No tour to Vietnam can be considered complete without a ride in one of the cyclos, the modern-day equivalent of a rickshaw.  With a little negotiating, $2 gets you an hour of peddle-power around the city, and the locals swear that this is the best way to see the place.  I swear that this is the easiest way to give yourself a heart-attack, considering the unpredictable traffic and constant chaos on the roads.  Aude’s driver seemed to be okay, but my driver managed to hit 1) Aude’s cyclo, 2) a motorcyclist and 3) stopped mid-tour to buy a pack of cigarettes so that he could smoke as he peddled.

It was a good way to see the city, though, and we spent an hour riding through the old town, where each of the streets is dedicated to a trade.  Ironmongers on one street, porcelain on the next, and so on.  Despite having a haircut only a few days earlier, I must have had twenty offers of haircuts from the barbers who seem to station themselves at every lamp post, armed with nothing more than a small stool, chipped mirror, and pair of scissors.  Everyone needs to earn a living, I guess.

We never had any problems with the electricity in Vietnam, but most of the wiring looked like this picture and I was in constant fear of being electrocuted every time it rained.  The standard of wiring is similar in India, although the supply is a little less reliable in my experience.  In either case, it doesn’t really inspire confidence.

Scooters and motorbikes are the kings of the road in Vietnam.  Cars are out-of-reach for most, so two wheels is how most people get around.  We saw anywhere from 1-5 people riding on a single scooter, and people carrying just about anything imaginable: plate-glass windows, full-sized beds, pigs, chickens, DHL deliveries.  You name it, the Vietnamese will find a way to strap it to their scooters.

Another view of the Sydney Opera House, this time with slightly nicer weather

The Rocks

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Transport, Aussie-style Saturday market at The Rocks, Sydney

Saturday market at The Rocks, Sydney

Lots of handicrafts on offer...

A glassblower goes about his work

I must have ‘tourist’ written all over my forehead.  With time to kill, I decided to head down to the Saturday market at The Rocks, near Circular Quay.  I was pretty impressed, because the quality of what was offered was pretty good as compared to most tourist markets.  Most of the handicrafts were genuinely hand-crafted, and although prices were high, I didn’t feel like I was being ripped off with the usual tourist-tat.

Which meant that I came home with quite a lot more than I intended to.  It drives Aude crazy, because getting me to buy souvenirs is usually like getting blood from a stone.  Unless it’s something really unusual, I simply won’t buy it.  Which is why I’m as surprised as anyone about coming home with quite a few things, and having my eye on even more things.

Maybe it’s because the things on offer here often crossed that thin line between ‘tourist souvenir’ and ‘art’.  They are souvenirs in the truest sense of the word: one-off creations by artisans that are unique to this place, and will help me remember my visit here.  I wish I could find more of these sorts of souvenirs elsewhere in my travels, but usually it’s just overpriced crappy trinkets.

I’m still on the look-out for one or two more souvenirs, though.  We have two puppets from Singapore on our stairs, and I’m still searching for the elusive counterpart to go with them.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

A street performer juggles two swords and an apple

The juggler expresses his opinion of a stander-by who didn't leave a tip...

Sydney Opera House on a cloudy, stormy day

Please walk on the grass...

Government House, Sydney

Royal Botanical Gardens, Sydney

Royal Botanical Gardens, Sydney

Decided to get out of the hotel and take a walk around the harbour.  Headed down to Circular Quay and the Rocks, past the Opera House and on to the Botanical Gardens, one of my favourite spots in Sydney.  It was completely deserted on a cloudy Friday afternoon.

You really get the perspective of size and space here – on a totally different scale to Europe.  It was nice to have the park to myself.

Sydney is much more expensive than I remember it.  I’m not sure if that’s because of the strong Australian dollar or whether it’s because I now convert back to Swiss francs instead of British pounds, but in any case my money doesn’t seem to go nearly as far as I remember it going before. 

Maybe I’m just getting miserly in my old age.

It poured with rain last night, the kind of thunderstorm I remember from growing up on the East Coast of the US.  I managed to make it back to the hotel just before the heavens opened, watching the storm from the hotel bar with a glass of Australian Pinot Grigio in my hand.  I love thunderstorms.  It was a perfect way to end an evening.

