this place near my apartment resembles the kildonan genie shed minus the red cans.

50p for a 20minutes wash to leave the bike gleaming. gets very dirty here with the construction dust and rain and some time at high tides the roads flood and the water is pretty disgusting getting sprayed on you from the bike in front.

taking part in the Santarchy celebrations, basically a pub crawl.

Had lost my hat and beard by the end of the night

Vietnamese football team beat Singapore over two legs to reach the south east asian cup final against Thailand in the coming week.
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/photogal/2008/12/819871/

the busyness was a combination of the streets being full of people driving and admiring xmas decorations and taking photos.

picture above is in Hanoi after the win. I will be in Hanoi on the 24th the night they play Thailand! Then i will be in Thailand when they play again.

wee project i was in charge of finishes finally after panels arriving late.
“Vewy pwouddd, vewy pwoud”

No hiccups really.

notice i’ve piled a few kilos on. a whopping 86 these days.

hence i will make an effort to exercise and lay off the cokes at lunchtime

sunday night i went to one for seafood hotpot. to my surprise all the waiter(esses?) were lets say a mixed bag. I guess they were verging on ladyboys but hadn’t put much effort in. one stroked my belly as i went to sit down! another thought i was staring at there arse but in fact i was looking at the big bucket they were scooping the water for the hotpot out of. luckily i’d already finished eating. i’m a bit squeemish with seafood usually. i didnt like the mussels much but the clams boiled with lemongrass and dipped in chilli and fish sauce were delicious. prawns and the squid were bloody good too.

unfortunately i only have the remains on camera below.

what was a bit unsettling was the gas burner on the table next to us kept bursting into flames and people lept out of there seat, plus there were no fire trikes in the vicinty

the food can’t be that clean but you just have to dig in and after a few months living here you forget about hygiene when it come to food, if its a popular place i just tell myself the food must be fresh with the turnover.

i ate Pha Lau which is pigs insides…. even vietnamese people say its dirty (after eating it was explained to me what it was)  but it tasted alright in a curry sauce with bread. i don’t think i’d eat it again though!

pha lau> http://farm1.static.flickr.com/248/460112309_a3a46b68f0.jpg?v=0

3 wheeled trike with a water pump on the back and 4 fire extinguishers around the seat! unbelievable

Supposedly these are very common in hcmc but its the first one i’d seen.

side elevation of this fire fighting beast

I never realised the bike looks so small for me till i took this photo.

i’m piling on the beef these days, all the Vietnamese people telling me that i am fatter than before! they think its a good thing though so not complaining

no these shades do not belong to me. for photoshoot only

I have been driving for about 3months now with no collisions. The traffic is relatively slow moving even if it does look chaotic from a distance.

My bike was 18months old but only 3000km on the dial. but in 3months it has probably aged about 2 years! the roads are hellish and there are so many potholes due to the roadworks and heavy trucks on the road between my office and flat.

I can’t believe i din’t get a bike before though as it is so handy and negates the need to fork out for taxis.

I will try to get an action shot of me soon