King Kong on a Scooter
Posted: December 9, 2012 Filed under: expats, Reflections, Stories, transport | Tags: motorbike, wife, word hanoi 4 Comments »
My latest column for The Word is proof, if you hadn’t realised it already, that being married to a strong Vietnamese woman gives you plenty of material to write.
My wife suggests I buy an Air Blade. A friend of hers has one.
“You could put your shopping under the seat.”
I don’t do any shopping. I’m not trusted to do shopping. I’d apparently only pay too much.
I put my foot down. If we’re talking automatics I definitely don’t want a Honda SH. They’re universally driven by morons. The Honda asSHole: for people with an SUV attitude but not quite the money to back it up. The Honda SHithead. I could go on.
Read it in full here. Click the pic of the Word to download the full magazine.
The Joy of Expats Leaving
Posted: November 22, 2012 Filed under: Blogs and Bloggers, expats, Reflections | Tags: expats, leaving, word hanoi Leave a comment »
I’ve read a lot of “it’s so sad when expats leave” articles and it is, it really is. But I have to admit the longer I stay the more the people I want to go outweigh those I hope will stay.
I’m slightly worried what it says about me but I guess we’re all escapees of some sort. When what we’ve escaped to becomes as static as what we’ve escaped from, we crave change. If we’re not going to leave then someone else has to.
My latest column, covering this topic, can be read in The Word or click the pic of the mag to download the whole thing as a pdf.
“Leaving is a valve. Not just for those people to flee who’ve had enough. The leaving of others is something that we all have to believe in. That person who’s rubbed us up the wrong way — don’t let it come to blows, or even an embarrassing confrontation. Just wait them out. Just another Johnny-Come-Lately to see off. I’ve seen off better expat jerks than this guy.
“And yes, there must be plenty people out there counting my days too.”
Must Vietnamese eat only streetfood too?
Posted: August 2, 2012 Filed under: Blogs and Bloggers, Food and drink, Reflections | Tags: expats, food, migrants, streetfood, word hanoi Leave a comment »A snippet taken from my latest Word column:
I’ve tired of seeing the inverted snobbery of foreigners living in Hanoi who look scornfully at those who choose not to eat all their meals on the street. I doubt the same people would sneer at migrants back home when they’re tucking into a bowl of pho on a London high street.
Likewise what’s the verdict on Vietnamese eating western food in Vietnam? Should they also only eat local food? If tays should only eat local and avoid expensive restaurants, are Vietnamese allowed to frequent such places?
