31 Janaury 2012 - 10.42pm:

It's a bit materialistic, but I really do love this ring.

30 January 2012 - 7.53am:

Pitt St. Mall in Sydney is one of my favourite places to go to - particularly during early morning when the city itself is just waking up before the chaotic day that awaits it.

29 January 2012 - 12.04pm:

Ever since I travelled to South Korea, I've had a major obsession with Asian desserts - especially anything with red bean in it. I'm apparently the most Asian non-Asian person, according to most of my friends.

My sister returned from Japan, and of course, the amazing present she brought back home for me was a box of red bean mochi cakes. Absolutely amazing - clearly, as I couldn't resist eating some before I even took this photo.

28 January 2012 - 10.44am:

Probably due to my addiction to travelling, I love going to the airport. It's one of the most interesting places as there's always thousands of people going, coming, staying, meeting; an endless cycle of people within one space.

I came to the airport to come and pick my sister up as she was returning from a trip to Japan. Just being there and waiting for her, I watched so many people arrive, leave, meet and greet loved ones, cry, smile - this kind of sounds like the opening to 'Love Actually'.

27 January 2012 - 12.14pm:

My current job (also like my previous) is located outside of the main CBD of Sydney - so I never really travel much into the central part of the city unless I'm travelling around for work or if I head into the city on weekends.

Whenever I meet anyone new and/or mention that I live in Sydney to non-Sydney people, I always get the excited reaction about how amazing it must be to live in the city with one of the world's most recognised attractions - The Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Like anyone who lives in a city with a major attraction, we probably take it for granted and our reaction is 'mehhh', since we're so used to seeing it over and over again.

Yet today I was driving back to my work's office and drove across the Harbour Bridge for the first time in a few months - driving over the bridge and seeing the entire city view really did (as lame as it sounds) make me stop (for a split second since I was still driving) and realise how amazing this 'mehhh' attraction really is.

26 January 2012 - 8.26pm:

Coming home after being away does have its perks - even though being away still has way more advantages - but still, being back home brings being able to catch up with your friends that you haven't seen and getting to tell them all about your trip and time away.

Walking down along the beach with two of my closest friends, Liz and Mina, being back home kind of felt nice (shock horror I've admitted that), and I felt happy to be spending one of my first nights back home with two of my favourites.

25 January 2012 - 5.02pm:

Being back in reality, I started my new job today - where it was kind of hard to believe that 48 hours ago, I was walking around Singapore, a week ago, I was walking around Angkor Wat in Cambodia, and 2 weeks ago I was walking through the many streets of Hoi An.

Having a momentary lapse of concentration - and slight mental breakdown that I really am back in reality - looking at a cup and saucer I purchased from a store in Hoi An made me smile as I can now reflect back on all the amazing things I experienced during my time away.

24 January 2012 - 5.56am:

Given my inability to ever sleep on a flight, I was surprised I managed to get even 5 minutes sleep - even despite my massive amount of leg room.

Waking up to this view, this was my first view of Sydney after nearly a month of being away - and it was somewhat sad that our trip had come to an end.

And excuse me while I'm lame for just a moment, but as one of my favourite sayings go: don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.

23 January 2012 - 8.22pm:

It's now - sadly - home time, and time to head back to Sydney.

After nearly a month of travelling, 3 countries, 8 plane flights and 7 different airports, I was actually excited for this flight home - merely because after 5 years of travelling, it was the first time I've ever had proper leg room on a plane. Yeah I'm lame, I know.

22 January 2012 - 2.58pm:

I went to Marina Bay Sands during my time in Singapore to see the new casino which had recently opened. I was pretty impressed with the shopping centre itself, with all the rivers(even a boat!), fountains and pools randomly situated throughout the centre.

Standing from the second level, I chucked in a 10c coin and made a wish - this photo showing the ripples from the moment my coin dropped into the fountain.

21 January 2012 - 4.32pm:

For anyone who knows me well, I have a massive addiction for everything and anything Asian - particularly food. And ESPECIALLY red bean. I became obsessed with Asian desserts - mainly red bean paste - after travelling to South Korea in mid 2011.

So I was pretty stoked to have found a red bean flavoured ice cream when I was walking along Ochard Blvd. Was definitely the highlight of my day.

20 January 2012 - 9.37pm:

Leaving Cambodia, we arrived in Singapore, where Chinese New Year celebrations were being carried out in full swing right across the city.
Heading to China-town, this part of Singapore city was completely and utterly filled with SO many people, dragon merchandise and of course, food!

Walking down one of the main market streets, the mass amount of people along this one street was just amazing and pretty much exciting at the same time. What I loved even more was that I was one of the very few westerners walking down this street at this given moment.

19 January 2012 - 12.18pm:

We lashed out and spent a few extra dollars on a fancy hotel whilst in Cambodia - which turned out to be well worth the money since it was so incredibly hot and humid, without a pool, our time there would have been pretty bad.
Sitting poolside under a huge shade of an umbrella, this photo pretty much reflects Coldplay's, 'Paradise' - which I conveniently had playing on my iPhone at this very moment I took this photo. Good timing.

18 January 2012 - 6.45am:

Angkor Wat in Cambodia was probably the highlight of my trip and time whilst in SE Asia. We got to witness the sunrise at the main temples - watching the sky change and all of the different colours coming through was really amazing.
There were probably around 5000 people there on this morning alone - as there normally is on most days during the summer - each person there on this morning I was there would agree entirely that this sunrise was particularly, pretty incredible.

17 Januaey 2012 - 6.21pm:

Leaving Vietnam and arriving in Cambodia not only brought a change in weather but an entire different atmosphere. Leaving the plane and walking out on to the tarmac, I was really excited about what I was going to soon see and experience.

16 January 2012 - 8.56pm:

I met Jen and Kaylee in Spain around 18 months ago. Since we live on completely other sides of the world, the chance for us to meet up are pretty small - until we realised we were randomly in Hanoi at the same time and staying 10 minutes away from each other.

Moments like these really are amazing.

15 January 2012 - 7.36am:

Waking up to this view was really amazing. Enough said really.

14 January 2012 - 2.09pm:

Visiting Halong Bay was one of the best things I've ever experienced - it is so beautiful, quiet and naturally amazing just being around the ridiculously huge limestone formations. Stopping over at the main cave, I took this photo once reaching the top of the cave's entrance, where the view really was incredible.

13 January 2012 - 11.37am:

Walking around on our first full day in Hanoi, the weather wasn't that great - it was cold, misty and pretty depressing - not what I thought the weather would have been in Vietnam for this time of the year.

Walking along the main lake in Hanoi city we could see this small little temple right out in the middle of the lake - it just looked so quiet and peaceful here against the misty surroundings - completely opposite to the psychotic nature of the city itself, filled with millions of people, scooters and horns beeping everywhere.

12 January 2012 - 1.23pm:

As I've mentioned, I love all things associated to travelling, going somewhere new and the state, feeling and sense of wanderlust.
I took this photo just before our flight took off to Hanoi - where the little feeling of excitement of being on a plane going somewhere new took over.

11 January 2012 - 1.46pm:

What I loved about Hoi An were all the little alleyways in and around the city town. It was easy to get lost and caught up in all the back streets. This one in particular caught my eye as I was walking by - mainly because for a small second, I thought I was somewhere in Europe, given the scooters and the villa-town houses.

10 January 2012 - 11.39am:

Whilst spending a day trip to Hue, 3 hours from Hoi An, we visited the large Imperial Palace in the city centre. There was a large school of coy fish is a large pond, which swimming around slow and gently.

Our tour guide gave us a small bag of fish food to feed them - when we threw it in, all the fish went insane and jumped up and out of the water.

9 January 2012 - 4.53pm:

The view from our hotel overlooking the river was one that I couldn't get enough of - on this afternoon, the sun finally came out, and the view of the river was even more beautiful.

8 January 2012 - 2.48pm:

Hoi An was definitely one of the most beautiful cities I've been to. The weather wasn't the best during our time there, yet the dark greyness of the sky really made the colours of the city and its architecture stand out. It's easy to see the French influence on the area too.

7 January - 8.02am:

This photo was from breakfast at our hotel in Han Oi. The hotel we were staying at was absolutely incredible and had an amazing view of one of the main rivers running through the city town. Having such an amazing breakfast with such a beautiful view was definitely a highlight of the trip.

6 January 2012 - 12.35pm:

I took this photo during our flight from Nha Trang to Hoi An. I love to travel and love everything about travelling, yet I'm not the biggest fan of flying - since I absolutely hate tuburlence.
It's views and moments like this that I completely love about flying from one place to another - as wherever you go and wherever you're travelling, no one will ever have the exact same photo or view of the clouds and their formations as you.

5 January - 2.44pm:

We went to another bar in Nha Trang called the 'Lousiana Brewhouse', which is one of the best bars I've been to. It's a traditional brewery where they create their own beer, and it has an amazing setting with a massive pool in the middle of the main courtyard, surrounded by deck chairs and table seating.

It really was a stunning venue - and all of the tourists there could vouch for that.

4 January - 11.09am:

We went and visited one of the main attractions in Nha Trang, being the giant white Buddha. It's massively huge and pretty impressive when you see it up close in person. This was definitely a highlight of my time whilst in Nha Trang.

3 January 2012 - 6.37am

This was the amazing view I had waking up on this morning - right outside my hotel balcony. We had pretty bad weather when we arrived in Nha Trang the previous day, but waking up to this was literally amazing.

2 January 2012 - 8.57pm

In Nha Trang in Vietnam, we went to this amazing bar called the 'Sailor's Club'. The whole venue is right on the beach along the coast of Nha Trang, where at night, the whole place is dimly lit with fairy lights.

This photo is of the main entrance which has colour-lit small pools and bungalows surrounding - creating a sense and feeling of ultimately luxury.

1 January 2012 - 10.38am

I was running around SE Asia from the end of December to the end of January, so I never had much of an opportunity to start this actual blog until now.
Yet I did still start my photo diary in the sense of taking a photo each day from January 1st and recording their times in my phone.

1 January 2012 - 10.38am:

Whilst in Ho Chi Minh, I thought a good way to start off the year would be by going to an orphanage. It was something I've never done before, so I didn't really know what to expect.

The orphanage we went to was the Dieu Giac Orphanage, just out of the main city area. The orphanage is run by a group of monks. We met an Australian woman working there. There were around 40 kids living at the orphanage, and they were so incredibly gorgeous. Despite given each of their situations, they were still some of the happiest kids I've ever met.
This photo was taken when I sat down and had morning tea at one of the girls' table. They loved havign their photo taken, and kept calling me 'Barbie'. They really did manage to bring a big smile to your face.