chuc mung nam moi 2010!

Heya folks,
I hope you all enjoyed a happy new year celebration, wherever and however you celebrated it. After such a random and bizarre christmas, its only right that new year should have been celebrated in a similar fashion, and it most certainly was. I have spent the past few days constantly asking myself 'how did I end up here?', especially when I realise that its such a far change from New Year 2009, celebrated on Newcastle Quayside.

Before I left for Halong City on thursday, I spent a very enjoyable morning catching up with the crew from the Lemon Hotel, over coffee and then Pho in a nearby cafe. The newly refurbished hotel should be open for business in the next few weeks; its excellant to know that friends are nearby, and I shall be dropping in often.

Onto Halong city. Which wasn't actually Halong city at all, but the nearby city of Cam Pha. Cam Pha, with all the added Vietnamese tones and characters beyond the realms of this keyboard, is pronounced similar to 'come far' in English, and well, I certainly did. It took around 6 vietnamese hours by local bus, and we arrived knackered and in the dark. I stayed with a vietnamese family, which was a fantastic and authentic experience. They were all really friendly and though they didn't speak much English we got on really well. I was invited into the kitchen (an honour) to introduce an English dish to them....mashed potato....which seemed to go down well!

Unfortunately rain set in on new years day so we didn't manage to get to the beach or caves as we'd planned. Instead we drove around Bai Chay bay and up into the hills a little way on dirt tracks to a remote pagoda. The views from the top were absolutely stunning and so peaceful too. Mum remember the room of buddha statues at the Fine Arts Museum? Well now I've seen them in situ...

On the way back to town we stopped for a bowl of Pho at a roadside cafe. I chose the non-dogmeat option, which was still absolutely delicious, and the perfect dish to fill you up and keep you warm in the rain! I have tried 4 Pho dishes here so far, and haven't been disappointed yet. We also got the chance to visit the local market which was a fab experience, and of course we went to the Karioke...twice. Well, when in Rome.

I was invited into the Vietnamese family as a guest rather than a tourist, so I'm afraid they aren't many photographs from the trip, but very very many happy memories.

Back in Hanoi, I've swung straight back into teaching and am increasingly finding I have quite a full-on timetable here. Such a pleasing contrast from my first few weeks. Tet is only a month away now, and not long after that is Halong Bay and CAMBODIA...woo!

Until Next Time

SarahHeadsEast xx