Ali's farewell

Friday August 4, 2006

The time had come - it was Ali's last night in Hanoi.

Poor Ali was feeling a little anxious about all the goodbyes she was going to have to say, but a ride to the 20th floor of the Sofitel hotel at Westlakes and a couple of pre-dinner drinks while overlooking the city helped a lot.
It was then off to dinner at Highway 4 - yum!


Dinner fun! Ali, Phil and Ingrid(Phil's sister, she arrived tonight)

Two visiting friends from Ali 's first stint as an AYAD in Tonga met us there. It was so perfect for her. One of her best friends Mili was here and they'd had some fun catching up over the last week. It was in Hue that I saw a photo of Mili and realised I knew her when teaching at UniSA and worlds collided (I spoke about this in an earlier blog).

Everyone Ali had made friends with during her time in Hanoi came to Highway 4 for dinner - the table was large and it wasn't long before the ruou was out in force, in between delicious tasty plates of different dishes to try.

Another one of Ali's friends, Mel, was in town at the same time. Mel is one of the managers at Austraining (the organisation that run the VIDA and AYAD contracts for AusAID). Ali had told me bit about her and how they became friends when she was doing some work for Austraining in Adelaide.

So Mel came and met us toward the end of the the dinner - and low and behold who was with her but Barry Clarke's girlfriend Sharna! Now Barry is one of Simon's friends from his close group of mates in primary and high school. How's that! I'd spent time with Sharna over the years at various gigs and parties when the boys would all catch up when Simon visited Adelaide, so I knew her a little.

Ialso knew Sharna worked for Austraining - I'd called them one day and she answered the phone. During the conversation she asked me if I had a brother called Simon and we made the connection. She'd also been an AYAD a number of years back and had been working for Austraining since she and Barry returned to Australia from Europe.

But then it gets even more amazing... I was asking Sharna if she and Barry see much of the other boys from the group. And she said, Mel was going out with Ben Collins, another one of the boys. Oh my gosh!

So there I was, in the middle of Hanoi hanging out with Barry and Ben's girlfriends! I had to pinch myself as we were walking to Dragon Fly chatting about Ben and what everyone is up to. It was so great to have some Aussie connections, let alone have them so close to home.

Dragon Fly was raucous and fun, and Solace was a pure dance fest.


Me, Katie and Ali and Ed, Ali and me


Katie and Ali reliving their cambodia xe om ride

Ali, Phil and I ended the night with a drink on the decks of the boat. When we got home Ali and I cooked up some springs rolls and stayed up chatting for a while.