SaigonNezumi.com » Memories

Surprise birthday party at AIS

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 03:07:38 +0000

Last Friday was my 38th birthday. I went to my IT class at the American International School and was surprised to find two of my students, Joy and Long, had prepared a surprise party for me. Joy had made me some pasta with spaghetti sauce, sushi for the entire class and brought a huge cake. Boy was I glad I skipped lunch that day.

Thanks Joy and Long! This will be a memorable AIS moment for me to reflect upon in the future.

My Birthday Cake at the American International School, it says 'Big Belly' and 'Handsome'on the cake.

Joy preparing for the surprise party

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Early Birthday Gift from a Friend

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:30:53 +0000

One of my friends surprised me yesterday by sending me a birthday gift to my house. What a way to brighten up a day. She and her company sent me flowers and a birthday cake. The flowers smell really good and the birthday cake was one of the most delicious birthday cakes I ever had in my life.

It is nice to have such good friends in Saigon. Unfortunately I had to inform y friend that my birthday was on April 16th which is Friday. Hmm, I guess I will get another birthday gift???

Birthday gift from a friend

Delicious Birthday Cake

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Hard Rock Cafe Ho Chi Minh City – Grand Opening Party

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:19:12 +0000

Last Friday was the official Grand Opening Party at the Hard Rock Cafe Ho Chi Minh City. Last month was the soft opening.

Leon Sikes, the Managing Partner at MNG Joint Venture Partnership, and I were given invites by the Viet Thai International Joint Stock Company, or VTI for short. For those of you that do not know, VTI is the owner of Highlands Coffee, and the master investor for Hard Rock Cafe HCM. MNG, which focuses on global commerce and trade, intends to distribute Highland products in Turkey with hopes in expanding to the Central Eurasian region.

Since Leon and I did not have our invitation passes, Derick from VTI walked us in. Once inside, I forgot I was even in Vietnam. They did an amazing job with the interior of this Hard Rock Cafe. Since it was the grand opening, the drinks and appetizers were free.

Hard Rock Cafe HCM was a bit packed since there were actually two parties, the 6 PM and the 9 PM (for VIPs). At 9 PM, the early group just stayed, I would not have left either. Run-DMC was the star of the grand opening. If you did not get an invite, you really missed a great party.

Hard Rock Cafe HCM is definitely the place to go to hang out, have a drink and listen to good much in Saigon. Actually, I would say it beats all the other clubs in Saigon now.

Photos and 1 video below. Sorry, I used my G1 Google Phone so the picture quality is a bit lacking.

(Hard Rock Cafe HCM from the front of the Intercontinental Hotel)

(Entrace of Hard Rock Cafe HCM)

(First band playing)

(Run-DMC playing)

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Qeeboa – My new photo blog

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:53:34 +0000

I have been quite busy the last month developing with WordPress. Oddly enough, I had about 6 requests for WordPress sites from friend and colleagues during this time. WordPress has come a long ways and with the large number of developers and designers behind it, WordPress is becoming the permier web content management system. It is perfect for small to medium company websites at the moment.

During this time, I decided to play with some of the features WordPress themes and plugins are now providing to users. When one of my clients needed to manage their photos, I found NextGen, a great photo gallery plugin. I loved it so much, I decided to use if for myself.

Essentially I have 3 websites with pictures of my trips around the world since 1997. I decided to aggregate them into one photo blog using the free Arras Theme. Presto, Qeeboa is born. Qeeboa is derived from the word, keyboard, invented by one of my students almost 2 years ago. Since I already registered the domain name, I decided to use it for my new photo blog.

Some of you will notice that I use the name Kentai Matsunaga on the site. Matsunaga is my family name from my Japanese mother’s side. Kentai was my Kazakh name that I went by for two years (1997-1999). In Kazakh, it is deprived from a word small since many Kazakhs felt I was, well, small. It also have meaning in Japanese as well. Ken means sword, tai means body. I will explain later why I will plan to use Kentai Matsunaga in the future.

In the meantime, view some of the photos of the various cities I visited since 1997. I plan to put most of my pictures there.

http://www.qeeboa.com

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Unhealthy Rhino at the Dai Nam Safari Park

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 12:46:12 +0000

This is just one of those things where you just have to be there. In the wild, this rhino should be charging me. Here, it seems to want my help though most likely, it wanted some food. The other rhino would not let it eat.

