Sudokuaholics Anonymous 9A

Lots of interesting places to visit there.
Where one cirty ends and the next starts I have no idea, there is an endless conection of houses.

Has become a real tourest trap, everyone is after your money, but the money does go along way. Can be an instant millionair, exchanged AU$100, got 1.7M VND! A bottle of water cost about AU$0.30.

Hi vdV, glad you can fly through.

I am going to bed early tonight. Catch you all tomorrow. Hope the day/night brings nothing but the best for all my friends.

The conference I went to DELTA2010 (http://nnttf.ecu.edu.au/delta2010/) was very interesting, lots of different areas of electronics covered, aerospace-building-mechinery-medical-.etc...

G'nite Tami

DAY 1(17/1) : CU CHI – CAO DAI
Breakfast at the hotel. Drive west to Tay Ninh, headquarters of Cao Dai region. On arrival, attend the fantastic mid-day temple service when followers fill the hall wearing colored robes, a symbol of the curious combination of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. On the way back, visit the Cu Chi Tunnels, an underground network of tunnels constructed by Vietnamese fighters during the struggle for independence. The tunnels contained hospitals, accommodation, etc. and were used as a military base for the Vietcong during the American war. Return to HCMC

DAY 2( 18/1): MEKONG Full day
AM: Transfer by roads to the Mekong Delta, Vietnam's largest rice bowl. On arrival in My Tho we embark on a boat navigating around the intricate small canals in the delta region, which is a great way to observe the local lifestyle close-up. This thrilling excursion will pass the lush green vegetation before arriving on an island. Here we have opportunities to visit some fascinating local industries, stroll around an orchard and taste many seasonal fruits. After feasting on a huge lunch we return to Ho Chi Minh.O/N in Ho Chi Minh.

DAY3 19/1: SAI GON CITY TOUR( B)
Breakfast at the hotel. Start your sightseeing tour at the Reunification Palace, which was the residence of the President of South Vietnam until end of the war in April 1975. Then visit some impressive French colonial structures including Notre Dame Cathedral and the Old Central Post Office. Explore Chinatown and Thien Hau and Quan Am pagodas. After seeing the Emperor Jade Pagoda and the War Remnants Museum, end your tour at Ben Thanh market where anything and everything is for sale. Dinner on guest's account. Overnight at your chosen hotel in HCMC

DAY4 20/1: SAI GON Free & easy- NHa TRang( B)
You have full day relaxing and then at 17:00 take taxi by yourself to the railways station to catch the train to Nha Trang. O/N on train

This was chaned to a plane flight.

DAY5 21/1: NHa Trang Free(B)
On arrival Nha Trang, take taxi to hotel. Have full day for relaxing. O/N in Nha Trang.

DAY6 22/1: NHa Trang Island tour(B)
8:30am:Pick up at Hotel for Mun Island (Ebony Island). Stop for one hour of leisurely snorkeling, swimming and sunbathing. The snorkeling equipment is provided for viewing the marine wildlife and plentiful coral reefs.
11:00am:Visit Mot Island where you will enjoy excellent fresh cuisine for lunch. After lunch, enjoy the floating bar with complimentary red wine and fruit while being entertained by the hilarious guides with their funny antics (it’s party time!)
2:30pm:Visit Tri Nguyen Aquarium.
3:30 pm Back on the boat for seasonal fruits and coffee.
3:45pm: Visit a fishing village where you can see the villagers at work catching cuttlefish, shrimp, flower crabs. Test your skills in a basket boat - for hire
4:30pm: Back to the harbor at sunset. Return to your hotel

This was changed a little.

Wow! Thanks for that itinerary Steve. Sounds so interesting. I have heard about those Viet Cong caves before.

Good Evening, Friends!

Hello to Heidi, Victoria, Suzy, Broni, June, Gail, Vivacious Viv, CynB, MizTricia, Theresa, Vicki, Rolanda, Tami the Troublemaker, vdV, ____

Heidi, I guess we should have understood what you meant about someone else doing the 8 AM calf check - not so much help, and probably close enough to when you would do a check that it doesn't seem to matter to him. You would never expect him to volunteer to do a check at 4 AM. After reading your description of the ease in curing milk fever it makes me wonder why IH would overlook it. I'm glad you try to catch some sleep between calf checks! I hope all went well working last year's calves in preparation for selling! It's too bad the original intended sale didn't work out. It would have saved you a LOT of hay! Then 2 hours of driving to get your pain medication when you were done! You're amazing!

