Lao airlines new website

I am seriously impressed with Lao Airlines' new website. They have a schedule of prices that represent the maximum price- why don't all the other airlines do this? I want to go to Laos next year and think I will be looking up the flights here and contacting my travel agent in Vientiane to make the booking.

http://www.laos-airlines.com/index.asp

Don't get Lao airlines mixed up with Lao Air as I nearly did. I tried to add Lao Air to Wikipedia last year, but couldn't work out how. Hopefully someone has put it on there already. Lao Air flies to the more remote provincial capitals only, ie Sam Neua, Phongsali and Sainyabouli. Their their only booking office is at the domestic airport and this airlines is not very well known. I did fly with them and are a bit unreliable because they rely on sight to fly and when it gets foggy, which it often does in the mountains, they can't fly. I showed up and the airport for the flight and it was closed and instead took at 24 hour bus trip home from Sam Neua to Vientiane.

Aria

October is good food month in Sydney. I always try to go out to one of the rated restaurants offering a lunch special in October and have never been disappointed. This year I chose to go to Aria by the Opera House and I really enjoyed the food, service and atmosphere there- a totally worthwhile experience.

We ate:

roast barramundi fillet with gamberetti and a pea and zucchini risotto

with a glass of 2007 Brown Brothers' Vermentino, Coopers' Pale Ale or San Pellegrino and tea or coffee at $35.00 per person.

The fish was very moist and the cheese flavoured, green risotto too. I don't think I'm going to be able to make it to one of the fancy hotels for the dessert specials this year, but there will always be next year!

Friends visiting from Laos

My Lao friends came to visit! A couple of people from my office in Laos came for a conference and leadership development training over four weeks for people with disabilities in the Asia Pacific region. I took my friends on the train because one of them had never been on a train before. I was pleased when a shiny new millenium train pulled up and not some old dirty one. We caught the train over the bridge to Chatswood where the hideous discount stores near the station are still 'closing down'. Sydney is not beautiful here. I took them out to have pho for the first time during their trip. While they eat this nearly everyday, they were missing rice- based dishes. They were complaining about the quantity of bread and sandwiches they had over the past week. The first thing my friend did was dump a huge quantity of chillis on top of his pho for flavour and energy.

They missed papapya salad so we went to a Thai restaurant, Saap Thai, that has north- eastern Thai dishes. They got a fix of sticky rice too. That's the thing I love about Sydney- the variety. My friends ordered in Thai language, and I agreed with them that we could have been in Thailand. The next night we managed to have kangaroo larp, Thai/ Lao spicy salad with a distinctly Australian touch. Crocodile Senior Thai on George St completely aced this. The chilli and snake beans went really well with the roo meat. I came up with this idea independently also, cooking kangaroo larp when I came home. My Lao friend said that when he read the email that I had cooked this roo larp he laughed out really loud! I reminded him there is one kangaroo in Laos in the zoo...

The next weekend I took my Lao friends to the beach. One of my friends had never seen the ocean or the beach in his 25 years. It was funny that his shoes got wet when the wave came in! Then we had a beer at Bondi Icebergs- what a beautiful spot! I had never been there before, but I liked it because of the unobstructed views, it's casual and you can watch people do ocean swims and surf.

It was great to see them and they promised they wouldn't forget me.

Triathlon Pink- my first triathlon

I participated in a triathlon for the first time in my life! I had lots of fun. Triathlon Pink was a women's only triathlon that raised money for breast cancer. It was held at Sydney's Olympic park. I liked the emphasis on being fun and participating. I did the longest event which was 300m swim, 9km bike ride, 3km run. There were about 1000 people that participated on the day over 4 events. They were great to give you a bit of coaching beforehand. It took a bit to get myself organised- I had to have my swim gear, biking gear and running gear.

The swim- I expected this to be my worst event but I ended up being ranked lower for the bike ride. I swam breast stroke for pretty much all the way- I wish I could've swam freestyle but I haven't been able to do that since I was an 11 year old kid. That's something to work on. It was fun getting to swim in that Olympic pool- I've never had the chance to do it before! I ran 250m to my bike and very quickly put on my clothes.

The bike ride- I had my bike seat really low- I had forgotton to adjust it after a mountain bike ride the week before. Something to remember for next time! I liked the bike ride, and didn't really go out too hard at all. I was so cruisy about it my ranking for this leg was the worst! I parked my bike and changed hats for the run.

The run- I felt hot and sticky in my swimmers- not a pleasant feeling! I ran all the way, but didn't really push myself too much. This ended up being my best event, even though I felt like I didn't do it very well.

Bring on the next triathlon!

Lao words

I've tried to make a list of Lao words that I came across which I thought were interesting because of their literal meanings. Some are just so logical which made it easy to learn the language.

Literal meaning translated to English- what the word means

Vicks tree- Gum tree
Clean plastic bag- condom
Chewing gum- foreigner's fruit
Understand- touch heart
Sour water- vinegar
Sour milk- yogurt
Flying boat- plane
Mother of water- river

The Kitchen play

I went to see this play which was a 2nd year NIDA production at the Parade Theatre. It is a play by Sir Arnold Wesker. I thought the play was ok but my friends didn't really like it but it would have helped if we had read the brochure and understood what it was about before we saw it. It is a play set in a kitchen of a big restaurant and looks into the lives and relationships of the workers. According to the director 'The Kitchen is a satiric portrait of the world which has its own unique hierarch and limitations... orignally the play reflected the social and racial tensions in London int he late 1950s...'

The set looked great, the acting was pretty good but my friends agreed that the actors needed to work on their foreign accents. I do recommend watching plays at NIDA. They're around $25 and it's good to see the upcoming talent. I saw the play 'Closer' a few years back and it was the best play I have ever seen.

