Travels – Page 5 – MakeCookGrow.com

Planning For Travel and Eating Mussels

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PLANNING TO TRAVEL

Planning an interstate holiday, so we’ve begun preparations. The first thing is some books. We buy second hand paperbacks which we can both share and then hand on to other travelers. When we’re going to non-English speaking countries we take lots of books but this time we’re traveling within Australia, so magazines and books will be available everywhere. Lighter packing!

We will fly to Melbourne then apart from visiting art galleries, museums and some friends in the city, we’ll take train trips each day. Then we will take the train to Sydney and also go to galleries, see friends and take daily train trips, before taking the train to Brisbane. Here we will enjoy a few days with friends who live in Queensland and be driven both north and south of Brisbane. So packing for cold, wet, windy with sunny days down south and warm, humid days in Queensland.

The author of one of these books we’ve bought is Lisa Jewell and we’re both looking forward to reading that one! We have just finished reading three of her thrillers; The Girls In The Garden, I Found You and Watching You. Great reading!

We’ve booked lunch at a few restaurants, mostly for the reputation of the food or recommendations, but also in the Blue Mountains for the view. We are looking forward to train, tram and ferry trips, each moving slowly enough for us to enjoy the views.

Also needed a trip to the hairdresser, a fairly regular event now days. I consider going grey but haven’t made the decision. My hair seems to grow very fast, too.

I made two loaves of sourdough, one to eat until we go and one to freeze for when we get back. I like to leave something for dinner as we return late in the day and airline food doesn’t always appeal.

And finally, down the coast to have lunch with my Mother. A beautiful day and lovely to just sit and chat for a while.

So, write a calendar for our son who will be responsible for walking and feeding the dog and putting out the bins and making sure the plants are watered and we’re ready to go!

MUSSEL SEASON

Mussels are fresh and readily available, so off to the fish shop at The Boatshed for 1 kilo for lunch.

Mussels can be cooked in a tomato based sauce, in a creamy sauce, with chilli and many other ways, but at lunchtime I like them in a clear, clean broth.

MUSSELS IN WHITE WINE

Serves four as part of a lunch spread, or two served with bread or toast.

INGREDIENTS

1 kilo mussels
75 gm butter
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 sliced leek
good shake dried thyme
500 ml dry, white wine

Scrub the mussels under running water, shake to dry.

2. Melt the butter in a heavy based pot over low heat, add leeks, garlic and thyme. Cook until leeks are translucent, about 7 minutes.

3. Add the mussels and wine ( I used Penfold’s Koonunga Hill Semillon Sauvignon Blanc) and cook until the mussels open ( about 5 minutes) Stir a few times during cooking.

4. Discard any unopened mussels, ladle into a serving bowl with the juice and sprinkle with parsley. Serve with fresh buttered bread. I prefer toasted sourdough fingers for dipping. Delicious and light for the middle of the day.

Father’s Day treats. I made Pumpkin Scones, one of my husband’s favourites. I use a recipe from the cooking book I had in Year 8 at school!

Today is FORTUNE COOKIE DAY. Sounds like a good excuse to eat Chinese for dinner, then crack open a fortune cookie to be assured of good luck, good health or good fortune!

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Decluttering, Making Draught Excluders and Going Down South

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DECLUTTERING and MAKING DRAUGHT EXCLUDERS

How do you dispose of things when you declutter? When I recently did a big, well overdue wardrobe declutter, almost everything went into the Church Charity Bin. This was because the clothes, shoes and handbags I was removing were all in good condition. They were work clothes and I’ve finally accepted I wasn’t going to wear them again. My clothes are far more casual now.

When we came back from living overseas for a few years, an entire household of sheets, blankets, quits, towels, pillows and tablecloths came back with us. Unsure what we’d need, I kept most things thinking I would sort and discard when our container of household goods from our previous house arrived. When that happened there was no time for a proper sort so the linen press bulged with a jumble of stuff!

This week, my husband and I emptied, sorted, refolded and restacked the linen press. We ended up with two huge bags of blankets, single bed sheets, pillows and towels to throw out. They looked faded and unloved after not being used for years. These bags were taken to the Dogs Refuge. I couldn’t go because I’d want to bring all the dogs home with me.

