I HAVE GOT A NEW GIRLFRIEND IN VIETNAM, AND FOR THE TIME'S BEING AT LEAST, I WILL PROBABLY BE HEADING DOWN THERE FIVE TO SIX TIMES A YEAR TO SEE HER. On top of my other travel commitments and ambitions (Australia twice a year, London as often as I can make it there for the dance scene and the parklife summers, Iceland about seven times a decade), this is likely to make me one of the biggest carbon polluters on the planet. On the other hand, though, I don't have a car, and I am willing to plant trees to pay for my air mile follies. It is going to be expensive though buying all those plane tickets, and I am looking at any possible way, of recouping my losses. Frequent flyer points are a no brainer, and according to my expectations, I could be getting plenty of free flights over the coming years. Perhaps frequent flyer points will compensate for 15 per cent of my future airline ticket purchases. Buying fake stuff in Vietnam, might compensate me another 15 per cent. On my last trip there, I bought a fake red North Face backpack in the city markets for just $10, and a lovely laser printed Lonely Planet for less than half that. This is a cheap country that is for sure, so why is it costing me so much to stay and travel here these days? It must because now I have a Vietnamese girlfriend, and girlfriends are generally always high maintenance (especially when you have to travel across the world to see them.) I don't really mind paying for her though, because if I had a girlfriend who was 20 times richer than me, I would expect her to shout for our daily feasts of lobster and caviar. It's all relative after all, a trick of perspective. I have gotten plenty of free dinners in Japan, and my share of free lunches. Coming to Vietnam, and showering Nga, is my way of sharing the wealth. There are of course, no free lunches -- you have to pass it on down the line. That is the lesson I am here to teach, through action. I am the Water Bearer (Aquarian.)
According to Audia: "What you can find in Ben Thanh market: 1. Lots of local souvenirs; from fridge magnet and lacquerware to various items from silk and ceramics. 2. Local snacks/food (I prefer buying the local food in supermarket for its fixed price) 3. Household items (bet you won't need this one, better to buy in your home country although everything's cheaper here but will occupy your luggage space...) 4. Fake branded bags and leather producs. 5. Cosmetics and hair accessories. 6. Clothing. 7. Wet market selling fruits, vegetables, meats and seafood. Located behind the Ben Thanh market, but still in the complex. 8. A bunch of street manicurist/pedicurist. Be careful of pickpockets. Keep your passport at the safe in the hotel, and bring only the copy of it. ** For more shopping and pricing tips see my other shopping tips under 'Oleh-oleh' ."
VietNamNet Bridge - A large number of products are being illegally brought into Vietnam across the border with Cambodia by hundreds of locals who earn their living as porters for local smugglers.
The Go Market in Cambodiafs Ta Keo Province has for long been famous for its abundant supply of both new and used products from Thailand and China.
Just hundreds meters across the border with An Giang Provincefs Chau Doc Town, the market hosts many electronics, cosmetics, liquor, cigarette, motor and bicycle stores.
THE GOLD WATCH
THEY SAY THAT RADO WATCHES ARE SO STRONG THEY CAN WITHSTAND A SLEDGEHAMMER BLOW WITHOUT EVEN GETTING DENTED. It was indeed an irony that my own gold immitation Rado watch shattered into a dozen pieces just a few days after my mother bought it for me in the bustling Hanoi nightmarket. Actually it was only the band that broke (as it crunched against the tiles of the Sunflower Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City). The ticker was still intact, although it has recently developed a tendency to stall. As the band shattered from its two-foot drop, my first reaction was to laugh. Laugh at the appropriateness of it all, laugh at me getting what I deserved (for receiving counterfeit goods.) My laugh was meant to convey the message: what a hunk of junk! But my girlfriend Nga didn't see it that way (she never sees it that way!) She went ballistic. "How could you be so stupid?" she railed. "Your mother bought that watch. She paid $20 for it, in the night market at Hanoi. Why are you always so careless?" This was in September 2008, but she still accuses me of being careless now.
January 6, 2010: I read this in a magazine in Le Pub: "Inspectors found nearly 4000 illegal copies of translated books at the Hoa Mai printing company in Binh Thanh District (Ho Chi Minh City)..."
But who was I to know? I didn't want to take a chance. And why couldn't we just catch a taxi -- these bikes scared me! In the end, Nga agreed to pilot the vehicle, with me riding pillion on the back. Was she actually telling the truth, when she said she had never ridden one before? Couldn't everyone in Vietnam ride a motorbike, I wondered -- bikes seem like such a big part of the culture here, part of the very fabric of modern Vietnamese life. In a couple of different arenas of lofe, she had assured me this was her first time. This was going to be the test. I got on the back of the bike, she was on the front, and we were at the bottom of a little ditch which ran alongside the road, I guess you could call it a drainage ditch but it was also the place Anh Duong parked all their decrepit bicycles. We put on our helmets (earlier this year the Vietnamese Government had made them mandatory. Wherever you went in the country, motorcyclists and their pillion were wearing them. And all of them brand new, because the law was new. I saw some story on the Vietnamese news of smugglers bringing them in from the south of China, but that is another issue.) I put on my helmet, which apparently is a "tropical" one, specially designed for use in Vietnam's hot, humid, fluidly changing vehicle streams. Nga squeezed the handles, and we shot forward. Nearly stacked it on to the hard hot tarmac. So much for introduction to ruling the roads of South and Central Vietnam! For the second time in two days, I was convinced I was going to meet my death in a motorcycle accident, underneath the gently swaying palms.
