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ilovedoggie
29-10-2012, 09:27 AM
When are you guys going?

mid of dec to christmas or christmas-new year. got Lobang?

jackbl
30-10-2012, 10:01 AM
Cemetery space scarce in HCMC
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Several people have recently found it more difficult and costly to find a final resting place for their relatives in Ho Chi Minh City, where State cemeteries have run out of land.


Progressive population growth has led to the high increase in demand for cemetery room in Ho Chi Minh City, making this field a profitable business for the private sector.

Tuoi Tre reporters recently went to Go Dua, one of the largest cemeteries of the city, in Thu Duc District.

Pham Van Bay, head of the cemetery’s management board, said that burial land of the State has run out. Private cemeteries still have plenty of room, but the price is rather high.

Bay reveals that there are 12 private graveyards with an area of 23 hectares each around Go Dua Cemetery.

Phuoc, the owner of a private cemetery, said that in 1990 when Go Dua ran out of good room, several families in bereavement asked to buy burial plots from households in the adjacent areas.

Since then, several local residents have divided their land into small lots for sale and earned much profit. Some people from other localities even came to buy agricultural land and then asked for permission from local authorities to sell graves.

Tuoi Tre reporters asked for the price at some private cemeteries and were told a six square meter lot costs VND45-60 million (US$2,155-2,873).

Similar business is also prevalent in Cu Chi District. Nguyen Lan, head of a private cemetery near Phu Hoa Dong Cemetery, took Tuoi Tre reporters to visit grave areas, which stretch more than one hectare each.

He said that people from the city center had come to buy land and built these grave areas for their family members.

Lan sells a plot measured at 1.5mX4m at VND20 million ($958) and will provide a small discount for those buying several plots at the same time. Besides him three other people are also selling burial plots in the surrounding area.

Around the 45 hectare Binh Hung Hoa Cemetery in Binh Tan District, there are 40 private cemeteries where a plot costs VND30-70 million ($1,437-3,352).

Since 2008, the city has worked on a plan to clear away this cemetery to make room for the construction of trade centers and parks; as a result these private cemeteries have had to stop burying.

Profitable business

According to the regulations of Cay Trac Cemetery in Cu Chi District, only permanent residents in Phu Hoa Dong and Pham Van Coi Communes are permitted to be buried there. However, people from other localities can also easily get a place there via brokers.



The official land price list in Can Gio Cemetery where many have bought tens of land plots for reselling for profits. Photo: Tuoi Tre.

A Tuoi Tre reporter met broker Giang in a scorching noon, pretending to find a burial lot to reinter his grandmother.

“Just give me ID cards of you, your father and of the dead person, and I will manage to register you as temporary residents in the commune.

‘Before the exhumation day, I will take you to the commune to ask for a burial lot for your relative. The licensing fee will be VND1 million ($48),” Giang said.

Showing a lot located in the middle of two new graves, Giang said that “Your grandmother will lay here. Tomorrow, give me your ID and VND5-6 million first. After your grandmother’s coffin is lowered into the grave, you will pay me another VND10 million.”

Chinh, who introduced himself as manager of the Gia Do Cemetery in Binh Khanh Commune of Can Gio District, says several people wanted to reinter their relatives’ coffins there, but could not as they are not permanent residents in the district.

However, Chinh said that he could help for VND10 million a grave.

He said several people bought graves a couple of years ago at VND2 million each and are now willing to resell them. While showing spacious strips of land in the cemetery, he said that all of them are already owned.

“Many people have bought burial land to resell and own tens of lots each in this cemetery. For instance Tan, a rich man from Binh Tan District, who purchased 60 lots here several years ago but has not used any of them,” Chinh shared.

Local residents also said that several people are trading burial land by buying graves and saying they are for their relatives, but are in fact for sale.

Honey Boon
30-10-2012, 02:41 PM
you still need guide ha? I tot you are the guide already? :D

me and a bunch of ttn-until-wan-explode mates wd like to go for a sex tour in hcmc. we wd like to go places like bj house bbbj house fj house moto girl area msg-cum-fj house... adguy wan to lead us?:D

Golden question
31-10-2012, 12:22 AM
you still need guide ha? I tot you are the guide already? :D

yah,i also think doggie expert there already,where got need guide:D

Golden question
31-10-2012, 12:27 AM
Then how about the one at Grandlink Square, just off Geylang? They've been there for long long time already.

i use to bring my wife there,is call little vietnam but after i bring her to long phung,she start to go there already cos she say the food is nicer,even bring her friends there

yummyymym
31-10-2012, 02:17 AM
Guys can I ask is

Vui dau the same as Ko vui?

vietboy
31-10-2012, 08:20 AM
Guys can I ask is

Vui dau the same as Ko vui?

Pls give the whole sentence and if possible give the context too. If not, Vui dau can be happy head, happy (little) head, happy where, happy pain and many more. :rolleyes:

jackbl
31-10-2012, 09:57 AM
Vui dau the same as Ko vui?

I guess vui dau = 哪里开心.

Maybe yesterday night u asked her, during work u know a lot of many, u must be happy? Then she replied u, VUI DAU.

jackbl
31-10-2012, 10:03 AM
The popular brands
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VietNamNet Bridge - In many streets in Hanoi, there are products that are sold on the sidewalks, do not need advertising or promotion, but people have to queue to buy them.



Green tea for youngsters

Along a several hundred meter long street are rows of plastic chairs adjacent to each other. They belong to an outdoor lemon tea shop. In the winter, despite strong wind and cold air, groups of young customers still flock to this shop.

"Many people like drinking tea, really! But most of them are the elderly. The young prefer ready-mixed lemon tea glasses. I tried it but its taste cannot compare to that of green tea. It is just different because it has lemon and sugar," Mr. Truong Ngoc Toan, the owner of the above-mentioned lemon tea shop, located at 31 Dao Duy Tu street, Hanoi, explained why he opened this shop, selling green tea with jasmine flavor, mixed with lemon and sugar. This product has become very popular to young people in Hanoi and they also call it "lemon tea."

"We sell coffee for the middle-aged people in the morning, both tea and coffee for civil servants and office workers at noon and lemon tea to teenage in the evening. All seven family members and 20 hired workers are busy all day,” said Truong Ngoc Nam, Mr. Toan’s son.

In the summer, this family sells iced lemon tea and hot lemon tea in the winter, plus taro, green and black bean porridge, processed by Toan’s daughter-in-law. Family members work in shift, from 7am until midnight. Toan also hires the entire pavement in front of his house to arrange tables to serve young customers at night.

Nam is in charge of the shift from 2pm until late evening. This man just returned home from overseas when he was told by his father that nowhere is as good as home. The 30-year-old man gave up the job of a photographer and a model to sell lemon tea.

Nam constantly asked customers what kind of tea they wanted, hot or with ice, sugar or less sugar and said: "To sell tea, I have to talk to customers. Dad taught me that." So it is not strange when children of Toan’s coffee customers in the 80s now come to his shop to drink lemon tea.



Mrs. pickles

A wonan named Mrs. Boong is very famous at Hanoi’s Hang Be market for her pickles. Her real name is Nguyen Thi Hoi, 83. "The name Boong is only used at this market. I do not know why people call me with that name. Boong is the brand of my pickles."

"When I was a child, I got used to the smell of pickles, knew how to distinguish the smell of sour or bitter pickles," she said. When she could hold a small knife, she cut of egg-plant stems to help her mother. Growing up a little more, she could mix saline and wash vegetables. When she was bigger, her mother let her carry a bamboo frame to Hang Be market to sell pickles.

That was the story in the 1940s, until after the country’s reunification in 1975, Mrs. Hoi still sold pickles. She stopped selling pickles for a period of time and resumed it in the late 1980s. She has sold pickles for almost 40 years. Her pickles are very famous at Hang Be district, branded “Mrs. Boong”. She boasted: "All of my four children are university graduates. They have two houses each."

Mrs. Hoi sells pickles and shrimp paste from 6am to 10am. She is replaced by her daughter at 11am. Hoi’s stall is very small but it is always crowded.

Hold back some memories

Luong Van Can Street, Hanoi, has many glass shops so it also has a glass repairman. This glass repairman is named Luong Quoc Phong, the fourth descendant of scholar Luong Van Can. Phong’s workplace is a small corner between two walls of two buildings.

One boy gave him two Rayban glasses, and said: "Please fix it early. The customer wants to get it this afternoon." The boy is an employee of a nearby glass shop.

Phong and his wife work together. His wife receives and returns broken glasses for her husband to repair. Phong’s tools include a small grinder, a light and a box containing meticulous details of glasses.

"I’ve been sitting here for three decades. I learned this job from my father, he said. There are many glass repairmen on Luong Van Can Street, but Phong is the best because he can fix the smallest and most complicated details.

More than 30 years doing this job, tens of thousands of customers went to his shop. One day, an overseas Vietnamese entered the shop with a broken thin-rimmed round glasses. He said he had given it to foreign repairmen but they could not fix it. They advised him to buy a new one but the customer said that this is the glasses of memory. Phong helped him fix the item.

Phong said: "My job sometimes is to retain only memories."

Compiled by M. Lan

yummyymym
31-10-2012, 10:20 AM
Pls give the whole sentence and if possible give the context too. If not, Vui dau can be happy head, happy (little) head, happy where, happy pain and many more. :rolleyes:

Actually no specific sentence in mind now. Just happen to see it here and there as in using dau as a form of making a word negative.

jackbl
31-10-2012, 10:54 AM
I guess vui dau = 哪里开心.

Maybe yesterday night u asked her, during work u know a lot of many, u must be happy? Then she replied u, VUI DAU.

Sorry, din type properly here. Should be "Maybe yesterday night u asked her, during work u know a lot of Customers, u must be happy? Then she replied u, VUI DAU."

vietboy
31-10-2012, 07:30 PM
Actually no specific sentence in mind now. Just happen to see it here and there as in using dau as a form of making a word negative.

Sorry, din type properly here. Should be "Maybe yesterday night u asked her, during work u know a lot of Customers, u must be happy? Then she replied u, VUI DAU."

Adding on to jackbl's decoding:

Guy: hoi toi di LT co vui kg?
Last nite go LT got happy not?

Girl: co vui dau
Where got happy

jackbl
01-11-2012, 10:01 AM
When young people have to pay for “showing-off”
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VietNamNet Bridge – The young always want to express and show themselves off, but when they try to prove their personality by odd hobbies, then perhaps it's time for young people to look back.



Passion for photography or half-hearted hobby?

Photography has become a very hot trend for young people today. With a digital camera or a phone with camera function, youngsters can realize their hobby.

For many people, the purpose of hunting beautiful photos is to satisfy their passion, but there are also many people who follow this trend only to ape others.

The idea to become a photographer flashed in the head of N. (20 years old, Hanoi) since his photos were posted on facebook and they were enthusiastically supported by his friends. At first, N took photos by his cell phone, but to have quality pictures, he needed a dedicated camera. This prompted N. "thinking seriously about photographic enthusiasts."

Participating in online photography clubs, N. was advised to "play hard." The young man invested all his money to become an amateur photographer with tripods, lens and accessories such as moisture-proof box, special backpack, external hard drive, etc.

However, not long after that, N. felt sluggish when this pleasure was not only costly but also time consuming. N. offered for sales his cameras and accessories on the Internet.



From hobby to show pictures

Many young people also love to show off their "sparkling" portraits or their presence in somewhere on facebook to get like or comments.

"Photography is a hobby of many people and I have no idea about it. But when I visit monuments and construction works, it is very frustrating that I could not take any photo just because of young people who always surrounded the works to take photo," one commented on a photographic forum.

Some young people have gestures such as kissing, hugging, or climbing on majestic statues to pose for photos.

At the recent Mid-Autumn occasion, toy shops on Hang Ma, Hang Luoc streets in Hanoi and the lantern street in HCM City had to ban young people from standing in front of their stores to take picture. Many shops hang a sign warning: "Not shooting here."

Hunting to monstrous pictures

Recently, a number of online newspapers also reflected a new movement of the youth that make others to shiver of fear. That is the "hobby” of hunting pictures of accidents. With cameras and cell in hand, these people are scrambling to hunt macabre images of accidents, violence ... then post them on the social networks for people to make comments.

The more creepy pictures are, the more photographers show their dedication and skill and the more their pictures attract people’s comments. Every month we also choose the most grisly photos to present awards. The person with most impressive photo will be elected as the chairman and may make recommendations to other members of topics," a young man shared about this frightening trend on a newspaper.

Many people are skeptical about this movement because they cannot imagine that there is a part of young people who have such bizarre thought and behavior. However, just go to Google, people can see hundreds of social networking sites regularly publish and update tragic images of death by a large team of corpse-hunting “photographers”.

Many young people after making "victory" as killing endangered animals, causing deadly accidents, slandered each other show these "achievements" on social networks. In the most recent case, a soldier posted a series of photos on killing a langur on Facebook on July 16.

Before that, a young guy "showed off an achievement” on facebook and was arrested by the authorities. This man, named Nguyen Manh Linh, 21 in Lao Cai province, who has nick name "keo mut choi boi" wrote that he killed an old man on an accident, with words of emotionless, ruthless.

These people are not only criticized by the online community but also have to take responsibility before the law for what they caused. This is a lesson for those who love to express themselves but lack of knowledge, lack of understanding of the law.

Le Hieu

jackbl
03-11-2012, 01:02 PM
Odd wedding photos – a new trend
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VietNamNet Bridge - Wedding photo albums in free trend, in Korean, traditional or classical styles have become so familiar. In the wedding season this year, some couples prove their difference by posing in the nude in their wedding pictures.

To make a special impression for her life's most important photo album, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang, Cau Giay district, Hanoi, put a lot of effort to learn styles of wedding photography from the Internet, from her friends and from wedding photo studios but she still did not find a suitable style.

"There are a lot of wedding photo styles in the market but I want to have a special alternative to get rid of the old familiar style," Hang said.

Once, a friend told Hang about “nude wedding photos.” She decided to talk to her future husband about it. The couple took a wedding album in nude and semi-nude postures.

Just like Hang, Ta Quang and My Phuong, from Tu Liem district, Hanoi, said they just wanted to have “hot” wedding photos to preserve their youthful features. The couple decided to take nude wedding photos to save the most beautiful moment.

"The nude photos will be 'hidden' just for us to enjoy. Some semi-nude pictures, which are approved by our parents, will be added to the wedding photo album," My Phuong said.

Photo studios are now very "open". They are ready to shoot semi-nude photos at customer requests.

In addition to shoot nude wedding photos, many coupled go abroad for taking wedding pictures.

Mr. Phong, manager of Melia Photo Studio, Dong Da District, Hanoi, said these couples usually takes a photographer with them and the cost for such an album is tens of thousands of USD.

According to Phong, many couples who are not rich but they have their own ways to take “unique” wedding photos in the countryside, at night, or in old costumes, traditional costumes, etc.

Compiled by Nam Nguyen

jackbl
03-11-2012, 01:08 PM
Ticket price for Hoi An ancient town rises
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The price of a ticket to enter the ancient town of Hoi An was increased by 30% on November 1, as announced by Quang Nam province’s authorities.

According to the new regulation, which officials say will secure all the relics and vestiges, the price is VND120.000 (US5.76)/ 6 visited relics, replacing the former price of VND90.000 (US$4.32)/ 5 visited places. This equates to VND20.000 (US$0.96) per visited place per person.

The province also listed places where tourists will need to have a ticket to gain admission, including Cau Pagoda, Cam Pho Temple, local museums, ancient houses, the XQ embroidery workshop and tombs of Japanese businessmen Gusokukun, Tani Yajirobei and Banjaro, and a few other locations.

In related news, since April, the ticket price for the ancient citadel of Hue has also doubled. The price for getting into the royal palace and the tombs of the Tu Duc, Minh Mang and Khai Dinh Kings has increased from VND55,000 ($2.2) to VND80,000 ($4) per person, while ticket prices for museums, the Hon Chen and An Dinh palaces and the tombs of the Dong Khanh and Thieu Tri Kings has risen from VND22,000 ($1.1) to VND40,000 ($2).

jackbl
03-11-2012, 01:13 PM
Child sex tourism in Vietnam a worry
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Child sex tourism is a worry among law enforcement bodies in Vietnam when recent cases of child sex crimes have been discovered. Even worse, the current law system has failed to define child sex tourism clearly.

The phrase has not yet been mentioned adequately in any regulation or law, said Khong Ngoc Oanh from the criminal police bureau of the Ministry of Public Security at a conference on fighting child sex tourism held on October 30 in Ho Chi Minh City.

The conference was attended by delegates from Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, host Vietnam, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

“Child sex abuse cases in Southeast Asian nations have a tendency to increase in recent years with complexity. Some cases have shocked the community,” said Lieutenant General Phan Van Vinh – chief of the Police General Department.

However, colonel Ho Sy Tien, chief of the Criminal Police Bureau, and Zhuldyz Akisheva, UNODC country director in Vietnam, both commented that not many such cases have been uncovered in Vietnam.

The most notable belonged to English ex-pop star Gary Glitter, who was sentenced in 2006 to three years in prison for committing obscene acts with two underage girls in Vietnam.

Since then, Vietnam has become ‘clean’ from the child sex tourism.

Colonel Tien noted that criminals may either find girls or boys by themselves or through a certain ring. They may also hire children to make pornographic films and photographs.

This month, Tuoi Tre investigative journalists discovered a ring supplying dozens of schoolboys as young as eight to homosexual men in Ho Chi Minh City, charging them US$50 for oral sex and $100 for anal intercourse.

Customers of the ring come from different walks of life, from students in the city to foreigners. They usually demand ‘hot boys with fair skin and undeveloped sexual organs’.

Colonel Tien admitted police have encountered many challenges in investigating cases of child abuse tourism, including identifying the age of victims. They have even been offered bribes by the victims themselves who wanted to hush up the shameful incidents.

Many cases involved foreigners, he added.

jackbl
04-11-2012, 03:07 PM
Air tickets for Tet selling like hot cakes
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Although many airliners have announced increases on the number of air tickets available for flights before and after the Tet holiday, or the Lunar New Year, a large number of customers say they cannot buy the tickets despite booking early.

National carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA) announced on November 1 that it started selling tickets for Tet, shortly after which economic class tickets for flights in the “prime period” - a week before the Lunar Eve on February 10, 2013 - were sold out.

“I visited VNA website in the early morning but there were only business class tickets available at nearly VND5 million (US$240) each,” said Pham Van Son, a Ho Chi Minh City’s District 9 resident.

It was not until 4pm on the same day that Son was informed by an airline agency that tickets for economic classes were finally available, though at a higher fare than last year.

Airliners said tickets for several flights during daytime have been sold out, and there are now only those for services between 2am and 5am a week before the New Year’s Eve.

“We have a very long list of customers booking for Tet tickets, and those coming late cannot even have a chance to get them, even at high prices,” said a VNA’s level-one agency.

The carriers also said they will not sell tickets in large quantities for fear of scalping.

“Jetstar Pacific has launched its first ticket selling, and there will be two to three sale sessions in the future,” said deputy CEO Ta Huu Thanh.

Airfares for most of the busy services have also soared, passengers said.

“Round ticket for the HCMC – Hanoi service now costs VND6.1 million, while last year it was only VND5.7 million,” said Nguyen Dai Phong from Hanoi.

Analysts said the fares were increased to help the airliners recoup for the north-south directions.