Q&A- participating in democracy

I was in the studio audience of Q&A, a show on the ABC where you can question politicians and other public sector figures. I wasn't brave enough to ask the a question this time! The show is designed to demonstrate democracy in action. It's easy to be part of the studio audience. All you have to do is sign up on www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda . This is who I saw on the night:

• Waleed Aly, author, lawyer, academic and star of Salam Café on SBS
• Tony Abbott,Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs & the Voluntary Sector
• Maxine McKew, former broadcaster and nowParliamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education and Child Care
• Margaret Fitzherbert,former adviser to the Howard Government, and author of a book on Liberal women
• Robert Manne, academic, author and former editor of Quadrant magazine.

Sydney running festival half- marathon

I decided to run this half- marathon (21.1km!) after doing the 14km City to Surf without too much of a problem. It was good that it got me getting fit and running- I don't think I've been for a run since! I also discovered there are good running tracks people have mapped on www.mapmyrun.com and www.sydneystriders.org.au. The race started at Milson's Point at 6:20am. It was good because there wasn't that many people, well, compared to City 2 Surf and I could park near the area and walk to the start. There was no drinking water that I could see at the start line, but it only took 15 minutes to wait in the line for the toilet.

I aimed to keep a constant pace to finish in 2hrs 15 minutes.

Start- 5km I crossed the start line about 3 minutes after the gun went off. I started running across the bridge. I could see a guy from Sydney Striders with a flag that said 2 hours that you can follow if you want, which I thought was a good idea. I wouldn't be able to keep up though. Pretty comfortable for the first 4km, enjoying the views.

5-10km- kept running and realised it would be a challenging pace to keep up the pace. I was generally 30 seconds within my split times for each kilometre. I could see the race leaders had turned around and were running back and it was good to see them and cheer them on.

10- 15km- I was okay until about km 15 when I touched the psychological barrier of running further than I had before in a race! I had thoughts of 'when will this end' and where I stopped running for a few of steps a couple of times, that is other than my drink breaks which I walked through. I started getting a bit behind on my split times around km 14-15 which got me down a bit.

15- 21km- I felt a bit of pain in the knees at km 15- 16 but I managed to ignore it after that. I wasted a bit of time having an energy gel and drinking a lot of water with it. At least I didn't fell so hungry after I ate it. I felt like ran the last 4 kilometres pretty hard but I don't think I actually went much faster. My heart rate sure went up. I was pretty happy when I got to the wharfs around the Rocks and happier when I saw the Opera house. Running on the planks of wood outside the Park Hyatt hurt my legs. I wasn't sure whether I would finish on my targeted time. I did eventually finish within the time I aimed for 2:14:12 which I was pleased with.

Then I got home and thankfully made it on time to my grandma's 91st birthday lunch at 11:30!

Special Lao moments

I've had some time to reflect on the moments that have been unique in Laos- not necessarily good, but things I won't forget that added to the experience.

• Having my backyard lit up with fireflies
• Children 10m up a tamarind tree next door, picking the fruit and singing Thai pop songs out loud
• Eating crickets/ grasshoppers, stinkbugs and waterbugs
• Drinking cicada infused wine
• Checking a bird for bird- flu before it was killed for my lunch- this was around 20-50km from a bird flu village
• Drinking from one of two shot glasses at the entrance to a wedding with 600 guests
• 30c coconut or soy drinks, and meals costing 50c- $1 US
• Seeing a large jar of rice wine at a festival with a straw and sign reading 'free alcohol please try'
• A baby snake sticking its head out of the drain as I had my shower
• Pigs on the roof of the bus squealing as the bus went around the corner
• Showing up at the airport and the airport being closed, flight cancelled
• Spending three lots of 24hrs on the bus during the first three months of 2008
• Wrapping a book cover in paper due to concern that the government wouldn't agree with the book
• Listening to a driver rabbit on in Lao language about having 3 wives, each in different towns and being able to understand most of it

Saying cheers

Whilst dining out with my boyfriend's extended family one of his relatives asked what is the equivalent of saying cheers in Laos.

My boyfriend and I replied 'sukaphap keng heng' which translates to something like may you be hard and strong in health. His Lao aunty who had left Laos as a child in the 1970s laughed at us. She said that's what the Communist people say to which we replied, well, they're all Communist there. Apparently the Australian Lao would usually say something usual like wishing good health, long life etc.

Madang

This is a Korean restaurant tucked away between George and Pitt Streets and it was absolutely full of Korean people- a good sign. This was actually my first ever Couchsurfing event. I found out about on the Couchsurfing Sydney forum. What a great night this was.

A Korean woman working in Sydney ordered the food for us including rice wine, Korean bbq pork and vegetables, rice in hot cast-iron bowl and other spicy stews. She showed us how to eat it too such as what condiments go with what. It was the perfect food for this cold night. It was also good to be able to have a chat with people from France, America, Germany working or studying in Sydney as well as Sydney- siders interested in cultural exchange.

I felt like I ate a lot of food and when we split the bill it came to just $15. I think it's the cheapest Korean restaurants I have eaten at. I will definitely be back. This place is busy so be prepared to wait for a table. It has one of the best ratings on www.eatability.com I've seen- they're a tough bunch!

371A Pitt St
Sydney NSW 2000

Chat Thai

This is an incredibly popular Thai restaurant. The Sydney Morning Herald recently gave it a positive review. I went there before 6 on a weeknight and it was already pretty full but I managed to share a table without a booking. The decor is modern and you can see the old wooden structures and I think it looks great. Service is quick.

The food was great value- quick and cheap. We had a larp and a plate of grilled pork. They serve my beloved sticky rice I ate with my meal. The hot coffee was disappointing though- while they advertised it as 100% arabica, I have some doubts. I'd definitely go back but would make sure I booked!

Grilled pork $10.50
Larp chicken $10.50
Sticky rice $3.50

20 Campbell Street
Sydney NSW 2000

Govindas

This is a vegetarian buffet restaurant run by Hare Krishnas with a movie room upstairs. The food here was excellent and far exceeded my expectations. Some foods I enjoyed there include:

Spicy vegetable soup with barley and lots of coriandar
Lasagne with lentils topped with mashed potato and cheese
Cauliflower fritters in a spicy batter
Penne with tomato sauce- simple but a quality dish

Dessert is not part of the buffet and can be ordered separately. Service is reasonable, the restaurant is a comfortable place to relax and chat. The movie room is very comfortable with couches rather than chairs. They tend to show arthouse films. I saw 'Happy go lucky' about the everyday life of a primary school teacher in London.

