If you have google earth on your computer, type in “x national park” as a search and satellite view (I think) and you can see where people have mapped in their geo-located photos. Bittangabee Bay in Ben Boyd is our fave spot, but it’s south of Eden.

Off topic request. Am heading up to Canberra in a couple of weeks where I will be whisked off the plane (by someone enroute from Sydney), quickly grab supplies then heading to the NSW Sth coast to camping for a few days. Never camped there before – the national parks look good. Do you have any favourites to recommend?

Thanks in advance AOF

We also loved the cao lau noodles in Hoi An (made from water from a special well, so they said) and white rose dumplings. Spectacularly good.

And pho bo of course, which I get intense cravings for.

One thing I noticed in the towns near Hanoi, particularly those up the road to Halong Bay, is a lot of two story gothic style gabled buildings, built of brick and rendered with concrete. They all seem pretty new, so maybe they are a sign of increasing prosperity in the region? They look like the mass produced oversized housing you see in western Sydney, except they are built by hand, with bamboo scaffolding! Even so, I can see why you thought your uncle’s place was luxurious – it’s very solid and does look cool and clean.

Andrew X Pham wrote in his book, Catfish & Mandala, that VN is a country full of skinny people obsessed with food.

I’m not sure I entirely agree that “most live on cassava and rice” but the area of VN where my family used to live is rich agricultural land, and I can well imagine that the urban poor would subsist on meagre food, while the rural poor, especially the ones near water, have more options. And I guess my extended family are comparably well off, although I look back on the pictures from my visit and marvel at how much poverty they lived in, and how when I was there I was somewhat inured to it all (culture shock, I expect). I found one house seemed so luxurious. The photo of that house is here and looking at it now, I’m amazed I thought my uncle was ‘rich’.

You did not have som tam while in Thailand? Now that would have made you sweat!

chuc mung nam moi!