Lunch cost a bit more than usual today.

I don't think we could say we had truly lived in Vietnam until we had experienced street crime. While I was just tucking into my delicious bo luc lac at Red Cafe today, our friend Tommy came running in to call us all out because something had happened to the bikes which were parked just out front. "Something" turned out to be 2 guys, now vanished, who had tried to steal 3 of them by using screwdrivers to break the steering locks. When Phil, Sue and I tried to start our bikes with our keys, they wouldn't go in or turn and we were stuck! As well as Tommy, one of the witnesses who had chased the idiots off was a plain clothes police man who called two other blue shirted guys who talked a lot, checked the bikes and confirmed that yes they had been tampered with and there was a lot of this sort of crime going on right now in this area. For this service we think he expected a tip but we didn't pay anything. To get the bikes going again Tommy, the Vietnamese speaking local hero of the hour, called the nearest Honda shop who sent a couple of guys around to hot-wire the bikes so we could follow them to the shop. This took a while. They arrived just before a heavy downpour so Sue and I enjoyed another coffee while everyone waited for the rain to stop and the bikes to go.

Phil was watching closely to learn how to hot-wire a motorbike.

Once the bikes were on the road again the two repair guys took off with Phil and Tommy in hot pursuit. Sue and I did our best to follow until Phil's highly identifiable bass guitar case disappeared in the distant traffic so of course the 2 of us ended up initially at the wrong honda shop. Once we found the right place Tommy chatted to the team and told us the price - and now we know it costs almost 5 times as much to fix the steering and lock and replace the key for a Honda Airblade as it does for a Honda Vision - no idea why. 10 seconds work with a screwdriver took over 2 hours to repair including travel time as the whole thingumy that the key goes in had to be replaced.

It pays not to wear makeup when you are going to be sitting around getting hot and tired as your face and head just get sweaty.

Just waiting for her ride to be fixed.

Phil and Tommy waiting at the Honda shop, pondering the price of lunch.

I couldn't believe it when I turned around to see how the work on my bike was progressing and saw it stripped completely bare! 10 seconds work with a screwdriver meant the seat lock also had to be replaced which meant my lovely bike had to be completely taken apart.

A Honda Vision Skeleton!

Arriving home shortly after 5pm (we had left for church at 8.30am) with our new sets of keys we decided it was Isaac's job to go out and get dinner because a) We had been unable to pick up our usual supplies from the supermarket and organics store in D2 and b) He had been home chilling and playing x-box ever since lunch at Red Cafe, a place we may not return to as there is no security guard watching the bikes.

Vietnamese Vocab 101

We are into what will be our final 4 week block of language classes under the tutelage of the fabulously patient Miss Thao at Saigon Language School in District 3. Learning to speak Vietnamese is really really hard. The main difficulty for me is that there isn't often any connection between the way a Vietnamese word is spelled or said and it's English translation. The few English "hooks" that I've been able to invent, much to the kid's eye-rolling amusement, sure stick a lot more firmly in my brain.

1. To do exercise = tập thể dục. It's pronounced "tup ter yoop" but it sure looks like "tap the duck" and trying to tap the duck would certainly be an effective form of exercise if the duck didn't wish to be tapped, right?

2. Telephone = điện thoại. If you try calling your friend and she doesn't answer "den twai" again later!

3. Snow = tuyết. Sounds a little bit like tweet? Just like the sound a cold little birdy would make if it was lost in the snow.

4. Australia = Úc. To say it right, you go "oop"and puff your cheeks out as if a fly has flown into your mouth!

5. Begin = bắt đầu. "Bat dow" A bit of a stretch but anyone want to start a game of bat-down?

6. Table = bàn pronounced "bang" like the sound of hitting a table really hard with your hand.

7. Husband = chồng and when ng comes after o it's an "m" sound so this is similar to chum or charm as in Prince Charming.

8. Singer = ca si said "ca shee" So her dress is flashy and she earns a lot of cashy.

9. Tummy = bụng Say. No. More. Actually it's pronounced boom as in "boom baby!"

10. Bank = ngân hàng. We used to hang bank thieves but that practice has ceased so these days none hang.

11. To move house = dọn nhà pronounced "yon yah" as in "we're moving to that there house over yonyah" Remember these don't have to be actually said out loud to anyone to work as a memory aid.

12. boss = sếp as in shepherd: the boss of the sheep.

13. to live = sống which is actually said "shom" but I will always think living is like a song.

14. secretary = thư ký. She has to have two keys.

15. report = báo cáo pronounced bow cow. Ok, for this one you have to imagine a farmer whose cows have the attitute of humble servants who report to him all the happenings on the farm and bow before him. "Bow cow" then means "make your report!". 

Just Another Day for You and Me (and 3 teenagers) in Paradise ...

