Welcome to the adventures of Lil’ Kim . Remember I’m just a lil’ girl with a big camera hoping to have some pretty huge life experiences .  I travel as much as possible because I think there are soooo many fascinating places to see and experience out there. I just LOVE visiting new places – admiring the architecture, learning the history, engaging in the customs and traditions of the people and most definitely enjoying all of the local eats.  Sometimes I even find myself planning my trip around where I am going to eat…lol. A few weeks ago, I went to Vietnam for the first time and I can say it was definitely one of the best trips I have ever been on.  I was kind of nervous at first because I had never been there before – my family had fled Vietnam in 1980 and I was born shortly after they arrived in the United States.  I only knew Vietnam from my parents’ stories and what I read in my history classes.  But, it didn’t take me long to feel very comfortable with my people, the culture and feel right at home. Vietnam has definitely advanced from when my parents left and it’s interesting to see how the country grows and blends technology & tradition. I also found myself falling in love with the lifestyle there.  Even in some of Vietnam’s biggest cities, everything seemed so much slower and easier.  I also did not expect to communicate so easily with the locals.  I don’t consider myself that fluent in Vietnamese, but all the locals were surprised that I had been born in the states because I spoke Vietnamese so well .  I guess you can go to a new place and learn a lot about yourself .

I went on this 18 day trip with my sister, her husband and one of my good friends.  I have family & friends who live in Vietnam so I was fortunate to also spend some time with them.  I was sad that I missed some of my favorite holidays – Thanksgiving & Black Friday, but I wouldn’t trade any of my recent experiences for anything. In 18 days, we ended up visiting a total of 6 cities in Vietnam and 1 city in Cambodia.  I think I took around 2000 photographs on the trip.  There were just so many unique parts of Vietnam and soooo many things that inspired me as an artist and a person.  Due to the plethora of photos, I will be blogging the trip in parts according to areas I visited.  So you will definitely have to revisit the blog often to see all of the awesomeness . 

Vietnam has very many different parts of the country. Our first stop was the largest city in Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City or as most people call it Saigon.  I felt the most at home in Saigon because it had a great metropolitan area.  It is the most populated area in Vietnam – almost every street seemed busy and bustling with people and activity. 

Good morning Vietnam!

The streets were busy like this everywhere. Vietnam is a growing country – it is the 13th most populated country in the world with a population of over 86 million! Most people in Saigon own a motorbike and drive like I’ve never seen in my life. I like to call it organized chaos. I am not even kidding! I thought there was going to be an accident every 5 seconds and was incredibly surprised I did not see a single one while I was there. Pedestrian right of way also does not exist in Vietnam. The best thing to do is just to keep walking. It took me about 15 minutes to cross the street the first day and on the 18th day in Vietnam, I found myself walking like a Saigon pro .

Visiting our friend living in Vietnam. It’s always nice to see a familiar face

And have a nice, big, yummy, inexpensive meal

Red Hot Chili Peppers

My everyday staples in Vietnam – iced coffee and fresh fruit

We had yummy PHO from a local chain called PHO 24. I guess that means PHO 24/7 – PHO for breakfast, lunch and dinner

The famous Ben Thanh Market in Saigon, where I spent lots of dong (Vietnamese currency)

We visited my wonderful family who lived near Saigon. It was so heartwarming to see my aunt again, my uncle visiting from Australia, and lots of lovely cousins whom I have never met before. They were so sweet and funny like the rest of my family – I felt like I had known them my whole life. I guess that’s how family makes you feel right??? ! Here I am with one of my cute lil’ cousins – his twin sister is sleeping on the floor (see bottom right).

This was my grandfather’s house – built many, many years ago!

More local scenery:

My friend Neha and I took a day trip from Saigon to the Mekong Delta, which is a region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. Life in the Mekong Delta revolves much around the river, and many of the villages are often accessible by rivers and canals rather than by road. The people in the Mekong Delta are mostly farmers and fisherman who work extremely hard for everyday living. Our tour guide told us that most older folks work all day not to afford the cost of living which is very little, but to save their earnings so their children can receive an education. Vietnam is a developing country, and many Vietnamese parents cannot afford for their children to attend schools.

