six backpacks

a family adventure

Days 331 – 334 | Singapore Slum | 13 – 16 November 2017

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Catching up my blog following friends…

We say farewell to my parents at Melbourne’s Tullamarine International Airport as Charlie and I embark on another adventure, this time it’s just the two of us together to Singapore. The flight to Singapore with Scoot is a turbulent one from the very start of launching up into the air. And it’s not like the normal short-lived turbulence. This turbulence goes on and on, up and down and the butterflies in my stomach just makes me feel a little more nervous than usual.

Then I hear the sound of crying. I look around behind me stretching my neck up and around as I’m sitting in the middle chair in the middle seated section of the plane. I see a young woman a couple of aisles back from us breathing heavily and crying, clutching at her lap. I think she’s having a panic attack. No one else seems to be noticing her as well we are all pretty much focussing on holding on to our seats and the air personnel are all up either end of the plane seated as well. I turn back and notice the young woman sitting on the seat to my right is doing some sort of prayer and reading a booklet with Chinese characters imprinted on the pages over and over. I’m thinking what the heck is going on here!? Between panic attacks and prayers we’re all in this together…this one ginormous plane full of butterfly stomached passengers up and down. The woman behind continues her incessant cry while the woman beside me pulls out an A5 piece of cardboard and starts reading it – lips moving and letting out a slight mumble. Finally after some time the turbulence stops…the woman behind stops crying but the woman beside me continues reading.

I’m curious and can’t help but ask her what she’s reading. And then begins a lovely conversation about Buddhism called Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door. A quick Google on the subject provides me with this explanation: Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door belongs to the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and encourages people to recite Buddhist scriptures (sutras and mantras) on a daily basis, practise life liberation (ie. saving the lives of beings destined for slaughter), and make great vows to help more people. She is also snacking on her own lunch. She and her clan (also in the plane reading their A5 cardboard booklets) are heading to Singapore for a big Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door get together. I wish her the best and tell her I will look it up.

We arrive into a sun-soaked Singapore from Melbourne at 6pm. The city is commonly referred to as The Lion City even though lion’s have never been recorded as living on the island state but at just 719.1km squares (after land reclamation) it spreads itself out over 64 offshore islands. Singapore is just one of three sovereign city-states that exist in the world today, the others being Monaco and the Vatican City. Also Singapore is considered to be the second most digitally connected country in the world. We’ll soon test that out!

It’s a warm 33 degree muggy night and the glow of the sky is welcoming after feeling the glum and cold somewhat in hometown Melbourne for a week. Charlie is a little glum after having to leave her “life” and friends in Melbourne and return to South East Asia where we will finally depart our Hoi’An home in a little over a week and finish the 365-day family backpacking journey together by mid-December. Life’s tough as a teen international traveler…but I’m sure that just the two of us will enjoy exploring this exciting city together as a little reward for all the hard work and study Charlie has done via distance to formally finish her studies with Distance Education Victoria with the sitting of her Year 12 exam Health & Human Development.

We walk outside, find a taxi and show him the name of our hostel in Boat Quay. And as we get comfortable in the back seat, he turns around to us and says he doesn’t know where the place we want to go actually is. So we jump back out with our backpacks and jump into the next taxi. The new driver is a little younger and confirms he knows where we’re wanting to go. I always get a little hesitant in my abilties to pull this travel from airport to accommodation thing off on my own, as Steve is always the one hailing and negotiating with the taxis as he is the one who books all the accommodation. Anyway…keep breathing I tell myself.

The ride into the city is a pleasant one. The first thing we notice driving along the main road are the old trees either side of us on the reclaimed land. They’re majestic and beautiful and well looked after and neatly pruned of old branches. The next thing we notice is just how clean, tidy and ordered the place is. Of course most people have heard of the Singaporean style of clean streets and an ordered life thanks to former and first Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kwan Yew. He is known as modern Singapore’s founding father and sat at the helm for three decades. He’s best known for his leadership of transitioning Singapore from third world to first world in just one generation. It’s finally nice to see it in person. And we can confirm it’s true of the city – it’s clean and green. We pass by a billboard stating: “Let’s Make Singapore Our Garden”.

Our taxi driver happily chats with us while he’s driving suggesting some of the things to see and do around Singapore. He mentions it is quite expensive but if we head out from the main CBD and flashy touristy areas of the bay area and get to places like the Maxwell Hawker Centre or Chinatown we will enjoy the best authentic meals the city has to offer with a beer. And then he tells us to look out the left window for a surprise as soon as we get onto the overpass.

Wow!

And there it is in the golden sunset light what seems to be a long, colossal ship (yes ship) balancing atop a skyscraper (yes skyscraper)! Our jaws drop open while the taxi driver chuckles at us, and I’m scrambling for my camera while pressing the window button down. This picture was the best I could manage from the moving car and Charlie and I are left with an excitement in the pits of out tummies. Welcome to Singapore!

And this is what the balancing act looks like closer up…

So the question is: Can travellers slum it in Singapore?

And the answer: Hmmm…maybe. So let’s try it out!

Based on the current cost of living and traveling associated with staying in and exploring Singapore, the word slumming is not a word travelers nor many backpackers would use all too often to describe their stay and experience on the warm, tropical island state. Bloggers are always complaining about how expensive it is here and although I would tend to agree with them if all six of us were here for a week or so, we know it’s not something we could afford as a family tribe. But just like our friendly taxi driver mentioned to us, there are alternatives for a quick and cheaper stay in Singapore that won’t break the bank. The easiest ones are obvious: stay for a shorter period of time and visit Singapore without the whole family in tow! Tick and tick. What else?

It’s our first visit in Singapore. I have done no major research on the place except a brief overview of some of the main sights to see after a quick conversation with my parents who adore Singapore as their preferred place to stop over on almost any flight anywhere! Of course Raffles Hotel is world renown and we happen to pass by it in our taxi. Currently it’s hidden under scaffolding and is having a face-lift of sorts. Steve has booked us a three-night stay which is all we could muster in this lucrative city on a backpacker’s budget. But there are ways of being smart and frugal here and it all comes down to choice. Isn’t that always the case?

We really enjoy our stay in Singapore. And although it’s definitely a much more expensive to travel in this city than other cities of South East Asia, it didn’t mean we couldn’t enjoy ourselves with some of these handy and what I’ve coined ‘Slumming it in Singapore Survival Skills’ to fully embrace Singaporean culture and create some memories here.

#1 – Book a Hostel

5 Foot Way Inn hostel is located right on the waterfront at Boat Quay with a view to match alongside the likes of  many of the big name hotels that also hug the riverside, but doesn’t come with the as hefty price tag. Sure the room itself can feel more like a broom cupboard than an actual room, but with just the two of us and only staying for three nights, we found we never really spent all that much time in our room anyway. Having said that, it is the most expensive hostel we have ever paid for at A$30 per night per person.

Another good idea before booking the more-like-a broom-cupboard-accommodation is to know what other areas the hostel offers its guests. 5 Foot Way Inn offered a welcoming and comfy ground floor lounge area as well as a fully decked out kitchen upstairs with tables, chairs, lounge and large balcony overlooking the river. There’s even a coffee machine! Not only did we utilise all these spaces and amenities at the hostel, but we appreciated the million dollar Singapore River views over a bowl of crunchy cereal, fruit or for the sweet tooth the multilayered multi-coloured rainbow Lapis which I’m told is authentically eaten layer by layer! I stuck to the cereal while Charlie kept with the fruit. Make sure the breakfast option is included in accommodation before booking as it just makes life that little bit easier and that little bit cheaper.

