tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-139695482009-11-07T13:15:11.313+07:00Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.comBlogger240125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-54101697192073719552009-10-25T08:44:00.002+07:002009-10-25T09:46:28.530+07:00

A recent half-term, and a short trip to Phu Quoc, a third visit to the Island in Kien Giang Province. We stayed at the SeaStar resort, a place I stayed over New Year in 2005. Back then it was a little less developed and certainly less busy, and I seem to remember getting the bungalows on the beach for $30. One thing that hasn't changed is the road. Despite this beach (Long Beach) being the main

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-59167743811092687702009-10-09T11:32:00.002+07:002009-10-09T13:07:39.095+07:00

Our flagship Saigon cooking class 'Cook' has become very popular and we currently are working with some of the biggest tour operators in Vietnam providing this service for them, as well as through our website, http://www.connectionsvietnam.com/.1)Chả giò(Spring rolls – mince pork/shrimp and Indian taro with garlic and onion in rice paper rolls, then deep fried in cooking oil, served with lettuce

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-20975613573824964812009-10-06T13:36:00.006+07:002009-10-06T19:43:39.674+07:00

Yoga is an incredibe way to stay fit and feel good physically and mentally. If I could I would be in the studio every evening after work, however parenthood and location precludes that. Many years ago, waiting in a bus queue at Bangkok airport, I got chatting to an Israeli guy. Turned out he was a conscientious objector and one of the many young Israelis who refuse to serve their time in the army

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-85631768649083108652009-10-02T10:45:00.002+07:002009-10-02T10:56:05.234+07:00

This morning for the first time in a while the sky was blue and the sun was shining. The smog cloud hanging over the city was clearly visible, the first time I've ever seen it (or noticed it)...

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-89393744185180550472009-09-12T15:05:00.005+07:002009-09-12T16:06:35.572+07:00

How many other people get excited about new roads and bridges? Come on, hands up...Starting at the Camlette bridge in District One, one side of the East-West highway is now open, running into the city from Highway 1A, which enters from the South-West. Now instead of having to negotiate districts Binh Chanh, Seven and Four, traffic can cut up the new stretch of highway, through Q6, Q8, Q5, Q4 and

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-57868277587701369212009-09-06T11:51:00.002+07:002009-09-06T12:06:53.860+07:00

Lou took a visit to meet her Great-Grandmother and various Aunts and Uncles in Cu Chi yesterday. Cu Chi is a pleasant county with plenty of paddies and greenery, and Chi and I have tentative plans to build a house there some time. Land will be betrothed by grandma but it needs to split between her seven daughters (the boys already have theirs), leaving around 500m2 each. Not really enough for the

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-29295691230673754462009-08-29T16:58:00.002+07:002009-08-29T17:39:34.715+07:00

This morning I took a drive to town for a few things and stopped on the way to have a look around the site of the tunnel which makes up part of the east-west highway. One of the best vantage points is the Museum of Ho Chi Minh, one of my favourite places in Ho Chi Minh City. Not that you'll find me hanging around there very often, but there is something majestic about its location on the banks of

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-2129376854610536272009-08-26T21:34:00.002+07:002009-08-26T21:36:58.443+07:00

A couple of shots of Louisa Vy at 9 months old. Her face is really looking like her mum's side of the family now despite people also saying she looks like me...

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-3148713288346900562009-08-25T19:40:00.003+07:002009-08-25T20:02:58.457+07:00

Since returning I've been warned by friends that the police are much more likely to stop you and also refuse a friendly offer of wink-wink-nudge-nudge-put-that-in-your-pocket-and-we're-alright yeah? Although I've met some who say nothing much has changed in the 12 months I was away, some are the living evidence that it has changed (just a little). So, for the effort required to get a license, I

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-44998907781912544422009-08-24T19:35:00.003+07:002009-08-24T20:03:54.510+07:00

At coop mart they are handing out useless surgical masks when you spend over 200,000 VND. Chi just refused to take one point blank. "Don't give that to me...", she said, ah that's my girl, not caught up in this non-existent pandemic.A man came to change the toners in our Xerox wearing a mask. Chi asked "Why are you wearing that mask, are you scared of the swine flu?". "No", he replied, "I am

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-41298490246191134462009-08-21T10:40:00.003+07:002009-08-21T10:45:33.309+07:00

I'm sure many of you have seen this as it has been popping up in magazines and on blogs but I'll repost it because it is just so cool. Saigon using time lapse and time shift photography.

