Hi There!

Ok – stop hassling me! I know I haven’t been writing in here regularly. I am sorry. I will try and do better from now on!

Life has been very busy! I feel like I’ve entered into a permanent state of temporary. I’m still doing a bit of flute teaching and the very occasional bit of performance, but honestly – nowhere near enough to earn a living. So I’ve been trying to use my newly acquired Masters in Journalism to gain work of some description. In another area. Anything but journalism! I don’t think I’m suited to that… I know I’m not suited to that!

My volunteer work at the Menzies Research Institute has been fantastic and a real opportunity. I assist the communications and events manager and I’ve figured that’s the field I’d like to go into. Not only would I like to do it – I’ve figured out I’d be very good at it!  Unfortunately convincing other people of my great possibilities is a bit trickier! I’m over job applications. I have put SO many in and had a handful of interviews and had a lot of “very close seconds” but my gut instinct is saying I’m not going to get a job like this. Not in this economic climate anyway…

So – here I am. Feet in two camps. Accepting every ounce of teaching and performing that comes along. Volunteering at Menzies. And for the past few months, being employed there as a casual for data upload. Data upload… Paid work but not exactly mentally stimulating! I’m now working four days a week – but temporarily. So I can’t rearrange kids lessons and my teaching and stuff. I have to keep it all where it is because I’m not going to be doing this temporary job permanently. Am I?! I don’t think so! Eventually the new website will be up and running and they won’t need me to upload data any more.

So – I’m chewing over new ideas for earning money in the future. Surely there’s some way for me to earn an income?! A regular one… Not a permanently temporary one. All this temporariness is very stressful…

I think I’d like to run a B&B. I just need some money to buy a lovely building first. A nice big one. In the city. With lots of land around it. And a commercial kitchen. And a pool. And fairies and leprechauns…

Letting Go

Ok – so I know last time I was on here I said I’d tell you about the last bit of our trip.

It took a lot of hours. It was very boring. We were very tired.

I think that sums it up!

Now – on to more interesting things!

Firstly – I’ve put in three job applications so please wish me luck. I’d really like a job! I’m sure I could do all three jobs but I’m equally sure I suck at job interviews so we’ll see how it pans out. Not exactly the greatest economic climate for trying to enter the workforce! If none of these applications come to anything I might change direction a little – will just have to wait and see.

Ooh – a rather young and very buff Arnold Schwarzenegger is on tv. I’m momentarily distracted…

15 year old sons. Tricky they are. Has anyone else got one? I’ve been very big on keeping my boys away from violent and graphic computer games. Once Dory turned 15 he pointed out that the age thing on the game says 15+ and all the other kids play them. So I’m having to let go a little and he’s got a few games. He’s downstairs now playing something. “Fear” I think it’s called. I hate them. Why do they exist? Couldn’t the game makers create the same game play without the blood and guts? What’s wrong with our society that these things even exist? Apparently there are no decent teenage boy games without the violence… It’s the graphicness of it all that really bothers me.

But I guess parenting is just one big letting go process and somewhere along the way I’m supposed to let them make their own way. I’d rather not…

Thankfully Dory (my eldest) is a pretty mature kid. And on the whole, reliable and trustworthy. So he does set a pretty good example for his younger brothers. I just hate these games… But then I hate the thought of my kids being the only kids that don’t do something. Teenagers need to fit in. Don’t they? I never fitted in and it wasn’t a good feeling…

More Vietnam

Ok – so most of you probably know I’m actually back in Australia now! But I didn’t finish keeping track of our travels so thought I’d share the last days of our trip with you!

Hoi An is the most gorgeous little town anywhere! Full of beautiful buildings, lots of lovely shops, the gazillion tailors and shoe makers of course, and excellent food. Outstanding food! Have I mentioned the Cargo Club Bakery? Divine! Try the crispies – banana or mango – or if they run out of crispies, the White Chocolate Kahlua cake is definitely tasty. And delectably melt in your mouth kind of food!

The boys really enjoyed Hoi An and I think we took more photos in Hoi An than the rest of the trip together – with the exception of Angkor Wat of course! The lanterns and the lake decorations and the streets … All so pretty!

After our five nights in Hoi An we headed off to Hue – our last destination in our month long journey. We booked a minivan – so much easier than finding five bus tickets! – and it was recommended we stop at the marble mountains on the way for a bit of a look-see. We had no idea what to expect at the marble mountains. We kind of expected a mountain with a scenic lookout. The whole place was extraordinary!

The mountains are literally made from marble – well bits of it are! And there are ancient temples and carvings throughout the mountain. The mountain itself is five craggy peaks and the temples seem to have lots of chinese and japanese influence. There are sculptures in caves carved straight out of the stone. We could have spent a whole day there and were very sorry to only have an hour! Down in the township at the bottom of the mountain are more marble carvers and shops than I would have considered humanly possible. Next time you need a marble fountain for your front garden, I know just the place to pick one up! Even the three boys thought the place was amazing!

After the marble mountains, we travelled the scenic route through the Hai Van pass to Hue. Hue turned out to be a bit of a disappointment really. Or maybe we were just really tired and ready to go home by the time we got there! The only real tourist thing we discovered was the Citadel.

Part of an ancient city within a city within a citadel, with a citadel. I think I’ve got that right… We were just so tired! It is amazing how different Vietnam is to Cambodia and Thailand. Vietnam seems to have a much more distinctive Chinese influence.

Our hotel in Hue was the Orchid hotel. A lovely little place. We had the family room which came with a 32″ plasma tv, dvd player and a computer. And most exotically – a lift to the upper floors! My calf muscles became pretty stiff and sore after travelling up and down four flights of stairs at all the hotels!