Initially I did think for a vegetarian buffet it was expensive but given the good quality of the food and the movie being cheap I decided it was entirely worthwhile.

Buffet $19.50
Movie $8
112 Darlinghurst Road Darlinghurst

Taj Indian Sweets and Restaurant

This is a vegetarian restaurant that I do recommend. I really enjoyed the food here and managed to try several dishes I hadn't tried before. It was a good place to eat because it was really cheap, tasty, not too far from home with plenty of parking and I was with vegetarian friends. There is a huge cabinet of Indian sweets in the front counter and the cheese dumpling in spiced syrup my friend had and the milk- based one I had was delicious.

I had not had a samosa in the style they had- cut up with coriandar, chilli sauce and yoghurt on top. So yummy. I could actually taste the yoghurt in the vegetable curry and really enjoyed it. The naans were a bit cold though. My friend showed me how to punch a hole in the puri, put in a little spiced pototo and fill it up with broth then pop it in your mouth. This was all new and exciting for me.

Dinner for 4 was $60 and we were full. It operates as a take- away joint so you pay up front. The atmosphere is like any cheap Asian food joint- could be cleaner, you have to collect your own cutlary but is okay. There are Indian grocery stores around here too- I finally got the cheap dried chickpeas I'd been looking for!

91 Wigram St
Harris Park NSW 2150

Pink Peppercorn

I chose this restaurant in my search for something Lao- this is a 'Modern Lao' restaurant. It describes itself as a Lao fusion restaurant, rather than being Lao food. I enjoyed the food, but thought it was of moderate value only, so I probably wouldn't go back.

The ocean trout with dill was something special, it was reminiscent of the flavours in Laos. One meat dish was great, with lots of different spices, but the other was average because it was too oily and it just tasted like a usual Asian stir fry. I think they did the chicken larp well too. The serving sizes were a bit above average which was good to see- the sizes are ideal for sharing. There are some things I think they shouldn't have messed with- the rice and the papaya salad. Sticky rice is the staple in Laos but I don't know why they didn't serve it. Also, the papaya salad was perfect but for some reason they served it with a small quantity of grilled chicken. I just didn't think it was necessary. I would have been happier if they just kept it a salad and preferably charged a salad or entree price. I did like the service- they were very friendly, and the setting was happy, clean and bright.

I can't find the menu online to check the prices, but they were between $20 and $25 per person. Desserts were $11. Corkage is $3 per person which is reasonable.

122 Oxford Street
Darlinghurst NSW 2010

Tel : +61 2 9360 9922

Parent's feed babies coffee creamer in Laos

I have been seeing on the news that people in Laos have been inadvertently feeding their babies coffee creamer. The bear with a baby logo on the baby formula is the same as the one on the coffee creamer. Sometimes they use it exclusively, especially if the mother is sick or has died. This is so sad. I'm glad someone did this research though, evidence is what we need before things can be improved. This was published in the British Medical Journal here:

Misperceptions and misuse of Bear Brand coffee creamer as infant food: national cross sectional survey of consumers and paediatricians in Laos

Priced out of weight loss camp

I know about weight loss camps from American children’s movies. Some American’s I’ve spoken say the really do refer to them as ‘fat camps’. This article explains that these camps are expensive- up to $1000 per week. Health insurance doesn’t cover them, but argues that they should.

A girl named Tiffany wrote an essay which won her a ‘campership’ to be able to participate in a weight loss camp. It does concern me that she is nearly 300 pounds. It’s touching because she said she has been depressed since she was 7 because her dad died. Also, she said she wants to be able to wear a bikini when she’s 14 and wear a nice prom dress. It concerns me that she has to think about this stuff when she’s so young! It’s interesting the comment that due to these essays they have to reveal some personal stuff which can then be used to market the camp.

City 2 Surf

The City to Surf is a 14km run held every year in Sydney. It has 70,000 participants. I ran it 5 years ago with a time of 118 minutes. I’ve become much fitter during the past year from riding my bike, participating in aerobics and netball in Laos. It’s a fun race to do with great views, pretty easy and lots of people with some in costume. This year they could more accurately time you than in previous years. That’s because this year you have a timing chip attached to your shoe which records the time you cross the start line is recorded, and a more accurate time of when you cross the finish line. Previously I was stuck behind the start line for at least 5 minutes after the starting gun which is when the timing used to start. Previously your finish time was an estimate also. I agree with my boyfriend who said it was harder to get to the race by train than running the race itself!

Km 1-2 I jogged quite slowly. I was still a touch cold from lining up with just t-shirt and shorts on a Sydney at the end of km 2.

Km- 3-4 is where I actually started to sweat, but only slightly

Km 5-6 I ran steadily, chatting to my boyfriend and enjoying the band and views

Km 7-8 I think this is where Heartbreak Hill was- an elevation of only 90m. I jogged up that slowly and after that I started picking up the pace a bit because it was generally downhill.

Km 9-12 I was just running at this steady faster pace. I felt slightly sleepy and didn’t want to talk anymore. I think this is where getting more than 4.5 hours sleep would have helped.

Km 13 Was running a bit faster

Km 14 I ran pretty hard and finished strong. Unfortunately they put up the pictures as I came over the finish line on the website showing I was trying pretty hard!

I was pleased with my time of 97:30 which means next year I can start in a faster group. I should be able to easily knock off another 10 minutes because I stopped for a toilet break and I could have run kilometres 7-12 faster because they were downhill.

