Living in Saigon, Vietnam

Saigon Moonset

2009-12-09T20:27:00.002+07:00

I was up before sunrise the other day and shot this photo from my balcony. The sun is coming up behind me to the east, while the full moon approaches the horizon, to the west.

Vietnam Visa

2009-12-03T00:01:00.000+07:00

Please note: these days the whole visa issue for foreigners living in Vietnam is in a bit of turmoil. Right now there are only 30-day visas available. Apparently the government is trying to clean up some of the riff-raff among foreigners. The blog post below was written just a short time ago, when everything seemed stable. Getting repeated 6-month visas year after year was the norm. Let's hope those days return soon. (The info about Vietnam visas on arrival should still be correct.)

There is no official "visa on arrival" for Vietnam but these days a few companies have sprung up on the web that offer basically the same thing. Don't worry, it's legit; I just used one of these services a few months ago. Do a search for "Vietnam visa" and you will find a couple of sites to choose from.

You pay about $25 for a 30-day visa, and they email you a document to print out. Get a couple of passport photos and when you arrive at the airport in Vietnam, don't go to the normal windows for the immigration process. At the airport in Ho Chi Minh City where you go is over to the left of the main immigration place. There's a window there and you just hand them your papers and they will give you the official stamps you need. Then you go back to the regular immigration lines.

Once you are in Vietnam, you can get an extension for your visa and/or a longer term visa, at nearly any travel agency. There are many in the Pham Ngu Lau area. Just hand over your passport and within five days or a week you'll get it back with the new visa inside.

The prices tend to go up and down, and it varies according to whether you are getting an extension or a completely new visa. A multiple-entry visa is about twice as expensive as a single-entry visa. Be very clear about which kind you want, so that you get charged the right amount. A single-entry 6 month visa costs about $40 to $50.

There are individuals who do visa services but I would stay away from them and go with an established travel agency. You meet someone who has a friend who is a lawyer and says they can arrange your visa for a low price; it's not a scam, people do use services like that successfully but the one time I tried it turned out to be a big headache. You might hear about "the visa twins" who I've never met but apparently are a couple of twin sisters who do visas for some English teachers. It works for some people but personally I would advise staying with the travel companies.

Vietnam's Wild Elephants

2009-12-02T00:01:00.000+07:00

Here's a trivia question for you: How many wild elephants are left in Vietnam?

According to this article at ecoworldly.com, the answer is: 80.

Teach English Online

2009-11-27T17:32:00.008+07:00

If moving abroad is too much of a leap for you and you don't live in a big city with a lot of immigrants who study English, there are still opportunities to teach English as a second language. If you just have an internet connection, a headset, and maybe a webcam (and who doesn't, these days), then you can teach English online.

There are literally millions of people around the world who are in a rush to learn what has become the international language, and many of them are looking for teachers online. You can tap into this market and make good money from the comfort of your home, but it can be tricky.

Fortunately, a guy name John Buchanan has written an ebook that makes it a lot easier.

I bought John's ebook and used the info in it, and I highly recommend it. These days I've gone on to do other things and I'm not teaching online very much, but back when I got started teaching online this book really helped me out a lot. He's also really generous with personal support and will help you out if you have questions.

I recently revisited the website and I was impressed that he's gotten endorsements from some big names in the industry, like Steve Ford. Impressed but not surprised, because the ebook package is really helpful- I'd even say you shouldn't venture into the world of teaching English online without getting this book.

In addition to the ebook you get a bunch of other stuff too, including a couple of videos, some excel spreadsheets to keep you organized, a motivational 21-day plan, plus the great support from John himself. If you're at all interested in this great way to make money online- head over to his website right now!

Here's the link: How to Teach English Online

Note: that is an affiliate link. The price is the same for you when you use my affiliate link to buy John's fantastic product, and you will also be buying me a cup of coffee, as well as spreading more good karma around- everybody wins! (And of course he offers a 30-day 100% money-back guarantee.)

A photo of John Buchanan:

Here are some short excerpts from the website, but you should head over there and read it all:

More and more students are realizing the potential of Skype to practice and learn more English. They love it because it's super convenient to actually speak with a natural English speaker.

All you need is a computer, a decent Internet connection, a microphone, some speakers, and an instant messaging program like Skype (or even Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger or Google Talk).

Enjoy the freedom of being your own boss. Keep all of the profits for yourself and your family.

***

Unlocking YouTube's secrets is a powerful marketing force that will give you enough money to be happy...perhaps more! You'll discover other easy-to-implement marketing strategies as well, which means you will get more paying students eager to learn with YOU.

Meeting interesting people and helping them succeed at English will only make your life more satisfying, stronger, and richer. Take pride in a job well done.

The convenience and peace of working from your own home is a rewarding dream that will come true. You even have the option to travel and teach at the same time. Your new career will never be locked down to just one location. Freedom of movement and choice is a powerful motivator. Welcome to the new age of technology, teaching English, and business.

What Makes A Good ESL Teacher?

2009-11-26T18:06:00.005+07:00

A previous post on qualifications for teaching English in Vietnam noted that education and certification are not especially important, so what is important? What kind of person makes a successful teacher? What kind of person makes a good teacher?

I have been a school administrator, in the position of hiring and firing teachers, and I've even opened a school of my own, so I've put a lot of thought into what makes a good teacher or a successful teacher. At the beginning I thought it was about degrees and training, but I quickly learned that experience is far more useful and important. So, for awhile I thought that experience was the most important factor.

But then, I've met some great, happy teachers without much experience, and teachers who have been here for a decade who are unhappy, lousy teachers who can only hold a job for a few months. So I had to conclude that while experience is very important, it may not be the most important. What is the most important thing, then? What do I personally look for when evaluating a teacher to work at my own school?

Well, my current belief is that the most important qualification that a teacher can have is that they care. You have to care, even if just a little bit, about the students and about helping them to learn English. If you're just in it for the money, if you're just looking for a way to pay for your beer habit with minimal effort, then you won't be much of a teacher. Certainly, there are many teachers here who don't care, but they are the ones that only last a few months at each school, are always complaining, and are always looking for that ideal job where they can sit and do nothing and still get paid...

School administrators can spot these kinds of teachers, if not at the first interview then usually within a week of working with them. The most adept of them will fool a school for a month or even two, but then they're gone.

Once in my first years as a teacher I got a new job and one of the things that an administrator asked in my interview was, "What are you doing to improve yourself as a teacher?" I thought it was an interesting question, and a good one. Somebody who really cares about teaching will always be trying to improve themselves, they will always be striving to grow as a teacher.

Since then, I have sprung the question on a few teachers, when I was in the admin role. I remember I asked this one guy if he was doing anything to develop himself as a teacher and he just said, "No. Nothing." Sheesh, I thought, at least you could fake a positive answer. He didn't last long.

Teaching English is a job; it requires effort. Many teachers think that all they have to do is show up and chat with a group of students for 90 minutes and then go home. It takes more than that. It's not easy. You have to try and if you care then you will try to teach the students English. And your school will know that you care and that you are trying, even if you aren’t always successful, and they will want to work with you.

Not able to move abroad, or already here but fed up with teaching in classrooms? How about earning $20 an hour in the comfort of your own home, teaching English on the internet with voice chat?
Read my post on teaching English online:
www.vietnaminfoblog.com/2009/11/teach-english-online.html

Vietnam Sends More Students To USA

2009-11-25T19:28:00.005+07:00

According to Open Doors 2009: The Annual Report, students going abroad to study in the United States increased by 46% from last year.

The Open Doors 2009 report, an annual report on international academic mobility, is published annually by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in Washington, D.C. with support from the US State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, using data based on a comprehensive survey of about 3,000 accredited US higher education institutions.

The report indicates that the number of Vietnamese students studying in the US in academic year 2008-2009 increased by 46.2 percent from the previous year.

The total is now roughly 12,800 students, according to the report.

The report noted that Vietnam’s increase was “dramatic” as the country was in only 20th place two years ago.

Of the total Vietnamese students in the US, 72.1 percent are enrolled in undergraduate programs, 15.2 percent in graduate programs and the remainder in other types of study or training programs.

According to a US Department of Homeland Security visa update from January 2009, there were more than 15,000 Vietnamese students in the US enrolled not only at universities but also high schools and vocational schools, making the US the world’s second leading host ofVietnamese students after Australia.

Some US campuses seeing declines in the number of international students cited reasons such as students’ concerns about the H1N1 virus and various effects of the current economic conditions.

But the report noted that the findings do not reflect the full impact of the past year’s economic downturn since “the decisions to come to the US to study were made before the financial effects were fully felt in the sending countries.”

India is now the leading country for international students in the US, followed by China and South Korea.

Read more: http://www.state.gov/r/remarks/132040.htm

Winter Weather In Southern Vietnam

2009-11-24T19:02:00.000+07:00

This is my favorite time of year for Vietnam weather. The daily rains have stopped and the weather is cool. It's cloudy with a little bit of very light rain sometimes, and some days there is a clear blue sky with clouds and sun and a nice breeze and it's not really hot like it will be in May- perfect weather.

The changes in the weather here in southern Vietnam are so subtle that it took me a long time to be able to sense the difference. Even locals aren't really sure when one season begins and another season ends. Many times I have asked English classes exactly when the rainy season is and different students will give me different answers. Sometimes the class will erupt into a debate about what months are what season.

Some years ago at about this time when the rains have stopped, people would say to me, "Oh it's so cool now- it's winter." And I thought they were crazy because the temperature is still in the 80's. But now I get it; the weather is actually cool, compared to the rest of the year. At night it even gets down to the upper 70's- downright chilly!

Vietnamese Singer - Ho Ngoc Ha

2009-11-23T13:05:00.005+07:00

It looks like Vietnamese singer Ho Ngoc Ha's star has risen. On a trip downtown today I must have passed at least 50 of these Sunsilk banners with her face on them:

And then on the way home I passed a few Nokia billboards also featuring the face of Ho Ngoc Ha:

She's all over Ho Chi Minh City these days; I also often see her on TV. Yesterday I went to a DVD shop and they were playing her music videos- I guess the Michael Jackson phase is over.

I remember some kind of a sex-scandal featuring Ho Ngoc Ha a few years back, but I wasn't able to find anything in English about it on the web. Apparently it didn't hurt her career. Her official site is www.hongocha.info. And the Ho Ngoc Ha Facebook page is here: facebook.com/pages/Ho-Ngoc-Ha

Google Toilet Paper

2009-11-22T00:01:00.000+07:00

This photo is getting around the blogosphere. It originated on blog.style14.net and then got picked up by the Huffington Post and others. I haven't seen it in the supermarket yet.

Parking Your Motorcycle In Ho Chi Minh City - Electronic Cards

2009-11-21T09:58:00.004+07:00

I went downtown yesterday for the first time in over a month. Things change so fast here in Ho Chi Minh City- you blink and there are new buildings everywhere.

Tax Center has something new since the last time I was there: electronic cards for motorbike parking. A machine takes a photo of your license plate as you come in, and then displays the photo to be checked on your way out.

This is normally done by hand with slips of paper, and it's a routine part of daily life in Saigon. Everywhere you go, you get a little slip of paper or a card of some kind when you park your motorbike. Then you hand it back on your way out. Either the license number or the number on the paper is checked to match your bike. If you go out shopping or running errands, you might go through this process a number of times in a day.

I've lost my ticket a few times. Twice, I dropped it on the floor and had to go back in to the store and run around looking for it on the floor. Fortunately I found it or somebody found it and turned it in to security and I was able to get it back.

This happened at a little computer shop one time. I dropped it on the floor and a bunch of staff people went to run around and look for it for me. Now, every time I go to that shop, the security guys won't even give me a ticket. They just tell me to go in and they remember who I am and which bike is mine. I'm the only foreigner there so it's not like it's difficult to remember.

But if you lose the ticket and can't find it, then you have to produce the registration for the bike to prove that it's yours. I did this one time, too. Even though it was obvious that the bike was mine, there was no way they would give it to me without proof. The bike wasn't registered in my name so I had to call the owner and get them to come and show the registration. It was a pain- don't lose your ticket.

(How could I be so careless, you ask? Well, a few times in 8.5 years isn't so bad. I'm just a space-cadet sometimes.)

Now Thuong Xa Tax has these fancy electronic cards. Is it the only place in town with this system, or have you seen it other places too?

Ho Chi Minh City Window Washers

2009-11-20T00:01:00.003+07:00

Qualifications For Teaching English In Vietnam

2009-11-18T00:01:00.002+07:00

What training and qualifications are required for teaching English in Vietnam?

Basically: none. The only real requirement to teach English in Vietnam is that you are not from Vietnam. I have a B.A. degree from the USA and no teaching certification at all, and I've done fine. After the first year or two, your experience becomes an important qualification. Schools are confident to hire you if you're not a beginner. They will overlook other shortcomings just to get somebody that will make the students happy.

Let's look at a few variables that may affect a school's decision in hiring you:

The color of your skin.

I'm sorry to say it, but white is definitely best. White skin will get you a job teaching English in Vietnam, all by itself. I've seen scruffy, untrained, inexperienced, non-native English speakers get a job- their white skin was their only qualification.

Blacks can do okay but unfortunately they have gotten a bad reputation in Vietnam. The government recently deported a few hundred Nigerians; quite a few have been arrested on drug charges. I once met a nice, handsome, young African teacher who I found out was arrested a couple of weeks later for smuggling Ecstacy into Vietnam from Cambodia. Many Vietnamese people are afraid of black people. But don't worry, you can still do fine, just be aware of some of the prejudices that you may run into.

Asians have a harder time. It's a little too close to home. Parents want to see foreigners teaching their kids.

Overseas Vietnamese have a really tough time. It may be hard to find a job, and you may have to accept lower pay. Even if you were born in the USA, don't speak Vietnamese, and never came to Vietnam before, it's all about appearance. If you do speak Vietnamese, don't let the school know! Pretend you don't understand a word. I have heard the staff of a school directly say to an overseas-Vietnamese English teacher: "Please don't speak Vietnamese at all in the school. Don't let students or especially parents know that you speak any Vietnamese."

Filipinos can also do okay, but you might have to accept a lower salary.

Your age and gender.

Most English language students are university-age girls. The ideal teacher, in the eyes of school administrators, is handsome, young, white, and male. That said, the vast majority of English teachers are male, and female teachers are welcome just for some variety.

Your appearance.

Appearance is everything! If you look teacherly, you will get hired. Things are changing, and I think there is more acceptance of various kinds of foreigners now, but in the past you might raise suspicion if you didn't look like a teacher. I remember one guy who was told that it was not okay that he rode a bicycle- he would have to get a motorbike. Why? Because teachers have motorbikes, not bicycles.

