'Nam part 3b-The North- Ha Gian loop and Hanoi continued

Then it was off to the biggest adventure yet, the Ha Gian loop. The Ha Gian loop was a motorcycle tour that takes you through northern Vietnam and right up to the border with China. All the backpackers I met raved about it and everyone said it was a must do. But the only way to do it was on a motorbike. Although I had paid to have a driver, I was terrified and had read online it was dangerous. This wasn't helped by someone returning from the tour to Ha Gian, covered in blood due to an accident. But, I held on to the fact that a couple of friends had done it recently who said they felt completely safe and everyone had said how breathtakingly beautiful it was. Plus, the owner said that it was almost always the boys that were driving themselves that came off and usually on the third day as they became overly confident.

After a night's sleep at the tour company's accommodation (which was a room full of matresses, for about 40 of us) it was time for the briefing. I was more nervous now, what was I thinking? My friend Dale had said it would be an adventure. I didn't want adventure, I just wanted a cup of tea.

Anyway, there was about 70 of us organised into 6 groups, with most people opting to have a driver. I was paired up with a guy called Huy and in my group were 5 Dutch, an Aussie lass, a couple of Germans and another English gal. As soon as I got on the bike I felt at ease. Huy has been doing this job for a living for a few years so dodged every pothole and handled different terrain with ease.

 It's quite well organised too in that you travel in convoy with your group, with the most experienced driver leading and although all the groups are stopping at the same places, it's staggered so never felt too croweded. It also meant that it was easy to become friends with your group too. The views were AMAZING! I'm lucky to have travelled a lot, but this was the most beautiful landscape I've ever seen. It was pretty cold up there (though nothing a seasoned cyclist can't handle) and we were in the clouds at points, so bought a pair of plastic trousers and rain cover which did a good job of keeping the wind off, even if I looked a bit silly. I also realised why the only way to do it really was by motorbike. The area has only been opened to tourists in the last 10 years, and the roads aren't wide enough to handle two lanes of cars really. They are building the roads in parts at the moment, so in a couple of years time, it'll be flooded with tourists, but for now it's just a few hundred (generally young) back packers. Plus we encountered a couple of landslides that only a bike could get round. As well as incredible views, on our second day, they took us all the way up to the border with China which was cool. Apparently there never  used to be a fence, but you could see it now, weaving it's way through the mountains for thousands of miles. 

The homestays on the tour were mixed, the first night was luxury with only 7 of us per room. The second night was back to 20, was absolutely freezing as you were literally sleeping in a barn with the doors swinging open (luckily I nabbed a spare duvet) and a rat paying a visit in the night (some idiot had left food out). You could opt for a private room though. 

The food was great, lots of fresh air had given me my appetite back. They would also bring round "happy water" before our meal, some sort of rice wine/vodka and encouraged us to drink lots through complicated Viet drinking songs. I was able to restrain myself to a few as the thought of being hungover on a bike was too much. After dinner, they'd whip out the karaoke machines (I can't empathise how much they love Karaoke in Vietnam) and get the disco going.

All too soon, it was time to head back to Ha Gian. It was tempting to extend to do a forth day like the rest of my group was doing, but I wanted a recovery day in Hanoi. Plus, excitingly, I was having dinner in Ha Gian with my friend Tom from BBC. It was amazing and surreal to be hanging out with him in this random town in Northern Vietnam.

Back on the sleeper bus to Hanoi, I was actually starting to enjoy these lying down jouneys. We arrived at about 2am and after some mild harassment from taxi drivers, the backpackers on my bus formed a pack and moved away before ordering our Grabs (Asia's answer to Uber). Grab is great as a solo female traveller, as you are tracked your whole journey and there are heaps of safety features.

I'd booked myself a hotel room for my last few nights in Hanoi and it was so nice to sleep in a warm, dark, silent room. I visisted the Women's museum the next day which was cool.

Then the day after, I was booked onto a Ha Long bay cruise. Ha Long bay was ok. It was beautiful, but an absolute tourist trap like some sort of black mirror-esk nightmare (I had been warned about this). You couldn't move for tourists in a couple of places, but did see some cool caves, do some kayaking, swimming and climb up to a view point. It was an ok day out, but with a 3 hour journey each way, plus boat travel and bad time keeping, we were only really there for about 4 hours before it got dark.

