Sale Season!!!

Viv is officially back from Melbourne now so yay, the companion I'm going to grow old with (as well as our 50 gazillion cats) is back in da house! She brought me back a present from Monica... Peter Alexander pj bottoms... apparently I didn't show enough gratitude so I present to you my tres adorable pink-overloaded PJ pants.....

Sale season started with a vengeance here... I walked into Ralph Lauren and the place resembled a giant bargain basement bin.... or is it basement bargain bin...not to mention the whole shop was packed with people... Anyway I deduced with my amazing analytical skills that something was up so I looked around and overheard the SA said that everything was 50% off!!!! So I unleashed the inner shopping beast that I usually keep locked away from the civilised world and went to work! It was late afternoon though so most of the good stuff were already gone... which is good since I'm spending money I should be sensibly spending on food instead of more clothing.... I got this polo and a black shirt for the dream job that I'm about to land any second now. The finance department of Louis Vuitton is still not answering my calls darn it!

Then I overheard on the radio today that there was a warehouse sale for Paris Texas... so I went to check it out with Viv... scored myself some cheap goodies... I won't bore you with the details but I have to show you this.... Paul Frank pj set for $20!!!! Deal of the century! Score!! I know what you are thinking..... I'm gonna look super duper adorable in them.... or super duper tragic... it's a very thin line I'm walking.... anyway I'm a happy camper.....

Life as An Unemployed Bum

Auckland on a glorious sunny day is unbeatable.

These shots were taken from the deck outside of Marty's work when I went to see him:

Shot of Rangitoto Island on a different day... sunny day, NZ Natural Ice Cream... meh, who cares if I'm unemployed.... apart from my credit card company, but that's a totally different story:

Now, being an unemployed bum is very stressful so you need lots of pampering. So I booked myself in for a 2.5 hour massage session at Bliss Reflexology... if you can call being pummelled by a tiny Asian woman for a long excruciating 150 minutes relaxing... She had surprisingly strong fingers that felt like drills on my soft back.

Relaxing atmosphere with soft lighting and seethroughy curtains:

Checked out the bathroom and it had a couple of funny Asian art on the wall. This was a model of the cup they used to drink out of in Ancient China times. By they, I mean the rich folks... or so I learned from the millions of hours I spent watching asian tv as a child:

This one was of the calligraphy tools they used:

The basin was a giant asian bowl:

My very own torture chamber:

Feet about to be pampered:

Afterwards, I went off to get one of my favourite asian dessert : Shau Sien Chau - warm grass jelly with dumplings and peanuts. Yum yum. Monica and I had this after our horrible climb up thousands of steps to a temple in Taiwan years ago. We still haven't forgiven you for that, Haz.

Yum!

So there you have it. Please keep me in your prayers. It is a hard life I'm having!

Weight Watchers Need Not Apply!

Mars Bar Cheesecake

Ingredients:
250g plain chocolate biscuits
150g butter, melted
2 tablespoons brown sugar
20g butter, extra
300ml thickened cream
50g milk chocolate, chopped finely
3 teaspoons gelatine
1/4 cup (60ml) water
2 x 250g packets cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
3 x 60g Mars bars, chopped finely

Steps:
Process biscuits until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add butter; process until just combined. Using one hand, press crumb mixture evenly over base and side of 21cm springform tin. Cover; refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm.

Meanwhile, combine brown sugar, extra butter and 2 tablespoons of the cream in small saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves to make butterscotch sauce.

Combine chocolate and another 2 tablespoons of the cream in another small saucepan. Stir over low heat until chocolate melts. Sprinkle gelatine over the water in small heatproof jug. Stand jug in small saucepan of simmering water. Stir until gelatine dissolves; cool 5 minutes.

Beat cheese and caster sugar in medium bowl with electric mixer until smooth. Beat remaining cream in small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Stir slightly warm gelatine mixture into cheese mixture with Mars bars. Fold in cream. Pour half of the cheese mixture into prepared tin. Drizzle half of the butterscotch and chocolate sauces over cheese mixture. Pull skewer backwards and forward through mixture several times to create a marbled effect. Repeat process with remaining cheese mixture and sauces. Cover cheesecake. Refrigerate 3 hours or until set.

