Update 3

Chao,

Just noticed it had been a while since we last send an email out so thought it might be time to let you know what's been going on with us her in Viet Nam.

First off, the trips that we've been taking:

Liz went on a trip down the Mekong Delta with a new friend of ours (Amy - a Melbournite) about 4 weeks ago now. Unfortunately Greg was working as it was an awesome trip that he shouldn't have missed. Caught the bus down to a small town in the Delta and then hopped on the boat for a trip around the Delta itself.

A couple weeks ago we went down to the Surfing and Kite Surfing Capital of Viet Nam, a place called Mui Ne. It is on the extreme south eastern tip of Viet Nam, around 4-5 hours from Saigon. It was a great trip getting away from the city and just having a bit of relaxation time.

We went on a tour around the area, not that it's that big, seeing a few cool things. We first went to a Place called Fairy Springs which is just a small creek but looks quite cool and was a good warm up for a couple of the next stops as we had to climb a 30 metre sand dune and then sit down and slide down it -> great fun. Next we went to a fishing village where we saw a whole heap of fishing boats in a small cove, see the pictures as it is had to explain in less than a thousand words (your cue to laugh, ha ha huh). After the fishing village we took the jeep out of town to a place called Red Canyon, basically just sand dunes that have hardened into a canyon formation and very cool to walk around and through. The last stop was the World Famous [In Viet Nam] Mui Ne Sand Dunes where we went sand boarding down 20-30 metre dunes. That was great fun, although the kid renting the boards all ripped us off, paid $2 dollars instead of $1, terrible really.

Once we finished our big tour, we retired to the hotel where we all had a swim in the pool and had a drink. Tough life at this place, we had to pay $2 for western styled cocktails with a strong kick and we had to sit in the pool to drink them. It don't know how we survived ;-). The following day we went to the beach (just out the hotel gate) and tried to take a dip but weren't game enough as it was cold (on Viet Nam Standards, definitely warmer than anything in NZ), so we instead went to the pool and had another cocktail, be rude not to really!! Check out was 12:00 and the bus came to pick us up soon after that to take us back to Saigon.

The next week the Parents were here which was good. Took them around the city and showed off the major sights and sounds of Saigon. Actually managed to get mum on the back of the Old Vespa on the way back from the airport, probably a mistake as she now it claiming the Vespa as "ours" and I think she thinks she's a bit of a Biky Chick, how sad ;-). They took us out on a boat on the Saigon River which gave us a bit of perspective about what was across the other side of the water. There are only 3 bridges across the other side so we don't go over there - Kind of like the North Shore of Auckland ;-). You can see some of the pictures of it, quite scary when we saw a guy swimming in the river with a huge knife sticking out of his mouth and eyes that made him look like Jack Nicholson as Jack in the Shining, waiting for him to say "Day Jonny" (translation - here's Jonny, kind of looses something in translation but no matter).

The Parents left up to Hoi An (an hour or so north of Saigon) on Thursday morning and we went down to Vung Tau. This is the place where the Australians had there R&R during the American War and was one of the best developed places I think we have seen since we arrived here. It is now used as the playground for the rich Saigonites but was empty as it was a weekday. It was quite fun down there but not ab fab. Must have been around 40 degrees when we left and because of that and not wanting to get ill from the sun, we left a couple hours early. Took the Hydrofoil there and back which was fun, rising above the waves like we were flying until we went by the wake of a big boat and came crashing back down; I suspect there is no Maritime Safety group here as we came within metres of some of the oncoming vessels, but that was fun.

We have a couple exciting trips lined up in the next couple months. The first is down to Phu Quoc Island near the Cambodian coast. It was used as a Re-Education camp after the war and is now a resort type island with backpacker prices. That should be good. Another one is going up to Laos and hopping in some inner tubes and floating down the river. Apparently they throw bamboo poles into the water to grab you then bring you in, feed you good (their good, not our good) booze then send you on your way, and that happens every 500 metres or so for around 3-4 km. Then there is also the trips to Singapore/Bangkok/KL etc... that we can do, but only when Jetstar/Tiger/Air Asia make it cheap enough (it's a whole $50 bucks at the moment although there is a sale on at the moment to Singapore for only $20, hmmmm).

And now the "other stuff":

We are moving in the next week or so. The flat was half breaking up so we decided to move to a new apartment close to the city. Our cell phone numbers will remain the same, but we will also get a land line (not that we can ring as the calls from here are horrendously expensive).
Our new address is:
93 Nguyen Phi Khanh Street,
Tan Dinh Ward,
District 01, Ho Chi Minh City,
Viet Nam.

Greg has been working hard at his school (VUS) for the last 3 months now. That's gotten better since the beginning but some of the kids are still little trouble makers. All in all it is good, the other teachers definitely make it worthwhile. Greg also had another job at an Aussie place but quit after they took some hours away because he "didn't have an American accent." Annoying but better now with only one employer and more hours there than the other one could offer. And just this morning, he got a half offer (yes I am super keen but I have to get back to you tomorrow), hopefully that will bring something, if not then oh well.

me, not so busy. still spending lots of time exploring saigon, so many little side streets with shops (look out), cafes (coffee and iced tea), can walk the same street many times and there is always something new to find. starting yoga later this week and have emailed some charities hopefully be able to get some work in the next few weeks. For all you lovely people that have sent indivduals emails we will reply in the next little while. thats about all from me.

Some of the photos over the last wee while can be found on the following page: http://picasaweb.google.com/greg.and.liz/WhatWeVeBeenUpTo02?authkey=zwRILMi3pU8

Look forward to hearing what you've been up to.