Flights from HCMC to Hanoi and the northern localities are always full, while the seat occupation rates for the return flight are only 30 to 50 percent, they said.

jackbl
05-11-2012, 01:41 PM
Bad practices: Burying infant alive with their dead mothers
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VietNamNet Bridge - Infants are not only buried alive if their mothers unfortunately die during the labor process. Under the "dọ-tơm-amí" unsound customs, many infants who are still breast-fed are difficult to get rid of "death" if their mothers die. This backward practice still exists in the Central Highlands.

The Central Highlands is the home to many ethnic groups such as Xedang-, Brau, Ede, M”nong, Jrai, Gie Trieng, Bana, etc. but the above bad practices is prevalent among the Bana and Jrai – the two gentle, peace-loving ethnic groups who highly appreciate life of both humans and animals.

Life after life, the old Bana and Jrai people always remind their children to not kill pregnant animals when they go to hunting in the jungle, because such killing is killing both the mother and the baby and it is cruel. The violators will be severely punished by their villages. Yet the bad practices "dọ-tơm-amí" reflects the opposite.

The Jrai and Bana people are very friendly and rich in love. They are willing to invite strangers to drink, eat barbecue or join their banquets of mystical gongs. In their daily life, they clearly show their respect to the elder and tolerance to the subordinates and their hospitality. They especially love children, especially the children who are still breast-fed.

At Dip village, Ia Kreng commune of Chu Pah district, Gia Lai province, Ro-cham Luih, 76, a Jrai woman explains that the children who are still breast-fed is in great concern and attention because they are weak, they cannot take care of themselves. In the absence of adult attention, they will die of lacking milk, diseases or attacks of wild animals.

Many old people in the district of Kong Choro, Gia Lai province, revealed that through generations, Jrai and Bana people have attached great importance to the birth. Couples always try to have as many as children because they think that by the more children they have, the happier their families are. Their families will have more people to do work.

Village patriarch Bok Nham (Bana) said that for that reason, infertile couples are worried because when they are old they will not have children to take care of them. "There are villages who believe that there are many children, their clans will be more crowded and more powerful," he said.

For this reason, having children and educating them is considered very important to Jrai and Bana women. This means that during pregnancy, the future mothers will have to undergo rigorous abstinence and Yang (god) worship rituals to pray for a healthy unborn child. The ritual to wish for easy child delivery is held at the third month of pregnancy, called abdominal massage ritual. Three months later, another ritual is held to wish for easy birth.

The ancient customary law strictly forbids and condemns woman from abortion. If abortion is discovered, that immoral act will be charged as idleness (not wanting a child), being cruel and such women will certainly be blamed and in contempt by their villagers. Yet why do they ruthlessly burry alive infants when their mothers die?

About 10 km from Kon Tum town center is Dak-Ro-Wa commune, where there are many old villages of Bana and Xedang people.

In the village of Kon JoDri, when being asked about the "dọ-tơm-amí" customs, many Bana women shuddered.

Ms. Y Pla, 45, who has 5 children, nodded confirmation that this customs is real, not rumors. Ms. Y M’ Lang, 78, in Kon Klor Village said firmly: "If the mother dies, the child is taken to the ghost forest with the mother. If the mother dies, the child must die with her."

Asking many of the elderly of Jrai and Bana ethnic groups about this customs, they only gently smiled and shook their head, saying that they did not know when the customs began. They only knew that this customs has been transmitted from generation to generation.

Under the pressure from the villages, most fathers do not dare to fight to protect their babies. They neglect the babies to be buried with their dead wives.

Mrs. Y M”lang said not only infants are buried alive if their mothers unfortunately passed away while being in labor but also breastfeeding babies are difficult to escape the "death" if their mother die. Depending on each village that the child who is convicted of "dọ-tơm-amí" is buried alive or abandoned in the ghost forest. Then if the baby does not die from exhaustion, the child will die of being bitten by snakes or being eaten by wild animals.

Elderly people who perhaps witnessed or involved in this customs simply explained that by living in deep forest where the life is inherently poor and harsh, if the mother dies, a baby without being breastfed will die of hunger so people believe that the "dọ-tơm-amí" customs will help the child goes to the world of ghost where he/she will be better care by his/her mother.

Just because of that simple and childish thinking that when their mothers died, over the years, a lot of kids died unfairly, cruelly. Although older people said the bad practices "dọ-tơm-amí" has been abandoned in their villages for a long time, but just think of the scene that innocent children were brought to the forests with wild animals and so many uncertainties that many people could not help but shudder.

CAND

jackbl
06-11-2012, 11:12 AM
Gender gap likely to leave 2-3 million VN men unmarried
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Vietnam may have 2-3 million men left unmarried due to the increasing gender disparity in the nation, especially over the last two years, as the result of sex discrimination.

Last year, the gender ratio at birth in Vietnam was 111.9 boys over 100 girls. And the gap has widened further in the first months of this year, with 112.3 boys over 100 girls, said Duong Quoc Trong, chief of the General Office for Population Family Planning, at the national conference on gender gap at birth held in Hanoi on November 3.

80 percent of localities have an alarming gap, he added. Two northern provinces, Hai Duong and Hung Yen, have a gap of over 120 boys / 100 girls.

Representative of the United Nations Population Fund proposed at the meeting that Vietnam should work out measures such as giving subsidies to school girls and supporting families of girls, and carry out effective policies for social welfare to restore gender balance at birth.

Vietnam has set up a target to lower the gender gap at birth to 113 / 100 by 2013 and 115 / 100 by 2015.

Otherwise, it is forecast that Vietnam will have 2-3 million unmarried men in the future. The imbalance may create social pressure and behavioral problems in the community.

jf66312
07-11-2012, 03:17 AM
Sorry, din type properly here. Should be "Maybe yesterday night u asked her, during work u know a lot of Customers, u must be happy? Then she replied u, VUI DAU."

hihi...anh jack hav hangover from last night??

vietboy
07-11-2012, 08:40 AM
hihi...anh jack hav hangover from last night??

Hangover from sua nguoi. :D:p

jackbl
07-11-2012, 08:54 AM
Sorry, din type properly here. Should be "Maybe yesterday night u asked her, during work u know a lot of Customers, u must be happy? Then she replied u, VUI DAU."

hihi...anh jack hav hangover from last night??


What u meant???? Go America, your english become so "chim" to understand????

Honey Boon
07-11-2012, 12:12 PM
vbs in singapore needs you :D

hihi...anh jack hav hangover from last night??

vietboy
08-11-2012, 12:39 AM
vbs in singapore needs you :D

His poison ivy needs him n miss him too! :D

jackbl
08-11-2012, 09:20 AM
Traffic accidents: the anguish lingers on
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A memorial day to commemorate people who have perished in traffic accidents is to be held nationwide for the first time next month. It is also an effort to remind people of the lurking danger involved in road traveling and boost their compliance with traffic safety rules.


Alarming statistics or scary reportage on fatal accidents can easily fall into oblivion, but for those involved, the loss of their loved ones seems surreal yet unbearable.

At the Tam Hiep roundabout in Dong Nai’s Bien Hoa city, crowds of bystanders were gathering, a motorbike and a helmet were scattered on the ground, and a bloody body was lying nearby, covered by a mattress.

The dead person was Hoang Quoc Viet, 18, who had just passed the university entrance exam. Amidst all the noise the shocked look on the face of the dead man’s older sister, who was giving Viet a ride and was fortunate to cheat death, stood out, as did the distressed screams of their father, who had just arrived.

Two weeks after Viet’s death, his parents were still dazed.

“He’s our youngest child and was always adored most. His sister obsessively blames herself for carrying him and causing his death,” Viet’s mother said, wiping her tears away.

“We sent him to a boarding high school in HCMC to minimize traveling out of the fear of accidents. We were also hesitant about buying him a motorbike after he passed the university entrance exam. But we couldn’t stop what finally happened,” she confided.

Quyet, a motorbike taxi driver who witnessed Viet’s accident, said more than ten days later, another fatal accident occurred at the same roundabout. The deceased was a pregnant woman.



6 years, 2 agonizing farewells

The smell of incense and a gloomy atmosphere has pervaded Liem and Huong’s small house in Dong Nai province’s Xuan Loc commune since the young couple and their small daughter were killed in a tragic accident almost a year ago.

A construction contractor, Liem had not finished building his own house. Trinh, Huong’s older sister, recalled in tears that they planned to add one more room for their daughter and a living room to the current unfinished house when they had enough money.

But their plan would never be realized as their lives were abruptly cut short by a coach speeding down a slope one fateful afternoon.

“Our parents have been grieving so much, they work in the garden from dawn till dusk to avoid facing this huge loss,” Trinh said.

Six years ago, Huong’s elder brother died in an accident on the National Highway.

Such losses have rendered their elderly mother a recluse, and cause her to shiver with fear whenever her remaining children and grandchildren go out on the street.

“I hold my breath every time I ride past that slope,” Trinh said, adding that a serious accident took place only four houses away from her two weeks ago.

Unfinished work, shattered dreams

Quynh Huong, the grief-stricken widow of Nguyen Ton Nhan, Vietnam’s leading translator of ancient Chinese works and poems, still can’t grasp the fact that he is gone, one and a half years after he passed.

Nhan was on his way to the Tet flower market when he was run into by another motorbike in downtown HCMC. He fell to the ground and was immediately run over by an ocoming coach.

The distressing news disrupted the joyous atmosphere of the traditional Tet holidays, which was only two days away.

She is now still filled with an overwhelming sense of loss and excruciating pain whenever she sees his unfinished drafts on his desk.

Born in 1948, Nhan translated and compiled volumes of time-honored Chinese philosophical and literary works into Vietnamese, including the critically acclaimed translation of Nho Giao Trung Quoc (China’s Confucianism).

He was working on Dai Tu Dien Tho Duong (Grand Dictionary of Poems Composed During the Tang Dynasty), which he had cherished for years and his colleagues and readers were also eager to check out, when he was killed.

A distressed mother has forlornly sat by her youngest son’s tomb every day, rain or shine, since he was killed on the way home from HCMC to inform her of his university graduation results.

The young man’s promising future and dreams were shattered to pieces by one reckless minute of a truck driver.


Living on the edge

Those who live in the proximity of traffic hot spots are always on edge.

Trinh Van Bay, who has lived near the hot spot on National Highway No.1, near Binh Dien bridge in HCMC’s suburban district of Binh Chanh, for dozens of years, is no stranger to accidents.

He could spend the whole day talking about accidents that happened there every few days.

“Though sitting inside, I’m always on the lookout for accidents. Whenever I hear a rumbling noise, brisk footsteps and piercing screams, I know that’s it,” he said.

“I’ll get there on motorbike immediately to take the injured to hospital,” he added.

Bay could clearly describe hundreds of accidents, and many of them still obsess him.

Once he witnessed an accident which caused a young couple to die instantly. Their young child was lucky to survive, too shocked even to recognize other family members who arrived at the scene later.

Also, a teen girl was crossing the street near the bridge on her bike with some of her friends when she was run into by a truck. She lived, but her legs were crushed and had to be amputated, Bay recalled, sighing.

Some months ago, he himself was hit by a motorbike which lost control when he was standing on the pavement in front of his house. He suffered a broken leg.

Bay said that he knows many doctors, nurses, and even the director of Binh Chanh district’s Hospital, as he often carries the injured to its emergency theater.

“I have also helped policemen maintain the accident scene and clear the roads, so I know them quite well. It’s all because I live near the traffic ‘black spot’,” he added.

However, he admitted to feeling uneasy whenever traveling on the street.



Volunteer amateur ‘paramedics’

At the Dau Giay T-Junction, a team of taxi motorbike (xe om) drivers in blue uniforms could easily be spotted.

“This T-junction is crowded and has dangerous curves, so all kinds of accidents happen here,” Diep Minh Hue said.

“We took the injured to the emergency room so often that we were encouraged to take first aid classes. So we did, if not, we may unknowingly aggravate their injuries,” Hue explained.

They also take turns watching for accidents, he added.

“Accidents here are all fatal. Last month, a criminal policeman was hit by a van and died instantly,” Cong Tan Bau, another team member, noted.

“We witness accidents so often, but have to travel a lot to earn a living. I feel really nervous sometimes,” Toan, another motorbike taxi driver, said.

“My heart races wildly every time there is an accident,” said Lien, who has run a small coffee stall on the sidewalk nearby for several years.

“Life is so ephemeral,” she sighed.



Chilling numbers

Within the first 9 months of this year alone, almost 7,000 people died in traffic accidents, leaving behind bereft, mourning family members and orphaned young children.

Though within these 9 months traffic accidents have dropped by over 20% compared to last year, the seriousness of the accidents has risen.

More than 48 cities and provinces were lauded for seeing their accident rate drop by over 10%, yet 6 others were reprimanded for the rising accident rate, with Dong Nai, neighboring Ho Chi Minh City, being one of the most accident-packed ones.

jackbl
10-11-2012, 04:17 PM
Eat Vietnam – how to become a local
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How do the Vietnamese enjoy their food? Many of my expat friends often ask this question on their first visit to Vietnam. It’s hard to accurately explain all the regional culinary styles and nuances. But, in brief, common to all Vietnamese cuisine are three main fundamentals: completeness, symmetry and free-n’-easy.


Completeness: In daily meals, the Vietnamese rely on all the 5 senses to tickle the appetite. Almost all common dishes are dressed in vivid colors from the red of chilies, the green of onions and the white of green-pea sprouts to the yellow of egg yolks. For special events, the food is decorated or arranged in the shape of animals or flowers. Most of the dishes consist of a balance of flavors: the hotness of chili, the sourness of lemon, the saltiness of fish sauce, the sweetness of sugar or coconut-juice and the fattiness of meat. Some are accompanied by toasted rice-pancake, to be broken up into pieces by hands, thus, not only adding a crisp texture, but also providing a cracking background sound. Occasionally diners roll up their food into sheets of rice paper and/or fresh herbs right at the table, thus experiencing the food’s texture minutes before it overwhelms the taste buds. Whether the source is curry, cinnamon, ginger or a multitude of fragrant herbs, let us not forget about every culinary creation’s distinct scent. A very special fragrance is the one emanating from cà cuống essence. This delicacy, commonly found in Hanoi’s trademark steaming rice rolls, consists of the liquid extracted from an insect known as Tây hồ.

Symmetry: In general, Vietnamese cooks pay great attention to the balance of ingredients in each dish. Yin and Yang, pillars of ancient Asian philosophy, account for the stability of all substances. Yin is negative and Yang is positive. The reciprocal neutralization of positive and negative factors is thought of as making food healthier.

Fish sauce, ever-present in every Vietnamese meal, is complemented by sugar (sweet), lemon or vinegar (sour), chilies (hot) and other ingredients such as garlic. Saltiness and spiciness are positive while sourness and sweetness are negative. As most meats are positive, adding vegetables, which are considered negative, will ensure balance. Vietnamese cooks are also concerned with the health properties of their dishes. A gourmet‘s lean bowl of Phở might come with a side of fatty-juices. Some sliced ginger in a bowl of rice porridge will help one recover from a cold-induced fever while sliced green onions and coriander will speed up the recovery of someone affected by heat-induced fever. Rice porridge with meat or fish and some kind of spices is always a popular choice for those mending a variety of ailments.

Among other dishes served as a medical treatment are steamed black chicken with Chinese herbs and swallow’s nest soup. A Vietnamese saying goes: To win your husband’s love, serve him a bowl of rice porridge with duck broth, thiên lý flower soup and lotus-bean sweet soup”. Also a concern of the experienced Vietnamese cook is the correlation between food and climate. Summer meals are rich in vegetables and fruits while more nutritious meat and fish dishes abound at the gourmet’s table during winter. In the highland regions, ingredients rich in heat (yang) such as garlic, black pepper and ginger are assumed to prevent malaria.

Free-n’-easy: All courses are served at the same time and the Vietnamese are free to choose their favorite dish from a varied selection. There is no pressure to try them all and left-overs are acceptable. Especially dishes accompanied by shrimp paste, whose strong smell is not popular among many foreigners, can be avoided by those who are yet to acquire the taste. As guests it is usually good etiquette to leave some food in your bowl to reassure your hosts that they cooked more than enough food for everyone. Some food can be eaten with bare hands and if you are not comfortable with chopsticks your hosts will be happy to provide you with fork and spoon. Chatting at the dinner table is not considered impolite; rather, it makes for a warm, cozy and more relaxed meal. A few glasses of rice wine or beer will further warm up the meal too. Offering or receiving food from each other’s bowls is thought of as a friendly gesture. It also shows the elders that you respect them.

So in which ways do you think you will better enjoy your food?

PC1881
11-11-2012, 12:37 AM
Sorry guys, can someone help with the following?


that long e kn muon nhu the .chi vi qua yeu a ma thoi .that long e noi ra nhu the e cung xot xa nguoi .that long e cung nhu nguoi ta e cung biet ghen tuon nguoi oi hieu cho e , e chi yeu minh a ma thoi

yummyymym
15-11-2012, 07:10 AM
Sorry guys, can someone help with the following?

that long e kn muon nhu the .chi vi qua yeu a ma thoi .that long e noi ra nhu the e cung xot xa nguoi .that long e cung nhu nguoi ta e cung biet ghen tuon nguoi oi hieu cho e , e chi yeu minh a ma thoi

My heart really don't want like that. Only because love you a lot only. My heart really say leave like that I also unhappy. My heart really also like others I also know jealous understand me. I only love you.

Not sure if my translation is correct but the seniors should be able to give you the correct interpretation. Cheers.

vietboy
16-11-2012, 04:50 PM
My heart really don't want like that. Only because love you a lot only. My heart really say leave like that I also unhappy. My heart really also like others I also know jealous understand me. I only love you.

Not sure if my translation is correct but the seniors should be able to give you the correct interpretation. Cheers.

Wa, u from asking for translation to giving translation. U really improved by leaps n bounds. Good work! Super lah! :D

yummyymym
16-11-2012, 05:19 PM
Lol but Dunno correct or not maybe totally wrong la

jackbl
18-11-2012, 11:40 PM
Frenchman jumps to death in Vietnam during sex probe
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Thursday (November 8), a 38-year-old French male citizen jumped from the 19th floor of an apartment building in Ho Chi Minh City after police started investigating him for lewd acts with minors.

Vitrac Alexandre Pierre Claude died on the spot after falling onto the terrace of the 4th floor of the Screc Tower on Truong Sa Street in District 3, police sources told Tuoi Tre Newspaper.

A local police officer wishing to be anonymous told Tuoitrenews that the man jumped out of the window of his apartment right after a team of police arrived for questioning concerning his alleged sexual acts with children.

It is not clear if it is one child or more.

The incident occurred in the evening and the body was removed from the 22-story building by 10pm.

Police are investigating further.

In late June, Sainz Rinto Julio Antonio, 47 years old, of Spanish citizenship, killed himself in Ho Chi Minh City by leaping from the fourth floor of Phong Lan Hotel in District 2's Thao Dien Ward.

The Spanish man was working for Greatree Industrial Corporation in Binh Duong Province.

jackbl
18-11-2012, 11:42 PM
Police work with consulate over Frenchman’s death
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Vietnam police forces are scheduled to work with the French consulate today (Tuesday) concerning the death of a Frenchman who jumped from the 19th floor of an apartment building in Ho Chi Minh City after police started investigating him for sexual acts with children.

On November 8, 38-year-old Vitrac Alexandre Pierre Claude jumped out of the window of his apartment inside the Screc Tower after a police team arrived to question him concerning his alleged lewd acts.

It is not immediately clear if the case involves one child or more.

