Café Con Monica

Travel Days: Mid-Asia Trip Check In

OOye! It has been a serious whirlwind the last week and 1/2. I am now sitting at my hostel in Vietnam finally at a computer and trying to type out a blog post! I want to update you guys on everything but there is seriously so much. Its been a crazy crazy time. Going to 5 different countries in 3 1/2 weeks may have not been the brightest idea ever. We are country 3 and even though I really thought I would love Vietnam I can honestly say its not my favorite. 

Some quick highlights and photos is the best I can do for now: 

-First couple days alone in Phuket were spent relaxing, working on my tan, eating my favorite foods and making new friends. 

Thailand: 

-My friend K arrived in the middle of the night after a delayed flight and subsequently missed taxi ride. We stayed awake because she would have had to pay for a bed to sleep in for 3 hours. 

-The Full Moon party was an amazing and awful experience all at once and really warrants its own post for explanation. BUT I will tell you this…there were tears and 2 broken cameras by the next day. 

-Chiang Mai was fantastic, great people, Ziplining, riding & bathing elephants and eating great food. 

-Really weird police experience in Bangkok on Khao San Road at 1am…along with a propostion from a Malaysian guy. 

-There was a missed flight leaving Bangkok to Siam Reap. A combination of setting our alarm for too late and not realizing that the international airport was so far away. 

Yep…that is the mess I was….

horrible picture but you get the idea

part of the Grand Palace 


Cambodia: 
-Amazing. Really just a great city I think!

-Angkor Wat is a 7th wonder for a reason and I highly HIGHLY recommend if you ever have the chance that you see it! 

-We learned a lot about Cambodia’s history that I had no idea about and honestly they are such happy people for this shit they have been through. 

Sunrise over Angkor Wat

a famous spot in Ta Phrom-(think Tomb Raider) 

I’ll keep my opinion of Vietnam till I have actually left so I can decide what was worthy of telling! 

So there…a very very brief recap of my trip so far! 

Check out my Instagram for many more pictures and updates!

Travel Days: China Check In

Ahhhhhhhhhhh my VPN is finally working all the time! yay!! woo woo! 

Ok enough of that! I didn’t get to share my Christmas photos with you all because I just couldn’t get it to work and then the days just turned into one long one! Now its going to be NYE and 2013! I can’t believe it! This January marks the start of my 3rd year blogging and I am planning some fun new things for this place next year. 

So with this being the last day of the year I want to catch you up and share some things: 

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Since I left home and moved to Thailand then China I have had moments where I stop and look around and have a minor freak out. HOLY SHIT I am in China! yes! I get homesick, I fuss about the weird cultural differences, and hate using a squat toliet with all my life but I am so amazed and grateful for this opportunity and the fact that after years and years of saying I am going to do something crazy like move abroad to teach I actually worked up the courage and did it. 

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I couldn’t have made it through the past 6 months without the amazing support of my family and friends. Even with G telling me I should just come home because his life is a mess and missing all the fun new things going on in Snifferelllas life, even with missing my nephew getting bigger every day. Thank goodness for Skype and google voice texting and Facebook for letting me all the pictures! 

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2012 was a rough year for me and The Boy and I have no clue what 2013 has in store in that department but we are still friends and he has been pretty understanding about this adventure into figuring out my life that I am on. 

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K and I are officially all booked for our 3 1/2 week adventure around Asia! We start in Thailand, head to Cambodia, then Vietnam, Hong Kong and then end our trip in Beijing! Its going to be a whirlwind of crazy busy and I can’t wait! It will be so great to have one of my closest friends here with me and get to experience new places with her. 

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I get to spend NYE on a boat cruise around Hong Kong and then bum around for a few days before I go back to work for 8 days! Crazy right? Well in China when you get a couple days off they hit you with a work on the weekend! Sneaky ones I tell  you! I have a cute(but warm) dress to wear and I  may actually comb my hair and put some make up on! 
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Last year I posted pictures from every month but lets be serious I have taken well over 5,000 pictures in the last 6 months alone and I don’t even know how many the first 6 months of the year. So for now you get my Christmas pictures! 


My kiddies about to perform Jingle Bells 

Feeling Festive! 

Making Christmas Crackers for our kids 
all the gifts my family and co-teachers sent/gave me!

after our performance on Open day! 

Skyping with the family while they open gifts Xmas Eve 

Oh you didn’t know Santa is Chinese? 

My fellow North American 🙂 

hard work getting the houses to stay up 

see the concentration! 

I’m off as I only work a half day today! 
I hope you all have a wonderful NYE and start your year off happy and hopefully with a slight buzz!!! 



Travel Days: Thai Tasty Tuesday!

I don’t know if this is an already existing link up so if you know please let me know so I can give credit where it is due. 

What I do know is that I can tell you in all honesty the thing I love the MOST about Thailand is the food. I have been here two months and I pretty much loved or genuinely liked everything I have tried. There were a few things that I was so-so with but then started to enjoy and I know I’ve barely hit the tip of the iceberg here. So I will just show you some of the deliciousness that I have been enjoying! 

The first few were from the cooking class I took in Chiang Mai with my girl Bellydancer! 

Fruit plate w/nuts 

pork w/Basil & rice(my fave dish) 

hot & sour chicken soup
one of my faves: Papaya salad 

fish cakes 
spring rolls
Panang Chicken

Now my random food porn moments: 
Street cart Pad Thai

Pork/Basil, rice & fried egg on top! 
Swensons! 
These are called Roti! 
Banana & nutella Roti

some kind of chicken & rice they served for lunch at shool
still no clue what these were but they were good! 

Mango w/sticky rice!!! 

pancake on a stick 

The Thai idea of a Pancake


Sorry that was way more pictures then I thought I was going to post but I have a slight food porn and Thai food addiction! I am still so excited about taking that cooking class because I learned to make all my favorite Thai dishes. The Boy is pretty excited for me to bring those cooking skills and recipes home!

I do have recipes for all the ones at the top so feel free to message me for any of them! 

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