Another teacher told me that he was hassled by management because he didn't carry a bag. He was informed that he needed to carry a bag and when he asked why, he was told, "Because teachers carry bags."

But don't worry, these are just amusing anecdotes from the old days; it's nothing to worry about.

Your nationality.

Most students prefer an American accent. They find it easier to hear than British. Australians are especially well-regarded. Those are the top three, but any nationality is acceptable.

Native English speaker.

The color of your skin is more important. I've met quite a few English teachers who were not native speakers of English. Some of them even had questionable English-speaking ability. But they were white so they could get jobs.

University degree.

It's the most important on-paper qualification, but not necessary, especially if you're young. An older person without a degree may appear dodgy, but if you're 22, your youthful enthusiasm (and good looks) will make up for no degree.

Teaching certification.

Though not required, some kind of teaching certificate is good to have. A few schools require a CELTA, and they're strict about it. Most don't. A CELTA or a TESOL certificate can get you a slightly higher salary. After a couple of years your experience becomes more important than certification. Get a certificate of some kind if you can, but don't sweat it if you don't have one.

Not able to move abroad, or already here but fed up with teaching in classrooms? How about earning $20 an hour in the comfort of your own home, teaching English on the internet with voice chat?
Read my post on teaching English online:
www.vietnaminfoblog.com/2009/11/teach-english-online.html

English Language Schools - Bac My

2009-11-16T00:01:00.002+07:00

This school is called Bac My, or North America International English School. They have a few branches around the city; this one is on Ho Van Hue, Phu Nhuan.

One time I went in there and interviewed for a job and got hired but I ended up not working there. The interview experience at Bac My was a little strange, so when a different school offered something better, I bailed out on Bac My.

Bac My requires a little demo class. You give a 30-minute class to a small group of staff. My "students" weren't very excited about being in class; they were staff members who would rather have been sitting at their desks playing with their computers. But it's only 30 minutes. They said I could pick any topic or lesson that I wanted. I chose to do a fluency exercise and a little game. Most of them were polite and participated even though they were clearly not interested.

The manager of the school thought that she would be clever and try to trap me. My lesson was about fluency and consolidation, not introducing something new, so she said, "What if we don't know this vocabulary yet?" I informed her that this was a review lesson and that we had covered it last week. I pretended that she was a student in my English class and scolded her for not remembering what we did in class last week. Then I reminded her that she had told me that I could give any lesson I wanted, right? She relented, and then sulked because her effort to cut me down didn't work.

But the real eye-opener was something that I saw when I was waiting for my demo class to start. It was in a little office room with a big table and a mess of books and some office stuff, and one of the staff came in with some busy work to do at the table while waiting a few minutes before starting the class.

While we sat there for ten minutes or so I snuck some peeks at what she was working on. She was making signs to put up on the walls in the school. What was on the signs? Well, it was a notice to teachers that they would be fined if they were seen doing certain things. They would be given financial penalties, with the amounts listed in dollars.

What kind of things could you be fined for? It was things like $2 for being late to class, or $1 for using your mobile phone in class. Those are the two that I remember, but it was a long list of fifteen or so items with fines from 1 to 3 dollars.

I was appalled. And it raises questions: who is enforcing these rules? Is there going to be a staff person sitting in every class watching to see if I use my cell phone? If not, then the students are going to report me to the staff? And why would their word be trusted over mine? I always refer to my phone for the correct time because I don't trust school clocks to be accurate- now I'm going to be penalized for making sure I start and end class at the correct time?

And even disregarding the details of the various fines, imagine the atmosphere of suspicion that a sign on the wall like that would create. After seeing that sign being made, there was no way I was going to work at that school. Just knowing that the management of that school would dream up something so alienating, was enough to convince me not to work there. (It was probably the the brilliant idea of the same manager who had tried to make me look bad in my demo class.)

Fortunately I found a different job.

This was a few years ago, and I doubt that those policies lasted very long. I can imagine the complaints they would get from teachers. Have any of you worked there? Do they still fine you for using your cell phone in English class?

Bird Flu Is Back In Vietnam

2009-11-15T00:01:00.000+07:00

Bird flu reoccurs in northern province of Vietnam

HANOI, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Bird flu has re-emerged in the northern province Dien Bien of Vietnam, according to a report of the Animal Health Department under Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Monday.

The bird flu broke out in nine local farms from Oct. 21 to 23, killing hundreds of poultry, said the report.

Poultry samples tested by provincial animal health agency showed positive for the H5N1 virus, said the report.

Local animal health authorities have been implementing measures to curb the spread of the bird flu virus to nearby areas, including the culling of over 2,200 remaining poultry, said the department.

Dien Bien currently is the only province of Vietnam being re-hit by the avian flu after the province was confirmed of being free of the H5N1 virus for several months this year.

Vietnam has reported five human infection cases of bird flu so far this year, and four of them died.

Horny Vietnamese Girl

2009-11-14T00:01:00.001+07:00

I'm really sorry about the title- I just could not resist. Google will probably put public-service ads on this post, oh well. It's a cute photo, and no other title really does it justice, does it? Long-time readers here may remember that I posted this photo last year, but then deleted it. I came across it again today and it's just so cute that I had to give it another go.

This is the toy she's sitting in. It was at an amusement park last year during Tet. Don't worry, this is still a g-rated blog.

My Neighbor Singing Karaoke

2009-11-12T00:01:00.000+07:00

Just think: if you lived here, you could be listening to my neighbor singing karaoke like this a few times a week! Sometimes it gets even better than in this video.

Actually many Vietnamese people are really good singers. Karaoke is one of the main pastimes in Vietnam, probably second only to sitting in cafes, so many people have a lot of singing practice and they get really good at it. But I seem to have a knack for renting houses near the few Vietnamese people who sing really badly.

I'm not complaining, though. It's a lot better than grinding metal or screaming kids. I used to think that grinding metal was the worst kind of sound to live next to, but after my last couple of house rentals I've changed my mind. I now believe that the most annoying kind of noisy neighbors is the kind with screaming kids. Grinding metal is bad but it doesn't have the emotional component of children crying. Our last neighbors had kids that seemed like they cried all day, every day. That was bad.

I'll take cold showers from a scoop and bucket, leaky ceilings, even house construction, before neighbors with kids that scream and cry all day.

English Language Schools - Cali

2009-11-11T00:01:00.000+07:00

There are a few branches of Cali around Ho Chi Minh City. This one is in Go Vap. I don't have any experience with them- how about you?

Is Teaching English In Vietnam Right For You?

2009-11-09T00:01:00.008+07:00

Living abroad isn't for everyone, but if you're just a little adventurous then you might love teaching English in Vietnam. The hardest part is just making the decision: go for it!

It won't always be easy. You'll experience some serious culture-shock, and teaching English is often more difficult than people expect. (It was for me.)

Ask yourself: Am I the kind of person who enjoys getting outside of my own comfort zone? Some people actually find cognitive dissonance to be a pleasurable experience. They enjoy having their assumptions challenged and their cage rattled. This will happen on a daily (perhaps hourly?) basis when living in Vietnam so if you get bent out of shape when your routines get broken then you'd probably better stay home. ("There can't possibly be a marching band playing at full volume outside my window at 5am.")

If you can get through the hard bits, the lifestyle is unbeatable. You're working only a few hours a day but you have enough money to live comfortably. If cash is your main objective, then you can work a lot, live frugally, and have enough money to save quite a bit each month. I have known several teachers who came to Vietnam to pay off their student loans. They knuckle down and work hard, live cheap and take occasional vacations around Southeast Asia to see the sights and relax.

And anybody can do it. The only real qualification is being a Westerner. What other job is there where you can find employment in one day, with no training and no experience, where you set your own hours and take time off whenever you want, and where you make a wage that is literally fifty times the average wage of the locals? What's not to love?

Not able to move abroad, or already here but fed up with teaching in classrooms? How about earning $20 an hour in the comfort of your own home, teaching English on the internet with voice chat?
Read my post on teaching English online:
www.vietnaminfoblog.com/2009/11/teach-english-online.html

Citi to open retail branch in Vietnam

2009-11-07T11:13:00.001+07:00

Citi to open retail branch in Vietnam

By Sundeep Tucker in Hong Kong and Tim Johnston in Bangkok

Citigroup will on Tuesday become the first US financial institution to open a retail operation in Vietnam in the latest sign of how western companies are targeting consumers in the fast-growing Asian economy.

The US bank will open a branch in Ho Chi Minh City to provide deposit services to individual customers and remittance services for the broader Vietnamese diaspora.

The move will augment the commercial banking services it offers. After a torrid 12 months that ended in being rescued by the US government, Citi has continued to expand consumer banking operations in Asia.

In recent months, the bank has launched debit cards in China and SMS banking in the Philippines. Its retail operation now serves 32m customers across 14 markets in the region.

The move underscores how some big banking groups are looking to Asia for growth. HSBC is relocating its chief executive from London to Hong Kong and is in talks to acquire regional banking assets being sold by stricken western rivals.

Vietnam has seen an explosion in the number of banks, and is one of Asia’s last great untapped markets with only about 10 per cent of 85m Vietnamese holding a bank account. Incomes are rising fast.

Foreign banks have been expanding operations in the country, attracted by resilient growth – Vietnam’s economy is expected to expand some 5 per cent this year. “Foreign banks see a lot of opportunity as the population begins to gather some wealth,” said Tim Aman, head of financial services for KPMG in Vietnam.

“In terms of products, most of the banks here have products that aren’t very advanced. It is a place where foreign banks have an opportunity to leverage what they’ve learnt in other developing markets.”

The new Citi branch will also offer Citigold accounts, the bank’s wealth management product, which requires a minimum balance of $50,000.

Shirish Apte, chief executive of Citi Asia Pacific, said: “We believe in Vietnam’s future and are committed to continue to invest here and actively participate in Vietnam’s economic growth.”

Citi is also planning to double the number of its ATMs in Ho Chi Minh City to 13 by the end of the year. It has provided corporate and investment banking services in Vietnam since 1993.

HSBC, ANZ and Standard Chartered all have full service subsidiaries in Vietnam and have been widening their branch networks and offering increasingly sophisticated products to an increasingly cosmopolitan Vietnamese market.

In January, HSBC became the first foreign bank to incorporate in Vietnam and now has three full branches and several transaction offices.

Last month, it signed a deal with Vietnam Posts to allow clients to use post offices for cash transactions.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.

Tropical Storm Mirinae update

2009-11-05T18:18:00.001+07:00

Storm Mirinae has passed through already; we didn't get much of it here in Saigon.

Mirinae death toll hits 98

Storm Mirinae, later downgraded into a low pressure, has killed at least 98 people in the Central Highlands. Twenty people are still missing and 66 injured.

Worse still, heavy rains continue battering the region, causing more flooding on a large area.

According to the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control, the storm has destroyed 15,000 houses and inundated about 3,000ha of rice and more than 5,000ha of subsidiary crops.

Hundreds of fish and shrimp-raising ponds has been flooded and more than 300 boats are reported to have sunk in heavy seas.

Traffic, electricity and communication systems in many areas have been disrupted, making it difficult to carry out relief and rescue works.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked the chairmen of provncial People’s Committees in Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan and Gia Lai to make greater effort to rescue people trapped in flood waters and supply food and medicines.

He said that when the flooding subsided, the provincial People’s Committees should entrust relevant officials and workers to repair and rebuild infrastructure and supply breeds and seeds needed for farmers to recover agricultural production.

The PM ordered the ministries of Defence and Public Security and the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control to assist in the rescue work.

He also asked the ministries of Finance, Planning and Investment, and Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs in cooperation with the local authorities to assess the losses and put forward specific financial support programmes.

NY Philharmonic holds debut performance in Hanoi

2009-11-03T09:54:00.000+07:00

NY Philharmonic holds debut performance in Hanoi

By Ian Timberlake (AFP) – Oct 16, 2009

HANOI — Evening gowns and motorcycle helmets were the contrasting attire as the New York Philharmonic played its first concert in communist Vietnam after a historic visit to Stalinist North Korea last year.

Inside the cosy French colonial-era Hanoi Opera House, a mixed crowd of Vietnamese and Westerners, some in evening dress, filled almost every seat beneath a large chandelier.

Except for the occasional click of a camera shutter, they watched in mesmerised silence as the black-clad orchestra performed Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 conducted by Alan Gilbert, with Emanuel Ax on the piano.

Outside, dozens of Vietnamese, many of them young, pulled up on their motor scooters to watch the performance free on two giant screens that flanked the concert hall.

A never-ending stream of constantly honking traffic flowed past them but could not drown out the towering banks of loudspeakers and the melodies which lingered in the night air.

Do Van Son, 50, a motorcycle taxi driver, parked his bike in front of the screen, not caring that he would give up much of the 100,000 dong (5.5 dollars) he usually earns in a night.

"What I have is music, and a loss of income today does not mean anything," Son said, admitting there are not many classical music fans in his country.

"This is a special case, when a world-famous orchestra comes to Vietnam."

Mai Suong, a fourth-year violin student, also watched outside with several other students from the local music conservatory.

"The performance was great," she said. "I dream to become one of them of course, but I don't think I'm good enough."

Gilbert, who became the orchestra's music director last month, said before the concert that, for him, coming to Vietnam was the "realisation of a dream come true."

On Friday night the audience shouted its approval and applauded for about three minutes at the conclusion of the concerto, prompting Ax to return for an encore piano solo.

Officials from Vietnam and the United States said the Friday and Saturday concerts will help to further cement ties that have grown diplomatically, economically and culturally since the two countries normalised relations in 1995 two decades after their war ended.

But US ambassador Michael Michalak said it was not fair to compare the Philharmonic's visit to Vietnam with its trip to Pyongyang in February 2008, when the orchestra was the largest US delegation in years to visit the reclusive and poverty-stricken nation.

Fast-modernising Vietnam, in contrast, has a booming market economy and is increasingly courting international exposure.

"It's putting Hanoi on the world map," Michael O'Brien, 66, a visiting American, said of the concerts before taking his seat inside.

Leo Dyar, 60, an Irishman working in Hanoi as a schoolteacher, said the music is something that everyone can enjoy.

"Anything like this, any cultural exchange, has to improve relations," he said during the interval.

The concert, part of an Asian tour by the orchestra, came a day after Vietnam accused the US of interfering in its internal affairs over a statement that urged the country to honour its international human rights commitments and release people in detention for peacefully expressing their views.

More than a third of tickets for the two concerts went to sponsors and government officials, with the rest sold to the general public, an organiser said.

The cheapest tickets were around two million dong (115 US dollars).

"Two million dong a ticket is my whole month's salary," said Nguyen Lam, 31, a freelance labourer who lives in a shared room with no television.

