All Of The Above - Duncan's Blog

Free Range Eggs

Thousands of groggy tourists lined the roads leading to Angkor Wat beginning around 4:30 AM. It felt like a religious pilgrimage. I knew there wasn't a religious element to this because 99% of the visitors were holding up their cell... Read more →

Masks!

I should be spending my time musing fondly about the many pleasant things I've seen here today and the many warm and friendly people I've met, but I can't. Hell has descended on the world and the results are even... Read more →

Capitalism in Asia

Ralph Benmergui is one of Canada's most skilled and endearing broadcasters, at least in my view. He has a new podcast called Not That Kind of Rabbi. Besides being a great on air personality, Ralph's other passion is spiritualism. Ralph... Read more →

Lunar New Year

Tomorrow is the Lunar New Year here in Vietnam (and China) but the festivities have been going on since we arrived over a week ago. This is the big one! Everyone is getting into the swing of things. We knew... Read more →

Travelling at 70 - Day 7

We said good bye to Loc. She's been a great Vietnam companion full of life and eager to share her country with us. Yesterday, garbage was on the agenda. She and her family are not rich but they are most... Read more →

%$#%^'n Chopsticks

Who invented these damn things? Don't they know there are forks? Read more →

Travelogue...Day...whatever

With great effort and inconvenience, we travelled to the other side of this planet only to find it ain't that different than our side. Our guide yesterday was an energetic and very smart 27 year old Vietnamese lady named Loc.... Read more →

Travelling at 70 - Day 6?

In 1975, the Americans left Vietnam in shame after having bombed the shit out of them and killed many thousands of their people. Twenty years later, Vietnam welcomed them back, along with the rest of the world, to visit as... Read more →

Residue from the Vietnam war - 2020

Hong My is a Vietnamese pilot who at 77 has become an international hero. His story of how and why this came to be is as unlikely as it is serendipitous. K and I were fortunate to have been invited... Read more →

Travelling at 70 - Day 4 - Hanoi shouldn't work..but it does

There are many reasons why Hanoi shouldn’t work as well as it does. There are only 9 million (only?) people living here but there aren't many high rises so the city is spread out. The historic district consists of 39... Read more →

Travelling at 70 - Day 2

I’ve been to many places with majestic landscapes, temples, monuments and the like. Taj Mahal springs to mind. Do I remember much about it? Not really. We spent a day there with a knowledgeable guide. At least I think he... Read more →

Travelling at 70 - at the very least, the font is bigger

As far as birthdays go, this one was significant. Seventy is a big number and for years I tried to convince myself, not with much enthusiasm, that I wouldn’t live this long. Surprise! It’s particularly big because of what’s been... Read more →