Today's reflections...

Today is Aug 1...and I can count down the days til I leave this beautiful country. With all it's gorgeous people, delicious food, awesome scenery, (and crazy drivers)..mixed emotions, as I'm really hanging out to be with my family again. Lauren and Tristan, Ali and Simon. I miss all the fun that unfolds around the kitchen in the centre of our home. I also know that part of going to new places and making new friends, also means saying "goodbye" as well.... Already the ladies in the workshop are saying they don't want us to leave, and that they'll be sad when we go....we have a lot of fun in there some days. Its a lovely work environment. Sometimes too much fun....no actually, that's not possible. If our being silly can put a smile on the faces of these less fortunate yet beautiful people, then it's all been worth it..

I can still remember, like yesterday..being in my kitchen back home...and thinking.." Could I, should I..do it.." Give up my job, my family (albeit temporarily). The security of everything you know and take for granted.

And yet here we are, loving it...

we've made so many lovely friends, thru Lifestart and through other avenues. The house we're renting in, has over the past 2 months filled up with other tenants, all of which are lovely. Miss Susie, has fast become a close friend. Along  with other ladies sharing houses with other volunteers around town. We seem to be a collection of random individuals who gather for coffees, lunches, drinks, early morning bike rides etc..

All of which I'm going to miss terribly when we're back home.

Random acts of kindness by people who don't speak the same language as we do. Like, the very pregnant lady who works in the furniture store downstairs, who came over and fixed my bike for me, when the chain fell off. And the older lady at the post office, who cleaned my hands of bike grease when I arrived there the other day to post a letter back home.

Tan our landlady, who just grabs you without warning, and sits you down at the family table, and starts feeding you....and feeding you, and feeding you !!

Nice things happen back home too, and I have many nice friends in Australia, yet somehow within a very short space of time, you are made to feel so welcome In a foreign country. Where everyone immediately knows. 'You're not from here'...

and yet it doesn't seem to matter.

I popped into a small hardware store on the way to the shelter this week, Andrew asked me to find some washers, so he could anchor something to a wall. Well I selected 3 washers, after much sifting through piles of nails, screws, washers etc...I pulled out 10000 vnd (50c) and offered it to the man behind the counter.....he took a 1000 vnd note from me, nodded and smiled. 

THAT'S FIVE CENTS- 5c

Going home..in many ways, is going to be so hard..

No more 15c beers

No more $1.70 veggie curry

No more free transport..ie: peddle power, not petrol

No more 2 minute bike ride to work

No more phoning a friend for impromptu coffees (without planning in advance)

No more riding past the local, and waving to friends

No more 'long nails' back to housework

No more rides through the rice fields, or along the river, 

Ferry rides, adventures of getting totally lost, yet still having fun

No more $1 bus rides into Big city (Danang)

No more 75c Iced coffees (Saigon style)

Etc etc etc

WE HAVE BEEN TOTALLY SPOILT....

not to mention ALL the lovely faces we will miss !!

Mumma bear...wherever you find yourself today, be thankful and for goodness sake

HUG SOMEONE!!!!

A picture says a thousand words...

Today's blog is all in the pictures..enjoy

Celebrating Miss Nhungs'' birthday

Not just colleagues..but friends.

Not sure if Andrew's saying " tam biet" (goodbye).. Or if he's directing traffic...

Our hard working ladies and gents..

Laughter is also good 'therapy'.... Lisa, Sally and Sang, Phung, me & Andrew with our rehab girls

Lots of productivity going on here at the workshop

Another birthday celebration.. Thanks Thuy for delicious lunch and cake ..

(If its your birthday...You supply the party)..

Moments I will never forget

Mumma bear..sending more hugs

Putting 2 & 2 together

This morning as I was thinking about breakfast, I thought, "no, I don't think I want peanut butter on toast, again" even though I've only just discovered whole meal bread and have had it a whole 'three' mornings in a row.

Wow, how quickly the novelty of some things wear off. 

When I first arrived in Vietnam, and in my early conversations with Karen, she told me that what these people here were longing for was 'independence'. Meaning, being able to 'choose' what they have to eat, rather than being handed a bowl of 'extra' or 'leftover' food by relatives. Even though that's a kind gesture, and way better than starving. Independence means being able to choose what they eat each day. Albeit..the choice is still something like..Rice and Fish or Rice and quail egg, or rice and tofu, or occassionally noodles and fish, noodles and egg, noodles and tofu.....