It was really cool how we got to ride in the river. I just love how our boat rower had a “Los Angeles” shirt on. LOL. Must be a Laker fan .

Alcohol with snake blood. I didn’t drink it. It’s suppose to be..um..good for men =/.

“Elephant” fish – a specialty from the Mekong Delta:

At the local market in Mekong:

Check back soon for PART 2!!!

As promised, here’s a recap of my 12 day vacation to the land down under!!! I must warn you this will be quite a long post, but as with all of my posts – worth the read! =)

Our adventure began when my darling mom, my favorite travel buddy Lauren and lil’ ol’ me boarded a 14 hour Qantas flight to Australia’s third most populated city – Brisbane. Qantas is an awesome airline – they feed you non-stop (including ice cream) and you have your own TV with tons of movies and entertainment. I think I watched a total of 6 movies on my trip including the “Sex and the City” movie again! I also watched “The Happening” which was not so good but did cause me to scream really loud during one of the scary scenes and cause panic to the entire airplane. The flight attendant even came running to my aid. Whoops – my bad =).

Sooo 14 hours later we arrived at the beautiful city of Brisbane. The city is a modern architectural masterpiece. It kinda reminds of Chicago. We did a lot of sightseeing, eating and shopping – pretty much what I did the entire time I was in Australia or anywhere for that matter =). One of my favorite parts was when we visited the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and where I met my cuddly Serenity (see previous post). Luckily, a dingo did not eat my baby nor did I have one with me for him to eat.

We also got to feed kangaroos!!! There were heaps of them (I used the word again =)). I must admit they look different from what I see on TV. They were skinnier and looked a lot like deers. Here’s me and my mother petting “Joey”. My mom was definitely not scared of any of the animals:

And here’s me during my best kangaroo interpretation =). Joey didn’t seem too impressed.

And now we are off to Sydney!!! We took a short flight and rented a car to drive to my uncle’s. Yes I drove on the opposite side of the road!!! Yes it was a lil’ scary and I got honked at a few times, but it was definitely an experience. And so I finally got to meet my uncle and my mom was finally reunited with her big brother after 30 years!!! My uncle is a very funny man and looks just like my mom! My uncle and wonderful cousins took us out to a yummy Vietnamese dinner (at this point I was craving for some Viet food!) and I kept on making my 8 year old cousins say the word “lovely” and other phrases that showed off their fabulous Australian accents =). I soon realized that family is the same wherever you go. After all that’s what makes them family. I felt so comfortable around them and it was like we had known each other our whole lives. I was sad to leave them to move on with the rest of our trip, but I’m sure I will see them again. They promised to come to America next! Here’s my family from down under – yes those are all cousins and my uncle is standing next to my momma – told you they look alike!!

My mom stayed with my family while Lauren and I journeyed to downtown Sydney to do some more sightseeing and visit our friends from Sydney. As usual, we were armed with our handy travel guide and took full advantage of the great public transportation that exists outside of LA:

Sydney is truly a beautiful city with lots to see and do. Now you can’t go to Sydney without visiting the infamous Sydney Opera House. We took a ferry around the harbor and had this amazing view of the Opera House at sunset:

We also went to the famous Bondi Beach in Sydney. It was a beautiful day and we ate at this delicious restaurant called Icebergs. It had a perfect view of this:

Finally we got to reunite with our girlies!!! We love these girls! Lauren and I had met Jane and Sam on our trip to Greece 2 years ago (yes I love to travel!) and it was like we had met our Australian counterparts! CHEERS!!!

