now tweeting

 

Sunday 21 September 2008

Frog

Nothing more interesting than a picture of a frog but I was particularly pleased to capture it so clearly.
Vietnamese tree frog

Hello Kitty Motorbike

Personalised motorbikes are big news. This is one of my favourites of recent times.

Hello Kitty Pink Motorbike

Hell-o. Note the tiny paw print on the back light.

Monday 15 September 2008

Phu My Hung

The Vietnamese "city of tomorrow", clean and well designed it doesn't feel like Vietnam at all. Streets are broad and shaded and parks are planted between buildings and between roads.

Water garden at Garden Plaza, Phu My Hung

Roads are smoothly surfaced and often deserted.

Sunday afternoon, Phu My Hung

Shops and cafe's have sprung up all over the place with new ones opening regularly.

Co-op Citi up-mart

Phu My Hung, cafe society

It's a safe and clean environment particularly suited to families. The place would drive me up the wall.

Saturday 13 September 2008

One, two, tree.

Tonight the frogs were lively and I happened to have a camera with me. There have been a lot more tree frogs around recently and I'm getting very fond of them.

Tree frog on bamboo

two tree frogs

I await three in one shot.

Friday 12 September 2008

Domestic days

We have three floors and a roof terrace but often hauling it all the way to the top floor is too much to expect of a human so we spend a lot of time in our front courtyard.
It's 5m x 2m but packs a lot in.

Domestic reflection

Because we were heading out almost immediately we left the scooter parked outside the gate. At night it lives on the ground floor next to an armchair.

Indoor parking

Our courtyard is home to twenty plants, 17 fish and assorted visitors.

One tree frog on a wall

We have tiny chairs that make it look bigger, if you look carefully you can see my first home grown orchid just starting to bloom.

Courtyard, Saigon

And here it is, My First Little Orchid.

My first little Orchid.


A view from three floors up with one still to go before we reach the roof.

Welcome, home.

You wouldn't want to forget anything you needed or to have suicidal tendencies. However, the climb to the roof space is worth the risk of being enticed to throw yourself down the stairwell.

Up on the roof

As well as the view we have a fridge up here dedicated to beer and wine.

Tuesday 9 September 2008

Shoes in the house?

I'm going to take some pictures of the house but haven't got around to it yet, To motivate myself I'm putting up a mini-posting which ought to shame me into being more productive. Time will tell though, I have a high shame threshold.

We are good tenants and don't wear shoes in the house, neither does anyone else so there tends to be a big collection at the front door at times.

On permanent display are the "gate shoes", rubber flip flops for shuffling back and forward the three steps from the front door to the gate when visitors or bill collectors arrive.

Shoes

Saturday 6 September 2008

Hue Hey

Hue, pronounced something like "whey", was an interesting place for a couple of days stop off. It's got a much slower pace of life than Ho Chi Minh.

Bridge Traffic

And a Citadel to see.

Ancient citadel

It was the hottest place I've been in Vietnam, some tourists took great pains to protect themselves from the sun.

Umbrellas and Non Las

While others tried hard to blend in:

Blending in

...and if we go down here I think we can each get an Ao Dai too.


There were some interesting sights and the river was particularly picturesque. The local cuisine was excellent but we had some of the most awful faux-French food and an especially bland curry. I suppose it serves us right for not eating local.

Bridge over the Perfumed River at night, Hue