Tieng Viet lovers club

[jackbl]

Life outside golf course
====================================
The dormitory becomes a second home for caddies who come from far away. It is not very comfortable, but provides them shelter and saves money from their meager salary that they send back home to raise their children and help their families.

At the HP golf course in the northern province of Hoa Binh, the dormitory is located on the sixth floor of a building used by golfers as hotel and restaurant.

Stories in dorm

Disguised as young girls from the countryside seeking jobs as caddies at the HP golf course in Hoa Binh, Tuoi Tre journalists were allocated two beds in a room of four. On the first day there, an experienced caddy named Ha told us the house rules.

“You will be fined if you turn on fans and lights during the day time. Take care of your luggage by yourself,” Ha said.

The following day, a manager of the dorm informed them that local authorities would come to check residency registries. 20 new caddies were told, “You should go out tonight and not return. You should sleep in four friends’ houses.”

After moaning of having no acquaintances in the area, newcomers were placed in a room locked from the outside with an instruction from the manager, “When they come to check, you all keep silent. When they come, I will tell them this is my working room and skip to others.”

The caddies were only released at midnight when authorities were ensured not to come.

Life in the dorm is messy but caddies accept it to save costs, a caddy said. Some new clothes of the Tuoi Tre journalists were stolen when they were left out to dry in the sun.

The manager often complains that caddies obey no discipline in the dorm – throwing rubbish, stealing, and taking friends from outside into their dorm rooms.

Returning to the dorm after working, most caddies spend their time playing cards, some put on make up and go out with friends while others do the cooking. A caddie who has stayed in the dorm for two years said she always brings back dried vegetables after visiting her family and keeps it to eat day by day.

Despite of being banned from using electric cookers, each room has at least one to boil water and cook meals. Stories about the clients they serve are also a topic for discussion. A caddie boasted she had been given VND1.5 million (US$71) as tip from a Vietnamese customer.

Lights are turned off at 9:00pm and caddies go to bed.

A new caddie named Nga began sobbing. She has only been in the dorm for a couple of days, and has only just weaned her baby. She misses her child and her breasts are painfully full of milk.

Feeling touched for Nga, another caddy Linh said, “She will stop working here after she gets married.”

A new day starts at 5:00 in the morning when they all go downstairs to the dining room to have a free breakfast of only rice, sesame and salt, boiled egg and roasted peanuts.



Portraits of rich men in dorm

The Vietnamese clients playing golf are rich men or senior officials from state agencies. It is quite different from foreign customers who may be normal staff given tickets by their firms.

Vietnamese golfers come with their own cars or luxurious agency vehicles, often Lexus, Mercedes, BMW or Porsche.

Tran Ngoc Tu, a training manager at the HL golf course, said a golfer spends at least VND20-30 million ($950 – 1,400) a month excluding other costs for cars and food. Thinh, a real estate tycoon in Ho Chi Minh City, estimates that it costs him up to $1,900 a month to play golf.

The average a golfer spends equals ten months’ salary of a worker and double the salary of officers.

So, despite of the fears of abuse by Vietnamese guests, caddies are encouraged to work with them on the field for lofty tips. Meanwhile, foreign clients have regular standards in giving tips. The Japanese give tips from VND150,000 – 200,000 ($7-10), South Korean around VND200,000 while Vietnamese possibly up to millions.

In addition, a golf kit costs tens of thousands of US dollars -- which can help a normal person to buy a house and a plot of land to change their life.

That is why all golf tournaments offer big prizes that are many times higher than those of other sports to attract rich golfers. A reward for a hole-in-one is a Mercedes or a VND1.5 billion ($71,500) apartment.

[jackbl]

Rip-off would be the main reason I leave Vietnam
================================================== =====
As an expatriate who has been living in Vietnam (Hoi An) for over 3 years, I totally agree with your article and I support you entirely for raising awareness of this issue.

