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Tạm biệt Vietnam!
Goodbye Vietnam, I wish I could have been with you for longer, I promise i will come back and visit your curious north sooner rather than later! This morning I roused myself early after a final night of beer with old friends and new friends and goodbyes and exchanges of information and promises to travel … Read more
Củ Chi Warfare.
An afternoon visit to the Củ Chi tunnels was another harsh reality check about the horrendous nature of warfare in general. Besides the fact that Củ Chi tunnels have really turned into a bit of a sick theme park for tourists – if you ignore all of the ridiculous souvenirs and badly built statues showing soldiers sitting in … Read more
The temples of Caodaiism
This morning I roused my dirty, exhausted traveller body early to get on a bus to the Village of Tay Ninh, in Southern Vietnam, to see the bizarre temples of the Cao Dai religion… Cao Dai means the ‘Kingdom of Heaven,’ and is very young religion, as religions go, having existed for less than 100 years, … Read more
bicycles, poverty and a kaleidoscope morning
This morning I was privileged enough to join the team from Loreto Vietnam and Australia on a trip out to District 9, Saigon, to witness the handover of 60 brand new bicycles to 60 of the poorest school aged children in the district. We drove out of Ho Chi Minh City down the freeway and arrived … Read more
Miss Saigon and her sad history…
Today I did get to know Miss Saigon better, I travelled by foot and by xe ôm (which is a motor cycle taxi but literally means ‘hugging vehicle’) to explore the dense streets and the expansive city that has been laid out before me. I wove through large markets in search of great buys – … Read more
Markets, Motorbikes and a love for Saigon
After getting back from Mekong delta I decided to get out there into Saigon, I ran into my friends again, who had just arrived back from the South – Mekong delta. It’s always strange to see how often you run into the same people again and again – it happens all the time when you are … Read more
Rice wine, floating markets and a long ride back to Saigon
When we arrived at the homestay (myself, 4 guys from the Czech Republic and a lovely older French Couple) I was a little disappointed. I wanted to stay in a home stay. Not a homestay/hotel in a village. It was after dark before we arrived so we didn’t really see much of the village until the … Read more
Xin chào Mekong Delta
South of Saigon is a region of Vietnam called the Mekong Delta, or the Rice bowl (of the world). An enormous percentage of the worlds rice is produced in this region and because of this it is a very important economic area for Vietnam. I’m usually not a fan of tours, they don’t give you enough … Read more
I said I would… so I did.
I few weeks ago I wrote a blog about weird food from all around the world, and I talked about Balut - a Phillipino delicacy of boiled chicken embryo that is sucked out of the egg – and I said that I would try it if I ever came across it. I am one who is … Read more
I let them sleep in my arms and break my heart… just a little.
This morning I went to visit Dieu Giac Orphanage in District 2, Saigon. It was a very different experience to visiting the boys shelter, this orphanage was enormous, filled with children from 2 days old to 18 year olds getting ready to leave and go out into the world on their own. The Dieu … Read more