My final day in Hanoi was pleasant one. I went to train street, a street where railway line passes through in close proximity (like 30cm) to shops and restaurants. I had been told that restaurant owners would wait for you by the barriers (you could only enter if you were going to one, to control numbers presumably). One guy offered to take me to his restaurant, then indicated to a tuktuk and asked for the equivalent of a tenner. Which is A LOT for Vietnam. I should've said no, but I was running out of time before next train and couldn't be bothered to argue. He cycled us in a big loop, but did take me to a restaurant to be fair. He didn't work for them though and owners saud he'd probably be arrested if caught. One of the benefits of a strict Vietnam is that they have lots of rules about how to treat tourists and conning them is a big no no. I'd missed the train, but suprisingly there was another in about 20mins (they are only a few times a day). Another tourist recommended that I sat upstairs so I would get an unobstructed view. Which was true, but then I could only see the roof. It was actually mad how close it was.

No time for round two, I went on a big old walk. The sites were ok, but not interesting enough to write about. I had wanted to go to the Ho Chi Minh museum, but it was shut, and I didn't fancy queuing to see his dead body at the nearby mausoleum.

That evening, I headed over to Dale's for an evening of Jackbox games with his mates. Jackbox is a computer game you all play through your phones that's projected onto the wall/tv and involves writing jokes or drawing and is a firm favourite with my mates in Bristol. It was so nice to do something normal.

Then on to Thailand!

Ha Gian Loop

Border with China on the right

Halong Bay

Train street

There it goes!

'Nam part 3a- The North. Tam Coc and Hanoi

After getting through the flight to Hanoi despite feeling rubbish, I got my first ever "VIP bus" to Tam Coc. This was quite interesting, the chairs all came with in built massagers. Tam Coc is known as the inland Halong Bay and it did not disappoint. It was much calmer than any of the cities and you woke up surrounded by these huge karst mountains. The homestay I was at had a swimming pool, was on the river's edge, quiet and a 5 min walk to the main street.

On my first day, I went on a boat ride from the town centre, powered by a woman using her feet to row the oars. It was pretty cool, with these mountains surrounding us and going through caves. The ticket place was absolutely chaotic, but I was told what to buy, and wasn't told there was a second part after the boat ride.

I'd signed up to do a tour the following day that took you to various temples and the Trang An national park. Turns out these places were all cycling distance away, so I needn't have bothered, but at least I didn't have to use my brain. 

Trang An was amazing! Another boat ride similar to the day before, but even more spectacular. It's also where they filmed the more recent King Kong films.

Finally, we were taken to a view point with 500 steps to the top. Which didn't sound like much, but was a lot in the heat. It was beautiful at the top but absolutely rammed as it was sunset. We (a couple of my day tour buddies and I) queued to climb up to the final apex, but after 10minutes and what looked to be incredibly sketchy footing, I gave up. 

The next day, I chilled by the pool and then went to do part 2 of my Tam Coc ticket which was a temple inside a mountain cave. Apparently there was a part 3 too, but that never materialised.

Next, back to Hanoi for the night, before heading to Ha Gian in the north. I hadn't quite realised you could go directly from Hanoi, but it gave me an extra day's recovery before a 7hour bus ride lying down. That evening I went to the Hanoi Water puppet show which was really interesting. Lots of funny sketches using puppets controlled with rods underwater and a suprising amount of indoor pyrotechnics. The hostel I was staying in was an odd one- triple bunk beds, a Japanese style toilet (with a heated seat and various sprays) but no doors to the rooms, so noisy.

Tam Coc

Trang An

500 steps. The valley is where I got the boat from Tam Coc

Water Puppet show, Hanoi 

'Nam part 2- Central

Having made the very smart decision to fly to Central Vietnam, I landed in Da Nang and got a cab down to Hoi An. Vietnam is so cheap, it made travelling solo much easier without feeling the "single tax"*, so I could get taxis and private hotel rooms whenever I wanted.

I was going to be staying at my friend John's for the week in Da Nang, which is about 40mins away, but wanted to do a night in Hoi An because it's a lantern town. But also because it's famous for it's tailors, where you can get custom made clothes for the fraction of custom made in the UK. And obviously I wanted to get my order in.