After a month of eating out in restaurants continuously, we really enjoyed the opportunity to buy noodles at the supermarket and eat them back at the hotel. Very nice to finally have a hotel with a kettle! And on occasion we even took the kids to KFC – aka Ga Run Kentucky. Somewhere we have never taken the kids before. Ever!

On our last day in Hue, we caught a dragon boat up the perfume river to Thien Mu Pagoda. (I think that’s what it’s called! It’s been a while now!) It was really interesting and well worth a visit. Watch out for dragon boat riders trying to increase charges, sell drinks and goods you don’t want and generally try to rip you off! But overall, the day was quiet and peaceful and a nice outing from the hotel!

I’ll leave it there for today and tell you all about the trip home on another day!

Saving the Best ’til Last

I haven’t update things in a while, so thought I’d start doing some reflecting on Vietnam. Of the three countries we’ve visited, Vietnam is by far and away the best. It is AWESOME! SlowCoach was a reluctant tourist when we set out, and on many occasions through Cambodia he’d get frustrated at the things that went wrong and say “I hate Asia!”. But Vietnam?! He loves it and wants to come back. And so do all three boys. We started in Saigon. City of three million motorcycles.

I swear all three million of them were on the road every time we tried to cross. The Lonely Planet guide described crossing the road in Saigon as an extreme sport – and that pretty much sums it up! Having said that, we really did get the hang of it. You just slowly venture out into the traffic and meander your way across (remembering that they drive on the opposite side of the road to aussies!) and it’s kind of like wading through peanut butter. Eventually they start going behind you and you make it a bit further across!

Every time we went outside in Saigon, Sparkle would light up with a big grin on his face and say “I love Saigon!” He was enchanted by the traffic and had no concept that it could potentially be dangerous. He bought himself a lovely little rice paddy farmers hat – the conical straw hat thing – and wore that every day. All the Vietnamese people, young and old, would pinch his cheeks or hold his hand and smile and ask where he’s from and how old he is and say how adorable he was.

He’s a bit tired of it now and refuses to wear the hat, thinking that will lessen the compliments. It doesn’t!

We spent three nights in Saigon and could have stayed longer. We did a half day tour to the Cu Chi tunnels. They were interesting but the tour felt too long and drawn out – lots of standing around listening to war stories. I just wanted to see the tunnels and get out. The tunnels were the last thing we saw. We’d been “touring” for four hours before we saw the tunnels then 15 minutes later they were all over and done with. Having said that, the tunnels are worth having a look at. And if you’re brave enough (I’m not!) going through them! They’re 1.4m high and 80cm wide and the lowest level down is 8-10m underground. I went down to the entrance and was going to through but I just couldn’t summon the courage. It’s dark!!! And narrow! And there’s no turning back! SlowCoach and the boys all went through. I don’t feel I missed out on anything!

We went to the Ben Thanh Market several times. Under cover. Lots and lots of stalls. Lots and lots of “Madame! Madame! How much you pay!?” I’m getting tired of haggling! Picky’s getting really good at it. He offers about a third of the starting price and haggles to half way between. Sparkle listens to the price then tells them the amount he’s actually willing to pay straight off and gets haggled higher. It’s definitely an art and not one I’m particularly keen on learning! We have got some great bargains though!

The only other thing we did in Saigon – aside from eat eat eat – was the Dam Sen Water Park . My undying thanks to Troy for this recommendation! The kids adored it and so did SlowCoach and I! It may well be the best $20 we’ve spent in a long time! A lovely cool, fun way to fill in a whole afternoon.

We discovered Pho noodles in Saigon. Yum! Even the boys have taken to eating local food – although they do still try and eat pizza any opportunity they get! But noodles are WAY cheaper than pizza and I’m penny pinching. So noodles it is! We’ve all just about mastered the art of chopsticks – although I’m finding my skill comes and goes!

We had planned to go to Dalat and then Nha Trang after Saigon, but alas, I had not anticipated the huge holiday that is had by the Vietnamese on April 30 and May 1. Every bus and train going anywhere out of Saigon was booked so in the end the only thing we could do was grab a plane and fly to Hoi An. Which is where I am now. And when we arrived in Hoi An our booking had been lost so I had a moment of panic. But two doors down from our (not)booked hotel, we found Thanh Xuan and they’ve looked after us beautifully!

We’ve had four nights here and will spend one more. In all honesty, five nights here is probably a bit much. Maybe if I wasn’t running out of money it wouldn’t be so bad! But all we do is sleep late, have a lazy breakfast, wander around the town and eat lunch for a few hours, watch a movie on the laptop, wander around town and eat dinner for a few hours, watch another movie, then go to bed. Actually, upon reflection, it’s not all bad! And we’ve been measured up for all sorts of clothes which I’ll be picking up at 6pm today. Nice cheap tailor-made clothes! Not quite as cheap as the markets … but these will actually fit me perfectly! And SlowCoach has a lovely new tailor-made suit jacket with red silk lining. Very beautiful!

Hoi An is a stunning little town. The ancient buildings and streets and all the lanterns everywhere are truly beautiful. We’ve spent a bit of time sitting on the water’s edge just admiring the town. We’ve found the best bakery ever (The Cargo Club) and treat ourselves to something hideously decadent every day! Usually I get a banana crispy but today they were all out, so it was the white chocolate kahlua cake for me. Life’s tough! The food is fabulous everywhere but our favourite little cheap vietnamese place is Jean’s Cafe. Great meals. Plenty of it. And we feed a family of five for $15. Can’t complain about that!

Tomorrow we’re hiring a minivan and driver to take us up to Hue. Apparently it’s about a four hour drive. We will spend our last four nights up there then start the long journey back home at the end of next week!

Just when things were going swimmingly well…

Urinary tract infection. There’s nothing more to be said really… Thank heavens for drugs!