Rose Bakery.

This place is rather cute. If you're in the need of a piece of toast and marmite or a good wedge of moist, crumbly cake, this is the place to go. Rose Bakery has a couple of locations dotted around Paris, BT and myself headed to one nestled in the 11th on Rue Martyrs. Despite queueing for the best part of an hour, we were seated at last on a long table, sharing our dining experience with fellow brunchers and tea-slurpers. The menu is predominately breakfast based with bowls of granola and berries, eggs with smoked salmon and even marmite and toast. Bliss. Prices are variable, for a frothy looking coffee and delectable morsel of cakey goodness you're looking at 5 euros but don't let that put you off by any means. I will definitely be paying Rose Bakery another visit, maybe in a different arrondissement, you know, just to mix things up.

 If you're a tea fan, Pukka teas are definitely a brand to dabble with. I'd recommend the vanilla chai. 

 What a spread of cakes fresh from a loaf tin. 

 Mocha soya, 

 Empty plates all round. 

 What a hunk of cheese. 

The little things.

Hello and Good morning bloggersphere. Currently listening to Maroon 5 Sunday Morning just because it actually IS Sunday Morning, whilst slurping on a brew. Enough of the mundane details though, I thought I'd dedicate this post to some of the little moments that have put a smile on my face this week. I arrived back in Paris on last week and to be frank, I was rather apprehensive however that was all brushed aside with the help of the glorious sunshine, undeniably great company, unexpected post and of course the thought of revision nearly being over for four whole months!

Demain est un nouveau jour. 

I'd like to send a massive thank you as well as bundles of love to HG who is currently gap yah-nig but found the time to send little old me the most thoughtful note. Thank you for making my day. 

Happy Sunday to one and all. Spread some love and send some post. 

Mad as a bag of frogs.

Hong Kong baffled me right from the word go. I mean I know I'm easily confused but this was on another level. Firstly, Hong Kong isn't a country, it's reclaimed land. Its capital is Hong Kong, there are dozens of other islands that seem to chill out around the periphery of Hong Kong and to top it all off the buildings under construction in Hong Kong have BAMBOO scaffolding netted around them, resembling an intricate game of pick up sticks.

So we arrived late Friday night after saying a very heartfelt goodbye to Phuket and the first thing we noticed was how different both our destinations were from each other. It was like going from the sublime to the absolutely-barking-mad-ridiculous. We stayed on Wellington Street which couldn't have been a more ideal location as it was right in the hub of it all with grimy looking street markets every other turn and overflowing eateries. Marvellous. After grabbing a bite to eat and getting the low-down on all things Hong Kong in a tiny restaurant in Soho, we dragged ourselves back to our hotel and fell asleep with anticipation of what the next day would have in store for us. 

As forecasted it rained. Hong Kong style rain is rather more dramatic than typical English rain however; the sky was black, we had perspiration seeping through our clothes form the humidity and what's more it didn't seem to stop all day. Despite the inclement conditions we powered on with IS's trusty Nike watch keeping track of our mileage. 

To sum up our first day, we headed by tram to one side of the city (west or east, it's by the by) and came across a whole street lined with sea-urchin-deep-sea-cretinous-looking-medicinal-purpose things (?) I'm talking, dried octopus, shrivelled up shrimp and preserved starfish, all for sale, whole-sale for that matter! Despite the smell being appalling it was still a sight to see. Next we headed over to Kowloon on the Star Ferry. IS was keen for us to walk down Nathan Road but the girls (myself included) had other priorities concerning shopping. The Ladies Market is Hong Kong's biggest outdoor shopping experience and it was incredible. There was a plethora of goods for sale and all prices were negotiable. After spending a good couple of hours gawking and haggling we headed to the Jade Market. Sadly I got quite overwhelmed, there was just too much good looking jewellery and I just would've loved everything, this aside we did buy matching Jade bracelets as a memento from our trip. We also took in Bird Street (famous for it's live bird market), a gold fish market and a typical Hong Kong fish market. Much later we headed back to our street and being the inexperienced oriental diners that we are joined the back of a queue for a popular looking Vietnamese restaurant which turned out to be well worth our dollar. 

