Right back in the saddle

As the saying goes, it is important to get right back on the bike.  Miss C did just that today when she bravely jumped back onto the bike with a bandage on.  She was so brave & we are very proud of her.

You know it's HOT when....

You know it is really hot when an iceberg appears in the water.

One of the tasks apparently,  of the pool attendants in Hoi An Victoria hotel is to chop up enormous blocks of ice & dispense them into the pool.  We loved it!  The ice was so welcome as the pool had been heating up over the course of the morning.  We didn't notice it as much when we were in it as when we got out for a drink & jumped back in.  Previously we had been like those frogs who don't realise that they are actually in boiling water as the heat was increasing gradually.  The ice blocks lasted a couple of welcome minutes.

You also know that you must look really hot when a 90 year old, tiny, hunch-backed lady throws water from her cold water esky over you when you have just bought a bottle of water & are taking a little breather.  This happened today in Hue where it is 40 degrees (42 yesterday).  We cycled 6kms to the tallest pagoda in Vietnam then 4kms back to the Hue Citadel, then walked around it for a couple of hours looking for a phantom restaurant; then cycled another 4km back to the hotel.  We were hot & I guess I looked it!  This stall holder was so gorgeous that as we were leaving she swapped our waters for cold ones so that we would have some more support on our journey.  She was exceedingly considerate.  She also gave C a lollipop so had a fan there too!

I am a pro-surfer, am I?

R entered the water in Sao Bao beach in Phu Quoc, Vietnam & was immediately set upon by a group of men who were perhaps on a buck's night or a work conference, given the japes going on.  They thought he was a professional surfer.  He did have surfing lessons when we lived in Sydney for a short time & he was good, but not that good! These guys were convinced & kept him out there for a while, until the need for them to start removing each other's boardshorts took more attention.  It was a little awkward for the one man they left naked in the water for the morning.  After the allotted time for fun in the sun, they all piled back onto the boat from which they had emerged hours earlier. Hoardes of people arrive by larger cruise boats, are readily dispensed into row boats & then have an hour or two at the beach before moving on.

Going to the beach in SE Asia has been eye-opeining.  In Myanmar & Cambodia, everyone wears their clothes, no bathers to be seen, with a few exceptions made for little kids.  Babies are naked & even in hotel pools there are no swimming nappies - doesn't bear thinking about too hard.  In Vietnam we have found a mix of attire.  Very few women wear bathers, most are covered up like the lady in the picture above. In Vietnam, being white is desirous so people do not tan, use whitening in all beauty products and use umbrellas against the sun.  Even though you can't see any of her face or much of her body, this woman was happy to pose for an elongated series of photos.  There are countless professional photographers on the beach (& at all tourist sites & pagodas) to capture some happy snaps.  The shoots go for a long, long time & the variety of poses struck is hilarious.  We love it when we see these photos taken as although we are the ones exposing flesh via wearing bathers, we would never be so provocative as seems standard fare when in front of a camera.  The photos are published at the beach & handed to the subject in cute cardboard frames - ready-made memories. Lots of people wear matching clothes, mothers & daughters; husbands & wives; entire families.  I think it looks great, the members of my family I would need to agree are not so enamoured.


There are always round fishing boats on Vietnamese beaches. We are yet to try paddling one, they look like they take lots of skill & energy.  We love going to the beach & especially loved Sao Bao as there was no rubbish in the water.  There seems to be a littering problem which really impacts preparedness to swim or paddle in the water. On Phu Quoc island they have started beach clean up sessions on the first Sunday of the month to try to raise awareness. However, the problem would seem to need a bit more focus as people washing in rivers & the sea leave behind their shampoo bottles etc & the boats seem to just throw any rubbish they have over the side into the water.  We have seen all manner of things washed up on the shore.  The better hotels have staff whose role it is to remove rubbish washed ashore.  These are the hardest working staff members.

Vietnamese spaghetti

Vietnam is very good at imitating things, electrical & telephone wires look like spaghetti.