He died on the spot after falling onto the terrace on the 4th floor of the Screc Tower on Truong Sa Street in District 3. The 22-story Screc Tower houses apartment buildings for lease.

Tuoitrenews found out that police are currently investigating a ring supplying young boys to pedophiles, and since the French citizen’s name came up as a client, police decided to question him. However, when they arrived at his apartment, the apparent suicide occurred.

According to initial information supplied to Tuoitrenews, Claude was a businessman and director of an IT company in Ho Chi Minh City. He had lived in Vietnam for seven years.

Tuoitrenews reporters have contacted the owners of the Screc building but its management board refused to provide any information. They also prevented the newspaper from interviewing his neighbors.

The incident occurred on the evening of the 8th and the body was removed from the building by 10pm.

jackbl
19-11-2012, 10:22 AM
So ya think ya know soya?
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I still remember a long time ago, every time there was a cry of the bean curd lady coming to the alley, we kids in the neighborhood would rush outside with our bowls. We would hustle to have them filled with the hot silky tofu, topped with ginger syrup and coconut milk (commonly called Tàu hủ). Hot as the bean curd was, and also the weather, we would eat the tofu and sip the syrup as fast as possible, as if someone could come and take it away from us. Then our parents would come out and pay for our dessert, for as low as VND2,000 (US 10 cents). Bean curd is one of a few products made from soya or soy beans, as well as soy milk, soy sauce and soy paste, which is what you dip fresh sprint rolls into.

The health benefits of soy beans are undeniable. High in protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, soy beans promote weight loss and prevent prostate cancer and osteoporosis. Although proven to be more beneficial to women than men, soy-based products remain a healthy choice in every diet.

A few shops have recently sprung up in Ho Chi Minh City focusing on selling products made from soy, with a little twist. One of the most popular is a chilled mango bean curd topped with chopped fruits like mango, kiwi, watermelon and pomelo, truly a lift-me- up during the middle of the day. If you want something warm to calm you down after a hard day, try black or red bean soup bean curd served in a beautiful wooden container. The drinks here are also enjoyable, with flavors ranging from plain to mint, strawberry and chocolate. You can opt for ice-blended drinks where milk is replaced with soy milk, in different flavors of matcha, chocolate or Japanese Azuki. Those who are on a diet or concerned about their insulin intake can ask the staff to reduce the sweetness or go for sugar-free drinks. Using wooden furniture and yellow lights, the shop is a cosy hangout after work or on the weekend. But if you do not have time to sit down and dine, you can also pop in and grab a quick snack or smoothie to go. Soy drinks and desserts are in the VND24-50,000 (US$1.2-2) range.

Also claimed to come from the merlion’s island, several shops in District 1 offer the Singaporean sweet made from soy milk and agar for VND25,000 ($1.2). The flavors include plain, honey dew, taro and water melon or almond. You can add tapioca, red bean and mung bean for a little extra. Since it is small in size, the shop is more suitable for takeaway or delivery.

When we arrived at 4pm on Tran Hung Dao Street in District 5 on a weekday, some places selling Tau hu were almost packed and it was hard to find an empty table. Offering soy-based products in a creative way for affordable prices, this newly opened shop has captivated the hearts of many young city-dwellers. Cold bean curd is served together with coffee, cocoa, and pandan juice with sweetened milk or the soy milk itself. Hot bean curd is cooked in palm sugar syrup or ginger syrup and served in a big ceramic bowl for VND8-10,000 (US 40-50 cents). Here you can also find soy drinks with added jellies, pudding or tapioca, just like at any milk tea shop in Saigon.

As the city has grown and changed every day, our bean curd lady also has been replaced with new shops selling at fixed prices in air-conditioned rooms with comfortable furniture. It is a part of modernity that we have to accept: new things come out, replacing old things. People in the city will continue to visit these shops to find the good old flavors, to seek a part of their childhood that seems like just yesterday.

jackbl
20-11-2012, 12:34 PM
A Big Thank You to all my Teachers here in teaching me vietnamese language!

Chúc mừng ngày Nhà Giáo Việt Nam!

jackbl
21-11-2012, 09:34 AM
Two monks punished for being kissed by pop star
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Two Buddhist monks in southern Vietnam have been banned from leaving a monastery and must maintain zero contact with the outside world for three months starting yesterday after they were found having been kissed by a famous pop singer.


During a charity auction on November 4 at the "Khong Ten" Nightclub in Ho Chi Minh City to raise funds for tumor-stricken singer Wanbi Tuan Anh, pop star Dam Vinh Hung auctioned a Western wine bottle at a starting price of VND20 million (US$960).

The winner turned out to be two monks who bid the highest price of VND55 million (US$2,640).

As a thank-you gesture, male singer Dam Vinh Hung kissed the lips of the Venerable Thich Phap Dinh of Phuoc Son Monastery.

In return, this monk - while still wearing a Buddhist robe - reluctantly reciprocated the affection.

The photo of the two kissing went viral on the internet, causing indignation among the public, especially in the Buddhist circles.

Meanwhile, the other monk - the older of the two - did not allow the pop star to touch his lips but instead let him kiss his left hand.

The former monk is the Venerable Thich Phap Dinh of Phuoc Son Monastery in Dong Nai province while the other is the Venerable Thich Giac An of Quan Am (Avalokiteshvara) Pagoda in Dong Thap province.

The Most Venerable Thich Buu Chanh, deputy head of the provincial Buddhist Church of Dong Nai, commented: “I am extremely shocked…this is seriously wrong, not only concerning Buddhist teachings but it also affects the reputation of the Buddhist church, of the clergy”.

On Wednesday, the Phuoc Son Monastery held a “Karma Ceremony” (Tac phap Yet Ma), a kind of monastic confession and repentance in which the two said monks kowtowed and chanted Dhammapada verses or Buddhist incantations to beg for forgiveness and pray for their sins to be left unstained on their karmas.

The Venerable Thich Phap Dinh (who were kissed on the lip) apologetically wrote “all of the images and sayings inappropriate with my role as a monk, I fully take responsibility. I really know my faults and my modest charity intention has badly influenced the Buddhist Church and Buddhist clergy”.



Buddhist law has no clause on man-to-man kiss

According to Thich Buu Chanh, the deputy head of the provincial Buddhist Church, Buddhist laws will punish a monk for kissing women by banning them from contact with the outside world. But the laws do not say anything about monks kissing men.

Besides, it was the singer who kissed the monk, not the other way round. the Most Venerable Thich Buu Chanh said, adding “the kiss was passive, not intentional”.

However, since their acts negatively affected the Buddhist Church and clergy, the monastery has decided to detain them inside the monastery and ban them from outside contact for three months.

At the karma ceremony, the two said they were invited to the charity auction event by a friend who is in showbiz.

The auction was aimed at raising funds to finance treatment for 25-year-old singer Wanbi Tuan Anh who is at risk of losing his vision due to a pituitary tumor.

As for the US$2,640 spent on a single bottle of wine, the two monks said they just bought it on behalf of a Buddhist follower who prefers to be anonymous and that the money belongs to this rich philanthropist.

This Buddhist follower was present yesterday morning at the karma ceremony and confirmed the information.

Honey Boon
21-11-2012, 01:49 PM
you also a Master teacher to many here ..... :D

A Big Thank You to all my Teachers here in teaching me vietnamese language!

Chúc mừng ngày Nhà Giáo Việt Nam!

vietboy
22-11-2012, 09:03 AM
you also a Master teacher to many here ..... :D

No no he is the grand master. :D

jackbl
22-11-2012, 03:35 PM
First graders taught to tell lies
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VietNamNet Bridge – “Once a liar always a liar” – Vietnamese teachers understand the saying well, but they still teach their students to tell lies.

A fourth grader of a primary school in Dong Da district in Hanoi said that she always burns incense to pray for luck every time when she attends examinations.

“My teacher always reminds us to be cautious when copying at the exams. We would be heavily punished if someone sees us cribbing,” she said.

Surprisingly, the girl does not pray for staying lucid during the examinations so that she can make right decisions, but she simply wants her behaviors of cheating at the exams to go smoothly.

The girl also said that the teacher always called her students for extra classes before the exam days. At the classes, the students can do the exercises which are exactly the same with the questions to be raised at the exams.

The teacher repeatedly says she wants to help students pass the exams. If someone does not know how to solve the questions, he can copy the answers given before by the teacher at the extra classes.

The small girl, who is just a fourth grader, commented that her teacher did very well to help her students. Almost the students in her class get the titles of “Excellent” or “good students” when the academic years finish.

The story about a third grader boy complaining about his rude teacher has become a hot topic on education forums.

The boy said his teacher is not as nice as other teachers, because she always scolds students. The teacher usually tears the students’ notebooks if she discovers mistakes. She asks students to keep books in good conditions, in anticipation of the inspection tours to be taken by education officials.

The boy also said he cannot understand why the teacher sometimes tells lies. “Yesterday, she scolded H, saying that H was a bad student. However, when meeting H’s mother, who came to school to see the child off, the teacher said H was very good at school,” the boy said.

“I think the teacher has to tell lies because H is from a rich family and H’s mother usually gives presents to the teacher,” he commented.

The boy seems to be an excellent student of the teacher – liar. The next day, when he was asked to write an essay and express his feelings about the teacher, he wrote the essay with flowery words to flatter the teacher.

When the father asked why he still praised the teacher, though he does not like her, the boy said he needed to be “friendly” with the teacher, or she would give bad marks to him.

The parent, when sharing the story with the colleagues, said she feels worried when an eight year old boy can master the “art of telling lies.”

A parent, whose child is a third grader of a primary school in Thanh Tri district in Hanoi, also said students nowadays are taught to tell lies right at school.

His child’s teacher runs a private tutoring class and asks all the members of the class to go to the class to “improve knowledge.” However, the students have been asked to deny the private tutoring if someone asks them about the teaching.

The problem is that the Ministry of Education and Training is tightening its control over the private tutoring of school teachers, threatening to heavily discipline the teachers violating the regulations. As a result, the extra classes have been running in quietness, while students have been asked to keep secret about their classes.

Compiled by Thu Uyen

jackbl
23-11-2012, 12:18 AM
One of the Famous gangster in Vn.........

Former police officers arrested for involvement in Nam Cam criminal ring
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VietNamNet Bridge – On November 20, the Criminal Investigation Department of the People’s Supreme Procuracy served the decision to prosecute and arrest Mr. Nguyen Tuyen Dung, former Colonel, former deputy head of the Investigation Police Agency of Tien Giang Province for "abuse of power on duty."

The same day, the agency made an additional prosecution against Mr. Nguyen Van Nen, former Lieutenant Colonel, former deputy chief of the Office of Tien Giang Investigation Police Agency for the same charge.

Earlier, in early June 2011, the Criminal Investigation Department of the People’s Supreme Procuracy prosecuted and granted bail to Nen and Mr. Ngo Thanh Phong, former Colonel, former chief of the Office of the Tien Giang Investigation Police Agency. The agency also prosecuted and arrested Mr. Nguyen Van Ut, former Major, former captain of the general staff of the Office of Tien Giang Investigation Police Agency.

These police officers of Tien Giang province are determined to have made violations during the process of investigating the Nam Cam criminal ring and a gasoline smuggling ring led by Pham Hung.

The Criminal Investigation Department of the People’s Supreme Procuracy is continuing to expand the investigation and clarification of the role of other individuals in these cases.

Nam Cam (1948 – June 3, 2004) was a notorious gangster. He involved himself in criminal activity, amassing substantial wealth for himself. In 1994, he was arrested and convicted for his criminal dealings, but was released early in May 1995. Charges laid against him included murder, assault, gambling, organising gambling, organising bribery, abetting criminals, and organising illegal emigration.

The conviction that lead, perhaps indirectly, to his execution was due to his role in the assassination of underworld rival Dung Ha. Dung Ha, a reputed female gangster from Haiphong, moved south to Ho Chi Minh City, to join forces with Nam Cam, who hoped to get her to serve as his emissary in expanding his casinos in the north. However, Dung Ha had other plans to create her own gang, which angered Nam Cam. Dung Ha wanted to embarrass Nam Cam and arranged for a gift box containing rats to be delivered to one of Nam Cam's restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City. Humiliated and enraged, Nam Cam ordered a hit on Dung Ha, which was carried out on October 2, 2000. Two men, traveling on motorbike, came up and parked near where she was sitting. One of them got off the bike, walked up to her, pulled out a 9mm revolver and shot her in the head at point-blank range. The assassins escaped. On June 4, 2003, Nam Cam was convicted for ordering the assassination of Dung Ha, and bribing state officials to protect his criminal network.

On May 7, 2004, President Tran Duc Luong rejected Nam Cam's appeal of execution. On June 3, 2004, Nam Cam was executed by firing squad at the district 9 rifle range in Ho Chi Minh city, along with his four gang members Pham Van Minh, Nguyen Huu Thinh, Chau Phat Lai Em and Nguyen Viet Hung, the last being the one who shot Dung Ha.

Dam Tu Duy

jackbl
23-11-2012, 09:33 AM
Tourists still flock to Delta
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VietNamNet Bridge – The ongoing economic crisis has not hit the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta's tourism sector too hard, Sai Gon Giai Phong (Sai Gon Liberation) newspaper has reported.

The paper attributed this mainly to the "Four Countries-One Destination" tourism co-operation programme between Viet Nam and its three Indo-China neighbours to foster the Mekong Economic Corridor.

According to the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta Tourism Association, the region has welcomed 12.8 million visitors this year, a 6 per cent rise year-on-year. Revenues from tourism topped VND2.6 trillion (US$124 million), a whopping 25 per cent rise.

Kim Trang, a marketing executive at the Ha Noi Tourism Company office in HCM City, said: "The company serves five to six groups of around 30 tourists every month.

"They want to go to Can Tho to listen to don ca tai tu (a genre of folk music) on a boat, to visit fruit orchards, the Mac Cuu imperial tomb, and Ha Tien Beach."

"The delta has a unique position," an executive of the US-based Fantasy Tours said.

"For foreigners the Mekong River is very important because it runs through six countries and Viet Nam is the last. Tourists love to travel by boat, especially on the Can Tho -Phnom Penh route."

Fantasy Tours is among seven travel companies from the US and China who were on a familiarisation trip along with the China Eastern Airlines to Can Tho to consider starting a tour that will take in North America, Shanghai, HCM City, and the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta.

Earlier this year the carrier arranged a tour of Shanghai and Viet Nam for overseas Vietnamese in the US and North America.

It is considering adding Phnom Penh to the tour next year.

Another fam trip took travel companies from the delta, HCM City, and Ha Noi to the Bokor highlands in Cambodia.

Bokor is situated 60km from the Viet Nam border and at a height of 1,080m. It takes tourists around an hour by car to reach the top from where they can see the Gulf of Thailand and Phu Quoc island.

"Though infrastructure is yet to be completed in Bokor, it welcomes around 17,000 tourists every month," Beurich Gerd, general manager of the Thansur Bokor Highland Resort said.

Nguyen Dai Ho, director of the Kien Giang-based Phuong Nam Travel Company, said the trend of going to Cambodia after visiting the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta has risen sharply.

The company is co-operating with Hon Gai Travel Company to exploit the new Ha Noi-HCM City-Tay Ninh-Ha Tien-Phu Quoc-Ha Noi tour.

Nguyen Duc Tho, a tour guide working for Le Phong Tourist Company in HCM City, said: "Forty per cent of tourists to the region are Japanese. A tour of Xa Xia Border Gate-Ha Tien-Cambodia is feasible. It will also enable Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta residents to travel to Cambodia."

Marketing efforts

Dien Quan Media Company based in HCM City recently got celebrity chef Martin Yan to go around the delta to shoot Kham pha Viet Nam cung Martin Yan (Discover Viet Nam with Martin Yan) for television to popularise the country's image globally.

The company has opened a representative office in Can Tho.

Le Van Hien, chairman of Cuu Long Tourism Company, said the delta has done well, especially in upgrading the quality of services.

Local tourism associations and the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta Tourism Association have also shook hands to train waiters and tour guides, revive traditional festivals of the local ethnic groups, market tourism, and open quality resorts and amusement spots.

"Tourism in the delta has improved much in recent times, but it needs much more to be done," said Hai Dang, director of Vietravel Tourism Company.

Pham Phuoc Nhu, chairman of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta Tourism Association, the 4+ model linking Can Tho, An Giang, Kien Giang, Ca Mau and Bac Lieu would be expanded to the whole region.

The co-operation is expected to create specific associations for beach and island tourism in Kien Giang, spiritual and cultural tourism in An Giang, forest and beach tourism in Ca Mau, and ethnic cultural tourism in Soc Trang and Tra Vinh.

The co-operation involving 13 provinces and Can Tho City is expected to help the region fully promote its tourism strengths, attracting 3 million international visitors and 4 million local tourists by 2020.

VietNamNet/VNS

jackbl
24-11-2012, 03:53 PM
Hoi An: walking in the footsteps of history
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VietNamNet Bridge – Hoi An has been trading with the outside world since almost the 15th century. Once one of the busiest ports in all of South East Asia, the docksides of this relatively small central Vietnamese town were once awash with the sound of Chinese, Japanese, American, European and Indonesian traders, all bringing their wares to Vietnam’s doorstep. Warehouses strained under the weight of the orient’s finest silks and spices. Everything, from elephant tusks to beeswax, from paper to porcelain, was brought here and from here to the world.

Hoi An still maintains a brisk trade with all its old business partners. However, it’s now Hoi An’s cash tills rather than its docks that ring to the sound of international commerce. Hoi An, with its traditional housing and narrow streets, all unspoilt by the passage of time, is a tourist mecca. Apart from the faces, little has changed in Hoi An since its commercial hey day. The nations of the globe still flock here, now to wander its ancient streets and marvel at a piece of Vietnam’s living history.

Hoi An’s close relation to the rest of the world has worked to define the very bones of the town. Chinese and Japanese traders, particularly, extended their long stays in port to establish permanent agencies here from which to manage their trade. From these beginnings, sprang the first permanent Chinese settlement in Southern Vietnam, whose congregational assembly halls still draw both the descendants of those early Chinese traders and tourists alike.

It was the links between Hoi An’s native Chinese and Japanese communities that was to give the town its most famous icon; the Japanese Covered Bridge. Built in the 1590s by the Japanese to connect them to their Chinese neighbours on the far side of the rivulet, The Japanese Covered Bridge has been drawing visitors ever since. Within its narrow walls, around halfway across, stands the temple of the northern God Tran Vo Bac De, critically for sailors, the God of weather. One legend about the bridge is that it as built to subdue the enormous ‘mamazu’ dragon monster, whose global reach stretched from its head in India to its tail in Japan, the movement of which was supposed to cause earthquakes. Vietnam, and principally Hoi An, was thought to sit across its back, so building the bridge at this spot would pin the Mamazu down and protect those the traders and settlers had left behind.

However, Hoi An, and its surrounds, date back further than the international trade which later came to define the town. Around 55km outside of Hoi An’s centre can be found the ruins of My Son, once the political and religious centre of the Champa Kingdom. The Cham, who still exist within Vietnam today, once ruled the central provinces of modern Vietnam before being absorbed by the Vietnamese in around the 17th Century. My Son, the most significant and extensive Champa sites in Vietnam, dates back to the 4th -10th Century and its Indian influenced ruins are an easy motorbike ride away.

