Don't Get Attached to the Local Food

This is Puppydog and she followed me for around 10miles through the villages surrounding Sapa. Stray dogs are pretty common in Vietnam but most of them pretend to look like they belong somewhere. Puppydog didn't seem to belong anywhere. 

Dog meat is really popular in Vietnam, normally eaten at the end of the month to bring good luck and fortune. Being a vegetarian myself for moral and ethical reasons, you'd maybe think I'd see all animals the same in that respect but truthfully, I found this much more difficult to come to terms with. She took a particular shining to me, maybe she could sense the crazy-animal-lady in me. She didn't look at me nor did I pet her but she kept very close and often brushed up against my leg if a larger dog was close-by. Then she watched as we drove away and it took every ounce of strength in me to not smuggle her wee skinny body away. 

it's my party and i'll cry if i want to.

I did NOT start my 24th birthday with a vomit, a shower and a bagel. I did NOT cry last night. I did NOT shneck a tattooed stranger in a Slayer t-shirt. I did NOT get rejected by a moustached Glaswegian catholic Rangers supporter wearing a Rangers t-shirt because of a small miscommunication that started as "So, when you goin' home?". I did NOT let everyone at work believe I was a fresh 19.

wink wink. 

We took too many selfies in the bathrooms,

I got bought drinks all night at The Cambie...

...even ones I didn't want

I got presents and food at Warehouse and danced at The Met. What more could I ask for!

Somebody asked me on Sunday  what my best year to date has been and I honestly think it's been this one. Not because there's been less sadness  because there's been a lot of sadness this past year but because I have laughed uncontrollably, till I can't inhale anymore, on nearly a daily basis, I have experienced some crazy things, ticked soo many things off my bucket list, and made some genuinely incredible friends, I have zero regrets.

Merry Christmas

First things first...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! This has absolutely been the best 4 months of my life and yesterday I spent the day doing absolutely nothing, reflecting on the past months travelling.

While it's been pretty tough the past week, being away from home at Christmas, I am living the life I daydreamed about only a year ago. Although it's hard being away from my family and my friends, I know it's necessary and it's all part of the experience, innit.

Last night I went to the Hollywood Theatre for carol singing assuming that there wouldn't be any church-y stuff and boy was I wrong! It didn't even include bogus carols like Rudolf and Jingle Bells. So a long hour and a few preaches later we went for a couple of beers and went home. And we sat eating Roger's chocolates and listening to Rod Stewart's Christmas album {which by the way is epic}.

Hope y'all have full bellies and there aren't too many lonely people this Christmas. 

I'll be spending my first Christmas away from home hopefully eating my own body weight in mashed potato and drinking copious amounts of wine so cheers to that!
How are y'all spending Christmas?

i think there's a man in the trunk (edited)

Have you ever heard that urban legend about the lady getting chased in her car? Y'know, and the car is frantically beeping at her and flashing the lights...because there's a guy in her back seat. Well.

This just happened {part of it anyway}.We pulled over, they beeped as they went past, we checked the back of the car. No problem, right? WRONG. The other girls have obviously never heard this legend because they never checked the BOOT!!! And for obvious reasons I was too embarrassed to ask. I've spent the last 45 minutes staring at a car trunk from the back seat. I'm not sure what I'm expecting to happen, like the dude's gonna hop out as we're doing 70 down a motorway but you never know. You just never know.

Our road trip to Whistler was great, it was amazing to be back again. I got to relive my near-death-by-bear memories as I stood outside our hotel lobby and told the story of how I narrowly escaped a mauling as it ran through our lobby as I exited the elevator. It was really pretty too.

It was freezing cold but crisp and dry and the sky was clear. 

Perfect.