Halong Bay

After deciding we were going to Vietnam on holiday, Ha Long Bay was the first name on our must visit places. After arriving in Hanoi to find that a typhoon was about to hit and all trips had been cancelled we were pretty disappointed. Fortunately for us, the path of the typhoon changed course at the last minute and after a late booking the night before, we were back on track.

Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO world heritage site. The bay consists of nearly 2,000 limestone karsts rising from the emerald green water.

We drove for about 3 and a half hours North of Hanoi to Halong City, where we joined our boat, the Dragon's Pearl III and set off on our two day cruise around Bai Tu Long Bay, which is a less visited area within the larger Halong Bay site.

The boat had only 11 cabins spread over three decks. Just after we set sail, the crew served what was purported to be lunch, but turned out to be a never ending stream of freshly cooked and very delicious seafood.

After cruising around the bay we stopped at of the islands for a few hours, where we were able to explore one of the famous caves. We also took the opportunity to get out in a couple of kayaks and explore a bit ourselves.

The next morning we stopped at one of the fishing villages, which comprised a handful of floating houses, a shop to sell the cultured pearls and a school. It was quite a humbling experience, to see people living quite happily without  any of life's little luxuries that we take for granted.

Whilst the whole trip was super relaxing and very peaceful, I think Jenny got a bit carried away with the camera. There's no doubt that the scenery was stunning, but once you get home there's only so many pictures of what is essentially just rocks that you can actually look at. Anyway, here's a time lapse video of the boat trip.

Hanoi, Hue & Hoi An

Jenny and I love to travel and have been very lucky with the places we've been able to visit, so when the option of some air miles came up it was a total no brainer. The really hard decision was deciding where to go. Vietnam has been high up on our wish list for a while, and with Oman being relatively close, three weeks touring the lush green countryside of South East Asia seemed the perfect summer escape.

Hanoi

We arrived in Hanoi to rain. Ordinarily I might have been quite upset at this, but after escaping the scorching 40C+ heat of Muscat a little light rain felt quite refreshing. However, it turns out that it wasn't just rain but that we'd actually landed just as typhoon Ramassun was expected to hit. I'd not been paying much attention to the local weather, but it seems that the typhoon had had quite a devastating effect on the Philippines and Southern China before heading for Northern Vietnam. Being a concerned global citizen my first thought was instinctly how was this going to affect our trip and especially Halong Bay. Fortunately for us, the typhoon changed it's course and we only got hit with a couple of days of rain.

With our trip to Halong Bay still on the cards, we had one day to explore the sights and sounds of Hanoi. 

Hue

The next stop on the trip was the city of Hue, the former capital of Vietnam. Steeped in history, the city has earned it a place in UNESCO's list of world heritage sites. But to be honest, I wasn't overly impressed. We spent one afternoon walking around the imperial city, which I appreciate is a couple of hundred years old, but it really was quite run down. I mean if you want to promote a building as a tourist attraction, the least you can do is tidy up the rubbish lying around.

The saving grace of our trip around Hue was heading to the Da Bong market and getting to try some of the local delicacies. People have many observations about Vietnam; mine was that the people there never seem to stop eating. As we were walking around the market we decided to stop at one of the little restaurant stalls. I had absolutely no idea what I was ordering and I'm not sure the lady serving really cared. I'm not sure whether it was my oversized ass perched on a tiny red plastic chair which can only have been designed for a nursery school child or whether they knew that I did not know what I was letting myself in for but the local ladies thought it was hilarious. I still have no idea what was in the dish I ate. I'm pretty confident that it wasn't dog meat, only based on the fact that I didn't pay any extra for it. 

So after a failed attempt at trying to being cultured, we decided that the best option was to relax at our hotel and indulge in the offerings of the in house spa.

Hai Van Pass

Our next stop was in the town of Danang in Central Vietnam. For this portion we decided not to fly and to take the longer scenic route. There is a new tunnel opened on the road between Hue and Danang that's dramatically reduced the travel time, but it was definitely worth taking the 21km stretch of winding and twisty mountain pass known as the Hai Van Pass. We had a lovely driver who stopped at many of the places along the way to take in the amazing scenery.

