Waaah. March: I’m afraid blogging just didn’t happen. Between moving into the new house, learning to ride our motorbikes, my mum and gran visiting for two weeks and then doing my headteacher training, there just wasn’t any time to sit down and write up some of our back logged adventures!
So here’s our March monthly round up to catch you up to date, and to fill you in on what will be coming over the next month now that we should (hopefully) have time to blog seriously.
First up for March was moving into our beautiful new villa. I have plans to do a full post on finding accommodation and what it costs to live here in Ho Chi Minh City. In the meantime here is a little sneak peek of our new home - complete with a huuuuuge swimming pool.
After moving in, we quickly grabbed ourselves some motorbikes and spent the week before my family arrived trying to perfect our driving skills. Believe it or not, we are actually pros! - It is so much easier than we envisaged, especially after our disastrous attempt to learn to ride in Thailand a few years ago. I’m contemplating whipping together a post on this too.
My mum and gran then arrived safely in Ho Chi Minh City! We spent a brief afternoon wandering around town, grabbing some typical Vietnamese food and seeing some of the tourist sites before jetting off to the North!
HANOI
First stop on our tour of Vietnam was Hanoi, a new destination for all four of us! Despite the cold and the rain we ventured out exploring. We did a walking tour, visited temples and ate some authentic Hanoian cuisine, including some delicious egg-coffee. We also tracked down the famous train street and felt the adrenaline of it speed past us!
HA LONG BAY
We then took a little break from the hustle and bustle of Hanoi and headed to the calm of Ha Long Bay, where we sailed among the limestone peaks on an Indochina Junk Boat. During our two nights on the water we enjoyed 5 course meals, kayaking, squid fishing, t’ai-chi and a trip to one of the floating villages of Ha Long Bay.
HOI AN
Following our busy week in the North, David and I headed back to work for the weekend. I then reconvened with my mum and gran for a girl’s trip to Hoi An. This was a second visit for me and it was nice to return to my favourite town in Vietnam. We wandered around the ancient UNESCO town, ate some delicious local food and went on a day trip to My Son.
After some souvenir shopping we hopped back to Ho Chi Minh City, were we enjoyed some rooftop cocktails at our favourite spot before my mum and gran travelled onto Bangkok and then home. It was a busy, hectic few weeks but it was super lovely to spend lots of time with them and show them the country we call home!
SAVINGS AND EXPENDITURE
This month we had a lot of extra expenses, mainly related to moving house - the deposit, two months rent up front, having to buy some furniture ourselves all while still paying rent on our old apartment. We also used our Vietnamese dong to pay for the whole of my mums time in Vietnam (she’ll be repaying us into our UK accounts making it a cheap and easy was to transfer money back home). With all of this going on, and everything being paid using cash its been a bit challenging to keep tabs on expenses this month. Hopefully we’ll have a better handle on it next month so we can share it with you all.
After all of this our savings for this month are looking a bit sad, but it’s comforting to know that all the money we make in April will stay with us - no accommodation to pay for, no trips booked and money coming back from when family were here AND we get the deposit back from our old flat! Just food, socialising and our bikes to pay for. Easy!
UP NEXT: April Plans
April is going to be a bit of a slow and relatively quiet month I think, while we recover from the busyness of March and and try to recoup some of our savings which are looking a bit deflated. We do have a long weekend off at the very end of April, so depending on how itchy our feet are getting, we may take a last minute get away!
What did you get up to in March? Don’t forget to follow our adventures on Facebookand Instagram and subscribe to our mailing list for updates!
