One maid too far? A Singapore solider enlists the help of his maid to carry his bag...

I couldn't resist doing a quick post on this. In Singapore it's pretty run of the mill to see maids carrying babies, walking dogs and the like. But carrying a national serviceman's field pack? This has got to be pushing the boundaries!

This photo was sent in to citizen journalism website STOMP and has been making waves across the net since.

It's just as well Singapore is not a country under immediate threat as if it were I'm sure soldiers from other nations would probably be licking their lips ready to feast by now!

While most net citizens are shocked and disgraced at this new found use for hired help, bizarrely I found one comment on a forum that said that the backlash was "Just sour grapes from those who do not have a maid to help carry the bag home during their time."

Now that's an interesting theory! 

Well if all those who could afford a maid to do this  had that attitude then maybe the photo would have looked something more like this.

But to be fair, the soldier did not violate any rules (but then who would think you needed to write a rule to deal with maids carrying your bags?!). In any case, the Singapore Armed Forces are reportedly investigating the circumstances.

Gig: The Whitest Boy Alive and MGMT

A gig at Suntec Convention Centre?! The place where IT shows and the like are held in Singapore?

It seemed a bit of an unlikely choice for the Whitest Boy Alive and MGMT on a Thursday night. But somehow even with the killer queues  (a painful 30 minute queue to get in and 40 minute queue for drinks - ouch!) and a huge half empty venue (which meant lots of space for shaking your thing) it kinda worked.

The headline act was MGMT, who you may know for their summer anthem 'Kids' but for me the absolute stars of this show were the warm up gig Whitest Boy Alive. The German-Norwegian electronic dance outfit rocked the house with their cool grooves and geek-chic quirkiness and a little bit of crowd participation.

So here are a coupe of their songs to bring some music to your ears - quite literally!

Intentions...

A cool new tune called Upside Down, with a little bit of audience participation...

In fact, they did such a good job, that by the time the headline electro rock group  MGMT came on, something was missing, I just wasn't feeling the vibe and I was starting to wonder whether my suspicions that these guys might be a two-hit wonder could be true. Somehow without the vocal synthesizing, their music left me a little - well - flat. Even when the anthems came on.

Hmmmm. Could it be that the warm up act outshone the headline act? Take a listen and see what you think...

The Handshake...

Siberian Breaks...

Idyllic rural bliss in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Two hours drive from Saigon, another world exists. A world of rice paddies, orchards, coconut palms, sugar cane, simple river life and villagers living off the richness of their land.

This is the Mekong Delta, otherwise known as Vietnam's rice bowl - and it's not hard to see why. This agriculturally blessed region is the source of more than a third of the country's annual food crop, even though it makes up only 10 per cent of its land.

Most people take a day trip out from Saigon, but we wanted to dig a bit deeper and avoid the well beaten tourist track  so we ventured a little bit further up to Ben Tre on an overnight home stay to get a better feel for the region - highly recommended!

A boat ride along the river reveals the thriving local industries - villagers are busy making everything and anything out of vast quantities of coconuts...

ferrying sugar cane down the river...

 loading up bricks from the brick factory...

setting traps for fishing..

and weaving mats...

Then back at the home stay...

after some lunch of Elephant Ear fish...

and managing to avoid the scary looking snake and scorpion wine (this one's for you fellas as it promotes virility - they call if Vietnamese Viagra!)..

 we hopped on our bikes...

and precariously navigated the bumpy paths trying not to fall into the river inlets and visited Mr Khank's house, a passionate antiques collector whose house was jammed full of incredible artifacts from Vietnam and Asia and the warmth that exudes from from his enthusiastic way.

The evening's entertainment consisted of a local cooking show-and-try (who knew making spring rolls could be this easy?)...

followed by an attempt at making coconut rice crackers in the traditional way. It's harder than you think - can you tell the difference between the amateur and professional attempt?

The following morning, it's off to the local market. The locals are up at 3am to receive the goods and  it's all over by about 9am so you need to get there early. But they don't go home to rest - most of them head straight over to harvest their land.

