Connections Vietnam no more

Chi and I have had the displeasure recently of having to close our business. Connections was running strongly over the last 4 years and we were subcontracting for Exotissimo and Buffalo amongst others, our cooking class being especially popular. Exo are now working with some of our old staff to continue the concept. Thousands of delicious dishes have been prepared and customers satisfied. Not once did we receive anything but praise for our tours and products, so that is something to be proud of.

What happened?

The government, red tape, and regulations.

We were operating illegally, and we got caught.

Naughty thing number 1 - as a tourism company, you are supposed to have card carrying guides - meaning they have been put through the government brainwashing mill and come out only able to spout boring historical information as they drag you from site to site. Our 'guides' were all university students who knew what we wanted and got the concept. They were to be informed about their city and country, but not at the price of having fun on their 'tour', which was to be as informal as possible.

Naughty thing number 2 - which we genuinely didn't realize until the department of tourism pointed out to us, as a tourism company with inbound tourists, there is supposed to be a 250 million dong bond in the bank. That's around $13,000. If we were to continue our business, the bond needed to be placed in the bank where it sits without even being allowed to gain interest.

We decided against this kind of investment in our modest little tour company that was always successful and profit making. We had reached the point where to expand we needed to invest some real money, such as, errr, $13,000! The bond requirement would make it a $25,000 investment, and we could think of better ways to use that kind of money.

So, goodbye Connections.

Our next project won't be for a while, but I already have some ideas brewing. This is a land of opportunity after all - but yes, you do need an awful lot of cash sometimes.

Superfood Saigon

Buying superfoods in Saigon is actually quite easy if you know where to look.

I'll start with the obvious - nuts. Whether its almonds, cashew or pistachio, you can get em here for a price. I usually just pop into Ben Thanh market every couple of weeks to stock up.

Very roughly, they are 20-30,000 per 100 grams depending on which type you buy.

You can also buy Brazil nuts from Veggies, natures best source of selenium.

The bag of red berries in the picture is Goji Berries (dried), called 'Ki Tu'. These should be available in your local Chinese medicine shop, 15,000 VND per 100 gram.

The liquid in the La Vie bottle is Coconut Oil. The health benefits of coconut oil are amazing. Just check out the Coconut Research Center or read this book. My father-in-law usually keeps us supplied, making the oil on his fish farm in Ben Tre. If I'm short there is a stall in the wet market at Ben Thanh that sells everything coconut, including the oil - 100,000 dong for 500 grams. Not withstanding the oil, coconuts are 9,000 dong from the supermarket or cheaper if you catch the guy on the bicycle! The meat, milk and water of the coconut are also great foods - which is why I shake my head in disbelief at people who insist in drinking 'diet coke' poison everywhere they go. Yes, that is some people's idea of nutrition, drinking 'diet' soda without even knowing what's in it! Sorry, touched a nerve there.

Also in the picture are some standard fish oil supplements and also a CoQ10 supplement. These can be picked up at most any pharmacy around town - and definitely the larger ones (on Hai Ba Trung for example). Supplement stocks seem to be standard.

Another superfood I've recently investigated is Chlorella, an algae extract and widely considered one of the most powerful supplements you can take. Hard to find in Saigon! We did find some online but the supplier had already sold out by the time we contacted her. What is easy to come by however is Spirulina, another kind of algae also associated with powerful health benefits - that's the jar with Japanese writing on. 300,000 VND for 120 tablets. It's 60% vegetable protein, rich in B vitamins especially B12, has a host of anti-oxidants and a lot more.

Available in any supermarket in Saigon are ginger and garlic, those most basic of ingrediants that are also well known as being superfoods - so why not eat loads of them! Finding ways to include them raw in your diet is the challenging part as cooking almost always destroys the benefits. Also easily found on the shelf is Aloe Vera, another wonder-food, and in the right season, Avacadoes. So good! Organik is a company with a farm based in the dalat area and with a shop on Thao Dien in An Phu. They also deliver, and they stock plenty of organic vegetables and herbs along with the 'Eden' range of organic products. Free range eggs are found in Co-Op mart and everywhere else.

On my list is raw milk. I know Chi's relatives buy it in Cu Chi from a local farm but as far as I know it is unavailable in Saigon - everything is pasteurised...so if anyone has any leads, pls leave a comment!

Although Saigon has a wonderful eating scene and it is cheap, there are a number of problems. One is MSG, that excitotoxin that is used so much in cooking here. Fish sauce contains MSG, as does soy sauce. Other problems include oversalting which is constant. BBQs are great once in a while, but blackened meat from the grill is one of the most potent carcinogenics around! So yeah, just once in a while please. Quality of produce is another think you can never be sure about, along with quality of meat. We already know that GMO animal feed is being used in Vietnam and is therefore in our food chain already. Unless you can find beef that is from grass fed cows only....then we are talking about the good stuff. Unfortunatlely, and thanks to that wolf in sheeps clothing, the monstrosity that is the WTO, GMO is going to be well and truly established in Vietnam soon.

