NYC cafe near that APPLE SHOP

101MSD-DSC01631_DSC01631, originally uploaded by Awfuldollhead.

From Singapore: another coffee stop, hazelnut chocolate cake. my hips

are not thanking me but what else is pilates for huh? like the necklaces?

from street stalls in varanasi, my sunnies are from singapore.. v retro

oh, just finished writing yet another cover letter... did i mention i bought

new boots yesterday? yup.. buckles at the ankle, dark brown leather, just

below the knee.. very balenciaga. breaking them in tomorrow when i do

the rounds with the cv

The Hunt

Back in Sydney, sitting cross-legged on the bed with Friends marathon playing in the background, tweaking my resume and filling in online applications. I hate online applications. I hate tweaking resumes slightly less than online applications. And of course everytime I redo my resume, I have to read all over again, 20 different sources for resume writing tips.
Even thinking about online applications upsets me... spent several hours monday night completing one, and halfway through work experience the screen froze. Incredibly upsetting...it makes me miss fax machines and paper CVs...

To make this, you will need:

Reading material

McLeod Ganj: 'The Famished Road' by Ben Okri - stunning novel, every line was a dream, full of hope despite so much anguish
Delhi: 'Dance of 17 Lives' by Mick Brown - based on the escape of the 17th Karmapa to Dharamsala
Singapore: 'Remembrance of Things Past' by Marcel Proust - Volume 1. & many many magazines (for the pool).

Favourite Magazines at the mo:

• RUSSH
• Madison
• Computer Arts (WHAT? don't be so surprised!)
• Bazaar (US version)
• Shape
• OK! (Singapore version, less trash more shopping)

It's winter in Sydney, which, is where I live normally. Flying back this coming Saturday night so have been spending as much time by the pool as possible. Which is where the magazines come in. So I can soak up some sunshine whilst researching trends before returning to my *shudder* freezing, miserable and damp hometown. Which I do still love very much, don't get me wrong. But swimming outdoors will be physically impossible, not to mention inadvisable and downright stupid, for the next 5 months.

This is where a Mag Bag would come in handy. I did see one on Saturday when I went out with my best friend since yonks ago Tian, but like a fool, I decided I didn't need one. Not anymore!! I'm going to Topshop straight after this and taking it home with me where it belongs. The cutest blue-green-white Capri by Pucciesque print too, and only $13. That's ok by Singapore standards. Borders has tons of MagBags but they're $26, and I didn't find myself wishing I had one of those this morning when I had to cart my reading material around the pool.. so that's that.

Officially, arriving back in Singapore a second time, before returning back to Sydney was the end of my big trip this year. But I find myself easing out of backpacking mode and preparing for the Great-Search-For-A-Job-And-Apartment-Era. LORD, it won't be pretty...

HHDL

Today I saw the Dalai Lama...everyone was waiting for the gates to open, and as the car drove past all of us knelt down. Someone put a flower in my hands whilst my head was bowed. I never got to see who it was. And what did DL look like? Exactly like in the photos... beautiful smile

The hunt for cappucino

TRIED & TESTED IN MCLEOD GANJ:

moonpeak cafe, on temple road.
fastest cappucino ever Rs 40 for a nice big cup. good place to read the paper...


the french cafe, on baghsu road.
well, didn't get the cappucino yet, but lemon cake here is so tasty! you can go upstairs and lounge around for ages. it's gorgeous








mayur, on baghsu road.
plays latino music, excellent view of the valley, i had the cream coffee (bliss!) ...

Confessions

1. I want a hamburger. A giant juicy hamburger (WITH BEETROOT). With fries. And chicken nuggets. And a steak (medium rare, ta very much).
2. And beer.

since I arrived here, I've had the tiniest amount of chicken flesh (we're talking atkins rationing sizes here) and I've always been the good girl who eats all her veggies...

1. I have one two three... mmm... 5 pairs of shoes. I left the high heels (stunning SO Christian Loubutin!) in Singapore...(i'm still a backpacker though)
2. I have 3 different moisturisers for my face
3. I haven't done any yoga in India (but I have done my part, posing for photos with all the tourists here, so that's my contribution)
4. I'm really good at holding my pee (you try doing it for 36 hours bet you won't last). It's a gift
5. I listen to Mariah Carey

Sunrise at Varanasi

Where's Dommy?

