“He’s a good chap in his way. Serious. Not one of those noisy bastards at the Continental. A quiet American.” This is, how Fowler, the main protagonist in Graham Greene’s novel “The Quiet American” describes Pyle, the charcter in the centre of his narrative. It is set during the French Vietnam war, when Greene was …
Category Archives: Travel
Motor scooters and Animal Doctors
There were two things that had to be done while travelling in Vietnam – taking a motorscooter taxi and visiting a veterinary clinic. Throwing all caution to the wind, I found myself on the backseat of a Honda Airblade within 30 seconds of ordering a ride on “Grab”, the Vietnamese version of Uber. How dangerous …
Trying to hit the road in Saigon
It was not even six o’clock in the morning, when I opened my eyes and I knew that it was already too late….. As the regular reader of these accounts will be aware, I like to go for a run, and – if staying in a interesting city – then ideally early in the morning, …
On the night train to Lao Cai
Lao Cai lies in the far North of Vietnam, right at the border to China. It is not the most charming place in Vietnam, but it is the gateway to the more scenic town of La Pa, to Farsipan – Vietnam’s highest mountain – and to the Great Northern circle, covering a string of formally …
A dog’s life in Hanoi
It is in the small restaurant “74”, right next to one of the main railway lines out of Vietnam’s second largest city, where I meet “Tó” , one of the four poodles of Mrs Nguyen. These much loved dogs live a typical canine urban life in Hanoi. Confined to a shop, a small restaurant or …
Mount Olympus
….time again for another mountain…… Light rain was greeting me in the morning, as I stepped out of Spilios Agapitos, the central mountain refuge of EOOS, the Greek Federation of Mountaineering Club. This was not a great day to summit the highest peak in Greece, but as the recent torrential rain had destroyed the water …
(Not just) A tin of sardines
or “the art of selling the unsellable….” In this post I wanted to write about the castle of Óbidos, but instead I am writing about a tin of sardines…. When driving to this famous medial castle, I had no intention to buy not one, but in fact three tins of sardines. I don’t particularly like …
Ondas – Waves
There are a few things, that have an immensely calming effect on our soul: watching a log fire, clouds drifting along the sky, farming animals grazing on a field or gently breaking waves…… The latter however, you will struggle to find in one of Gonçalo’s travel suggestions : the fishing village of Nazaré on the …
Watzmann
Time for another mountain…… Of the few German mountains of considerable magnitude, there can be no doubt that the “Watzmann” group is the most spectacular. With 2713 m at it’s highest peak, it is not the tallest mountain of the country, but its family group line up including a “mother”, “children” and – of course …
The terracotta cats of Tuscany
Undoubtedly, the people of Impruneta are very good with terracotta and they have been so for generations. To be precise, heating up the soil from underneath their feet in kilns, has been a habit here for more than a thousand years and flowerpots from this little village just South of Florence, have conquered the gardens, …
The Blue Vet Diary 