I used to have a restaurant in Hoi An, and tourists always had the same feedback. They loved Vietnam, but they constantly felt as they were getting ripped-off (Which they were). There has been an increase in chains opening in Hoi An such as A Mart, and they are heaving with tourists because they absolutely do not trust street vendors and so do I.

I can just state 2 examples of rip-off's that have happened to me in just a few days. (And it happens everyday I have just learned to avoid it).

1. Went for a coffee with a Vietnamese colleague in a local coffee shop, we ask for the bill and the price is double. The owner justifies the price because she made me a strong coffee. Did I ask for a strong coffee? NO.

2. Today, motorbike puncture (and this happens every time), the guy fixes my wheel and asks me for 100,000 vnd although its only 5,000 - 10,000 vnd for locals. I obviously just paid 10,000 vnd and left.

The point is I live in Hoi An, and every single time I want to do something local, or buy something in a local shop, I know I will be asked at least double if not triple what Vietnamese pay.

Luckily, I have my wife to help for market shopping, but it's very annoying to be "handicapped" in this way that I always have to ask either my wife or a Vietnamese friend to buy something for me.

In fact, many expats go all the way to Da Nang to Metro or Big C just to do food shopping just because they are too fed up of the Hoi An mentality.

I do love living in Vietnam, but if I was planning to leave this would be the main reason. I would love to get on with my life and go and buy something I need for my house without having to find loopholes so that I don't come back with overcharged goods.

Anyway, what I have mentioned above is especially true of Hoi An and all other touristic places.

Locals should know that we are not fooled, we know exactly that they are ripping us off and in the long term they will lose not only in number of tourists visiting but in clients, as most tourists will just be looking at big names they trust : Yaly, A Mart, Big C, Nino Max etc...

A shame really. Keep up the good work in raising awareness, these minority of people are giving a bad name to Vietnam it has to stop.

[jackbl]

Stricter scrutiny of taxis at HCMC airport
================================================


Noted firm Mai Linh temporarily banned from Tan Son Nhat International Airport


Ho Chi Minh City authorities are taking drastic measures to curb the illegal actions of taxi companies at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, an official told the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Thursday (February 9).

Dang Tuan Tu, director of the Tan Son Nhat Aviation Security Center (TASC), said the center was boosting patrols to detect and punish violating taxis and will propose the revocation of business licenses for taxi companies found repeating their violations.

In the long term, the center will draft a plan that would set more conditions for taxis to operate at the airport, he told Tuoi Tre.

Tu said the airport currently has around 10,000 taxis belonging to 11 companies. It is estimated that there are 15,000-16,000 trips made by taxis from and to the airport each day.

Early this year, the Southern Airports Corporation had issued new regulations on the operation of taxis at the airport, Tu said.

One of them said that a taxi company which has been fined 30 times for violations – no matter how small the violations are – within a month will be suspended. Severe violations include taxi drivers refusing to carry passengers for short distances, overcharging or causing disorder.

More than one month after the new regulations were issued, the Tan Son Nhat authorities banned Mai Linh Taxi, a popular and reputed company, from picking up passengers at the airport’s taxi terminal between February 5 and March 4.

The reason, the authorities said, is that there were 45 Mai Linh Taxi drivers who were fined in the first three weeks of January.

Last year, TASC detected more than 2,000 violations by taxi firms at the airport, with the most typical violations being overcharging (drivers not turning on the meter but asking for a lump sum), picking up passengers at wrong locations, refusing to carry passengers on short distances and resisting security officers on duty.


During an inspection last September, the Transport Ministry banned three taxi firms – Petrolimex, Festival and Happy – from Tan Son Nhat International Airport because of various violations.

The three firms were recently allowed to resume entering the airport to discharge passengers after the HCMC Transport Department confirmed they had not repeated their violations.

However, the three taxi firms are not allowed to pick up passengers from the airport.

TASC has also asked the HCMC People’s Committee, the municipal administration, to spare more space for taxi operations given the shortage of taxi parking lots at the airport.