If I want something different to eat, all I have to do is pop into the mini mart next door, and make my selection. Paying for it is not a problem. Preparing it is not a hassle.

If I get bored with things, it's by my own choice. I have money, health and mobility to make my life as interesting and as comfortable as I like....

Food for thought......next time I have a little whinge!!!

( I do however have the flu right now, which is possibly why all food, does not seem very appealing)...I'm mainly eating so i can take some drugs...but I'll live!!!

 Chicken soup and hugs....mumma bear

A day in town

I know this is going to sound really crazy...but today, just to break the usual weekend tradition of heading to the gorgeous beaches, or cycling through the peaceful rice fields, or relaxing down by the river, with yummy Saigon coffee and amazing views.....

Sally Andrew and I decided to go on a small adventure.

We took the local bus into Danang.....And headed for the giant supermarket. .."Big C"..

After 2 months of buying our supplies in tiny corner stores no bigger than most bathrooms, we decided it was time to go 'shopping' ..retail therapy!!!

We cycled to the bus stop, parked our bikes, and boarded a rickety old bus, along with many other locals. We were the only people on the bus, who weren't born in this country for sure. 

A nice, albeit bumpy ride into town, along a road, which is clearly under construction, as we seemed to weave around, over, and into many pot holes.

The road got very narrow in places and it seems like the shops and houses on either side were very close to the road. Children still playing and running around, super close to the passing buses and various other swarms of traffic, weaving along the same road in both directions.

Danang is a rather large city, and it was guess work to decide where exactly to get off the bus. After quite a number of roundabouts and bridge crossings, we thought, .

"Yep, here will do" .....and we exited the bus.

We wandered though the streets for a while hoping we were heading in the general direction, with the help of a small map. All part of the adventure. Enjoying all the different shops and sights.

We found the home of Vespas.......I'm not usually a car or motorbike person at all, but I must say, this store had me very excited.....so many shiny Vespas in so many different colours.....

"If only...."

Finally, we saw it in the distance..central plaza....we made it...

As we walked up the steps into the giant mall, we discovered...."Airconditioning", "Highlands Coffee" and "comfy couches"..... BINGO, WE'VE HIT THE TRIFECTA.....

I'm spending the day here..

After indulging in a Caramel cream latte, ( which cost twice what my chicken baguette cost).. But gave me twice the pleasure in consuming it..I was pleasantly 'full'.

Lets go shopping..

A few little shops around the mall, with the usual, mobile phone stalls, perfume stands etc, but up the escalators, was the Big C supermarket. Where, oddly enough, Sally and I managed to while away hours just wandering through the many aisles.

Unfortunately, we did manage to lose Andrew somehow. But no matter, after we shopped, we found him out in the mall, and took him 'back' inside the supermarket, and did it all over again.

At the end of the day, it cost us, 20,000 vnd, each way on the bus, ($1.00). And we spent only a small amount of money on general groceries, and a few toiletry items and gifts. All in all a fun and cheap day out.

(Oh and I may have emptied out the stationary department of "cute handmade" cards.)

Extremely pleased with our purchases we headed back on the bus to Hoi An....and then decided to treat ourselves to the yummiest "Indian" dinner in town...at Ganesh....where we shared a table with a lovely family from New Zealand, and shared our stories of what it is we are all doing here in this wonderful part of the world. 

I expect to see them in our shop over the next few days, they want to come take a look at our products...yay!!!

All in All....a SUPER DAY OUT !!!

Keep huggin' mumma bear

Bitter, Sweet !!!

9 days just went way too fast. And now they're on their way home again. Sad to say 'goodbye', but I know they're keen to go home to their boys....I hope Tristan and Simon realise how lucky they are..

I'm not biased, but my girls are 'awesome'

We managed to squeeze so many fun things into this last week.

- Motorbiking the Hai Van Pass with friends

-Motorbiking to Ba Na Hills and riding the giant cable car up through the clouds to fantasyland.

-Eating in so many different cafes and restaurants.

- Being invited to a traditional family dinner in honour of an ancestor. NO IDEA WHAT WE WERE EATING.....Eek...lots of beers and hugs tho'

-Cycling through rice fields, and fishing villages. ( including getting lost...And 'sunburnt'.)