#2 – Eat the Local Food

Before we do that…there’s been one thing I’ve always wanted to do in Singapore…enjoy a Singapore Sling in, you guessed it, Singapore! So we arrive and pretty much within 5 minutes walk out of our hostel and straight into one of the waterfront restaurants and order a Singapore Sling. It’s a lovely balmy night, the twinkling lights of the city have sprinkled out across the river and life just feels spectacular. How lucky am I to be sharing this experience with Charlie girl? Yep. Very lucky.

We’re up for being bold on our first night in Singapore and decide to walk to the closest underground train station, purchase tickets and ride the train to Chinatown. Chinatown located on Smith Street is home to plenty of food stalls that deliver the perfect traditional and tasty Chicken Rice meal for just 5 Singaporean dollars (S$5) each. The traditional Chicken Rice is a combination of fatty rice and juicy chicken that was created by migrants from Hainan. It looks small but it’s absolutely filling and the atmosphere is alive and vibrant. Lights, people and food stalls fill the street.

The following night we venture out to the Maxwell Hawker Centre for an authentic Laksa with vermicelli served in a curry-like soup which warmed me up even more so for just S$4. Charlie opted for another Chicken Rice dish and we enjoyed a cold beer and Sothersby (S$9), and the atmosphere here is well and truly relaxed and friendly.

On Tuesday Charlie and I explore Bras Basah Bugis precinct explicitly to visit the National Library of Singapore that says has a lovely rooftop garden. But when we arrive to the library, we soon discover that there is no lovely rooftop garden, but we are allowed to catch the lift up to one of the floors and take some photos. We’re here anyway so we do just that. It’s a colourful view against a backdrop of grey weather.

We find ourselves in an amazing street corner restaurant called JinJin Eating House (located near Bugis MRT) that is displaying a smorgasbord of Malay culinary delights of meat and vegetable dishes. It was a matter of lining up with the locals – which by the way is the best way to judge if a food joint is good or not for the unknowing foreigner. The best advice: if the locals line up then it’s good tucker so line up too. We lined up and followed the locals pointing at the foods we wanted on our plates and then shuffle along and pay at the register. Easy peasy and oh so deliciously tasty. We order two plates full of fish, meat and vegetables for S$12.20 combined. Our stomachs are full.

#3 – Walk and Use the Public Transport System (MRT)

The best and cheapest option for getting around Singapore’s attractions is by foot combined with a public transport tourist pass. Charlie and I walked (on average) 15km per day and that was in conjunction with using the MRT tourist pass (purchase a 1, 2 or 3-day tourist pass and tap on to all trains – both above and under ground – and buses in the city). We didn’t have weeks to explore so the tourist pass gave us quick and easy access to many corners of this sprawling city from China Town to Little India to Tiong Bahru. There is a S$10 deposit on the wallet sized cards which is refunded when you hand them back at the airport train stations before departing the country. Easy peasy yet again. Loving how easy Singapore actually is to get around and enjoy ourselves.

#4 – See Most of the Sights

There is SOOOO much to see, do and experience in Singapore. For such a small island country, there is much to see. So in just three short days our day and night schedule is well and truly booked up. We return to our dorm room after a morning and afternoon of exploring to lock ourselves away for some much needed rest and rejuvenation and give our legs a chance to restore themselves. The only way is to rest before heading back out at night time to enjoy the magical nightlife and lights of Singapore. Here’s some of the attractions:

Orchard Road – we didn’t venture out to see the famous Orchard Road, because well I’m not that keen on high end retail shops and shopping in general. So we skipped that one so we could take in more culturally rich experiences.

Marina Bay – is the epicentre and engine of the economy. Marina Bay Sands, an integrated resort in and around this precinct is a an array of 5-star hotels, white collar drinking holes along Amoy Street and the architectural wonder Gardens by the Bay. It’s a lot of glitz inside, with the big retail shops, an extensive water feature (looks more like a long pool) and amazing windows which is nice to see, but the real reason we’re here is to head up the lift to that ship balancing atop the Marina Bay Sands hotel. There’s also the Singapore Flyer which gives visitors a birds eye view in a giant Ferris wheel (we didn’t do the Ferris wheel as we opted for the Skydeck – explained later). And even on a grey and overcast day, the spectacular-ness of this area is still amazing to walk around and see.

Gardens by the Bay – is a 101 hectares/250 acres of reclaimed land in central Singapore that showcases three waterfront gardens. It was a strategy of the Singaporean government to transform Singapore from a “garden City” to a “City in a Garden” by enhancing the greenery and flora within the city. And they have certainly achieved what they set out to create. It’s amazing and a must visit while in Singapore.

Gardens by the Bay on a grey day:

Gardens by the Bay at night time:

Smith Street, Chinatown – Charlie and I ventured down here a couple of times for a meal and wander. It’s beautiful at night time with the hundreds of lanterns criss crossing the streets.

And not too far from the Chinatown is the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum. We didn’t get to see it during the day, but walked past the amazing temple and it’s cascading oriental rooftop and impressive brass studded wooden door and muscled statues guarding the tooth relic location at night time on the way to the Maxwell Hawker Centre.

Little India – another MRT train journey out to Little India is an easy way to see another cultural element to Singapore’s bow. The land here was a former racecourse and the place where migrant Indian migrants raised livestock, traded and settled. The major Hindu temple Sri Veeramakaliamman temple with its very elaborate facade is named after Kali, the Destroyer of Evil which was built here to protect Indians in their adopted country. I just loved seeing the shoes left out the front of the temple. Brings back lovely memories from our time in India itself at the start of our year away. And the main street of Little India, Serangaon Road, is overtly decorative with its pink coloured street scene and marigold stalls.

Kampong Glam – is the historic heart of Malay aristocracy pre-colonial rule. And here stands the 1824 Sultan Mosque which according to some legend, the dome base is made from soy sauce glass bottle that were donated by the poorer members of the community. I ask some people if this is indeed true, but no one can verify this as fact or fiction. But the golden dome of the mosque is shining bright in the dull grey sky. We enjoy the cultural roads of Arab Street and Haji Lane with its array of interesting shops and cafes.

And while you’re there, look out for the illusionary paper thin building. It had us stumped for a while!

Tiong Bahru – I love visiting bookshops when I’m travelling. It’s my version of clothes shopping at a mall. So I find a bookshop that people rave about when in Singapore. Just one problem – it’s out woop woop and requires a long underground train journey, bus and walk to get there. But the lady behind the glass window at the train station seems certain we will be able to find the book shop with her directions. I’m a little more uncertain but maintain a level of “we can do it” attitude. Train journey – tick. Bus journey – tick. Now what? Hmmm…the bookshop called Books Actually is no where to be seen. So the handy Google Maps comes out and assists us in following a laneway due south. Charlie leads the way and I follow behind taking photos of this new, and suburban Singaporean environment.

Yong Siak Street is considered to be one of the most densely populated streets in Singapore but the once quiet residential 1950s Art Deco area has been transformed into a hip place with trendy retail outlets, cafes and scrumptious bakeries.

Books Actually is one of those shops. It’s definitely a destination stop. We’re surprised to see standing out the front of the bookshop a book dispenser – yes not a drinks dispenser, but a book dispenser! It’s an awesome idea where you put your money in and out comes a mystery book!

Once inside I’m literally feeling like I’ve reached heaven! There are books lining the walls and stacked beautifully in the middle of the room. Plus there is an assortment of old world charm including maps, bags, bags and other delights. Charlie does her once round and is ready to depart, but she knows me too well to think our time has ended so quickly here. She’s lovely and patient and allows me to soak up the essence of this amazing space and dream my bookshop dreams.

The other delightful aspect of Tiong Bahru are the paintings depicting Singaporean life along its back streets.

