My first morning after arriving in Vietnam was to be spent at the wedding of a friend of Thao, my kind guide. Only I discovered the night before that it wasn’t a wedding at all but an engagement ceremony / party. It seems here that more emphasis is put on the engagement than on the [...]

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Visit number five to Vietnam and number three to Ho Chi Minh City. This time was to be my first with a “local” guide in the form of Thao who I’ve been chatting to online for almost two years now, I think. She originally spotted my blog post about climbing Fansipan, which she was planning [...]

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I’m just about to shut down the netbook and go catch the Airport Express to Suvarnabhumi Airport once more. Another great visit to Bangkok, a city I really love. Quick waves out to all the lovely people I met here, especially Laura, Barbera and the lovely people at the TRSC centre and the HQ Hostel. [...]

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After the fun of finding out that the Thai banks seem to have formed some sort of “let’s screw the farang” cartel, I have more infornation on getting free money out of their ATMs. First up, as far as I can ascertain the Government Savings Bank is free for all, but only accepts Visa cards. [...]

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The gentle waft of Tiger Balm. The soft plucking of strings played back on a dodgy old stereo. A comfortable pillow behind your head. And a small woman with amazingly strong hands seemingly trying to poke holes right through your body with each extended finger. Then the sound of an electric drill as the person [...]

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Internet access the last couple of weeks has been hit and miss. Also, I’ve spent a lot of time doing absolutely nothing so I have a few posts still to write. Updates will deluge the blog over the next week or so as I don’t have too much to do in Bangkok other than eat, [...]

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After comments made on the Dili Guide post and a rather heavy-handed (and angry, and vaguely threatening) email from Wayne at Free Flow I’ve kind of had my arm bent into putting this post up. Wayne is wanting (nay, demanding) an apology for my comment that Free Flow’s safety measures are (to quote myself) “rather [...]

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