Village colours

The people in Mai Chau belong to the White Thai minority, and are traditionally skilled weavers. Under every stilt house there is a loom and when not cooking or cleaning or taking care of kids or working on the fields or being occupied with anything else, the women are weaving.
The natural colors of the houses, the ground and the harvested rice fields, together with the bright colors of the textiles, makes the place almost magic.

Kids on the rice fields

For the kids it was two days of ejoying total freedom, running around the village, taking long walks (mainly running, climbing or balancing), playing with whatever they found on the ground (mainly sticks).
Hana did her best to try to catch up with big brothers Kai and Hosea.

"Boys, what are you pointing at?"
"We're shooting bad guys!"
"..."

So much running and playing with sticks, had to end with at least a couple of incidents. Kai fell on a sharp stone and Hosea fell into a muddy rice paddie. Sticks were eventually prohibited.

Weekend in Mai Chau

Finally, finally we made it! After so many attempts we left Saturday morning, together with one of Kai's best friends and his parents, and spent two days doing nothing but walking the rice paddies, hanging out in the village and eating Mrs. Chungs wonderful food. We slept all in a long row under a huge mosquito net on the second floor of a traditional Thai stilt house, enjoying fresh air and countryside tranquility.

View from the breakfast table.
Mrs. Chung's guesthouse, Pom Coong village.

Trekking the rice fields, on our way to next door Lac village.

Snack time. Tea and water break in Lac.

Lunch at the guest house.

Total price for lunch, dinner, breakfast, lunch, drinks and sleeping: 600.000 dong (that is 220 sek, or 30 usd, or 20 euros). Per family. Definitely value for money at its best.

Autumn garden

Lately, I really have spent too much time in the neighbourhood and in the house. Haven't been to town since I dont know when, and divide my time between leaving and collecting kids at different times in school, at the local cafe trying to work (!) a little, and in the afternoons either at some little friends house or at home with some little friends visiting.
But, tonight I am leaving my family at home, going to the opening of a Swedish film festival. And, today we have booked guesthouse and car, and it really, really seems like we are going to Mai Chau tomorrow...

Autumn-like bouganvilla and a view of our little pond. As we actually dont see the "endings" of it, sometimes I pretend it's a river slowly floating by. Feels more vivid that way.

One very good thing about autumn is that we can spend the afternoons outside again, and although our garden here is about the size of our terrace in Dominica, it is huge for being in Hanoi. And - we got some real grass. An absolute exclusivity!

The road to town

The main road, from the West Lake area to Old Quarter, which I almost never take. Although it usually is faster than cruising the smaller streets around little ponds, it is sometimes just to crowded and you just dont move; get stuck in a river of motorbikes and cars and buses and bicycles.

Party weekend

Maybe not so much for me or Keisuke, as for the kids. But they sure had a lot of fun. On Saturday Hana and I attended Silles two years party, while Kai and Keisuke went off to celebrate Jordan turning four. And, on Sunday there was a big one in the kids favourite park, Sedona, celebrating no more than four kids turning five. Lots of cake and juice and candy bags all weekend long...

Treasure hunt with Joel's daddy - and also Kai's teacher - Mr. Greg.

Bye bye!

Guess we have to get better at closing the gate up by the street...

"Hana, where are you going?"
"Bye-bye!"
"Bye-bye..."

And seconds later she is up and out on Xuan Dieu street...

Influenza A

Obviously you can have the flu with almost no symptoms at all, just a slight fever for a day or so. This Tuesday I took Hana to the clinic for something else, and as they love to run tests, they took the flu one as well. And, even to the doctors surprise, she tested positive for the flu, probably got it from Kai. So, we have all spent the week at home, no school, no playdates, my kids as wild as ever and we all going crazy not being able to hang out with people as usual. Instead, a lot of DVD, Lego and drawing and hopefully with a yet a little better immune system...

And, today we couldn't stand staying at home anylonger; went to the Lenin park for a drive.

T.G.I.F. Even if it's the 13th...

Family pictures

Taketani family on tour...

This photo was taken by a very friendly and insisting lady at Thac Da. The technicolour perfect for the athmosfhere. We actually are outside, not in a studio.