Lao Olympians

I was so pleased when I saw Laos walk out into the opening ceremony with four athletes! A couple of my friends coached them. One trained the athletes, and the other trained the swimmers. Some of the challenges they overcame include:

• Raising some cash to buy them some sporting gear
• Informing them of the importance of keeping hydrated
• Washing before you get in the pool to keep it clean
• Organising an expat vs Lao national swim team meet where the swimmers would get real racing experience
• Supporting the government in completing the administrative procedures to get the athletes to the Olympics

I'm glad Laos could participate!

Missing Laos

I think about khao piak, Lao soft noodles in a broth thickened with tapoica and topped with fried pork, everyday. It would really help me with this winter weather. I have found ramen to be a reasonable substitute. I have managed cook sticky rice quite perfectly now though- so that's pretty good!

My house mates from Laos and some other friends that went to Laos with came to visit Sydney for a debrief session. I hardly got to see them at all and I was temporarily depressed by how busy Sydney is and hard to get around! Oh well. I am getting more back into the Sydney life again- I've started catching up with old friends and appreciating some of Sydney's charms again. I do have moments where I think I'm back into the life but then for some reason get sad about missing my friends or the Sydney life being so rushed. I am a bit bummed that I haven't had the chance to ride by bike much, or not being able to exercise after work because it's so cold and dark!

Good news though, a couple of people from my Lao office are visiting Australia on a study tour. They are learning about disability here. They might find that there are heaps of challenges here too! I really look forward to seeing them.

Yoshii

I wanted to go to Yoshii while I was working temporarily on that side of the city. The food was perfect. With this food there were no huge surprises, just super fresh food presented fantastically. It was just so good to look at. The sushi and sashimi were particularly good with some creative touches such as wrapping fish in fine strips of cucumber. We went for a lunch special where a set meal is priced around $40. The service is could be stepped up a little and I wasn't impressed with the $6.50 they charged me for a bottle of water when I asked for plain water. Maybe things have changed since I left Sydney over a year ago. The atmosphere is quite relaxed and casual.

Wagyu Steak Set $38

Kobachi (Steamed egg)

Sashimi

Tempura

Wagyu Steak

Sushi Roll

Rice & Miso Soup

Dessert

I would definitely come back here. The serve size is above average. Great value.

115 Harrington street
Sydney NSW 2000
www.yoshii.com.au

Lao stray cats vs Aussie stray cats

A stray cat invited itself to my friend's dinner party. It simply followed some people into his inner western Sydney terrace house. This was one of the largest, fattest cats I've ever seen. It must have several people feeding it. It came in and played with some of the baby toys. It was sent out to the back garden. Apparently it used to be able to get out over the back fence, but now it is so fat it cannot jump over.

Now a stray cat in Laos would probably be starving and diseased. It would probably have a broken tail and be mildly aggresive

While Aussie cats risks obesity and diabetes, Lao cats are doing it much harder and could easily starve to death!

Getting around Sydney

Getting around Sydney by public transport can be hard if you're not going to the city. There is a website that can help you work out how to get anywhere around Sydney with public transport with details of special transport timetables.
www.131500.com.au

Note that the light rail doesn't appear on this website. This transport option is good for getting from Central station to Darling Harbour and the casino.
www.metromonorail.com.au

Jordans

The location is great but the food is only just passable for what you pay. It didn't look any more special than what you can get at an RSL these days but it tasted ok. The service was not very special either- it took us a long time for us to order. I think it is mainly aimed at the tourist market and is not really looking for repeat customers.

grilled morroccan spiced tuna steak 35
on a roasted vegetable mash with tomato and onion chutney

Harbourside Complex
Shop 197
Darling Dr
Darling Harbour 2000 NSW
Phone: (02) 9281 3711

http://www.jordonsrestaurant.com.au/

Eastwood Garden Peking Restaurant

There are few Beijing Chinese restaurants around compared to southern Chinese restaurants. This is one of them. I went there for an afternoon special. You have to go there after about 2 o'clock (apologies I don't know the exact time). You can pick three courses for $13.80 between 2 people. It was great value- my boyfriend and I were quite hungry and still couldn't finish the food. The downside is that the specials menu is entirely in Chinese language. I had to ask the waitress to translate but she wasn't very polite about it. If they could improve their service they could make their restaurant quite a bit better. The hot and sour soup was good. The shallot pancake was excellent- heaps of shallots and very crisp. I was impressed with the generous portion of duck that was in the noodle dish. There are afternoons specials for four people also.

• Hot and sour soup
• Shallot pancake
• Stir- fried handmade noodles

$13.80

167 Rowe Street
Eastwood NSW 2122
02 9804 1289

Learning to ride a bicycle in Sydney

When I lived in Vientiane, Laos for a year, the bicycle was my main form of transport. I bought a Giant bike, a hybrid between a road bike and a mountain bike. This was perfect for Vientiane because if you go off the main road there are major pot holes, rocky and generally uneven. It was great for keeping healthy and lots of fun so I brought it home to Sydney. In Sydney I had only ridden a bike around as a kid for fun, never for serious exercise or commuting.

My boyfriend pretty much put my bike back together for me when I arrived home. He used some instructions on the internet and advice over instant messaging from a friend. It was challenging riding my bicycle around my local neighbourhood because:

1. The bike wasn't as well tuned as it was when the guy at the bike shop did it. I'm going to have to learn this myself. I should also find a local bike shop.

2. Sydney has hills! I'm going to have to learn to ride on them, ie pace myself appropriately.

3. I pumped up the tyres with a hand pump and I knew this was a poor effort but I did try really hard. I was pleased my local servo now has a digital readout with the air pump so I used it to pump up my tyres. My tyres should be pumped up 45-65 psi. I had only pumped them up a paltry 15 psi.

4. I discovered my front tyre was on backwards so I turned it around today. I'm now proficient at taking the front tyre on and off. I now have to learn to do the back one.

