Q: How was the food? A: It was great, mostly. We had one weird meal in a rather nice place in Saigon – the food was gummy, fishy, meaty, slimy, all the things we did not want it to be. I don’t think this was bad food, I think the mistake we made was that …
And here are 2000 words that explain why.
Chau Doc is a busy border town with dusty streets and tin roof buildings and TV antennas. Our hotel sat on the edge of the river. Behind us, the motorcycles buzzed around offering rides, on the other side, river traffic floated back and forth, rowing or spewing fumes behind noisy diesel engines. It’s impossible to …
I love this picture that J. took as we were walking to our table at a restaurant in Saigon. It perfectly captures the feeling of being there, the noisy blurry mess, the vibrancy, the off kilter feeling, everything. (It’s probably a good time for a reminder that J. takes a lot of the pictures you …
“There is nothing — absolute NOTHING — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” Ratty in Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. I hate to fly, I can’t bear long bus trips, and boats, good god, don’t get me started on boats. I love to be in exotic places, but …
Slideshow here. Suggested tune? Crosstown Traffic, Jimi Hendrix. Every morning around 6am, the Voice of Vietnam blasts over Hanoi. Our tour leader told us that they broadcast local news, the lottery numbers, and a generous helping of propaganda. (I find it incongruous that a socialist nation has a lottery. Do they redistribute your winnings if …