Rubbish!

Nutrition

Here's my latest column in Doanh Nhan Saigon Cuoi Tuan.


Get educated for nutrition

I have a friend who works at a school in the city. Over dinner recently he told me some tales of the children he deals with, or more accurately, the parents. He told me of one little girl who weighs 25kg at age two. She can’t go out and play with the other children. I have a daughter nearly the same age, and she is just overs 10 kgs. For some reason, Vietnamese people including my wife’s family have commented that she is ‘skinny’. No, she is perfectly normal, and very healthy. Why is there an association with overweight children and wealth and prosperity in Vietnam? I understand that Vietnam has in very recent history become developed and therefore a lot of people have ‘new money’, and this is one way to show it. A poor, sad excuse when the result is the increase by many times in the chance of the child suffering a kaleidoscope of diseases. This 25kg 2 year old will have a increased risk by many times of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Not to mention cancer which is largely a diet and lifestyle related illness as well. Why would you do that to your baby? The parents, when summoned to the school, were defiant. According to the father, she’s perfectly healthy - despite the Internet guide shown to him on childhood obesity declaring the opposite. The poor girl will be lucky to live until 40.

Of course, this is not an exclusively Vietnamese problem, it is a disease of western society now spreading to the east. How can we solve this problem? In my opinion, education is the only answer.

We need to foster an environment that moves away from the false marketing of the food companies. In the UK we have regulation of the advertising industry with regards to what can be targeted at children, and also false advertising. I am unsure of what regulations may be in place in Vietnam and it is doubly frustrating to see when Vietnam is a country supplied with endless fruit and vegetables on every street corner. For example, I recently saw a game show with young children on TV which was clearly sponsored in-studio by a well known brand that makes sugary drinks - far from educating our children about health we are exposing them to brand names and logos that will stick in their mind, and unless anyone else tells them otherwise, why would they consider these products anything bad? We have to plant that seed in their minds. Chocolate cereals may be tasty and attractive to children, especially when they see their logos everyday with fun cartoon characters associated with the product, but they contain zero nutrition for building a healthy body and a sharp, active mind. They do however include ingredients that will contribute to obesity, diseases and cognitive problems in the future. Children need real food with real vitamins and minerals, not ‘empty’ foods packaged in a colourful box or a tin.

I’ve also never understood the obsession with forumla milk in Vietnam. It is widely acknowledged around the world that breast feeding should occur for six months minimum, a year if possible. Of course, breast milk is full of all the most natural, brain building ingredients that an infant needs in their delicate first year of life. A recent report came out in the British press that formula milk has up to 40 times the aluminium of breast milk. Babies can not get rid of this heavy metal as well as adults and a build up in the body has been associated with many auto immune diseases. This is no way to start your child’s life.

We need to build a proper understanding of what good nutrition is - and for that the adults must take responsibility first. It means researching things for ourselves and not trusting ‘what it says on the box’. However, I fear that many adults in Vietnam also need educating on even the most basic dietary facts. For example, I was shocked when some Vietnamese friends of mine, recent university graduates, didn’t seem to understand that sugar is bad for them. A family member of mine is diabetic and it is obviously diet related, but she won’t change what she eats and drinks.
A lot of my teenage students chew gum at lunch times. I tell them to go and research the sweetener contained in sugar-free gum and sugar free drinks called aspartame. If you’ve never heard of it, I suggest you find out so you can start educating your kids about nutrition properly. It starts from birth you see, by supplying the breast milk that nature so obviously provides, to eating the right things when solid foods begin and refusing all those crisps and sweets that relatives and friends constantly want to give your child. For a treat, don’t take them to the burger bar, make it a fruit juice or a coconut. Education, in this respect, really does begin at home.

By the River

I love finding strangely quiet parts of the city that are obviously going to develop heavily in the future. My daily drive home from work takes me past the construction of Diamond Island on the edge of Thu Thiem and very near the TT highway, yet to be opened.



The picture below shows Diamond Island. The Saigon River lies beyond and flows from here down under the Phu My bridge. The land in this part of District 2 is slowly being built on, and most of the riverbank is still totally untouched. Amazing prime real estate on the waterfont just a few kilometers from District 1 and District 7, and what will be excellent links to the new airport and Vung Tau. At the moment all that is there is some basic infrastructure, and some brave soles have built their houses already. Some serious houses by the way.







This house has a jetty out the back on the river:



Here's a view of the riverbank with District One in the distance.



And here, as you can see completely undeveloped, with the Phy My bridge in the distance.



Here's a rough map of my journey from D7 to D2 everyday, the area I am talking about, and the new TT highway yet to open.


