Idle banter forum

LOL

agree w/smash LOL

Finally a question BM doesn't think he knows the answer to.

LOL. Madmac, you almost described me until you got to the hiking, drinking and women part.

Posted from within Vietnam.

From what I can gather the Guy has extensive experience of traveling through SEA, and his advice is well thought out & presented objectivly.

For example: A lot of people I have met told me to ignore the local tribes people in Sapa as they are 'just a hassel' however like most in Vietnam they are just trying to do the best for themselves, some are more aggresive than others. Brucemoon's suggestion was to talk to them asking questions about their lives/ family etc. I did just that and ended up with my own guide for the day, a very knowledgable local H'mong woman who also invited me to have dinner with her family which was fantastic. Also with no agent involved the whole amount that I gave her when to her/ her family only.

Take it easy.

:-)

Bruce has written so much on this board he could harvest it and create a guidebook all of his own. Some of what he says is considered, intelligent stuff. But then he gets on his travelling high horse, and it can be annoying to read him respond to perfectly good questions with dismissive put downs. For example, the below is to a request for advice on motorbiking from HCMC to Hanoi... THe thing is, Bruce, as much as I like many of your ideas on travel, they are not the only ideas out there. And those other ideas aren't all wrong. Think about it.

D

21 days to ride from SaiGon to HaNoi & return - are you kidding????

What else but ride did you have in mind???

Any partying, if so, where, how long???

When will you sleep???

What 'uppers' will you pop???

Mmmmmmm!!!

Some people...

lol, I didn't see this thread before I just responded to a Bruce Moon one in the Cambodian forum. Bruce seems like a nice guy and very helpful but, it does seem that his answers are info that anyone could obtain from google and the many websites he links to.

I want to see some 'I done this and 'we went there' and 'this is how you do that' rather than very broad and general 'text book-like' advise I seem to see.

Not a pop Bruce, but please tell me some thing about your experiences in Thailand and we could share some stories maybe :)

"Not a pop Bruce, but please tell me some thing about your experiences in Thailand and we could share some stories maybe :)"

Go to the trip reports and check his travel blog. Absolutely outstanding.

Here.
http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/brucemoon/
While wandering looking for a link to the blog I too noticed not many, "while here" or "as I was going there". Long thread critiquing LP's description of the Nam Ou yet skipped half the trip. Helpfull for people finding things I suppose.

Whatup Bruce?

Madmac you do take the cake though, a visa run to a border town and you can wax prophetic on a whole country, you win hands down!

I have a web filter that brings me all postings for a variety of words. I browse a lot of travel blogs.

He puts a lot of people's backs up with his superior know-it-all attitude and disparaging put-downs but he can be very funny too sometimes. His account of the "fragrant pond" toilets in China was hilarious!

This is like talking about someone when they're in the room with you. Doesn't sit too well with me personally.

sacott

Sorry I didn’t answer you earlier. I was sensing some negative comments elsewhere, and thought it wise to remain ‘unspoken’. I’ve now addressed that, so here goes.

You want to know who I am and why does he know so much about South East Asia

I was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1947. My first ‘involvement’ with SE Asia was as a conscriptee in the Australian Army with a 12 month ‘tour’ in ‘67. I only ‘served’ 7 months as I was medivac’ed home. This was the first of several ‘white light’ experiences I’ve endured: a head-on high speed car crash; I was diagnosed with cancer (given 6 months); and fallen out of a tree and broke my spine. But, as my wife says, there must be a reason to cheat death so many times.

I married about 40 years ago and my wife and I have four wonderful children. I began a career in the clothing industry, only to find it usurped by a gov’t intent on exporting jobs to keep prices cheap at home. I changed to retail and ‘enjoyed’ an exchange relationship with Japanese and Chinese providers. This was cut short by cancer (treatment) and after a couple of years, I began a career in the tertiary education sector. With all the gongs on my ‘official’ title is:

Dr Bruce Moon
BA, BSc, B Env Sc (Hons), GDURP, Grad Dip Ed, M Pub Pol, PhD

I had the opportunity to retire (very early) about a decade ago, so took it. I haven’t looked back.

Each of my children spent a year in later teens undergoing student exchange (best bit of educating I ever afforded them). 3 out of 4 went to SE Asia. Thus began a cultural awakening beyond mere travel.

Some years ago, one son spent a year in China as part of a Uni degree, so our first foray was to China. So, after ‘retiring’, this was the first of many visits to the SE Asian countries that each child had visited; and more.

We tend to try and have an OS ‘holiday’ at least twice - but often more - each year and also spend about 4 - 6 weeks on each visit.

Additionally, I am also secretary to a community based ‘ngo’ focussed on Vietnam (www.avvrg.org.au) which again focuses my attention on aspects of SE Asia.

The list of countries and visit frequency are:

Indonesia x 1
Thailand x 4
Malaysia x 2 (aside from KL as a hub)
Laos x 3
China x 2
Singapore x 5
Cambodia x 1
Japan x 1
Vietnam x 3 (aside from ngo ‘work’ visits).

So, in answer to your query as to why I know so much, first let me say the knowledge is relative: I just know but a little more than many others. But, that little more has come with frequent travel sojourns, and time researching/experiencing those sojourns.

Hope this explains.

Cheers

Egg on your face Jon MakMak?

I feel like Bruce only gets really indignant when someone comes to the forums with a ridiculous or un-researched idea - or at least, it appears that way to him. I've done my damnedest to find out answers to my questions before posing them to this forum, and Bruce's contributions on that platform have been, frankly, invaluable. And, considering I have done my best to avoid any of the political debates, hes never stepped on my toes.

The real reason that I am posting in this thread is to address Jon Mak Mak -

You constantly say things like "Not a pop Bruce" - "again no offense but..." - and "Not having a go here mate" - and then precede/follow that with pretty much "having a go." That doesn't really work.

You cant say "No offense, sir, but you're a ****** idiot." People take offense. If you're going to have a go - don't pretend like you aren't.

easy now. let's just let this one go. the issue has already been addressed and solved. no need to drag it out.

Quote:

"If its the wishy-washy one wants, there are other sites." Bruce Moon.


Bye bye Travelfish, welcome to the Bruce Moon Show.

Yes, I expect that's alright jon mak_mak. Robust dialogue, just what the doctor prescribed.

Nice thread to wake up to --- not sure what happened to the bad word filter, will need coffee before looking at that.

I've deleted some of the posts in the above and also cut out those naughty words -- you people go wash your mouth out with soap.

I think the OPs question has been answered, yes? Nothing more to see here, please move on.

I feel bad now as I started this thread.

I'd like to say sorry to Bruce, I really don't agree with any of the slagging going on in here.

It is a real pity that on such a great forum which exists for fellow travelers to converse there should be such comments. I don't believe anyone with valid contributions tee nee should have any reason to offend others.


My apologies again.
Scott

I actually enjoyed this thread very much because people are being real and I learned a lot about Bruce Moon. I don't think Bruce or anyone else give a sh** about anyone hating on him. Look at what the guy has been through, I don't think he's gonna loose any sleep if someone has some negative things to say about him.

BTW Bruce I see you have never been to Korea. Look into Jeju Island and let me know when to expect you!

Cheers!