Not a nice way to end the day

Things were looking promising.

Beautiful warm day.....check.

Finishing work at 6pm (for the first time in 2 weeks - official end time is 4:30pm)....check.

Heading down to beach while its still lovely and warm.....check.

Only to find a small crowd of people gathered around watching ambos try to resuscitate a 60-something year old gentleman who had drowned. They couldn't.

So I didn't go for my swim. Some people still were, but frankly I found it quite sacrilegious to be swimming in waves a mere 50m away from a body bag.

Welcome to paradise

And paradise it was, for the first 3 days at least.

We lazed on sunbeds, reading a book, or listening to music. When the heat and humidity became overwhelming, it was time to head into the crystal clear waters for some snorkelling. Pretty coral, colourful fish and a few teeny sharks lay in the shallow waters just off the beach.

After an hour in the water, when our digits had pruned up and our mouths and throats tasted of salt, it was time to head back to shore and do it all over again.

Perfect huh?

Day 3 is when the trouble began.

After surviving day 1 with only a tiny patch of sunburn to one shoulder, day 2 did not fare so well. Despite numerous applications of sunscreen, closely adhering to the proverbial “slip, slop, slap ‘n wrap”, I ended up burnt across both shoulders, upper and lower back and upper thighs. Ouchie!

Halfway into our stay, sunburnt and sore, we thought day 3 would be an ideal rest day. As such we were happy when it was a bit cloudy. The water was choppier than the perfect calm of the previous 2 days, but still warm and swimmable. While snorkelling had poor visibility, it was still lovely to float about in the warm salty water.

It wasn’t till near sunset that the wind started. We were lying out on deckchairs, positioned with a prime view of the sun and a closeby neighbouring island. One minute it was calm, the next minute gusts of wind appeared and didn’t leave us alone. Along came the rain. Powerful pellets coming in sideways. The clouds were so low you could barely see the neighbouring islands. The mainland had disappeared.

But who doesn’t love a good storm? Sure, the thick clouds obscured us from seeing any sunset that night, and we couldn’t sit outside by the pool area to eat our meal, but it wasn’t the end of the world. Neither was the heatstroke I experienced as a result of the sunburn, although it did mean I couldn’t finish my dinner, a very rare occurrence indeed!!

There is something comforting about going to sleep with the sound of rain beating against your roof. Nevertheless, as we retired for the night, we hoped it would blow over by the next day.

It didn’t.

As we were getting ready to head out to breakfast on day 4, someone came and knocked on our door. Dressed in full raingear, one of the staff members informed us that the Group General Manager would be giving a weather briefing in the main restaurant in 5 minutes.

That sounded ominous.

We quickened our preparations and headed into breakfast. Despite initially being told the briefing was in 5 minutes, it didn’t happen for over an hour. We figured that was a good sign that the island wasn’t being evacuated. Surely if it was, there would not be time for breakfast?

But when the briefing came, it wasn’t exactly encouraging. Apparently we weren’t experiencing a cyclone. However we were wedged between a “tropical depression” in Vanuatu and a storm on the other side. Apparently the wind and rain we were experiencing wasn’t going to abate any time soon. No boats were running to or from the island. No one should go swimming in the ocean. He called it a “squall”.

The weather had certainly deteriorated since the day before. During the days prior, I had not seen a single wave breaking over the reef surrounding the island. Yesterday there were plenty. Despite not being high tide, the waves were coming much further up the beach than usual, so much so that you couldn’t walk along the shore.

After being cooped up inside all day, I figured I go for a walk; if not along the beach, then on the inner concrete path that loops around all the bures. After sitting on our doorstep, putting on one shoe, I paused. The rain and wind were gusting. I could see and hear large branches and coconuts falling around me. I took off the one shoe I had put on, and just sat there. I didn’t want to risk getting hit on the head with a branch or a coconut.

The conditions worsened. At one point I was truly scared. Thoughts of a freak tsunami wave or a cyclone clouded my mind. I seriously contemplated writing a goodbye letter on my laptop, and wondered if it could be recovered from a waterlogged hard-drive should the event arise.

Luckily it did not. But the wind and rain continued.

Day 5 was more of the same. Boats still not running, but several groups of people left the island by helicopter. By lunchtime, conditions had improved to the point where I could walk 2 laps around the island. However by late afternoon that was no longer the case. There was some good news: our late afternoon weather briefing informed us that we were through the worst of it. The wind and rain would continue, but not like the last few days. Apparently we were now in a “divergence” whatever that is. A cyclone that’s gotten lost somewhere along the way, perhaps?

Still, we won’t know until tomorrow morning, whether any boats are running so we can leave the island in order to make our flight home.

So what can you do? Sit and have an afternoon beer/wine or both. Do some more reading. Watch a movie. Play scrabble. We wanted some down time, and boy did we get it in spades!!

Random Christmas Day thought

What is the point of packaging a 32Mb memory card with a digital camera? 32 Mb?!?!?! Are you serious???

Even the 1Gb card I bought alongside my now-defunct 3 year old camera is well and truly on the small side. But 32Mb?!?! That would fit what, 5 shots on it! Why bother??

