RockPortrait in Vietnam

01 · 29

Eight hours, then Da Lat

After a long eight hours on the road from Saigon, punctuated by coffee
and lunch stops, we finally arrived in beautiful Da Lat.

It's my first time here and first impression is of a beautiful, clean,
French-influenced town in a valley. The weather is perfect, with a
mild breeze and gorgeous blue skies. I'm guessing the temperature is
about 25 degrees.

We're staying at Hotel Du Parc, which has a lovely, old elevator.

01 · 26

Seasonal dummy in Crescent Mall

01 · 21

What are these bathroom bugs?

I see a lot of these cocoons in and around my bathrooms but I've never
seen anything lay them or hatch out of them.

Does anyone know what they are, please?

01 · 19

Bamboo bikes at Mekong Creations

These are bamboo bikes built and sold by Mekong Creations in District
1. I'd really like to buy one, and they are remarkably inexpensive.
Perhaps I'll pick one up this week. I'll post more photos if I do.

01 · 17

Time capsule - Jan 2011

A trip to the Saigon Horse Races and attending my first Vietnamese wedding reception.

Photo jojo’s Photo Time Capsule

January 8^th to January 22^nd, 2011

HuuWedding-5237.jpg

Tinsel shower

Taken January 8, 2011 at 7:18 pm

Taking the whip between your teeth

The final stretch of the 5th in Saigon, this jockey uses his teeth as a midway point for transferring the whip from his left to his right hand.

Taken January 16, 2011 at 3:12 pm

HuuWedding-5292.jpg

The remains of the evening

Taken January 8, 2011 at 8:44 pm

HuuWedding-5293.jpg

Saying goodbye, four weddings at a time.

Taken January 8, 2011 at 8:49 pm

HuuWedding-5294.jpg

The end.

Taken January 8, 2011 at 8:49 pm

01 · 15

Of books and pools

Two things we both love to do are swimming and reading. The question is, do we choose a book aesthetically or practically? Do we want the weight & texture of a page-turner, at the expense of content variety? Are we most interested in choosing what to read based on our mood, and enjoy the modern pleasure of gadgetry in our hands?

I'm a gadget & data man, myself. Quynh is straddling both worlds, although she will no doubt never lose her love for the "real thing".

01 · 14

Sunken canoes at The Crescent

Anybody know why these canoes are all sunken in the shallows of the lake at The Crescent, District 7?
There must be about 20 of them.

01 · 14

Introduction to KISS

I'm trialling the Educreations iPad app, designed for the iPad, and used for making whiteboard lessons so that your students can review them at home after the lesson is done.

I'm not quite sure how I'll use it yet, but I wanted to see how responsive the pens were, and if the built-in mic was any good. Apart from some small drawing glitches, it's not too bad. I see my last piece of writing was left out on rendering, so I guess I have to leave the recording running a little longer before I press Save.

This is an off-the-cuff introduction to the rock band KISS, recorded with my intermediate Grade 9 ESL kids in mind. I might play it for fun for them to see their reactions, and if good I may start planning and designing quality whiteboard lessons with the iPad.

Click here to view my lesson.

Create and share amazing video tutorials with the free Educreations iPad app:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/educreations-interactive-whiteboard/id478617061?ls=1&mt=8

Sent from my iPad

Stephen McGrath

www.channelsteve.com

01 · 10

Sunday afternoon boating

Sunday afternoons in any country should be spent chilling, and that's exactly what many do in Saigon.

As sunset nears we can see fishing, chatting over coffee, long walks along the river banks and now, remote control power-boating.

01 · 10

Allez Boo afternoon

This is the correct way to spend a Tuesday afternoon in a Pham Ngu Lao
street bar - in this case, the iconic Allez Boo.

You can be assured that the Australian after which Channel Steve is
named is also following correct procedure.