Christmas Came Early

My sister left for home on Sunday.
I think she must be a cat because apparently I killed her several times. (haha) I'm so used to walking everywhere, and at a good pace, that we wiped her out the first day.

To be fair, she arrived at 9am, and the best way to conquer jet lag is to stay up until bedtime in your new timezone on that first day. We started by walking off to rent bicycles.
We stopped for Vietnamese iced coffee on the way.

We took her to Ancient Town Hoi An for "bucket drinks" - one of my favorites. It's a large cocktail in a bucket!

The next day was heavy downpour all day and we stayed in. Good thing, too. She had blisters on her feet.

The next day was rainy too, but not so heavy, and there were occasional breaks in the rain, so we actually walked out to get coffee. I guess, cabin fever?

Even the lotus pond here is flooded!

The next day was drippy but okay, so we took a cab across town so she could order tailored clothes from my lady (Hoi An is tailoring capital of the world), and then we walked a ways to do some Christmas shopping. Stopped for coconut coffee.

We decided that we would go to Marble Mountain the following day, rain or shine. It was a bit drippy in the morning when we went, but the rain only began in earnest after we got in the car to head home.

Marble Mountain has Marble stores where you can watch the sculptors, and the biggest mountain has shrines and pagodas both on top and within the mountain itself. It's pretty cool. 

After Marble Mountain, I signed us up for a cooking class the following day. THAT was awesome. We made 4 delicious dishes, and the chef took pictures and videos so we can both repeat it later. He even told my sister some changes she can make to be able to do it in the States!

For her final day in Vietnam, I had booked us a room - a studio apartment really - at the place Brett and I had lived in Da Nang. Her flight left at 10am the next morning, so we wanted as short a drive as possible. 

It was Saturday night, so after hot stone massages, we went off to watch the Dragon Bridge show. Even though it rained, the dragon did his fire-breathing act... And then Vietnam won the soccer tournament they were in. It was a HUGE deal! 

Huge.
We couldn't get a ride, so ended up walking back to the room. My poor sister. 
I kept killing her by walking.

I hope she slept on the plane. She told me she slept for 15 hours after she got home!

Now you know why I've been so quiet lately. I'll get back into routine soon! I hope you all enjoy whatever holiday plans you have.

Vacation Within a Vacation

My sister is visiting at the end of the week!

Brett just began his two week vacation from teaching. The first part of his vacation includes writing, movies, and game-time (he finally connected the XBox), while the second part will be possibly overrun with estrogen and my familial quirks. 

Just today, we were talking to her, and I said I had it on good authority that I'm better at packing than she is, and after dissecting that a bit, she declared that we are both better than our other sister. Brett tried to interject "It's not a competition," to which we both laughed. It's like he hasn't met my family! We have a lot of similar habits and attitudes, so I hope we don't drive him too crazy!

I have a list of things I want to do before she arrives, including renting bicycles for us and fixing up the guest room a little better, and of course cleaning. So far, the wall hanging is up in the guest room:

I mean, the bed isn't made yet. I'll do that closer to her arrival. I have new sheets and everything. 

In addition to a list of things to do before she arrives, we - she and I - have compiled a list of things to do while she's here. Sunny days will take us further afield:

2 of 3 Chien Dan Towers

Cham Islands
Chien Dan Towers
"The Forbidden City" in Hue
Bana Hills

With the rainy season is upon us, we have plenty of things to do here in Hoi An, too:
Have "something" made in silk (or leather)

Japanese Bridge

Christmas shopping
Japanese bridge
Visit a Temple (or two, or three, or 45)
Go to a spa
 
Some things she doesn't know are options for rainy days:
Cooking class
Mask painting
Lantern making
Coffee shops

(All links and pictures are from Wikipedia or Wikitravel.)

So... After slacking on my blog for NaNoWriMo in November, I am about to be a slacker again, starting on the 8th. But I'll have a lot to say again after she leaves!