Djenne (pronounded Jenny) was the place that everyone was anticipating and we were anxious to get there - but the drive there and the l-o-n-g lunch break just seemed to drag the day out. We were nearly there and discovered that we have to cross the Niger River by ferry - and there was a line up of vehicles and people............but each trip across the river has been a real experience.......switch into African time and just enjoy.......we were soo close that we could see the town but we had to wait for our turn on the ferry and make our way through the barrage of trinket sellers......needless to say that we have purchased quite a few items and they all enjoy the opportunity to bargain with you. Djenne was founded in the 13th century and is ... read more

Firstly Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. We have not been in Mali for about 11 days - hard to keep up with the days and date....but we have power this am and hopefully internet later today so I will start at the beginning. We arrived in Bamako (capital of Mali) on 22nd December minus our luggage. The flights from Bangkok to Addis and then to Bamako made it a very long day - about 16 hours in the air, plus down time at airports and we lost about 11 hours in actual time. Thankfully we had a 20 hour stop over in Bangkok to catch up on some sleep otherwise I don't think I could have handled the lost luggage thing as well. I was only one of about 50 people who didn't ... read more

I can't believe that we have only 2 weeks left of our 3 months here in HoiAn...our time has gone by soo quickly and I haven't really been keeping up with the blogs of our travels - so today I have decided to share with you all some comments about our life here. Friday night is much the same as any Friday night in Oz - there is a little bar/restaurant here where the expats gather for happy hour. My drink of choice has changed from wine to gin and tonic (2 for 34,000dong = A$2.20) - although I attend an English class that runs from 7.30pm to 9pm on Friday nights so Michael has to order me a drink just prior to 9pm to get the happy hour price....fortunately or unfortunately the staff continued to ... read more

Not sure where to start because when the rain and wind started here we had very little communication at all and a lot of 'word of mouth' that we weren't sure was reliable or not. Unfortunately for us we were out on a fishing trip on the river the night the first of the storms commenced. We would have made it back to dry land before the storm started but when we pulled up anchor and started the motor - the 'captain' discovered that a fishing net was wrapped around the rudder. It was now dark and we had been watching the lightening for some time - well some of us had been, because, as on all fishing trips, there was a certain amount of refreshments consumed as well. Our 'second mate' shared his home made ... read more

Hi everyone, one week down....weather has thrown everything at us......stinking hot and muggy (yes, just like the words to that famous song from the movie - Good Morning Vietnam) and continual rain - but the temperature has dropped to 25 degrees. I think I am becoming "more local" and an now only changing my clothes once a day as I couldn't keep up with the washing and more so the drying in this weather....haven't yet succumbed to taking my washing outside to be done even though it is only 10,000 for 1 lb - about A$0.80......quite expensive when you can get a pot of local beer for A$0.20...... We have done a couple of tourist things since being here - one the cooking course and the other a trip out to the My Son area. This ... read more