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[Hurricane88]

Looks nice, may want to try this on my next trip ;)

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

try and post review here...:p

I will post more news here...:)

[Hurricane88]

Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News – October 31

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 10/31/2016 08:30 GMT + 7

Happy Halloween from Vietnam!

Society

-- Four people were killed and another seriously injured after a seafood processing facility in the northern Vietnamese province of Thai Binh exploded on Sunday morning, the local administration stated.

-- Police in the north-central province of Thanh Hoa on Sunday evening arrested two suspects for trading a total of 5,600 synthetic drug pills. An investigation showed that the two were members of a drug ring that smuggled the illegal products from Laos.

-- A twelfth-grade student in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai drowned in a local reservoir after trying to rescue a friend who tripped and fell into the lake on Saturday evening.

-- Three people in the southern province of Binh Phuoc have been detained for stealing from a vice-chairman of the local administration at his house, officers affirmed on Sunday.

-- A 27-year-old woman was slashed to death by a stranger as she was carrying her eight-year-old son on her motorcycle in Thai Binh Province on Sunday morning. The little boy suffered minor injuries, according to local police.

-- The General Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health on Sunday confirmed that a four-month-old girl in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak has suffered from microcephaly, a birth defect brought about by the Zika virus, making it the first case in Vietnam.

Business

-- Continuous downpours have submerged many farms in Ho Chi Minh City, resulting in a hike in green vegetable prices.
-- The Ministry of Finance is considering taxing people who own more than one house.

-- Banks in Vietnam have been reluctant to invest in agriculture due to high risk and low profitability, Lai Xuan Mon, president of the Vietnam Farmer’s Union, said at a conference on Sunday.

Lifestyle

-- The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in Ho Chi Minh City has kicked off the Buddhism week, which is scheduled to run from October 31 to November 7, at the Pho Quang Pagoda in Phu Nhuan District to commemorate the Sangha’s 35th anniversary.

[Hurricane88]

Ho Chi Minh City curfew on bars, Internet cafés proves ineffective

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 10/28/2016 15:59 GMT + 7

While authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have imposed curfew on local bars and internet cafés, the rule seems to have fallen by the wayside.

Though regulations dictate that bars and clubs must shut down by midnight, and Internet cafes are not permitted to operate after 10:00pm, it seems curfews in Ho Chi Minh City are not proving quite as affective as some might hope.

Local residents and foreign tourists wishing to continue their parties well into the night often clash with such curfew regulations.

According to the observation of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, at 1:30 am on October 19, the OXC Disco, located in District 1, was still bustling, with long lines of motorbikes parked along the entrance and party goers showing their wild sides on the dance floor.

“We stay open until the morning. Just enjoy your time here until you cannot handle another drink,” a waiter told our correspondents when the clock struck two.

At CCC Bar, also situated in the downtown area, hundreds of local and foreign customers were still gathered around beer towers and hookahs after midnight.

“We only close when the very last customer leaves. Sometimes the bar is still filled with people, even at three in the morning,” a waiter said.
Just a few kilometers away, about 20 young men were still fixing their eyes on the computer screens at an Internet café on Le Van Si Street in District 3, failing to notice that it was already 1:00 am.

“For only VND30,000 [US$1.33], you can play games from 8:00 pm to 6:00 am,” an employee advertised.

After arriving at another Internet café in Phu Nhuan District at 3:00 am, the reporters were required to show their ID in order for accounts to be opened at the Internet café, a necessity to use the service.

Using a computer at the café from 3:15 am to 6:00 am costs VND20,000 ($0.88).

The best solution?

According to Pham Van Dung, deputy chief inspector of the municipal Department of Culture and Sports, it is common for local bars to operate after the curfew.

About 17 administrative penalties have been imposed on facilities still open after regulated hours during the first six months of 2016, Dung said, adding that more inspections are expected to be carried out in the near future.

About 31 Internet cafés were also fined for failing to comply with the curfew during the same period, said Nguyen Duc Tho, chief inspector of the city’s Department of Information and Communications.

Several operators tried to dodge their penalties by claiming they were not charging customers, or that their customers were actually relatives, Tho added.

Local legal experts believe that the curfew is not needed.

According to Vu Quang Duc, a law practitioner, implementing a rule that no one follows only leads to neglect of other laws.

There should be more regular inspections of the facilities and sterner punishments for violators if local authorities want to keep these regulations, Duc stated.

The lawyer stated that local bars should not be inhibited from providing their services after midnight.

Experts recommended that some areas, such as Bui Vien Street, be exclusively designed for late operation in order to meet the demand of local citizens and foreign visitors.

However, competent authorities should ask for the consent local residents and increase taxes on such facilities.

[Hurricane88]

Hẻm Gems: Mì Hến With Cong the Enforcer

Last Updated on Friday, 19 August 2016 10:35 Published on Friday, 19 August 2016 10:35 Written by Dana Filek-Gibson.

54210

Shuffling along in flip-flops and a pair of baggy shorts, Cong the Enforcer arrives at our table.

“Mì ốc hến đây!” he shouts, thrusting a steaming bowl of soup into outstretched hands. As soon as the bowl is accepted, he turns on his heel and disappears to fetch another helping. It takes seven trips to serve the entire table, and then he fades into the background, standing along one of the dingy walls to observe his customers.

While he’s certainly a man who gets down to business, Cong the Enforcer is having a good time. He takes pride in running a successful restaurant, enjoys the power of managing a small but dedicated team and delights in seeing his diners tuck in to a bowl of mì ốc hến. Beaming from the sidelines, he watches over us as we dig in. Cong the Enforcer is a hard-working, honorable businessman. Cong the Enforcer is also 12. And yet, from the moment we sit down he caters to us, hurrying to and fro as he coordinates our order, shouting out the specifics like a short-order cook.

The signature dish at Tu Thuy, where Cong the Enforcer supervises the floor, is mì ốc hến, a bowl of noodles featuring snails and baby clams doused in subtly sweet broth. Everyday from 8:30am to 9pm, Tu Thuy’s cook ladles the tasty soup onto a pile of instant noodles, which serves as a base for the aforementioned aquatic ingredients. The entire dish is then topped off with some fresh greens and fried shallots before being whisked away by the boss himself. It’s possible to mix things up a bit and substitute the mì for bún or hủ tiếu should you feel the need to be different; you can also get rid of the ốc, but we don’t recommend it.

Whatever you order, it’s best to spruce up the dish with a sauce of some kind. The standard condiments are available – chili sauce, soya and chili with lemongrass – as well as a tangy tamarind sauce. We tried the latter, but unfortunately it didn’t pack much punch when combined with the larger dish so the tried-and-true standards are your best bet.

While you’re at it, you’ll also want to order a glass of trà tắc to wash your soup down. The sweet, citrus-y iced tea is like trà đá on steroids: bright, flavorful and refreshing.

As we finish off our lunch, one by one, Cong the Enforcer returns, scooping up bowls and refilling empty tea glasses. Since the soup portions leave us room for more, we decide to try Tu Thuy’s bánh trứng while we’re at it. Once again, the boss springs into action, calling out our order and rushing over with a hot plate when it’s done.

As far as snacks go, the bánh trứng is a winner. You can barely see its stark white, quail egg cakes beneath the heaps of chili sauce, mayonnaise, peanuts, dried shrimp and Vietnamese ketchup. If you closed your eyes and took a bite, you could easily mistake these tasty morsels for bánh tráng nướng, the grilled rice paper snacks you find in the hands of high schoolers and patrons of the cà phê bệt in 30-4 Park. Neither too light nor too filling, the bite-sized snacks manage to combine an impressive range of flavors onto one plate.

The far side of District 4 is a forgotten land, at least if you’re an Uber driver. With lunch finished, we make several failed requests for a ride and take siesta at the same time. This is when I meet the only employee in the restaurant with more authority than Cong the Enforcer: his mother. She used to be a mobile vendor, she tells me. For nine years, the boss' mum sold mì ốc hến around District 4, eventually setting up shop on Ton That Thuyet a few months ago. So far, business has been steady, and of course, she’s got reliable help.

Back Home Eat & Drink Eat & Drink Categories Street Food Hẻm Gems: Mì Hến With Cong the Enforcer
Hẻm Gems: Mì Hến With Cong the Enforcer
Last Updated on Friday, 19 August 2016 10:35 Published on Friday, 19 August 2016 10:35 Written by Dana Filek-Gibson. Photos by Brandon Coleman.


Shuffling along in flip-flops and a pair of baggy shorts, Cong the Enforcer arrives at our table.

“Mì ốc hến đây!” he shouts, thrusting a steaming bowl of soup into outstretched hands. As soon as the bowl is accepted, he turns on his heel and disappears to fetch another helping. It takes seven trips to serve the entire table, and then he fades into the background, standing along one of the dingy walls to observe his customers.

While he’s certainly a man who gets down to business, Cong the Enforcer is having a good time. He takes pride in running a successful restaurant, enjoys the power of managing a small but dedicated team and delights in seeing his diners tuck in to a bowl of mì ốc hến. Beaming from the sidelines, he watches over us as we dig in. Cong the Enforcer is a hard-working, honorable businessman. Cong the Enforcer is also 12. And yet, from the moment we sit down he caters to us, hurrying to and fro as he coordinates our order, shouting out the specifics like a short-order cook.



The signature dish at Tu Thuy, where Cong the Enforcer supervises the floor, is mì ốc hến, a bowl of noodles featuring snails and baby clams doused in subtly sweet broth. Everyday from 8:30am to 9pm, Tu Thuy’s cook ladles the tasty soup onto a pile of instant noodles, which serves as a base for the aforementioned aquatic ingredients. The entire dish is then topped off with some fresh greens and fried shallots before being whisked away by the boss himself. It’s possible to mix things up a bit and substitute the mì for bún or hủ tiếu should you feel the need to be different; you can also get rid of the ốc, but we don’t recommend it.

Whatever you order, it’s best to spruce up the dish with a sauce of some kind. The standard condiments are available – chili sauce, soya and chili with lemongrass – as well as a tangy tamarind sauce. We tried the latter, but unfortunately it didn’t pack much punch when combined with the larger dish so the tried-and-true standards are your best bet.

While you’re at it, you’ll also want to order a glass of trà tắc to wash your soup down. The sweet, citrus-y iced tea is like trà đá on steroids: bright, flavorful and refreshing.

As we finish off our lunch, one by one, Cong the Enforcer returns, scooping up bowls and refilling empty tea glasses. Since the soup portions leave us room for more, we decide to try Tu Thuy’s bánh trứng while we’re at it. Once again, the boss springs into action, calling out our order and rushing over with a hot plate when it’s done.

As far as snacks go, the bánh trứng is a winner. You can barely see its stark white, quail egg cakes beneath the heaps of chili sauce, mayonnaise, peanuts, dried shrimp and Vietnamese ketchup. If you closed your eyes and took a bite, you could easily mistake these tasty morsels for bánh tráng nướng, the grilled rice paper snacks you find in the hands of high schoolers and patrons of the cà phê bệt in 30-4 Park. Neither too light nor too filling, the bite-sized snacks manage to combine an impressive range of flavors onto one plate.

The far side of District 4 is a forgotten land, at least if you’re an Uber driver. With lunch finished, we make several failed requests for a ride and take siesta at the same time. This is when I meet the only employee in the restaurant with more authority than Cong the Enforcer: his mother. She used to be a mobile vendor, she tells me. For nine years, the boss' mum sold mì ốc hến around District 4, eventually setting up shop on Ton That Thuyet a few months ago. So far, business has been steady, and of course, she’s got reliable help.



As our driver nears, we call for the bill and once again the floor manager comes over, pointing at the remnants of our lunch and rattling off prices like an auctioneer.

“Mì hến 20 ngàn, 5 tô mì ốc hến 125 ngàn là 145 ngàn, hủ tiếu ốc hến 25 ngàn là 170 ngàn rồi 7 ly trà tắc 35 ngàn là 205 ngàn...”

We collect our money and hand it over to Cong the Enforcer, who pulls out a wad of cash from his waistband and begins flicking through the bills one by one, retrieving our change as he goes.

But for all his bravado, the boss is not much of a ham. As we wait for our ride, Brandon, our photographer, attempts to capture Cong the Enforcer at work. Suddenly, the boss gets shy. He hides his face, turning toward his mother with a sly grin.

“Let him take a photo!” she says. “He’ll bring it back to America.”

Without missing a beat, Cong the Enforcer stops in his tracks and raises an eyebrow. “Not China, right?”

54211

A few minutes later, our Uber finally arrives, and we begin to stand up from the tiny stools scattered throughout Tu Thuy’s dining area. Our group bids goodbye to Cong and his mother, who points to our table covered in dishes and says: “What’s this?”

Cong the Enforcer frowns, picking up a few glasses by himself before he gets an idea. His eyes light up as he looks around the room and finds a young woman of perhaps 17 standing against the wall. “Chị ơi! Dọn bàn này, chị!”

She rolls her eyes, looking at Cong’s mother and then at the table and grabs a rag. As we pile into the car and head back to work, Cong the Enforcer is pleased with himself.


To sum up:

Taste: 3/5

Price: 5/5 – Mì ốc hến (VND25,000), bánh trứng (VND20,000), trà tắc (VND5,000)

Atmosphere: 4/5

Friendliness: 5/5

Location: 4/5

Mì ốc hến

92B Ton That Thuyet, Ward 16, D4

[smallplayer]

I advise you not to try VBs there, cos its imported goods and cost at least 1.8m RP onwards for 1 shot at their MPs ;)

I no need Indo SSSSYTs lobang lah, I need Indo Chinese SSSSSYTs :p

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

The spas that I went ..international cat is Thai n viet. ..1.1m per pop.
But I went Sunday. .all off..sianz
Some indo local really look like indo chi leh. .can still pass off if u don't look too closely..haha
But yet to find real indo chinese fl for now ...only those ol. Which I'm working on..haha
But hear very very hard one..machiam like become married into...haiz

[Hurricane88]

Lion dance display wows thousands in Ho Chi Minh City

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 10/31/2016 14:52 GMT + 7

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A public display of traditional lion dancing enlivened Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday morning, captivating thousands of locals and tourists.

The performances were part of the first Ho Chi Minh City Qilin, Lion, and Dragon Dance Festival, which aimed to revitalize interest in the traditional art amongst the public.

The dance mimics the movement of three sacred animals, the qilin (a mythical hooved creature in East Asian culture), the lion, and the Asian dragon (a snake-like mythical creature with four legs) with dancers dressing themselves in brightly-colored animal costumes that take at least two people to operate.

Twelve participating dance crews marched through six streets in downtown Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday morning before assembling at Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street for a grand performance.

The audience were also invited to participate in the performances and introduced to the folklores behind the dance, while Vietnamese folk games were played as a performance by professional sports teams.

Click here to read
http://tuoitrenews.vn/lifestyle/37790/lion-dance-display-wows-thousands-in-ho-chi-minh-city

[KangTuo]

Its Kang Kang cos waiting for Kang Tuo ma:D


then like that will remain kang kang lah? :eek:

[KangTuo]

Harlo uncle the $50 is last time you tell me one leh......

si meh?
you still acting sua ku lah :D

[KangTuo]

Wrong, I am sitting down and KT could be standing up so neither of us is lying down

simi position is that?
I stand up while you sit down do what :eek::eek:

[KangTuo]

Bro KT babysit today at home...kids dun need go school...:)

wrong assumption :D

[Hurricane88]

wrong assumption :D

wrong also nothing far from this assumption...knew your kids still young...dun attend full school yet...:)

[snipeshot08]

why sad...:confused::eek:



Cos you dun let me hug you mah........:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

haha...you scarey meh...thought you like ssssssyts many black jewel...:)


On no I never say I dun like the goods, I say I dun like the way they were brought in :eek:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

hehe...took many countries many years to realised that and you can see PRC is prosecuting these culprits...another country is solving drugs which also leads to corruption...many of our neighbours are still dozing...:)



Aiyah all wayang wayang one lah, then after a while settle down they still cuntinue with their corruption :cool: then after a long period they will come back again with some sweep and official announcements, then the cycle goes on.......;)

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

try and post review here...:p

I will post more news here...:)



Me hopeless at reports & reviews :o so I stick to what I do best, tok cok :D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News – October 31

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 10/31/2016 08:30 GMT + 7

-- The General Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health on Sunday confirmed that a four-month-old girl in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak has suffered from microcephaly, a birth defect brought about by the Zika virus, making it the first case in Vietnam.







Siao liao, Wetnam got Yika liao :eek:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

The spas that I went ..international cat is Thai n viet. ..1.1m per pop.
But I went Sunday. .all off..sianz
Some indo local really look like indo chi leh. .can still pass off if u don't look too closely..haha
But yet to find real indo chinese fl for now ...only those ol. Which I'm working on..haha
But hear very very hard one..machiam like become married into...haiz



Ermmm normally there is a base price for those upmarket spas like Alexis & Malioboro, but still got room charges & +++ adding up to a lot ;) unless you go to those like Classic type where the prices includes everything but this type normally no foreign imports leh :confused:

So now you finally understand why I am sooooooo interested when you said Indo Chinese leh :D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

then like that will remain kang kang lah? :eek:



Dun worry I go kopitiam there eat Kang Kong :D

Cheerios.....SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

si meh?
you still acting sua ku lah :D



Si meh???
You still acting blur ah???:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

simi position is that?
I stand up while you sit down do what :eek:



So that I can use my finger to poke your backside????:confused::eek::D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

The spas that I went ..international cat is Thai n viet. ..1.1m per pop.
But I went Sunday. .all off..sianz
Some indo local really look like indo chi leh. .can still pass off if u don't look too closely..haha
But yet to find real indo chinese fl for now ...only those ol. Which I'm working on..haha
But hear very very hard one..machiam like become married into...haiz



You are aware that you are already paying more than twice of what you can pay for Thai & Viet in Sinkie legal houses hor????:D

Thats why when I go to JKT I always eat lokal lokal :D 1 shot about 300K nia nia with nice facilities somemore ;)

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

Cos you dun let me hug you mah........:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

you hug vb ssssyts...hug me for wat...I only allow vb hug...:)

[Hurricane88]

On no I never say I dun like the goods, I say I dun like the way they were brought in :eek:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

I thought you fly to there to hug...:)

[Hurricane88]

Aiyah all wayang wayang one lah, then after a while settle down they still cuntinue with their corruption :cool: then after a long period they will come back again with some sweep and official announcements, then the cycle goes on.......;)

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

wayang or showtime...all are for show lah...fully agreed...:)

[Hurricane88]

Me hopeless at reports & reviews :o so I stick to what I do best, tok cok :D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

ask you to say good or not...same as tcss...:)

[Hurricane88]

Siao liao, Wetnam got Yika liao :eek:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

Tell me what Wet Nam dun have ha...:)

[Hurricane88]

You are aware that you are already paying more than twice of what you can pay for Thai & Viet in Sinkie legal houses hor????:D

Thats why when I go to JKT I always eat lokal lokal :D 1 shot about 300K nia nia with nice facilities somemore ;)

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

Me too...everywhere I go must have local food and beer...:)

[Hurricane88]

Hanoi’s oldest pagoda named among the world's most beautiful

By VnExpress November 1, 2016 | 11:54 am GMT+

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Tran Quoc, nearly 1,500 years old, sits on a peaceful peninsula on the West Lake.
Hanoi's Tran Quoc Pagoda, one of the icons of the capital city, has been named one of the most beautiful Buddhist temples in the world.

The U.K. news website Daily Mail recently ranked the temple of nearly 1,500 years old among 16 “most mesmerizing pagodas” in the world.

Tran Quoc, located on a small peninsula on the east side of the West Lake, is considered the oldest in Hanoi. It was completed in the year 545 on the shores of the Red River and was moved to the current site in the 1600s due to erosion.

In October, travel site Thrillist also named the pagoda among a list of 11 “stunningly gorgeous” pagoda temples around the world.