Last night as we were walking to dinner, we found ourselves forced to run off the footpath into a the front garden of a house.  Why?  The wires above were caught in a very tall cement mixer, twisted around the large cement funnel.

The truck tried to brave it out initially, obviously thinking that if he willed it & pulled hard enough, he would make it through.  This didn't work after a while so the passenger was sent out to climb onto the top of the truck to perform a kind of limbo as he held the wires up - barehanded - so that the truck could get under & through.  As the truck advanced, the limboist stretched his body even further than imaginable until he was completely horizontal & holding onto the wires with his finger tips.  We observed all of this from the other side of the road where we had taken scurried.

The wires are so long & so coiled that if the truck had severed them, they would have flicked a substantial distance, potentially hitting us, as well as taking out the local power.  Locals were watching on apprehensively which was the surest sign that something was amiss, as we have not observed play stopping for anything in our journey to date.  The truck finally through, we felt safe to continue. However, we moved quicker than usual.  The very next oncoming vehicle was another cement truck undertaking the same comedic under-or-through-the-wires game.  It was time to get out of there!

Top 5
1. We are not passengers in a large cement truck forced to undertake death-defying stunts at the end of a long day
2. We live in a place where wires are neat, orderly & provide continuous power
3. We were excited (& a little scared) to observe this kind of potentially calamitous situation as part of a standard stroll to dinner
4. Everyone survived & power was retained
5. The main protagonists kept their cool in trying (rather than frying) circumstances & seemed to be able to take this terrifying situation in their collective strides

Hoi An beach, bicycles & shopping

Hoi An is one of my favourite places in the entire world.  This trip we are enjoying it in 2 stages.  The first was spent close to town.  This second stay is on the beach but still only 5kms from town. Both hotels have bicycles so we have been cycling every day.  The bikes take a bit of effort as in our universe, they are hipster 'fixies' but here they are just bikes.

We have created a nice daily pace - up reasonably early, breakfast & a ride into town.  On the way to Hoi An town, we pass rice paddies & soon-to-be rice paddies which are manually ploughed by a water buffalo & his handler.  Growing rice looks like such hard work.

We have been having a few items tailored which is always a little stressful & a bit uncomfortable as you sweat into your soon-to-be new clothes.  This takes work & is a bit tiring but great fun to have new clothes which are truly original.  R has found many cafes/bars which have early happy hours so he has been taking himself & his kindle to various haunts around town & then riding home, so he doesn't feel the bumps as much as I do.

Vietnam has a healthy respect for the siesta, it's taken everyday. People sleep wherever they can, really wherever...I have felt uncomfortable walking into shops or markets between 12 & 2pm as I don't really like interrupting snoring siestas.  This has been the same experience throughout all of our travels. Maybe we should introduce a daily siesta at home?

Girls day out

Today I planned a lovely day in Hoi An town for C & I - just the girls & a bicycle.

We got up early to ensure we could get our choice of bike, no. 18 with the loud bell.  We needed to go back to 3 tailors for dresses, a cape & a shirt; to pick up our train tickets for Danang to Hue; & find a hairdresser to get a wash, cut & dry for both of us.

C excitedly jumped onto the little cushioned seat at the back of the bike & said "I'm so happy that I am going to be riding with you & just us today because I have been wanting to do this for ages" How nice!

So we started off down the road, paused to take some photos of a buffalo ploughing through mud, then again to watch some women working in the rice paddies.  We were nearly at our first destination when it happened, C's foot got caught in the wheel as it continued its rotation.  Ouch!!!!

We were mid-way across the a 4-way crossing, not great.  A kind lady from a nearby tailor ran into the road to lift C from the bike & carry her to the side of the road.  As luck would have it, this accident befell us right outside a pharmacy so the pharmacist was right on it, wielding cream & bandages.

