Christmas in Cambodia

After a busy year and with the weather turning shite in Hanoi we decided to head to the beach for an Aussie Christmas - only we Aussie Christmased in Cambodia. It was fantastic, and our previous trip there in July meant we knew where to go, what to do and this made the whole time there so much easier and more enjoyable.

Good friends from Hanoi made it to us in Sihanouk Ville for Christmas and we spend Christmas morning opening pressies with the kids, then swimming at the beach and having a very very relaxing arvo with about 10 people chasing after the kids on the beach. Nicky and Prawn juggling for the kids, Shaun chasing Tom and Claire with the ball, big Clare, Tammy and I sharing some well deserved drinks. Clare then organised a proper Christmas dinner where we managed some how to fit some Turkey, pudding and more drinks in. The plan was to party on that night - but we were soooo exhausted we called it an early night.

Fantastic Christmas

Tom and Claire are 2

Tom and Claire have had a busy end of the year. They finished their first semester of school and even received school reports - I think that was a little over the top. They had their birthday party in Hanoi with some friends on the 14th December with some little people. Our neighbours Viet Anh, Giang and Dui came to the party, as did Hannah and Abby, Brandon and Keona, Neil and Kelly, Donna, Jeni (many thanks for the games), Nadia (many thanks for the face painting). A feast of sausage rolls, ANZAC bicky's and a Lamington birthday cake were served.

International Week

International Week is a big thing in Hanoi. This year we went all out and made costumes. Tom and Claire's school held an International Week parade as did Hanoi International. Jo went as a Vegemite Jar, Tom a kangaroo and Claire was meant to be an emu although ........ with a tantrum and hate of feather hats she ended up looking more like a koala who had lost of lot of weight with a rolling polly tummy hanging around her knees.

We had a food fair, a walkathon to raise money for the Friendship Village which is a commune for victims of Agent Orange on the outskirts of Hanoi. It was a terrific week and without doubt the busiest week here in Hanoi for us, but also when it all comes together a great celebration of how little yet full of different people and places our lives have become.

Starting School

Tom and Claire started school today. They go 3 half days a week now and today they did extremely well and "shared" and are allowed back tomorrow.

On Saturday when buying school bags we had some problems with Claire who couldn't decide between the red and pink Barbie back pack. And then still hated wearing it until her prize possession pink bear was put in it. Tom had no probs choosing, or rather no problems with the first one he saw and he now sports a dark blue Spiderman backpack.

More school adventures to follow.

Sihanouk Ville, Cambodia

Tom, Claire, Trev and I have just returned from a week at the beach in Cambodia. We went to Sihanouk Ville which has been described as the premier beach in Cambodia and we weren't disappointed. After a rough and ready few days at Ha Tinh Beach in Vietnam with the kids I wanted to make sure the Cambodian experience would be enjoyable. Namely no locals harrassing us and trying to take the kids clothes off or play with Tom's willy. So while you can backpack in Sihanoukville we chose to go fancy and stayed at Sohka Beach Hotel with its private beach.

The beach was superb and clean and we all enjoyed mucking around on it. Claire got pummeled by a wave and became a little tired of the beach but both kids loved the water and if not in the beach, park, playground they were in the swimming pool. They can now go underwater and hold their breath for about 3 seconds and come up laughing which is good.

While at Sihanouk Ville we checked out the other beaches and enjoyed eating fresh seafood and cold beers at Otres Beach which is about 10km out of town. This is a terrific little place and very laid back. The main beach is Occheuteal Beach and this is packed with bars and papasans, women offering pedicures, kids selling bracelets or making them with your name in them and Beach BBQs.

At one of the Beach BBQ places a guy asked us if the kids in our walking backpacks were "con plua" (twins) when we said yes he was very eager for us to stop so they could play with his 16 month old twin girls. This was fun for all as they ran in four different directions and got up to all sorts of mischief.

Our trip was fun and we would recommend a visit there for sure.

Vietnam Swans AFL Club

Willy introduced me to some of his mates from the footy club a few weeks back and we have since caught up a few times. Nice bunch of people and excellent to meet people other than teachers - no offence intended. The Singapore Wombats came to Hanoi and played a match the day Trev left for India, which was unfortunate as I met some great people from HCMC. But the good news is the Swans will be heading to Vientiane to play the Laos Elephants on the 19th July and we all will be heading over to support. Seeing Trev hasn't been to Laos before we are going to combine it with a trip to Luang Prabang and head back to Khoun's Avocado Farm where me and the kids stayed at TET.

Duathlon Training

Good news, a month into the training and I am still enjoying it and most importantly getting better at it. Am now running 7km about 4 times a week and my time has improved out of sight. I was thinking that speed was not in my favour so I concentrated on running for a longer time, and this has worked extremely well. I am now running for 50 minutes and can do the 5km in about 36 minutes (big improvement on the 42 mins a month ago).

Donna my neighbour is also going to do the duathlon and we are looking into splurging on the weekend down in Hoi An in a fancy smancy hotel. Not sure if Trev will be around or not for the big day but hopefully he will be.