The Daily Mail list recommends many pagodas in the world’s Buddhist centers Myanmar and Thailand, as well as some in Japan, Mongolia and South Korea.

clcik here to read more http://e.vnexpress.net/news/travel-life/hanoi-s-oldest-pagoda-named-among-the-world-s-most-beautiful-3492323.html

[Hurricane88]

Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News – November 1

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/01/2016 09:10 GMT + 7

Good morning from Vietnam!

Society

-- Vietnamese legislators demanded more transparency in the management of public properties to crack down on wastefulness, as they convened for a working session of Vietnam’s lawmaking National Assembly to discuss an amended law on public properties on Monday.

-- Rain is in the forecast for the rest of the week in central Vietnam, after a heavy downpour of up to 500 millimeters in rainfall hit the central province of Ha Tinh late Monday evening and threatened the region with more flooding to come.

Lifestyle

-- A plan to open a tourist route to Con Co Island, which lies about 30 kilometers off the eastern coast of central Vietnam’s Quang Tri Province, has been given the go-ahead by Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam.

-- The fourth edition of Hanoi International Film Festival (HANIFF) will open at 8:00 pm tonight, November 1, in Hanoi, with more than 550 films from 40 countries and territories scheduled to be screened throughout the course of the five-day event.

Business

-- Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh on Monday demanded that fishermen and locals affected by April’s Formosa steel plant crisis in central Vietnam be paid their damage compensation no later than the end of November.

-- Stocks of top Vietnamese state-owned brewer Sabeco are expected to be priced at VND110,000 (US$4.91) apiece when it lists for the first time on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) in December, a source close to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper disclosed.

Sports

-- Vietnam’s national under-19 soccer team was on Monday granted VND2.3 billion ($102,679) in reward money for their outstanding performance in the AFC U-19 Championship concluded last week in Bahrain, where they earned the country’s first-ever ticket to the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

[Hurricane88]

Houses, schools submerged as heavy downpours pound central Vietnam

By Duc Hung November 1, 2016 | 10:01 am GMT+7

Many areas of Ha Tinh, still patching themselves up after a devastating flood just two weeks ago, are in deep water again.
Incessant rains over the last two days have submerged many neighborhoods in the central province of Ha Tinh in knee-deep water, disrupting traffic and leaving thousands of families stranded yet again.

The province has barely recovered from the severe, deadly flooding that hit it two weeks ago.

According to Le Van Trong, an agricultural official in Ky Anh District, over 180 local homes have been flooded. Many families had to evacuate and left their properties and livestocks while more than 21,000 students could not go to school.

In Huong Khe District, downpours coupled with rising water levels on a local river caused severe flooding, isolating several neighborhoods. Many roads connecting villages and communes were under half to one meter of water.

Many locals have been switching to boats as their means of transport.

Ho Ho hydropower dam, which was blamed for worsening flooding problems, is regulating its water discharges.

In the neighboring province of Quang Binh, downpours also flooded around 500 houses.

Rainfall of between 150 and 220mm has swollen the Gianh River, which surrounds several communes in the province. Many students had to stay home on Monday after a national highway was inundated.

On October 13, a low tropical pressure system made landfall in Quang Binh and triggered torrential rains of up to 700mm that submerged 92,000 houses in the province in up to three meters of water. At least 22 people died in the disaster, described by many as the worst ever in the province, which is among the poorest in Vietnam.

In Ha Tinh, officials said the water released from the Ho Ho hydropower dam had added to their woes, resulting in nine deaths and leaving 5,000 houses under water. No action has been taken against the dam's management.

[Hurricane88]

Visa waivers lift Vietnam's foreign tourist arrivals

By VnExpress October 31, 2016 | 10:47 am GMT+7

Visitor numbers have spiked to 8 million.
Foreign tourist arrivals in Vietnam have hit 8 million so far this year, official statistics show.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the figure is 25 percent higher than the same period last year.

The surge has been attributed to the country’s more relaxed visa requirements for foreign tourists.

Vietnam has extended visa waivers for tourists from Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain for trips of up to 15 days.

The number of Western European tourists has increased between 13 percent and 30 percent, said the tourism administration.

The country currently also provides a reciprocal visa exemption for citizens of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It has also waived visa requirements for visitors from the four Nordic countries and Russia, Belarus, Japan and South Korea.

China, Hong Kong and South Korea continue to be the country's top international tourist markets.

[Hurricane88]

Hẻm Gems: Bún Sứa Serves Up a Jellyfish Medley Without the Sting

Last Updated on Friday, 26 August 2016 11:05 Published on Friday, 26 August 2016 11:05 Written by Kyle Lee.

54378

The menu at Bun Sua Co Hanh is geared towards diners with a hankering for seafood, and not just your regular fish and company. They serve something out of the ordinary at this slightly drab riverfront restaurant, which I initially thought was noodles and milk (apparently my Vietnamese really needs some work: bún sứa refers to noodles with jellyfish, while bún sữa means noodles with milk). While the cuisine here is not quite as strange as milk noodles, it manages to offer something almost as unique.

Bun Sua Co Hanh is located at 995 Hoang Sa in District 3. The dining area gives you a nice view of the busy street out front, and the canal beyond. The place is spacious and, if you visit in the morning, you’ll practically have it all to yourself. And their specialty? Jellyfish.

Bún sứa is a seafood medley featuring jellyfish, large lumps of a mysterious – but delicious – fish and fish cakes dropped into a delicate broth with bún and vegetables. The soup tastes fishy at first, but after the first few bites the strong ocean flavor tapers off. The noodles were cooked to perfection, and the vegetables were bright, colorful, and crisp. But what about the most important part, the jellyfish?

Its texture resembles a clear, firm, tasteless jello. It’s not meaty, like fish or pork. The closest comparisons are squid or octopus, but those are more substantial. There is a slight taste of pepper, but without the other flavors in the soup it would be bland. The jellyfish blends into the broth, and without the layer of small black dots on its skin, it would be hard to spot in the soup. All in all, bún sứa certainly belongs on the “go try” list, but falls short of the “must go back immediately” list.

Bun Sua Co Hanh opens from 6am to 1pm during the day and from 5pm to 10pm at night.

54379

To sum up:

Taste: 3/5

Price: 4/5 - VND35,000 for a small bowl and VND38,000 for a large bowl of bún sứa

Atmosphere: 2/5

Friendliness: 3/5

Location: 3/5

Bún Sứa Cô Hạnh

995 Hoang Sa, Ward 11, D3

[smallplayer]

You are aware that you are already paying more than twice of what you can pay for Thai & Viet in Sinkie legal houses hor????:D

Thats why when I go to JKT I always eat lokal lokal :D 1 shot about 300K nia nia with nice facilities somemore ;)

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

Yes...that's why I also eat local local. ..food and girls..haha
Nowadays 300k idr hard la...
350k have still good ones ...

[Hurricane88]

Yes...that's why I also eat local local. ..food and girls..haha
Nowadays 300k idr hard la...
350k have still good ones ...

What do you get for 350K rupiah...:)

[smallplayer]

What do you get for 350K rupiah...:)

Go to a bar...pick a girl out of quite a sizeable group. ..then go to a room for 45min.
She washes u..then sop on bed with 1 pop?
Room is quite clean ...so not that bad

[Hurricane88]

Go to a bar...pick a girl out of quite a sizeable group. ..then go to a room for 45min.
She washes u..then sop on bed with 1 pop?
Room is quite clean ...so not that bad

Thanks...meaning about SGD 37...get a fj 1 shot...:)

[snipeshot08]

you hug vb ssssyts...hug me for wat...I only allow vb hug...:)



So thats why I sad mah........kekekeke:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

I thought you fly to there to hug...:)



So far in my whole life still have never stepped into Africa or that region yet :cool: & I dun think I will in this lifetime too :D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

ask you to say good or not...same as tcss...:)



Orhhhh like that easy lah :D

I say first, good of course :D

Cheerios.....SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Tell me what Wet Nam dun have ha...:)



Ermmm they have no PAP, no ban on chewing gums, no legal whorehouses.....& the list goes on.......:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Yes...that's why I also eat local local. ..food and girls..haha
Nowadays 300k idr hard la...
350k have still good ones ...



So when you got cravings for Wetnamese cuisine, join me lah!!!!!!:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Go to a bar...pick a girl out of quite a sizeable group. ..then go to a room for 45min.
She washes u..then sop on bed with 1 pop?
Room is quite clean ...so not that bad



You forgot the part where they always ask you to buy Coke or ciggie for them the moment u reached the room:D

Cheerios.....SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Thanks...meaning about SGD 37...get a fj 1 shot...:)



You add-on a bit more to about total 450k to 500k, you can even do threesomes there ;):D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

So thats why I sad mah........kekekeke:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

wen u sad better dun cum near me...stay far away ok...:)

[Hurricane88]

So far in my whole life still have never stepped into Africa or that region yet :cool: & I dun think I will in this lifetime too :D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

never say never...:p

[Hurricane88]

Orhhhh like that easy lah :D

I say first, good of course :D

Cheerios.....SS08 ^_^

hi hi so guai gaui boy...:)

[Hurricane88]

Ermmm they have no PAP, no ban on chewing gums, no legal whorehouses.....& the list goes on.......:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

haha...legal dun hv...illegal plenty...:)

[Hurricane88]

You forgot the part where they always ask you to buy Coke or ciggie for them the moment u reached the room:D

Cheerios.....SS08 ^_^

hated girl smoke and also smoke in the room...:)

[Hurricane88]

You add-on a bit more to about total 450k to 500k, you can even do threesomes there ;):D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

wow wow wee...but I dun prefer 3some leh...haha...:p

[Hurricane88]

13 killed in Hanoi karaoke bar fire

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/02/2016 09:46 GMT + 7

Thirteen deaths have been confirmed after a raging fire consumed four adjacent karaoke bars and restaurants in downtown Hanoi on Tuesday afternoon.

Here’s what we know so far.

Where and when it happened

The fire reportedly broke out at around 2:00 pm Tuesday afternoon in one of the karaoke bars on Tran Thai Tong Street in Hanoi’s Cau Giay District, quickly spread to the adjacent multi-storey buildings from number 68 to 74, according to witnesses.

The street is a popular entertainment precinct in Vietnam’s capital, with many buildings running karaoke bars, restaurants and stores, as were the four buildings consumed by Tuesday’s fire.

A thick column of smoke could be seen coming from the buildings, as employees and customers ran for their lives from the raging fire.

As fire reached the eighth floor, people trapped on the second and third floors tried to escape by jumping through the buildings’ windows.

“Explosions and screams for help from dozens still trapped by the fire could be heard. Locals were urging those on the second and third floor to jump for their lives, and those who did made it out alive,” an employee at one of the destroyed buildings said.

The fire was not controlled until 6 pm the same day, while rescue efforts continued into the night.

Continue read here http://tuoitrenews.vn/society/37810/13-killed-in-hanoi-karaoke-bar-fire

[Hurricane88]

Vietnam banker suspended for beating female petrol attendant

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/01/2016 15:02 GMT + 7

54730

A banker in the north-central province of Nghe An has been suspended from work for 15 days after he was filmed beating a female pump attendant at a local gasoline station last week, his boss said on Monday.

During his suspension, Hoang Huu Duc, a credit man at the Nghe An branch of Vietnam’s Co-op Bank, will write a self-assessment report for his actions, branch director Dang Cong Linh said.

On October 24, Duc and three colleagues arrived at the Nghi Phu filling station in a four-seater car and asked for VND500,000 (US$22) worth of petrol.

After being served by the female attendant, N.T.Ng., the bankers left, but returned ten minutes later, according to a video filmed by the filling station’s surveillance camera.

Upon his return, Duc was seen shouting at Ng. and eventually used the pump to beat her in the head. The other three Co-op Bank employees remained in the car without interfering.

According to the video, Duc walked away after hitting the pump attendant, but came back when Ng. started bleeding from the head.

The banker then took her to a nearby clinic for a health check and treatment.

According to the police record of the case, Duc said he had returned to complain that Ng. had refilled his car less than the amount requested.

However, he later admitted that the fuel meter on his vehicle was out of order and that it was not the attendant’s fault.

The banker eventually apologized to Ng., who later went back to work and asked police not to take any further action against the banker.

According to the Nghe An Co-op Bank director, the three bankers who were with Duc at the time of the assault were also asked to write a self-assessment report for failing to either stop him from beating Ng. or report the incident to their bank superiors.

It was the second case in a week of a man beating a woman to be widely reported on in Vietnam’s media, following the high-profile incident in which two passengers attacked a female airport attendant in Hanoi on October 18.

One of the attackers was an inspector with the Hanoi transport department, and was eventually dismissed following the assault.

[Hurricane88]

Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News – November 2

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/02/2016 08:55 GMT + 7

Here are the leading news stories about Vietnam you should not miss today, November 2

Politics

-- Vietnam’s lawmakers discussed Tuesday a five-year financial plan, orientations for the mobilization and use of capital as well as the management of public debt in 2016-2020, and the middle-term public investment plan for the next five years.

-- German Minister for Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier attended the topping-out ceremony of the German House in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday, as part of his visit to Vietnam between October 30 and November 1.

Society

-- A raging fire engulfed a karaoke parlor in Hanoi on Tuesday afternoon and only began to die down in the evening, killing 13 people.

-- Customs in Ho Chi Minh City detected more than 700 kg of African elephant tusks hidden in wood blocks transported via the municipal Cat Lat port on Tuesday, the fourth detection in a month.

-- Four suspects of the fatal shooting of a motel receptionist in Hanoi on October 27 have been arrested for investigation, police said Tuesday.

-- The Zika virus is on a rampage in Ho Chi Minh City, with the number of locally-transmitted cases rising in the last four weeks, local healthy authorities have warned.

Business

-- The administration of the northern Vietnamese province of Lang Son has urged the Prime Minister to consider its proposal to open a new high-speed railway route, which will be connected to the nearby railway across the border with China.

-- The Duyen Hai 1 thermal power plant in the southern province of Tra Vinh has been found generating electricity over the last ten years even though it has yet to obtain a certificate for adequate environmental protection facilities.

Lifestyle

-- The 2016 edition of Indochine, a 1992 French film set in colonial French Indochina during the 1930s to 1950s, is scheduled to be on screen within the framework of the Hanoi International Film Festival (HANIFF, which kicked off on Tuesday night, as well as at Green Media cinemas.

Sports

-- The qualification for the 2017 AFC U-19 Women's Championship of Group D, consisting of Vietnam, Iran and India, kicks off today in Hanoi. The winner will join those in the other three qualifying groups to qualify to the finals (eight teams in total).

[Hurricane88]

Vietnamese beauty stumbles during Q&A at Miss Earth pageant

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 10/31/2016 16:04 GMT + 7

54731

Vietnam’s representative at the 2016 Miss Earth beauty pageant had a forgettable night on the weekend after the translation of her Q&A topic did not go according to plan.

Vietnamese beauty queen Nguyen Thi Le Nam Em, 20, advanced to the top eight of the beauty pageant during the competition’s coronation night on Saturday in Manila.

The Mekong Delta girl entered the interview round alongside representatives from Venezuela, Sweden, Russia, the U.S., Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador, where the contestants were asked to draw a topic presented in the form of a hashtag (#) as their interview question.

Nam Em took the stage with confidence, smiling brightly as she handed over her topic paper to the host, which contained the hashtag ‘#Empowered to make a change.’ The host read aloud the topic to the audience.

The hashtag is also the official slogan of the 2016 Miss Earth.

However, as the crowd awaited Nam Em’s answer, the beauty turned towards her Vietnamese interpreter who was sitting in the audience and signaled with her eyes that she needed help translating the topic.

The interpreter, seemingly dumbfounded by the surprise request, could not respond at first and had to ask for the topic to be repeated twice before coming up with a faltering translation.

Though Nam Em managed to pull off her answer to the question in Vietnamese, she did not make it to the final four of the competition. The crown was later handed to Ecuadorian contestant Katherine Espin.

In an interview with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper after the show’s conclusion, Nam Em said she was “sad and regretful” over the pageant’s outcome.

“The interpreter performed well in the mock session with the board of judges prior to the show, but he was nervous during the live performance so his translation of my answer was just plain wrong,” the Vietnamese beauty said.

When asked why she did not answer the question in English as the topic was not too complicated, Nam Em said she wanted to answer in Vietnamese so that the answer could be more in-depth and more people would hear the Vietnamese language.

“I could have answered in English, but I wanted my answer to be broader and more memorable to the audience, not just basic knowledge,” she claimed.

However, the Vietnamese public did not seem to buy her explanation, with many pointing out that it was due to the beauty’s incompetence in English that she needed help with the translation of the topic in the first place.

“Oh, please stop making excuses,” one Tuoi Tre reader commented. “Let’s face it. How can you communicate with international friends with [such] a lack of English proficiency?” another reader said.

While beauty pageants are criticized for their objectification of women and viewed more as an entertainment event, the Vietnamese media and public still hold them in high regard .

Vietnamese beauty queens are often praised for achieving highly in international beauty competitions and their performances are scrutinized by the local media, who view them as ambassadors, tasked with promoting their country’s image to international friends.

54732

[Hurricane88]

Vietnam lags behind ASEAN peers in World Bank's Doing Business index

By VnExpress November 1, 2016 | 11:36 pm GMT+7

The country ranks below Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.
According to the World Bank’s ease of doing business index, this year Vietnam ranks 82 out of 190 economies globally, up from 91 out of 189 countries last year.

The World Bank's annual Doing Business report tracks regulatory changes in 190 countries for businesses throughout their life cycle based on a set of 10 indicators, ranging from the ease of business start-up regulations to accessing services such as electricity.

Although Vietnam has climbed nine places this year, its remains below the average for ease of doing business among the ASEAN-4: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, the Saigon Times cited Nguyen Minh Thao, deputy head of the Business Environment and Competitiveness Department at the Central Institute for Economic Management, as saying.

She said Vietnam’s improvement was due to reforms across five of the 10 areas the bank uses to complete the index: protecting minority investors, obtaining access to electricity, paying taxes, cross-border trading and resolving insolvency.

The most significant improvement was made in protecting minority investors following government efforts to revise the 2014 Enterprise Law, Thao said.

Vietnam has simplified customs procedures to a degree, but while Singapore requires only four documents to import and export goods, Vietnam requires about 10. It takes 3-5 days to obtain regulatory approval to import and export in Singapore but 12-15 days in Vietnam. The cost of importing and exporting is $439-$456 per container in Singapore, but more than $600 in Vietnam.

Vietnam has improved more slowly than the only ASEAN-4 country ranked below it in the 2017 World Banks' report - the Philippines. Vietnam has gradually improved by 17 spots in the Doing Business report since 2012 when the country was ranked 99 out of 183 economies. In the meantime, the Philippines has gained 49 spots over the same period of time.

The World Bank pointed to starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting access to credit, registering property and enforcing contracts as areas where Vietnam needs to improve.

ASEAN countries ranked widely on the overall list from Singapore at 2 to Laos at 139. Thailand, Malaysia and Brunei were all ranked above Vietnam.

“I am concerned that Vietnam has failed to reach the ASEAN-4 average in most of the areas. Some member countries such as Indonesia and Brunei have undergone more reforms and changes than Vietnam,” said economist Minh Thao.

[Hurricane88]

Vietnam all set for long holidays in 2017

By VnExpress November 2, 2016 | 04:15 pm GMT+7

But it’s almost certain that a very long break for the Lunar New Year is out of the question.

Vietnamese will probably be denied a 10-day Lunar New Year break that they have been hoping for. But they can take consolation in the fact that there will be more long weekends than usual in 2017.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a statement after reviewing proposals by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs last month regarding public holidays.

It agreed with the labor ministry’s suggestions to give the public three days off for the New Year holiday from December 31, 2016 to January 2, 2017; four days for Reunification Day and Labor Day from April 29 to May 2; and three days for Independence Day from September 2-4.

