Our little family adventure

We are travelling for 6 months for a bit of world education for Lila before she starts school + we like travelling :) Read more

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Our little family adventure Traveler
Knuckles trek and base camp
August 30, 2018 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
After not being able to find a guide yesterday we head back to town and find a trekking company and guide from nearby town Kandy and in the morning we get picked up bright and early for our overnight trek. Our trek starts passing through beautiful rice paddy fields with rice almost ready to harvest. We pass lots of coconut, palm and banana trees and also see pepper, coffee, nutmeg, cloves, cardamon, cocoa in our beautiful surrounds. We had lunch next to a beautiful waterfall and head for what they call 'Knuckles Base Camp' to stay overnight and Lila is very excited about camping and sleeping in a tent tonight!Read more
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More from our trek
August 30, 2018 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
Other beautiful things we passed along the way... beautiful old frangipani tree which was also a traditional meeting place, paths lined with luscious citronella plants, amazing old trees, lovely small waterfalls and a beautiful orchid 😊Read more
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Day 2 of our trek
August 31, 2018 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
After a yummy breakfast at the camp we head off on a misty morning for Day 2 of our walk. We walk through many tea plantations and mostly Tamil villages. Lila didn't get the best night's sleep so we get a ride to a waterfall which she enjoys having a swim in.Read more
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Back to Nilaveli
September 2, 2018 in Sri Lanka ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C
We had a few different ideas and feelings about where to go next and spend the rest of our time in Sri Lanka. We end up deciding to head back to Nilaveli Beach where we spent Lila's birthday. We get lucky with a cancellation to get a room at the place we stayed last time, so enjoy a lovely 3 last days in Sri Lanka by this beautiful east coast beach. Lila tries some snorkelling and we see an amazing storm come through the beach. Each day we were there it was magical watching Lila's confidence and love of the sea grow 🤗. It is so much joy watching her enjoy trying to put her head under the water and playing in the soft waves ❤ 👌Read more
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Welcome to Vietnam
September 6, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Today we arrive in South East Asia, in Hanoi, northern Vietnam. We are welcomed by the usual welcome to South East Asia... heat and humidity! We are in Hanoi for the next 10 days, volunteering at a workaway with a family helping with their 4yr old twins. It's a nice way to discover the city, being a little away from the central tourist old quarter and being able to experience a bit of the normal local life.Read more
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Old Quarter, Hanoi
September 8, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
We head into the old quarter of Hanoi to visit the district around the old quarter lake. On the weekend evenings they close a few streets to all vehicles allowing people to enjoy the streets. There is a market, as well as people just playing games. The old quarter, or in fact many parts of Hanoi are very similar to Paris (even the street signs look similar). The very nice thing is you can visit any different quarter and get lost exploring the many small streets with different shops, restaurants and cafes.Read more
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Museum of Ethnology, Hanoi
September 9, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C
Today we visited the Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi, a nice museum about the different ethnic groups in the region. We visited with the family we are volunteering with and the kids had a nice time running around the outdoor examples of different houses.Read more
Traveler La famille s est agrandie !!🤣😘
9/18/18Reply
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The amazing food!
September 10, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
So many people would know one of the reasons I love Thailand is for the food especially the street food... however Vietnam and Hanoi have shown us amazing food, especially the street food! Coming from Sri Lanka, where the food is great, however often overpowered (for me) with chilli, it's so nice to taste good with amazing and different flavours. The street food is so great and varied in Hanoi. We had met someone earlier who told us they put weight on in Vietnam because the food was so good...and now we understand why! One of my favourites is ban cuon which is rice noodles freshly steamed and filled with a pork mushroom filling and we loved Che the very yummy dessert drink. We got treated to an amazing fancy street food restaurant as well as a place where you make your own rice paper rolls. We think you could attempt to eat at a new restaurant or street stall every meal every day and it would take you years to try them all!Read more
TravelerLooks yum!
9/21/18Reply
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And the amazing coffee!
