A holiday in a holiday

When we booked our accomodation in Hoi An we knew it was not available for one weekend. We took the opportunity to have a holiday away from the home schooling bubble. We spent the first night in a hot springs spa just outside of Danang. The drive over was gorgeous. The countryside and hills out of Denang breath taking. The hot springs had all sorts to do. There were a series of increasingly hot pools of spring water and a foot bathing section. But there were also different water parks, a 4D cinema,  dinosaur section and a bird land to keep us entertained. Although the kids favourite bit was taking free buggies around the site! Selina’s was the slightly undercooked longevity eggs which are eggs boiled for 20 minutes in the hot mineral water. They are meant to take 7 years off your age. Selina had two so should be back in her 20s now!

I always love a good hotel breakfast and this was my first one for the entire trip - seriously! We’ve been away for ten weeks and haven’t had a breakfast included anywhere we’ve stayed! This one was super - they kept bringing top ups as we finished bits of it. Delicious!

We also spent a night in another pod hotel in denang. Olive and Boo loved it! We went to see the fire breathing dragons head on the golden dragon bridge. 

We also had a lazy Sunday wandering around the centre, stopping here and there for coffee and snacks before heading back to our temporary home in An Bang beach. Nice to be back, although a bit chilly!

Slightly cooler in vietnam

We’ve come back to lovely Hoi An in Vietnam as the weather has been a lot cooler here than Koh Lanta. Talking to folk it has been really overcast and rainy for ages - unseasonably apparently. But it has warmed up for our arrival. It’s been sunny and dare I say it a bit humid(!), but it then dips into wetter cooler weather for a few days which is welcome relief.

We had fun on the flight over. To get much cheaper tickets we decided to break the journey at Kuala Lumpur. We had 12 hours at KL so I booked us into one of those pod hotels in the airport. The kids loved it! The malls and shops around the airport were super fun and the sleep a great adventure. A definite repeater!

It’s so nice to be back in Hoi An. I love it here. The food is great, people so friendly and we have dived head first into the world schooling community here and it is super. 

There is a wide range of different activities going on - community farm, book club, acrobatics, chess, badminton, slime making workshop, cooking and crafts to name a few! We’ve also had Vietnamese lessons and visited a locals house where they’ve set up a library in their home for local kids to come along and learn English with us. I have found the balance of activities here so rewarding. Lots are accessible for Boo and they really stretch the kids in different directions. My favourites have been working with Pierre on his farm project - the kids playing with the cats, feeding fish and chickens, planting seeds and arts and crafts while me and Selina help out with different projects like removing rubble to build a class room, creating plant beds, weeding and building fences. Teaching English through reading stories with local kids has also been very rewarding - Olive has been super at sitting patiently with younger children. 

We have also really enjoyed all the different foods - cau lau noodles, mi quong noodles with quail eggs, pho soup, banh mi sandwiches, banh xiau pancakes and spring rolls to name a few. Vietnamese is one of my favourite foods in the world. Olive has decided that she fancies trying to be vegetarian for a bit. I’m seeing this as a nice challenge for me as well so I’ve joined her which helps with trying to hunt down suitable places to eat. There are usually veggie options but it can be more tricky in the more local places where they have a specific local delicacy which invariably includes meat. A fun challenge….

Koh Lanta - the other side

Aside from all the world schooling community activities we have had some tasty food. Early on we found some favourite local haunts like the local chicken noodle soup place. 

Olive, Boo and me all had our haircut!

Our apartment has a lovely big pool as well. I’ve managed to take a few early evening dips by myself - managing to get some proper lengths in! But I have to make sure I am out before it gets too dark as the bats start swooping down onto the water!

We spent evenings chilling on the beach near us, watching the sun set, learning poi and generally messing about in the sea. 

We’ve all had massages as you should in Thailand and mine left me suitably bruised! We’ve also seen a fair few films over the month - Moana and Wicked were particularly good fun (for the kids!). 

We have also been entertained for the whole month by the road works outside our apartment. They are able to lay road down so quickly here!

We took a longboat trip one evening round the mangroves. Our guide was super - he let Olive and Selina get out the boat and climb over the mud to plant new mangroves. It was one of our highlights of our entire month in Koh lanta!

For my birthday we headed over to Old Town and spent the day wandering round enjoying the more peaceful side of the island and buying lots of stuff from the markets. 

Me, Selina and Boo pushed ourselves out of the comfort zone by trying fried insects at a local festival near us! The caterpillars, crickets and grubs were quite tasty really in a nutty way! This will be the future anyway with climate change! I could easily eat a plate of crickets for dinner!!

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