A busy July, too!

I'm sorry I seem to have dropped off the face of the Earth, so here's a brief update to let you know what I'm up to!

Osaka Trip June 25th- July 1st

 We booked the shrine for our wedding ceremony!

 Car shopping- Toshi's after a Honda Fit Shuttle

 Amazing sushi!

 Trip to the zoo- a hippo's bum

 Tigers

 Feeding the goats! We were reminded of our trip to Folly Farm a little over a year ago :)

Yummy lunch which Toshi and his brother had caught the night before

Next up: 2 weeks left at Maple Bear, followed by a day in China on the way to a week in Osaka, followed by a week in North America (Vancouver and Chicago) for a particularly geeky trip!!

In the meantime Toshi's off to China to study Mandarin for 3 weeks!

Busy, busy June!

It's been an insane, non-stop June for me as I finished up the assessment period of school term, took pre-wedding photos(!!), went to Hong Kong, started a new school term including taking on a new large class, and finally I'm off to Osaka briefly in a couple of days!

Pre-Wedding Photo Shoot
An absolute must-do if you're getting married in Vietnam are pre-wedding photos.. and what a lavish affair they are! Although it's a year off from when we're likely to get married, as it's so cheap here and the city has so many fun, colourful locations, Toshi and I decided to go for it :) We had a team of 6 (driver, make up, hair, photographer, assistant and translator) come with us around the city to help out our 13-hour day, along with 5 costume changes for me! We were extremely lucky to get the only blue sky that week which made for great photos though I was sunburnt pretty much after the first 20 minutes! We were drenched in sweat all day but I think you'll agree it was absolutely worth it (and the $250 spent!)

Hong Kong
My school had a week's summer holiday so I took the opportunity to spend 4 days and 4 nights in Hong Kong! Unfortunately it was during rainy season and my second day was a total wash-out, but I definitely enjoyed the short queues at Disneyland as a single-rider!! I pretty much rode everything there!

 Dim Sum with Ed from my school days and his friends

 Hong Kong is so cool at night!

 Rain, rain, go away!

 The closest I'll ever come to meeting Jackie Chan

 Felt queasy after this ride.. must be getting old (left)
Met Buzz Lightyear (right)

 My future dream job!

 Cable car up Lantau Island mountain to see the giant Buddha

A Weekend in Hanoi
With Toshi in Osaka already I decided to hang out with the girls!

 We went swimming! It was such a beautiful blue sky until..

 ...the skies opened up for the entire weekend.

Foot scrub time!

Next up.. off to Osaka tomorrow night :D ...Followed by 5 more weeks in Vietnam!

Glamping in Hanoi

Things are pretty busy here with the end of the assessment term at Maple Bear, and I will be taking on a new class of 17 kids in two weeks!

Backstage at our Summe Concert

Last weekend, following the successful Summer Concert we made the spontaneous decision to go camping last Saturday! The skies opened as we arrived which cooled things down.

The campsite totally exceeded our expectations! It could only be described as glamorous camping, or 'glamping'.. our rented tent was pitched for us on our own raised platform, it had a connected dining room area and an en suite toilet and shower cubicle. Our bedding was a futon with a blanket.. it was the most comfortable night's sleep ever! Even more comfortable since we were able to take a shower too!

 Enjoying being in nature!

 BBQ Sausage sandwiches for dinner

 布団！ Such a comfortable futon!

 I caught a fish on my first cast.. much to Toshi's annoyance! 

ファーストキャストで！！

Cooking breakfast

Lovely Laos!

Making the most of another long weekend Toshi and I decided to fly next door to Laos!

Day 1
After the short 4km taxi ride into the city from the airport we decided to have lunch at a Lao restaurant. We wren't prepared for the incredibly spicy dishes!!!! Apparently Lao food takes after Thai food more than tame Vietnamese cuisine!

As if the food wasn't hot enough, the outside temperature was about 36'C with no wind whatsoever (Laos is a landlocked country, which probably doesn't help). We rented a motorbike cheaply and off we went!

We rode about 120km north-east taking us to the Phou Khao Khouay National Park. The off-road was pretty bumpy and we fell off the bike at one point without too much damage, and were relieved when we made it to Tad Leuk, the location of our campsite. We rented a tent and sleeping bags for the highly reasonable $4 and set up camp.

The site had no electricity and the three staff who lived there bathed in the Leuk river and cooked by campfire.. so we did the same!!

As we cooked our garlic, bananas and tin of tuna (yes,  it was a bit of a random meal of things we'd managed to buy along the way and Toshi's fishing hadn't been successful) we were treated to a clear starry sky, fireflies and an incredible silent lightning storm, something I'd never seen before except on Africa savannah documentaries on tv.

In addition to the light shows were the bugs. Despite the smoke from our fire, our expensive 99% DEET bug spray (you can't get better than that!) and smoke candles, there was just no escape. The entire ground was covered in flying ants and maggoty things, along with the relentless mosquitos. We'd take malaria medication but it was still a concern.

After ensuring we had no unwelcome guests in our tent we settled down for the night.. until the silent lightning storm came crashing overhead bringing wind and buckets of rain. The campsite staff were clearly used to these sudden rainforest-type downpours and quickly relocated our tent under a veranda where we slept in the company of their dogs. So sweet!

Day 2 
We set off early next morning. I'd wanted to do some jungle exploring but the insects were just too many and the forest was too damp from the night's downpours so we decided to return to Vientiane. 

After getting stopped by police for running a red light and not having a license, after apologising profusely we were let off! We checked into our hotel early and decided to explore the city. 

  

Vientiane is a very small capital city with only 200,000 people and can easily be traversed by foot. The heat was just incredible though and we ended up taking refuge in a supermarket for an hour to cool off!

Our afternoon was rather dampened by being chased by a very scary un-leashed Alsatian and toshi's credit card being eaten by an ATM and decided to get a couple's massage to relax.

Lots of yummy Lao food later and we went to the Night Market and had some drinks watching an acoustic live band.

Day 3   
Without so much of a hangover we got up early to go to the bus station to go to Buddha Park, and managed instead to negotiate a very reasonable price for a chauffered car (with all-important air conditioning) with a local. So we travelled in comfort to Buddha Park, some 35km west of the city.

Can you see me!?

 

We found that Buddha Park is not particularly a religious site and so Toshi was disappointed. It is a collection of artworks by some guy who wanted to merge Hinduism and Buddhism. Personally I had a lot of fun posing for silly photos and pretending to be an Indiana Jones-type temple explorer!

Desperate to get out of the heat again and in need of a shower as we were soaked in sweat and dirt from our 'exploring' we decided to go to a spa, where we enjoyed a milk bath, before heading off to the airport in a Tuk Tuk!