Arrived at our Hanoi hotel about midnight and crashed to get as much sleep as possible knowing the family had arrived ahead of us. Fortunately we'd managed to get some shut-eye on the plane, so were able to be up in reasonable shape to join them for breakfast.Enjoyable couple of days in Hanoi visiting peaceful Hoan Kiem Lake, tourist ride in an electric cart, doing a bit of shopping. A visit to the Temple of Literature - Vietnam's first university establ...

On our way back from New Zealand we had an 11 hour stopover in Guangzhou, China. We knew we could have a half-day rate room in the posh airport resort for $50. We'd done it on the way there, even took the subway to the city centre for a bit of sightseeing. But we're nothing if not adventurous (well one of us is anyway) and decided this time to try the freebie hotel on offer from the airline. After hanging about briefly waiting for another flight to arriv...

... That was my first impression of New Zealand, after two years of living in Asia.Auckland was a combination of Fremantle and Sydney Harbour, old and modern buildings and an attractive waterway. We decided to stay on the waterfront for a few days before the conference began. The hotel was ageing (which we knew from the reviews we'd seen) but had an excellent restaurant - and we really did enjoy the view. We went on a half day winery tour - good wine is somet...

... And a whole lot of catching up!I know I've talked about food before - more than once - but as you've probably gathered, leisure activities in Quang Ngai aren't exactly buzzing. This means that drinking coffee and eating the local specialities occupies a fairly big part of our free time.There's lots of chicken and pork, many kinds of fish and delicious squid and prawns. The meat is all "free range" and often tough, which probably explains why m...

A friend said in a recent email "I'm sure there must be some trying days" and it reminded me that I once chastised Owen for his "rose colored glasses" news posts when we were in China. So here are some reality checks in case you think it sounds all too easy :)The 10 Most Trying Things - in no particular order.1. Ironing. Go and stand under a fan to dry off between shirts. Give up when the sweat starts to drip onto the ironing board as I iron.2. Mosquitoes. I...