I'd much prefer it if they just didn't bother with this token effort, and cut the price of the camera by $5. Now I have this useless little 32Mb card. I feel wasteful simply throwing it away, but seriously, is 32Mb useful for any kind of device these days???

It’s like selling a computer with a 50Mb hard drive, 49Mb of which is required by the operating system. Or going back to the days when 4800 baud seemed like a mega-fast modem connection speed.

Or making a 50mL bottle of milk. Or a roll of toilet paper with only 10 sheets of paper. Or an exercise book with only 2 pages in it. Or alcohol-free wine, sugar-free chocolate, dairy-free ice-cream or a broken pencil......


Pointless!!!


P.S. Merry Christmas!

Shopping Hoi An

I started writing this as an e-mail to my parents, who are shortly popping across to Vietnam for Christmas. I don't profess to be an expert in anything Vietnamese, but I have twice experienced the delights of Hoi An, and have every intention of returning sometime in the not too distant future, so thought it would be nice to share some tips. Hopefully they will help my parents, your fine self, and my future self :)

Step 1: Plan of attack

Even if you're going to be staying there for more than a week, don't wait until you're there to decide what you want. With over 200 tailors and a myriad of brightly coloured shoe shops lining every street, to say the options are overwhelming is an understatement.

Yes most shops have catalogues that you can sit there and sort through, but do you really want to waste time doing that? And are you going to make the best decisions when being egged on by understandably eager shop assistants who will sometimes agree to anything to make a sale.

Instead, do your research. Browse the internet and save images of things you want. Take with you any existing clothes you have that you want to duplicate, or take pictures of you wearing them. Think about fabrics, colours, lining, pockets, every little detail before you get there. Channel your inner Project Runway. Arrive with a plan, all these pictures on a USB stick, and a big fat empty suitcase.

Step 2: On arrival

Whether you're going to dive in quickly and start your shopping immediately, or whether you can ease yourself into it at a more relaxed pace depends on how long you have there. The less time, the quicker your immersion has to be.

Either way, for things that you are 100% sure that you want, that you've thought about what fabric and trimmings you need and you don't want to compromise on quality, why muck around? For me that means going straight to Yaly Couture.


Yes they charge significantly more than any other tailor in Hoi An, but to me they are worth every penny. They are meticulous, professional and friendly. Their staff are lovely and attentive, patient and willing to help. They know about fabrics, and can give great advice about what will and won't work, without blindly agreeing with everything you say. They speak great English, minimising the chances of misunderstandings. They will happily prepare 1 garment for you, or 50. Same same. They don't negotiate on price, but after a while in SE Asia that can be a welcome change.

Summary of step 1: go to Yaly and sort out all the essentials on your list.

Step 2: Breathe

Sit down and enjoy the food and beverages at one of Hoi An's many lovely eateries. Bia Hoi + white rose = match made in heaven.


Do this as many times per day as you need shopping breaks (minimum 3 and that's an order).

Summary of step 2: eat and drink beer.

Step 3: More shopping

So you've got your basics underway. Now its time to wander around all the tailors in town and see what takes your fancy. Don't be pressured into buying the first time you see a cool and original design; chances are the shop around the corner will have something same same but slightly different.

Work out what you like first and then commit. Ask around for ballpark prices in similar styles before committing to any particular shop. The more you buy in one place, the more you can barter.

Be wary of how much time you have and make sure shops can commit to a deadline earlier than what you actually have. You don't want to waste your last night or miss your flight because you're chasing up an order that will "be delivered in 5 minutes". Don't pay anything more than a deposit until you get the item, and demand a refund on items that are either not what you ordered or are not going to be ready on time. Be firm.

Summary of step 3: look around for inspiration.

Step 4: And now for something completely different...

More shopping! This time, how about some shoes?

Again its really helpful if you've thought about this before leaving home. Do you need brown boots, purple flats and red heels? Or black boots, red flats and yellow heels? What height should the heels be? Should the toes be pointy or round? What decorative features do you want - bows, buckles, peeptoe?

Have some idea, but don't be afraid to be seduced by the colourful items and fancy styles on display. Again, taking images or existing copies of shoes you want duplicated is immensely helpful.

One warning though, while the variety and endless possibilities of shoes is intoxicating, beware of quality. Flats are your safest bet, but even then the type of soles will vary widely between cobblers. One set of heels I bought had fallen off by the time I even made it back home to Australia.

Again: bargain and be wary of deadlines. Be kind but firm if and when things start going pear-shaped.

Summary of step 4: shoes!

Step 5: Dress-up time

By the time day 2 rolls around you probably have a full day of appointments set up with various tailors around town. This is where the fun really begins.

You get to witness the creation of visions that up until now existed only in your head. Even better you didn't actually have to create it yourself. 'Cos that would mean needing to sew and stuff.

This is where you need to be objective and remember what you asked for. Make sure things are well sewn and fitting correctly. If not, speak up because now is your chance to get that changed. Inspect seams, pockets and hems carefully. Be specific about whether things need to be taken in or out, up or down.

Again, be careful of your time, and firm with deadlines.

Summary of step 5: try before you buy.

