Mid Autumn Festival

September 30,2017
The rainy season continues and we often enjoy a light show in the sky as storms roll through.

There is one more week of classes before the Mid Autumn festival, or Moon festival starts.  This holiday and Tet (New Years) are the 2 biggest holidays.  Streets and buildings are decorated with lanterns.  Children parade with lanterns and often wear masks.  A bit like our Halloween.  Moon cakes are eaten and there is a festive air.

Students making lanterns.  There will be assemblies with dancing and singing next week as well.

I have decided to try a new style of bathing suit.  It is common here to see suits that cover more of the skin - maybe because of the intense sun.  For $12, I thought I would try one.

Just back from a swim in the pool:)

Craft Beer Tour

September 16/17
As we are approaching the Moon/Lantern Festival, mooncakes are available everywhere.

The one I bought is green bean.  Inside they have an egg yolk (cooked).  It is very good with a bit of a chalky texture and not too sweet.  They come in many flavours and colours.  Some are a dark green or reddish.  The egg yolk centre is to simulate the moon. 

On Saturday we signed up for a craft beer tour. There were 9 of us from the school and our tour guide is the husband of one of the teachers.  We started at 2 and came home - a bit tipsy - by 8pm.  We visited 7 breweries and each place offered a flight of beers.

Most of these venues were new and quite chic.

A sample.  We had dozens to choose from. 

I think we will be visiting some of these establishments as they also offer some excellent food.

Saigon Heat

September 9&10
It's Saturday, a half day at the school for open house and since Frank is feeling better, I suggested we attend a Saigon Heat International Basketball team game which is held at the stadium at my school ( a ten minute walk).

  

It was a noisy and exciting game.  Only in the last 1/4 did the Saigon Heat put the pressure on to win it by 84 to 76.  After, we walked around the corner to a Turkish restaurant and brought home a spinach filo tart and a chicken dish with a cold beer.  For Sunday we went down to D1 by Grab scooters and I got fitted for an outfit at our favourite tailor's place.  We then headed toward one of our favourite eating places - L'Usine and had a smoked salmon egg Benedict lunch.  

Some of the elegant architecture 

Among the numerous French colonial architecture are these more typical street scenes.

Staircase at L"Usine.

  

Phu Quoc Weekend

September 2-4
Vietnam celebrates Independence Day this weekend.  We managed to get an early morning flight to Phu Quoc.  Got up at 4am and arrived at the airport by 5:15.  The flight was on time and we arrived in Phu Quoc by 8:15 and a driver was waiting for us to take us to Peppercorn Beach Resort. Even though check in was much later, we were offered a sumptuous breakfast and our beach front cottage was ready.

view from our room

This place is remote , near the northern tip of the island.  It was not very busy and so we had the pool to ourselves most of the time and the water in the sea was warm and clear.  The hotel also had free cocktails for one hour every afternoon and so we indulged in a yummy margarita.  Check out on Monday was to be at 11 but they let us stay until 1:30.  On the way back to the airport , we stopped at a pearl factory.  Pearls are a big item on this island.  I bought a simple pair of fresh water pearl earrings and a single Black Sea pearl from Tahiti for a necklace.  The flight home was quick but Frank has come down with a stomach flu and so he was not in the best of shape. 

 View towards our cottage.

I also decided to buy a ukulele.  The students at school learn to play it and it looks like fun, so I am joining them once a week and then getting some help from some good uTube videos.  Hope the neighbours back at the lake don't mind a bit of ukulele

 strumming on the deck:)