Dalat digs

A couple of weeks ago Retire 2 Thailand was calling for alternative retirement locations and fond memories of Da Lat, Vietnam came to mind. Then more recently American Vietnamese was blogging about university student housing in HCMC (Saigon) and of course I had to add my two bobs worth about our experience with the same, but in Da Lat

Earlier this year we caught up with an old, young friend, Dung, in the picturesque mountain city of Da Lat (a MUST SEE).

Barcelona baggage

Stray and I love to travel, especially in Asia, but I really did enjoy our short stint in the Mediterranean and would love to go back there one day...only it’s so far away and our one time visit left a bit of a bad taste in our mouths. I mentioned this incident in brief, in a previous post, but here’s the whole story.

This was only our second trip overseas and our travel package included flights and a seven night cruise, leaving from Barcelona (Spain) to France, Italy and back again. We cruised with Royal Caribbean and the ship, Voyager of the Seas, was truly spectacular, dwarfing the others docked along side in port. It took a couple of days to get over the jet lag, but we had a ball. Every day was at racing pace, with only one day to see which ever city we had cruised into.

Life Update - the Rotty, Blackboards, getting ready etc.

Things are going pretty well to plan.

1. I have confirmed that there is NO alien infestation in the Donga...just dry rot and have relocated it's contents outside, to the yard , under a tarp, and am arranging for new flooring to be delivered. It has been a very INTERESTING exercise (CJ and LJ!!!!), since some of it's contents have been long buried and forgotten for may years.

2. I have completed and shipped off the last of my blackboard jobs off to their various habitats and am looking forward to completing my 'How To' Chalk Art ebook/tutorials, while in Thailand.

3. The Rotty seems to have (touch a freakin' forest's worth of wood) stopped chasing the sheep next door...YES, we have Kiwi's living adjacent to us. As big as he is, Conan is like a giant rodent and has a Houdini like talent of being able to squish, squeeze and slide under a few centimetres of barbed wire dog fencing. I take that back...I just had to retrieve him from the neighbours place, yet again.

Conan, the Rotty, in bliss!

 4. I feel like I am living in a bit of a war zone of late, as expected, with so many different projects happening, both in and outside of my head. Boxing up, repairs and building happening all around.

5. I have been investigating some really interesting and invaluable (to me) blogs...and am sure I have yet to discover many more! As much as I like to go off on a tangent...I am trying to focus on Thailand...Chiang Mai....learning Thai and having a ball! For now, anyway!

I've moved the Blogga Log (Blog Roll) to a stand alone page due to my growing addiction to reading and collecting blogs of interest.

Warning: May contain traces of peanuts

While I’m going about my Saturday morning chores, I like to catch up on some current affairs programs which I have undoubtedly missed during the week. If you watch a lot of SBS or ABC in Australia, you’ll hear and or see, from time to time: Warning! Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are warned that this program may contain names and images of deceased people.

Every time I hear this I say to myself, I must find out what it’s all about. Because, to be honest, lucky for me, it has all the relevance of a ‘may contain traces of peanuts’ warning on the back of a cereal box.

It's a sign 4, 5 and 6

POINT TAKEN !!!!!

Brunei, Borneo.

Not so much a 'funny sign', but more of an ODD sign. We found this sign not far from funny sign number 2 and went into the store, which was filled with many wonderful, amazing treats...but no Tim Tams or Pavlova in sight? To be honest I was hard pressed thinking of confectionery that is uniquely Australian (owned). Nice combo though, Malaysian, English and Chinese...very multi cultural.

Say no more. This funny sign in the centre of Hoi An, Vietnam. A beautiful, charming ancient city filled with wonderful memories for both me and Stray.

Stray for Prime Minister

Click   Vote for Stray! 

Why didn't I think of this sooner?

The truth is out there!

A typical day at the office.

6.45 am, I wake up. I've been able to add an extra 15 minutes of slumber since quitting the coffin nails. Bundy and I go through our normal routine, although he often opts to go outside for his morning business instead of joining me in applying the lippy and mascara. Since the arrival of the Rotty, he prefers to exit the house via a more inconspicuous route. Up the internal staircase, through the spare bedroom, jumping up to and out of an upstairs window, onto a lower roof, then scaling down some lattice work like a hairy ginger spider cat.

I get dressed. Watch the news. Stray's sometimes still in bed. 7.50 am, I depart.

Looking towards the front of our yard including morning winter fog and possible chimney smoke.

My street as I leave in the morning...

Why Snap doesn't phone Stray

The To Do-ne list (the fence, the Rotty and the donga)

1. The manly fencing has been completed, so Conan the Rottweiler, our granddog, has moved in. This is fine and dandy, except for one, small, minor loophole...THERE’S NO GATE YET!

Part of the manly fence

One Rotty

To train or not to train? Part III

To train or not to train? Part I

To train or not to train? Part II

Hanoi 2010. We’ve caught up with old friends and made new ones. Now it's time to make our way to Hue. Adopting the ‘winging it’ method of travelling more and more in recent trips, we had not booked any flight. The price, by Vietnamese prices, was expensive and there weren’t any departing soon enough for our pencilled in itinerary. I had read about Livitrans before arriving and opted to give it a go. The VIP cabins, for two, were only available on runs to Sapa, so it was Tourist Class for us.

One of the hotel staff accompanied us to the station where we entered (a controlled and sanitised room) and waited in a separate area to the local travellers. We boarded. Our roomies were a couple from Holland. Pleasant and friendly. Our cabins were similarly pleasant and friendly, with complimentary water, snack and tooth brushes. Not a bad trip and would probably do it again, although next time, perhaps medicated.

It’s just that lack of sleep thing that gets me every time and the train driver had a habit of slamming on the breaks every hour or so. Arrive Hue.

A couple of days later we biked it from Hue to Hoi An, which is not far from Danang (about 6 hours with scenic stops) and is the end of the line for the Livitran service. Not sure if it’s a north/south remnant left over from the war. From Danang we were headed for Nha Trang, but the trains weren’t overnighters.

I spoke to the girls at the Mango Split cafe (photo) in Hoi An, who suggested stopping in one of two towns to break up the trip. Quy Nhon (will be going there again) here we come!

*Word of advice – check out the price directly from/at the train station, before buying your ticket. Ripped off severely by VN standards....