TET 2011

An article I wrote about TET.

It took me some time to figure out exactly what TET holiday was about. At first I looked for a deeper meaning, a religious significance. When I first arrived in Vietnam it was all a big mystery and very exciting. I searched for some real genuine new year experiences, I joined the masses in District 1 to celebrate and marvelled at the atmosphere.

Over the years I’ve had various TET experiences, and all of them good. I’ve reached the conclusion that just like Christmas back home in England, the deeper meaning is more important for some than others, and generally it is just a wonderful time of year when everyone has a holiday, spends time with family and eats and drinks way too much.

Having both Christmas and the lunar new year within close proximity is a double bonus, but the unique atmosphere of the TET holiday is always to be savoured in Ho Chi Minh City. The weather is fair and the streets light up with colour. The air buzzes in the days leading up to New Years Eve, beautiful kumquat plants in full blossom are seen all around the city, strapped to motorbikes. The children are excited, the house full of fruit and cakes and they are awaiting their little red envelopes of money from their relatives. Activity reaches a crescendo and a million people head into the city center to get a glimpse of the fireworks on the river. Forty minutes later and there’s a deafening roar as the bikes start their engines and begin to inch their way home or to the pagoda. Personally, its the happy nature of the people during holiday time that makes it such a pleasure to be here.

Last year I spent new years day on a typical TET picnic, visiting my wives family in Cu Chi district. A loud, chirpy minibus ride got us there at around 9.30am, where already a huge feast was laid out. All kinds of dishes were laid out including my favourite, thit heo kho trung. We sat on the tiles outside and shared the food and drank beer, and I was stuffed and half drunk before noon, and that’s how it should be.

Spending time in Saigon in the peaceful days after the new year has turned is the only time of year you can drive along Nguyen Thi Minh Khai or Dien Bien Phu and not be choking on exhaust fumes or stuck in traffic. For me, that novelty is well worth it alone, seeing the normal hectic city streets almost deserted. People often ask me where to go during TET and I always tell them its one of the best times to just stay in Saigon and relax. Travelling around the new year period is not easy. All the resorts are fully booked long in advance, flights out of the country are too. Prices for everything are more expensive...so I often wonder if it’s worth travelling during TET.

For newcomers to Saigon’s celebrations I always recommend a stroll down Nguyen Hue at some point after the new year because I think the city does a great job turning the street into a pretty and colourful display, and I have numerous pictures over the years with the various different animals of the zodiac - the Tiger last year. I wonder what to expect from the Rabbit this year!

This year my family and I will be heading to Vung Tau for a couple of nights to take in some sea breeze and delicious fresh seafood, and then for New Years Eve we decided to stay in a hotel in Saigon and watch the fireworks. We haven’t done it for a few years, and I have to introduce my little girl to the festive celebrations too! After that, it’ll be friends, family, food and drink - the uncomplicated essence of TET holiday in Vietnam.

Check out my TET pictures and posts from over the years here.

Mui Ne in 3 hours by 2015?

Plug in 'Mui Ne' and 'Ho Chi Minh City' to Google Maps 'get directions' and it shows a distance of 223km, with a modest estimate of 3 hours 50 minutes. I'm not sure if the Google Maps algorithm includes calculations for getting out of District 1 and over the Saigon Bridge, or passing through Bien Hoa. I have done the journey in 4 hours straight, door to door, Mui Ne to Phu My Hung. That's pretty good going and only due to a relatively easy passage through Bien Hoa and private transport. Those taking the bus need to start out in the heart of the city and the journey usually takes 5 hours minimum - a less than amusing time-to-distance ratio. That's an average of 44 kilometres an hour. I'd say the average for the first two hours (HCMC-Bien Hoa) is 30 kmph.

Any frequent road traveller will tell that once you are past Bien Hoa it's fairly good going, allbeit on a dangerous single lane road, but no gridlock. It's a 124km dash through ever less densely populated countryside until you approach Phan Thiet city. One of the wonders of the modern world is how there isn't a bypass of BH city, as currently all traffic has no option but to crawl through the city centre.

Come to the rescue, new Long Thanh International Airport and associated infrastructure project Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thanh – Dau Day Expressway. The first phase of the new airport should be underway now and *should be* completed in 2015. The express way, according to this document from the Asia Development Bank:

comprises construction of approximately 51 kilometers of four-lane, tolled expressway. The expressway will commence at the junction of the Second Ring Road in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), and end at a junction with National Highway 1 at Dau Giay, Dong Nai Province. It will provide a direct connection from the center of HCMC to economic growth areas in provinces to the north of HCMC along National Highway 1, which connects HCMC to Hanoi. The expressway will be a toll road, with access initially restricted to three locations: the intersection with the Second Ring Road, the intersection with National Highway 51 at the southern end of Long Thanh town, and at Dau Giay. The Project includes construction of a major new 1,700-meter bridge over the Dong Nai River at Long Thanh, and two rest and service areas

So, having looked on the map, the new highway should cut a path directly south of Bein Hoa and link up with Highway 1A on the other side of the airport. This also means the journey to Mui Ne will be significantly cut, probably to around 3 hours. Great, great news..for some time in the next ten years...!


View HCMC-Dau Giay Expressway in a larger map

Development Update Phu My Hung Area Dec 2010

Once again I had the sudden urge to drive around for three hours taking pictures of vacant plots of land and half-finished buildings. I have no idea what it is that holds my interest in development. Maybe its that back home, everything was already finished. Nothing new was ever built in my town. To see a city of millions of people literally exploding at the seems, the buildings spouting out of the ground along once deserted roads, is strangely satisfying.