Though it may seem suffocated by the sheer number of tourists who make their way here, Hoi An’ beauty - unspoilt by either time or war - still offers visitors a unique glimpse into Vietnam’s historic past. To walk Hoi An’s historic streets is to walk in the footsteps of those traders and merchants who built so much of this town and, in their own way, helped to shape the Vietnam of today.

VietNamNet/SGT

yummyymym
24-11-2012, 05:00 PM
Guys can anyone help explain the usage of nhu the nao and do these two words?

FireShark
24-11-2012, 06:57 PM
..Vietnamese inflation picked up to the fastest pace in six months in November, according to official data, adding to the economic challenges facing the country's Communist rulers.

Consumer prices gained an estimated 7.08 percent this month from a year earlier, following a 7.0-percent rise in October, according to the General Statistics Office. It was the sharpest increase since May.

Month-on-month, prices edged up 0.47 percent in November.

"The government is really struggling to curb inflation while pushing economic growth," said a senior manager at one of Vietnam's major private banks who did not want to be named.

Vietnam struggled with double-digit price rises for years but after a string of interest rate hikes by the central bank to prevent the economy from overheating, annual inflation dropped to a three-year low of around 5.0 percent in August, well off a peak of 23 percent seen a year earlier.

The authorities have since changed tack in response to slowing economic growth, cutting interest rates five times since the start of 2012.

The communist country expects economic growth of just 5.2 percent for 2012 -- the slowest rate in 13 years.

Vietnam is also grappling with falling foreign direct investment and rising fears about toxic debts in the fragile banking system.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung admitted last month that his government had made mistakes in its stewardship of the troubled economy and had "learned our lesson".

..

mengxindi
24-11-2012, 08:56 PM
you also a Master teacher to many here ..... :D

I like your signature, bro.:D

jackbl
25-11-2012, 12:13 PM
Guys can anyone help explain the usage of nhu the nao and do these two words?

I guess, nhu the nao = how

jackbl
25-11-2012, 12:15 PM
Under the table fees burden businesses
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VietNamNet Bridge – Sixty three percent of enterprises said they always have to pay under the table fee to state officials in order to expedite their administrative procedures.

The government inspectors and the World Bank have held a press conference releasing the result of the social survey on embezzlement. The survey has found out that most businesses have to pave their way with underground fees and gifts to state officials.

The survey was conducted in February – April of 2012 on 2601 people, 1058 enterprises in 10 provinces and cities, including Hanoi and HCM City, and 1901 officials from five ministries.

Envelops and gifts make businesses’ success

Money and gifts have become the popular means for enterprises and people to expedite their works when they have to deal with state officials.

The polled enterprises and people said that state officials always put difficulties for them, which force them to give bribery in order to have the works done more quickly.

Businessmen not only have to pay underground fees on the spot, but they also have to maintain long term relations with state officials by giving gifts regularly on special occasions.

Inspectors have found out that 63 percent of businesses said state officials deliberately drag out works, while 29 percent of people said they give briberies because if they don’t, their works cannot go smoothly.

Among the polled state officials, 22 percent of officials said they once saw their colleagues deliberately putting big difficulties for businessmen and people to clamor for underground fees.

37 percent of people said they would give money immediately if they get troubles at state agencies, while 59 percent of businesses said they would only give briberies if they do not have other choices to have their works fulfilled.

Paying unofficial fees to expedite works has become a popular unwritten rule in the Vietnamese community. 63 percent of enterprises and 53 percent of people have confirmed this.

Giving briberies make business worse

It seems that underground fee and presents to state officials can help lubricate the governments, thus helping speed up the process of dealing with paper procedures.

A lot of people said they gave briberies on their own initiative before the state officials claimed for “fees.” When asked why they did this, they said that they simply did the thing that everyone does every day. In many cases, giving money was considered just the thanksgiving behavior.

Especially, some people paid underground money even if it was not really necessary. They said that they would rather spend money than spending time waiting and following complicated procedures.

Most businesses also said they would be ready to pay money, if this is necessary for their works.

However, ironically, briberies do not help improve business result. Enterprises wrongly think that the money they spend to expedite works would be offset by the better business results.

The surveyors have found that if businesses do not give briberies for one year, their business would be improved by 0.13 percent, but if they give briberies, the business result would be better by 0.03 only. In other words, businesses would have better business performance if they say “no” to briberies.

The finding has raised a hope that businesses and people can obtain their goals by other ways than giving briberies. In other words, they can find alternative methods to have better business results, while no need to waste money on briberies.

Press agencies have been playing a very important role in the fight against corruption. More than 80 percent of businesses and state officials said in many cases, newspapers, not competent agencies, discovered embezzlement cases first.

Pham Huyen

yummyymym
25-11-2012, 04:01 PM
I guess, nhu the nao = how

Thanks Brother.

intoxicated316
25-11-2012, 05:04 PM
lau roi toi khong di den day hoc tiengviet roi :)

jackbl
26-11-2012, 02:01 PM
lau roi toi khong di den day hoc tiengviet roi :)

Tai ban da biet nhieu tieng viet roi. K can den day. Neu den day, la day tieng viet thoi. Hjhj :D :p

intoxicated316
27-11-2012, 08:01 AM
Tai ban da biet nhieu tieng viet roi. K can den day. Neu den day, la day tieng viet thoi. Hjhj :D :p

Haha.. Ban ko noi nhu vay ha.. Toi thich den day doc tin.. Tin day hay lam waa nhung dao nay ko ranh den day doc doc.. toi cung hy vong toi co the hoc nhieu o day~~ ok.. Bay gio toi phai di lam roi.. Chuc cac ban chao buoi sang va 1 ngay tot lanh nhe :)) Tambiet!!

jackbl
27-11-2012, 08:43 AM
Vietnamese woman in South Korea commits suicide with two children
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VietNamNet Bridge - A Vietnamese woman committed suicide with her two children in the port city of Busan, South Korea, on November 23.


The Korea Times quoted local police as saying that the woman had committed suicide by jumping off the 18th floor of an apartment building, with her 7-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son in her arms.

The woman has been identified as Vo Thi Minh Phuong, 27, from the Mekong Delta city of Hau Giang, Vietnam.

After eight years of marriage, Phuong recently filed for divorce with her Korean husband. However, the 47-year-old husband did not accept. That day, Phuong locked the door from the inside and then held her children to jump off from her apartment.

Police said they would consider the suicide note written in Vietnamese that she left and questioned the husband to shed light on the incident.

On November 24, Mr. Vo Van Ro from Hoa Quoi Village, Hoa An commune, Phung Hiep District, Hau Giang province went to HCM City to fulfill procedures to got to South Korea to receive their daughter's body, according to the wishes of the women in the suicide note.

On November 23, the parents were informed of their daughter’s suicide. Her husband, Kim Yeong Hwa, a worker at a car part factory in the city is being questioned by police in order to clarify the cause of the death of his wife.

Before committing suicide, Phuong called to mourn with her mother in Vietnam, saying that she wanted a divorce because her husband was jealous for no reason and usually beat her. She also mentioned domestic violence in the suicide note.

Phuong’s family said that in 2004, Phuong went to Ho Chi Minh City to attend an "eye view" of foreign men. She then returned home and asked her parents’ permission to get married Kim Yeong Hwa, nearly 20 years older than her. Despite all objections, Phuong decided to marry this man though they knew each other for only one week.

A year later, Phuong gave birth to a baby girl. She then learned Korean and worked at a factory near her house. In 2010, she had the second child, a boy. She invited her parents to Korea to take care of her baby. Just a few months after the visit, she called home to mourn with her mother, saying she wanted a divorce because her husband was jealous for no reason and often beat his wife mercilessly.

More than four years ago, Tran Thi Lan, 22, a Vietnamese girl, also from Can Tho City, who married a Korean man also jump off high-rise building to commit suicide. Lan committed suicide just less than a month since she went to Korea with her husband.


Each year thousands of Vietnamese girls marry Korean husbands. According to data announced last month by the Korea Health and Social Institute, for the first time, the number of Vietnamese brides in South Korea ranks first among foreign brides, up to 7,636, outnumbering Chinese brides.

The Vietnamese brides mostly come from the Mekong Delta and get married with rural men in South Korea. The cultural gap as well as age often leads to difficulties in their family life.

The wave to marry foreign women of Korean men began in the early 2000s. By the end of last year, this country had a total of 124,000 foreign brides. They come mainly from Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and also China.

Compiled by My Linh

jackbl
28-11-2012, 09:42 AM
Vietnam becomes “job paradise” for English native speakers
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VietNamNet Bridge – Foreign language centers have never before had so many foreign teachers. The increasingly high demand for foreign English teachers has turned Vietnam into a promising land for many English native speakers.

There are two reasons that make Vietnam become the destination for many foreigners, who like traveling and want to make money. It is very easy to find a job as an English teacher in Vietnam because of the very high demand in the country. And secondly, the subsistence allowance is very low in Vietnam.

The country is the place where the demand and supply can easily meet each other. Vietnamese students now tend to learn English with foreign teachers rather than Vietnamese teachers. Meanwhile, foreign teachers find Vietnamese students and their parents friendly who can bring them stable income.

The hospitable land

Susan, an US teacher, said she arrived in HCM City in October 2011 and stayed idle for one month only before she got a job as an English teacher at a prestigious foreign language training center.

She said frankly, that it was so easy to find a job in Vietnam and that she did not have to spend too much time and efforts to find the job.

Susan said that teaching English is just a short term job which helps her earn money for the time being. However, the monthly income of 1700 dollars a month from the job of English teacher, Susan can live very well in Vietnam.

Andrea B, a US teacher at a big English center, also said she can live well with the job of teaching English in HCM City, and that she feels better with the life in HCM City than in South Korea, though she has been staying in HCM City for eight months only.

The woman, recalling the days in South Korea, said English teachers here were treated like robots and they were always asked to work harder. Meanwhile, she feels more convenient and flexible in Vietnam.

Michael Tatarski from the US, admitted that he won’t easily find a teaching job in Europe, because everyone can speak English there.

Therefore, he feels happy with the job as an English teacher in HCM City with which he can earn 1300-1400 dollars a month, the salary he won’t get if he goes to a European country.

Most of polled foreign teachers said they can earn from 800 dollars to over 2000 dollars a month from the job of teaching English, depending on the number of teaching hours.

One of them affirmed that the total income may be up to 2500 dollars a month, if she has more teaching hours.

She also said one of the reasons that makes HCM City a favorite destination for many US people, is that while they can earn much money, they only have to pay a little to cover the basic needs of their lives, because everything is much cheaper in HCm City.

Rusty Massie from Virginia State in the US said he came to HCM City in 2009 after spending six years teaching English in Czech Republic, where he earned 1200-1400 dollars.

Here in HCM City he earns 1500-2000 dollars and he feels better than in Czech because everything is very cheap in Vietnam, from house rent, meals to Internet service fee.

In fact, he can expect higher income if he goes to China or South Korea, but he would also have to spend more money because everything is very expensive in the countries.

Tien Phong

jackbl
28-11-2012, 10:10 AM
Students like western style, parents keep fearful
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VietNamNet Bridge – While Vietnamese students feel excited with the new teaching method applied by foreign teachers, their parents, who have generation differences with their children, have expressed their worry that the new method may do more harm than good.


Western is better than Vietnamese

Educators say the biggest advantage of the western teaching method is that it allows to establish friendly and open relations between teachers and students. In general, foreign teachers are always very enthusiastic, who always come to class earlier and stay late at school to clear up students’ queries.

Being open minded, dynamic, European teachers are always creative, generating the games so as to attract students to join. Especially, in the classes, students do not play a passive role, sitting and listening to the teachers. With the student-centered teaching method, students can be the subjects of the lessons, which allows them better understand the lessons.

Thu Anh, a 10th grader, now going to ILA English Center at No. 49 Hai Ba Trung Street in Hanoi, said she enjoys the English lesson with a US teacher very much.

“The teacher is so enthusiastic. If we cannot be present at the class, the teacher would correct our school works and then email us back,” he said.

David, the teacher, understands that the biggest problem of Vietnamese students when learning foreign languages is the hesitance to communicate. This leads to the bad speaking skill and the bad pronunciation. Therefore, he organizes a free pronunciation lesson a well opened to all students.

An officer of Sao Viet English Center at No. 155 on Xuan Thuy Road in Hanoi, said the center has employed six foreign teachers to satisfy the increasingly high demand for learning English with native speakers.

She said that a lot of children said they really enjoy learning with a teacher named Sam from the UK. They said they don’t feel tired during the lessons, but they feel as if they play very attractive games.

Thu Thao, a parent whose daughter is a student of the teacher, also said she found the teaching method of Sam very interesting.

“He always suggests games during the lessons for students to join. My daughter really enjoys the games which help her remember words very quickly,” Thao said.

When asked about the western teaching style, the students of an English center on Lang Road in Hanoi, said that they “like the western teachers more than Vietnamese ones” and that they also like the English lessons provided by the western teachers more, because they can freely speak, smile and play during the lessons.

More harm than good?

While a lot of parents, who have been influenced by the western lifestyle, applaud the western teaching method, conservative traditional Vietnamese parents feel worried that the western style may badly affect their children’s characteristics.

A parent said that she once attended an English lesson with a foreign teacher, where she felt inconvenient in a noisy classroom. Students laughed and talked, answered the teacher’s questions and ate popcorn. The teacher did not stand on the lecture hall dais, but sat on students’ table.

The foreign teachers not only teach English, but also bring western lifestyle. In many cases, the teachers expressed their satisfaction with students’ answers by embracing students, thus making female students feel insecure.

Thu Minh, a parent in Tay Ho district, said she has prohibited her daughter to go to the English class on Lang Road, after finding out that the girl really likes the US teacher. The girl gave up official lessons at school, but she attended all the picnic parties organized by the US teacher. As a result, she got a lot of bad marks from the teachers at school.

Compiled by Kim Chi

jackbl
29-11-2012, 12:27 AM
Multi-level companies close due to economic difficulties
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VietNamNet Bridge – As many as 14 multi-level marketing companies in HCM City have stopped their operations due to inefficiencies, the city's Industry and Trade Department said.


One multi-level distributor had its business licence revoked because of violations in sales.

There remain 21 multi-level businesses and about 10 branches of other multi-level companies operating in the city.

Multi-level marketing has developed quickly in the past few years. Both the number of businesses and people involved in the trade have increased, according to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

The MoIT's Department for Competitiveness Management has proposed the ministry revise its decree on multi-level business control in order to tighten management over the industry.

The department suggested increasing the amount that fraudulent companies are fined. Under the current regulation, a multi-level business must have its business licence revoked when its business registration is withdrawn or faults are found in the business's files or operation.

The move stems from the fact that some businesses took advantage of the multi-level-marketing model to appropriate money belonging to salesmen in their systems.

The most recent case of such behavior concerned the Muaban24 Online Trade and Training Co (MB24). Many people reported being victimized by the MB24 network, in which one had to pay VND5.2million (US$248) to buy a "store space" online.

Ha Noi police seized managers of the online trading company in August following allegations the company had appropriated billions of dong from customers.

VietNamNet/VNS

jackbl
29-11-2012, 09:09 AM
The tragedies of the children from rich families
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VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of children feel they are so unlucky just because they were born into rich families, where parents are too busy to take care of them.

T, director of an import-export company in HCM City, had always taken pride of the son until the day his wife called him and informed the son left the home and got addicted.

His son was an excellent student and obedient boy. Therefore, T felt secure about the future of the son. He believed that the only thing he needed to do is to work harder and earn more money to ensure a bright future for the son.

A working day of T lasts 14-16 hours. Three years ago, the man decided to make investment in the Cambodian market. Since then, T has been living far from home and he only returns to see his wife and the son when he needed to go on business to Vietnam

The members of his family all were busy. While he was away in Cambodia to take care for his investment project, his wife was busy at her work and the son was busy with his school works at an international school. The boy was given the “power” to decide everything relating to his study and daily life.

If he needed money, he could freely take the money left in the wardrobe by the parents, as much as he wanted.

Since the day he started business in Cambodia, the boy lived with the mother. As his wife was also busy with her work, she did not have time to take care for the son. She only had time to repeatedly ask the boy to learn hard and obtain high learning achievements and go abroad following the university education.

As the boy was given too much freedom, he could do everything he wanted, including making friends with bad people. The mother only realized the truth when the boy left home and got addicted. She immediately called her husband, asking him to return to deal with the naughty boy.

T and his wife regularly have arguments about the son, blaming each other on the current situation of the boy. T admitted that since he was away from home, he had not talked to the son and asked about his learning. Every time when he returned to Vietnam, he only met the boy several times, mostly to give him money to “cover his basic needs.”

“I remember that sometimes I called him once every several months. Sometimes I promised to call him when I finish working, but I later forgot the promise,” he said.

The one-day obedient boy has become a naughty child. He only gets home when he runs out of money and needs the “financial support” from parents. If the parents refuse to give money to force him to stay at home, the boy would sell the assets in the house for money, or threatened they would commit suicide.

An educator said he was so shocked when reading the notebook of a student of a school in Phu Nhuan district in HCM city. The student wrote that she and her friends many times thought of committing suicide because their parents did not have time to talk to them and share ideas with them.

“My parents have never asked me about my learning. I really don’t want to return home after the school hours, because I feel lonely at my home,” the diary of an eighth grader, an excellent student from well off family, who goes to school every day by car.

VTC

jackbl
30-11-2012, 02:00 AM
English teaching programs mushrooming in big cities
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VietNamNet Bridge – Most of the primary schools in Hanoi now run the international English teaching programs together with the standard program set up by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET).


Rushing to learn English

Under the MOET’s program on teaching foreign languages in the national educational system in 2008-2020, students from third grade would learn English at school.

However, in fact, not only third and subsequent graders, but the students, who begin going to school, now also learn English under the programs arranged by the schools where they go to.

Vice Headmaster of the Trung Van School in Tu Liem district Giang Thanh Thuy said the school’s first and second graders now follow Phonics English teaching program.

Nguyen Thi Xuan Lan, Headmaster of the Khuong Thuong School, also said the English teaching in accordance with Phonics curriculum for the last five years. The curriculum has been provided by VP Box Company.

Lan went on to say that all the schools in Dong Da district all run extra English teaching programs to help first and second graders get familiar with the subject.

A parent whose child goes to the Ngoc Thuy Primary School in Gia Lam district said that the first and second graders of the school now follow either Language Link or Phonics, and third graders, besides the MOET’s standard curriculum, have to learn English with Phonics as well.

Thuy of Trung Van School said though the English programs are not compulsory for first and second graders, most of the students have registered the English learning. The teachers are the school’s teachers who have attended training courses to obtain better knowledge and new pedagogical methods.

Students have two English lessons a week, for which they have to pay 50,000 dong in tuition.

Since the 2012-2013 academic year, students would have four English lessons a week with Vietnamese teachers and the other four lessons with Australian teachers provided by the school’s partner. Therefore, the tuition has increased to 120,000 dong.

Meanwhile, the students of the Thai Thinh Primary School in Dong Da district reportedly pay 150,000 dong a month for two lessons a week. A parent of a Hoang Dieu School’s student said he was asked to pay 6 million dong for one-year English learning, or 600,000 dong a month.

How high are the teachers’ qualifications?

Lan affirmed that her students have been very interested with the international English curriculums, while they also have the opportunities to talk with native speakers. This explains why parents all let their children to attend the extra English classes. The standard curriculums compiled by MOET are believed to be too focusing on grammar.

However, some parents have complained that their children have been forced to follow the English teaching program, though they don’t want to. The parents said they still have doubts about the teachers’ qualification.

