• Left Chiang Mai for Bangkok – heading back to organise our visa’s for Cambodia
• woke up at 11am, pretty chilled day before catching an overnight bus

Day 23 – Tuesday 19 January

• Sleep in to recover from lack of sleep on the overnight bus
• Into Bangkok central city to organise Cambodian visa’s with a funny, chunky, gay Thai man in a tight, pink t-shirt.
• Went to the Night Bazaar, had dinner and looked around the markets
• Had an awesome taxi driver who played us songs in English from his laptop and proceeded to sing and dance along with us.
• Toni finally found her Chloe handbag again! Success!! YUS!

Day 24 – Wednesday 20 January

• Visited the Grand Palace and temples – longest, hottest day ever!
• Went shopping at the Night Bazaar again and bought four handbags! Most amazing shopping night.

Grand Palace & Temples in Bangkok

Day 25 – Thursday 21 January

• Our visa’s turned up, we were nervous they wouldn’t
• Toni and I went on a river ride through Bangkok – very heartbreaking to see.
• Mega western fail – ate Burger King for dinner – but seriously, there is only so much Asian food you can stomach before you’re over it!

Day 26 – Friday 22 January

• Took a bus from Bangkok to the Cambodia border. Pretty scary! Already Cambodia looked much poorer.
• Toni got hit on by a little 12 year old (looking, not sure on his age really) Cambodian boy who was pretending to be our bus driver for the second leg of the trip. He was smitten.
• Another bus to Siem Reap. Yes sick of buses.
• Met Savi, who became our awesome chauffeur for a couple of days.
• Hit Pub Street and danced and drank the night away with Nick and Josie. Met the pilot and skinny – Australians. Love triangle. Dear Lord.

Cambodia

Day 27 – Saturday 23 January

• Toni and I ate Cambodian BBQ – snake, crocodile, beef, chicken and squid. All amazingly delicious.
• Toni attracts another Cambodian man, Mr tall and lanky.. hehe
• We watched Ms Tight & Bright strutting up and down the road most of the night. Couldn’t work out if she was a prostitute or a pimp. Cambodian woman in her late 30s, hit on every European man over 30. Haha
• Visited Ankor Thom and Bayon temples during the day. Exhausting, the heat was so intense! But they were stunning to see.
• Watched the sunset from the top of a temple.

Jacques and the Bayon temple

Day 28 – Sunday 24 January

• Had a chill day. Caught up on uploading photos, blogging, emailing etc
• Had a big night out on Pub Street again. Drank a tower of Ankor beer at a bar called Ankor What? with Toni and Jacques.
• Met a crowd of UK, American and Swedish people. Drank buckets of vodka and red bull all night. Home by 4am.

Day 29 – Monday 25 February

• After getting home at 4am, we were woken by Jacques (who hadn’t slept) at 5am to go see sunrise over Ankor Wat. Yeah so not in the mood…
• We all felt like shit, so only managed a half day of temple browsing.
• Back to the hotel by 11am for a nap.
• Jacques and I decided we could handle another night out. Met up with some crazy Australians, one of whom decided it would be a good idea to swallow a whole bottle of chilli sauce, he then swallowed a bottle of milk. Idiot, but funny.

cute Cambodian kiddies that I fell in love with.

Day 30 – Tuesday 26 January

• A chill out day, well needed.
• Took yet another overnight bus to Sihanoukville – my favourite place! Lots of stunning beaches.
• Toni and I complained of being stuck in the back seats of the bus (which didn’t recline – overnight?!!? come on!!), so we got moved. Yus! Sometimes bitching works.
• Met Rhys and Jeff, two crazy guys from Australia – lots of fun.

Day 31 – Wednesday 27 January

• Staying in the Apsaea Guesthouse, the crazy grandma kept talking to us – of course we understood nothing!
• Hit the beach and tanned…
• Ate Cambodian lobster on the beach – YUM
• A huge seafood platter for dinner, with an Australian wine – first glass of wine in 31 DAYS!!!
• Saw the pilot and skinny again, walking down the street, I didn’t recognise them at first so we all just called out feeble hello’s. So lame. But it’s all too tricky, what with the love triangle and all.

beach in Sihanoukville

Day 15 – Mon 11 January

• So finishing off with the Frenchman, I got back to my hotel (from his) at 2pm.
• Of course all my friends were worried about me as I probably should have been home earlier – but I was having fun.
• Ate a horrible garlic chicken meal – WAY too much garlic. I am a fan of garlic, but geeez this made me feel ill!
• Shane & Dale headed to Bangkok
• We all had a much needed early night.

