December 2011
61 posts
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She says ‘It’s too cold’, and makes a face of discomfort, yet I am out until after midnight wearing only tshirt, shorts and flip flops and the only discomfort I experience is the sting of mosquitos on my bare legs.
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It’s a dinner of crispy duck with the head sawn in two. I take the left half and get to work with tongue, teeth and lips. The edible bits don’t come easily and there isn’t much of it.
My friend, a woman who’s parent’s table we are at says ‘You like head?’ and, minding my manners and their limited English, I just nod and keep working at it.
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Honda Vietnam says motorbike fire not due to... →
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Hung sign — Vung Tau, Vietnam
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Sapporo Favors Vietnam Over China as Tropical... →
Vietnam “has 90 million people whose average age is 28 years and love to guzzle beer,” said Yoshiyuki Mochida, who heads Tokyo-based Sapporo’s international business. “It’s an era of the warring states for business in Vietnam. If you fall asleep there, your head will be lopped off.”
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Eating snake; small pieces with rubbery skin and so many bones; I separate the bad bits from the meat with fingers and teeth. My friend Hieu places a piece in his mouth with chopsticks and chews and chews.
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Fanny Ice Cream — David’s, Vung Tau, Vietnam
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Monte Carlo Casino / Petro House Hotel — Vung Tau, Vietnam
Watch
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Temporary Moon Cake stalls — Vung Tau, Vietnam
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I had bahn khot for Christmas dinner.
ATTENTION FRIENDS:
Although I think this has been a succesful blog I have been considering making it less personal and more professional; it would become more about my work and how my experiences and observations affect it.
As I consider doing so I also realise that much of my motivation to maintain a blog has been to keep my personal friends updated en masse.
My question then is how many of my friends—that is...
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At Chi Chi’s bar drinking a Tiger with a Liverpool Football Club bottle cozy.
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My plan is to train about a dozen geckos to crawl around on my legs as a natural mosquito defence.
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The night smells of rat as they move along the street from garbage pile to garbage pile. On my terrace two floors up I have manic fantasies of being an air rifle sniper and picking them off one by one. But I don’t really begrudge them their nocturnal activities I just wish they wouldn’t shit on my patio.
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Vung Tau Market — Vung Tau, Vietnam
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Vung Tau, Vietnam
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Preserves and cigarettes and chocolate milk and cigarettes and canned meats
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Just watched Hung Dong at the local cinema (embarrassed to admit it translates as New Dawn).
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I just saw an orange Mustang Fastback drive down Ba Cu Street in the rain.
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As far as I know Buddha didn’t celebrate Christmas or go for the last minute shopping or consumption of egg nog.
Although Wikipedia claims that 85% of the population “identify with Buddhism” and that 8% of the population are Christians, Christmas has reared it’s ugly head.
Before you go biting my head off for the comment let me clarify that although I am neither Christian nor an...
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Vung Tau, Vietnam
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Hendrick's Gin
Recently discovered Hendrick’s gin in Vung Tau.
It’s only about two hundred thousand more than what I’d pay in Canada which is reasonable.
www.hendricksgin.com
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In the last month of our residency on Doan Thi Diem in Ward 4 large concrete pipes began appearing almost overnight and I became concerned. Sure enough there was soon early morning rumbling and the narrow little lane to the market was busted up and a mess.
It is interesting to watch the difference between such work here and in western countries; noticeable differences are less concern for...
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Vung Tau, Vietnam
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Barbie Fiat — Vung Tau, Vietnam
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Someone is playing Santana for a second day in a row; a bug crawls into chili sauce; Italian in a sea of Vietnamese.
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0935.220.999 — Vung Tau, Vietnam
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Seagames 22 Vietnam — Vung Tau, Vietnam
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Rice Man — Vung Tau, Vietnam
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Any egg nog in Vungtau?
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Happy Wedding — Vung Tau, Vietnam
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Just saw the VHP (Vungtau Highway Patrol) chasing down another motorbike while I was enjoying some warm soft tofu and ginger on the sidewalk (served from by a woman carrying the cooking pot and bowls around with her).
Don’t think that is the actual name for the police who have an oldschool motorcycle with an oldschool revolving red light on a pole on the back.
Most noticeably unlike...
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Drinking yesterday, drinking today, drinking tomorrow.
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If you have to puke use the toilet.
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Happy Times — Vung Tau, Vietnam
The dogs they bark night and day, tempted to yell I hear them say: do not bother, we will continue either way, just do your best to sleep away, to sleep away.
- Apologies to Leonard Cohen
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Black Power →
It’s the Black Power abdominal exercise machine.
There is a teenage boy watching the liquor store as I enter. A large, U shaped space with plenty of room on the floor. He is practicing keeping a soccer ball up with his feet. Around him are expensive bottles of spirits
I ask him the price of an item I want to purchase as a gift for a friend’s birthday. He tells me he has to ask his mom and proceeds to call her on his mobile phone.
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Interbank market: borrowers delay paying their... →
Four HCM City-based commercial banks borrowed 1475 billion dong from another bank, but they have been repeatedly asking for the delay of debt payment. Feeling worried about the insolvency, lenders now ask borrowers to show assets to mortgage for the loans – the thing which has never been seen on the interbank market.
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Maybe squatting, each foot on the edge of the toilet, is a better way to defecate but makes reading too difficult.
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DUONG DONG EXPRESS EQUALS COMFORT →
My most recent article on vungtay-city.com
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