Sands SkyPark Observation Deck – we left seeing this sight until our final night, hoping for a clear afternoon and glorious sunset and we got it on our final night in Singapore. Deciding to pay the S$23 each ticket to go up a fast lift to the observation deck was a process of will we-won’t we until we decided yep let’s do it and make the most of our time up here by arriving in the late afternoon and staying until evening so we could appreciate the view at sunset as well as the lights below.

Charlie and I ended staying up there all night! It was great sitting and chatting together on the decking and sipping on Singapore Sling slushies (oops). The views are amazing.

I must admit others, that is patrons staying at the Marina Sands Resort probably had a more comfortable and breathtaking city skyline view than what we did – sitting in the infinity pool sipping on champagne (photo below). This is for hotel guests only.

And at dusk…a perfect spot for quiet reflection high up overlooking the city of Singapore.

Gardens by the Bay Cloud Mountain Dome – another highlight was experiencing the Cloud Mountain Dome. It was a hefty S$28 each to enter but it was worth it. We learnt so much about Cloud Mountains and the habitat as well as enjoying the experience of walking through this tranquil and green man-made mountain. We experienced the waterfall, a wedding photography session, and the event of mist that set in around the top of the mountain. At the exit there is a theatre that loops mini documentaries and a room full of information and models about planet earth that addresses many aspects of climate change and humans stranglehold on the environment. I think we wandered around for over 3 hours inside the dome.

 

Something that grabbed my eye was the Lego created flowers within the garden.

#5 – Remember to Live It Up A Little!

This was my first time to Singapore, so what I saved on accommodation, food and public transport expenses I more than made up for on what I call the “live it up” items such as enjoying a sunset Singapore Sling cocktail along the waterfront. The old saying is true, rob Peter to pay for Paul mentality is how it works best so there was some balance to our experiences in Singapore. We found the best Singapore Sling to be had on top of the Marina Bay Sands that came slushy style in a large plastic cup! Yep who would have thought that was possible but it was and is. Charlie and I watched the sun set and the lights of Gardens by the Bay come on from our lofty 56 floor height at Sands SkyPark Observation Deck.

I know this is easier said than done as there were only two of us (rather than the typical 6-person family and accompanying expenses) which adjusts the usual budget immensely. But it can be done and the experience is more than rewarding.

Next we board another plane for a quick skip across South East Asia back into Da Nang International Airport (thank goodness for multiple entry visas!) where we will be reunited with the rest of the Sixbackpacks crew in our home away from home base Hoi’An. This is our final week in Hoi’An and there’s plenty on – birthdays, packing, goodbyes, cleaning up, and decisions about our immediate future – will heading to Bali be troublesome with Mount Agung continually erupting, and our longer term future – will we continue traveling, return home or create something else?

Until next time. Goodbye Singapore it’s been a blast!

Days 266 – 279 | Happy in Hoi’An: 2nd fortnight | 9 Sep – 22 Sep 2017

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Our second fortnight living in Hoi’An has been simply wonderful. I’m growing more concerned about how we, especially I, are going to return to a life back in Australia. We’ve been up to many different adventures – meeting both locals and expats, and continually enjoying the Vietnamese cuisine that’s on offer. I’m totally addicted to Pho (pronounced ‘fur’) and it’s become a daily must-have for either lunch or dinner and for the occasional authentic Vietnamese experience, breakfast time.

And although Vietnam has some of the best cuisine on the round the world trip, this type of Kit Kat wholeheartedly gets the thumbs down from all of us!

We’re also making good use of our own kitchen and making meals at home. Steve continues to get up early each morning and visit “his ladies” at the local Cua Dai market where they all look forward to seeing him with their bigger than life smiles.

We’re still riding our bicycles and exploring all over Hoi’An, which we’re enjoying as another form of exercise. We looked into hiring ebikes (electric bikes), but at the moment we’re keeping it simple with the human pedal variety (although the kids are hoping for ebikes). Plus where we’re living in Cam An which is well situated to everything – only a 10 minute bike ride to reach most places we access regularly. It’s just when it rains it becomes slightly more problematic. But purchasing a colourful rain protector we call the ‘sweat shirt’ is an easy solution to keeping dry (and sweaty) while still getting out and about in the rain.

It’s also been a fortnight highlighted with a health concern that involved Steve swallowing a drill bit at the local dentist (which I wrote about in my last blog post). He was in for a root canal but got more than he bargained for with the dentist dropping a 3cm drill part down his throat at the first session! And unfortunately, he swallowed it. It’s a funny story now since it’s all over, but during the ordeal it was a little nerve wracking to say the least. But all the dental work is complete now.

This fortnight completes our first month living in Hoi’An, Vietnam and leads into our school holiday adventure with Steve’s parents Sue and Baz coming over to visit us for the first time since we departed for our year-long travel journey on 19 December 2016. It also leads into our family trip to neighbouring Laos during the school holidays which we’re very much looking forward to experiencing as it’s been 18 years since Steve and I first visited Laos and the towns of Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang. Sue and Baz plus out girls will experience their first time in landlocked Laos. Can’t wait!

So here are some snippets of what’s happening in our travel life this fortnight:

Finding Hidden Beach

Steve and I head down to a section of the beach aptly named Hidden Beach. We’ve heard it’s a better beach than the main Cua Dai beach as it hasn’t yet been washed and eroded away from over development by large sprawling resorts.

This is Cua Dai beach early morning. It’s beautiful but ruined from sea erosion.

And this is Hidden Beach towards sunset. A much better beach to hang out on.

When we finally locate the access point to this hidden beach, we ride toward the beach along the downward concrete pathway that leads us straight to the South China Sea. We take a stroll along the beach and then sit down at a little beach shack to share a cold beer.

It’s a quiet life here on the beach. We pass the local Vietnamese fishermen tending to their boats and nets, repairing their round fishing basket boats and detangling a never ending supply of fine netting. They’ve obviously untangled this plenty of times before. The view out to the South China Sea is magnificent and the tranquil sea is both mesmerising and calming to the soul. We look out to Cham Island which looks more impressive from afar with a haggle of white clouds gathered around the island’s peaks. What a place to live.

Meeting Wen

I connect with a young Vietnamese girl called Wen who had been searching on the Hoi’An expats Facebook page for English speaking expats or visitors to meet up with her each week to help her improve her English language skills by having conversations with her. I’ve responded that I’d love to assist and we’re going to start having conversational English when we’re both free.

And what better time to start than today!

We agree to meet this afternoon at 4pm. She arrives to our house half an hour late as she gets lost finding our address, but when she arrives we instantly hit it off and enjoy a chat at the table in our lounge room. I discover that Wen is just 15 years old, quiet but a little dynamite of a learner. We chat about her family and her parents and her life in Vietnam. She’s taken on also studying IELTS (International English Language Testing System) which is used by many foreign language students to determine their proficiency for higher education and global migration opportunities. Wen wants to study abroad.

Taking one look at her school schedule looks more like a fast-paced travel itinerary! It’s full of early starts – I’m talking 4:30am wake up calls (although that is common practice here in Vietnam) and a taxing daily schedule that progresses well into the evening with tutoring. I’m gobsmacked at the hours that she puts in to study. It’s really scary actually.

She tells us that she attends school but if she wants to get good grades she also has to attend tutoring performed by subject teachers at their homes. If she doesn’t attend the extra tutoring, she tells us that teachers may not give her good grades. It’s a completely corrupt system.

Young Wen is a lovely Vietnamese girl with a heart of gold. She wants to know what my charging rate is for conversational English and I tell her that I don’t want any money, but rather we could do a trade – English language conversation for Vietnamese cultural understanding. It’s a deal and we’re both excited.