"I don't know what symphony is," he said. "I'm waiting for these two big screens to be on because I don't have much chance to watch TV."

A few foreigners who also stood among the motorcycles to watch the performance proved tempting targets for street vendors selling English-language books and souvenirs of Vietnam.

"Buy from me please," a young girl urged in English over Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.

Did she like the music ?

"Yes, I very like."

English Language Schools - Dong Au

2009-11-02T08:24:00.000+07:00

Dong Au, also called ELS or Eastern Europe Language School, is a big school with branches all over the city. They are a backpacker school. One time I went in there for an interview and got hired, but I ended up taking a job elsewhere. They pay a low wage and I think it’s really a second-rate outfit.

At that time, a couple of years ago, the way they scheduled the foreign teachers was in 45-minute blocks. The classes are 90 minutes and the students have a foreigner’s face in front of them for half the class. It’s a clever way to minimize the school’s expense of hiring a foreign teacher, and maximize each foreign teacher’s exposure to their students.

As an administrator, I once considered doing the same thing a few years back. Foreign teachers are expensive but they allow you to charge a higher fee for classes. What really matters to school owners is maximizing profit, and from this perspective it makes sense.

As an English teacher it sounds like four 45-minute classes in an evening could be a real headache, but on the other hand only 45 minutes in front of a class might be easy.

Have you worked there, or worked that kind of schedule? Please comment.

Vietnam Orders Evacuations as Tropical Storm Heads for Coast

2009-11-02T00:02:00.000+07:00

Vietnam Orders Evacuations as Tropical Storm Heads for Coast

By Dave McCombs and Van Nguyen, Bloomberg.com

Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Vietnamese authorities ordered evacuations in central and southern coastal provinces as Tropical Storm Mirinae approached the coast.

The storm is forecast to make landfall at about 4 p.m. local time as it weakens to a tropical depression.

Mirinae was 181 kilometers (112 miles) from Ho Chi Minh city at 7 a.m. local time, with sustained winds of as much as 83 kilometers per hour, down from 93 kilometers per hour four hours earlier, according to the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center. It was moving west-southwest at 26 kph.

The storm will bring heavy rains to the central coast and central highlands, Vietnam’s National Committee for Flood and Storm Control said today in a statement. Typhoon Ketsana last month left at least 163 dead and caused 14.3 trillion dong ($801 million) in damage, the committee said.

About 7,900 people, mostly children, women and elderly residents in Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa and Ninh Thuan provinces, where the storm may make landfall, were evacuated as of 9 p.m. yesterday local time, the committee said. More people will be evacuated today, according to the statement.

Local governments issued an alert for more than 18,100 boats with almost 104,000 crewmen aboard to take shelter or navigate out of Mirinae’s forecast path, the committee said.

The storm’s eye was about 250 kilometers east of the coast line between Quang Ngai and Phu Yen at 4 a.m. local time, according to the National Committee for Flood and Storm Control.

Coffee, Rice

Vietnam is the world’s second-biggest exporter of rice and biggest producer of the robusta coffee.

The main coffee-growing region, including Lam Dong and Dak Lak provinces, are in southern part of the central highlands that may be affected by the tropical depression. The main rice production areas aren’t in the storm’s path.

The Philippines was recovering today after Typhoon Mirinae passed across Manila and southern Luzon yesterday, leaving 14 people dead and four missing, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said in its 8 a.m. bulletin.

Mirinae yesterday knocked out power, washed away a bridge and toppled trees as it barreled across the island.

The Philippines has been battered by more than 10 cyclones this year, killing about 1,100 people. More than 121,000 remain in evacuation centers after cyclones Ketsana and Parma hit the country in the past month.

Tropical Storm Mirinae

2009-11-02T00:01:00.000+07:00

Tropical storm Mirinae blew through the Philippines during the last few days and hit Vietnam today. Here in Saigon it's a beautiful sunny day, though. Often when tropical storms come to central Vietnam we'll get some good wind and thunderstorms here in Ho Chi Minh City.

To find out about tropical storms and their effect on Vietnam weather, go to Weather Underground at wunderground.com and click on the link at the top where it says FEATURES: Tropical/Hurricane. From there you go to a world map that shows all of the current storms, and you can click on the storm to track the storm, look at a 5-day forecast, see the storm history and satellite images, etc.

Yahoo has some images of the storm's impact on Vietnam and the Philippines at http://news.yahoo.com/topics/hurricanes-and-tropical-storms.

Will My House Be Flooded

2009-11-01T09:13:00.000+07:00

This is the same day as the indoor waterfall. Meanwhile, I was also watching the water outside rise up to level of my house. It got up to about 3/4 of an inch below the point where it would come into the house, before the rain stopped.

Saigon Moving Truck

2009-10-31T12:47:00.000+07:00

Those are my personal belongings, in the 3-wheeled cart/truck thing in the photo, on the way to my new house in Ho Chi Minh City.

Who Are The English Teachers In Vietnam?

2009-10-30T08:32:00.002+07:00

What kind of people become English teachers in Vietnam? Why do they decide to come to Vietnam and teach English? Typical teachers are often one of these types:

Businesspersons filling in the gaps in their income or waiting until their projects take off.

Recent high-school graduates taking a year off before university.

Recent university graduates earning cash to pay off their student loans.

Culture-vultures seeking the Asia experience.

Artists, authors, musicians, and other creative types who want to work part-time, live comfortably, and have free time to pursue their passion.

True expatriates fed up with their home country and looking for a good place to escape to.

Retirees with enough of a pension to pay the rent, looking for some extra cash and something to fill their time.

Alcoholic deadbeat pedophiles who can't hold a job in their own country.

That last group gives the rest of us a bad name, and unfortunately they may be the largest group. But they do make it easier for normal people to get a job. Back when I was a school administrator, interviewing and hiring foreigners for teaching jobs, the qualification that I looked for the most was not being an alcoholic deadbeat pedophile. "Not a sociopath? You're hired!" It often seemed like the "normal" applicants were the exception.

After writing and revising this list it occurred to me that there might be one more group that I had overlooked: people who just like to teach English as a foreign language. But if you just liked to teach English as a foreign language, you could get a job teaching English to immigrants in your home country. It takes a special kind of craziness to actually come to live here in Vietnam.

Not able to move abroad, or already here but fed up with teaching in classrooms? How about earning $20 an hour in the comfort of your own home, teaching English on the internet with voice chat?
Read my post on teaching English online:
www.vietnaminfoblog.com/2009/11/teach-english-online.html

More Indoor Rain

2009-10-29T08:07:00.002+07:00

This is a video of a torrential downpour happening inside my house in Ho Chi Minh City. (This is a different house than the last time I enjoyed an indoor rain.) Fortunately it doesn't happen every time there is a big storm. We've had a lot of rain and this only happened one time. It was an especially big storm, with a lot of wind.

When we moved into this house at the beginning of October, I noticed that the wood floor upstairs had some soft spots, and there were signs of water damage. So I suspected that we would have some indoor rain. But then there were some heavy rains and no water came inside, so I thought the roof must have been repaired already.

Then this day came, with a really heavy rain and lots of wind. I was sitting downstairs and I heard what sounded like a waterfall, nearby. I looked up and saw water pouring down to the ground floor from above. I ran upstairs to find that there was indeed a waterfall inside the house. So what did I do? Grab the camera, of course, like any blogger would. Actually I did wait until I had determined that there was nothing I could do about the water coming in.

The water only came in like that for 10 minutes or so, though the storm lasted over an hour. I wonder if the wind lifted up one of the metal roof panels and let the rain in.

I've lived in enough rentals here in HCMC to know that telling the landlord about it would be a waste of breath. Since we know that it takes an exceptionally big storm to bring water in like this, the only thing to do is hope for good weather.

Box Lady

2009-10-28T08:28:00.002+07:00

My wife took this photo, so I guess it's actually a 'guest photo.' We were sitting in 'our' cafe, the place where we have gone for coffee a few times a week for a few years now. I didn't think much of it, but then my wife told me that she's been coming to this cafe regularly for nearly eight years, and every time she comes here she sees this woman across the street who picks up and sells cardboard boxes. So my wife feels some affinity with the box lady, and enjoyed capturing her in a photograph.

More Birds For Sale

2009-10-27T19:20:00.000+07:00

More On Golf In Vietnam

2009-10-26T08:07:00.000+07:00

http://www.worldgolf.com/newswire/browse/60839-Course-Did-International-Herald-Tribune-get-its-story-straight-golf-Vietnam

Off Course: Did the International Herald Tribune get its story straight on golf in Vietnam?

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam -- In a sport more notable for emotional restraint than hysterics, it seems ironic that golf, and golf-course development, can generate extremes like Tuesday's feature in The International Herald Tribune (www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/world/asia/20golf.html?_r=1&ref=global-home) titled "Golf Courses Now Grow in Vietnam's Rice Fields." Certainly the reporter, Seth Mydans, leaves no doubt that he views the building and operation of golf courses in Vietnam as an unalloyed evil.

So it's instructive to recall that only last month The New York Times, the Tribune's parent company, which also ran Mydans story on Tuesday, featured essentially the opposite viewpoint as its online "Idea of the Day." That idea, first published in Newsweek (www.newsweek.com/id/214841), came from Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, who lauded Vietnam's initiative as a golf destination as equally unequivocal proof of political and economic progress and stability. A similarly positive accounting of Vietnam as a golf destination had appeared in the Times travel section the previous year.

In such an emotionally charged, all-or-nothing atmosphere, opinions tend to be rigid, "facts" subject to manipulation or outright fabrication. Some instances conspicuous in Tuesday's piece include, briefly, the following:

• Land use. Indisputably an important issue, the article cites the loss of a million acres of land devoted to rice cultivation between 2000 and 2006. But during this period, only two golf courses were built, thus accounting for roughly .03 percent of the lost acreage. In any event, virtually none of the acreage occupies arable land.

"Our golf courses were not built on converted agricultural lands," notes Baron Ah Moo, CEO of Indochina Land's Hotels & Resorts division, "All of our projects including our golf courses have received the proper approvals and are fortunate to have strong support from the provincial authorities some of whom have picked up the game and enjoy it tremendously."

• Environmental issues. The article chides golf courses for pollution. In fact, thanks to course superintendents trained in agronomy, golf-course operations are green relative to most other land uses, a point recently highlighted in Vietnam News (http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01ENV260909). Golf was also taken to task for water consumption, but rice is, of course, an immensely thirsty crop. According to a report by Dr. Shigetaka Taniyama, for the 2002 International Water Conference in Hanoi, a golf-course-sized (150 acres) rice paddy would require some 1.7 million tons of water per growing season.

• A question of proportion. The article actually undercounts the number of completed courses currently in Vietnam - there are 19, not 13, as the text states - but colossally overestimates the number in the pipeline with any chance of reaching fruition.

"Full-fledged golf destinations need a critical mass of courses to attract visitors," notes Ah Moo. "We think double the number of courses in Vietnam that we now have would be an optimistic goal, but the idea of 200 courses, as the article suggests, is preposterous. California, the state that people usually liken to Vietnam in size, has more than 900 courses alone. There is simply no threat of the country being overrun by golf."

• Golf and taxation. The article claims that golf is lightly taxed compared to other forms of development.

"Not true," says Jeff Puchalski, CEO of golf club management and consulting firm FORE Golf Asia and advisor to the Vietnam Golf Association. "In fact, with the exception of a few commodities, such as cars and spirits, golf is the most heavily taxed product there is in Vietnam. Courses must pay a 20 percent special consumption tax and a 10 percent value added tax. By contrast, hotels and other tourism projects are subject only to the 10 percent VAT but pay just 5 percent because they also receive a 50 percent stimulus discount. Being taxed out of existence is a much more plausible problem than not carrying our share of the load."

• For expats only. Though it's true that an exact calculation of the number of Vietnamese golfers is problematic, it's also true that the 5,000 cited in the article is plainly low. The Vietnam Golf Association pegs the number at roughly twice that. Participation by Vietnamese nationals at some venues, for example the recently opened Montgomerie Links Vietnam, in Hoi An, accounts for "upwards of 50 percent" of rounds played, according to Jon Tomlinson, the facility's general manager.

At Ocean Dunes Golf Club, in Phan Thiet, some 15 to 20 percent of tee times go to "government officials who play at prime times on Saturday and Sunday," according to Kurt Greve, general manager. Golf is among the fastest-growing sports in the country.

• The human costs. The article quotes certain "experts" in assessing the negative effects of golf-course construction, but even non-experts will understand that the analysis doesn't stand up to reason. For example, the Times story asserts "a single course can cost the land of hundreds of farms, displacing as many as 3,000 people, sometimes devouring an entire commune." This, again, ignores that golf courses occupy reclaimed land and not nearly enough of it to support such numbers.

Similarly, the relocation price cited in the article - USD$2 to $3 per square meter - is almost laughably low, according to Ah Moo, who cannot quote exact relocation prices in today's market but believes that the source for this calculation is dated.

"For reasons both ethical and purely practical, it makes sense to be good neighbors, in tune with the community," said Tomlinson. "And the people from the area that work for us confirm that this is indeed the case. They're happy for the expanded opportunity, not resentful of some sort of land grab."

Finally, the very vehemence of the article's anti-golf sentiment suggests that maybe there is something that all parties can agree upon - namely, that the whole debate is about Vietnamese ethos generally, not just agriculture and the economy. Mydans expresses particular scorn for the Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail - Vietnam's "heroic wartime past redefined as a sales pitch" - the very thing that Haass defined as "the clearest evidence of how far things changed" regarding Vietnam's relationship with the U.S. and the world at large.

Like all of Southeast Asia, the challenges facing Vietnam are such that golf will be neither the villain nor the hero in its future.

SOURCE:
Jim Sullivan
Mandarin Media
jsullivan@mandarinmedia.net
www.mandarinmedia.net

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Golf In Vietnam

2009-10-25T08:03:00.002+07:00

www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/world/asia/20golf

October 20, 2009
Phan Thiet Journal
A Harvest of Golf Courses From Vietnam’s Farmland
By SETH MYDANS

PHAN THIET, Vietnam — It may be the most capitalist enterprise in Communist Vietnam — by the rich and for the rich: a proliferation of golf courses that is displacing thousands of farmers and devouring the rice fields the country depends on.

Until last year, according to experts who have done the calculations, licenses for new courses were being issued at an average of one a week, for a total of more than 140 projects around the country.

Promoters created the idea of a “Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail,” a series of eight courses whose label is as good a sign as any of where Vietnam seems to be headed — its heroic wartime past redefined as a sales pitch.