Boozy and Non-boozy

I am turning in to a gym junkie and loving it, minus the huge hangover on Saturday morning after a welcome back to Hanoi party went slightly astray on Friday afternoon and finished some time very late either Friday night or Saturday morning. Sam has found a new after work watering hole called Matchbox just near Giang Vo lake and it is great. They happy hour from 2-5pm and we made the most of that. Then just round the corner I finally made it to Q and Q Ostrich Restaurant. A group of 8 of us ate merrily there for a steal, and then Mark had to mention AFL and although we didn't need any more booze and I could have done with a huge sleep we went to Jaspas to watch the Pies and St Kilda. I met some of the Hanoi Swans lads and drank a few of my 'old' favourite drink the Mojito. You notice the word old there as I am NEVER drinking it again.

Come home soon Trev with the kids, I can't take being single and free. Saturdays with the sprites is far more relaxing than a mighty hangover and lack of sleep from partying too hard.

All this does lead me to my main reason for writing this - what alcoholic drink can I enjoy that will least hurt me and my training regime for this duathlon? I have friends on hand here to tell me when I become a freak who won't drink and ask for celery sticks, but I think we all know that won't be necessary.

Wonderful Hanoi

I was just back in Melbourne and was not giving Hanoi the wrap it deserves. Seeing I am here sans the kids I am actually getting to see Hanoi for the first time. I have even noticed the purple flowers in the trees and the weather is magic. Yes you are reading correctly, I haven't had to wade through any sewer and while it is warm it is not yet unbearable. So if planning a visit to Hanoi I would suggest April May.

I have spoiled myself with a hair cut with Mr Tu and a pedicure. I am now sporting racy red toes.

And I am in training for the Hoi An Sprint Aquathlon. That's right no more messing around I am going to swim 750m and run 5km. Today I had my first practice run and managed the distance but the time was 42min so we will have to see how I can better that. Swimming is not a problem, although I am training in a pool and can only guess that ocean swimming will be harder as well as the trillion other people kicking me in the guts.

But the aim of the game is to complete it, not break any land speed records. After twins the body is built for ..... well I don't know what but certainly not speed.

If you want to check out the details of the big race have a look here Vietnam Triathlon

Big Tom

For those of you who didn't know I have just returned from a few weeks in Melbourne getting Tom's head checked. He has a big head and the doctors were concerned about what may have been causing it, so he needed an MRI and being a little tacker who won't lay still he needed to be put under for this to happen. Hanoi doesn't have these facilities so at first it was off to Bangkok and then with some hiccups with health insurance Tom, Claire and I jumped on a plane back to Oz. Trev was India worrying for all of us.

As it turns out he is normal just with a massive melon and we will just have to watch it grow and measure it periodically over the next few months/years.

We got to catch up with old friends and must thank the Jennings' very much for putting us up while we were there. It was very enjoyable to catch up with the aqua ladies and old navy friends.

Trev and the kids are now in Tassie visiting Trev's family down in Queenstown for a week and should be back here in Hanoi next Wednesday.

Donna turns 45

Our neighbour in Hanoi has just turned 45. She is a fantastic lady and is working for the Ministry of Agriculture. Nearly all of her colleagues are Vietnamese, (unlike my situation here) and they love to Karaoke. Donna's brain child was to have a BBQ karaoke party. The Vietnamese went all out and prepared soooooo much food and when we got around to Karaoke-ing it turned out that Claire was a hit. She is particularly musical and we will have to do some kind of training with her dance moves as currently she is limited to Saturday Night Fever poses.

Qingtian Revisited

We have recently returned from a week long visit to China. We went back to Qingtian where we lived from 2003-2006 on and off. You hear and see the news that China is moving along at break neck pace but I sometimes wonder just how fast it is really moving. I now know ridiculously fast. In the 2 years since we were in Qingtian last the place has multiplied, there are cars, lights, some kind of resemblance of order on the streets and the toilets smell of bleach.

We stayed near the train station near Mr Qiu's home and quite near Tian Tian Yu Gang a favourite restaurant of ours.

And we managed to catch up with everyone. We had heaps of meals and some old times in Er Zheng's home above Kodak. The kids were a hit most places we went and like most places it can all get a bit much at times with 14 month old twins.

It was nice returning and we hope to see everyone again some time. Good luck to the expectant families in 2008.

From Qingtian we headed up to Shanghai to see our old friends the Riley's. We had some very normal time there and managed some relaxing time before heading back to work, me in Hanoi and Trev is now in India

Bett turns 60

Bett, BB, Tom, Kerry and Pete have just visited Hanoi for Mum's 60th Birthday. She had a good time seeing us here, a big thanks to Pete for making the journey seeing he was only here at Christmas.

Luang Prabang 7-10 February 2008

After Chiang Mai we still had a few more days to kill before I had to return to work so we hopped into Laos for a few days to a little place called Luang Prabang.

Luang Prabang is in northern Laos and is known for temples. I had booked us into a farm stay place. Avocado farm that is! Slightly odd but just what we needed. We had a bungalow on a block with grass and dogs and cats and kids and a random chook.