Some men stopped their motorcycle & retrieved some blocks of ice from a cafe across the street to put on C's foot which by now was looking quite gag-worthy & very, very sore.  There was a huge bruise, swelling & lots of skin removed.  C was screaming, the pain seemed immense.

Another lady gave C some water which she drank.  I hadn't realised she was doing this as I was helping bandage her foot & only time will tell if this local water will make her sick or not.

We got the bandage sorted, some sealed water in hand & C calmed down.  The pharmacist kindly allowed me to store the bike at her shop for later retrieval as we got a taxi back to the hotel for some convalescence.  I told C some stories in the taxi & we agreed that some time in bed watching TV with a little treat would make her feel better.  She told me the chips from the mini-bar wouldn't be good as they had pictures of 2 little chillies on the label. Hmm, interesting that she already knew this! We agreed a chocolate from the turn down service would fit the bill.

We arrived at the hotel where fortunately they quickly produced a wheel chair & had accessibility ramps because C is not a baby anymore & difficult for me to carry more than a few steps.  Into the room, into bed with her bunny & meerkcat who she thought might cheer her up & bit, TV on, chocolate in mouth, panadol consumed & hopefully all will be well with the world again soon.

Top 5
1. Travel does not always go to plan but maybe C just needed some down time
2. The kindness of strangers never ceases to amaze me
3. The Vietnamese, like the Chinese, love a drama.  I was talked over as 3 women were ganging up on the pharmacist to tell us to go to hospital  The pharmacist, presumably the only trained medical professional amongst us, disagreed. I listened to her.
4. Kids are amazingly resilient.  C is already starting to cheer up a little
5. Love the fact that I had all of the additional medical supplies to hand in my very well stocked medical kit, ready & waiting for just such an occasion.  A shame that C had to get hurt to use it.

I kicked a girl...

'Laughter turns to tears', says Miss C when playing with Mummy.

Enjoying the range of outdoor activities at the Danang Intercontinental Resort, we decided to play soccer.  Miss C chose to be goal keeper while her parents battled it out on the field.  I'm not fast but I am wily & have some muscle memory & skill memory which I was proudly drawing on.

I was up 3-0 when it happened.  A great crossways kick across goal with side-stepping my husband's attempts to stop this power in motion when, thump & a scream.  I had scored a goal but I had also unwittingly put the ball into Miss C's nose.

She was so brave & empathetic in her recovery as she immediately said, "I'm ok because I know you didn't mean it." What a gorgeous girl.  Then she followed up with, "I know you didn't mean it because I know you can't really kick the ball where you want it to go" The annoying thing is that she is right on both of those counts.

Final score: 4-0 to me; 1-0 to Miss C

An experience on the train...

We had an experience on the train.  Usually,  one uses an adjective like 'wonderful, eye-opening, challenging' to adequately describe an experience. In our case, our experience of the train from Nha Trang to Danang was too many adjectives to mention.

We love train travel & last year's overnight journey from Hanoi to Danang was enjoyable, despite:

• the transition from a 13 hour to a 19 hour journey
• mice spotted running after the catering trolley which consisted of some kind of chowder-like fare (this had been described to us as the restaurant)
• the fact that the porters in the train just turned the mattresses over when ending or commencing the journey rather than changing the sleeping sheet.  

We thought we were adventurous enough to try it again.  When they didn't have a sleeper, we thought we were still adventurous enough to try it again.  R reminded me that we had often travelled in Europe for long journeys in seats only.  I was reassured until much later when I remembered that these had usually been first class carriages with gourmet meals included.  I made sure to check how many kilos of luggage we could take because we are travelling with 2 backpacks, one little girl suitcase & a day backpack each. All good, the website told me as each person was allowed 20 kilo bags.  

We got to the station early, luckily, because the train waiting room soon filled up - with boxes & boxes of who-knows-what & bags & bags of rice.  Then, more stuff started filling the station, then more, then more.  We started wondering what was going on.

