28/2/10 - The drive back to Hanoi from Ba Be took us through Tay ethnic villages. The road was lined with many thatched bamboo houses. The farmers were just preparing to plant their rice, a little later than those closer to Hanoi. You could see that groups of neighbors were helping each other with the plantings and would then in turn help plant others fields over the coming days. Night market - a feeding frenzy The night market was in full swing in Hanoi, so after we dropped our bags back at the Bao Khanh hotel we took a walk around. This market is a new thing since our last visit to Hanoi in 2007. It was very busy, with most of the stalls selling goods like clothing, handbags, shoes, etc. Most of the products were ... read more

22/2/10 - I had breakfast on my own as Lorenza was not feeling 100%. I asked a young lady working in the breakfast bar if she could point me in the direction of a pharmacy to get something for Lorenza. She kindly offered to go there for me saying that “It is much easier for me as I have my motorbike”. Not long after she was knocking at our door with the medicine I had asked for. A very kind gesture on her part, it is small acts of kindness like that which make a big difference in this world of ours. We had a lunch date with our friend Yen, who would soon be departing for a climate change course in Sweden. Yen had just returned to Hanoi after visiting her family for Tet so ... read more

19/2/10 - Cuc Phuong National Park is about 140km south of Hanoi. The park was established in 1962 and was Vietnam’s first area declared as a National Park. The park is home to some lovely forests, a wide range of animals and birds, plus some ancient burial sites and caves once inhabited by ancient man. The drive to Cuc Phuong was also interesting, as we took a bit more of a back road to get there. We travelled through farmland and small villages. Each house had a small pond for growing water vegetables or raising ducks, everyone was busy planting rice. Park Activities There are lots of activities available in the park, including those we took part in - hiking, spotlighting for animals and early morning bird watching. We got rooms in one of the stilt ... read more

15/2/09 - Our shuttle bus did a slow peak hour crawl to the airport along the M5. The watch hands were ticking closer to our desired arrival time and we had a long way to crawl yet, it left us wondering why we did not opt for the train instead. The airport the check in line was as bad as the Sydney traffic, but at least we had made it and just had to snake our way with the queue until our turn came. The check in line gave us a chance to meet some of our fellow passengers, 99% of whom were Australian-Vietnamese folks travelling to see family for Tet (The Vietnamese New Year). Their check in luggage consisted of a lot of large gift items, like rice cookers, microwave ovens, and other stuff that ... read more

Lorenza and I took advantage of the fact that the events at the Sydney Festival First Night are all free. Plus, our friends who have an apartment in the inner city were away for a week. How good is that - a weekend of free events and the key to their apartment! It did not take much to convince us that this was a great way to spend the weekend. We packed our car and took the drive to Sydney. After making ourselves at home in the apartment we took a walk along King Street in Newtown. The variety of shops, cafes and restaurants is great compared to our nearest village, so a weekend in the city is such a change for us. We resisted all the clothing stores advertising their post Christmas sales, took a ... read more