Suzy, I hope the girls are feeling better! How did your Mum's surgery go? I'm sending prayers and positive vibes for her, you and your family!

Broni, thanks for letting us know you had tried to reach June!

June, we're so glad when you can post and update us, even if just a sentence or two! We can wait to hear more when you are safely back at home!

Gail, how nice you got to rearrange your bedroom! Especially nice that you didn't need to do it alone. Right now I can't imagine another way to arrange ours. Heidi is right! Sometimes we need to just let ffuts slide and not get in the way of living. People and their needs are far more important!

Vivacious Viv, your Avon must be going well with TWO days of deliveries! Good for you!

MizT, I hope your hand is feeling better each day! We appreciate your popping in for a quick Hello and update!

Rolanda, CONGRATULATIONS to your #1 son, and to you and your hubby on tonight's graduation! What an accomplishment! Wishing him well in job search or whatever comes next in his life! And how nice that another new grand niece or nephew will be coming in October!

CynB, I hope you have remained calm since Col got home after the roof problem. I hope he is OK and that the repairs were not terribly expensive. I would hope that such an accident would not mar his work reputation!

Wow, vdV, talk about a fly-by! It's nice to see you and read your wonderful travelog about Vietnam!

Oops, I guess I never finished my greeting to anyone else who might be visiting. I just trailed off ____

CynB, I think a number of us have heard about the Viet Cong caves. I new about them more for escape & didn't realize they actually had underground hospitals.

Good maEn everyone!! vdV, your trip sounds AMAZING!!! I was just popping in briefly during a break in the Olympics. Haven't read much (missed 9 pages, too much to catch up on).
I did a bonehead thing the other day. I was getting ready to naelc the house with the sucky thing and was putting some Arm & Hammer carpet fresh down and fell (backwards) tripping over the sucky thing while going down the stairs...I ache EVERYWHERE!!!! No bruising or anything broken. That's what I get for wanting a Dyson!! The thing is also heavy!!!! With 3 floors of house to naelc, I only do it once a week.

time to change avatars!

Suzanne.. Ouch!!!!

you only vacuum once a week, my place is lucky if it gets vacuumed weekly!!!

Hey Cous.. so noice to see you and stayed longer than the fly in and fly out.. Vietnam sounds great. Just like China..

Am I here alone????

Hi, Suzanne! So sorry to hear about your tumble and thankful you didn't break anything.

Rolanda, I'm with you! Our house is lucky if it sees a vacuum more than every 10 days to 2 weeks.

No alone, yet, Suzanne, but I'm about to join hubby to watch an hour or so of TV. Unfortunately, he's not into the Olympics, but since he's been gone all day, I'll sit and watch what he wants to watch. Take care of yourself, Suzanne! You were really lucky this time!

Thanks Rolanda & Julie!! i know I was lucky! I have to vacuum once a week with 2 indoor cats!! If you ever came to my house, you may see dust on the furniture, but my kitchen & bathrooms are ALWAYS clean!! My mom & I had a routine every Saturday. We'd get up, have coffee, clean, get showered & dressed & be at the mall (or lunch) by 11:45!!

Hi & bye Julie! Enjoy t.v. time with the hubby!

vdV! What a travelogue! for sharing that.

I'm just waking up from a nice nap. I need more sleep! But I need to give the older calves some water, do a cow check and feed the dogs. I'd rather go back to sleep.

Steve's trip sounds wonderful. I've heard lots of great things about Vietnam. My friends brother lives there so she travels over to see him regularly.

Suzanne be careful. That sounds really painful!

I'm still sending my thoughts and prayers for Suzy's Mum.

Hi Julie - I should have posted an update on Col and the roof problem. The roof is still not fixed but is tarped up because of the recent bad weather. It is to be repaired on Saturday week and the guy doing it - a friend of Col's and of the guy who owns the house will repair it for just the cost of supplies as long as Col helps him do it. The owner is fine with this - so all looks OK. Col, however is still mortified that he could do something so stupid and now way behind on his work for this week due to delays because of the roof. Ah well, c'est la vie!