When the train finally arrived, an hour late, we realised what was happening with the stuff. It was all being transplanted from the waiting room to the waiting train. The train didn't wait quite as long as it needed to have done to get all of the parcels on board as I realised when I was propelled forward forcibly by the biggest cardboard box I have ever seen (or felt against my whole body).  That box was coming in & the fact that I was taking the steps up the train one at a time, with my own luggage, was no deterrent to it's owner. No sooner had I climbed to my feet & we were off.  I couldn't actually stand on the floor, due to the number of boxes that had been pitched in from the platform.  We had wondered why there were so many porters seemingly just standing around while we were waiting for the train, once it arrived however, these guys came to life and demonstrated their purpose in life.  

I finally made it into our carriage.  C had found her seat & was being variously swatted by the end of a box or a bag of rice or having her little toes run over by rolling suitcases (really, really big ones of course).  C was sweaty & a bit weepy as she had lost sight of both of us in the rush to get so many people & so much stuff through such a small space as a train door.  I was sweaty & weepy but had no time to dwell on it as I was pummelled by the various luggage items that proceeded up the train for the next hour.  Not surprisingly, we had no space to put our luggage. The conductor told us to put it on the floor or hold it - for the planned 9 hour journey (which would certainly be longer).  This wasn't going to cut it.  So I stood, with our bags on my seat & finally the conductor was able to shuffle some things over & we had some space for one of the bags.  The girls in front kindly offered to put one of the bags at their feet which was so nice of them.  We were able to sit down 45 minutes after we got on.  Whew I thought as I sunk down into my seat, now I can relax.

Wrong! I had a huge box behind my seat & the wall at the end of the carriage which meant not only could my seat not recline but it was actually angled forward.  This might have meant I was still sitting up straight, except that the seat in front was in the reclined position so I was now seated at a forward angle with my face almost planted in the seat ahead - great.

After a few hours, the girls in front got off.  Hurrah I thought, I can put the seat up.  Alas no, some new people got on who didn't know about the agreed our-bag-at-your-feet deal so they told us to move it. Move it where? Once again I found myself standing with a bag on my seat.  Two stops on we had more luggage than previously, on the train.  The conductor, a very efficient little man, then said told R to follow him with the bag so that I could have a seat for the remaining 6 hours. Bag stowed in a special spot & seat available to sit in - luxury!

The next part of the journey was uneventful, except the occasional bickering between people who didn't appreciate another's toes in their face or on their head; the trolleys & trolleys of mysterious food & drinks that were up & down the aisles; & the ongoing questioning by C about when we were going to get there (in hours & hours of time so just relax - & repeat).

Where it did get interesting was when we stopped for 30 minutes at a station well set up with all kinds of provisions.  People were on & off the train buying all sorts of foodstuffs.  Evidently, the vendors are not allowed on the train.  We only realised this when suddenly a woman jumped onto R's legs, threw open the locked window & jumped out, closely followed by the huge pappadams & other plastic bags of food & drink she & her partner in catering had been selling.  This girl then also used R as a human trampoline & pivoted out of the window too.  The carriage cheered, all except the uniformed, stern-faced, moustach-e-oed policeman who was glaring after them.

The next fun spot was going to the toilet.  I will spare the details except to say that the gymnastic abilities to actually get into the toilet & onto the seat were beyond me & resulted in R having to just stand in front of the door.

The squat toilet has been replaced with a Western one but there is clearly not enough space for there to be a toilet & room for legs (although I am not an engineer so who am I to comment). Back from the toilet, sitting in the dark as most people lay on sleeping mats on the floor, causing anyone walking to step over them precariously, I saw a mouse dart under my legs, past the bag with our food in it - perfect!

We finally arrived an hour late (really 2 hours given the delay) & were met by a slightly annoyed driver who had been waiting for an hour.  Finally at midnight we arrived at our hotel, so so pleased to see our lovely beds in our apartment hotel - good night.

