Does a centipede live in this house?

No just visitors!

Something to do on a Sunday Morning

 What do you do at 8am in Ho Chi Minh City? Go on a fun run.  Seriously did they not think of starting it earlier - it's 33 degrees at 8am and we had just started.


The day is just beginning - look at the smiles



To explain, today is Sunday and we have all entered the Terry Fox Fun Run as part of the AIS (American International School team).  The fun run had about 11,000 participants which is pretty amazing for Saigon.  For some reason we all have to get there at 7am - thankfully we did this run last year and knew that 7.30 would be good enough.  It starts at 8am where everyone - all 11,000 entrants just start swarming down the road. 

It takes a good 10 minutes before you can actually get into a position to run then it's a 5km run dodging other runners, kids on bikes, rollerbladers, walkers, prams etc.  It's an easy run as it's dead flat but it's just so hot. 

Typical of Vietnam they do such funny things like give you waterbottles as you run past  - which is great except they leave the plastic wrapping still on the cap so you have to run, holding your iphone, trying to unwrap the bottle to get a drink. 

Then they allow wheels, like bikes and rollerblades but in the last 1 km you have to cross a bridge and you are not allowed to wear your blades so you have to stop take them off walk across the bridge, put them back on and continue - did they think that was going to be efficient.

It only takes about 30 minutes and then it's off to the Boomerang Bar to have breakfast and watch for the next hour or so as people continue to finish.

It makes for a nice start for the day.

Hanging in Hong Kong

Our plans changed for fall break a couple of times. First we were going with the Johnstons to Thailand then it became Phu Quoc. But when the Johnstons decided to stay we thought we might go back to Hong Kong. Yes we were only there in July but with free tickets in business class (due to expire) to get there we decided Fall break in Hong Kong would be fun.
The night before we left Bella being Bella, invited a Vietnamese friend along, never thinking she would ever be allowed to travel with a western family out of the country we were extremely surprised when very early Saturday morning we were heading off to the airport with 5 westerners and one Vietnamese.
Hong Kong is such a vibrant city, with so many people it can be a bit daunting at first. They do have a brillant train system which makes travelling around easy and being such a western city is really nice for a change.
Travelling with an Asian was amusing - she is a Hong Kong resident but only speaks a little Cantonese and a little more Mandarin but everyone kept speaking Cantonese to her - with her answering speak English. They would ask her why she was with us - we did say a couple of times that she was our daughter but they would just shake their heads, I guess you can take the girl out of Viet Nam but not the Vietnamese out of the girl, they still knew she was Asian not Western.
Market shopping is market shopping anywhere in the world - same cheap stuff that you think is a bargain but seriously it's junk that you don't want or need.
I was more interested in the better brand stuff but I really needed to have worked out what I needed. We did buy some winter clothing so we will not freeze in New York - I even bought a hat (and I hate hats) and gloves. We were really amazed at how much winter clothing was around - not something we need here. It obviously gets cold in Hong Kong - it was much colder this time round, with temperatures at about 25 degrees, we noticed the coolness - mind you if they turned down the AC at times he would have been OK.
I was determined not to spend the entire time shopping, I don't mind shopping but seriously 5 days of it would do my head in so I had planned some touristy things as well. Our first non shopping day was to the Giant Buddha, my children just grin and bear it, they know i like to see interesting sites but Zoey was perpelexed as to why we were wasting good shopping time seeing a Buddha - she even said "but I'm not a Buddhist". The cable car trip up the mountain was well worth it though for all of us, I enjoyed the beautiful scenery, Matthew enjoyed the views of the Hong Kong airport runaway which the mountain was beside and the children all enjoyed playing sweet and sour (the game where you wave at the people in passing cabins and see who waves back - Asians don't wave very often) they also liked sitting with there faces pressed to the floor, which had a glass bottom, watching the mountain go past.
All in all a great day even with the 200 odd steps to the Buddha and the bush walk to the Wisdom path.

