The Blue Gecko vs Bernies 2

The Charm Bar

Darts this week was an away fixture at the Charm bar in downtown district 1 against a team called Bernies 2. This was going to be a good game as we are both pretty even but also my flat mate plays for the other team. Another flat mate of mine also plays for my team - The Blue Gecko.

I arrived after work and was put in a doubles match which I lost 2-1 (I checked the first game) I was then put in a singles match against statistically their best player.

The Charm bar on darts night

I beat her 2-0 and probably played the best two legs of darts I played in a while. In the second leg she was still on about 200 when I checked out. My two flat mates then got to play each other which was great. They brought along a crowd which gave it a good atmosphere. My flatmate Erick, who plays for my team won 2-0 which gave us the match. We won 8-4 overall for the evening. Im now 19th out of over 100 players which I'm happy with. We are still only a quater of a way through the season so there is alot of darts to play yet.

With my house mates Erick, Emily and Don

I've got some about two weeks off soon so am in the process of planning two trips. The first will be to Phuo Quoc Island, which is supposed to be amazing, the second will be a couple of the following - Dalat, Mui Ne Beach, Nha Trang, Hoi An, Hue or Da-nang - all of these are in Vietnam.

Darts league table

Not much happening

The driving test!

Not much has happened this week although I do have some good news and bad news. I have two bits of good news. Firstly I won my darts match last week, so I've moved up to 25 out of 100 people in the division rankings. Secondly one of my teacher friends went back to England and returned this week with a 6 pack of roast beef monster munch for me which brought a tear to my eye.

The bad news is that a cat seem to have taken a liking to coming into our house and sleeping on the sofa. I've chased it out on a number of occasions but the other night it came in and dropped a duke on the sofa. I was up early the next morning and failed to see it but missed it when I had breakfast. My flat mate who got up later wasn't so lucky and sat right on it. The cat went missing for a few days, the neighbour was looking for it but I can only assume it went into hiding, sadly its back now but we are taking precautions to make sure it doesn't happen again.

I'm in the process of getting a Vietnamese driving licence which is quite hard work. I have a driving test at the weekend which I have put a picture of above. It consists of driving around a small course and if I do that I can legally ride on some of the busiest streets in Asia!

Ive added another video from my travels. This one is of the Bayon temple near Angkor Wat. Its my favourite as all the faces are really cool.

Birthday In Vietnam

Happy Birthday to me!!!

Yesterday was my birthday and my first away from England. As weekends are busy I worked for most of the day but got some time to relax in the evening. Sadly I couldn't go out and party as I had to be at work early this morning but I'll make up for it sometime soon. I've been really busy with work recently. So much so that since getting back form Vung Tau I've not really done much else. I don't mind however because its good fun. The picture here is of my birthday cake. I was from my favourite bakery called Tour les Jours who do these nice things called Croque Monsieur's - the Best thing to come out of France since Thierry Henry.

I though it might be nice to upload some of the videos I've taken of my travels as I've got no new stories to tell So below is a selection.

The first video is one I took around Christmas and is of me on the back of a bike travelling around the city. One you get up the courage to go on the back of a bike its a great way to get around and such a nice way to see the city. Look out for the old fella at the end with a bike full of flashing stuff.

The next video is of the long flight of starts at this temple I went to in Cambodia near Battenbang which pre-dates Angkor Watt. It was a very sweaty climb but worth it. The temple was cool and the view was great.

This video is of one of the trees growing out the temple called Ta Phram in Cambodia near Angkor Watt, its pretty awesome and like something from the movies.

The next video is some of the Bamboo train in Cambodia. As its only one track when a carriage come the other way the cart with the least passengers have to get off and remove the carriage from the track. Its a great little ride and we saw an awesome sunset at the end. The footage is of our driver removing the carriage from the track whilst we all watch.

The final video is of sunrise at Angkor Watt, however its not really sunrise its just getting lighter. Sadly the day I got up at 4:30am to cycle to Angkor Watt it was grey sky. It was still great to see though.

Vung Tau, Vietnam

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Vung Tau

I've just got back from a two day trip to Vung Tau in the south of Vietnam. Its about 1hr 30mins from Ho Chi Minh City when you take the hydrofoil fast ferry. I had some time off work, thanks to a national holiday where the Vietnamese celebrate the death of King Hung.

Vung Tau is a seaside town in the very south of Vietnam. An interesting fact is that it was the place were fallen 70s pop star Gary Glitter used to live and was arrested in 2005. It's also dubbed the 'Rio De Janiero' of Vietnam because there is a big Jesus statue on a hill. 



Jesus on the hill

It's a nice place and very quiet compared to the big city I'm living in. We stayed in a nice hotel overlooking the beach. There is a few things to see in the city, we took a nice walk up the hill to see the big Jesus statue. It was pretty cool as there were lots of nice flowers on the way up to the summit. Once at the top there was a great view of the city. I was surprised how big it was. The Jesus statue was good although he had a big chin. We spent the afternoon on the beach and although the weather was overcast it was still nice and warm.



The walk to see Jesus

We also went to the top of another hill on a motorbike which had a lighthouse on it. The ride was great and also offered some fantastic views of the city. On the second day the weather started to get worse but that was OK as we had done all the sightseeing on day one. We took the hydrofoil back which was delayed due to the weather. I've been teaching English today and the weather is still getting worse. It turns out that there is a typhoon near the Philippines and it's heading straight towards us. The wind is really strong and the rain is lashing down as I type. Its great fun!!!

I've added a couple of videos below, the first is of the beach from our hotel during the rain on the second day and the second is of the bike ride up the hill to the lighthouse. I was sat on the back when filming.