For the Hung Kings’ Festival, which commemorates the kings considered to be the founding fathers of Vietnam, the home affairs ministry favored the longer option of a four-day break that starts on Thursday, April 6 and will run through the weekend. Workers will have to make up for the Friday off on the Saturday of the week before or after. The other option was a single day on April 6, or the 10th day of the third lunar month.

But for the country’s most important holiday on the Lunar New Year, or Tet, the home affairs ministry went for a shorter option of seven days instead of the proposed 10.

The labor ministry proposed the 10-day option last month and a survey by VnExpress found that 81 percent of the 16,500 respondents favored a long break. The seven-day break may be too short for many, especially after the nine-day holidays the country has enjoyed for Tet over the past five years.

The Prime Minister has the final decision. If he agrees with the home affairs ministry, which will likely be the case, Vietnam will have a total of 21 holidays in 2017, compared to 22 this year.

[Hurricane88]

Chinese man caught stealing from luggage on flight to Ho Chi Minh City: media

November 2, 2016 | 04:42 pm GMT+7

Vietnam deported the man to Hong Kong on Wednesday.

A Chinese passenger was allegedly caught trying to steal from the luggage of another passenger on a flight to Ho Chi Minh City from Hong Kong on Tuesday, local media reported.

The 36-year-old man was on board flight VN595, which departed from Hong Kong and arrived at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday.

The man is accused of taking another passenger's luggage from an overhead compartment and rummaging through it.

He was caught by flight attendants before he could steal anything. The flight crew then notified security forces at Tan Son Nhat.

He was arrested by police upon landing and deported to Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon.

[snipeshot08]

wen u sad better dun cum near me...stay far away ok...:)



Haiz......now even H88 also siam me........huhuhu.........:D

Cheerios........SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

never say never...:p



Oh yeah:D..............................retire there?????:eek::D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

haha...legal dun hv...illegal plenty...:)


Illegal PAP in Wetnam??????:eek: all wear white but black underwear :D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

Haiz......now even H88 also siam me........huhuhu.........:D

Cheerios........SS08 ^_^

U wan hug me sure ask you siam far...pass you sssyt to hug...:)

[snipeshot08]

hated girl smoke and also smoke in the room...:)



Worst part is when you lean too close to her mouth then smell the ciggie breath.....:eek:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

wow wow wee...but I dun prefer 3some leh...haha...:p



Actually I also dun really like, but tried it out since its sooooo cheap......:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

Oh yeah:D..............................retire there?????:eek::D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

i not keen to hug black jewel...so no plan to visit africa...:)

[snipeshot08]

Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News – November 2

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/02/2016 08:55 GMT + 7

-- The Zika virus is on a rampage in Ho Chi Minh City, with the number of locally-transmitted cases rising in the last four weeks, local healthy authorities have warned.




Wah this is seriously bad, need to use insect repellent there liao :eek:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

Illegal PAP in Wetnam??????:eek: all wear white but black underwear :D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

Powerful...sure hv illegal parties forming soon...:)

[snipeshot08]

i not keen to hug black jewel...so no plan to visit africa...:)

never say never...:p




Self-explanatory.......:D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

Worst part is when you lean too close to her mouth then smell the ciggie breath.....:eek:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

This is worst...then you let her bbbj or kiss yucks...lucky most of mine dun smoke or if smoke dun like....:)

[Hurricane88]

Actually I also dun really like, but tried it out since its sooooo cheap......:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

Cheap is how cheap...but sometimes not because cheap must do...:)

[Hurricane88]

Wah this is seriously bad, need to use insect repellent there liao :eek:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

Not so bad yet lah...mostly in poor sanitary area...:)

[Hurricane88]

Self-explanatory.......:D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

But you not me..you say you dun mind black jewel ssssyt....:)

[Hurricane88]

HCM City opens three electric bus routes

| dtinews.vn | November 03, 2016 07:00 AM

HCM City authorities have agreed a pilot project to operate three electric bus routes in the city centre as part of efforts to improve the city’s tourism development.

The 12-seat electricity-powered buses will run in the city centre, with routes travelling past well-known locations.

Route 1 with 11 buses departs from 23/9 Park, travels along Pham Ngu Lao and Hai Ba Trung and stops at Saigon Zoo and the Botanical Gardens.

Route 2 will run in the Phu My Hung residential area and District 7, while the third route operates between District 1 and District 3.

The buses will be operated from 5 am to 10 pm every day. The buses will run based on a 10-15 minute timetable between stops, with each capable of carrying 12 passengers at a maximum 30 kilometres per hour, it said.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved the opening of three routes for 12-seat electricity-powered buses for the next three years in HCM City.

The city will file a report every six months.

Mai Linh Group plans to run 10,000 electric cars to replace Mai Linh-branded taxis around Vietnam, including 3,964 in HCM City. The group is seeking the municipal people’s committee's approval for the pilot for the first 100 electric cars.

[Hurricane88]

Vietnam's $3 million lottery jackpot has a winner: operator

By Phuong Dong November 2, 2016 | 08:58 pm GMT+7

Vietlott announces the new winner less than three weeks after a lucky family in the south claimed an even larger jackpot.

Vietlott, the operator of an American-style lottery game, on Wednesday said there's a new winner for the top prize of nearly $3 million, less than three weeks after a lucky family in the south claimed an even larger jackpot.

The state-owned company announced 03-05-08-10-13-22 as the winning numbers for Wednesday's draw of the Mega 6/45, which debuted in July.

The winner now has 60 days to come forward and claim the prize of more than VND64.8 billion ($2.9 million), either in Ho Chi Minh City or the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, Vietlott said. The identity of the lucky person is still unknown.

For months the Mega 6/45 had not announced any top prize winner, until around three weeks ago.

Nguyen Quoc Thai, 58, from the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh, on October 18 attended a ceremony in HCMC to collect a jackpot of VND92.03 billion ($4.04 million) on behalf of his daughter. The family had to pay 10 percent in income tax.

There has been much media fanfare around the lucky family and their win, which is without a doubt a very large sum of money in a country where the average annual income is only around $2,100.

This first win has apparently served as the best publicity possible for Vietlott.

Vietnam generally does not allow its citizens to gamble, but lottery tickets are popular across the country.

Vietlott, or Vietnam Computerized Lottery One Member Limited Liability Company, in January signed an exclusive 18-year contract with Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya to launch computerized lottery games.

The Mega 6/45 is the company's first foray into the market and will be followed by other services.

In the game, players select six numbers from 1 to 45 and win the jackpot, starting at VND12 billion ($538,000), by matching all six winning numbers from the draw. Each ticket costs VND10,000 (40 cents).

The jackpot prize will keep growing with time and with more players, until there is a winner. The odds of winning are extremely low, believed to be around one in 8.14 million.

Traditional lottery tickets in Vietnam have predetermined numbers printed on them, with the highest prize set at VND1.5 billion ($65,900).

[Hurricane88]

Nha Trang city to host first event of APEC Vietnam 2017

| VNA | November 02, 2016 11:17 PM

Accordingly, Nha Trang will be playing host to the first APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM 1) from February 18 to March 3 next year. SOM 1 will include more than 80 meetings with the participation of about 2,500 delegates.

The resort city will also be the host for a meeting of APEC Deputy Finance Ministers and another of Deputy Governors of APEC Central Banks.

Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung, who led a delegation to Khanh Hoa province to inspect its preparations, said the APEC meetings will be important diplomatic events of Vietnam in 2017.

He asked the provincial authorities to soon complete infrastructure and personnel preparations to ensure security, traffic and medical services during the approaching meetings, alongside with promoting the dissemination of information about these events.

Provincial officials assured that Nha Trang city has sufficient infrastructure and experience to organise the meetings. The province is planning to set up a steering committee for the organisation of the events.

Established in 1989, APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan (China), Thailand, the US and Vietnam.

The year of 2017 marks the second time Vietnam will be playing host to the APEC, following the first in 2006.

[Hurricane88]

Vietnam arrests another Facebook blogger for anti-state propaganda

By Nhat Vy November 3, 2016 | 10:20 am GMT+7

Police have accused him of spreading distorted information designed to damage public trust in the government.

Police in Ho Chi Minh City arrested a man for disseminating information designed to undermine the government on Wednesday.

Ho Van Hai who is known by his Facebook name “Ho Hai” was arrested Wednesday night for distributing documents and information designed to undermine the state from a house in Thu Duc District.

Colonel Nguyen Sy Quang, a spokesman of the HCMC police force, said Hai had used “distorted” information to cause the public to lose trust in the government.

The 52-year-old doctor shows signs of having violated a Penal Code provision prohibiting “propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” Quang said, adding that police have been monitoring Hai's online activities for some time and only arrested him after they caught him in the act.

vietnam-arrests-another-facebook-blogger-for-anti-state-propaganda
Facebooker Ho Van Hai in a file photo.

The city police said they will investigate further to clarify his violations.

Hai is the second Facebook blogger Vietnam has arrested in a month.

On October 10, police in the central province of Khanh Hoa arrested Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, 37, after accusing her of publishing distorted posts and videos designed to denigrate the government and the Communist Party on a blog and Facebook page she has run since 2012.

In March, the People’s Court of Hanoi sentenced blogger Nguyen Huu Vinh and his assistant Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy to five and three years in prison each for blogging against the state. An appeals court upheld the sentences in September.

[Hurricane88]

Truck catches fire, looted by mobs in central Vietnam

UPDATED : 11/02/2016 16:03 GMT + 7

A mob of residents rushed to loot goods spilling out from the cargo of a truck that suddenly caught fire in the south-central province of Binh Dinh on Tuesday, despite the desperate cry from the unfortunate driver.

The truck, departing from Ho Chi Minh City, was en route to a supermarket in the provincial capital of Quy Nhon when the incident took place, according to three videos capturing the looting that were posted on a Facebook page the same day.

Huynh Du Phi Long, deputy head of the Quy Nhon police department, confirmed the incident to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Wednesday, adding those looters will be summoned to work with police.

According to the videos seen by Tuoi Tre, as the merchandise fell out from the burned cargo, several dozens of people rushed to take whatever they could. Some left happily with their ‘feats’, even though the driver, identified as Le Tan Duy, desperately asked them to stop in tears.

Some people and a couple of men in police uniform are seen trying to stop the looters, but their efforts also went in vain.

Some looters are seen smiling happily when they left the truck with numerous goods items.

The driver Tan is heard telling a woman, “If the truck of one of your family members was in this situation, would you loot its goods?”, but the looter simply ignored.

The looting took place for ten to 15 minutes and only stopped when more police officers came to the scene.

Looters to be summoned

Binh Nguyen, who filmed the footage, told Tuoi Tre the mobs only began rushing to loot the truck after firefighters left the scene, having extinguished the fire on the truck.

The truck caught fire when it was driving past the Quarter 1 residential area in Ghenh Rang Ward of Quy Nhon. Vo Van Thong, deputy head of the ward police unit, admitted that when his force came to the scene, the looting had ended.

Thong added, however, that his officers had visited the Quarter 1 residential area to compile a list of the looters, based on the video footage.
“They will be asked to work with us,” he said.

n the meantime, Long, the city’s police deputy chief, said the looters consist of Quarter 1 residents and also people from the nearby Xuan Hai Commune, which is administered by the neighboring Phu Yen Province, plus some unidentified passers-by.

“We have sent forces to meet with those involved and asked them to return the looted goods,” Long said.

He added that police are still considering the penalties for the looters, but promised to “strictly handle the case” so that there are no more such ugly actions in the future.

In December 2013, hoards of people also ran out to the street to loot hundreds of beer cans that poured from an overturned truck in the southern city of Bien Hoa.

In July 2014, two men involved in the looting were sentenced to six months each in prison for “publicly appropriating property."

[Hurricane88]

Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News – November 3

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/03/2016 08:30 GMT + 7

Society

-- According to the Ministry of Finance, by the end of October, around 119,800 tons of rice from the national reserves had been used to help people in central provinces which suffered marine-environment problems as well as underprivileged students.

-- Tong Quoc Truong, general director of Vietlott, the company that runs the ‘Mega 6/45’ computerized lottery in Vietnam, on Wednesday confirmed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that a person from the southern region may have won the second jackpot worth over VND64 billion (US$2.86 million). Last month, a farmer in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh became the first winner of the jackpot, worth more than VND92 billion ($4.11 million).

-- Ho Chi minh City officials have recently agreed to pilot three 12-seat electric bus routes.

-- Police in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong on Wednesday found Nguyen Quang Loc, 26, who had got lost in a local forest for seven days. The man was found naked, suffering exhaustion and ulcers.

-- Dong Nai International Hospital in the southern city of Bien Hoa said it had successfully removed a 0.5kg goiter from a 61-year-old patient who had carried the tumor for the past 10 years.

Business

-- The state-run oil and gas group PetroVietnam will import 12 million tons of coal per year to meet the demand of three coal-fired power plants it has invested in.

Lifestyle

-- A children’s painting exhibition will be organized on November 6 at Kim Dong Bookstore in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, to raise funds for 45 child patient surgeries this month.

-- A group of young authors are launching a crowdfunding drive to publish their pop-up book titled ‘Sai Gon Pho’ (The Town of Saigon) in the hope of raising VND150 million ($6,696) in one month. The book spotlighting the city’s landmarks including Ben Thanh Market, the Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, the Municipal Theater, and Nha Rong Wharf has been praised by the municipal Department of Tourism.

[KangTuo]

Actually I also dun really like, but tried it out since its sooooo cheap......

cheap cheap, then you try 4some? 5some? 6some... reverse gang bang? :D

[Hurricane88]

cheap cheap, then you try 4some? 5some? 6some... reverse gang bang? :D

aiyo...he say only lah...you believe meh...I strongly dun believe he even chose 3P...:)

[smallplayer]

So when you got cravings for Wetnamese cuisine, join me lah!!!!!!:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

You forgot the part where they always ask you to buy Coke or ciggie for them the moment u reached the room:D

Cheerios.....SS08 ^_^

I always crave for wetnamese..
dec trip planned :)

no leh..now no more buy anything..just straight into the J...

wetnam wetnam.....wait for me... next month!

[Hurricane88]

I

wetnam wetnam.....wait for me... next month!

no worries...wetnam will never run away...always there...:)

[Hurricane88]

Think bro ss08 flew off again since today is TGIF....:)

[snipeshot08]

This is worst...then you let her bbbj or kiss yucks...lucky most of mine dun smoke or if smoke dun like....:)



So next time remember to bring 1 listerine bottle with you :D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Cheap is how cheap...but sometimes not because cheap must do...:)



The scenario is like that, you walk into the restaurant intending to order just 1 ala-carte dish and get your standard lunch over with, then suddenly you are faced with a fantastic wide buffet spread of all your favourite foods like abalones, caviar bits...ETC and at affordable prices somemore, naturally the temptation will be there ;)

Cheerios.......Ss08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

So next time remember to bring 1 listerine bottle with you :D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

No listerine for me...all these cancer causing...:)

[snipeshot08]

Not so bad yet lah...mostly in poor sanitary area...:)


Eh uncle mosquitoes fly everywhere one you know........Sinkie so bladdy clean already got problem to contain them liao, no need to tok about Wetnam.....:eek:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

The scenario is like that, you walk into the restaurant intending to order just 1 ala-carte dish and get your standard lunch over with, then suddenly you are faced with a fantastic wide buffet spread of all your favourite foods like abalones, caviar bits...ETC and at affordable prices somemore, naturally the temptation will be there ;)

Cheerios.......Ss08 ^_^

So you werent hungry but ordered what you dun eat....:)

[snipeshot08]

But you not me..you say you dun mind black jewel ssssyt....:)



Oh yeah you are right I really dun mind as long as they are hygienic & meets my SSSSSSSSYTs criterias :D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

So you werent hungry but ordered what you dun eat....:)



Alamak your statement is contradickting leh :confused: why would I walk into the restaurant itself in the first place if I wasn't hungry leh :confused:

Cheerios......Ss08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

Eh uncle mosquitoes fly everywhere one you know........Sinkie so bladdy clean already got problem to contain them liao, no need to tok about Wetnam.....:eek:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

Braddar...you can skip the place if you scared...life is pre-destined...me not worried of a few mozzies...:)

[snipeshot08]

No listerine for me...all these cancer causing...:)



Then get the "organic" version lor, there is you know.....;)

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

Oh yeah you are right I really dun mind as long as they are hygienic & meets my SSSSSSSSYTs criterias :D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

So many years...you and still your ssssyt....same tastes...:)

[Hurricane88]

Alamak your statement is contradickting leh :confused: why would I walk into the restaurant itself in the first place if I wasn't hungry leh :confused:

Cheerios......Ss08 ^_^

Oh then you became greedy and ordered superflow supper...:)

[snipeshot08]

Braddar...you can skip the place if you scared...life is pre-destined...me not worried of a few mozzies...:)



Alamak you should read my post again leh, I said need to use insect repellent never say dun go leh :confused: if like that really so scared then I would have stayed in my Sinkie house all day long liao since Zika is already in Sinkapor leh :cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Oh then you became greedy and ordered superflow supper...:)



That is what most people called human nature ;) no matter how disciplined we are there will always be slip-ups in our lives :cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

Then get the "organic" version lor, there is you know.....;)

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

Anything contains chemical cancer causing...so organic useleess....tell u hor...organic are fake...unscrupulous vendors anyhow stick organic...:)

[snipeshot08]

Mai Linh Group plans to run 10,000 electric cars to replace Mai Linh-branded taxis around Vietnam, including 3,964 in HCM City. The group is seeking the municipal people’s committee's approval for the pilot for the first 100 electric cars.


I hope they do this soon, the current conventional engines & gears will spoil very easy especially when they always use the third gear as the standard auto-gear with no gear changes :eek:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

Alamak you should read my post again leh, I said need to use insect repellent never say dun go leh :confused: if like that really so scared then I would have stayed in my Sinkie house all day long liao since Zika is already in Sinkapor leh :cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

Hua hee jiu hor....why worry so much...:)

[snipeshot08]

cheap cheap, then you try 4some? 5some? 6some... reverse gang bang? :D



Errrrmmm I am not that adventurous yet........:o

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

That is what most people called human nature ;) no matter how disciplined we are there will always be slip-ups in our lives :cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

Only you and not me...hehe...:)

[snipeshot08]

aiyo...he say only lah...you believe meh...I strongly dun believe he even chose 3P...:)



Sorri hor, I always try my best to post events that can be corroborated by all my travelling buddies, you should know I am not like most others that post "stories" to prove their point or boost their online egos with nobody else able to prove what they have posted ;) dun believe you can ask our dear Brokenback or Zaryl kor kor the next time you meet them again :cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Only you and not me...hehe...:)



Well not for me to say right or wrong since I am not besides you everyday to see it myself, but to me nothing in life is 100% except death itself ;)

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

I always crave for wetnamese..
dec trip planned :)

no leh..now no more buy anything..just straight into the J...

wetnam wetnam.....wait for me... next month!