Day 16 – Tues 12 January

• 6.45am awake and driven by a man taxi driver at 140km/hr to the Puket airport.
• Two hour flight to Chiang Mai
• Found a gorgeous little hostel called the Chiang Mai White House – definitely recommend!!

Day 17 – Wed 13 January

• A chilled day of shopping in Chiang Mai – was very disappointed at the lack of awesome stuff to buy. All seemed to be crafts and crap you really don’t need. I want designer bags & sunglasses!!
• Was not feeling well in the afternoon and ended up sleeping all arvo.

Day 18 – Thurs 14 January

• Visited Tiger Kingdom – freakin’ amazing!! Played with some 6 month old cubs and some huge adult ones.

• We got a flat tyre on our tuk tuk on the way home and had to pull over on the big highway in the intense heat.
• Still not feeling 100% well, more rest time.

Day 19 – Fri 15 January

• Baan Thai cooking class – absolutely awesome! we got to take home the recipe books, learnt how to make curry paste and everything from scratch! can’t wait to cook more when I’m home!

chicken and coconut milk soup

• We went out for a few drinks at a local bar, met some South Africans and Americans.
• Decided to head to Spicy Bar, met a cute British boy – Jimmy – ended up going home with him *blush*

Day 20 – Sat 16 January

• A R&R day. It was needed!
• Also a touch of shopping, bought a beautiful gold, silver & “diamond” Rolex *cough* watch that some days gains time and other days loses it… it’s still pretty though!

Day 21 – Sun 17 January

• Went white water rafting
• Elephant riding
• Trekking two hours to a waterfall
• Bamboo rafting
• Another night out on the town, where I met a Canadian guy. Yes went home with him too.

Please note I don’t normally sleep around like this. But it’s a few holiday flings. And now my guy friend Jacques has decided we need to make a game/competition of it. It’s the country challenge. So one point for each new country and half a point for a double up. I am winning 3-0.

Day 8 – Mon 4th January

• a complete beach day where I got badly burnt on my lower back (I have now peeled…)
• a spot of street shopping in Ao Nang – I got some Ray Bans for NZ$8!

Night shopping

Day 9 – Tues 15 January

• a day trip to James Bond Island
• visited a floating village
• fed a baby monkey
• was blessed by a Bhuddhist monk
• took a ride on a longtail boat
• cocktails at the reggae bar, saw my friend Toni have an intense Climax (a cocktail you dirty people…)
• ate peanut butter sandwiches for dinner – oh my God they have never tasted so good!!!

the travelling group at James Bond island

Day 10 – Wed 6 January

• a day trip to Phi Phi islands
• snorkelling at Lohsamah Bay and Maya Bay
• visited “the beach” from The Beach – way too many tourists!
• went to Viking cave
• had lunch on Phi Phi Don
• went swimming at Bamboo Island

"the beach", looking out

Day 11 – Thurs 4 January

• a 7am ferry to Phuket
• made some new friends; Matt and Jenny (Australian) – took a taxi with them to their amazingly flash hotel, couldn’t afford to stay there so moved on to the Little Bhudda Guesthouse
• Shane and Dale visited from Kata for dinner
• Went to the Aussie Bar to catch up with Matt and Jenny, made another set of new friends; Dave  and Bonnie (also Australian)
• headed out clubbing at the Banana Club – clubbing in Phuket is awesome!
• my friend Jacques got hit on by Matt all night… hehehe

at the Aussie bar with Matt & Jenny

Day 12 – Fri 8 January

• spent a day on Patong beach, hounded constantly to pay 100B for a chair and umbrella – kept refusing
• came to the conclusion that Phuket is way too touristy!
• Went to the Fanta Sea show – amazing! It was like Disneyland!
• sadly Patong beach isn’t as blue or clear as Koh Phangan

Day 13 – Sat 9 January

• Treated myself to a NZ$7 pedicure
• lay on the beach
• Headed out to the Aussie Bar for some more socialising – bumped into my New Years kiss man. Dear Lord. Didn’t really talk. haha
• Held an iguana, Jacques held a massive one!
• Home by 3.30am

Iguanas!