Hoi’An’s Old Town

With the famous Old Town easily within reach, Steve, Billie, Dacey and I take a taxi to the Central Market to see both the Old Town as well as meet up with young Wen. Wen’s mother operates a juice stall at the market. However, she’s closed for the night we visit but we do meet up with Wen who is more than happy to wander around the Old Town with us and have a chat.

The Old Town is teeming with tourists. It’s making us claustrophobic and although I enjoy seeing the ancient town with all its lanterns and old world charm, I’m more than happy to stay out of it too. We really enjoy getting to know more about Wen and her life and return to the Central Market to try some tasty market food for dinner.

The Central Market has stall after stall of food under one large market roof offering the same, or similar, food options. Talking about the roof, its a series of exposed wooden beams that are beautifully warm to look at and impressive.

There’s lots of Cau Lao, and rice noodles, and strips of thinly cut meat, fresh spring rolls and seafood. It’s a hard decision as to where we sit and who we order from as all the ladies of the Central Market know Wen and her family and want her to take us to their stall. But we can’t eat at all of them tonight! We have to choose just one. It’s getting personal now and it puts Wen in an uncomfortable position. So Wen tells us to choose a stall on our own as she bikes off home to complete more study.

We sit down at a stall that has enough room for the four of us and order Cau Lao, beef noodle and seafood noodle dishes and roasted chicken with rice. It’s the cheapest meal with drinks around coming in at 230,000 VD (A$12).

Return to the Dentist

Many people wouldn’t return to a dentist that accidentally drops a 3cm drill part down your husband’s throat, but I did. I originally went to have a check up and to sort out my broken molar that chipped off while I was living in Cyprus. The reason we didn’t go to the dentist in Cyprus was because many of the shops and health service facilities were taking leave for the summer.

After a couple of visits for filing and fitting, I now have a new porcelain molar. And it cost a fraction of what it would back home in Australia. All up two fillings and a porcelain molar cap cost A$280.

A friend of ours Darren who is married to a Japanese woman sent Steve an email after finding out about swallowing the dentist drill bit. His father in law, a long time dentist in Japan, mentioned to Darren that it was quite common to drop parts down throats! I mention this to the dentist in Hoi’An and they were no way! In all their years of operation both here in Hoi’An and Da Nang they have never had something like this happen. Anyway, all is well, Steve got a discount for the trouble caused and they paid for all the scans and procedures in search of the missing drill bit.

Trivia Night Fun

There’s a weekly expat Pub Quiz held at 3 Dragons Sports Bar each Wednesday night. Steve and I decide to go and check it out. We try and hail a taxi but none are free. It doesn’t take long before a man on a motorbike approaches us as we’re walking across the bridge and asks if we need a lift. We’re on the Cua Dai bridge and jump on the back of his bike. I’m piggy in the middle and we enjoy the air rushing through our hair and the exhilaration of the bike. It costs us some Dong but a fun ride into town.

Now I’m not the best asset on trivia teams, and generally trivia and quizzes are not my usual go to activity for fun, but hey we’re in Hoi’An so I’ll give it a go!

We meet a couple of expats there, Keith from USA and Peter from Australia, and together we form part of the losing team! But we enjoy the trivia, white wine and the expat conversation although we stay way beyond the last question chatting to the guys who have made Hoi’An their home. They have some interesting stories to share about their lives and lifestyle with their families here and many insights in living and working in Hoi’An. Bonus: Steve discovers that Peter is also a keen tennis player and they swap contact details and agree to meet up for a hit some time.

We finally get a taxi home. It’s starting to rain and I’m feeling more than a little seedy from enjoying one too many vinos. The town of Hoi’An pretty much closes down at 10:30pm so hailing a taxi does take some time and the place that is usually brimming with people is ghostly and vacant. But still beautiful. We agree to come along to the trivia night next Wednesday when Sue and Baz are in town for some more trivia fun.

A Stroll to the River

Just one street down from our house off Cua Dai Road is the river. Steve and I take a stroll down there to check it out.

Welcome Back Ash

Ash returns from her one week visit to Australia for Piper’s 16th birthday. She’s not overly happy about being back in Hoi’An but the others, especially Dacey who is waiting out the front for her to arrive in the rain, are happy have her back.

Ash also returns with some treats from home – Twisties, Tim Tams, Hubba Bubba and Tiny Teddies. Plus, some calming chamomile tea for me. We sit and chat with her all afternoon about the week back in Australia and all her friend and family catch ups. She’s had a wonderful time and is now trying to get back into the life we have created here at Hoi’An. She’s also missed some school, so needs to catch up with that.

It rains all day and into the night but that doesn’t stop us from venturing out for some dinner to celebrate Ash returning to Hoi’An and our traveling family. This is a rare (ie. teen girls approved of the shot being taken) cute and colourful family shot.

Well-Being and Mindfulness Workshop

I’m attending a free Well-being and Mindfulness Workshop with French/Vietnamese/Australian My Holland at Almanity Resort and Spa in Hoi’An. My is the Founder and Director of EQ at Happiness Quotient. It’s been pouring cats and dogs all day, so I’m forced to catch a taxi into town to attend the workshop and on our way in the roads are flooding and parents are all picking their children up from school which is causing road blockages on Cua Dai Road. Cyclone Doksuri is approaching off the coast of Vietnam and it is expected to hit landfall in central Vietnam so no bicycle riding today.

The workshop goes over four days for two hours per day held inside a room at Almanity Rosort. My has written a book called Happiness is the Way and has thanked global spiritual leader, poet, peace activist and bestselling author Thich Nhat Hanh with his quote “There is no way to happiness; happiness is the way.”

It’s fantastic to attend and meet likeminded people who are all exploring what positive psychology is and how to bring it into their lives. I get Steve to come in on the Sunday and attend the session.

Thursday

  • Wellbeing 101
  • Mindfulness & Myths

Friday

  • Exploring Gratitude & Happiness
  • Mindfulness & Thinking Mind

Saturday

  • Why do we need optimism?
  • Informal mindfulness practices

Sunday

  • Working on our strengths (my top three strengths are 1. Fairness, 2. Honesty, 3. Zest)
  • Mindfulness & Compassion

It’s a wonderful opportunity for me to get back into positive thinking mindset, meditation and reconnecting with me. I love this stuff. When I do courses like this with others, it just refills my tank and ignites my curious nature about the world and life.

I meet many other people at the workshop over the four days – Mai from Australia who spends eight months in every year for the past 10 years here in Hoi’An at her hearing impaired school, Andrew and Kate from New Zealand who are in Hoi’An on a two-week holiday without their two kids, and Quay who lives in the capital Hanoi and has established her own NGO (Non Government Organisation) which brings disabled people and fully abled people together with the aim of educating people on disabilities in Vietnam.

I feel so grateful for attending this workshop and igniting my passion for positive psychology learning and development. Thank you to facilitator My. It was a lovely four days.

Who is Thich Nhat Hanh?

Thich Nhat Hanh is a Zen Master. A Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist who lives in Plum Village in south west France. He travels internationally giving retreats and talks.

Thich Nhat Hanh has been a pioneer in bringing Buddhism to the West, founding six monasteries and dozens of practice centers in America and Europe, as well as over 1,000 local mindfulness practice communities, known as ‘sanghas’.

He has built a thriving community of over 600 monks and nuns worldwide, who, together with his tens of thousands of lay students, apply his teachings on mindfulness, peace-making and community-building in schools, workplaces, businesses – and even prisons – throughout the world.

Thich Nhat Hanh, now in his 91st year, is a gentle, humble monk – the man Martin Luther King called “An Apostle of peace and nonviolence.” The media has called him “The Father of Mindfulness,” “The Other Dalai Lama” and “The Zen Master Who Fills Stadiums.” Read more about this amazing monk here.