Not true, Nike has its own factories. I used to live in Asia, and in Korea and Vietnam you can easily buy the Nike products from the factory (sometimes they have factory sales, sometimes you pay an "entrance fee") - everything in those shops has a Nike symbol on it.
US Veteran Dispatch wrote way back in 1997: "Most of the 25,000 workers in "Nike Town," Vietnam are women and children who are paid .20 cent an hour and work 70 hours a week making Nikes in unhealthy environments that reek of glue. They have no insurance or retirement security and some are forced to produce a quota of 11 pairs of shoes each day before they are allowed to go home and are not fully paid for the extra hours.
The long, grueling hours are often accompanied with beatings and humiliation for underproducing or poor workmanship. Supervisors often "discipline" for such minor infractions as talking during working hours. In one recently reported incident, 45 workers were made to kneel for 25 minutes with their arms in the air. In another incident, a supervisor used a Nike shoe to beat several women in retaliation for some poor sewing.
"The U.S./Vietnam Trade Council, a powerful lobby funded by corporate interests, displayed no conscience about America's missing servicemen, child labor or sweatshops. During its aggressive and expensive public relations campaign to remove the trade embargo against Vietnam, the Trade Council boldly claimed "no compelling evidence" exists proving any American servicemen remain captive of the Vietnamese..."
oys, dogs, darted across the road. We turned a corner on the long long road, and a beautiful red gorge stunned itself into view, in front of it a new looking and clean yellow schoolhouse. I wondered what it would be like to go to school here, to grow up on this beach. (Mind you, I grew up in some pretty beautiful places in Australia, so I can't despair my lot.)
BUYING FAKE SHOES Dockers: I found these flip flops in a jubilant, muddy market on the side of the Xuân Hương Lake, Đà Lạt, on Reunification of the South Day, April 2008. There was a big space in the middle of the markets with a grandstand and a stage with music which progressed from cheesy house, to sicky sweet Viet pop, as the night wore on. On the top of the grandstand, an enormous Star of Socialism flag was all aflutter, celebrating the Communist's victory over America and their stooges, and the reunification of North and South Vietnam, back in 1975. Whatever the socialist subtext of the public holiday, though, in the buzzing markets around, down in the crowded alleys heaving with plastic and produce, the mood was definitely (and defiantly) Capitalist. This was about shopping, and securing a bargain. With Nga as my guide, I picked up some clothes from a cool shop (I believe it is an outlet of the Ho Chi Minh business called Thuan Vinh (9/11 Tan Ky, Tan Quy, Q. Binh Tan. Phone: (08) 267 0107)). Later on, Nga and I discovered a whole huge table covered with cheap flip flops. These Dockers, they were going for about US$4. I you want to see how much real Dockers will cost you, click here.
I was also expecting a Google Adsense payment before it was time to leave. As it turned out, I just enough money to get through, what with our gorgeous feasts at the resort restaurant, and my nocturnal tipples of Tiger Beer. And the Google Adsense payment was way late -- we had one desperate night in Ho Chi Minh City with no cash and nothing to do but watch the Discovery Channel on satellite TV, but the next day Google came through, and I went on a bender before boarding my Air China flight back to grey old Japan.
Vinh Suong Seaside Resort: 46 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Mui Ne, Phan Thiet. Tel: 84-62 847469/ Fax: 84-62 847680.
There aren't too many ATMs on the beach in Vietnam. Let's face it, Vietnam is a ridiculously cheap country -- this is the land of the $1 pub crawl.
Noodlepie says that a small bia den (dark beer) at Hoa Vien Brauhaus on Mac Dinh Chi Street (Ho Chi Minh City) goes for 16,000 Vietnamese dong (VD). A small lager is cheaper at 14,000VD. That's 113 Yen and 100 Yen at the time of writing, according to XECom. Considering that the cheapest tipple of the same kind you can get in Japan is a happoshu malt-free beer in 7-11 is 150 Yen, Hoa Vien Brauhaus sounds like a pretty good deal. (Happoshu isn't even real beer (that is the reason it is cheap, the makers don't have to pay malt tax...)) If you buy beer from a convenience store in Vietnam (for example the new dark beer Dai Viet Bia Den), Noodlepie says it will cost you 8,700VD a can.
"In old world money that's 31 whole new pence," he blogs.
Do the math dudes -- even if you drink 10 such beers a day it is only going to cost you 1000 Yen. And considering that beer is often your biggest expense travelling abroad, that's good news. Drinking in Iceland often used to cost me $100 a night, especially on the weekends when we were doing the Runtur! But withdrawing money from the bank in Iceland is a breeze and you never have to worry about being robbed -- Vietnam, I am afraid, is a different story. In Vietnam you have to work for your cash. It won't come easy (this is just another one of those Vietnam costs.)
