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.





I await three in one shot.

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.



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.



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



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.



And here it is, My First Little Orchid.




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



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.



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

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.

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.



And a Citadel to see.



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



While others tried hard to blend 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.

Phuoc An, Hoi An

During our last trip to Hoi An we stayed at the Phuoc An Riverside hotel. I was stunned by some of the very individual decorations.





Be honest, how often have you looked at a marble statue and thought "You know, that would be so much better with a sarong and a pedicure."



The wall lamp verged on criminal but the comfortable rooms and view from the roof more than made up for the kitsch decor.

Label Babel Clarty Lavvy

You probably have to speak Scottish English to understand this one.



Clarte, very refreshing.



The all too common local pronounciation of this product doesn nothing to enhance its brand image. Nothing like some Lavvy water to help the rehydration process.

Label Babel 3

A couple of misprints, typos or otherwise idiosyncratic uses of English picked up around HCMC recently.

Veggy's is an expensive imported food shop which we don't use very often but it is nice to be a bit extravagant from time to time.



I saw this in the Toilet of Stella Cafe in town, I had to use the flash to capture it. Odd looks ensued when I left the loo but I think it was worth it.

Laos, Plain of Jars

This summer we stayed (relatively) local and did a round trip from HCMC, to Thailand and Laos then back through the North of Vietnam stopping at Hanoi, Hoi An and Hue before heading back down here. We have a side trip to Singapore sorted for the weekend but that doesn't count as holidays because it's mainly opticians and knicker multi packs.

This time we visited Xieng Khuang province, home of the giant and mysterious stone jars and one of the most bombed areas in the most bombed country in the world. MAG, the Mines Advisory Group gives good information on unexploded bomb clearance projects in Laos.

Meanwhile: Pictures



Jars, purpose unknown.





There are thousands to see, and almost as many will make it to the Flickr account, click on any picture to take you there where you can spend hours looking at someone elses holiday pictures. Irresistible.

The Mines Advisory Group are doing a good job but it's a vast undertaking.


Below is a marker identifying the end of the safe zone. There's no way I was crossing it.


The results of further bombing are all too visible in the old capital city of Xieng Khuang, Muang Khoung, flattened with only a few exceptions.

Here, the ruins of a hospital built by the French during their tenure.



In the same area is a ruined temple, the Buddha still nearly intact but showing terrible ravages.





More on Laos later, I'm still organising the pictures I took.

You know you're in Domestics when

You share the airport with chickens.



People travel with bread.



Pajamas and trilbies make for stylish travel wear.

Passenger

Look what I saw on the way from the airport.



I want one just like it.