I'm quite bad at things mechanic but I do want to learn how to maintain my bicycle. Here are some good resources:

• Bicycletutor.com has videos of how to do repairs and maintenance of your bicycle.
• Sydney community college has courses about commuting around Sydney and beginner's bicycle maintenance

There are also bicycle related events in Sydney which sound like fun including:

• Gear up girl workshop
• City of Sydney Spring Cycle

I have to buy a few things including a puncture kit (and learn how to use it), a set of allan keys and other maintenance tools and a bottle cage.

Fedeles Pizza Restaurant

The food at this restaurant is superb. About half the time I go to pizza joints I am disappointed with pizzas I order have but this restaurant did not disappoint. The pizzas are reasonably sized. Good ingredients are used and the pizzas are light, not greasy. The pastas are excellent also. Where do you half a crab when you order a seafood marinara? Certainly their presentation is great.

I think I know their secret though! I saw them put the Silver Spoon recipe book by Phaidon Press back on the shelf. According to Amazon this book is 'First published in 1950 and revised over time, Italy's bestselling culinary "bible," Il Cucchiaio d'argento.' It's probably not a bad idea to be cooking from this book.

I didn't study their menu because I let my host order and the website's not complete so I don't have an accurate list of what I ate or what the prices are. I'll have to update this when their website is updated.

• Sager's pizza
• Fettucine bosciola
• Spaghetti marinara

2 Sager Place
East Ryde NSW 2113

http://www.fedelespizzarestaurant.com/select.html

Musashi

I think this is also known as 'Dining bar Musashi' as per their website or 'Izakaya Musashi' per www.eatability.com.au. This is a Japanese restaurant that is always busy! You can reserve a spot by putting your name down at 5pm for a seat later that evening. We waited outside for a few minutes before we were seated. The food tasted pretty much exactly as it did in Japan which was impressive. The takoyaki, octopus balls were not too heavy like they should be, as was the fried tofu. The serving sizes of the okinomi- yaki and the grilled rainbow trout were above average. We couldn't finish all the food we ordered between the three of us. Service is quite friendly and food is served very quickly. The location is very convenient. I will definitely be back.

• Agedashi Tofu $5.80
• Takoyaki $6.80
• Okonomi-yaki Mix $10.80
• Grilled Rainbow Trout $19.80

http://www.masuya.com.au/en/musashi/

Cooking Lao food in Sydney, Australia

The main foods I missed and wanted to make were larp, sticky rice, eggplant jeo and green papaya salad. I always dreamed of making the larp with kangaroo. I managed to do it and it turned out really well!

Kangaroo larp
This is a salad with plenty of mint, minced meat and seasoned with lime and fish sauce. The larp recipe I used was Rosemary Brissenden's 'South East Asian Food' book. This book is wonderful and has an amazing number of great Lao recipes it has. I substituted kangaroo for the meat suggested. Instead of buying minced meat like the book said I used one of those huge Asian choppers to chop the meat into small pieces. The herbs ie mint that is in the recipe is way more expensive in Australia than in Laos. I think in Australia herbs are still a bit of a luxury item where as in Laos they are an everyday vegetable.

Sticky rice
I bought a cone- shaped sticky rice steaming basket from Pontip in the city. Details of Pontip below. The basket was huge but this is the only size they sell. The first time I cooked it, it wasn't very good. It came out too sticky because the basket I bought was huge, too deep so the rice touched the water.There is quite a few variation of recipes which I think are all fine as long as you stick to the following rules:

Soak the rice for at least 2 hours before you cook it

• Steam the rice by putting it in the bamboo basket.
• Put the basket a pot with hot water at the bottom.
• Steam for 20- 30 minutes and make sure the rice doesn't touch the water. Angle basket away from water if necessary.
• You can buy a couldren- like pot to steam the rice but I did it with an ordinary pot.
• I didn't think it was as necessary to rest the rice in a bamboo basket, or towel as many recipes suggest.

Eggplant jeo
This is a spicy chunky dip/ dipping sauce/ salsa-like dip with eggplant, garlic, chilli and fish sauce. I didn't follow a recipe for this, I just did it from what I remember it tastes like. I grilled the eggplant, garlic and chilli on the George Foreman grill but my little grill isn't powerful enough and it took too long. I mashed it all up with a mortar and pestle and served it with sticky rice. A delicious and healthy dish!

Green papaya salad
I missed tam mak hung really badly and would have been upset if this had gone wrong! Luckily it didn't. Using ingredients found in Sydney I could make this papaya salad. I bought the green papaya at Pontip and found that it was also available at my local greengrocer for $3.99 per kg. I bought the special fish sauce at Pontip also where they can make papaya salad to order for around $8, from memory.

Pontip Exotic Fruit & Vegetables Wholesale
This is a grocery store that is run by a Thai woman. It has equipment and groceries including fresh fruit and vegetables to be able to make Thai and Lao food. The also sell pre- cooked meals.

16 Campbell St
Haymarket NSW 2000

Opposite Capitol Theatre

Lucky Thai Frozen Foods
Shp643/ 40-50 Campbell St
Haymarket NSW 2000

This is another Thai grocery store that has a lot of Thai good such as shampoos. It has a lots of videos and pre- cooked meals. I actually have to check whether this is the exact correct store because I swear that at the shop there's only a Thai name out the front.

Hmong deportation and adding more sports to the South East Asian Games

Laos has been in the news for a couple of things this week:

• Around 1000 ethnic Hmong are being deported to Laos from Thailand. Human rights groups are concerned for their safety. BBC article here
• Laos is hosting the South East Asian games next year. They are holding 25 sports, although there were 43 sports at the last South East Asian games. They don't have the money to build more facilities to accommodate more sports. The Jakarta post article here
  

Ripped off

When tourists like me from developed countries go to countries less developed where you have to bargain, they complain that they get ripped off. I don't mind so much, in Australia I'm probably getting 'ripped off' anyway. The opposite can happen. I met a Nepalese guy who came to Australia to study hospitality. He went to a private college. It wasn't cheap and the course was terrible. He later found that the government had blacklisted this college which I imagine meant that it wasn't up to the required standard. The college closed and he didn't get any qualification even after paying quite a bit of money.

