Archive for October, 2007
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007
What brings you here?
Be careful when blogging, we are occasionally told, for you never know who your readers are.
This is good advice, if only partially true. I don’t know the names of the people reading my blog, but I am able to see where you’re coming from, what browser and operating system you’re using, and, in some [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Meta by Brent
Monday, October 22nd, 2007
On Bicycles
Five exceptional students are awarded new bicycles
In Hanoi, a bicycle is probably the best available mode of transportation. Cars and buses slowly lumber down the packed streets here, awkwardly staking out a patch of road amid flowing streams of motorbikes and bicycles (this flow is typically described as ‘chaos’ by the uninitiated, and ‘organic’ [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Vietnam by Brent
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007
New photographs, valued at 74,000 words
Since I last posted a picture here, I have added three new photo albums to my Picasa Web Albums (oh, Google, how deep is my ambivalence toward thee). Each of the pictures below will take you to the respective album.
From Around Hanoi
From Mai Chau
From Halong Bay
1 Comment » - Posted in Vietnam by Brent
Monday, October 8th, 2007
Unexpected Glimpses of the West
In a world where ‘Western’ culture is exported with something akin to religious fervour, and often received with equal enthusiasm, it’s not surprising for North Americans to see traces of the familiar anywhere they go. I was certainly not expecting, nor even really hoping, to avoid all exposure to Western entertainment, language, food, etc. [...]
