Back in Saigon

So so good to be back in town!
Can't wait to get settled and back into the swing of things. Will be posting soon with pictures on things that have changed since last summer - initial impressions, pretty much the same but with a few new buildings going up and slightly worse traffic.

Stunning Kefalonia

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Kefalonia is the largest of the Ionian Islands off the west coast of Greece. 90 kilometres from top to bottom, it is a stunning (and winning) combination of soaring rugged mountains that slope all the way to gorgeous beaches and picturesque villages that overlook coast and valley. With three other islands surrounding Kefalonia, the views given its own coastline as well are breathtaking. Vegetation comprises of a huge and surprising array of trees - some you would expect from an island in the vicinity of the Med and some you'd more likely find in Norway such as the black fir. Amongst the swathes of olive tree groves and sunburnt yellowing grass sit white villas with their terracotta roofs, every single one with a fantastic view of the shimmering true blue ocean and the hazy outline of islands distant. No one is stuck for a view in Kefalonia.







Roads were either ear popping mountain passes or chiselled into the rock to follow the sea. To the north of the capital Argostoli lies Myrtos Bay, an icon in beach terms. Just to the north lies the peninsular island of Assos.


Continuing north to the top of the island brings you to Fiscardo, the main yachting hangout and resident quaint-as-hell town on the island.





We stayed at Lourdas, a resort around 7km north of the airport and situated around a 2km walk from the stretch of beaches at the foot of the mountain. It was a big hill, a car was essential unless you are in training for some kind of gruelling physical challenge in the future. The area is famed for its gardens, and deservedly so. eg Tenderly manicured fruit and veg gardens reach literally down to the beach. The resort is still not developed so restaurant owners grow their produce right next door on their land.

Some pics from Lourdas:

Green chillies and lemon trees


Gardens at the beach, resorts on the hillside and the mountains behind.


Lucky House 13. If we go back, we are renting this thing.


Because this beach is a footstep away:


For beaches and swimming, I haven't been blown away like this since the islands of Thailand first smacked me in the mouth, for scenery I haven't been so dazed since seeing the Great Ocean Road in Australia. It's quite something, this island.

And what did we do? A lot of mincing and poncing around (on my part), drove, ate, drank, swam, the usual. This holiday was a little different as we had 'the pickle' in tow, and what a superstar she was. It isn't hard to meet people when you have this little monster slung over your shoulder. I spent hours, no, days coming up with this analogy so hear me out : taking a baby on holiday is like having babies in general. Bloody hard work but worth it.

British Summer (kind of)

Well we were lucky enough to have some nice days recently and headed out to enjoy part of Dorset's Jurassic Coastline. Which is just a 30 minutes drive from Bournemouth. Here's the beautiful Lulworth Cove..

Looking west along the Dorset coast...



The beach at Durdle Door:



Durdle Door itself:



During the summer months in this part of the world the chances of spotting some wildlife increase dramatically.



The little one is now 6.5 months and crawling. She is getting prepared for a little jaunt to Kefalonia, Greece before her long haul flight to Saigon to meet the other half of her family and get settled.





So very soon it's goodbye to England once more and hello to Vietnam, time to pick up my life of four years from where I left off. I've survived all manner of things including a horrific winter, a birth, three driving tests and a University course from hell. Time to get back to the tropics methinks!

An Albanian Wedding

If I ever meet an Albanian from now on, at least I can surprise them with the fact that I've been to a three day Albanian wedding extravaganza where dancing is the order of the day.

Friday night : Cocktail party
Saturday : What can only be described as a continuous banquet dispersed with bouts of dancing and music. 6 hours, 12-6pm.
Sunday : Church wedding at 5pm, onto the Colloseum for pictures, dinner and party (more Albanian dancing) 8-late.

On Saturday the poor old groom, already the tallest man in the room by probably a foot, was the centre of attention the whole time and dancing like this for 6 hours. Here you can see family members of the bride placing money on the happy couple as they dance for the well wishers.

On Sunday the church wedding took place at a quaint chapel hidden down some Mediterranean looking back streets.



After this the entire wedding party, 6 inch stilettos and all, traipsed to the town Colloseum for some photo ops. This is all in Durres, the second largest city in Albania.





Then it was on to the party, 'Club Tropicana'. Yes, drinks were free.



All that's left is my before and after comparison. Here we are on Saturday, sat around the table at about 1pm thinking 'What the hell...'



Here we are on Sunday night...can you spot the difference (the alcohol level could have had something to do with it as well).

Connections Vietnam going strong

We've had our best couple of months so far since starting up with Connections Vietnam, including a group of 20 (mostly teenagers) from Australia. This was our biggest group so far by some distance! They had a great time.

They went to Chinatown:

And they had lunch at one of our Chef's houses. Luckily she has an enormous kitchen and we managed to accommodate them all.





Despite our absence from Vietnam our determination to continue the business has been rewarded. Our guys over in Saigon are all doing a fantastic job, what a great team we have! Through weekly meetings via Skype and our makeshift office (in my mother-in-laws house) things have ticked over nicely. Sometimes I come home and Chi is on the internet phone arranging something whilst suckling Louisa at the same time...

We are currently sub-contracting for two of the biggest tour operators in Vietnam. We haven't really seen bookings drying up which, touch wood, is a good sign considering the economic climate at the moment. Most of all, we can't wait to get back to Saigon and get behind the wheel again, we have many more ideas to expand what we offer.

Check out some of our Customer Testimonials.

Dinnertime

For some reason video recorded on my camera makes a bloody awful noise. Anyway, who cares! 5 months and already gobbling porridge. Apparently she can't wait to try some Pho stock.

Passport craziness

I remember when I was a kid we were included in our parents pass ports. Now even little babies need pass ports. So in five years time when Lousia is a walking talking little girl with long hair I'll be showing this picture of a 10 week old baby to grim faced immigration officials.

Louisa says:

"That's bloody stupid, but they must be making a fortune from all those extra passports."