Tag: Vietnam

  • Website Finished

    So one thing I have proved is that building a website in the wilds of S.E.Asia is only different from Streatham is that I get someone delivering a never ending supply of beer. Now pinch me now as that seems to be a kind of work nirvana, but that’s me – I am supposing that the average nun wouldn’t hope for the same working conditions when abroad, but you never know.

    Tony, the Hotel Gaffer tried to squeeze as much blood out of this stone as possible by getting me to submit his site to all sorts of Hotel search engines, but by early afternoon had had enough. Jackie, Kwah and I all went out to lunch and sat in a little cafe while Kwah laughed and tossed his noodle soup over the balcony at unwitting passers by. He really is a happy kid and is very bright, his disability is purely physical so he should be up to speed soon with the help he’s getting – The Kianh Foundation is the charity if you want to have a ganders.

    I said my goodbyes around 4.00 and hopped on a bike with Tony to go to the station – off to China.

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  • Building Websites

    So I start early and spend the day tap tapping away like a web monkey whilst being delivered beer fule by the frantic hotel owner who believes I will not finish his website by the time I leave. Little does he know, I have obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to finishing jobs like this, I get tunnel vision until I have spent myself, frothing and wild eyed.

    I was luck enough to meet Jackie and Kwah towards the end of the day and suggested taking them both out for a meal. Jackie is working for a charity that helps out disabled kids in Vietnam, she has taken on Kwah as his family had him tied to a bed for a number of years which wasn’t doing him too much good. Jackie is a scouser with a wicked sense of Humour and Kwah is a Vietnamese kid that laughs all of the time, a perfect team methinks. They took my mind off of the job for a while as we sat at the coffee shop at the end of the lake and ate, quite frankly, crap food (they have great cakes though so my fault). Afterwards I returned to my slavish and wide eyed tapping until I passed out in the early hours, pissed and overworked.

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  • Halong Bay

    I am just back from Halong bay, an area that is vying for status as one of the 7 new wonders of the world. I am hoping that Tooting Bec Lido pips it to the post but I reckon Halong will win.

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  • A break

    Sometimes you need a break even from your holiday, so, I am escaping from the hassles in Hanoi and am going ahead with my tour to Halong Bay tomorrow anyhow. I think bobbing about on boat surrounded by natures best is just what I need before I undertake the website for this rather strange little hotel I am staying in.

    I must say that Iam still a fan of Hanoi no matter whether it has climbing tea leafs or not. I have gotten into quite a groove with my walks around the lake, fine local breakfasts and some of the people they have around here.

  • Arse The In Pain

    At 9am I trot off with Tony to the Police station where he asks me loads of questions that I know are going to be useless in finding my gear. Whoever did this would have slipped into the night with enough gear to keep a family going for half a year in Hanoi, I only hope that that’s what it does do.

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  • Arrete Voleur

    I wrote this post after it was all sorted out as I didn’t want to worry the people I love that are reading this blog, but now it’s all over I can look back on it as one of those things that at the time test you, but also get you in touch of a side of a place you would not normally be able to access.

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  • Santa’s in Vietnam

    There is a lovely cafe at one end of the Hoakiem lake where you can buy both Vietnamese dishes as well as western treats like banana splits and a cup of coffee.You can sit watching the gentle folk of the city walk arm in arm around the lake whilst being soothed by the colourful lights that illuminate the lake.

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  • French

    I had a look around the city today and ended up at a monument that commemorates the lake/sword malarkey of Hoakiem lake. This lady turned me away as I was just abut to enter the temple, but a frail little old man, out walking with his daughter (well I assume it was his daughter, maybe not that frail perhaps) that reminded me a little of that tough old boy in the Asterix comics called geriatrix, took offence to this. He commended her, with a twinkle in his eye and a jaunty wave of his walking cane, to let us all in and she smiled and did just so.

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  • Mama’s Bar to Hanoi

    After signing off yesterday I decided to have a night-cap before turning in and so popped into a little bar just near my hotel. The patron was one of the first westerners to set up a business in Nah Trang and seemed to be a little war weary. I stayed for a while then took up his recommendation of a stop by the sailing club which is by the coast. There I bumped into some Geordie’s that were good value – it was the birthday of one of the lads so we sank a few jars and jawed a while. Later on I ended up in Mama’s roadside stall for one of the local specialities, a late night snack that included an egg and some Vietnamese style beef. Mama is a bit of a local celeb, everyone stops by here for a late night snack and the chatter is cheerful around mama’s stall. It was sitting here that we saw the sun rise, so I packed my stuff up, paid my hotel and took a taxi to the airport.
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  • Double Decker

    Getting up at 7am after coming home at 5am was like swimming through a bath full of mud, but I got on my bus. I had an argument with the driver as he was trying to put me in the middle of a huddle of people at the back of the bus – it’s a large array of what looks like bunk beds with a platform of 5 aside at the back, being in the middle of there with a hangover would have been hell on earth, so I negotiated a bunk by a window that I could open for some fresh air.

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