The Pursuit of Adventure

It smells like heaven in here. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, allowing the soft perfume to wash over me. I step over the threshold and I’m in Macys, Myers or David Jones. This Vietnamese department store has every perfume on hand. For $100 I could smell like J.Lo. The bright lights [...]

I have stepped into the twilight zone The music is thumping, the dance floor is packed… fly boys and girls gyrate skilfully to the hip hop beats from the imported DJ’s in the corner. My mouth hits the floor. Two minutes ago I was sharing a motorbike with 2 of my friends, dodging the holes [...]

It amazes me how easy it is to feel lonely in this city. And its not for lack of company. In fact, I am rarely alone except for when I sleep. But i’m talking about the kind of company that has meaning, not just the random strangers you meet and interact with for one minute, [...]

I am sitting in class, our tutor is trying to explain the nuance of “used” so that, in future, we can explain how to use “used” to our students. The windows are slightly fogged. Our brains are slowly turning into stew. It’s not that the material is hard its that… well… I’ve never had to [...]

Boring day.. studying, preparing for CELTA Going to meet the touch team at JAFA bar at Ciputra, supposedly a 15 min drive away I decide to take my motorbike and check the map. It looks easy and the directions get sent by text message. At the end of my street I turn left, onto the [...]

This is an excerpt from an email i sent to a fellow student at Open University… I first came to vietnam in 2001 and loved it, came back on a holiday, and then just.. got sick of working in the a boring job, going out on the weekends.. you know, the typical daily grind shit. [...]

There are days when I wake up and I hate Vietnam. There are days when I love it so much I never want to leave. Today is somewhere in between.. So far At 10pm last night I was with the crew of expat blokes I have been hanging out with lately, I won’t mention their [...]

Waking up this morning, I couldn’t hear the rain. I put my hand on the door handle and it starts. Hunger is a powerful thing, and I thought I would be okay outside. I stumble out the front door of the hotel; the rain is coming down consistently, not heavy.. Just enough to get soaked [...]

In Vietnam it rains so hard that it’s impossible to do anything. The world stops, the traffic slows and the shops are shut. Locals take refuge and crazy tourists (like me) buy cheap umbrellas and try to find things to do. Its 8am and I’m trying to find a coffee, or breakfast, without having to [...]