I had lunch the other day at Al Fresco’s Mac Dinh Chi location with Patrick in Saigon. I ordered a mushroom burger and we both shared some really good nachos. Al Fresco’s is pretty good, a bit pricey even by Expat standards, but worth the price. As usual, the service is pretty good though, I hate to say it, the cafe sua da is one of the worse in the city. Stick with a coke 
(First floor of Al Frescos - Mac Dinh Chi location)
(Waitresses very very friendly)
A Happy New Year 2009 from Saigon, Vietnam.
Less than a month left until the Year of the Rat ends, the Year of the Water Buffalo is approaching
I hope you all stay warm tonight. It was be cold here in Saigon as New Year approaches.
Nearly a couple weeks ago, I posted an article in reference to the traffic police being allowed to stop foreigners. Well, since that time, I have only heard of one case of a foreigner being stopped by the traffic police.
Today I was riding from District 4 to District 1. As I was turning, I was forced by a truck to go through a red light (it was either go or get run over). As I was going through the red light, I saw a traffic policeman looking straight at me. I thought it was strange but I realized that he let me off the hook for going through a red light.
What I did not know was that I forgot to put on my helmet. This has not happened to me before. In fact, I had left my helmet back at the consulting firm I worked at today. So when I left the gate, I just left without grabbing my helmet. It was not until I got to Au Parc that I realized I forgot to put on my helmet. The parking guards thought it was funny that I was trying to take off an invisible helmet off of my head
Anyway, to make a matters short, I broke two laws in front of the traffic police today. Surprised me. Maybe they we scared by my ninja mask? I am wondering if they will contact my friend who registered my motorbike. If so, I will pay for the fines, definitely.
I am wondering that they may have let me go because I have a northern number. You do not see many northern registered motorbikes getting pulled over in Saigon.
Wear your helmet, obey the laws! Do not be a hypocrite like I was today
I made the visit to the new Lotte Mart in Saigon near Phu My Hung. It was a long trip there from the Phu Nhuan District. All I got to say is that I was a bit disappointed about it. All the hoopla was just that. Big C, near my house, was just as good as the new Lotte Mart in my opinion. For electronics, just go to Nguyen Kiem.
My friends and I arrived to Lotte Mart at about 7 PM. The place was packed at the time. I was expecting a nice, clean quiet department store. Lotte Mart, on the outside, had reminded me of Target in some ways. All expectations changed when we entered Lotte Mart.
Instead of being quiet, it was quiet loud inside reminding me of the Vietnamese barbecue restaurants I visit once in a while. That really surprised me. The first floor reminded me of the first floor in all big Vietnamese superstores cluttered full of cosmetic kiosks. The second floor was better, we spent most of our time there.
Now the thing that surprised the most was how dirty everything seemed. All the electronics had a layer of dust on them. My eyes even started to water a bit, dust was everywhere. It did not seem if the Lotte Mart staff cared about the cleaniness of the place. I felt that the entire building was a bit unfriendly.
For me, it was not really worth the visit but I guess I might as well get used to Lotte Marts. They will spring up all across Vietnam. I hope their service improves before Walmart makes it’s entry into the market.
Pictures below:
(Second floor)
(Lotteria near the grocery store)
(First floor cosmetic kiosks)
(Near the entrance)
(Second floor electronics - Very dusty here)
I like reading stories like this one in Vietnam. It was published in the Western media today but I saw it on the Vietnamese news sites about a month ago. Do Viet Khoa is a school teacher in northern Vietnam who blew the whistle on the corruption at his school. He was praised as a hero by government officials but in his own town, he is seen as a pariah.
In Vietnam, the Vietnames school and university systems are ripe with corruption. Students are forced to take extra classes to learn topics they ’should’ have learned during the school day. Teachers and administrators use this to earn a higher income. It is a common practice here, not many people here seem to object by it. My neighber rents the rooms in his house each evening for extra classes.
In the universities, students with have to pay their instructors to ensure they get a good grade. Administrators can earn money by providing the exams to the students. Hence, graduating students from both the high schools and universities tend to have really high marks. Those with low marks were the one who refused or could not afford to pay the extra fees.
Though the government may be trying to stop the corruption in schools and universities, the reality is that is not happening as in Mr. Khoa’s case. Administrators, parents and students have shunned him for ‘hindering’ the progress of his students. Yet, he refuses to quit his fight and I applaud him for that.
Back in December, 2006, I had a similar experience to Mr. Khoa when I was a university instructor teaching Sociology and US History at the Center for International Education (Vietnam National University HCM). I tried to fight the excessive cheating among my students but in the end, I lost. My students that were caught cheating were allowed by the CIE to attend the universities in the US.
I hope the Vietnamese government can give Mr. Khoa the support he needs to continue his fight. He would make a great education government official someday to make the necessary changes to the current educational situation in Vietnam.
Vietnam has a huge potential in producing world class teachers and students.