Serves 8per serving 62.9g fat; 3477kj (832 cal)

Biscuit base :

Chopping up the Mars Bars finely:

All chopped up. I didn't sneak a taste... much:

Beating up the cream a bit as I bought normal cream instead of thickened cream. I had to run to the dairy to get this as I didn't realise it was on the ingredients list:

Viv snapped this photo of me being all domestic in my Oscar the Grouch jammies. Note the afro do. I just had it cut super short at the hairdressers. I might audition as a punk band singer who bakes secretly. She's ashamed of her girly side as she thinks it detracts from her rockstarness, ya see. Every good rock star needs a skeleton in her closet:

The cream cheese and caster sugar pre-beaten (I made 1.5 lot of cheesecake). I decreased the amount of caster sugar used. I know! I'm self control personified:

Cream cheese + sugar mixed together:

Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble. Slice of cheesecake goes out to the person that identifies where this quote is from.

Dissolving the gelatine which is always a pain to wash!

Making the butterscotch sauce which you can forget about if you want. The caramel in the mars bars does the trick already.

Melting the mars bars:

Goooooooooey:

Repeat after me : Cream cheese + a gazillion Mars Bars + sugar = Instantaneous Fat on Thighs

Oh but what a way to go. All mixed up:

All ready for the fridge. The big one and one of the smaller one were for ex-work mates (I still got your back, ladies) and the other little one was for Viv, the gym bunny. One of the things I do to amuse myself is to try and tempt her away from her rabbit food by making and buying totally sinful just-looking-at-it-will-make-you-fat type food.

It was only after I finished making the cheesecake that I remembered why I'd only made it once before (apart from the fact that the mere sight of it causes heart palpitations)... the recipe calls for the use of every single piece of pot and bowl I own:

All ready to be gobbled up. I sprinkled chocolate all over it because you know... it's too healthy without the chocolate:

Anyway my evil plan exploded in my own face. I had the cheesecake for breakfast, lunch and dinner today. Urgggh I can't even look at myself in the mirror. Darn you Viv and your super-human iron willpower.

Birthday Traditions

Growing up, birthdays were always occasions to be celebrated. With 2 adults and 6 kids in the family, we are talking about a LOT of cake especially since Mum used to get them custom made and they were always at least a pound heavy..... *cough* childhood obesity *cough*.

Mum always cook a big pot of chicken soup for the birthday breakfast. She makes THE best chicken soup hands down. I tried once, following her clear recipe (bit of ginger, bit of this, bit of that...) and failed. It tasted like chicken water. Urgh.

Noodles, hard boiled egg, succulent chicken drumstick, chicken soup.

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo goood.

We always have a cake. I chose my Hello Kitty chocolate cake and I felt the judgemental stare of the cashier when I paid for it.

I can't remember the last time I celebrated my birthday with the parents so it was great.

Happy 25th!!! Yes 25th. Shaddup.

Siem Reap - Kingdom of Wonder Day 2

Second day in Siem Reap was all about Angkor Wat which was the whole point of the trip. I was very excited and couldn't wait to climb the ancient stone steps, to walk in the footsteps of the ancient kings.

First stop was the ticketing office where we had to take a photo for our day pass.

Mum just had her photo taken. Now I would show you a pic of my pass because I am a very responsible blogger if nothing else. So its absence tells you just how yuck I looked.

Angkor is a name conventionally applied to the region of Cambodia that served as the seat of the Khmer empire that flourished from approximately the 9th century to the 15th century A.D. The word "Angkor" itself is derived from Sanskrit meaning city. The ruins of Angkor are located amid forests and farmland near modern day Siem Reap and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The temples of the Angkor area number over one thousand, ranging in scale from nondescript piles of brick rubble scattered through rice fields to the magnificent Angkor Wat, said to be the world's largest single religious monument. Angkor had been the largest preindustrial city in the world with an urban sprawl of 3000 square kilometres. (blurb stolen off Wikipedia. Wiki is my friend.)