Phuong, whose daughter goes to the Ngoc Thuy Primary School, said that the girl, who began learning English with American teachers from an early age, discovered that the teachers at the school had bad pronunciations.

“I reported this to the school and asked for another teacher,” he said.

Phuong also thinks that with 60 students in every class, a teacher would not have time to take care for everyone.

“An ideal class should comprise of 25 students only,” he said.

Meanwhile, another parent said though paying 6 million dong a year for the child’s English study at the school, she still brings the child to an English center as well to be sure that the child can learn in a best environment.

Van Chung

jackbl
30-11-2012, 02:04 AM
Vietnam kicks off pilot program on teaching science subjects in English
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VietNamNet Bridge – Science subjects have been taught in English at many general schools in big cities, where students can start learning English very soon and have good basic English skills.

The guests, who attended the mathematics lesson at the Luong The Vinh High School in district 1 of HCM City on November 8, all said that they were so surprised when seeing the lesson going so smoothly. Both the teacher and students communicated in English with no trouble.

Nguyen Minh Chau, MA, a mathematics teacher of the school, when students learn mathematics in English, their foreign language skills can be improved quickly. This would help the students read math materials at their suitable levels.

Hong Vinh, a 7th grader of the school affirmed that he understood what the teacher said. When the teacher raised questions, a lot of students raised their hands.

Sixth and seventh graders of the school have one math lesson in English a week. Meanwhile, 10th graders have two math lessons in English a week. Besides, physics and chemistry have also been taught in English.

The schools’ leaders admitted that it is really a difficult job to teach in English, therefore, the school began preparing for the program in 2006. To date, only 10 high schools in HCM City teach mathematics and other science subjects in English in the classes gathering 1600 students.

An official of the HCM City Education and Training Department said that the aim of the program is to improve the English skills of students. He also said that this is an optional subject, not compulsory, while the result of the learning would not be referred to when teachers assess students’ capability.

Cao Huy Thao, President of the Vietnam-Australia International School, said teaching science subjects in English at general schools is completely a “reasonable decision” which can help Vietnamese students improve their foreign language skills.

What curriculums to be used?

To date, there has been no official guidance from the Ministry of Education and Training on the curriculums, class organization and teaching staff. General schools choose teachers, curriculums and do everything themselves after consulting with experienced educators.

The board of management of the Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School in district 3 in HCM City said the teachers here have to read documents and improve their English skills to be able to teach students.

Regarding the curriculum, the teachers follow the lesson plans compiled on the basis of Australian textbooks for mathematics, Australian and American textbooks for physics.

Meanwhile, at Luong The Vinh School, the teachers follow the curriculums of College Mathematics.

The representatives of the 10 high schools have agreed at a meeting gathered by the HCM City education department that they all would use Cambridge’s curriculums.

The educators said Cambridge’s curriculums have 80 percent of the content similar to the content in Vietnamese textbooks. Therefore, this is really a reasonable choice.

However, it is the teaching staff, not curriculum, which is the biggest problem for schools. The English skills of the majority of Vietnamese teachers remains weak, while the teachers have not been retrained.

Dr Nguyen Dong Hai, Deputy Director of NSETC, a foreign language center that provides teachers to the high schools running the program on teaching science subjects in English, said the center has just finished the training of eight physics teachers. Meanwhile, the other 60 teachers are following the training courses at the center, whose English skills are at different levels.

NLD

jackbl
30-11-2012, 03:09 PM
Students beat teachers – a signal of morals degrading?
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VietNamNet Bridge – Local newspapers have repeatedly reported the serious cases of students beating teachers. The behavior is “unacceptable” in the eyes of old people, who, at their ages, were told that teachers should be the most respectful people.


The story about Tran Van Viet, born in 1995, a 12th grader of the Dang Thai Mai High School in Nghe An province stopped teacher Hoang Xuan Dong on his way and hit him to unconsciousness, appeared on all local newspapers these days. The injury was so serious and the teacher was brought to the Thanh Chuong general hospital in the province immediately.

Educators have warned that the number of cases where students beat their teachers tends to increase rapidly.

A lot of students have expressed their discontent over the “school hooliganism” which has become the topic of many education articles these days. When an adult beats a child, this would be a “normal thing” in the Vietnamese eyes. However, it would be a big problem if a student beats his teacher.

Kieu Thi Hang, an 8th grader of the Tich Giang Secondary School in Hanoi, said when hearing the news on TV, she feels worried and fearful, because she cannot imagine that there exist such rude students.

“Beating teachers must not a behavior of a student. This would be done only by a professional ruffian,” hang said.

However, Hang does not think that the cases reflect the current Vietnamese education panorama. Though the number of such cases has increased, this does not mean that the majority of Vietnamese students behave like this.

“Most of the Vietnamese students still follow the “teacher veneration” principle which has existed for the last many generations,” Hang said.

“As far as I know, the students who beat teachers are the bad students, who regularly violate the school regulations. I mean they are all naughty students,” she continued.

“Teachers need to be respected, and they should be considered as the second fathers of every student,” she concluded.

Do Van Tu, a 10th grader of the Hong Thai High School in Hanoi, after reading the story about Vietnam, also said this is unacceptable and unmannerly behavior which must be condemned violently by the society.

Meanwhile, Do Thi Lan, a student of the Dan Phuong High School, said that students in the modern times are no more obedient. In the past, students one and all had to follow the teachers’ instructions. However, nowadays, students dare to express their viewpoints and disagreements with the teachers.

However, Lan still believes such behavior must not happen at school.

“Students have the right to express their viewpoints and the disagreements, but they don’t have the right to beat others, especially their teachers,” Lan said, adding that the naughty students seemed to “abuse” their personal freedom.

There are many reasons that lead to the students’ extremist behaviors. Pham Ngoc Hai, a student of the Kim Bang district continuation training center said in most cases, students hit teachers simply because the teachers gave them bad marks or asked them to do too many home exercises.

“Most of the students at my schools just go to class everyday in order to obtain the high school degree. Therefore, they do not spend much time on studying, but on teasing teachers and classmates,” Hai said.

Hoang Van Tuyen, a local resident in Kim Bang district in Ha Nam province, has noted that students nowadays are too lazy about working, while “idleness is the mother of all evil.”

Compiled by C. V

jackbl
01-12-2012, 01:09 AM
City schools hesitate to use Filipino English teachers
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Higher pay and quality concerns have prevented Ho Chi Minh City schools from accepting Filipino English teachers under a pilot program by the municipal education department.

City schools have registered to receive only 29 Filipino English teachers from the department, which plans to recruit 100 such teachers for the K-12 education system in this academic year.

The teacher recruitment is part of a pilot program to help improve school students’ command of English, according to the city Department of Education and Training.

Each student will chip in VND120,000 (US$5.8) a month to cover the $2,000 monthly salary for the teachers, it said.

An elementary school principal in District 3, an area whose schools have not registered for any Filipino teachers so far, said that it is hard for them to ask their students to pay an extra VND50,000 a month to hire Filipinos because they have had to contribute a monthly sum of VND70,000 to study with British teachers for many years.

A District 6 education board leader said that no schools there have signed up for Filipino teachers for the same reason.

“Our students are paying VND50,000-70,000 a month to be taught by native speakers from Canada and the U.S.,” the official said, “so district schools feel hesitant employing Filipinos at a higher tuition fee even when they use English simply as a second language.”

Uncertainty

Nguyen Thanh Hai, chief of the Tan Binh District education board, said that his schools are willing to take Filipino English teachers as long as they are paid by money from the state budget.

“Otherwise, we need time to think about it before asking for payment from the parents,” Hai said.

The official revealed that Tan Binh District schools will be watching how Filipinos teach English at other schools and then act accordingly.

Two schools in District 1 will use two Filipino English teachers in the near future, according to Dinh Thien Can, the district education board chief.

“We will see how they perform at these schools and then plan for the next school year,” Can said.

Willing to fire teachers immediately

Le Hong Son, the education department director, said the Filipino English teachers who have been chosen thus far are expected to start next month.

“We will fire them right away if they fail to meet our requirements or show any bad manners during their work at the schools,” Son affirmed.

They will teach English to students, engage in discussions on expertise with local English teachers, and take part in extra-curricular activities during the contracted time, he said.

Son recently told local media that his department opted for Filipino English teachers because they demanded a lower salary, while their Australian peers asked for $5,000, and British for $10,000.

In the meantime, many expat English teachers have told Tuoi Tre that teaching English can generate US$800-2,500 a month, depending on the number of working hours.

They revealed that a $2,500 monthly income would require long hours of hard work from them.

jackbl
01-12-2012, 01:11 AM
City educators debate use of Filipino English teachers
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An education board decision to recruit Filipino English teachers for designated K-12 schools in Ho Chi Minh City has become a bone of contention among local educators.

The city Department of Education and Training recently said it would recruit 100 Filipinos to teach English at elementary, middle, and high schools chosen by education offices at the district level in this school year.

Elementary school principals then wondered why the department decided to employ Filipinos instead of native speakers from the UK, US, Australia, and Canada.

Filipino teachers demanded a lower salary, a mere US$2,000 per month, while their Australian peers asked for $5,000 and British for $10,000, Le Hong Son, the department director, explained, citing a poll.

They are being considered also because of their standard accent thanks to the fact that English is one of the two official languages of the Philippines, Son said.

English is used in government documents and daily conversations in the country, while most high schools and colleges there use the language as the medium of instruction, he elaborated.

The principals said the department should have publicized its requirements and proposed salary so that interested native speakers from the UK, US, Australia, and Canada could apply.

“Who knows how many of them would accept the $2,000 monthly salary?” they asked.

Son clarified that his agency and the municipal finance and internal affairs departments conducted a working visit to the Philippines before making the decision.

“We will return to that country and interview the teachers in person prior to any official recruitment,” he said.

Dr Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, dean of the English faculty at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said that it is advisable to learn English with native speakers.

So great care should be taken in respect to accent, pronunciation, and intonation before hiring teachers from the Philippines.

“We should avoid using those teachers who are too Filipino in their English,” Dr Thu said.

In the meantime, Dr Vu Thi Phuong Anh, with an association of private universities, supported the use of Filipino English teachers, further explaining that their English is the best in Southeast Asia.

“I have been to the Philippines many times and found that local people speak English almost like native speakers,” Dr Anh pointed out. “Thus I go for them.”

The principal of an international school in the city disagreed with Dr Anh, explaining that English is a second language, not the mother tongue, in the Philippines, so their accent is certainly not as good as British or Australian people.

Vietnamese students will speak English like Filipinos, not native speakers, if they are taught by Filipinos, he warned.

“It is always best to study English with native speakers,” the principal insisted.

A local English teacher protested the department’s recruitment policy, saying that it should employ Vietnamese teachers who once studied in an English-speaking country and can speak the language as fluently as native speakers.

“A $1,000 monthly salary would be enough to lure many of them,” the teacher said.

Director Son said that using Filipino teachers is a short-term plan against the backdrop that many Vietnamese teachers are weak in listening and speaking skills.

“This is to encourage local teachers to improve their command of English via frequent contact with English-speaking colleagues.”

Beginning earlier this month, the teacher recruitment is part of a pilot program to help students at the selected schools improve their English proficiency, according to the department.

The teachers, who must have a first degree and be equipped with TESOL skills, will teach English to students, engage in discussions on expertise with their Vietnamese counterparts, and take part in extra-curricular activities during the contracted time, it said.

jackbl
01-12-2012, 12:58 PM
VN version......

Police investigate Hai Phong’s teen sex clip
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VietNamNet Bridge - A teen couple had sex in the toilet and filmed by a cell phone. The clip was uploaded to Facebook. The police are tracing the one who posted the sex clip.

In this 9-minute video clip, the young girl was not embarrassed when her boyfriend arranged a cell phone to film their sex scenes. Hot and sensitive positions were filmed closely.

The characters in this video are said to be high school students in the northern port city of Hai Phong. Not long after it was posted on a Facebook page, which is believed to belong to the boy in the clip, the page was removed. However, the clip has been shared widely.

Many people commented that the girl in this clip was "foolish", "indecent" and the clip would affect her future. Many other made rude comments and criticized the girl.

Director of the Education & Training Hai Department of Hai Phong City, Mr. Do The Hung said a high school in the city has confirmed that the girl in the clip is a former student. The girl quitted school and is about to get married.

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Pham Duy, Director of Hai Phong Public Security Bureau, said the local police are investigating the case to identify the characters in the clip and the one who posted it on the Internet.

"We must consider the motives and reasons for launching this clip," Dien said.

A person who spreads porn movies can be handled on charges of spreading depraved cultural products as being defined in Article 253 of the Criminal Code. Those who commit this act can be sentenced from six months’ probation to 15 years in prison.

Compiled by Na Son

jackbl
02-12-2012, 01:48 AM
Vietnamese parents don’t know what school to send children to
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VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of parents complain that the education market is now like a “bear garden,” where it is so difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood.


Every parent, who has children at schooling ages, suffers headaches, because they do not know what schools they should bring the children to.

State owned schools have become overloaded with poor material facilities and numerous students in every class.

Meanwhile, no one can say for sure about the education quality of people-founded schools. While private primary schools have to organize competitions to select students, secondary and high private schools cannot attract students. People believe that private schools are reserved for bad students, while good students would prefer studying at state owned schools.

Poor parents would not choose international schools for their children, because they cannot afford the sky high tuitions set by the schools.

Meanwhile, the rich parents do not think much about the high tuitions, but they keep doubtful about the education quality provided by international schools. Local newspapers have cited examples to prove that not all international schools can provide education service which meets “international standards.”

A parent said the first article he red early yesterday morning is the one on Tuoi tre newspaper about the former President of the Quy Nhon University, who got the 4-year jail sentence for illegally collecting 18.5 billion dong from 22,000 students.

Tran Tin Kiet, the former president, was once discovered as “deliberately breaking the state’s regulations on economic management and causing serious consequences” in 2006-2008. However, he was merely sentenced to 15 months’ probation, and he still was on the position of President for two more years, until 2008.

The parent said local newspapers have repeatedly reported the wrongdoings in the education sector, which has made him feel anxious. How can the children be grown up into useful citizens of the society, if their teachers are the ones like Kiet?

Gia Dinh & Xa hoi newspaper reported that parents have got angry when their children, the students of an international school which set the sky high tuitions of 300 million dong a year, have to have frugal meals at the school. Meanwhile, the curriculums have been changed regularly.

Nguyen Nam, a parent in Cau Giay district, who has a daughter going to the S International School, said that earlier this academic year, the school decided that Chinese language must be a curricular subject. After that, the school began teaching mathematics and science subjects in English. Especially, the school has cut the lessons for physical exercises.

Nam complained that though parents have to pay high tuitions, their children still cannot enjoy good material facilities. No one knows about the qualification of the teachers. All of the teachers reportedly have university degrees, but it’s still unclear what universities they graduate from.

No state management agency comes forwards and supervises the education quality of international schools. Therefore, children have become the “white cats” that serve the experiments of the new training models, the result of which remains unclear.

Hundreds of students of Melior School in HCM City have been put on tenterhooks because the school has suddenly shut down. Meanwhile, they still have not received the answers from management agencies about the measures to help students take back the hundreds of millions of dong in tuitions.

GDVN

jackbl
02-12-2012, 12:01 PM
Vietnam remains an amateur in developing tourism industry
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VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam has been opening its doors to receive foreign tourists for the last 20 years. However, it remains unprofessional in persuading foreign travelers to spend their money in Vietnam.


Foreign travelers don’t spend big money in Vietnam

Cruise travelers have been well-known as high income clients who are ready to spend big money on shopping at the destination points. However, the travelers do not have many reasons to spend money in Vietnam because of the unprofessional way of organizing sales campaigns.

Though the service fees have been increasing steadily year after year, the money spent by foreign travelers to Vietnam has been increasing very slightly. Meanwhile, if not counting the price spiral, the spending of foreign travelers in Vietnam has decreased.

Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon has quoted the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) as saying that foreign travelers stayed in Vietnam for 12 days in 2011 on average, the same with the statistics released two years before. During that time, a traveler spent 1268.4 dollars, or 105 dollars per day.

Thanh Nien has reported that when the five star cruise ship Voyager of the Seas, which carried 4000 travelers, docked at the SP-PSA international port some days ago, a lot of travelers decided to stay in the ship instead of going visiting HCM City and Vung Tau City as scheduled by the tour organizer.

The travelers turned out to be lucky with their decisions. It was a thorny itinerary to go from the port to HCM City, even though the distance between the two points was not long.

Highway No. 51 was in bad conditions, since it rained heavily some days ago, the coaches carrying travelers could go very slowly. The situation was even worse on the Hanoi Highway, and so was on the way from Suoi Tien to the HCM City center.

It took the travelers six hours to come to HCM City and return to the ship. As a result, the duration for them to visit HCM City was shortened to two hours, which was not enough for them to do the sightseeing and shopping.

In fact, travelers could buy souvenirs on the areas nearly the ship docking places. However, these were just the kiosks set up temporarily by professional vendors. Though they were called “kiosks,” they were just the tents made of canvas which just could help partially avoid the heat from the sun.

Here, except for some “special products” which were hung on the ropes, other products were put together in piles. Meanwhile, the salesmen here were all wearing protective masks. All of that raised doubts about the salesmen and the products available.

The strange decisions by management agencies

Phan Dinh Hue, Director of Vong Tron Viet travel firm, said on Thanh Nien that the unprofessionalism can be seen also in the way Vietnam runs marketing and advertisement campaigns to promote Vietnam tourism.

Despite the limited budget for tourism promotion, Vietnam still keeps the ambitious idea of attracting tourists from all markets. In 2012, the number of travelers from far market decreases dramatically because tourists don’t want to spend big money on air tickets in the current difficult period.

However, Vietnam still spends big money to participate the tourism trade fairs in the markets. Meanwhile, it overlooks the nearby markets with potential growth.

While the tourism industry faces big difficulties in the global economic crisis which has forced travel firms to slash tour fees to attract more travelers, the Quang Ninh provincial authorities have decided to raise the ship service fee for nearly 100 percent, commencing from the fourth quarter of 2012.

Prior to that, the provincial authorities also decided to raise the excursion fee at the Ha Long Bay.

Compiled by C. V

jackbl
02-12-2012, 12:02 PM
Foreign travel agencies promote Vietnam’s sea tourism
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VietNamNet Bridge – Many travel agencies in Europe are promoting Vietnam as a destination for tourists rather than a stopover of tours to Southeast Asian countries, said local tour operators after a recent road show abroad.

Promoting Vietnam as an independent destination has started for two to three years, with groups of tourists from France, Germany and the United Kingdom coming to Vietnam since then, but the trend is clearly seen now, they said after attending the World Travel Market 2012 (WTM 2012) in the United Kingdom early this month.

Some agencies such as Kuoni Connection, Southern Cross and Tandem have had publications to introduce and sell tours at the fair.

“If Vietnam is just a stop in a journey, there is little likelihood that tourists will visit Vietnam again, but with promotion publications, the likelihood will be higher,” said Bui Viet Thuy Tien, managing director of Asian Trails Co., Ltd.

A representative of a resort in Danang City said that with this trend, beach resorts in Vietnam, especially those managed by multinational groups, would receive more direct bookings from foreign travel agencies.

“We have a global booking and sales system and global deals, and thus it is more convenient to take bookings from foreign agencies,” he said.

