Hi everyone,

Since I got my Canon G12, I've become obsessed with taking pictures. Sometimes, I found myself at a moment where the scene looked so spectacular that I wanted to capture the image. The house my family is living is quite tall and the view to the skyline can be picturesque at some certain times during the day. Recently, I found myself being amazed of the colors of the sky and I had to take some pictures.

Saigon is growing with construction signs everywhere. This building is going to be the tallest one in our area. The crane is hovering back and forth all day and night.

I hope you'll have a nice weekend. See you next week!

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Hi there, beautiful!

Every week, I went through the same routine all over again. Around Sunday, I used self-encouragement to find writing topics for this blog. "I give up!" I threw my hands in the air. "I have absolutely nothing to write in here!"

Then, a calm inner voice that sounded like a cross between Morgan Freeman and Yoda told me to look into my picture archive. "Maybe you'll find something worthy to write in there, my child," the voice said. And that, my friends, is how My Makeup Blog has been surviving for almost 3 years now.

Today's post is one of the results of the inner voice. A couple of months ago, somebody gave us a box of cookies. Unlike many cookies I've eaten before, these guys are really special. They are 100% handmade during a certain time of the year. And best of all, they are tiny. The size of my thumb tiny.

I managed to take some pictures before we devoured them all. We call them "The Smart Cookies." And no, I'm not kidding. That's the name.

Four types of smart cookies

Flower

Rose bud

This one looks like a hedgehog
Who ate Sonic?

This one looks like a snail. Or a leaf.
I had no time to contemplate since it was inside my belly already :P

The filling was the same to all of them. They all had soft caramelized shredded coconut. Yummylicious, I must say! Now, I look at the photos longingly, as I can't have them anymore. They are on sale once a year during Qing Ming. Probably our version of the Girl Scout "Crack" Cookies.

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Hi everyone,

Yup, that was me climbing the Great Wall of China! I actually had time to camwhore before climbing to the next beacon (Beacon number 9.) It was a great trip and I was wise enough to pack some essential makeup and skincare items for my trip.

Despite the sandstorm from Mongolia, we managed to take some great photos
And yes, this is how I look now. It was cool that day (14-22 degree C) but with strong winds. The cashmere cardigan saved my life!

I actually brought a small bag to store my essential items. As much as I want to haul my whole makeup and skincare storage unit, I decided to be more selective.

Everything I needed stored inside this fake croc bag from Clinique.

Wanna know what's inside and the makeup items that made my traveling life easier? Jump!

Separated the makeup items from the skincare items (Sunplay sunscreen, Skinceuticals Phyto gel, and a bottle of lotion from a hotel I stayed), and other equally important items when I'm on the road (perfume, zit cream, Dramamine, and Carbophos. I stored my ibuprofen and cold medicine in my carry-on.)

Of course, I wanted to look nice during the trip. I wanted to apply colorful eye makeup everyday I was in China. But the cruel truth hit me before the trip even started: I would not have the damn time. For real. Every single day when I was there, I woke up at 6 o'clock if I was lucky (some days I woke up at 4 in order to catch a plane at 8:30.) Then, we would travel, go sight-seeing, eat, and enjoy ourselves until 8-9 pm (if we were lucky. Checking in around midnight was the norm.) Therefore, we were extremely lucky to get 7 hours of sleep. I got about 5 hours of sleep every night since we (the young group) decided to walk around the cities we stayed every night to tire ourselves out before going to bed. No, traveling isn't always dandy. It is hard work. I lost almost 5 lbs during this trip.

But I digressed. Let's get back to how I survived makeup-wise. Here are the things I packed:

Benefit Coralista: check. Heroine Make mascara and remover: check (actually love this mascara very much! 12+hrs of walking and sweating but the stuff still clung on to my lashes like dear life!) Shu Uemura curler: check. MAC Viva Glam V: check. Maybelline eyeliner sharpener: check, because...

I brought a whole lot of eyeliners and chubby eye pencils with me!

I figured out I would not have time to put on eye makeup and I needed a fast routine that makes me look awesome. Hence, the eyeliners and chubby pencils. I applied the chubby pencil and blended with my finger. Then, I lined my upper and lower lash lines with different colors before curling my lashes and applying mascara. Bam, I looked very decent during the whole trip. Yet, the routine starting from applying moisturizer (Phyto Gel) took less than 5 minutes.

I guess this is quite an ingenious idea: the pencils are small and do not take a lot of space. Also, you don't need to bring any brushes. More space in your luggage for souvenir goods, I say!

I hope you enjoy this packing tip. Have fun!

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Hey y'all!

Since I came back to Vietnam, I've been traveling extensively. One trip after another but I did not feel so tired. In fact, I've come to a realization that I love traveling, as long as it does not involve full body scans and waiting for hours at the airport. Traveling here in Vietnam is quite easy and inexpensive. When an opportunity arose for me to travel to Cambodia, I took it. And boy oh boy! It was fun!

It had been my dream to travel to Cambodia for such a long time and now that I got a chance to fulfill it, I felt very fortunate. Here is a recap of my 4-day, 3-night trip. I took a total of 766 photos and I decide to break it into a series of entries. Otherwise, I would be an intense (and long) entry!

Here it is. I hope you'll enjoy!

Day 1

Breakfast at Trang Bang, a province at the border of Vietnam and Cambodia
The soup was not all that, I guess they took us to the wrong restaurant :(

The herb smells like five-spice powder. I ate it with the soup and it was very yummy!