As the place is HUGE, cars are allowed to go in and park as close to each temple where possible. This was the first entrance that we drove through and formed my first impression of Angkor. Excitement and that "Pinch me, I can't believe I'm here" feeling was what I first felt when I laid eyes on the first monument and these feelings stayed with me for the rest of the day.

This was part of the scene from the Hindu creation myth - Churning of the Sea of Milk. By pulling alternately on the body of the giant naga (multi-headed serpent) Vasuki, which was coiled around Mt Mandara, the gods and asuras (demons) rotate the mountain for 1000 years to churn the cosmic sea - the Sea of Milk - and so produce amarita, the elixir of immortality. The minute the elixir was created, the gods went back on their word to share the elixir with the asuras. Anyway this was the scene of the actual churning of the sea.

Angkor Wat is surrounded by a broad moat for the same reason as the Forbidden City - to keep enemies at bay.

One of the side entrances into the city.

There are over a thousand temples in Angkor and we went to 3 of them. First one we visited was The Bayon. It was built between late 12th to 13th century during the reign of Jayavarman VII and VIII. It used a mass of face-towers to create a stone mountain of ascending peaks. There were originally 49 towers but only 37 are standing today. Most are carved with 4 faces on each cardinal point but sometimes there are only 3 or even just 2.

There are 8 sections of intricate bas-reliefs (stone sculptures) to be found along the outer walls of the Bayon. These sculptures depicted battle scenes between Khmer and Cham:

There were also scenes of the everyday lives of these soldiers such as fighting cocks (gambling).

Heading into the inner section of the temple:

Climbing up the steep wooden steps brought us to the upper terrace with the wonderful views of the face-towers set against a background of trees.

One of the many face-towers which are used as shrines:

Obligatory tourist cheesy shot. Shaddup:

Me and me mummy:

Here's a short clip of the face-towers so you can see for yourself just how awesome it was! Note that the real thing was a million times better.


The Bayon was an amazing introduction to Angkor. Standing amongst all the face-towers, faced (geddit?? heheh) with the evidence of ancient mankind's resourcefulness and ultimate tribute to their gods, you can't help but be in awe no matter what your own religious beliefs are.

Next stop: Bapuon - the state temple of the Yasodharapura of King Udayadityavarman II. We didn't go inside as it was undergoing heavy restoration when we visited. We did walk the 172m raised causeway that led up to it though.

Mother was happy (no, make that eager) to bypass the climb up Bapuon.

There were lots of stalls around all the temple sites selling everything from cheap touristy T-shirts to higher-end oil paintings of Angkor Wat:

The second temple monastery we visited was Ta Prohm. It features a set of concentric galleries with corner towers and gopuras (monumental towers). This temple was chosen to be left in its natural state as an example of how most of Angkor looked on its discovery in the 19th century. It has been maintained in this condition of apparent neglect.

The trees that have grown intertwined among the ruins lend a certain eerie atmosphere to Ta Prohm. I felt like I was Indiana Jones and that I just discovered a lost civilization:

I felt dainty heheh:

How awesome does this look?

We didn't go inside these buildings!

I don't really have much to say about Ta Prohm so I thought I would let all the photos do the talking. It was amazing but for different reasons compared to the Bayon - the temple itself was nothing out of the ordinary (comparatively speaking!) but the giant silk-cotton trees and strangler figs that had somehow become a part of the architecture made it out of this world. I loved it!

On the way out of Ta Prohm:

We then had our lunch break at Tonle Sap Restaurant:

Buffet again:

In my defense, I had been walking heaps all morning.

First course - Pho:

Second course - miscellaneous hot food:

Third course - assorted steamed desserts:

Fourth course - fruits, sweet cakes and coconut cream sago soup:

Mum had this weird ice block made with real banana mashed in it:

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a rest as well as a much-needed outfit change. Not a good look walking around in sweltering heat with sweat pouring down one's face. Believe you me! There was only one thing on the agenda for the afternoon : Angkor Wat, the temple right at the centre of the 82 hectares compound.

