Sunday morning, we are both at work upstairs in our office and take time out to brew a Vietnamese coffee. Strong, rich, aromatic, black and sweet. I sit watching out into our alleyway through the large glass front door with the sound of an Enya DVD playing. I contemplate life and wonder just how many […]
Most mornings, my ride to work on the back of a Honda takes me through a small market street that connects Nguyen Dinh Chieu and Dien Bien Phu Streets. This morning while we were wending our way through the conglomeration of stall holders, shoppers, dogs, walkers and people traveling every which way, I noticed an […]
or…a much needed weekend break at the resort town of Vung Tau. We didn’t realise how much we needed a break from the constant pace and noise of HCMC until we had actually arrived at Vung Tau and listened to the quiet. The freedom to drive a motorbike where we wanted to go, stop where […]
There has been a death three houses down from ours and tonight our alleyway is full of motorbikes that belong to friends and relatives who have come to pay their respects. The gates and doors to the house have been thrown open and the coffin is on display surrounded by burning incense and other decoration. […]
Quite a great deal of attention was given to International Women’s Day here in Vietnam. The city decorated the Opera House with 30,000 Roses and Jasmines which looked a treat. Seminars and discussion groups were held for single women as well as for couples to discuss women’s role in society and other issues. Chocolate manufacturers […]
The government has officially lifted its ban on the sale of chicken and eggs, however I think that I will avoid eating it for a while after seeing eggs and chickens in market places at least 5 days before the ban was lifted and after reading this article. We are eating so much interesting food […]
...you’d think it was the fourth of July. For those of you old enough to remember that old Chicago song, a stroll in the park may be high on your list of energetic activities these days. We took time out of our busy schedule to walk to one of HCMC’s great parks. This one is […]
Well, I took along my camera for this Ides of March feast and you can find the images by clicking on the thumbnail above.
?but no cats in the yard, in fact no yard at all! I have already posted images of our house at 337 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St in HCMC and it should be obvious that the zoning of this area is zero allotment. In fact, most houses in HCMC are built directly abutting their neighbours and […]
Well, we have manged to survive our first two weeks of teaching and our first month living in Vietnam. Things are starting to fall into some sort of routine as we discover where we can buy the things that we need for everyday life and so on. We don’t have to work on Saturdays, so […]
I have posted some new images of our house and surrounding neighbourhood. 337/14 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St You can access them by clicking on the thumbnail image or clicking here
Lisa and I have offices in different locations, but we each have classes in both. Lisa?s office is 1.6 Klms from our house while mine is about 1Klm. According to where our timetable dictates we need to be, we travel from home of a morning to either location and we travel in between campuses sometimes […]
Generally speaking, the Vietnamese people do not have bank accounts and my understanding is that they do not trust banks. Understandable when you realize that the ANZ Bank Vietnam charges fees that are three times higher than in Australia and wanted to charge me double the fee to cash travelers cheques that I could get […]
I’m just about to go and teach my final group out of the four that I have, and I just had a thought that I would like to share. “I’m enjoying this!” That’s it.
I have posted some new images taken over the last couple of weeks around HCMC. They are available from here.Keep tuned for more news and photos.
Yahoo, finally I have my new laptop and I am able to access the Internet from home as well as from work. This will make life a lot easier from a communication point of view and hopefully I will have time to update this journal on a more regular basis. Although with the learning curve […]
Just a quick comparison on Internet access price before I have to duck away to meet our potential new housekeeper. At the Continental Hotel, we were being charged 2,000VND per minute which roughly equates to 20 cents Aust per minute. I’m currently in an Internet Cafe in Nguyen Dinh Chieu St, just a few doors […]
As best as I can work out, there are four main types of permanent accommodation for foreigners who wish to reside in this country. Hotels, which can vary from about US$10 per night up to US$300+ per night for 4 star accommodation. Serviced apartments, which seem to cost anywhere from US$1200 per month and upward […]