I'd had this plan up my sleeve (pun most definitely intended) for a while. Myself and my cousin Beth had both bought identical dresses in 2011 in h&m when we were students, some how it was most the perfectly shaped dress ever. I've not found one like it since. So this was the moment. I got Beth's measurements and she picked out some material (God bless whatsapp) and did the same for myself. My major issue is that I am sooo fussy with dress materials/patterns so it took FOREVER for me to choose. Then the following day they told me it was different to the sample. I couldn't spend a moment longer looking at samples, so kept it the same and hoped for the best.

Anyway, back to that first evening, and a wander round Hoi An where it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The whole old town is lit up by paper lanterns like some sort of Disney film. Plus no motorbikes were allowed so it was pedestrianic bliss.

The following afternoon, I headed to Da Nang to my friend John's place. We know each other from doing the same course at Uni and then working for the same company in Italy. I hadn't seen him since he came to stay with myself and my Bristol housemate Conor (who also worked in Italy) in 2019 so it was ace to be reunited. His friend Dale (another expat, usually Hanoi based) was also staying. That night we headed out to watch/perform in an improv night at a nearby bar (a good one to put on my improv cv!).

On Saturday, while John was working, myself and Dale headed for a day out in Hoi An. I needed to pick up my dresses, plus there were loads of cool touristy stuff I hadn't done yet. Dale even managed to persuade me to get on the back of a hired motorbike. It is the preferred mode of transport in Vietnam, but my previous experience in Italy I'd actually cried haha. Luckily, I felt very safe this time and proved a useful fear to have overcome later on in my trip. We took a trip on the famous round boats, a tiny boat for three people. The trip was full of hundreds of boats, and weirdly at points, floating Karaoke stations (which have since been banned), you could pay to be spun too by a bloke standing up and singing, so obviously I said yes. We also did some "crab fishing" with a piece of bamboo, string and bait. We were not successful. I don't think I'll apply to be on a Bear Grylls survival programme. After dinner at the beach, we also went on the paper lantern boats in the town, where they give you candles in paper boats to release. Probably pretty awful for the environment  but it looked lovely.

The next day the three of us hatched a creative plan. Dale is a keen filmaker and wanted to take advantage of the fact me and John trained together, and also knew stage combat. So we decided to film a sketch that was based around a cool location that involved a fight. John knew of a random "pirate ship" on the beach, so pirate themed it was. We spent the afternoon filming on this random wooden sail boat parked on the sand (presumably for tourists?). 

It started to rain, so we stopped with the intention of filming the rest the following day. We played games of monopoly deal that evening (thanks to my cousin Sarah for introducing me to the game!).

Unfortunately I had bad food poisoning that night. John and Dale had been enthusiastically ordering me food all week ("try this!" "What do you think?") in random places that were more often than not someone's front room turned into a little restaurant. So it could've been anything.

The next day was beautiful sunshine, but filming our sword fight was clearly off the cards.

When I was ready to move the day after, it was chucking it down, obviously. Myself and John walked home in water halfway up our shins that evening. Luckily I had learnt that waterproof sandals were the only way forward in Vietnam...

I couldn't face 2x 7hour bus jouneys to my next destination (Phong Nha), so made a good call to just fly to Hanoi (1hour) and stay in the chilled out Tam Coc for longer.

I definitely made the right choice and it was onto the north and my biggest adventure yet!

*on average, a person travelling by themselves spends a significant amount more, I've read a few articles coining the phrase "the single tax"

Hoi An

With John (the guesture means lucky apparently)

Behind the scenes

Vietnam part 1- The South

So there I was, leaving behind Melbourne and on to the next adventure. I thought the moment would be a poignant one, that I would shed a single tear as I looked out of the window as the plane took off. As it were, my head was face down in a sick bag, while I tried my best not to vom on a long haul flight. I didn't really know what was going on. A hangover too long? That sushi I ate the day before? Too much coffee? I suspect it was all of those things, plus the fact I was tired from a month of non stop doing stuff. Before we took off, the flight attendent gave me two options: get off the plane or, endure the flight but I'd have to quaratine in Vietnam if I threw up. I had visions of 8 hours of hell, but took the risk and stayed where I was. Luckily, I was sat next to a Doctor who had some drugs. So 8 hours and 30 crosswords furiously completed to distract myself later, I landed, chunder free.

