1/12/2003
hi mums, in vietnam now after a truely hidious bus
journey - 26hrs and only
one toilet stop- squatting by the side of the road - very
painful after an
afternoon beer session. god I'm in agony just thinking
about it again.
anyhow, in nam now and loving it, it really is one of my
all time favourite
places. we were wondering if it was still going to be
exciting for us,after
seeing so many other places on this trip, but not jaded
at all - my senses
have gone into overload. smells, tastes, crazy sights -
it's so great here,
trying to work out a way to stay and live - maybe teach
english...but
perhaps it's just a pipe dream. Greg has a buddy in oz
who lived here in
hanoi for 8 years, he's emailing him now to ask if he has
any job
connections....Shame about that mortgage thing.
can you let me know what our monthly payments have gone
up to? even though
we are ahead you still have to pay the required amount
each month. cheers.
Also, when is the payment effective from?hopefully not
this month.
sounds like christmas is going to be actioned packed
-save a prawn cocktail
for me and think of me in cambodio - singing christmas
carols with the khmer
rouge!
Any updated shots of house with the plaster??
okaydokey. better go and build up hunger for another
yummy ricenoodle soup!
lots of love to you. love
caraXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
8/12/2003
hiya, no news this monday. jeez outta sight outta mind. i
hope you've got a
decent excuse.
how was your weekend? house the palace progressing? how
are the boys
regressing? etc. got
some emails from them. you've a couple of strange lads
on your hands there. very amusing though. will write back
to them shortly.
up in freezing sapa at the moment. experiencing sub zero
temperatures and
zero visability. not prepared at all for the weather and
hence have been
hybernating in cosy room. searching for firewood to light
our fire. will
brave the weather tomorrow and do a trek around the area.
have told greg we
need to get into training for Nepal.
hope you and dad are okay. sending lot's of love and
stuff.
love caraXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
From: Cara
McGloin [SMTP:caramcgloin@hotmail.com]
> > Sent:
Sunday, December 14, 2003 12:38 PM
> > To:
Denise.McGloin@dva.gov.au
> > Subject:
RE: hi mums
> >
> > hi mum, it's pretty early here. 8:20am. waiting
around for greg to
> > arise...it's usually the other way around but i
hit the sack early last
> > night. After 17hr bus trip and a new strain of
the Cold, I was
>exhausted.
> > I'm averaging a cold every three weeks now...I
Must have got this one
>from
> >
> > freezing sapa.
> >
> > Now in Hoi An. Which is still great. You may
remeber me telling you last
> > time about all the cheap taylor shops and
shoemakers. You can get a pair
> > of
> > shoes made to your exact specifications for as
little as $5.00! leather
> > too
> > - goodstuff. anticipate shopping hard here.
> >
> > the weather is pretty miserable still. december
is not the best time to
> > visit vietnam it seems. the beaches arn't
inviting and it's raining a
>fair
> >
> > bit so we can't hire a motorbike (you'll be
glad about that). But the
>food
> >
> > is still great. We went back to the Fukian
restuarant which was a
> > favourite
> > of ours last time we were in hoi an.
The son of the owner remembered us
>-
> >
> > we were teaching him australian slang last
time. And the food was
>superb.
> > best seafood in vietnam i reckon.
> >
> > Not much else to report. there were big
celebrations here on saturday
>when
> >
> > vietnam and thailand played in the south east
asia games football final
>-
> > held in hanoi. they lost sadly but that didn't
stop them from
>celebrating!
> >
> > parades and all ?
> >
> > would love to see the progress of house but
agree a surprise would be
>good
> >
> > too!
> > how was your weekend? and how are the three
boys?
> >
> > better go. much love CaraXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
21/12/2003
xin chao all, seasons greetings from vietnam. hope the
festive season is
treating you well and you're all over-indulging, as you
should be. no such
thing as cholesterol at this time of year...
all good here. we left laos about 3.5 weeks ago after
spending a week up in
the north of the country in a tiny village called Mgoi
Noi. We spent our
time there laying in hammocks overlooking the river,
hiking around, playing
soccer with the locals (greg), spectating at soccer
matches (me), drinking
the local whiskey (which was reasonably priced at
0.80cents a litre..),
avoiding poisonous snakes, mingling with the townsfolk
and other
backpackers. basically taking it nice and easy.
we then headed down to vang vieng, a backpacker mecca. we
stayed about 10
days there taking it nice and easy as well. the town is
set on a beautiful
crystal clear river, bordered by towering limestone
cliffs, lovely stuff. we
did a bit of hiking, cave exploring, waterhole dipping, a
bit of motorbike
riding and some kayaking. But mostly we spent our days
floating down the
river on innertubes and stopping off at bamboo bars on
the bank for a top up
of lao's finest, Beerlao. a sound way to spend a day it
was.
we speed through Vientiane, the lao capital, on our way
to the vietnam
border. where we had an entertaining few hours watching
smugglers load up
there cavities (vehicle cavities, that is..) with all
sorts of illicit
substances. realised border control was not very
controlled when customs
officers spent the whole time practising their english
with greg and myself,
instead of finding illicit substances in cavities...Nice
fellows though and
they should now be able to ask for their brides in an
ocker drawl. " oi,
youse aint goin no-where till ya packus up with a buck or
two"
onwards. we arrived in hanoi after a painfully long bus
ride and slept for
days. rejuvenated, we hit the night spots to assess the
scene. The New
Century nightclub got top marks from us. The place was
heaving with young
vietnamese courting and dancing. The music was great,
straight out of
Brixton, London. Greg and I achieved minor celebrity
status with our
'western' dance moves, we were accosted by locals
everytime we went to the
bathroom, wanting to meet us and shake our hands, well
and truly impressed
with our side-to-side shuffling. it was a very funny
evening. Hanoi was just
as manic and exciting as it was 3 years ago and we ended
up staying longer
then anticipated, wanting to take it nice and easy....
