First post is mostly a cut and paste of FB entries and a little more elaboration in parts.  Hopefully I can get my act together and also attach photos.  Don’t hold your breath but.  I’m not too computer savvy so you will have to bear with me.

5 November: In hindsight a 3.40am flight might not have been a great idea. Baby bliss. 5 year old nightmare. Tycho entered into tantrum mode when we landed which can only describe as quite a surreal experience. Resting today – soothing our minds and bodies from the trauma of no sleep and tantrums. We will get out and about tomorrow. Enjoying the panoramic view of the city from our two bedroom spacious apartment (such a treat for us).

6 November:  Late start but finally we arrived at the butterfly park in time for a downpour of rain. Ummm butterflies sleep when it rains. Consequently I have one photo of one butterfly. Retreated to a shopping centre and brought a hand held movie camera. We decided it was time for home movies of the family holidays. Anthony’s responsibility. Not just any shopping centre, it still carried the crown of being Asia’s biggest of its kind 7 years ago (we have an old Lonely Planet).  I’m sure this title has been passed onto another monolithic construction since then.  Quite possibly in Singapore.  It looks very early 90′s.  In fact a great deal of KUL looks early 90′s and not in a good way! Much of the buildings remind me of the Victorian court houses that were rolled out in the early 90′s but on a much larger and grander scale. Pooh brown or apricot in color. Enticing!  Don’t get me wrong.  I really like this city.  It has a great deal to offer.  The food alone is enough to keep you hear for at least a week. Salmon Teppanyaki…

Day 3: Another late start: Sunway Lagoon. Tycho was in heaven. Big boy slides. Rides. Plenty of water play. Pure unadulterated tack for mum and dad. Atticus was a female Islamic tourist magnet. Found a fantastic vegetarian place for dinner. Anthony was happy.  Tycho managed to have a tantrum of epic proportions at the aptly name ‘simple life’ restaurant.  Arrived back to our ‘serviced apartment’ (bliss) with both kids crashed out – exhausted. We lived out a very similar day out 12 months ago. The only difference was our great friends Michelle, Mat, Isla and Eve were not with us. Missed you guys. We even had coffee at the same place before we headed in for the big splash. Also it was a public holiday so we didn’t have the place to ourselves this time. Anthony and Tikes had to line up for rides.  A concept Tycho found hard to get his head around.  Note I didn’t do any lining up as I didn’t go on any slides or rides.  Not in my lifetime. Not my idea of fun.

8 November: Yet another late start. KUL’s version of Science Works was on the agenda today. A mega mega hit with Tycho. Tycho seems to be really interested in science and how things work. It reinforced to me, something about myself that I already knew; that I’m truly uninspired by science. Shameful, I know, but true. I was bored. I should have went shopping. It entertained the boys for 4 hours. I actually found it quite excruciating. One saving grace for me was taking photos of Islamic school girls.  They looked so cute in their uniforms complete with matching hijab. The only other highlight for me was the hurricane box.  This was fantastic.  Basically you get in a box and it simulates winds up to 140km an hour. Tikes and I had fun but also got cabin fever. Very relieved when the wind stopped.

Once again another day of awesome food choices. Nonya/Penang style.

My eyes are closing……

9 November, 10 November, 11 November:We reached our own patch of nirvana in the form of a modernist mud house located amongst dense jungle foliage after a three-hour taxi ride which was supposed to take 45 minutes. Check out the website… After spending two very relaxing nights here we have returned to KUL in search for a dentist. I broke a tooth and Anthony is sedated on codeine due to a painful tooth ache. I don’t mind spending a few more nights in KUL. We quite like the place. Hopefully we won’t have to go to a butcher. We found another two bedroom apartment. This one had a study. No joke – equipped with desk and study chair. Anthony is stoked.  Maybe we will just move in.

11 November: Going out with a 5 year old and a 4 month year old by public transport to China town at 6.00pm could have turned pear shaped very quickly but the stars must have been correctly aligned as we had a marvellous night visiting a Chinese Clan House (for the common family name Chan), wandering through the night market (selling the same rip-offs of uninteresting brands) and having dinner in a marvellous old Chinese shop house (the ambience relying on nostalgia for a bygone era).