View Thu Thiem D2 Development in a larger map

Sunset @ Phu My Hung - After the Storm

Nowhere to go

An old TEFL colleague of mine, Thomas Hutchings, recently recommended me to take over his column in the weekly magazine Doanh Nhan Saigon Cuoi Tuan (Saigon Business Weekly). The column is called 'Another View' and focuses on expat lives. I can write about anything* I want, socially or culturally speaking. My first attempt is called 'Nowhere to go'and focuses on the lack of public space in the city, especially for children. I feel honored to have the chance to share some thoughts with the Vietnamese readers as the articles are translated - and very well I am told. Perhaps if you see the column, you can tell me if that is true...

Here it is...

Recently I read a discussion in an expats forum - a new arrival to Ho Chi Minh City was asking for a list of suitable activities for their young children. Thinking of my own experiences with my 20 month old daughter the thought of replying ‘sorry, there’s nothing’ sarcastically flashed through my mind. Thankfully someone more helpful stepped in and pointed out the places that you can take toddlers in the city.The list was a recital of big shopping malls and their play areas - loud, busy places where older children run riot. It doesn’t exactly fill a parents heart with joy to consider these places for a fun filled day trip. Two stressful hours making sure no accidents happen followed by a sugary drink - might as well stay at home and play with toys on the floor. So where else is there to go?

My wife and I often joke about the options - it’s either the zoo or the swimming pool. Yes, making light of a tragically bad situation is a way of coping. To my knowledge there are very few swimming pools catering to toddlers. One close to our house in District Seven is especially good because it has large, safe, shallow areas to play in and has often been our saviour. The zoo is good not so much for its animals but for its oxygenated city hide away, one of the few places one can escape the hectic streets and dirty air. I heard the zoo is moving to Cu Chi and will be replaced by high rise apartments.

Parks and open spaces are what our children need, not neon lit windowless rooms with ball pits and 17 other children fighting over toys. We live in Phu My Hung and intentionally chose an apartment within walking distance of a park so our daughter can play and run and get some fresh air. I fully understand most people do not have this kind of access, having also lived in the city for many years. Yes, there are some parks but they are hardly designed for our children to frolic. An emphasis on ‘look but don’t touch’ springs to mind. When signs of ‘keep off the grass’ sprang up across Phu My Hung parks recently they were dutifully ignored by, well, everybody. Are we supposed to stay on the concrete path and observe the nice soft green grass from a distance? No, parks are for people and children to enjoy, as long as they treat them respectfully and clean up after they leave.

Listen here city planners - what about the kids? Wouldn’t it be a nice surprise to see some city block demolished and given over to the public rather than more apartments that no-one can afford to live in and more shops that no-one can afford to shop in. How about a planetarium? A modern museum of science and nature for kids to enjoy? Or of course, a space like a park or an open air venue for plays and shows. My heart sinks to see the city expanding in the south and the west and still no space being incorporated for public enjoyment. The potential on the outskirts of the city is larger where there is countryside and lots of room but this is ‘prime real estate’ and profits are too high to turn down.

Do not despair however residents of Ho Chi Minh City. One last hope remains and I am talking about the frontage of the Saigon River in Districts One and Four. Nguyen Tat Thanh currently houses the Saigon Port which I hear will be moving to Nha Be District at some point in the future leaving a wonderful stretch of riverfront available from the Tan Thuan bridge all the way to the Museum of Ho Chi Minh. And why stop there - once heavy traffic is diverted from Ton Duc Thang with the completion of the tunnel and the East-West highway, the river front here could also be developed. Picture it - kilometers of walking, restaurants, cafes and family attractions. With the District 1 skyline in one direction and the Phu My bridge in the other, the esplanade would be the envy of South East Asia, thousands of new visitors would flood the city, and long suffering residents and their children would finally have somewhere to enjoy.

Sadly the likelihood is that this prime location will be given over to real estate and shopping, and our kids and the families of Ho Chi Minh City will just have to keep on looking for places to go.

The Road to Cau Phu My

By the 'road to cau phu my' I don't mean some spiritual path of contemplation that somehow ends up by the Phu My bridge, I literally mean the actual road to cau Phu My. It's terrible. Now, the elevated stretch of highway on the Phu My Hung side which I mentioned before as being shoddy turns out to be shoddy. The road has already started to subside.



That was taken in the morning on the way to work. The real disaster is on the other side of the bridge called Thanh My Loi. It's falling apart in places. Already...!

The view looks nice enough, as we start heading towards the bridge.





The toll gate:



So here's a video I took taking the approach up to the bridge. After I started filming I thought what the hell and continued going over the bridge. Best turn the volume down cause the wind just howls into the microphone! Everyday I see trucks breaking down on the bridge. The incline is steep and a lot of the container trucks just can't hack it. They crawl up there at 20km per hour before finally overheating. Kind of similar to the highway they built to My Tho - 50kms straight - and it had an incredible amount of breakdowns because people could actually drive fast for the first time and blew the engines on their old busted trucks! Anyway - broken down truck does appear at the top of the bridge here too...