travels with an ageing punkrocker/publisher
Sitting in the business class lounge at Changi’s terminal 3, we’re half way home. One more flight, one more lot of customs, one more car ride and that’s it. Our own house, out own beds, doing our own washing and cleaning. Three weeks doesn’t seem like a long time in the whole scheme of things, and there are times when […]
Read moreOur last day in Hoi An, and L’s birthday (age unspecified). We kicked off with our standard hotel breakfast, though I had to stop and post a picture as it seems, following yesterday’s pic, a significant amount of dragon fruit envy out there. I hadn’t realised as, other than looking absolutely alien on the outside, the inside edible part is […]
Read moreToday we got our clothes. My masterpiece of a jacket fits great, and looks pretty special. It’s probably safe to say it’s a one-of-a-kind, as I doubt anyone else has been “inspired” enough to get a jacket in that material. Now I just need it to get cool enough to wear it. I also got a tie in the same […]
Read moreA quiet start to the day, some lounging and relaxing as all our clothes fittings were scheduled for the afternoon. Again it was a stroll into the old town for lunch, where we found a place that had french fries so L could have a carb fix that wasn’t rice, as gluten free bread is nowhere to be found here. […]
Read moreToday was the first full day in Hoi An, and we certainly did consumerism proud. If you take away the whole UNESCO world heritage listing of the old town the business of Hoi An is business, specifically making stuff: clothes, jewellery, glasses, more clothes, and other shiny things. The hotel breakfast is okay, nothing too flash but enough to take […]
Read moreWe kicked off our last day in Hanoi with the standard hotel breakfast, before plunging forth into mid-morning traffic in search of S****ucks, so L could add the special Vietnam mug to our collection (I was also tempted to get the Hanoi mug, as it’s bright orange on the inside, and we don’t have any that colour, but I’m not […]
Read moreOur last full day in Hanoi. I read an article recently that of all tourists to Vietnam, only 10-20% return for another visit. And we’ve seen the signs of this in the reactions of locals — many are surprised to hear that we’ve been here before. I know the world is a big place, with so many wonderful sights still […]
Read moreWell, a little bit quieter anyway. Last night we looked over our balcony and the street was shoulder to shoulder, even the mopeds (which probably weren’t supposed to be on the “walking” street) were forced to a crawl. Today, we could see the street below. There were the usual street vendors, pho and bun cha for those starting the new […]
Read moreBy the time I finish this post it’ll have gone midnight at home, banishing 2017 and starting 2018. Hanoi, an hour behind, will still be partying, the streets below will still be packed with revellers, and fireworks yet to start. The bit I’m still not sure about is that Vietnam has it’s own lunar new year, this year it’s 16 […]
Read moreToday was a long day. As Mick Thomas wrote, “There’s no point writing postcards on your bad days”, so I’ll try to keep it short. L and I got almost no sleep last night. The combination of hard bed and threat of sleeping through alarms and missing the 7.20am train kept us restless. We made it to the train with […]
Read moreAfter 2 days in the jungle (well, not far from the main road, to be fair, but the accommodation was pretty basic) it was time for a relaxed, pampering day. We didn’t manage the sleep in, while our guest house has great, firm pillows, the firm bed is a bit too, well, firm, but we did manage to put off […]
Read moreElephants are amazing animals. A-maz-ing. Even to a cynical buffoon like me, elephants are something special. I’ve just had two of the most amazing days of my life, where from metaphorically dawn to dusk L and I were among 9 unchained, uncaged, free range elephants. Strictly speaking, we weren’t actually with them all of that time, it would be cruel […]
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