Note: WordPress is so counter-intuitive, and this has taken so long to post, I have not proofed it. Shockingly, I have proofed the others. I’ll get round to it tomorrow…

What even is this blog? It’s not a travelogue. It doesn’t promote specific places. It rambles and gripes about cricket but without going into the detail you’d want or expect from a sportswriter. I’ve posted some decent snaps, he says humbly, with some absolute bangers below, he says less humbly, but if it were a depositary for photos, I’d have been far better off bucking up my bullshit and just getting ‘on the gram’. (That’s Instagram for those not in the know.)

From reading the past few entries, this thing seems to more closely resemble a diary which I can bring as evidence to the group as part of completing a twelve-step programme. There’s been the occasional reference to global politics (being in Vietnam when the Yanks are having another totally normal one has been interesting), I’ve made references to the books I’ve read (hardly been ‘Goodreads’ though has it?), and I’ve been glad to show off the catch ups with dear friends and the making of new ones.

In short, this blog seems to have a smattering of everything which exists elsewhere, poorly imitated, written in a largely stream of consciousness. I am not entirely sure who this blog is for but I don’t think you, the reader, is at the forefront of my mind. Up until now I have at least managed to keep it chronological though I think I’m now gonna ditch that to prioritise the cracking photos I have taken over the last two days.

Anyway, all of that aside, and in summary, I’m in Cambodia. I spent the past ten days or so in Vietnam and will be spending a week here before heading back there. It’s all going rather well. I feel ten years younger and dare I say I even look like I’ve shaved a couple of years off my saggy jowled face. I’m reading the most I have in months. I’m writing and some of it is better than this crap. I’m seeing sights and parts of the World I have long longed to see. I think a lot of this trip has been about not living my life in the speculative and always stressing and thinking about the next thing. At the risk of getting even more new-age bollocks, I’m having a damn good time.

Hoping that’s not ruined come Charlton vs. Chelsea in the third round of the cup. 3am KO local time. VPN and log-in to Discover+ sorted.

More below so do read on. Or don’t. As mentioned, the WordPress diagnostics only show me the opens which means if you can see this, you show up and provide my ego some very light relief.

A photographic interlude

The sun sets behind a fishing boat, Phu Coq

A group of local fisherman fish off the pier, Phu Coq

A big ol’ statue of a younger Uncle Ho, Ho Chi Minh museum

A big ol’ statue of Uncle Ho, Ho Chi Minh City

Party on New Year’s Eve, Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi New Year

Is it even a pun if you have to ask yourself if it meets the threshold of being a pun? Ho-Chi sounds like ‘Happy’. I spent New Year in Ho Chi Minh City. Hence ‘Ho Chi New Year’ rather than ‘Happy New Year’. Doesn’t work does it?

2025 Sai-been and-gon

Is that any better? Probs not.

Ho Chi Minh City 29 December- 5 January

Crossing the road in Vietnam is like assessing a great tidal river for the kindest current, the shallowest depth, it’s least dangerous point. Eventually, you realise that is a load of guff and you need to just go for it. Make eye contact, or not, with the fastest approaching and nearest moped driver, pray to your God, and step out. It’s brilliant. And at the risk of jinxing it, I haven’t yet… nah. I’m not going to jinx it. If you’re reading this then I’m not writing to you from beyond the grave. Thus far. Touch wood.

Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City (as nobody here seems to call it), is proper bonkers and feels a good first toe dip into Vietnam (especially with Hanoi still to come.) It has everything from quiet tourist sites like the Ho Chi Minh museum, to the rooftop bars of district one; the non-tourist road side eateries of district four to the harrowing war remnants museum. My abode, in district four, boasted a cracking coffee shop across the way, views of the whole city, and dozens of food places and a food market just around every corner.

The Ho Chi Minh house and museum had some amazing artefacts like Uncle Ho’s Independence broadcast address microphone and a number of his annotated speeches. It was also decidedly quieter than some of the other tourist sites allowing for real time to be spent exploring the different rooms and enjoying the view of the city from the balcony of the house.

New Years Eve in Saigon was a significantly bigger deal than expected, especially given the expectation of how sizeable the Tet celebrations will be come mid-February. There was an enormous fireworks display with a free concert in the centre of the city. The Vietnamese don’t really go in for public raving, and didn’t seem to much engage with each of the many bass drops. No matter- I had a greattime.

We (OH has now joined me for the next stretch of this adventure. Probs a bit poor it took 850 of words to get to that) travelled up to the tunnels of Củ Chi which were the Viet Cong’s operational base ahead of and during the Tết Offensive. Incredible. The tunnels, which have been heightened in some places for taller (and yes also widened in places for fatter) tourists, are every bit as expansive and impressive as you’d expect. Taking the day trip there when the yanks are making tracks for Greenland, post their little illegal sojourn into Venezuela provided some decent conversation starters for the tour guide and groups.

