Per Magica Ad Astra

 Rainy season, predictable as ever, and I predict I will get when it will rain wrong. And so it was on Wednesday I decided I would take a little walk. I wanted to ask a question at immigration. Mind you in years past the huge impressive Promenada Resort Mall would have had an immigration office and my route would have been quite different. What is to happen with this huge and once quite impressive build? One of the things I though of doing on this little trundle into town would be to highlight a few tips should you be, like me, someone who like to walk for a beer into the city rather than take the car. I've decided not really to do much on that on this blog but crossing superhighway 11 is worth a mention simple because it is the biggest uncontrolled crossing on the route I took Back to the crossing of SH11 and even before you get to the actual highway itself there is a slip road to cross and a 2 way side road Another slip road The main southbound carriageway The main northbound ca

 I didn't think there would be a blog today, after all I had enjoyed my roast beef the day before and Sunday was to be MotoGP day. Before the days racing I was tasked  with getting such essentials as chicken and rice and should you so desire you can click HERE to see the Relive. It wasn't as windy as Saturday when I set out and I was able to get some better snaps of the incredible baskets woven by what Google tells me is the The Asian Golden Weaver (Ploceus hypoxanthus). Here are some of the snaps I took; And as something of a contrast, on the return leg there was this blaze of colour; I was just sitting down to lunch then, quite unexpectedly eldest daughter and granddaughter called in But they didn't come alone... Meet the new family members These two youngsters have set up house although as they were just dropped on us we are ill prepared, not least because we know bugger all about the little darlings. We don't even know what make of tortoise they are never mind how

 I know many of you must never have heard the title phrase before what with global warming and all that but every now and again mother nature decides to water the plants. More of that later because earlier in the day I called in a new to me café near the level crossing. The café is called A-ME and it is a lovely little place with nice staff and rather good coffee. So what about the "rain stopped play" line? Well, I had a plan... I rather fancied a trip to the Stinky canal to try and snap the sunset there so loaded with 2 phones and a selfie stick as a mini tripod off I set but when leaving I noticed that the clouds in the direction of my travel, were looking a tad dark and threatening. So I  grabbed the brolly, after all a little rain is fine as long as the brolly holds up... Isn't it😕 The problem was that even before the rain arrived the wind was so strong that the brolly was darn near impossible to control and it wasn't making some of my intended snaps any easier.

 Couldn't help the tongue in cheek😜title. No I haven't been taking advantage of Thailand's pot culture, more of a shopping trip... Yesterday was Chipmunk's birthday. Chipmunk is the boss of Kalae Bar, a rather good establishment in the night bazaar area of Chiang Mai and being her birthday she had a party. I couldn't believe the amount of food she put on, all free to enjoy. Interestingly a number of westerners seemd hesitant to partake, maybe thinking there must be a cartch but that certainly wasnt the case for Thai people, they know when they are on to a good thing 😃 Here are a snap or two as a slideshow And the tripping? After a couple of wonderful hours at the party I thought if I continue to munch on the wonderful food I will be the same shape as in former years so I set out to walk to few hundred metres to the Red Lion where my wife would pick me up from. Walking by the busy stalls on Chang Klan road I moved to to pass a bunch of girls that stopped to look at

 The Da Nang International Firework Festival is back after the long Covid pandemic absence. What a great show. I have tried to capture just a snippet for you to see. TTFN

 I really, I mean really like Da Nang, it is such a vibrant city. The riverside is fantastic, the beach terrific and the nearby Marble mountain... Well, just a must see. If that wasn't enough they have an incredible firework season. Here is a collection of snaps to give you a taste, the firework video will take a while so grab a brew and at this to get you in the mood.😁

 Hanoi behind me I arrived at the les touristy Hue. For me a place that really has lots to offer. Here are a few snaps so you can see for yourself. Like it?

 One of the things I really wanted to do was see what the reviews said should be a great bit of theatre. The Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre. I am so glad I did. The show is just under an hour long and very much a show I am glad to have seen. Recommended with enthusiasm. Hope you like.

 From Chiang Mai to Hanoi, a direct flight, Air Asia at less than £50 at the time of flying. Good flight making a great start to a few days discovering and in some cases rediscovering the great city of Hanoi. So I did a slideshow... Onwards.

 Quite a bit of my recent trip (recent, it has taken ages to get this done...) was recorded on video. I am still very much in the experimental stage and I have spent bucket loads of dosh on stuff to hold the phone and the like.  Most of it defeats the sort of objective of using a phone as my main recording device because... It is always on my person and carrying around such devices as phone gimbals and the like sort of defeats the objective. Still sometimes it helps. Tech banter over one of the things I wanted to do is put together a little bit on the actual travel, the flights, the train rides and the like to give a bit of a look at how this short trip went. So here it is. Let me know what you think. Coffee.

 In many ways I decided to do this mini travel report (is that a mini-travelog?) to get something out there to you good people, I would not be able, I am sure, to be a reporter who has to meet a deadline! Not nowadays anyway. There will be more detailed stuff of course but here are a few snaps and comments to give you a taster. Most of my wanders are on Relive  so you can take a look there. Nor do I have the talent of such talented people as Kiran Sidhu, Harjit Sohotey and of course, that talented travel writer Simon Calder. I spent a week and a half on a trip to Viet Nam, here are some of the things that I will be sticking out there for all to see in the coming days. In line with tradition once at Chiang Mai airport and safely checked in, it was burger time. My flight to Hanoi was with Air Asia, I was a very good flight and excellent value. Day 1 Hanoi I took in a show, the water puppets, do go and see it. Then a walk around the lake. A bit of light refreshment on Beer St And a nice l