm happy to report that my experience with Jakarta was nothing but positive. To be fair, I was only there for 3 nights and today was a public holiday so traffic would have been much lighter, but it seemed no different than KL on a rainy friday arvo. Less angsty too.

First impressions... Very similar to Manila.. dusty, interesting CBD with lots of big buildings but majority of them had a 1970s feel to them with newer steel structures of hotels and malls interspersed within the city.

The people were really friendly. Everyone spoke to everyone, niceties like greetings and thank yous were bandied about... so unlike KL.

The food.. oh my god.... the food was amazing.. ( it warrants a post on its own with pictures) It was truly a food trip where every meal I sat around groaning and rubbing my overextended belly and swearing I couldn't fit in another morsel... until the next meal came around...

What I was amazed about was the hospitality shown to me by an old, dear friend. We had great times chatting over red wine, coffee, food or just in front of his tv catching up over the last 15 years.. his family have shown me what its like being a great host and I can't wait to reciprocate the favour when they come over to my country.

Thinking back, this year I've been travelling and have been the lucky recipient of many great hosts throughout the world. I feel really blessed to have friends like that all over the world, and can only aspire to be more like them when I have the chance to host them in return.

I've learnt that in the best trips....

1. It's not the plush hotel room, but the spare room in someone's house
2. It's not the best fine dining restaurant, but a meal where you are genuinely happy to share with the people around you.
3. It's the meeting up of old and new friends to connect and reconnect.
3. It's not whatever happens on the road, but the time you spend in each other's company in the car
4. It's not the expensive gift, but the homemade ones that really touches you
5. It's not the tens of pictures you take, but the ones that you keep in your heart that stays

* still blown away*