They rejected the pillows. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise! My mother really feels the cold and was complaining about the draughts coming in under three external doors.

I made her draught excluders and stuffed them with recycled polyester wadding from two of the pillows! There’s one thin one to put in the gutter of a sliding door and two sausage ones for two normal doors.

The first excluder is small and thin to push into the gutter of a sliding door.

I discovered the easiest way to poke the wadding into the excluders was using a old copper stick, or dolly, from the laundry. I don’t have a copper for washing but find this smooth, old stick so useful for so many jobs.

( A copper is a deep copper bowl built over a fire box. It is filled with water and a fire is lit under it to heat the water. When it is hot the clothes to be washed are immersed and agitated by the stick, before being rinsed, put through a mangle to remove water and hung out to dry. Coppers were used before we had washing machines.)

To make the two bigger ones, I traced around a mug to create four end pieces, then measured and cut two strips for the bodies.

Used the template lines to guide the stitches joining the ends to the body of the sausage, the clipped the edges before turning them right side out.

The linen press is tidy and logically stacked, the excess things have gone to the Dog Refuge and I’ve made my Mother three draught excluders. Now I just need to find out what to do with thousands of books. Text books, travel books, poetry, histories, biographies, fiction and non-fiction, collected over four generations.

GOING DOWN SOUTH

Last week we went to Australind to stay with my mother. The second day we were there, we all went to Busselton to visit her friend. After morning tea we left them to have a good chat and we went further south to Dunsborough, a well known holiday destination. It was a beautiful clear, sunny day and after a lovely wander around the shops we bought lunch and went down to the beach. Gorgeous.

This is Afternoon Tea Week. Afternoon Tea is a British tradition dating from the 1840s. Traditionally, fine china accompanies delicate sandwiches, scones with jam and cream and little cakes and pastries. Sounds wonderful. Start boiling the kettle now!

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Rottnest Island in Winter, June 2019

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Rottnest Island, a favourite holiday destination, is 19km off Western Australia’s coast. It was originally home to the Aboriginal people until rising sea levels separated the island from the mainland about 7000 years ago. Rotto, as the locals say, is an A Class reserve, which represents the highest level of protection for public land.

We boarded the ferry at the Fremantle Wharf. The journey was very rough with a high swell and waves, so we bumped and crashed our way across. Normally this trip takes 30 minutes, ours took 80 via Rous Head, so I was relieved to step onto the jetty.

This sailing ship moored at the wharf is the STS Leeuwin, Australia’s largest sail training tall ship. Built and based in Fremantle, it is a three masted 1850’s style barquentine replica, built in WA.

The ferry jetty in Thomsons Bay where visitors arrive and leave. The barges also dock here to deliver their cargo.

Looking south along the beach at Thomsons Bay. Stunning in summer and pretty good in winter, too. Rottnest is great for swimming, snorkeling, diving ( so many shipwrecks!) surfing, fishing, long bike rides, two lighthouses and lovely walks. Only service vehicles are allowed so it is safe to wander and ride all around the island. Hire bikes are available, both traditional and electric.

We were there during two major storms. The days were wet and gloomy at times but we were able to walk to favourite spots and when the sun was shining it was lovely and warm. Weren’t able to do big walks to other bays due to the rain but we still enjoyed our break and looking at the wildlife.

Rottnest Island Pine, a conifer endemic to the Island, grows to medium height and has dense green foliage.

Evidence of strong winds on a path to the beach.

Branch of Rottnest Island Pine cones.

Looking back towards the mainland. In summer the bay is full of boats.

Older cottage. When I stayed in these cottages as a child there were no bathrooms and we wandered over to the shower block each evening.

Newer cottages, about 40 years old and older cottages along the front road in Thomsons Bay.

All the accommodation is painted in shades of ochre, specific to the Island.

Originally built in 1848 as the Second Superintendent’s House and Military Barracks , built in 1844, these buildings are available for rent.

The Museum which used to be the Library. Built in 1857 it has also been a mill and hay store. There are many old and interesting buildings on Rottnest. There’s also many attractive bays and beaches, lighthouses and lakes to visit.

