Teacher's Day!

Each year in Vietnam, the children give gifts to their teachers to thank them for their work over the year. As many of them don't celebrate Christmas, it felt a bit like an early Christmas celebration coming home with bags filled with presents! I felt totally spoilt!

Not only that, but teachers are treated a bit like celebrities, getting free entrance to certain bars, free food and drink, and even discounts in lots of the clothes shops!

We went over to District 2 to watch Robbie's band play. We got free food and drink and there were speeches from the owner's family to the teachers!

 If only it was teacher's day every day!!

Vung Tau

Last weekend, a group of 15 of us went to Vung Tau, the nearest seaside resort to HCMC.

We'd been warned that it was a bit like Blackpool/Skegness so we didn't have the highest of hopes, yet we all ended up having a great time! We travelled by hydrofoil, which took about an hour and a half. I'd definitely go again- it might not be the most beautiful of the seaside resorts here but it was lovely just to get some fresh air away from the city.

Bonfire Night

Bonfire Night's one of my favourite night's back home! Wrapping up warm to go to a firework show wasn't really an option here unfortunately...

...but one of the other teachers, Clair, who has a house as opposed to an apartment, invited a few of us over for chilli, baked potatoes and drinks...we even made a mini fire outside...but it didn't last too long as we all wanted to be inside near the air con!

International Week

Each year, the children at BIS learn about new countries and cultures whilst celebrating the Internationalism of their community.

Throughout the week, the children take part in lots of exciting activities and lots of specialists come in to teach them about their communities.

On Friday, we had a big showcase of the things we'd learned. We all had to dress in clothing linked to our home countries.

Click on the picture below to watch a short clip of some of the things we got up to...

Diwali

There's quite a large Indian expat community here in HCMC so Diwali is quite a well celebrated festival. Unlike the traditional festival of lights you may find in India and Nepal, here in HCMC it was more just an  opportunity for a good knees up!

We all went along to take part in the fun, which was being had at The Sheraton hotel. The food, a huge Indian buffet, was absolutely delicious, and the ticket price included unlimited drinks too...so we made the most of them! The set up was interesting, as we all sat in rows facing the stage for the first few hours...not the most sociable of layouts, but still a good laugh.

There was a huge fuss as an Indian celebrity was the star of the night! Udit Narayan, the Indian singer, who everyone seemed to adore, appeared to be a bit of an Indian Tom Jones. The children from school were all so excited about seeing him, the women were swooning over him, men were trying to jump on the stage to be with him, and he arrived and left with a team of security guards...mental!

As the evening came to a close, everyone was up off their seats dancing the night away, including us lot, who were showing off our best Bangra/Zumba moves!

Halloween.

For Halloween we started the night at an amazing Mexican restaurant near to school. They were putting on a big party with music, games, costumes, street food and lots of freebies! The food was amazing and the free drinks were a great start to the evening ahead!

Robbie's band were then playing at a nearby bar so the fun continued there...

Phu Quoc

We had a five days away in Phu Quoc. It's a beautiful island in the Gulf of Thailand, about 45 mins on a plane from HCMC.

We stayed at Mango Bay, which was lovely, and some of the others stayed next door at Coco Palm. 

Our cabin was quite open, with an open ceiling and an outdoor bathroom, meaning we shared it with lots of 'friends'!

The food at the hotel was lovely and you could sit watching the fishermen at work whilst munching away!

We spent one of the days on a snorkelling/fishing trip in the south.

Lots of people tried out the sea urchins but I gave them a miss!

We also rented out a kayak for an afternoon and made full use of the spa facilities for massages, but other than that, it was just a lovely week of sunbathing and chilling! To say I had a fab week on an island with friends, I don't seem to have taken any pictures of people, or the island for that matter...whoops...although a sign of a good holiday I suppose! Back at work now after a lovely chilled week away...dreaming of the next one!!

Saigon-Long Hai-Mui Ne

So I did my second easy rider last weekend...I didn't think much could top the original one, but wow...it was amazing!

On Friday, Spencer and Lou met us at our apartments and we travelled from HCMC to Long Hai. We did a short boat crossing and a few stop offs for drinks on the way (including one very long stop when one of the bikes broke down!)

On the Saturday, we made our way from Long Hai across to Mui Ne. 

We visited a few places on the way, including some sand dunes, a dragon fruit farm, and some caves/tunnels where, back in the war, people hid away from everyone, including their families, for years.

We walked up to the top of the mountains to a pagoda overlooking the villages and the coast..it was beautiful. We met a lovely old man there..

He reminded me of the Indonesian character in Eat, Pray, Love who advises Julia Roberts!

From there, we visited a fishing village, and ate the most amazing meal, freshly caught and cooked for us. It was a random set up, with people sleeping all over the place...apparently they paid to lie down in the cafe/guest house for the week whilst they were visiting the local temple.

We visited Tien Thanh beach with beautiful views and special rock cliff formations (interestingly shaped!!) and then ended the day watching the sunset from the temples.

Our hotel in Mui Ne was lovely...first chance to deep our feet in the ocean since arriving in Vietnam too!

On Sunday, we travelled back from Mui Ne to HCMC.

We visited the whale monument, which holds the biggest whale skeleton in Asia. Here, they believe that whales are sacred, as they protect the fishermen in the storm. They hold big funerals when a whale dies!

We also visited the Binh Chau hot springs, where we could buy eggs and watch them boil within minutes in the fresh spring water. Although it was interesting, it was a bit disappointing how commercialised they'd made it all...it looked more like a theme park than a place where natural springs are found!

We finished the day by visiting a local meditation centre. A lovely, calming atmosphere! What a beautiful weekend!

Next stop...Phu Quoc!!