Vietnam

After months of planning, altering and finally booking our 'BIG' holiday to Vietnam we were off. We had 15 days from top to bottom - Hanoi to HoChiMinh City. I designed the trip visiting all the World Heritage listed sights, with a beach resort thrown in for chilling out. We had guides and private transport the whole trip which was fantastic - we didn't have to think about anything other than having fun.

Hanoi was an eye opener. We stayed in the old quarter, and I have to admit I was glad to get out of the place after 4 days. The constant noise drove me insane. We LOVED HaLong Bay, but unfortunately it rained. You couldn't help but be awed by the beauty of the place - the green, green water and limestone karsts that jut up to the sky straight out of the water. The bay was all misty with the rain which gave it an ethereal quality.

We took an overnight train from Hanoi to DongHoi (OMG - never again!) to visit the Phang Na caves just near the demilitarized zone between the old North and South Vietnams. No tourists here! It was impressive... we boarded a dug out canoe with an outboard motor and motored down the river for about 30 minutes until we entered the cave. The cave had some impressive limestone formation, and was used by the North Vietnamese to store amunition and provide safety during the war. We viewed ancient sanscrit writing from the Cham people on the walls of the caves dating back @ 7th Century.

From DongHoi we enjoyed a few days visiting the beautiful Hoi An, and Hue - the old Imperial City of the Emperors. Hue was my favorite place. It was just stunning.

From here we boarded a place for Nha Trang, a seaside resort which by this time was a very welcome break. Zoe had a blast playing on the beach. We took a boat out to a reef and spent most of a day snorkelling. The beauty and quality of the coral was amazing. It was only the second time Zoe has snorkelled and she loved it.

From Nha Trang, we flew to HoChiMinh City - a city with 12 million people.... Can you imagine? The traffic was unreal. Crossing the road was an adventure! We noticed the further south we travelled from Hanoi, the more 'western' Vietnam appeared. HCMC was no exception.

We really had a blast in Vietnam. The food was absolutely amazing! Lunches were included in our package, so we enjoyed 7 - 10 course lunches every day! It was WAY to much, but it certainly was the way to experience true Vietnamese cuisine. Zoe was a true trojan... she loved sightseeing, the food and shopping. By HCMC, she had mastered bargaining - and would have the sellers in stitches, so often bought items at very low prices. We came home with 25 kilos more in our suitcases - luckily we were flying Singapore Airlines!

I went to a fish spa!

Do you know what a fish spa is? Well, I didn't until recently. It's a place where you sit with your feet in a fish tank and have Doctor fish nibble at your feet and legs removing all the dead skin! They're very popular in Singapore at the moment - a bit of a fad, I think. I thought it was pretty stupid, until my friend Sylvie suggested we try it.... Ohh, why not I thought and so off we went.

The little fish tank.

We had our legs sprayed with a vinegar like substance to start before entering the room. There were 3 tanks, one with little Doctor fish, a tank with bigger Doctor fish, and one with BIG fish. We had 30 minutes to try them all, so we naturally started with the small fish. As soon as you put your feet into the tank, the fish swarm around you and start nibbling straight away. It's a sensation between a light tickle and a light vibration. The two of us couldn't stop laughing - luckily we were the only people there.

The bigger fish tank

After 10 mins, we migrated to the bigger fish and got a good giggle out of the stronger vibration sensation they made. And then the larger fish - it was akin to someone rubbing a scrub on your feet and legs.... wierd. I must admit it works - my feet are very smooth.

The BIG fish tank

It was all good fun - and I'm going to take Zoe and Craig there, just for the fun of it.

Aboriginal Art

Now who would have thought Zoe would learn about Aboriginal art in Singapore.... not me! The french school! took each class of Zoe's year to an Art Gallery who specialise in Aboriginal paintings and artwork. At the gallery, the children were introduced to Aboriginal art, and told how the painting often told a story. Different dot patterns resembled different things - water holes, emus, dingos, women, kangaroos, etc - similar to a language. The children were then invited to create their own 'story' in paint using the Aboriginal symbols. These 'works of art' were then displayed at the Gallery for a week for the families to come and visit. This is a picture of Zoe and her artwork.

The teachers will pick the paintings up from the gallery next week and give them to the children to bring home. What a brilliant excursion!

Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve

Saturday, we were Craigless, (he's in Australia), so we girls set off to explore the Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve - a fancy name mangrove mudflats. We had a choice of 3 different walks - all along a raised wooden boardwalk, of 3kms, 5kms or 7kms. We chose the 3km walk and set off to discover the wetlands wildlife. Well, before we had walked 20 metres, we saw jumping fish, spitting fish (true! - they spit water at low flying airborne creatures to knock them into the water, so they then eat them), 2 otters and a crocodile. Zoe was so excited - as usual it was she who spotted all these creatures, and then spent the next minute trying to point out the creatures to her blind mother.