12 November:  Going to the dentist we took some comfort in its business name – ‘The Melbourne Dental Group’. As it happens she used to live around the corner from us in St.Kilda when she was a student. I’ll be back. $33 for a large filling. A bargain and no pain. Afterwards we took Tycho out for ‘a run’ at the monster size playground near the Petronas Towers. And feasted on yet another delicious meal – Indonesian.

Atticus continue to be such a trooper – what a dream baby – bless his little socks.

Once we arrived in Saigon we seemed pretty charged to check out the museums, eat at some delectable and aesthetically awesome restaurants, walk around slowly with our head down at timeless temples and splash out at the water parks – much to Tycho’s utter joy. Ten days later we were still there and loving it as much as the first day. We were very comfortable in our midrange hotel. You need comfort in Saigon. Great place to visit but I would say it would be a ‘bitch’ of a place to live (excuse the French). Why? Bloody (oops there I go again) hot and tiring. We managed to seek out beach action by catching a hydrofoil to Vang Tau (famous as the Australian base during the war) and a taxi to Long Hai. We stepped out of our midrange hotels and stepped into a fantastic guest house owned by the ‘military’ for $12 total! Yes the military! We were spoilt – beaches to ourselves due to mid week status. We managed to indulge ourselves at a nearby resort for a $6 day entry rather than the $200 a night rate. There was much swimming pool action to be had, cocktails, and scrumptious food. We were very happy to go back to our military guest house in the evening.

Finally we said good bye to Saigon and Vietnam and headed over to Bangkok. Super hyped up to explore BKK as a tourist; something we have never had much time to do in previous visits. Finally managed to get to the Grand Palace (so awe inspiring we were feeling a bit sheepish at never having been before); finally managed to get to the reclining Buddha (worth the hype – exceeded all expectations); finally visited the snake farm (slippery) and Anthony and Tycho went to an aquarium.

Bangkok food courts are marvelous and were our preference for lunch and dinner. I don’t think I could ever ‘do’ BKK without staying somewhere with a pool – especially with a kid in tow. Afternoons spent splashing about at the Hotel Reno’s 70’s style pool. Unfortunately our exuberance was cut short as I started suffering flu symptoms and feeling out of breath. After a hospital visit and x-ray I was diagnosed with a bout of pneumonia. Rest was in order. A check up x-ray in Nong Khai hospital about a week later showed I had no pneumonia. Thank god for drugs. So I seem fine now. Tycho also got some bug but not so seriously.

Tycho loved BKK – the sounds, color, pace, the eclectic variety of transport, the assortment of shops and the general frenetic nature of the place.

We finally got out of BKK and spend 3 days in lovely Ayutthaya (Thailand). One of those spots I’ve always wanted to visit and never got around to. It is a superb place and I would be as bold to suggest that it is as good as the Angkor temple complex in Cambodia and it is a mere couple of hours from BKK. Anyone who knows anything about it would know that was the ancient capital up until the 18th century. There are temple ruins EVERYWHERE, virtually in people’s back yards. It was also said to be the Venice of the East and despite this description used loosely to describe other places as well it really has waterways running throughout the town. Ugly modern developments haven’t sprung up and it has kept its rural or small town charm.

We stayed in an active, busy, homely yet overpriced guest house. Unfortunately they wouldn’t want us to show our faces around there again too soon due to the awesome tantrum Tycho had over not getting a chocolate! A guest checked out due to our child’s musical screams.

A familiar overnight train up to Nong Khai brought us closer to our second home town – Vientiane. The trip up was dominated by meeting an assortment of characters. It was quite refreshing after meeting a long series of ‘flashpackers’. Dave – a daring traveler, who had been to 108 countries and counting; he certainly has made a true commitment to ‘travelling’ rather than ‘holidaying’. His last trip was to Sierra Leone and Somalia. Collin – a New Yorker, young fella and currently a kick boxer. He barely had any baht to his name and was doing a visa run into Laos for Thailand – he entered Laos with no bags, no clothes, just a diary and a pen. The whingey Scotsman – looking older than he would have been due to too much smoking and not being happy. The enthusiastic, positive and honest mid 40’s something American who had been living in a series of Asian countries since he was 25 and wanted to return to the States. He felt that most men he knew who have Asian wives become unhappy and bitter after two years of marriage, usually overwhelmed by family emotional and financial commitments and cultural differences. He said amongst his friends ‘the honeymoon period’ is short. Kids (lucky them!) seem to come quickly (often the second time round for most of them), and sex on tap either stops or becomes less attractive. Interesting.