Our last day we decided to be really touristy and head to Aberdeen Harbour and have lunch on the floating restaurant. Yes it was really touristy, and yes the lady conned us onto a sampan when we could have gone on the ferry for free - but the food was surprisingly good and a nice way to finish hanging in Hong Kong.
All too soon it was time to repack, it's amazing what you accumulate in a 5 day shopping trip to Hong Kong Bella bought so much she broke her bag trying to pack, Zoey had to get Bella to sit on her bag to close it plus she had a backpack full and a carry on plastic bag, Josh was worried his fancy dress ninja costume was never going to clear Vietnamese customs, and Mikaela wondered about all the things she should have bought, and seriously who ever thought the witches broomstick was ever going to get through customs? My excuse.... I thought it would fit in a suitcase not be a carry on - but Oh well i will go to Halloween without a broomstick.
Back in Ho Chi Minh sitting having coffee reflecting about our trip to Hong kong - we are truly lucky to have the opportunity to see so many other places in the world - the only thing I missedon this trip was having Alexander with us - roll on December.

When it rains......

I know it is the wet season, so there is going to be lots of rain but there is lots of rain and there is lots of rain and yesterday we saw LOTS OF RAIN.

During this time of the year it can rain heavily at different times during the day but after an hour or so it stops and the sun comes out and that's it for the day.

Yesterday we went down the road for a quick lunch - usually Saturday lunch is Pho but we were going to attempt to make our own Pho for lunch so we went for something else. The sky looked very black so we grabbed some umbrellas and headed off. We stopped at a cafe for lunch, very nice baguettes i will add, but within about 20 minutes down came the rain. It was torrential for the next half hour, we were going to wait it out but decided that it really hadn't subsided in the half hour so we might as well make a dash for home.

Not a good sign when you have to pick a path that is navigatable without getting your feet wet, but when we got to our street there was no way across - it was completely underwater - all in half hour I will add - so it was off with the shoes (my addidas road testing white hightops) and socks and into the water which was up to my calf - yuck but thankfully we were home to shower and dry off but i couldn't resist sending kaela and Josh back out in the rain so I could take some photos!

One Long Summer

Today is Sunday, Georgia's birthday actually - and I am waiting for all the family to be home at the one time so we can give her a quick ring - but anyone with teenagers will know they come and go so frequently our door is a proverbial revolving one.
But anyway it is Sunday and I am sitting here by myself, which doesn't happen very often. Josh is out at a coffee shop with a friend (they meet there and then go skating or blading as it's just 50 m down the road - it's all good) Matthew has taken Mikaela to some youth home where she is volunteering to speak English to Vietnamese youths (you have to love IB CAS) and Bella well she is out with friends including the boy who is now officially her boyfriend - officially apparently because it is now on facebook. He seems a nice boy we will see how he survives our family. When Zander used to bring girls home we use to make them play backyard cricket in our driveway and only the strong survived - so we might have to get him to play cricket and see how he survives - I am not sure how cricket will translate.
Anyway back to Sunday. Matthew and I on our way back from coffee this morning were discussing how surreal leaving here really is. It's like we have taken a break from life maybe not from life maybe from living. We still get up everyday and go to work, school etc., we still run around with the kids and sport and social outings - but it's not normal life. We have housekeepers - well we used to - we have a driver, we walk down the road for not so good coffee, we go for massages and facials and eat copious amounts of pho it all is not real. You can understand how people who do this for a long time must find it so hard to go back to living a somewhat of a normal life.
And as Vietnam has no discernible seasons there isn't even the change of seasons to mark the passing of time, so sometimes life just stands still.
It's almost like just one long summer which will end one day and we will go back to living our life.

The commute to work

Getting to work everyday is the same here as It is at home with just a few differences. Our morning begins with the usual mad rush to get everyone up, breakfast and out the door with all the things that are required for the day; books, laptops, homework, sports uniforms, money; inevitably though something gets left behind - for Josh that was his school shirt, which he realized he didn't have on half way to school, how you leave the house without a shirt on is beyond me, the poor kid wore a sweater all day, but that's a 12 year old boy for you.
640am give or take a minute or two sees us out the door.
We are so lucky to have Khanh our driver. I do feel sorry for him sometimes, it's bad enough that I have to listen to the scrabbling of kids in the car, but he does too.
But khanh is one of the many things i will miss when we leave here. Obviously I don't drive, so I don't ever have to fill a car with fuel, i never have to worry about parking, I can be at work and the kids are still being collected or dropped wherever, and when it's time to go, we go.
So it's off to school. I decided to take a few photos of what we see every morning.........

