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I cock-a-doodle-do
Introducing a new regular Back in a Bit author, an Aussie expat living in Hanoi… Tabitha Carvan writes: This, my first post for Crikey comes at a particularly significant time for me in my two-year...
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So long, and thanks for all the sour cream
“You’ll get bored,” she’d said to me, with such certainty that I wondered if it might be true. ‘She’ was my boss, and they were her parting words as I walked out of my office, family photos from my...
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Christmas without the tradition and religion? Welcome to Vietnam
I don’t really like Christmas. Several years ago, channelling my inner fourteen-year old, I stormed out of a family dinner and swore I would never return home for Christmas again. And because my inner...
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The year in review from Hanoi
With the new year just past, I find myself reflecting on 2011. It was a year in which Hanoi taught me many lessons, for which I’m truly grateful. I present for you some highlights of What I Learned In...
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It’s beginning to look a lot like Tếtness
In the lead-up to Tết the streets in Hanoi become, somehow, even more hectic than usual. Knots of interlaced motorbikes jam every intersection as Hanoians buzz about the city, furiously stocking up on...
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Why your guidebook is ruining your holiday
Vietnam is an extremely popular holiday destination for Australian tourists. It’s cheap, it’s close and it has us living in it. At least, I assume that’s why we’ve had around 40 visitors from Australia...
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The Vietnamese transport motto: two wheels good, four wheels bad
The Vietnamese spend so much time on their motorbikes I expect that eventually they will evolve into two-wheeled centaurs. If you pitted a 40-kilogram, stiletto-wearing Vietnamese girl against a burly...
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Fear and self-loathing in expat-land
To the Vietnamese who live around me, it’s clear where I fit in here: I don’t. The differences between us are as plain as the enormous nose on my big fat face. In Vietnam, I am, and always will be, a...
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‘Fartshion’: the joy of shopping in Hanoi
At any given moment on Tạ Hiện street, Hanoi you’ll find a tourist photographing this window for the Creative Oriental Crafts Kingdom (aka COCK). This sign is clearly no accident, but an excellent...
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Why I love the nanny state
Expats in Southeast Asia love to moan about lots of things, mostly to do with their new country of residence and its local inhabitants. But this doesn’t stop them from moaning about “back home” too. On...
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