Suzanne - sorry about the fall but pleased you weren't injured badly. When I recently bought a new vacuum, I did consider a Dyson but opted for a small compact one because I have arthritic fingers and needed a lightweight one. Got a Meile - seems great so far - and, like Rolanda, my place is lucky if it gets done once a week.

No news from Suzy yet?

Suzanne.... I'm sorry that you did a "Heidi". I know that feeling well. I still have nasty lumps and bruises from a fall a couple of weeks ago. I fell over a trash can. Since I broke my back when I was 20, I've never had full feeling in my legs. Unless I'm looking at them, I don't know where they are. If I'm looking at something else when I walk, I tend to fall over the tiniest thing.

The yearling calves are now watered. It's actually an involved, time consuming procedure. I asked IH to water them before he left, and he said he would, but he didn't.

DAY7 22/1: NHa Trang Island tour(B)
8:30am:Pick up at Hotel for Mun Island (Ebony Island). Stop for one hour of leisurely snorkeling, swimming and sunbathing. The snorkeling equipment is provided for viewing the marine wildlife and plentiful coral reefs.
11:00am:Visit Mot Island where you will enjoy excellent fresh cuisine for lunch. After lunch, enjoy the floating bar with complimentary red wine and fruit while being entertained by the hilarious guides with their funny antics (it’s party time!)
2:30pm:Visit Tri Nguyen Aquarium.
3:30 pm Back on the boat for seasonal fruits and coffee.
3:45pm: Visit a fishing village where you can see the villagers at work catching cuttlefish, shrimp, flower crabs. Test your skills in a basket boat - for hire
4:30pm: Back to the harbor at sunset. Return to your hotel.

Welcome home vdV.

Afternoon all
Another hour until I can call and see how mum is doing. I figure if they haven't called me she must be okay. At least that's how I've managed to get through the last 3 hours. I dropped in to see one of my bros around the time the surgery was supposed to start. He pretty much ignored me so I talked to my nephew for a while and then walked around the shops looking for a birthday present for Ebob. It filled in time.

vdV, I know I'm a bit ditsy today, but I have read through your travelogue twice and I'm still wondering when you did any conferencing!

Suzanne, glad to hear you aren't too badly hurt after your fall. I hope the aches and pains leave quickly.

MizT, I'm sorry to hear your hand is still so painful. I was hoping the shot would work.

Rolanda, will number 1 son get the university medal? From what I've seen of his results he must be in the running at least.

Well, I'm too ditsy to think of anything else at the moment. I think I'll head off early to pick up Ebob from TAFE. Crazy child is carrying 15 units instead of the standard 12 including 2 TAFE units of nursing. AND she's taking up volunteering for St John's too. I don't know how she's going to keep up.

I hope everything went perfectly for your Mum, Suzy. I'm sending all my good juju her way.

Everything is done but a cow check. The dogs are just finishing their din-din.

having problems uploading! sorry copied day6 twice and called it day7, more to come.

Suzy, the conference was in the week preceeding day1.

DAY8 24/1: DANANG – HOI AN(B, L, D)
Breakfast and check-out. Drive to My Son Holly Land, the site of the most important Cham intellectual and religious center during the 4th to 13th century, classified as the World Heritage Site. Lunch. Move to the ancient town of Hoian for hotel check-in. Take a walking tour around the old sections (charming and wonderfully preserved, combining Chinese, Japanese and European influences), enjoy traditional music at 10:15a.m. Lunch at restaurant and check-in hotel. Free to explore the “Hoi An ancient night”, get yourself back to the 17th century, relax and soak up the atmosphere.

DAY9 25/1: HOI AN- HUE(B, L, D)
Breakfast and check-out. Leaving Hoi An for the old capital of Hue, through Hai Van tunnel, en route, photo stop at the top of Cloud - Ocean pass and Lang Co fishing village. Luncheon and hotel check-in. Afternoon visits of the Imperial Citadel - The grand palace of the last dynasty of Nguyen and Goddess-heavenly pagoda. Dinner at restaurant and take a dragon boat trip to enjoying Hue folksong on Perfume river