There has been discussion on the VSG list in the last few days of a new book that is appearing today. I find that in my old age I can no longer face this kind of stuff - re-living old horrors from the age before the 'embedded' journalist. I read a huge amount of the literature back then too (as noted in the abstract pasted below, it's all now out ( Read more... )

The Vietnamese press is pretty harsh when their athletes might be expected to win something (even if not a medal). The poor badminton star, ranked 11th in the world, was beaten in qualifying rounds by somebody ranked 54th. Same thing happened in Beijing. Pffft. They were a bit more sympathetic to the fencer, ranked 230th, who had the misfortune to ( Read more... )

The VSG (Vietnam Studies Group) list that I subscribe to has been holding a conversation on this topic lately. I perhaps haven't followed it as assiduously as I might, but I get the following ideas and information from it:

• In Vietnam there is no religious involvement in the question of marriage. It is essentially something contracted between two ( Read more... )

If I have not been here much lately, it's because the report that I signed up for with UN Women. My main whinge is that my Vietnamese colleague persuaded me and the UN to work with a centre at her university because she was not well. They did well at the survey stage, but the young woman they employed to do the data analysis made a lot of mistakes ( Read more... )

Somebody on my radio pointed to the parallels between recent developments in Afghanistan and the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam, the comparison being based on the ability of the 'insurgents' to get right inside the seat of power (Kabul/Saigon). One set of opinion says that this shows a sign of weakness on the part of the Taleban (the Tet Offensive ( Read more... )

After my morning walk, L and I went out to lunch with a couple of others at Highway 4 in Hang Tre (Bamboo St). I figured that Highway 4 goes up to the highlands because this is one of those places where you sit cross-legged on the floor (as many of the highland minority restaurants have it, not only here, but in Bangkok, etc). My knees are not good ( Read more... )

Getting around to the southeastern corner of the lake there is a different view of the Turtle Pagoda. I'm not sure how much of the blue stuff is remnants of the turtle hospital and how much belongs to the cleaning up operation. But it's either or both.

( Read more... )

Despite the heat, I was very determined to complete a full circuit of the lake (total distance about 3.5 km). The official name of this lake is Ho Hoan Kiem, which I think means Lake of the Returned Sword (see previous post). The popular name is Ho Guom, which means just Sword Lake. Guom is probably a less sinicized word for sword than Kiem - ( Read more... )

From Hang Buom (which I discovered by looking at the dictionary is Sail Street), I headed south towards the lake. This lake plays a hugely important role in the lives of Hanoians, not only because it provides a bit of green space in the city centre, but because it is the home of the turtle. The turtle is linked to a legend (rather similar to that ( Read more... )

On Saturday all the offices I needed were closed or else the people I needed were occupied with other things. So in the morning I went for a longish walk. First of all I walked around the old city ( Read more... )