Well, another year has come and gone. 2013 was an eventful one - our third year living in Vietnam. Here's a look back at what happened in 2013...
January
After getting engaged in Prague on Christmas, we spent New Year's in Vienna, Austria. Ringing in the New Year with thousands of people watching fireworks outside of St. Stephen's Cathedral was awesome. On January 1st, we watched the Vienna Philharmonic concert on the big screen at city hall before heading out to Budapest, Hungary.
Budapest was a cool city with an old school vibe. I loved walking across the river to see views of both sides "Buda" and "Pest." In Budapest the highlight was visiting the Szechenyi Baths, the largest medicinal bath in Europe. It was freezing outside, but part of the thrill was running from the icy cold air to the warm outdoor pool and catching a ride in the centre of it where it was a type of whirl pool with disco lights at night. Good times! Visiting Hungary was special also because I was able to reach my goal of visiting 30 countries before the age of 30!!! Mission accomplished... :)
In January we also made a pit stop in Dubai for a short time before heading back to Vietnam. Dubai was a multicultural megacity with huge malls (one even had an indoor ski hill). We saw the fountain and light show next to the mall, in the shadow of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Visiting Dubai was a great end to an amazing trip to Europe for winter break. It was hard to go back to work!
February
Luckily, living in Vietnam means we are spoiled with another 2 weeks' vacation for Tet (lunar new year). John, Greg, Alex, and I headed to the island country of Sri Lanka. We spent the first week of our trip travelling inland on trains winding up through the beautiful green tea fields, and going on a safari in Yala National Park where we saw tons of animals including elephants, leopards, and peacocks. The second week of our trip was spent being lazy on the beaches of the south coast. I read a lot of books and drank a lot of passion fruit juice. Life was pretty sweet in Sri Lanka.
March
Back to work, fresh from our 2 week vacation, it was awesome to get away for another long weekend in March. A group of friends and I went to Phu Quoc, an island of Vietnam, for a fun beach getaway. Phu Quoc was relaxing - all we really did was hang out at the pool and beach, read, and play frisbee. I miss that island!
April
This month I had my first ever surprise birthday party. John and Will surprised my friend Angela and I with a surprise party with many of our friends from work. We have birthdays only 2 days apart, so it was a fun way to celebrate. We went to one of our favourite restaurants and then karaoke afterward. I was genuinely surprised! It was a memorable 30th b-day for sure... :)
At the end of April we also made our way to Malaysian Borneo with Alex for some fun in the sea and sun!
May
Borneo was a place that was on our "must visit" list for a while... we had heard nothing but great things about it! Alex planned our trip to Uncle Chang's resort on Mabul Island, where we spent several days exploring life under the sea. I snorkelled and John and Alex went scuba diving on Sipadan Island - one of the best places for diving in the world. We saw huge schools of barracuda and jack fish, sharks, sea turtles, and tons of colourful fish. It was definitely the highlight of our trip to Borneo!
June
With school winding down, it was definitely a busy time of year. We had reports, field trips, success assemblies, and classroom packing to complete. I really enjoyed my class this year and will be sad to see them move on. June was also time to say goodbye to our dear roommate Tanya, and some of our other best friends like Andy and Julia who were leaving to go back to Canada. It was also a happy time however, since we were finally going HOME after the end of the school year.
July
Back home and having fun with family and friends! We went to PEI to visit John's family and enjoyed seeing everyone and hanging out at the beaches there. We also had a lot of ice cream at Johnny's! In Windsor Alyssa, Jeff, and I also did the Colour Run, John visited, and we went to a baseball game too. Summer in Canada is always a good time!
August
It's always hard saying goodbye... Summer went by so quickly and before I knew it, I was on a plane back to Vietnam to start another school year. Our friend Jess moved in as our new roommate. I was ready to begin our third year at our school, reunited with friends, and first year teaching grade 5!