Then finally the Icelandic punk in his late 40’s also making a Thai visa run into Laos. I was looking over a hotel balcony watching the night life of Vientiane below – yes the city now has an energy about it at night. He came stumbling down the hallway but decided to take some ‘smoking air’ on the balcony. He looked like he parties hard. He was planning to marry his Thai girlfriend. They met in Patthaya while she was working!!!! He was looking forward to meeting her family which are big fish where they live – mafia. He is a long way from Iceland. Good luck to him.

Unusual rainfall welcomed us to the region. Luckily the rains dried up after a couple of days.

Vientiane (Lao PDR) – a week has passed and it just feels like we live here again. It still hasn’t lost its ability to embrace us like we are family. There are still enough people kicking about here who were friends we met during 2000 and 2002. We are staying in a patch of heaven at a very dear friend’s place. Suzie’s house is perfect; a spacious tropical villa with a charming garden. Our time has been taken up by visiting friends and chilling out. Bliss. Oh I could live here again in a flash – obtaining work, working visa and transport are the main constraints from making that happen. We’ll see what happens.

Santa came to Tycho and left plenty of cheap crap toys which he picked up at the Tuy Hoa Market – mostly Ben Ten paraphanalia. Ben Ten is an Asian super hero who is ten and turns into ten different aliens to save the day. Yes,very intoxicating cartoon for any boy from the age of 2 – 6. Then they suck the older demographic in by having a acted version of Ben Ten as a 15 year old so the obsession continues. Can’t wait for Hollywood or Disney to find it, remodel it and make a mess of it for western kid consumption. There is definetly money to make and lots of it.

Christmas Eve was spent at the Cendelux – a great hotel. Serenaded by a Christmas Chroir, scrumptous food laid on, over the top Christmas decorations and lights, a thin santa with a crooked beard and a good bottle of red wine. Children running a riot even for Tycho’s standard, he tended to retreat on my knee.

Presents appeared miraculously under our $3 mini Christmas Tree. We had to remind Tycho it was Christmas. He had forgot. After presents were ripped opened we all had a date back to the most fancy hotel in town for Christmas breakfast with Anthony and Steve’s students. This was a real treat for their students and a great way to mark their final teaching day. Presentations were made and certificates awarded and that wrapped up a fantastic ten week teaching contract for them.

Tycho was given his very own cyclo to take home from The Tuy Hoa Technical College – cute.

And to top of a marvellous Christmas Anthony has gone to the airport to pick up a friend (Marylla) who is dropping by or a few days on her way back to Berlin.

Three days left in Tuy Hoa before we fly to Sagion. Around 4 days in Saigon and then a bus to Phnom Phenh (Cambodia), followed by Luang Prabang and Ventiane (Laos) and parts of Thailand and Malaysia and Singapore. We are returning to Melbourne in mid Feb from Kuala Lumpar.

When ever I see photos of Nha Trang they are always of these colourful boats in a harbour. However when i was in Nha Trang in 1996 I never saw such boats. Images of these boats had lured me there but when I was there I coudn’t find them. I kept my eyes out and Nha Trang was a good deal quieter and less dense back then. I’ve always been dissapointed i never saw them. I assumed that they are taken in some obscure spot that was really hard to get to without a motorbike or a local’s knowledge. This time round I found them with ease. See, 14 years back I didn’t do much sight seeing, not at day anyway. All I had to do was go to the top tourist attaction in Nha Trang – doh. The Po Nagar Cham Towers are situated on a hill just below a harbour with fishing boats. These snaps were effortless my only regret was I didn’t have a zoom.

While waiting for a train to Nah Trang I noticed the two generations side by side. They kept me amused. The floods had brought trains to a halt 4 days earlier and this was the first day they had begun operating again. Gran chatted away and teen mostly staired into space. Both baby sitting each other reluctantly.

