What to do when there is no school on a Tuesday? Why not a day out in Ba Vi national park with half the Niklasson family. From Ha Noi 1.30h by car. We took a taxi and it ended up 1.2 miljon VND (350 SEK), just what the local staff at the embassy said it would cost. It was a lovely day for all of us and we ended up walking approximately 4 km. 1,5 hour up the mountain and 30 min down. There was almost no people at all. According to our maid Sinh the weekends are very busy. All the young people want to get away from the family to spend some time with their sweetheart.

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11-11-11. A day that occurs once in a lifetime. A special day for special events. At UNIS they celebrated with a charity event - Walk-A-Thon. The kids did laps on the field track and for every lap they did their sponsors had to donate a predetermined amount of money. The money will go to Blue Dragon Children´s Foundation.

Please visit: http://www.streetkidsinvietnam.com

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 Pneumonia and tonsillitis. Probably both boys. Uncertain of Ossian. Test results are expected as regards tonsillitis. It all started with fever and followed by coughing. It all started  when the boys had trouble sleeping at night and we went to the pedriatric clinic to get some coughing medicin. They started to take blood samples and the boys had their lungs  z-rayed. Ruben do not like to be stung by a syringe and he fainted. Not once but twice. Ossian screamed loudly and scared the other children at the clinic.


I was thinking "why all this". But the doctor explained that Viet Nam is not like Sweden. A common cold spreads more easily to the lungs and worse things can then occur. We do not want that to happen, do we? But it had already happened and the result is - 4 different medications. Now I am trying to occupy the boys with games and crafts just to keep them from fighting with each other. Next time I'll act a little faster just to be on the safe side. __

Im trying to get Bonzan to walk with me in an orderly manner. She behaves very well when we go for walks in known areas. Today I went to Thu Le park. We encountered a lot of distractions like people, carousels and other animals. Its a zoo. She did wery well most of the time, but she had a hard time to relax when we sat down close to the monkeys. After a while she did not care about the monkeys. Instead she got a lot of attention from vietnamese people. It seems that they where more interested in Bonzan then the monkeys they paid to see. It was a little uncomfortable for a while and I was a bit angry at some people. They had a hard time understanding me when I did not want them to look her in the eye and throw her sunflower seeds. Some just stood 2,5 meter away from her and stared her in the eyes for a few minutes. You definitely not behave like that with dogs. Bonzan was very stressed by it. But one must remember that Bonzan still is a puppy and that she will become calmer in the future. This was good training for her. But still, the monkeys where very exciting.

 I´ve had some good news.... read more ...click on the link to the right.

Today I went to Bach Thao Park. It was not planned and Bonzan was unfortunately left at home. She would have loved it. It´s wedding time in Việt Nam. Wherever you end up you will find wedding couples getting photographed. The only criteria tends to be trees in some kind of lineup. Om Kim Ma just outside the embassy It´s nice and green with a lot of trees lining the road. Every day I spend approximately 5-7 minuters passing through this part and in October/November I have seen at least 4 couples/day taking their photographs.

According to Sinh, our maid, its a good time to get married. Its not about religion or tradition. Its all about nice weather. Cool (22-30 C) and very little rain. Why so many couples end up on Kim Ma is because of the light, according to Sinh. It´s apparently very nice.

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What to do a Sunday afternoon with the boys when mom is on a trip to Sweden? When Ruben suggested that we should go to Vincom Tower and play games in the arcade I did not hesitate. After all I am just a small boy in a big body. Carol would never join us so it was a perfect opportunity that should not go to waste. We had a lot of fun.