Our Man in Saigon

Having sailed down the Mekong from Cambodia into Vietnam we have just spent 4 days in Saigon (Ho Chi Min City) visiting a friend from University days; Neil Fitzgerald.

Besides ensuring that we didn't get ripped off by the locals (which happens all the time!) we also got the 5* treatment featuring a full-english breakfast, top Thai meals prepared by Pui (Neil's beautiful girlfriend), as well as a few insightful tours and first class local eating!



Neil has been in Vietnam for two years teaching English as well as writing for local magazines and pursuing his own literary projects. He can still speak Nottingham-English but is more at home in Vietnamese these days (!) Many of the locals regularly comment on how well he speaks Vietnamese. A language notoriously difficult to learn. To our ears however, it sounds like bad dubbing on a kung-fu movie! Sorry mate.









We met many of Neils' friends and also came to see how easy it is to feel right at home in this city. One of his friends, Crispen, even cooked us a full roast dinner!!






We also had the opportunity to visit the college where Neil teaches and meet one of his classes. The class were very welcoming and practised conversational english by asking many questions of us and our travels. So to Mr Neils class that we met...(continue to) give your teacher hell!



A big thanks Neil, to you and Pui for taking time out to ensure that we had an excellent time. Keep well both of you and keep enjoying all that Siagon has to offer.