And you know how I adore inspiring and uplifting quotes! Here’s one that I love from Thich Nhat Hanh:

“Letting go gives freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything – anger, anxiety, or possessions – we cannot be free.”

This is a great quote that is Thich’s personal hand-written trademark of quotes. I love it:

And here are some used within the course, author is Osho:

  • “Courage is a love affair with the unknown”
  • “Be – don’t try to become”
  • “Life begins where fear ends”
  • “Be realistic: plan for a miracle”

But I especially love this one too:

  • “Sadness gives depth. Happiness gives height. Sadness gives roots. Happiness gives branches. Happiness is like a tree going into the sky, and sadness is like the roots going down into the womb of the earth. Both are needed and the higher a tree goes, the deeper it goes, simultaneously. The bigger the tree, the bigger will be its roots. In fact, it is always in proportion. That’s its balance.”

The positive psychology must have played its part as it’s led us to The Happy Buffalo!

The Happy Buffalo

The former renters of the house we are currently living in got in contact with me via social media and gave us a couple of suggestions of local favourites around Cam An and people to meet. One they recommended is The Happy Buffalo. It’s a recently opened bar just down the road, and is run by a very friendly and funny Canadian couple.

Steve heads to The Happy Buffalo solo to check it out and vows he’ll bring me back. And so we do straight after gym and enjoy a drink at the bar. The sunset is glorious as it comes down on the green fields and fish farms at the back of their place. It’s a perfect photo opportunity too. This place has become more like a second home to us.

Just look at that sunset!

We meet the friendly Canadian owners Evan and Lindsay and enjoy drinks and tales of travel and setting up a business in Hoi’An. They’re both former advertising executives from Toronto, and when they travelled to Vietnam they fell in love with Hoi’An (which we can completely understand as we fell in love with Hoi’An in 1999 and again in 2012). Anyway they’re an awesome couple and I’m sure we’ll be back many more times to The Happy Buffalo for a chat, a drink and of course to devour those macaroni cheese Cau Lao noodle triangle thingies with a chilli dipping sauce. YUM! They are to die for!

So why is Cau Lao so special in Hoi’An?

Cao (or Cau) Lao is a local Hoi’An dish which you can only find here in central Vietnam’s Quang Nam province. The secret lies in how the noodles are made. To make Cao Lau noodles, the rice has to be stone ground and mixed with ash and water. The ash is made with firewood from the Cham Islands, around 19 km from Hoi An. The noodles are cut and then cooked three times with firewood. The water to cook the noodles is also very special because it only comes from specific wells in Hoi An. This is why Cao Lau is a dish that can only be prepared in Hoi An.

Anyway back to The Happy Buffalo and eating Cau Lao noodles in one of their special signature dishes…Charlie rides her bike down to meet us, and towards the end of the night asks Lindsay and Evan if she can work with them to gain some work experience. She starts Monday! Charlie’s on a high and looks great wearing The Happy Buffalo singlet and cap!

Grandparents Arrive

Sue and Baz arrive for a 6-day stay in Hoi’An and then we’re all off together on a two week trip to neighbouring landlocked Laos. We all excitedly bicycle to the Golden Sand Beach Resort where they’re staying for the next six nights to meet up with them after enjoying dinner with a New Zealand couple Kate and Andrew (who I met at the Well-being and Mindfulness workshop). We meet them in the foyer and head up to their room to finally catch up with them. Steve, me and the girls are ultra-excited about seeing them here and spending time with them as it’s been NINE long months since we said goodbye last December. Since we’re members of the Golden Sand Resort gym, we can also hang out with them at the pool which makes it easy to catch up and hang out here together.

We enjoy taking them out to meet Evan and Lindsay at The Happy Buffalo and we drop by to see Charlie in her new uniform working with Lindsay and Evan for some experience. She’s learning all the Vietnamese ingredients in the menu items. Thumbs up!

We also went out for dinner with our Vietnamese landlords Mr Chuong, Dao and their cute little boy. We enjoyed authentic Vietnamese cuisine at a fresh seafood restaurant called Quan Gio Bien. It was also our 9-month anniversary of round the world travel. Lovely night out together.

Of course we meet up regularly at the Dingo Deli for a latte (or two) during the week when the kids are at ‘Mia School’. Steve takes Baz for a bike ride out the back to the rice fields, An Bang beach and then Hidden Beach for a cool ale, while Sue and I enjoy an hour-long hot stone massage for 300,000 Dong each with a mango juice and a wander down the river to see Mr Chuong’s hanging orchid garden.

It’s so nice having them here with us and catching up again after so many months of not seeing them while we’ve been travelling around the world. It’s such a special time traveling with extended family with so many wonderful memories are being created that will last forever.

Vietnamese 101

Steve mentions to me that he’d like to learn Vietnamese, especially since we are possibly looking at staying here longer term. So I do some research and locate a place where Steve and I can learn the language within a group setting. It’s a beginner’s course held at the recently opened Hoi’An Hub with Vietnamese teacher Ty (pronounced Tee). And although I know Mandarin Chinese and the tonal pronunciation that’s required there, I discover that the Vietnamese language has an extra two tones (so six in total) and a variety of letters that do not sound as they are written which is just confusing the heck out of us!

But we enjoy exploring the basics of the language, and hope that when we return from our school holiday travels in Laos we will be able to attend two lessons per week for the rest of our stay in Hoi’An and hopefully master some of the basics. On the bicycle ride to the Hoi’An Hub where our classes take place, we witness the drying of the harvest. It takes up all the space on the road and we find that we are having to zig zag around the tarps that are spread out over the road with rice on them. Once dry, the rice is bagged by the Vietnamese.

Living Like a Local

I love Pho. So it makes it really easy living like a local here in Hoi’An. And although the Pho is meant to be better up north in the capital Hanoi, this Pho, to me, is just divine. The Vietnamese eat Pho for breakfast, so one morning Steve and walk down to try it out and sit with the locals. Glad I’m not having to get through that pile of dishes either! Check out the number of chop sticks there!

A Book Launch to Farewell a Baker

We have been invited to attend a private book launch function at Dingo Deli for Mexican baker Andres. It just demonstrates how much time and coffees I’ve been enjoying there really! On the night, there is a book that can be purchased which outlines all the baking secrets and recipes Mexican Andres has learnt from being a baker for a whole year at the popular expat café haunt.

There is a significant expat community loving and working and retired in Hoi’An. And the interesting thing about this community is that each and every person we meet is exceptionally interesting. They have a story to share about their life that is different and completely unique. It’s one of the bonuses living here and integrating into life – getting to know the people.

Andres grew up in Merida, Mexico and studies finance at one of the best universities in his country. His life had been meticulously planned by his family that provided him with endless opportunities for an amazing life. He says, “I was lucky, but my life my life didn’t feel like my own. I felt like there was more for me than what everyone had planned.” With a blank passport and the cheapest ticket out of Mexico, Andres left his homeland in search of an unplanned life which would provide him with an alternate narrative.

Sue and I both purchase Andres book for 450,000 VD and get it signed by Andres.

There are many expats there including Rick, an American Vietnamese veteran, who was first here in 1967 fighting in the terrible war. He lives in Miami for 3-4 months of the year to get all his healthcare and returns to Hoi’An to live the remainder of the year.

He tells us he never slept well while living in the United States post-Vietnamese war, but since living in Hoi’An he sleeps much better. He’s fundraising for a little girl who has been born without hands or feet. He’s a character alright with a heart of gold.