I think I now know what Sumo thought of my temple fascination when he visited us in China, because I have to say the temples were nice but there are about 40 of them in a 2km radius. A bit over the top.

Luang Prabang is a quiet relaxing little place with all the things you can do in and around Chiang Mai on a much smaller scale. Perhaps like Chiang Mai was 10 years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed myself there and would go again.

Chiang Mai 3-7 February 2008

Hanoi is freezing cold at the moment as we get the wind and suffer the horrid effects of the Chinese weather. Sorry to our Chinese friends who are having troubles getting home. Trev is still away, so Tom, Claire and I escaped the cold and went to Chiang Mai to see Dad, Dorklag and Pete for a few days.

Chiang Mai was gloriously warm. We considered it hot by our standards but still not quite hot enough to swim, although we did try for a brief moment.

The kids had a great time over there, running around on grass and having their first go at fishing at Dad's block in Bo Sang (otherwise known as Bonny Doon) and then a trip out to Mae Rim had them up close and personal with some elephants.

Australia Day

Most people know I get a little excited about Australia Day, and this year was no different. I would have loved to have been at Balnarring Races with the guys, but it was a little too far to come. So we had a party in our yard. It is freezing in Hanoi and the idea of a barbie couldn't be turned around, even as people were trying to skid out of coming. So it was much luck I managed to borrow a second barbecue to act as a brazier with a fire blazing.

Depending on the amount people consumed the next statement is up for debate.

Kel and Cosmina warmed us all up with some mulled wine, some being about 15 litres. And to the non acquainted this put more than a few on their ear.

Me, I stayed well clear of the wine, opting to stay on beer until the wee hours.

We had some educational things hanging around the place, with some tips to the new PM on what should and should not be on the new citizenship test.

And two naughty hand puppets trying to swindle some time off school for Aussie public holidays and then to make matters worse a drunk kangaroo trying to steal beer. Honestly, the behaviour of the kids toys in the presence of Mark!!

Twins on Camp

The twins have now been on their first school camp. What a hoot! Could you imagine attempting this in Australia - I doubt it?

As part of the IB course the Biology students were short on hours and with little time to make up the hours it was decided the best option would be to head on a camp to Cuc Phuong. Having been there over the holidays meant I knew what we were in for and we had a great time. The first night we went on a night walk in search of wild civets and lorises. Unfortunately the park is in a dire situation whereby their conservation efforts are almost undone by the hunters still within the park.

Leanne, Jill, Falk and Tilo some biologists and vets at various centres within Cuc Phuong explained their difficulties and in one word it must be DEVASTATING for them.

Not to dwell on the bad, we had a successful time and the students had a good time, most teachers had a good time and most importantly we are back on track for completing the coursework on time,

The photo is Mark (Geography teacher) and Hai, Sabah and Flo

Hoi An

Trev's trip away had a false start, so it was a busy day at Hanoi International Airport as I farewelled Annie, met Greg and collected Trev, and also Maddi (Helen's daughter) plus the array of Hanoi International School teachers who were returning from the winter holidays. With Greg in town Trev became the guide around Hanoi and then on the weekend we all headed down to Hoi An for a bit of touristy things.

Hoi An is known for its tailors, shoe makers and beach. None of these let us down at all, and it was nice to be out and about again and in warmer weather as Hanoi is fast cooling down.

Greg was feeling a little crook, so Trev and I headed off to the beach on bikes with kids in tow. We didn't get far before the locals were shouting at us telling us we were doing it all wrong, Which did nothing but annoy the heck out of me. So we returned to the hotel, put the kids in the pram and went for margaritas.

Earlier in the day we had called in to the Hai Scout Cafe and found it really friendly. We made reservations for that night and had a pleasant surprise to learn that the manager Phi, is good friends with our travel agent Nam. They are both KOTO graduates, KOTO is an Aussie run organisation to train street kids in hospitality. A very worthwhile cause and the we must say all the graduates we have since met are excellent at their jobs and understand exactly what you ask for.

Cuc Phuong and Ninh Binh

On the 2nd of January Dad and Dorklag were the last house guests to leave, so Annie and I took the twins on a Vietnamese adventure. We headed about 3 hours south of Hanoi to Cuc Phuong National Park first and then on to Ninh Binh which is known as the Halong Bay of the rice fields here.

Cuc Phuong was great. It was nice to get away from the traffic and see some greenery. We met Tilo and Leanne who work there in different centres caring for and trying to conserve the local wildlife. I will be returning here in a few weeks with school for an ecology camp so it was good to have a bo peep first.

Next stop was Ninh Binh and we stayed at a terrific little place that was loaded with travellers. This really got us in the swing of things and we took a boat ride through some rice fields and caves and then decided we had had enough of Asian touts and hired bikes. The manager of the hotel we stayed at took me out so I could buy bike seats and then we took off down the back streets and out across the rice fields with two Kiwi girls. Our destination was Bich Dong Pagoda and along the way we saw turkeys, cows, kids of all ages, Grandparents of all ages, a funeral prosession and the odd tractor or 2.

It was a terrific ride and we could hardly believe we'd made a 24km round trip at the end of it.