According to Tien from Asian Trails, tourism images of Vietnam are closer to travel agencies in Europe thanks to a series of promotion activities of hotel groups having projects in Vietnam in recent times such as InterContinental, Sheraton and Bayan Tree. Besides, Vietnam Airlines carried out numerous promotion activities when it opened a direct flight to the United Kingdom.

“I met a lot of partners. They said that sales representatives in Europe of international hotel groups in Vietnam have closely cooperated with partners to both sell products of resorts and promote the destination,” Tien said.

VietNamNet/SGT

jackbl
03-12-2012, 09:14 AM
The hidden side of ancient Hue
===============================================
VietNamNet Bridge – When you talk about tourism in the ancient city of Hue, many people will think about the mausoleums of the Vietnamese kings.

Once those sites have been checked off the list, there is nothing left to see and no need to return. That is the established thinking, anyway.

To me, however, it is very different. I am fascinated by this small and historic city and its surroundings, and I am struck by a great happiness every time I return. There is far more to Hue than meets the eye.

I love the cuisine, the beautiful scenery and the slow pace, and it is easily among one of my favourite destinations.

My love for Hue has been enriched even more after a recent visit to Suoi Voi (Elephant Spring), which is hidden away in Loc Tien Commune in Phu Loc District. In this place, my friend and I swam in the springs, played in the forest and ate delicious local chicken. It was a wonderful day.

Suoi Voi is about 60km from the centre of Hue, and 40km from Da Nang City. Its location between these two cities makes it a popular pit-stop for people making the journey between the two.

While people call it a spring, it would be more accurate to say that it is a network of pure springs, boulders, mountains and jungle which come together to create a truly stunning landscape.

The journey there is unremarkable, and the road is made of cement. We parked the car when we could go no further and clambered up high steps with some uncertainty. Then the spring appeared.

It was breathtaking. Suddenly I became very aware of an incredibly fresh atmosphere caused by the pure and cool pool of water and the green of the surrounding forestry.

Bamboo huts built by local people lined the two sides of the stream, with the water bubbling past creating a natural soundtrack to the idyllic scene.

Visitors here are able to hire a hut, take a rest and enjoy the local cuisine.

We did exactly this, and lay back with our feet dangling into the cool flow of water.

Talking to the hut's owner, I was informed that Suoi Voi was once called Suoi Me (Me Spring – me meaning large elephant in the ancient language).

In spring, she explained while preparing a meal for us, when the weather was warm hundreds of elephants from Bach Ma Mountain would come to the forest and this particular stream to find cassava shrubs and other food.

Oddly, they only came to this one region, and then after some time – just as mysteriously – they left for the last time and never came back.

The elephants left their marks in the shape of large holes surrounding the spring, which over time filled with water to become small pools.

These are clear and cool and instantly attractive to visitors who want to jump in and swim as soon as seeing them. Signposts clearly label which ones are safe for them to do so.

My friend, who comes from northern region of Viet Nam, said that he has visited many places like Suoi Voi in the north, such as Suoi Tien, Khoang Sanh and Ao Vua, but he loved this experience the most.

"They all have the combination of natural fountains, forests, and rocks, but the ones in the north are less beautiful.

Here it is clean and safe for swimming," he said.

To make absolutely sure we were safe, my friend hired a lifebuoy to swim for just VND10,000.

Suoi Voi soon proved to be an equally perfect destination for sunbathing, with visitors tired from their swim able to rest at full stretch on the large rocks to enjoy the sun as it radiated through the canopy of trees above.

While my friend swam, I took the chance to gaze out at the surrounding landscape.

I noticed a big rock shaped like an elephant with a long trunk, and the hut's owner told me that it was artificial, made to memorise the real elephants that gave the site its name.

This elephant marks the nearby Elephant Lagoon, which is perhaps the most beautiful pool as it lies between two waterfalls and is completely translucent.

The hut's owner suggested that I explore further inside the forest – packed with rare animals and plants – in order to discover more beautiful hidden scenes and enjoy many new experiences such as fishing in some pools and picking local vegetable to cook soup. I wholeheartedly approved of this idea, and went for a long walk.

I think that Suoi Voi is a special place not just for its natural beauty but also for the things that it brings to the local people.

Since first opened as a tourist destination in 1994, it has brought jobs to many residents, despite only being open throughout the summer. It is estimated that each household can earn about VND12-15 million (US$600-750) per season from offering services to visitors.

At the end of the day – capped off with a delicious chicken noodle dish – I was extremely reluctant to leave. It had been a truly memorable experience, and one that I am sure I will relive in the future. For me, the beauty and cuisine of Hue and its surroundings are sure to entice me back again and again.

VietNamNet/VNS
Vietnam; tourism; Hue; Suoi Voi; Suoi Me

jackbl
04-12-2012, 01:51 AM
"Love market" of charladies in Saigon
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VietNamNet Bridge – When the night falls, hundreds of boys and girls from different places flock to this “market” to find their lovers.

Each of them has a plight and comes from different countryside, but they have the same job – working as maid for well-off families.

There is no trade and no noise at this market. This special market only takes place in the weekend and people come here in an effort to seek their “true half” who can share the joys and sorrows of life.

It is called the love market but it is not a place for girls to sell themselves, or for boys to find trivial physical feelings. It's just a meeting place for girls who work as charladies to date.

Under opaque yellow light, hidden behind old trees, the face of every person who participates in the market portrays many concerns. Some rejoice when the market closes but others are said and anxiously wait for the next market.

At 7 pm on a Saturday, at Pham Dinh Ho park in Ward 1, District 6, Ho Chi Minh City, the “love market" begins to be bustling. Groups of boys and girls flock to the market.

But there are boys and girls to come here alone. They sit quietly on benches in the park, waiting for their friends. Those who have found their partners split into couples to talk. Others walk around the park to find their partners.

Occasionally, a few girls who are still alone are shy and blush when strange guys approach to talk. Somewhere melodies of love songs come from cell phones of guys, as “gifts” for their girlfriends.

Bracelets and leather wallets sold at the roadside become gifts of love that they present each other.

At about 8 hours, all stone benches in the park were packed with people. The "market" has no sellers or buyers, no noise, only groups of people or couples whispering and giggling and exchanging happy smiles.

Le Thi Thanh Thai, a girl with a beautiful name from the southern province of Ben Tre said that she has worked as a charlady in Saigon for several years. She spent most of her time for work, so when she heard about the love market, she was eager to go there to try her luck.

On weekend nights, Thanh was permitted to go out, but she had to return home before the "curfew" hour of the employer. On Saturday, Thanh always tried to complete her tasks very soon, then catching a motorbike taxis to the "love market."

In her first days at the market, Thanh was bewildered and shamed because of her job as a charlady. But she ignored that complex, hoping to find the "prince" of her life.

She felt more conveniently when other charladies also went to the market. After several meetings, love smiled with her.

Among the boys she dated, Thanh fell in love with a worker. Both had difficult circumstances so they easily have sympathy with each other.

In this "love market," there are a lot of touching stories about love of charladies and some of them found their husbands here, for example Ky and Hien (both from Rach Gia, Kien Giang.)

Once Ms. Hien was walking on the road, asking the way to the love fair; she casually acquainted Ky who was also wandering in the garden to find a friend. They became friends and then lovers.

Each week, they looked forward to Saturday evening to see each other. Knowing each other for a few months, they are preparing for a wedding later this year.

Two Khmer girls from Ca Mau province, Thanh and Hoang, were also charladies. One worked for a family in District 11 and the other worked for a family in District 6.

Son Thi Thanh, 19, said she had a boyfriend in the "love market" but they had broken up recently because of the difference in personalities.

The girl named Kim Thi Hoang seemed to be quiet and sad. "She has not seen her boyfriend here for a few weeks. She does not know where to find him so she is very sad,” Thanh explained.

Hoang and her boyfriend knew each other for 6 months. This man is also from Ca Mau. He worked for a bakery in District 5. Every week, they walked for 6, 7 kilometers to meet each other at this market. However, the man did not come to the market for four weeks.

No one knows exactly when the “love market” for charladies was formed. Beverage sellers near Pham Dinh Ho Park said that initially only a few pairs of men and women who worked as charladies for families near the park chose this place as their dating place.

But then this place got more crowded. Now, it has become a "dating place" of hundreds of charladies in Saigon.

Thach Van Dung, from Tra Vinh, a male worker at an ice factory on Kinh Duong Vuong road, said: "Without this market, we do not know where to meet and communicate with friends of my age.”

For a year, Dung went to this market on every Sunday evening to look for his "half" but he did not find her yet. Dung knew over a dozen of couples who became spouses thanks to this market and he wished to be lucky like them. Some couples still went to this market after marriage, to celebrate their love.

Yet, not all love stories have happy ending. A close friend of Dung had a sad love story at this "love market" because his pretty girlfriend, a charlady for a Chinese family in District 5, broke up with him to become "mistress" of a rich man, with hope to change her life.

Some boys went to this "love market" to cheat girls. "But there are not many cases like that. Most of us expect to find our true half here," Dung said.

Nearly 10pm, boys and girls began leaving the "love market." They said goodbye to see each other next week. It seems that a few hours to meet weekly are too short for them.

"We meet each other for only several hours but we are very happy. These meetings are a driving force to help people like us to further love life," a girl said.

Compiled by Nguyet Ngan

jackbl
04-12-2012, 04:05 PM
Reasons to head out to Vietnam
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VietNamNet Bridge - Known with many famous tourist sites with natural beauties, tranquil villages, ancient pagodas, beautiful lakes, Vietnam has been a popular tourist destination in the world. Not convinced as yet? Here are the top reasons why Vietnam should be your next destination.



Reason # 1: A stunningly beautiful country

Vietnam is just beautiful, its geography, topography, landscapes, and especially 3265 km of coastline. Magnificent mountains, Red River and the Mekong deltas, rivers and primary forests make the country an amazing land to visit. The top destinations for ideal Vietnam travel is the 2000 fascinating naturally sculptures rising up from emerald water in Halong Bay. Or head to the Northwest and enjoy the spectacular scenery of terrace rice fields in Sapa, occupied by different tribes. In the central region, Vietnam boasts its best beaches on earth and ready for your golden holidays in Cua Dai beach, Nha Trang beach or Mui Ne beach. In the Mekong delta, tourists get amazed by amazing ways of life from floating villages and floating markets.

Reason # 2: World Heritages

It is not difficult to find out key highlights of Vietnam. The small country is proud to have rich heritages, from natural ones to man-made spiritual. So far Vietnam has 7 UNESCO World Natural and Cultural Heritage Sites which contribute to its appealing beauty, including Hue Complex Monuments, Hoi An ancient town, My Son Holy Land, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Halong Bay, The Cultural Space of Gong in the Central Highlands, the Royal Court Music of Hue. Other intangible heritages that attract tourists are Xoan singing, Folk songs and Ca Tru.

Reason # 3: Friendly and Hospitable People

Vietnamese people are the most hospitable and friendly in the World. This feature is popular in all regions of the country. You can find happy faces everywhere from cities to the countryside. You will have a chance to talk and chat with them happily. Foreign kids with blond hair and blue eyes will be most adored by Vietnamese women. Visiting their home, guests will often be offered all kind of fruits and food prepared with great attention for free.

Reason # 4: Multi-ethnic Cultures

The country is populated by 54 groups of people living happily and sharing unique cultures. Each of the group has their own cultures, languages, customs and clothes which make Vietnam a multi-cultural destination. For example, the black H’Mong ladies’ clothes are in black color while the Red Dzao ladies’ clothes are colorful with red scraps on their heads. Visitors will learn different ways of life and it is just making their Vietnam holidays more interesting.

Reason # 5: Best Cuisine on Earth

Vietnamese cuisine is just awesome, and hardly could any visitors have negative comments on Vietnamese food. There is admirably a great balance between vegetable and meats, as well as a selective use of spices to reach a fine taste. Vietnamese food can be considered one of the healthiest cuisines worldwide. Traditional Vietnamese cooking is appreciated for the freshness of the ingredients and for the minimum use of oil which makes this cuisine very healthy. Hardly do families use processed food for daily meals. Most visitors to Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City will try to plan for a half day cooking tour to learn hands on cooking skills.


Reason # 6: Amazing Development

One reason that draws more visitors to Vietnam is its steady and rapid economic growth. It is not a war anymore. After some 3 decades of open door policies, the country is now in the middle income country. In cities, sky scrapers, high office buildings, residential towns and services are booming. Most visitors will be surprised to see luxurious cars and items are on the markets in this once war torn country. More and more foreigners work in Vietnam, which is seen as a tiger in Southeast Asia.

Reason # 7: Top Security in the World

Last but not least is the country’s top security in the World for your dream holiday. Vietnam is now one of the safest countries in the world. There are no fears for long term strikes, protests, terrorism, guerilla attacks, bombings, kidnaps or killings that affect your holiday. With one party, Vietnam is highly controlled with its own system. In particular, foreigners in Vietnam are highly protected by the legal systems and authorities. Vietnamese government will give a very strict penalty to Vietnamese people who cause damages to foreigners.

Red Crane Travel

jackbl
05-12-2012, 09:57 AM
Crime will bring consequences to Vietnam: expat victim
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I come from Ireland. I have lived and worked in Vietnam for six months. It would take me the whole day to list all the reasons why I love it here and have decided to live in this S-shaped country for a long time.

But I have to say that robberies here, especially in Ho Chi Minh City, have strongly affected the liking I have for it.

As a part of my work, I have been to many countries and continents. And I think the crime rate in Vietnam is now worrisome.

The other day, I was working with several colleagues in our office in District 2 [Ho Chi Minh City] when a man claiming to be an electrician came in. We were a little uneasy but his seemingly confident and professional look made us think that he had been called in by the office building owner. I naïvely left my desk for a while, and found that the wallet in my bag had disappeared on my return. The “electrician” was nowhere to be found then. I lost my cash, bank and phone cards, and relatives’ photos.

I was really sad and disappointed, continually blaming myself for that incident. But what frustrated me most was not the loss of money, but the fact that the wallet contained many things that were spiritually invaluable to me. I wished the “electrician” had merely taken the money and returned the wallet with the other contents to me … It was a long time ago, and I feel better now but still I cannot completely forget about it.

Since then, I only bring enough money to spend in a day and leave all my papers at home whenever I go out. I carry my laptop in a bag worn over my chest, rather than on my back.

Despite these precautions, I had my backpack snatched on the street in Ho Chi Minh City two months back. It was twilight and I was on my way home from a supermarket. I carefully put my backpack to the side facing the pavement. Suddenly, the headlights of a speeding motorbike made me instinctively cover my eyes with one hand. The backpack was then seized and I was thrown to the street.

There was nothing valuable inside the backpack but what frightened me was the possibility of a serious accident. It is almost unbelievable that I fell victim to crime twice during the last six months. I gave up my dream of traveling across Vietnam with my belongings, even if I was 25 years younger than I am now.

Crime will, of course, create bad outcomes: visitors will never come back, foreign business owners will be hesitant to invest in Vietnam, and Vietnamese will look ugly and suspicious in the eyes of international visitors.

To improve the situation, I think Vietnam should mete out punishments severe enough to make criminals afraid when they think of committing a crime. In my opinion, you can learn from countries in the region that seem to have systems that deal quite adequately with crime. In particular, I lived in Singapore for four years and found the system acceptable in its severity. During my time there I even had the opportunity to speak with Singaporean citizens who were punished for crimes they had committed. Each time the person had the same remark; “I have been punished once and do not want to have the experience again”…. I would recommend looking far and wide (even outside Asia) to see what systems are in operation in different countries that have good results in their fight against crime, and also study what system used to help criminals find their place in society once again, to help them permanently re-insert themselves so that they do not have to resort to crime again once they are released from prison or have been punished.

In Europe it is not uncommon for representatives of the police force or the judicial system to visit schools to discuss crime levels, the role of the police force or explain the laws and the punishments for each crime. This is not only informative for children but it also creates a link of trust and understanding in order to show that the police force deserves trust and respect for the work that it does. This also helps create more understanding in the minds of the children so that they can eventually feel less apprehensive about going to the police to report a crime or ask for help. It probably sounds a little naïve but the objective is to show that the police are there above all to protect everybody, as a “friend” would, and are not there to punish systematically or unfairly.

Children are obviously the future of any country, so having them understand the police force and feel comfortable with the police is important. However, the community as a whole (therefore young and old) should be involved in this educational process.

Television is a very effective vector of communication. In certain European countries there is a weekly TV program hosted by members of the police force informing the population about crime and calling for the population’s participation and assistance in fighting crime and resolving certain crimes.

Neighborhood surveillance groups have also been created in Europe (and the USA) to act as a relay for the police force and therefore help to considerably reduce the levels of theft and assaults in certain neighborhoods.

jackbl
05-12-2012, 12:24 PM
The author of the lessons continued to teach further so we can learn more now .......

41 – While reading this, I learn something useful – trong khi
================================================== ================
The way you use these words is similar to the English counterpart: at the beginning of a sentence, or in the middle, between 2 sentences

Trong khi (while) + sentence 1 happens, sentence 2 also happens

Sentence 1 happens trong khi (while) sentence 2 also happens

Anh ấy dọn nhà trong khi em nấu cơm tối
He clean house while I cook rice evening
He cleans the house while I cook dinner


Trong khi ông đi du lịch, cây xoài ở nhà bị đổ
While he go travel tree mango at home got fallen
While he was travelling, the mango tree at home fell.


You can also use trong khi with a verb to indicate 2 actions happening at the same time.

Trong khi + action 1, subject + action 2
Subject + action 1 + trong khi + action 2

Trong khi xem phim, Lan bị mất ví
When watch movies Lan lost purse
While watching movies, Lan lost her purse

Bạn không được nghe điện thoại trong khi lái xe
You are not allowed to listen to the phone when drive vehicle (car)
You’re not allowed to listen to the phone when driving.

jackbl
06-12-2012, 08:33 AM
42 – Before & after you know this… trước khi, sau khi
================================================== =========================

Similar to trong khi (while, when), you can use trước khi (before) and sau khi (after) with a sentence or with a verb.

Trước khi / Sau khi + sentence 1 happens, sentence 2 happens
Sentence 1 happens trước khi / sau khi (while) sentence 2 happens

Anh ấy đi làm trước khi chị ấy về nhà
He go to work before she return home
He goes to work before she returns home


Sau khi trời mưa đường thường trơn và dễ ngã
After the sky rain the road usually slippery and easy (to) fall/slip
After the rain, the road is usually slippery and easy (for people to) fall / slip.


You can also use trong khi with a verb to indicate 2 actions happening at the same time.

Trong khi + action 1, subject + action 2
Subject + action 1 + trong khi + action 2

Trước khi ra khỏi phòng anh nhớ tắt đèn
Before get out of room you (male) remember turn off light
Before getting out of your room, (you) remember to turn off the light!


Bác ấy đưa con đi học sau khi ăn sáng
He take the kid go to study after eat breakfast
He takes his kid to school after eating breakfast

jackbl
06-12-2012, 11:25 PM
Weeks, months, and years have gone by (not)
================================================== ================

Previously I had 2 lessons on asking the time and when someone does something, but it was quite silly of me since I didn’t explain how to express different periods of time. So here we go again

Days of the week

Thứ hai (2) Thứ ba (3) Thứ tư (4) Thứ năm (5) Thứ sáu (6) Thứ bảy (7) Chủ nhật

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun

Thứ means day of the week, and Vietnamese adds a number after that to specify which day of the week it is. A Vietnamese week starts from thứ 2 and ends on chủ nhật (which in Vietnamese means “God’s day” on which everyone goes to the church).