Frauds perpetrated by HCMC taxis were highlighted last May after Rasnita Mohd Rasid, a journalist with the New Straits Times newspaper in Malaysia – went to the office of the Mai Linh Taxi Company to lodge a complaint because a taxi that had cheated her was labeled the “M.Taxi Group.”

Officials of the Mai Linh Taxi immediately recognized that the cab she took on May 10 was an illegal one that imitates the company’s brand.

On that day, Rasid was forced to pay VND4 million (US$194) for a seven-kilometer ride that should normally cost just $7.

Worse still, she and her friend were dropped far outside the airport in the rain, and made to walk after paying the colossal sum.

Thanh Nien News (The story can be found in the February 10th issue of our print edition, Vietweek)

[Honey Boon]

standing or sitting..... finally...... also lying down

Originally Posted by KangTuo

i mean he active in the standing lorong not the sitting lorong

[KangTuo]

Originally Posted by Honey Boon

standing or sitting..... finally...... also lying down

why final is lying down? can be on four (doggy) or vb sit on top (cowgirl)

[ilovedoggie]

Originally Posted by jackbl

Is that new vietnamese words??? Can enlighten me?

bo lic / bolice (never police ) is a hybrid of TV and TA. at least that's what i saw in several sms.

[Honey Boon]

even with all the actions ... sure tired ma... finally sure lying down to rest ma...

worse .... if screw too much until die, finally still lying down right?

Originally Posted by KangTuo

why final is lying down? can be on four (doggy) or vb sit on top (cowgirl)

[Honey Boon]

xian (salty) = money?

paport? Passport?

Originally Posted by ilovedoggie

bo lic / bolice (never police ) is a hybrid of TV and TA. at least that's what i saw in several sms.

[ilovedoggie]

Originally Posted by Honey Boon

xian (salty) = money?

paport? Passport?

uhh aeh dee = usd
buk gih = bugis
dylan = geylang (classic from LB)
bebok = bedok
ju long = jurong
se = che (car)
si = chi (eat)
sai = chai (vege) [classic from ham-hiep para MILF, she told the waitress, "wo yao si sai!"]

[jackbl]

Why I will always return to Vietnam
================================================
As a contributor who touched off a bit of controversy myself in City Diary last year with “What’s Wrong with Tourism in Vietnam” , I shouldn’t be too hasty in joining others to throw rocks at the on-line Huffington Post’s travel writer Matt Kepnes for his recent piece entitled “Why I’ll never return to Vietnam” .


While I’ve certainly had some bad experiences in Vietnam over the years, including almost losing my Buddha and golden chain to a motorbike-riding thief in a non-touristy part of HCM last year, I am not about to say good-bye to a country and culture that’s been part of my entire adult life. No place is perfect. But few places in the world are as enticing and exciting as Vietnam. You’ve got to roll with the punches.

I have the impression that - for whatever reason - Mr Kepnes arrived in Vietnam with quite a “negative attitude” in the first place. He had one bad experience as everyone does, even the Vietnamese, and was cranky for the rest of his trip. The examples he cites are unbelievably trivial. (Just how “keo” or cheap is this guy to complain about chocolate lollies for change?) He clearly exaggerates and uses dripping sarcasm to deliberately provoke the outcry – and publicity – he has now received.

Frankly, I am surprised that a reputable publication like the Huff Post would even run such an unbalanced piece – and four years after his last visit. If he doesn’t want to return, that’s no loss to Vietnam, believe me.

Sadly, there’s always been a real arrogance among many foreigners who come to Vietnam. They don’t understand even the most basic aspects of the country’s long culture and history. (No, the entire country was not napalmed, Mr Kepnes.) They expect people to be humble and subservient. That’s the last thing you’ll get from the Vietnamese!

The best way to start interacting with Vietnamese is a simple nod and a smile, perhaps a short wave. They judge by your face. Your body-language. But if you walk up all demanding and angry, you’ve already lost them. Of course, they’ll rip you off.

