Laotian sunsets and sunrises plus a few more Liebsters

Before my post, I would quickly like to introduce three more of the  six bloggers to whom I forwarded the Liebster award.

Jenny has a delightful blog called the The Lime Walk. 

She moved from South Africa to Australia but also spends time in her house in France.  She has got the travel bug like I do but writes about a wide range of interests.  She is a lot of fun!

Ruth from Clothing Fixations is a Brit who moved to Sydney and gives me my dose of the good life down under with a healthy helping of fashion and well edited outfits.  Her posts always make me have pangs for Australia and it makes me laugh when she now thinks 18 degrees Celsius is cold!

Chinwags and Tittle Tattles is a London blog by MsMadge that covers many topics and you never know what she is going to write about next.  She has varied interests and writes meaty posts so I am sure she will have something for you to be curious about.

All the ladies are super friendly so do pop in for a bit of a gander.

I think you will really enjoy the ladies' answers as well!

Don't forget that my giveaway ends Tuesday morning so let me know if you want to be entered in either the scarf or perfume raffle.

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The last time I left you in Laos, I was hypnotized  by the sunsets.

The sunrises seemed far too ambitious at the time but the reason I had to get up early was to behold the legendary sunrise alms giving that Luang Prabang is known for.

Mad Men Season 6, Episodes 6 and 7 plus a few Liebsters!

For those of you who are not watching Mad Men, may I just introduce two of the 6 bloggers I forwarded the Liebster award to?

The first in alphabetical order is Kelly from A Soulful Home.
She is a new blogger like myself and has a lovely blog based in Sunny California.  She is an attorney who now turns her dab hand to creating lots of little elements that make her home so soulful; 
by name, by nature!

The second is Colleen from Forcailini 
which is Gaelic that means for the girls.
She is a fashion / nutrition blogger.
 I love her style and the items she picks out and models for us.
But she also "sneaks in a few vegetables" and writes informative posts about nutrition and health which comes naturally to her because she is a professional nutritionist!

They are both super friendly so please visit 
and don't be shy to say hello! 

So now on to Mad Men.
  Things are going back to the way things used to be.

People are back to work. 
Back to creating and conniving and scheming!

I love the period of growth.  

Even SCDP was getting a bit stagnant wasn't it?

I am worried that the car itself might be a dud...

Everything and everyone in it was getting so stagnant except perhaps Roger.

I finally won something.

The multi-talented Heather from the blog Lost in Arles kindly bestowed the Liebster award to me last week.  For those who like to read, I would highly suggest a visit. She writes beautifully and those who think it is only to do with France and all things French - it's not.  France is purely incidental on her blog.

I was rather chuffed about it and more than happy to accept the baton from her.

It was quite good timing as well as today is the 6 month anniversary for this blog.

In some ways, I can't believe it has even lasted this long.  Time has just flown by and I can't believe how much I have learned since I started; not only technical things like RSS ( still don't know what that means but at least now I know it pertains blogging ) but also blogosphere anthropology.  Truth be told, there have been quite a few times when I was going to quit but I realized I wouldn't be proving a point to anyone or anything so I kept going even when my stats were 0.  But I have "met" and discovered so many wonderful and interesting writers out there that I am so happy I decided to start my own blog.

House Beautiful May 2013

Don't you just love a cover that has "tips and secrets" on it?

It feels like we're reading a declassified FBI dossier that 

J Edgar Hoover kept on decorators.  But now of course, we don't need that - we have Million Dollar Decorators.

I really like coral.  
Not only the actual one that you sadly find less and less on the Great Barrier Reef but also the color and anything remotely similar.  However, I have a little coral and sea fan fatigue.  
But that is only because it has been a little overexposed of late but I wouldn't mind a cushion in any of these fabrics.

I rarely comment on the ads but I have to say that I find the following one from Pierre Frey very noticeably soothing.

It's not too fancy but also perfectly pitched for trade as 

Pierre Frey is usually reserved for professionals only in London.

I thought this was a very clever ad from Farrow and Ball.  

It must be the most copied paints in the UK.  Everyone takes a sample of a certain shade like String or Pale Powder which is one of the most popular selling shades in London and takes it to the hardware store to copy.

I have seen this "tip" on blogs and some acquaintances who think they are saving money by simulating a Farrow and Ball shade but I can spot a fake wannabe shade a mile off.  Then it seems kind of sad that they went through all the trouble of painting and spending money with a mediocre imitation.  If you want a Farrow and Ball shade - just buy it from them.  At the end of the day, it's paint and not imitation 16th century French furniture where there is a huge price differential.

Luang Prabang, Laos - Montpellier meets the Mekong

Now where were we? 

Last time I left you on my journey, I was leaving Cambodia.

A rabbit waiting for a feed?

I was finally going to the place that this whole trip was originally based around - Luang Prabang.

The clouds were positive augury with rabbits and elephants greeting me above Laos.

Baby Jumbo coming along for the ride?

For months, this place was calling my name.  

I don't hear dead people's voices but I do hear certain villages and countries telepathically beckoning me.

( Don't leave, stay with me okay?)

For instance, India has never asked me to visit.

I don't gatecrash so I have never been.

I kept getting this feeling I had to go to Luang Prabang, 

the ancient royal capital of Laos.

It is no longer the capital after the Communist regime took over in 1975 but it is still the cultural headquarters of the country.

The rest of my trip was originally just to pad out my 5 days here.

 I didn't feel like enduring a fourteen hour trip from London and 

jet-lag just for a trip of a few days.

 

I arrived at my hotel that had a rather artistic turn down service:

a frangipani flower coiled in the center of the bed with a gift of a Lao flute as a lucky charm.