Christmas in Adelaide

We arrived back in Australia safely and were looking forward to slipping back into the Australian life style.
Our first stop was Adelaide as that was where we were spending Christmas.
It didn't take Paige long to find things to do, from riding Diesel the horse (Auntie Jacqui's horse), helping her Pa (John) brew his home made beer, making cakes and getting to know her new cousin Emily. Paige was making the best of being on holidays. For me and Ben, outings to the local supermarket was met with "There is to much choice, which one do I choose". Being able to do a one stop shop for food items I don't think will ever become boring again. All those friends still overseas will know what I mean.
Eating has been one of my favorite things to do since being back, I now think I have eaten everything on my imaginary list, my waist line isn't thanking me one bit.
My birthday was spent hanging out and trying to keep out of the kitchen as Paige and her Grandma (Margie) were trying to make the surprise chocolate birthday cake, so I think I acted surprised enough for Paige when she brought the cake to the table. My birthday dinner was spent down by the beach with Ben feasting on seafood which was very yummy and watching the sunset very romantic. "Who said romance was dead?".

Picture: Paige helping Bernadette blow out candles

Picture: Paige riding Diesel the horse

Picture: Paige helping her Pa (John) make home brew beer

Christmas Day started off quite late, Paige had a really good sleep in so when she finally woke thanks to her cousin Emily jumping on her with Uncle Tom's help, Paige found her present left by Santa. The funniest thing was that she was surprised that Santa had knocked over a chair and that was the topic of conversation for the whole day. It was hard to believe it was only a year ago we where in Mongolia spending Christmas Day with friends. How time flies. Its been a while since we have been able to have Christmas Day with some of our family so with being back in Australia, good food, good weather and being around family you could say it was just perfect.

Picture: Paige opening some of her Christmas presents with Ben trying to get the packaging off

Picture: The Family enjoying Christmas dinner

Picture: Paige with Spice the dog

Picture: Paige and Emily

Picture: Ben taking it easy after Christmas dinner

With Christmas Day over we had a chance to take in a couple of outing where we visited the Adelaide Zoo and Cleland Wildlife Park, two places we had never been so you could say we played tourist. Paige enjoyed seeing all the animals but she was surprised that there where no elephants at the zoo as was I. During our visit to the Wild Life Park Paige got to pat one of the local kolas she loved how soft it was. As we had being staying up in the Adelaide Hills with Paige's Grandma and Pa Paige had seen a number of koalas in the trees so this was the first time she was able to get close enough to pat one which I am sure was one of the highlights of her visit.

Picture: Paige patting a kola at the Wild Life Park

It was such a nice start to our adventure back in Australia, we are looking forward to getting to Perth to find our feet and a place we can call home. It will be nice to say those words once again "There is no place like home"...........................

Goodbye Hanoi

Picture: Local lady in the streets of Hanoi

Well as from the blog post title says "Good bye Hanoi" we are leaving this city and heading back to Australia.

This will be my last blog post from Vietnam. It only seems like yesterday that we arrived and the time has passed so fast, in away we are leaving here all too soon but that's the way life goes.

Living in Hanoi has been fun and an enjoyable city to have spent our short time in. In the past couple of weeks I have had time to reflect on why I have liked this city so much, from the people, the culture, sights and smells it is hard to put my finger on one single thing.

There seems to be something happening all the time from the traffic never stopping, women chatting, people eating on the side walk or just a baby sleeping in it's mothers arms in one of the many shops people call their home, the city of Hanoi seems to take on a life of it's own and all I can say is "I am glad we took the chance to come here".

Our near future will be in Perth, Australia which starts in January so never having lived there before I have decide that my blog will continue as I think it will be fun to keep it going.

We are all very excited in getting back to Australia as when you look at it we have been away for nearly four years so it is a chance to get back to what we call "normal life". Only time will tell where the road leads but in the near future it will be Perth.

Good Bye Hanoi...................................................................

Picture: Some artwork from local artists

Vietnamese Cooking Class

The food here in Hanoi is quite yummy so Ben, Sue (Ben's mum) , Nicole and myself decided to attend a local cooking class that is held here locally at Hidden Hanoi.

With just the four of us in the class we had a great time learning about the local food, how to prepare and cook it. Our menu consisted of BBQ pork, Vietnamese spring rolls and dipping sauce. It seemed to take ages to prepare chop this, dice this and as the minutes ticked by all I wanted to do was tuck in. The end products where worth the wait nothing was left to spare as we dined on our yummy creations. I think we will all recreate our master-pieces once we get back to Australia.

Picture: Ben, Sue, Linh, Nicole & Bernadette

Picture: Some fresh ingredients , some I had never seen before

Picture: Linh explaining about the rice paper used to wrap the ingredients for spring rolls

Picture: Sue & Ben chopping some ingredients

Picture: Nicole wrapping spring rolls

Picture: Tomato roses we all made

Picture: A feast fit for any domestic goddess

Breathing In The Experiences

Every now and then the little things make you sit back and breath in the experiences.

A perfect sunset over West lake greeted our family visitors capture by Mark.

Picture: Sunset over West Lake Hanoi

I have always found while living in Hanoi the people very friendly and as we walked past a young couple sitting by West Lake they let us join in while they lit and let go paper lanterns. We had seen these lanterns in the sky on many occasions but we had never seen the process of letting them go. I am not sure the reason for the lighting and letting the lanterns go, maybe it is for making wishes or sending preys to past relatives what ever the reason watching these lanterns float through the night sky is quite pretty as they float up up and away.