September 12, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
We went from having almost no coffee in the past 3 months...to now being in a country which loves it's coffee and a city with endless cafes, so now we almost have a coffee if not 3 a day! The coffee is pretty strong here, but really good. An ice coffee is such a nice treat in the hot weather and we have tried the local specialties- egg coffee and yoghurt coffee. They may sound a little strange but wow they are so good!Read more
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Workaway with the twins
September 14, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 28 °C
Our first 10 days in Vietnam have been spent volunteering with the lovely family of twins Nghia and Linh. Their mother also runs a local kindergarten and we also spent a few days there teaching english, or more so reenacting 'Playschool'. It's more difficult to travel with a Vietnamese passport (than with an Oz or EU passport), so Anh their mother has volunteers come teach English at the kindergarten and to play and teach English to the twins. For us it was great for Lila to spend a chunk of time playing with other children (instead of being in our company every day). We had lots of fun doing different craft, playing different games and role play, doing a scavenger hunt as well as taking the bus together to the park.Read more
TravelerLila looks like she's enjoying the twins company. They are so cute!
9/21/18Reply
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Temple of the Jade Mountain
September 14, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 28 °C
This afternoon we head into Hanoi old quarter. We visited the Temple of the Jade Mountain, located at one end of the Hoan Kiem lake. It's a nice peaceful place in the middle of this busy city. We then trek what feels like through half the town to find dinner (as I didn't feel like noodle soup) and we didn't want to eat in the tourist traps of the old quarter and luckily stumble across a little street stall with some yummy sticky rice with other wholesome goodies :)Read more
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Visiting the Temple of Literature
September 15, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
Today we visited the Temple of Literature of Hanoi, the home of the first University in Vietnam. It is also a temple dedicated to Confucius. It's a beautiful and tranquil place, which you could easily pass the whole day at with a good book (minus children). We however visited with our lovely Workaway family which was also lovely and fun.Read more
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Our cinema experience...
September 16, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C
Today we thought we would treat the kids to the cinema. So we headed off on the bus to the fancy cinema. There were 2 cartoon movies, one about a cat, the other about a Princess...so we chose the cat. They were all very excited and loved getting their popcorn, however after about 20minutes of the film we get the first 'teacher I want to go home' then followed by Lila who doesn't want to stay and then more. In hindsight the movie was probably for older children (from what we could tell as it was in Vietnamese), but there were definately scary moments...so we walk out of the cinema shortly after the popcorn is finished and head home.Read more
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Leaving Hanoi for far north Vietnam
September 17, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌧 26 °C
We leave Hanoi, our home for the last 10 days, for some adventures in the northern mountains of Vietnam, close to the Chinese border. We arrive at the bus station just in time to get a fancy sleeper bus to the town of Ha Giang. It doesn't take too long for the bus to depart the high rise city landscape of Hanoi for the surrounds of rice paddies and corn fields. We arrive in Ha Giang just before it get dark in time to find a small homestay for the night. It was nice to wake up the next morning to a less polluted place and rice paddies outside our window, instead of city sky scrappers :)Read more
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Day 1- Ha Giang to Nam Dam village
September 18, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
Today we rent a motorbike and head out of Ha Giang on what is known as the 'Great Northern Motorbike Loop'. It rained quite a lot overnight and the day is interspersed with rain and overcast clouds. Leaving Ha Giang we quickly hit small roads of varying conditions through beautiful landscapes of rice paddy fields with mountains backdrops. We make a few stops because of the rain and drive through some amazing mountain passes, through mist and clouds. We pass small villages where you can see people in beautiful ethnic clothing going about their daily life, tending fields (it's rice harvest time at the moment) transporting firewood on their motorbike or herding buffalos. We finish off the day in Nam Dam village, home to ethnic minority Dao people. We stay at a lovely simple homestay in the area and go for a small walk around this stunning area. Unfortunately photos can't capture how beautiful this part of the world is.Read more
Traveler Amazing!