Months: We also count the months similarly. The formula is tháng (month) + number.

Tháng một (1) Tháng hai (2) Tháng ba (3) Tháng tư (4) Tháng năm (5) Tháng sáu (6) Tháng bảy (7) Tháng tám (8) Tháng chín (9) Tháng mười (10) Tháng mười một (11) Tháng mười hai (12)

I think that days and months in Vietnamese are more logical than the English counterparts “Jan, Feb, Mar, etc.”



And now to express the past, present, and future

Day

hôm kia day before yesterday
hôm qua yesterday
hôm nay today
ngày mai tomorrow
ngày kia day after tomorrow

Week – tuần

Month - tháng

tuần trước nữa
tuần trước
tuần này
tuần sau
tuần sau nữa

tháng trước nữa
tháng trước
tháng này
tháng sau
tháng sau nữa

Year – năm

năm trước nữa year before last
năm ngoái last year
năm nay this year
năm sau next year
năm sau nữa year after next

jackbl
07-12-2012, 11:44 AM
43 – Doing 2 things at the same time – vừa… vừa
================================================== ==============
To say that you’re doing multiple things at the same time (multi-tasking ), use vừa before the verb

subject + vừa + verb 1 + vừa + verb 2 (+ vừa + verb 3 + vừa + verb 4 … to infinity)

Anh ấy vừa đi học vừa đi làm
He go to study go to work
He goes to school and works at the same time.

Ông vừa nghe đài vừa đọc báo
Grandpa listen to radio read newpaper
Grandpa listens to the radio and reads newspaper at the same time.



To say that something is both so and so (adjective/adverb), use
subject + vừa + adjective 1 + vừa + adjective 2 (… to infinity)

Cái này vừa đẹp vừa rẻ
Thing this good-looking cheap
This is both good-looking and cheap.

Trời vừa nóng vừa ẩm
The sky hot humid
It’s both hot and humid.


Note: When someone tells you Vừa vừa thôi! it means Quit it! at whatever it is that you’re doing (usually when you’re teasing him/her).

jackbl
08-12-2012, 12:44 PM
Robbery rampant throughout Saigon, why?
================================================== =======
VietNamNet Bridge – Street crime is now huge throughout Saigon, making people afraid whenever they go out. Why is street crime rampant?


The HCM City Police Agency confirmed that before Hanoi deployed the 141 taskforce against street crime, which works very effectively, HCM City had implemented an anti-street crime model, which has the coordination between different police forces. Yet, robbery has become rampant, with brutal tricks, making public outraged and feeling insecure. Is the street crime suppression model of HCM City limited or the city has not taken strong enough measures?

The following articles by VietNamNet aim to help people identify the tricks of Saigon’s street criminals to defend themselves before the government takes strong measures to protect people.

Robbery is everywhere

At a press conference held in mid-November, a representative of Ho Chi Minh City Police, Colonel Vu Nhu Ha admitted to reporters that: robbery using a weapon appeared more in suburban districts; individually, robbery targeting commuters, tourists happened much in urban districts like 1, 3, 5, 10...

The evidence for the severity of street crime in the city is proved through specific statistics. In only 4 days of a local police’s campaign against crime in November, the policy discovered 45 cases, including up to 40 robbery cases, or nearly 89 percent.

Recently, Ho Chi Minh City police have arrested many gangs that caused a series of robberies with cruel tricks.

Some typical cases include a robbery in District 2, with the robbers chopped off the hand of a woman to rob her expensive scooter; a gangs attacked couples in District 7 by knives; a gang used chopping-knives to rob in Binh Chanh district.

The latest serious robbery occurred on November 30. At 2:30 am, Mr. Nguyen Huu Chi (born 1990) and Ms. Luc Huyen Trang (born 1987) - employees of a restaurant on Nguyen Tri Phuong Street, Ward 8, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, left the restaurant to come home.

They walked along Vo Van Kiet Avenue, the section passing Ward 13, District 5. Suddenly three men on a motorcycle blocked the couple and asked them to give VND150,000 ($70).

However, they did not have money. One robber picked up a rock on the sidewalk to beat to Chi’s head then kicked the couple to the Tau Hu canal, which runs along the boulevard. Trang struggled to swim to the shore while Chi was drowned.

According to statistics on the security and order of the Ministry of Public Security, robbery occurs almost every day in Ho Chi Minh City. The common tactic of this type of crime is very wild. They are willing to attack the victims then taking their assets.

Robbery has long been considered a problem of HCM City and it is far more complicated. A lot of clips about robbery in Saigon have been posted on the Internet, show a very painful situation.



Why is street crime rampant?

Recently, people have rumored about the criminals who use needles to rob at the 23/9 Park in District 1, targeting pedestrians at night.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Khe, 35, living in District 4 but running a store in District 1, told VietNamNet that although she had not eye witnessed the robbery, but at the end of the day, she always left money in the store to go home with just VND50,000 ($2.5) in her pocket. Like so many others, Khe felt unsecure whenever she was on the street.

Answering VietNamNet about the increase of robbery, both in the number and the dangerous nature, a leader of the HCM City Police Agency said that as the city has a large number of immigrants, the local authorities cannot control the background of these people.

In economic difficulties, even some university students who cannot afford school fees become criminals.

A number of workers in industrial parks and export processing zones are fired and become street criminals.

Previously, when the crime situation became complicated, Ho Chi Minh City police re-established the task force to fight street crime.

However, district police leaders also lamented that this force is thin. Each district can only mobilize one team of 5-6 scouts to patrol the street.

A scout of the task force said that every night, his team goes to the street to detect suspected subjects to follow.

In a talk with VietNamNet’s correspondents, robber Vu Huu Cuong (born 1993, from the central province of Thanh Hoa,), leader of a bandit that caused 12 robberies, who was arrested by Binh Chanh district police said: "I'm unlucky! That night I unfortunately met a patrol team of Vinh Loc A ward so I was arrested. Normally we chose deserted roads to organize quick robbery. Police could not easily catch us!"

Dam De

jackbl
08-12-2012, 12:48 PM
Khanh Hoa salangane nests
=============================================

Vietnam is one of few countries in the world that has an industry of farming and processing salagane nests. Khanh Hoa Province has the largest number of islands which are home to the salanganes and its products have been rated as having the best quality.

700-year-old business of raising salanganes

Thousands of years ago, salangane nests were considered a precious product of heaven and earth which served as “a miracle drug” so it was reserved only for kings.

According to history books, the business of producing salangane nests in Vietnam originated from Khanh Hoa Province and has existed for nearly 700 years.

Legend has it that in 1328, during a mission to the south, Le Van Dat, a commander of the provincial army in the Tran Dynasty discovered many islands inhabited by the salanganes in the sea area of Binh Khang District (now Khanh Hoa Province). Since then the business of producing salangane nests has developed and Le Van Dat has been honoured as the ancestor of this business in Khanh Hoa Province.

Every year, on the 10th of May according to the lunar calendar, the residents in Khanh Hoa organize a salagane nest festival to commemorate those who are credited with establishing the salangane nest production business.

On a fine day in July, we took a speedboat ride to visit some of the 30 salangane islands in Khanh Hoa Province. The most famous islands are Noi, Ngoai and Sam. From afar, we saw some watch towers of the guards on the steep cliffs. Going closer we heard the noises made by the birds.

Khoa, a guard on the island took us to visit the birds’ caves which were very deep and dark with steep cliffs. Under the light of torch we saw countless salangane nests on the cliffs. Khoa said that the salanganes lived in the wild areas. If there was human smell, they were scared and would leave their nests, so their caves are strictly protected to prevent people from going near them.

Vo Van Cam, head of the team harvesting the bird nests of the company told us that harvesting the nests is a risky business, but three generation of his family have been doing it.

The birds usually make their nests on the high cliffs, so the workers must be skilled and brave mountain-climbers.

To harvest their nests they have to erect bamboo scaffoldings on the steep cliffs. In some places where they can not erect scaffoldings they must use rope to secure themselves to the mountain side, which is hundreds of metres high, in order to climb up.

According to scientists at the Southern Institute of Science and Technology, compared to other countries having salangane nest production industries in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, Vietnam has a suitable sea climate and environment and a rich source of food for the salanganes. The birds in Vietnam grow well and yield larger and whiter nests with a better quality.

Apart from the natural source on the islands, Vietnam has successfully raised the salanganes in houses. Khanh Hoa Province has also taken the lead in this method which is seen as a new model with high economic efficiency.

Nguyen Xuan Vien, Director of Sanatech Centre of the Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Company said that the center has transferred the technology of raising the salanganes in houses to other areas throughout the country, promoting the development of the bird population.

Now the whole country has about 1,500 salangane farming houses with an output of one tonne of nests a year of which Khanh Hoa Province produces half. It is expected that by 2020, the number of these houses will increase to about 10,000, making a great contribution to preserving this species of bird and increasing the national output.

Development of a golden business

For over 700 years, the business of raising and processing salangane nests in Khanh Hoa Province has developed strongly and has become a leading economic strength of the locality.

Vietnam has about 50 salangane islands with over 180 caves, of which 29 islands with 142 caves from Van Ninh District to Cam Ranh City are under the management of the Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Company. The company produces over three tonnes of nests a year.

To process this high-grade product, the company has invested in a closed, automatic production system using the advanced technology of Germany and Italy. It has also applied the ISO 9001:2000 and HACCP systems to ensure the stable quality of the products and enhance the competitiveness of the company during international integration.

Truong Tan Phi, manager of the salagane nest processing plant of the company said that it was the largest plant in Southeast Asia with a capacity of about 30 million products a year. The plant specializes in producing canned salangane nests from natural resources taken from the islands by the company.

Khanh Hoa bird nest products are produced with modern technology reaching international standards in combination with traditional secrets, so they still have the natural essence and high nutrition.

According to the research results of the Biotechnology Center at the University of Fisheries, and the Institute of Biotechnology at the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology, Khanh Hoa salangane nests are a pure natural food with abundant nutrients, including 18 essential amino acids.

In recent years, although the amount of exported nests was only 5-6tonnes/year, the price of Vietnam’s salangane nests is always higher than that of other countries in Southeast Asia due to better quality.

The price of the cave nests in Vietnam is 60-90 million VND/kg while house nests are 30-60 million VND/kg. Khanh Hoa bird nests products have been exported to 21 countries around the world, including large markets, such as China, Taiwan, the USA, Australia and Singapore.

Le Huu Hoang, General Director of Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Company said: “Salangane nests are a gift that nature has bestowed on Khanh Hoa, so we must have the responsibility to preserve, protect and develop this valuable asset. Over 30 nest products of the company have been trademarked in 42 countries and territories around the world. This shows the strong pervasion of these precious and unique products.”

In the future, if there is a reasonable investment strategy, Khanh Hoa Province can become a center of high-quality salangane nests in the world. These products can develop into a strong brand to promote the country’s image in the international arena.

According to oriental medicine, salangane nests have a sweet taste and a temperate property. They are nutritious and healthy food for asthenia, fatigue, anorexia, poor flood pressure, insomnia, quick heartbeat, illness and yellow skin. They help increase resistance and immunity to disease.

Ngoai Island is several kilometers away. It has the largest number of salangane caves, making up two-thirds of the nests produced by the province. The sea here is very rough, so the caves must be carefully protected. The company has taken many measures, such as making roofs for the caves, building dykes and installing surveillance cameras.

jackbl
08-12-2012, 02:44 PM
Teenagers becoming more open .........


The public get indignant with sex clip distribution
================================================== ===============

VietNamNet Bridge - After a series of video clips featuring fights among schoolgirls, the online community has been surprised by sex clips of schoolgirls. This once again sounds the bell of disillusion of the indulgent lifestyle of a small part of the youth today.

On November 30 this year, the police of the northern port city of Haiphong announced to identify the couple in the sex clip that was posted on the Internet in late November.

The woman in the clip is determined as a 21-year-old girl in Kien Thuy district, Hai Phong. The girl graduated from the high school and did not have a job yet. The man in the clip is also 21 years old and also from Kien Thuy district. He is a student of a vocational high school in Hanoi.

Kien Thuy District Police questioned the couple for investigation. The two admitted themselves as the characters in the sex video.

They said they used to be classmates and loved each other. Both wanted to shoot the sex clip to celebrate their love. The clip was filmed by a mobile phone in the middle of June 2012, in the toilet on the second floor at the girl’s home.

The girl and her family sent a denunciation to the police of Kien Thuy District, claiming her privacy was being abused.

The boy said that someone stole the clip from his phone to post on the internet, adversely affecting the image of the couple.

Earlier, on October 10, 2012, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School in Mo Cay Nam district, Ben Tre province confirmed that its five students involved in a sex video that had caused a stir on the Internet.

The school expelled two students for a year, including the male student in the sex clip and a student who made the clip.

The school also expelled the female student in this clip for a week. The two students who watched the clip on the phone of the student who made the video and then gave it to other students had to serve a warning.

Earlier, on September 5, five students related to the case drank beer after the opening ceremony. After that two students had sex and was sneakily filmed by a schoolboy, who then showed the clip to two other students.

The clip was then transferred to two other students of Ca Van Thinh high school in Mo Cay Nam district. One of the two students, a 12th grader, posted it on the Internet, caused a stir in the public opinion.

Also recently, the online community was stirred when a sex video of a couple, given as students of a university in the Central Region was leaked. The 30-minute clip made viewers "shock" because of the boldness of the characters.

The incident once again sounds the bell of disillusion of the indulgent lifestyle of a small part of the youth today.

There are many other cases occurred this year.

Le Trong Hung, 17, in Ha Dong district, Hanoi had relationship with two 10th graders named Hue and Lan at the same time. Hung used to study in the same school with them but he dropped out.

Hue was jealous. She gave Hung her cell phone and asked him to videotape his sexual relations with Lan to spread to take revenge against Lan.

On April 11, Hung and Lan dated in a hostel and had sex. Hung filmed their sexual intercourse scenes and gave the 7-minute clip to Hue. This girl then sent the clip to a number of fellow students and spread to other schools. The case quickly spread and was discovered shortly thereafter.

Ha Dong district police summoned Hung and Hue for investigation. Hung admitted to be more in love with Hue so he agreed to videotape his sexual relations with Lan and gave the clip to Hue.

Fortunately, the police quickly prevented the wide spread of the sex video.

In mid-October, a sensitive clip spread fast. The main character in the clip is said to be a 10th grader of a high school in Cau Giay district, Hanoi.

However, soon after netizens "vindicated" the reputation of Hanoi’s schoolgirls. She found out that the clip came from abroad, not Vietnam.

Compiled by Mai Lan

jackbl
09-12-2012, 01:36 AM
Half of Vietnamese minors used to have sex: poll
================================================== ==================
Almost half of the 762 Vietnamese minors participating in a poll said they once engaged in sexual intercourse while they were in love, according to figures released Tuesday at a Ministry of Education and Training workshop on gender and reproductive health in Hanoi.

About eight percent revealed that they had sex even when they were not in love, as shown in the survey conducted from August to October by the Hanoi-based Center for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP).

One-third of the young people said they did not take any safe sex precautions when they were in a relationship, simply because they did not see any risks.

Among the other two-thirds, male respondents named money, emergency numbers, familiar venues, and condoms as the top safety measures to protect themselves whereas the females considered the third option the number-one safety practice, followed by a sound understanding of their partners.

However, only one-tenth of the female participants brought condoms to a rendezvous while one-third of their partners did so.

None of the respondents who are 15 or younger had any previous knowledge of sex while nearly one-third of the 16-17-year-olds disclosed they had sex before.

“This indicates an urgent demand for sex education for children aged 15 and under,” Pham Vu Thien, CCIHP director, said.

Thien added that the surveyed females did very little to safeguard themselves since they thought there was no risk with their partners.

“All the participants admitted that their schools and parents had not educated them on any precautionary methods,” he revealed.

Adolescents are easily thrown in the dark about sex education as parents tend to avoid discussing sexual issues with them, the director said.

Obedient children at risk

Parents usually think that their children are always “obedient and knowledgeable” so they should be immune to risks, Thien said.

The most common guidance parents often give their children is “warning” rather than detailed information on advisable responses to insecure situations, he added.

Dr. Nguyen Thu Giang, deputy director of a Hanoi-based non-governmental health institute, said that those regarded as “meek and mild” are most likely to be subject to sexual abuse or unprotected sex.

“More often than not, overprotective families deprive the children of contact with and the ability to respond to real scenarios,” Giang said.

Under-par sex education

Workshop delegates said that schools now provide sex education that is too academic while their students need realistic information.

Tran Thi Hoa, a doctor, complained that education on sexual and reproductive heath is under par in Vietnamese schools.

“More open content would help improve the situation,” she said. “Instructors should engender trust in children so that they are willing to speak and share sensitive issues with them.”

Dr. Giang said that adolescents know a lot about sex but they do not have much understanding of sexual health.

They are even ignorant about such basics as menstrual hygiene, mate selection, indecent clothes, forms of sexual abuse, and abuse prevention, she elaborated.

forgotoldnick
09-12-2012, 02:18 AM
Sao bjo it nguoi o day noi chuyen.....chi co 1minh anh jack thoi

intoxicated316
09-12-2012, 03:06 AM
Co le tat ca moi nguoi di uong bia roi~

jackbl
09-12-2012, 12:36 PM
Review – Google Translate from English to Vietnamese
================================================== ==============
I tried Google Translate for other languages (French, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, you name it) several times in the past, but never Vietnamese. But recently, I gave it another try. It was fun.

The last time I tried it, probably years ago, it was rudimentary. I winced at how crude the translation was.

But a year in technology roughly equals 25 human years, so in the short time that I didn’t keep in touch, Google Translate improved leaps and bounds (at least for English to Vietnamese).

Recently I received a commission to translate an English technology document into Vietnamese. You know, technology updates faster than a girl can change her clothes. What didn’t exist in Vietnam 5 years ago is now suddenly very popular, and the Vietnamese vocabulary doesn’t update fast enough to keep up with all the new terms in software and hardware. I was left stranded with how to translate certain things into Vietnamese that would make sense for a non-English speaking, non-geek average Vietnamese-native.

Enter Google Translate. I was impressed. For the document I worked on, Google Translate got about 85% correct. The 15% wasn’t incorrect (all numbers are guesstimates ). It was more about the nuances in the Vietnamese language. If you know how to fine-tune it, it’ll be perfect Vietnamese. Just don’t type in “Will you marry me?” and expect your Vietnamese sweetheart to be thrilled with the translation.

What it means is that a non-English speaking Vietnamese can read the document translated by Google and get a good idea of the meaning. I ran a couple of websites through it, from the heavyweight Wikipedia in English to Amazon, The Economist, YouTube, etc. all the popular websites. It works really well. If the non-English speaking average Vietnamese-native only needs to read English stuff, s/he will be fine not learning English. Live on Google Translate, a reliable computer & Internet (& and pray the government doesn’t censor it ).

How about things from the other side? Vietnamese translated into English? Same as above, but with only about 70% accuracy. I punched in a few websites popular in Vietnam like Vnexpress.net, zing.vn, kenh14.vn. The translation was ok. You can get a gist of things, but not the details.

So there you go, have fun with Google Translate. It works better than I expected

For me, if a language is Romanized and use abc letter, feed it into Google. The browser will spit out an usable translation. Whew… Italian, Spanish, and French things, no more fear!

