Pete and Kath come to visit

Monsoon

The wet season has arrived in Hanoi with a bang (or a flood I should say). Tuesday morning it started raining about 7am and by 8.30am the road outside my work was under about 50cm of water. You can see the photo once the water had receded somewhat and the footpaths were visible again.
All the water had gone by lunch in time for a sunny afternoon!

Bát Tràng

Bat Trang is one of Hanoi's handicraft villages, about an hour out of town. My neighbour and I explored the markets and found many beautiful examples of Vietnamese pottery. Needless to say our crockery collection at home has expanded with blue/green cracked glass plates and bowls (an example of which is below!)

Lemon, raspberry and chocolate tarts supplied by the Metropole bakery - very delicious!

Vinpearl Land!

Vietnam's equivalent of Disneyland - on its own island reached by cable car (the longest over-sea cable car in the world!) With a waterpark that the boys enjoyed greatly - pregnant women not allowed on the big slides but we have fun too anyway!

Nha Trang

We had a great weekend away at Nha Trang (pronouced nya chang) with some friends. On the beach, it is a growing town about 5 hrs north of Ho Chi Minh City.