All Of The Above - Duncan's Blog

Who the hell is buying & selling in the early stages of a world wide pandemic?

After I sent my most recent information video, this arrived in my inbox. Hi Duncan — I was just watching your 4th video — you come across as very knowledgeable and comforting in these crazy times — and I could... Read more →

Something Strange Happening In Canadian Real Estate

There's something strange happening with the real estate market across much of Canada. It's hot! I was quoted in the Globe and Mail in early March that during the 1990 recession, real estate sales came to a virtual stand still.... Read more →

Prediction #1 after many weeks of Corona Mona

That's what I'm calling this crazy virus...Corona Mona. I'm not blaming a gender for this but Mona rhymes and Dana doesn't. It's been a few weeks since I posted here. In that period, we've travelled a bit more, returned to... Read more →

Imagine A World With No Americans and No Chinese

Have you ever wondered what the world would look like if there were no Americans and no Chinese? Come to SE Asia and learn first hand how wonderful it can be. We just arrived in Phuket Thailand and the only... Read more →

Wild West? Wild East is more like it

As in most places, there are laws governing pretty much everything. As in most places, enforcing them is sporadic and often irrational. On the 400 series highways in Ontario for example, the speed limit is 100 kph but we all... Read more →

Myanmar Visit is History

What is Myanmar? It's a third world country with a third world economy. There's no way to sugar coat this. They work hard labour in a hot climate and have little to show for it at the end of each... Read more →

I'll Never Get Used to Income Disparity

I know it's been a fact of life for all time but I'll never get used to the enormous gap between rich and poor, not just here, but everywhere. We cycled through some Myanmar villages outside Inle Lake a couple... Read more →

Travelling Conditions in 2020

Travelling conditions in 2020 are now, and will continue to be, quite different than years past, some good and some awful. The airports and sanitation for world travellers are exceptional. That wasn’t always the case. Many of the Asian airports... Read more →

Halfway Through a Month in Asia

To summarize, Vietnam was very great...busy as hell with life teaming on every street. As we explored the city, we were surrounded mostly by locals who were very welcoming and friendly. They obviously like visitors from abroad. In Hanoi we... Read more →

Myanmar - Day 1

They drive on the right but their steering wheels are mostly on the right. One of many contradictions here in Myanmar. The country is governed by a military regime. Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of the country's most recent... Read more →

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 →