http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Rat-on-the-Road/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Rat on the Road en-us Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:18:48 +0000 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:18:48 +0000 Another chapter endsI'm currently sitting in Kate's house in Brewood near Wolverhampton writing this. The sun is shining but the temperatures are low and snow is falling in many parts of England adding a festive sparkle to the holiday season. All this must mean that we left Haiphong and I'm writing this blog to cover our last few events in Vietnam plus the journey back to Blighty. Goodbye mean http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Haiphong/blog-460960.html The end is nigh Kate It's coming to the end of our contract here in Haiphong. We finish teaching for Apollo on the 5th December and we fly back to the UK via Kuala Lumpur on the 12th. We are really excited about coming home now. We are not the sort of expats who can stay away from the UK for long periods of time. We don't live abroad because we hate the UK but simply because we love the life http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Haiphong/blog-454557.html Kate Prior to Rich announcing his wedding in the Philippines it wasn't ever a country we had considered visiting. Somehow it's position in the sea on the edge of SE Asia put it outside our radar. Prior to coming to Asia we didn't know much about it other than it was a big group of islands with some beautiful beaches and that it used to belong to Spain and America. I'd heard of Imelda Marcos and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Boracay/blog-448846.html The Philippines live your dreams a registered trademark Kris Contrary to popular belief of many friends we really do proper work in Vietnam and we aren't spending our months lying on a beach. As a result we are even entitled to paid leave from our job. So we booked it well in advance way back at the beginning of the year so we could visit the Philippines. One of Kate's friends from University http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Philippines/Bohol/Panglao/blog-448831.html Yes.I'm 30.Three whole decades since I appeared in a maternity hospital called Little Thorpe in County Durham on a hot July day in 1979. I had a double chin and weighed in at 9 pounds. My weight hasn't changed much since then I just got longer.I doubt that back in 1979 anyone guessed I'd spend my 30th birthday as an English teacher in north Vietnam. For a start I doubt many people in the west im http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Cat-Ba-Island/blog-423461.html The Rat on the Road expat guide to Haiphong So it's come to out attention that our travel blog for Haiphong has a new purpose. As well as updating all of you friends and family out there about what we are up to and showing you photos of our lives it is being found by people in the UK and elsewhere who are thinking of moving to Haiphong. A few people have contacted us through it and become part http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Haiphong/blog-406399.html Feelin' hot hot hot So it's the summer now. And it's hotted up. A lot. It's got up to the temperatures we were used to in Bangkok complete with all the associated pleasures like constantly being covered in sweat. Unlike when we taught in Bangkok here we have air con in the bedroom which makes it so much easier to sleep. And of course we also have air con at work. The couple of times when http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Haiphong/blog-408627.html I took these photos on a walk from our house to Apollo to give you some idea of what we see each day. When you do it all the time you stop seeing some of the most unusual sights and and it all becomes more normal. Taking photos of everything opened my eyes again to the fascinating place we live in. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Haiphong/blog-385172.html War and PeaceOn the 30th of April 1975 the Vietnam War ended and the two halves of the country north and south became one. As such the 30th is now a national holiday know as Reunification Day. As this fell on a Thursday the holiday was extended from Thursday to Sunday. As Tuesday and Wednesday are our normal days off we got a 6 day holiday. We booked a flight to Ho Chi Minh City and became to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/blog-395814.html Time for an update I think so here goes. A rag tag mix of recent events...It's in two parts. Here goes part one.....Haiphong Medical University English FestivalIn our kids classes on Saturdays and SUndays we occasionally have a teaching assistant to help out. This is basically someone Vietnamese who can help out with low level classes and translate some instructions to the kids. Or to help sto http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Haiphong/blog-394570.html More about work Kate Weekdays We have been working here for 3 months now it has really flown by. Work is good. We are enjoying the teaching and by and large our students are lovely. We recently had our schedules moved about so that we could have our weekends together. This has been great because it means we can go away at the weekends to Hanoi or other places in the surrounding area. We li http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Haiphong/blog-382742.html Tet Lunar New Year in Vietnam Tet is basically the same celebration as Chinese New Year but as this is not China it has a different name. The time of year varies depending on the moon and this year it fell at the end of January. The week or so running up to New Year seemed really hectic everyone was cleaning their houses and tying up loose ends. They start decorating their houses with red d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Haiphong/blog-366222.html The Tet Lunar New Year holiday brought with it a gift of a week's holiday from work. Never ones to pass up the opportunity to explore we decided to spend a few days down in Hoi An on the Central coast. We flew down from Hanoi to Danang with Jetstar Asia at a very good price and took a taxi to remaining 30km from Danang to Hoi An.Hoi An is a pretty riverside town and a World Heritage site w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-370239.html This blog may seem a bit disjointed and doesn't really follow any chronological order...it's just a few snapshots from our last few weeks in our new home...Housewarming the flatAs we pointed out in a previous blog with pictures we moved into 1 bedroom flat in Haiphong just before Christmas. Once the festive season as much as there was of one in Vietnam.. had subsided we decided it was tim http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Haiphong/blog-365303.html Happy New Year from Vietnam So we have said goodbye to 2008 and spent the last few days getting to know 2009. New Year in Vietnam was a little odd. 1st January is an official holiday here so there was some preparation running up to the event. Most of this involved the Abba song Happy New Year. They played it everywhere. Constantly. You couldn't go to the supermarket or past a shop or even past http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Haiphong/blog-360958.html Merry Christmas from Vietnam Hope all your holidays are jolly and your days are merry and bright. Our second Christmas in the tropics and it's no less weird. It's not that cold there is definitely no snow the kids are at school....But the Muppets Christmas carol is on the tv and I think Santa Claus the movie is on later....love Kate and Kris http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Haiphong/blog-357034.html So we have been in Haiphong a week now so we thought it was about time we told you some more about it. Haiphong is the 3rd biggest city in Vietnam and is on the North East coast. Just like Sunderland. And just like Sunderland it's a huge port the main business here is shipping. Despite it's size and importance there are hardly any white people here. Apart from the 5 people we work with we ha http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Haiphong/blog-356771.html Well they finally left the airport. It took a whole week but eventually after an impossible stalemate via a political wrangle I don't really understand the national courts decided that the government should be dissolved and the PM banished from politics for 5 years. As a results there was jubilation in the occupied airports as the PAD had achieved their goal. Meanwhile on the streets of Bangk http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/blog-352642.html A Bad Omen...Soooooo...we had a great holiday in Thailand. We met up with old friends. We spent time on the beach. We revisited old haunts. We even arrnaged interviews in Saigon for our arrival in Vietnam.Then Vietnam visa bought we booked two seats on a Vietnam Airlines flight from Bangkok to Ho CHi Minh City formerly Saigon leaving on Wednesday the 26th of November.That morning we got up ear http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/blog-349923.html The retail districtReturning to Bangkok we headed to a different area. We decided to stay near Siam Square right in the middle of the modern commercial district. There's a little side street of cheap guesthouses and some not so cheap nestled in the shadow of the monstrous MBK shopping mall that we've stayed in numerous times before. We got a great big room on the 5th floor of the Pranee Buildi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-344926.html