I know the Vietnamese language has a reputation as hard to learn, especially with all those tones. But with a few well-practiced expressions, plus a knowledge of numbers, no one should get ripped off. If you are that worried about how much your “café da,” or iced coffee, or plastic bag of “soda chanh duong” or poor Mr Kepnes’ Mekong Delta speciality will cost, then ask when you order! And never think you are singled out for being a foreigner. Even Vietnamese have to bargain and they also get ripped off. It’s all part of the game.

Still, as I pointed out in last year’s piece, Vietnamese really do need to improve the quality and friendliness of service in the hospitality industry. Hotel staff can be downright arrogant to their customers, like we are doing them a favour even staying at their establishment.

And, let’s face it, some people can be terribly greedy and do rip people off. Often vendors behave like they’ll never see another tourist for the rest of their lives. So they might as well make the most of it! A better strategy for them would be a smile and a more reasonable price – and they’d sell twice as much.

[jackbl]

Traveler’s rant a wake-up call
====================================


Over the top whining by American blogger carries enough valid criticism for Vietnamese tourism authorities to act on

Experts have urged Vietnamese tourism authorities to improve services after an American blogger’s rant about problems he encountered during a 2007 visit attracted widespread attention this week.

An American blogger’s rant titled, “Why I’ll never return to Vietnam” has elicited calls for a serious look at problems plaguing the tourism industry, particularly locals’ attitude and behavior toward visitors.

However, many observers, especially foreigners, have also remarked that the rant does not reflect the entire picture, referring to their own positive experiences in the country.

Although the blog entry relates to a 2007 visit, “Criticism is necessary. We have to thank him because few people have said so. I think he was right in some points,” said Nguyen Van My, director of Lua Viet, a Ho Chi Minh City’s tour operator.

My said he was well aware of pick-pocketing, overcharging taxis and rip-off services at several tourism spots.

“I think he does think about us when criticizing because it helps us recognize the problems and find solutions,” he said. “We are unable to avoid every problem. The important thing is the attitude toward [solving] the issue.”

In the blog entry carried by Huffington Post on January 30, Matthew Kepnes said he had been “constantly hassled, overcharged, ripped off and mistreated” during the three weeks he spent in Vietnam in 2007.

The article attracted a large number of comments from readers, travel agencies and tourism officials after Vietnamese newspapers reported the issue recently.

While there were more comments in Vietnamese papers backing Kepnes’s criticism and urging Vietnamese tourism authorities to be more active in tackling the problems, there was considerable feedback against the article on Huffington Post.

Reader Linh Nguyen cited statistics from the Tripadvisor website to show a majority of visitors to Vietnam enjoy their trip.

“Now I understand that not everyone dislikes Vietnam like Matt does. I make this comment again: if you come to Vietnam to explore its landscape, its unique food and lifestyle, you will enjoy your trip,” she wrote. “But if you just come as a writer/blogger who wants to dig deeply into its black sites to find problems (it is easy to find problems indeed) you will find your trip unpleasant. If the latter is the case, you should never return to Vietnam.”

Reader Summer Nguyen said rip-offs affected both foreign tourists and locals.

“Maybe he did not encounter such problems in other countries and assumes that those places are good. I was ripped off by a taxi in Malaysia and forced to buy something that I did not like when traveling in Indonesia,” Nguyen said. “A tourist should be vigilant and learn about others’ experiences before traveling.”

Among his complaints, Kepnes said many street sellers constantly tried to overcharge him, including a bread lady who refused to give him back the proper change, a food seller who charged him triple even though he saw how much other customers paid and a cabbie who rigged his meter on the way to the bus station.

But David Elliott, an Australian who is seeking to invest in construction quality testing in Vietnam, seemed less upset with the scamming taxis despite being cheated by a cab driver last month in HCMC.

“I must admit taxi fares are probably too cheap and this probably results in a higher percentage of fleecing and poor practices.

“As tourists, we felt cheated for being so dumb. We were even told about this trick and just weren't on our guard,” Elliott said.

‘Quite an attitude’

In the article, Kepnes said one of the worst experiences came while he was catching a bus back to HCMC from the Mekong Delta.

