minats_zone

Here I am in Moscow doing usual things. But let me tell you about our last days in Hanoi. We lived in the same Lake Side Hotel as in winter 2007-8, just in the city centre. You can have a look at the view from the balcony of our hotel over a small lake. Time passed so quickly there - we had meetings with Stanislav's people from plants and companies in Hanoi. I think the talks and arrangements were successful as Stanislav always smiled and was happy after these meetings. We also took an exciting motobike-ride around Hanoi with our friends. We even managed to take some curious photos on a ride - of LENIN, of boys doing martial arts and people sitting on the grass (they simply enjoy it!). However, I think the culmination of our stay there were the massage sessions, which we had in the nearest massage saloon. It was so good and effective, not to mention that it was unbelievably cheap!!! The sessions lasted for 1 or 1,5 hours and the body feelt so good and relaxed after them. But stil

I can't be silent after I've learned about nearly 22,000 people that had been killed or missed in a devastating cyclone Nagris in Burma, Myanmar. It's really hard to imagine that this devastation and disaster occured not so far from peaceful and flourishing Vietnam and Thailand,in Burma, one of the poorest states of SE Asia (and, probably, the planet), which had been under harsh military rule for decades. Thousands of buildings were flattened and lots of people became homeless. The humanitarian aid is the only supply they can rely on. And this cyclon broke out on Saturday, May 3d when other people were doing usual things or even enjoying life (like me). Now I realize more clearly than ever that happy moments in life are so precious and they are of inestimable value to us. We shouldn't forget about this and help each other as much as possible.

Really, it was an exciting trip on a Cham island. The pick up van arrived at 8:30am and the adventure began. There were about 30 people on a boat, not all of them for snorkelling. A few people came for diving and they had a diving instructor. As for the folk there, some people were from Netherlands, France, Australia, New Zeland, Italy and, perhaps, some others, I don't know. But the Russians were only us. The boat and the business belong to an Italian family. The head of the family, quite a remarkable Italian guy in his late-forties, was in charge of both snorkelling and diving. I was surprised at his fluent Vietnamese language when he gave orders to some very helpful and ever smiling Vietnamese boys on the boat. I was also surprised not to see flocks of Chinese people there(from Hong Kong) as they are really plentiful in Hoi An and the hotels here. So I thought that only Europeans could be interested in spending their time on a boat and the island shorkelling or diving as for th

Here I am, in Vietnam. After a long period of monotonous dyas in Moscow, we broke away from the daily routine to freedom. And, surely, we are here in Vietnam again. We both (my husband and I) love this country so much that we couldn't help going here (the best of SE Asia) one more time. Of course, my husband's business here will take up some time,at least 3-4 days, but the rest of our 12 days we are spending in our dear Hoi An. This time we've decided to kill two birds with one spone - first, stay in a fabulous 5 star hotel, just on the seashore, second, to have some new items of clothes made by the local tailors. I searched the Web before going to Hoi An as many foreign tourists come here just with making new clothes in mind as well as doing regular things (swimming, sunbathing etc). So I found some favourable brands in Hoi An to explore. We did so and now we both have some fancy outfits for summer, but more importantly, for Stanislaw's 55th birthday on July 3d. I hope