Last of HoiAn

Last of the HoiAn pictures.

On ya head.....!

Iman and Jack eventually did it - they have been dreaming (and practicing) for this moment ever since their first hash back in Feb 2008. For the kids hash the kids get their first pot after 18 runs followed by another at 36 runs so it will be another 2 year wait before the next pot. They were both very proud and have today been showing off to the rest of the compound. And we are very proud of them both!

The Big 7

What a day we had .... for starters despite the forcasts and our expectations, the weather was certainly in our side. It was overcast and it did not rain the whole day, some of us even caught the sun.... oooppss.... The bouncer slide arrived nice and early and we spent the next two hours trying to keep the kids off it until Iman's guests arrived. And they did promptly from 10 onwards and there was no stopping the kids then. They all had so much fun sliding down over and over again.

KOJ made a fantastic cake for Iman. And it tasted good too!

We also played some games, the obligatory Musical Chairs and Pass The Parcel - what's a party without the classics? Thanks to Fatin and Hazim for helping out.

And after the guests left the kids carried on for the rest of the day joined by yours truly - we couldn't resist it and really had a great afternoon.

And Iman got great gifts from all her friends and cousins - thank you all!

And this morning Iman received her last gifts from us - an umbrella, plates and a watch from her brothers

And a fabulous waterproof camera from us!

And so it starts....

Our Iman is turning 7 on Sunday and today she brought cupcakes to school to share with her classmates. The birthday party is tomorrow morning and the highlight will be the bouncer slide but with very wet conditions for the last 3 days the chances of it being dry tomorrow are pretty slim but we are keeping our fingers crossed that we will have at least a dry morning. Tomorrow evening we will have a family dinner with my parents, sisters and all the cousins. Sunday is probably going to be a lazy day with lunch out (no points for guessing where Iman will choose to eat!) and we will finish the grand birthday weekend off with the kids hash where Iman and Jack will be getting their pots to celebrate their 18th run! So much to look forward to but for now I guess I better start preparing the games and the party bags....

Beach @ HoiAn

When we booked our holiday to Hoi An we knew there was a beach just outside the town but what we didnt expect was how nice it would be. We had read that during the monsoon months the beach is not great and unsafe for swimming but while we were there we were blessed with wonderful endless sunshine - I met a family in Brunei who were there the week before us and they had 5 days of rain! - so the beach was the place to go. It was deserted apart from a scatter of tourists and local hawkers. The sand was lovely and soft and the waves though a bit rough at times was great fun especially as it was Iman, Jack and Ayden's first experience of waves. And the water temperature was refreshing cold, not as cold as Ballybunion but way better than the warm bath water we get here.

This beach leads to China Beach in Danang and it is 30km of beach all the way.

On our first day we rented beach chairs, bought drinks and lunch (?!) from this beach cafe. There were several along this stretch and very cheap. All our drinks and food for the day was no more than B$20 or 20 Euro but very basic. It was only the following day that we discovered a hut run by a French-American couple complete with shower/toilet and lovely home cooked food - La Plage - sort of place you want to spend all day and all night.

The faces on these satisfied customers tell us we need to be back!

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