At Railey bay, photographed by newly found friends.

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Varberg, Sweden, July 2008

Ba Vi National Park - second try

Last time we tried to get to Ba Vi National Park, we didnt make it to the park, spent most time in the hotel pool and some arguing with the driver about the amount of fog in the mountain. This time we went for a place inside the national park itself, thought that way we wouldnt miss it.
The Thac Da Resort is yet another of those huge communist like places, catering mainly to Vietnamese. No-one spoke English, but we managed to get our room and food as well and later happily went off hiking the forest. "It sounds like Dominica!" was Kai's surprised comment, when we got closer and closer to a real waterfall.

Self portrait. Kai.

They also had a lot of huge, wonderfully ugly, concrete statues, all over the place. Kai had to climb them all.

One year anniversary

This Friday November 6 we celebrated one year living in Hanoi. After school the kids and I enjoyed fresh coconut and lime juice at a cafe down by the lake, later Keisuke and I shared a nice bottle of wine.
Conclusion: life in Hanoi isn't too bad!

The house full of flowers!

Oh, how great it is when Keisuke and I both decide to pass the flower market, the same day, without knowing it. We both bought a lot and now there are flowers everywhere, on tables, on the floor, next to the bed, high up on kitchen shelves...
The market is just around the corner - or actually just across the "dyke road", which is basically the "highway" out of town, toward the airport - and I definitely have to go there much, much more often!

And, it seems, tomorrow we ARE going to Mai Chau!

Lenin and Hiragana

Very few cities in the world still keep a statue of Lenin, but in Hanoi, he is still standing, proud, overlooking a small park where the coolest boys go skating in the afternoon, but where school boys play football during lunch break. He is not too far from Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum and on the other side of the road is the Hanoi Tower with its large flag. He should feel rather confortalbe, although there is also a Highlands Coffee.

The autumn is finally here, with wonderful, cool days, perfect for a coffee in the sun. So, that's where I went this morning, to do some hiragana studying. I think I managed to memorize su (す) and ni (に)!

Development?

Huge apartment buildings, whole neighbourhoods, pop up like mushrooms around Hanoi. It doesnt really make the city more beautiful and I guess it is devastating for the environment. But it sure provides people with new and better places to live, like in Sweden in the sixties...

Me and my girl

Although she will always be mine she has always been very independent. And now that she is a school girl, with her own friends and things to do, she will probably just become even cooler...

Hanging out in Railey

Hanoi Cinemateque

Deep down a tiny alley on busy Ba Trieu street, past a motor cycle parking lot, some people's houses, laundry, flower pots, Vietnamese women hanging out watching daily life pass by, dogs and chicken, is the Hanoi Cinemateque. They also have a small cafe and it is a calm place to take a break from the chaos outside before watching a movie.

This Saturday, they had a childrens afternoon, Kai watched two movie sessions in a row while Hana hung out in the cafe and the alley, eating too much potato chips and lollipops.

Weekend in Hanoi

Sometimes weekend in the city is not too bad. Like this one.

Friday night: went with Keisuke and a crazy Spanish couple to our friend Khanh's completely amazing art/light installation, covering half his neighbourhood and more. Afterwards, beer on the street.
Saturday: late morning for me, got out of bed 9.30 (which I dont think have happended since before Kai was born, four year that is...) and spent the whole afternoon at the Cinemateque, Kai watching two movies in a row with good friend Hosea, parents drinking coffee at the cinema cafe outside.
Sunday: A morning stroll along West Lake, enjoying the wonderful autumn and being able to move without start sweating copiously, lunch at home with Swedish friend Jenny and little Theo and almost the whole afternoon for myself, while Keisuke took the kids to yet another birthday party.

As it cant get much better, I hope we will be able get out of the city next weekend. What if we would make it all the way to Mai Chau...

Keisuke, checking out one of many huge light installations at Khanh's place.

Hana in school!

Last Monday Hana started school! She is in toddler class at the same school as Kai and seems really happy about it all, doesnt even cry when I leave (yet), just waves bye bye, plays around and has fun, but screams happily when I return to pick her up after lunch. And she loves the new Hello Kitty bag we got in Thailand.