Monthly Archives: November 2009

Pump it!

“We rocking it contagious, monkey business outrageous Just confess, your girl admits that we da sh*t” – Black Eyed Peas, Pump It! There’s no better way to get over a broken heart than pumping iron. Seriously folks, feeling the burn … Continue reading

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Filed under Health and beauty, travel, Vietnam

Making history

They say that history is written by the victors. Well if so, Vietnam has a weird way of sounding their victory. It’s now 34 years after a win that many thought was impossible in the face of America’s superior strength … Continue reading

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Bạn có nói được tiếng Anh?*

“I’m an alien. I’m a legal alien.” – Sting, Englishman in New York Periodically the travel press comes up with another statistic that makes one ashamed to be an Englishperson abroad. 97% of all Greeks think that Brits are immoral, … Continue reading

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The Prisoners

When I was growing up, the hallway outside my bedroom at my dad’s house was dominated by a massive poster of Patrick McGoohan as Number 6 in The Prisoner with the adage in half-foot-high letters: “I am not a number, … Continue reading

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Snobbery and the Mekong Delta

There are people who travel and there are tourists. The debate of which category a person falls into – dependant on travelling behaviour, length of journey, lifestyle choices – is a long one that has been raging among backpacking communities … Continue reading

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I’d like to tell you a story…

Once upon a time there was a little girl called Hien. She lived with her mother and father in a country called Vietnam. Now one day her mother and father decided they didn’t want their little girl any more. This … Continue reading

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Saucy!

Hurrah! Have got new job writing reviews for new ‘travel geek’ website Sosauce.com.

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Filed under Reviews, travel

The Yarkand Manner

While flicking through the book of Saki short stories that my Dad gave me in Laos, I came across one that mocks media whims and fancies, showing a possible danger of travel journalism (read it here: www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/382) Like all Saki’s … Continue reading

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Halloween

Pleased to report it’s the same all over the world…people get dressed up, go to parties, get drunk, spill beer on their witch/cat/monster outfits, wake up in November with a hangover. Good times!

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Taking communion

When I, and three other western orphanage volunteers, were asked to the house of Lan, a Vietnamese woman we work with at the centre, were very flattered. We didn’t know the girl well but she seemed friendly and eager to … Continue reading

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