Our holiday is over.NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast.After breakfast I had my last swim in the pool and then packed my stuff up.I read my book until we had to go.It took about half an hour to get to the airport and then we said our final goodbyes.

In the Airport we checked in our bags and then walked around for a bit.after that Tessa and I went to a gift shop to spend the last of our money.I got a pen,Digeridoo keyring for my school bag and a soft kangaroo.

We had lunch at a cafe and then got on the plane.I watched 1 episode of MythBusters on the flight TV and then read.When we got back to Adelaide we went up the ramp thing and then Grandpazi picked us up.We got our bags and then we left the airport.

Thank you to everyone who had read this and make sure that you always remember that Bacon tastes good! (Nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom,nom)

Things that we did in Darwin

At about 8:30 (Darwin time-same as Adelaide time) I woke up and everyone was awake,I got dressed and then went inside.I had Toast and Honey for breakfast and  then went for a swim in their pool.For the rest of the day I just rested and swam.For dinner we had Spag Bol

The next day I woke up at about 7:30 and then had breakfast,I had butter on toast.We went into darwin and then went to a place called Crocydlus cove.There were a lot of crocodiles there.It was cool because we got to feed the baby crocodiles.We also got to hold a baby crocodile.We went in the snakes area and I got to hold a snake.

After that Kate,Hugo and Olive (Hugo and Olive are two of Kate’s kids the other one is called Ella.olive is 14 months,Hugo is 3 years old and Ella is 5 or 6)went home and Dad,Mum,Tessa and I went for a walk.We went back to Kate and Tom’s house and I went swimming.For dinner we had a BBQ.

the next morning I had toast again and then went in the pool,after the pool I read a book and then we had lunch,for lunch we had Chicken,Lettuce,Mayo rolls (nom nom nom)

I don’t think we did anything between lunch and about 5 but at 5 we went to a Fish’N’chip shop for dinner.We got our food and then we went to a MASSIVE park.We had dinner and then Dad,Tom,Hugo and I kicked a footy around.We also walked down to the beach and looked around.

 

Goodbye Vietnam!

First we had breakfast in our hotel and then we went walking to a shop called Vietname quilts,Mum was going to get a small blanket for the couch but didn’t get one.Mum and Tessa wanted to look at some shops so they looked at them while Dad and I did some packing.When Mum and Tessa got back we finished doing the packing and at 1:30 our taxi driver picked us up.

When we got to the airport we got checked in and then waited,at about 4’O’clock we got on our fight to singapore,we flew with Vietnam Airlines.I read my book and played Line Rider on the I-Pad for the whole flight.

At Singapore Airport we went to Terminal 1 checked our bags through and then went through sucurity after that we got on our plane and flew.We went with Jet Star and we got 2 i pads with some movies, TV shows and games on them,I played some of the games and watched a few episodes of Modern Family.

When we got to Darwin airport we went through customs and then at about 5:00 we got picked up by Kate (we are staying at Kate and Tom’s house while in darwin(they are some of Mum and Dad’s friends)) when we got to their house we went into the little granny flat that they have at the back and then went to sleep.

Our Last Full Day In Vietnam )-:

On SATURDAY morning we woke up and had our second to last breakfast in our hotel and then we went to some markets called the ben tahn market (you say it ben ten!) I didn’t get anything because I have hardly any money left.After the market we went to a shopping centre and got some food and then went back to our hotel and had our last swim in the Pool.

 

After the pool we rested and waited for Mum to get back from her walk, when she did,we we to a hotel called the Continental and went to their bar,Starry night I had a mango smoothie.For dinner we went to a restaurant called Con Tam Moc.I had a trio of pork,there was pork pie (more like pork slice),BBQ pork rib and pork skin.I liked the BBQ pork rib best.For dessert we had a ball with a sweet filling and sesame seeds on the outside,we also had a Sesame seed soup that had no taste at all.

Thursday and Friday in Ho chi minh

THURSDAY  morning we went to breakfast and at 8 O clock we got picked up by Ian,We got in the minivan and drove to the Chu Chi tunnels,They are a whole lot of tunnels that the Communists used in the Vietnam War.The Americans acually had a camp on top of a tunnel and they would constantly get shot at in the middle of the night and they didn’t know where the bullets were coming from but they eventually worked it out and bombed the tunnels.We watched a movie about it and then we walked around,we were allowed to go in some of the tunnels (they had been widened for Tourists) here are some pictures.

