http://www.khamtran.com Kham Tran's random ramblings about his travels, life, food and other stuff. Sat, 10 May 2008 05:30:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I just had a fantastic holiday in Phuket with a couple of mates, David and Nghia. First we stayed at the Thavorn Beach Hotel which was amazing but a little bit too far from the hustle and bustle of Patong beach (namely the Thaweewong and Bangla Road areas) so moved ... http://www.khamtran.com/2008/04/holidaying-in-phuket-thailand/ I was on my way to Thailand to meet David and Nghia who were already holidaying in Phuket. Since I was flying Singapore Airlines to Bangkok from Melbourne I had the usual stopover in Singapore. Transit in Singapore is something I always enjoy since there is so much to do ... http://www.khamtran.com/2008/04/mustafa-centr-singapore/ Xuan and I headed up to the Yan Yean Reservoir Park in Melbourne's north today to do a little sight seeing. As we expected the water levels in the reservoir were very low and the ponds around the park had nearly all dried up due to the drought. We walked ... http://www.khamtran.com/2008/03/sugarloaf-reservoir-park/ I had a craving for pancakes tonight so Xuan and I headed into the Pancake Parlour after dinner. I had the Raspberry and Rhubarb which is raspberry and rhubarb sandwiched between two buttermilk pancakes with mascarpone cream cheese and a dollop of ice cream. It's kinda sweet and tangy all ... http://www.khamtran.com/2008/02/raspberry-rhubarb-pancakes/ A group of us headed down to Fairhaven this weekend for a bit of rest and relaxation away from the city. Fairhaven is a small coastal town near Aireys Inlet and Anglesea on Victoria's Great Ocean Road. We rented a large house overlooking the beach which was sensational. The place had ... http://www.khamtran.com/2008/02/weekend-in-fairhaven/ Today Xuan and I headed down to Frankston beach to see the 'Fairytales & Fables' sand sculpting exhibition (19 January to 6 April 2008) at the Frankston Waterfront, near the pier and Kananook Creek. The theme of the exhibition is of favourite childhood fairytales and fables from around the world including ... http://www.khamtran.com/2008/02/sand-sculpting-exhibition/ Xuan and I headed down to the Yarra Bank Reserve in Burnley (An inner city suburb of Melbourne) yesterday afternoon to get a bit of outdoorsy time. I've never been to this part of the Yarra River so it was nice to get out for a walk and take a ... http://www.khamtran.com/2008/02/yarra-bank-reserve/ I had dinner yesterday at Dong Ba (133 Hopkins St, Footscray), one of my favourite Vietnamese restaurants in Footscray. They specialise in bun bo hue, which a mildly spicy noodle soup dish with thick rice noodles. Bun bo hue has got to be one of my favourite Vietnamese dishes, probably only ... http://www.khamtran.com/2008/01/bun-bo-hue-noodle-soup/ On our way back home from Warrnambool we decided to take the senic route and drive down Victoria's famous Great Ocean Road. I wanted to see and photograph the beautiful rock formations along the coast in and around the Port Campbell National Park area. We saw the Bay of Islands, Loch ... http://www.khamtran.com/2008/01/port-campbell-national-park/ On Friday Xuan and I headed to Warrnambool for an overnight stay. The holidays were coming to an end so we thought it would be good to get away for the last time before going back to work. We had nice and relaxing time taking in the sights and visiting a ... http://www.khamtran.com/2008/01/an-overnighter-in-warrnambool/ On our way back home from the New Years Eve trip to Wilsons Promontory we decided to stop at Venus Bay. We had breakfast at a local cafe then headed to the beach to soak up the sun and catch some pippies (aka surf clams). We had a lot of fun ... http://www.khamtran.com/2008/01/sunny-day-in-venus-bay/ A group of us headed down to Wilsons Prom (Wilsons Promontory) in Victoria to spend New Years Eve. We stayed in a house only a few minutes from the Wilsons Promontory National Park. Plenty of booze, food and good company made for a memorable way to say goodbye to 2007 ... http://www.khamtran.com/2008/01/new-years-eve-in-wilsons-prom/ A group of us spent Boxing Day having a picnic lunch in Melbourne's Botanical Gardens. Great weather, cheese, crackers and sandwiches made for an enjoyable day. It was also an opportunity for to take a few snaps. http://www.khamtran.com/2007/12/picnic-in-the-botanical-gardens/ Me and the missus drove up to Mount Macedon yesterday to do a little sight seeing and have a bit of a walk around. I also wanted to show Xuan 'Gravity Hill' which is a seemingly uphill section of road on Straws Lane that you roll up when you put ... http://www.khamtran.com/2007/12/gravity-hill-mount-macedon/ A group of us headed down to Sorrento last Saturday for a barbeque. Lucky for us it was a beautiful 25°C Melbourne day, perfect for the first day of the Australian summer. We had a massive barbeque feast, a few of beers and kicked the soccer ball around a little. We ... http://www.khamtran.com/2007/12/saturday-in-sorrento/ I had dinner with the missus in Footscray last night and while in the carpark we noticed all these seagulls just hanging around apparently not doing not much at all. I thought it looked a little weird. I know, you're probably thinking, 'Seagulls hanging around is just what they ... http://www.khamtran.com/2007/12/seagulls-in-the-carpark/ I was waiting at the lights the other day and thought the look out of the car window would make for a good photo. The cars you see lined up are waiting to do a hook turn. For those who don't know, a hook turn is a right turn made from ... http://www.khamtran.com/2007/11/melbourne-hook-turn/ The girlfriend and I headed up to Geelong and Barwon Heads for the day just to do a bit of sightseeing and walking. It was good to do something a bit more outdoorsy for a change. It was a bit cloudy and grey outside but luckily the rain held back. ... http://www.khamtran.com/2007/11/saturday-in-barwon-heads/ I know, I've been a bit slack with my blog posts this month. It's like already the end of October and this is just my second post. Anyways, as some of you already know I'm living back in Melbourne now. It's already been two and a half months and all ... http://www.khamtran.com/2007/10/fried-spam-egg-breakfast/ I was parked on Lonsdale Street in Melbourne last week waiting for my girlfriend to finish work and thought I'd take a few random photos of my surroundings. Trying not to look too much like a tourist I snapped away at whatever caught my eye. I pretty much just ended up ... http://www.khamtran.com/2007/10/parked-on-lonsdale-street/