Summer Holiday in Laos

We have now been back at school for 4 weeks and I still have yet to write about our wonderful holiday in Laos. So this post is going to be all things Laos.

We had scheduled our Laos for the end of the summer break to cater for Zander and work, Mikaela and school work and Matthew and Australian Work. We had timed it so that Matthew arrived back on the Monday and we were to leave the next day. Matthew's flight from Sydney to Saigon is never late so we just assumed all would be good - famous last words we came to realise. His flight was not just late but rather completely cancelled. So the kids and I set off for Laos via Hanoi on our own with poor Matthew frantically trying to get flights rebooked, and eventually completely re-routed.

Anyway our plan was to fly into Luang Prabang for a few days then head off and a few 2 day excursions.

Luang Prabang is a small town in the middle of Laos. Very touristy but that was fine with us. We stayed in a lovely little hotel right next door to a Wat which we were to learn welcomed the beginning of each new day with banging of gongs - unfortunately the day starts at 6. At six each morning the monks of the town - of which there are hundreds walk down the street collecting Alms. It truly is an amazing sight. Rows and rows of orange clad men and boys quietly moving down the street. Apparently many join a
monestry for just a few months hence the sheer numbers of them. It really was an awesome sight. So that's how we spent the first morning in Laos, watching this century old tradition. We all went back to bed but I was too excited, to explore this wonderful town.

When I finally got the children up and moving, for the second time, it was for a quick breakfast and we headed off to the old Palace.

Where we wandered around looking at the opulent lives of the kings of long ago. The it was off to our first Wat. Luang Prabang has more then 30 Monestries. I would have loved to have seen them all - there was even a walking tour of all them but the kids agreed to seeing a few if I didn't do the walking tour. We then thought it would be great to explore a a little further afield - so we hired bikes and off we set. Two hours later, completely lost, and miles from anywhere (seriously who would give me the map) we turn back the way we came, until to get lost again and spot a turn off for the airport (which is at least a half hour from town) eventually we get back to town hot, sunburnt and exhausted and none too happy but a chicken sandwich (which looks amazingly like a chicken bread roll) all was good and we headed back to the airport to wait for Matthew. Reading back over this

I have realised that if a relay everything we did - this blog we turn into a book so I will just give the hightlights. The town of Luang Prabang is lovely it has one main streets and another street by the river both have an enormous amount of restaurants. We tried to eat in as big of variety as we could - we ate in the night market, a lovely fancy restaurants which kept giving us bread - which after living here - we totally loved. Eventually it became a bit of a competition with the kids - they wondered how much bread would be brought to our table, so 7 baskets later the restaurant won we conceeded that they would bring more bread then we could possible eat. We ate in Cafes, we drank in bars and brought fruit juice and crepes from side walk stalls - all in all the food in Laos was great.

After a few days we headed off for the first of our 2 day execursions. In the theme of all things adventure we headed off for a two day kayaking trip down the Nam Ou River. But that will have to wait for the next blog.

Saigon, Saturday, soccer, shoes, study,, Sydney and ......braces

It's Saturday in Saigon, and typical of Saturday's all over the world our morning starts with soccer. Soccer is one of those sports which seems to translate in any country, I am happy that Josh loves playing even in 34 degrees, it gives him the opportunity to play with kids other then his school friends, who are all lovely kids, but this gives him the opportunity to practice his English. I am sure when he returns to school in Australia he Will be an ESL student, it's not that he speaks Vietnamese but he speaks English in such a manner that the Vietnamese kids can understand. so soccer has it's many benefits . Kaela is spending the day studying. Yesterday was Vietnamese national day so there was no school, so Mikaela, Bella and a group of 7 girls all spent the day doing no homework and hanging out watching movies.
So today and tomorrow will be study days for her. Me .... I did what so many people do on a Saturday .....I went shoe shopping. I might be an extra large in clothing in this country but my shoe size is "same same" with the Vietnamese. One of the ladies at school told me about a great shoe shop so I took the opportunity this morning. So many shoes, so many choices and at about 350,000 dong (about 17 aud) really reasonable prices ffor real shoes. Now I am having coffee waiting for Bella who is joining her sister on the braces path. Unfortunately for her she is looking at a much longer time with them but it will be worth it in the end, and it was something she decided so hopefully it won't be too bad. And Matthew is getting himself organized to fly back to Sydney this afternoon equipped with his shopping list of must haves to bring back. So that is our Saturday