Mekong and prosper

Breaking up the journey to Phu Quoc, we spent two nights in Can Tho where I lost the second Test out of two in the international ‘Seasons of Rice’ series. See before and after photos of the second Test below. The next three tests are crucial lest I join the ranks of travelling Englishmen to get their arses handed to them abroad.

With not a great deal to do in Can Tho,  I managed to get my first run in since Australia and the heat and humidity (77%) was even less pleasant than the other runs I’ve squeezed in thus far. Must do better.

A very quiet town, the food was absolutely sublime with a (deffo woke) vegan restaurant proving a particularly favourite.

With all of the tourist boat tours requiring booking ahead, or an early start, or a willingness to spend most of a day on a boat with other tourists, that was skipped in favour of handing some money (the equivalent of about eight quid) to a Vietnamese woman whose husband then sailed us up and down the Mekong for a few hours. I’ve been really diving into my Vietnamese literature (see below) and having spent so much time over the years reading about Vietnam, the war, life before and after, it’s been pretty awe-inspiring to actually see the Mekong delta.

Side note- if you haven’t seen Ken Burns ten-part documentary series on the Vietnam War then do. It’s spectacular.

Phu Quoc, and two cackling jackals

After a stressful morning where I managed to go to the wrong bus station, followed by several hours on the most over-packed ferry I’ve ever encountered (imagine the Thames Clipper full- now double the number of people in there) we made our way to the… let’s say… off the beaten track and rugged accommodation of Phu Quoc. A fascinating place called May Café and Garden which featured neither a Café nor a Garden. I thought it was cool until the two German girls in the room next door, having first giggled at my hello, then wouldn’t stfu chatting and giggling until gone 2:30.

I wasn’t planning on mentioning that last bit as it rather undercuts the new mellow Bobo and makes me come across a right miserable old git but without it the sub-heading of this part doesn’t work. And I’m rather proud of it. So it stays in.

Phu Quoc was mostly spent lounging on the beach for two days reading, dozing, swimming (ACTUALLY SWIMMING- MY SHOULDER. SHE IS BETTER BABY! (Freya- you can now feel less guilty for (I’m so sure of it) shoving me off that platform in the Eagle)), and taking photographs of the most stunning sunsets (see above.)

I had been told the island of Phu Quoc is not one normally visited by Western tourists (although absolutely full of Russian speaking travellers) and the beaches away from the main strip were certainly very quiet and secluded. A worthy excursion south en route to Cambodia.

Ha tien out of ten

This morning saw a slow and gentle final few hours in Phu Coq picking up some yankee dollars and enjoying a really decent breakkie. The journey here to Kampot in Cambodia was seamless and took about five hours door-to-door. From first look, Kampot is beautiful and I’m getting on a motorised bike for the first time this journey to head up into the mountains of the national park, and then to head to ‘La Plantation’- a fine spice and pepper producer (and also home of the World’s first (so they claim) museum dedicated to the history of the pepper grinder.)

Be sure to subscribe for more on that…

Books what I’ve been reading and shows what I’ve been watching

The reading:

‘Vietnam: Rising Dragon’ by Bill Hayton. Excellent read. Really good and pacy account of modern day Vietnam with a focus on the social, political, and economic drivers of where the country is heading. Very kindly gifted to me by Bill way back when in Colchester. Top read.

‘The Great Gatsby’ by F Scott Fitzgerald. A stone cold classic.

‘The Little Book of the Ashes: Cricket’s oldest, and fiercest, rivalry’ a compendium of quotes and anecdotes from the Ashes. Very kindly bought for me by Laura and J for Christmas. Probably too soon to be honest…

‘The Sorrow of War’ by Bảo Ninh. A semi-autobiographical, stream of consciousness, fictional account of the war between the Americans and the Vietnamese. Tough read but beautifully written with smatterings of hope throughout.

‘Going After Cacciato’ by Tim O’Brien. The above but from the American perspective. Part fantasy, part dream, part ‘reality’ it’s one of the most bizarre narratives I’ve ever read. I’ve loved it. Incredibly painful in parts.

Everything by Barney Ronay on the Ashes tour. Especially this: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/jan/08/sack-the-vibe-goodbye-bazball-and-hello-englands-search-for-a-cricketing-soul

The watching:

The Ashes. Obviously. Including on the bus through Vietnam.

Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams on iplayer.

As of 3am tomorrow morning local time, Charlton vs. Chelsea in the FA Cup third round. (Let’s all laugh at Palace.)

So concludes this admittedly long, again, post.

Has anyone actually read this far down? I didn’t pay WordPress for the detailed diagnostics. I only know that people are opening the posts and the page.

And for your time in even doing that I am grateful.