The footy

Yes, this is what we deal with, in fact the above picture is nothing too dire. Awful awful pitch, and the game finished 4-4.

Saigon Raiders (my team) have a new website, you may recognise the writing style in the news sections and the match reports...check out our team profiles at http://www.saigonraiders.com/.

We are four games into the new season and our record is won two, drawn one, lost one. The Saigon International Football League also has a new website, again you may recognise the writing style on the homepage...(and you wonder why I am not posting much these days). Check out the league and all the teams at http://www.sifl-vn.com/.

Errr

Umm.....

Errr....

On Kim Jong Il....

He was born in a log cabin at his father's guerrilla base on North Korea's highest mountain The event was reportedly marked by a double rainbow, and a bright star in the sky.

From the Washington Post :

SEOUL -- Han, a Communist Party official in North Korea, was walking home from work when he heard he was in trouble. He had smuggled a radio back from China after an official trip. He listened to it late at night, huddled with earphones on and shades drawn, to hear music that brought him a whisper of sanity and took him away from the horrors of his day.

Now, someone had found it, or someone had told.
"It could have been my children who said something outside. It could have been my friend; one knew," said Han, 39, who spoke on condition he be identified only by his surname.

"If a farmer or laborer had a radio, he could have been released," Han said. "But I was an official. In my case, it would have been torture and a life sentence in a political prisoners' camp."

Although not the greatest follower of this news source, from CNN....

Human Rights Watch has estimated there are 200,000 political prisoners inside North Korea; Pyongyang denies any camps exist.

North Korea is the last Stalinist regime, a closed one-party state founded on a personality cult, a rogue regime known for repression of its people, a nearly bankrupt nation, where, in the 1990s, the U.S. government says more than 2 million people starved to death during a famine. Kim Jong Il denied the famine even existed.

And from the BBC today : Flood hit North Korea 'faces famine'.

Less of the state visits hey....how can the smiling faces on the front page of the paper be anything to be proud of?

Stormy Pics

Once again, a massive delay between posts, but I am submerged. Lots of material in my mind, lots of pictures to take, just finding the time.

For now, just some pictures I took last night. One of many things I would love to learn more about, photography. Vietnam is like a photographers wet dream...or is that too graphic. As I arrived home the encroaching storm was swaying palms and scattering trash across the street, with purpely-black clouds looking more menacing than a forest bear after you just slapped his wife and called her a ho. In the other direction, all was light and serene.

Now turn around slowly....

Back in the other direction, here she comes....

Eventually night falls....

And the storm broke....and then it was too dark to take any more pictures. I thank you.

Pathfinder

Pathfinder is a magazine published in Vietnam for expats and travallers. I find myself contributing to said magazine, and learning a trade that I am really quite enamoured with and would like to get to know better in the future. Here is a well lit and professional picture of said magazine.

Pathfinder is due for relaunch in the next few months. To continue the shameless plug and self publicity (hell what are blogs for, did I tell you about Connections?), I will link to some of my work on the Pathfinder website...

You'll recognize the pictures on Saigon Street Fare and Quan 94 from my previous entry right here (scroll down...). I'm also raving about La Hostaria on the site. Enjoy!