After the tunnels we went and looked at some traps that looked pretty deadly and then we walked for a bit more.We got back into the van and drove to the hotel.We were all hot and sweaty so we went to the pool and had lunch there and then swam,It started raining so Mum went back to the room with Sophia and Dad,Tessa and I kept swimming.It was fun in the rain.We had a rest after and then went to a massive shopping centre and had dinner at a japanese place called MOF (ministry of food) then we went outside and it was pouring so we went to an Arcade in the shopping centre and spent a few hours there,at the end when dad worked outhow much he had spent it turned out we had only spent $20 on tokens!(they only cost 20 cents each)

FRIDAY morning we woke up and went to breakfast,at 8:00 Ian picked us up and we went on our city tour,we thought it was an 8 hour walking tour but it ended up being a 4 hour driving tour so that was good.First we went to a big christian (catholic) church called Notre Dame

and then we went to the massive post office.

After the post office we went to Reunification Palace where the Vietnam war ended.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reunification_Palace

Then we went to a market called China Town which was crazy as people were pulling on our arms and going “You buy something”,”Hey Boy,Buy Something” and “Buy something now” in the market I bought an Angry Birds T-Shirt.

The last place we went was a Chinese temple.

After our tour we walked to the shopping centre and on the way we got a roll like we had in Han Oi except it had a special pate on it.When we were in the shopping centre I bought a big red Angry Bird so of corse I called it Blue.We shopped for a bit more and then went back to our hotel and rested.

At about 5 O clock we went to the Rex Hotel and had a drink there,I had a chocolate milkshake.We walked for a pretty long time and then had dinner at a Vietnamese Restaurant that looked good but was really bad.We got chicken and prawns and beef that took ages to come out and tasted horrible and I couldn’t eat it.

We got some drinks and cake from HighLands Coffe because all of us were hungry.

We go flying again!

TUESDAY morning we had breakfast and then packed our stuff,Mum and Tessa rested and Dad and I went down near the pool where we had seen a chess board and we played,We played 5 games,Dad won 3 and I won 2 after that we went to the front of our hotel and our minivan got there and we drove to the Airport.At the Airport we had lunch at Burger King,I had a Cheese Burger.We got on the plane (we flew Vietnam Airlines again) and started our flight,I read Eragon the whole time.When we got to Ho chi minh City Airport we got our bags and then met our guide,Ian.It was poring the whole time we drove to our hotel.When we got to the hotel,Caravelle,We went to our room and put our stuff away then we went for a walk around the local area.For dinner we went to a restaurant called Lemon Grass.I had a Braised Pork Clay Pot and it was really good.

WEDNESDAY morning we had breakfast in the Buffet in our hotel (it is the best by far) and then we got picked up by Ian and we went to the River,we got on a boat and went to a building where they make Coconut candy and rice paper.To make the coconut candy the dry coconut and then take the flesh out,they heat it up and mix it and then they cool it down and cut it into little bits and then wrap it in rice paper and paper.You eat the rice paper but not the real paper.We went to a place where they make bricks and on the way we saw a floating market that was exacly the same as a normal market exept it was in the middle of a river.we went to another building and saw some fish,my favorite was the elephant ear fish because when you put you finger on the glass of the tank it would try to eat your finger but was stopped by the glass,it was really funny.We went to a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch which was very good and then we went back to the hotel and had a look at the pool that is massive but we didn’t go in as it was in the middle of a storm.For dinner we went to Pho 24 which is like Mcdonald’s or Hungry Jacks but with Pho.

Our last 2 days in Hoi An

SUNDAY morning we had breakfast and then we went to the shoe shop so Mum,Tessa and Dad could try their shoes on.Then we walked to the river and we saw a guy that had a ice block machine and he had to put a stick into the little chute thing and then when he pulled the stick out it had a ice block on it.Dad and I had a lemon flavour one and Mum and Tessa had strawberry.After our ice blocks we did a walking tour of Hoi An,The first place we went is the Japanese covered bridge,it was really cool and had pictures of dragons and other stuff like that painted on the inside.

The next place we went was the museum of ceramic trade and it was pretty boring as all they had we broken old plates and stuff but there was an interesting world map with the places that they traded to and from,it also had the vietnamese for each country,Aussie was oxtralia.

after the museum we went to a cafe for a drink and I had a mango smoothie which was good.We went to a Fijian-Chinese-Vietnamese Assembly hall,there were a lot of statues and things like that.

Then we went to a Chinese temple that was basicly the same as the other one.After that we went to a handicraft workshop and I bought a dragon statue thing,I would have a picture but it is all wrapped up and I dont want to break it so when I get back to Adelaide I will do a post on what I bought.

We had lunch at a place called morning glory and I had a Hoi an sandwich,it was basicly the same as the roll I wrote about in the other post but it had meatballs in it.After lunch we went to a shop called Reaching Out.At Reaching Out they only employ dis-abled people so that they can have a job and get money.I bought a bookmark that had the symbol for Happiness on it.

