A New Year!

So it's a New Year!

And it arrived with gusto, positive energy and dripping in good spirits..

My last massage at the Eco Spa Resort..

Vas and I were in Ke Gan.. at the Spa Village for the big night.  Our Canadian friends had moved on but we enjoyed it non the less.. That last day was a wonderful way to say goodbye to the old and welcome 2013. 

Eco Spa Resort had been a quiet place.. and as the last day of the new year drew near it was still quiet.. even though the boss said it was a full house.  The Russians were arriving for the great night.

Yup.. New Years in Vietnam is a much bigger event than Christmas.  Sure.. there are nativity scenes everywhere.. but New Years is when they bring out the Dragon Dance.. the games and the gifts.

New Years Eve.. Good-Bye 2012.. Welcome 2013!  

We had a barbecue dinner... every sort of fish you could imagine..prawns.. squid.. shell fish:  and dancing.. young Russians enjoy their dancing as much as their vodka.. they kept it up until 2 in the morning.. we were in bed by .. 11.  The women were swept away on their stilettos by their men.. smiles abounded.  It was cool!

Vas helped the new manager with his speech: it was short and echoed throughout the little bar on a PA system.  The quality of English was really irrelevant.. you couldn't understand it anyway as it echoed and bounced about.. echoing over the voices.. the waves.. the wind and the music.

But they like English teachers here: and loved Vassi.. I mean.. what's not to like?  An outspoken Aussi, who laughs a lot is a good thing..

The food.. ready for the barbie.. 

Gifts!  Dragon Fruit.. wooden shoes.. a silk tie and more! 

The waiter at the fish market, where we sat last night watching the waves and enjoying scallops and chicken with chills.. an ex tourist guide.. explained how he would have loved an English teacher that spoke it as a first language.  But he does pretty well: taking our order and delivering things without a degree in English.  Only a lot of patience and good listening skills..

Games on the beach

To get here, we took the local bus, a No 6,  backpacks and bags in hand then changed to a number one in Phan Thiet on to Mue Ne.  We didn't have a hotel, but found one soon enough.. $25.. 500 VND.  All good.  We had to be patient though.. we had a ten year old Enlgish speaking boy on board.. but his grandma.. a Vietnamese women.. maybe 60.. was not so easy to deal with.  The lad finally convinced her to give us a room just north of here.. but today we are away from the dirty pool and black hold of the newer hotel and have worked our way back to the main part of Mui Ne and the lovely Sunshine Hotel..

I have done my shopping.. mainly gifts for the kids back in Canada: a little traditional dress for Abby.. shirt and cotton pants for the new baby.. a top for Steph and Nola, silk.. lovely.. cheap.. traditional, and retired to a clean little room for the afternoon.

I have nothing really for the boys.. the people at the last hotel took care of that.. silk ties all around.

Vietnamese people still do good work.. not like the made in China stuff we get at home.

I got T-short for the grand boys.. They should like them.. I do.

And that's it folks.  Christmas shopping done.. to be received in March.  All good.

I have lots of pics.. and post cards to send out.  Inshallah.  The sunshine and a lovely clean pool and a cold Saigon beer are calling me.

Just two more days to go..

Their are lots more pictures to be taken: mainly of the sail boarders I think. More sunshine to be soaked up.. a new beach to be walked: a new year to be welcomed in gradually, in my grandmotherly/sore back sort of way - slowly.. with massages, sun soaking, bar hopping.. holiday life watching sort of way.

Time will pass quickly.. Ho Chi Minh will come and go and it will be back on the plane on to Darwin and then Mataranka .. and Jilkmingan for Vassi soon enough.

It has been a great way to welcome in the New Year: and I really am expecting great things this year.  All the best to everyone!