Dun say say only hor...........:cool:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Think bro ss08 flew off again since today is TGIF....:)



No lah this weekend stuck in boring Sinkie liao huhuhu:(:(

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Anything contains chemical cancer causing...so organic useleess....tell u hor...organic are fake...unscrupulous vendors anyhow stick organic...:)


This I agree on the "unscrupulous" vendors part, unless those farms or factories are accreditated or audited by external parties ;)

Cheerios.....SS08 ^_^

[smallplayer]

Dun say say only hor...........:cool:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

this one not say say. have important 'job' in dec.
haha...

but hor think date different from u...anyway I will be tied down...so cannot go anywhere much..:(

[Hurricane88]

I hope they do this soon, the current conventional engines & gears will spoil very easy especially when they always use the third gear as the standard auto-gear with no gear changes :eek:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

ha me not good in mechanics...no car owner...:)

[Hurricane88]

Sorri hor, I always try my best to post events that can be corroborated by all my travelling buddies, you should know I am not like most others that post "stories" to prove their point or boost their online egos with nobody else able to prove what they have posted ;) dun believe you can ask our dear Brokenback or Zaryl kor kor the next time you meet them again :cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

ok ok...let me confirm with them...calling bro Zaryl and brokenback...:)

[Hurricane88]

Well not for me to say right or wrong since I am not besides you everyday to see it myself, but to me nothing in life is 100% except death itself ;)

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

only you which makes her cry...only you....:)

[Hurricane88]

No lah this weekend stuck in boring Sinkie liao huhuhu:(:(

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

not so bad...can sleep more...:)

[Hurricane88]

This I agree on the "unscrupulous" vendors part, unless those farms or factories are accreditated or audited by external parties ;)

Cheerios.....SS08 ^_^

haizzz...this way to earn easy fast money...:)

[Hurricane88]

Tropical depression forms at sea as floods continue to ravage central Vietnam

By Toan Dao November 4, 2016 | 12:00 am GMT+7

Strong winds, stormy rains and rough seas are expected to hit the already beleaguered region later this week.
A tropical depression has formed in the East Sea (internationally known as the South China Sea) and is likely to hit central Vietnam this week.

At 7p.m. on Thursday, the tropical depression was about 200km (124 miles) southeast of the Spratly Islands, the National Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Center reported.

It is forecast to move westwards and will be around 220km southeast of Vietnam’s Phu Quy Island, part of the central province of Binh Thuan, at 7p.m. on Friday.

In the next 24 hours, the depression is expected to trigger strong winds, stormy rains and rough seas in waters near the Spratly Islands and from the central province of Ninh Thuan to the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, the center said.

The depression comes at a time when provinces in central Vietnam are still in the throes of deadly floods that have hit in recent days.

At least eight people have died and two more are reported missing in the region, according to official figures.

Reports from the National Search and Rescue Committee and the Ministry of National Defense show that flooding has killed six people in Quang Binh Province and two others in its southern neighbor Quang Tri.

Two people from Quang Binh are missing and seven others have been injured.

[Hurricane88]

Back Home News News Categories Vietnam Vietnam Is Updating Its Traffic Signs

Vietnam Is Updating Its Traffic Signs
Published on Friday, 04 November 2016 10:37 Written by Saigoneer

55170

The Ministry of Transport’s updated national traffic signs, introduced earlier this year, will go into effect this month.

Even though violations won’t be handed out until the new signs are installed, according to Tuoi Tre, drivers should begin to take note.

Among these new signs is a nighttime speed limit, which indicates the upper speed limit for drivers after dark. Other updated signage includes a black-and-yellow emblem warning drivers at bends which could potentially cause large vehicles to overturn, as well as a sign prohibiting vehicles from overtaking on the right along a two-lane street.

Ngo Hai Duong, head of the municipal department of road and traffic infrastructure management, told Tuoi Tre that Saigon began installing 1,147 new signs on Tuesday.

Unlike before, the revised rule on overtaking vehicles applies only to two-lane streets with two-way traffic. For one-way streets with multiple lanes and two-way streets with multiple lanes in each direction, vehicles are allowed to overtake others from the right as long as they follow the speed limit.

Vehicles are also now allowed to make a U-turn at intersections with “No Left Turn” signs. At those intersections which prohibit both U-turns and left turns, a new sign will combine both commands for drivers.

The new rules and standards are part of a governmental effort to improve traffic nationwide. In Saigon alone, traffic jams are a costly problem and have seen a rise this year, as the number of traffic accidents in the southern hub increased for the first time in eight years.

[Hurricane88]

Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News – November 4

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/04/2016 08:39 GMT + 7

Here are the leading news stories about Vietnam you should not miss today, November 4

Politics

-- Colombia looks to foster relations with Vietnam in multiple fields, including economic development and trade, newly-accredited Chargé d’affaires of Colombia to Vietnam, Claudia Liliana Zambrano Naranjo said as she was received by Vietnamese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ha Kim Ngoc in Hanoi on Thursday.

-- Vietnam wants to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) soon, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan at a reception in Hanoi on Thursday.

-- Director of the US Peace Corps Carrie Hessler-Radelet will conclude his five-day visit to Vietnam today, November 4, during which he discussed the schedule to realize the program where the Peace Corps volunteers will teach English in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with local officials.

Society

-- A total of eight fishermen have gone missing at seas due to foul weather in the north and central parts of Vietnam in the first three days of this month, the Vietnam National Committee for Search and Rescue said Thursday.

-- More than 14,660 cars have been fined a total of VND27 billion (US$1.21 million) for speeding inside the Saigon River Tunnel in Ho Chi Minh City, according to the tunnel's Management Center.

-- Three Vietnamese nationals, allegedly members of a trade promotional trip led by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to Germany between November 1 and 23, have reportedly fled the group for illegally staying in the European country.

-- The number of Zika contraction cases in Ho Chi Minh City has risen to 21 from the 17 cases recorded last week, the municipal administration confirmed Thursday.

-- Hanoi authorities have temporarily licensing new karaoke parlors, in wake of the blaze that killed 13 in a karaoke lounge on Tuesday.

Business

-- Vu Dinh Duy, former general director of PVtex, the operator of the loss-making yarn mill in northern Vietnam, has not come to work since late October without permission from his superior, the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

-- Vietnam will seek new economic growth models in the future, but never at the expense of environment, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said at the opening session of the Vietnam Summit 2016, an annual conference on external economics, in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday.

[Hurricane88]

HCM City confiscates illegally-imported guns

November 4, 2016

55171


HCM CITY — Local authorities in Hồ Chí Minh City yesterday decided to confiscate a large number of guns illegally transported to Việt Nam, the Customs Office of the Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport said.

In July 2015, the office worked with the Economic Security Department (A85) and relevant agencies under the Ministry of Public Security to examine three parcels without legal documents on a flight from Turkey to the Tân Sơn Nhất Airport.

Following examination, the agencies discovered 94 pistols with laser sights, 472 new cartridge belts and other components, which were hidden as normal cargo.

The weapons were made in the Czech Republic.

[Hurricane88]

Ho Chi Minh City to impose two-day rule for business registration processing

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/04/2016 14:58 GMT + 7

Business registration applications in Ho Chi Minh City that are not processed by relevant departments within two days will be automatically approved, vice chairman Tran Vinh Tuyen said as the city steps up its commitment to facilitating a favorable business environment.

Business registrations submitted to district administrations or the municipal Department of Planning and Investment should be forwarded within one day of their submission to relevant Departments for review, the vice chairman said.

Business registrations in the lodging and tourism sectors are to be reviewed by the Department of Tourism; massage services by the Department of Health; karaoke bars and dance clubs by the Department of Culture and Sports; and petroleum and chemical-related businesses by the Department of Industry and Trade.

The respective departments are to approve or reject the applications within two working days.

Should no response be given during that period, the registration is considered approved and the Department of Planning and Investment or district administrations will then be authorized to license the business.

The departments in charge of reviewing business registrations will be held accountable by the municipal People’s Committee for their approval, Tuyen said.

[Zaryl]

ok ok...let me confirm with them...calling bro Zaryl and brokenback...:)

call me to increase my post count ah? :D

[snipeshot08]

this one not say say. have important 'job' in dec.
haha...

but hor think date different from u...anyway I will be tied down...so cannot go anywhere much..:(



Haiz...............to summarised your whole post = "I MCBB liao" :( :rolleyes:

Cheerios........SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

ha me not good in mechanics...no car owner...:)



You good in Physical Science mah :D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

only you which makes her cry...only you....:)



Seriously why these words seems very familiar huh????:confused:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

not so bad...can sleep more...:)



Wow this is what I called positive thinking :D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

haizzz...this way to earn easy fast money...:)



Yup got "organic" label liao can put premium pricing liao ;)

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

HCM City confiscates illegally-imported guns

November 4, 2016





This means you will not be able to find this on the shelf at Saigon Square liao :D:D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

call me to increase my post count ah? :D



He wants to ask you about our sexperience on 3somes at JKT Classic.....:D that time did you & Brokenback tried??? I think you also did right???:confused:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

call me to increase my post count ah? :D

Zaryl kor kor...long time no hear and see...come here tcss with me more often...recently found more taller vb for you...:)

[Hurricane88]

Haiz...............to summarised your whole post = "I MCBB liao" :( :rolleyes:

Cheerios........SS08 ^_^

hehe...hua hee jiu hor lah...:)

[Hurricane88]

You good in Physical Science mah :D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

cam on rat nhieu...:p:)

[Hurricane88]

Seriously why these words seems very familiar huh????:confused:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

only you mah...only you understand...:)

[Hurricane88]

Wow this is what I called positive thinking :D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

dun knoe about you...but for me I sleep so well after every trip...needs to recuperate few days...:)

[Hurricane88]

Yup got "organic" label liao can put premium pricing liao ;)

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

At my NTUC Fairprice Xtra the organic section had the least crowd...the whole lane passable even when everywhere else traffic jam...:)

[Hurricane88]

This means you will not be able to find this on the shelf at Saigon Square liao :D:D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

ha...you want to buy meh...death penalty in Singapore...dun hope to see headline news in the local daily...:)

[Hurricane88]

He wants to ask you about our sexperience on 3somes at JKT Classic.....:D that time did you & Brokenback tried??? I think you also did right???:confused:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

hehe...this not so important...come here say hello more important lah...:)

[smallplayer]

Haiz...............to summarised your whole post = "I MCBB liao" :( :rolleyes:

Cheerios........SS08 ^_^

chao buoi sang!
wah...maybe have turn of events..but ticket buy liao..
so still stick with schedule..just see if still have CO....:p

[Hurricane88]

Dangerous gang members arrested in raid on gambling den

November 7, 2016


NGHỆ AN – Police arrested 14 people, seized properties worth more than VNĐ 1.3 billion (US$58,400), plus a number of cars and motorbikes, in a raid last week in Vinh City.

After local residents tipped off the authorities, in September 2015, the Vinh City Police put in place an operation codenamed 916B to dismantle a massive illegal gambling den. A number of dangerous criminals were involved in the gambling racket.

These shady figures used to gather at a three-storey pawnshop named “Bình Cường”, located on the Phạm Hồng Thái street, to gamble through card games.

On November 5, at around 5 pm, nearly 100 policemen, drafted from criminal police, mobile police and fast-response 113 police forces, were deployed.

Scouts were sent to find ways to break into the tightly locked house.

At 4:45 pm, the police broke into the house from three different sides. While one team barged in through the main gate, a second team used ladders to enter the second floor of the building while a third one deployed a fire-escape ladder to gain access to the third floor.

The subjects were caught red-handed while they were gambling. Some panicked and tried to escape but were nabbed.

Among the arrested were two dangerous criminals from Vinh City: Nguyễn Thanh Bình, 41, leader of a dangerous criminal gang called ‘Bình Lục’; and Nguyễn Thị Huyền, 42, leader of the criminal gang ‘Huyền thuốc lào’.

The rest, falling in the age bracket of 25 to 40, were all residents living in the Nghệ An Province.

While further details were not readily available, Công an nhân dân Online (Police Online) reported that in this raid, police seized some VNĐ800 million ($36,000) in cash and 10 card decks on the card table, together with other pieces of evidence. A search of the house yielded another VNĐ500 million ($22,500) in cash.

Four cars and two motorbikes, allegedly belonging to those involved in gambling, were towed to the police headquarter.

Further investigation is underway.

[Hurricane88]

Explosions, fire breaks out in Saigon’s ‘Foreigner Street’

November 7, 2016

The fire broke out just as foreigners and locals were partying the night away on Saigon’s ‘foreigners’ street’.

Many foreign tourists and local people rushed away from Bui Vien Street in downtown Saigon on Sunday night as fire and explosions suddenly broke out from a house in a nearby alley.

“Many foreign tourists were drinking beer on the street. They quickly ran away in panic after hearing the news about the fire,” a local witness said. No injuries were reported.

Smoke was seen spreading from the house to the street but luckily the nearby houses did not catch fire.

Dozens of police officers with three fire trucks quickly arrived at the scene and stopped the fire soon after it broke out.

Vietnam PM orders probe after Hanoi karaoke blaze kills 13

A young drug addict lives in the house, according to local media. He allegedly threatened to set the house on fire before the blaze and was seen getting out of the house right after the fire broke.

Bui Vien is part of the Pho Tay, which means the “foreigner’s street” in Vietnamese. Pho Tay also includes the streets of Pham Ngu Lao, De Tham, Do Quang Dau and the neighboring areas, in Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.

The area is home to many bars, hotels, hostels, restaurants and travel centers for foreign backpackers.

[Hurricane88]

Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News – November 7

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/07/2016 08:30 GMT + 7


Politics

-- Irish President Michael Daniel Higgins is scheduled to join talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Tran Dai Quang in Hanoi on Monday morning, as part of his state visit to Vietnam from November 5 to 14.

Society

-- A fire broke out at a house on Bui Vien Street, located in the ‘backpacker area’ of Ho Chi Minh City, along with several explosion noises, on Sunday evening, terrifying tourists and local residents.

-- Over 160 junkies escaped from a rehab center in the southern province of Dong Nai on Sunday afternoon. About 562 addicts broke out from the same facility on October 23, of whom 80 still remain nowhere to be found.

-- A 40-year-old man in the central province of Quang Ngai has accused a local police officer of firing a rubber bullet gun at him as he fled after being busted for gambling on Thursday last week, causing his right eye to be seriously damaged.

-- Cafeterias at several hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City have been discovered selling their products at a high price, raising concern among patients and their family members.

-- About 1,000 new buses running on compressed natural gas (CNG) will be put into operation in Ho Chi Minh City within 2017 as per the goal set by the municipal administration.

-- According to the General Department of Preventive Medicine, the number of Zika-infected patients has reached 40 across six localities in Vietnam, with Ho Chi Minh City topping the list with 29 cases.

Business

-- A recent financial report of state-run power supplier Vietnam Electricity showed that the corporation was over VND475 trillion (US$21.1 million) in debt.

-- The Bach Dang night market has been renamed ‘Phu Quoc Night Market’ in the namesake tourist island off the southern province of Kien Giang, which is expected to be the new attraction of the island.

Lifestyle

-- A young Vietnamese man was honored with four world records on memory by the Assist World Records Research Foundation, High Range Book of Records, and Incredible Book of Records in Delhi, India, on Sunday.

Education

-- The prime minister has approved a new educational framework which would shorten undergraduate programs at universities from four to three years.

[Hurricane88]

Rain to lessen as tropical depression weakens, making landfall in southern Vietnam

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/06/2016 11:02 GMT + 7

The tropical depression hitting southern Vietnam has weakened after making landfall on Saturday evening, with rainfall forecast to decrease as the result.

After reaching the southern coastline, the tropical depression, which formed on Friday in the East Vietnam Sea, weakened to a low pressure area and is expected to dissipate in a few days, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

Less rain is forecast while ships in the affected areas had been allowed to resume their operations by Saturday night.

The climatic phenomenon packed strong winds of up to 74 kilometers per hour along the coastal areas from Ninh Thuan to Ba Ria-Vung Tau, bringing downpours to southern localities as well as Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong in the Central Highlands.

Strong squalls caused waves three to five meters high off Binh Thuan Province, damaging and sinking many fishing boats, the provincial committee for search and rescue reported.

Torrential rain also brought about landslides along several roads in the south-central province of Phu Yen, while some houses in the affected zone were on the edge of collapsing, forcing the residents to abandon their homes.

Prolonged downpours and flooding damaged roads and bridges in Dak Lak Province, isolating multiple residential areas.

A total of 1,636 houses in Krong Bong District were isolated and 318 households were evacuated to a safer location.

About 10.5 kilometers of local streets and some 2,000 hectares of crops were inundated in the locality.

Fourteen speedboats and 200 officers were tasked with supplying food and water to people who were isolated by the floods.

[Hurricane88]

Vietnam to issue online visa next year

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/06/2016 10:01 GMT + 7

Foreign visitors to Vietnam can begin applying for visas and have them issued online within three days starting next year, the government site VGP News reported on Friday.

The online application, processing, and issuance of visas for foreign tourists will be piloted for two years since January 1, 2017, according to a recent government resolution.

Payment of visa fees will be made via bank transfer to guarantee transparency and convenience for tourists, as well as minimizing intermediate costs.

No letter of guarantee or invitation is required for online visa application, and visas will be issued within three days of application with the validity period of 30 days.

Nguyen Van Tuan, head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, regarded the move as Vietnam’s breakthrough in the facilitation of visa issue for foreign tourists compared to traditional visas.

In addition to the introduction of online visas, the tourism administration is also looking to expand the country’s visa exemption to include more of the top tourism markets, Tuan said.

Vietnam welcomed over eight million foreign visitors in the first ten months of 2016, whose top countries of origin were China, South Korea, Japan, and the United States, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam.

[Hurricane88]

Tourism boom threatens Vietnam's 'Tonkinese Alps'

By AFP/Jenny Vaughan November 7, 2016 | 04:00 am GMT+7

'If building continues at this rate, then one day we will lose Sapa.'
Throngs of giddy tourists wield selfie sticks on the peak of Vietnam's Fansipan Mountain.

Amateur trekkers once spent two days slogging to the top for a photo of Lao Cai Province's undulating rice fields.

But most in today's crowd take a 20-minute cable car to the highest peak in Indochina.

Insiders say this quick ride has upended tourism in the tiny mountain resort of Sapa, where the completion of a new highway to Hanoi coincided with a boom of hotel construction.

"If building continues at this rate, then one day we will lose Sapa," said Giang Thi Lang, a guide and member of the Black Hmong ethnic group. "We won't have any more mountain."

'They didn't listen'

In Sapa, lots piled with rubble mark out the sites of future hotels.

Way back in 2009, the misty hill station had a permanent population of just over 50,000 people.

The following year, it reported 2,500 hotel rooms. Last year, it had 4,000, according to official figures. Visitor numbers snowballed too, hitting 700,000 in 2015.

During the same period, tourism revenues tripled to yield a whopping $50 million.

At the center of that growth lies the Fansipan Sa Pa Cable Car—the longest in the world, which launched its maiden voyage in February. The three-rope system now has the capacity to ferry 2,000 people to the mountaintop, daily.

"It's good for Sapa that they've attracted more tourists," said Nguyen Van Manh, deputy director of Sapa's Tourist Information Center. "A large number of locals now have jobs."

But some tell a different story.

"Before the cable car, more porters in the village had regular work," said Hmong trekking guide Ma A Tro as he stood on Fansipan's summit following a two-day trip. "Now with the cable car, villagers no longer have jobs; most now work as day laborers on construction sites."

The government ignored opposition to the cable car, he said, lamenting that the number of aspiring mountain climbers has dwindled since its completion.

"We talked to them, but they didn't listen," he added. "The central government came and said they had to do it, so they did it."


Click here to continue reading
http://e.vnexpress.net/news/travel-life/tourism-boom-threatens-vietnam-s-tonkinese-alps-3494973.html

[Hurricane88]

Don't know how to save money? Just ask the Vietnamese

By Ha Phuong November 6, 2016 | 02:00 am GMT+7

Vietnamese are the most careful spenders in Southeast Asia.

Vietnamese people are more careful with their money than their peers in Southeast Asia, according to Nielsen’s Consumer Confidence Index quarterly report.

Four in five Vietnamese respondents chose to save money rather than spending on leisure activities in the third quarter.

Southeast Asia was also the region with the highest saving rate -- around 70 percent, compared to the global average of 52 percent.

Click here to continue
http://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/data-speaks/don-t-know-how-to-save-money-just-ask-the-vietnamese-3494663.html

[Hurricane88]

VinaPhone becomes first network to launch 4G service in Vietnam

By VnExpress November 4, 2016 | 03:51 pm GMT+7

Enjoy downloads speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G.

