During Kaye´s visit we also went up to the mountains. Tam Dao was close enough for a day trip. Cecilia and David joined us.

It´s a bit tricky to get the boys motivated for a walk in the sticks. But I think they enjoyed the view and fresh cool air. And all the bugs you could find along the path. They were happy at least until they got hungry. We tried the walk 4 km to the waterfall but the snacks we  brought for the kids wasn´t enough. We had to turn back to feed them at the local restaurants. Maybe next time we have learned our lesson.

At a quick look Tam Dao´s like a small alpine village in France. The tiny serpentine roads going up the mountain, narrow but high houses on the slopes. Very beautiful. I would like to go there and stay over a weekend. I think there is a nice resort on the slopes somewhere. With a pool.

If you want  you can read more and look at pics at the link "read more" down below to your right.

Well, you can´t get enough of Hoi An. We took Kaye there for a couple of days and I hope she enjoyed it as much as we did. Beach, wine, drinks and nice food. What more do you need to keep Kaye happy?! (Maybe a golf course)

We stayed at Little Boutique Hotel and Spa. In town for a change. Usually we stay by the beach. I can highly recommend this hotel. Very nice and friendly staff that did everything to help. When we´ve stayed by the beach we have´nt had enough time to explore old town. We wanted to change that by staying in town. After the really good buffe breakfast at the hotel we headed out to An Bang beach (15 min by taxi) and in the afternoon we headed back to town. I was a little worried that the kids would´nt like to stay in town. But the hotel had a nice little pool that did the trick. (We also bribed them with pocket money to spend in town.)

This time I went on my second photo tour with Hoianphototour.com. A late afternoon tour to a small village outside Hoi An. Looked kind of untouched by tourists. And as always Vietnamese people love to be photographed. A good opportunity to practice street photography in the country side. After the village we took the boat back to town for some low light photography on the streets in old town.

This day the guy who owns the tour company (Etienne) had his grand opening of his gallery. We where invited to go there by Pieter the tour guide/teacher. It was very nice and Etienne looked very happy to see us novices coming to his grand opening. Etienne had taken some pretty nice pics. I wish I can get that good.

If you want to see pictures (mine) and read some more, just click on the link "read more" down to your right.

I went to Singapore with only one thing in mind. Universal Studios. I knew that at least 4 out of 5 of us will love it. We hit jackpot. Carol also loved it.

Singapore turned out to be a place with a lot of stuff to do and see. We lived on the island Sentosa. A very green island (well, Singapore is all green but this was greener then the rest. Let´s call it jungle) with hotels, resorts and lot´s of activities. Luge was fun. It´s a track down the hill (like bob sledge in the summer). The boys tried surfing at a "bar/restaurant" (see pics).  You could also race down the hill, up in the air on a wire. You could even try indoor sky diving. And that's only around the corner from where we lived.

On TV in Viet Nam there has been a lot of commercial´s about Marina Bay Sands. Even TV shows on National Geographic. Off course we went there. You can´t resist the power of commercial. It turned out to be very nice. We sat in the bar and had a few drinks (mocktails for the kids) and looked at the spectacular view. To bad we didn´t bring the thick wallet because the shopping center at the Sands was huge with lot´s of very expensive shops. Outside the shopping center is the Promenade. It´s what it sounds like. With restaurants and places to sit down and relax. When we where sitting there watching the sun going down we had a surprise. They have a light/laser/water/fire show out on the water when it gets dark. Very nice with the famous Singapore sky line in the background.

In total, we are very pleased with this trip to Singapore. If we have the possibility at least I want to go back. So much to see and do. And so easy to get around.

If you want to read more and see pics just click on the link "read more" down to your right.

We had two lovely guests visiting us for over 2 weeks. Monica (friends daughter) has been working in New Zealand and stopped by on the way home to Sweden. Her Friend Sabina met up with her and they did Ha Noi and surrounding together.

They mostly made it by themselves but I managed to join them on different occasions, like Temple of literature.

It was very nice to have company and they where the nicest guests ever. They liked everything we put on the table and we are not used to that in this house, Ossi (and Carol) being the way he is with food. We did´nt even need to clear the table, Monica and Sabina just took control over the dirty dishes (good for them we have a dishwasher).

They continued their tour and left by train to Beijing and after that they went to Singapore.

I took some pictures when we did outings in Ha Noi. Click on the link "read more" to view.