The last place we went was a tan chi house which was a old fashioned Vietnamese house that had been lived in by 9 generations of a family,we got told some info about the house and then we got told what our budist signs were,I can not remember what Tessa’s was or what it ment and I also can not remember Mum’s but it ment Good Heart,Dad’s birth year (1982) was the year of the Dog and that ment Loyal,Sophia’s was Rabbit which ment Innocent(none of us thought that it was right) and mine (2001) was the year of the snake which ment that I was Inteligent and Cunning.

We had a rest after the walking tour and then went to the old town for dinner,We had some Vietnamese spring rolls and some other Vietnamese things.

MONDAY morning we had breakfast and then went to Yaly for our final fitting of our clothes my dressing gowns sleves were shorter so I was happy.

Yaly took about 1 hour and then we went to the old town for some shopping,we had lunch and came back to our hotel,we rested for a bit and then went in the pool.For dinner we went to Morning Glory again and then we went walking for a bit and went on a cyclo which is where there is a seat and ou sit on it and then a guy rides the bike behind you,we went for 30 mins but the seat was pretty hard and by the end I had pins and needles in my bum.

Our first two days in Hoi an

FRIDAY morning I woke up and we went to breakfast,After breakfast we rested then went to the tailor we are going to get our dressing gowns from,Yali.we got to pick our fabric and our pattern/color I chose one in teal,black and white (Go Port!) then we got mesured and they took our photo (I’m not really sure why).

After Yali we went and Dad and Tessa got some shoes.then we walked around a bit and Mum had lunch,she had a roll with stuff in it.Dad,Tessa and I had already had lunch so we were not very hungry so we didn’t have a roll.When we got back to Ancient House Mum stayed in the room with Sophia who is a bit sick and Tessa,Dad and I went to the pool,We had some Vietnamese spring rolls and swum(duh) while we were there.We went to the room after a bit and rested and then we went walking,We got a taxi to the old town and had dinner there,We had cau lau and fried wantons (both vietnamese specilties) we also got a bowl of fries for sophia.We went shopping for a little bit and tessa bought a hand bag and then we went back to our hotel and then we went to sleep.

SATURDAY morning we went to breakfast early as our guide was getting to our hotel at 7 ‘O’ clock for our tour.As planed our guide got there and we got in the bus and after about 1 and a half hours we got to Myson (pronounced misun) and we walked around,the guide told us that in about the second century the vietnamese people started to build the temples and buildings for their gods.In about the late thirteenth/early fourteenth century they finished and left and everyone forgot about them until about 1900 (i think) when a french man found the temples that had been forgotten for at least 350 years and started to restore them but then in 1955 when the Vietnam war (here they call it the American war) started the temples were bombed a lot and 70 percent of it was ruined,when the war ended they started to restore it again and they are still doing that.

Anyway we walked around and some of the buildings were in basicly the same position as they had been built and the stuff inside was the same and some of them were like museums,but all of them were all mossy and sort of falling apart on the outside.we went into a clearing that had nothing in it but there were these plants that looked like ferns but when you touched them they closed up,they were really cool.after that we saw some traditinal music and dances performed.

After mysun we went back to our hotel and then rested for a bit and then went out,we went to near where Yaly is and then found lunch,we all had a roll with stuff in it all of us had 3 meats and (way to many) vegetables but Mum and Dad had chilli but neither Tessa or myself had any chilli.

After lunch we walked through the markets a bit and then we went back to Yaly and tried our clothes on,my dressing gown was good but the arms were too long so I got them shortened.

after we went out we got a taxi to the old town and had dinner,we shared spring rolls and some stuff I cannot remember.

We go on a boat cruse!!!

TUESDAY

On tuesday morning we had breakfast in the hotel and then our driver picked us up so we could go on the 3 and a half hour drive to HaLong Bay.The drivers can only do 2 hours of straight driving and then they have to stop and have a break so after 2 hours we stopped at a factory and looked at the stuff in there and then we went back into the mini bus and did the 1 and a half remaining trip to the bay.When we got there a water taxi picked us up and we went to our cruse boat and it was pretty amazing,We were on the cruise with another family of eight (no other kids as all the kids in that family were grown up) so overall there were 13 of us,we had lunch and it was four corses of traditinal vietnamese food,it was all yummy.After we went to a fishing village where there were floating houses and stuff There was even a school and museum! we went on a bamboo boat to the museum and looked around my favorite thing in the museum were some models of the boats.

I got these pictures at the museum and around the fishing village.

(the temple up there is the local church) On the way back to the boat we say this kid rowing himself in a small canoe and then he saw that we were watching him so he started showing off by rowing with his feet! I got a picture but accedently deleted it so no photo for you!

