As soon as you land in Ho Chi Minh it feels like you have been reacquainted with an old friend. The smell, sound and sheer intensity of Vietnam’s biggest city is apparent from the minute you step out of the airport. On this, my 4th visit there was definitely a feeling of familiarity and despite Thao Dien being in the middle of a huge revamp of it’s roads (meaning that they were all dug up) it still had a lovely easy feeling of a town that is constantly evolving and changing to suit the huge expat contingent. This is done without somehow ruining the intrinsically Vietnamese feel  and I love how the locals are willing to give a new business idea a red hot go, resulting in either a booming business or a change of owner within a few months! A week goes SOOO quickly here, especially when you’re trying to make every minute count but somehow we managed to pack loads of stuff into 5 days and achieve our main aim of completing the nursery and the final preparations for the arrival of Miss Cook!!

Their flat is lovely with a tropical industrial feel and in a great area where Mum and Bub will be able to walk easily to a supermarket/café selling great coffee/wine bar/pho restaurant and with all local restaurants delivering meals costing only about $2 they have much less need than most for the precooked and frozen homemade meals that most new parents stock their freezer with. Other elements of having a baby in Vietnam are less palatable with very little English spoken by the nurses in hospital and none of the usual follow up professionals such as midwife visits or lactation experts/baby whisperers etc available but plenty of friends and colleagues have had babies over there and will no doubt provide lots of advice if asked. Plus Doctor Google is constantly to hand of course!

By a miraculous coincidence I was there at the same time as a close friend of Laurens (and her Mum who I have known for at least 16 years) who has now got a 9 month old daughter of her own to whom she also gave birth in Asia. She has been an amazingly helpful person both with advice for having babies in the tropics and with practical gifts which are very generous. Thank you sooooo much to Tilds and Gaenor for coming all that way to visit Loz, it meant a lot. We had a fun couple of days together that mostly revolved around Miss Mia and mealtimes!! Mia had everyone in Ho Chi Minh that we met completely smitten with her big blue eyes and lovely smile!! We enjoyed a few sundowners at various bars, a girly session at the local nail salon and also had some tasty meals at local restaurants and generally caught up on all the news and enjoyed their company.

Thanks to the beautiful Katy in Hong Kong, Loz and I had a last hurrah in a riverside hotel in the city for our last night together and enjoyed mooching by the pool and then heading out to explore HCMC. The night begun with a spontaneous G&T on board the Elisa, a lovely old wooden ship moored in the Mekong River and made all the more romantic by being draped in fairy lights. A couple of rooftop bars full of history with stories from the war followed by a tasty meal and fresh coconuts all for the princely sum of $10 before we walked home under a balmy sky to curl up in bed and recount stories from the old days and talk about all the adventures to come. I couldn’t have asked for anything better! I also got to meet the French obstetrician tasked with bringing my granddaughter safely into the world and heard her heartbeat which is always an amazing experience.

It was all slightly surreal though and I must admit that as my plane took off to return to Australia I shed a few tears and asked myself why the hell I was leaving her there with only 2 weeks to go. I am booked to return when the baby is 2 weeks old to lend a hand after Dad returns to work after paternity leave. I know that they will be a great team in those first few crazy weeks when you exist in a sleep deprived world that revolves around this amazing little being that you have created together!

Back in The Meadow Autumn is progressing with my fruit trees now bare and the deciduous trees changing colour. The Autumn camellias are starting to flower along with the Japanese anemones but the roses and gardenias are still blooming too! The plants are a bit confused with our balmy days of 26 degrees I think! The days are lovely with clear blue skies and sunshine but the nights are drawing in and it is getting decidedly chilly especially when I take Bailey outside before bed. The sky is full of stars as far as the eye can see with a generous sprinkling of the Milky Way against the black velvet sky – I never fail to be amazed by it’s beauty. I had envisaged a few wood fires this coming Easter weekend but I’m not so sure it’s even cold enough for one yet? Sam, Liv and little Cooper will be staying with us (it will be his first sleepover) and we can’t wait to have them all here for a few days. Bailey has definitely missed her playtimes with Sam and I don’t think she can quite understand how both her boys (Sam and Tom) have disappeared simultaneously from her life! Once Coops is a bit bigger those two will no doubt be in cahoots and up to no good, I fear for his toys and his food once they are both sharing the same space – I wonder who will win?? Our little boy is growing fast and is starting to smile and chuckle which only makes him more endearing. We took him to meet his 92 year old Great Grandfather yesterday which was just lovely. They shared a cuddle and a rather knowing smile! There is something special about the very young with the elderly somehow!

In sadder news our little adventurous furry friends Gin and Tonic, two of the sweetest Jack Russells you will ever meet and our neighbours in Sydney for the 7 years before we moved south, went missing after they decided to explore inside a long storm water drain when on their walk around The Bay and in their excitement running up it they had no idea it ended with a huge drop into a large underwater reservoir. The only blessing was that they were, as always, together. They had visited us in The Meadow and showed much discipline and restraint when faced with so many tantalising things – lizards, rabbits, and chickens to name a few! We have since taught Bailey their favourite trick of leaving snacks on their feet until given permission to eat and we will forever think of them when doing this now. It is so so heartbreaking to lose your four legged friends as they really do become such a special part of your family and I know from experience what a huge hole they leave. Our thoughts are very much with their devoted owners who I know must be doing it tough.