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Published: October 21st 2009
Vietnamese in Brisbane
Narelles favourite little restaurantAfter a hectic couple of weeks leading up to my adventure I said a bit of a teary goodbye to my son at the airport and walked down the ramp of death... everyone knows by now that I have an insane fear of flying and this flight was no different.. reaching the plane I did my flying ritual of kissing my hand, transferring the kiss to the outside of the plane and giving her a bit of a pat! Weird yes but it would look even more stupid if I actually bought lips to plane! As I entered the plane I was pleasantly surprised to see a masculine looking male flight attendant who was HOT... His name was Murray and he provided some eye candy for the flight! Good start...
I was seated in Seat E .. wedged between an old lady who was getting stuck into the peanuts and scotch/cokes (me in 50 yrs) and a really cute guy from Adelaide who apparently runs/owns a couple of pubs around town... must remember to drop in for a drink when I get back ;-)
I settled in, ordered a vodka/lemon, put the earphones on and started reading a book
to take my mind off the flight.. The best part of the flight (apart from eye candy Murray) was that about 20 min from landing I started chatting to the cute guy in seat F (and it was only at this point I actually looked at him and realised he was hot!!)... and before you knew it we had landed... I must remember to sit next to cute boys every flight... he certainly distracted me from the landing.. no sweaty palms for the first time ever!
Narelle was at the airport waiting for me and I struggled along with my 24kgs of luggage to find her vehicle... On the way home we stopped off at the 7/11 and grabbed some chips (those new flavour ones.. ceaser salad, buttered popcorn, late night kebab and aussie bbq) and once home proceeded to demolish them with a few beers...
Hitting the ground running...
Day 2 dawned with Narelle making me real coffee from her kick ass espresso machine then we headed to a little area of Brisbane where there is a Vietnamese community... and with it lots of little Vietnamese restaurants.. Narelle took me to her favourite one...
and it rocked.. I had to, of course, try all her favourite dishes.. we had a Beef Pho soup, spring rolls, a pork dish, crispy skin chicken and polished it off with a 3 bean drink dessert and fresh lemon drinks... WOW... the whole meal cost less than $35!! Soooo cheap and some of the best food I have ever eaten!
Afterwards we raced home, quickly got changed and caught the train to the city. We ended up at the Caxton pub drinking with her sister Leonie and some of Narelles work colleagues.. From the Caxton we headed to a little funky restaurant/pub called Calypso where there was a couple of reggae singers and a chilled out vibe.. It was here that Narelle lost her Jagerbomb virginity and I have the photos to prove it.. There were a couple of cute guys at the bar who were more than happy to take photos for us as we popped Narelles cherry! We started chatting to them and I think they got a little scared by the cougars about to devour them! The rest of our crew sat back watching us and said it was the funniest thing to watch.. the
less confident of the two didnt know what to do.. the boys then did a quick exit.. leaving the crew in hysterics.. Our Sangria that we were drinking was promptly renamed Cougar Blood :-)
From Calypso we headed off with the intention of going home but soon found ourselves in a dodgy karioke bar just up the road ..... In one room it was karioke and in another the same reggae band from Calypso earlier were playing to a crowd of Samoians and Fijians.. very funky!! We started in the Karioake bar and I had the privilege of watching Narelle belt out her very own version of FAME... with dance moves n all! I do have video but have promised not to put it on my blog so you will have to make do with some photos instead! Narelle and Leonie then belted out a version of I love Rock n Roll... while I stayed hidden in the corner wondering whether I should belt out a tune purely for my blog.. I put my hand up for Bette Davis Eyes but luckily we had moved on to the other room when my name was called.. I was busy getting
Friday Night Drinks
Narelle and Lachlan funky with a room full of Reggae lovers!! It was only the next day that Leonie reminded me that I was in fact on stage at one point belting out Dire Straits Walk of Life... Oh dear!!
We called it a night around 2.30am, grabbed ourselves some Kebabs (or Yiros for those South Australians reading) and headed home... The next morning we were up by 10am surprisingly refreshed and ready to go!
Living The Life of Luxury
After lazing about for the day we headed into the Valley of Brisbane where we had booked to stay at the Emporium hotel. It was a very expensive posh hotel and it even had a 'pillow menu' with 8 different pillows to choose from! LOL I ordered one just cause I could. We relaxed in the afternoon in our spa bath, then got ready and headed out with some of Narelle's workmates. We started at Lime Hotel Rooftop Bar which was lovely but not really my scene, from there we ended up at a new nightclub called Cloudland.. that place is amazingly beautiful but after one drink we ended up in a little cocktail bar for most of the
night. Narelle and I decided to call it a night around midnight and said goodbye to everyone.. but once out the door both changed our minds and decided to find a feral pub to run amuck in... we found just the treat at the Royal George on the corner of Brunswick Mall.. it was the most feral dodgy pub I have almost ever been in and was 90%!m(MISSING)en... but we had a few drinks and a few laughs before grabbing some pizza slices from a little stall and stumbling home around 2.30am... Once back at the hotel we ordered room service then passed out..
Still No Hangover?!
We woke up on Sunday to Day 3 of drinking and still no hangover! Not sure what the hell was going on, but it must have been Narelle's secret recipe to cure hangovers! We went and had some brekkie near the hotel then headed home to Narelles... after an afternoon nap we headed over to Narelles sister Leonie's house for a BBQ and more drinks. A great night was had by all, and it didnt hurt that Leonie's brother-in-law was very easy on the eye!! LOL
I
woke up on day 4 to still no hangover and was feeling sad that it was time to leave Brisvegas... but it was time for the next part of the adventure! Narelle and I went for Vietnamese again at her favourite little restaurant before she dropped me to the train... From here I caught the train to the Gold Coast where I would stay with Dan and Shannon... friends I met in Thailand back in April....
Anyway that part can wait for the next blog... A huge thankyou to Narelle and Leonie (and their family) for their kind and generous hospitality.. it was an amazing start to my holiday and has set the bar high for the rest of the trip... Love to you all
Reet xxxx
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Chelle
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the journey begins....
YAY ... here she goes...... sounds like a great start to the holiday hun ... keep the blogs coming.. love travelling through you... :) xox