'Lemon Juice' Bruce

Sunday, February 22, 2026

Photos, videos, Comments of my recent Vietnam travels:

Quy Nhon (Posted Aug 3, 2025):

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Dalat (Posted Aug 28, 2025):

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Buon Ma Thuot (Posted Aug 30, 2025):

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HOI AN: (Posted Sep 14, 2025) – Red Seal ships

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HOI AN: (Posted Sep 16, 2025) – Kasik

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HOI AN: (Posted Sep 18, 2025) – Revisited

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HUE: (Posted Sep 22, 2025) – Bridge at night

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HANOI: (Posted Sep 23, 2025) – Shark’s Jaw is no more

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HANOI: (Posted Sep 26, 2025) – Shark’s Jaw

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HANOI: (Posted Sep 28, 2025) – Memory Lanes

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CAT BA: (Posted Oct 2, 2025) –

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CAT BA: (Posted Oct 4, 2025) –

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SAIGON: (Posted Dec 11, 2025) – E-Bike Tours

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SAIGON: (Posted Dec 24, 2025) – Christmas Eve, Huyen Sy Church

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Mui Ne (Posted Dec 24, 2025):

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Nha Trang (Posted Jan 12, 2026):

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Bac Lieu 1 (Posted Feb 2026):

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Bac Lieu 2 (Posted Feb 2026):

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Bac Lieu 3 (Posted Feb 2026):

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Ca Mau (Posted Feb 2026):

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Ca Mau Cape (Posted Feb 2026):

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Nguyen Hue Walking Street (Posted Feb 2026):

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Notes on Vietnamese New Year (Posted Feb 2026):

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Can Tho Revisited (Posted March 2026)

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Can Tho Revisited #2 (Posted March 2026):

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Wednesday, June 25, 2025

"Retired but forever part of Intrepid"
Sharing some memories from my farewell party at Intrepid’s Hanoi office on Friday June 6.

THANK YOU to my colleagues who organized the gathering, and to those who attended or sent messages, and for your kind words and gifts. After nearly 27 wonderful and impactful years with Intrepid in Vietnam, sadly my official last working day will be June 30, 2025. But, as the icing on the cake says: “Retired but forever part of Intrepid”.

For me, this has been an extraordinary 27-year journey, filled with uncountable memories, emotions, ‘real life’ experiences, highs and lows, ambitious adventures and many real enduring friendships.

It has been a great privilege to lead 3,963 Intrepid travellers together on 378 Intrepid trips up and down Vietnam, and occasionally Cambodia.

Intrepid in Vietnam has always been so much more than just a job. It’s been my life, my purpose, my ‘family’ here, for half my adult life. I never imagined retiring, my future plan is still uncertain, but I have no plan to leave Vietnam yet.

I hope to see you again somewhere, sometime, on the road or in the office. I will watch with satisfaction as Intrepid Vietnam continues to grow and flourish, leading the way in responsible tourism. And I have some comfort and personal satisfaction in hopefully being “…forever part of Intrepid”.

Thank you to everyone who reacted and commented on Facebook. . .

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16kXCLnRNa/

If links do not open correctly on phone to show Comments, try on laptop!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1VC3Mi15xb/

. . . and Greeting Cards

https://recocards.com/greeting-card/farewell-bruce-117000654987

https://recocards.com/greeting-card/farewell-bruce-117444314839

THANK YOU! & FAREWELL!

On June 30, 2025, my employment with Intrepid in Vietnam officially ends after more than 27 impactful years. Intrepid in Vietnam has always been so much more than just a job to me. It has been my life, my purpose, my ‘family in Vietnam’ for more than half my adult life. Sadly, all things must come to an end. However, I am at least comforted by the words on the Intrepid Service Award, and the icing on the cake at the Hanoi office farewell party on June 6: “Retired but forever part of Intrepid”.