If all those projects were completed, the number of courses would approach that of golf-mad South Korea, where there are close to 200. It would still fall well short of China, which has more than 300, and would be nowhere near the number in the United States, which has about 16,000 courses, or even Florida, with 1,260.

For a country that had only two courses at the end of the war in 1975 and that according to some estimates has only 5,000 golfers today, however, the increase in projects over the past four years has been explosive.

But a backlash emerged within the news media and among academics and government officials over the social and environmental costs.

In summer 2008, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung ordered a halt to new construction pending a review, and last June the government ordered the cancellation of 50 of the projects. But most of the others are well under way, to add to the country’s 13 established golf courses.

“Developers and foreign investors are saying they want to make the country a tourist destination, and to do that you need to offer more amenities like golf,” said Kurt Greve, the American general manager of the Ocean Dunes Golf Club and the Dalat Palace Golf Club. Most of those tourists would come from elsewhere in Asia, especially South Korea and Japan, where golf courses are hugely overcrowded.

“They’re all wanting to grow golf,” he said, referring to the developers and investors, “but the government is saying, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute!’”

In its drive to industrialize, Vietnam has already lost large amounts of farmland to factories and other developments. According to the Agriculture Ministry, land devoted to rice, the national staple and a leading source of export revenue, shrank to 10.1 million acres from 11.1 million acres, just from 2000 to 2006.

Many of the new projects seem to have to do more with capitalism than with sport. Taxes on golf courses are lower than those on other forms of development, and many of the projects appear to be disguised real estate ventures.

Only 65 percent of the land involved in the current projects has been set aside for golf courses, Ton Gia Huyen, an official with the Vietnam Land Science Association, said at a conference on golf courses in May. The rest of the land is reserved for hotels, resorts, villas, eco-tourism areas, parks and recreational projects.

One solution is to change the tax structure, said Nguyen Dang Vang, vice chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee for Science, Technology and Environment.

“Golf courses are for rich people, account for vast areas of land, cause pollution and affect food security, so taxes should be appropriately high,” he told the newspaper Tuoi Tre in July.

And when rich people play, it appears that farmers and villagers pay the price.

Development of a single course can cost the land of hundreds of farms, displacing as many as 3,000 people, sometimes devouring an entire commune, Nguyen Duc Truyen, an official of the Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of Sociology, said at the recent conference. Only a small number of them find jobs on the new golf courses.

For example, the Dai Lai golf course in Vinh Phuc Province drove thousands of people from their land but provided jobs for only 30 local residents, according to a report in July on the Vietnam News Service. Farmers are typically compensated at a rate of $2 to $3 a square meter, the news service said, about the cost of a sack of rice.

Along with land, golf courses also put a strain on water resources, said Le Anh Tuan from the Can Tho University Environmental Technology Center. In a widely quoted estimate, he said an 18-hole course could consume 177,000 cubic feet of water a day, enough for 20,000 households.

“The dry season is critical,” said Kiet Tuan Le, the chief groundskeeper here at Ocean Dunes, 125 miles northeast of Ho Chi Minh City. “I’ve got to continually ask the water department, almost fight them, because there’s not enough water for the city people.”

Mr. Greve said that the resort was working to minimize its environmental impact, with a new strain of grass that was more salt-tolerant and would require less fresh water.

The nearby Sea Links Golf and Country Club, which is built on sand dunes, pipes in water from a source nearly two miles away, said one of the resort’s directors, Tran Quang Trung. Automatic sprinklers switch on every 15 minutes and individual hoses provide a continuing drip at the base of each tree.

The sumptuous, rolling 18-hole course is only one part of the ambitious, 420-acre development, he said.

Rows of villas, 315 of them, stand behind the course like soldiers on parade, with many sold before they were built. A five-star hotel overlooking the course has almost been completed.

Just beyond the development area, the red earth is already being turned for the construction of six ocean-view apartment buildings with 550 units.

In the future, Mr. Trung said, it will all be known as “Sea Links City.”

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Sleeping Security Guy

2009-10-22T19:16:00.002+07:00

This is the security guard who was supposedly watching my motorbike while I was in a cafe.

Vietnam Virtual Tours

2009-10-20T20:04:00.000+07:00

I just discovered this really cool website with a bunch of 360-degree photos of Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City: www.vietnam720.com. Check it out.

Saigon Tow Job - Toe Job?

2009-10-12T14:25:00.000+07:00

This is a typical sight in traffic in Ho Chi Minh City. One motorbike has died so it's getting a push from a friend. I tried it one time; it's more difficult than it looks!

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Birds For Sale

2009-10-08T12:02:00.000+07:00

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Where To Unlock Your Iphone In Ho Chi Minh City

2009-10-03T00:01:00.000+07:00

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Saigon Wire Worker

2009-10-01T14:29:00.000+07:00

There's a guy in there- really.

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Saigon's Backpacker Ghetto - Pham Ngu Lao

2009-09-29T22:33:00.004+07:00

Video of a typical day on the street in Ho Chi Minh City's backpacker ghetto- ahem- budget traveler district, known as Pham Ngu Lao. Read about this topic in my guest post on the cheapoair.com blog: cheapoair.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/saigons-budget-travel-district

Bird-eating frog among 163 new species found in Mekong region

2009-09-27T19:54:00.002+07:00

Bird-eating frog among 163 new species found in Mekong region

A frog that eats birds and a gecko with leopard stripes are among the 163 new species discovered last year in the Greater Mekong region of southeast Asia, according to a report by the World Wildlife Fund.

The discovery of 100 new plants, 28 fish, 18 reptiles, 14 amphibians, two mammals and one bird species highlights the extent of the biodiversity in the region, said Barney Long, head of the WWF's Asian Species Conservation program.

"It's a melting pot of diverse habitats. It has some of the wettest forests on the planet, high mountains, and a diverse array of terrestrial and marine habitats, including the Mekong River," he said.

"We continue to find new species of fish, primates and mammals, and nowhere else compares to the amount of large mammals that have been discovered in the region. It shows how little we know about species in the region," he said. "From a biodiversity perspective, there are still huge amounts to discover about region."

The Greater Mekong consists of the countries through which the Mekong River flows: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Yunnan Province of China.

With 16 global ecoregions -- areas defined by their shared ecological features and animal communities -- the Greater Mekong has more protected spaces than anywhere else on mainland Asia, according to the WWF.

The colorful Cat Ba leopard gecko of northern Vietnam has large, orange-brown "catlike eyes" and a body of leopard stripes, according to a report released Friday.

Its name refers to its place of origin, Cat Ba Island, the largest of 366 islands in Cat Ba Archipelago and home to many rare species that can only be found on the island. Scientists believe the high number of species unique to the island might be due to the long separation of the island from continental Vietnam, the report says.

Limnonectes megastomias -- a fanged frog with an appetite for other frogs, insects and birds -- has only been found in three remote areas of medium-to-high altitudes in eastern Thailand.

Globally, new species of mammals are rare finds, but in 2008 alone, new species of the mouselike musk shrew and a tube-nosed bat emerged from the region.

War and political unrest have kept large parts of the region, particularly Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, off-limits to scientific exploration up until the past two decades, Long said.

Since 1997, nearly 1,200 new species have been discovered, many that cannot be found anywhere else, said Dekila Chungyalpa, director of WWF's Greater Mekong Program.

But the rapid pace of development in the Mekong region, coupled with the effects of climate change, are threatening to drive the species into extinction, Chungyalpa said.

"As we become familiar with more species in the region, our understanding of climate change and how it impacts these new species is changing," she said.

Chungyalpa said conservative estimates by the WWF project a 1-meter rise in sea level on the delta's coastline over the next decade, which will affect not only marine life, but also people who rely on the delta as a source of sustenance and employment, she said.

In 2007, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its Fourth Assessment Report, which projected that global sea levels could rise from 18 to 59 centimeters (7 to 23 inches) over the next century based on six possible scenarios.

Already, Chungyalpa said, the area has been affected by an increase in tropical storms off the coast, which brings in more seawater and changes the flooding patterns in the delta. Some researchers, however, have questioned the link between climate change and more intense tropical storms. Apart from climate change, construction of dams and hydropower plants along the delta could further disrupt its waters, potentially displacing millions, destroying sources of drinkable water and disrupting the production of rice, Chungyalpa said.

"The delta is the rice bowl of the region. What will happen to people who depend on it if it's no longer there?" she said.

The WWF says it supports the idea of an agreement among the Mekong countries on how to respond to infrastructure development and climate change in terms of protecting its natural resources and people.

"Climate change is making it obvious that we can't treat development like it's a separate issue," she said. "We need to be addressing this issue now. It's such an immediate issue for us and it's going to change everything in this region if we don't address it."

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Saigon Knife Sharpener

2009-09-27T12:03:00.001+07:00

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How To Store Your Noodles Until Lunch In HCMC

2009-09-25T14:18:00.002+07:00

I was buying a coffee on the street before work yesterday morning and noticed that somebody had found a convenient place to store their noodles. Just one of those hundreds of little oddities you come across every day when living in Saigon, Vietnam.

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Thich Nhat Hanh In Ho Chi Minh City

2009-09-24T00:01:00.001+07:00

This is an old video I shot back when Thich Nhat Hanh came to Vietnam for the first time in many years. When was that- 2004? 2003? I'm not sure.

Saigon Motorcycle Taxis

2009-09-21T18:22:00.004+07:00

Xe om drivers waiting for a fare.

The "xe om" is the cheapest form of motorized transport in Ho Chi Minh City. You can see them on just about every street corner, and if you're walking down the street they will often drive up beside you and ask if you want a ride. "Where you go?" might be all the English that they know, and that's why you'll also see that question printed on t-shirts for sale in Pham Ngu Lau, the backpacker district.

Xe oms have become rather expensive in the last couple of years. Now sometimes they are nearly as expensive as a cheap taxi. When I first arrived here in 2001, you could go anywhere in the city for 10,000 Dong. I had one American friend back then who refused to pay more than 7,000. Nowadays you couldn't even sit on the motorbike for that price.

Always agree on the price before you get on the bike. Some people like to haggle and squeeze every Dong they can out of a deal, but I don't. I name a price that I know is just slightly above what a local would pay, and then if they don't agree, I walk away. There will always be another driver a few meters away.

A drive with one of these guys can be really scary. I used xe oms for about four months when I first came to live here, before I rented a bike and started driving by myself. It was one especially scary ride that drove me to make the change and get a motorbike for myself. The guy was stinking drunk, barely able to keep the bike upright, driving at blazing speed. Afterwords I felt lucky to be alive and rented a Honda the next day.

You can get a regular driver if you are new to the city and need to get to work every day. They don't all drive like maniacs and sometimes you can find one who speaks English, has a phone, will pick you up at an arranged time every day and take you home as well. Once I knew an Australian English teacher whose driver would discuss his latest readings in philosophy with her as they drove. Some of these older guys are university professors, doctors, lawyers, etc. who got thrown out into the street after 1975.

I generally don't like to let xe om drivers see where I live. I have them drop me off a block from my house, and make sure they have driven away before I go home. It may not be so bad any more, but in the past sometimes a driver would camp outside your house for days and wait for you to come out so that he could hassle you for another fare.

Vietnamese language: xe= vehicle, ôm= hug. Pronounced (roughly) like "say" and "home" without the "h": "say ome".

Garage Sale Fashion Saigon

2009-09-19T19:16:00.000+07:00

"Garage Sale" isn't really an international fashion label, is it? (I wouldn't know- I've been here too long.)

Garbage Guy

2009-09-18T18:18:00.000+07:00

Garbage person taking a rest.

Epic Traffic Jam

2009-09-17T10:09:00.001+07:00

This was the morning of September 7, 2009. I sat at this place for 45 minutes, until a policeman finally came along and told everyone to just turn around and go another way.

So I did that and guess what I ran into: more traffic jams.

It took me two hours to get to work. In normal traffic it's a 25-minute drive. I left my house at 7:00am for a class that started at 7:50. I arrived at 9:00am, totally frazzled. The school told me not to bother to go in for the last 30 minutes of class. I just took a break until the next class that started at 10.

The whole city was constipated that morning, perhaps from flooding because it had rained the whole night before. It was so bad that there was a story about it in the evening news on TV. In this city traffic jams are a dime a dozen, so if it made the evening news then you know it must have been colossal.

The LA Times Does Living In Saigon Vietnam

2009-09-16T05:53:00.001+07:00

Vietnam, the perfect place to ride out the recession

The cost of living is cheap, the people are extremely friendly, and the country is beautiful. It's a great spot to ride out the recession.

By Karin Esterhammer, Reporting from Ho Chi Minh City
12:46 PM PDT, September 11, 2009

So we are here in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, in the hot, sticky southern section of the country. Robin finished a month-long course for teaching and will find work soon. They are desperate for English teachers. Whether you're at a language school or a public school, the pay is $15 to $16 an hour, plenty to live on. For now, I'm home schooling Kai, with the help of two local university students, and doing some writing. After 27 years of working nonstop in the same career, I am glad to be doing something different.

We live in a tall, narrow house -- 9 feet wide -- with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. (Apparently, the Vietnamese build this way because taxes are based on the width of your property.) It's 900 square feet, spread over four stories, with a rooftop deck. We pay $500 a month.

We rent a motor scooter for $45 a month. (Very few cars here.) Monthly telephone is $1.80. Cable with all the cool movie channels costs $4 a month. Nightly trash pickup is 60 cents per month. When our landlord warned us that day-and-night air-conditioning could push the electric bill to $60 a month, I gasped in horror -- for his benefit.

An iced tea costs 6 cents and a nice meal runs 85 cents. I never cook anymore. What for, when prices are so low?

Our neighborhood, District 4, is densely populated and only five minutes from the city center. We can see newly built high-rises from our balcony -- the city is growing up fast -- plus we can see the Saigon River, which is just five blocks away and a fun place to take a boat ride or a dinner cruise.

The Vietnamese have big, extended families in each house, so our alley is packed with kids. Sometimes, we'll have six or seven kids here at once, squealing and running up and down the stairs. The games of tag, keep-away and hide-and-go-seek are all the same, so Kai does great despite the language barrier. I no longer have to schedule play dates. He's never had as many eager and readily available friends.

The kids call me Mom, not because they know what it means, but because Kai says it and I answer.

A day in District 4

The bread man starts at 6 a.m. yelling "banh mi nong" (hot bread) through the alley. Across and down two doors, a woman chops meat with a hatchet every morning and sells it to neighbors seven days a week, also beginning at 6 a.m. These noises and a rooster make it impossible to sleep in.

The morning is nice, though. It's cooler. On our balcony, Kai and I watch the people on their balconies do morning exercises. Everyone starts the day with exercise, even the tiny grandmas.

