Great, who wouldn't want a little oral disease functionality with their toothpaste?
A free gift came with it.
Oral me?
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Toothpaste finds
There are a lot of products here that wouldn't see the light of day in other countries including Dr. White Silver toothpaste, also available is Dr. White Gold. It's clearly a highly advanced formula but one which I'm not sure there is much of a niche market.
Great, who wouldn't want a little oral disease functionality with their toothpaste?
A free gift came with it.
Oral me?
Great, who wouldn't want a little oral disease functionality with their toothpaste?
A free gift came with it.
Oral me?
Friday, 6 February 2009
A new seat for the scooter
We never did like the silver and white chequerboard pattern on the seat that originally came with the scooter. Plus it was slippery and hard braking would send us skooshing forward and clashing helmets much to the amusement of other drivers. Of course, I blamed the driver.
We went to a local pimporium and had it replaced with this much more tasteful (and less slippery) brown seat. That'll be 4 of your rapidly diminishing British Pounds please.
We went to a local pimporium and had it replaced with this much more tasteful (and less slippery) brown seat. That'll be 4 of your rapidly diminishing British Pounds please.
Thursday, 5 February 2009
Singapore Sling
A short trip to Singapore for emergency knicker buying and such like pursuits which didn't interfere too much with the main purpose of eating.
I've got a better hang of Singapore now and used the MRT to travel most time, it saved money and time leaving more of both for the important things (see above).
There wasn't too much picture taking but I leave you with a few images of things that tickled my fancy:
This reminds me of the " the internationally acclaimed Holistic Nutritionist and presenter of You Are What You Eat " Gillian McKeith but is in fact a dentist in Little India.
Lion dancers were all over the place ushering in good fortune for the year ahead, my camera wasn't up to capturing them particularly well, either that or my photography skills are still in need of a massive overhaul but here are a few of them anyway.
And a light up version
Lights were a bit of a theme and Clarke Quay's were pretty impressive.
On the subject of themes Clarke Quay takes it quite seriously, here's the first picture of a theme bar, The Clinic.
Drinks are served in intravenous bags on wheeled stands. I didn't see any wheelchair shenanigans but I expect they do happen.
The Highlander Bar is predictably Scottish
Their menu includes haggis, stovies and tattie scones but I don't know if there are any Tunnocks Tea Cakes or Irn Bru available.
Elsewhere it's seafood with impressive tanks of live fish for diners to choose from.
At least at the start of the night they look impressive, this shot was taken of Jumbo Seafood at the end of the night and there are a lot at the bottom of the tank which look like they're going to be getting served first the following day.
We stayed at the Swissotel Merchant Court where there was a sale on rooms. We didn't spend much time in the hotel so there's not a lot to report on it except that it's the first time I've checked into a hotel that matched my shoes and bag.
Flying: Singapore Airlines
Eating: Satay, Nasi Lemak, Curry, Curry, Curry and Kulfi
Returning: Overweight in both baggage and person
A good trip.
I've got a better hang of Singapore now and used the MRT to travel most time, it saved money and time leaving more of both for the important things (see above).
There wasn't too much picture taking but I leave you with a few images of things that tickled my fancy:
This reminds me of the " the internationally acclaimed Holistic Nutritionist and presenter of You Are What You Eat " Gillian McKeith but is in fact a dentist in Little India.
Lion dancers were all over the place ushering in good fortune for the year ahead, my camera wasn't up to capturing them particularly well, either that or my photography skills are still in need of a massive overhaul but here are a few of them anyway.
And a light up version
Lights were a bit of a theme and Clarke Quay's were pretty impressive.
On the subject of themes Clarke Quay takes it quite seriously, here's the first picture of a theme bar, The Clinic.
Drinks are served in intravenous bags on wheeled stands. I didn't see any wheelchair shenanigans but I expect they do happen.
The Highlander Bar is predictably Scottish
Their menu includes haggis, stovies and tattie scones but I don't know if there are any Tunnocks Tea Cakes or Irn Bru available.
Elsewhere it's seafood with impressive tanks of live fish for diners to choose from.
At least at the start of the night they look impressive, this shot was taken of Jumbo Seafood at the end of the night and there are a lot at the bottom of the tank which look like they're going to be getting served first the following day.
We stayed at the Swissotel Merchant Court where there was a sale on rooms. We didn't spend much time in the hotel so there's not a lot to report on it except that it's the first time I've checked into a hotel that matched my shoes and bag.
Flying: Singapore Airlines
Eating: Satay, Nasi Lemak, Curry, Curry, Curry and Kulfi
Returning: Overweight in both baggage and person
A good trip.
Monday, 26 January 2009
Non Non Non La
This picture, taken on Nguyen Hue on Lunar New Year's Day is interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, and most benignly, it shows how a perfectly ordinary roundabout has been extended to produced a giant planting area. But secondly it shows one of my pet hates, a tourist in a little non la!!!!
See what she's done? Removed a perfectly sensible stetson style hat to pose for her picture in a "local" hat. If you look very carefully you can see another Wally in the background also wearing one.
Why does it annoy me? I'm not entirely sure but every time I see it I grit my teeth. It might have something to do with the self imposed rule of never wearing anything on holiday that I wouldn't wear at home. Why should I impose these rules on other people and who am I to say that this lovely lady won't happily walk down the streets of her home town on a sunny day wearing a tourist version of a non la? Who knows but to preserve my molars, if you visit, please don't wear one.
I leave you with a previously posted image to further dissuade. Enjoy.
See what she's done? Removed a perfectly sensible stetson style hat to pose for her picture in a "local" hat. If you look very carefully you can see another Wally in the background also wearing one.
