Vietnamese all get free medical care in Vietnam, as Australians do in Australia and Brits do in UK. But travellers don't necessarily - it depends on whether their country of origin has reciprocal arrangements with the country where they need treatment. Sunny gets free medical care in VN but if she ever gets sick on one of her holidays in Australia we'll have to pay for treatment, repatriation, etc - and the same thing in reverse applies to me and all other foreigners here in Vietnam. Which in my case could become a major problem because I can't get reasonable travel insurance since turning 80 - although I must admit that it won't matter if I get terminally ill because there's no point in my being repatriated to Australia when my only family is here in Vietnam! (sister and family are still in Sth Africa but sister's got dementia and can't remember that she's got a brother, so no point my going there anymore...).
Btw, you probably remember me getting sick in Chester on our 2012 holiday - I went to Chester hospital and they gave me some tests and medications and travel insurers told me to go back to Australia immediately or they wouldn't pay anything - I wasn't even able to visit my cousins near Norwich as planned. So we flew directly back to Australia and also didn't visit sister and family in Sth Africa as planned, then went to the local emergency ward in Sydney where they did some tests and told me that Chester had mis-diagnosed the infection and given me the wrong antibiotics, which had just made everything worse instead of better! So free medical treatment ain't always as good as it's cracked up to be!!! 

I guess there's a lot to be said for "Pipe and slippers", but we're working through the benefits of VN's lack of legal/political interference as we speak: a mate's in hospital recovering from a serious heart attack that left him in a coma for 10 days and he's now "psychotic" with complete loss of memory. His partner has been paying the hospital bills from her own savings because the bank won't give her access to his account as they're not married (but have lived together for 3 years in a house our mate bought for them both, because he considers her his de facto wife). I asked Linh if she could help so she's getting the situation sorted by talking to a couple of her friends from dancing class who are luckily in senior management at the bank! Such intervention could never even be considered in our "strictly legal" western world!

Thanks Lee - very illuminating! I'll supply beer on behalf of myself and Terry (Terry please note!) if we make it to Oz and SA on the planned June/July trip. But if it's too cold we'll head north (Brisbane and Cairns) and leave south for next Tet (early 2025).

I'd love to help Linh and Sunny in the kitchen but they won't hear of it - especially when it comes to Vietnamese meals! And now we're downunder for just a couple of weeks (Sunny's school holidays for Lunar New Year: "Tet"), we're just eating out most of the time because short of time to get things done without spending it in the kitchen! Happy days - and let's hope the world calms down a bit in 2024 as I'm not sure I can take too much more of the madness we've seen in the past 4 years since Covid emerged! We've just had our sixth vaxes but the "bomb proof" westerners in Oz make me nervous walking around without masks - it's an airborne disease but they reckon face masks are too uncomfortable!

We've had (muted) "western" Christmas and New Year celebrations here in Vietnam and the country will soon come to a standstill as the bulk of nearly 100 million residents travel home to celebrate the advent of 2024 Lunar New Year ("Tet") with their families: Chuc mung nam moi!

Or he's got an exceptional memory! (or both!). I haven't changed much either, except I used to have a lot more hair!!!

Greetings all!
You have probably already noticed a new member "Bob" mentioned on the MB. Bob is Robert "Bob" Doe, former 6 Light Regiment LAD REME, Jan 65 - May 68. He posted on the GB asking questions about the Shades of Blue and if a copy of their record 'In the Midnight hour' was on the 208 site (as far as we can tell, it disappeared along with other stuff during one of the recent website reconstructions, but site Admin Lee Burgess found 3 links that might help him locate a copy). Bob says he's here because "I like looking at the photos and memories". Don't we all!
We don't know if Bob's time in 28 Bde overlaps with Eddie Roberts' (REME att 208 Sigs, early 1960s), but they'll surely work that one out by themselves!
In the meantime, Bob's email address has been added to the bulk emailing list for emergency use when contact via this MB is not possible. If you haven't received a copy, please let me know on this thread or by direct email to linhmartin@yahoo.com
Cheers, Scouse/MR

Here's a tale I just shared with some former 208 MB regulars on email:
My Vietnamese nephew Tony lives in Australia these days (his mum sponsored him over after she married a VN Aussie) and he told us on one of our visits downunder a few years ago (we live mostly in VN these days to care for our 11yo niece) that he'd applied and been rejected for the ADF (Aussie army). I had a look at the case and realised that both sides (him and the ADF) had made several misinterpretations at various stages of his application, so we lodged four separate appeals (3 medical, 1 education) and he won them all. He's now been a grunt in 5 RAR (Adelaide and Darwin) for nearly 5 years (his graduation from basic training at Kapooka was an incredibly emotional event for the family!).
Anyway, life continued for all of us and then he surprised us about 6 months ago by saying he'd been selected for jungle warfare training near JB (Malaysia) with British special forces - and that's where he is as I type this post, hence my comment about this being a 208-related story! Linh, me and our niece (Tony's 11yo sister, Sunny, who lives with us in VN) are all heading over to Singapore to catch up with him next weekend - but he's staying at the Marina Bay Sands (the Oz army always did pay well, as I recall!) and we're staying on Orchard Road so Linh and Sunny can go shopping!
How did that old saying go? Certa Cito, sh*t or bust, if heaven doesn't getya, the devil must!