The other day I opened the doors at 7:30 in the morning to get some cool air into the living room. In walked four kids, who all wanted to help me stir the oatmeal on the stove for our breakfast. I figured they'd want to try some, so I made six little bowls with banana slices, a little sugar and some milk.

They politely took a bite, and all four kids made little faces as if I'd just given them a bowl full of worms. So as not to waste, they lined up to dump their bowls' contents back into the oatmeal pot and ran off to play. Later, when they graciously shared some dried sheets of salty shrimp paste sprinkled with hot chiles, it was my turn to make a face.

A quick mention about shopping: There's almost no variety. My curtains are exactly the same as several of my neighbors' curtains. So are my plastic trash cans and laundry bucket. So are my dishes, electric fans and my standard-issue bicycle. I had to put a big pink bow on it to set it apart in a lineup.

But so many aspects of Vietnamese life are healthy: family bonds, neighborliness, tolerance of each other's off-key karaoke singing late into the night. They don't get mad about the frequent, sometimes daylong power outages. They just use them as a chance to throw open their doors, visit, play, nap. People cross back and forth in the alley, sharing food, playing mah-jongg. There is no chance to become lonely or forgotten.

One day my local interpreter pointed to a house four doors down. "Only two people live there," he said. "Very sad."

Why is that sad?

"Only two people," he repeated in an "isn't it obvious" tone. "Three rooms in house. Very sad. But son moves back soon with wife and daughter. Then everyone happy again."

Every move we make, I'm certain, gets talked about the same way. People know how many appliances we bought and ask how much we paid for each. They peer into my shopping basket as I return from the market.

My Vietnamese language tutor, who doesn't live in this neighborhood, came over this morning and said, "I hear Mr. Robin left this morning in a taxi with two suitcases and a backpack. My aunt [across from us] want to know where he go."

Another morning, a neighbor rode her bike, in the rain, to get noodle soup for her family and brought me a plastic bag filled with hot soup. Her English-speaking son, Hung, interpreted: "She know you have cold. She say you Americans eat bad breakfast. You need soup to warm stomach. No bacon and egg, no cereal. Soup!"

At the outdoor market a vendor will ask how old Kai is. I answer "tam tuoi," which means 8 years old. She yells out "tam tuoi" to the next vendor, who yells it to the next one, so we hear it repeated all across the marketplace. (Your age is important because people need to know how to address you. It's always the first question, even before asking your name.)

Tourists, ladies, orphans

Kai and I play tourist sometimes. One day we hopped in a cyclo (a bicycle rickshaw) and went to the 18th century Giac Lam Pagoda in District 10, then climbed seven stories to the top for a wonderful city view.

Though I love my local market, the Ben Thanh Market in District 1 is a wild place filled with exotic foods, fake Rolexes, fake Gucci bags and kitschy souvenirs.

It's a long article; read two more pages here>>

Vietnam: Scene Of The Accident

2009-09-13T17:03:00.005+07:00

Omigod! Motorbike down!

We see this kind of scene just about every day here on the streets of Vietnam. Living here, you see more accidents in one month than you normally do in a lifetime in the USA.

There is one sentence you might occasionally hear someone say in the West, that you would never hear someone say here: "I almost got in an accident today!" Nobody would ever say that here because "almost having an accident" is just synonymous with "driving." It would be as significant as saying "I sneezed today."

It's really impossible to describe what it's like to drive here, to someone who hasn't been in it. The word "driving" is inadequate and hardly even appropriate. "Driving," to a Westerner, conjures the image of peacefully guiding your vehicle along, following in a line with all the other vehicles, possibly drinking a cup of coffee, chatting with your friend, or listening to the radio at the same time.

"Driving" in Vietnam would more accurately be described as "fighting your way through the streets." And "fighting" is coming close to the right terminology. The closest thing I've been able to compare driving in Vietnam to, is a war.

Now, I've never really experienced actual war, and it may even be offensive to some people for me to use this term, but I don't use it casually. (I've spent many hours in traffic, plenty of time to think about this stuff.)

For one thing, war has casualties. And the traffic in Vietnam has plenty of casualties, maybe even more than a war. I haven't looked up the war statistics, but the traffic numbers are something like 30,000 deaths every year. That's 40 or 50 a day, in a small country, and that's only the deaths.

In the West, when you see someone with a bandaged arm or foot, you say, "Wow! What happened!?" I did that in my first year of living in Vietnam, whenever a bandaged student came into my classroom, but now I don't even bother. I know already. Sometimes I just say, "Motorbike, eh?" And they just nod their head.

A few months ago I gave an assignment to a few different classes, about 100 students in all, to write a paragraph or two about something that happened yesterday. Out of about 100 students, in four different classes, over ten of them wrote about a traffic accident, either witnessing one or being in one. I was amazed; I didn't expect that at all, I just wanted them to practice using the past tense. A few of them included graphic descriptions. One girl wrote a very tragic story about seeing someone die getting hit by a bus.

Another thing a war has (again, I have not experienced real war but hey, I watch movies) is fear. I've owned and driven motorcycles since I was 16, over 30 years now. I've driven in cars from coast to coast in the USA at least a dozen times, more than most Americans. But even after driving here for nearly nine years, I am still absolutely terrified each and every time I get on a motorbike, which is a couple of times a day. Often when I close my eyes to go to sleep at night, I see motor vehicles coming toward me at high speed.

One time I was sitting in a group of motorbikes at a stop light in District 3, calmly waiting for the light to change, when I heard crunching metal behind me. I looked down, to my left, and on the pavement below a man came sliding along on his back. He was just gliding down the pavement feet first, as if going down a waterslide. A second later his motorcycle came sliding along behind him. The two of them went way past me all the way out into the middle of the intersection in front of us, and stopped, the guy's back covered in blood. The light turned green and off we went, just another day in Vietnam traffic.

The traffic in Saigon is by far the most stressful and least fun aspect of living here, I think almost every foreigner would agree. A lot of locals would agree, too. Many of them are terrified as well, but to most it's just normal. One time I was talking to a class about the dangerous traffic in Vietnam, something I only very rarely bother to do, when one teenage boy actually said to me, "No, teacher, you're wrong! Traffic here isn't dangerous, it's just normal!" In the face of that kind of ignorance, there is nothing you can do. There is no point in arguing. I just said okay, fine. End of discussion.

I guess that was my traffic rant. I've been writing this blog for nine or ten months now, and it had to happen eventually. LOL; please, if you have a traffic story, share it in the comments!

The Suppersonic English Language School (That's Not A Typo)

2009-09-09T19:02:00.001+07:00

Yep, you read that right. It's called The Suppersonic English School in Ho Chi Minh City. It's on Truong Chinh Street in Tan Binh District.

Vietnamese Wedding

2009-09-08T10:21:00.001+07:00

Sometimes you pass a scene like this on the street. It's the beginning of a wedding ceremony; the bride and groom are on their way into the house where the ceremony will take place.

Traffic Cops

2009-09-04T15:45:00.001+07:00

English Language Schools - Master English School

2009-09-01T18:40:00.001+07:00

This school is on Nguyen Kiem, Go Vap. It appeared just a couple of months ago. I think it's the only branch; has anyone seen another one around town?

I predict this school will be gone within a few months. The location is lousy. It's in the middle of a long straight stretch of three or four lanes one way. A large volume of traffic goes by, but it's not traffic that stops.

There is almost zero local, neighborhood traffic here. If you go past the school there is no place to turn. To get back here you would have to drive 5 or 10 minutes around a big triangle of one-way streets: Ng Tai Son, Pham Ngu Lau, Ng Kiem. So if someone lives nearby, they have to drive 10 minutes on big crowded streets just to get here to pick up their kids. Really bad location.

And it looks rather dark and dingy even though it's brand new, so it looks like there's not a lot of financial backing behind it. I doubt there are any foreign teachers there.

Anybody have experience with this school? Please comment.

My Neighbors' Catholic Home Service In Saigon

2009-08-31T00:07:00.000+07:00

Listening to my neighbors holding a Catholic home service. They do this every evening.

Sometimes I read news reports about the persecution of Catholics here in Vietnam, but what I see are huge, crowded churches and people freely worshiping at home like this, so I don't know what to believe about that.

Office For Rent Sign In Ho Chi Minh City

2009-08-30T13:24:00.000+07:00

With all the construction going on these days, combined with a global economic slowdown, I wonder if we'll begin seeing more signs like this here in Saigon: Office For Rent.

Mercedes Factory Fence

2009-08-29T00:07:00.000+07:00

In case you were wondering what it's like to drive along the fence outside the Mercedes factory in Ho Ch Minh City, here is a video.

Saigon Street Shrine

2009-08-28T12:52:00.001+07:00

Catholic shrine in an alley in Ho Chi Minh City. This is actually the exact same spot as this Saigon scene, just turned around and looking the other direction.

Houseplants For Sale

2009-08-27T11:09:00.000+07:00

Sidesaddle In Saigon

2009-08-26T13:21:00.001+07:00

If you're wearing a skirt and riding on the back of a motorcycle, sidesaddle is the way to go.

Pregnant? No problem:

Alley Scene

2009-08-25T12:51:00.000+07:00

FPT Worker

2009-08-23T12:58:00.000+07:00

That's an FPT guy on the balcony of my new house, installing internet service.

Unfortunately FPT's internet service has been having problems here in Go Vap. We were without service for a few days, and have had to call them a few times to get it working again.

You have to watch these guys, and any workers who come to your house in Vietnam, carefully. Not because they'll steal stuff (I have had construction workers steal stuff while they were in my house, but company guys like these I think are less of a risk) but because they'll do whatever is easiest for them, without any regard to how it may impact you or your house.

There were three guys in my house on this day. One of them was standing in my bedroom/office, wadded up a bunch of extra cable and tossed it into a corner, landing right on top of my printer. Thanks, dude. He didn't even notice.

Then they proceeded to light up cigarettes and I had to keep myself from going ballistic and just tell them politely that it was not okay. That is one thing I love about America: people don't smoke indoors there.

Once a few years back there were some workers doing some stuff in my house and I opened the door to my bedroom to find exactly five guys lounging around, each one halfway through a cigarette. All of the room's doors and windows were shut and I nearly threw up, gasping for breath in the blue cloud. I did go semi-ballistic that time.

Back at that same house, some workers were installing new tile in part of the house; I had gone out to tile shops and chosen the tile color myself. I came home one day to find half the tile in one room was a completely different color. I asked the workers what happened and they said, "Well, we ran out of the first color of tile so we just grabbed some from that pile over there." Hey, tile is tile, right? You have to watch construction workers every minute.

Snazzy Motorbike

2009-08-22T12:48:00.003+07:00

I parked next to this snazzy psychedelic scooter seat at Tax Center, downtown HCMC.

Vietnam News - Pope: Collaboration possible with Vietnam

2009-08-10T19:54:00.000+07:00

Pope: Collaboration possible with Vietnam

Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday that a "healthy collaboration" is possible between the Roman Catholic Church and Vietnam's government, with whom the Vatican is working to re-establish ties.

The communist government cut off ties with the Vatican after taking power in 1954. Tensions have existed for years between the country's 6 million Catholics and the government, which closely monitors religious groups and insists on approving most church appointments.

Relations with the Holy See have recently begun to thaw and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung became the highest official from the country to meet the pope when he visited the Vatican in 2007.

Vietnam News - Vietnam To Lead World In Entertainment And Media Growth

2009-08-07T18:49:00.000+07:00

Vietnam To Lead World In Entertainment And Media Growth

Vietnam is projected to take the lead in the expansion of its entertainment and media market in the next five years, with the overall compound annual growth rate to be the highest in the world at 16.7 percent, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported quoting a global business advisory firm as saying.

In its 10th Global Entertainment & Media Outlook report, PricewaterhouseCoopers said the value of Vietnam's entertainment and media market approximately tripled in five years from 2004 to 2009 and is expected to exceed US$2.3 billion USD in 2013.

The greatest contributor to the growth, the consultancy firm said, is the internet access market, which is expected to grow by 20.9 percent during the period.

Advertising will likely expand by 10.9 percent, and consumer spending (excluding Internet access) by 16.1 percent, it added.

According to PriceWaterHouseCoopers, economic expansion is helping drive the large increases expected in most of the high-growth countries including Vietnam.

Infrastructure improvements, particularly in the areas of broadband and multichannel television as well as mobile telephony, will also be principal drivers.

Vietnam still has substantial room for growth due to low penetration in many categories of E&M, it said. In line with global trends, growth in Internet access spending, television advertising and television subscriptions is expected to lead the industry's expansion in Vietnam.

The global entertainment & media market as a whole, including both consumer and advertising spending will grow by 2.7 percent compounded annually for the entire forecast period to US$1.6 trillion in 2013.

Latin America and the Asian Pacific remain the fastest growing regions, expected to increase at an annual compound rate of 5.1 percent and 4.5 percent through to 2013, reaching US$73 billion and US$413 billion respectively.

Vietnam News - Poor English language skills, teaching hinder Vietnamese

2009-08-04T19:58:00.000+07:00

Poor English language skills, teaching hinder Vietnamese

Despite the fact Viet Nam has been a member of the World Trade Organisation for almost three years, English language communication is still a major barrier for Vietnamese enterprises, particularly small and medium-sized ones, said Khalid Muhmood, chairman of the Apollo Education&Training.

As a result many enterprises are missing out on opportunities to work with foreign partners, or export their items, says Dao Minh Tan, director of the website kiemviec.com.

A representative from Ha Noi Industrial University said many students missed out on well-paid jobs because their English skills were so limited.

To help Vietnamese improve their English, Apollo, the British Council and other centres are lending a helping hand.

Many companies in Viet Nam have begun to recognise the importance of investing in English language training. They see training as foundation for projected long-term growth.

“Many enterprises have asked Apollo to design training courses around their business requirements, like English for banking or English for tourism,” said Khalid.

The organisation recently conducted a survey of corporations and organisations in Viet Nam to research their priorities in investing in corporate English language training this year. The survey will identify their current English usage and the scope of their plans to improve the English language skills of the staff.

Poor teaching

Poor English teaching at the university level is a thorny issue, as the State has invested money and resources in improving courses.

A first-year student at Ha Noi National University summarised his English classes from the sixth grade to university as a path, where he learned how to say “How are you?” at every stop.

He said the current curriculum does not connect the levels well, making teachers and students waste time.

A survey conducted by the Under-graduate and Post-Graduate Department under the Ministry of Education and Training at 59 universities nation-wide found more than 87 per cent had ill-defined criteria when it came to their English training curriculum.

The survey also found 84 per cent of surveyed universities had built their own curriculum, resulting in uneven qualifications for learning English.

