The Duc Pond

I got an LG 47LH50 to replace my old 30″ CRT (sold to a neighbor for $40 after failing to find a friend who wanted it for free). It has most of the features that modern LCDs have these days, like a 120Hz mode (which I don’t like, since it makes things too videoy).
The [...]

A little over a year ago, we picked up our cat Neo in West Philly. When we got him, he was stinky, weighed only 7 pounds, was very lethargic, and had a limp. These days the limp is miraculously gone, he’s a hefty 15 pounds (a fatty, but it’ll be useful when the leukemia starts [...]

My coworker reminded me about how delicious mãng cầu (also called custard apple) are. We ate many of these in Vietnam, and now I want more. Anyone know where I can find them in the U.S.? Mail/online order is fine.

This is exactly what happened when I went to London. I was on top of everything and then at some point I just stopped writing. By the time I got back to it, I had forgotten many of the details. I’m hoping this time that won’t happen, since I intend on finishing everything sooner. Plus [...]

We took a sleeper bus to get from Hoi An to Nha Trang. Now that I’ve done it, it’s definitely not my preferred way to travel. I think the cramped seats of an airplane were more comfortable. You’re in a chair that reclines to an almost fully horizontal position. That’s good. But your feet go [...]

Hoi An is a quiet little town. It was weird being free of most of the horn-honking that’s a fixture in Hanoi, Hué and other big cities. It’s known for its vast array of tailor shops, and I took advantage of these by having a suit, 2 dress shirts, and a corduroy jacket made. Usually [...]

In a hurry since we’re about to board a bus to Hoi An, but we’ve spent a couple days in Hué (pronounced “hweh”, not “hyoo”). Much smaller city than Hanoi. It’s my mom’s birthplace and yesterday we found her old house (i.e., my grandfather’s house), now a former shell of itself.
My mom’s bun bo [...]

We’re back in Hanoi for less than a day, arriving from Halong Bay at around 3pm. Tomorrow we fly out to Hue.
On the street we found a woman walking around with a basket of the best banh ran I’ve ever had. I don’t know if it’s any good compared to its Vietnamese brethren, but I [...]

It’s probably the most touristy part of Vietnam, but whatever: it’s pretty sweet. There are thousands of small rock islands jutting out of the water. Unfortunately, since it is so touristy, there are dozens of loud, exhaust-pumping boats floating around. Ours, like most, allow you to dine and sleep aboard, and that’s what we did. [...]

We had no scheduled tour events, so we just wandered around on our own. We ate at one streetside food stall, by which I mean a spot on the sidewalk where someone has a pot of charcoal set up so they can cook some soup or meat. Tiny stools only a foot or so high [...]