Voluntourism

I found an article in the Wall Street Journal about new 'voluntourism' you can do where you pay money to do volunteer work. I've usually dismissed this ventures as pretty much useless and this article describes what I think. The question is asked why they put volunteers from developed countries into unskilled labour. I do think it does take jobs from locals. Instead of me paying to volunteer work I could give a whole bunch of locals a job, after all they may only get paid $1- $5 per day. I would find it offensive if I was a person from a developing country and a foreigner came in to build my houses and schools- as if I couldn't do it myself. Some people are deluded enough to believe they are doing something when really they are just there as another travel experience for some good pictures and a good story.

I did a volunteer program in Laos and the good thing was it didn't pretend about what development work meant. You can't save the world by yourself!

Crocodile Senior Thai

This restaurant is located on George St near Chinatown and was very busy during lunch time. They offer lunch specials for under $ per dish. I enjoyed my pad thai chicken and they cooked it really quickly. It was your average pad thai but the serving size was huge. I enjoyed watching and listening to the Thai music videos- I recognised some of the music there and made me feel like I was back in Asia.

There's a section of the menu dedicated to the variations of som tam thai. Next time I will have to try a som tam Thai- a spicy Thai papaya salad. I will also have to try the kangaroo with basil- I always thought kangaroo would go well in Thai food. Actually I did make a kangaroo larp, a Thai/ Lao style spicy meat salad with lots of herbs.

pad thai chicken $8.50

768 George St Haymarket 2000 - 9211 6630

SeLAh

This is a cosy little restaurant with even a couple of couches so it's not too formal. I like the earthy tones of the decor and helped me feel warm on this cold night. The service was great. You have to pay for bread here but it's only $3. The serving sizes are huge. The enjoyable potato and leek pie that came with the scotch fillet could have been a meal in itself. The scotch fillet itself was maybe a little unevenly cooked- most was medium rare as they recommended but parts were rare. The dessert was one of the the most interesting I've had for a while. The mains was so large though we had one dessert to share between two. I'm glad this restaurant tries to do something interesting with their desserts, not just the classics. The selah bomb was delicately layered with sponge and icecream and the entire thing was covered in piped meringue. The dessert was thoroughly enjoyable, the coffee is one of the best I've had in a while. I think this restaurant is good value and I am particularly happy with the decent sized portions.

• sourdough bread ; olive oil and balsamic $3
• cape grim scotch fillet w potato and leek pie, roast cherry truss tomatoes $32
• wagyu beef pie w house made pastry, roast eschalots and celeriac mash
• sauteed green beans macadamia butter $7.5
• selah bomb with macadamia parfait burnt meringue and rasperry $14
• flat white $3.8

12 Loftus St
Sydney 2000 NSW
www.selah.com.au

Annapurna circuit

The Annapurna Circuit is one of the most popular treks in Nepal. You see views of the Annapurna Himalayan ranges. Its highest point is the Thorung pass which is 5416m It is also a cultural trek because every night you stay at a different small village often with Tibetan people. It takes between 2 and three weeks depending on where you finish the trek and how slowly you want to go. I recommend taking your time because you’ll be less likely to get altitude sickness and there’s really no need to hurry! I really enjoyed this trip and do recommend it.

Day 1
I started this Intrepid tour of the Annapurna Circuit. I don’t usually book tours from home or go on tours longer than a couple of days but doing a tour would be the easiest way to do this trek. This tour had 12 people on it. The youngest was 19 and the oldest was just over 50. Only one person was not from an English speaking country. We left from Kathmandu to go to the trek’s starting point. We stopped a lot of times to try to get fuel. Nepal experiences chronic fuel shortages. I think it’s because people are holding up supply lines from India but I’m not quite sure. We got petrol from 2 different stops- we got 20 litres each time. Bad traffic is sometimes caused by people lining outside service stations for petrol.

We were dropped off at Besisahar and walked for three hours to Bhulbhule. We saw a group of children killing a snake by throwing rocks at it and hitting it with a stick. The scenery is beautiful- we are following a river and at this low altitude everything is green.

Day 2
We walked for 4 hours until lunch. We spend the night at Bahundanda. This day I got a second bout of food poisoning on top of the one we had. I suspect it was the dahl baht I had the night before because one of the assistant guides got it too and that's pretty much all the eat. The conservation people recommend you eat dahl baht while trekking because it's nutritious and doens't use up too much fuel. The reality is that it's generally the most expensive item on the menu and is usually made in the morning which makes it a food poisoning risk!

Day 3
We walked for four hours before lunch, had lunch at Jagat then two hours after. Today we saw some people building a road. They were on the face of a cliff face of a cliff which was quite dangerous. It was also tough work. They were making holes in the rock with just a metal stick. Overnight at Chamje

Day 4
We walked four hours before lunch and one-and-a-half hours after. Up this high there is little farming. The ground is hard rock and the vegetation is mostly pine trees. Where we stay at night there is no more farming.

Day 5
We walked three hours before lunch which was all uphill. We walked one-and-a-half hours after lunch. Looking around, I could see snow at the same height we were staying. We spent overnight at Chame 2620 when altitude sickness can start to hit you. Some people reported headaches.

Day 6
We walked three- and- a- half hours before lunch and an hour after. Now we can see more snowy peaks. We stayed overnight at Pisang.

Day 7
We walked three-and-a-half hours before lunch, then one hour after. We arrived at Pisang which is at 3150m where we stayed overnight. We did an acclimatisation walk up a hill to a Buddhist temple in the afternoon and I felt myself puffing more than usual. We can see quite a few snowy peaks now.

Day 8
We only walked a few hours today and we were finished walking by 1pm. The weather is colder here. I felt quite tired after walking today, just wanting to sit down and do nothing. We stayed overnight in Manang and managed to eat some bakery food.