- Hitting the markets and haggling over 50c....it's the principle...and some times fun..

-Swimming in the China Sea.

- Snorkelling around the Cham Islands....seeing sea snakes, coral, and many fishies, including "NEMO"

-Making and meeting up with friends..of all ages, but all fun !!

-Sitting in palapas at the beach with friends, eating pizza and salads, and sharing wine and good times. Watching the sunset over the water and hills.

-Cycling home in the cooler evening air after work, stopping off for supper or drinks together.

All in all, a simply splendid nine days....

Much hugging as we parted at the airport....."til August"...

Life is made so much better when shared with those we LOVE

Taking a 'mental' picture....

What a super day....an early bike ride through the rice fields accompanied by my beautiful girls. A quick stop at the local markets to buy bananas, then another quick stop, to drop them into a ladies house, ( a story for another day). Then I head off to work as the girls head off for their "cooking class"... I hope Vu can turn them into master chefs in 3 hours.....

We get a call at 12:30pm...."come check out our food".... So we ride around to 'Tam Tam Cafe' where the cooking is all happening!!

Mmmmmm Mmmmmm...yummo....

Hope they can remember and be bothered to cook like this when we get home.

So Andrew and I sit down to eNjoy what the girls have prepared. After this we are on a lunch break, so the girls and I stick around the old town and do some shopping...pretty sure they said they were looking for something for their boys..( Simon and Tristan)... But, hey.. They ended up with lots of clothes...."for themselves"......well there's always tomorrow!!

The sun's pretty intense so we head back to their hotel for a swim. And then around to '43' for a quick bite, then off to work for me and Andrew, while the girls go off in search of more bargains.

Maybe the boys will get something out of this session!!

The evening at the workshop was pleasant with a couple of students staying in our apartment block, coming to chat with us to, better their English skills, t

Lauren and Ali popping past, and everyone ended up sitting outside the workshop for a while chatting and laughing....So nice !!

Good day for sales, in fact good week, and so many lovely customers came through our shop....

After work we met the girls at a cafe on the river for supper. 

Beautiful lanterns and atmosphere....wonderful way to end a day....on the bike ride back to dropping the girls at their hotel, I was riding behind the others, and I just enjoyed a "mental picture" moment of the four of us riding though the streets of this gorgeous town, and thought I hope I will remember this image and this wonderful evening for a long time to come.

So So Blessed.....love my family beyond comprehension.....not enough words to describe how lucky I feel.

Big hugs all around as we said goodnight in their room....

Mumma bear, feeling very content.

Moving too fast...

They say.."time flies when you're having fun".. Well this week seems to be going way too fast. Because this is the only week the girls are here with us during our three months in Vietnam. And up until now, I was looking forward to having them here, now it's going so fast..I won't want to say goodbye.

We seem to be packing so many little moments into each day. Getting up early, having coffee, and riding round to the girls hotel, and sitting with them by the pool, as they eat their buffet breaky.

A lovely way to start the day. Then Andrew and I head off to work, leaving Lauren and Ali to swim, or go shopping for a few hours. Then we meet up again at lunch time and decide which of the many funky little places to sit and eat lunch.

Lauren's not a massive fan of Vietnamese food, so we try to mix it up a bit, you can pretty much find anything here, if you know where to look. Yesterday, we lunched at 'Dingo Deli'. Where Lauren could enjoy nachos. Ali and I had enormous salads, and Andrew had a chicken Caesar burger and hand cut chips. All very yum..and it's the only place in town that has air con......even better !!!

A guy walked in and sat near us, and we all stared at him, as he was the image of my brother Matt. We even took a pic...sssshhhh .

There are many many restaurants and cafes in Hoi An. In fact you could live here a year, and you wouldn't make it to all of them.

However, we seem to have made our way to "43" three nights in a row......what the.....

Kids choice....cheap, friendly, delicious, local.....simple!!!

And we are still continuing to meet and make new friends daily. Last night I was trying to take a pic of my family at the table which (we have strangely seemed to eat at for the last 3 nights), and I stood back to get the whole cafe in, accidentally capturing some other people at another table in my photo.  I said " hope you don't mind being in my photo" and the next thing, I'm spending the next 5 minutes explaining what we're here for, as I was wearing my 'Lifesatart' shirt. The people also had eaten at 43 previously that week, and had noticed us before. So we chatted, and it turns out they know some of the people

we've gotten to know here. We swapped names and stories Etc....now we have four more faces to keep an eye out for....Crazy!!!!