Sadly, the rain has continued into Saturday, thwarting my plans to head down to Bondi Beach for some golf and a suntan.  I’m working on an indoor Plan B – right now, leading contenders are the Aquarium, a photo exhibit, or some shopping.

The Fete de la Musique is an annual event that started in Paris and has been adopted in cities around the world. Held on the 21st of June, the first day of summer, it is basically a celebration of music. Everyone, from amateur to professional, is welcomed to play their music in the streets – but on the condition that the concerts are free.

Paris is a city full of buskers, and the standard of street music here is pretty high. The stereotypical images of a wino playing an accordion in the Metro are not a million miles from the truth. On our street corner, a five-piece jazz band plays every weekend – and 30 meters from that, a man plays piano concertos. So my expectations were high.

Too high, it turns out. Fete de la Musique was amateur night. The professional buskers packed up their instruments and enjoyed a quiet night at home, while across town one bad rock band after another took to the streets.

There were a few enjoyable acts, several nice choirs singing in a variety of languages and styles; a flutist playing under the arches at the Louvre; and the odd rock band singing covers and actually holding a tune. But on the whole, the vast majority of performers were pretty dire.

Paris was heaving, though. Good music or bad, this is a city that loves a good party.

This band grabbed a good spot at 2pm — and were still playing ten hours later when we passed them at midnight. Sadly, they only knew three songs, so those standing nearby might have found it a bit repetitive.

Two girls singing covers of French songs

We think this guy was either Canadian or American. And a Pearl Jam fan.

Another performer outside our house

The bassist

A choir around the corner from our house, singing something foreign. Given that we live just around the corner from the Czech cultural centre, my vote is for Czech.

It’s not every day you see a man walking down the street with a Sousaphone.

An old woman peers out her window at the noise below.

This man was responsible for the noise below the woman’s window. He wasn’t too bad, actually.

Everyone’s a photographer. Not everyone’s a naked photographer, however.

Two Sousaphones in one day. What are the odds?

A trumpeter playing Latin music

Two drummers, caught from above

Crowds on the bridge. It was standing room only — crossing the bridge took us nearly 20 minutes and a lot of pushing and shoving.

More crowds on the bridge. For those of you who are of a technical nature, check out the depth-of-field. Available light photography, low ISO, and F2.4 means a pretty shallow DOF.

Two guys on the bridge singing covers. Not too bad.

A few young fans enjoy a concert outside the Louvre

A nice way to end the evening, with a little classical flute music.

 

With all the lead up to the Euro2008 matches being hosted in Switzerland, I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that the towns might put on some sort of special events. But I arrived in Zurich on Wednesday night to find the entire Limmatquai blocked off to traffic for an enormous street party. There were bands, hundreds of street vendors selling all sorts of food, beer tents and lots of big-screen TVs.

And fans. Lots and lots of patriotic fans, all decked out in red and white. So I decided to grab my camera and walk down the street, grabbing a few pictures as I went along.

And then it hit me. This was the quietest, most well behaved crowd I have ever seen at a sporting event. Despite the large numbers of people (certainly numbering into the tens of thousands), the police presence was incredibly limited. People were well-behaved. No one was staggering along drunk. There was no litter on the ground. Not in Switzerland!

Crowds along the Limmatquai for Euro 2008. Without a doubt the most well-behaved football crowd I have ever witnessed.

Crowds along the Limmatquai for Euro 2008

Crowds along the Limmatquai for Euro 2008

Everyone is watching the game — TVs are in every shop window!

Patriotism was on high display

Football…what else?

Getting into the spirit of things

One-man fan club.

Amazing. Thousands and thousands of spectators lined the Limmatquai for the match. Absolutely no litter dropped on the ground, not even a cigarette butt. Only in Switzerland.

In England, this would be followed by an arrest for drunken assault. In Switzerland, it’s a couple saying hello to their neighbour

Turkey vs. Switzerland compete in Euro 2008

The only thing more embarrassing than having a weiner is having to admit that you can only handle a weinerli. Particularly when you then lose the match to Turkey as well…

PS – I have also modified my blog a little bit to accomodate slightly larger photos. Hopefully these are easier to see than the old 400×300 pictures that I have been including until now…