September
The beginning of school always means a long weekend for Vietnamese National Day... so off we went to Mui Ne for the third year in a row for more beach time. We visited the Fairy Stream again, and hung out by the beachside pool for most of the weekend. It was tough to get back on the bus back to HCMC!
This month I also got to experience Saigon in a different way - via dinner boat cruise for our friend Jenny's birthday. Buffet dinner, entertainment, colourful views of the Saigon skyline... a great night!
October
I love having a week off in October - it's something to look forward to after you begin the school year! John, Greg, Alex, Angela, Will, and I went to Nepal for the week to see some mountains. Unfortunately there was a ton of rain, and our trek around Pokhara got pretty wet with lots of leeches in the forest. Despite that, the end of the trek was beautiful and we had a great time! We also hung out in Kathmandu to see some amazing sites, such as the Boudhanath Stupa, Monkey Temple, and Pashupatinath Temple where they cremate bodies at ghats on the river. Nepal was an interesting country that I wish I had more time in. The flight back to HCMC was great, as we got a view of Mount Everest!
November
November is always a busy month at school with report cards and interviews. Luckily I got to have an interesting cultural experience by attending my co-worker Lan's wedding in a small town on the Mekong. It was a lot of fun and very different from North American style weddings.
December
The last month of the year flew by. After a busy few weeks of school, John and I flew to Australia - a destination that was on my list for a long time. We spent time hanging out with kangaroos, koalas, and other cute animals at a wildlife park near Adelaide, then made our way via car to Melbourne on the Great Ocean Road. It was very scenic and I finally got to see the famous landmark "The 12 Apostles." I loved it! We spent New Year's Eve in Sydney counting down with TONS of people to watch the fireworks over the Harbour Bridge.
2013 was a fun year, but I know that 2014 will be one to look forward to since many events will be happening... many weddings (including my own!!!), seeing everyone at home in the summer, a job change, and hopefully more adventures around the world!
January
After getting engaged in Prague on Christmas, we spent New Year's in Vienna, Austria. Ringing in the New Year with thousands of people watching fireworks outside of St. Stephen's Cathedral was awesome. On January 1st, we watched the Vienna Philharmonic concert on the big screen at city hall before heading out to Budapest, Hungary.
Budapest was a cool city with an old school vibe. I loved walking across the river to see views of both sides "Buda" and "Pest." In Budapest the highlight was visiting the Szechenyi Baths, the largest medicinal bath in Europe. It was freezing outside, but part of the thrill was running from the icy cold air to the warm outdoor pool and catching a ride in the centre of it where it was a type of whirl pool with disco lights at night. Good times! Visiting Hungary was special also because I was able to reach my goal of visiting 30 countries before the age of 30!!! Mission accomplished... :)
In January we also made a pit stop in Dubai for a short time before heading back to Vietnam. Dubai was a multicultural megacity with huge malls (one even had an indoor ski hill). We saw the fountain and light show next to the mall, in the shadow of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Visiting Dubai was a great end to an amazing trip to Europe for winter break. It was hard to go back to work!
February
Luckily, living in Vietnam means we are spoiled with another 2 weeks' vacation for Tet (lunar new year). John, Greg, Alex, and I headed to the island country of Sri Lanka. We spent the first week of our trip travelling inland on trains winding up through the beautiful green tea fields, and going on a safari in Yala National Park where we saw tons of animals including elephants, leopards, and peacocks. The second week of our trip was spent being lazy on the beaches of the south coast. I read a lot of books and drank a lot of passion fruit juice. Life was pretty sweet in Sri Lanka.
March
Back to work, fresh from our 2 week vacation, it was awesome to get away for another long weekend in March. A group of friends and I went to Phu Quoc, an island of Vietnam, for a fun beach getaway. Phu Quoc was relaxing - all we really did was hang out at the pool and beach, read, and play frisbee. I miss that island!
