"They'll be Seagulls over the streets of Cambodia".................

Hello to all,

Since my last post we've been to Cambodia.... but more of that later.

Every now and then you find something that's slightly different to what you'd expect, caused by the local culture. The other day I paid my first visit to Landmark 72 in Hanoi , a new skyscraper which (unsurpringly) has 72 floors and is the tallest building in Hanoi, located several km away from the touristy parts of the city It was exactly as I would have expected......lots of offices , retail and cafe's on the ground floor and so on. And as most people would I asked the person I was seeing there if we could go to the top floor to see the view. It was a nice day  with a blue sky ( very rare here) so I was looking forward to seeing the Hanoi panorama. But I was told that rather than the top floor being a home for an expensive restaurant or bar/nightclub or maybe one of the top  firms in Hanoi, it was unlet. Seems there is no cachet in Vietnam to being at the top. Or maybe its my recurrent Health and Safety issue coming back into play.....who knows.

So to Cambodia. In Phnom Penh there we were coming out of a local restaurant one lunchtime, when my eyes did a huge'double take'. Right in front of me was a Tuk Tuk with a rather large Brighton and Hove Albion (my team !) sign on the back to advertise the Seagulls Bar just round the corner. Well ( much to Karen's amusement or maybe the word should be resignation) , that was our evening sorted. The owner, Rob, is a season ticket holder and hails from Lancing and we had a great chat about life as Seagulls fans.So here's to you Rob mate.....you're now on my list and I will pester you with my blog every few weeks or so.

One photo I have wanted to take, but have never had the nerve or sleight of hand is of the hand of any one of hundreds of taxi drivers here who have one very long ( and I mean seriously long) index finger nail. Why .......I don't know. What they use them for.........I won't mention.

Now to a more difficult subject. We also visited Bangkok to see a specialist for Karen's cough , which had gone on far too long. The plan was then to go to a beach resort for a few days. What we didn't plan though was the specialist saying that Karen needed to stay in hospital there for 2 weeks , due to a condition called Aspergillosis. ( Just Google it rather than letting me explain it). Its almost certainly caused by the humidity and pollution of the Hanoi climate, and we are VERY lucky that we went when we did. I'll leave it at that.

Well that's a slightly strange ending paragraph, but I never plan these newsletters in advance so I guess I'll end here.

Very best to all

Kevin

 

The photos below are Karen in a crowd from the top of a tower in Ankgor Wat,, the inside of the beautiful French Market building from the 1930's in Pnhom Penh, and finally me driving an OxCart, ( just before veering off the road and having to be rescued.)