Vietnam

Almost two months have gone by since the last post. Hmm... time is slippin' away.
Shirley and Maureen returned in the wee hours from Hong Kong on October 5th. Things have been pretty hectic since then. The highlight of our time (except for the company, of course) was the trip to Vietnam.
We had a week long school break in October. We flew to Ho Chi Minh City(Saigon) right after school ended on Friday October 9. It is an incredible place. The city has a flow and buzz to it that never stops. It is a city of 7 million residents and 10 million motorcycles. The roar and flow of the bikes is the first thing we noticed coming into the city but everything is a feast for the senses. There is a unique mix of new and old, poor and affluent. There are modern highrise buildings and butchers cutting up meat on the street in front of them. Old ladies, like the one above, in traditional hats and baskets full of goods for the markets with chic ladies in BMW's roaring by.
We spent our first three days just exploring and looking around. We visited many of the war museums and got the 'other side's' view on things. A highlight was a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels. The Viet Cong had built an elaborate set of tunnels to provide communications and supplies to the resistance. They were incredibly small and deviously constructed with traps for the enemies and escape routes for themselves. They did demonstrate the tenacity and craftiness of the Vietnamese. The farm boys from the Midwest and the poor boys from the projects did not stand a sniff of a chance against them.





After a couple days in city we flew to a much quieter location, Hoi An. Hoi An is an old trading town smack in the middle of Vietnam. Most of the buildings date from between the 15th and 18th century. It is most famous presently for its abundance of tailors plying their trade for tourists. There are about 150 tailor shops in town who can whip up pretty well anything you want from any fabric you desire for next to nothing. We arrived about 10 days after the typhoon had ravaged the area. The famous Japanese bridge in town, for example, was completely underwater after the typhoon. We did do our part to help out with the recovery by employing a few tailor shops. I came back with a suit and numerous shirts and pants, all custom fit and made. You can only imagine what Maureen and Shirley did. We did manage a couple excursions while we were in Hoi An. We went on a cycling/fishing trip. We got to see both farmland and fishing villages with this. We also took part on a motorcycle trip in the countryside. The story behind this adventure is much too long for the blog though.
The next two photos show a couple market scenes from Hoi An.


This photo was taken at the temple on top of Marble Mountain in Danang.


We returned to KL on Sunday, October 18th. Maureen and I were busy with work while Shirley toured around Malaysia a bit visiting Cameron Highlands, a hill station/tea plantation in the middle of the country and Malacca. Maureen took off at the end of the week to go on a build with Habitat for Humanity in Kuching on Borneo. This was a trip she thoroughly enjoyed both the experience of building and the Kuching and region. Shirley left on Monday, the 26th. A couple days after that Guy and Pam Woods arrived for a visit. We got to tour them around a bit but they were independent for the most heading off to Bali and around Malaysia while we worked on report cards and kept busy with coaching and other work commitments. It was nice to connect and see them and provide some tips for travel around the area.

Our next break is this coming weekend. We took advantage of yet another Air Asia sale and have booked to go to Sri Lanka for the three days. We've found a nice place to chill out in Hikkaduwa.
We are really looking forward to Christmas when both Cole and Alana join us. We are off to Bali with them to spend part of the Christmas vacation and can hardly wait.



An international squad from Switzerland, Singapore, India, Peru, Malaysia, the US and Canada.

My girls' soccer season wrapped up last week-end with a tournament. We play 7 a side which makes for a bit of a change from the regular game. Maureen's basketball season will start up shortly after the Christmas break.