Day 14 – Sun 10 January

• Scored a free umbrella at the beach
• Ping Pong show – verrrrry interesting! haha
• Went to a Foam Party, my first ever – it was brilliant fun!
• Went home with a Frenchman, a chef from Paris. First fling of the holiday, very hot.

Day 1 – Mon 28th Dec:

• we were supposed to leave Auckland, NZ at 5am but ended up getting delayed to 10am – not a great start
• in-flight entertainment didn’t work – thanks Royal Brunei!
• funny moment of the day – Toni, wearing her tights and a singlet, got asked by one of the cabin crew if she was a marathon runner – hehe!
• 10 hour flight to Brunei, then a 3 hour flight to Bangkok. arrived safe and sound, but exhausted and ready to pass out in the heat.
• Toni and I failed when we didn’t fill in the arriving AND departing slip… back of the line… grr!
• when we asked about visa’s for Thailand a cute chorus of older Thai officials asked “American?” “No, New Zealand” we replied. “No visa, no visa!” they exclaimed very excitedly, waving their hands at the same time.

Bangkok airport

 Day 2 – Tues 29th Dec

• False start at 11pm! We got to bed at 9pm, were woken at 11pm by Toni’s alarm which should have been for 5am, but she’d forgotten to change from NZ to Thailand time. My god. we were all up, showered and ready to go… back to bed…
• shared a NZ$1 phad thai at 5.30am on the street (Kohsan Rd) with the leftover prostitutes, homeless and street cleaners. Bangkok is insane!
• looking out the window on the bus driving down the highway – see a body under a sheet and blood & guts sprayed everywhere.
• after 9 hours on the bus we get a quick ferry trip to the island of Koh Phangan, our New Years spot.
• a plunge in the pool, cocktails poolside, dinner at the local food market.

Phad Thai at 5.30am on Kohsan Rd

 Day 3 – Wed 30th Dec

• exhausted from all the non-stop travel, so spend a day by the pool and at the beach of our resort. B52 Beach Resort. stunning!
• met a couple of cute UK boys at our resort.
• had an amazing Mexican dinner – Tequila lime shrimp – delicious & hot!!
• headed to Shane & Dale’s resort for cocktails served in fruit.

cocktails!

 Day 4 – Thurs 31st Dec – NEW YEARS EVE!

• had a chill day at the beach with a bit of shopping and hit up the food market again in preparation of the big party
• New Years Eve at Haadrin beach – Full Moon Party – over 50,000 people!!! AMAZING!
• had my New Years kiss with a hot farmer from Canberra, Australia
• in bed by 5.30am

New Years at Haadrin beach

Day 5 – Fri 1st January

• woke up around midday, kept it very relaxed – swimming at the beach
• bumped into the UK guys again, one decided to sing to me… (I’m actually sad we lost contact with them, they were good fun and the singing one was cute!)

our resort

Day 6 – Sat 2nd January

• headed up north on motorbikes to check out other parts of the island; Koh Ma, Ao Chaloklum, Ao Haad Salad.
• very hot day, did a bit of snorkelling at Haad Salad beach, not many fish & very cloudy water unfortunately – had been stormy.
• Thai Green Prawn curry for dinner, yummy!

Haad Salad beach - stunning!

Day 7 – Sun 3rd January

• early start again, 6am – leaving the island of Koh Phangan, back to the mainland.
• ferry ride to Don Sak, then a bus to the middle of nowhere – we felt like refugees, on the bus, off the bus, all under a shelter waiting…
• on another bus headed to Krabi, then taxi to our new destination of Ao Nang.

Ao Nang beach, with the longtail boats

And that’s week one. We are all finding our footing much more now, so much more climatised as well. I will upload all the photos to flickr when I get home, but for now they’re just on facebook.

It’s now day 10 and we are headed to Phuket! woohooo! I will update with another week post in a few days!

It’s just one more sleep until I jet off now. We’re flying on Royal Brunei, hence the dry part. Honestly it has come around so quick! I promise to do my best to post entries and photos while I’m away, but being that I’m heading to Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia there are never any certainties. But I will try my best!

Today, Boxing Day, is another stunning, hot day here in New Zealand – so I am off to the beach with some friends!

Wishing you all a brilliant New Years and a magnificent and happy 2010!