So, 2 weeks ago we spent the weekend in the hugely popular coastal tourist destination of Mui Ne. (and I made the kids write their blog posts as soon as we got back) Yes, it was lovely, yes it was relaxing, yes absolutely http://www.fullmoon-village.com was the nicest holiday accommodation we've ever stayed in but sadly my memory of this wonderful family holiday will always be tarnished by the view of the the trash strip along the coast form the edge of our resort AS FAR AS THE EYE COULD SEE. Not only was it unsafe to wander bare-foot along the sand but I felt sad for the locals who clearly don't have the infrastructure to deal with their own litter. Their children will inherit a location that tourists will have abandoned. I even spent an hour bent over in the hot sun filling a big bag (that was lying on the beach) with trash myself much to the amusement of my husband watching from the 2nd floor of the beachfront restaurant over his ice coffee. Unsure what to do with my heavy plastic sack of rubbish, I ended up leaving it on the edge of the clean beach area hoping that whoever cleans it might find it and dispose of it appropriately. It bothers me that in a country where people mostly don't recycle, staff hand out plastic bottles of water and individually wrapped wet wipes to every passenger on every train every day. I will return to beautiful NZ with a new respect for our civil engineers who oversee waste management and the important job they do, even in our larger population centres, keeping the place tidy! Hey, I know someone who speaks Vietnamese and wants to study civil engineering .....

Back to our fantastic resort - one of the best assets at Full Moon is their "beach boy" - the guy who spent an hour in the surf, which was so warm, teaching our girls to "pa-dool, pa-dool, always pa-dool" on their stand-up paddle-boards. He was really enthusiastic and friendly - I told his boss to keep him and we gave him a good tip. He had offered to teach them for just $10 but earnt way more than that. If we hadn't been having so much fun mainly doing nothing we could have tried wind-surfing or taken the catamaran sail boat out. We also could have gone exploring and discovered the amazing sand dunes that we read about in the Lonely Planet Guide after we got back but we had such a lovely place to stay and only 2 nights so we decided to just stay.

Ok, this isn't our beach boy and we didn't do this but we saw lots of boats like this!

Holiday in Mui Ne

5 am, still dark, and we are cramming down a hurried breakfast to catch a train that we will be stuck on for four hours. Yet despite how it sounds, I had been looking forward to this day for weeks! We were going to Mui Ne (pronounced Nay) to stay in an amazing villa for a weekend of relaxing.

After an evening of unpacking and a good night's sleep with big fluffy pillows, we hit the beach. Because the conditions weren't right for surfing, we had decided the previous day to have SUP lesions. SUP stand for Stand Up Paddle boarding. Once I got the hang of it, it was awesome! My favorite part was at the end when I caught a wave to bring myself into shore and found my self surfing smack bang in the middle of a school of fish!! So cool.

Isaac when he saw the snake.

The next day we discovered our mistake. As well as the sore muscles I had expected, we were all burnt cherry red, Isaac on the legs, Amberly and I on the face and arms. Despite this, I went beach-combing the next day, collecting some beautiful shells. On my way back to the villa with Isaac, I heard a sudden gasp, followed by the odd sight of Isaac dancing a jig! After a brief interval, I saw what had caused the spectacular spectacle. A long, thin, venomously green vine snake that Isaac had inadvertently stepped on. Thankfully they cannot kill you, and most can't even seriously hurt you. But as Isaac did not realize this at the time, he did what is only natural for a frighted 17 year old boy. He danced the jig, hooting like an owl, trying to get away from the unknown danger of the vine snake.

After a final breakfast, buffet like the one before, we packed up and hoped on the train that would take us back to Ho Chi Minh. As soon as we walked in the door, Amberly said she missed the villa. so will we all, and the trip to Mui Ne is now one of the highlights of our trip to Vietnam.

Great Snakes!

On the 28th of March, we all went to Mui Ne to celebrate Dad's birthday, as it is supposedly the nicest beach in Vietnam and fairly close to where we live. As we shambled out of the house at 6:30 in the morning though, we weren't really thinking about celebrating. Or anything else for that matter. We were catching the train for the first time since coming to Vietnam, so we were all interested to see what it would be like. There were a lot of xe oms (motorcycle taxis) outside the station hoping to catch a customer from amidst the people entering and leaving the station. Inside bore similarities to a Vietnamese airport, but we were only inside briefly before exiting to hop on the train. The carriage could have been worse; the seats were comfortable and everybody had one.

When we arrived (into a climate that was even hotter than HCMC!) the taxi we caught took us to the wrong place, a second beach resort owned by the same company as the one we were going to. Luckily, there was a free bus to the right place, and after a short wait and a drink we walked into our three bedroom villa. It was very impressive, even better than our apartment! Sadly, Dad was the only one taking photos, so we have but a few.

It was right next to the large pool, and if that wasn't enough we had our own pool in the garden!

 In the background above, you can see me sitting on our Vietnamese trampoline, made in 1200 a.d. As the spring wasn't invented until the late 1400s, they were made of wood and didn't really catch on for another few hundred years.

