Birthday, Christmas and New Year in HCMC

Well it's very nice to have had Whitney and Cameron here for all of these events, my birthday, Christmas AND New Year.  They have also done some tripping around in between as well.  They arrived on my Birthday night which was a great present.

We had a couple of nights together then they headed to Nha Trang and onto Hoi An to meet us for the weekend.  It's my favourite place in Vietnam so far (we were there last December)...more popular with girls than boys since there is a shopping element in it.

                                   We did some touring around the city including a bike ride....

                                                         Ate some yummy local food

                         Drank some coffee looking at the view....Cam in his newly tailored jacket.

                                             Christmas tree made of silk lanterns...gorgeous.

        Phil found a new girlfriend....she's a bit stiff, doesn't loosen up at all, and I think she's lost her head?

Following that we came back home to HCMC for work and Cam and Whit continued a couple of nights in Danang to look around there.  They got back on Christmas eve for the start of the celebrations.

Amazing decorations at the Legend Hotel where we enjoyed a smorgasbord lunch.

                                                 The room in the hotel where lunch was.

                                                                   Lunch table

We had another couple of work days and Whit and Cam did some touring around then we were off to Mui Ne which is a beach resort area only 230kms from HCMC.  This, however, takes 6 hours to cover so we got a private car which was better than a bus to take us.  Still sitting for 6 hours either way is a long way!

Walking along the beachfront day 1

                                                                In the resort

                                     

                    No lifeguards but of course there are life jackets for the non-swimming people

 Whit and Cam got kite surfing lessons and got up on the board the second day! Cam is in the middle of the picture with a black hat doing his practice too.

                                                                      The resort beach
               
                                      

                                                  Fruit sellers on the beach of course.....

                                    Breakfast, the water is behind that hedge in the background.

Kite school graduates!

                      There would have been around 300 kite surfers out each day...just crazy!

 From the Mia resort along the beach where we had dinner at Sandals restaurant and a coffee earlier in the day.

And the long drive home!

now .... NEW YEARS EVE....we went into the city and had some drinks and dinner at Phatty's Bar where they also had the Lion Dancers to welcome in the New year and bring luck to the restaurant. 

                      Out the front of the restaurant...the lion dancers with all of the audience in the street.

                              We just looked through the window from our seats...perfect!

 On the walk home we stopped to watch the fireworks along with around a million other people

The crazy streets

So Happy New Year from us...hope you have enjoyed our updates for 2013 this is the start of 2014 and an exciting year ahead.  Hope your year is full of excitement too!

Merry Christmas from Vietnam!

  2013 DOWLER  CHRISTMAS LETTER    

                                                     

     

                                          

Hi to you all,

Well what an eventful year!  Living in HCMC Vietnam has been amazing and we still love it.  Our life consists of eating out most nights, going for massages, going out for coffee, catching up with friends and having visitors from overseas.  Oh yeah, work, forgot about that!

Phil’s work has been ever changing this year…he started the year as a lecturer in the Entrepreneurship area again but just a few weeks ago, following his epic 500km+ bike ride through Thailand he stepped up into the role of ‘Head of Department for Management and Law, Centre of Commerce and Management’.   He has found that he really does enjoy the management side of things now he is back in that area again.  It is only an interim position but you never know where it may lead.  Still enjoying it here and possibly would be happy to never permanently live back in Australia again.  

RMIT Graduation day with some of Phils students

Leanne has stepped back from Drama teaching and is just English teaching now…2 days at the Caravelle hotel and 2 days at the New World Hotel teaching staff.  Recently as well, she has been doing 2 hours on a Wednesday night with young students….practicing to be a Grandma?  She has performed in 2 productions, the lead role in ‘The House of Bernada Alba’, and a smaller role in ‘Dangerous Liaisons’ which she enjoyed immensely.  Also for the first time in her life participated in a sporting event…The Angkor Wat Marathon, although only running/walking 10kms. She is enjoying living here as well and had the bonus of all the girls visiting this year plus being able to pop home in June for a few days. 

                              

                     The obligatory picture in front of the Christmas decorations in the city.

Whitney has the big wedding to Cameron planned for next year in August and all eyes are on that.  She has been concentrating on all of the preparations and is planning to get her dress made in Vietnam if all goes well on their visit starting the 15^th of Dec for a month.  They are talking about moving to Brisbane from Mackay or even overseas for a short time maybe in the future so there are lots of exciting things happening for her.  She is the last of the Dowlers working at G&S in the training department and seems to enjoy the challenge of her job.

Whitney and Cam drinking coffee in HCMC

Hannah has achieved the most amazing feat this year completing her 6 years of study in International Business and Law with Honours as well…think it will make her Hannah Dowler BIntBus.LLB(Hons).  It has been a long hard road and she has done it totally by herself including funding….such an achievement, we are very proud of her.  She is settled in a share house in Brisbane with some nice people and will start her new job in the Graduate program and the Australian Tax Office on February 3^rd.  She has started running and runs with a group most mornings. She also popped over to visit us this year for about 10 days in July which was great.

Graduation photo with Grandma

Jaimee has also had a big year, she has been living in Melbourne with her partner Will since we moved over here.  A big trip to Europe for her host sister Giada’s wedding in August and popping in to visit us on the way home was a big focus.  It slowed her career plans a bit but she did work for an Autistic centre as a carer for most of the year.  It was quite a challenge, telling us that a good day was one that she didn’t get bitten or hit.  She has completed her Cert III and IV in Business this year and since she has gotten back to Australia she has started at a Public Concern company as a team assistant, a new and exciting step for her.  She still loves living in Melbourne and has been joined by a lot of her good friends from Mackay.

Jaimee's visit to HCMC and RMIT

That is the year in a nutshell…such an exciting time for everyone really.  We miss our girls but know they are happy and well and have lots of people around them that care for them.

 Hope everyone has had a great 2013 too and we all are looking forward to 2014….. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas lights in the city

Christmas Carols in the Cathedral

Christmas carols in the Cathedral

Christmas Decorations at the Caravelle Hotel

RMIT Graduation 2013

So as Phil is currently the Head of Department for Management and Law at RMIT he was asked to be onstage with the other heads of the university for the Graduation ceremonies. 

My Artistic shot

On the way into the University there were flower sellers and merchandise sellers for gifts for the Graduands (love that word).  

As you walked through the grounds, since the Vietnamese don't like to be in the sun (being brown looks upgly apparently) they had volunteers with unbrellas covering people as they walked through the open areas.

So once everyone in the audience was settled into place, .......  

...there was the official procession up to the stage of the heads and the Mace  was carried and placed in the middle of the front of the stage.

This is a closer look at the mace.

                                       
      Commerce had the lavender satin, the blue was Engineering and the green was IT.

there were some speeches by a guest speaker, a lady from INTEL that spoke very well and of course the head from Melbourne and the head from Vietnam RMIT spoke along with a student representative. Then the presentations began...... but before they went on stage to be presented with their degrees they were tidied up by the volunteers.

 Things ended and the procession headed out again, Phil is still onstage 2nd from the right at the end.

Once outside the pictures started, we tried to find as many of Phils students as possible to congratulate them, it was really exciting for them.

                                                     Graduation Bear

                                         Graduation snacks and refreshments

                                               The very cool Graduation sign.

                                                   Flowers for all

                                                      The RMIT blimp

More students on the way out

And finally a picture of us...a lovely day.