Sadly we didn't manage to escape the tourist experience completely and somehow managed to end up with a Non La hat on our heads and on a donkey cart!

Personally I thought she looked much better in the hat than I did...

A fantastic experience. and a beautiful way to get a taster of the Mekong Delta. To follow in these footsteps book a small group tour with Come and Go Vietnam.

Going Underground: The Cu Chi Tunnels

The Cu Chi Tunnels  should have been included in my post about Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon as it's a day trip most people do from there, but it was such an experience I thought it warranted its own post. 

The Cu Chi Tunnels are the site of one of the most infamous battlegrounds of the Vietnam War. During the War, the villagers in the area supported the Viet Cong. With America ramping up attempts to neutralize them, these simple peasant folk dug themselves away from the enemy into a complex warren of underground tunnels in which they lived in and ambushed the Americans from. Tunnels just like these...

And they dug this extensive network of tunnels ranging from 3 meters to 20 meters under the ground from as early as the late 1940′s until the early 1970′s using just these simple village tools...

And by 1965 there were 250km worth of tunnels! Amazing.

Now I'm not particularly a war history lover, but you can not visit this place and be bowled over by the ingenuity and determination of the guerrillas and sympathizers that occupied these tunnels.

No matter how much agent orange or bombs were dropped on this place, their ability to confound GIs and thwart American attacks time and time again thanks to these tunnels,survival instinct and pure cunning is incredible.

On your tour of the complex, they show you how the locals slipped in and out of the tunnel and yes you can have a go yourself (as illustrated by me below). Though today most of us would be less slipping, more squeezing as the tunnels originally could be as small as 80cm wide and 80cm high.

And without leaving so much of a trace...

And then you are able to gawp at the very simply made yet cunning booby traps that were set around the complex, made from bamboo and shrapnel collected from US weaponry found in the area.

Imagine running along thinking you were about to attack and then falling into one of these...

 Or any one of these...

or having this swing into you from a tree...

When I saw these things in the context of the Cu Chi Tunnels I began to understand why the Vietnam War took such a severe psychological toll on so many U.S. veterans. I'd be having nightmares for the rest of my life!

There is a little simulated workshop where you get to see the reenactment of how the people made their weapons, plus a shooting range where you can try your hand at shooting off a round from a AK 47 or M 16. It's loud and I couldn't imagine what is must be like being surrounded by that noise all the time!

I opted for having a go at grinding the rice grain instead!

And finally you get to actually get down on your haunches and make it through a stretch of tunnel. I was thankful that the tunnels have been widened today. It's a dark, sweaty and close experience with escape routes out in case you can't handle it. Much needed as you can see from my ghost like appearance after just a few minutes inside!

In my view, these people were incredible. They are heroes just for surviving and protecting everything they know in these conditions. People gave birth, got married, honeymooned, lived and died here amid the heat, foul smells, bats, rats, snakes, scorpions and fire ants. Sometimes they stayed below ground for weeks on end.

At least 12,000 Vietnamese guerrillas and sympathizers are thought to have died in the area. But not without putting up a damn good fight.

One word of warning, if you do visit Cu Chi Tunnels, try to avoid being ferried around by a tour operator in large groups. To really enjoy the experience, book a tour with someone like Innoviet Travel, where the maximum number you will share this experience with will be 8 and they will take you to a set of tunnels which are not overrun with tourists.

What really caused the nuclear chaos that followed the Japan earthquake and tsunami?

I’m taking a break from updating about my trip to Vietnam as I, like the rest of the world, have been watching the horrific events in Japan unfold and feel that things can’t just go on as normal as Japan lurches from destruction to disaster and back again and as their people and country suffer.

Photo: Associated Press

Photo:  Associated Press

The question that  has been rattling around my head quite a bit  after seeing the devastating effects of the tsunami caused by the earthquake and then learning of the subsequent instability at some of Japan’s nuclear plants was why on earth aren’t things that have the potential to be so unstable under such conditions made to be earthquake proof?