I am not saying “Goodbye”. But I do want to say a huge “THANK YOU!” to everyone, all my friends who have been part of my incredible journey with Intrepid in Vietnam. Thank you to management team for your support, office staff working behind the scenes so trips run smoothly, on-the-road colleagues, tour leaders and local guides, local operators and bus drivers who drive us safely from A to B. Everyone! Although they may not all see this email, I also thank our hotel staff, local people on my travels, the RT and Purpose projects, and the thousands of diverse Intrepid travellers from around the world who travelled together with me, some of whom remain good friends.

Intrepid Travel first came to Vietnam in 1995. I first came to Vietnam in 1996, as a first-time Intrepid traveller on the 22-day Vietnam Adventure. My wonderful holiday unexpectedly became a life-changing experience. In 1997, less than a year after I’d left, I was excitedly back here to work as an Intrepid tour leader in Vietnam. Just for a few years, I thought, but those years flew by and became decades. As they say, time flies when you’re having fun. Or, as a frog might say, time’s fun when you’re having flies!

Intrepid in Vietnam has certainly come a long way since those humble beginnings. I remember when I first started there were only 12 expat tour leaders, an Australian female ground manager/tour leader, a few local guides, no office, no laptops, no mobile phones, and often no internet. Communications locally and to Melbourne were by word of mouth, hotel phones, fax machines at $12 a handwritten page, and maybe guidebooks!

Over the years, Intrepid Travel evolved and grew into Intrepid Indochina, PEAK Vietnam and Intrepid Vietnam. Along the way, Intrepid in Vietnam has been a trend-setter for the Intrepid world, including being the first Intrepid DMC, and the first to trial the change from expat tour leaders to local leaders (Vietnamese and Khmer). I have been fortunate to live here and see Vietnam and Intrepid grow and prosper in this time.

For me, this has been an extraordinary 27-year journey, filled with uncountable memories, emotions, ‘real life’ experiences, highs and lows, ambitious adventures and many enduring friendships. It has been a great privilege to lead 3,963 Intrepid travellers on 378 Intrepid trips up and down Vietnam, and occasionally Cambodia.

It is often said that being a tour leader is the best job in the world, and sometimes the worst, all in the same day! You have to take the good with the bad. For me, it was mostly all good, and the most ideal lifestyle which I never imagined ending. Perhaps foolishly, I had no plan for the future or ‘retirement’. Although as the John Lennon lyric wisely says: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”.

I want to say a special “Thank you!” to Intrepid Vietnam management and staff for the friendship and support given to me in this emotionally-difficult transition time between leading my last trip last year and the expiry of my Work Permit on June 30 this year. This really shows that Intrepid Vietnam has been a very special and "great place to work". It has also been my "family" in Vietnam. I hope this feeling will continue in the future.

As always, the future is uncertain, but I have no plan to leave Vietnam yet. So I hope to see you again somewhere, sometime, on the road or in the office. I will watch with satisfaction as Intrepid Vietnam continues to grow and flourish, leading the way in responsible tourism. And I hope to be “…forever part of Intrepid”.

I am not saying “Goodbye”, but “Farewell” and “Hẹn gặp lại”.

Cheers from “Lemon Juice” Bruce.

Bruce McPhie.

Email: June 25, 2025

AN UPDATE (August 31, 2025)

Although not working now, I am still in Vietnam.

Thanks to the great and generous support of my friends at Intrepid Vietnam, and my long-time Vietnamese lawyer friend in Hanoi, I have legal residency here until June 2027.

I still miss my former purposeful life as an Intrepid Vietnam tour leader!

But I am grateful for the wonderful memories and amazing experiences during those 27 years. Also, I am grateful for the opportunity to be in Vietnam longer to travel, support local charity projects, and see what the future holds.

September 2025: Intrepid Travel (Australia) celebrated 30 YEARS in Vietnam, and Intrepid Vietnam celebrated 20 YEARS as Intrepid’s first local company.