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-63442722309177722642009-08-13T14:56:00.002+07:002009-08-13T15:16:08.668+07:00

Dam Gio is the occasion in Vietnam's ancestor worshipping culture where family gather to remember those members of the family who have passed away. It was organised at my mother-in-law's house and was a relatively quiet affair with just Chi, her mum, her father, myself, one Aunt and Uncle and their daughter and two friends attending. In the past I imagine it was a much more sacred occasion. Some

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-77576024618921872582009-08-10T08:23:00.002+07:002009-08-10T08:33:20.144+07:00

Having discovered Tuoi Tre's new English language website, Vietnews Online, I also discovered this story from Friday regarding a new 'decree' the government is 'mulling over' concerning retail fuel prices being set by the traders and being tagged to world crude prices. What really jumped out at me however was the following: Another modification in the draft decree relates to the area size of

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-41414793737809311552009-08-08T11:11:00.003+07:002009-08-08T12:58:41.064+07:00

Langkawi is a short hop from the Thai border and a 1 hour flight from KLIA. Journeying from Ho Chi Minh City is very easy with Air Asia and having taken off from Tan Son Nhat at 9.00am we were in our beach-side accommodation by 4.00pm. After the two hour flight from HCM to KL we hopped off the plane and onto a domestic flight from the same terminal just two hours later..all worth considering for

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-6175674276449743052009-07-28T16:52:00.003+07:002009-07-28T17:17:40.030+07:00

The boys in green (Phu My Hung Security, the largest private army outside of the Vatican's Swiss gaurds) strutted their stuff this morning in a fire safety exercise and just happened to do it in the apartment adjacent to us on the same floor. We had ringside seats for this dramatic exercise involving fake victims being rushed out on stretchers, a smoke machine, victims abseiling from the 7th

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-86187676904212742482009-07-27T08:36:00.002+07:002009-07-27T08:42:20.267+07:00

Over the weekend we finally had the opportunity to sit and enjoy a bit of a sunset. Maybe I will start a photographic exhibit called 'Beautiful Phu My Hung'...;-)

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-21604842809207498632009-07-22T15:53:00.003+07:002009-07-22T18:44:30.153+07:00

In the distance is Phu My Hung, in the foreground the upcoming Riverside Residence project, which as you can see, we will have a pretty good view of from now on."Phu My Hung is not a dirty word Blackadder. Crevice is a dirty word, but Phu My Hung isn't."Phu My Hung seems for some to have a stigma attached, as if moving there is a cop-out, a wimps option, giving up in a sense to a sterile

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-86022997334136195522009-07-17T08:44:00.006+07:002009-07-18T12:29:38.770+07:00

I'm sure we are all still recovering from yesterday's goat penis front page, or maybe today's frozen tiger story...can you imagine:A) Hey - the tail is sticking out of the boot - what should we do?B) Just shove it in, quick!A) I can't, it's frozen..B) Ok, let's just go...no one will notice. It's not like we'll be in Thanh Nien tomorrow... A) Yeah, haha. The first day we moved into our new

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-744987473412723762009-07-11T18:18:00.002+07:002009-07-11T18:36:07.403+07:00

We spent five nights in Happy Inn on Bui Vien next to Sozo cafe, and Chi said to me in the taxi from the airport 'I can't believe I am staying on Bui Vien'. I suppose it must be like someone from a district of Sydney coming back to Aus and going to stay in Kings Cross...but nice hotel overall. As usual with moving house Internet access has been hard to come by and I've not had the chance to snap

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-67742702198602496892009-07-04T15:03:00.003+07:002009-07-04T15:06:29.645+07:00

So so good to be back in town! Can't wait to get settled and back into the swing of things. Will be posting soon with pictures on things that have changed since last summer - initial impressions, pretty much the same but with a few new buildings going up and slightly worse traffic.

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-45360080995212417042009-06-24T21:44:00.003+07:002009-06-24T22:17:40.367+07:00

View Larger MapKefalonia is the largest of the Ionian Islands off the west coast of Greece. 90 kilometres from top to bottom, it is a stunning (and winning) combination of soaring rugged mountains that slope all the way to gorgeous beaches and picturesque villages that overlook coast and valley. With three other islands surrounding Kefalonia, the views given its own coastline as well are

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-31554108118904197912009-06-08T16:45:00.002+07:002009-06-08T17:09:45.303+07:00

Well we were lucky enough to have some nice days recently and headed out to enjoy part of Dorset's Jurassic Coastline. Which is just a 30 minutes drive from Bournemouth. Here's the beautiful Lulworth Cove..Looking west along the Dorset coast...The beach at Durdle Door: Durdle Door itself: During the summer months in this part of the world the chances of spotting some wildlife increase

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-11050297280235864002009-05-15T00:09:00.002+07:002009-05-16T04:13:02.083+07:00

If I ever meet an Albanian from now on, at least I can surprise them with the fact that I've been to a three day Albanian wedding extravaganza where dancing is the order of the day.Friday night : Cocktail partySaturday : What can only be described as a continuous banquet dispersed with bouts of dancing and music. 6 hours, 12-6pm.Sunday : Church wedding at 5pm, onto the Colloseum for pictures,

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-23796956258763142692009-05-03T03:28:00.002+07:002009-05-03T03:38:54.909+07:00

We've had our best couple of months so far since starting up with Connections Vietnam, including a group of 20 (mostly teenagers) from Australia. This was our biggest group so far by some distance! They had a great time.They went to Chinatown:And they had lunch at one of our Chef's houses. Luckily she has an enormous kitchen and we managed to accommodate them all. Despite our absence from Vietnam

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13969548.post-43504558075533297252009-05-02T02:57:00.003+07:002009-05-02T02:59:24.917+07:00

For some reason video recorded on my camera makes a bloody awful noise. Anyway, who cares! 5 months and already gobbling porridge. Apparently she can't wait to try some Pho stock.

Jon Hoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15218703884601180050noreply@blogger.com4