Day 9
We had an acclimatisation day in Manang. This is the only town we stayed in two nights ina row. We hiked up to a monastary which was 3800m up. We saw a glacial lake in the afternoon. This town is full of Tibetan houses made of rocks. I had a mild headache from the evening time. My camera got a bit of altitude sickness here too- when I turned it on the screen was black. It was later to recover. I played a lot of cards with a few people to pass the evening time.

Day 10
We hiked up 500m to Yak Kharka but it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. We saw some yaks. There are no trees in sight, just scrubby bushes. My stomach felt a bit dodgy but I don't know whether it was from the food or from the altitude.

Day 11
We walked up to Thorung Pedi which took about four hours, and had lunch there. This is the highest point we stay overnight at 4441m. In the afternoon we did an acclimatisation walk up to Thorung high camp, the highest lodge you can stay on the Annapurna Circuit. The next day would be the biggest day on the trek- a 1000 metre climb and a 1700 descent. I was too excited to sleep and only just got over 3 hours sleep. I try my usual breathing meditation techniques but they don't work because when I take a slow deep breath afterwards I realise my breath was too slow and I gasp for air. My stomach was not feeling great so the guides recommended a vegan diet. The only vegan food available is carbs and I ate some noodles, felt full at the time but woke up really hungry in the middle of the night.

Day 12
We woke up at 3:30am, had breakfast and started walking just before 4:30am up to Thorung Pass. We saw first light pretty quickly and was not very dark anyway because we had a full moon. I went up very slowly. I could really feel that the air was lacking in oxygen. The way I walked was how a chameleon does. One slow step at a time! At 5000m I couldn't think straight and my speech was slurred. I look down at my feet as I'm walking otherwise I panic when I look up and my breathing pattern gets screwed up. I didn't realise this required some mental strength to do this. My stomach is dodgy and hasn't digested by breakfast so it feels full all the way up. When I look around I think 'humans aren't meant to be here' and that only humans are stupid enough to come up to these heights. Although, I dog did follow us up this high and for a few days after. I walk with the female guide Kamala all the way up and it's great because she keeps a really steady pace. I'm so happy to reach the Thorung Pass I nearly cry. I'm 5416m above sea level which is higher than anything in North America and Europe. There are Tibetan prayer flags strung up all over the top. Coming down there are beautiful flowers on the way. I spend a few hours descending and everyone is going at their own pace. This is the only section of the trek where I'm completely by myself where I can't see anyone behind or in front of me. At 1:30pm I arrive at Muktinath, a very pretty town where we stay the night and celebrate with a little apple brandy. When falling asleep I notice my breathing is still quick and not normal.

Day 13
I woke up earlier than most so I could visit the temple. People from India and Nepal make pilgrimages there. The river is holy and people run under the 90 taps and bath in the pools of water. It was a very long walk today. Lunch at Kalopani and overnight at Ghasa. It it is a very beautiful walk and trees start reappearing.

Day 14
There is a beautiful mist over the hills although we can't see the mountains. There is a lot more farming as we come down such as apples and corn. The afternoon is spent at some very hot springs that locals use to wash and bathe. We see people using a trolley on a wire to transport stones across the river. Overnight at Tatopani.

Day 15
Today we make a very late start at midday so we can rest. The walk is only four hours but quite a steep climb- we gain 800m in elevation. The afternoon was hot and raining. It was cool at night. Overnight at Sikha.

Day 16
Another short but steep walk and we're getting up high again! We gained 900m in elevation. We are at 2874m where altitude sickness can still happen. Overnight at Ghorepani.

Day 17
We wake up at 4:15 for a 4:30 start for a scenic walk up to Poon Hill. Walking was very hard work and a felt out of breath most of the way but we have to get up the top for sunrise. I wonder if emphysema feels like this- it's not a comfortable feeling. We gain 400m elevation and are up to 3248m. I felt tired, hungry, cold and out of breath but the views make it worthwhile. We walk nearly 6 hours during the day down to Birethati. We have descended 2200 in elevation in just a day. My knees where achy on the steep sections. The terrain is unforgiving on the joints. There are steps but they are large and made from unevenly sized rocks which are rarely laid flat. My calves were very sore and the pain didn't leave for over a week afterwards. When I got out of bed for the following week I nearly fell on the floor because of the pain I felt as I got out of bed.

Day 18
We made a short, easy 45 minute walk to the bus. We were on the bus 1.5 hours to Pokhara, the second biggest town in Nepal. I just wandered around the town in the afternoon. We had a lovely buffet meal for dinner and said goodbye to our wonderful 5 porters and 3 assistant guides.

Day 19
We left Pokhara to go to the small historic town of Bandipur. We stayed in a beautiful old building. The meat and three vege meal for dinner was exactly what we needed.

Information about the Annapurna circuit

• Most of the trek is up! The days we come down, we come down a lot. One day we lose elevation of 1700m and another 2200m. These huge descents really hurt. The highest point in Australia, Mt Koscuisko is just only 2200!
  
• If a Nepali person says something is flat they mean it's flat on average and you're not literally climbing
• Travellers are turning children in these villages into beggars. They call 'pen, money, sweet?' or 'no pen, no photo'. I saw the children hitting a friend for not giving them anything!
• Everyone on the tour got an upset stomach. Even the guides get it. It might be from the change in diet- there is hardly any fruit and vegetable and virtually no meat I could also be from food poisoning or the altitude.
• It's hard to be on a vegan diet which you do if altitude causes you an upset stomach. That's because you only have carbs to eat. There is little protein- the dahl baht is very thin.
• While the environmental groups recommend dahl baht because it uses little food to cook I didn't find it very practical. I'm pretty sure I got food poisoning from it because the guide got it the same time I did. That's because they make it on the morning and leave it out for the day. Also it's usually one of the more expensive foods on the menu.
• I saw someone using the toilet bucket to wash dishes!
• The toilets are generally a hole in the ground and you flush it yourself with water, if it's available.
• The showers are heated with solar so if there's no sun, there's no hot water. I had a shower about half the time. I showered with facial wipes the rest of the time.
• There is a good system of approved menus where the tourism department teaches people how to cook things that are simple. Virtually all menus are the same but they might not have everything on there. Eg while apple pie is on all the menu's it's not available all the time.
• I had a lot of time to kill in the night time so bring a book and cards. I had a talking book on my mp3 player which was good.
• Most people get some altitude sickness- even our guides do. Our guides said a headache is usual and so is an upset stomach. If you have vomiting, headache and diarrhoea it's very bad and you need to come down.
• Keeping healthy tips from our guides:

No sleeping in the afternoon above 2500m s o it doesn't upset our sleep at night. It's harder to sleep up high.