VNPT VinaPhone has officially become the first mobile network provider in Vietnam to launch 4G services after receiving a license from the Ministry of Information.

As one of Vietnam’s top three mobile network providers besides MobiPhone and Viettel, Vinaphone has chosen the southern resort island of Phu Quoc to launch its 4G network.

This is the company’s first step towards providing 4G services nationwide.

At the launch event, test results showed that the access speed on the 4G network reached 50 to 80 Mb/s, which is 7-10 times higher than average speed of 3G. With LTE-A technology, internet access speeds on VinaPhone’s 4G can reach 300 Mb/s.

Analysts said that at this speed, internet users will experience far less delays when they livestream, up/download or play games.

“Our strategy is focusing on high speed and stability. After Phu Quoc Island, we will expand 4G services to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and 10 other provinces,” said Luong Manh Hoang, chairman of VNPT VinaPhone.

Hoang said VinaPhone will install more than 10,000 base transceiver stations (BTS) in the first quarter of 2017, and the number is expected to reach 21,000 by the end of the year.

The company has committed to extending 4G to all 63 provinces with nationwide coverage expected to be 85 percent on average and 100 percent in big cities.

Hoang also said Vinaphone will provide large data packages at competitive rates similar to the current 3G deals it offers.

In January, Vinaphone started piloting 4G in Ho Chi Minh City and Phu Quoc Island with successful results. Recorded up/download speeds were several times higher than 3G networks.

Other mobile providers such as Viettel started piloting 4G in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau in December 2015. MobiFone joined the fray in June 2016 by debuting in Da Nang, Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh City.

According to the broadband development plan ratified by the prime minister in January, the Vietnamese government plans to expand 4G coverage to 95 per cent of the population by 2020.

[Hurricane88]

China firms eye 'Made in Vietnam' windfall - if Obama's TPP survives

REUTERS
UPDATED : 11/07/2016 07:53 GMT + 7

HO CHI MINH CITY, Nov 7 -- From textiles and shoes to paper and furniture, Chinese manufacturers are pouring investments into neighbouring Vietnam, hoping to ride on the coattails of the Southeast Asian country's pending trade blitz.

Vietnam's Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union, signed last year, and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), if it clears significant political hurdles in the U.S., would collectively give the country access to markets worth $44 trillion in combined gross domestic product.

Even as doubts linger over the future of U.S. President Barack Obama's TPP once he leaves office, early moves by China Inc to leverage off Vietnam's lower factory wages - about a third that of China's - show a re-centering of the world's factory activity.

Importantly, a base in Vietnam gives Chinese manufacturers access to trade agreements of which China is not currently a part.

"So far this year, I've had more than 30 Chinese wood companies coming to me for consultation," said Nguyen Ton Quyen, who heads Vietnam's Timber and Forest Product Association.

"There's a considerable amount of Chinese wood furniture firms moving their investments to Vietnam, to enjoy tax incentives."

Chinese inflows into Vietnam in 2015 doubled from a year earlier to $744 million and 80 percent of that was in the second half of the year, just after Vietnam signed the EU FTA and the TPP.

In the first nine months of this year, investments from China quadrupled to $1 billion compared with the same period in 2015.

Vietnam has numerous other free trade agreements, including with top investor South Korea, supporting resident giants like Samsung and LG. As a part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, it also enjoys free trade with other members of the 10-nation zone, plus the various bilateral agreements the bloc has with other economies, like China.

Nguyen Chien Thang runs a furniture factory and is also feeling the Chinese surge. He estimates a third of the approximately 500 foreign-owned wood processing firms in Vietnam are from China and Taiwan, adding to competition for his Scansia Pacific, a supplier for Swedish giant IKEA.

"Tax rates here are also much more favourable," said Thang. "Labour costs in their mainland are getting much higher."

click here to read
http://tuoitrenews.vn/business/37875/china-firms-eye-made-in-vietnam-windfall-if-obama-s-tpp-survives

[snipeshot08]

Zaryl kor kor...long time no hear and see...come here tcss with me more often...recently found more taller vb for you...:)



Clever lah, thats the way to lure him out of his cocoon :D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

only you mah...only you understand...:)



Ah now I remembered liao :cool: there's this stalker in other threads many years back that keep stalking another samster in every post he makes, and keeps posting something like this = "only you know, only you.......blah blah blah" :eek:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

dun knoe about you...but for me I sleep so well after every trip...needs to recuperate few days...:)



Eh, tot you always also sleep early in your overseas trips mah :confused: I opposite of you, always come back cannot sleep well cause keep too many late nites when overseas so got difficulty to adjust back :(

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

At my NTUC Fairprice Xtra the organic section had the least crowd...the whole lane passable even when everywhere else traffic jam...:)



Sometimes I feel those are more geared towards the Eng-Mo crowd, I just buy the normal standard groceries nia nia :cool:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

ha...you want to buy meh...death penalty in Singapore...dun hope to see headline news in the local daily...:)



Siao eh, buy???? :eek: Wana take selfie mah kakakaka :D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

hehe...this not so important...come here say hello more important lah...:)



You just made him expended his "1 year 1 post" quota liao :D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

chao buoi sang!
wah...maybe have turn of events..but ticket buy liao..
so still stick with schedule..just see if still have CO....:p



Haiz now I finally understand why you asked me for my travelling schedule liao, so that you can siam my dates.......:rolleyes:

Still waiting for your CO to introduce her younger sisters to me :D

Cheerios........SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News – November 7

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/07/2016 08:30 GMT + 7
-- According to the General Department of Preventive Medicine, the number of Zika-infected patients has reached 40 across six localities in Vietnam, with Ho Chi Minh City topping the list with 29 cases..



From beginning 2 cases to 29 cases in just a few days :eek:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Don't know how to save money? Just ask the Vietnamese

By Ha Phuong November 6, 2016 | 02:00 am GMT+7

Vietnamese are the most careful spenders in Southeast Asia.



Thats simply becos the rest of Asia are spendthrifts like gullible Sinkies like us "donating" to their economy & VBs :D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

Clever lah, thats the way to lure him out of his cocoon :D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

I always knew how to lure Zaryl kor kor from hibernation...:)

[Hurricane88]

Ah now I remembered liao :cool: there's this stalker in other threads many years back that keep stalking another samster in every post he makes, and keeps posting something like this = "only you know, only you.......blah blah blah" :eek:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

then can never be me...hehe...me not so bor liao...:)

[Hurricane88]

Eh, tot you always also sleep early in your overseas trips mah :confused: I opposite of you, always come back cannot sleep well cause keep too many late nites when overseas so got difficulty to adjust back :(

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

everyone is diff mah...that is why we hv diff pattern...so long dun wan to hv too many pattern zuoi ke bad min ton eh sai liao...:)

[Hurricane88]

Sometimes I feel those are more geared towards the Eng-Mo crowd, I just buy the normal standard groceries nia nia :cool:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

exactly lah...organic so ex who willing to pay double or more for it...:)

[Hurricane88]

Siao eh, buy???? :eek: Wana take selfie mah kakakaka :D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

tiagong take selfie can be sentence too...:)

[Hurricane88]

You just made him expended his "1 year 1 post" quota liao :D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

so jialat meh...he will cum when the magic words used...:)

[Hurricane88]

From beginning 2 cases to 29 cases in just a few days :eek:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

this was reported cases....still many did not bother to report...:)

[Hurricane88]

Thats simply becos the rest of Asia are spendthrifts like gullible Sinkies like us "donating" to their economy & VBs :D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

This was totally reversed what we knew of the vbs there spending future money...:)

[Hurricane88]

Vietnamese beauty among Top 5 at Mrs World 2016

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/08/2016 11:10 GMT + 7


Vietnamese contestant Xuan Thuy has made it to the final five of the Mrs World 2016 pageant hosted by South Korea.

In the finale on November 4 in Incheon, the Vietnamese beauty was named among the five finalists, alongside representatives from Peru, Russia, Costa Rica and Moldova.

The five answered why they wanted to become Mrs World in the final gala.

Continue reading here
http://tuoitrenews.vn/lifestyle/37897/vietnamese-beauty-among-top-5-at-mrs-world-2016

[Hurricane88]

Ho Chi Minh City’s hospital cafeterias ripping off customers

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/08/2016 11:27 GMT + 7

Hospital cafeterias and grocery stores around Ho Chi Minh City have been discovered selling goods at exorbitant prices, raising concern amongst patients and their family members.

Snacks, milk, and a variety of other beverages become necessities for patients and their family members should they ever find themselves staying in hospital.

However, these types of products that have been found for sale at prices much higher than customers would usually pay, causing the concern.

Hospital cafeterias and grocery stores are usually run by separate businesses which have won a bidding process and signed contracts with the hospitals they are operating in

Continue reading here
http://tuoitrenews.vn/society/37896/ho-chi-minh-citys-hospital-cafeterias-ripping-off-customers

[Hurricane88]

Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News – November 8

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/08/2016 08:30 GMT + 7

Here are the leading news stories about Vietnam you should not miss today, November 8:

Politics

-- Vietnam is playing an increasingly important role in the Asia-Pacific region and therefore a country Ireland wishes to foster cooperation with, visiting Irish President Michael D. Higgins said during talks with President Tran Dai Quang in Hanoi on Monday

-- A delegation of Hanoi officials, led by the municipal chairman Nguyen Duc Chung, on Monday laid a basket of flowers at the statue of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known by the alias Lenin, in the capital city’s Chi Lang Park to mark the 99th anniversary of the Russian October Revolution (November 7, 1917).


Society

-- Vietnam should consider a better way to treat drug users instead of putting them in crowded, poor-condition rehab centers, Bui Sy Loi, deputy chairman of the Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, said on Monday, in the wake of the breakout of 160 junkies from a center in the southern province of Dong Nai last week.

-- Twelve news websites and two online magazines have been fined for a false report on the suicide of a 11-year-old boy in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai. These media outlets said the boy killed himself because he did not have new shirts to go to school, while it has been confirmed that family conflicts were behind the suicide.

-- Only 918 chief officials of state bodies have been sanctioned for corruption in the last ten years, a former state inspector revealed at a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday.

-- Fifty-nine percent of Vietnamese women experienced psychological violence at some point in their life, according to a 2014-15 report by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, whose results were released at a conference in Hanoi on Monday.


Business

-- Vietnam aims to post a GDP growth rate of about 6.7 percent in 2017, slightly higher than last year's 6.68 percent, according to a resolution on the socio-economic development plan adopted Monday by the lawmaking National Assembly.

-- Vietnamese enterprises should focus on building their corporate culture, as it all makes up the image of the country, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at a ceremony to kick-start a corporate culture building drive on Monday.


Sports

-- Vietnam will play Indonesia in a friendly game in Hanoi at 7:00 pm tonight, November 8, as both sides are preparing for the upcoming 2016 AFF Cup, Southeast Asia’s top football competition.

[Hurricane88]

Vietnamese singer wins MTV EMA’s Best Southeast Asian Act

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/07/2016 11:49 GMT + 7

http://tuoitrenews.vn/lifestyle/37882/vietnamese-singer-wins-mtv-emas-best-southeast-asian-act

Vietnamese pop icon Dong Nhi won Best Southeast Asian Act at the 2016 MTV Europe Music Awards (MTV EMA) on Sunday.

Dong Nhi was Vietnam’s nomination in the category, which included six other artists from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand.

The announcement was published on the MTV Asia site at 10:00 pm on Sunday, four hours prior to the live awards ceremony in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, early on Monday morning Vietnam time.

The MTV EMA’s are an annual award presented by U.S.-based music and entertainment channel MTV that honors artists worldwide for significant contributions to the music industry. Winners of EMA’s 18 award categories are chosen based on an online fan vote.

This is the first year the EMA’s have awarded Best Southeast Asian Act as a separate category, having previously served as a subcategory for the Best Asian Act award at previous EMA’s.

Dong Nhi becomes Vietnam’s first recognized winner of the category, despite Vietnamese singers My Tam and Son Tung M-TP having previously topped Southeast Asian voting in both 2013 and 2015 respectively.

Active since 2007, Dong Nhi is a popular singer amongst Vietnamese youths, known for her hit love songs and mesmerizing choreography in her music videos.

http://static.new.tuoitre.vn/tto/r/2016/11/06/mtv-asia-dong-nhi-1478445757.mp4

[Hurricane88]

As Waistlines Grow, So Does Vietnam’s Fitness Industry

Published on Monday, 07 November 2016 15:35 Written by Saigoneer

Combined with the country’s newfound middle-income status and robust economic growth, the prevalence of obesity is bringing about new business opportunities in Vietnam.

With the influx of western fast food chains and a decline in physical activity, demand for fitness center memberships continues to grow despite ever-increasing prices, reports Nikkei Asian Review.

These memberships, which include access to dance and yoga lessons and, in some cases, personal training (PT) sessions, have ballooned in major cities like Hanoi, Da Nang and Saigon. Today, the cost of a PT session in Vietnam is on par with the same service in Japan, priced at approximately VND500,000 (US$22) per hour, according to the news outlet.

“It's expensive, but I'll do my best to lose weight, because I've gained some recently,” 25-year-old Pham Thi Hoan Linh, a member of a gym run by the California Management Group (CMG) in Hanoi, told Nikkei.

Linh is not alone in this. According to the news source, World Health Organization statistics say obesity among Vietnamese men has more than tripled in the past decade, while obesity rates among Vietnamese women have jumped a staggering 80% in that same time frame.

While Vietnam still has the lowest rates of obesity in Southeast Asia, this sharp uptick over the past few years has caused concern among public health officials. Particularly among younger generations, the lack of physical activity has led to a spike in obesity rates for urban children. Rates have climbed as high as 40% in major cities, Nikkei writes, citing a survey by the country’s National Institute of Nutrition.

As a result, fitness and health-oriented businesses are racing to expand in Vietnam, and there is high demand for such services. According to Nikkei, CMG alone plans to increase the number of gyms in its network to 100 by 2020. Meanwhile, Elite Fitness, one of CMG’s major rivals, has set up a fitness program that includes meal planning priced at US$350 a month.

Smaller gyms are also gearing up for the competition. Saigon-based 8020Fit, which has been in operation since 2015, offers six-week programs for US$444 to US$890. In addition to PT, these programs include personalized nutrition advice and tailored meal deliveries six times a week. 8020Fit’s customer base has reportedly doubled from last year to 600 members.

As Vietnam continues to grow economically, the future of its health and fitness industries certainly shows promise, however it remains to be seen whether flashy gyms and high-end nutrition programs will combat the country’s growing rates of obesity.

[Hurricane88]

Tale of Two Cities: Hanoi Preserves While Saigon Reaches for the Sky

Published on Tuesday, 08 November 2016 10:00 Written by Saigoneer.

Vietnam's two biggest cities are pursuing disinct urban growth models, with Saigon favoring a dense downtown while Hanoi spreads into new satellite cities.

City Lab recently looked at the growth of Vietnam's primary metropolises, arguing that Saigon favors demolition while Hanoi is more aware of preservation. For example, the news source cites the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Development Management Support Center, which says that over 200 French colonial-era villas were torn down or renovated between 1994 and 2014.

Meanwhile, in Hanoi, the city People's Committee has banned developments more than 24 stories high in five central districts, including Hoan Kiem and its famous Old Quarter.

Dr. William Logan, author of Hanoi: Biography of a City, tells CityLab: "perhaps in he 1990s, things were more flexible and there were some high rises built in the place of colonial villas. But now the authorities seem to have taken control of that so high rise buildings now occur in pockets well out from the Old Quarter."

Dr. Logan compares Hanoi's growth to the "Paris Model", in which the historic city center is preserved while large new projects are relegated to the outskirts. He argues that this is a highly effective strategy, as the city is still able to grow through high rises and business parks while maintaining its ancient core, which attracts tourism revenue.

Saigon, meanwhile, is pursuing a more American approach by focusing on an impressive downtown, the expert tells the news source. Just in the last two years the historic Ba Son Shipyard has been torn down to make way for a massive Vinhomes development, Nguyen Hue Walking Street has transformed a major thoroughfare, the Saigon Tax Center has met its demise, Saigon Center phase two has sprouted up on Le Loi and part of 23/9 Park has been fenced off for construction of a metro station.

CityLab compares this development spree with the battle to save Long Bien Bridge, an icon of Hanoi. A decision to demolish the 114 year-old bridge was proposed in 2007 and 2014, and both times the bridge survived, while authorities have agreed to build a new bridge over the Red River to accommodate a metro line.

Dr. Ngo Minh Hung, a Saigon-based architect and development expert, worries that Saigon's progress-focused mindset may cause the city to lose its cultural identity. "They should take a step back and assess what the identity for [Saigon] is and figure out if they want to make it different in comparison to other cities," he tells CityLab. "Or in the future, [Saigon] will just look like Hong Kong or Shanghai, no more Saigon."

[snipeshot08]

I always knew how to lure Zaryl kor kor from hibernation...:)



Hibernation means still got chances to come out when winter thaws, for his case I think worst than hibernation most probably encased permanently inside the cave liao :rolleyes:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

then can never be me...hehe...me not so bor liao...:)



Only you can never be me, only you..........:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

tiagong take selfie can be sentence too...:)



Oh no not the "Tiagong" virus again.....:eek:

I passing by nia nia..........:D

Cheerios........SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

this was reported cases....still many did not bother to report...:)



Seriously though I doubt most of them even know what they are afflicted with.....:cool:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

Hibernation means still got chances to come out when winter thaws, for his case I think worst than hibernation most probably encased permanently inside the cave liao :rolleyes:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

so bad huh...no chance to meet him except airport...:)

[Hurricane88]

Only you can never be me, only you..........:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

haha...sama sama...:)

[Hurricane88]

Oh no not the "Tiagong" virus again.....:eek:

I passing by nia nia..........:D

Cheerios........SS08 ^_^

why leh...thought you dun follow any other threads..:)

[Hurricane88]

Seriously though I doubt most of them even know what they are afflicted with.....:cool:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

ya loh...nobody knew the actual numbers...:)

[Hurricane88]

Back to 2 person tcss...haizzz...:)

[Hurricane88]

Young Vietnamese girls likely to fall victim to dating abuse: UN-backed survey

Tuoi Tre News
Updated : 11/08/2016 15:42 GMT + 7

A recent survey assisted by the United Nations (UN) has revealed that many young girls in Vietnam have fallen victim to dating violence.

The topic of violence between young couples in the Southeast Asian country was discussed at a conference in Hanoi on Monday, aimed at eliminating gender inequality and violence against women.

During the event, a group of researchers reported the result of their survey on dating abuse in Vietnam, which was conducted between 2014 and 2015 and sponsored by the UN.

Of nearly 570 female interviewees between the ages of 18 and 30, 59 percent said they had suffered mental abuse, 23 percent claimed they were harassed on the Internet, while 24 had fallen victim to harassment and violence from their former partners after a break-up.

About 21 percent of the participants said they were either mentally or physically hurt, while over six percent mentioned an intention to commit suicide.

The survey was undertaken to share some insight into the reality of violence against women in Vietnam, in a bid to seek gender equality and add the topic of dating abuse to the adjusted Penal Code.

Violence between couples has been a hot topic on social media, the researchers stated, adding that there had been no official study conducted on the issue in Vietnam before.

Other researches on dating abuse have also been carried out by the same group of people with the assistance of the UN Women in Vietnam.

During a dialog following the meeting, students from universities in Hanoi performed short plays depicting several scenarios of dating between couples.

The plays included situations that could lead to potential violence and how parents could support and help their children to deal with the problem.

[Hurricane88]

Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News - November 9

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/09/2016 08:30 GMT + 7

Check out what is in the news today, November 9:

Politics

-- During a meeting with Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in Hanoi on Tuesday, Irish President Michael D. Higgins stressed his government considers Vietnam an important partner in the region, and expressed wishes to beef up multifaceted cooperation with the Southeast Asian nation, particularly in trade, investment, education, renewable energy, and climate change response.