From Hanoi we spent two days on Halong bay. the scenery
was lovely but there
were more tourists there then we'd have liked. damn
tourists wish they'd
stay home. though, had a great evening sleeping out under
the stars on the
deck of our boat - swapping funny travel tales with
fellow intrepid
travelers (steve and cassandra, still chuckling over the
Indian poo-bucket
tale - that won't happen to us will it?).
From there we headed up to Sapa, situated high in the
mountains on the
chinese border. it was bloody cold, foggy and drizzly. we
were not prepared
for sub-zero temperatures at all, so we hired a dvd
player and spent most of
our time snuggled up doona catching up on bad
blockbusters. charlies angels
2, what were they thinking? Did get active on one day
though and hiked
around the hill-tribe villages in the area. Sadly, we
couldn't see much of
the glorious scenery through the thick fog but had a good
time with
vietnamese guide who dazzled us with his spoken and
written arabic....? yet
to spot an arab here, but am sure his four years at uni
will not be wasted.
one will show up shortly...to be sure.
now in Hoi An, which is one of our fav destinations. it's
an old trading
port town, with lovely old chinese and japanese merchant
house and the usual
french colonial style buildings which are found all over
vietnam. It's a
gem. have been getting busy with Hoi An's famed tailors
and have had a stack
of clothing made up very cheaply. The tailors are
amazingly quick, they can
whip up a $20.00 cashmere suit overnight and what's more,
it usually fits
perfectly. Have been lingering here for the past 10 days-
taking it nice and
easy, so it's probably time to get back on the bus and
head to saigon. it
will be hard to drag ourselves away as we've met alot of
great locals and
ex-pats here who have made our stay very enjoyable.
Nevermind, there will be
more laughs around the corner, it's a certainty.
So saigon, where we will celebrate x-mas, is next on the
itinerary. Then
onto Cambodia for New years. Will keep you posted on how
that turns out.
hope christmas brings lot's of goodies and goodtimes.
have a prawn for me.
Tam Biet (vietnamese for: I've just been run over by a
cyclo). love caraXX
9/01/2004
hi ma &pa, i guess you've settled back into work mode
now - not sure it's
going to be that easy for me..I set the alarm for 8 oçlock
today (wanting a
full day of phnom penh sightseeing) and went back to
sleep. an ungodly hour
it was.
we've spent the past week lazing on a tropical beach here
in cambodia with
some funny brits and a gay australian couple we met on
the boat from
vietnam. a few more big nights were had...surely they'd
are catching up with
me by now? yeh, I'll do they 'get fit' thing when i
return...
so all is good here, spent today exploring the 'russian
market', found a
cheap azerbajianian but he didn't come in my size...No,
the russian market
has all sorts of cheap asian antiques, silks and designer
clothing (as all
the big name manufacturers are based in cambodia getting
cheap labour) -
Anyway, treated myself to some silk cushion covers and
reafirmed the idea
that i'd like to open up my own business stocking asian
goods soon (In
threes mum? no grandchidren on the horizon from me...).
Apart from russian
market, we visited the S21 museum today - which was a bit
disturbing -it
was an old prision used during the revolution here.
20,000 people were
imprisoned there and only 7 people remained when the
vietnamese arrived to
'liberated' camdodia. not to mention the 2,000,000 others
the khmer rouge
did away with during the revolution....It's a strange
place cambodia- but
will fill you in further on our return. we ended the day
with a trip to the
palace - to see how the other guy lives...
Off to siem reap tomorrow to check out angkor wat, then
back to bangkok to
arrange indian visa. will email details shortly.
hope everyone is well. have you caved into jamie's
electric guitar demands
jet? greg and i have had bets that you will. well The Boy
will happy that
i've managed to locate a couple of items from his wish
list.
anymore shots on the website of the house?? can't belive
you'll be in there
so soon! okay better fly. love caraXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
14/01/2004
hi mums, just arrived back in bangkok yesterday after big
bumpy bus journey
from cambodia. angkor wat was amazing, we got up at 4am
and saw the sunrise
over it. crazy things you do....
arranging visa and tickets for india at the moment.
flying bangladesh air
(ohmigoodness!) staying in dakar overnight (ohmigoodness!!)
- a bit nervous
about the whole india thing have heard travel horror
stories involving all
sorts of bizarre indian things....we should be fine
though..?
funny you mention canberra, we have been talking about
moving back -
thinkiing about saving up for a new house there in a
couple of years time-
but we'll see...
the house sounds awesome - really can't wait to see it. really cheap silk
cushion covers here. will pick you some more. let me know
about colours.
better go we have to get nepal visa too! how exciting
(and scary!)
lots and lots of love caraXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
20/01/2004
hi mums, back in bangkok this morning - waiting for greg
to finishing
showering- haven't slept much -overnight bus was airconditioned and
freezing -brrr. bloody bus company went through my
backpack and nicked my
french perfume out of it- was useing it to mask smelly
backpacker odour.
nevermind. nothing else of value was in there -
apparenlty they weren't keen
on my undies....
good to hear that everything is okay with sherraine -
hard to believe
they're excited about it ?- i guess we can be nervous for
them.
any more pics of the house on the net - or are you
leaving it as a
surprise??
just got news from tommy our transvestite travel agent
that the hotels in
dhakar are booked up - we have to stay at the airport
hotle. bummer. was
looking forward to seeing the rickshaw capital of the
world. nevermind.
lots of love CaraXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX