The longest day slowly comes to an end.

The end of the longest first day.

The day was not as yet finished, after the bus dropped us off at the Sofitel Hotel we had over an hour before gong out to dinner. Erle and I decided we just had t have a quick swim in the huge pool as we were so very hot and sweaty and just worn out as it had been an extremely long day with fancy welcome dinner still to come. We all chose to go to the local Cooking School for dinner, where young chefs and waiters all learn their trades. The food was just lovely all beautifully decorated and served perfectly, we dined with Dorothy and Winnifred the 2 nice Kiwi ladies and very much

 enjoyed our evening out. The most unusual of the food served was Crispy Rice coated Chicken, it was lovely and the Coconut and prawn soup served in a coconut shell was also divine. We were supposed to be getting to know our fellow travellers but really all we got to know were each other!

After dinner we all walked back to our Hotel braving the busy streets full of traffic, and collapsed into our beds for a good nights sleep.

Good Morning Vietnam!

Good morning Vietnam  (in the words of the late great Robin Williams.
We have arrived in Hanoi and are quickly whisked off to our very nice Hotel where we have about half an hour to unpack, freshen up, have a bite to eat and get back down ready to go bike riding or any of the other 5 options for the afternoon. Not a lot of spare time to adjust to the heat and humidity, the very thought of heading off for an hours bike ride in the country had very little appeal but we were ready! However the very nice tour guide Quang took one look at us and suggested we didn't bike but instead went on a lovely visit to a Pottery factory. Good suggestion Quang, we were only mildly disappointed. 
While we waited for the bus to take us to the pottery place Erle and I dashed out along the street to have a look around, we discovered the Hanoi Opera House, a very impressive building across the road and all the masses of scooters on the road, even spotted a rickshaw!

The foot paths were littered with hundreds of scooters, apparently the footpath is the scooter park!

The Bus took us to the Pottery factory some distance away where we found a squirrel in a cage running madly all around his house, so fast I couldn't catch a good photo of him, then in we went to the factory where there was no air conditioning just a couple of fans moving the stifling heat around. The workers mainly sat on the ground or on tiny wee 6 inch high seats, wearing masks against the clay dust, all doing delicate hand work, there was hardly any machinery but the pottery was very well made.

 The people had to make hundreds of the same item over and over again. Teapots, cups, plates vases and religious icons etc There was a big market nearby selling all of these items.

A nice Guava selling lady  gave Erle a green guava to try, we took it home and peeled it to taste it but were not very keen on the flavour.

Off on our big tour, first stop Singapore

We are off on our tour, it started early on Monday morning taking Porsche our dear little Burmese cat to the cattery in Blenheim, then we came back to Picton caught the Ferry to Wellington and in time the flight to Auckland and then at midnight caught the plane to Singapore a full 10 hour flight which fortunately we did grab a little sleep. We were only in transit for a few hours then back on the plane to Hanoi in Vietnam. Took these photos in Singapore. the airport is so beautiful just full of flowers, mainly beautiful Orchids.

As we went through Auckland Airport we looked around to see if anyone else was carrying APT backpacks that we have all been given for going on this tour. We quickly spotted 2 ladies and made ourselves known to Dorothy and Winnifred and I could tell we would get on well they both had a nice
 twinkle

 in their eyes... fun people, we travelled together from then on.. And in Auckland we also found 2 men also in the team. Singapore was only a transit stop and soon we were on our way to Hanoi Vietnam.

Our next big holiday.

Only one week to go before we leave on our cruises of Vietnam and Cambodia. Can't wait! 

One of the ships we will be cruising upon.

Avonside Drive in Christchurch.

This is part of the area we drove around in Christchurch, Avonside Drive, so many homes have just vanished leaving vast empty spaces. This just one of the many areas that have been ruined by the earthquake, some never to be built on again ever as the land is too unstable now.

Thanks to the Press Newspaper for the photo.

New Brighton Christchurch

We drove around  the suburbs looking at the ruined homes of people who have already left the district , where there are just empty paddock in which whole communities lived and loved in homes that just don't exist any more or if they are still standing they have been vandalized and sit vacant and abandoned and/or flooded; a sorry sight.
 So on to a slightly run-down New Brighton and the lovely beach with its nice new Pier, rebuilt since the quake which brought it down. We did some shopping and talked to locals who wish the town could become the 'place to be' again that it was several years ago  when it was the only town in the district that was open for business on the weekends. Maybe it could too, now is the time for change.

New Regent Street Christchurch

 New Regent Street with its old fashioned, very English, tiny crammed together small shops, is seemingly little changed from the past, but it was damaged and quickly repaired and back in business. We stopped here for coffee, I lounged around on the huge oversize lounge suite just for fun so I could chat to passers by. And we ran into the Wizard holding  Court now in this street instead of the Square, he gave us a wave as we past by and no he didn't ankle tap us or trip us with his long staff.