…a list in progress.
1. Everything is less fun when you can’t afford to eat.
Author: holly
Bergen
In England, wandering around the sixteen thousand historical sites we visited, we learned (inter alia) about the invading hordes from the North that preceded the invasion of the Normans. Obviously, our next stop was destined to be the home of said hordes, that is, Norway.
Steyning
In the 1990s, my grandfather conducted some genealogical research and determined the following:
In or around 1853, a man with my surname set sail for the recently-founded colony of New South Wales. He apparently did so voluntarily (though I have ample evidence to support the theory that others of my ancestors were compelled in that direction). On arrival, he (again, apparently voluntarily) sired thirteen children, some nine or ten of whom survived to themselves reproduce. Thus were spawned pretty much all the Stennings you see around you in Australia today.
Salisbury
Today can be roughly divided into two categories: (1) Driving out of London; and (2) Moving on and finding a way to rebuild from the rubble of our lives.
Getting there
This holiday has had a less than auspicious beginning.
Well, in fairness, the very, VERY beginning went entirely to plan. We aimed to leave the house early enough to fit in some duty free shopping prior to boarding, which we are usually obliged to rush through. In this we entirely succeeded. That is, we left the house more or less at the time we had aimed for.
Mango Bay
So basically it’s paradise here.
The water is shallow and warm and calm and clear. If I walk out as far as I can while still touching the bottom, I can still see my feet just as clearly as my hands. There are little sand-coloured fish in the water near the shoreline and little sand-coloured crabs above it. It’s the perfect temperature, refreshing when you get in but not bracing, and the air is warm when you get out, so that you don’t start shivering on your way to your beach towel.
Cat Ba & Trang An
Well, yesterday, after a long night’s sleep on an excellent mattress, we set out to look at more of Cat Ba island, which cemented in my mind the opinion that Cat Ba is a bit of a dive and there isn’t really much there.
Halong Bay
It’s 9.00pm in Cat Ba National Park, and I just out-drank the captain of our boat, who has been in the Vietnamese Army for 14 years.
Hoi An
Last night we arrived in Hoi An and instantly loved it. It looked like Gion in Kyoto, the geisha district, with lanterns decorating all the shops, and across the river we could see lights glittering in the water. The poverty and dirt we’d seen everywhere else in Vietnam seemed to have disappeared.
New Friends
It’s been a day of wildlife here at Cat Tien.
Well, we’d already had some wildlife experiences, as we have a tame frog that lives in our bathroom. He may have startled me into expletives when he unexpectedly jumped onto my leg last night, but mostly since then he’s been content to peer out at us and jump around the walls every now and then. I have yet to name him.