Stand up for Mr. Khoa!!!
Read the article here -> http://apnews.excite.com/article/20081227/D95B8B300.html
Within minutes of Tweeting that the current storm would create flooding in Saigon, I heard water on my stairwell. It sounded like somebody left the shower on. Not good. The last time this happened this happened was last July. This would be the 4th time I can remember my house flooding from the terrace located on the 5th floor.
Unfortunately for me, there is only 1 drain on the terrace. Why my landlord did this, I will never know. Most of the other neighbors have a drain that runs out over their terraces. Yeah, the people get wet below but it keeps the house dry.
After I heard the water pouring down the stairs, I rushed out of my room. Here is a first, I got soaked going up the stairs, it was that much water. Normally I have some old linen blocking the opening underneath the terrace door. Umm, my dog removed it when I let her sleep in the house two nights ago. After letting my dog in, I found some old bed sheets and plugged the opening.
Then the hard part came. I had to mop up all the water from the first floor to the fifth floor all by myself. Yeah, I got a roommate but he is always conveniently away from home when problems arise. Luckily it took only about 15 minutes to clean up.
Two more weeks left in this house. I am tired of being flooded from above, seriously…
Yesterday the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) released a circular to regulate and enforce blogging rules in Vietnam.
According to Thanh Nien News, the circular states that bloggers will be held responsible for providing, disseminating, and creating direct links that are in direct violation of the decree issued last August that “…forbids the circulation of information which undermines Vietnam’s national security and social order, revealing classified information, or instigating war and violence.”
Pornography, superstitious content such as astrology, and defamatory content are also banned. These are social evils in Vietnam.
Bloggers cannot create blogs assuming other identities. That means the Fake Steve Jobs blogger would be in violation in Vietnam.
Furthermore, bloggers cannot post copyrighted material and they will also be held responsible for ALL the content of their blogs. Service providers (those that host blogs) “…must detect, prevent and get rid of banned information when asked by governmental blog management agencies, it notes” according to Thanh Nien News.
The questions not answered are whether Expat bloggers and Vietnamese who have blog accounts outside of Vietnam are affected. A report posted by Tuoi Tre today seems to state that if an overseas blog posted by a blogger in Vietnam violates the August decree, they may be held in criminal violation. I will need to confirm this since I was reading a translated version of the story with Google Translator.
Despite this circular, many bloggers seem not really worried about the regulation of blogs. There are just too many blogs, especially with Yahoo 360, that will make enforcing the circular too difficult. Also, since many bloggers are teenagers who have a tendency to speak their mind, restricting this young group could turn into an headache for the MIC.
With the growing popularity of Facebook and Twitter in Vietnam now, will these two service providers, as defined by the circular, be responsible to manage the information on their sites as well?
Read more about the new blog circular here -> Circular aims to tackle blogging violations
Vietnamese version here -> Tuoi Tre
VietnamNet Bridge just posted an article about the blog circular: Vietnam to have circular on Internet-based information violations
AP published Vietnam imposes new blogging restrictions as well. As with Reuters, AP seems to be paraphrasing the Vietnamese English language news sites. No fact finding as well.
Last night I stopped by Pinky Ice Cream on 20Bis Troung Dinh in District 3. I have been wanting to stop at this place many times since I see it everyday. To my surprise, it is actually a good place for ice cream. I ordered the ice cream cake which was very good and comparable to what you can get at Bud’s Ice Cream. It is even as good as Dream Cones.
My only disappointment was the Coke Cola Float. For one, they did not use real Coke and two, the cola used was, umm, warm. Hence the Coke Cola Float was just melted ice cream in a cola.
The decor was a bit disappointing as well. Not very pleasant to doable. It was too yellow for my tastes. Still, the ice cream made up for it. I will go back in the future just to have this little treat
(Pinky Menu and Locations)
(My ice cream cake)
(My friend’s shake)
(Okay decor, needs a little work though)
Merry Christmas Everyone!!!
Finally, here are some photos of my damaged house. Not sure what the costs of the repairs will be. Last night Vietnam beat Thailand 2-1. There were a lot of traffic again around our alleyway but little damage. Just mostly young guys racing their motorbikes, without helmets, with their girlfriends sitting behind them. By midnight things were quiet again.
(Two marble panes, 1 wooden siding and doorbell were damaged)
(Closer view)
(In total, 8 Vietnamese flags were stolen)
Here is something you will not see in the news here in Saigon. After Vietnam’s victory over Thailand last night, football fans watching the game at the cafes near my house ran down the alleyway and started stealing the Vietnam flag attached to the houses.
The neighbors told me that they went to the flags attached to my house and ripped the flag and mount off the marble wall. This created a lot of damage to the marble but then they continued to tear off a wooden siding as well (probably to fly the flag). The entire marble panel will have to be replaced.
Hooliganism has arrived to Vietnam thanks to football.
I will post some pictures later of the damage.