Bronnie, xox

My question was answered by a young sounding man who exclaimed that he too was going to those countries in early 2010. Oh wow, what a coincidence! So our conversation slowly turned from banking to everything else, he asked me what vaccinations I’d had. I told him. I asked him what plans they had.
Mid-way through his answer he broke into a spiel about what travel insurance the bank could offer me. I asked him confused, “I already told you I had travel insurance?“.
“Sorry!” he replied. “My supervisor just walked past… ok so after Thailand we’re skipping straight to Vietnam…” Haha, seriously, he had me laughing!

After 15 minutes of chatting and lengthening out the conversation as much as possible without either of us getting in trouble from our bosses, he asked for my account access number, no idea why? He didn’t need to know anything within my account. Bank-stalker-tactics!! Now he has my name, address, phone number and financial history!

So anyway, he will be over in southeast Asia around the same time as me, with six other male friends. Let’s hope we bang into them… I mean in case I need some banking advice or similar.

Unfortunately not a Jamie Oliver recipe, so they’ve been down-graded to this blog, not the new, cool one.

A post with details on the countdown to Christmas and my forever life-changing, adventure-filled trip coming soon.

Most of them are avid readers of this blog and say it’s the best way to keep up with my love life, like it’s really that confusing… just keep up! Anyway I told them all my news of my JamieO cooking blog (now all up and running). They loved the idea and have all invited themselves to my first dinner party to be hosted in February 2010 when I return from southeast Asia. Excite! Now to plan the menu!

I met him last night for a walk on the beach, then he suggested we go get a Mövenpick ice cream. After a bit more of a walk he asked if I was keen to get some dinner. I figured I was having fun with him so went with the flow. We headed north to another beach and grabbed some fish and chips and sat out and ate them. While talking we discussed that we had never got around to going to the airport to watch the aeroplanes land and take off. So we stopped to grab a bottle of wine and headed out to watch them. On the way home we stopped off at a house that was covered in Christmas lights – it was amazing, their whole back garden was lit up! So we wandered around the house checking out the display. I was leaning against the fence when he came up behind me and put his arms around me. If I’m honest, my insides melted. I held myself together. He ran his hands over my back and tummy, kissing the back of my head, my cheeks, my ears. Eventually it led to us kissing. He’s an affectionate guy. Throughout the evening he had rubbed my thigh, run his hand through my hair, rubbed my ear lobes… it’s one of the things I really like about him.

The whole afternoon/evening was romantic, flirty and at times tense. We both laid everything out on the table. Told each other how we felt, what we wanted etc. Early on in the day we were both basically yelling at each other. Then by the end it was lovely.

However nothing is resolved. He said he never thought that I would still like him. He thought I would maybe catch up with him or most likely tell him to f*&k off when he text. He says he has feelings for me, as I do for him. But he is organising his life right now. He said he has nothing to offer right now, he needs to get his life sorted as to what he’s doing. Whether he travels or goes back to university. So apparently February 12th is the day when he will have decided everything. This does suit me as I do not want to start something before I go away. I arrive back February 11th.

But still I feel like this clingy psycho. I just want to see him again and spend time with him. I don’t want to tell him that exactly, it may scare him. I did mention I want to see him again before I leave though.

I’m one of those people who needs/wants to know where I stand – I’ve told him this. I know he’s told me how he feels and the reason for his delay, but f*&k! I guess it’s a plan and it is what is best with me going away for six weeks. But I just want him. ARRGGHHHH! I just need to play it cool, I know.

Sorry for the huge Monday morning vent…

EDIT: So since this morning I have changed my mind. I know… aren’t I the most fickle woman you have ever met? My gut was telling me, my family was telling me, my friends were telling me, even my boss was telling me! – He accused me of being in “not my normal bubbly mood” and sent me out with his card to buy coffee and muffins for us, or anything else I need to put a smile on my face – his actual words, sweetie huh? So yep, The Navy Engineer is gone burgers. It just wasn’t feeling right. If he can’t make the decision of whether he wants me or not, it clearly means two things; 1) he doesn’t and 2) he’s got way too much control in this non-relationship for it ever to be on an even keel.

These are my alternative to the traditional Christmas mince pie (because… eww!); pear and ginger Christmas pies. I’ve managed to control myself and only eat two. Legend, I know. They are amazing if I do say so myself. I made everything from scratch, the filling and the short crust pastry – a JamieO recipe of course…

Today I made 48 and still have some filling leftover, so tomorrow means another round of pastry and vanilla/ginger cookies! It’s a bake-a-thon I tell ya!

The domain has been bought, she just needs to be installed and configured and then bronniecooksjamie.com will be in business!