9/21/18Reply
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Day 2 - Nam Dam to Mau Due to Pho Bang
September 19, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
We left our lovely homestay and head off towards a town which I had read had a traditional ethnic market this morning. The ride took us through a beautiful pass through the clouds and small villages. The cool air, mountain mist and steep mountain sides made me really feel like being in the middle of nowhere! often passing smiling men, women and children dressed in beautifully colourful ethnic clothes and going about their day either carrying baskets of corn, stacks of wood or grass. We sadly arrive a little too late in Mau Due as the market is over and realise the markets here start around 4-5am and are usually over by 11am/midday. We back track a little and head to the town Pho Bang, which is a border town before China. We were told the border is very fluid here is people often crossing over to go to the markets on the China side, however when we arrive we find there is a manned boom gate and told that we can't pass because it's China on the other side. We see some brief blue sky in the afternoon before being rained on again as we look for another homestay in the next small town.Read more
Traveler Another beautiful photo
9/25/18Reply
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Day 3- Pho Bang to Lao xe to Ma Le
September 20, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
We woke to sun and blue sky which was quite nice after 2 days of overcast skies and rain. We left our homestay and took a small road to the town of Lao Xe often passing smiling men, women and children dressed in beautifully colourful ethnic clothes and going about their day either carrying baskets of corn, stacks of wood or grass. We stop at the local shop and someone kindly fixes Lila's pants elastic which broke this morning (without wanting a payment). There seems to be a high population of young children in this and many villages we pass, all their faces so expressive and super cute! We head on to the neighbouring village which borders China (I'll write more about that next). We take lovely small roads through small villages, often stopping at the local shop for a small snack, coffee and today we tried the sugarcane ice blocks. Again we are spoilt by very amazing and spectacular scenery. Each turn you take seems to open up another amazing view of the rice paddies turning yellow in colour almost ready to be harvested and behind these what seem to be never ending mountains of different sizes and shapes. We visited another Chinese border point and head to a homestay in village Ma Le, which is in a beautiful 200 year old wooden house.Read more
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Day 3 - Sneaky peek at China
September 20, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
After meeting the boom gate keeping us from seeing China yesterday, we headed to some other border areas today (thanks to Google maps) and random sign language communication with local people in the village. At one village we get to the end of the road and see other people taking the rocky pathway over the hill, so decide to see where this takes us. After a short while we see the border mark post, minus the boom gate with a man! And take the customary video of Lila showing she is in Vietnam and then in China. We cross over for a sneaky peak on the Chinese side and find the landscape is the same and if we didn't have Google maps or the border mark post, you would have no idea you were in another country.
In the afternoon we head to another border point which is even smaller and less significant or utilised. We are treated to an amazing view of what seems like a hidden valley on the other side.Read more
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Day 4 - Ma Le to Lung Cu to Ma Le
September 21, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C
Today we head off for Lung Cu the most northern town in Vietnam as their have their weekly market today. We arrive around 9am and the market is well and truely alive with amazing colours of people from ethnic groups wearing their traditional clothes. It's such an interesting market with people selling both ethnic and western clothes, traditional medicine (we saw someone look like she was telling fortunes using a raw egg in a bowl), modern medicine, fresh and cooked food, tools, household items, mobile phones and Sim cards. It's such a visually stimulating place with the colourful clothes of people from the surrounding villages coming to the market in their traditional clothes. We head up to the flag pole hill and eat some yummy food we got at the markets, including this very yummy pancake/bread that was being heated on coals. Afterwards we enjoy a coffee in the nearby Lolo village before heading out for some more exploring in these far northern roads and villages. We go 'off road' for a bit (which Jean loves and Lila and I love a little less). We see the most northern road in Vietnam and Jean and Lila visit another border point, however it is a bit more serious with a watch tower and camera, as well as skull and Cross bones on the border marker post. We also visit another border area which is basically a big hole in a wire fence with a billboard of the other side (only written in Chinese and Vietnamese.