I also managed to make time to take the girls for "snowcones"..... Thinking of you Karen !! Haha

Life is full of people to meet...so many people !!!!

There are no such thing as 'strangers'.....there are just 'friends' you haven't met yet !!!

Hugs...and blessings , mumma bear x

Sorry, life got busy !!!

Ok ok, I know it's been a few days...but life got busy.

So where to begin? The latest episode in our Hoi An adventure is having the girls arrive. It's only been 6 weeks since I've seen them, but that's a long time when you're the mumma bear.

Many hugs and much catchup chatter at the airport and in the car on the way back from Da nang. 

And the girls, who have been eagerly awaiting the summer weather, have quickly realised, that sweating from the back of your neck, down your back and all the way to your ankles, is not really a good feeling.

Also it quickly zaps all your energy. There maybe a little sleep deprivation in there as well. As no one sleeps well on an airplane....do they?

Friday is spent orienting and introducing the girls to Hoi An town and its people.

Meeting all the makers at the workshop..having everyone look at Ali, and then me, and go...."same same"... I'm happy with that..not sure if Ali feels the same way.

And in the evening we arranged to meet with friends at Ganesh, a great Indian restaurant. Here the girls meet, Sally our O/T. Lisa our acupuncturist/ masseuse (why didn't spell check fix that, that looks wrong).. Lisa's partner Barney. Susie, our neighbour who rents a room in the same house as us, and comes to Vietnam to teach children English. Monika, who rents a room in the same house as Sally. Monika runs tours throughout Asia.

 Together we are a collective bunch of crazy people in search of adventure and helping others along the way.

On Saturday we head off on rented motorbikes, with two other friends, Lan, who volunteers at Lifestart with us, and her partner Chris. Also LANs sister and twin 11yr old nieces. 

So there's 9 of us, on 4 motorbikes..do the math!!!

Lan drives with me on the back, til ...surprise surprise, one of the twins wants to join us. So now I'm on the 'back' back !!

A little freaky at first, but by the end of the weekend, I'm doing the same as the locals. Not hanging on, yawning, stretching, just generally, rolling with it. 

Chris had Lauren on his bike. Hang, Lan's sister had one twin, til she too, decided, she wanted to swap, and ended up between Chris and Lauren, so now Lauren's on the 'back' back too..and to top it off both girls slept on the way home, one not feeling well, so they were both dead weights, and we had to hold them upright as well as keeping ourselves and them 'on' the bikes.

Gone from 'novices' to 'experts' in one weekend !!

A little secret....I did request 'a lot' of angels to accompany us all the way....Thank you Lord !!

Our journeys took us over the Hai Van Pass...a spectacular ride over an amazing mountain range high above Da nang.

With a side trip on our way back to the giant statue on the beach. Can't think of her name...

A swim in the china sea...lots of splashing and fun.

Sunday we joined up again, and headed off to Ba Na Hills. About 1.5 hr ride, through Da nang again ( that's the trickiest bit, busy city traffic, lots of round abouts, where anything goes).

At Ba Na Hills there's a cable car that takes you 1.5 kms straight up, and amazingly when you get to the top, there's a full size castle up there that looks like something out of Disneyland. Complete with 

Rides, buffet restaurants, giant Buddhas, toboggan rides, and a 3 level amusement hall.

So we ate, did rides, looked around at all the attractions....and then there was a rock climbing wall...

The  "tallest in Vietnam".. Apparently. 

And at the top, is a string of soft toys, and if you can climb to the top, you can try to reach a soft toy and keep it. 

Challenge ACCEPTeD....Says Ali......lets not worry about the fact that we're recovering from Ankle surgery..

But the catch is..you can only pick one color of footholds to use on the climb. So we all stand there for a few minutes trying to work out which color she should pick. BLUE it is.

And off she goes, she is more determined because the guys had been a little bit rude to her when she asked about the rules, they all laughed and sniggered to each other...so it's now more about pride than the toy !!

She must be part mountain goat or monkey, coz she literally walked up that wall. And those guys just stared, and so did the growing crowd that quickly gathered at the bottom, staring up at this girl moving quickly and skillfully up towards the top....

AND ShE MADE IT!!!!