He was buying lemonade from a vendor and the seller “turned to her friends, said something, laughed, then started laughing at me while clearly not putting in all the ingredients into this drink.”

He said a Vietnamese American on the bus told him that she was telling her friends that she was going to overcharge because he is a foreigner. Kepnes said it was not the money that he was upset about, but the disrespect and contempt the vendor showed.

“… what I don't like is being treated like I'm not a person. I don't like being disrespected or cheated. I don't want to look at everyone and wonder if they are trying to cheat me. Every interaction doesn't need to be a struggle,” he wrote.

Kepnes quoted an English teacher who had been in Vietnam for many years in Nha Trang, who told him that “the Vietnamese are taught that all their problems are caused by the West, especially the French and Americans, and that the West ‘owes’ Vietnam.

“They expect Westerners to spend money in Vietnam, so when they see Western backpackers trying to penny pitch, they get upset and treat them poorly,” he quoted the teacher as saying.

Peter Murray, a British expat who has been living in Vietnam for 18 years, said Kepnes carries “quite an attitude.”

“I am not denying some of these problems happen, but why, in 18 years, have I not been ripped off in any of the ways he highlights? I strongly believe it is down to attitude,” he told Vietweek.

“The guy talks about being ripped off in a bus station, says all bus stations sell lemon juice - well most Vietnamese I know would tell tourists not to go to bus stations,” Murray said.

“Most backpackers on a budget arrive in Vietnam with a fear of getting ripped off, and with a pre-conceived mistrust of the people they expect to meet,” he added.

Murray said the Vietnamese have their pride to uphold, and the tourist unfortunately often feels he is superior to the locals, an attitude which is probably most responsible for these cases of mistrust, he said.

He said inflation has prompted price increases and contributed to misunderstandings among tourists who thought they were being fleeced.

“I would be more inclined to be interested in the poor attitude of a lot of expats, who in fact seem to think they are 'above' the Vietnamese and have a colonial attitude,” Murray said.

Doan Thanh Tra of the HCMC-based travel operator Saigontourist said it has been five years since Kepnes traveled to Vietnam and there have been many changes.

“But it does not mean what he experienced is not happening in many places in Vietnam, including big cities,” she said.

She said Vietnam has natural beauty and a rich culture to attract tourists but local people should contribute to the country’s tourism with their friendliness and hospitability.

Vu The Binh, Chairman of the Vietnam Travel Association, said it is important to consider tourists’ comments, but added a country’s tourism has both good and bad sides.

“Any tourism spot attracts two-way appraisals. Vietnamese people rarely criticize because they prefer praise and we should get used to criticism to improve ourselves,” he told local news website VnExpress. “The [Kepnes’] story is an alarm bell for Vietnam tourism to take necessary amendments.”

But Murray, the British expat, said he would not be preoccupied with the rant.

“Overall, I would say that this is a lone backpacker, apparently with quite an aggressive attitude, and thus I would not be too worried about it.”

By Tuan La - Minh Hung, Thanh Nien News (The story can be found in the February 10th issue of our print edition, Vietweek)

[lovecupid85]

E co Nho ma Sao Len sg dc Len do boon Chen lam
Can any bro help me to translate. Thanks u guys in advance . Take care

[jackbl]

Originally Posted by lovecupid85

E co Nho ma Sao Len sg dc Len do boon Chen lam

E co Nho ma Sao Len sg dc = I have missed but how can go SG (singapore or saigon) ???

Len do boon Chen lam = go there "BOON CHEN LAM"...... sorry i dun understand what's boon chen lam

[lovecupid85]

Thanks a lot bro I also trying myself to figure out that word thanks slot

[KangTuo]

Originally Posted by jackbl

E co Nho ma Sao Len sg dc = I have missed but how can go SG (singapore or saigon) ???

Len do boon Chen lam = go there "BOON CHEN LAM"...... sorry i dun understand what's boon chen lam

must be typo...

I guess she mean... Len do "BUON CHAN LAM".... go there very boring

FIRST TIME you never ask for the content of the conversation in order to translate