http://oneonethings.blogsome.com stuff i think when i should be working Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:37:32 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en After breakfast we were introduced to our guide, Su May. She was young, probably around our age, and dressed in the fantastic Red Dzao attire. Sa Pa is one of the easier places to meet Viet Nam’s minority tribal people. They are scattered around the Northern parts of the country ... http://oneonethings.blogsome.com/2008/11/06/tribal-trekking-in-sa-pa/ “Good morning! Coffay! Morning! Coffay! Coffay!” I scraped the sleep out of my eyes - a flashback to 3 years ago on a train in Kerala. It was still dark and I heard “Lao Cai” being mentioned down the corridor - and a European voice said 20 minutes. We were ... http://oneonethings.blogsome.com/2008/11/02/night-train-to-lao-cai/ It was nice to start the morning on a quiet note - the whole day lay stretched ahead so we had plenty of time to lazily slurp some Pho Ga (chicken noodle soup) while making some rough plans for the day. The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was an option but ... http://oneonethings.blogsome.com/2008/10/26/backstreets-of-the-old-quarter/ We woke up early the next morning, checked out of citygate and headed to Prince II to catch the van to the perfume pagoda - about 2 and a half hours from Ha Noi. The first 45mins or so was spent picking up the other travelers from various spots around ... http://oneonethings.blogsome.com/2008/10/17/perfume-pagoda-and-an-old-quarter-evening/ After a night in Singapore with the sibling and an amusing drive with a cab driver who introduced himself as a “fellow ceylonese” and proclaimed, much to my delight, that Singapore has “too much order and not enough character”, we made the final flight to Ha noi on SQ. The ... http://oneonethings.blogsome.com/2008/10/11/millionaires-in-ha-noi/ Back in Colombo after an exhilarating 2 weeks in Viet Nam. It’s been a while since I took some time out of the country and South East Asia has long been on my exploration list. The preceding months were pretty hectic at work so R did most of the planning ... http://oneonethings.blogsome.com/2008/10/07/viet-nam/ Today’s post is outsourced to a man who would have done a far better job than I. Unfortunately, an assassin’s bullet exactly three years ago prevents him from being among us. The following is a speech that was made by Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar to the Sri Lankan cricket team during ... http://oneonethings.blogsome.com/2008/08/12/cricketers-politicians-and-free-dinners/ I mean to watch the TV news more often but i don’t usually get down to it. I did so today and learned three things. Two of those enriched my knowledge whilst one did nothing for it. 1) Sri Lanka’s tourism secretary is George Michael. Well I already knew that but ... http://oneonethings.blogsome.com/2008/08/01/amuse/ Back in town after a fantastic ten days in Kathmandu, and back to the chaos that is SAARC. Being in Sri Lanka we never really appreciate the wonder that is SAARC - I guess bc there’s not much of a wonder. But up in Nepal they really do take SAARC ... http://oneonethings.blogsome.com/2008/07/29/167/ We stayed a night in Mirissa and headed back towards Colombo on Tuesday with a plan to stop in Unawatuna and then Hikkaduwa for the last of the beach season for 2008. After lazing a bit in the sea off Tartaruga we headed to Hikkaduwa around lunchtime in time to ... http://oneonethings.blogsome.com/2008/06/28/rip-current-in-hikkaduwa/