Ho Chi Mih was manic. My taxi driver couldn't drop me outside my hostel as it was near a walking street, so there I was, bedraggled and exhausted, navigating the pavementless streets. The road outside my hostel was temporarily flooded too (burst water pipe perhaps?) so I needed to use bricks stepping stones to get in. It wasn't exactly clean either, but I needed to sleep. By 5am (I was on Melbourne time), I'd booked myself into a hotel round the corner and by 8am, I had packed up and checked out early. Serves me right for paying £1.50 a night for my accommodation. In my defence, it had near perfect reviews and I didn't really know the relative price of things yet. Plus I thought it would be good to make friends as I was flying solo. My own hotel room was exactly what I needed to recoup. And at about £10 a night was still a bargain. I also learnt it was better to pay after you've looked at somewhere in Vietnam. Though the hostel did insist in refunding me which was nice.

After some planning in the morning (no one ever talks about the amount of admin you have to take care of when solo travelling!) I headed out to explore. I didn't get very far due to the monsoon like rain, the subsequent flooded streets and the absolute nightmare it is to cross the road. Eventually I made it to a Bhan Mi cafe my cousin Jo had recommended. Bhan Mis are basically a load of Asian goodness (veg, meat/tofu, pate and a whole bunch of spices and sauces) in a baguette, thanks to the long French occupation. Once the rain had slowed down, I went to a couple of museums. One was the war museum. It was a "must do" in Ho Chi Minh/Sigon, but I actually found it a bit too harrowing for my delicate sensitivities, so walked round most of it trying to avoid looking at photos of dead children.

The next day, I went on an organised day trip to the war tunnels and mykon delta. The war tunnels were quite interesting, from what I understand, they were dug by those in the communist north in order to hide/transport goods to the American occupied South. I realised that I actually knew nothing about this war, apart from moments in American films (The flashback in Airplane! didn't tell me much) and, somewhat embarrassingly, I asked the tour guide who won the war. I hadn't even realised Vietnam was a communist country haha. There was a moment where you could go through a 20 metre tunnel, but the idea of near crawling through  a dark, 32c tiny tunnel with 20 other tourists didn't appeal to me. 

Next up was a boat trip on the mykon delta. There are thousands of islands and floating markets along the river (which goes through 5 countries) so we visited a coconut sweet factory, that also made snake wine with an actual snake fermenting in a jar of wine. I declined. We then went on a pretty cool raft ride through the forest, powered by a woman in her 80s rowing.

The next day, I was making a swift exit from the madness of Ho Chi Minh to Dalat, a chilled out mountain town. The bus said it would take 6 hours, but it took more like 10. It was quite fun to experience a Vietnamese long distance bus. For starters you are sat practically lying horizontal with not loads of headspace to sit up. Great if you want to nap. Not so much for staying awake or post lunch. I'd made friends with a Czech couple in the bus station, so we grabbed the seats at the back which was like one giant sofa. The other random thing is that the buses also deliver packages, so you are forever stopping like some sort of long distance deliveroo.

I'd had a tip off that generally speaking homestays were better than hostels/hotels. I'm not entirely sure what the difference is, other than homestays being a bit more like bnbs- family run and smaller. I'd opted to stay at one up in the Dalat mountains where you stayed in "Teepee" huts and people walked around barefoot meditating or painting. It was an influencers dream with fairlights everywhere and campfires. I got upgraded too to my own personal hut which is good. I'd only scheduled in two nights, which was a bit of a mistake as it was such a faff to get to. After seeing that the bus to my next place was 14hours, I opted to cut my losses and fly out.

The next day I went to a cafe that roasted and made it's own coffee. I had my first and last Vietnamese coffee. It was nice, with condensed milk, but absolutely blew my socks off caffeine wise and led to an almighty crash and feeling sick all day. I headed to a waterfall that had it's own Alpine toboggan coaster which was fun and a much better way of travelling back up. They should definitely install these in Bristol.

I then met my Czech pals and we headed to the most beautiful temple. It was a bit like the Sagrada Familia, covered in mosaic tiles and hidden turrets.

A nice cuppa with a view later, I went back to the hostel and questioned my life choices with the coffee.

If I'd realised the travel time, I would've probably skipped out Dalat for somewhere on the coast that was easier to get to.

Then it was on to central Vietnam.

The flood

Oh it's October

October was busy! (Hence the gap with catching up on all this!)