Top 5
1. Gosh - what to say, love an experience!
2. No need to worry about excess luggage on a train trip in Vietnam, bring the kitchen sink, everyone else does, so get shopping & get on the train
3. I love taking photos but no photos should be taken to record the horror of the second class Vietnamese train toilet
4. One can exist in much less space than one imagines when required
5. The kindness of strangers can never be underestimated.  It is always humbling.

Our super-indulgent break

What we want from our holiday

C-seeing new animals, learning new letters, playing in the pools & swimming, never forget beach ball to play with at the pool, learn new languages  & speak to people, seeing new letter from other languages, getting presents from lots of people, sending postcards, meeting new friends, watching tv in other countries, trying new foods, watching youtube

R-time with family, experience new countries, see how people live differently, eat new & different food, learn some ocamal

P-my primary gift to C is to give her the world, to let her know that the world is a great big place of wonder to be loved, lived & experienced through travel.  My second gift is that we need to take time out to focus on us & to build time in our lives to relax, explore, take the road less travelled. So, that's what I want for C for this trip.  

For us as a family, I want us to create wonderful memories together, to be able to look back on this trip as a great fun time for all of us individually & together.   I want to think about what makes me happy work-wise & do some admin items like create a better budget for our longterm needs; learn illustrator; write my blog; update my linkedin profile.  

Most of all, we just want to have fun & focus on enjoying every minute.  We have given ourselves the gift of time. 

A monkey on my back

Today I had a monkey on my back, literally! It was not for long obviously as my calm (not!) reaction to this surprise, terrified the monkey who moved very, very quickly.

We went to monkey island which is near Nha Trang in Vietnam. We had to wake up early because it was an hour in the car then 30 minutes by speedboat. The boat was FAST & we loved flying along in the waves. When we arrived at the island there were 1500 monkeys to be seen. We didn't see them all but we saw a lot of them.



We bought some peanuts ready to feed them. There are rather terrifying & graphic warnings everywhere about what you should not do. Our guide showed us the proper way to feed the monkeys & told us not to move suddenly, to close our hands if we had no more food & to try not to make the monkeys angry. Our guide (& all the other guides) carry sling shots which the monkeys are scared of. This made us feel slightly uncomfortable initially but greatly reassured once the cheeky monkeys came out to play.

Miss C was very brave in feeding lots of monkeys, on the ground & in the trees. It can become a little stressful when there are a lot of monkeys around you. One monkey jumped right onto my back because I had c 2 apples & a dragonfruit in our backpack. Another grabbed my leg - uncomfortable!

We saw lots of monkeys with dear little babies & many that were pregnant. The babies have to be fast as the bigger monkeys want to eat all of the food. The island population is 65% female. We saw two King monkeys on either side of the island. They are distinctly larger, are usually alone and can definitely cast a swathe through a crowd.



After our monkey encounter we were invited to the circus. We had been warned about this by the concierge & the guide as apparently a lot of Western tourists leave the circus crying. We decided to see the circus for ourselves as we really enjoy the circus as a rule so were intrigued.

We stayed with the monkeys all morning then got back into the boat & went to another island for a bbq lunch, swimming & to see some more animals. This got a bit odd as there were a range of African & other animals on a tiny Vietnamese island.  We made the return journey in choppy seas & arrived at the car wet & happy, having had a great day.

Top 5

1. Monkeys really are cheeky. They keep you on your toes because they are so quick, so smart & can jump from a treetop onto your back to achieve their objective, when you least expect it
2. Monkeys obviously have close & special relationships with their offspring, carrying them on their backs or their stomachs all day
3. We love boats, bouncing along with the wind & sea rushing in
4. We saw even more of the contrastive Vietnamese environment.  It is multi-faceted & keeps us interested & entertained daily

