Pummelled, People-Watching, Pebbles

Once I have been to a place, it is not often I want to return (with the exception of New Zealand), but Vietnam would be a country I would add to my list of countries I would love to return to and explore extensively. Perhaps a biking tour?


The people, the greenery, the water, the beaches. Beautiful! Loved every second of my time there!

And who doesn't love a perfect line of amazingly colorful lanterns?

Had to climb about 150 steps to get to see this buddha at the top of the hill. He looks over the city. Every time I see one I kind of stand in awe because it baffles me. And saddens me.


Nha Trang Bay is absolutely stunning. Loved watching the fishermen. Wonderful place to sit and think and just watch.








Went to another temple where they were preparing for a massive festival the next day. I got stared at and pointed at by many people. I'm guessing because I'm larger. I had to laugh though because they were so NOT discreet. Pointing blatantly, tugging their friends over to come look at me. I should have offered to take some photos with them.








The beach we went to was beautiful. Not sandy though. Quite pebbly. I wanted to go swimming, because I love swimming and like taking any chance to swim that I can. I met some friends on the beach who warned that the undertow was strong. I brushed it aside, because well, I'm a strong swimmer of course. Undertow, schmundertow. I could handle it.

So I walked into the water. The current felt pretty strong, but I was also equally excited to get reprieve from the heat in the refreshing water. I walked in deeper, when suddenly it dropped off and I fell. At that exact moment, a massive wave came and pummelled me into the ground. Slightly washed out and shell-shocked, I got up, hoping my friends on the beach didn't notice and got out of the water.

Later I noticed blood running down my legs from where the rocks had cut me open. And later, upon showering, I removed approximately 2 cups of pebbles from my bathing suit. (Subtle way of stealing part of the beach).

The entire time, my mother sat on a chair in the shade, enjoying a coconut beverage and laughing at me as I got completely beat by the waves. Gotta love a mother's support.


And thus concludes our time in Vietnam. It was wonderful, adventurous and dangerous (haha). It definitely whet my appetite to come back and explore more.

Next stop: Hong Kong!

Tides, Trees, Trails

When people ask me how long I'm home for between travels, I say 3 and a half weeks but with all I have been blessed to be able to do and all the people I have been able to connect with, I honestly feel like I have been home for a few months! It has been a sheer delight and blessing!

This week I went to Vancouver Island with my friend Brooke. There is something recharging and renewing to the soul to sit by the beach and watch it for hours, while reading. To watch the sunrise from bed over the ocean. To walk barefoot on the sand despite the freezing cold water. The trip was wonderful and I came back incredibly refreshed!




Sometimes I find it funny to see what people have on the back windowsill of their cars. In this case it was matching dolls.. which I have to admit was a bit strange, so the moment definitely merited a picture. hope they didn't notice us following them in order to photograph their dolls.


I have decided that if I get any more dogs, they should be this kind... they're cute enough.










I stood almost knee deep in the water which was freezing... but so refreshing and wonderful at the same time! Especially since the sun was setting right then too...



Brooke and I stopped at random farms, including a pie place! Funny though because they only had frozen pies...


And we were lucky enough to pass by a GIANT hockey stick. And well, my newest life ambition is to find millions of oversized random things and take pictures of them.



And now my pictures randomly take a break from the island... Thanksgiving weekend, my lovely friend Anne was out and so we got to meet for coffee and go to church together and it was wonderful to see her again! I look forward to the next visit already!

Anne's Cedric had a nice tea with my Cedric...

And two days before that, Megan and I went to Seattle where we saw two musicals and just had a wonderful time catching up and hanging out! How wonderful. There's more pictures to come that are on Megan's camera.. actually quite a funny one that demonstrates how American portion sizes seem to be much larger than here in Canada...




Back to the island... we saw a GIANT GNOME!!! Amazing. I was in awe actually. And a little sad I had left Cedric at home.



The forests on the island are absolutely wonderful. We went for a lot of walks in the woods and it was delightful (except in those moments that we remembered the last time we were in the woods alone we ran into a bear...)


I like this picture because it looks like an abstract painting.. while it's just an out of focus picture of trees. :)

Oh how I love the colours of fall!

Can anyone find Brooke in this photo?

I discovered the joy of spinning forest photos...

Along with the joy of monstrous trees... makes you feel pretty insignificant.

And I end my post with a photo of a celebrity I recently met. Chrystal and I were unassumingly enjoying dinner at Red Robin's.. when suddenly Red came up to our table.. Wow. I was star struck. How many times have I been to Red Robin's and never met Red himself? I felt honoured and priveleged.


Enjoy your Monday!

Sunsets, Sand, South

Figured I'd post again since it's dark now and there is really not much to do after dark... well, I could go out and meet some locals, but I think I will stay put for a bit.

Today I drove south along the western coast of the North Island- absolutely stunning! I made a commitment to turn whenever a sign pointed to the ocean and said 'surf beach'. There were a lot of them. Walked on each beach and loved the different cliffs along the ocean. Tons of really neat birds too. The sand is black which is kind of cool too.

After arriving at my destination this evening (took about 7 hours for what should have been a 2 hour drive.. haha.. yay for stops!), I drove to the ocean to read while the sun was setting. So beautiful! Despite all the sand blowing into my face mind you.

I may have mentioned this before, but one of my other favorite things about NZ is that most people wave at you when they drive by you on the street. SO friendly. Makes me feel like I know everyone who is driving by. I have started to wave all the time too, perhaps I'll bring it home with me.

I'm off to find something tasty for dinner! And then probably read. It's funny because never in my life when on my own, have I gone to bed so early. But I love it. Usually I go to bed by 10 and every morning I'm up at 6 or 7 and I absolutely love my time in the mornings... somehow I always forget that when I'm back home mind you.. maybe it will stick one of these days!

Enjoy your Wednesday-mine was great! :)