Now I’m no nuclear physicist but actually, it’s not so much the earthquake that caused the instability and explosions we have all been hearing about like the one at the Fukashima Plant – but failure to the power to the grid and therefore the inability to pump in coolant.

Photo: Reuters

And yes there were backup diesel generators which were supposed to deal with that eventuality, but the issue was, according to Brave New Climate, that these were disabled by the Tsunami that swamped them.

But even after that, there was apparently eight hours worth of battery back up. However  by the time the new generators were transported in, more water was boiling off and venting than what was being added to the reactor. Things were getting extremely hot – the fuel rod cladding exceeded 1200 c which ultimately led to the first exposure which led to subsequent explosions. You can read more about what happened after that here.

So yes they were earthquake resistant plants, but the reactors are designed for a maximum 8.2 earthquake – not an 8.9 earthquake which is five times stronger. And when you throw a tsunami into a mix it’s a whole other ball game.

In the US, apparently many plants have been retrofitted to use passive cooling systems such as gravity fed water tanks, in case pumps and electricity fail and you just can’t help wonder why this wasn’t the case in Japan.

Asia is watching closing, not only with concern for Japan, but with concern of how they will ensure that the dozens of new reactors allegedly being planned will resist such disasters in a region at high risk of natural disasters.

According to the Wall Street Journal, China, Vietnam, Thailand and other Asian nations have more than 100 nuclear plants on the cards as part of their strategy to make the region less reliant on more traditional sources of energy and Singapore is examining whether nuclear energy is a viable option. Not surprisingly this has met with great push back by groups like Greenpeace.

Let’s hope some lessons are learned if and when these go ahead for all our sakes.

The Hussle and bussle of Ho Chi Minh City

I have fallen in love with Ho Chi Minh City - or Saigon as the locals and I now call it. This is the city that never sleeps. It's crammed full of the warmth, spirit, smiles and humour of its people, wonderful food, a million mopeds, densely populated, with its higgledy-piggledy buildings, the chaos setting all your senses on fire.

It's a city steeped in history and tradition, where you truly begin to understand the tug-of-war ground that Vietnam has been for so many years until recently - with invasions by China, the French empirical rule, the Vietnam War and evidence of the struggle for and against Communism leaving behind a clear distinction rooted between the people in the South versus the North. Reminders of these things are around almost every corner including...


The Reunification Palace, the site of the end of the Vietnam War and fall of Saigon which has been frozen in time since 1975 including it's  Austin Powers' style bar and bizarre collection of hollowed out elephant feet (yes they're real!)...

and ornate buildings like Notre Dame Cathedral and others which remind you of the days of French rule...

and these sit alongside symbols of Vietnam's own cultural roots, for example, the beautiful Jade Emperor Pagoda which is said to be the most striking in the city.

As a tourist, your Saigon initiation is to cross the road across a sea of never-ending traffic. Crossings mean virtually nothing and are few and far between so when you first manage to step out trust that the traffic will simply weave around you all the while heart a-thumping you feel the greatest sense of achievement that you made in to the other side in one piece.

I promise you I'm not kidding. Watch this video and contemplate how you would negotiate this road

Once you've negotiated that, an early morning visit to the lifeblood of the city - the markets - is required and whether you are a food lover or fashion lover this place has it all. Take in the vivid colours (and smells!) and grab yourself some fresh fruit...

then indulge in replica designer Gucci and Chloe bags and Chanel watches and fabulous lacquer wear in the Aladdin's cave that is Ben Thanh Market.

and you need to get your haggle on - it's expected and all done in good humour.

In fact Saigon is replica central. In the backpacker district, you can even pick up a masterfully painted replica of your favourite work - whether it's a Monet or a Banksy - and watch the artists at work in with the bargain...

And then there's the food - wonderful food - including the ubiquitous Pho (the soupy noodle dish), fresh rice paper rolls and Vietnamese beef stew

and bars and restaurants (some more ramshackle than others) where you can watch the world go by perched upon high sipping a Saigon beer for $1.

There is so much to Saigon, so much more than I could ever fit  in this post. Visit it and feel it pulsing in your veins!