The survey also found that only 964 teachers from the 59 universities not specialising in English were able to satisfy more than half of the English curriculum. The rest had to rely on the help of experienced guest lecturers.

According to the Under-graduate and Post-graduate Department, many English teachers lack English skills because they don’t meet many native speakers.

Most universities rely on text books to teach English.

Conventional methods

While many universities remain short of English teaching facilities, the survey found 69.7 per cent of universities were equipped with language laboratories with an average of 28 computers – about half of which were connected to the internet.

Yet, only 10 per cent of the total time spent learning English is in language labs.

Conventional English teaching methods still overwhelm students, with the focus more on grammar and vocabulary than listening skills.

A sample survey on English language skills among university graduates that do not major in languages found 51.7 per cent did not use English for research or communication purposes, said head of the department, Tran Thi Ha.

Banh Tien Long, deputy minister of education and training, said testing and evaluation of English was still based on reading and grammar exercises, and that the use of English for communication was ignored.

Most students were not able to use the language to study, do research or even communicate after learning at universities for up to six years.

A recent survey conducted by the Law University in HCM City reported only 1 per cent of its students held an advanced English-language degree. Around 80 per cent of students are at beginner or primary levels.

The Ha Noi Trade University, has also invested a lot in English teaching.

While university principal Bui Xuan Nhan said its graduates were able to get between 400 and 450 on the TOEIC test (Test of English International Communication), an employer at Viet Nam Airlines Nguyen Quoc Truong said an aircraft technician must have a score of 600 or higher.

A representative from the US Educational Testing Service, said students needed to attend 480 classes to get a good TOEIC mark, butthe current curriculum only covers 240 class periods.

He said many schools were concentrating on teaching English for special purposes, while failing to arm students with basic English skills.

Khalid stressed the importance of using the language. “If learners are hesitant to communicate in English, they will gradually forget almost all of what they have learned.”

Vietnam News - Vietnam Plans To Build Border Economic Zone With Cambodia

2009-08-01T19:56:00.000+07:00

Vietnam Plans To Build Border Economic Zone With Cambodia

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a master plan to build the region along the border with Cambodia into a major economic zone, according to the Vietnam news agency's report.

Under the ambitious scheme, the southwestern border areas, comprised of four provinces in the Central Highlands and six provinces in the southern region, will be developed into an economic zone of national and international importance by 2020.

The border economic zone including Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dac Lak, Dak Nong, Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Long An, Dong Thap, An Giang and Kien Giang provinces, will act as an entry point for trade, services and cargo transportation between the Greater Mekong's Sub region and the East Sea.

The area, which totals 73,369sq.km, is home to 12,650,000 people and expected to become a national economicdriving force in terms of agriculture, forestry, hydropower and transportation, according to the plan announced by the Government website.

By 2030, the areas along the Cambodia border will become a major economic zone of national and international importance, which can have a special influence to the Central Highlands and the central and southern regions of Vietnam, as well as to other economies in the Gulf of Thailand.

The area is expected to become the nation's biggest natural reserve of biological diversity and ethnic cultures, and one of the major tourist attractions in the ASEAN region, the news agency said.

The cities of Buon Ma Thuot and Pleiku in the Central Highlands, Long Xuyen in the Mekong Delta and Trang Bang Town in Tay Ninh will be developed into the development cores of the region.

Priorities will be given to developing urban centres and economic zones along the border with Cambodia. Phu Quoc Island will become a special administrative and economic zone under the plan, which has a vision through 2030.

Pope Benedict names three new Vietnamese bishops

2009-07-28T17:48:00.002+07:00

Vatican City, Jul 27, 2009 / 08:11 pm (CNA).- A month after he expressed hope for a "healthy collaboration" between the Catholic Church and the Vietnamese government, Pope Benedict XVI has named three new bishops for Vietnam.

A Saturday statement from the Vatican announced that the Pope has chosen Msgr. Joseph Vu Duy Thong to be bishop of Phan Thiet, Msgr. Pierre Nguyen Van De to be bishop of Thai Binh and Rev. Joseph Nguyen Nang to be bishop of Phat Diem.

Two of the appointments were made to fill the offices of retiring bishops, the Associated Press reports.

There are about six million Catholics in Vietnam, one of the largest Catholic populations in Asia. Tensions between the faithful and the government have existed for years, with the government monitoring religious groups and insisting upon approving church appointments.

It was not clear whether the government had voiced any opinion on the latest appointments.

Many Catholics are also seeking the return of church land and buildings confiscated by the government in previous decades. The conflicts have generated negative and false reports in the state-run media and have resulted in beatings and arrests by police and violence from government-supported street gangs.

According to the Associated Press, relations between the Vatican and the Vietnamese government have begun to improve. In a 2007 visit to the Vatican Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung became the highest Vietnamese official to meet with Pope Benedict.

Vietnamese Cardinal Pham Minh Man has said that Vietnam’s president will meet with the Pope at the Vatican in December.

Catholics in Vietnam hope that the meeting could lead to diplomatic ties and an invitation to Pope Benedict to make a pilgrimage to their country.

Saigon Sandwich Maker

2009-07-28T11:10:00.001+07:00

Getting a "banh mi opla" to go, on the street in Ho Chi Minh City. I just go for the egg and bread, not the mystery-meat you see cooking in the pan.

Vietnam News - Vietnam limits cell phones due to number shortage

2009-07-27T09:22:00.000+07:00

Vietnam limits cell phones due to number shortage

Vietnam will allow consumers to subscribe to a maximum three mobile phone numbers on each network from next month due to the limited amount of numbers available.

The country of around 87 million has nearly 111 million phone subscriptions, 88 percent of them -- over 97 million -- mobile phone users, Information and Communications Ministry data showed.

"Because the number of mobile phone numbers is limited, the telecom resources must be put into effective use," it said in a circular seen on Wednesday.

This month Beeline VN, 40 percent owned by Russian telecom company Vimpelcom (VIP.N), will launch a service, becoming the Southeast Asian country's seventh mobile phone service provider.

Vietnam News - The President and the Government of Vietnam will visit the Vatican

2009-07-26T17:21:00.001+07:00

The President and the Government of Vietnam will visit the Vatican
Diplomatic relations and, perhaps, an invitation to Benedict XVI to visit Vietnam next year, where even John Paul II failed to make it. These are the hopes of Vietnamese Catholics spurred on by the news, given by Cardinal JB. Pham Minh Man and confirmed by the authorities, that in November a government delegation will visit the Vatican and the following month the President will meet the Pope.

The visit of the Vietnamese delegation has an important precedent; on 25 January 2007 Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung was received at the Vatican. At that time it seemed that many of the issues which divide the two parties could have been resolved and that and that there was the possibility of establishing normal diplomatic relations on the horizon. It was not to be and Vietnamese Catholics continue to experience difficult times.

Relations between Vietnam and the Vatican, were not interrupted however and regular visits to the nation by a Holy See delegation continued. Now the government says that "a delegation of the Government of Vietnam will visit the Vatican in November 2009to discuss some issues involving relations on both sides, and on December 2009 Vietnam’s President will meet and for an exchange of views with the Holy Father Benedict XVI for the relations in a near future. "

For Catholics in Vietnam, the bishops ad limina visit in June of this year was a particularly important event. On that occasion, the chairman of the Bishops Conference, Msgr. Pierre Nguyen Van Nhon, had expressed the hope that the pope might one day visit the country and recalled that the Church will celebrate a special Vietnamese jubilee year from 24 November 2009, the Solemnity of the martyrs of the country, to the Epiphany of 2011. Clearly the hope of Catholics is to see the Pope at that time, while the Vatican has said that next year, Benedict XVI will undertake a journey to Asia.

The ad Limina visit of the Vietnamese bishops, moreover, in the words of Card. Pham Minh Man, has borne important fruits for the Church which “has a new vision to bring the Good News to all in a socialist country”. The Pope spoke of the Church of Jesus who "lives with and among our people." This has a special meaning, it is also a pastoral plan for the bishops in Vietnam today.

The website of the Church of Vietnam has announced that the Pope's message will be translated into Vietnamese, so it can be read by all. Some Catholics have been pleased to hear that the Church of Jesus "does not intended to replace the government, instead it seeks - in a spirit of dialogue and respectful cooperation - to take part in the life of the nation, serving all people”. It proclaims the Good News, primarily through the fundamental values of morality in the lifestyle it promotes. In every environment, in every sphere of society, economical and political. We express faith in God and the Church follows the love of Jesus and serves for life, ours and that of our brothers and sisters.

Through this lesson, Vietnamese Catholics have experienced that you can communicate and respect one another. The cardinal affirmed that "after 30 years we have communicated with the government, after the decades of “living together”, Catholics and communists understand with one another more. Many Catholics have recognized that communists are fellow-citizen and brothers in a home. Many communists also have noted that real Catholics are not hostility, but this is also a member of the people community. We can co-operate together for the stable development".

Vietnam may be a new waypoint for pay-per-click scammers

2009-07-25T18:40:00.000+07:00

Click Fraud's New Asian Connection
Vietnam may be a new waypoint for pay-per-click scammers.

A note of caution to online advertisers: That flood of Web users seemingly based in Vietnam may not simply be the result of a vibrant emerging economy coming online. According to new research from advertising traffic analysis firm Anchor Intelligence, it's more likely a sign of click fraudsters routing their scams through the country's growing number of hijacked PCs.

A report Anchor published Thursday shows that nearly half of all the advertising clicks coming from Vietnam are composed of fraudulent traffic aimed at inflating online publishers' advertising revenue, according to an analysis of billions of clicks a month on its clients' advertising networks. While the U.S. still tops the report's ranking as a source of sheer volume of fraudulent clicks, followed by Canada and the U.K., Vietnam shows an unprecedented ratio of criminal to innocent clicks. Fully 48% of the country's clicks are fraudulent, according to the report, compared with 28% of U.S. clicks and 26% of those originating in Canada.

Richard Sims, Anchor's vice president for products, suggests that the high rate of fraud coming from Vietnam is likely a result of the country's growing online population mixed with a lax security environment. That's made their PCs easy prey for international cybercriminals who use malicious software to infect PCs, turning them into click fraud "zombies." "Vietnam has a lot of PCs and Internet service providers with outdated software and other vulnerabilities," Sims says. "It's likely that users running Windows 98 on their machine have been infected with malware so that while they might be sleeping, their machines are still engaging in click fraud."

Data from the Shadowserver Foundation, a group that tracks PC infections worldwide, backs up that notion of Vietnam's high rate of infections. According to Shadowserver researcher Andre DiMino, Vietnam's number of detectable signals from the Conficker worm, a piece of malicious software that has spread to millions of computers worldwide, has increased 100-fold since January, putting it fifth in the ranking of total number of Conficker infections behind Brazil, Russia, India and China, despite Vietnam's relatively small population.

Anchor's data on the overall trends in click fraud are somewhat murkier. While the Anchor study claims that ad networks are experiencing a 22.9% attempted click fraud rate this quarter, up from 21.7% last quarter, another study released Thursday by click fraud trackers Click Forensics writes that click fraud has decreased to 12.7% from 13.8% in the first quarter, a discrepancy that Anchor chalks up to methodology and the definition of a fraudulent click.

Whether or not click fraud is on the rise, it's certainly on online giants' radars. Last month Microsoft filed a lawsuit against three individuals that accuses them of running a click fraud scheme on its online properties, and earlier this month Facebook found itself the target of a class action lawsuit claiming that it charged advertisers for invalid clicks.

Vietnam News - Vietnam Listings Boost Size of Asia’s Best Performer

2009-07-24T19:52:00.000+07:00

Vietnam Listings Boost Size of Asia’s Best Performer

Vietnam’s stock market value is set to grow by at least 10 percent as a rally in the benchmark VN Index, Asia’s best performer this quarter, prompts the government to resume sales of state-owned company shares.

Joint-Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, the nation’s third-biggest bank by assets, listed today on the main Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange following Bao Viet Insurance & Finance Group, Vietnam’s biggest insurer, last week. Vietnam Bank for Industry & Trade, the country’s fourth- largest bank, starts trading on July 16.

The additions may make Vietnam more attractive to overseas fund managers as the VN Index rebounds from a record 66 percent drop last year, said Templeton Asset Management Ltd.’s Mark Mobius. The 161 companies on the exchange are worth 286 trillion dong ($16 billion), less than the market value of Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo! Inc., and the new listings will boost that by at least 43.8 trillion dong, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“It will increase the liquidity of the Vietnamese market, and that’s very positive,” Mobius, the Singapore-based executive chairman of Templeton, which oversees about $20 billion, said in a June 25 interview.

In Vietnam, where stocks trade on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange and the Hanoi Stock Exchange, companies typically complete initial public offerings several months before their shares start trading.

Privatization Program

Hanoi-based Vietcombank today rose by 20 percent, the maximum allowed by the exchange on the first trading day, to close at 60,000 dong.

The VN Index rallied 60 percent in the second quarter, the best performer in Asia and second in the world to Ukraine’s PFTS Index, which jumped 78 percent among 89 benchmark measures tracked by Bloomberg. The VN Index is up 42 percent this year, the world’s ninth-best performer.

“We need the market to have a significantly larger capitalization,” said Beat Schuerch, the Ho Chi Minh City- based chief representative of Indochina Capital Advisors Ltd., which manages a fund holding shares of Bank for Foreign Trade, known as Vietcombank. “Now we hope that the privatization program will start to kick in again.”

Share Sales Revive

The government said Dec. 30 it delayed a planned share sale for Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, the country’s second-largest lender by assets. EVN Telecom Co., a phone operator owned by a state utility, said May 15 it plans to sell shares in the fourth quarter.

The Communist Party-led government is selling shares in state-owned companies through its so-called equitization, or privatization, process, as part of a more than two-decade-old policy known as “doi moi,” or renovation.

The rally in Vietnam’s nine-year-old stock market “opens up the possibility” of a revival of share sales, the Washington-based World Bank said in a June 8 report, citing a need for “key structural reforms which are required to sustain long-term growth.”

Hanoi-based Bao Viet closed at 53,000 dong today, adding 38 percent from the 38,500 starting price at its June 25 listing, and valuing Vietnam’s biggest insurer at 30.4 trillion dong, the largest company on the main exchange.

The 112.3 million shares that Vietcombank listed today added 6.7 trillion dong to the value of the index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The market capitalization of Vietcombank would total at least 72 trillion dong, based on the 1.2 billion outstanding shares, making it Vietnam’s largest publicly traded company.

Record Trading

The VN Index, which in 2008 posted its biggest yearly loss since the market’s inception in July 2000, has doubled from a four-year low on Feb. 24. It fell 2.6 percent to 448.29 today.

Foreign investors bought 59 million shares on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange in June, and 71 million in May, up from 19 million in January, according to data on the exchange’s Web site.

