Author: saigonsays

Yolanda

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Image courtesy of Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty images
Image courtesy of Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty images

You don’t need me to point out where this photo was taken, nor what messages sit behind the faces within it.

I only have admiration for those people who are on hand in the Philippines at the moment, helping, and only great sadness and hope for those whose lives have been altered forever.

For any long standing visitors to my blogs, it will hopefully have been made obvious by now that I have involved my organisation, CARE International, and the developmental issues we address around the world mainly as a platform from which to couch ideas and thoughts – mainly, in other words, as a lens through which I can write.

The world has collectively reacted to the images created by the Haiyan (Yolanda) typhoon, and we have all shared our thoughts with loved ones, friends, colleagues, people sat next to us on the bus.

Pointless as it typically is to try and immediately draw any conclusions as to what events like these ‘mean’, or what they reinforce to us all as fellow citizens on the planet, the one thing that remains tangible and easy for many of us to do, is support the work of those agencies who are, today, right now, saving lives.

It is not my intention to use this space again to promote CARE or the work of the other DEC (Disaster Emergency Committee) members, but today, and right now, that is what I am doing.

Here is a link through which you can lend your support:

http://www.careinternational.org.uk/news-and-press/latest-news-features/2459-typhoon-haiyan-this-will-haunt-me-for-a-long-time-

A Year

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The airport terminal is much unchanged from last year.
A steady shuffle of outbound feet,
Perfume branding and plastic menus,
Whilst sloth-like carcasses form
Of weary traveller and uniformed worker
Draped unconventionally on armchair, table top and floor. Continue reading →

The bicycles hit back

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Who said men have all the fun and the power in this country. And who said that the hierarchy of who drives what on Saigon’s busy streets always needs to be prescribed by the size of your vehicle…

Check out this cool customer (courtesy of http://www.saigoneer.com) riding her bicycle the wrong way up a busy street, and knocking over two frustrated men on their motorbikes in the process.

With her headphones playing her favourite tune, and her shopping basket hardly compromised, the cheeky cyclist walks off and leaves them with nothing to do but gesticulate in vain.

And there was me worrying about the hapless bus drivers on my commute each day.

Girl power.

Treat yourself – it’s Tuesday

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Today, I’ve got man flu.

You may have your own Tuesday blues to contend with and, if you do, my advice to get through the day is to ensure you place something extra special in the middle of it to keep you focused.

For me, coffee sits high up on a perch of its own when it comes to treats (on man flu ridden days, or other). And, as has been mentioned many times on this blog before, Vietnam is not a bad place to access some of the tastiest coffees in the world.

Here’s how to make a traditional Vietnamese coffee (thanks to http://www.saigoneer.com for the link) all set to some curious – but rather jolly – Thai background music.

Yes, that is all I can manage this morning in terms of a mid week narrative, but just trust me on the whole jolly Thai music vibe…

After that, washed down with some iced coffee from my local cafe, Tuesday and man flu doesn’t seem so bad after all.

Africa calling

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I badly sprained my thumb last week playing football, and have since learnt to cut fruit, pick up my kids, and drive my motorbike with just my left hand.

None of these things are proving easy, and so fruit intake is down (alcohol imbibing seems to be fine with just the one hand), Florence and Martha are surviving on a few less rides on Daddy’s shoulders, and my bike has been under wraps given it is just plain nuts trying to ride a bike in one of Asia’s most hectic motorbike cities when you have to throttle with the opposite appendage.

Typing is also rubbish.

I am overdue some updates on this site, and will remedy that soon, one of the main highlights this month being Flo’s birthday, and a second highlight being the daily rain showers in Saigon, which have meant temperatures have chilled and there have been occasions when even the jacket had to come out of the wardrobe.

Right now it is past midnight on Sunday, and am on the eve of yet another hop tomorrow over to Bangkok, and a week of meetings… Continue reading →

Powerful allies

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image

I spent much of today attending an event promoting social entrepreneurship in the Mekong region.

Having written before about the entrepreneurial side to the Vietnamese, it was exciting to join discussions with government officials from all over the world, committed to promoting specific investments here, in a country steeped historically in entrepreneurship.

From street-vendors through to the young, aspiring Vietnamese diaspora – landing in Saigon from childhoods spent in California and Melbourne, to reclaim their roots, and to give back socially, responsibly, and commercially, to a country their parents and grand-parents will (in many cases) choose never to set foot in again – Vietnam is a nation with an imbued genetic impulse for the entrepreneurial. Continue reading →

Back to School

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Sitting still for the camera is not yet a skill mastered by Martha
Sitting still for the camera is not yet a skill mastered by Martha

Saigon is not only six hours ahead of the UK in terms of time difference, but the school holidays are also shunted forward, finding me, slightly out of nowhere, packing off Florence and Martha today for Day 1 of the new term.

If nothing else, this post is to capture the fact that, once in a while, Daddy’s dressing of the girls does stand up to scrutiny (see photo above).  Matching outfits, no less – thanks to Auntie Melly and Uncle Beans!  No doubt by half term I’ll have slackened off and the tattoos will be back on, and their outfits clashing badly.

Anyway, eight weeks of summer holidays is now a thing of the past, and both the girls seem well ready for some proper school time. Continue reading →

When in Cambodia…

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Always time for a quick cuppa in Cambodia
Always time for a quick cuppa in Cambodia

I have popped my Siam Reap cherry.

By which I am not inferring some kind of South East Asian euphemism, I simply mean: I finally have been – copious photographic evidence below to attest to the fact – to Angkor Wat.

Our parents have visited Angkor Wat.  Our visiting friends, too.  All the backpackers that shuffle their blackened feet and crusty vests across this spectacular chunk of the world, have been to Angkor Wat (it’s only $20 for a day’s entrance, to boot) and, without exception, every ex-pat I have met these past two and a half years in Saigon has been about four or five times.

I’ll confess early-doors, I am not the most accomplished and well researched of tourists, even when it comes to seminal, life enhancing trips such as this one. Continue reading →