Day two, and we were definitely more aware of what we were up against in HK. We spent most of the morning in Stanley where there were more market type stalls but a calmer atmosphere compared to the Ladies Market. Coming back from Stanley we took a jolly little 'junk' trip around Aberdeen harbour and ended up in another fish market. What can I say, we just couldn't get enough of those fish in tanks. In the afternoon we visited the peak which looks out across Hong Kong and was great for getting our bearings of the city. In the evening we headed back over to Kowloon and feasted on yet another meal of noodles, springs rolls, stir fried veg and Chinese tea. 

Our final day was spent on Lama Island where we enjoyed a delicious lunch at another popular joint called the Rainbow restaurant and included in the dining experience is your ferry ticket back to mainland Hong Kong which we all thought was pretty savvy. After more walking, a hint of shopping and a much needed tea break we were heading back to the MTR which would take us to the airport. I was blown away by Hong Kong and there aren't enough words to describe the complete cocktail of smells, sights and lights so here are a mixture of snap-shots from our time in Hong Kong. I've done plenty of talking so I'll let the pictures do the talking. 

MS being artsy with her camera angles. 

In and amongst the beads at the Jade Market. 

TOO MANY BRACELETS. 

Horoscope necklaces. 

Totems and buddhas. 

Vital pitstop at an almighty pick and mix. 

Too good. 

My favourite out of these chaps has to be in the fourth row third from the right. 

Now, In the photo above, I'd like to draw your attention to something. Just in the upper right-hand section you will come across what looks like a bag of live frogs. I must inform you that what you see is in fact an actual bag of live frogs. The little creatures were piled on top of one another whilst making froggy noises, blissfully unaware that they would soon become someone's dinner. This has to be a sight like no other.

RS not looking one bit impressed with the smell of the fish market. 

Wonton soup.

 Shredded chicken salad with lime and chilli. 

 The 'junk' tour round Aberdeen Harbour. 

The view from the peak. 

 MS soaking up the peak. 

 What a sight. 

Hong Kong all seemed rather alien initially but after spending an action crammed three days in the city, I felt HK and I had become better acquainted. 

The day we found paradise.

Here's yet another post about my Thai happenings. Tappenings if you will. Apologies if it's getting boring in any way but I am seriously having massive withdrawal symptoms.

As a treat we decided to hire out a boat and visit the famous James Bond Island from the Man with the Golden Gun as well as other breathtaking islands that seemed to pop out of nowhere like mass tombstones in the middle of the sea.

In my Robinson Crusoe shorts. 

I don't think we cut it as Bond girls, but we can always dream.

Even though it was brilliant to see the Bond Island, I found it a quite overrated attraction as there were so many other fellow tourists creating crowds, jostling and quite frankly an intrusion to such an idyllic setting. However I would recommend this trip or any other boating activities around this area as you have to see it to believe it. 

Personally I LOVED the floating village we came across about ten minutes after being on Bond Island. It's not actually floating on the sea but rather held up by stilts and other precarious looking scaffolding but I rather like the idea of a village floating along minding it's own jolly business.

We all found the experience fascinating. I mean to see people actually living and working in this situation is worlds apart from what we know. Their way of life is ever so simple but they're happy. I could've stayed on the floating village for a lot longer but our guides on the boat were keen to show us our picnic spot. 

Lunch served on board. SO MANY SPRING ROLLS.

Cavernous. 

Please excuse the messy mass of hair on top of my head. Humidity is no friend of mine.

We 'cast anchor' (nautical term) inside a shady looking cave with more geographical features than you could shake a stick at. I'm talking Stalactites, Stalagmites and of course a good bit of erosion. More interestingly was our time we spent on board reflecting on our holiday. I don't want to sound like too much of a cliché but it really was a holiday of a lifetime and quite frankly impossible to pin down a single 'best bit.'

That's now all my happenings from Thailand. Next time, I will bring you some snippets from Hong Kong.