The daily value of shares traded on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange rose to a record 3.3 trillion dong on June 10, from 130 billion dong at the start of the year. Today, 1.4 trillion dong worth of shares traded, according to data from the exchange’s Web site.

“Listing at this time is good as the market has recovered,” Vietcombank Chairman Nguyen Hoa Binh said in an interview from Hanoi yesterday.

‘Overreaction’

The market’s gains may not last, said Louis Nguyen, chief executive officer of Saigon Asset Management, which manages about $125 million.

The VN Index is trading at 20 times earnings estimates, up from 10 times at its lowest of the year on Feb. 24, according to Sacombank Securities Co., Vietnam’s third-biggest brokerage.

“There’s been a slight overreaction, there’s an exuberance on the streets here that you don’t see in London,” Nguyen said. “I don’t think the locals realize that if you’re sitting in New York or California, it’s still pretty scary.”

The MSCI Frontier Markets Index, which includes Vietnam, dropped for two straight days after the World Bank predicted June 22 that the global economy will contract this year more than previously forecast. Vietnam’s exports fell 10 percent in the first half, the biggest decline since January, the government said June 25.

Raising Capital

“People are more positive about the stock market and company earnings but we have also to consider how much the global economy is going to hit Vietnam and its exports,” Ho Chi Minh City-based Nguyen said.

Vietnam’s long-term, local-currency credit rating was today cut one grade to BB- by Fitch Ratings, which cited a “steady deterioration” in the budget deficit.

Hanoi-based Bank for Industry & Trade, the country’s fourth-largest lender, will probably add at least 6.7 trillion dong to the value of Vietnam’s listed companies when the company starts trading from July 16, according to Chairman Pham Huy Hung. Hung said on June 4 that the shares would trade for the first time at no less than 50,000 dong.

Vietnam’s stock market has become an “important channel to raise capital for the economy,” Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said in Hanoi on June 24. An increase in both the number and value of listed companies has made the market “more and more attractive to investors,” he said.

Selling Masks On The Street In Saigon

2009-07-23T11:51:00.000+07:00

Vietnam confirms community-level transmission of A/H1N1 virus

2009-07-22T11:56:00.002+07:00

This is a little scary: a high school in downtown Ho Chi Minh City had 34 cases of A/H1N1 virus, and closed it's doors.

Vietnam confirms community-level transmission of A/H1N1 virus

HANOI, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu has confirmed community-level transmission of influenza A/H1N1 virus in the country and the total number of flu patients has risen to 408, local newspaper the People reported Tuesday.

Trieu made the confirmation during his visit to Ho Chi Minh City's Ngo Thoi Nhiem private high school, where 34 students and teachers were found to be infected with the A/H1N1 virus, said the newspaper.

The school was closed and put under quarantine on Monday. The first case of the school, a 10-grade male student, was tested positive with the virus after having contact with a flu patient in the southern province of Dong Nai.

The total number of A/H1N1 flu patients in Vietnam has risen to 408 following the country's confirmation of 25 more cases on Monday, according to the newspaper. Out of the newly confirmed patients, 19 are in the south, one in the north, and five in central provinces.

Vietnam News - Nissan to start Vietnam production, sales by 2010

2009-07-21T19:50:00.000+07:00

Nissan to start Vietnam production, sales by 2010

Nissan Vietnam Co Ltd, part-owned by Japan's Nissan Motor Co (7201.T), said on Tuesday it would start production in Vietnam and market the first locally assembled vehicle by 2010.

"Vietnam is a strategic market for Nissan with tremendous opportunities," Shinya Hannya, Nissan's corporate vice president for Asian markets, said in a statement without giving production details.

The Southeast Asian country's economy is forecast to grow 4.5 percent this year, compared with just 0.7 percent for the whole of Southeast Asia, according to the Asian Development Bank.

Nissan cars will be assembled at a domestic automobile firm, Vietnam Motor Corporation, and distributed by Nissan Vietnam, a venture established in December 2008 by the Japanese car maker and Denmark's Kjaer Group A/S, the statement said.

January-May sales by the 16 car makers operating in Vietnam fell 35 percent from the same period last year to 58,860 units, industry reports said.

Dealers say demand could slow significantly in the rest of 2009 as consumers put off big-ticket purchases such as cars and houses.

Last year, car sales rose 37 percent to a record 110,186 units.

Our Old House In Go Vap District, HCMC

2009-07-20T16:10:00.006+07:00

My wife and I lived in this squalid little dump last year. I can't believe we lived here for six whole months. The video was shot on the day we moved out, after our stuff is all out. Imagine two motorbikes parked inside near the front door; after that there is just barely enough room left for a bed, a TV, a table, and clothes.

This is the site where I got the dreaded "black abscess" and also where I started publishing this blog. We needed a cheap house at the time because we had just returned from Nha Trang, where I had taken a corporate job that turned into a dismal failure, and then we had fled back to Saigon. That episode ruined us financially, and on returning to Ho Chi Minh City we sold everything sellable in order to eat and keep a roof over our heads. Living in this cheap house gave us time to recover while I built up a teaching schedule.

Since we had sold everything, when we moved in here we had no TV, no computer, no radio, no fridge, etc. and we actually had to resort to, gulp, reading books for entertainment. I read Harry Potter there, and actually studied some Vietnamese. The best thing about the house was the price: 1.5 million VND, less than $100!

Features of the house included:

metal roof and no AC
squat toilet
no hot water
no shower: bucket and scoop
no sink and only one drain: washing dishes in the bathroom
1-meter square "kitchen" on the floor
airplanes passing frighteningly, deafeningly low overhead
neighbors close enough to hear them peeing, coughing, puking, etc.
kids and teens playing right outside our door, constantly shouting at the top of their lungs, banging on our door and otherwise harrassing us
a neighbor teen who liked to play death-metal rock music at really high volume at 6:30am
tiny alley with a constant parade of sellers, neighbors, kids, and motorbikes, passing by right outside the window- they might as well have just walked right through the house

But by far the worst thing about that house was: listening to child abuse. It was really awful, every day listening to our neighbors beating their kids. I'll take listening to grinding metal or cutting tile over that, any day. It really made me want to jump out of my skin. In the USA, the police would have been knocking on the door. One time at night I went over to the neighbors closed door as they were beating on their screaming kid, banged on it a few times, and ran back into my house. They actually stopped. Another time a different neighbor was walking past in front of our house, smacking her kid with a yardstick as he walked in front of her screaming and crying. I went out and starting yelling at her. What was the reaction from her and all the neighbors watching? They laughed like they were watching a really funny comedy show. Don't even get me started on this topic...

Because of the house's one great feature, the price, we were able to recover financially. Eventually we got a computer, a TV, a fridge, even a motorbike- all cheap and used, of course.

We still reminisce wistfully about how great it was to live in such a cheap place, though it wasn't enough to overshadow all the negative aspects. The other thing that was great about it was- each other. At first I thought it would drive us nuts to live together in such a small space, but it really wasn't bad at all. We bonded.

We've actually lived in worse places, and cheaper. (We had a house in Nha Trang that was only 700,00VND a month.) But we stayed in that house longer than most. Now we're back on the market, after only a few months at our current house, which is big and clean and beautiful. Rental houses here in Ho Chi Minh City keep getting more and more expensive, and we keep moving farther and farther away from the city center, looking for that perfect balance between quality and price.

Transporting Glass By Motorbike In Saigon

2009-07-19T21:39:00.004+07:00

Yikes, don't drive too close to this guy:

Safer for other drivers, but not for them- unprotected edges, no gloves:

Vietnam News - Piaggio starts Vespa production in Vietnam

2009-07-18T19:43:00.001+07:00

Piaggio starts Vespa production in Vietnam

Italy's Piaggio opened its first factory in Vietnam on Wednesday, aiming to produce 100,000 of its distinctive Vespa scooters a year.

The $30 million plant will manufacture 125 and 150 cc Vespa scooters, said Roberto Colaninno, Piaggio Group's president.

"We consider Vietnam as an important market with high GDP growth, young generations and the number of scooters is one of the biggest in the world," he said.

Once it is fully in operation, the plant will employ about 350 workers. Each year it is expected to produce 100,000 scooters for the local market and for export to other countries in the region.

"We have exported made-in-Italy Piaggio, tomorrow we will export made-in-Vietnam Piaggio," Colaninno said.

Last year, some 17,000 Vespa scooters were sold in Vietnam.

Rain Inside My House In Ho Chi Minh City

2009-07-17T09:07:00.001+07:00

This is a video of rain falling inside my house in Ho Chi Minh City. Fortunately we have a lot of space here so it's not a big problem. We asked the landlady to fix it and she asked if she could borrow the money from us for repairs. Umm, no. (Now the house has been sold so we will be moving out at the end of the month.)

Health In Vietnam - My Big Abscess - Part 5 of 5

2009-07-16T03:42:00.001+07:00

This is the fifth and last in a series of posts chronicling an episode I went through last year: I got a big ugly abcess on my side. I must warn you: THESE IMAGES ARE REALLY UGLY! DISGUSTING, EVEN! That's why I made teeny, tiny thumbnails, so you don't have to see them if you don't want to. Click the thumbnails to view my lovely abcess in full-size splendor.

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Day 13 plus another whole month

When the center of the abscess came out on Day 12 it was a huge relief and I thought the ordeal was at least half over, but it took another entire month for the crater in my side to heal. The last photo here shows the scar as it looks today, over a year later. It still hurts a little sometimes, and itches. My wife says that is typical; her scars itch from time to time.

At least the pain was over; that hole looks like it would hurt like heck, but it didn't hurt at all. I was still not able to sleep on that side though, or take a proper shower.

Keeping a supply of bandages was difficult, to my surprise. There aren't many things that I've wanted that I've been unable to get here in Vietnam, but large sterile bandages, I discovered, are not easy to find. And they were expensive when we did find them. Another thing we looked for and never did find is hydrogen peroxide. We asked all over, but nobody knew what it was. We used iodine for cleaning the wound. And I used some chinese herbs as well, after the antibiotics were finished.

How can you prevent getting one of these lovely things yourself? Just keep clean, I guess, and avoid scratching your skin if it's itchy. (On comparing notes with some other foreigners, I've discovered that it's common to get itchy rashes here. "Heat rash"? I don't know.) One Vietnamese friend told me that when she was a child her father always told the kids not to scratch their skin, because he was afraid they would get one of these.

Vietnam News - Pacnet arrives in Vietnam

2009-07-15T19:42:00.002+07:00

Pacnet arrives in Vietnam

Asian telecoms service provider Pacnet has partnered with Vietnamese telco and ISP FPT Telecom to launch its first Point-of-Presence (PoP) in Vietnam, with the aim of enhancing network connectivity in the country. ‘Vietnam continues to attract large foreign investments from countries including China, the US and Singapore, which will fuel stronger demand for network connectivity in Vietnam,’ said Bill Barney, CEO of Pacnet, adding, ‘Our latest infrastructure expansion in Vietnam reflects our confidence in its economy and will enable us to support the country's growing bandwidth requirements.’ Pacnet’s Ho Chi Minh City-based PoP will also enable the company to deliver its global network connectivity solutions to Cambodia and Laos. The company plans to expand its presence to other cities in Vietnam over the next twelve months, and is exploring the possibility of landing its EAC-C2C submarine cable in the country to provide access to Asia's highest capacity undersea network.

Student Playing Computer Game During English Class

2009-07-14T22:04:00.001+07:00

It's presentation time for my university English class. They give short presentations to the class on a famous person or a place. I go to the back of the room and observe. Normally I don't allow any laptops at all in my English classes, but during presentation time sometimes I let the students open them up. I was sitting in the back of the room when I noticed something active and colorful happening on this student's screen.

So just for fun I snuck up behind him and snapped a photo of what he was doing: playing Diablo. Dude, you're so busted!

Not able to move abroad, or already here but fed up with teaching in classrooms? How about earning $20 an hour in the comfort of your own home, teaching English on the internet with voice chat?
Read my post on teaching English online:
www.vietnaminfoblog.com/2009/11/teach-english-online.html

Vietnam News - Vietnam shoots up rankings for outsourcing

2009-07-12T19:37:00.003+07:00

Vietnam shoots up rankings for outsourcing

A report on offshore industries has ranked Vietnam as among the top ten nations for outsourcing.

Global Consultants AT Kearney evaluated 50 countries and ranked them based on contributing factors that promote offshore sectors. Vietnam has climbed nine spots, its rise attributed to a recent IT boom, led by the of a Russian IT centre in Ho Chi Minh City, specifically targetting outsourcing. Vietnam's rise in the outsourcing ratings could bring about change in the nation, once known for its rice, coffee and rubber exports.

Sign On A Truck Driving Around Saigon

2009-06-24T21:46:00.000+07:00

This sign was on the back of a truck driving slowly around town. Anybody care to translate? It's just sort of saying to live clean and healthy, isn't it?

Ho Chi Minh City Bird Seller

2009-06-16T21:23:00.000+07:00

This woman is selling some birds and also some little squirrel-like animals, on the street in Ho Chi Minh City.

Zooming out:

One-Stop Shopping For The Saigon Driver

2009-06-15T21:16:00.001+07:00

Convenient stop for the motorbike driver in Ho Chi Minh City: tire repair and air, gas, raincoats, masks, gloves.

Saigon Family Out On The Town

2009-06-13T21:20:00.002+07:00

Typical young family in Ho Chi Minh City, "di choi."

Health In Vietnam - My Big Abscess - Part 4 of 5

2009-06-09T00:01:00.001+07:00

This is the fourth in a series of posts chronicling an episode I went through last year: I got a big ugly abcess on my side. I must warn you: THESE IMAGES ARE REALLY REALLY UGLY! DISGUSTING, EVEN! I suggest not opening them at all if you are squeamish, and if you do open them, don't do it while you are eating or it may spoil your lunch! That's why I made teeny, tiny thumbnails, so you don't have to see them if you don't want to. Click the thumbnails to view my lovely abcess in full-size splendor.

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Day 12 - The Big Day
At this point I had been waiting nearly two weeks, and it seemed like forever, for the day when this black thing in the center would come out, and the process would begin to end.

Most people think that an abscess like this requires surgical intervention. One guy I work with said, "You should get it lanced." Most internet health resources say something like, "Your doctor will cut the abscess open to drain out the pus." But I chose to let it takes it's course, with just the help of antibiotics. I trusted the wisdom of the country folk who had been through it before- my wife and her family. They actually said don't let a doctor cut it. They had seen people who did let a doctor drain one, and it just got worse.

My wife wanted to pull the black center out earlier, but I wouldn't let her. I wanted it to completely finish whatever it wanted to do, until it pretty much came out by itself.

