After the monsoon shower...

Jazz at the Metropole

We saw Kathy Farmer perform at the Metropole last week - great jazz in a very fancy hotel bar. Think Raffles of Singapore without the peanuts!

Flowers and camera practise

I'm learning to use the digital macro function on our camera - some flowers for you all to appreciate!

Green

welcome to the hospital..we hope you survive

H1N1 has reached Hanoi - so this is how visitors are welcomed to one of the hospitals...not very encouraging!

Making lanterns

Hoi An is famous for many things - tailors, the river, the old town, and also for lots of handicrafts. The lanterns are hand-made in the shop over a flexible wooden frame. Some of them are really beautiful.

greg and stef's excellent adventure

We went on our first tandem motorbike ride today - to the coffee shop of course!

Proof I survived - for mum!

Mỹ Sơn

Mỹ Sơn (pronounced mee-sun) is the site of the ruins from the Champa kingdom, about 50km from Hoi An. The Champa civilisation lived in the entral part of Vietnam from the 4th to 13th century until they were wiped out by the Kinh Vietnamese. There are about 100 000 Cham people living as a minority group in Viet Nam today. The ruins here are similar to those of Ankor Wat (Cambodia) and Borobodur (Indonesia). The temples are for Hindu worship and their writings are similar to sanskrit.

Cua Dai Beach - Hoi An

The beach just out of Hoi An is lovely and clean. Kilometres of sand and palm trees - a great break from the bustle of city life.
Sunset was beautiful.

Hoi An

Hoi An is a beautiful old town situated on the river and close to the beach. Stef went for a conference and then was joined by Greg for a relaxing long weekend. Its also famous for tailors and other crafts. Just behind the place we stayed in were beautiful green fields of rice paddies, which looked amazing when the wind blew over them.