31 very interesting things: 8. Saigon traffic watching

There's plenty more where this came from, but the one above is quite restrained. Quite peaceful. Pleasant even. Oh and by the way... did some Vietnamese newspaper write about me this week or something? Getting loads of email from Vietnamese folk and 4,000 hits a day or so which is double what it normally is. But, can't see a specific link driving that traffic. Oh well.

Comments

[Nhuy Nguyen]

Yes. You and few other food bloggers was featured here:
http://www.tuoitre.com.vn/Tianyon/Index.aspx?ArticleID=255450&ChannelID=16
I found you out from there. Nice to meet. :)

[Ewan McIntosh]

I think Delhi beats it:
http://youtube.com/results?search_query=delhi+traffic&search_type=

[Graham]

A close cal Ewan, but no...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dqibvh96Og

[Graham]

Oh and thanks Nhuy, that appears to be a mishmashomosh of an old Tuoi Tre article and a Global Voices interview, but I could be wrong. My Vietnamese is more than a tad rusty :)

[Wandering Chopsticks]

My VNese is pretty bad but it looks like they deleted that paragraph about how you'll never write another food blog b/c it can't compare to your experience in VN. :P

BTW, loved this link for world's worst traffic jams. Saigon's got nothing compared to some of these places.
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/03/worlds-worst-intersections-traffic-jams.html

[graham]

But, the thing is I don't think I will write another food blog. One thing about blogging is it simply does not work unless you are deeply interested on the topic. I an very interested in French food and all that, but just not to the same degree. I think I'd be faking it a bit if I tried. And that never works. Having said that, there are a fewehings I've been thinking about. Blogging simply because I can't find out much info about them on the net.

[graham]

But, the thing is I don't think I will write another food blog. One thing about blogging is it simply does not work unless you are deeply interested on the topic. I an very interested in French food and all that, but just not to the same degree. I think I'd be faking it a bit if I tried. And that never works. Having said that, there are a fewehings I've been thinking about. Blogging simply because I can't find out much info about them on the net.

[graham]

note to self: commenting on a blog from a phone makes you look like you don't know how to spell anythink.

[Wandering Chopsticks]

Haha! Well, I was thinking more of the fact that the reporter quoted you and made up that quote without ever actually interviewing you. Or did I remember that wrong?

My belief is that people stumble upon blogs by searching for specific subjects. They stay if they're drawn to the personality. I'm sure you'd draw in a different group of readers if you switched subjects. So what can't you find that you're thinking of blogging about next? Are your hits still largely based upon the VN street food?

[Graham]

No, you're right. There was a journalist way back who quoted me as saying I'd never write about any other food because I only loved Vietnamese food, or some such. Which is nonsense, but not far off the mark as things turned out :)

As to your other points, well I blog a lot elsewhere these days or work on blogs, help bloggers, build blogs etc. Not so much time to blog here. I'll just post things I find interesting until a topic grabs me that I have the time to explore properly.

Not sure about the hits to this blog. Quite a few big referrers still send people this way. Plus I think Google likes it for Vietnamese food terms. When I was trying to figure out why I was getting a big spike in visits I googled a few Vietnamese food items and it's often this blog that comes at or near the top - bun mam, hu tieu, bun rieu etc.