One day when I got home from work and took off the bandage, it nearly fell out by itself. I could see that it was ready. I reached around, grabbed the black center, and gave it a tug. It didn't resist and didn't hurt but made a nice little sound, thwuck as it pulled loose from the surrounding pus.

What a relief. But now I was left with a good-sized crater in my side. About half a ping-pong ball would fit in there. Unfortunately I had no need for ping-pong ball storage.

After that the pain was mostly over, but the healing process for that crater took a long time- a lot longer than I expected.

Next: the final abscess post- the long healing process

Health In Vietnam - My Big Abscess - Part 3 of 5

2009-06-08T00:01:00.001+07:00

This series of posts chronicles an episode I went through last year: I got a big ugly abcess on my side. I must warn you: THESE IMAGES ARE REALLY REALLY UGLY! DISGUSTING, EVEN! I suggest not opening them at all if you are squeamish, and if you do open them, don't do it while you are eating or it may spoil your lunch! Click the thumbnails to view my lovely abcess in full-size splendor.

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Days 9-11
As my wife had described, the black "seed" at the core kept getting bigger and bigger, and she told me that eventually it would come out, and that would be the end. So I was waiting for that day.

I had to ask my wife a few times every day, "You're sure you've been through this before, and I'm not about to die?" And she would tell me again that, yes, it wasn't going to kill me and eventually it would heal.

The stories she told me were amazing. When they were kids they would get the same thing, or even bigger. They couldn't afford medicine (I had gone to Anh Sinh and gotten antibiotics) and they would continue to go to school or work. Her mother once had a big one on her neck. They would get one in the groin, and still have to ride a bicycle to school and sit quietly in class. Tough people!

I'm so thankful that I had her taking care of me. I couldn't reach it or even see it without a mirror, so she had to keep it clean and prepare the bandages for me when I went to work. Plus she had to deal with my mental anguish and constantly reassure me that people had endured this before without dying. She still gives me a hard time about all my whining during that time.

Next: the big day!

News - Vietnam Economy

2009-06-07T00:01:00.000+07:00

From the CNBC Stock Blog:

Vietnam Could Double the S&P in 10 Years: Strategist

Vietnam is following China’s footsteps in terms of economic growth and in the next 10 years they will produce great returns for investors, said Rob Lutts, founder and CIO of Cabot Money Management.

Falling FDI:

Vietnam sees 2009 FDI falling $2.5 bln-report

HANOI, June 4 (Reuters) - Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam is expected to fall in 2009 by $2.5 billion to $9 billion, a state-run newspaper reported on Thursday.

The online newspaper VnExpress quoted Phan Huu Thang, director of the Foreign Investment Agency, as saying FDI pledges in Vietnam might drop to $20-25 billion this year from a record of $64 billion last year due to the global economic slump.

New cargo ship route:

First Cargo Ship Sails On Direct Vietnam-US Route - Port

HANOI (AFP)--The first cargo ship directly linking Vietnam to its biggest export market in the U.S. set sail Thursday, the shipping firm and a port worker said.

The worker at the new Saigon Port-PSA terminal in southern Vietnam said the APL Denver had left on its 15-day journey to the U.S. west coast city of Seattle.

It is the "first ever direct service to the U.S." from Vietnam, company spokesman Paul Barrett said, adding that U.S.-bound cargo was previously routed through Singapore.

The service began days after the Saigon Port-PSA facility opened, becoming the first deep water container terminal serving the southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City, said APL, a unit of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. ( NO3.SG).

Health In Vietnam - My Big Abscess - Part 2 of 5

2009-06-06T00:01:00.002+07:00

This series of posts chronicles an episode I went through last year: I got a big ugly abcess on my side. I had never experienced or seen anything like it before, but my wife tells me that as a kid in the countryside in Vietnam, she and her family would get them pretty regularly- and they have the scars to show for it.

I must warn you: THESE IMAGES ARE REALLY REALLY UGLY! DISGUSTING, EVEN! I suggest not opening them at all if you are squeamish, and if you do open them, don't do it while you are eating or it may spoil your lunch! That's why I made teeny, tiny thumbnails, so you don't have to see them if you don't want to. Click the thumbnails to view my lovely abcess in full-size splendor.

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Day 8
This is only a day later, but it has changed a lot. That black core has grown much bigger. At this point the thing was changing by the hour. It was a boiling, festering, melting little mini-volcano on my side. To look at it, I had to use a mirror. It was changing so much that about every 30 minutes I would grab a mirror and admire it.

On the left is one of the uglier photos. Lots of oozing pus... lovely. On the right are two photos when it's cleaned up and ready to go to work. A hunk of cotton taped on underneath to catch the pus as it drains out.

At times it was extremely painful, but fortunately most of the time it didn't hurt too badly. For a minute or two it would feel like there was a hot iron pressed against my side, especially when I was trying to go to sleep. I couldn't lay on my back or right side, only on my left, which made sleeping very difficult. I didn't sleep for more than an hour at a time, for a few weeks. I was a mess.

More to come: Days 9 to 11 next

Health In Vietnam - My Big Abscess - Part 1 of 5

2009-06-05T00:01:00.004+07:00

This series of posts chronicles an episode I went through last year: I got a big ugly abcess on my side. I had never experienced or seen anything like it before, but my wife tells me that as a kid in the countryside in Vietnam,
she and her family would get them pretty regularly- and they have the scars to show for it.

My wife and I were living in a tiny, one-room house in Saigon at the time I got the abcess, and the conditions were not completely sanitary. There was a spot on my side that was itchy and I had scratched it a bit, breaking the skin. Then something unfriendly got in there.

I must warn you: THESE IMAGES ARE REALLY REALLY UGLY! DISGUSTING, EVEN! I suggest not opening them at all if you are squeamish, and if you do open them, don't do it while you are eating or it may spoil your lunch! That's why I made teeny, tiny thumbnails, so you don't have to see them if you don't want to. Click the thumbnails to view my lovely abscess in full-size splendor.

The whole experience lasted five or six weeks; now I have a big ugly scar on my side. It still itches and hurts a little sometimes. It was painful as hell, and also traumatic. I've waited a year to post about it here because it just freaks me out to even look at these pictures. Let's begin!

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Day 7
The photos begin on day 7 because I guess I was too busy freaking out about this thing growing on my body to think about taking photos, and I didn't really understand what I was in for. I wish I had those first few days in photos because it was amazing how fast it grew in the first 24 and 48 hours.

When it started I woke up in the middle of the night and noticed a tiny, itchy speck on my side. It had a little tiny black dot in the center, only as big as a little tiny hair. I woke up my wife and showed it to her and she immediately knew what it was. She told me exactly what I was in for, but at the time I didn't really understand what she meant: "That little black speck is going to grow big, and then eventually you'll have to pull it out." Sounds innocent enough, I went back to sleep. But by morning it was already a lot bigger, and hurting. By the third day it was as big as in this picture, and hurting a LOT. And I was scared- I had no idea what it was.

Tomorrow: more pain and misery!

Vietnam News - Copied Paintings In The National Art Museum

2009-06-04T00:09:00.000+07:00

What?! Copied or forged or bootlegged, non-authentic goods on display in Vietnam? What a surprise!

Copied Paintings Plague Vietnam's Museum

How many paintings and sculptures in Vietnam's national art museum are actually copies, nobody knows.

Aloe Vera For Sale In A Vietnam Supermarket

2009-06-03T09:48:00.008+07:00

Aloe vera leaves in my local supermarket here in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. They're used in cooking. There's a soup made from it, but I tried it once and it was really vile.

There is one thing that aloe leaves are very useful for, and no kitchen should be without an aloe plant for this purpose: burns. When you burn your skin, there is nothing better for it; it's practically magical how well aloe will heal a burn.

Slice open a leaf and put the gooey side right onto the burn, or if it's a minor burn then just squeeze some goo out of the leaf onto the burn. (This is after applying cold water or ice to the burn in the first few minutes to stop the burning process.) Keep putting fresh "aloe goo" onto the burn as it dries up- every 15 or 20 minutes put some more on there or slice open another fresh leaf and apply it.

For a really bad burn, apply a sliced leaf onto the burn and wrap with a gauze bandage to hold it in place. Keep a leaf wrapped onto the burn overnight and in the morning you will be amazed at how much it has healed. Keep applying aloe goo to the burn throughout the healing process, and scarring will be minimized.

This may not seem to have much to do with Saigon or Vietnam, but tailpipe burns on the calf are common for people living here. If you live in Ho Chi Minh City long enough, you will probably get at least one of these burns on your leg, which leaves a scar that I call the Saigon Tattoo.

Photo - Swanky Motorbike In Ho Chi Minh City

2009-05-30T08:52:00.002+07:00

You see some interesting motorbikes around Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam News - Peaceful Evolution Angst

2009-05-26T11:19:00.002+07:00

Very interesting opinion piece about Vietnam in the New York Times:

Peaceful Evolution Angst

By ROGER COHEN
Published: May 25, 2009
Another quarter-century down the road, I’d bet on more democracy and liberty in Beijing and Hanoi, achieved through peaceful evolution, no less.

Open An English Language Center In Vietnam And Get Rich Quick! - Maybe

2009-05-25T07:36:00.014+07:00

American Colleges Raise the Flag in Vietnam

Interest in partnerships with local institutions is high, but so are the bureaucratic hurdles.

With one million students graduating from high school every year, and places for fewer than 20 percent to go on to higher education, Vietnam is promising ground for education prospectors. And with China's education market considered saturated and India's barring foreign degree providers, Vietnam can look pretty enticing.

"People are trying to get a foothold here, just like Coca-Cola."

Businesses in the education industry- schools- are "trying to get a foothold here" because there is a lot of money to be made in education. It's "promising ground" because many school owners are getting filthy rich. Schools are not taxed, and sometimes they are even subsidized, which makes businesspeople drool. Nowadays there are new private language centers in every neighborhood. One major street, Ba Thang Hai, has become language-center-row, with about fifteen schools in one stretch of street.

But it's not easy. I have been involved with schools with foreign owners who throw a lot of money into opening a school and think it's going to be easy- open the doors and students will come. But they make a lot of mistakes and close the door a year later after losing a ton of money.

Ten or fifteen years ago, it was different. You could just open the doors and students would come. Whoever offered the cheapest rates would get the most students. But now the market has changed. Students look for value; they have a lot of choices and they don't just go for the cheapest option.

A few years back I got involved with a school that had just been opened a few months earlier by an Australian. Like your typical businessman, he figured that if he threw a lot of money into it, the school would succeed. He fixed up a fancy building and made a nice, pretty facility. I went in to look for a job and within a couple of minutes noticed a few things:

All of their promotional materials were written in English. Duh, if you're teaching people English, then when they walk in the door as a customer, they don't know English yet. How are they going to read your brochures? Also a big chunk of the education market is for kids- it's the parents who you are marketing to, and they don't speak English.

The location: at first glance, it looked nice. But if you knew a little bit about the industry, you would notice that it was on a one way street with little traffic- hard to get to and no visibility. A school located on a major street will have hundreds of people driving by every minute: visibility. In the evening there will be 15 minutes between classes, and in that 15 minutes hundreds of parents will be outside picking up their kids, and hundreds more students will be on their way in to class: access. At one point I was chatting with the owner about the school and he proudly remarked, "Great location, huh?" And I was like, uh, yea...

On the wall was a chart showing the school's progress in recruiting new students, with some typical business-speak inspirational messages. I looked at the numbers: after a few months, they had less than 50 students, and their big goal was to get three new students a day. At that rate, you might have a successful school in 50 years! Big, successful schools can easily sign up 50 or even 100 new students a day. If you only have 35 students after three months, you should be in crisis mode, not swaggering around like you're the next big thing.

They were spending way too much money. I looked at the paper in the brand-new high-end photocopier; it was the most expensive paper available. I was given a tour: fancy teacher's room with new refrigerator, nice furniture, computers. I had heard through the grapevine that he was paying the Vietnamese staff about twice a normal salary. Indeed, that's why I was there. Teachers always follow the money, and I had heard that this school was paying a high wage. Hmm, and you only have a handful of students after three months... How long is this going to last?

That school closed the doors after about a year. I heard that he was losing at least ten grand a month. In the end he didn't pay the staff for the last few months. I had bailed out long before.

Attention, businesspersons: getting involved in education in Vietnam?
I am available for consulting!

Please comment, link, and share!

Harvesting Rice In Vietnam Can Be Dangerous

2009-05-25T06:46:00.002+07:00

Lightning kills 6 villagers in central Vietnam

(AP) — HANOI, Vietnam - An official says lightning has killed six villagers and injured 11 others in central Vietnam.

Disaster official Phan Viet Phu of Nghe An province says the villagers were killed instantly in three separate incidents Saturday. The villagers were harvesting rice and had taken shelter from monsoon rains in huts which were hit by lightning, he said.

Lightning also injured 11 other villagers in other incidents, Phu said Sunday.

Video - Sitting In The Middle Of A Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Jam

2009-05-22T00:01:00.005+07:00

Here's something more like a real traffic jam in Ho Chi Minh City. It's still just a mini-jam, though: we only sat there for 10 or 15 minutes. The major traffic jams in Saigon will stop you for 20 or 30 minutes or more.

We're sitting in the middle of a 'roundabout' style intersection. Four or five streets come together here, most of them really large, major streets. Two of them are three-lane, one-way streets. There are no traffic lights, so in theory everybody enters the roundabout, goes round to the next street and continues. In theory, there should be no stopping at all.

Once I read an amusing sentence in some guidebook that described this kind of intersection in Ho Chi Minh City: "Where five streets come together, without benefit of helmets or sanity." Nowadays we do have helmets, though not yet sanity.

In the first video, notice how everyone is just sitting there quietly. We've only been there for a few minutes, so everyone's still optimistic and calm. But we're definitely at a standstill.

In video number two, it's a few minutes later. Some people are starting to back up and find a way out. People are starting to get agitated. We've moved about a meter, still just sitting there. Remember, there are no stoplights in this intersection.

And some minutes later, here's video number three. We've moved a couple of meters in the last ten minutes. That bus eventually just changed it's route and turned away to a different street. A couple of minutes later we made it through. Another day in Ho Chi Minh City traffic.

Vietnamese Food - Fried Bananas

2009-05-21T15:17:00.005+07:00

These little treats are pretty good Vietnamese munchies: fried bananas. In the Vietnamese language it's banh chuoi chien. (bánh chuối chiên) I can't eat too many because they're really oily, but they're yummy if you want a little Vietnamese food snack that's crunchy/chewy/sweet/oily. 2,000 Vietnamese Dong each: $0.11 at today's exchange rate.