Flat tyres in Ho Chi Minh City

I've been riding scooters in Ho Chi Minh City for several years now and they're amazing for getting around the city. Really cheap to run and convenient to park. However, one of the disadvantages is that, just like bicycles, they do get punctures. Usually, something will cause the puncture and when you come to use your bike at the end of the day or in the morning, the tyre is flat. This is exactly what happened to me this morning before work. 

In this situation you then have to push your bike and hope you are near one of the repair men who work on the streets with their own little mobile shops. So, this morning when I got a flat tyre I pushed the bike and luckily there was a repair man on the street at the end of my apartment block. Below are some pictures of the man repairing my puncture. 

Filing it down to make it smooth

Hitting it with a stick

Checking for holes with water

The process is pretty much the same a fixing a bicycle tyre and they're very good at it. They get the tube out and look for a hole. This morning my tyre had a nail sticking in it. He put one of the plasters over it. Banged it with a stick then put it in some water to check it was fixed. After this I was on my way again.

His air pump

View from my seat where I waited

The whole process took about 10 minutes and cost me 35,000 VND (about £1.20). I gave him 50,000 VND and he was very happy.

Coffee Museum, Buon Ma Thuot, Central Highlands

After I'd finishing examining on the Sunday we had a bit of spare time so the school took us all to a coffee museum.

It was a pretty funky building just outside the town.

There were lots of coffee related artifacts in the museum. It was okay. There was a nice view out the window.

Perhaps my favorite photo from the museum is below. It made me chuckle.

It was a really enjoyable trip and felt more like a holiday, not like work. I had a three day bank holiday after this so still felt refreshed when I went back to work on Thursday.

I have two more weeks at work then I have a week off teaching and will be returning to Taiwan!!!!!

Pictures from around Buon Ma Thuot town

On Sunday morning I had a little bit of time before the exams started so I took a few photos around the town. The main industry here is coffee so most of the shops are local coffee houses. The streets were very quiet compared with Saigon. 

View from my hotel room at sunset

View from the school

View from the school

The school where I worked

 

Evening meal and karaoke in BMT, Vietnam

I was quite lucky I went this weekend as there was a training course at the school who looked after us really well. There were three people in my examining team but another 16 or so on a training course. Because of this the school had arranged an evening out for us. We went to this very nice restaurant in the town. 

It was very nicely decorated with a river running through it. 

I was with a really nice group of people.

After, we went to karaoke which is not normally my cup of tea but still a good fun.

It was a really enjoyable evening and I was lucky to come this weekend and have such a unique experience. There is more examining on the Sunday and then I fly back in the evening.

 

Examing Trip to Buon Ma Thuot, Central Highlands, Vietnam

This weekend I've volunteered to do some examining in a placed called Buon Ma Thuot in the central highlands of Vietnam. Its a place I've never been and probably would never have visited if I'd not been doing this job. Its a 35 minutes flight from Ho Chi Minh City.

As soon as I arrived it was noticeably cooler. A really nice 26 degrees at 8am. Much better than the 40 degrees we've been having in Saigon. The airport was tiny with only one other plane on the tarmac. We walked across this and left the airport very quickly. 

I was picked up by a driver from the school and taken to my hotel to get ready for hte examining in the afternoon. 

The hot weather, Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

It's time for my annual complaint about how to it is. Its the time of the year where it keeps getting hotter and hotter until rainy season arrives. The picture below sums up how it feels.

Although its in the mid-late 30s, it feels much hotter.

The real feel below is in the early 40s. I'm lucky that I'm in an air conditioned office most of the day but going outside is pretty unbearable. We just had a holiday weekend and it really limited what there was to do due to the heat. Really don't know how people coped without A/C.

Anyway, hoping it breaks soon and the rain arrives. We've not had any yet. Some good news is that in about 4 weeks we're off to Taiwan for a week. Not much else to report as I'm working hard and completing my masters.

Vung Tau, Vietnam 2019.2

Last weekend we decided to take a weekend break to Vung Tau. We decided to drive the 2/3 hours to the city on the coast. This is my second trip to Vung Tau this year.

It wasn't a particularly nice journey, the roads were very busy and it was very hot!! We had a nice hotel with a nice pool and a good view of the town.

Our bedroom was pretty cool too, we had a good view of one of the mountains that overlooks the town.

For dinner we went to this very nice pizza restaurant called Davids, which gave us a nice view of the sun-setting over the water. 

It was a really nice break and good to get away from the city for a few days.

Back to work on Monday 4th March, I'm starting a 10 week semester so there will be no more trips until the middle of May.