What would you do if you had one day in Paris?

That's right. We had one day in Paris. Both Rob and I have been before but, naturally, wanted to go back. While it is probably a crime to come to France and only really spend one day in Paris, we chose this, because it allowed us to spend more time somewhere new.  

Our main objective in Paris was to get lost. We only briefly managed that and still fit quite a lot else in! We dropped in on Notre Dame, wandered along la Seine, saw a few galleries, explored a great bookshop recommended by Geoffrey, spent some time in Montmartre and got to the Eiffel Tower for dusk. 

A highlight was getting our portraits done in Montmartre, a fantastic engagement present from my Mum. We were happy with the end product- the artist knew how to capture our likeness whilst adding a few improvements here and there! The actual experience was very enjoyable, something I hadn't considered. I thought it would be horrible to have to sit still for so long. I most enjoyed watching how the artist drew Rob. It was interesting to see what order she did things and how a few final strokes altered the whole portrait. Thanks Mum!

Almost finished

Photo with the artist, Marina Fortunato

Montmartre

Sacré-Cœur

On the street of Montmartre

Notre-Dame from the front

Notre-Dame and its lovely garden at the back

Inside Shakespeare and Company Bookshop: fantastic bookshop

Tour Eiffel

Tour Eiffel

Goodnight Paris!

Entrepreneurship is alive and well in Saigon

Saigon is a city that has seen its fair share of change.  At one time part of Cambodia, taken over by Vietnam, France and central to the battle of North vs South and America, its residents have to be used to change.

That's something that I found inspiring while left to wander the streets, coffee shops, parks and embassies while Kat was working at the orphanage.  The entrepreneurial spirit is certainly alive in this town.

Footpath salad

The three main stories I want to share where from a food tour, a simple bookshop and a group of enthusiastic first-year English students at the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City.

Local Motion
Tim and Steph promised that we could go with them on a local food tour, Vietnam style - on the back of a motorbike.  With Mum in town, being wined and dined by every colleague every night, she was keen to experience some street food Vietnam-style "as long as it is safe!"

Mum, staying safe with Bom

Local Motion are an amazing group of people, who came to pick us up from Mum's hotel, all 5 of them, dressed in black shirts with bright traffic light colours.  Ridiculously, less than 6 months ago, this same group took my brother Tim and his girlfriend Sal on a tour.  With Mum jumping on the back of Bom's bike, we joked that all we needed was Dad and they would have met our whole family.

Feeling comfortable the entire time (except for a brief mis-step where Kat's driver took a wrong turn) we enjoyed 4 meals at amazingly different locations.  Salad on the footpath by the park, ostrich, crocodile and squid barbecued on a roofing tile, Vietnamese pancakes at a street stall and coffee or ice-cream in an exquisitely up-market venue we were truly satisfied.  We traveled more of Ho Chi Minh City in 4 hours than we had throughout the entire day, and we were fit to bursting. 

Kat tries to avoid spitting oil and flames while Steph is hankering for some ostrich

Mai and her crew spoke fantastic English, to the point that we were arguing over the meaning of "splitting hairs", we loved being in their company and I can't think of a more welcoming or clever way to be introduced to Vietnam. 



It was so good to have a unique night out, not only with Tim & Steph in their adopted home, but with Mum visiting Saigon at the same time as us was like a free ticket to a show you didn't know you wanted to go to!

 






BOA Bookshop - The Book of Awesome
During a more-delightful-than-expected visit to a doctor, I was flipping through a magazine and found an article about a unique English bookstore in downtown Saigon.  Annoyed that I didn't get to finish it, I had to wait after my appointment for the lady who had since picked up the magazine to leave, so that I could finish reading it.  In all, I spent more than an hour hanging around the clinic.  One of the secretaries came up to me and said, "you know we are finished?  You can go now".  I actually wonder how long she had waited before coming up to say that.

To get anywhere by taxi or xe om in Vietnam, you need the address written down.  Don't even begin to believe that you might have a handle on how to pronounce Vietnamese words, let alone be able to explain them to your driver.  With the address copied from the article in order to show to random strangers should I become lost, I marched off immediately in the wrong direction, eager to find it before heading home.

Apparently they had started up simply as a box of books.  They left it out on the street, for anyone to drop off or pick up a book.  Like a communal library.  Until someone stole them all, but that's another story.

The Book of Awesome Bookstore is behind a restaurant, up two flights of stairs and down a blank hallway with encouraging signs telling you "...almost there..." on the way.  From the street, there is a half fallen down cardboard sign with "BOA bookshop" hanging in the window that you can see only if you are looking for it, and I certainly recommend you do.  The store was neat and tidy, with someone napping on the makeshift bunk above the door and another woman working behind the cash register.  As I was dripping with sweat from the walk and the stairs, she immediately turned on the fan and took my bag, while inquiring about what I was looking for.  Bizarrely, of the first two books she recommended, I had read one and Kat the other in the last 2 months ("Speaker for the Dead" and "The Giver" if you are interested). The story behind how they've started up this shop and the enthusiasm with which they run it were inspiring.  If you live in or are visiting Saigon and need a new book, check out BOA, they have new and used and will even do trades.

The English Club

While Kat was exploring the unknown: doing strange versions of the chicken dance, creating innovative new games to teach English and singing with the children at the orphanage, I was trying to find a productive way to spend my time besides drinking coffee and arranging visas.

Kat asked her colleague, Gene, a physio at the orphanage, about volunteering opportunities. He suggested that I could easily hang out at the university across the road and speak English with the students, who he said were always enthusiastic about learning, particular with a "real" English-speaker. He was actually able to rattle off some statistics about how much more successful university graduates can be if they have a good command of English.

As it happened, after sharing a lunch with Kat nearby the orphanage one day, a group approached us asking if they could talk to us for a little while.  Unknown to us, we had stumbled upon the Technical University's English club!  This was a committed group of students (many of whom majoring in English) who get together to study and speak English. I met up with them as many days as possible, we talked about politics, religion, how to meet women, local and Australian customs and travel.  Hanna, one of the women in attendance actually had the best advice in the relationships department, but I'm not sure how many of the guys took the advice to heart.
  

The group really seemed to get something from hanging out, just as I did. I really enjoyed spending time with a group of committed individuals while getting to learn more about them, where they were from and about their country.

While I guess this doesn't really fit into the category of entrepreneurship, I found their commitment to learn striking, and that they recognised how important a good command of English could be in their future careers despite the obstacles that organisations and other students might put in their way. I just wish I had met them earlier.