Xin chào, Việt Nam!

Day six! Help, this goes too fast! My twelve day stay in Vietnam is already halfway. Can somebody make the time stop?!

As some of you might know, my seven week stay in Australia hasn't been everything I expected. I'm not going to tell you about it here, but I can tell you that the trip to Vietnam has gone over all expectations. Waaahh, it's so cool! Hanoi, the capital city,  is noisy, chaotic and crowded (I actually heard that Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is even worse. Unfortunately we won't go there), which means that it is full of LIFE. What would this city be without the PEOPLE? They are so friendly, helpful, happy, passionate. I'm amazed by every little thing I see. So many questions appear in my head. About way of life, communism, hygiene, education etc etc. My major essay this semester is going to be about women in Vietnam. Would like to interview everyone I see, both men and women, but language is a barrier. People working in souvenir shops know how to count in English, but not much more, only basic skills. But I've done some shopping, and I couldn't be more happy with the result. Spent about 2 million VND. Yep, I'm a millionaire.

We have been to Ha Long Bay, a World Heritage Site (google it), and we're going to Sapa by night train tomorrow. My backpack is packed and ready for new adventures, and it's getting late at night, as usual, so I can't tell you more more right now. But I'm so excited about everything, and I just wanted to let you know I'm having the time of my life!

I wanted to upload the best of today's pictures, but my tablet is not very cooperative. Please, don't ever buy a tablet. You don't want it and you don't need it. That was all from Vietnam for today. See you when I've found a laptop I can borrow to upload pics with.

Breakfast desserts, some trees and a T

Dessert after breakfast two days ago:

Dessert after breakfast yesterday:

Will be having strawberries with chocolate again when I come home in about 30 minutes. We're all leaving for Vietnam tomorrow night, so we still have lots of food that we have to finish. Like eggs, pasta and müsli.

Kristina and her new haircut:

Feeling funny in the morning (I ate the snake after I put it in my nose...):

The way to Uni:

The most beautiful campus ever:

Some Norwegians must have been in the computer lab at Uni. Yuk:

My phone calls to Norway are super cheap!! I call classmates in Oz for free. Very likeable:

Clothes drying in the wind. Got to have some clean clothes for Vietnam:

Butterfly on the pavement:

There are so many proclamations of love on every tree, so I decided to make a T for Thomas:

Ibis and mangroves:

 A possum! With a baby on its back!:

Found myself in another fig tree when it started to get dark. Trees = fun:

 

That was my yesterday and today. Now I'm off to pack and enjoy some more strawberries. Next time you see me I'll be in Vietnam! Wohoo!

VIP-party 'n stuff

Haven't done much this week. Have worked hard on my minor assignment that was due on Tuesday afternoon. Think I did good. Kristina and I worked the whole night before, and I handed it in 10 minutes before deadline, which is SO typically me. But I'm actually satisfied with the result. We are having a short interview with teacher Leah Burns when we come back from Vietnam. There we'll have to talk about the assignment, and she will give comments to it. If we're lucky she'll even have the marks ready for us.

It's not hard to find romantic spots in Brisbane. Yesterday I took a walk in the Mangrove Park and the Botanic Garden on the other side of the Brisbane river. I'm fascinated of mangroves. They are trees that have adapted to survive in the area of land between the low and high tides, and they are a very important part of the ecosystem. They also grow in Africa and Asia. The fig tree is another cool tree that was to be found in the Botanic Garden. I recognise both the fig tree and the mangrove tree from my trips in Kenya. 

A fig tree:

Mangroves:

Can you see the guys in the tree? They were jumping from branch to branch. Looked like they had done it before. Apparently some kind of hobby:

So sweet! It tells a story!:

Another ♥ for Thomas. I keep finding them everywhere:

When it got dark I went to the shopping street, Queen Street. That's were I find one of my favourite shops: Lush. They sell fresh, handmade cosmetics, very innovative products. I didn't know that it was possible to fall in love with soaps and stuff, but since June laste year I have. The smells and everything else is just wonderful. No words can describe it, you just have to try it yourself. Lush cares about animals and the environment too, which is very good! The reason why I got interested in Lush is the only blog I follow: Mewkid, you should check out her colourful blog. Being addicted to Lush is better than being addicted to shopping for new clothes all the time, that's my opinion, haha.

I found the event "Lush VIP Christmas Preview Party" on Facebook. I've been waiting to see the new Halloween and Christmas products, so this was my chance to go and try them. Soaps, bath bombs, massage bars etc:

There were lots of "Lushies" (fans of Lush), maybe 50, so the small shop was very crowded. I've been in the shop at least two times before, and this girl recognised me from the day Kristina bought her first Lush shampoo. She was super cool and helpful and told us where to go second hand shopping our first week in Brisbane:

Jummy, delicious fresh Lush cosmetics. When I get rich I'll buy it all:

Staff showing us how bubbly the new christmas bubble bars can get. Smells wonderful:

Me holding my new products. Happy happy!:

Looking very much forward to my next shower with a cinnamon shampoo bar. I now have three soaps and four shampoos with me while travelling. But they are all very small, so it doesn't fill up much space in my backpack. My shampoos, each lasts as long as three bottles:

My walk home. Beautiful Brizzie. Hot and humid!:

Dizzy bikinibabe & banana milkshake

Went to Surfers Paradise again on Saturday. I didn't really like the place last time I went, but others were going, and I wanted to do something else than staring at the computer screen and the walls of a boring computer lab. It was an ok day. I think the best thing about it was the huge banana milkshake I had.

Did this too many times, so I got dizzy and fell. Funny: