He who gets slapped

Please do watch this. Mind blowing. Ingmar Bergman’s favourite director. Lon Chaney’s greatest role.

A most UNPROSAIc mosaic

The Hanoi mosaic mural is 6.5km long, and sits on a wall next to a feverishly busy road along the Red River Dyke system. It was developed as a part of the Millennial Anniversary of Hanoi in October 2010. Vietnamese artists, The Goethe Institute, L’Alliance Française, The British Council, Società Dante Allighieri, as well as […]

Quirky

Saint Joseph’s Cathedral

Saint Joseph is the patron saint of Vietnam. Construction of this monumental Basilica in Hanoi began in 1884 on the ruins of the abandoned site of the Bai Thien pagoda. It was built by the French missionary and Apostolic Vicar of West Tonkin, the formidable Paul-François Puginier. (Tonkin was the old (Western) name for the […]

the young women of hanoi

Hanoi is 1,000 years old but it’s happening, it’s now, it’s current, it’s cutting edge. The young women of Hanoi have a Va-Va Voom factor that won’t be denied. That can’t be denied. That shouldn’t be denied. Here are just a few of them snapped one night in the block around the Opera House.

the batu caves

Come back, back, back in time … to about a month ago, … yes love children, the middle of February in the year of Our Lord and Saviour 2024. How very long ago it seems. It was a time of signs and portents. One hippie had come by sea, the other flew through the air. […]

up, up and a huÉ

The Imperial city of Hué is a glazed reverie dreamt by God whilst floating on a fluffy camomile cloud. Temples to that God, and others, and temples to every imaginable variety of coffee sit gorgeous cheek by lovely jowl up and down boulevards filled with fragrant dreams. We hippies are blown sideways by this place. A […]

STREET DINNER COSTS IN SAIGON

Dinner for 2 on the street. Sausages, cabbage and carrot and cucumber Nonya style chicken melon based soft drink. All served by charming little local Moslem peeps. Just to balance things out I’d wandered into a Mass and taken communion at a Vietnamese left footer Church over the road. Does a communion wafer count as […]

A Stroll Through Sunny Sydney.

Sydney is a rare treat, and now it’s my home, I’m excited. It’s only 50 years older than Adelaide and Melbourne and yet it feels much more venerable. An ancient street design in its oldest part, think Benares and Babylon, a comparison underlined by the towering ziggurat like structures at either end of the bridge. […]

Talk to Strangers

People are very approachable, generally speaking. We shy away from talking to other people for all sorts of bizarre reasons. Other people won’t like it, we can’t whack up the ginger, whatever. Personally, I’ve found that people love being approached and talked to, and many of them have the most extraordinary stories. Here is one […]