The top of the Pilot Boathouse, built in 1859. It was also thought to have been used as a transit cell for prisoners awaiting transportation to the mainland.

The Salt Store, built 1886 has also been used as a bank, a library, office and museum. It now has art exhibitions and other displays. The museum, Salt House and guided walks are all done by volunteers who are very well informed.

Famous for selfies with Roger Federer, quokkas are small native marsupials found in very few other locations. Other easily spotted animals are Australian Sea Lions and also Southern Fur Seals.

There used to be so many peacocks on Rottnest but because they are an introduced species the peahens have been removed to prevent breeding. Only two peacocks remain and will not be replaced. We have a photo of our son as a small boy feeding the birds but apparently they became feral and demanded food from visitors.

Looking north across Thomson Bay. Bathurst Lighthouse is visible on the left of the skyline. The other light house on Rottnest is Wadjemup near Salmon Bay.

The Garden Lake from our veranda. Pretty view, great location and a large room but the Karma Lodge is overdue for a thorough renovation and intensive staff training and supervision.

Entrance to Karma Resort. The white building on the left is the Anglican Chapel. Built in 1856-57 it was a school during the week and a Chapel on the weekend. Services ceased in 1910 with the chapel being re-dedicated by the Anglican Archbishop of Perth in 1965. There is also an old, attractive Catholic Church nearby.

Walkway from Karma to the lake side.

Wonderfully fresh and delicious yeast bun from The Bakery. It was so big we shared it! We enjoyed a lovely curried pie and vanilla slice from The Bakery, too. Following the advice of the local policeman we went across the square for good coffee from The Lane. Great icecream from Simmo’s, too.

This is the scroll we bought at a coffee shop. It was stale. My husband returned it and the manager said, “It was fresh on Monday.” This was Thursday. It was awful.

it’s July and we are halfway through 2019. July was named after the Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar by decision of the Roman Senate, in 44BC. It was originally the fifth month in the old calendar and was known as Quintilis, meaning fifth. Happy halfway July!

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10 Great Things About Bali

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Bali is less than three and a half hours flying time from Perth where we live and is a very popular tourist destination for all Australians. There are so many reasons we go to Bali every year. I’ve only listed ten of them!

1. THE PEOPLE

The Balinese people are so welcoming and friendly. They are very tolerant and hospitable and we feel so comfortable and pleased to spend some time amongst them. Many people in Bali are Hindus and their architecturally intricate and attractive temples are an integral part of Balinese life.

2. THE ACCOMODATION

Bali offers rooms in houses plus hostels, hotels and villas. Most villas have private pools. Many hotels and resorts have amazing pool complexes and gardens. Bali offers everything from modest to truly luxurious. We stay at the same resort, Kamuela Villas in Seminyak, every year. We love the people, the villa, our pool, the serenity and closeness to restaurants, spas for reflexology, pedicures and facials, cafes and shops. We use their shuttle service for short trips plus hire their car and driver for traveling greater distances.

3. FOOD

Back to our favourite cafes and restaurants for consistently fabulous food plus we found some new, great places, too. Beautifully presented, wonderfully tasty, healthy food made from fresh ingredients and reasonably priced. You can enjoy every possible cuisine and style. A foodie wonderland!

4.COOKING SCHOOLS

My son and I spent six hours doing a Spice Mixing Course in Nusa Dua. Not all that time was cooking, there was a lot of eating and chatting, too! There were twelve of us on the course and we all helped make a few dishes each, plus lots of demonstrations and information and a detailed takeaway package of recipes and resources. Our session was in an open air kitchen surrounded by lush gardens. The instructors were very good and we left well fed and well informed!

There are also schools to master surfing, SUP boarding, white water rafting and so many other things, especially yoga classes and retreats. Search online.

5. PERFUME MAKING

I spent two hours at L’ Atelier Parfums & Creations defining my preferred scents and then selecting the top, middle and bottom notes I wanted to incorporate in my personal perfume. My instructor was Vemi and I was the only one in this session and probably benefited from the personal instruction. I learnt a lot about the common ingredients used in perfume making, their origins, their staying power and how they blend together. The final product, my personal perfume, is very pretty. It was a fun and interesting activity.

