my video used on a Czech website! - Dalat's 'Crazy House'

"Where Imagination Knows No Bounds. Hang Nga, Craziest Hotel in the World"

I received an email through my YouTube account from a Czech website, asking for permission to use parts of one of my videos on their website! Cool.

Above is the link to the website with the video... haha... as I watched what they put together I was thinking - Wow... I actually did a good job of getting a little of everything at this Crazy House!  :P

Vietnamese lottery ticket!

I pass the guy below often... and think he's pretty awesome. 

He sells daily lottery tickets from his cart in pajamas every morning!

I bought a lottery ticket from him for 10,000d (about 50 cents)... so that I could then ask to take his picture, of which he obliged.  :)

My buying this Disney lottery ticket caused a bit of a crowd around the man's cart! Ha! 

Now that I had a lottery ticket, had to try and figure out what to do with it...

There's a lottery shop on Phan Xich Long... the main street in my neighborhood (shown below). I went there... realized that the date on the sign outside was for winning tickets the day before... and the date on my ticket was for the next day... so I went back the next day...

Well... sorry to disappoint you all by telling you that my ticket was NOT a winner. 

...But it was fun to figure out how to play the Vietnamese lottery!

BALI FAVORITES

[How did I miss posting this from my Bali trip last July??? ...Coming to you now!]

Some of my favorite photos from my week in Bali  :D

Ubud

sunset in Seminyak

window reflection of beach in Seminyak

Sardine Restaurant in Seminyak

Sanur

Sanur

Ubud

Ubud

textures in Bali

[How did I miss posting this from my Bali trip last July??? ...Coming to you now!]

The photos below are some of my favorites from the the week in Bali!!

Great textures, great colors... great culture!

in the countryside just outside of Ubud...

in Ubud...

in Seminyak...

in Seminyak...

in Legian-Seminyak area...

in Ubud...

statues in Bali

[How did I miss posting this from my Bali trip last July??? ...Coming to you now!]

There are stone carvings and small, religious statues all over the island of Bali. (Most of the photos below were taking in Ubud.)

food in Bali (YUM!!!)

[How did I miss posting this from my Bali trip last July??? ...Coming to you now!]

The food in Bali was awesome.

I enjoyed the local dishes and treats... as well as some really faboulous Western style dishes. Great cafes and restaurants to be found on the island!

Fresh fruit plate with my breakfast in Sanur :)

I went to a local streetside restaurant in Sanur and the waitress recommended the 

cap-cay to me when I asked for vegetarian-something.

Cap-cay is a vegetable soup with rice and a very flavorful broth.

Morning latte with heart biscuit and fresh watermelon juice :D

Lime juice with soda water!

(In Vietnam we call this a soda chanh, and it's one of my favorites!)

Nasi Goreng... an Indonesian dish that consists of fried rice with vegetables (sometimes seafood as well) and an egg on top.

Oh my, this is my favorite find in Bali! I wish we had these in Vietnam... but that'd be really dangerous for me. These are Dadar Gulung, which are Balinese pandan leaf pancakes (which makes it the green color) with shredded coconut inside, and sometimes sweetened with palm sugar!

Mmmmhmmmm...

when in need of a treat in Saigon...

When in need of a treat in Saigon...
A delicious-feel-good-but-not-good-for-me treat...
I like to go to...

L'Usine for a Sweet n' Sour cupcake!

Pacharan for a 1/2-price Sangria between 5:00 and 7:00pm

or Black Cat for the biggest and best-est latte in the city! (AND it comes with a biscuit!)

bambo bikes for my birthday!

Backtracking a bit here...

My birthday was on August 18th... and it was great. I celebrated the start to another year in my life... as well as another year in Vietnam ...with good friends and fun activities!

Elizabeth, Donna, and I rented bamboo bicycles from Mekong Creations and cruised around the Phu My Hung area for a while... stopping at Boomerang for lunch.

E was truly stylin' with the conical hat over the helmet!

And Donna sported her GoPro camera to get footage of the ride.

Everyone as the shop was pretty stoked that we wanted to rent the bicycles!

(The rental was free! ...We just needed to leave our passports with them.

I'm still not sure if that's how it always is or if it was a special day... I think it was a promotion that we happened to hit at the right time.)

The bamboo bicycles were pretty awesome! If it were more affordable to ship something like a bicycle from here back to the States... I'd totally send one to my brother, Lenny, in Denver  :)

A Skype call with my parents and grandma rounded out a GREAT birthday!

I love this photo above! 

Usually my dad Skypes with me upside down.

Well... usually it's my mom and I Skyping... 

and my dad makes an upside down entrance!  :P

funeral bus

Traffic was backed up a few mornings ago while heading to work in the morning...

Turns out, there was a funeral about to begin...

lotus update

My orchids from last weekend are still as gorgeous as ever...

But the lotus flowers have seen better days and are at their end (yet... still beautiful) :

comforts of food and drink

Last year I liked Saigon well enough... and knew that I could be happy here for my two-year contract. (The amazing travel opportunities help!)

This year... I feel as if I'm already trying to soak up what time I have left (even though it's almost a year!)... and I have grown to really adore this city in many ways.

ONE way that I adore this city... is its amazing food, drink, and cafes! (Well... maybe that's more than one way... but I really do love them.)

Below are some photos that I've collected since being back in Vietnam after an amazing summer break... I found myself wanting to take photos of various food and drinks because they're pretty and/or delicious... so now I've compiled them and am sharing them here (...also, because I think it's funny how drink-heavy the photos are... I love the lattes and juices here!)

Au Parc dips  :)

Liquid heavy a bit?

Mmmm a new favorite tea company of mine... from India

Chai! (I brought the Tazo chai from home... packed two boxes and they felt like some of the most precious things that made the journey back with me. I'm sad to type that I'm already 1/2-way through the 2nd --and last-- box!)

I found a recipe for a pumpkin smoothie -- it was delicious!

Aaaand a new favorite of mine... a hot lime juice... (with a sushi lunch)

chanh nóng

I made my own at home too  :)

GOLDFISH!

I was pretty stoked to find these in an expat grocery shop one day.