Vientiane – Laos – May 2011

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Laos, Vientiane

A work trip to Vientiane

In the first year of my posting to Beijing, in 2011, I had the opportunity to travel to Laos to attend a conference and whilst there, we had half a day off to walk around the small capital city of Vientiane.

It was so incredibly hot so we started off walking along the Mekong River looking at the local homes and one huge building which we were told was to be a new hotel – bit out of place with the other homes.

 

And then Thailand in the distance, across the Mekong…

The city as I mentioned was quite small; with many temples and other interesting buildings with lovely architecture.

We saw what is regarded as the most important national monument in Laos and the national symbol; the Great Stupa which is a gold-covered large Buddhist stupa in the centre of Vientiane and built in the 3rd century.

Vientiane was a pretty clean place and I think very similar to some other Asian cities with the obligatory tuk tuk; cute but the one we got in was rather shabby and in need of quite a bit of work.

We ate lunch at local corner restaurant; good food and clean inside and the boys enjoyed the local beer.

I think Laos is a place I need to return to see other places apart from the capital…maybe one day!!

Sage Restaurant – Canberra – ACT – Australia – November 2016

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ACT, Australia, canberra, Degustation, Vegan

My Vegan Degustation Lunch

Sage restaurant is located in a suburb about a five minute walk from the centre of Canberra and it’s quaint and cosy; while remaining a fine dining restaurant. It’s definitely a place to go to celebrate a special occasion which we did – a friend’s 40th birthday.

When you arrive you walk through lovely greenery to a historic building where the tables are set with white tablecloths.

The gardens are lovely in spring but a little too warm to sit out in the middle of the day in summer so we sat inside.  The gardens have an outside bar with a range of  cocktails and fresh herbs are grown amongst the tables, and local and international wines and beers are served.

We all enjoyed five course degustation menu and the restaurant catered for me with vegan dishes.  First arrived some local sourdough bread with butter but I forgot to photograph the bread so I can only show the butter and salt.  Oops!!

Our first courses were sugar cured salmon with whipped tahini and for me a poached parsnip with mandarin, sage and fennel salt.  We all thought my first course seemed a little small on the plate and I was a bit concerned I might be left hungry; no such feeling…food was plentiful even to the stage I was sharing my last main….guess chef knows best!!

After a short break, our second course arrived, which was a tea smoked duck with nettle puree and the vegan dish was a textured carrot with sesame and cumin.

Feeling a little full, I continued on and were all served a mushroom risotto; with the parmesan cheese replaced with shaved vegan cheese for me. After this course, I was definitely full!!

Our last main dish was lamb rump with parsnip puree, dukkah, Jerusalem artichoke with lemon and macadamia and I was served roasted eggplant with tomato consume, pepper oil and nori covered button mushrooms.

I have been to this restaurant once before and I think it’s my absolute favourite in Canberra.  The food is absolutely delicious.

Our dessert and final dish was chocolate mousse with salted caramel and mine was very special: gin compressed pineapple with nitrogen frozen coconut…great way to finish off a fabulous meal.  Loved it!!

Excellent restaurant; fabulous food and wonderful company!!

Wineries at Martinborough – New Zealand – November 2016

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Martinborough, New Zealand, wineries

A day tour to Martinborough 

Whilst in Wellington, my friend Jane booked us a day tour to Martinborough to visit several wineries.  She chose Martinborough as it’s only an hour or so on the train from Wellington.  The day we chose to go, was the only day in the year in Wellington where the trains are free to ride, (grr but we didn’t know!!), so when we arrived at the station, there were hundreds of people trying to get on our 10am train so we missed out and had no idea what to do.

Customer Service at the station was fabulous and told us they were putting on a free coach for people who had purchased train tickets to get to the wineries.  Amazing!!

We finally arrived in Martinborough and were driven around the town along with our extremely friendly tour guide.  There was probably about fifteen of us on the tour so nice and small.

Our first stop was to Murdoch James winery where we enjoyed a wine tasting (I actually didn’t taste many wines as the wines were mostly red in Martinborough and I don’t drink red wine – but it was worth the trip to see the lovely countryside).

The grounds were green and lush and I took a quick look around before we were back on the bus to check out another winery.

After our next winery we stopped at a lovely little town and enjoyed a ploughman’s lunch with glass of wine.  Jane and I also took the opportunity to peruse the sweet little shops selling all sorts of items from candles to clothes.  Completely over-priced but nice to browse for a few minutes.

Our next stop was to Muirlea Wines which is a small winery handed down from father to son.  We were given a history lesson on the winery and how to make wine…boy does this sound tough work – I think I will stick to just drinking!

