seppyandjon

It has been a really long time since we updated (but think of it this way - hopefully we now have something interesting to say!). So we arrived in Melbourne in the middle of Spring Carnival and received a big welcome from the locals ( thanks Liz & Sylvie) when we went to the Melbourne cup races - Unfortunately Septimus did not even place in the races - alas maybe we Septim’s are all about the hype and none of the substance (must ponder that one…..). But everything worked out splendidly (I always think of my sister Duana when I use that word - Little miss Splendid) for us, for the first week we stayed with some great people who my sister hooked us up with until we got our apartment sorted (Jonathan sweet talked ... read more

Its about 5pm here in Melbourne and I am sitting on my balcony enjoying the sunshine drinking a glass of Australian wine (Wolf Blass - yum), moments like this make me wonder why I would ever want to live anywhere else. Australia is interesting, funny, quirky and of course sunny. Funnily enough for such a large country they make it feel like you are in a small community no matter what part you travel in - people say hello and randomly start to chat to you - in bars, restaurants and whilst walking around the blue lake (a volcanic crater lake which looks extrordinarily blue) in Mt Gambier we felt like we were locals with all the “hello”s and “howya goin' mate”s which we were greeted with. Our comment of the the week is from an ... read more

well after a packed month we are on our way again, during September we were not quiet by any means, after returning from the wedding Jonathan headed off to Ireland to spend some quality time with his friends (hmmm) and his family. During tihs time I worked on my paper (with a brief respite to go to the food and drinks fair on the Harlemeerstraat with Karoliina and Darryl (which turned out to be more drink than food - a good day was had by all). We also had a little jaunt down to Brussels to spend a weekend with our MDS friends - how many people can fit into one VW polo........ (thats definitely a story for the pub). So here we are on our travels again - at the moment I am on the ... read more

Since we last updated we have made it from Hue to Ho Chi Minh. Hue was a great place for a day! The main thing to see is the imperial citadel, unfortunately given Vietnam's rather bloody history, not much remains of what was once a very impressive structure. Although as part of the visit we went to a show of Imperial dance and music where we had tea (the imperial blend) and cakes (imperial cakes) which was fun ( although being honest - the cakes made me want to hurl - Jonathan liked them though). When you were walking around the grounds some of them have been restored including ( I kid you not) the royal tennis courts, mad. Its funny though, because the design and structures very clearly resemble the forbidden city in Beijing, you ... read more

Having visited yet another imperial palace - this time the Forbidden City in Hue, Jonathan has concluded that his next career choice is that of Emperor ( I would have gone for supreme ruler but hey I watch too much sci fi ). I have been delegated chief concubine and as such have been briefed with recruiting a harem / number of concubines. Job description: You will be required to look beautiful whilst lounging around on sofas whilst smiling at the emperor/ complementing him ( lists of acceptable complements will be provided by me). Also as circumstances dictate - you may be required to perform the royal fan dance (risque....) Salary: ten grapes a day ( but meals and board are included) Qualification: You must be smaller than me, heavier than me and less beautiful than ... read more

So here I am back on a train again - this time the overnight train from Hanoi to Hue ( which as you all know - I just love the train). We have been super busy since we last updated, having an absolutely fantastic time. We spent some time in Hanoi which was fun - I have to say the vietnamese people are absolutely cracked - I love them. I went out to go for a run at 6am - there is a really lovely lake and I was going to do laps of it. Now remember, its six in the morning, the most we get in the vondelpark is a couple of drunks from the night before and a very few random runners. But little did I expect to see the whole place packed with ... read more

Its funny that no matter how much you plan and organise your time, that mother nature can whip you plans into something unrecognisable. At this point I thought we would be just about to start trekking up in northern Laos but actually we are now in Hanoi. We set off on Saturday for the airport to go to Udomxai which is a smallish city in the north of the country but the flight was cancelled due to (we think) the fact that we were the only people booked on it. You can imagine us - sitting in the airport trying to figure out how we would get up there (next flight was Tuesday and all other flights to cities up North were fully booked) , but thanks to my extreme personality transplant instead of freaking out ... read more