Why does it annoy me? I'm not entirely sure but every time I see it I grit my teeth. It might have something to do with the self imposed rule of never wearing anything on holiday that I wouldn't wear at home. Why should I impose these rules on other people and who am I to say that this lovely lady won't happily walk down the streets of her home town on a sunny day wearing a tourist version of a non la? Who knows but to preserve my molars, if you visit, please don't wear one.
I leave you with a previously posted image to further dissuade. Enjoy.
Family in Ao Dai on Nguyen Hue for Tet
I was blithely going to post this as nothing more than a cute example of family doing the compulsory posed pictures for Tet then I happened to read the comments on a picture on Saigon Today blog which made me realise that to many my title would be meaningless at worst and confusing at best.
So first the cute picture.
Now my poor attempt at a translation and even poorer attempts at phonetics - my Vietnamese teacher despairs of me. Before I start I know there should be diacritics on most of the Vietnamese words, I even know what most of them should be but I also know that most people reading this just see them as boxes as in Nguyễn Huệ.
Ao Dai - pronounced Aow Zha or Aow Yha depending on where you come from because it's a "soft d" so doesn't sound like a "d" as I know it at all. The traditional dress of Vietnam usually only worn on special days or if you have to for your work or in some schools or probably for a hundred other reasons that I haven't discovered yet. Definition - long garment or tunic.
Nguyen Hue - is a road in central Saigon as well as in many other towns and cities, also a celebrated general of the 1700s. Pronounced very roughly Win Way. No, I can't work out that one either, I'll need to ask my Vietnamese teacher why Nguyen is Win because not all "ng's" are "w's".
Tet - Lunar New Year maybe more commonly known as Chinese New Year
So a cute family posing on a road called Nguyen Hue wearing traditional Vietnamese dress for Lunar New Year. My original title is snappier.
On a side note it looks like the girl in red has spotted the missing anatomy on the bull/ox/water buffalo.
So first the cute picture.
Now my poor attempt at a translation and even poorer attempts at phonetics - my Vietnamese teacher despairs of me. Before I start I know there should be diacritics on most of the Vietnamese words, I even know what most of them should be but I also know that most people reading this just see them as boxes as in Nguyễn Huệ.
Ao Dai - pronounced Aow Zha or Aow Yha depending on where you come from because it's a "soft d" so doesn't sound like a "d" as I know it at all. The traditional dress of Vietnam usually only worn on special days or if you have to for your work or in some schools or probably for a hundred other reasons that I haven't discovered yet. Definition - long garment or tunic.
Nguyen Hue - is a road in central Saigon as well as in many other towns and cities, also a celebrated general of the 1700s. Pronounced very roughly Win Way. No, I can't work out that one either, I'll need to ask my Vietnamese teacher why Nguyen is Win because not all "ng's" are "w's".
Tet - Lunar New Year maybe more commonly known as Chinese New Year
So a cute family posing on a road called Nguyen Hue wearing traditional Vietnamese dress for Lunar New Year. My original title is snappier.
On a side note it looks like the girl in red has spotted the missing anatomy on the bull/ox/water buffalo.
Happy New Year
Last night we climbed onto our roof via the chrome spiral staircase mentioned in earlier posts to watch the firework displays along the river. Very spectacular, and today we ventured uptown to take advantage of quiet, by Saigon standards, roads and join the promenade up and down Nguyen Hue.
The entire four lane road has been blocked off and planting extends from the central reservations right out onto the roads.
As always the main attraction is posing in front of displays for photo opportunities and as always I sneak up and take pictures of other people taking pictures. This trio is outside the Kinh Do Conference Centre. Kinh Do is the confectionary king of HCMC.
Of course it's year of the Ox so we have lots of bulls to see, these ones are cunningly formed in concrete and lack certain features only noticeable from behind. You're getting the front view as it's more attractive.
The entire four lane road has been blocked off and planting extends from the central reservations right out onto the roads.
As always the main attraction is posing in front of displays for photo opportunities and as always I sneak up and take pictures of other people taking pictures. This trio is outside the Kinh Do Conference Centre. Kinh Do is the confectionary king of HCMC.
Of course it's year of the Ox so we have lots of bulls to see, these ones are cunningly formed in concrete and lack certain features only noticeable from behind. You're getting the front view as it's more attractive.
More posing, but this time look carefully. You see the security person in the background? He has two jobs; to make sure people keep to the one way system - very successfully done and to stop people sitting on the temporary walls. The latter is not so well enforced, they tend to give people enough time to snap the all important picture before very politely requesting them to move on.
Clearly it's an exhausting job.
All this was played out to a background of recorded birdsong and latin classics. I like Tet!
Sunday, 25 January 2009
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.
Suburban Saigon
What do you do when you get to build your own house and are limited only by the size of your plot?
Well this is an option:
Something a little more deco?
Fulfill your Barbie House fantasies?
Use up all the end of line paint in the shop?
Or go wild with stars, stripes and blocks of yellow:
Mine is a very restrained grey and white but maybe I could talk the landlord into a paint job. Tangerine and torquoise perhaps?
Well this is an option:
Something a little more deco?
Fulfill your Barbie House fantasies?
Use up all the end of line paint in the shop?
Or go wild with stars, stripes and blocks of yellow:
Mine is a very restrained grey and white but maybe I could talk the landlord into a paint job. Tangerine and torquoise perhaps?
Sunday, 4 January 2009
Strange Rains
The wet season should have stopped by now but it's making a return visit. We've had rain midafternoon almost every day since Christmas. On the upside it cools things down a bit and usually doesn't last long.
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