Hoi An

Although we were staying in Danang, we spent most of our time in the nearby town of Hoi An, which is a picturesque and quaint little town. It's a very popular town with local tourists, but has still managed to retain its authentic feel.

The highlight of visiting Hoi An was definitely the motorbike trip through the countryside before we headed on to our relaxation phase in Nha Trang.

Sifah boat trip

Recently, my boss Maha very kindly invited Jenny and I to join her on a family day out on her friend’s boat. Although using the word boat does not seem to do it any justice. The term “gin palace” would seem much more appropriate. For anyone interested, the boat was a 56 foot Gulfcraft, aptly named “Majesty” and was absolutely stunning.

We left Marina Banda Rowdha early on Friday morning and headed along the coast to Bandar Kharan, where we were one of the first boats to park up in the crystal clear waters for a dip to cool off. Our swimming was shortlived, when we discovered masses of jellyfish swarming round the boat. It turned out that these were actually only baby jellyfish and were not harmful as they didn’t have any tentacles, but still it had put us off a little bit and so we moved on to find another spot.

It turns out that swimming and relaxing in the sun is very tiring work and we headed further down the coast to Sifah and my favourite restaurant As Sammak. You may have seen from my previous posts that the restaurant is right on the beach, and this being a big boat meant that we couldn’t just pull up to the beach, jump out and paddle to the beach. After a number of phonecalls we were met by a fisherman on a small boat who was able to ferry us to the beach.

After a very hearty lunch (I love this restaurant) we convinced another fisherman to take us back to our trusted steed and made our way back to Bandar Kharan. This time it was quite busy (nearly as bad as Castle Court on the last Saturday before Christmas) with many other boats looking to make the most of the weather and the weekend.  A bonus for us, was that the “Flyboard Oman” guys were down there and gave us a demonstration and one of the guys on our boat Samir, a chance to test it out. This looks a lot of fun.

As the sun started to set, we headed back to MBR and Muscat after a very relaxing day, which was long overdue!

What a year....

Well it has been just over a year since the lovely Mrs L and I packed up from the windy city, bid farewell to our amazing friends, shoe horned Ralph into a big crate and made our way East, not too far, just to the middle bit. 

We would be lying to say that it wasn't a bit of a culture shock when we got here but all in all, the past year has been pretty good fun. We have met a ton of new people, been on some pretty cool adventures and have had the pleasure of experiencing a whole different way of life. We have also enjoyed one or two champagne brunches too.

Oman is a wonderful country to live in and the people are very open and welcoming. The summer weather is a challenge with temperatures hitting mid 50s a couple of weeks back, and yes that is celsius! Ramadan will soon be on us again which brings its own issues when trying to get through a working day. Obviously we still miss our family and friends back home and don't get anywhere near enough time with my fantastic nieces and nephew. And on top of all that we have to put up with a 0% personal income tax rate and petrol at 19p a litre!

Jenny and I also hit 10 years married this May which proved a lot of people wrong. We had an amazing romantic wedding anniversary sharing a Burger King in the services of the M1 outside Bristol en route to the Heineken Cup Final at Cardiff. I know folks, you don't have to remind her how lucky she is. Believe me, I know who the lucky one is.

From a professional point of view I think if you were to take a learning curve, angle it upwards, keep bending it until it is nearly vertical, that might begin to represent the journey that both of us have been on. For Jenny, she made a huge transition but as always nothing fazed her and in her own (nerdy) way, she once again acted like a big dollop of elmlea and has quickly risen to the top!

Most people know my work background and again I think it is fair to say I've made one or two minor tweaks and adjustments. In the last year I have taken over the running of 2 companies, set up another 2 new ones and have a few big projects on the horizon. Whilst it has been hard work, the Omani lady who owns these companies is possibly the best boss a person could ask for and on top of that has made it her personal mission to ensure I never lose weight again. 

When you live as an expat somewhere like this or indeed the States, there is always a lot of conversation taken up by the discussions of moving home and the likelihood of that happening. For Jenny and I, never say never. But for now we are happy to turn the AC up another notch, order another plate of hummus and see what tomorrow brings. Looking at the weather forecast there is a good chance it will be dry with a smidgen of sunshine. Again.

Here's to another year.