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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)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXgrv2FLKyo[/youtube]

I had a great Christmas dinner with my Vietnamese friends last Friday.  This was my first Christmas dinner in Vietnam since I first moved to this country 5 and a half years ago.  Though many Vietnamese are Buddhist, the Christmas spirit has really caught on in Saigon.

(I ate about half of the Big C chicked)

Last week I had my first Thanksgiving turkey dinner in Saigon after an absence of 6 years.  I was surprised but while living in Vietnam, I just forgot about Thanksgiving.  Leon Sikes from MNG JVP invited me to join him and his friends at the Renaissance Riverside Hotel‘s Riverside Cafe for Thanksgiving dinner.  The food was great!

(My turkey dinner)

(Riverside Cafe)

Last week a friend who looking to buy a BMW for his father.  BMW tend to be a very popular car in Saigon.  He tested this 2002 BMW 318 last week but did not like it.  The condition was good though but there were some dents on the left door.   This particular car can cost around $36,000-40,000 US used.

Unfortunately, due to the potholes and street flooding, luxury cars are not really suited for Saigon at this time unless you live in Phu My Hung or An Phu.  Plus, it is still difficult to find parking spaces for cars in the city.

Well, an unplanned evening turned out to be quite fun last night. It started out at 7:30 PM at Soho Cafe where I was able to sell the infamous iPhone to my friend, Mai (MCM), for a respectable price.  She seemed quite happy to take the iPhone off of my hands.

Then Vi, my staff and mutual friend with Mai, called.  Mai and I later joined Vi at Hoa Vien joined by several of her friends later.  Hoa Vien was fun, I was shocked that Vi could drink a dark beer.  Vi’s friend and I joked with Mai that she actually bought an imitation Chinese iPhone, not the real thing

We then headed to Lush Bar which was packed.  We all drank a little too much whiskey and cokes.  I ended up having to postpone my meeting today by one hour so Vi can recover from last night.  We have a web project going Live this weekend.

Now time to head to my meeting…

(Ms. Vi)

(Vi’s Aunt and Mai Chi Mai)

(Troi oi Vi!!!)