 Mind you, she had to yank hard to get the toy off the string.....but she wanted it, so it came.

Very quickly the guy belaying at the bottom, released the rope and let her down way too fast, stopping just before she hit the ground.

I don't think many people take home the prize !!!

But she smiled and said...I just wanted to stick it to the man !!

I didn't mention the last bike. That was Andrew, with Ali on the back. And he did a super job keeping up with Lan the lead foot. All those hairy round abouts, people going every which way at once.

It is highly likely that we will hire bikes on future occasions, and do a bit more exploring before we leave this country.....

Again, we all made it home in one piece, although I may only be 4 foot 11 inches now, instead of my previous 5"2. I think my spines compacted from all the bumps!!!

Well that's more like a chapter, than a blog....so night night 

Mumma bear xx

Hugs all

Not ready for Monday...

I'm sure I'm in the majority, when I say "I'm  not ready for Monday!!!!"......

Saturday morning started out with a bike ride. Nothing too strenuous!!!! We thought....

A casual ride down along the river. Then a right turn into a lane that lead to a local ferry. 3000 vnd each and we were on the other side of the river. That's 15cents remember. Yay...now we're on a fishing Island. 

So cool. For us tourists, which we still are, as we cruise past on our bikes at leisure, the locals, mostly women, are working in the blistering sun, drying fish, fields of them. These ladies are covered head to toe so as not to get kissed by the sun, while stupid me, in my singlet and shorts am being not only 'kissed' but smothered, by the sun.

At this stage we've been out about 40 minutes. We made our way through a small village, stopping in at someone's home, known to our friend Monika. We are shown through the humble home with lovely hospitality. Including a glass of cool water before we leave. They speak NO English, we definately speak NO Viet. 

From here on we are making it up as we go along....so the saying goes!!

There are four of us. Andrew and I. 

Monika, a French lady, who spends a lot of time in Asia, doing tours and organising cooking classes etc. and Susie, who is from Oz, and is our new housemate, taking residence in a room adjacent to ours. Susie comes to Vietnam from time to time to teach children English.

We are a crazy bunch...and all in pursuit of 'adventure'....

Well we certainly got our monies worth today.  

Somehow we got a little lost. And our casual bike ride turned into a 5 hour marathon. We got off the main road thinking if we followed the water we'd find another ferry to take us back across the river....Yeah.....NO!!!

The only breeze which was slight anyway, felt like a radiator on our skin. I had visions of Tom Hanks in "Castaway"...

We'd be found in about a months time...sun beaten and feral and crazy....

At one point we threw our bikes down and Susie and I opted for hopping in the river. We figured whatever was in the water, wasn't as bad as dying of heat exhaustion. Susie, our most senior participant was such a trouper.(68) She didn't complain, she just kept on going, despite falling off her bike in the sand. Man that stuff's hard to ride in.

After hours of 'making it up, and guessing, we finally found a paved road again. Then we found a tiny corner shop. I use the term very loosely. There were about 8 teenagers,who,  all except the girl, were stoned or drunk. Lounging in hammocks and playing pool on a table that had no pockets....I think we were the highlight of their day. This crazy lost bunch of westerners. Almost delusional from sunstroke.We bought lukewarm soft drinks and tried to ask for directions...no luck, just a lot of giggles and pointing....at us!! Crazy nutters out in the midday sun. Poor Susie looked like a beet root.

Eventually Monika decided to call Phoung her landlord and ask him to send a taxi out, at least to take Susie back..the rest of us weren't too bad. Well..typical miscommunication, a guy on a motorbike comes out and leads us home. Susie did try the local trick of holding hands with the small boy who came with his dad on the bike, thus getting a bit of a hand up over a steep bridges we had still to ride over. 

To be honest, we were miles and miles and miles from home, and would never have found our way back without him.

We crossed four more bridges. And then took another ferry back to Hoi An. Arriving back in town around 1:30pm...completely cooked and buggered!!!

Straight off the ferry into a cafe for 15c fresh cold beers.

Then once rehydrated, around the corner for the best veggie burgers in town.

After refuelling and resting, we all headed back to our rooms and lay down for a couple of hours.

Later that arvo..we met up again and headed out to the beach for a swim, food, music and relaxing.....

WHAT-a DAY :)

Friend are priceless....hugs mumma bear x

(Monika, Susie, Ish and Andrew)