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Trip Start Dec 02, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Jan 03, 2009

  Frankston, Victoria, Australia
Sunday, January 4, 2009

After spending an hour or so at Darwin Airport, going through customs etc, we boarded our final flight for Melbourne. Ophelia slept pretty much for the whole of this flight too, and Jonas slept for a good three hours. I hadn't slept more than 15 minutes by this point and Kythera had got only a couple of hours.

Was really nice being met off the plane by Mum & Dad who took our baggage and children and took them home. Kythera and I caught the Skybus and train home, listening to some more Life of Pi and music before getting back to our house in Frankston, thus ending our adventure.

A truly amazing and lifechanging trip. We now know that we can do this again. This was just the beginning.
Next stop: Road trip to Central Australia, and then either India or Saigon/Cambodia/Laos/Thailand.

You can travel with kids and have fun! It's true!

Here is the list of things in Vietnam that we loved/loathed....


Best 3 places
1. Hue - great food, amazing sights, laidback, modern young fresh city with life in it. Artsy as well.
2. Halong Bay - incredible caves and serenity, the only time in Vietnam when we weren't surrounded by people.
3. Hoi An - ancient town was terrific, felt really slow, great tailors and an awesome spa!

Worst 3 places
1. Dong Ha - terrible food, unfriendly people, depressing sights and sounds (grey), nothing to see, nothing to do except the DMZ tours (which isn't part of Dong Ha anyway)
2. Cat Ba Island - too much of a seaside village, completely tailored to tourists.
3. Can't name a 3rd

Best 5 touristy experiences/memorable moments
1. Trekking in Sapa - incredible sights and sounds, can't believe that we did it with two kids - it was a really hard, gruelling trek
2. Halong Bay - waking up at 4.30am on the bay and seeing the awesome view around us - moonlit limestone islets, also the caves and kayaking with the kids
3. Visiting the Citadel in Hue - this place was really big and pretty cool. Made up of heaps of temples and pagodas. It was so old and awesome - in that it filled us with awe. Was fun to dress up like the Emperor too!
4. Cooking class in Hue - we learned some yummy recipes to cook when we get home, and we had some time without the kids
5. Visiting markets in Bac Ha, Hue, Danang, Hoi An and Saigon - markets in Vietnam are incredible, so colourful and full of amazing sights, sounds and smells. The kids got top treatment and attention. Bargaining for items was a lot of fun too.

Worst 5 touristy experiences/forgettable moments
1. DMZ tour (except the tunnels and cemetery) -  Khe Sanh combat base left so much to be desired, the wet, muddy walk to a concrete building, it was raining the whole time, shit food
2. Sapa Homestay - Was set up like a dormitory, didn't get to spend time with host family, place was empty and personality-less, dogs barked all night, nothing to do or look at if you didn't drink rice wine
3. Overnight train from Ninh Binh to Dong Ha - Mattresses so thin they couldn't even be called mattresses made for a night of pain, people were in our bunks, I got my ankle stepped on by people getting up to their bunks, no room for our bags so we had to sleep with them
4. Bus ride from Hai Phong to Ninh Binh (nearly died) - Driver was a Vietnam vet for sure, he had a glazed, demonic look in his eye and in his driving, swerving only at the last minute, the whole ride was two and a half hours of playing Chicken
5. Ophelia vomiting - on the bus in Sapa and in the hotel in Ninh Binh - On the bus, Kythera caught the vomit on Ophelia's jumper and stank of vomit for the rest of the day. Was just miserable.
dishonourable mention: Massage at Vien Dong Hotel in Saigon - Terrible ambience, chainsmoking old men who were probably there for a "happy ending". Really uncomfortable place.
dishonourable mention: Argument with Lan Anh Hotel manager - Just really obnoxious and frustrating.
dishonourable mention: When Jonas's pram got caught by a passing motorcycle and dragged away from my hands - Really scary. Kythera looked up and saw me chasing the pram down the market aisle. I had to rip the twine from the guy's motorbike to get the pram back as he didn't listen to anyone yelling at him. Thank goodness Jojo didn't really seem fazed by it. 

Top 3 nights out
1. Around Saigon when Vietnam won the Suzuki Cup - a sea of red flags, streets shut down by motorcycles, friendly people all united by their passion for football
2. Christmas Eve, listening to Karl play music in Hoi An - fun to just hang out and not feel like boring-ass parents, even though the kids were there with us. Also a lot of fun to play a couple of songs in another country!
3. Dinner with Lawrence and Lucy in Saigon - Great people with similar interests, loved our kids, great conversations and fun to relax and laugh with someone other than each other.

Top 5 funniest moments
1. My hotel not annoying! - At the wharf in Cat Ba, heaps of people on motorcycles come up to you touting their hotels. One particularly aggressive tout followed us for ages, until this happened - MAN (for the two hundredth time): You come! Look at my hotel! KYTHERA: No! You're annoying us! We won't come and look at your hotel! MAN (strange look): My hotel not annoying! KYTHERA: NO! YOU'RE ANNOYING! Man drives off... Just a sincere "my hotel is not annoying" look. This triggered off a joke for the trip. We would occasionally say to each other "my ....... not annoying!" to be returned with "No! You're annoying!"
2. Man! - In Hoi An, we pretty much got sick of being pointed at and looked at, which culminated one day with a man clapping and pointing to Jojo, saying "Baby!" Without missing a beat, Kythera clapped and pointed at the guy, saying "Man!"
3. Swan - In Hanoi, Kythera attempted to board a paddleboat shaped like a swan. Holding Jonas, she stepped onto one side of the swan and promptly fell backwards into the water - Australia's Funniest Home Videos style. She held Jonas out of the water though. At first, I didn't do anything until Kythera told me to take Jonas.
4. Hand Gestures - In Hoi An, it was raining and I was sick of people telling me to put a hood on Jonas. Finally, a woman came to me and did funny hand gestures to tell me to get his head covered. I promptly did some hand gestures back, telling her to get back to her stall.
5. Benign Girl - At our homestay in Sapa, Ophelia was playing with a toy phone. We had a look and it said "Benign girl" on it above the picture of a Barbie-looking blonde. Way too funny.

Best "big impact" place
- War Remnants Museum in Saigon - a sombre reminder of the casualties of war. Fetuses on display, photographs of kids and people affected by Agent Orange, photos and stories of My Lai massacre and other war crimes. Hard to believe humans can do that to each other.

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