5. Our guide was fantastic. It is rare & wonderful to meet someone happy doing their job & doing it so well

Added hotel extras

Top 5 added extras from hotels so far

1. Lovely woven basket with very strong double handles to take everything to the pool or beach & a plate of cookies & chocolates left in the room each night for supperat La Veranda Hotel in Phu Quoc
2. Teddy bear, bottle of wine, plate of chocolates, fruit basket from Nha Trang Intercontinental
3. Bottle of wine because it was Robert's birthday from Billabong Hotel in Phnom Penh
4. Bath crystals of different varieties for some added enjoyment
5. Enormous hamper of savoury and sweet snacks from Chatrium Hotel in Yangon, Myanmar

Other little things that really help:
- taxi cards with 'please take me to ...' in the local dialect
- sorbet, fruit or water at the pool
- mini massages at the pool

An almost perfect day

• Up early (feel so smug being awake earlier than others to greet the day)
• Gorgeous blue sky, sunshine streaming in through the window, lightly warming and promising another beautifully lit & wonderfully hot day
• Yoga on the beach, it's hot & the sweat bleeds into my eyes but the stretching is rewarding & a wonderful feeling of release is earned through just lying on the ground & breathing
• To the gym for some bicycle work while reading my kindle (nothing too strenuous because my body is so unused to the gym at the moment, maybe not so ideal)
• To the spa for a massage, lovely & relaxing & even the fake karate-chopping at the end after the therapist had told me the massage had ended, couldn't detract from a blissful experience.  (I am unclear about the therapeutic properties of the karate chop, could this be a universal massage therapist agreement to release some pent-up frustration for having to be so quiet and soft in all their movements?)
• To the breakfast room for delicious fare with my lovely husband and daughter who are both in very funny moods, resulting in lots of laughter
• Off for a walk on the beach, bath-like warm water lapping my feet
• Back to the pool for some family japes
• Time to read and snooze at the pool
• Mango shake at the pool - delicious
• Next door to Rory's for a quick lunch & some funny conversation with the Australian owners
• Out & about to the night market to select some fish and trinkets, telling myself that are bargain prices
• Take the time to observe a magnificent sunset
• Home early for a bath & early to bed
• Relax & sleep, ready to do it all again tomorrow
• As my father used to say to mark a particularly good moment "I wonder what the poor people are doing now" - indeed

Top 5 for an ideal day

1. Combine a few states - excitement, bliss, contentment, cultural curiosity

2. Get some exercise in early to justify whatever else is experienced during the day

3. Spend some time with loved ones

4. Spend some time alone

5. Eat well, shop well, relax well

Vietnamese equal opportunity

Vietnamese people characterised in symbols are potentially indicative of some aspects of Vietnamese society.  

Pedestrian traffic symbols feature both men & women.  The symbol of the woman is either one where she is carrying a bag or where she is mildly obese.  

Vietnamese free range chickens

Chickens kept on top of the cage (tied on) & not in the cage are free-range chickens.
Something may have been lost in translation

It was one of those days...

...it was one of those days that you crave when travelling....

Our self-directed walking tour around Ho Chi Minh District 1 enabled us to see an almost all-time best top 5 range of activities today:

1. A real-life action movie sequence on a city street
2. Everyday folk going about their days, including a sad balloon seller
3. A military operation/archeaological dig & an encounter with the law
4. A communications-come-bedroom Vietnam war bunker, complete with original equipment & the errieness of wars past
5. Bargain shopping in a whirling deverish of sights, sounds & smells

Sight 1
Picture a French-inspired cafe with alfresco dining one minute.  The next, the wooden dining tables & chairs have been flattened by 3 motorbikes that have purposely accelerated onto the curb; 2 men are bloodied; 3 bikes take off with 3 men & a small boy on each & throw in a couple of hystrerical women & that's a wrap!

Then, a motorcycle paramedic arrives & does an odd job of attending the victims as both of them continue to bleed heavily, but

An old lady clutching her grandson runs off to return with a police officer & a detective driving a ute-type small truck.  They start asking random people (& there are many of them) questions & squirrelling notes.  Then the two bloodied victims are told to get in the back of the truck & they all drove away.

