All quiet in Sydney

With Emma, James and Olivia still in the UK it's very quiet in Sydney........I need to keep reminding myself that at some point I need to tidy the house before they get home!

Ken

Post Vietnam Stress Disorder

So, I've been home for almost 5 days and have not yet recovered from Vietnam.

I've not recovered from the friendly people. I've not recovered from the great food. I've not recovered from the 35 degrees plus heat each day. I've not recovered from the fantistic sights and sounds of a brilliant country.

The only solution is to return there - which I think we will one day to do places such as Sapa, Da Lat and the Mekong Delta that we missed on this trip.

I am in Sydney - enjoying a lovely winter weekend - 20 degrees and sunny. Soccer, golf, eating, drinking - all the normal things I do when Emma is away!

Emma is currently in Scotland catching up with family and friends.

For those who missed earlier emails, the final version of the Vietnam snaps are here....

http://picasaweb.google.com/thereidsdownunder/BestOfVietnam#

The photo on this Blog entry is from the markets at Hue. I love the happy smile this banana seller had.

Cheers

Ken

Nha Trang and Saigon

We left Hoi An a few days ago and headed to Nha Trang - the beach capital of Vietnam. Nha Trang is a cross between the Gold Coast and Blackpool.

This whole central coast of Vietnam is a building site. We have seen at least five golf courses being built, umpteen new hotel complexes and loads of new apartment/office blocks. It's a funny form of Communism when there is so much Capitalism taking place!

Nha Trang was not our favourite part of the trip. Nice beach but a bit dirty, very busy and really not anything special. We spent a day on a boat visiting a local island and acquarium which was fun and the kids enjoyed that at lot.

It's Sunday now and we arrived in Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City as it is now called) after a 35 minute flight from Nha Trang. Saigon is lovelly. It's known as the Paris of the East and it is clear why - wide streets, lots of trees and remarkeably clean by Vietnamese standards.

We've spent the day exploring markets and shops. Tomorrow involves a trip to a Water Park - so the kids are excited!

Ken

Nha Trang

Day 9 - must be Hoi An...

It's been almost two weeks for the Reid's but it's day 9 of the Intrepid Vietnam Family Adventure Trip and we are still in Hoi An.

Hoi An is glorious. It reminds us all of a small Greek Island - very relaxed, nice markets, local fisherman, loads of cafes. It is also the place to buy clothes and shoes. Today I collected my new tailor made suit - made from finest Italian wool, made from scratch in under 24 hours. It was a bargain - and if it lasts 6 months or longer it will be the bargain of the century. Emma has also had two skirts made and we are both having shoes made. We had our feet measured (a pencil and a piece of paper to trace our foot size) at 9:30am this morning. Tonight at 5:00pm we pick up our new shoes that cost a fraction of what they would have cost in Sydney.

If suits, skirts and shoes were not enough we've also had jewellery made. Take in a Tiffany's brochure, show them the picture, pay by the weight of the Silver, come back 6 hours later and you have (in our case) Tiffany's cuff-links and Tiffany's Pendants. Again - bargains.

Tomorrow we head to Nha Trang - a beachy resort for lots of snorkelling and exploring the local islands.

This has been a great trip so far and we are not looking forward to returining to normal life!

Ken

Our first photos from Vietnam

I've uploaded some photos into Google's Picasa site.

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/thereidsdownunder/Vietnam2009?feat=directlink

Hope you enjoy them!

We have been in Hue for two days and really enjoyed this slighly quieter town. The Citadel is amazing although I think the kids have had enough of temples and historic sites. We had an amazing dinner this evening - 7 course banquet - which was stunningly presented and tasted fantastic. The prices here are still so cheap. Our average dinner for four people with drinks would be about $20 - or say 8 quid.

We are off to Hoi An tomorrow - stopping at a beach on the way for a swim. Hoi An is a shopping paradise.......hmmm......not sure if that excites me or not.

More soon.

Ken

Greetings from Hanoi

It's Friday afternoon and it's already a week since we left Sydney.

After a fairly long flight (via Brisbane and Kuala Lumpar) we arrived in Hanoi. Nothing can quite prepare you for the Hanoi traffic. Foolishly I sat in the front seat for the 40 minute taxi ride into the city. I think I lost 10 years of my life and I swear that we should have had at least 20 accidents.

Hanoi traffic works on some Darwinian theory - survival of the fastest. It is totally chaotic. At every junction there are hundreds of motorbikes (often with the whole family on board), dozens of cars, a few Cyclos and many pedestrations - all trying to get across the road at the same time!

Traffic lights seem to have have no real purpose other than give pedestrations a false sense of confidence. It is rather daunting when the Green Man appears, you step of the curb and all the traffic starts charging towards you!

After a day we got used to it and were fearless as we stepped off the curb and walked with purpose to the other side. Amazingly everyone misses you.

The motorbike is the most common mode of transport. So far we have seen motorbikes carrying 2 pigs, a live cow (yes, live and tied to the back), 4 people, 6 metre long steel girders, 2 large window panes, about 500 coconuts. You'll enjoy the photos once we post them.

Our 4 days in Hanoi were great. We did a lot of walking, saw lots of museums, went to a Watter Puppet Show, ate lots of ice-cream and haggled for everything. We had two Cyclo rides where we trusted our lives to a local who pedals us around as we sit up front (with our eyes closed).

I strongly recommend everyone should come to Hanoi at least once in their life - it is a trully amazing experience.

Yesterday we got on our bus with another 3 families and headed to Halong Bay - a 3 hour drive out of Hanoi.

Halong Bay was tipped to be one of the "Modern Wonders of the World". It's a huge bay in the South China Sea that has thousands of large limestone islands. The islands are like mini-volvanoes - erupting from the sea with sheer cliffs and dramatic caves and arches.

We sailed out and cruised amongst them -marvelling at their beauty - along with another 200 boats (tourism is huge here). We stopped to explore a large cave system and then have a swim (in the rather poluted water). We spent the night on our boat and enjoyed a great dinner of fish, squid, crab and rice. The food so far has been pretty good - although the kids are generally sticking to pasta or rice.

This morning we drove back to Hanoi and in 2 hours we board our sleeper train to Hue. My expectations of the train are very, very low (we've been told to avoid the toilets).

More soon from this amazing country.

Ken