This rhino had a huge cut near it’s right eye with flies flying around it. I wish there was a way to rescue or protect these animals at the Dai Nam Safari Park.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I added a video with the elephants as well.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Animals treated poorly at Dai Nam Safari Park

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 12:41:00 +0000

Today I went to the Dai Nam Safari Park outside of Thu Dau Mot, Vietnam. The park itself is not bad for a one day excursion away from Saigon. We visited the pagoda lined entirely of gold and visited a another pagoda on top of the man made hill. It would have been a fun-filled day if we had not walked into the zoo.

For me, every time I visit a zoo, I measure it with my favorite zoo in my hometown of Seattle, the Woodland Park Zoo. Until today, the worst zoo I ever visited was in Thailand. What I saw at the zoo at Dai Nam Safari Park shocked me. Cramped conditions, untreated cuts, poor water conditions, etc. Each enclosure had inadequate running room for the animals. The sea otter exhibit shocked me since I am used to the enclosures given to the otters at the Seattle Aquarium. Just take a look at the photos below:

(Small area for 4-5 osteriches)

(Another Small Inclosure – A)

(Another Small Inclosure – B)

(Sea Otters swimming in warm uncleaned water)

(Small areas for the rhinos)

(This rhino was very unhealthy with an untreated cut near it’s eye)

(This elephant looked sick)

(This elephant’s trunk had a puncture wound you can see through)

(These buffalo looked sick)

In general, the majority of the animals were not active. My friend said they looked quite old, their fur was not shiny due to stress. Only the tigers and lions seemed content. After visiting the elephants, we decided to leave the zoo and finally the whole park in general.

It is appalling that animals could be treated in such way.

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Turkish Airlines – Memories of Turkey

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:19:54 +0000

Turkish Airlines is another one of my favorite airlines. I flew with them several times since 1999. I would choose Turkish Airlines in a heart beat if they started offering flights straight to Saigon. Turkish hospitality is one of the best in the world. Here are some good Turkish Airlines commercials:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here is one of my favorite videos promoting tourism to Istanbul:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Yeni Hayatlar – STV (August, 2001)

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:04:36 +0000

I was going through my image folders from a backup I made nearly 4 years ago when I found some pictures I thought were lost. They sure brought back some memories.

Back in the Summer of 2001, I was interviewed by a television crew from STV, one of the leading television companies in Turkey. The television crew interviewed roughly 30 Americans for broadcasting with Yeni Hayatlar (New Lives) during the 2001 Ramadan month in Turkey and the Turkish speaking world. My story was quite interesting for them for my experiences with Islam and the Muslim communities in Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic (See my website Salaam Central Asia to learn about my experiences in Turkey and Central Asia).

The interview went very well but I was not able to see a finished clip until December, 2001. I forgot about it until I met with Fetullah Gulen and his community in Pennsylvania on my way to Istanbul. I remembered that he told me that I looked different in person (he had already seen my program on STV via satellite). I had no idea what he meant until I arrived into Istanbul a couple days later.

During an advertisement for Yeni Hayatlar, I saw a ‘fat’ looking, umm, me on TV. Oh my God, nobody realized that interviewing me outside in very humid conditions, sweating profusing to boot, would, umm, make me look fat. The footage inside my apartment, I looked normal, but outside, oh my God!!!

Anyway, the series was a success and books are still being sold in Turkey. I still get occassional emails from Kazakhstan from Central Asians who saw me on STV. Finding me at SaigonNezumi.com kind of boggles them, I am not like the guy STV portrayed me as being very religious and spiritual. For me that is funny since I do not consider myself religious at all, though I am very spiritual

So have at it, here are my ‘fat’ pictures:

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Yours truly 21 years ago

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:56:57 +0000

One of my childhood friends, Celeste, just posted a picture from 21 years ago on her Facebook account. I lost contact with Celeste back about 1993-1994. Thanks to Facebook, we got back in touch just last week. I met Celeste through another childhood friend, Scott. Facebook is a great way to get back into touch with friends

(I am on the left, Celeste is on the right)

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Happy 233rd Birthday to the US Marine Corps

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:20:10 +0000

Today is the 233rd Birthday of the US Marine Corps. On November 13, 1990, I started my basic training with the Marines down in San Diego, California. It would change me for the rest of my life. I miss the Corps at times but deep down in my heart, I will always be a Marine. Once a Marine, Always a Marine. Semper Fi!!!

View GoDaddy’s tribute to the Marines: Happy 233nd Birthday to the United States Marine Corps!

(Pvt. Kevin Miller – Feb. 8, 1991)

Happy Birthday to my fellow Marines around the world!

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