Picture: The lighting of the paper wick for the lantern

Picture: Keeping the wick alight until the hot air heats the paper lantern for it to rise

Visiting Sapa

Picture: Local crafts products

Taking time out to see other parts of Vietnam is always worth a trip. When some of our family came to visit we took off for a couple of days to Sapa. John, Margie, Mark, Jacqui, Ben, Paige and I decided that to get there we would try the train as it is a six hour trip from Hanoi. "Why not?" we thought as we could sleep all the way and wake fresh. How wrong we were. The train was very clean but the beds where quite hard so most of us didn't get much sleep except Paige.

Sapa is an incredibly picturesque village that lies on the Hoang Lien Son mountain range near the Chinese border in NW Vietnam. It is called as "the Tonkinese Alps" many hill tribe people, their villages, rice terraces, lush vegetation, and has the highest peak in Vietnam. Tucked high in Vietnam's remote northern mountains, the former French military outpost of Sapa offers some of Vietnam's most colorful experiences. The views are breath taking. Vietnam's highest peak, the 3,143-metre Mount Fansipan, looms overhead, while the surrounding valleys feature terraced rice paddies and blazing green fields cut by fast-flowing streams. Layer upon layer of green ridges fade into the distance, edged by sharp, rocky peaks. Visitors to this isolated village can browse in the traditional market, then hike into the valleys and explore the surrounding ethnic minority villages. Here, people live as they have for centuries, raising water buffalo and pot-bellied pigs, cultivating paddy, corn and cassava, and weaving their colorful clothing. Come to these northern mountains and you'll feel the thrill of discovery. This is one of the rare corners of the world where people's traditions continue to flourish and nature reigns supreme. Walking through the area you become over welmed with local tribes people trying to sell you things and it becomes very hard to break free of them. The two days that we spent in Sapa we did a lot of walking and it was well worth it as we where able to take in the beauty of this place and the culture that we saw.

Picture: Jacqui, Bernadette, Paige & Margie on the train

Picture: Sapa town

Picture: Chau Long Hotel where we stayed

Picture: Paige & view from our hotel

Picture: Walking through the hillside of Sapa

Picture: Walking along the paths

Picture : Walking up the hills

Picture: Local Tribes women trying to sell Mark items

Picture: Tourist surrounded by locals selling items

Picture: Mark & Jacqui

Picture: Margie & John

Picture: Local man walking

Picture: Local lady walking

Picture: Local tribes lady

Picture: Some local women's tribes dresses

Picture : Small child

Picture: Paige standing in local hillside cafe

Picture: On the trail

Picture: Handmade blankets

Picture: Bernadette, Paige & Ben

Picture: Bernadette standing with local tribes lady

Picture: Ben wearing his new hat

Visiting Hong Kong

A number of years ago Ben and I visited Hong Kong so seeing as Ben wanted to watch the rugby live between Australian and New Zealand we decided to take a short trip back there.

This trip was planned even before we left Mongolia so it was all very exciting waiting for it to arrive. Paige was more excited about the idea of seeing where Mickey Mouse lived as we had promised her while we were there we would go to the Hong Kong Disney Land.

It was also a time to catch up with friends Michelle, Pat, Oko and Terry from Mongolia who had planned to see the rugby as well. It seemed every man and his dog who was going to the rugby was staying at the same hotel as us.

Getting to the rugby went off with out a hitch after a couple of hicups along the way (trains and Pat, beer and Terry). Even though the All Backs beat the Wallabies, being there was well worth the trip. Seeing the game live is something I will never forget. I dont think you can capture the atmosphere in the stadium on the tv.

Picture: Paige & Bernadette ready for the rugby

Picture: Bernadette, Michelle & Liz on the train to the rugby

Picture: The sea of people all going to the rugby

Picture: (back) Bevan, Pat, Ben, (front) Bernadette, Paige, Michell & Liz

Picure: Ben, Paige & Bernadette

Picture: Pre match entertainment

Picture: The Australian rugby team

Picture: The New Zealand rugby team doing the haka


Picture: During the rugby game

Many years ago Ben and I visited Disneyland in LA so we were not to sure what to expect from the Hong Kong one. It didnt matter to Paige as she was very excited to see where Mickey Mouse lived. What a great day we had seeing Disneyland through Paige's eyes. She was really excited to go on all the rides and waiting in the small lines wasn't a hassle. Compared to LA this Disneyland seemed to have a lot more space and a lot less visitors. Paige loved seeing all the characters but would only stand next to Winnie the Pooh and a white cat from one of the Disney movies. When it came to Mickey Mouse she didnt want to have a bar of him, "his is so big" she said which we found quite funny. I don't think you could ever recreate the LA Disneyland but no matter which one, I think it is a place where you can be a kid again and have fun no matter what age you are. All in all, it's not quite as good for older kids and adults as the one in LA, but none the less, still good fun.

Picture: A sign as you enter Disneyland

Picture: Ben & Paige

Picture: Bernadette & Paige on the tea cups ride

Paige & Winnie the Pooh

Picture : Bernadette, Mickey Mouse & Ben

Picture : Goofy & Ben