SaigonNezumi.com » Pham Ngu Lao

Vietnamese Gem Stones in Saigon

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:30:56 +0000

Looking for good Vietnamese gem stones to take home as a souvernior. Thach Son Phuc Co., Ltd., offers gem stones at their show room on the second floor of Margarita’s in Pham Ngu Lao. Below are some pictures I took of their showroom:

I actually did not buy anything here. We already knew the prices for gemstones in another location of Saigon. Be wary that you will be charged double at this shop but the figure is actually a tourist rate. It is a good place to start though and you never know, you may get a deal

Thach Son Phu Co., Ltd. Showroom
Address: Margarita Second Floor, 175/1 Pham Ngu Lao, District 1, Saigon
Mobile: +84903914932

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More street flooding in Saigon

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:23:58 +0000

Saigon got hit with huge thunderstorm that lasted nearly one hour this afternoon. As expected, many of the streets were flooded. The below pictures were taken on Bui Vien Street in the Pham Ngu Lao backpacker area about 45 minutes after the storm at the Santa Cafe.

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Bobby Brewer’s Employee buying street pastries

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 03:53:37 +0000

I thought this was funny. While eating lunch in Pham Ngu Lao, I saw one of Bobby Brewer’s employees buying pastries from a street vendor. Hmm, I guess she does not like the pastries at Bobby Brewer’s… Not really, many Vietnamese find Western pastries too sweet. I always see Bobby Brewer’s employees eating from the street vendors in this area.

A side note, this particular street vendor can sell all of her pastries in less than one hour. She picked a good spot.

(Bobby Brewer’s girl in black across the street)

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Pham Ngu Lao Craziness

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:00:55 +0000

I decided to have lunch at Mimosa today. Normally there are two tables just outside the restaurant. Roughly every 2-3 months, the local police ‘confiscate’ one table for about a month. The owner can get it back sooner but she did not want to have to pay the ‘fee’. The police will return the table. About a week before Tet, they will take it back again.

Same ole, same ole…

(Used to be a table here)

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Above the law?

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:47:07 +0000

Ever notice when a new group of Expats arrive in a particular country, in my case Vietnam, they tend to think they are ‘Above the law’? Even some longtimers, those who have been here more than 4 years, have this notion they can anything they want in Vietnam.

Some examples off above the law attitudes include having your ‘Vietnamese’ girlfriend stay overnight in your home, apartment or room. Not obeying the traffic rules on the streets. Refusing to pay since you that you were cheated, ie not paying for the week’s worth of motorbike rental. There are many, many examples.

Yesterday my students were presenting about motorbike safety. They kept mentioning about the consiousness of the Vietnamese people need to change in efforts to decrease motorbike and car accidents. I found this amusing since if you check around Saigon, the person most likely NOT to wear a helmet is, yes you guessed it, a Western Expat. Just drive past the Pham Ngu Lao Backpacker area. If you ask them why they are not wearing a helmet, the response normally wil’ be, “The Vietnamese Police can’t speak English so they will not stop us.” Hence, he is saying he is above the law.

Many Expat guys want their Vietnamese girlfriends to stay overnight in their homes, apartments or room even though legally this cannot be done in Vietnam. Some Expats accept this. Others do not but they feel the police will not do anything since they are a foreigner. So wrong, the police will just contact your landlord. When my landlord talked to me to complain about my roommate and his girlfriend, it was after his visit to the Ward police. You can guess what happened but in the end, the above the law attitude prevailed.

Refusing to pay the Vietnamese is more of a problem with Backpackers and English teachers. One complaint you hear from Vietnamese is that they get to know, lets say, an English teacher. He/she has no money one day so the restaurant, hotel, etc., gives them a tab. The teachers pays it off in the beginning but starts to pay later and later. Eventually the English teacher bails believing, many times, that they do not need to pay their ‘bills’ since the Vietnamese are most likely cheating them. They also get away with it. What can the Vietnamese do to someone who feels they are above the law?

It goes on and on but are Expats really above the law? Makes you ponder. Comments are definitely welcome here.

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How to get a Vietnamese Girlfriend the Western Way

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:58:41 +0000

Today I heard the most unusual story, well maybe not that unusual, about a Western guy who really wanted a Vietnamese girlfriend. At first when I heard it, I thought the waiter was joking. Here is how the story goes.

A couple days ago, this Western man, not sure about his age, brought a Vietnamese girl to the restaurant where I eat at a couple times a week. The waiter, who I have known for nearly two years now, was asked to translate for the man since he could not speak Vietnamese. The girl could not speak English as well.

The guy wanted the waiter to tell the girl he will pay her 100,000 VND per day if she would be his girlfriend. She could live at his house but did not have to have ‘boom boom’ with him all the time.

The waiter told me that the girl did not respond but he felt she would accept the offer. He knew who the girl was and said she worked at the bar nearby.

Oddly enough, this may in fact be quite common in the backpack area. Wow, this is another world to me. Call me naive but the Vietnam I know is much, much different.

I am curious to see if anyone out there have heard of similar stories?

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BBC: Vietnam drugs haul ‘largest ever’

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:53:54 +0000

(Source BBC World News)

This should come as a surprise for many of the Expats especially for those who regularly visit the Pham Ngu Lao area for their purchases of marijuana. The Vietnamese police just busted the largest shipment of drugs ever (worth $90 million US) of canibis (marjiuana).

There is a perception in the backpacker area that it is all right to smoke marijuana since the Vietnamese police will only try to catch those who use more illicit drugs such as cocaine or heroine. I was never really sure that was such a case but now marijuana users should definitely use more caution.

Anyway, unless you want to become Beavis and Butthead, why smoke marijuana?

Read BBC story here -> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7403362.stm

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Fast Wifi at Mimosa

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:36:50 +0000

Okay, I am currently having lunch at Mimosa, a small Vietnamese Italian restaurant in the backpacker area. I needed to email some pictures so I decided to see if there was a wifi connection.

Found one that has really high bandwidth.

536 kbps downloads, 328 kbps uploads

Not bad for “FREE” bandwidth

Mimosa, 88 Bui Vien Street, Pham Ngu Lao Area, District 1, Saigon, Vietnam

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Unusual Thunderstorm in Saigon

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 10:37:09 +0000

Technically, it is still the dry season in Vietnam. March is normally extremely humid and hot. This is the time that most Vietnamese and Expats really complain about the weather.

Yesterday was an oddity. It was a bit hot in the morning but started to cool off a bit towards lunchtime. It has sprinkled a couple times the past week but most people missed it. Yesterday’s storm could not be missed. It started as a light sprinkle that turned into a downpour that lasted over a half an hour. I was stuck in Pham Ngu Lao, like many other people, since I did not have a rain poncho on me. I normally buy a replacement rain poncho in April about a month before the rainy season is supposed to begin.

(Unusual March Saigon Downpour)

We had another downpour in the late afternoon that lasted into the evening. It was a spoiler for many Women’s Day events here. Most of my friends and I canceled our plans last night. I got soaked during the second downpour

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Vietnamese Perception of Expats

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:44:24 +0000

Here is great comic representation on how Vietnamese may perceive Expats sometimes:

(Image Source: ArcaMax Publishing)

Yes, our friend Garfield is our pseudo-Vietnamese character always listening to our pseudo-Expat, Jon, talking about his life. For some of you that have lived in Vietnam a long time, I think you will a great laugh out of this one

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