Riverside Residence has finished Phase One completion (check the photos from the official PMH website).

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Not to be confused, River Park Residence is also progressing quickly, here seen on its waterfront location looking back into Phu My Hung.


Here's the progress at Sunrise City...





There is a vast area of land just to the south of Sunrise City ready for development.



Where it looks like it's really going to explode however is in the planned 'new financial and business district'. This picture shows land cleared and ready behind the SECC.



Just down the road is the new Star Hill, which looks huge. Here's a video of 3D rendering.



According to the Phu My Hung website, Star Hill covers 20,000m2 and will have 14 buildings varying between 4 to 18 stories, with a total of around 350 apartments. It's just broken ground.









Very close to here is another huge project being readied to start is Riviera Point, seperated from Phu My Hung by the Ca Cam river. According to Keppel Land who are building the thing -

This 2,400-unit waterfront development features residential towers above a shopping arcade. A high-end retail and restaurant belt runs along the 500-m river promenade offering residents alfresco dining choices. A full array of recreational facilities coupled with 24-hour security and full power backup make Riviera Point a choice home.

I am little bit put off by it's close proximity to the overpass that runs from Nguyen Van Linh to the Phu My bridge.






Some of the site clearance for Riviera point revealed the 'back garden' of an army barracks, with some missiles (now removed) on show.

Also in this area is Southern Palace. More apartments...




In between all of this madness is a sorry bunch of flooded shacks, awaiting the day they too get cleared for immensely rich people to live in ridiculously over-priced apartments.






View Larger Map

Bitexco Finished

The Bitexco tower, currently Vietnam's tallest building, is now finished. Take a look at this Panoramic View of the Helipad.

Thanks to a fellow Saigon Raider, who was also the Project Manager of Bitexco Tower, for the following pictures...just click on the link and you should be able to see the pdf file!

The observation deck is opening on the 1st of December. See you up there.

Please Come Back

So here's another one of my articles for Doanh Nhan Saigon Cuoi Tuan. Make of it what ye will...

It is said that Vietnam’s tourism industry has a return rate of only 5% (claimed by an article in the Economist published last month) compared to Thailand which has a return rate of 50%. Vietnam has only been open to tourism for 25 years, Thailand was a hippie destination back in the 60s. Is it worth comparing the two? First I think it is worth pointing out that Thailand has to be one of the most gorgeous, value-for-money countries in the entire world, particularly the beaches and islands. Easy to get around, laid back, crystal clear waters and stunning postcard quality views are on offer everywhere you look. Vietnam can’t compete in the beach category although we do have some great great beaches here, some still completely undeveloped for tourism. Thailand also has jungles and trekking. But so does Vietnam. In actual fact, I think the range of activities available to tourists in Vietnam is spectacular - with the Mekong Delta in the South up to the central highlands, the endless coastline and then the cultural, historical north and hill towns like Sapa.

This is where the ‘return tourists’ theory falls flat for me. Almost all visitors to Vietnam traverse the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh route, north to south or vice versa. The shape of the country makes this an obvious choice. Therefore you will witness most of the diversity of Vietnam in one short 3 week trip. This kind of trip also attracts the more open minded and adventurous traveller - travellers who once they have ‘done’ it they will be looking for the next country to go and explore, not thinking about returning to do it again. The kind of traveller who ‘returns’ is the one who finds somewhere he likes and sticks with it, typically an island, a beach, a swimming pool, a resort, etc. Thailand is full of these kind of places, and I know if I had to choose between Thailand and Vietnam for a 2 week beach holiday, I’d be in Thailand like a flash. So for me, it’s no surprise that Thailand has ten times more return visitors than Vietnam - they are very different destinations attracting different kinds of tourists.

However, let’s talk about what can be improved here, because don’t get me wrong, there is a long, long way to go. One of the few places I know that does get return tourists in Vietnam is Mui Ne - only 200km from Ho Chi Minh City but a painfully slow 5 hour journey by road. Thailand, Malaysia and other countries with similar beaches to offer have airports or gleaming highways that whisk the traveller there in no time at all. It may seem a small factor, but again if you had to choose, what would it be? It’s a similar story all over the country. Distances between Nha Trang, Mui Ne and Dalat are small, but the infrastructure makes road travel difficult. Highway One never fails to amaze me - the ONLY road to Phan Thiet, Nha Trang and beyond, and it is a single lane piece of tarmac which passes through towns and cities and has people living along its side the entire length of the country. Buses and trucks sometimes overtake in an insanely dangerous manner, definitely enough to convince the innocent first-time tourist to never come back.

A recent trip to Mui Ne provides another perfect example of how far the tourism industry has to come in Vietnam. The sand dunes are one of the main attractions near Mui Ne fishing village and are indeed beautiful and fun to climb. However, the site seems to be totally unregulated. Young children hawk boards for sliding down the dunes and compete fiercely with each other for custom, and in an unpleasant experience we were literally chased off of the sand by a group of girls all under 10 who were screaming and shouting at my wife (who is Vietnamese) like a pack of baying dogs. The scene is repeated up and down the country. Numerous people have complained to me about unbearable hawking at places like Hai Van pass - all you want to do is enjoy the view but a few hawkers selling things you really don’t want can pester you so much you just want to get back in the car five minutes later.

So, despite Vietnam not being in the same league as Thailand and attracting a different kind of holidaymaker, there is still work to be done to satisfy those adventurous people who do come here - and hopefully make them want to come back. That includes looking after and protecting the beautiful sites around the country, making them as enjoyable, safe and valuable as possible.

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!