We feel rather ashamed that we have got nowhere with the language -there are six tones i.e every syllable which can be pronounced in six different ways. e.g. the word 'ma' can mean phantom, but, mother, rice seedling, tomb or horse depending on the intonation. I have tried hard but can hardly detect the difference.
We have a T.V in our room. 'this morning over Ho Chi Minh city will wake with severe marmalade spreading from the West.’ Is that an advert or what? Channel News Asia is all markets and shares and Australia news for me has many too many items on coral reefs. The other channels have many people dressed up 'Ming dynasty style' Comparable to our costume dramas? Peter locates BBC world news on a tiny radio, tinnitus sounding, whilst we breakfast on imported muesli which friend Lan delivered on her motorbike for us, banana, oranges, mango, local yoghurt and Lipton tea.