Society

-- An official from the Ministry of Construction reported at a Vietnam-Netherlands cooperation forum held on Tuesday that most landfills across the Asian country have failed hygienic standards. Among them, 132 landfills are in dire need of radical solutions to the untold pollution they have caused to the neighborhoods.

-- Around 100 residents formed a barrier with rocks and vehicles on a section of Vo Van Kiet Street in Dong Anh District, Hanoi, to demand the construction of an overpass in the neighborhood. The incident caused a one-hour traffic jam on the sole road connecting the downtown areas with Noi Bai International Airport.

-- Authorities at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City are detaining a 51-year-old Chinese national after catching him rummaging through another passenger’s luggage on a Vietnam Airlines flight bound for Hanoi on Tuesday morning. The airport authorities had also deported another Chinese man for stealing from another passenger on a flight from Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City last week.

-- A cold front has been covering and bringing lashing rains to northern localities, including Hanoi, since Tuesday evening and will continue to do so in the next few days, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

-- Police in Cho Gao District in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang confirmed on Tuesday that a woman, her 24-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son had died in hospital some days after they had been found drinking from a bottle of weed killer.

-- Police in Xuan Loc District in the southern province of Dong Nai confirmed on Tuesday that they had arrested another 20 drug addicts for investigation into an incident occurring at a rehab center on Sunday in which over 160 drug addicts stirred up chaos and broke out of the venue.


Business

-- The Airports Corporation of Vietnam and the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam have proposed a hike in the prices of several aviation services to the Ministry of Transport, with the new rates to be applied in 2017.

-- The Ministry of Industry and Trade on Tuesday reached a conclusion that the Vietnam Standards and Consumers Association had made some errors and had not guaranteed independence, trustworthiness and transparency when conducting a food safety survey that found an excessive amount of organic arsenic in dozens of Vietnamese fish sauces. The name of an organization sponsoring the association to carry out the study remains a mystery.

-- The relentless competition on the local retail market in recent times has left supermarkets and shopping malls racing to launch promotion programs in a bid to attract new shoppers and boost their patrons’ fidelity.

-- Several banks have announced large profits in a performance report of the first nine months this year.

[Hurricane88]

Residents block street leading to Hanoi airport, demand flyover construction

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/09/2016 11:43 GMT + 7

56497


Many citizens in Hanoi have used a variety of objects to block the road leading to Noi Bai International Airport to appeal for the construction of a flyover, causing traffic congestion this week.

Hundreds of residents began placing bricks, tires, bicycles, and motorbikes across a section of Vo Van Kiet Street in Dong Anh District, Hanoi, to prevent vehicles from traveling between Noi Bai International Airport and the downtown area during Tuesday morning’s rush hour.

The incident caused severe traffic gridlocks as long lines of cars, buses, and trucks had to halt their commute and wait for the road to be cleared.

According to some local residents, they barricaded the street to demand that a flyover be constructed.

The section of the road has been considered a ‘traffic black spot’ where accidents often happen, affecting the lives of city dwellers.

Traffic police were later dispatched to the scene, along with representatives of local authorities, to clear the street and invite the protestors to attend a meeting at the local administration headquarters.

Traffic was back to normal at noon the same day.

According to Nguyen Tien Duong, vice-chairman of the People’s Committee in Dong Anh District, the citizens were asked not to repeat the incident as their petition would be submitted to higher authorities.

A project to construct a flyover on Vo Van Kiet Street was initiated six years ago, Vice-Chairman Duong was quoted by VnExpress as saying.
Duong added that it has not been carried out ever since.

Many requests have been made to expedite the process, the official continued.

[Hurricane88]

Cold front brings low temperature to northern Vietnam; flood expected in central provinces

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/09/2016 09:28 GMT + 7


A cold front has been forecast to lower temperatures and cause rainfall in northern Vietnam while posing high risks of flood in the central region since Tuesday.

Provinces along the northern border have experienced light rain since Tuesday morning, with the highest rainfall recorded at up to 40 millimeters in Ha Giang Province, the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting reported.

As of the late afternoon of the same day, the cold front extended, covering the rest of the northern region before hitting the north-central provinces from Quang Binh to Thua Thien-Hue as night fell.

Under the influence of the climatic conditions, localities in the north saw a drop in temperature, which was between 16 and 19 degrees Celsius in the plain and from 9 to 13 degrees Celsius in mountainous areas.

Rain fell on Hanoi and nearby provinces, with common temperatures between 15 and 18 degrees Celsius.

Mountainous localities in the north are expected to be dampened by heavy downpours and high risks of landslides due to the combined effect of the cold front and convergence zone at high latitude.

Central provinces are forecast to be covered with medium to torrential rain at between 100 and 300 millimeters.

Sea areas in the Gulf of Tonkin and the northern part of the East Vietnam Sea, including the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, will be affected by winds of about 61kph and squalls of up to 88kph, causing waves between two and four meters high.

The water level in rivers from Quang Binh to Nghe An Provinces is anticipated to rise, posing a high possibility of flash floods in lower areas.

[Hurricane88]

Air fares set to soar with proposed hike to Vietnam's aviation fees

By VnExpress November 9, 2016 | 02:00 am GMT+7


The national aviation administration wants to lift landing and takeoff fees by 15 percent.

Fares for domestic flights in Vietnam are likely to increase next year following a proposal by the civil aviation agency to raise costs for various airport services by up to 42 percent.

The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) has asked the Ministry of Transport to hike landing and takeoff fees for domestic flights at all airports by 15 percent from next year.

Aviation security and service fees for domestic passengers, which are included in ticket fares, would also go up 42 percent to VND100,000 ($4.50) per passenger at large international airports, such as Cam Ranh, Can Tho, Cat Bi, Da Nang, Noi Bai, Tan Son Nhat and Vinh.

Fees at smaller airports in central Vietnam, including Buon Ma Thuot, Chu Lai, Dong Hoi, Lien Khuong, Phu Bai, Phu Cat, Pleiku and Tho Xuan, as well as Phu Quoc International Airport on the southern resort island, would rise by 33 percent to VND80,000 ($3.60) per person, the CAAV said.

Lai Xuan Thanh, director of the unit, said it made the proposal based on the recommendation of the state-owned Airports Corporation of Vietnam, which said that the landing and takeoff fees for domestic flights at 22 airports nationwide have remained unchanged for the past five years and are just 32-72 percent of the average rate in Southeast Asia.

“We think the recommendation is suitable because heated aviation growth has put a lot of pressure on infrastructure,” Thanh said, as cited by the Vietnam News Agency.

Landing and takeoff fees for domestic flights in Vietnam currently range between VND1.35 and 3 million ($60-135).

“The fees are too low. They fail to account for how much the government has to subsidize the airports,” Thanh said.

Carriers said the fee hikes are bound to push ticket prices up, but that may not happen immediately as they do not want to lose customers.

Carriers said they will ask the CAAV to recalculate the hikes to reduce their impact on ticket prices.

Thanh said Vietnamese carriers offer tickets that cost less than the caps set by the government, so there is still room for them to increase.

Vietnam’s aviation market has been booming in recent years. The number of Vietnamese air passengers jumped by 29 percent on-year to nearly 19 million in the first six months, according to the CAAV.

However, more than 20,000 flights, or 15.8 percent of the total, were delayed, often due to overloaded facilities.

[Hurricane88]

Cashew prices are about to go nuts

By Ha Phuong November 8, 2016 | 03:18 pm GMT+7


Prices of raw nuts hit a 10-year high in October as demand surged.

Demand for cashew nuts has skyrocketed over 50 percent since 2010, industry data showed. Meanwhile, the worst drought in a century in Vietnam, the largest exporter, has raised concerns over supply shortages.

As of October 30, prices of raw nuts in Vietnam jumped to VND52,000 ($2.33) per kilogram, the highest in the past decade, compared to VND38,000 early this year, according to the country's cashew association.

Average export prices also surged 20 percent between January and August, reaching $8,000 per ton.

Excessive heat and low rainfall linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon in the main grower countries, including Vietnam, have affected both the quality and quantity of the crops, which could lead to shortages next year.

Vietnam has lost a fifth of its harvest so far, causing domestic prices to rally. “Cashew nut consumers may face hefty price rises through next year due to adverse weather,” according to the Vietnam Cashew Association.

continue to read here
http://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/data-speaks/cashew-prices-are-about-to-go-nuts-3495532.html

[snipeshot08]

so bad huh...no chance to meet him except airport...:)



He was actually the very last person on earth I would ever think will become MCBB and end up he became one of the worst :cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

why leh...thought you dun follow any other threads..:)



Yup you are rite, but I kinda liked that sentence "passing by nia nia" :D not originated by me of cos.....:cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Air fares set to soar with proposed hike to Vietnam's aviation fees

By VnExpress November 9, 2016 | 02:00 am GMT+7


The national aviation administration wants to lift landing and takeoff fees by 15 percent.



Siao liao airpork taxes set to rise liao :(

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

He was actually the very last person on earth I would ever think will become MCBB and end up he became one of the worst :cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

Zaryl kor kor may had found happiness and retire...:)

[Hurricane88]

Yup you are rite, but I kinda liked that sentence "passing by nia nia" :D not originated by me of cos.....:cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

We too always just passing by nia nia...:)

[Hurricane88]

Siao liao airpork taxes set to rise liao :(

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

Only domestic airpork tax increase....international already high...:)

[Hurricane88]

What happened only repky 3 posts...wow still 2 person tcss...:)

[Hurricane88]

Over 40 percent of small companies in Vietnam pay bribes: survey

By VnExpress November 10, 2016 | 09:57 am GMT+7



Unofficial payments helped them complete tax and customs procedures, they say.
Unofficial payments unfortunately continued to be the way of doing business for many small companies in Vietnam as a new survey found a large number resorted to bribery last year.

The survey, released by the Central Institute of Economic Management on Wednesday, showed that 42.7 percent of small and medium firms had to make unofficial payment to government agencies to keep their business going, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

The institute conducted the survey with the Institute of Labor Science and Social Affairs, the University of Copenhagen and the United Nations University’s World Institute for Development Economics Research.

More than 2,600 businesses from 10 cities and provinces, including the northern port city of Hai Phong, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, took part in the survey.

The companies said they paid back-door money to win access to public services and to complete tax and customs procedures faster.

The rate of businesses slipping in extra money to solve tax issues increased from 17.6 percent in 2013 to 24.1 percent in 2015.

Among companies paying bribes, 41.2 percent said the amount of unofficial payments could increase in the coming time.

Small and medium-sized companies account for 97 percent of all businesses in Vietnam.

[Hurricane88]

Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News - November 10


TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/10/2016 08:30 GMT + 7


Check out the news you should not miss today:

Politics

-- Vietnam's State President Tran Dai Quang and his spouse will pay an official visit to Cuba from November 15 to 17 at the invitation of Raul Castro, President of the Cuban Council of State and Council of Ministers. At the invitation of Peruvian President Pedro Paplo Kuczynsky, President Quang will also attend the 24th High-Level Week of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in Lima, Peru, from November 17 to 20.

-- Vietnam's Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on Wednesday welcomed Zhang Dejiang, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China. At the event, General Secretary Trong confirmed that Vietnam has always appreciated the development of friendly relations and strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.


Society

-- The number of methamphetamine users in the central city of Da Nang has risen 36.5 percent, local police said.

-- Many foreign enterprises have invested in Vietnam to take advantage of low environmental costs, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said at a conference on environmental protection on Wednesday.

-- The person from the southern region who won the jackpot worth over VND64 billion (US$2.86 million) last week has received his money and asked for his personal particulars to be kept secret. The winning ticket was sold in District 8, Ho Chi Minh City.

-- Young Vietnamese and Chinese on Wednesday attended the closing ceremony of the third Vietnam-China Youth Festival. The event kicked off on November 7, gathering thousands of young people from the two countries.

-- More than two tons of ivory and 70kg of rhino horns caught in illegal trade deals will be destroyed on Saturday in Hanoi.

-- Ho Chi Minh City is in need of more than 2,100 names to name its streets in a project run by the city’s research and development center.

[Hurricane88]

Hẻm Gems: D1's Bún Mọc Assembly Line

Last Updated on Friday, 28 October 2016 12:09 Published on Friday, 28 October 2016 12:08 Written by Khoi Pham.

56749

We leave our office in search of District 1’s famed phở áp chảo only to find bún mọc in a hopeless place.

In this day and age, nothing is permanent in Saigon: old buildings get torn down, new shopping malls open, people move away and the favorite lunch lady right at your door step could one day decide to up and move to Australia without prior warning (I miss your bún, co Phuong, come back!) The city’s vendors also seem to operate on the same principle: they could close one day and open on the next at their heart’s content.

This week Saigoneer set out to introduce one of our favorite renditions of phở in the city – phở áp chảo, or crispy fried pho with stir-fried beef – that tastes as good as it sounds. However, my colleague and I arrived at their door only to face a forlorn front pavement and tightly shut metallic doors. This is unfortunately not an uncommon sight, as Saigon’s eateries can sometimes be as fickle as its weather.

Disheartened but not discouraged, after rounds of brainstorming we head to the next best thing in the vicinity, because the show must go on. This leads us to Bun Moc Thanh Mai, one of the most well-known bún locations in the area. Located on the corner of Truong Dinh and Nguyen An Ninh just a stone’s throw away from Ben Thanh Market’s west entrance, at a glance Thanh Mai appears rather modest for a famous restaurant right in the city’s tourist quarter: two dining areas in a corner building with 40 or so customers. Still, the constant stream of diners coming and going assures us that whatever dish they serve will be worth our time.

56750

Thanh Mai’s specialty is northern-style bún mọc, or bún with a variety of pork meatballs, and this is where I’ll fight you on spelling. The meatballs are known as mọc, but for reasons that completely elude me, some tend to call them mộc, including the folks here, who go by the name “Bún Mộc Thanh Mai”. According to Thanh Nien, the etymology of the term itself is a hotly debated topic: one camp insists that the morsels of protein are named after its place of origin – “Mọc” Village in Hanoi’s Thanh Xuan District – while another camp thinks that mộc is an old Vietnamese word for ground pork, the main ingredient in the meatballs. Personally, I am a firm believer in the first camp's idea. Moreover, a quick search on Google generates 467,000 results for “bún mọc”, while only 414,000 findings turn up for “bún mộc”, so make of that what you will.

We sit down at a table at the corner of the dining room’s small mezzanine. While space is tight, our view is fascinating: from above, diners have a complete view of the bustling activity below, from the servers’ impressive maneuvers to chatty groups of tourists to laid-back locals casually slurping on their bowl of simmering goodness5675156752

“See those girls at the corner there? They’re Thai,” she added, pointing to a table across the mezzanine. “They have been here many times. Thais are really cool, every time they want to order something, they point to a photo already taken on their phones. They have a photo for everything we sell here!”

While we’re just beginning to take in this sudden burst of friendliness, the loquacious lady’s tone changes. “We’re the best in town at bún mọc, unlike those at Ben Thanh,” she warns. “Our price stays the same no matter who you are. If they see that you’re not from Saigon, they will hike up the price.”

Thing starts to get awkward at that point but luckily she has meals to deliver and I have my wonderful bowl of bún to attend to. The lunch crowd is also pouring in from nearby office buildings and hotels, filling the limited amount of tables and keeping the wait staff constantly on their feet.

Our server lady arrives at our table once again with our check, looking tired but no less cheery. “Did you enjoy your meal? It’s usually crowded during this time of the day,” she says. The lady looks visibly proud once I tell her that I love the bún. “Bring some good photos back to America,” she says as we prepare to leave. With food this good, we'll gladly tell the rest of the world about it.



To sum up:

Taste: 5/5

Price: 4/5

Atmosphere: 4/5

Friendliness: 5/5

Location: 4/5

Bún Mộc Thanh Mai

52 Nguyen An Ninh, Ben Thanh Ward, D1

[Hurricane88]

Old HCMC apartments a danger to residents

November 10, 2016


In HCM City, there are 474 severely degraded apartment buildings that threaten the lives and properties of their occupants, authorities said.

“Many old apartments, which were built before 1975, when the city was liberated from the US-backed administration, are in disrepair and in urgent need of renovation or replacement,” Lê Văn Khoa, deputy chairman of the city People’s Council, said in a talk show on “Old apartments renovation” on HCM City Television on Monday.

The 474 apartment blocks were assessed for quality, with all measuring below 55 per cent, and listed as dangerous.

“Most of them could collapse any time,” Huỳnh Quang Tâm of the city’s Fire Fighting and Prevention Police Department said.

“There are no emergency exits or fire safety equipment.”

Districts 5 and 10 account for the highest number of these buildings, most of them located in populous areas.

In District 5, 206 buildings built before 1975 remain in use, some of them as old as 60 years.

Lê Quốc Tuấn, deputy chairman of the district People’s Committee, said, “93 of them have been examined and the remaining will be assessed later this year.”

District 10 has 40 apartments in serious disrepair, including ones built in the early 1970s like Ngô Gia Tự, Ấn Quang and Nguyễn Kim.

District 1 has 86, including Cô Giang with four blocks and 750 units, which was built in 1964 and is now in imminent danger of collapse.

“The city People’s Committee has agreed to renovate four old apartment buildings, so in District 1 we still have 82 apartments with 24,167 people”, Đoàn Ngọc Hải, deputy chairman of the district People’s Committee, said.

Authorities have studied and decided which apartments need to be rebuilt first and are looking for investors.

Tuấn said there are plans to offer occupants apartments elsewhere and replace the razed buildings with modern apartment towers.

Trần Trọng Tuấn, director of the city Department of Construction, said the city targets to rebuild 50 per cent of the 474 decrepit apartments by 2020.

“This year the city will finish assessing old apartments and subsequently local authorities will draw up plans to upgrade and rebuild.”

To resolve the issue, the city has come up with many policies like giving district authorities greater rights to grant construction licences, publicly announce transparent ground clearance and compensation processes and offer alternate housing to resettle residents.

“If occupants do not have enough money to buy a new apartment, they will be offered social housing,” Khoa said.

He said the programme needs to be carried out carefully with detailed plans and public support.

So far the city has razed 32 old buildings with 208,000sq.m of housing space and built 39 apartment buildings elsewhere with 470,000sq.m to resettle their occupants.

“But they met only a small part of what was needed,” Khoa said.

Challenges

“The compensation policies have shortcomings that need to be addressed,” Trương Trung Kiên, head of the People’s Council’s urban department, said.

“It is not easy to uproot people from their old homes and relocate them elsewhere to start life from scratch.”

Most people living in old apartment buildings are poor and earn a living in nearby areas, and consigning them to the suburbs would cause them inconvenience, he said.

Kiên said the regulations for evacuating crumbling apartment buildings are not comprehensive and need to be revised to protect the rights of their occupants.

Lê Hoàng Châu, chairman of the HCM City Real Estate Association, said the city must show how investors – who rebuild apartment buildings — can benefit.

The city never takes up this task itself.

“Now most residents have extended their units and added more rooms, a factor that has also driven investors away,” Châu said.

To speed up replacement of old buildings, he said there should be specific measures to attract investors.

These could be incentives which would make the projects feasible in their eyes, he said.

For years resettlement has remained a tricky issue with residents refusing to evacuate and investors not showing interest in rebuilding old buildings due to the slow nature of the task and low profits.

Negotiations for compensation are usually the main problem for investors.

Policies to encourage residents to move out are not effective and it usually takes many years to evacuate crumbling apartment buildings. Authorities face severe resistance while attempting to move out residents who are generally dissatisfied with the compensation.