Currently staying in Baghso, about 2km away from McLeod Ganj, in Dharamsala. McLeod Ganj is pretty overloaded with tourists so I'm staying in this area, where it's more chilled out. Excellent little bakery, had the banana cake with a coffee this morning (Rs45). Tomorrow having the chocolate cake (just try and stop me).
I have to say though, to anybody worried about travelling alone in India, there really is nothing much to worry about. Just be sensible, and pleasant and remember your manners. Especially if you are a woman, people will go out of their way to help you. On trains, people are falling over themselves to help me with my bags, and buses are hailed for me. The most I worry about is getting overcharged, but that has never happened as yet. I could be lucky but I prefer to think that people appreciate foreigners who are respectful. If I get ripped off then so be it, I try my best to be careful but at the end of the day you want to remember that whilst you were travelling you remembered your manners and made your mama proud.
So aside from that little speech (intense huh? I know I'm surprised), if you want somewhere to kick back and chill, this is the place. And the view? Divine, although of course now the monsoon is almost here (it's early this year), but the weather is a nice refreshing change from 40degrees in Varanasi...

Everybody deserves music

My favourite tunes for travelling in India

on the train:

• Ministry of Sound (most recent edition THANK YOU)
• If there's a good little band wandering the carriage (complete with tambourine man!) though, then you should chill out to that...
• De La Soul
• The Roots

Snoozing on the train

on the bus in the hillside:

• Mariah Carey (especially the oldies)
• Armand van Helden
• B.I.G.
• Stevie Wonder
  

but if it rains, then Garbage, Jimi Hendrix, Dave Matthews and Prodigy

Hello, would you like to adopt me?

Strangely enough, I appear to be one of those people who cannot sit alone for longer than 20 minutes, stand in line for more than 45seconds, or walk down a street for half a block, in India, without being adopted by either other travellers or locals

My favourite so far, the lovely MORAN & SCHACHAR who adopted me at the Patna train station and have never let me out of their sight for more than an hour, constantly feed me biscuits, make me oatmeal with rasins for breakfast and at night teach me card games.



In second place, the Christian stranger in Darjeeling who filled out my train ticket reservation form (the official name of that blasted form is much longer, I hate it, it is not my friend), and then when there were no seats available, and I started crying (PMS + jetlag + sheer terror) he took me aside and prayed for me and DIDNT EVEN TRY TO CONVERT ME. He wore spectacles and a flannel shirt. I don't know his name but he was a lovely man.

I just wanted to watch the movie!

WELL!! Have now been in India since the 11th of this month. So that's 9days, 12 mango lassis and 2000 cups of chai I've been here for. And it is HOT HOT HOT...

The flight to Calcutta was far more traumatic than the shock of being in a completely new place. Instead of watching as many inflight movies as I could manage, found myself asked the following questions by my Thailand-bound neighbor whilst desperately trying to watch the film...

(playing deaf did not work)

"Madam Madam where are you from?"

"Oh I am happy to meet you.. Madam Madam what are you drinking?"

"Madam Madam what is a 'gin'?"

"Madam, is Thailand a free sex country?"

here I thought I must've lost my mind, and assumed, or really, hoped, for the best that I had misheard, and said "I dunno...."

"Aha... Madam, is Australia a free sex country?"

as if this was not enough, there was much display of brochures of lovely women, and he began to LICK the pictures whilst channel surfing for sex scenes which he would then point out to me.

After trying desperately hard to ignore the lipsmacking noises next to me for some time, finally freaked out completely when he covered himself with a blanket, and I just started shrieking that he had to go, NOW.

"OK OK no problem I go now"

"NOW NOW NOW"

Completely not how I planned to start this trip...

Ladies who lunch

labour day saturday ~ brunch at Crossroads, Marriott Hotel, Singapore.. French toast, Cajun fries, Calamri rings & Iced Coffee.. I said it then and I'm saying it now.. I'm not even sorry I did
that.... but afterwards had massive craving for wheatgrass and alfalfa juice...

Ice tea and eyeliner

So hi, this was yet another lazy though still tiring day in Singapore. Navigated all of Orchard Road (twice, harder than you would think) before finally retreating for a tea break... having already had several coffee breaks (STRONG SKIM CAP.. henceforth known as SSC).

Taken by my best pal Duchess Tianbabes.

Off to India next week. Am going to Darjeeling first and filled with delight one moment and sheer what-am-I-thinking terror the next.