When we got back to the boat we had a choice of Canoeing,massage or just to relax on the boat/in our room.Tessa,Dad and Sophia rested in our room because they were tired and Sophia couldn’t come to any of the activities while Mum and I went canoeing.It was amazing and we went through  a cave and into a big saltwater lake,Inside we heard a monkey and our guide (Huang) called back to it and the monkey called back to!

We rested in our room for a bit more and then went up to dinner and it was really yummy,again four corses.Mum had to feed Sophia so she went to her room and fed her and then sophia was sleeping so Rose,one of the guides on the boat offered to stay in the roon with sophia so mum could have dinner and then about 5 mins later tessa and I finished so we went down to our room and lay in our beds and watched Toy story 2 (I realised how long it has been since I watched that movie) and went to sleep,Sophia didn’t wake up once so that was good.

WEDNESDAY

In the morning I woke up at 5 O clock here so about 7:30 at home and no one else was awake so I read on our balcony and watched the sunrise and it was pretty amazing,I didn’t get any pictures though (*facepalm*) At about 7:00 here we went to breakfast,it wasn’t very big as we were having brunch as well anyway we had a 2 pastries each (I had a danish and an EPIC fail of a chocolate crasont (it had almost no chocolate in it) we packed our stuff and I watched the end of Toy Story 2 at about 7:30 we went to brunch and this time it was only 2 corses I had Vietnamese pancakes that were almost exactly the same as the ones  where you get the mix out of a bottle! I also had some fruit salad.At about 10:30 we got picked up and drove to our hotel in Hanoi,Sofitel Metripol.

THURSDAY

Thursday morning I woke up at about 6 and played FIFA 11 on my DS until 7 and at 7:30 we went to breakfast and then had breakfast I cannot remember what I had but I know it involved lots of bacon (nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom) and pastries.0_o.

at about 9:30 we got picked up in the lobby to got to the airport.At about 10:30 we were at the airport and got checked in and went through the metal detectors and stuff.At about 11 we were in the waiting area.I bought 2 things in the airport they were a stick man holding a stck across his sholder with two baskets on the ends of the stick.(I have seen lots so i thought it would be good to get one) I also got a dragon with a turtle shell and turtles crawling on it.All together it was 94,000 Dong or $4.70.

our flight was at 11:30 and was fairly boring.We got to Hoi an Airport at 12:45.We got our bags and then our Guide picked us up and then we drove to our hotel,Ancient House.We have a pool,buffet breakfast,a huge shower and we also have mozzie nets on our beds (I use it to stop sophia from climbing on my bed).We didn’t do anything except have lunch  and rest for the rest of thursday.

Crazy Weirdo Motorbike Riders and my first Vietnamese meal!!!

I woke up at about ten O clock Adelaide time on monday morning and at about 10:15 we went to breakfast (there is a Buffet Breakfast restaurant in our hotel) For breakfast I had Dried Apple,Pineapple,Dragonfruit,Watermelon,Mango, Lots of Bacon(nom nom nom),Fried rice,2 Dim sums and 2 bread rolls.Breakfast was very good.

After breakfast I got my money changed to the local currency,Dong.(I had 50 US dollars and that got me 1,040,000 Dong!!! (the exchange rate is 1 Aussie dollar for 20,000 Dong)  then we went on a 2 and a half hour walk and I got about 7 blisters on my feet (not fun) because Mum made me wear my new shoes.It is crazy here as almost EVERYONE has a Motorbike and they do not follow the road rules (about half of them dont wear helmets and they go through red lights)I got these pictures of the masses of them.

I also got this picture of a guy carrying boxes on his bike (I have seen people carrying their babies and little kids on bikes!!!)

We went to a market and Tessa got a purse and I looked at some things but didn’t buy anything.Then we looked around for some nappies for Sophia and by the best luck possible a man that lives in Hanoi but used to live in Adelaide (what a cooincedence here,Halfway around the world) told us that Hanoi Towers is where we could get some nappies and so we went there and went to a citimart (Vietnamese version of a 7-11 or an IGA)and got nappies,some food and some bandaids.

Then we came back to the hotel and we (Tessa,Dad,Sophia and I) had a swim in the pool and then we came back to cour room for a rest.At about 4:30 we went for a walk and we went to a sopposed “Market” but it was a fail as there was only about 5 stalls with way overpriced stuff.Who ever heard of a Mars Bar for 100,000 Dong (5 aussie dollars)?

We walked around for a bit more and then we had dinner at a small restrant where heaps of Vietnamese people were eating because mum says that they are the best.

We all had a Beef and noodle broth that looked like this.

It was really good!

After dinner we tried to walk back to our hotel but Dad got us lost (he forgot one of the turns on the map) and it took us AGES to get back but eventually we did. I was really tired though because it was about 9:30 here so about midnight at home!

overall on monday we did a grand total of 5 hours walking! (my feet didn’t really like it!)