Christopher Howe
Bio
Traveller, conservationist, and writer. I carry a coffee grinder and a Bialetti 2-cup Moka wherever I go.
Stories (4)
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Moving to Việt Nam during a pandemic: Chapter 2, 3 December 2021
I moved to Ho Chi Minh City - formerly known as Sai Gon, a name still widely used in the city itself - on Monday. A week locked in a hotel room should have been long enough to sort out all the admin requirements. I acquired a SIM card, downloaded apps, and completed online declarations. I saved QR codes and plane tickets to my phone. And I made sure I was in reception half an hour before my taxi was due, at 11am, just in case there was a problem paying for my daily 'coffee latte, hot', which turned out to cost £4 each, or my nightly 'Bia Sai Gon' which cost a much more reasonable £1 each.
By Christopher Howe4 years ago in Wander
Moving to Việt Nam during a pandemic: Chapter 1, 26 November 2021
Viet Nam takes quarantine and the Covid-19 pandemic very seriously indeed. I'm sure they would be shocked to see the way Britain and mainland European countries have relaxed their rules on social distancing while the pandemic still rages on. Of course Asia experienced the devastation caused by SARS more than a decade ago, and I'm sure the geographical proximity and strong connections Viet Nam has to China, and to Wuhan, means it is front of mind for many people. And a good thing too.
By Christopher Howe4 years ago in Journal
Mr Nice
I remember seeing a photograph of Howard Marks, the self-confessed drug dealer, in an article in the Guardian in was the mid-1990s. Marks had just published his autobiography. ‘Mr Nice,’ he called it. That’s when the thought first came to me. Perhaps it had been Marks on the plane to Bangkok that day? There was no Google, no Wikipedia. It wasn’t as easy back then to just look things up. So I let it go.
By Christopher Howe4 years ago in Confessions
