Well-known singers and artists will perform at the Vong Tay Nhan Ai (Compassion Arms) music programme tonight (Saturday) in Vinh Long town to support Agent Orange Victims. Vinh Long Province’s Radio and Television Station organised the event, where local artists expect to collect VND50 million (US$3.200) in donations. All proceeds will go to the Fund […]

We have just had a visit from Lena & Matt and they stayed with us for three nights. Lena was a Rotary exchange student from Germany and lived with us in Australia about four years ago. Last year they visited us in Australia (see photos) and this year it was great that they could take […]

This morning I went with a few students from RMIT to visit the Hoa Binh (Peace) Village which is located inside the Tu Du hospital at 248 Cong Quynh Street, only about 5 minutes motorbike ride from our house. The Peace Village houses children who are victims of Agent Orange and these students give up […]

...I had my Xe Om driver stop at my favourite Banh Mi stall on the Dien Bien Phu end of Vuon Chuoi St so that I could buy myself a baguette with pate, cold meat, salad and chili which makes a delicious breakfast. As usual the two ladies who run the stall were very busy […]

43 years and in that time millions of dollars has (rightly) been paid out to Vietnam Veterans in the United States and Australia (possibly others) in compensation for the effects that contact with this deadly chemical have had. Yet to date, the people most effected and the ones who continue to be most effected have […]

...went for a walk to charge my phone card, get a new cell phone battery and have some photos processed. I took my camera and recorded some of the events as they happened around me. Click on the thumbnail to go to the album page.

Recently we have been reading a book by the New Zealand food writer Peta Mathias called “Noodle Pillows”. Peta embarks on a search throughout Vietnam to try and find the perfect Pho (pronounced “fer”). Personally I think the quest is an impossible one because what is perfect for one will not be for another and […]

HA NOI - In an effort to curb the number of traffic accidents nationwide, Viet Nam Television has begun airing programmes about accidents and the Government’s new traffic policies. According to Duc Hoang, a VTV reporter, the show will include live images from major city intersections as well as inside the emergency rooms at Viet […]

The HCM City People’s Committee on Tuesday gave its approval to a Canadian-invested company to build a garbage-fuelled power plant. The company will also build a plant to collect and treat garbage wastewater and bio-gas. The plants will be located in Rubbish Dump 1 and Rubbish Dump 2 in Cu Chi District’s Tam Tan Commune. […]

Part of the reason why we decided to come and live in another culture was that we were bored with living in the same city for many years. One Sunday we were sitting in our Gold Coast home discussing what we might do for the day and we realized that there was nowhere close by […]

HA NOI ? A special police force will begin operating next month to fight internet-related crimes, according to the director of the Public Security Ministry?s Economic Police Department, Colonel Nguyen Hoa Binh. Viet Nam already has an online security unit, but the special force will focus on criminal cases as defined by the laws, Binh […]

The HCM City?s District 1 will stop granting licenses for 11 trades and services, considered hot spots for social vices, until the end of 2005. According to a recent decision of the HCM City People?s Committee, these trades and services include commercial karaoke parlours, dance halls, CD and VCD rental services, video game parlours, Internet […]

At the moment I’m sitting in my home office on the top level of our house and there is some banging and clanging coming from the roof over me. A few days ago our very very tall television antenna broke in half in a strong gust of wind and came crashing down bringing a clutter […]

It’s hard to believe, but we have been here in Vietnam for just over 6 months now. When we arrived we had a multiple entry visa which became due for renewal on the 23 June. Fortunately for us our HR department at RMIT look after this type of thing and our visas are now good […]

If I haven’t mentioned food lately then it is very remiss of me. Food is an essential and evocative part of everyday life in Vietnam. In HCMC food is plentiful and the variety is extraordinary. Last Saturday night Loic was alone as Mai has gone back up to Hanoi for a week or two so […]

...... we have a new housekeeper. Bliss, bliss, bliss. Not that we haven’t been able to cope for the past 8 weeks or so since we decided to let our first housekeeper go, quite the contrary. In some ways spending some time cleaning and doing things after our own fashion has been good, but we […]

According to the Vietnam Investment Review, the first condom vending machine has been installed in Vietnam. It is extending itself in Hanoi’s Lan Chin Beer Restaurant on Trang Tien Street and is stocked with the well known OK brand condoms. Evidentially 20 machines are due to be installed during July and August in an initiative […]

“Why don’t we do this more often?” is the question we find ourselves asking. It’s so easy to get to Vung Tau on the Russian built hydrofoils and it is so refreshing to breathe in the fresh air when we get there. Once again we hired a motorbike and spent the weekend doing not very […]