At Saigon Airport once I picked up a little book called The Cuisine of Viet
Nam, bought out by the Viet Nam Cultural Traveler. In one of the articles inside, Huu Ngoc writes:
"In the West, grain and fruit overflowing from the Horn of Plenty traditionally symbolizes the abundance of a
good harvest; in the USA at Thanksgiving, the horn filled with fruit is a symbol of the prosperity for which one is
thankful. In Southeast Asia, there is a popular folk tale about a gourd with many seeds, the seeds representing the
rebirth of humankind after the Deluge. And Vietnamese pay homage to their ancestors by placing a tray of five fruits on an
altar: pomegranates, pears, peaches, plums and finger citrons, though people often choose other foods according to the season,
or the region in which they live. The particular varieties of fruit are less important than the beautiful appearance of the fruit tray,
with its harmonious colors and balanced presentation. Nowadays, a bundle of green bananas is also a must. Like the Horn of Plenty, the
tray of five traditional fruits symbolizes the wish for abundance. It is also the emblem of the five elements of Asian cosmology: water, earth,
wood, metal and fire.
"From the time they are small, Vietnamese children come to associate three fruits with particular stories: the thi (Vietnamese persimmon), the watermelon and
the starfruit.
"The thi fruit is succulent, smooth and attractive. When ripe, it turns gentle yellow and gives off a subtle, sweet smell; it is often one of the five fruits placed on pagoda altars.
Children are likely to hear of thi in the Tấm Cám, Vietnam's Cinderella. The tale is based on the Buddhist belief in reincarnation. In the story, Tấm is killed
by her stepmother and stepsister, but is reborn into a thi tree bearing only a single, beautiful fruit. An old woman, seeing the gorgeous fruit, takes it home, not to eat,
but to cherish as a prized possession. Tấm is reborn from the fruit and becomes the woman's adopted daughter, after which she is reunited with her husband the King.
"Watermelon also serves as a votive offering on altars, and plays a very important role in an appealing fairytale for children. Three thousand years ago, the story goes, during the times of the
Hung kings, a young man named An Tiem was adopted by King Hung. Spoken ill of by the king's toadies, An Tiem and his wife, the princess, and their children were exiled to a wild island where they
led a very harsh life. One day a flock of birds flew over the island, dropping some black seeds on the island. An Tiem planted those mysterious black seeds, and soon they bore fruit. He cultivated the seeds
for his crop and traded them for rice and necessary equipment with trading ships that came to the island. An Tiem's life quickly improved and eventually, through his hard work and intelligence, he became
rich. On hearing of An Tiem's success, King Hung had him welcomed back to the royal palace.
"The succulent star fruit (carambola) with five sections, can be served raw in salad, or cooked in soup. It is also served as a dessert. There are two types of star fruit: the sweet and the sour, both kinds
grown in out-of-the-way garden corners or by the ponds. There is a folk tale about the star fruit tree. Two brothers, when coming into their inheritance, received unequal portions. As was the custom, the elder
brother took the majority, but contrary to custom, the elder brother failed to provide for his sibling, leaving his younger brother only a shabby cottage and a star fruit tree.
"One day a phoenix came to eat the fruit of the young man's tree, but made a promise, as follows: "For every fruit I eat, I will return you a bar of gold. You must sew a bag three
spans wide to hold the gold you will receive." The young man followed the instructions of the mysterious phoenix and that very night was taken to an island in the middle of the sea to collect his gold.
"When he saw how wealthy his younger brother had become, and hearing the story of the magical bird from his guileless brother, the elder brother persuaded the young man to trade the star fruit tree for all the elder
brother's treasures. The next day the elder brother made the same bargain with the phoenix. Just as he expected, the bird came to eat the star fruit and made the same promise to the elder brother, who sewed the biggest bag
he could to hold his gold. But when he got to his island, he was so greedy he filled up his bag with so much gold that after flying a short way, the phoenix could carry him no longer and had to drop him into the sea, where he
sank still clutching his treasure..."
VietNamNet Bridge - A large number of products are being illegally brought into Vietnam across the border with Cambodia by hundreds of locals who earn their living as porters for local smugglers.
The Go Market in Cambodiafs Ta Keo Province has for long been famous for its abundant supply of both new and used products from Thailand and China.
Just hundreds meters across the border with An Giang Provincefs Chau Doc Town, the market hosts many electronics, cosmetics, liquor, cigarette, motor and bicycle stores.
Dockers: I found these flip flops in a jubilant, muddy market on the side of the 
"One day a phoenix came to eat the fruit of the young man's tree, but made a promise, as follows: "For every fruit I eat, I will return you a bar of gold. You must sew a bag three
spans wide to hold the gold you will receive." The young man followed the instructions of the mysterious phoenix and that very night was taken to an island in the middle of the sea to collect his gold.