After enjoying the pool, we went for dinner at the resort's restaurant, where we would be eating all our meals. At the end, they told us that as it was our first day they had a "special dessert" for us. As it turns out, it was actually a birthday cake! They had looked at our passports and seen that it was Dad's birthday, so it was free. The staff were all very helpful and friendly. Makes you wonder what else they now know about us though...

Next morning, we went down to the delicious (and complimentary) Western-style buffet, where we met a family of Americans who were also staying there. Once we'd eaten, we headed to the beach for the first time. The area directly in front of the resort was lovely, but just 20 meters to either side rubbish stretched along the sand as far as the eye could see. Environmental protection doesn't have much publicity in Vietnam, and any popular spot quickly becomes trashed.

I took out a kayak and paddled around while the girls had a go at stand-up-paddleboarding. I was helpful and encouraging (yeah right), and we stayed out there for an hour or two. We were all pretty badly sunburned when we finished, and my legs were red and sore for the next three days.

Ambling back to the villa whilst reading my kindle, I failed to notice a long, writhing snake right in front of me. In fact I continued to not notice it until I actually stepped on it! As soon as I noticed, I rather hurriedly hopped around trying to create some space between me and it (I may have let off a hoot or two) and Lena screamed, which attracted the attention of one of the staff. As soon as I got clear, I recognized it as a vine snake, non-venomous, and might have even tried to pick it up had the attendant killed it with a long pole. I wish I'd had my camera on me.

Apart from that exciting incident, not much else happened while we were there; after lunch and another swim in the larger pool we rested for the remainder of the day, then the next morning we packed and left after breakfast. The train ride seemed to take longer, maybe because we were all tired and had missed lunch, but we all made it back safe and sound.

Our full-moon experience

We stepped off the train at around 11:00, to behold a stampede of xe om and  taxi drivers, all vying for our attention. It had been a long 4 hour train ride to get there, and although we had to get up at 6:00 AM, I was by no means tired, and couldn't WAIT to hit the beach!

 We found a cab, and soon we were on our way to Mui Ne, where  the full moon resort was.

 Reaching the resort took a little longer than expected, because our cab driver had taken us to the wrong place, and we had stopped for a drink there while we waited for the free shuttle that went to and from resorts to come. When we arrived after a 1 hour drive, we were amazed. It appeared that we had stepped out of reality into a luxury travel magazine!

        

                                   the pool alone was pretty awesome!!!

We were staying in villa 17, the 'dragon fruit' villa (they all had fruit related names) 

Mum said she could happily live there, and I agree, it was bigger than our apartment! That night, after dinner the staff told us that they had a special dessert for us, since it was our first day here. I didn't think it was anything out of the ordinary. That is, until the lights went out and the chef came in carrying A huge cake with 'Happy Birthday Phil' iced onto it!!!!

How did they know it was  his birthday? They saw it in his passport! How thoughtful of them. The next day, after a buffet breakfast (chiefly consisting of bacon and pancakes!) we donned our togs, and went paddle-boarding!

It took a while, but eventually I managed to stand up on it!!! I was a happy 13 year old!!

Our instructor was really helpful! 

The rest of the day was filled with swimming, watching TV, eating and relaxing.

On Sunday, I went beach combing and found a ton of strange T-shaped shells that, as it turns out were white hammer oyster shells.

I didn't swim in the beach much that day, due to the huge jellyfish I had seen roaming around in the waves.

Eek! The train ride home was pretty uneventful, though at one point we passed a HUGE crater-like hole with diggers in it, which was pretty interesting.  My legs were REALLY achy from crouching on the paddle-board, and still are, a bit!

Count your change!

I was at the supermarket recently when I had a rather singular incident that will no doubt stay with me for a long time. As those who live in Vietnam know, the 10,000 Dong note and the 200,000 Dong note are rather similar shades of orange and can be mistaken for each other if you're not paying attention to what you're doing. In this case, I was not.

It was rather late and I had been told to go and get something or other from the local Co-op supermarket. I got the stuff, headed to checkout and waited while the lady swiped everything through. At the end, the total came to 196,000, so I gave her what I thought was 206,000. While I waited for her to get the change, I looked at something else and when I turned back she was holding out 16,000! I assumed she'd miscounted, but my Vietnamese wasn't up to explaining, so I tried using various gestures and the few words I knew to get what I wanted to say across. She didn't understand (or so I assumed) and called over another lady to help. The situation rapidly escalated, and soon there were no less than 4 assistants and a security guard trying to get me to understand... something.

They kept pointing to a 200,000 note and saying "two hundred thousand" (I assumed this was the 200 I had given them) and doing the same for a 10,000. Finally I thought "Wait a minute - what if..." and checked my pocket. Instead of seeing the 10,000 note that I had brought for parking, staring at me was Ho Chi Minh's face on a 200,000 note. When I realized that I had given the lady the wrong note, my face looked something like this:

Luckily, everyone seemed to have a good sense of humor and all the people laughed as they saw I had clicked. I paid the correct amount, grabbed the bags and left in rather a hurry.