Lala Land

I've always wanted to go to LA..  When I finally got around to getting there, I really loved it! I guess it would be a totally different ball game if I was there alone staying in some shitty hotel downtown, but I was staying with friends so that kicked ass. I LOVEDloved LA, especially West Hollywood and Santa Monica and Melrose and 3rd Avenue.  Sadly I did not get to experience Beverly Hills the way I would have liked (think the Prince of Bel Air) (Ha!) but it was still really cool.

Shopping in Beverly Hills

Melrose Avenue

The only place I was kind of disappointed about in LA was Muscle Beach, Venice.  I've seen it in the movies so many times and heard about it so much so when I saw some sad, ageing bodybuilders working out on rusty machines by the beach and the boardwalk was really dirty, grotty and touristy... I wasn't exactly impressed. The only thing it really had going for it were the medical marijuana shops.  Now where am I going to get a medical marijuana card??? Anyone? Anyone?

The food is LA is amazing too and I discovered Peruvian food.  Oh my god, it is delicious especially saltada and the ceviche is amazing.... Not exactly diet food but really freaking good.

Universal Studios was fun,  I felt I needed to do at least one American amusement park, I mean I always saw that stuff on TV so it had to be done.

All in all I was pretty stoked with my first leg of LA... x x

A Quick Dash Home (Hong Kong)

And so it was back to the smoky skies and busy streets of Hong Kong...

 I wasn't kidding about the smoky skies!

A week in Hong Kong was all it took to grab some fresh clothes - my stuff got TRASHED in Thailand... the only thing I didn't like about Bamboo Huts is that my stuff came back from the laundry with holes in it and sometimes not at all ; (

So with clean clothes, a new Samsonite suitcase, some family time with Kat and the little ones, Yeeling, James and Chuck and then it was off to LA for the next chapter of my adventure!! Woo hoooo LA!!

On the Star Ferry to go to Kowloon...

At a dog play date - Chuck with his two and Dan F with his... super cute watching them run around on the roof of the building (not a bad view either onto the harbour in Chai Wan)

Back on the Island Koh Phangan Take II

All my yoga sisters had left Thailand by the time I got back to Koh Phangan except for the wonderful Sarah... so glad she was still there.

Sarah and her (apparently) amazing birthday cake

But it meant we got to meet a whole new crew of amazing people - including JJ, the Dutch animali, Maya and Sheri, Cypress and a whole host of other really great people from all over.  What beautiful days lazying on the beach, doing yoga and 'relaxing'. One of my best times on the trip for sure... staying back at Bamboo Huts was the best... hanging with Mike, Lily and all the amazing peeps that live there. And all the unfailingly helpful, polite Burmese guys that work at Bamboo Huts.  They totally make the place.  I've been to Koh Phangan 4 times and hope to go back later this year again...

View from Bamboo Huts to Haad Yuan

JJ, hiding from the paparazzi.  He couldn't hide from me for very long though as I caught up with him in Panama a few months later... 

My healthy, yoga, no drinking lifestyle was somewhat put to the test with the arrival of the Dutch ... Stone bar, Guy's bar, Eden... It all got a little crazy a few times but it was totally worth it ; )  It all started at a Muy Thai fight where Vincent kicked the ass of a Thai guy.  It was a short match, but the victory was no less sweet.  Nice one Vince!!

Vince and one of his Dutch 'managers'...

Philip ze FrenchDutchi, Arthur and Me about to jump of the jetty at the end of Haad Yuan

The Dutch crew (and me)