Birds on wires

I like this photo because it highlights something that you do not see a lot of in Saigon - wildlife. The style of housing and mass power and communication lines are something that you do see everyday.

Westerners welcome!

Any shop that advertises "very big sizes" obviously has the larger westerner in mind. However the definition of what a Vietnamese person would call "very big" and what an expatriate would, differs by about 5 dress sizes

Pink sky last night

Street locksmith

Little drummer boys

This was taken at the mid-autumn festival a few weeks back. In Việt Nam it is also referred to as Children's Tết.

Flooding continues

Bicycle and cardboard collection

Heineken bubble

District 1 and the Saigon river

fashion TV restaurant lounge cafe - coming soon

Still wet

Boats on muddy creek

Muddy creek

Mekong Merchant

School shoes

It would seem you can can get 50% off at Maya

Conical driver

Spilt drink

Hand washing messages

I have seen a few of these public health posters around town. This one is pretty self explanatory - wash you hands before preparing food and eating, wash your hands after pulling your pants up.

Still bucketing down

It has been raining very heavily the past few days. These two blokes did not seem too perturbed as they set about to deliver their load

Been wet lately

This bloke has the unenviable job of directing reversing cars the wrong way into oncoming traffic on a one-way street in the rain. As per usual, everyone makes way

White gumboots

The perfect footwear this rainy season

Cow in field

Mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival

Read all about the festival, Tết Trung Thu, here

Windsurfing at Jibes in Mũi Né

Nhà Thờ Tân Định

Tân Định church was constructed in 1876 and is famous for its pink exterior. It is situated on the very busy Hai Bà Trưng st and, as with most buildings in Saigon, is impossible to view without looking through power lines.

Phnom Penh from very high

Great sky last night

Sister City - Champasak

According to the HCMC People's Committee website, Champasak is one of its four Sister Cities. Champasak was a kingdom in southern Laos that broke away from the Lan Xang kingdom in 1713. The Kingdom of Champasak prospered at the beginning the 18th century, but it was reduced to a vassal state of Siam before the century had passed. Under French rule the kingdom became an administrative block with its royalty stripped of many of its privileges. The Kingdom of Champasak was abolished in 1946 when the Kingdom of Laos was formed. Not much remains of Champasak apart from a very small rural town of little interest. The pictures above are of Wat Phou, which was built before the Champasak Kingdom and is situated just outside of the original site of the town. Champasak now lends its name to the southern most province of Laos, the capital of the province is Pakse, about 40 km from the original Champasak township.

Photos courtesy of the treehouse