We also meet Darren who is on a visit to Vietnam with an Australian woman he met and although they came here together, the relationship has soured a month into his 3-month stay. I offer that he can stay at our house while we’re traveling around Laos for two weeks but I do not realise the communist protocols of signing contracts and informing police etc. It’s an offer I have to take back unfortunately.

I also quickly get to meet Andres’ girlfriend, Daton, who is an illustrator and helped create the Sour Dough book. She’s also traveling to Italy with Andres to make a new start. But what is particularly interesting about Daton is that she looks exactly what my main character in a book I started writing last year looks like. My character’s name is Ming and she is Australian born but her parents escaped from the Lao communists and resettled in Australia. Seeing her here reignites my ideas and passion for finishing the book about the secret war that occurred in Laos during the American-Vietnam War.

Then there’s retired couple Christine and Bill who have been living in Hoi’An for nearly six years. Both of them love it here, and I often see them at Dingo Deli having a coffee or up at the Golden Sand Resort gym as they too are members. They’re such a sweet couple living the retired life in Hoi’An and get about on their scooters. Lovely people.

Bicycle Stolen

Steve’s third tennis session with Peter was cancelled last minute due to Peter not feeling the best. But since the alarm had already gone off at 5:30am, we decided to get up and about like the locals do and bike down to Hidden Beach to enjoy a sunrise swim together in the South China Sea.

It is so quiet on the beach at this time of the day and so much cooler. We watched the sun rise while enjoying a swim in the clear warm water. There were a couple of other swimmers dotted along the long stretch of sea, but not many where we were. We had the sea all to ourselves.

Unfortunately, after we drip dry off and walk back up to our bicycles where we parked them we notice one is missing. There are no longer two bikes waiting for us to ride home on. Steve’s bike has been stolen while we were relaxing on the beach at Hidden Beach. We have rented the bikes from Miss Phuong for one month and this afternoon was our final day of renting them before heading off to Laos for the school holidays. Anyway, we obviously need better security for the uninhabited places we venture to in Hoi’An. The cost of a replacing the stolen bicycle is 5.1 million Dong (including a discount for being good customers). Lesson learnt the expensive way!

Family Travel Memories

Having Sue and Baz come and visit us here in Hoi’An has been a real treat. We’ve done lots of things together – both local and touristy, and the girls are really loving having them here to hang out with at Golden Sand Resort or back at our house.

Catching Up

We meet up with Paul (PM) and his wife Caroline at The Happy Buffalo for drinks and snacks. They’re late arriving to their Hoi’An hotel because the tour they’re on has decided to take a detour and visit Marble Mountain as soon as they land at Da Nang Airport from Hanoi.

But we do manage to catch up with them the night before heading to Laos and we thoroughly enjoy the time. It’s lovely to have visitors from home while we’re traveling this year.

Vlogging Career Really?

An update – I made the introductory vlog with lots of weird looks and comments coming from my tribe of teens, but I pushed through them and the steep learning curve of pulling something together. Here is it if anyone dares to watch!

I was all geared up to create another vlog about our local market, but well, the short snippets of video taken is all over the place inside my iPhone, amongst hundreds of photos and I just haven’t given the time and energy and focus required. Not sure where I’m at with my vlogging career but if it returns I’ll share what I create here.

Goodbye Golden Sand Resort

I receive an unusual email from the General Manager of Golden Sand Resort one day informing us as members that they were having to close the doors of the resort. Say what? After a meeting with the Canaian GM we discover that there is ongoing relationship issues with the owners – two brothers who own the resort – and as such the accounts for the resort have been frozen which means no bills can be paid out!

We are disappointed and hope that by the time we return from our school holiday adventure in Laos the resort will be back open. But I’m not going to hold my breath! Billie is shattered as she loves the gym the most, closely followed by Ash, Charlie and Steve. Luckily Sue and Baz didn’t book their stay here any later as they got to be here on the very last week of its operation and had a wonderful experience here.

Vietnamese Saying

“The gilded meet the eyes like molasses meets the tongue.”

Days 251 – 265 | Happy in Hoi’An: 1st fortnight | 26 Aug – 8 Sep 2017

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The flight to Hoi’An is easy and simple from Bangkok. Just a short hop really – the beauty of South East Asia. And the sky turned it on for us with such delightful views out the little windows of vivid blue and luscious green. We are very happy to make a return to Vietnam.

We have been here now for over two weeks and time feels like it’s literally escaping through the clutches of my writing hand. I’m left pondering where the time is disappearing to.

This year has also felt like we have been constantly moving to another country, to another house, to another city. And that’s because we actually have been doing pretty much that all year. Settling into a new rhythm in unfamiliar places and cultures has its pros and cons. We’ve learnt, through experience, that our family takes a good week or so to really settle the feathers at a new destination. But this move from Cyprus to Vietnam via a three-day stopover in Bangkok, in particular, has taken us a little longer to settle than expected. So rather than fighting it, I’m going with the flow and allowing the unsettled-ness to take its own path without trying to change or restrain it.

The first two weeks living in this happy-go-lucky ancient city of Hoi’An has been a balancing act. On the one hand we’re settling into a place where we’re planning an extended stay and on the other we’re trying to carve out a wee holiday – if that’s at all possible – on a year-long family travel adventure.

Traveling the world for 365 days is not by definition a holiday. It has its perks I won’t deny those – no work and its associated stress, no boring routine and family member habits. And although many people may perceive that our year away from work, home, routine, school, and normality is, let me tell you loud and clear it is not! If it’s not a holiday and it’s not normal life, it’s a hybrid of both. There’s been significant changes to our lifestyle, outlook on life, and daily routines. Not having to scurry off to work each day is a major bonus and not having to attend any formal classrooms at certain times has its advantages and disadvantages. So while living in Hoi’An, we have consciously tried to adapt and enjoy the days by not doing all that much. No intentional exploring on the weekends, just simply living and enjoying life at a much slower pace.

The constant traveling and exploring obviously takes its toll more on certain members of our family and in varying ways. And although we have had a lot to take on in these first couple of weeks, it’s been lovely knowing that we are here for three months, not just one.

To give you an insight into how busy our first two weeks in Happy Hoi’An looks, here’s an overview of what we’ve been up:

Da Nang Airport Drone Dramas on Arrival

Our eldest daughter Charlie has been traveling with a drone. She’s been doing a fantastic job researching countries that do not particularly like drones being brought into their countries, and although we thought we had the green light in Vietnam, as per research, we discover on arrival that the drone laws have been changed/tightened up for the upcoming APEC conference occurring in neighbouring Da Nang (the fastest growing city in the world apparently) in early November. The drone regulations are so tight now, that drones are confiscated on site once found in the departing airport luggage x-ray screening process. However, it’s okay. We are not the only ones that has had their drone confiscated by the Vietnamese government lately as we saw first hand a whole cupboard full of them at Da Nang airport.

The man assisting us, after we calmed down considerably (although Charlie is still furious!), is a Vietnamese man who explained the process from now on. We will be collecting our drone once we depart the country and there’s many other travellers in the same boat with the sighting of a stocked cupboard full of them. Drone delight! We will be able to collect our drone on departure without fee, without fuss. Well that’s what they’ve told us. Fingers crossed. So unfortunately, we will not have any drone footage of this spectacular country.

An article on drones in the local paper confirms the new laws.

Moving into A Vietnamese House

Our house is an amazing three bedroom Vietnamese style multi-level home in Cam An area, off Cua Dai Road close to the main beach (or what’s left of it). It’s renovated with freshly painted white walls, sparkling polished floor, small but functional kitchen, and the best of all double glazed front doors that open up onto an intimate courtyard facing the busy street. Our Vietnamese neighbours are lovely and our landlord and his family, Mr Chuong and his wife Dao are even more lovely assisting us with anything we might need.