5. SHOPPING

We are not really shoppers on holidays but in all the years we’ve been going to Bali I’d only been to one shopping centre and that was a brief visit. Looking online I discovered there are several new, big shopping centres so we set off for one in Kuta. Wandering through the SOGO Department Store we saw the shoes my husband wears a lot and, jokingly, asked if they had his size (13 mens, hard to find) and they did have them so now he has them and is very pleased!

I also bought another basket. They are so useful with their drawstring linings and I use them instead of plastic bags when I go shopping. Bali is the home of desirable baskets in every shape, size and colour.

6. PEDICURES, MANICURES and FACIALS

This is the lovely Evelyn giving me a pedicure. The best pedicure although I had to re-apply the fake tan after the leg scrub! There are spas to suit every price point and treatments to suit every skin type. So relaxing.

7. REFLEXOLOGY

Love a good foot rub and after all the walking we do this is a lovely way to cool down and relax. We always feel great after really good reflexology. There are no set methods in Bali and you might get a gentle, soothing foot and leg rub or you might get a methodical and strong work out but every session has its benefits and is so affordable.

8. BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS, LUSH TROPICAL GARDENS

Flowers, especially orchids, green, cool gardens and my favourite, red heliconias. There are many variations in Bali but this red one is my absolute favourite! Everywhere you look there’s greenery.

9. SERENITY

Step outside your accommodation and you’ll find chaos; scooters, bikes, general traffic and crowded footpaths, but within your room, suite or villa it will be cool and quiet. After dinner, back at our villa, we often marvel at the peace and tranquillity.

The outer areas of Bali can offer totally peaceful villas and hotel rooms surrounded by lush gardens and jungle.

10. Bali is not just sun, surf, food and fun but also beautiful countryside. Visit the rice terraces, the Botanic Garden, lakes and temples and coffee plantations. Admire the mountains and Agung volcano, which erupted hours after we flew out.

Sad to leave Bali but flew back to Perth and this beautiful sunset as we landed.

Thursday was Learn About Composting Day. I would love to make nutrient rich compost from kitchen and garden waste but despite trying several different “fail proof” methods all I have ever made is evil smelling mush.

I hope you make wonderful compost!

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Big Day Out In The Bali Hills

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Bali, a popular tourist destination, especially for Australians, is best known for its beaches, restaurants, massages, hotels and resorts and temples, eating and shopping. The best known Indonesian island, Bali is also known for its volcanic soil and the occasional volcanic rumble.

This year when our son joined us for a week during our annual visit to Bali we decided to head out of town for a day.

Our first stop was to look at rice terraces. Rice is the staple food for half the world’s population and its cultivation can be traced back for at least 8000 years. It is the mainstay of Balinese cuisine and features in every meal and influences every aspect of Balinese cultural life.

Rice paddies are managed by the local priests and guarded by water temples. These terraces are surrounded by jungle and some other agricultural activity.

Surrounding farmland.

This small building is probably a gathering point for the farmers to eat in.

From the rice fields to the Bali Botanic Gardens, known locally as Kebun Raya Bali. This is not a typical botanical garden with beds of named specimens, but more a green place with local plantings and some wild areas, too.

Green, clean and well looked after with many interesting plants, mostly shrubs, bushes and trees, but also some flower beds. Plant collections here include orchids, ferns, cacti and carnivorous plants.

Into the cactus house.

Some very strange looking cacti, especially these knobbly ones. Some locals have carved their names into the plants.

Small, natural waterfall into one of the ponds.

Lush, cool and green, the gardens are popular on Fridays for family picnics and bus loads of school groups or for work lunches. It’s easy to see why they’d choose this isolated and green garden to relax and eat.

Fabulous vista of this lake and temple compound from the Botanic Garden, so this was our next stop. Beratan Lake, with its mountainous backdrop, is home to the Ulun Danu Temple, built in 1633. Architecturally beautiful with intricate carving and ornate finishes, this water temple is very important as the lake is the main source of water for irrigation in this area. There are other smaller temples along the lake shore.