We continued around the boardwalk, and it wasn't long before we discovered two large prehistoric like monitor lizards.... they were sunning themselves on the mudbank. We spotted quite a few more of these wierd creatures as we continued the walk, along with a mudskipper, dragonflies, damselflies, and a squirrel. It was a really interesting morning. By the end of the walk, we were wet with persperation - it was so humid... and hot.

On the way home, we dropped in to a Goat dairy - we missed the milking, but we got to view the goats, and Zoe had her first taste of goats milk. She didn't like it much.

There is so much to see and do in Singapore - I'm working my way through the guide book. I'm positive I won't have reached the end of the book before we leave!

Visitors and counting down......

Things are starting to speed up - less than 4 months left in Singapore before we leave. Craig has been travelling a LOT - he was away most of the last two weeks in Geneva then Mumbai. He spent two days with us and has now left for a week in Sydney. We have 3 big trips planned between now and July, and family coming to visit in May and June. I've already inscribed Zoe into school in Collonges sous Saleve starting September and Craig and I are revisiting all the insurance policies and paperwork we have to reinstigate ...... UGH.

The three day Easter weekend (we extended to 4 days), we spent in Penang, Malaysia with Diane & Chloe Di Gemma. We all had a lot of fun and more than a few laughs. We did a bit of sightseeing, lots of eating, shopping and swimming. The Easter Bunny even managed to make it to Penang, bringing the girls Easter eggs (thanks Diane!). The resort was very nice, right on Batu Ferringhi Beach. The main town - Georgetown is UNESCO Heritage listed, but it was SO hot, our 'sightseeing' entailed being peddled by a 60 something year old man with few teeth for 2 hours around the main sights of Georgetown in a tri-shaw ( like a rickshaw). Our guy kept telling us 'we' were the king of the road - all the cars and buses would get out of our way.... I can tell you the cars and buses in Penang don't see it the same way, and cries of terror escaped my lips on more than one occasion. Anyway, we live to tell the tale.

The night market ran along the main road in front of our hotel each night and sold all sorts of things. Chloe had her hard-earned pocket money to spend and was an inspirational bargainer. I learned how to bargain from a 9 year old!

All in all, it was a super break, made even better by seeing and spending time with Diane and Chloe in Singapore and Penang.

More than half way

We are more than half-way through our stay in Singapore. The move here has been a big success and great opportunity for both Craig and Zoe, and I am enjoying it too. Craig's project is going very well here, with Singapore and Jakarta well intergrated in the new system. He's currently working on India, China and soon Australia transitions. He recently had an op, to remove some varicose veins that were causing him some problems. He was off work 1 day after laser surgery and 3 days later, is now in Jakarta.

Zoe is enjoying school very much and doing well. Her class are currently rehearsing a play they will present to the parents next tuesday night. She's a cicada.... and last week they went to see an english production of some Aesops Fables. They do fun things at the school.

Singapore has brought out the athlete in Zoe. When she started Little Athletics in September, she was coming 13th or 14th in all her events, 100m, 60m hurdles, long jump, discus, shotput, 200m, 300m. She's now coming between 3rd and 6th place in all events, and is throwing some 2m longer in the field events, and running 2-3 seconds faster in all track events. She loves it - particularly when she gets a 'PB' sticker. PB is for personal best, and the aim of the meet is for each child to strive to beat their own PB, and not each other. She's so funny - when she sees me, she'll give me a big grin and wave while she's running her race.

Her swimming is progressing well too. She's just jumped a class or two, and now trains in a 25m pool. She is swimming confidently in all strokes. When we arrived, although she was super confident in the water, she couldn't swim a stroke - she was just learning to use her arms in freestyle. So, she's come a long way.

It's amazing how well kids can do in sport when they have good teachers, good facilities and 365 days of summer!

Turning 8.

Zoe got to celebrate her birthday this year, like no other..... February in the tropics is HOT! So we made the most of it, and Zoe celebrated her birthday - Hawaiian style. The only disaster of the day was her birthday cake - 3 attempts later, and 2 hours before her party was to start, Craig was out in search of a birthday cake to buy!

Zoe invited 8 friends from school and we held her party at our condo, around the pool. It was fun and sooo easy. The kids were in and out of the pool in betweeen games of hula hoop, skipping and a limbo competition. Continuing on the theme - we had a palm tree pinata, which took forever to crack!

We then continued on into the late hours of the evening, with two french families we have become close to with an aussie style BBQ. The kids (5 of them) have become close friends - all being within 2 years of each other.