Sight 2
Contemplating a career change?

Overcome by how many balloons he's sold? Thinking about his other shoe? In an empathetic statement, Miss C announced that we maybe we should buy a balloon from him & then he wouldn't be so sad.  We didn't, largely due to our Cambodian balloon experiences which is a story for another time.

Sight 3
Literally hours of sticky-beakness available as a team of 20 Vietnamese soldiers nestled right next to a children's playground and marked the grounds of the Reunification Palace for further exploration.  Fragments of ordanance, a large knife, a big something (below??) were found. The reunification palace (when it was just the palace) was bombed.  It seems to have taken 40 years to dig up the gardens to see if there might be anything of interest, value, or anything dangerous.  While very pleased that the total lack of any safety precautions while this activity was taking place meant we could get very close to the action, one wonders about undertaking such exercises basically within a children's playground which was populated all day.










Sight 4
The bunker - cold, grey, narrow corridoors, small rooms, large equipment, hand-drawn maps punctured by drawing pins.  This was the communications hub from which the Vietnam war was run. Miss C sat behind the desk & directed operations for the briefest of minutes.

Sight 5
Perpetual motion, floor-to-ceiling bolts of fabric, any colour, any design, any weight; rich and ripe smells from fresh and dried fruit, vegetables, juice; sounds of 'Madam. madam.....' as goods were literally thrown at us to examine.  6 beautifully embroidered dresses for $90 - all worth it!

Holiday time

Phu Quoc market clocks

We have a new concept of time.  We haven't worn watches for years so having a wrist-based reminder of the days passing hasn't been a thing for a long time.  Mobiles offering time & any other information have played this role for many years.  On this trip, we are not using our phones at all; are staying in hotel rooms & apartments with no clocks so rarely know the time or date.

For the first couple of days, this was disconcerting.  Having accepted this as our current and standard state, it's amazing that we seem to be in the right kinds of places at the right times, ie we haven't yet been too early or too late for a scheduled breakfast; missed any kind of scheduled transport; & find ourselves eating or drinking when required rather than when dictated to by a watchface, in whatever form.

It is very free-ing & we feel that there is so much additional time in our days as a result of not fiddling with our mobiles & apps.  We feel good.

Top 5 

1. Freeing ourselves from the bounds of time has been liberating

2. Our circadium rhythms are setting the pace for our days and we are listening to them

3. Our bodies know what they need & when they need it.  Our job is to listen. 

4. When are tired, we go to sleep, whether it's 8.30pm or 1.30 am

5. Our mobiles (& all of our other electronic devices) have been preventing us from living each day to it's fullest.  A good break suggests that if we are brave enough, there may be another way. 

A real market experience

Phu Quoc market is real, raw & an assault to every sense.

We decided we would like fruit for lunch so I volunteered to go to the local market. I love markets, I actively hunt them out.  However, the Phu Quoc market, by the rubbish-filled sea was an assault like I have rarely experienced.

The sights were staggering - I learnt a lot more about some animals than I would like to.  The Vietnamese version of free-range chicken-not in the cage but on the cage - tied up.  Meat, fish, frogs were all on sale; all of the fish, meat, frogs...

The Vietnamese people-watching was fab.  The naturally assertive character is in full display in negotiations between vendor and seller, all while wearing the conical hat & the head coveringface-mask combo on pedestrians and motorcyclists alike.

The sounds - so many motorbikes, so many voices.  Please people, take your fingers off the horn for a minute or two.  Maybe it's good exercise or maybe tooting one's horn here means something different than I think it does.

The smells - wonderfully intoxicating as you pass the pepper/salt/lime stalls; not great as you wander near the rotting garbage.

Taste wasn't high on my agenda.  I felt a bit queasy.  Touch was high on the machete-wielding vendeuse of the market as they brought the sword down over the life of many a creature, at the same time reaching out for a touch of my arm, hair or body.