It was a little cooler in the mountains and we enjoyed walking around this temple compound and admiring the view.

From the temple to a restaurant overlooking another valley. The satay sticks were very good and so was the coffee from their Italian coffee machine! Bit unexpected as we were a long way from mainstream Bali, but very welcome and we each had two coffees and plantan cakes.

Our view from the outdoor terrace at the restaurant.

To a coffee plantation. They also grew cocoa, turmeric, vanilla and ginger which were all used to make tea.

This is a demonstration of the old way of roasting the coffee bean and takes about an hour per kilo. Hot and smoky!

The famous luwak coffee from this area actually is harvested from the coffee beans which have passed through the civet and been collected. The civet, a cat-like animal, is nocturnal and this curled up ball is the best I could do as they were fast asleep! I didn’t try those coffee beans, either.

This farm produces coffee beans, cacao which they sell to a famous chocolatier in Belgium, pink, black and white pepper corns, ginger and turmeric. Lovely wander through their garden and tasting tables.

Types of teas available at the coffee plantation. We bought mangosteen tea and ginger tea, but there was a huge variety and we enjoyed tasting them all.

This was the last place on our list so we headed back to our villa in Seminyak.

Today, 25th of May, is Tap Dance Day, which began in 1989. The day celebrates the origins and heritage of the genre and remembers famous tap dancers.

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Cottesloe Beach for Sculptures and Albany for the Avenue of Honour Lights.

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Visited iconic Cottesloe Beach on a really hot day to wander around the Sculptures By The Sea. This free exhibition is in its 15th year and exhibits more than 70 pieces.

The sculptures are arranged on the grassed area and the beach so it’s easy to look at them from each perspective. Good access, beautiful surrounds and interesting pieces make this a very popular event. Across the road from the beach there’s coffee shops and cafes, icecream shops, restaurants and fish and chips shops, all with great views of the beach and Rottnest Island beyond.

This is one of a series of textural sculptures, clumped together creating a “cactus” garden. Tactile and not too big, these were very popular with children.

On The Nose, a humorous and clever sculpture. Very popular.

The artists exhibiting come from all over the world, including Japan, Germany, America, Sweden, China, Finland, Austria, Italy, Norway, Greece, England,South Korea, New Zealand and Australia.

The tower on the left is the Surf Life Saving post. This is the state’s coastal safety and rescue organisation. They patrol all the local beaches and provide essential educational and emergency services for the millions of people who visit WA’s beautiful beaches every year.

SLSWA runs children’s programs, too, called Nippers, and the children on the surf skis are practising their surf life saving skills.

Luckily, visitors to Cottesloe Beach to view the Sculptures By The Sea can refill their drink bottles with filtered water from these sources encouraging less reliance on single use plastic bottles.

The leaf sculpture “Ipomoea”to the right, moved on its stem and was fun to watch. It’s the work of New Zealander, Phil Price.

To Albany, down the south coast, to visit the Avenue of Honour.

Field of Light: Avenue of Honour is an installation by Bruce Munro and features 16 000 lights which glow green, yellow then white, representing the wattles, a native bush, common in the area. This immense and extremely moving installation down both sides of the avenue, pays homage to the ANZACS . This was the last sight of Western Australia for the 41 00o troops who departed from King George Sound.

The lights just before dusk.

The lights after dusk. Beautiful, quiet, very moving, a special visit to Albany. I really like this photo because there’s a ship in the background leaving King George Sound, just as the troops left all those years ago. Amongst the beauty, we can reflect on the sacrifice, courage and honour of the ANZACS.

ANZACS the acronym for Australian, and New Zealand Army Corps

Tomorrow, the 6th of April. is Teflon Day, commemorating the accidental discovery of polytetrafluoroethylene, or Teflon. In 1938, Dr Roy Plunkett was trying to make a CFC coolant, but created Teflon.

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Back to Bangkok

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Arrived in Bangkok for the last part of our holiday. Suvarnabhum Airport, the new airport, is so different from Don Muang Airport, which is a seething, chaotic and noisy experience. After collecting our luggage we changed some money, went out to the taxi area, collected a taxi ticket, then into the taxi to the hotel along a series of elevated freeways.

