Madrid, Tennis tournament, Tapas and KFC

Hola!

Well we´re now in Spain, Madrid to be exact and our Europe adventures did not get off to a good start. Air France lost both our luggage at Paris airport so Oscar and I did not have any clothes or toiletries for the first 2 days. We bought a few essentials to get us through until our luggage did arrive. Fortunately this seemed to be the only hiccup as we prepared for the Madrid Tennis tournament which was one of the main reasons we decided to stop over in Spain first. Oscar also has some family here which was another factor.


We were fairly lucky to get a decent hostal right in the heart of the city for $40euros per night. Very close to the tennis courts, restaurants, nightlife and KFC!


The Madrid tennis tournament was the first overseas tournament for either of us and to be honest we didn´t expect to do too well. Our other expectation was that the courts would be a slow european clay court but in fact it turned out to be a fast pebble-like hardcourt. There were many countries represented but not surprisingly we were the only 2 aussies who had come for the tournament. In the singles I lost in the quarter finals to the number 1 seed in 3 sets and Oscar was runner up, eventually losing a close 3 set match to the number 4 seed from London. In the doubles, Oscar and I beat the number 2 seeds in the quarters before losing to the number 3 seeds in the semis in a marathon 3 set epic 7/5 6/7 6/7!! Slightly disappointed at the end of the semis, I think we eventually realised that we had probably exceeded our expectations and in the process met a whole bunch of new friends.


Another highlight was celebrating my birthday on 19th June here in Madrid. Oscar took me out to a nice dinner and then in one of his usual surprise moves - Oscar revealed that he had bought me tickets to go see Il Divo in concert at the Madrid Concert Hall! It was a fantastic night and Il Divo sounded amazing live.


Our first week we also took in the sights of Madrid courtesy of a city chuttle bus that takes you all over to the ancient and modern parts of the city all for just $15 euros. It really is such a beautiful city and you can see what I mean from some of the pics I´ve posted below.


All in all, Madrid has been a great experience so far. We have really met some neat people here who have befriended us, invited us to dinners and to their homes and just really taken care of us.


I will keep you guys updated on what happens next. Miss you all and I look forward to speaking with you soon.


Pauly

XXX

The sole Australian representatives at the Madrid Tennis Tournament.



For my birthday Oscar took me a traditional Tapas bar. Yummy! And then we saw Il Divo in concert.

Some of the beautiful sights in Madrid. Puerta De Alcala, magnificent churches and Oscar and I outside the Grand Palace.

You will find many illegal immigrants selling all kinds of things here in Madrid on the streets. This guy got caught selling fake DVD´s!

Oski and I on the tour bus around Madrid city! Hola!

Second Week in Vietnam.

Ok I´m getting the hang of this now so updates will be more frequent and well more up to date...

As I write this, I´m actually sitting in Madrid but I´m catching up for lost time so just pretend this really is the second week of our trip!

Our first week in Vietnam was really all about relaxing and unwinding, and our second week was a lot more lowkey but it really was full of a lot of highlights that Oscar and I will treasure for a long time to come.

We spent a lot of time this week visiting an orphanage in a small town called Duc Thanh, just outside of Ho Chi Minh city. These kids had either been orphaned through death of their parents or because their parents were just too poor to take care of them. In fact many of them had been at the orphanage since birth. Oscar and I had brought a few toys and chocolates from back home and we distributed these out to as many of the kids as we could. We also bought a few water pistols and had a water fight with the boys which proved a real hit.

And then the next day we invited 8 of the kids to come to the Saigon water park where we went on rides and played on the water slides. My good mate John Nguyen from PwC happened to be in HCMC at the time as well and so he joined in. The kids of course loved it and kept holding our hands and asking us how long we would stay and when could they see us again. They are so beautiful and their ¨mother¨Chi Khanh from the orphanage is probably the most self-less person I have ever met. Our last night in Vietnam, the kids and Chi Khanh put on a little party for us full of food and music. I hope to stay in touch with a lot of the kids and also with Chi Khanh to track their progress in life. I´m just happy that for a few hours and a few days we were able to touch their lives a little and make them smile....

Ok enough of the emotional stuff... In Vietnam Oscar and I have basically been eating non-stop! Fortunately we´re not gaining too much weight though. It seems to be coming out as fast as we are putting it in!! Thank goodness for Lomotil!! Well that´s it from Vietnam. Oscar and I fly out to Madrid next and I´ll keep you posted on the Spain leg of our trip in the next post....

I miss and love you all!

Chao, Adios!!

Pauly

XXX

Our mini version of ¨World War 3¨in Duc Thanh orphanage with water pistols!

Oscar, Chi Khanh, kids and I waiting for a local bus to take us to the water park.

Oscar on one of the endless rides at the Saigon water park.

Our last day with the kids before flying to Spain

Hello World!

Hey guys, sorry it has taken me so long to get this up and running but now hopefully you can keep up to date with my whereabouts in the world and what I'm currently up to.

So let's get started!

As many of you know on 3rd June 2007, my best friend Oscar and I jetted out of Sydney bound for Spain/Europe via Vietnam. Our first stop was Ho Chi Minh. Having both been here many many times, we were kind of over the whole tourist type activities (ala Cu Chi tunnels, Pagodas, Frantic markets) so we headed straight for the beaches to relax and unwind. We spent a night and 2 days in Mui Ne. This place is relatively undiscovered with very few tourists, so it was pretty cool to have that feeling that we basically had the beach all to ourselves. In the evening we whisked ourselves down to probably the only bar in town - the Wax Bar, and ended up befriending 8 other tourists from England, Canada, Ireland and France. I won't go into too much detail but after what seemed like endless buckets of alcohol consumed and a game of 'truth or dare', we somehow all ended up naked and swimming in the beach at 3am!! I do have picture evidence but I'll spare you all the embarassment at this stage!! What a way to start our adventure.....

Nha Trang was our next destination and the beach here was also very pleasant but just a tad more crowded. We immediately booked ourselves on a day trip of the surrounding islands which turned out to be a blast. One of the things I had always wanted to do was parasailing but was always too chicken to do so. Well Oscar basically forced me to do it as he bought two tickets for both he and myself and I soon found myself being harnessed up by some local vietnamese beach workers. I was completely terrified but honestly I can't remember anything so amazing. We had 360 degree views of the islands which were breathtaking and what a rush! Another highlight of our tour was the captain pulling Oscar from the crowd and getting him to sing ¨La Bamba¨karaoke style. As usual Oski had the crowd in hysterics and he certainly did the karaoke-loving viet crowd proud!!

We discovered that there was going to be a "beach festival" starting that weekend and not wanting to fight the crowds or go through the hassle of finding a hotel room we caught an overnight bus back to Ho Chi Minh on one of the dodgiest buses I have ever seen. I guess thats what you get when you only pay $3 for a 10hour bus trip.

Relaxing at the ¨Wax Bar¨in Mui Ne with our new found friends

A trip to Mui Ne would not be complete without visiting the sand dunes which makes you feel like you´re in the middle of the sahara. Watch out for those kids trying to wrangle money out of you though (As Oscar and I soon found out!)

The floating bar in Nha Trang. What a way to relax and unwind after a hard day´s work huh??

Ok ok I´m a wuss!! This is me before going parasailing..And the after shot of me in the air. Piece of cake!!

And my favorite..............

Oscar singing ¨La Bamba¨ as he wows the crowd.... Yariba Yariba!!!