Greetings from Saigon, where crossing the road’s a seriously life threatening experience (no, really, it’s terrifying – those mopeds take up to four(!) people and don’t stop for anything or anyone!)

The food’s interesting, though; curiously spiced and exotically coloured, it’s redolent of Asian mystery and adventure, of fantastic travels in strange lands (Monkey and Tripitaka, perhaps).

An example: last night at dinner I noticed a pile of rounded brownish objects being served as part of an optional buffet. Assuming them to be an outlandish fungus known only to the natives of the Mekong delta, I asked the waiter – without any great hope of success – if he knew their English name. He stared at me, a brief look of puzzlement crossing his face, ‘Yes,’ he said in halting English, ‘they call Yorkshire pudding’.

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It’s a city full of contrasts…

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Home on Tuesday; end of the adventure … must get on with preparation for next term!

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