We’ve stayed at this hotel on the Chao Phraya River before and every time we’ve really enjoyed the views, the great accommodation and remarkable food, plus wonderful service. The hotel has its own ferry which runs regularly from the hotel to the Saphan Taksin BTS Pier, where you can catch the train, another ferry or go shopping. The traffic in Bangkok is slow and congested, the river is quicker and cooler, but far busier than it used to be with many more ferries. We had to wait in a queue to disembark at the Saphan Pier each trip.

The hotel pool area, overlooking the river. Very relaxing.

One of many pools with floating water lilies. Calm, cool and restful.

I think I’d feel like this if I did a headstand at yoga.

To the 35th floor for the views and, of course, yum cha! Delicious.

Steamed Mandarin Lava Bun, so pretty. I’d never seen it before, so had to try it!

Every time we eat in this restaurant I offer to take this ginger jar with the fish motif, and its twin, home. Lots of giggling, then my offer is politely declined.

These bright yellow boats are Municipal Garbage Vessels. There are six vessels, mainly used to control weed in the river, but their metallic “teeth” and robotic arms also collect other rubbish, although nets and colander type scoops are also used, too. Smaller boats are used in the canals.

Views from the ferry, contrasting the old and the new. The ferries along the river stop frequently, so it’s an easy way to visit most places of interest.

Ferry to a new shopping centre, Icon Siam. The ground floor was mostly food and local products, the other floors feature a dazzling collection of designer shops.

The lower floor is the Siam Sook, decorated with Thai motifs, part of six floors offering a total of 100 restaurants and 500 shops. Pleasant and cool way to get my 12000+ steps and lots of window shopping.

Enjoying the hotel gardens, en route to the ferry.

Dawn overlooking the Chao Phraya River as we prepared to leave Bangkok after another wonderful stay there.

Tomorrow, the 30th of March, is Take a Walk in the Park Day, so that’s pretty easy, enjoyable and cheap! I hope you have good weather for your walk.

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Dalat, Saigon and Plastics

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Flew from Saigon to Dalat. Slowly climbed a steep, winding mountain road from the airport to the Dalat township, famous for flowers and old French architecture. Dalat was the hill town for the French to escape the humidity and heat of summer in Saigon. We stayed at a resort on the outskirts of the town.

Beautiful flowers but long, sharp thorns.

Lush greenery with flashes of bright colour. Gorgeous gardens everywhere.

This is the resort vegetable garden. Most of the fresh vegetables used in the restaurant comes from this plot, picked, prepared and served within hours. The food was so good!

Green papaya salad, one of many eaten by me in the last month. This one had some chicken pieces, too. Clean and fresh flavours. Delicious.

The resort looking towards a newly developed part of town.

Old Citroen at the resort.

To the resort spa and my reflexology session started with a long, lovely soak in a golden basin of cinnamon scented water. Meanwhile I sipped on a cup of strong, refreshing ginger tea. Lush, green garden outside the window. The resort was a French hill town resort in the 30’s and many of the buildings remain from that time. Our villa was in one of the many old buildings. Very special area.

After the cinnamon soak and reflexology, a hot stone treatment. So relaxing. I actually went to sleep half way through this process but woke in time to enjoy the hot stone massage. This session was truly luxurious and supremely relaxing. So wonderful!

Back to Saigon and interested to see a variety of posters in the lift at our hotel promoting water pollution awareness.

A Canadian artist, Benjamin Von Wong’s installation made entirely of recycled straws, 16 000 of them, in fact. Aiming to bring awareness to the problem of single use plastics, Von Wong’s Parting of the Plastic Sea is on display at Estella Place, in HCMC. Volunteers helped create the 3.3m art installation.

Parting of the Plastic Sea was recognized 22/10/2018 by the Guinness World Records as the largest straw art installation in the world. Starbucks had collection bins throughout Vietnam for six months to accumulate the straws which were cleaned and colour sorted by Zero Waste Saigon. A fascinating and thought provoking piece of art.