No alcohol above 2500m as we're going up

Usually 2 out of 12 on the tour won't make it up and over the pass so you have to go all the way back


Go vegan if you're sick ie don't eat cheese and milk

• My tips

Take the following with you: immodium, noroxin, headache tablets and laxative. I had laxatives in my medical kit and was dishing the out because some people overdid the immodium and others found the change in diet difficult.

Rafting and canyoning

I went on a tour with Ultimate Decents up to the border of Tibet to go rafting. I could see Tibet from there 15 kms away. It was really fun! Along the river are terraces with crops such as millet, corn and rice. There quite a few bits where the raft got stuck between a couple of boulders and you all have to get out of the raft then get back in.

The canyoning was the really fun bit and way more challenging than I thought it would be! It involves walking up a hill then coming down via abseiling, jumping and sliding. Asia style, the first abseiling instruction you get is when you're over the edge of the waterfall with a waterfall falling on to your face and your feet on really slippery mosses. It does make it more exciting.

Usually when you start abseiling down, you can't see the bottom. There is one where you start abseiling and the rope just finishes half way. At that point, you have to let go of the ropes, spring yourself of the rock slightly and fall 5m, bottom first, into a pool of water.

The other fun bit was a 50 metre abseil. You can barely see where you're putting your feet because a waterfall was falling into my face!

Singapore

Here's a quick outline of the things I did there:

Zouk and Attica
I went to Zouk nightclub and they happened to have a fashion show the night I was there. The female models were so tall and thin and dressed so outragesously I looked twice because I thought they might have been ladyboys! Zouk had a lot of food such as cakes and donuts beside the catwalk. I certainly took some free food. Amazingly the food was nearly untouched- no wonder the Singapore people are so thin!

We moved to Attica nightclub seeing as Zouk had this fashion show instead of dance. It is quite similar to an Australian night club. The main difference between the Sinapore and Australian nightclubs is the cover charge. The cover charge in Singapore is around $20 which includes 2 drink vouchers. On ladies' night apparantly there's no cover charge for ladies and they get free alcohol.

Sentosa Island
This is a touristy island near Singapore which has the most south- eastern point of continental Asia. There are some beaches and it's different from any beach I've been to because there are huge ships in the near distance! The forest isn't too bad but it is secondary forest because the original forest had been cut down for agriculture some time ago.

Changi Museum
I visited this museum which was about the Japanese occupation of Singapore which is quite worth visiting. I happened to visit this museum on ANZAC day. I was trying to explain the concept of ANZAC day to some European but it kind of sounded like a joke to them. That's probably because in the history of time, Australia's involvement in battles seems so insignificant. But nevertheless important for Australia as I was trying to explain to this guy!

Pulau Ubin
This a small island which is a 10 minute 'bum boat' ride from Singapore. Apparantly it was what Singapore looked like 50 years ago. I went for a bike ride around and saw some bright blue coloured houses. There's a lot of forest and I managed to see 2 quite large monitors, half a metre in length. I also heard the grunting, crashing sound of wild pigs which is quite a scary sound! There is a small beach but it's a pity they have to put a massive fence around it to stop illegal immigrants from landing.

Buddha tooth relic temple
This is the most luxurious Buddhist temple I've ever seen. It's completely shiny and new. Being in Laos the offerings made are usually a simple bunch of flowers. Here you can buy fancy floral arrangements as offerings. The have an amazing collection of Buddha images from all over Asia and a beautiful rooftop garden also. It is located in China town. I usually avoid China towns in the cities I visit but Singapore's is actually really good- probably the best I've ever visited.

Botanical Gardens
These gardens are beautiful especially the orchid garden!

Kathmandu

Kathmandu airport looks like something out of the 70s but it's a good solid looking structure. They don't give you a proper rubber arrival stamp, but who needs one. Instead the officer just signs the visa. I felt guilty because some guys got me a trolley and asked for a 'tip' and I gave them one. Maybe I would have stood up for myself it I weren't so disoriented.

The city is quite low rise. Virtually all of the buildings are 3- 4 storeys. They are even like this in the countryside. It's not overly crowded. The cars are old. There are quite a few motorbikes too, and at least people are wearing proper helmets rather than ice- cream containers.

There are scheduled power shortages. They generally go for a few hours everyday but I think the situation is improving and the outages are shorter which some days not have outages at all. Some businesses have generators to deal with the outages. The place where I stayed relied on a water pump to distribute water. So when there was an extended power outage there was no water. Some mornings there was no water to wash my face with- not very fresh at all!

There are petrol shortages also. Apparently some of the traffic is caused by vehicles lining to get into the petrol station when fuel comes back. It seems like hard and uncertain times for Nepal. The Maoists recently won the election although whether they won fairly or not is another question. Some young people I have spoken to believe that there is better opportunity if they moved out of Nepal.

Singapore

I always envision Singapore to be pretty similar to Sydney but there I some things I come across that I definitely don't think I'd find in Sydney.

• All you can eat durian in the supermarket for $S9.90
• Citibank offering a cheaper Brazilian wax- only $S46 if you use their card (would they do this in Sydney?)
• Daring a guy to eat 5 durian products in Singapore Cleo magazine. He only managed to sample 3
• A bar where you can only go in if you're over 25. The cheapest thing on the drinks menu they had displayed outside was a $S180 champange
• A bar called "Clinic" where you can sit in wheelchairs and have a drink from an IV drip bag
• Free entry and drinks for women on ladie's night