Travelogue
Reunification Palace - The Dragon's Head - 31 August 2014
Near the centre of present day Ho Chi Minh City sits the Reunification Palace, a relic of Vietnam’s more recent past and a symbol of its present, and probably future too. HCMC, or Saigon as it’s still widely referred to, has many iconic buildings. There’s Notre Dame Cathedral, City Hall, the Opera House and the wonderful Central Post Office amongst others of the colonial-era. The Reunification Palace is another icon, though it stems from Vietnam’s post-independence period with associated 1960s-style outside and kitsch inside, and lacks the mediaeval style of the cathedral and neo-classical lines of the others. The palace has had many names. It has been rebuilt twice and has served various masters from colonial French governors to invading Japanese generals, as well as Vietnamese dictators and despots. The real significance of the palace is that those who have determined the building’s occupation have largely controlled Vietnam. During colonial rule it was known as the Governor’s Palace. In the era of South Vietnam it was home to the president and called Independence Palace. It also served as a military nerve centre during the death throes of the Republic of Vietnam, the prelude to the reunification of the country. Following the victory of North Vietnam it became Reunification Hall. Guide books will tell you it’s called the Reunification Palace, and if you ask for the palace, nearly everyone knows what you mean. According to legend the palace is located on a
Sihanoukville on the Costa del Cambodia - 1 August 2014
In an attempt to avoid going stir-crazy in Phnom Penh, you can take a bus to Sihanoukville, Cambodia’s only deep-sea port and leading beach resort area on the Gulf of Thailand. The French named it Sihanoukville, the Cambodians Kampong Som. Some expats refer to it as “Snooky” and others, largely Anglophiles, refer to it as the
Chiang Mai - Rose of the North - 4 July 2014
In the far north of Thailand sits the city they call the Rose of the North. Foreign tourists have been travelling there for years, its history however, runs far deeper than that. Chiang Mai sits at the confluence of cultures. The past and present, has been dictated by ethnicity, culture, language, trade, war, religion and empire. Chiang Mai
Getting the Travel Blues - 31 May 2014
One of the best things about travelling used to be the people you met doing the same things you were. Some of the most interesting people I’ve met in life have been those out there, where your lives intersect. As Jack Kerouac pointed out; travel is useful, it feeds the mind.Travellers' meetings can be those in which one learns more about
Jim Thompson and the Order of the White Elephant - 7 May 2014
When I first visited Jim Thompson’s house a decade ago, I was already much taken with the idea of living in Asia. After seeing the house I was sure I wanted to return. I was envious of Thompson and what he had created, a farang in Asia living his dream, comfortably off. There was also Thompson’s murky past as a WWII operative, full of intrigue
Letter to the Jakarta Post - April 2014
I travel widely in Southeast Asia and recently visited Indonesia after an absence of several years. I was disappointed with the state of tourist infrastructure at the budget end compared with other countries in the region. In particular hotels are of poor quality and overpriced. For 250,000 rupiah (US$27) in Vietnam, Thailand or Cambodia you
Anti-Government Protests in Bangkok - Taking It To The Streets
On Sunday, 22 December 2013, Thailand’s opposition parties staged major demonstrations in the country’s capital designed to disrupt traffic and tell the government they wanted major reform of government processes. The crowds promised to be among the largest ever assembled in the history of the Kingdom. They had already announced they would be
Frying Fish - Civil and Political Unrest in Cambodia - 15 February 2014
There are some golden rules when writing on events in Southeast Asia. One of these is never write anything critical of Cambodia’s ruling elite. Expatriates in Cambodia are not invulnerable to the machinations of the domestic political scene and unwanted attention from those well connected is not something you should covet. That’s why it’s
New Zealand Football's Mexican Stand-Off - 20 November 2013
The play-off for a place in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil second leg in Wellington on 20 November was in stark contrast to four years before at the same venue. New Zealand had just been ‘thumped’ 5-1 by Mexico in the cauldron of the Azteca Stadium, one of football’s most iconic grounds. Prospects for qualification in the home leg were