And as if we hadn't seen enough border points we saw another one which we could walk across and we saw people go across on their motorbike and come back with beer (as it must be cheaper on the Chinese side).Read more
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Day 5 - Ma Le market
September 22, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
Part of the reason we went back to the same homestay yesterday was because we knew this morning they would have their local market. So we made a better effort to be there earlier, so arrived around 8am to the buzzing market. It's a market for so many things. Here you buy your chicken not wrapped in plastic on a plastic tray, it's feathers and all and well and truly still alive while it's on the balance for its weight. It was common to see many motorbikes ride away with 2-3 chickens being held upside down by the driver. We enjoyed a yummy soup breakfast and grabbed some sticky rice and the bread/cake we saw yesterday.Read more
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Day 5 - Lila in traditional dress
September 22, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
We head back to a great coffee shop we stopped at the other day with an amazing view of this valley. The owner was very kind and let Lila try on a range of traditional clothes they had for display.
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Day 5 - Ma Le to Dong Van
September 22, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
After going to the market and stopping for a coffee we head back on the road towards the Ma Pi Leng pass between Dong Van and Meo vac. We take a slight detour on a road named 'sky pass' which is literally that, a small narrow road cut into the mountain which is so steep it leaves no room for error when riding a motorbike. We find very nice spot to have our sticky rice lunch and share some of our bread with some local children curiously watching on. We head back onto the road down the famous pass for its spectacular road and views. We take a little side road which has not such a great road but takes us across the river and up the other side of the valley. These mountains are steep and it's crazy to see the land they use to cultivate. Mountainsides which look so steep to access for walking, commonly have corn growing on them! We head towards another and what will probably be the last Chinese border post, then head back to Dong Van for the night. We indulge in a hot pot for dinner, which was so yummy but also so much food! We see a little parade if children on floats go past as they celebrate full moon festival this weekend.Read more
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Day 6 - Dong Van Sunday market
September 23, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
We decided to get up at the crack of dawn to enjoy the local market in Dong Van, which we were told were the biggest market in the area. We arrived before many stallholders had set up and sat down to a warming noodle soup before soaking up the amazing visual stimulus with the local markets here. It was a lot bigger than the other markets we had been to, and a lot more active in the selling of animals from cows, pigs, chickens, pidgens and dogs. Again there were very amazingly well dressed girls and women in their traditional dress, often complete with stockings and high heels! The men often in black and wearing black berets. There are lots of clothes, both traditional and western. There is a huge range of fresh food, from pig and beef being butchered on the market table to fresh fruit and vegetables, herbs and spices and lots food ready to eat, including multi coloured sticky rice. There is a sizable number of people selling 'happy water' (rice or corn alcohol) in big containers, with many people trying with little sample scoops.Read more
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Day 6 - Meo Vac Sunday market
September 23, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C
We decide to head to the next big town Meo Vac, a scenic 45min drive away to visit their Sunday market. We arrive and the market is bustling with activity. They are selling very much the same things, however it seemed to us to be a lot more lively than Dong Van (but that could have been because of the time we arrived). There is an amazing eating area, sectioned off to different small stalls with their own soup broths in big well used pots on wood fire. There is the area outside with tables and chairs of big groups of people enjoying 'happy water'. An area of people selling traditional clothes and tailors with old sewing machines tailor making clothes. We really enjoy walking around this market and absorbing the surroundings. We return towards the end of the market when people are packing up and enjoy a slightly sweet yummy soup with soft chewy dumplings.Read more
TravelerJe crois bien qu'on a été dans le coin avec Hugo!
10/1/18Reply
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Day 6 - Dong Van to Meo Vac to Du Gia
September 23, 2018 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
After going to the 2 markets this morning, we head towards our stop for tonight Du Gia, about 80km away. We pass some amazing valleys with beautiful yellowing rice paddies with gorgeous mountain ranges in the background. We climb a pass which makes us feel like we are above these mountains, before decending into the valley towards our homestay for the night, next to rice paddies. Today we happen to randomly stumble across someone who had found a bag with a passport from the Netherlands, we then end up sitting next to the people who lost this bag at dinner at the homestay...it's amazing how things work out sometimes!Read more
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