A few days later we were also sad to leave incredible Sydney. Fortunately we were heading to Melbourne where we heard has the best shopping in all of Aussie. Unfortunately, it was about 50 degrees and raining in Melbourne when we got there. Nevertheless, Lauren and I shopped til we dropped despite getting a lil’ wet in between. We stuffed what we could into our tiny suitcases (we only had carry-ons!). Here’s a few snapshots of in between the rain:

After Melbourne, we could not wait to get to Cairns where it was a sunny 80 degrees and where we would be snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef!!! We boarded another flight (I took 6 flights total!!!) and I realized how much I loved life when I looked out the plane window and saw this:

We went on a fun-filled tour to the reef where they dropped us off on this breathtaking beach:

So you know I had to get one of my feet-on-the-sand shots in!

Next I put these on my feet and was ready to find Nemo!!! =)

Ok so I didn’t find Nemo but I got to see heaps (there I go again =)) of colorful coral and swim (well not really swim because I can’t – I wore a wet suit AND a floaty) among schools of fish!! It was the best snorkeling experience of my life and I could not believe it when our tour guides told us the reef may be extinct in 10 years from global warming! I couldn’t help but again feel how fortunate I am to experience the things I get to in life. I’m feeling very thankful right now. And then I went back to Sydney to pick up my mom and we headed back to Cali and reality. *Sigh…*

So where am I going next???? I’ll let you know when I figure it out!! =) Stay tuned! =)

That’s right!!! TODAY I am leaving for my first trip to Australia!!! I know – I am quite the jet setter! =) I am going with my mommy and a friend to visit my uncle (for the first time!) and some friends!! I am soooo excited!!! My mom hasn’t seen her brother in 30 years and I have never met my uncle so it will be a very heartfelt trip! I have never flown this far (14 hours!!!) but if you know me, you know I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere! We are visiting 4 cities in a week and a half so it should be a fun and busy trip!

I will be definitely taking lots of pictures and create one super edition of “kim le’s korner” when I get back. Until then, unfortunately, you won’t be hearing my lil’ voice until September 18, 2008. I know, sad, but there’s always football and the new 90210 to watch! =)

G’day, mate!! =)

I’ll see if these really exist:

This past weekend my bf joined me in the Windy City and we had the best time enjoying all of Chicago’s amazing architecture and delectable eats. It wasn’t my first time here, but it was my first time with him which made it all that more enjoyable. Some of my faves of the weekend were eating delicious deep-dish pizza from the original Pizzeria Uno, learning the history behind Chicago’s fine architecture via Wendella River and Lake tour, catching an incredible skyline view from the top of Big John, playing around with the big Bean at Millennium Park Millennium Park and eating melt-in-your-mouth pancakes at the legendary Lou Mitchell’s. I just looooove Chicago – the city and the people here have so much character. I am amazed how the city stays so clean and beautiful. Being here in the fall/winter is so nice with the leaves changing color (you don’t get that in SoCal) and everyone in their fabulous winter gear all bundled up!

My bf likes taking pics just as much as I do, here are some images from his point-and-shoot:

Me and the bf on the boat tour:

Me and the colorful leaves in the park:

Me and the Bean:

Me and his Airness:

This past weekend, I got to enjoy a relaxing mini-vacation with two of my bestest friends in the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. We stayed at the El Conquistador Resort in the city of Fajardo. The resort was so huge that we had to take this tram from one end of the resort to the other. The resort had a casino and it’s own private island. We made the most of our weekend getaway by taking in as much as we could of Puerto Rico: relaxing at the island of Palomino, getting a much needed massage at the Golden Door spa, night kayaking and swimming in the bioluminescent lagoon, sleeping with the sounds of coquis, renting a car and getting lost – hahah, drinking pina coladas but not quite dancing in the sporadic rain, and taking a day trip to Old San Juan where we ate mofongo and took many, many pictures of the historic sites. All in all, this weekend getaway was exactly what I needed after a very busy summer!

The amazing view from our hotel room:

Our ultra-cute hotel room:

La isla Palomino:

Old San Juan was quite a scene, as every street was filled with colorful houses and buildings.

Me working it in the alleyways of San Juan…lol…

I made this collage of all the fabulous doors and colorful scenery:

We visited the El Morro castle, which had one of the longest stretches of green grass I ever seen. I swear they filmed Braveheart here =).