April
This month I had my first ever surprise birthday party. John and Will surprised my friend Angela and I with a surprise party with many of our friends from work. We have birthdays only 2 days apart, so it was a fun way to celebrate. We went to one of our favourite restaurants and then karaoke afterward. I was genuinely surprised! It was a memorable 30th b-day for sure... :)
At the end of April we also made our way to Malaysian Borneo with Alex for some fun in the sea and sun!
May
Borneo was a place that was on our "must visit" list for a while... we had heard nothing but great things about it! Alex planned our trip to Uncle Chang's resort on Mabul Island, where we spent several days exploring life under the sea. I snorkelled and John and Alex went scuba diving on Sipadan Island - one of the best places for diving in the world. We saw huge schools of barracuda and jack fish, sharks, sea turtles, and tons of colourful fish. It was definitely the highlight of our trip to Borneo!
June
With school winding down, it was definitely a busy time of year. We had reports, field trips, success assemblies, and classroom packing to complete. I really enjoyed my class this year and will be sad to see them move on. June was also time to say goodbye to our dear roommate Tanya, and some of our other best friends like Andy and Julia who were leaving to go back to Canada. It was also a happy time however, since we were finally going HOME after the end of the school year.
July
Back home and having fun with family and friends! We went to PEI to visit John's family and enjoyed seeing everyone and hanging out at the beaches there. We also had a lot of ice cream at Johnny's! In Windsor Alyssa, Jeff, and I also did the Colour Run, John visited, and we went to a baseball game too. Summer in Canada is always a good time!
August
It's always hard saying goodbye... Summer went by so quickly and before I knew it, I was on a plane back to Vietnam to start another school year. Our friend Jess moved in as our new roommate. I was ready to begin our third year at our school, reunited with friends, and first year teaching grade 5!
September
The beginning of school always means a long weekend for Vietnamese National Day... so off we went to Mui Ne for the third year in a row for more beach time. We visited the Fairy Stream again, and hung out by the beachside pool for most of the weekend. It was tough to get back on the bus back to HCMC!
This month I also got to experience Saigon in a different way - via dinner boat cruise for our friend Jenny's birthday. Buffet dinner, entertainment, colourful views of the Saigon skyline... a great night!
October
I love having a week off in October - it's something to look forward to after you begin the school year! John, Greg, Alex, Angela, Will, and I went to Nepal for the week to see some mountains. Unfortunately there was a ton of rain, and our trek around Pokhara got pretty wet with lots of leeches in the forest. Despite that, the end of the trek was beautiful and we had a great time! We also hung out in Kathmandu to see some amazing sites, such as the Boudhanath Stupa, Monkey Temple, and Pashupatinath Temple where they cremate bodies at ghats on the river. Nepal was an interesting country that I wish I had more time in. The flight back to HCMC was great, as we got a view of Mount Everest!
November
November is always a busy month at school with report cards and interviews. Luckily I got to have an interesting cultural experience by attending my co-worker Lan's wedding in a small town on the Mekong. It was a lot of fun and very different from North American style weddings.
December
The last month of the year flew by. After a busy few weeks of school, John and I flew to Australia - a destination that was on my list for a long time. We spent time hanging out with kangaroos, koalas, and other cute animals at a wildlife park near Adelaide, then made our way via car to Melbourne on the Great Ocean Road. It was very scenic and I finally got to see the famous landmark "The 12 Apostles." I loved it! We spent New Year's Eve in Sydney counting down with TONS of people to watch the fireworks over the Harbour Bridge.
2013 was a fun year, but I know that 2014 will be one to look forward to since many events will be happening... many weddings (including my own!!!), seeing everyone at home in the summer, a job change, and hopefully more adventures around the world!
WOW! Another FANTASTIC year of adventures and memories to treasure forever! Yes, 2014 will be another eventful year and we are ALL looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteThanks... there's a lot to look forward to!
DeleteWhat a fantastic synopsis of your year! If I didn't know it was all true, I'd think it was a "wishful thinking" story! Looking forward to 2014's special events with you <3
ReplyDelete