Don't catch Vietnamese trains

What more can be said. We learnt over the last few days that travelling on trains in Viet Nam is not for the faint hearted. To explain. I decided whilst Matthew was away that I was going to go somewhere with the children. Originally it was to be Bangkok, but I missed the cheap fares. So it was down to travelling in Viet Nam.
We have not yet been to Mui Ne, a coastal town 200km out of Ho Chi Minhm, which apparently has better beaches then Nha Trang, so I decided the ocean was calling. 200km I will remind you. Not really one for buses, especially after our epic Mekong Delta 8 hour journey, I decided on the train. It was just over 4 hours - perfect. I picked accommodation that looked not to fancy but enough for a short break, bought the train tickets and off we went.

The train was scheduled to depart at 6.50 am, so it was an early start for Khanh and us. We arrived at the Station, found our train then our carriage and sat in what looked like the best seats, the train was empty so we thought it was going to be a perfect 4 hours. All too soon the train filled and filled and filled. We had to find our numbered seats which unfortunately where those ones at the back of the carriage which don't recline. But that's OK it was only for just over 4 hours.

6 and a half hours later we arrived. Honestly the train could not have gone any slower, Josh looked out the window at one point and said people were walking faster. It was very squishy to say the least - mind you the poor girl who sat next to Zander I think she was worried, She did not remove her mouth mask except to eat, and she had all her luggage piled on her and between Zander - goodness only knows what she thought he would do.

About 4 and a half hours into the trip a food cart came around. That's good you might think! But oh no Vietnamese have these obsession with boiled eggs. The little cart had two huge buckets filled with them and that's all people bought. After 4 and half hours on a train, now we were smelling boiled eggs, I was about ready to lose the plot. That coupled with the smell of the toilet which was quite close to us, was pushing me to the brink of jumping off the damn train.

Finally we arrived with me saying I was not going home on that train!

We took a taxi to our hotel, of course that was half hour away, so I short break out of town was turning into a very long journey to a short break. Travelling internal of Vietnam, I didn't even think of taking our passports, forgetting of course that in this country you have to register with the police - so I spent a few hours trying to contact Matthew to get copies of our passports. It all ended well with copies

Thankfully the accommodation was simple but quite lovely. The afternoon was sunny and hot so we just lounged by the pool, had afternoon naps and studied - well kaela did.

We all decided on an Italian restaurant for dinner, which had rave reviews, and besides numerous blackouts including the generator blacking out as well - we had a great time eating and playing cards.

To describe Mui Ne, the closest similarity I can come up with is, Byron Bay about 20 years ago. There is one main road with tour buses, bikes and bicycles. If you walk down one side there is a pathway but the other side is just the side of the road. There are lots of resorts and also simple guest houses it's quite a contradiction. But time will change it I am sure.

The next day again was lovely so it was back to the pool and the beach. The beach was not great but I think as Australians we are quite critical of beaches. But it certainly was nice to get back into the ocean.

But typically of Viet Nam during the wet season the afternoon saw rain and rain and rain, but none of us minded at all, we read, we slept, and kaela continued to study.

Drinks at a resort right on the beach (next we are staying there), dinner at an Indian restaurant finished up the day.

Unfortunately the next day was not as nice weather wise but we still managed to swim and hangout. All too soon it was time to go, a mad dash to the train station only to find the train hadn't even boarded. It's amazing how Vietnamese we have become, we started at the end of a very long cue - but managed to board at the front.

Thankfully we had better seats this time so we settled down to another 4 and half hours train trip. 7 hours later we are sitting in a stopped train when an annoucement is made that the oncoming train had flooded - yes it was raining again and our train was just stopped indefinately. Eventually we got off the train, just got off, walked across the tracks down the road in the torrential rain and caught a taxi to the train station where Khanh was waiting for us.

