Why shopkeepers hate me.

I love shops and markets.  I'm a happy rummager. I'm a terrible shopper.  I like to look, prod, poke and photograph things but I hardly ever buy them.   Shopkeepers do not like me.

With the exception of cushions and books I don't like to be surrounded by clutter.  I like the look of it, but not the practice so I take pictures of the shiny fanciness that catches my eye instead.

Here are a few things I haven't bought recently.

I did not buy any hair sticks or bangles from this man despite them being shiny and lovely. You can see I'm never going to become his favourite customers.

I did not buy even one little Ganesha despite them being the "cutest things ever" because I already have one which was gifted to me.

I did not buy this pretty mirror which so nicely reflected a wobbly Rampart Row because I thought the buildings looked lovely in the distorted reflection but I would look less so.

I did not buy lovely glass versions of the chilli and lime amulets to hang above my door because I don't have any nails strong enough to hammer into the concrete wall. These are the things
I came closest to buying recently. I liked them a lot so I used the picture as a
new blog header to ward off the virtual evil eye.

I've just carried out an audit of my decorative items. I own 6 paintings, two small decorative boxes, one Ganesha, twenty eight cushions and seven tea light holders.  I have a hankering to replace some of the cushion covers.  Shopkeepers of Mumbai, prepare to celebrate.

Ganesha Ornaments

It's time for a new blog header picture so I chose this one, colourful, hand painted Ganeshas. 

I found them at the Khala Goda Arts festival and this is one of the few pictures taken there, it was just too busy but serves me right for turning up on the last Saturday afternoon of the festival.  It was a jolly crowd though all hell bent on getting their pictures taken with the installations or swarming over the stalls selling all manner of bright and beautiful things.  I'll go again but go earlier next time.

Tet Celebrations, Saigon's Year of the Tiger

When I'm in Ho Chi Minh City during Tet I always make a point of going up to Nguyen Hue to take pictures on the first day of Lunar New Year. This year was the busiest yet as the traffic bears testament to.

The rest of town was incredibly quiet. Here are some pictures of what everyone wanted to take pictures of:

Tigers of course.

Large and impressive tigers at the entrance to the floral display.

Well hell-lo! A debonair tiger with a touch of the Lesley Phillips about it.

A more traditional Vietnamese tiger.

And a Disneyesque tiger to complete the set.

At Tet everyone's a photographer.

There are flowers, tigers of course, calligraphers and family members to be captured.

And when all that pales there's always practicing walking in your new shoes.

Or talking your tiger for a walk through the streets of Saigon.

Chúc mừng năm mới.

Saigon Tet decorations, the start

The city's gearing up for Tet, the biggest celebration of the year. The excesses of the Christmas decoration seem palid compared to Tetorations and it's all about tigers this year.

The tax centre at the top of Le Loi is one of the first to roll the big cats out:

The balloon sellers have inflated the tigers:

At least I think they're tigers, they could be orange and black zebras. Does Hello Kitty count as tiger?

Bonus pic!

Gratuitous back view of lost tourists for no particular reason except to marvel at the confidence it must take to wear such a hellishly mal-suited garment.

Tet decorations

As we enter the year of the Ox or Bull I notice that unlike the pig and the mouse it's not the easiest animal to cute up.

I've also spotted that a lot of the blossoms are not all they seem to be.

It's a great time of year for taking pictures and rest assured, there will be lots more of them soon.

Christmas Cheer

As once again Saigon gears up to celebrate all things Santa and Baby Jesus related I find myself hanging outside places making "oooh" sounds and pointing stupidly at things. If I have a camera handy to point stupidly with I'll take a picture.

Last year the May Hotel went all out for a tin foil theme but this year not a scrap of it in sight. A mistake as far as I am concerned but still, they did provide us with a Baby Jesus in a sequined play suit nestled in a huge twinkling star.



Nice.

Nothing says Christmas like pumpkins

Dong Khoi is already gearing up for Christmas but initially I was confused.



Pumpkins? What's that all about, leftover Thanksgiving or Halloween decorations?
Still, they were popular with the "pick up the props for a photo opportunity crowd".



A little further along the frontage of this high end outlet and everything became clear.

Cinderella, I should have guessed and yes, the manequins rotate.

There's a pumpkin coach too but I am going to wait to post pictures of that when I have pictures of it at night in all it's twinkling beauty.

Cambodia, light tourism

Following the rather serious last post I felt the need to return to what this is all about; pictures of things I like.

Here's an elephant. Who doesn't like elephants? This one works at a local park taking people for short rides, some time after 3pm she has a wander down the main riverside road stopping off for snacks.



The first time I saw her I made two assumptions, first that her mahout was getting money from people for posing with the elephant for pictures, he wasn't, he just wandered along beside her. Second I guessed she was getting fruit trimmings, wrong again, she got nicely arranged trays of fresh fruit including whole sliced pineapples. She looks in very good condition, it can't be too bad a life.

A tree decorated for Valentine's Day from the kind people at Coca Cola. I love you, may your teeth rot.





This dog knows it looks silly.



It looked even more long suffering the day before in a pink frilly blouse.

Barber Surgeon



The face mask, while adding a nice hygienic touch, was necessary, this is a very busy road just over the wall from the local crematorium.

An ox cart hauling pottery kitchen goods, a nice touch of the countryside in the city.



Meaty snacks:



I'm guessing cockroach but to my shame I didn't try them, a Cambodian girl told me that spiders tasted better anyway and they didn't have any on this stall.

Singapore Quickie

A flying trip to Singapore for a medical appointment and a knicker buying excursion to Marks and Spencer didn't leave much time for taking pictures but I grabbed a few when I had the chance.

A few tall buildings:




These were taken from the roof of "Our Village" which Stephen still claims to be his favourite Indian Restaurant in the Entire World.

Some Lunar New Year decorations in the lobby of the Pan Pacific, we didn't stay there, we were on a budget this time but it was worth while going in to see what they had managed to do with their ridiculously tall atrium.



A BOGOF beer at Boat Quay



And a view of a very educational poster about the dangers of "double dipping"?



Double Dipping, just say "No!"


We managed to fit in some good meals before heading off to Cambodia, I'm back in March with work so I might managed to take some more interesting pictures then.