We have rented six bicycles from Miss Phuong (Mr Chuong’s sister) so we can get around easily and independently. I’ve also worked out a good system in the front courtyard of hanging our washing out and getting them dry. I feel like I’ve joined the pack now.

I love living in amongst the community and this countryside is just stunning to be amongst.

There’s nothing better than complete cultural immersion which provides insight into another culture and way of life. Next door we have a lovely couple with two young children and elderly grandparents and across the road we have another family who smile and wave at us each day. Grandma waddles across the road carrying a bunch of small, fat, over ripened bananas and beams at us with her all missing, jagged red-stained gums, “for babies…for babies”. We humbly accept them, although we have way too many ripe bananas. Wish I had an oven so I could bake banana cakes.

Vietnamese Dong Debts

The Vietnamese Dong (VD) is a complicated array of notes. They range in thousands – 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, 100,000, 200,000, 500,000. It’s taking me some time to easily decipher the value of notes folded three ways and wedged in my purse when I’m at the market or shops buying produce. I keep getting the 10,000 and 100,000 mixed up as the note looks the same in colour and all those zeros.

As we start to integrate into our new neighbourhood, we also need to pay for quite a few things outstanding. First Visas – all in US dollars, second rent 12,500,000 Dong (US$550), and of course there’s the rent on six bicycles for a whole month. These are large amounts of money handed out in the space of a couple of short days of arriving. So Steve starts putting money aside to pay for all these big entry items and visits the ATM regularly to pay off our Dong debts one by one.

The ‘Mia School’ A Real 21st Century Classroom

The relationship and healthy working order between Distance Education student (our daughters) and supervisor (us) has diminished somewhat over the last couple of months. If I ever thought that I would become a teacher or a homeschooler in the future, those dreams ni longer exist. Part of the reason why we’re settling in Hoi’An for three months is due in part to the expat community already stationed here and that means some expat teachers. Teachers who are willing to assist us with our kids distance learning for a small fee.

And we found Mia. I call it ‘Mia School’, only because former Australian based in An Bang (just outside of Hoi’An town) Mia has taken on our four girls for the rest of this term. The girls bike down to Mia’s place in a neighbouring area to An Bang each weekday from 10:30am-1:30pm (just three hours a day Monday to Friday) to complete their daily school tasks. It’s a simple 10-minute bike ride. And the turnaround in learning and getting ahead of schedule has been amazing. The girls enjoy getting out of the house, working in a place that is not home, and we enjoy having kid free time. It’s a win-win situation.

Head Colds Suck in the Tropics

Somewhere along the travel route from Cyprus to Vietnam, Ash caught a head cold and is successfully passing it down the family line. Charlie first and now me. It’s one of those head colds that lingers as well – after three days of not feeling great at all, there’s a slight indication it’s all over only for the head cold to return on the fourth day and knock me out again.

The best thing is that most medication is readily available over the counter here at pharmacies. The worst thing is that with the weather here being so warm and tropical it really just makes the feeling of being sick with a dreaded head cold all the more depressing.

Connecting with Other Expats

The first thing Steve and I did when we arrived here was to connect to the various expat Facebook groups and pages in and around Hoi’An and Da Nang. There are scores of them but it’s an easy way to get up to speed with what’s happening, who’s here, and the ability to ask a question and receive multiple answers back. Pure gold for newbies who have just landed.

And although our preference is to not hang out in the overly tourist infested areas like the old town, it’s also true I’m here to connect with some expats and have a bit of a social life. It’s not just the kids who haven’t had many opportunities to connect with other people on a more easy level, that is being able to speak English. But having said that, we are enjoying the best of both worlds. Being able to talk and be listened to by other expats is thrilling after nearly nine months of not really meeting many other foreigners on the road and connecting with local Vietnamese people.

Keeping Fit on the Traveling Road

The only decent exercise any of us get on the travel journey is walking around new places and local gyms. So one of the first tasks is locating a gym, negotiating a price and ensuring it’s in easy reach via bicycle. And we find it at Golden Sand Resort after a couple of expat recommendations on the expat Facebook page. We’ve signed up for a month, and therefore have become members of the resort. This gives us access to a fully equipped gym plus use of the pool, sauna (couldn’t think of anything worse in this tropical heat) and other recreational activities that are offered at the resort. And it’s just a beautiful place to hang out and be happy.

We purchase two family passes (A$250 for a family of six pass for the month) and have thoroughly enjoyed spending the better part of these two weeks sleeping, schooling, and working out. Afterwards we all enjoy a dip in the longest pool in South East Asia – it’s 150m in length plus a stop at the bar overlooking the South China Sea and Cham Island on the weekend! Finally, we’re enjoying a mini-holiday within a year-long backpacking itinerary.

Happy Father’s Day

We always celebrate these days as a family and today is no exception even though we’re in Hoi’An. Steve receives the usual treatment – a congregation of long teen bodies laying over our bed and the handing out of homemade cards with gorgeous heartfelt messages and gifts. He loves it and so do the girls.

After the gift giving session on the bed, we head out on our bicycles to a local restaurant for breakfast and then ride into the heart of Hoi’An – the Old Town – to explore and roam about. It’s a lovely day out together.

Buying Food & Cooking

Each morning Steve rides up to the local Cua Dai market. The market is open from day break until about 8:30am. It’s at the end of a small laneway overlooking the wide river with plenty of fresh produce. The smiling stall ladies offer Steve a variety of freshly cut garden salad greens, fruits and meats. It’s a true Vietnamese market with no refrigeration, just fresh food, wooden chopping boards, broad happy smiles, and wafts of smoking incense sticks.

The women are friendly and helpful and enjoy seeing Steve arrive each morning to buy his usual freshly baked bread rolls (30,000 VD for 6 rolls), greens and meat. Lots of chicken (100,000 VD per kilo), pork and beef (240,000 VD per kilo). He buys eggs in a kilogram weighed bundle for about 30,000 Dong and the straw is included in the bag. The girls have been enjoying making their own lunch to take along to ‘Mia School’ each day which is a freshly baked bread roll containing meat and salad. Very tasty and filling.

But I seem to have quite a few different things in my bicycle basket when I go shopping!

There’s not much here in the way of junk food which is fantastic. But there are lots of sweets and sugary delights. Tooth decay is a big problem here. Many parents don’t worry about the baby teeth, as they’re not permanent, but unfortunately the habits of sugar consumption and not looking after teeth are. Baby teeth or adult teeth, there’s a big problem with oral care here in Vietnam.

But junk food is just not as readily available in all its enticing varieties as it is back home. I love the food options here – limited and mostly healthy. The small supermarket on the corner has all the necessary basics we require like margarine, washing powder, toothpaste, sliced cheese, and packets of noodles etc. Our eating habits have transformed and we’re not consuming nearly as much as we do back home. Especially meat – we just don’t need all those big steaks or chicken fillets. We love this way of eating.

The Dentist Ordeal

This is a funny story now after the fact, but for Steve reliving parts of this dentist story still cause uncomfortable flashbacks! In short, Steve was getting some dental work on a tooth and he swallowed a drill bit. I’ll repeat…a 3cm long drill part fell out of the dentist’s hand and straight down into his throat and then oesophagus. The dentist obviously stopped immediately and started looking on the floor for the piece, but Steve could feel it in his throat! Steve was sent to the local Hoi’An hospital for an x-ray to locate the drill part but it couldn’t be found.