We had left Mui Ne at 1pm and didn't arrive home till after 9 - in all reality we could have flown to Australia in that time.

I will never catch a Vietnamese train again. If there is no airport I am not going.
That is of course until the next time we want to go some where and rail or road is the cheapest option I will probably fall for it again.

But at this moment all I can say is Don't every catch a Vietnamese trains.

Visitors

We have been so lucky since we arrived here, we have had so many visitors. Our first visitor was Bella's friend Lizzie Bates, or as Bella calls her "Do you know Lizzie Bates". She came with her mum and her sister but only Lizzie stayed with us. Bella was so excited to see her and even though school was still going Bella managed to talk herself hoarse. The only sad thing was she left, poor Bella said "I don't know if its worth having people come because I only have to say goodbye again". Certainly a thought we all have had this year.

Our second lot of visitors arrived with much anticipation, Tess, Ian and the kids arrived in April. Jessie had been counting down with Bella for months so she could hardly contain her excitment. Bella was a little more then devastated when I told her she couldn't come to the airport - she just wouldn't fit in the car. To make matters worse they didn't arrive until the 10pm flight so it was a long day of waiting for all of us. I have never seen the clock move so slow. They arrived and we had the best time ever - even though we were in the middle of our school quarter it worked out that during the 5 days they were here we only went to school twice and on one of those days the Mara, Jess and Sam went to school with Kaela, Bella and Josh. On one of our school days Kahn began, what was to become, a very a regular trip, he took the Crofts, Matthew and Josh to Cu Chi Tunnels. We then even managed a week end in Nha Trang for Easter! But I think I agree with Bella, its horrible saying goodbye again.

OK next visitor. Reannon arrived at the beginning of summer break. We did a quick trip back to the Mekong Delta, this time we had Kahn drive us and we only went to Can Tho, about 3 hours drive away rather then the epic 8 hour drive by bus we did in May, we also stayed in a nice hotel this together with the delight of all 7 of us being together again made the beginning of Reannon's visit wonderful.

One thing we have learnt with having visitors is you can't, actually you don't really want to, see every tourist attraction every time. So we try and see either a new museum or tourist site, when visitors come to town or we send those who either like or haven't been in a while to the attraction . In Reannon's case Matthew, Josh and Zander wanted to go to the Reunification Palace (again for Matthew and Josh but new for Zander and Reannon) and the War Remanants Museum, so off they went. Kahn again took Reannon, Bella and Josh (yes Josh's 3rd trip he could be the tour guide I think) to Cu Chi Tunnels, and then Matthew, Reannon and I explored Cholon (the Chinese District). All too soon it was time to say another goodbye.

The next visitor was Mikaela's friend Sarah. This time we headed off to Dalat and Nha Trang, but all that is in a separate blog. This time Mikaela showed Sarah Saigon - we just joined them for lunches and dinners. Once again poor Kahn headed off to Cu Chi Tunnels this time with Sarah and Mikaela.

The week flew by for the girls and their long waited reunion was over far quicker then either of them wanted, for them it's back to Skype Chats.

Next...Zander's 4 friends arrived. So our house has been packed to the brim (I could have said rafters but that would have been too corny). This last week has seen food massively consumed, beer drunk, late nights and even later mornings - but it has been wonderful to have them.

I am sitting at my computer waiting for the boys to come home from yes Cu Chi Tunnels, poor Kahn I am sure he could do it in his sleep by now.

And it will be all too soon when it is back to the Airport to say yet another goodbye. Khan has become a genuis at packing the car I will add. And I am sure Khan as well as us, now every flight arrival and departure to Sydney

One of the nicest things about having friends, particularly the kids friends, is seeing how seemlessly they pick up from where the left off - its amazing to think 12 months has past.

In these past 12 short months we have had our fair share of visitors, and we have loved every single minute of it.

So to the friends and family that came thank you and for those who are thinking about it - come, we would love to have you visit.

And we wonder why they stare?

Yes the Vietnamese are sticky beaks, and yes they stare, sometimes you have to wonder why and at other times...........well a picture tells a thousand words.

We really shouldn't wonder why Vietnamese stare