[Hurricane88]

Chư Păm Bridge collapses due to flooding

Update: November, 10/2016 - 12:00

Read more at http://vietnamnews.vn/society/345960/chu-pam-bridge-collapses-due-to-flooding.html#PGODQLcUBy5TThKM.99

Viet Nam News

ĐẮK LẮK – Chư Păm Bridge in in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Lắk collapsed due to the recent flooding, blocking traffic between Krông Bông District and National Highway 26.

The pillar under the middle of the bridge, collapsed some 1.5m, deforming the surface of the bridge.

The bridge, located on the key route of the district, connects Krông Bông District and National Highway 26. This is also the only road for residents in Cư Kty, Hòa Tân, Hòa Sơn and Hòa Thành communes travelling to Krông Bông General Hospital.

Nguyễn Kiếm Anh, deputy head of the Krông Bông District’s Road Management Unit, said the unit was forced to ban all vehicles and people from crossing the bridge for safety reasons.

He said authorised agencies have chalked out a plan to repair the bridge surface.

According to the schedule, the job will be completed in the next 10 days. – VNS

[1970Dava]

How dow you tell A Vietnamese brothel?

[snipeshot08]

Zaryl kor kor may had found happiness and retire...:)



The funny thing about life is that you can actually still find somebody and yet still do not need to totally abandon your friends but this takes sincere efforts and sad to say most are not able to achieve this......;)

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

We too always just passing by nia nia...:)



The big difference is that we pass by many many times :D:D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

How dow you tell A Vietnamese brothel?

No legal brothel in Vietnam...:)

[snipeshot08]

What happened only repky 3 posts...wow still 2 person tcss...:)



Well we are bo liao clones mah :D the other clones are resting or busy MCBB-ing :cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

The funny thing about life is that you can actually still find somebody and yet still do not need to totally abandon your friends but this takes sincere efforts and sad to say most are not able to achieve this......;)

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

I dun abandon you since we met back in 2008...:)

[Hurricane88]

The big difference is that we pass by many many times :D:D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

This is why important to pass by and still greet you...:)

[Hurricane88]

Well we are bo liao clones mah :D the other clones are resting or busy MCBB-ing :cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

Very true somehow ppl always wonder what is there here...nothing but tcss....:)

[Hurricane88]

Today friday thought you flew off...:.)

Did you recently bought ticket only $83.91before singpost charges $4....:)

[snipeshot08]

No legal brothel in Vietnam...:)



You never reply his actual question, he asked "how do you tell a Vietnamese brothel?"

The correct answer should be "By using your mouth" :D Joking nia nia.....:D

H88 is right, there are no legal brothels but many illegal ones and the trick is as per what you have asked, how do you really tell that it is a joint that provides services as it could be in the form of a hair salon, massage parlours...ETC ;)

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

I dun abandon you since we met back in 2008...:)



Can hear my tears dripping onto my keyboard???:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

You never reply his actual question, he asked "how do you tell a Vietnamese brothel?"

The correct answer should be "By using your mouth" :D Joking nia nia.....:D

H88 is right, there are no legal brothels but many illegal ones and the trick is as per what you have asked, how do you really tell that it is a joint that provides services as it could be in the form of a hair salon, massage parlours...ETC ;

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

Never say you wrong leh :confused:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^


Still no way to tell correct...i am not wrong....:)

[snipeshot08]

This is why important to pass by and still greet you...:)



You mean those that post 1 word or 2 words cryptic sentence ah????:D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

Can hear my tears dripping onto my keyboard???:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

As i am older bro must look out for you younger bro..:)

[Hurricane88]

You mean those that post 1 word or 2 words cryptic sentence ah????:D

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

Nothing cryptic...post 1 or 2 words are clocking posts to get out of moderation...:).

[snipeshot08]

Today friday thought you flew off...:.)

Did you recently bought ticket only $83.91before singpost charges $4....:)



Yup so clever lah flying off soooooooon liao :D

I always cannot take advantage of those promos cause normally 1 shot I will buy many tickets until 9 months or 1 year later so once promo comes I lan lan liao :(

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Still no way to tell correct...i am not wrong....:)



Never say you wrong leh :confused:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

As i am older bro must look out for you younger bro..:)



EVERYBODY here is older than me mah..........:confused: got people younger than me meh, cannot be leh......:confused:

Better dun say like that cos it sounds like I am your little kukujiao :eek:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Nothing cryptic...post 1 or 2 words are clocking posts to get out of moderation...:).


Actually I am suan-ning oldsters like Botar...ETC that post "haha" or "hello" or "good morning"......ETC.......:cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[Hurricane88]

Yup so clever lah flying off soooooooon liao :D

I always cannot take advantage of those promos cause normally 1 shot I will buy many tickets until 9 months or 1 year later so once promo comes I lan lan liao :(

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

hv a nice weekend...:)

leave the promo to me...next year I will stay about 100 days in Wetnam...:)

[Hurricane88]

Actually I am suan-ning oldsters like Botar...ETC that post "haha" or "hello" or "good morning"......ETC.......:cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

noted...wonder why they so busy...either making more babies or making for money...:)

[Hurricane88]

Ho Chi Minh City faces tough road for renaming streets

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/11/2016 10:03 GMT + 7


Recently published research has revealed that Ho Chi Minh City may be in need of over 2,100 new names for streets that were improperly titled, causing confusion and negatively impacting the city’s urban aesthetic.

The study was presented by the Center for Urban and Development Studies at a meeting with leaders from the municipal People’ Committee on Wednesday.

A survey conducted by the group of researchers pinpointed multiple issues with street names across the city, including streets sharing the same name or carrying meaningless or obscene titles.

In Ho Chi Minh City, like other localities in Vietnam, streets are typically named after national heroes and heroines in honor of their significant contributions to Vietnam and its history.

Among the 3,600 roads crisscrossing Saigon, many have been wrongly named, including Tran Khac Chan and Ha Ton Quyen, meant to be Tran Khat Chan and Ha Tong Quyen, respectively.

The research also drew attention to the hundreds of streets in the city which share their name with another, creating confusion and uncertainty amongst commuters.

For instance, there is a small Nguyen DInh Chieu Street in Phu Nhuan District besides the 4km Nguyen Dinh Chieu that connects Da Kao Ward, District 1 with District 3. There are also two Cao Thang streets, one in Phu Nhuan and another in District 10.

Other street names, such as Kenh Nuoc Den (Black Canal), were reported to be creating a certain negative impact on the aesthesis of the city.

Researchers involved in the study also recommended renaming roads with meaningless titles or named after people who hadn’t contributed to the country, including Nguyen Thi Lam and Phan Thi Ho which were named after two fictional Vietnamese heroic mothers.

Certain measures should also be carried out to inform local citizens of plans to rename the streets, they added.

New ways to name streets

Though the group of researchers stated that a name change was absolutely necessary for 400 roads in the city, there were an additional 1,774 roads that they recommended changing.

The 2,174 streets are just the tip of the iceberg. With 810 new roads expected to open in the city by 2025 preparing the city for street name changes could be significantly more difficult.

The experts suggested new ways to name the city’s streets, including borrowing names from Vietnam’s islands, such as Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly), which have already been used along canals in the metropolis.

Notable foreigners whose accomplishments heavily influenced humanity or Vietnam were also recommended to be honored with street names.

Flowers, animals, natural phenomenon, scientific theories, and other nouns relating to politics, culture, and society might also be fitting for certain streets the researchers recommended.

According to Nguyen Thi Thu, vice-chairwoman of the municipal administration, renaming the streets would require a suitable progression plan to minimize its effects on people’s lives and reduce costs.

Competent authorities will also review new ways to title the city’s roads and expand its name bank for the future, Thu added.

[Hurricane88]

Vietnam Cracks Down on Dissenters

November 11, 2016


The Vietnamese government is escalating a nationwide crackdown on human rights activists and people critical of the government’s handling of the chemical spill that devastated the country’s central coast, according to Amnesty International and other reports.

On Nov. 6, four people were arrested who are connected to a new civil society organization “The Alliance of Self-Determined People.”

All three have been charged with “carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration” under Article 79 of the penal code, according to a report in Vietnam Right Now.

The draconian law is often used against dissenters and usually comes with a lengthy prison sentence of between 12 years and life, but people sentenced under the law can face the death penalty.

Activist Luu Van Vinh and his friend, Nguyen Van Duc Do, were arrested after police burst into Luu Van Vinh’s home in Ho Chi Minh City, according to witnesses.

“They held Vinh Luu down, beat him and arrested him right in front of us,” Luu Van Vinh’s wife Le Thi Thap told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“The police dragged him out without presenting any order, and they took away all the phones that were sitting on the table,” she said. “They took his friend too.”

Le Thi Thap told RFA that after beating the men, the police obtained arrest and search warrants.

“Vinh helped injustice victims and was involved in Formosa issue,” she said. “He is very enthusiastic about helping people and asking others to join in helping people.”

In a news release, Amnesty International said two other people with ties to Luu Van Vinh were also arrested. Du Phi Truong and Tuan Doan were also taken into custody, but the organization said that Nguyen Van Duc Do was arrested after his visit with Luu Van Vinh.

At least eight people have been arrested by Vietnamese authorities for dissenting activities in the past few weeks, much of which is connected to the chemical spill and its fallout.

In June, the Formosa Plastics Group acknowledged that it was responsible for the release of toxic chemicals from a steel plant it owns in April that killed an estimated 115 tons of fish and left fishermen and tourism industry workers jobless in Ha Tinh and three other central provinces.

Vietnam’s government said in a report to the National Assembly in July that the disaster had harmed the livelihoods of more than 200,000 people, including 41,000 fishermen.

Formosa pledged to pay $500 million to clean it up and compensate people affected by the spill, but Vietnamese living with the country’s largest environmental disaster say that sum isn’t enough to compensate for the damage.

Act of defiance are rare in Vietnam, but the spill appears to have hit a chord with the Vietnamese as there have been demonstrations and other actions regarding the environmental and economic disaster.

Amnesty International said the arrests “represent an upturn in the use of the criminal justice system in a crackdown against human rights defenders and activists engaged in advocacy relating to the disaster which has included intimidation and harassment, and wide scale surveillance of activists.”

The organization called on the Vietnamese government to uphold the rights of freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression that is guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of which Vietnam is a signatory.

[Hurricane88]

Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News – November 11

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/11/2016 08:09 GMT + 7


Good morning from Vietnam!


Society

-- Vietnam’s lawmaking National Assembly will begin a two-day query session next Tuesday, when five critical issues, regarding loss-making projects, law on public investment, education system reform, waste treatment, and downsizing of the public payroll, will be raised for relevant ministers.

-- A group of fishermen in the southern Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc has drawn in public criticism after photos posted on social media Facebook on Thursday afternoon showed them beheading and eviscerating a dolphin, a species that is protected by Vietnamese law from fishing activities and plays a spiritual role in the life of Vietnamese fishermen.

-- The species of mosquito that carries the Zika virus has been found in Ho Chi Minh City, the municipal administration said in its announcement as nearly 30 cases of the virus’ contraction have been reported so far in the southern Vietnamese metropolitan.


Lifestyle

-- The beach city of Da Nang in central Vietnam will be welcoming Hong Kong shipyard Dream Cruises’ Genting Dream cruise ship, Asia’s largest of its kind, every Thursday starting this week, director of the municipal Department of Tourism Ngo Quang Vinh said during the ship’s first visit.

-- A pack of around 70 endangered red-shanked doucs, also known as ‘costumed apes’ for their extravagant appearance, have been discovered at Hai Van Pass in central Vietnam, head of the Northern Hai Van Pass Forest Protection Management Unit Nguyen Ngoc Van said on Thursday.

-- The Ship for Southeast Asian and Japanese Youth Program 2016 (SSEAYP 2016) on Friday arrived at Ho Chi Minh City with its delegation of 329 young leaders from ten Southeast Asian countries and Japan for their two-day exchange activities in Vietnam’s southern economic hub.

-- The week-long Third International Experimental Theater Festival will return to Hanoi on Saturday after a ten-year interval from its last edition, welcoming 16 acts from ten countries in Asia, Europe, and America.


Business

-- GrabTaxi, the largest mobile taxi booking app firm in Southeast Asia, has been demanded by Vietnamese authorities to be responsible for paying the tax of its partnered drivers, according to a recent tax guideline issued by Vietnam’s General Department of Taxation.

[BlueDragon193]

Nice info Bro H88.:)

[Hurricane88]

Nice info Bro H88.:)

You like that ppl thought you my clone...haha just joking only becos all knew you lao jiao in Thai threads...:p

You most welcome to post here...:)

[Hurricane88]

Hẻm Gems: Crab Curry Fit for a King

Last Updated on Friday, 11 November 2016 13:33 Published on Friday, 11 November 2016 13:33 Written by Brian Letwin.

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At a glance, this week’s District 4 Hẻm Gem might appear like any typical ốc restaurant in Saigon. Quan Oc 63’s the laminated menu offers up no less than 40 dishes within its sticky plastic pages. However, among the restaurant’s scores of delicious seafood options lies a dish worthy of a king: cà ri cua, or crab curry.

The family-run Quan Oc 63 caters to the after-work nhậu crowd that usually occupies street eatery’s metal tables and plastic stools nightly.

We sit down and leaf through the menu, giving each dish a cursory look. But we know what we’re here for: one of the best curries Saigon has to offer. My colleague, Alberto, who recommended the dish, has been here before and shows no interest in the other dishes available so a big portion of mouthwatering crab curry is exactly what we’re getting.

We place our order and within minutes, a bowl large enough to do laundry in arrives, filled nearly to the brim with a gleaming, oil-pocked curry broth and enough crab parts to pass for a crustacean murder site. While that metaphor may be a macabre way to describe the dish, the meal is anything but.

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From the first few spoonfuls, our palates are inundated by the broth’s mixture of silky coconut milk, chili, curry paste and Thai basil, a concoction that demands at least two bánh mì per person to truly appreciate.

Despite the freshness and flavor of the crab, it’s the broth that keeps us coming back for more: after a few minutes, we find ourselves using our bread morsels to soak up as much broth as possible in the space between the crab legs.

And like that, just 30 minutes after arriving at our table, all that remains is an empty bowl and a thin but impressive layer of crab shells on the sidewalk.

The crab curry is, indeed, to die for, but if there’s any drawback here it’s the price. Our meal – for a party of four – is VND811,000, including a few Sapporos, a fried octopus appetizer and two male crabs, which are cheaper than the females, for some reason.

As is the case with many other dishes in the repertoire of Vietnamese cuisine, the broth is usually the star of the show, be it bánh canh ghẹ or braised duck noodles. Likewise, Quan Oc 63 would make some sweet dough if they had a broth-and-bánh-mì-only combo.

Quan Oc 63 is open everyday from 5:30pm – 1:00am.

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To sum up:

Taste: 5/5

Price: 3/5

Atmosphere: 4/5

Friendliness: 4/5

Location: 4/5

Quán Ốc 63

63 Nguyen Truong To, D4

[BlueDragon193]

You like that ppl thought you my clone...haha just joking only becos all knew you lao jiao in Thai threads...:p

You most welcome to post here...:)

LoL, with these info I might seriously consider joining you all to HCM instead of Bkk.
Hopefully, this newbie can tag along.:D

[Hurricane88]

LoL, with these info I might seriously consider joining you all to HCM instead of Bkk.
Hopefully, this newbie can tag along.:D

Have no plans to meet anymore people in this forum....just continue to meet only those friends I met in the past...:)

Hope you understand my situation...:)

[Hurricane88]

Vietnam man arrested for swindling $90,000 through hacked Facebook accounts

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/12/2016 10:56 GMT + 7

A young man in the central city of Da Nang has been arrested for investigation after he was found cheating nearly 100 people of a huge amount of money by using Facebook accounts stolen from overseas Vietnamese.

Nguyen Hung Duong, 22, has been put in custody for four months on charges of “using computers, telecom network and the Internet to appropriate assets,” Da Nang police said Friday.

Duong is in fact a resident of the nearby Quang Tri Province, but moved to Da Nang to study cooking and information and communications technology, according to officers. He later started to learn hacking techniques and use the knowledge for fraudulent purposes.

Da Nang police began to probe the case in October, after six months of investigation following numerous reports from overseas Vietnamese, who said their Facebook accounts had been hacked.

According to officers, Duong made friends with many overseas Vietnamese via Facebook with the only goal of luring them into clicking a link to a malicious website, where they would lose their Facebook login credentials.

The young man managed to steal nearly 110 Facebook accounts through the technique. After hijacking the accounts, Duong first carefully read the conversation history of those Facebook users to impersonate them when talking with their friends in Vietnam via Facebook Messenger.

In those fraudulent conversations, Duong asked the victims in Vietnam to buy prepaid mobile phone cards for him to receive big commission. The offer is $10 for a VND100,000 ($4.5) card, and $50 for a VND500,000 ($22.5) card.

After receiving the cards from the victims, Duong would convert the virtual money into real one and had it transferred to his bank accounts for personal use.

Duong has managed to cheat nearly 100 people into buying cards for him since 2015, swindling a total of nearly VND2 billion ($89,286), police said.

The victims mostly reside in big cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho. The biggest victim lost more than VND50 million ($2,232) in the fraud.

[Hurricane88]

Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News – November 12

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/12/2016 09:03 GMT + 7

Here are the leading news stories about Vietnam you should not miss today, November 12

Politics

-- Vietnam’s consistent policy is to attach importance to developing relations with Japan, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said as he received newly-appointed Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Kunio Umeda in Hanoi on Friday.


Society

-- A welcome ceremony was held Friday at Ho Chi Minh City’s Cat Lai Port for the 43rd Ship for Southeast Asian and Japanese Youth Programme (SSEAYP), which is on a four-day visit to the southern metropolis.

-- Ho Chi Minh City wants to receive consultations from overseas Vietnamese intellectuals and businessmen to serve its new development stage towards becoming Vietnam’s economic, financial and technological hub, municipal authorities pledged at a meeting with representatives of 500 Vietnamese expats who return home to attend the 2016 Conference for Overseas Vietnamese on Friday.

-- Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said late Friday it is actively working with relevant agencies to verify the abduction of six Vietnamese nationals on board a Vietnam-flag ship that was hijacked off the Philippines early the same day.


Business

-- Vietnam’s lawmaking National Assembly adopted Friday a resolution on the state budget estimate for 2017, with total state budget collection estimated at more than VND1.2 trillion (US$54.5 billion) against a total spending of more than VND1.39 trillion ($63.1 billion).

-- Post-harvest loss is causing financial damages worth VND3.2 trillion to 3.6 trillion ($142.86 million - $160.71 million) in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, the country’s rice granary, on an annual basis, according to the Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute.

-- Ninety-four people caught in a large-scale 110-player gambling ring in the northern province of Quang Ninh in March were given jail terms ranging from 54 to 36 months, while 16 others received suspended sentences, by a court on Friday.


Lifestyle

-- A Danish Film Week is scheduled to take place in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City from November 19 to 27 as part of activities marking the 45th anniversary of Vietnam-Denmark diplomatic relations, the Danish Embassy in Vietnam has announced.


Sports

-- Vietnam will play Japanese football club Avispa Fukuoka in a friendly game in the southern city of Can Tho at 6:00 pm today, their last test before beginning their journey to win the trophy at the upcoming AFF Suzuki Cup 2016.

[Hurricane88]

Vietnamese mobile app gets Facebook's $40,000 support package

September 27, 2016 | 11:28 am GMT+7


The app, Rada, connects users to an online marketplace of repair and home services.
A Vietnamese application named Rada has recently been granted a $40,000 subsidy package from FBStart, a new program designed by Facebook to help mobile startups.

Launched in 2015, Rada allowed users to search for motorcycle repairing services in their region. The application then expands to other areas like household equipment repair, healthcare, food, construction, electricity and water services.

The sum of $40,000, or nearly VND1 billion, will be converted into tools and services provided by Facebook and its partners, together with mentorship opportunities.

Co-founder Ta Quang Thai said the aid package, though not in cash, will help Rada strengthen its marketing strategies.