Like everyone else, I bought and used bottled water and there was no way I would refill the bottle from the tap. The untreated water isn’t suitable to drink. Everywhere I saw people with plastic bottles of water and plastic cups of fruit juices with plastic lids, plastic straws and plastic carry bags. The river was awash with rubbish, about half of it plastic. I tried to buy soda water in aluminum cans, which are easily and cheaply recycled, but that wasn’t always possible.

I don’t know the answer to the problem but making the local water potable or drinkable and educating the locals not to use the river as a rubbish tip would probably be a starting point.

Did you celebrate St Patrick’s Day, 17th of March?

Plowing Through Life: Chuckles and Chortles

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Next Stop, Saigon

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After our great week in Hong Kong our son returned to Perth and we went on to Saigon, known as Ho Chi Min City since 1976. HCMC lies along the Saigon River, north of the Mekong Delta. During French rule, it was a major port city and metropolitan centre, with some imposing public buildings, tree-lined boulevards, a railway system and beautiful villas.

The hotel room number plates with birdcage images, which I loved.

Old Saigon changed enormously under Communist control, with a greater focus on local manufacturing, including exports made from local materials. The city is modern, vibrant and growing, including the construction of an underground train system.

The birdcage theme continued in our room, with these light fittings.

Wandering around the rooftop pool area and saw this new range of New Zealand cocktails, VNC Cocktails, being photographed. Gorgeous and sold in recyclable glass bottles and currently only in NZ, it’s available in four tempting flavours, Seabreeze, Margarita, Sundowner and Mojito. So pretty!

Arrived in Saigon with a head cold. Hotel staff were very kind and sent up ginger tea and honey and directed my husband to the hospital dispensary for cold medication. I added the chocolate biscuits. I think I became immune to colds teaching small children so was unprepared for this but will carry medication on future trips.

Aren’t these hotel flowers lovely? The climate means the parks are lush and green. They feel cool in such a hot, humid environment.

The local trucking company. The most common form of transport is the motorcycle and they are used to move an astonishing amount of stuff, not just boxes, but also entire families, father, mother, child and often a baby in a sling. Never saw in any accidents.

To Ben Thanh Markets, a swarming, enormous undercover area selling food and so many other things including many, many fake designer name bags, watches, wallets, sunglasses, scarves and clothing. Amongst it all, the market also had gorgeous lacquer ware, traditional clothing and fabrics and other local souvenirs. I don’t usually buy things when we are traveling but couldn’t resist this necklace. It got a good workout during the trip and since we have been home. Love it.

The other market we went to was in Chinatown, Cholon, another interesting but equally frenetic part of town. Also visited the Southern Vietnam Womens’ Museum, which focuses on the traditional contribution of women to the village economy, and their war and post-war contributions. Three stories but I didn’t linger. It was very, very hot that day and much worse in the museum with no air conditioning.

Front facade, Opera House.

The Opera House is one of the notable remaining buildings. Others include the Notre Dame Basilica, the Post Office and the Continental Hotel. Now the most impressive buildings in this vibrant city are glass and steel skyscrapers.

HCMC Museum of Fine Arts. Housed in a converted house originally built by a Chinese businessman, it shows both French and Chinese influences. Worth a visit to look at the architectual aspects of the building and to see the Art.

The Museum displays artifacts and artworks, all housed in wonderful rooms, showing the original features of the house.

The lift, a remnant of another time!

Interesting artworks but really enjoyed looking at the old villa, too. Rooms under the Museum and old buildings out the back house several private galleries, featuring the work of local artists. Worth a look.

Lovely old Continental Hotel close to the Opera House.

Notre Dame Basilica. The front facade is covered in scaffolding due to a renovation project.

Jumped on the local river bus and really enjoyed our trip. We got off at the last stop, walked around and then got on again. The fare is very cheap, the ferry is new and clean and it was a great way to see parts of HCMC from another perspective. There’s an interesting contrast between old, traditional river front buildings and the new skyscrapers beyond.

Buildings sites everywhere.

Towards the end of the tree-lined boulevard is one of the underground train stations under construction, marked by a crane, but it’s difficult to see.

The local shop. Next door was the local fruit and vegetable shop, both busy with people stocking up on their way home from work. Like traditional shophouses, the shop owner’s house is behind and above the shopfront.

