Our Brisbane stopover was about family time and relaxation, however with two young grandsons we only got family time. Hehehe

Dinner out with the Vasar Whanau

We were privileged to be invited out to dinner by Preuin and Katie Vasar. These are Mrs Vasar's family and both work for Fontera N.Z in Singapore. The environment we arrived in was very impressive, as was Bridget. Our evening was a real delight, especially when you are having dinner with two young NZ achievers who are working overseas for our NZ company. Cheers for the night or fun and good food Preuin

Singapore Flyer

This was our last attraction before our homeward journey. Bridget's fear of heights is slowly disappearing but that might be due to our exhaustion level which is obvious in our eyes. However we hung in there and enjoyed every moment. Great sights of a very clean and viberant city.

Singapore: A clean and very interesting city

Impression gain from only an afternoon in Singapore was of wide and litter free pavements, buildings that showed a blending of the old and new eras of Singapore's development, and a skyline which was made interesting due to some creative architecture . e.g Boat.

Farewell Hanoi. It has been wonderful. We will be back!!!

Risking our life to get to dinner!!!

Once our guide Han had arranged rides for us we took another tour of Old Hanoi and the markets before dinner. The decision to undertake this adventure on the day of celebration was rather fool hardy but what the hell!!! We will never forget this experience and all without any 'road rage'. All NZ drivers should experience Hanoi traffic before getting annoyed and aggressive with conditions back home.
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Our last lunch in Hanoi

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This lunch place was very busy and had a waiting list. One guy had been waiting outside for fifty years to get in. Bridget had a local help her with our selecction and she enjoyed the food. I wasn't too sure whether to eat mine or drink it!!! We love the challenges of Vietnam

Touching as many lucky charms as possible

Here we are at one of the local famous temples with the rest of Hanoi touching every possible lucky charm we can.... especially now that our hoilday is coming to an end and we want MORE!!!! and no the last photo isn"t me with my shirt off....... well I don't think it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Family outing in Hanoi

Scenes during our trip into Hanoi

Many of the homes are very narrow and multi storeyed. Yes more scooters and we did see a wide range of street vendors, including this hair-dresser. Hair dressers working on street pavements were very common. I had visions of Mr Sheehan relaxing and getting a shave and hair cut here!!!!

Beware of the smiling old guy!!!

The smiling con man took us for a ride... not only on his bike however that's the fun of travel...even though we were required to walk and extra 4 km after being dropped off. (Good for my waste line, Hehehe). Hanoi is celebrating 1000 years and at times we thought everyone in Vietnam was in town. The skills of scooter riders never ceases to amaze us and yes more weddings!!

Marble Village

Often in Vietnam each town specialises in the manufacturing of something different. Hue was a town specilising in tailors making made to measure clothes. This village was full of factories making marble sculptures mainly for the overseas market. Yes you can see Bridget decided to try her hand at a new profession. No she wasn"t quite good enough to get offered a job so we are still travelling together. Hehehe!!!!

Sophistication to start with!

You can see we started our evening in a very sophisticated manner and the evening went down hill from there. Hehehe!! However holidays are about having fun, great food and the occassional good wine. Just ask Miss Tuate or Miss Nahu!!!!

Visit to King's tomb and Citadel

Vietnam have an extensive history of loyalty to the nobility and persecution by other nations therefore visits to significant land marks is very educational. Personally I knew very little about Vietnam. The extensive building associated to the citadel cover 60 hectres. The decorative art work needs to be seen to be believed. Fortunately the rain stopped to allow us to remove our $2 shop yellow cloaks. Hahaha!!