About to cross the Vietnam-Cambodia border
Same area but has different names: Moc Bai (Vietnam) and Bavet (Cambodia)

More pictures of my journey in Cambodia after the jump. So jump!

Somewhere in Cambodia. I took a picture of an ad about Angkor

Ate dinner at Pho Ha Noi/ Golden Cow restaurant
They sell Vietnamese food here with decent price and quality. I had a rice dish for dinner and I was FULL!

Angkor is a brand of Cambodian beer. This ad was everywhere.

The hotel. The room was big and very clean.
My roommate was an 81 year-old lady. We didn't know each other prior to the trip and she is the coolest 81 year-old lady I've ever known!

Day 2: Visiting Angkor, baby!

Map of Angkor

Angkor is a part of Siem Reap that consists of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and many other smaller temples, including Ta Prohm (where Angelina Jolie filmed Tomb Raider.) We spent the whole day there and it was divine!

Various trees and shrubs

We arrived at the Southern face of Angkor Thom. This was the entrance when the king came back victoriously from a battle. This side of the entrance had statues of gods...

while the other side has statues of the devils.
These statues depicted the battle between the Gods and the Devils for the Elixir of Youth. According to the tour guides, the Gods and the Devils had a truce: the Gods would hold the Elixir of Youth for a couple of years and then passed it on to the Devils. However, the Gods drank the elixir and once the Devils found out, they raised war.

Southern entrance.
Buses were not allowed inside. We had to rent a smaller car to get into Angkor Thom, which was 3 km away from the entrance.

Engraving statue of an apsara, who is believed to be half-woman, half-goddess.

Rock everywhere!
Arrived at the Bayon, Angkor Thom's state temple. Built during the pre-industrial period, the whole site was made of rocks stacking on top of each other.

The famous four-sided face tower
There are so many of them.

Another face tower. Each face symbolizes a different emotion: happiness, anger, love, and jealousy.

A dancing troupe with some tourists mixed in. You pay them $1 USD to take pictures.

A headless statue
Raiding for antiques was real, not just in Tomb Raider. I saw many headless statues around Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. 

Tail-less lion
Maybe someone stole his tail or the weather took it away. Anyways, it was an interesting sight. I could not help but take a picture.

That's all for today. More photos of my trip in Cambodia next week. Have a nice day, everyone!

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Hi everyone,

About a month ago, I went to my mom's hometown in Mui Ne. Since it was such a short trip, I got to spend a little bit of time at the beach. With the help of Canon G12, I captured some pictures to share with you.

Artsy photo to belong in a calendar in the future :)
The power of the G12 is undeniable!

 More pictures ahead. So jump with me!

As it is a fishing town, you can see a lot of boats coming back from the sea.

More boats

Sleepy fishing town

Tiny little round boats called "thuyen thung"
(Thuyen= boat, thung= colander)

The two men hopped on the miniature boat...

...and paddled away.
The guy actually paddled very fast.

That's all for now. I'm traveling for a couple of days and an elf is going to help me posting up a few blog entries. Although I won't be able to comment until I come back, I appreciate your feedbacks.

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Hello there, dear readers!

Another day, another food post. Since I've accumulated enough pictures of food in various occasions, I decided to do another food post today. I've been enjoying too much good food since I came back and they are so delicious that sometimes I forgot to take pictures. I know, my bad. But I guarantee this post is packed with pictures of the yummiest food I remembered to take some snapshots. I hope y'all enjoy it!

First stop: nem nuong (grilled meat)
It is eaten with banh hoi (a kind of tiny noodles in sheet form), various herbs, lettuce, and sweet and sour fish sauce

Banh xeo (happy pancakes) made by moi :)

A close-up picture at the pancakes. I made it with shrimps and chicken :)
For more info about banh xeo, click here

 A lot more pictures of yummy food ahead. Jump!

Goi (Vietnamese-style salad)
This is not your typical Western salad with lettuce. The Vietnamese salad is made with shredded cabbage, onion(s), and carrots. Sometimes, it's even made with lotus stems, which is a delicacy. The protein part can be chicken, pork, and/or shrimps. My mom made this salad with shredded cabbage, carrots, and onions with shredded chicken.

The salad is eaten with prawn crackers (white things on the left): you take a cracker, add a bit of salad, and drizzle a bit of sweet and sour fish sauce. Then, take a bite. The crunchiness of the crackers and vegetables explodes in your mouth.
The crackers can be eaten by itself. It's a favorite snack for kids, albeit being quite fatty since the crackers are deep fried in oil.

Egg rolls with dipping sauce
I rolled and fried these bad boys myself!

Last but not least: tofu with lemon grass fillings for the vegans/vegetarians
Many food bloggers put this on their hit-list when they visit Vietnam. The lemon grass fragrance combined with hot chili peppers and fresh tofu make a killing combo. I simply can't have enough of this. 

Of all the pictures taken in this entry, the last one his the hardest to capture. It was mind boggling to make a block of tofu surrounded with lemon grass look appealing. Hello, it's a block of tofu! It cannot pose! The great pictures in this post are the result of the awesomeness of Canon G12. I can't praise this camera enough and I guess sooner or later, I need to write a post about it. Yes, the G12 is that awesome!

I hope you are happy with today's post. I sincerely apologize if it makes you hungry. Also, last but not least, Belly and I are very touched at the amount of support you guys had shown during our last post. We hope you will continue to support and pray for Japan.

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