We really enjoyed Saigon. We’ve visited Hanoi several times but the south feels really different. We found Saigon to be very vibrant and busy, and as usual in Vietnam, we loved the food (we’re going out today for a green papaya salad) and people, and all the usual things we do, looking at buildings, art, having reflexology, chatting to the locals and visiting the markets.

Today is World Sleep Day. Their introduction says, “World Sleep Day is designed to raise awareness of sleep as a human privilege that is often compromised by the habits of modern life.”

We spend one third of our lives trying to sleep, and we all know a good day starts the night before, so I hope you sleep well.

Look for sleep awareness activities on www.worldsleepday.org

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Holidaying in Hong Kong

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Years ago, before we moved to China, my husband’s office was in Hong Kong, on the Island. We’ve just been on a nostalgia holiday, visiting places we knew so well. Our son traveled with us, too. When we moved to Guangzhou, in 1997, we still had to go to HK for business, visiting friends, some shopping and to fly anywhere. Returning from trips also meant a stay in HK as then the border with China closed at 7pm and so we’d have to stay the night and catch the train the next morning.

Those were exciting days, not only living in a very different culture but meeting new people, learning ( not very well) another language, understanding different business, employment and school systems but also being able to travel as we were much closer to everywhere than when we were in Perth, Western Australia.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know our family celebrate birthdays, Lunar New Year, holidays and anything else with morning yum cha. So each morning we enjoyed breakfast at local dim sum restaurants.

We were the only Europeans in this place. The food was great. Lots of miming, guessing and laughing and we mostly worked out what we were eating. Enjoyed it so much.

Beautifully presented, elegant dim sum at M Restaurant, in the Mandarin Oriental. We knew this hotel well. It is in Central, the buzzy business area with lots of designer shops and beautifully dressed women.

Although we arrived 30 minutes before opening time, we had to queue on a week day to get a table at Tim Ho Wan’s dim sum restaurant in Sham Shui Po, considered the worlds cheapest Michelin starred restaurant. The menu changes regularly and there’s one written in English, if you ask. Enjoyed everything we ate. This is not a glamorous restaurant but the staff were great and the food worth the MTR ride.

Restaurant temple and delivery bay.

The food at Tim Ho Wan often has an interesting twist.

Celebrated the Year of the Pig with chocolate.

I’d never seen a unicorn playing a keyboard before, I’ve never actually seen a unicorn.

My favourite way to cross from Central on the Island to Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon side, is by Star Ferry. The fleet of 12 ferries carries more than 26 million passengers a year.

Cool, relaxing, scenic and very cheap, the staff still wear traditional sailor suits. Begun in 1888 all the ferries have “star” names, such as Morning Star ( built 1871), Evening Star ( built 1888), Rising Star (1890), Guiding Star (1896) plus Northern Star, Southern Star, Polar Star and several others.

The bell tower behind the ferry pier is all that remains of the original railway station.

Reflexology, some mediocre, some fabulous, all relaxing. The three of us visited several different spas both in Kowloon and on the Island.

Views from the Peak Tram, a very different experience from 20 years ago. So many more steel and glass skyscrapers. Now a popular tourist destination, we lined for ages for tickets, then shuffled forward slowly in a mass of people to get on the tram.

The Peak Tram is a funicular railway which carries tourists and residents between Garden Road and Victoria Peak.

The views across the harbour were fabulous. The railway began in 1888 and carries two million passengers a year. Try and get there early or late to avoid massive queues.

The end of the Lunar New Year celebrations is marked by the Spring Lantern Festival, informally known as Chinese Valentines Day, with hundreds of lanterns in parks, restaurants, shops, markets and hotels.

Visiting Hong Kong as a family was nostalgic with many happy memories and it was interesting to see the changes in this vibrant city. We really enjoyed visiting our old haunts and finding some new places, too.

The 5th of March was Shrove Tuesday, the last day before Lent, usually celebrated by eating pancakes.

Today is International Womens’ Day, intended to promote the rights of women. Adopted by the United Nations in 1975, it celebrates the social, economic, culural and political achievements of women.

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