Jo and Hayley's SEA tour

Hi to all! We are all well, happy and fattening nicely! Suong Mai's birthday party was great fun, she has a very large family and it was lovely to be included. We shopped with her at the market in the morning, it was so hot under the awnings that Ian, myself and Hayley were all drenched in sweat. Suong Mai picked out a nice chicken and Hayley watched with interest as the nice vendor lopped off its head and feet. It was to become part of a very nice soup. The birthday dinner was mostly seafood, with fresh squid (not dried, will never eat that again) prawns BBQed on a clay pot filled with charcoal, clams cooked the same way but filled with herbs, onions and tomato. Lots of fresh crispy baguettes and a very nice chicken and vegetable soup (lol!). There is no furniture in the houses here, so everyone sits on the tiled floor, Suong Mai's family took up the entire floor area, with all the dishes of food in the centre. We drank beer with ice, and sang happy birthday vietnamese style, with sparklers. Every morning we meet at the tailor shop and go for coffee with the family, they take us on their motor bikes. We must look hungry because we are fed at every opportunity, today for lunch we had watermelon, mango's, bon-bon and rambuttan, as we called past. Hayley has several dresses being made, and she went to the warehouse yesterday to pick out the fabrics. The weather here remains sweltering, but hopefully some rain this afternoon, apparently related to a big storm that hit China. The evenings are cooler so we have been poking around the little shops and wandering the pretty streets. Thanks for the messages from home, always nice! Love to all!!! xxxx