As well as all the normal stuff, it was fringe festival, so I excitedly (and perhaps stupidly) went to a few late night shows. 

I also crammed every second of free time into hanging out with friends and doing fun stuff.

One highlight was meeting up with my friend Riki from school, who I hadn't seen in about 10 years (he'd lived in Vancouver). It was like no time had passed and we had a top laugh. He also reminded me that when we were 15 we said that we'd marry each other if we weren't married by 30! We've decided to postpone the wedding for another decade haha.

Another great day was mine and my friend Rose's day out in the Yarra Valley. Back in August, Rose had kindly offered to show me around (you need a car really) so we had planned an epic day out. The Yarra Valley is an area near Melbourne famous for its wine and countrysideness. It actually was remarkably like the UK, but perhaps that's because it was drizzling. First up, we hiked up the 1000 steps, which is a big hill that the army use for training and relates to something to do with the Vietnam war. Then we went to a view point that looks out over Melbourne. Then a tulip festival, followed by a vineyard. For the grand finale, we visited a chocolaterie and ate our weight in DELICIOUS chocolaty desserts.

Thus I had my last week at work. We had a nice lunch and after work drinks out with the team and I received a lovely gift which included a Christmas tree decoration with a Koala. I was really sad to leave my team, I honestly loved my work and of all the places it really felt like "home" there. But knew it was the right decision so I could go and do the travelling I had planned to do 6 months earlier!

My last Saturday was a good one. Football in the morning, followed by my leaving BBQ. They have public BBQs everywhere in Australia, so it was easy enough to find one centralish and by the river. It was a great turn out, with people from Improv, football, work and some of my expat pals coming. I felt very blessed to have met so many lovely people since I arrived in Melbourne and was so glad I stuck it out when times were tough earlier on in the year.

Sunday was spent hecticly making sure everything was packed up or taken to a charity shop. Although I was quite conservative, it was amazing how much stuff you accumulate. This included lugging a 10kg box to the post office to be sent home. Moving house is so boring and even harder when you are by yourself and leaving the country.

I probably didn't give myself enough time, but some how I was on a plane to Cairns by the late afternoon having moved out.

Cairns was the one place I hadn't made it to on this trip. A 3hour flight and so much to do there would mean a minimum of four days inc travel. It proved to be a good decision as it was a great finale to my time in Aus. It might be my fave place in Aus!

After a day chilling out, I had my great barrier reef snorkling tour. Last time I had attempted this in 2014, there had been a cyclone that cut the trip short, and so I was keen to do it. It did not disappoint! It was like swimming in an aquarium, surrounded by beautiful fish and coral. Most people scuba dived, but I opted to just snorkel (my ears can't handle it). This was a good choice as you were only a few metres away from a lot of the reef anyway, plus more time in the water and less faffing.

The following day I went on a trip to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation, which was awesome. Lots of viewpoints, Rainforest walks and swimming in a croc free water hole. It's also the only place in the world where two UNESCO sites meet- the great barrier reef and the Daintree Rainforest. There was heaps of interesting wildlife too- a golden orb spider, some red crabs in the mangroves, a few Roos. We went on a crocodile boat in the afternoon too, but only saw a baby one. The area has lots of dangerous animals- spiders, snakes, jellyfish, sharks, crocs, cassorwarries, stingrays, plus poisonous coral. Which I actually found quite exciting.

My final night was a fun one, my pal Hannah from Bristol was up in Cairns too with her partner, so we went to a bar that was laundry themed that you enter through a slide. As you do. Needless to say I was feeling pretty rough the next day. 

And with that, I flew back to Melbourne for my last night in Australia! To get to Vietnam, you had to fly from Melbourne or Sydney anyway, which was annoying as I was halfway there. But it gave me a window to have a couple of drinks with my impro pals, plus my room hadn't been filled yet so I was able to sleep in my own bed. A quick breakfast with my housemate Daniel in the morning, then on to Vietnam...

Before an improv show

Spot Melbourne! Day out with my pal Rose

Tulips!

chocoholics dream

Last football sesh

With some expat mates- Anna, Jimmy and Tom

Demonstrating bad flipper technique 

Reef meets Rainforest

September Sun

September sun

The start of September meant only one thing, a trip to Bali for my cousin Sarah and her partner Lochie's wedding! 

This date was something I had been looking forward to all year as I knew I'd be able to make it no matter my travel plans. Originally, it was going to mark the end of my South East Asia travels, then the start, then it just became a holiday. 

I managed to get an absolute steal of a flight out in the Jetstar sale (about £110) for a 5 hour flight. And after the typical airport chaos after landing trying to find my taxi driver with little internet, I was on my way. Nothing was more exciting then pulling up to the hotel and seeing mum and dad in the southern hemisphere! Later on that night David arrived, followed by Rich the next afternoon. 

Our hotel was pretty idyllic. Quiet, with a nice pool, restaurant and spa. It was on a quiet road in Canggu, with hotels literally being built around us. Some people would hate that, but we found it exciting to see the wall grow every day.

The beach nearby was black volcanic sand and very wavy sea. Canggu itself was full of bars, shops and restaurants and quite busy. The main issue with Bali in general was that there aren't really any pavements or wide roads, so it makes it difficult to walk places, and taking a taxi can take a while due to the traffic. It's grown in popularity with tourists (particularly Aussies) but the roads can't cope.

The following day, while David braved the sea for a surf and Rich chilled, me, mum and dad went on our "big day out". Bali is incredibly cheap, so for about £30 or so you can hire a driver for the day, so off we went with Dee. We visited an area called Ubud (if you've ever seen Eat, Pray, Love, this is where Julia Roberts goes), which was lovely and jungley. We visited the monkey sanctuary, which was several abandoned temples in the jungle, with hundreds of small monkeys jumping around. Thankfully we avoided them jumping on us! After lunch we visted a nearby water temple, where we had to put on a particular sarong, shirt and head dress to go in. Dee then took us on a walk around the area which was pretty nice, before heading back.

The rest of the week was filled with fun activities! I went to Sarah's hen do, which was a pool party, followed by some beach front drinks and then a really fun mexican restaurant come nightclub which encouraged dancing on the tables. It was a great night! A random moment that I'll never forget is walking across a suddenly sandy car park in heels with Emma, Shirley and baby Ava (Ava had sensibly left her heels at home) while carrying baby stuff, when a loose cow appeared. Luckily, my time with Countryfile had taught me how to handle myself around cows, and it soon moooved. 

We also had a great family brunch the following morning and a beach party the one after.

The wedding of course was lovely and in the middle of the Bali jungle. A random moment was an apparent (south?) Aussie tradition of the men dropping trousers during the song "Eagle Rock"...

The day after the wedding, we had a pool party at the venue, with lots of games, swimming and chilling out.

The final full day in Bali saw me attempt to swim in the sea and generally chilling out.

In a blink of an eye it was time to go back to Melbourne. Mum and dad's flight was around the same time. Waiting in airports by yourself is pretty boring, so it was nice to have company.

Then it was back for my Melbourne finale of 6 weeks. 

The rest of September was relatively normal, with a cycle of work, improv and football. I'd been getting into reformer pilates at lunchtime in a bid to help my various injuries (bad back and knee) and perhaps try to get back to normal fitness (too much eating out and a less active lifestyle had started to take it's toll!). 

I did go to Sydney at the end of the month for a weekend. It would've been my friend Katie's birthday that weekend and her family and friends organise a picnic once a year. The picnic was lovely. I was staying with my friend Abbie and managed to see a couple of mates too while I was down there. All in all it was a nice "last" visit to Sydney to mark the end of my time in Australia.

End of September also meant a very important occasion in Melbourne's calendar, grand final weekend. The Grand Final is the culmination of of the AFL season. Instead of the team with the most points winning the league, the top 8 battle it out in a knock out style competition, all leading to one big game at the MCG in Melbourne. What's even better, everyone in Victoria gets a day off on the Friday. I'm definitely living in the right state, imagine getting a day off for FA Cup Final weekend. On the Thursday evening, myself, Rose and Sam from work went to see "Hot Dub Time Machine" a DJ that plays a medly of hits from each decade. It was great fun! Then on Saturday, I watched the game with Sam and some of his mates so had a true Aussie experience followed by a BBQ with some of my expat mates.

And with that, I had my last 3 weeks in Melbourne!

One of many monkeys

Quite possibly the weirdest photo of me with mum and dad

Wedding time!

Katie's birthday picnic