Visions of 2020 to come true...?

Back in March this year I wrote a piece called 'Will 2020 ever come to Saigon'. In it I said :

What I envisage for the city is a pedestrian area encompassing Nguyen Hue, Dong Khoi and Lam Son Square. I am no urban planner and maybe it's too late to build the parking that would be necessary, but wouldn't it be nice.....

It looks like we may be on the first step towards this, according to a column inch in Thanh Nien recently (this taken from their new printed English version.

One can only wonder how much truth there is in this article, and how long it will take to implement such a plan. The word used is 'consider', so they are still only thinking about it. Personally, I think it's a great idea!

The footy

Yes, this is what we deal with, in fact the above picture is nothing too dire. Awful awful pitch, and the game finished 4-4.

Saigon Raiders (my team) have a new website, you may recognise the writing style in the news sections and the match reports...check out our team profiles at http://www.saigonraiders.com/.

We are four games into the new season and our record is won two, drawn one, lost one. The Saigon International Football League also has a new website, again you may recognise the writing style on the homepage...(and you wonder why I am not posting much these days). Check out the league and all the teams at http://www.sifl-vn.com/.

Errr

Umm.....

Errr....

On Kim Jong Il....

He was born in a log cabin at his father's guerrilla base on North Korea's highest mountain The event was reportedly marked by a double rainbow, and a bright star in the sky.

From the Washington Post :

SEOUL -- Han, a Communist Party official in North Korea, was walking home from work when he heard he was in trouble. He had smuggled a radio back from China after an official trip. He listened to it late at night, huddled with earphones on and shades drawn, to hear music that brought him a whisper of sanity and took him away from the horrors of his day.

Now, someone had found it, or someone had told.
"It could have been my children who said something outside. It could have been my friend; one knew," said Han, 39, who spoke on condition he be identified only by his surname.

"If a farmer or laborer had a radio, he could have been released," Han said. "But I was an official. In my case, it would have been torture and a life sentence in a political prisoners' camp."

Although not the greatest follower of this news source, from CNN....

Human Rights Watch has estimated there are 200,000 political prisoners inside North Korea; Pyongyang denies any camps exist.

North Korea is the last Stalinist regime, a closed one-party state founded on a personality cult, a rogue regime known for repression of its people, a nearly bankrupt nation, where, in the 1990s, the U.S. government says more than 2 million people starved to death during a famine. Kim Jong Il denied the famine even existed.

And from the BBC today : Flood hit North Korea 'faces famine'.

Less of the state visits hey....how can the smiling faces on the front page of the paper be anything to be proud of?

Stormy Pics

Once again, a massive delay between posts, but I am submerged. Lots of material in my mind, lots of pictures to take, just finding the time.

For now, just some pictures I took last night. One of many things I would love to learn more about, photography. Vietnam is like a photographers wet dream...or is that too graphic. As I arrived home the encroaching storm was swaying palms and scattering trash across the street, with purpely-black clouds looking more menacing than a forest bear after you just slapped his wife and called her a ho. In the other direction, all was light and serene.

Now turn around slowly....

Back in the other direction, here she comes....

Eventually night falls....

And the storm broke....and then it was too dark to take any more pictures. I thank you.

Pathfinder

Pathfinder is a magazine published in Vietnam for expats and travallers. I find myself contributing to said magazine, and learning a trade that I am really quite enamoured with and would like to get to know better in the future. Here is a well lit and professional picture of said magazine.

Pathfinder is due for relaunch in the next few months. To continue the shameless plug and self publicity (hell what are blogs for, did I tell you about Connections?), I will link to some of my work on the Pathfinder website...

You'll recognize the pictures on Saigon Street Fare and Quan 94 from my previous entry right here (scroll down...). I'm also raving about La Hostaria on the site. Enjoy!

Fish Soup and Crab

Vạn Kiếp is a small street running between Phan Xích Long and Phan Dăng Lưu. Unusual in HCCM, a collection of street food style vendors straddle under the one canvas selling all manner of things.

Bún Mắm was one such dish being sold, a fish broth choc full of prawn, pork, eggplant and squid. Very fishy, but not bad at all (I am no food critic).

Other stalls in this short row were selling things like bun bo hue and Chinese noodles.

Over on Dien Tien Hoang is crab heaven. Can you spot the number?

Chả Giò Cua Biển, in English, crab spring rolls. And my my, crab spring roll is no lie. Check out the white, succulent contents of these puppies.

Chunky crab spring rolls go well mashed up in a bowl with soft white noodles, the usual addition of herbs and salads and a sprinkling of fish sauce - I can still taste it now. I often read travellers criticising Vietnamese food -- show them to my door, the fools.

Learn

Students who have signed up to participate in our service 'Learn' presented a demo on Sunday afternoon in front of a panel of Vietnam residents, all foreigners. I wasn't sure what to expect - and we started badly with heavy rain delaying the start. Location was hardly perfect and we had to wait for it to subside as the tin roof just above wasn't conducive for presentations.

Now, in Gladiators style, students......ready?

Visitors......ready?

Our group, these from RMIT University, started with a presentation on Vietnamese history, from long, long ago until today. Nguyen headed this one.

It became apparent there were some mistakes in the presentation, this being the first time we'd all seen it, me included. Of course Nguyen was disappointed and understood the need for historical facts (especially dates) to be absolutely spot on. One thing the audience did like was the fact that they heard about recent Vietnamese history from a Vietnamese perspective. A slightly delicate situation maybe, all my guest were American and it only dawned on me a little late. We moved on to the food demo.

Thao showed the audience how to make spring rolls with pork, vegetables and fish sauce, then invited them up to try it themselves.

After this, our latest star Vu from International University gave a presentation on TET holiday, with some interesting background and legend (Vu I do have a picture just at home, I will edit it in later...).

The concept of 'Learn' is one I am determined to work with. I like the idea of a one hour workshop which includes these presentations and demos. There are some practical difficulties with Learn however. The content is no problem, it can be refined and perfected, and the students are so enthusiastic. The difficulties I see are these:

• It is not worth doing unless there are at least 8 people signed up for a session, therefore we need to target tour groups rather than independent travelers. However, I'd love to offer it to anyone at a daily time.
  
• We need a better location than present. The roof was leaking.
  

I thank you.