Our next winery was a larger one, with a beautiful white clad home, a gorgeous cellar door and fabulous flowering wisteria and roses.

Again all red wines at this winery, so I took my usual walk around the grounds looking at the lovely mountains and olive trees.

I loved seeing the chickens roaming free with the world’s biggest chicken coup in the corner of the property.  The chickens were pretty tame too; on occasions to their detriment (read on).

Our tour guide had told us that the owner had a lovely and friendly big dog who usually roamed the property and always came up to the coach to see if there were any unsuspecting tourists with snacks on board.  On this occasion, he was tied up in his kennel and the owner told us this was because he had been chasing the chickens that morning and killed one.  Bad dog!!

This winery had lovely sparking wine which I enjoyed tasting, but a bit expensive so I didn’t buy any and the thought of lugging it back to Canberra didn’t appeal to me either.

Then to the train station to see if the train was full (again due to the free train travel); and as expected it was, so we were taken back to Wellington on our coach.

A wonderful day out!!

Doors & Doorways of China (1) – PRC – 2010-2014

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China PRC, Doorways

Some things I love about China

I know a lot of people love doorways and doors; I am not sure what the attraction is but I really love them too.  Throughout my travels around China I saw many bright and interesting doors and doorways and not only the that, I was also very interested in the sculptures placed at the doors’ entrance.  So I might post some photos and a little bit of information about the sculptures.  So here we go…

Many doors around China have drum-shaped stone sculptures which are usually placed in pairs at the entrance of the house. There are two shapes – round and a door-guarding lion.  Let’s see the drums first…

The drum surface is usually carved with embossed patterns of flowers, grass, animals and deity animals.  However lions and lotus as the most commonly used patterns.

Though as we know, the priority of a door is to keep the house safe, in ancient China, to decorate it was an important way to show the house owners social status.

So now onto the lions…Chinese guardian lions can be found at the doorways and always in pairs, a male on the left and a female on the right. The male is always with its right claw over an embroidered ball to represent power. And under the left claw of the female can be found a baby lion, which is said to represent the family will have many offspring.

Statues of guardian lions have traditionally stood in front of Chinese Imperial palaces and many other places including temples and the homes of government officials and the wealthy and were believed to have powerful mythic protective benefits. But I must say the two I brought home from Beijing really have no mythical power; they just look nice outside my home in Australia – well I hope they do anyway…

So back to some nice doors I found in China; colourful and just interesting…hope you find that too…

Chamonix – Mont Blanc – France – 2008

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Chamonix, France, Mont Blanc, sightseeing

An overnight trip whilst in France 

Whilst in Lyon, our friend gave us more ideas for overnight travel so our next destination was to Chamonix – Mont Blanc.  The train trip was relaxing and the train stations around this area are just beautiful with huge pots of colourful flowers adorning the station.

Both Sandy and I had a little sleep on the train and when I did look out the window, I quickly grabbed my camera and took some photos of the beautiful green and lush fields.

It was cold outside but nice and warm inside the train and as we approached Chamonix, I looked out the window and saw these magnificent snow capped mountains; I couldn’t believe how spectacular they were!!

When we arrived in Chamonix, it was freezing cold but what a lovely little town.  Our first sight were the mountains behind the gorgeous train station…again stunning!!

We walked a little bit through the town down to our lovely hotel and as we only had overnight bags, it was not a problem over the cobblestone streets.

After checking in we went for a walk around the town and found a lovely pub where we sat and chatted to some locals.

The next day we went out into the cold and took some photos of the stream running along the side of our hotel, [which I could see from my hotel window] followed by lunch at a local restaurant.

Unfortunately the chairlift to Mont Blanc was not working due to the severe weather, which was a real shame as we definitely wanted to go up the mountain, but all in all we had a wonderful time and absolutely loved Chamonix.

We did see a rather strange shop in the town which had lots of huge animals [toys]…no idea who buys them…maybe for xmas???

Geneva – Switzerland – 2008

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Europe, Geneva, Switzerland

A day in Geneva

Whilst travelling around France and the UK in 2008, my friend Sandy and I caught the train to Geneva for the day…actually I wanted to buy a Longines watch so off we went and did a bit of a walking tour of the city as well.

We walked around part of Lake Geneva which is quite beautiful and surrounding parks which in October were stunning.

We found a small cafe/pub and decided to have lunch.  I knew that Geneva was expensive but it was incredibly expensive ($75 AUD for a veggie burger and some chips and calamari along with a drink each – this was ten years ago so we did blink a few times at the bill!!).

Lovely sights along the Lake…

And some lovely apartment blocks…

And I did buy a lovely Longines watch, that I still have to this day!!