Currently, the app has been downloaded over 80,000 times from the Apple Store and Google Play with around 50 successful transactions per day.

Rada’s founders aims to reach 500,000 users by the end of 2016, with 500 professional service suppliers and 30 areas involved in their network.

Previously, a website developer from Ho Chi Minh City also managed to receive a similar $40,000 package from Facebook for his new mobile game "Shark Journey."

[Hurricane88]

Saigon's banh mi hailed among the kings and queens of street foods

By VnExpress November 12, 2016 | 02:23 pm GMT+7

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The best place to eat one is on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, Fodor’s Travel recommends.
Vietnamese popular banh mi has been listed in the top of 20 street foods that one must try around the world, as recommended by the world’s largest travel site Fodor’s Travel.

The New York-based publisher described banh mi as “a mouthwatering sandwich that might best be described as a Vietnamese hoagie.”

As a product of French colonialism in Southeast Asia, banh mi has become one of the favorite foods in Vietnam, to locals and tourists alike.

It is a piece of baguette with various fillings. Standard stuffings include meat, which can be grilled pork, meatballs, or cold cuts, cucumber slices, cilantro, pickled carrots, liver pâté, and a swipe of mayonnaise.

According to Fodor’s, banh mi has become increasingly popular and easy to find in many countries, but the best place to eat one is still on the streets of Saigon.

The list of 20 must-try street foods goes round the world from crêpe in Paris to egg waffle in Hong Kong.

“In many countries around the world, if you’re skipping what’s being served on the street, then you’re missing out on more than just a quick, cheap lunch,” it said.

What about you? Where did you have your best banh mi?

[Hurricane88]

Hanoians wrap up against the cold as winter descends

November 12, 2016

An unexpected cold snap has hit northern Vietnam over the last few days.

The first cold spell of winter has surrounded northern Vietnam this week, including the capital Hanoi. Temperatures in the city are hovering at around 18-20 degrees Celsius by day and 15-17 degrees Celsius by night.

While small traders are making the most of the opportunities the inclement weather offers, homeless people are huddled under their blankets on Hanoi’s sidewalks.

The National Meteorological Forecasting Agency predicts that temperatures in Hanoi will will rise to over 22 degrees Celsius on Friday, and then jump to 30 degrees Celsius over the weekend.

[Hurricane88]

Vietnam to give public sector 7.4 percent wage raise next year

By Hoai Thu November 12, 2016 | 11:52 am GMT+7

This is the second annual increase in a row for the sector, which has around 2.8 million payroll jobs.
Vietnam’s top legislative body, the National Assembly, on Friday approved a government’s proposal to raise wages for Vietnamese civil servants and public employees, including teachers and doctors, by 7.4 percent from July next year.

The government made the proposal last month, seeking to raise the wage level from the current VND1.21 million ($54) a month to VND1.3 million ($58).

In Vietnam, the minimum monthly pay for civil servants and public employees is calculated by multiplying that basic level with a coefficient determined by qualifications and experience. The coefficient for a new subdistrict-level civil servant with a bachelor’s degree, for example, is 2.34.

Many in the public sector have for years complained that their earnings are too low. In May this year, the public sector's minimum wage was increased by 5 percent, the first time in three years.

At a conference in October, economists have blamed low wages in the sector for increasing the level of corruption.

They said the current wages for many officials only cover 60 percent of basic living costs at best, but most have stopped depending on the official salaries and still manage to afford nice houses and cars.

Vietnam ranked 112th out of 168 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index in 2015.

Nguyen Duc Hai, chairman of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee, has said the new pay raise is reasonable considering higher costs of living.

But the government also needs to scale down the workforce to reduce the pressure on the state budget, he said.

The government is having 2.8 million people on its payroll, according to local media.

Vietnam's state budget revenue is expected to reach more than VND1,200 trillion ($54.3 billion) in 2017, compared to a spending projection of more than VND1,390 trillion ($62.3 billion). That will leave a budget deficit of 3.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

[Hurricane88]

Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News – November 13

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/13/2016 08:39 GMT + 7

Check out what is in the news today, November 13

Society

-- More than 500 Vietnamese expats came forward with suggestions on how to combat Ho Chi Minh City’s chronic plagues of urban flooding and traffic congestion during a conference held in the metropolis on Saturday.

-- The administration of the central province of Quang Nam has approved a project to pilot electricity-run cars to carry tourists around Hoi An City starting January 1, 2017. The city is home to UNESCO-recognized Hoi An Ancient Town.

-- Vietnamese authorities on Saturday destroyed two metric tons of elephant husks and 70 kilograms of rhino horns at a landfill in Soc Son District, Hanoi.
-- Police in Thai Thuy District in the northern province of Thai Binh have revealed they had found around 100 human remains stealthily removed by the developer of a building complex in Hanoi to clear room for their project.
Business

-- A delegation sent by the Japan External Trade Organization to Phu Quoc Island, a paradise holiday retreat off the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang, were greatly impressed with the traditional making process of fish sauce in the locality.

-- The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers has again warned of farmers in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho scrambling to sell young, undersized “ca tra” (a kind of catfish) to Chinese traders who have manipulated supply and prices in the locality since early this year.

-- The coincidence of this year’s rainy season and rice harvest season has resulted in shrinking supply of straws, the main feed for cows, sending straw prices to a record high in several districts of Ben Tre Province in the Mekong Delta.


Lifestyle

-- A three-day festival meant to promote Vietnam’s and Ho Chi Minh City’s cultural identity and provide a playground for expats in the metropolis will run at April 30 Park in the downtown area, the municipal People’s Committee has announced.

-- Music lovers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City will be treated to 16 free-admission concerts featuring celebrated artists from several European countries. The shows will take place from this Friday to early December.

[Hurricane88]

Vietnamese consumers lose interest in Chinese fruit

By VnExpress November 11, 2016 | 09:04 am GMT+7


A fear of toxic chemicals has driven people away from Chinese fruit.
The volume of Chinese fruit reaching Vietnam collapsed by 60 percent on-year to 120,000 tons in the first 10 months of 2016, according to Hoang Trung, head of the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Lcal consumers have been turning to other suppliers like Thailand and Australia.

Data from Vietnam Customs revealed that the country spent roughly $250 million from January-September on imports of Thai fruit, jumping by 76 percent from a year ago.

Spending on Australian fruit also surged by 167 percent, while China, the second largest supplier, witnessed smaller growth of 24 percent.

The fall in Chinese fruit imports has been attributed to a fear of toxic products that has gripped Vietnamese consumers over the last few years.

Bui Thi Thu Huong from Hanoi told news site VietNamNet that she stays away from fruit sourced from China finding out they are were soaked with chemicals that prevent them from going rotten for months.

A fruit trader from Ba Dinh district said that Chinese fruit used to account for 50 percent of her sales, but now she focuses mainly on homegrown products; only apples are still imported from China.

However, an official from the agriculture ministry said that Chinese fruit imports had been safe over the last 10 months.

After going through two rounds of quality inspections, the chemical residue was found to be within the permitted levels, Trung said.

According to economic experts, Chinese fruit imports may recover thanks to a zero percent tariff from 2016-2018 period under a free trade agreement between China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes Vietnam.

[Hurricane88]

Biggest supermoon in nearly 70 years to shine over Vietnam on Monday evening

By VnExpress November 13, 2016 | 05:25 pm GMT+7

This is the closest the moon will get to earth until 2034 and it will be visible in Vietnam.
People in Vietnam will be able to see a record-breaking supermoon brightening up the night sky on Monday evening.

The supersized moon, an astrological phenomenon wherein the moon appears 14 percent closer to earth and 30 percent brighter than usual, will be visible at around 8:52PM, Hanoi time.

The November full moon is the closest full moon since 1948, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Vu The Hoang, chairman of Hanoi Amateur Astronomers, said the event isn’t particularly rare because full moons occur near perigee every 13 months and 18 days.

He added that the moon will look full and bright on the nights of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Vietnam.

The supermoon will create higher-than-usual tides due to gravity, but it will not cause tsunamis, Dang Vu Tuan Son, chairman of the Vietnam Astronomy and Cosmology Association, told Vietnam News Agency.

"When the moon is near the horizon, it can look unnaturally large when viewed through trees, buildings, or other foreground objects," said NASA. "The effect is an optical illusion, but that fact doesn’t take away from the experience.”

[Hurricane88]

Plant a tree to stay for free at Da Lat wood cabin

By Ma Lum November 14, 2016 | 11:45 am GMT+7 The house has room for dozens of tourists to stay for free, and all you have to do is plant a tree.

http://e.vnexpress.net/news/travel-life/plant-a-tree-to-stay-for-free-at-da-lat-wood-cabin-3498607.html

577965779757798

[Hurricane88]

Vietnam's traditional lottery to raise jackpot as computerized rival announces third winner

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/14/2016 15:38 GMT + 7


Administrators of the traditional lottery in southern Vietnam will next year raise its prize money amidst stiff competition from a new computerized lottery, which on Sunday announced its third jackpot winner in four months.

Twenty-one lottery companies operating in southern Vietnam have announced a joint plan to raise their top prize to VND2 billion (US$89,300), starting on January 1, 2017.

The new top prize is a 33-percent increase from the current VND1.5 billion ($67,000), which has been in place since 2011.

However, the second and special bonus prizes of the traditional lottery will be reduced by 25 and 50 percent respectively to make up for the increase. Their current values are VND20 million ($900) and VND100 million ($4,500) respectively.

The remaining runner-up prizes of the traditional lottery will remain the same.

The move by the southern lottery companies is seen as an answer to combat the rising popularity of computerized lottery ‘Mega 6/45’, which was introduced in July by state-run company Vietnam Computerized Lottery Co. Ltd. (Vietlott).

The ‘Mega 6/45’ jackpot starts at VND12 billion ($536,000), and is rolled over if no winner is found.

The introduction of the computerized lottery has hit traditional lottery companies hard, as one operator in the Mekong Delta region reported a VND4 billion ($179,080) drop in revenue over the course of a single issuance at the beginning of November.

While traditional lottery companies are struggling to maintain their share of the lucrative lottery market, Vietlott found its third ‘Mega 6/45’ jackpot winner on Sunday, their second this month.

The lottery’s 51st draw on Sunday evening produced a jackpot combination of 11-23-25-34-36-45 and found a winner, according to an announcement by Vietlott. But the identity of the winner has yet to be determined.

Sunday’s jackpot of over VND71 billion ($3.17 million) had accumulated after five draws without a winner since November 2, when a ticket holder from Dong Nai Province claimed nearly VND65 billion (US$2.9 million) pre-tax in the lottery’s 46th draw.

The jackpot for the next ‘Mega 6/45’ draw this Wednesday will be reset to VND12 billion, Vietlott confirmed.

Last month, a farmer from the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh became ‘Mega 6/45’s’ first jackpot winner, capturing a record VND92 billion ($4.11 million) pre-tax from the 39th draw on October 16.

The Vietnamese law requires that a jackpot winner pay a 10-percent tax.

In the face of stiff competition from the computerized lottery, the Southern Lottery Council, whose 21 members have announced plans to increase their jackpot, have filed a formal request to the Ministry of Finance asking for the rectification of violations by Vietlott.

According to the request, Vietlott has violated multiple laws and regulations in advertising and issuing its ‘Mega 6/45’ lottery, including the pre-printing of lottery tickets to be sold in a similar manner to traditional lottery tickets, which are printed out in advance.

Vietlott is only licensed to sell tickets directly to buyers through machines after the buyers have chosen a combination of six numbers by themselves.

Vietlott CEO Tong Quoc Truong responded to the complaint by issuing a letter instructing lottery agents to adhere to state regulations.

The computerized lottery ‘Mega 6/45’ was introduced as a result of cooperation between Vietnam’s state-run lottery company Vietlott and an indirect subsidiary of Malaysia-based firm Berjaya Corp Bhd (BCorp), which was granted an 18-year investment license to operate the computerized lottery in the country in January.

As the name suggests, buyers of the lottery select any combination of six-numbers between 1 and 45 for VND10,000 ($0.45).

The jackpot combination is randomly selected every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday at 6:00 pm, and rolled over into the next lottery period should no winner emerge.

Apart from the jackpot, bonus prizes of up to VND10 million ($446) are awarded to those with three, four, or five numbers matching the jackpot combination.

[Hurricane88]

Ho Chi Minh City designs $250mn metro route leading to major airport

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/14/2016 15:01 GMT + 7


A project on constructing a multimillion-dollar metro route leading to Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City is expected to be submitted to the prime minister for approval in two years.

According to the city’s Management Authority for Urban Railways, the metro route connecting Hoang Van Thu Park in Tan Binh District to the international airport has been planned.

The journey will be two kilometers long, with two underground stops being placed at the park and at the international terminal of the airdrome.
The second stop will also be connected with the domestic terminal via a tunnel for pedestrians.

Consultants of the project from South Korea have finished their report on the construction, which will be sent to the prime minister in the first quarter of 2017.

A detailed plan will be submitted in 2018 to seek approval for the project, whose investment is estimated at US$250 million, of which $224 million in loans will be provided by the South Korean government while the rest will be funded by the national budget.

The construction is anticipated to begin in the first quarter of 2019 and be completed in 2024.

The metro route is meant to provide tourists and local citizens with a convenient form of transport to the major airport, contributing to the city’s economic growth.

It will be linked metro line No.1, from Ben Thanh Terminal in District 1 to Suoi Tien Terminal in District 9.

The metro line, breaking ground in August 2012, is projected to cost $2.49 billion and designed to be 19.7 km long, running from District 1 through Binh Thanh District, District 2, District 9 and Thu Duc District before reaching Di An Town in neighboring Binh Duong Province.

[Hurricane88]

Breakfast @ Tuoi Tre News – November 14

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/14/2016 08:27 GMT + 7


Here are the leading news stories about Vietnam you should not miss today, November 14.


Society

-- A cold front from mainland China is forecast to extend its effects to the northern part of Vietnam on Tuesday afternoon, bringing light rain and cold temperature to the region.

-- A 44-year-old drug addict has been arrested for assaulting a detention officer at a rehabilitation center in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, local police affirmed on Sunday.

-- Passengers on buses traveling from Ho Chi Minh City to the southern province of Dong Nai have fallen victim to property appropriation by several gangs, who call themselves merchants of ‘panacea’ and force people to buy their products.

-- A project on constructing a metro route connecting Hoang Van Thu Park in Tan Binh District to Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City will be submitted to the prime minister for approval, according to the city’s Management Authority for Urban Railways.

-- Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have discovered over 1,230 fake driver’s licenses since the beginning of 2016.


Business

-- According to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the oil and gas price stabilization fund in Vietnam was recorded at VND2.175 trillion (US$96 million) at the end of September this year.

-- Another person won the jackpot of the Vietlott digital lottery worth over VND71 billion ($3.1 million) on Sunday night. This is the third winner of the lottery since its launch in Vietnam in late July.

-- About 25 multi-level marketing companies across Vietnam have been shut down since the beginning of November, the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced on Sunday.


Lifestyle

-- Over 10,000 Buddhists and citizens gathered at a pagoda in the northern province of Quang Ninh on Sunday to attend a requiem for the victims of traffic accidents.

[KangTuo]

Actually I am suan-ning oldsters like Botar...ETC that post "haha" or "hello" or "good morning"......ETC.......:cool:


huhu bye good night :)

[snipeshot08]

hv a nice weekend...:)

leave the promo to me...next year I will stay about 100 days in Wetnam...:)



Ok remember to visit Sinkapor ok???:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

noted...wonder why they so busy...either making more babies or making for money...:)



Everybody is always busy doing something, the only difference is that cumming into SBF may be the least of their priorities so they simply will not bother :cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Ho Chi Minh City faces tough road for renaming streets

TUOI TRE NEWS
UPDATED : 11/11/2016 10:03 GMT + 7

A survey conducted by the group of researchers pinpointed multiple issues with street names across the city, including streets sharing the same name or carrying meaningless or obscene titles.



Now then they realised that the way they named their streets is cuntfusing ah????:rolleyes:

But they going to cause more cuntfusion in renaming since all the taxi drivers already know the existing names by heart :cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Nice info Bro H88.:)



Why??? Thailand becuming too tame liao huh especially after the recent events so looking for greener pastures to cheong.......:D

Cheerios........SS08 ^_^

[snipeshot08]

Hẻm Gems: Crab Curry Fit for a King

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Looks good :p may wana try next week but pricing a bit on the high side :cool:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

[KangTuo]

A survey conducted by the group of researchers pinpointed multiple issues with street names across the city, including streets sharing the same name or carrying meaningless or obscene titles.

I remember 1st time I go vn with friends, I came across a street name Lê Thị Hồng Gấm""

We made fun that it sound like ""li khi hong gan" :p

[smallplayer]

Now then they realised that the way they named their streets is cuntfusing ah????:rolleyes:

But they going to cause more cuntfusion in renaming since all the taxi drivers already know the existing names by heart :cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

aiyah...just grab or uber..best.:D
cheaper too!

[Hurricane88]

huhu bye good night :)

alo morning just started you good night...every night bonk ot enuf ha..:)

[Hurricane88]

Ok remember to visit Sinkapor ok???:D

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

hi hi...sure will visit lah...:p

[Hurricane88]

Everybody is always busy doing something, the only difference is that cumming into SBF may be the least of their priorities so they simply will not bother :cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

agreed...unless they want to explore new frontier and then started posting asking questions...:)

[Hurricane88]

Now then they realised that the way they named their streets is cuntfusing ah????:rolleyes:

But they going to cause more cuntfusion in renaming since all the taxi drivers already know the existing names by heart :cool:

Cheerios......SS08 ^_^

will also cost me to be confused becos I remembered the road names...anyway I knew how to move about so dun bother...:)

[Hurricane88]

Why??? Thailand becuming too tame liao huh especially after the recent events so looking for greener pastures to cheong.......:D

Cheerios........SS08 ^_^

Thailand had been too over commercialized and the pricing is set way too high...anyway I have not interest to go back cheonging...if ever I go back will be for temple, clean massage and relax...:)

[Hurricane88]

Looks good :p may wana try next week but pricing a bit on the high side :cool:

Cheerios.......SS08 ^_^

high side but still not high compare to sinkieland...:)

[Hurricane88]

I remember 1st time I go vn with friends, I came across a street name Lê Thị Hồng Gấm""

We made fun that it sound like ""li khi hong gan" :p

yes, many names are strangest funniest when translate to other dialects or languages...:)

[Hurricane88]

aiyah...just grab or uber..best.:D
cheaper too!

not necessary if during peak hours...the uber or grab can cost double taxi fares...but then during peak hard to call cab...:)

worst timing 6.30pm to 7.30pm where all cab drivers makan time...:)

[Hurricane88]

Last update 13:11 | 09/11/2016 1

A special coffee tricycle on Saigon’s street

VietNamNet Bridge – People who travel on Xuan Thuy Street in Thao Dien Ward in HCMC’s District 2 these days might notice a foreigner running a mobile coffee tricycle along the road. That’s Demailly Vincent, a French man who has lived in Vietnam for five years.

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Thanks to the passers-by’s curiosity and the hospitality of Vincent, his business has attracted many customers. The coffee selling project has been carried out by Vincent and his two other friends for about eight months. The coffee tricycle is well-organized with necessary items. Vincent runs his service from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., catering to his customers who are both locals and expatriates. Normally, there are three people to work at the same time to serve take-away orders for a huge number of customers in the morning.

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s a free-lance graphic designer from France, Demailly Vincent decides to start up his coffee selling business from his love for this unique drink. His coffee tricycle on Xuan Thuy Street in HCMC’s District 2.

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Demailly Vincent grinds coffee beans himself to serve his customers instead of using coffee powder from other brands.

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Apart from coffee, he also serves lemon-grass tea, orange juice and passion-fruit juice – Photos: Thanh Hoa