Step 6: Bits and pieces

Depending on where else you are traveling in Vietnam, don't limit yourself to clothes and shoes. Hoi An has an interesting market with an excellent range of jewellery.

You can also get all the usual touristy fare (more $ than Saigon though).

There's also shops selling beautiful scarves and pashminas. Or how about silk ties (that come packaged in the cutest little boxes). Or some artwork?

Another option is to go handbag shopping at a shoe shop. Like shoes, they can duplicate any handbag you take in.

Summary of step 6: yet more shopping.

Step 7: Getting it home

Unless you're on a flying visit through 'Nam and home again, you're not really going to want to cart around a zillion kilos worth of shopping are you?

If all your stuff fits into your bags (and your baggage allowance), then more power to you, but for the mortals amongst us, consider shipping your shopping home via the Hoi An postal service. Your hotel should call them up for you, and they come to you with boxes and packing tape. You barely need to leave your room.
It's an exciting and sometimes worrying few weeks at home waiting for your items to arrive. But when they do, it's like Christmas all over again rediscovering treasures you had forgotten about.


Hmm that's all I can think of for now. Wow I am really wishing I was in Hoi An right now after all that!! Time to start writing a shopping list for Mum & Dad methinks!

Slowly Slowly

That's how I feel this month has gone. And yet, at the same time it's December 17 and what exactly have I been doing or achieving? Not much. For the last few weeks I've felt like I've simply been treading water. Where will we live? What are we doing for Christmas? How about New Years? Are we still going away?

Who knows!!! Certainly not me.

But now at least one those questions has been answered.

Just to backtrack, we applied for the townhouse I mentioned previously last Monday. Three days later I got a call from the agent saying he couldn't find A's application form. I assured him we handed in both forms after sitting there and filling them out at the same time. He said he'd look around his desk. 20 minutes later he called me back and said he couldn't find it.

I asked if he could email a replacement form that we could fill in and fax back to him. He took down my email address. Over an hour later, getting close to COB, I still hadn't received his email. So I called him up, only to be told he had found A's form attached to someone else's application. Thanks for letting me know buddy!!

Time marches on. By Friday we still hadn't heard anything and I was starting to get edgy. I called him up and he said the owner still hadn't decided which applicant to accept. Fair enough. He offered to call me back before the end of the day and let me know what the status was.

Of course I didn't hear from him until Saturday afternoon. This time news was not good. There was nothing wrong with our application, but they had accepted someone else.

I was upset! Neither A or I have ever been rejected from a rental application before. I guess the market is not what it was 4 years ago though! Still life goes on.

It really put us in a pickle though, because we were so happy with this place we had stopped looking at other options. This put us back by at least a week. Not optimal with Christmas and NYE looming ever closer.

Monday I was in a bit of a funk going through the available listings on domain. Tuesday I headed down to the gong again to view a house in the same area. $60 more per week, lovely outside, not so great inside, and a much longer walk to the station for A.

After viewing this house I went to visit my brother who lives nearby. I was sitting on his sofa, brandishing my geeky "real estate spreadsheet" and bitchy about the mess we were in when I got a call from A. We had got the place!! The people they selected had fallen through and were were 2nd on the list. YAYAYAYAYAY!!!

It's not set in stone yet; we have to go down tomorrow to leave a deposit and sign the paperwork. But still, we are in a much better position than we were 3 days ago.


So I still don't know how or when we are moving, what we are doing for Christmas or NYE, or whether we will get to go away. Oh and I've only bought one Christmas present thus far. Wanna swap lives for the next few weeks?

Please cross your fingers for us

If all goes to plan, in a few weeks time we could be living here.



Which is exactly 300m away from this.

*madly thinking positive thoughts towards the property application gods*

Shoes all sorted

It was over a month ago that I proudly announced I'd bought all the do-dads to get my shoe storage organised. It took me less than an hour to sort it all out, but for the last month I've been busy procrastinating finishing off a project that's been hanging over my head for so long it isn't funny. Finally I think it's sorted so I'm allowing myself to procrastinate play here again!

So hows it all looking now? Pretty bloody good if I do say so myself.

Here is the left side of my wardrobe - before and after (click on each image for a bigger version).



A significant improvement, no? And the right side of my wardrobe - equally as impressive I think!



Amazingly, in the nearly 4 weeks that I've had this set up, this is still what the floor of my wardrobe looks like! I've found it easy to access shoes when needed, and it's so easy to come home from the gym and just chuck my sneakers in one of those boxes - no excuse for leaving them lying around on the floor anymore!

I got a few other goodies while I was at ikea. Firstly, some storage boxes for the shelf above my wardrobe. That's where I store spare bed linen, towels, photos, sleeping bags, travel bags and other bits & pieces. Here's what it looked like before (sans the towels because they were in the wash).



It doesn't look nearly as bad without the towels (I have a lot!) but you get the point that its a shambles, right? This is what it looks like now, after the purchase of some ikea skubb drawers.



How much do I love the colour!!!!

And while I was there, I picked up a few other things I couldn't resist: a new frying pan, chopping boards and serviettes.



And some supplies for my next "project".



Stay tuned!!