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 […]

New clothes are a feature of the giving at Tet, and this is clearly evidenced in the stunning array of gear that the children are decked out in over this period. In the main square outside the people’s committee hall, a constant stream of family laden scooters arrives in order that they might have thier […]

I’m sorry that the entries to this journal have not been as regular as I would have liked but we do not have our own computers as yet and Internet access has been very flukey at the cafe in the hotel, not to mention expensive. There are many adventures that I want to relate, but […]

Yesterday we walked to the gates of RMIT University, just to make sure that we knew how to get there. Upon reflection it is an easy walk as Pham Ngoc Thach St is just an extension of Dong Khoi St where the Hotel Continental is located. RMIT is about 8 or 9 blocks away from […]

The Frangipani trees in the courtyard of the Hotel Continental have signs on them saying that they were planted in 1880. I will take some shots of them and post them to my image gallery just as soon as I have access to some image editing software.

Well, we are finally back in HCMC and what an extraordinary time to be here. Last night the celebrations for Tet were in full flight, but we were far too exhausted to contemplate staying up late to enjoy them. We did go up onto the third floor balcony of the Hotel Continental to watch and […]

Finally we are finished packing and out of the house. What a total nightmare. However, it is done and we have begun our gypsy like existence, living out of suitcases. the flight to Vietnam can’t come quickly enough and yet there are so many things still left to do and so many people left to […]

Last night we went to Komninos’s home to welcome Jason Nelson to Australia and Griffith University. Jason has taken up a position as the new full time lecturer in CyberStudies. Lisa and I picked Jason up from his apartment and dropped him home again in the small hours of this morning. Talking with him, it […]

My Philosophy Professor likened our shifting to Vietnam as an Odyssey. I do like the comparison, but I figure that Odysseus never had to pack up all of his possessions, find a home for his cats, decide what to sell, what to keep and what to give away. I’ll bet that Odysseus didn’t have to […]

Here we are, still packing. Henry just took a load of bits and pieces back to his new acreage property at Hervey Bay and will be back on Wednesday for the rest of our lounge suite and the large pot plants. Brendan has borrowed some of my power tools and my fishing gear, until I […]

Yesterday, Lisa and I spent a very dusty day cleaning out the shed of our stuff, some of which had not been touched for about 8 years. Ultimately, most of these treasured possessions went to the dump via the back of a mate’s Ute. The burning question is, “Why the hell do we keep all […]

Christmas truly is a time for children, so accordingly, “We Wish you a Maddie Christmas!” click here to go to images and video