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.

Want to see more pics - click on the link "read more" to the right.

On Whale Island we experienced a brief storm. It's always exciting to be close to the elements. We and the Niklasson family howled with delight when the lights in the bar were hanging horizontally instead of vertically. The locals did not seem to care. 30 minutes before the storm the sky was incredibly beautiful. The picture down below is not even cloing reality justice.

There is a storm on it´s way. There has been warnings for storms in one week. At the end of last week everybody was expecting it to strike against Hanoi with force. Our maid went home earlier in order not to get caught up in it on her way home. Then nothing happened. I must admit I got a feeling of disappointment. All this fuss for a small gust of wind and a gentle drizzle. I had expected to meet the weather forces at close range. I was mentally prepared for the worst.

Now it seems to be a new one on its way. Nalgae is its name and it is expected to arrive to Vietnam's coast on Wednesday. Let's hope it calms down and nobody gets hurt. But as it has been earlier days, the storm will probably not be noticeable. In other words, all of you back home don´t have to be worried about us.

I´m starting to acclimate. Yesterday when we were swimming in the pool it was cold. We were surprised when we looked at the thermometer. It was 28 degrees in the water. Had it been at home in Sweden it had been considered to be very warm and we had not complain like we did yesterday. I'm disappointed in myself. Where did my Swedish Viking genes go?