Next day he was driven to Da Nang Hospital to have a procedure he wishes to never ever have to experience again – an endoscopy. A garden hose-sized pipe with a camera attached to its end was pushed 90cm down his oesophagus looking for a 3cm dentistry drill bit. I wasn’t there, but the dentist receptionist Chau was there to support Steve and hold his hand while he dry reached over and over throughout the ordeal. Again nothing found. Next he was sent for a CT scan which finally located the missing drill part. It was in his lower intestines making its exit in the next day or two. It was recommended he eat bananas to help it along!

A freak accident, and the dentist here was overwhelmingly embarrassed and apologetic. But it ended well. Many of the expats we share this story with tell us they’ve seen and heard a lot of strange stories here in Hoi’An, but this one is certainly a story that stands out from the rest.

Air Conditioning Please

The house we rented has only got two air conditioners installed – and they’re located in two out of the three bedrooms. However, with six of us living here for an extended period of time, the downstairs lounge room was really in need of some cooling. Fans just don’t cut through the tropical heat here, and sitting in our lounge room was more or less unbearable.

I make a suggestion to our landlord Mr Chuong that he should consider installing a cooling unit in the main lounge room but his response was, “he’d love to but no more money Lisa!” I completely understood this situation, but it also meant that we were probably not going to re-rent the house next month. Four days later Mr Chuong sent me a message saying, “We will install air conditioning unit this week Lisa. Children come first!”

I’m delightfully shocked. These units are not cheap either at US$1,200 but we’re grateful that Mr Chuong took my request on and is getting one installed in the lounge room. It’s made a huge difference to our life living in the house and we are probably going to stay here for the remainder of our Vietnam stay.

Lucky Ash

How many 15-year old teenage girls get to travel around the world on their own? Not many. Ash is heading back to Australia for one week as the surprise gift for her best friend Piper’s 16th birthday! A bunch of friends all put money in for the present – Ash! With the money Steve bought a return ticket from Da Nang International airport to Melbourne via KL. What a birthday surprise for Piper too.

Ash really enjoyed seeing her friends and catching up with family. She loved the cooler weather too. It was a great week for her and I think she’s really grown as a result of traveling all that way and managing a stop over to and fro in KL all on her own. Well done Ash!

Our Baby Turns 12

Happy birthday to Dacey who turns 12 years old on 8 September. And early this morning she receives a brand new air conditioning unit that’s being installed in the main lounge room of the house we’re renting! And how lucky is she who’s experienced two birthdays overseas now – the first was celebrated in Penang, Malaysia when she turned 8 and now in Hoi’An, Vietnam at 12. We purchase some balloons and some gifts and she has a lovely day. Big surprise – she has an iPhone! Big surprise there!

Our family seem to congregate on the bed altogether for our birthdays as well as any celebration that commences in the mornings. We sit on the bed and hand out cards and presents. It’s a lovely tradition which makes me smile thinking how small they all were not that many years ago.

Our lovely landlords Mr Chuong and Dao come around with a beautifully decorated cake for Dacey’s birthday. They are the best. We ride our bicycles to our regular haunt Dingo Deli and enjoy sumptuous pizzas for lunch, minus Ash as she left the day before to travel back to Melbourne.

The birthday afternoon is spent at the Golden Sand Resort pool with another present that makes this long pool so much more fun – a giant inflatable swan! I don’t last long on the blow up device and get tossed off into the pool. Lots of fun and great memories for Dacey.

***

Reflecting back on this fortnight, we realise that we have enjoyed doing not all that much and that’s been a pleasant change. We’ve made the decision to stay longer than one month in Hoi’An so it will end up being between 2-3 months in total that we live in Hoi’An, Vietnam. We have a three-month visa and are looking forward to staying still in the one country for a longer time.

Steve and I had a chat about how we’re feeling relaxed but at the same time quite emotionally drained at times. We realise that we had allowed our teenagers and their teen negativity to run (and often ruin) the journey. It feels like we are constantly reminded that we have in some way ruined their lives by taking them away traveling the world for one year or that we’re spending way too much quality time together which I understand is hard for the teen years. It’s hard to grasp and work with, but the most important aspect of life as a teen is more or less moodiness, friends and socialisation.

Steve and I discussed how our resilience was on empty and the testing teenage years was testing us. At the moment we are drowning. Lots of moodiness, sweeping emotions, trigger happy anger, and a state of constant tiredness especially in the mornings has taken its toll on us and our usually positive, upbeat disposition. We didn’t want the rest of the trip to continue this way.

So the big question is what do we need to do to change this scenario?

We need to climb out of the teen rut we feel we are suffering and back out in the world being happy, creative and positive parents again. To be grateful and to notice the little things in life. To also let things slide and to not let it unfurl us constantly.

While at the gym on the stepper machine I listened to the ABCs Conversations podcast of Buddhist nun Robina Courtin and I had an epiphany. In that interview she said simply that fear causes suffering. It hit me. That’s exactly what I was doing. FEAR of making the wrong choice to travel the world, FEAR of the girls not socialising enough, FEAR of the girls never wanting to travel again, FEAR of going home when we have changed so much, FEAR of never wanting to return to my former life of home-school-work, FEAR of making all the wrong decisions for my family. FEAR of never living my dreams. FEAR of never actualising the life I really want to live. Ultimately it was the usual negative pitch going on in the back of my mind: my FEAR of not being enough. Arggghhh!

I have plenty of evidence that I had indeed made and continue to make mistakes and miscalculations on this year-long journey. The teens are more than happy to point them out – I’m sure there is a long list under their pillow of every wrong move or word – and let me know all about the mistakes in vivid detail over and over again. Sometimes I really think they hate me and the world. Ha they probably do! The constant whingeing and complaining from the troop of three teens and one tween had infiltrated my usual impenetrable buffer zone and now I was mushy, pliable putty in their hands being moulded and stretched in so many different ways. It was time to take back my power by saying this mantra in my mind:

FEAR CAUSES SUFFERING.

So if I don’t have fear, my suffering will end?

Instantly I feel relief. The fear that I’ve built up starts dissipating through the sweat that is dripping from my body while pushing my physical body on the stepper. I do not have to hold onto this fear any longer. I enjoy feeling the burning desire of being free, vital and alive start to reappear. This trip was not nearly over; it may as well have just begun!

Although journal writing has always been my go-to cathartic pursuit to help me make sense of the world and myself, it was time for me to step outside and from behind the comfort that writing and journaling gave me. It was time to pursue another medium of storytelling while we are living in Vietnam. And what came to me was this: vlogging in Vietnam.

The sickness of a head cold that lingered way too long has almost entirely gone and the buffer zone between teenage travel trials and global mothering has been reinstated. Their experience is their own and not mine. If they want to be grumpy and non participatory, so be it.

Steve and I had a huge chat about all of this at our favourite café haunt in Hoi’An, the Dingo Deli and we both relieved the immense pressure we felt to try to make our teenage girls happy and content while living here in Hoi’An. Phew. So now that’s off the menu I feel like I can create something and wake up each morning with a spring in my step and ask, “what are we creating, experiencing or doing today?”

But first a word of warning. I’m not a naturally gifted vlogger. This medium is all new to me and although I’ve been watching my eldest daughter Charlie craft her own vlogs throughout the year, I have this uncomfortable feeling being front and centre in the video. And that’s the easy part – making content. On the other side of hitting the record button, is the steep learning curve in front of me of being able to upload, edit and craft a worthy/entertaining/informational vlog for my viewers. Yikes. But a couple of sayings spring to calm my mind – you got to start somewhere and we over-estimate what we can achieve in a week and underestimate what can be achieved in a month or year.

So my vlogging journey has begun I think. I’m calling it Only in Hoi’An. There’ll be an introductory vlog here soon. I hope you enjoy watching. Please be patient with me as I learn as I wander through this new world and learn the lessons as I go.

I’m excited.

And daunted.

Wish me luck!

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