Dennis is obsessive about us sending him photos of pretty Vietnamese girls in ao dai because he thinks that they look so beautiful. OK Dennis, here’s a photo just for you.  

Don’t you just love it when old friends come to visit? Don’t you just love it when they go home again? We love you Mick, but you would have to bring that bottle of OP Bundaberg Rum and force us to drink with you. I’m still in a state of recovery and Mick flies back […]

This morning there was a motorbike with about 12 live ducks and one lone live chicken strung up upside down behind the seat. Their heads dangled down dangerously close to the rear wheel as they feebly protested the indignity of their situation by the occasional lift of a beak and a terrified squawk or rustle […]

...the couple in the narrow street near my office had restrung their hammock across the footpath from a large tree to a solid high block wall. The woman was awake and sitting cross legged on a mat on the ground. The man was still asleep and covered entirely with a thin blanket, no doubt to […]

...a lady rode her motorbike down the very busy and congested Dien Bien Phu St. She was controlling the bike with her right hand on the throttle and carrying in her left a brim full bowl of steaming hot noodle soup with a bag underneath. She delivered the soup to a Vietnamese man who was […]

QANTAS - the only word in common usage in the English language where there is no “U” after the “Q”?? (OK, I know it was once an acronym).  

Over the past several weeks there have been literally thousands of dragonflies flying over HCMC and surrounding districts. Whenever a storm is approaching, they hover very low and alight on plants on the rooftop garden where I marvel at the engineering feat that is their wings. Click on the thumbnails to pop-up a larger image […]

Last weekend we drove with friends up to Binh Chau beach and stayed in their bamboo bungalows which are situated within a metre or two of the sand and water. This place is opererated by the same people who run the eco-tourism resort and the hot springs, which is only a few kilometres away. Binh […]

In line with our aim to visit as many places within Vietnam as possible, last weekend Lisa and I along with colleagues from RMIT spent three days in Nha Trang. One of our Vietnamese colleagues lives there and it was yet another opportunity to travel with local knowledge ?built in? so to speak. Nha Trang […]

No matter what time of the day we place our garbage outside our front fence, you can be sure that some person/s will open the plastic bag and check what is in there to see whether anything has any value for recycling. The garbage is collected by hand here every morning, so you can be […]

Last Tuesday evening we ventured down to Thi Sach Street in District 1 to a bar that is owned by several people including the husband of one of our fellow academics at RMIT. “Enigma” is a cosy two story affair and they cater for drinkers with a thirst for beer or wine and serve light […]

Last night was RMIT Vietnam’s student end of semester night, and they decided to exhort people to “Spice up Your Life” and come along to the Masquerade. The student committee had spent many long hours organising and preparing for this event and it is a credit to all involved that such a professional evening went […]

When you are on a motorbike in traffic so dense that it would be impossible to fall over, because the person next to you would prop you up so to speak, the last thing that you want to see is somebody reaching for their cell phone. However, that’s what happens here all the time. Now, […]

Life is hectic at the moment because the exams are upon us and everybody who has ever had anything to with academia knows that with exams comes marking time. I am up to my armpits in exam papers and projects that need have the marks assigned to them very soon. Consequently I’m working from home […]

The link below will bring up a small new window showing some video footage of traffic on Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street directly at the front of our alleyway. This was taken on a “quiet” Sunday morning when the traffic density was not too great. You can find the footage here, and please be patient while […]

It poured rain here last night. Now I know that some of you are going to think that I have been overdoing the whole “we are praying for rain” thing but really, when it finally came bucketing down, the difference in the atmosphere was astonishing. The air was cooled and smelt fresh. Anyway, if you […]

We took advantage of the holiday period in Vietnam to spend four days in Hong Kong. What a shock to the system to suddenly be dropped into the midst of such a dynamic, bustling and “expensive” city. Because words speak more softly than pictures, please view the images by clicking on the thumbnail below -

It is still dark at 5am this morning and the alarm was not set to wake us until 6.15. However, without any warning, our sound sleep is interrupted by the raucous tones of a full brass band with drums that sounded as if it were playing at the foot of the bed. Actually it was […]