Mum and I in front of the long walkway that would eventually lead us to the entrance to Angkor Wat.

Building on the side of the walkway - library where manuscripts were once kept.

There were quite a few monks there soaking up the atmosphere and I took the chance to take a few artistic wannabe shots of them with Angkor Wat in the background.

Angkor Wat is a microcosm of the Hindu universe. The moat represents the mythical oceans surrounding the earth and the succession of concentric galleries represent the mountain ranges that surround Mount Meru, the home of the gods. The towers represent the mountain's peaks. Basically, Angkor Wat is a pyramid of 3 levels, each one enclosed by a well-developed gallery with 4 gopuras and corner towers. The summit is crowned with 5 tower in a quincunx. (credits to Michael Freeman and Claude Jacques who wrote Ancient Angkor, a book I picked up at one of the stalls).

Like the Bayon, Angkor Wat also has extensive bas-reliefs (stone sculptures) all along the exterior walls of the ground level.

See that tiny light at the end of the tunnel? That was the end of the corridor and there were intricate bas-reliefs all along the walls. Mind-boggling.

Another corridor with lotus flower carvings on the ceiling:

We then headed up to the third level towards the towers of the central sanctuary.

One of the corner towers on the third level:

Bad news: the central sanctuary was off-limits due to some heavy duty restoration that was happening when we were there. Boo!

One of the doorways on the third level:

Close-up of the crazy intricate carving:

These were the steep steps leading up to the central sanctuary.

Our tour guide told us this sad tale - A lady was halfway up these stairs when she slipped and fell. She died as a result and the husband had the steps on the side put in in memory of her. Sniff sniff.

We then headed back down to the second level where 4 rectangular stone basins were. The king would bathe/cleanse himself here before continuing on to the central sanctuary for worship.

One last shot of a solitary monk gazing at Angkor Wat.

We walked out to the closest carpark to wait for the driver and these kids came up to us peddling their wares. The one talking to Mum was adorable. She reeled off all the sentences she could say in different languages. She asked us where we were from and then said KL is the capital of Malaysia. Smart kid.

Last activity for the day involved walking up a hill to watch the sun set over Angkor Wat. Mum said bags not and opted for a leisurely ride up to the top on the back of an elephant instead. US40 for the two of us!

This was our ride. He was quite cheeky as you can probably tell from the pic.

I saw heaps of elephant poo all along the track to the top. Hansel should have used that to mark his trail instead of breadcrumbs!

The guy controlled the elephant by putting pressure on the ears, kinda like treating the ears the way you would car pedals.

Constant rubbing on the same spot had the same effect as me wearing ridiculously high heels for hours on end - blisters and sore looking wounds. Poor elephant.

Clip of the elephant ride where you'll see the elephant swatting itself with a branch and the guy whistling a tune using a tree leaf:


There was another temple at the top of the hill. Don't know its name so I can't give you any info on it.

We had to climb these very steep and tiny steps to get up there.

Obviously this was the IN place to kick back and watch the sunset!

The towers of Angkor Wat peeking out from between trees:

Mum feeling proud of herself for climbing up those steep steps:

Can you spot Wally, I mean the monk?

We left just before the sun set as we were going to walk down the hill ourselves. Last view of the temple ruins:

Last dinner in Siem Reap was on the most popular street - the one where all the restaurants and pubs were located.

We ate at a funky Thai restaurant.

Watermelon juice:

Hey, I didn't know I own a bookshop in Siem Reap and it's successful too!!! Asia's #1 choice for books.. not too shabby at all!

The next day, I had juice and cereal for my breakfast. I'd finally od-ed on hotel buffet breakfasts.

I was amused to see that the Korean ladies at the table next to ours brought their own kimchi.

Bye, hotel!

Pic taken from the plane:

Mum sitting next to the empty seat which should have been Dad's. I really enjoyed Siem Reap and it is a real pity that Dad missed it because I know he would have loved it too. Next up, Bangkok!!