Come and walk through the jungle and see paper mache tigers, dinosaurs, elephants, hippos, frogs and deers. Walk along the man- made canal and see paper mache crocodiles, snakes, more dinosaurs, birds and prehistoric man. Walk further along the path and come across… yep you guessed it… the pyramids, the Great Wall of China and a mini Taj Mahal. Tycho continues to be amazed after numerous visits to this kids’ land of wonder and magic (and for most adults of cheesiness and kitsch). Sometimes the excitement just gets too much for him and he virtually hyperventiallates trying to get all the names of the statues out as fast as he can. It also gets too much for me but for very different reasons! But seriously this place has been great for Tykes. We go often and always delivers some fascination for Tycho.
The amusement rides and machines are old but Tykes doesn’t see that. The Jumping Castle continues to be a favourite and he has entered the domain of ‘the big boy’, with dodgems becoming his ride of choice.
There are activities are for all ages with a roller disco rink and a pool hall with women in their twenties wearing short shorts filling men’s drinks (Anthony spent an evening there with some of his students playing pool – Vietnamese rules).

Large size Disneyland character statues are dotted around the grounds. You would think that this place would be swarming with children but it isn’t. We often have the place to ourselves.
Sweet.

One of my first entries I was ranting of the death of the cyclo. They are not dead but they are fading away. Once one of the main forms of transport around urban towns they are used mostly for carrying stuff – like a ute back home. I’ve seen them manage to carry a stack of matresses, more than one large cupboard, lounge suites, TV’s, boxes of all sizes and the list goes on and on. Cyclos are old and don’t seems to be being upgraded. I was reassured to actually see a cyclo taking an old frail lady and her bags from market most likely to her home. Cyclos seems less part of the community then they used to be and more like a delivery service.

In Vietnam life is on the streets. When your front step is on the street, then life will meet you there. Often returning from being out and about to be greeted by people on our doorstep looking at us with the surprised expression which translated is ‘what are you doing here’. When we could be asking them the same thing. When I feel like interacting with life I only have to sit on our step for a few minutes and life comes up to meet me.

Tycho crashed out on the streets of Saigon. Taken the day after we first arrived in Vietnam. Everything new, exciting and obviously exhausting. He is such a precious pup.

After a marvellous weekend in Nha Trang, some weeks back now, we returned to Tuy Hoa by train on a sleepy Sunday night around 7pm. It was never going to be an early to bed sort of evening. When we boarded the carriage there was already a resigned tiredness in the air. Everyone on board seemed worn out from long journeys as most passengers had started in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City (names are used interchangeably) 600kms south and many were continuing through the night. The train was heading to Hue. Needless to say there was certainly no room for us or our luggage even though we had brought 3 designated seats. Our seats were not only occupied, but the floor in between the seats was taken up by a lady having a sleep. Ummm tricky. We couldn’t stand for the whole trip…well it is only 2 and half hours. Space was quickly made for Tycho and an hour into the trip the carriage lightened with a number of people reaching their destination. Anthony was relieved because he is always too tall for Asian public transport.

Tycho is such a crowd puller. People would pop into our carriage, stop about two or three metres from us and just look. Happy to stand there and watch and wait. Should we do something? Should we try and talk, smile, make a face, stand on our head? Yeah we would just smile and watch and wait, until they left. And usually someone else would come and take their place, and stand, and watch and wait.

There was lively interaction between us and those sitting around us. Numerous offers of sweets much to Tycho’s sweeth tooth joy. Numerous cuddles, touching and patting, much to Tycho’s annoyance. Numerous attempts to communicate with an akward use of both English and Vietnamese, much to all of our amusement.

Tycho is such a little trooper he managed to go to sleep on the hard wooden slats. He had a whole seat to himself for the last hour, pure luxury.

Our luggage remained beside us in the isle of the carriage. Everytime the food and drink trollies would pass (which seemed to be every 5 minutes) Anthony would pile luggage on to my lap. Once the trolley would pass, the luggage was off-loaded from my lap and placed in the isle. Yes, oozing with convenience and comfort.

At one stage the train stopped in the middle of nowhere for about an hour and a half. Anthony was thinking about his 5.30am rise and 7.00am teaching start.