Now I only need to learn Chinese and Japanese letters

PS: Google Translate gives me a hilarious Vietnamese translation of this post!

power69
09-12-2012, 08:47 PM
bro u work in vietnam?:D

yummyymym
10-12-2012, 05:29 AM
2 tay bung dia mui cham gung.
gung cay mui man.
Xi. Dung quen e.

Brother can anyone translate this. Too chim for me liao

yummyymym
10-12-2012, 05:30 AM
And this

Yeu hoa dung de hoa tan.
Yeu nang dung de nang tan nhu hoa nha

vietboy
10-12-2012, 08:59 AM
Sao bjo it nguoi o day noi chuyen.....chi co 1minh anh jack thoi

Bro, i know u too used to writting short forms but hor can pls write in full so other bros here can learn n i also learn too. Cam on nhieu. :)

Co le tat ca moi nguoi di uong bia roi~

Sorry my TV is limited. wat is "co le" ha?
Can pls translate what u wrote? My TV level not enough to decode. Also other bro can learn too. Thanks ya! :)

Hurricane88
10-12-2012, 09:38 AM
Sorry my TV is limited. wat is "co le" ha?
Can pls translate what u wrote? My TV level not enough to decode. Also other bro can learn too. Thanks ya! :)

Co le tat ca moi nguoi di uong bia roi~

co le - may be...:)

Co le tat ca moi nguoi di uong bia roi - maybe all already went to drink beer

jackbl
10-12-2012, 11:11 AM
Co le tat ca moi nguoi di uong bia roi~

Maybe ALL EVERYONE go drink beer already?

IMHO, tat ca and moi nguoi should not be used together

jackbl
10-12-2012, 11:17 AM
wat is "co le" ha?
My TV level not enough to decode.

Most ppl choose to be spoonfed. The dictionary is just a few click away. If you type "co le" in vdict, it will show out.... có lẽ and its meaning.

vietboy
10-12-2012, 10:10 PM
Maybe ALL EVERYONE go drink beer already?

IMHO, tat ca and moi nguoi should not be used together

Most ppl choose to be spoonfed. The dictionary is just a few click away. If you type "co le" in vdict, it will show out.... có lẽ and its meaning.

there is a reason why I asked him for the translation.... :)

vietboy
10-12-2012, 10:50 PM
2 tay bung dia mui cham gung.
gung cay mui man.
Xi. Dung quen e.

Brother can anyone translate this. Too chim for me liao

2 tay = 2 hands
dung dia = to carry plates
mui = salt
cham = to dab
gung = ginger
cay = spicy
man = salty
Xi = Xin(typo by the person) = please

put them together:
2 hands hold up plates of salt dab ginger.
ginger spicy salt salty.
pls don't forget me

And this

Yeu hoa dung de hoa tan.
Yeu nang dung de nang tan nhu hoa nha

love flower dont let flower wilter.
love me dont let me wilter like flower.

Seletar
11-12-2012, 12:32 AM
Maybe ALL EVERYONE go drink beer already?

IMHO, tat ca and moi nguoi should not be used together

tat ca is altogether.

forgotoldnick
11-12-2012, 01:17 AM
Maybe ALL EVERYONE go drink beer already?

IMHO, tat ca and moi nguoi should not be used together

He is right to say tat ca moi nguoi,,,,,,vn locals also speak it this way, no problem with that....if he only say tat ca or only say moi nguoi, then i will find it funny....because in the first place, he is replying to my question.

forgotoldnick
11-12-2012, 01:22 AM
2 tay = 2 hands
dung dia = to carry plates
mui = salt
cham = to dab
gung = ginger
cay = spicy
man = salty
Xi = Xin(typo by the person) = please

put them together:
2 hands hold up plates of salt dab ginger.
ginger spicy salt salty.
pls don't forget me



love flower dont let flower wilter.
love me dont let me wilter like flower.

Can translate vn rhymes so well and yet say cant understand my shorthand, really xao lon.

intoxicated316
11-12-2012, 12:54 PM
Bro, i know u too used to writting short forms but hor can pls write in full so other bros here can learn n i also learn too. Cam on nhieu. :)



Sorry my TV is limited. wat is "co le" ha?
Can pls translate what u wrote? My TV level not enough to decode. Also other bro can learn too. Thanks ya! :)

Yes. I was trying to say maybe everyone went drinking already..

"co le" - maybe
" tat ca moi nguoi" - everyone

So I should use "tat ca" and "moi nguoi" separately?

Do correct me as I'm here to learn too.. cheers :)

volcano
11-12-2012, 01:26 PM
Yes. I was trying to say maybe everyone went drinking already..

"co le" - maybe
" tat ca moi nguoi" - everyone

So I should use "tat ca" and "moi nguoi" separately?

Do correct me as I'm here to learn too.. cheers :)


theres nothing wrong....in VN,ppl will say "cam on tat ca moi nguoi......"

forgotoldnick
12-12-2012, 12:08 AM
Yes. I was trying to say maybe everyone went drinking already..

"co le" - maybe
" tat ca moi nguoi" - everyone

So I should use "tat ca" and "moi nguoi" separately?

Do correct me as I'm here to learn too.. cheers :)

No need to correct, nothing wrong with your reply, if u r vn mc, u can even say, quy vi va cac ban.

vietboy
12-12-2012, 08:15 AM
if he only say tat ca or only say moi nguoi, then i will find it funny.....

It is nothing wrong with saying only tat ca or moi nguoi. Also correct. :)

vietboy
12-12-2012, 08:24 AM
Can translate vn rhymes so well and yet say cant understand my shorthand, really xao lon.

There are reasons why i asked for translation n asked to write in full proper words.
1. Not everyone TV level same same u. Maybe u too used to writing shorthands. But to those who r just started learning, it will be :confused::confused: for them.
2. Not all shorthand i know so it also benefits me. :D
3. We r sharing here so do some simple translation lah.
4. I asked in a humble manner so wont offend u ma. :)

jackbl
12-12-2012, 09:25 AM
2. Not all shorthand i know so it also benefits me.

Not all shorthand is universally know.... Example : Bg a di roi... do you understand what is bg?

Hurricane88
12-12-2012, 09:27 AM
Not all shorthand is universally know.... Example : Bg a di roi... do you understand what is bg?

bay gio anh di roi...my guess...:confused:

forgotoldnick
12-12-2012, 09:47 AM
It is nothing wrong with saying only tat ca or moi nguoi. Also correct. :)

Vietboy het suc thong thao tv, toi ko dam xam pham. Nhung ma tat ca voi moi nguoi rieng biet trong cau nay qua thuc co 1chut khac nhau.

vietboy
12-12-2012, 05:43 PM
Not all shorthand is universally know.... Example : Bg a di roi... do you understand what is bg?

bay gio anh di roi...my guess...:confused:

It can also be "ban gai anh di roi". :)

volcano
13-12-2012, 02:07 AM
bay gio anh di roi...my guess...:confused:


in warknam...ppl use 'bh' as short form for bay gio.

jackbl
14-12-2012, 11:56 AM
bay gio anh di roi...my guess...

It can also be "ban gai anh di roi".

in warknam...ppl use 'bh' as short form for bay gio.

I will use Bg for bay gio == Now..... only now I know bh=bay gio, thanks .... Looks like I have many miles to reach the foot of the mountain :( :o

Hurricane88
14-12-2012, 01:29 PM
I will use Bg for bay gio == Now..... only now I know bh=bay gio, thanks .... Looks like I have many miles to reach the foot of the mountain :( :o

come on dun need to reach that stage...nobody bother to learn non standard tieng viet...so long both can understand then anything can also be used as words...:)

jackbl
14-12-2012, 02:09 PM
HCM City: Highest Tet bonus in industrial parks at $10,000
================================================== ====================

VietNamNet Bridge - Despite the difficult economic situation in Vietnam, the highest year-end bonus in export processing zones (EPZ) and industrial parks (IP) in HCM City is at VND217 million (over $10,000).

The enterprises in EPZs and IPs in HCM City have completed the plans on Tet bonus for their workers.

Accordingly, the highest bonus for this New Year belongs to an employee of a foreign-invested company, with VND217.3 million (over $10,000).

The average and the lowest bonus of foreign firms are VND3.673 million ($170) and VND2.3 million ($100).

For domestic firms, the highest bonus is VND55.3 million ($2,500). The average is VND2.984 million ($150) and the lowest is VND2.14 million ($100).

The highest average Tet bonus belongs to the electrical and electronics industry, with VND5 million ($250), followed by the mechanical engineering field with VND3.55 million ($160).

The lowest bonus is for the food processing sector, with VND2.5 million ($120). It is VND3.4 million ($170) for the garment and footwear industry.

Tet bonus is expected to be paid between January 25, 2012 and February 7, 2013.

In addition to Tet bonus, a number of companies will carry out many programs to support the Tet holiday of their workers.

Earlier, the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of HCM City asked all companies located in the city to report on their Tet bonus plans before December 10.

M. Phuong

jackbl
14-12-2012, 02:10 PM
come on dun need to reach that stage...nobody bother to learn non standard tieng viet...

Everybody learn standard tieng viet???

jackbl
15-12-2012, 02:54 PM
Male and gay prostitution is increasing
================================================== ==============

VietNamNet Bridge - Although there are no specific figures, according to representatives of the Departments of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho City, male prostitution is on the rise, including students. The handling of these people is in trouble.

Speaking at the conference reviewing the implementation of the action plan against prostitution in 2011-2015 last week, Mr. Le Van Quy, Deputy Director of the HCM City Bureau for Social Evil Prevention, said in HCM City, in addition to a number of rings of high-end call girls, with the participation of actresses and models, male and gay prostitution is growing and increasingly sophisticatedly.

"Some spas and beauty salons use gays to serve homosexuals. There is sophisticated development of male and gay prostitution, foreign sex workers and Vietnamese prostitutes going abroad in the form of sex tourism," he said.

Although there are no specific statistics about male and gay prostitution, Quy said the number of men doing this job is increasing, including students. Due to social stigma, most gays do not get tests or go to health facilities for consultation, resulting in the increase of HIV.

"Five years ago, the HCM City Bureau for Social Evil Prevention arrested and sent to treatment centers 22 male and gay prostitutes, but then we had to release them because the current law has not related provisions," he said.

Ms. Pham Ngoc Phuong, Director of the Can Tho Bureau for Social Evil Prevention, also expressed concern about the development of male and gay prostitution in the city. "It is very difficult to handle male and gay prostitutes," she said.

Not only in Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho, a "love market" for gays has recently appeared in Da Nang City. This place is not only is the venue of homosexuals but also a place for crime. Many gays were robbed there.

Major Vu The Huan, from the National Criminal Police Agency, told VNexpress newswire that the agency used to arrest male prostitutes but had to release them because of the lack of related provisions. "We will propose to the National Assembly and the Government to amend the law," Major Huan said.

As being reflected by representatives of some provinces and cities, prostitution has been disguised in various forms, so it is difficult for the authorities to control it. In many cities, there are prostitution services over the phone or Internet; employees at karaoke bars, hair salons and massage shops work as prostitutes, etc. Instead of standing in public places, sex workers now use motorcycles to run around to seek customers.

Prostitution flourishes at coastal resort such as Do Son (Hai Phong), Sam Son (Thanh Hoa), Quat Lam (Nam Dinh), Cua Lo (Nghe An), Ky Anh (Ha Tinh)... in summer. Most of sex workers are from the southwestern region. According to Mr. Pham Duc Chinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Nam Dinh Province, the situation is very difficult to handle because prostitutes disguise as tourists.

In this regard, Major Vu The Huan said the police will strictly handle prostitution. "We will coordinate with the telecommunications agencies to hinder prostitutes from posting their pictures or advertising on the Internet. The Ministry of Information and Communications should also combine to closely control the use of Internet and telephone for sex transaction," said Huan.

At the conference, many delegates proposed amendments to the Law on Administrative Fines and Resolution No. 24/2012 of the National Assembly, which takes effect from July 2012 for being inappropriate to reality. The HCM City Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs said that prostitutes in public venues will increase because if they are caught in the act, they are willing to pay a fine and continue to practice prostitution. The sanction is too low compared to the "income" of sex workers.

This department also proposed to the National Assembly Standing Committee and the Government to add regulations on handling sexual service at service establishments, male and gay prostitution and foreign-related prostitution.

Delegate Pham Duc Chinh form Nam Dinh suggested to remove fines on prostitution and instead, send them to medical facilities for HIV testing.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, from the Hanoi Bureau for Social Evil Prevention, said that it is necessary to classify prostitutes. For sex workers from other provinces, who do not have a certain place of residence and have been fined several times and are infected with social diseases must be sent to social protection centers for management.

According to the Agency for Social Evil Prevention, in 2012, the authorities seized 1,077 prostitution cases, with 4,543 people and handled 744 criminal cases.

At the border, the border guard force handled 133 cases of prostitution and human trafficking for purposes of prostitution, rescued 177 victims, including 16 children.

In Lao Cai, prostitution from outside the borders takes place publically, with about 100 prostitution rings totaling about 600 Vietnamese prostitutes. The court also accepted 507 cases on charges of prostitute harboring and brokerage.

Compiled by Tra Nguyen

jackbl
16-12-2012, 07:52 AM
In Vietnam's largest casino
=============================================

VietNamNet Bridge - One of the biggest gamblers ever at the Do Son Casino, Hai Phong City, is Ngo Xuan Phuong, a Vietnamese Japanese, who is believed as a transnational drug trafficker.

Right in front of the gate, we saw three layers of protection checkpoints. A billboard noted to not welcome players less than 18 years old; guests cannot bring in cameras and bags.

Following Mr. Tien Chi Kien, special assistant to the General Manager of the Do Son Casino, we took the elevator to the third floor through multiple layers of strict control.

Working at the Do Son Casino since its establishment, Kien knew about this casino more clearly than anyone else. Kien said like other casinos, cash is not used here. Money must be converted into chips, with the par value from $5 to $1,000.

In the lobby of hundreds of square meters of Do Son Casino, there are dozens of gambling tables, with four main games: Baccarat, Black jack, Roulette and Big-small.

Kien said European customers prefer playing Roulette, while most Japanese, Korean, Chinese and overseas Vietnamese like playing Black Jack or Baccarat. "Just lucky or not, no such thing as cheating here," Kien confirmed.

There are three Baccarat tables at the middle of the room, with different bets, ranging from $20 to $15,000. An employee explained that Baccarat has two betting doors for the player and the banker. In each game, the dealer will collect 5% of the amount of the winner, as service charge.

Running betting tables were young Vietnamese dealers. Their skills can be recognized through the way they deal cards and collect the money.

"Dealers are absolutely not permitted to commit a fraud. If a deal is suspicious by gamblers, he will be immediately replaced," Kien said.

In addition to the camera system to monitor all the tables, each shift has two supervisors, who usually come from Hong Kong and Macau. If there is any problem or complaint, they will handle.

Kien said the casino also has VIP rooms reserved for the guests who play big games.

Mr. Tran Phuong An, First Deputy General Director of the Hai Phong International Tourism Joint Venture Co., Ltd., said visitors to Do Son Casino just for entertainment know when to stop. However, those who are addicted to gamble are very easy to "die."

Over 10 years with the Do Son Casino, Mr. Kien has witnessed many "big bosses" losing all their money here.

Kien said one of the “thirstiest” gamblers is Ngo Xuan Phuong, a Vietnamese Japanese, who is believed to be a transnational drug trafficker.

Phuong used to be a VIP guest of the Do Son Casino 10 years ago. He only played Big-small; each game was never less than $5,000. He lost VND4-5 billion at this casino. This amount was huge ten years ago. Another example isTran Manh H., the boss of a popular taxi firm in Hai Phong city. H went bankrupt by gambling.

An said his company cooperated with nearly 200 domestic and international tour operators to seek clients. On average, each year the casino welcomes about 12,000-15,000 visitors.

He also said that since 2007, after Mr. Nguyen Dieu Do, a customs officer was shot dead at Do Son Casino. The company has tightened management to prevent Vietnamese gamblers. In fact, Do went to the casino that day with an overseas Vietnamese.

According to an investigation, Do usually appeared at Do Son Casino as a gambler and lender. He was killed by four gamblers and lenders at the casino on November 28, 2007. The killers claimed that he owed them tens of thousands of dollars and denied to pay back so they decided to take his life.

Based on the actual operation of the casino, Kien said that some regulations on casinos are inappropriate, such as the ban of Vietnamese to the casino.

"In some cases, Vietnamese businessmen took their foreign partners to the Do Son Casino but only the partners could enter. This may affect the reputation of Vietnamese businessmen," he commented.

Meanwhile, Tran Phuong An proposed to open more casinos in Vietnam but under a specific plan and to have more open mechanism for casinos.

Compiled by Nam Nguyen

yummyymym
16-12-2012, 12:33 PM
How do we say I am still doing something and I got something to do

A con Dang lam do?
A Co Mot do Phai lam?

Just cannot get this sentence figured out

V|ernar
17-12-2012, 09:54 AM
How do we say I am still doing something and I got something to do

A con Dang lam do?
A Co Mot do Phai lam?

Just cannot get this sentence figured out

a dang lam , a con co chuyen lam , dang ban lam chut nua goi cho em .

depend what you doing ba .......

forgotoldnick
17-12-2012, 06:41 PM
How do we say I am still doing something and I got something to do

A con Dang lam do?
A Co Mot do Phai lam?

Just cannot get this sentence figured out

Your first sentence, funny
your second sentence, cant really express what you really wanted to mean.

Do u mean to say you are busy, not free?

intoxicated316
17-12-2012, 11:45 PM
How do we say I am still doing something and I got something to do

A con Dang lam do?
A Co Mot do Phai lam?

Just cannot get this sentence figured out


A van dang lam mot so viec~ I am still doing something

A co mot so viec phai lam~ I got something to do

jackbl
18-12-2012, 09:21 AM
Workers scared to report sexual harassment
================================================== ==============
VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Ha Lan*, a resident of HCM City, recalls the incident that made her leave her job as a tour guide, a profession that she was once passionate about.

During a trip to Phan Thiet City in southeastern Binh Thuan Province, she was forced to stay in the same hotel room with a driver and another staff member to save money for the company she was working for at the time.

At night, when the group were lying together, the driver rested his foot on hers and tried to touch her, causing Lan to kick out at him to defend herself.

After the trip, Lan decided to stop working as a tour guide, a job she had been doing for three years and had trained to do at university for four.

"I loved working as a tour guide, but I don't find myself suitable for the job any more," Lan says, adding that sexual harassment is rife in the tourism industry and many of her friends have been harassed by either their male co-workers or tourists while working as guides during trips.

Lan's statement is supported by Nguyen Thi Binh, a veteran tour guide in HCM City who says many female guides decide to leave their jobs after experiencing sexual harassment.

Binh says if a tour guide complained to her company about harassment she may be seen as a worker failing to deal with the normal pressures of work. This means that most of the time tour guides choose only to share their stories among themselves and seek support from co-workers.

For office workers, the situation might seem less common, but it is still happening.

Tran Thuy Linh, who formerly worked for a construction company in Hai Phong City, says that she used to be harassed by her married boss as he constantly attempted to gain her affection.

"He frequently gave gifts to me, tried to seduce me with his sweet talk and one day, when he was drunk, he touched me," Linh says.

She refuses to describe further how she was harassed, but says that the actions of her boss put her under a lot of pressure and negatively affected her work.

To get a better idea of how common the situation is, Viet Nam News contacted counsellors on several support hotlines for women, but all responded by saying that they do not receive any complaints from women about being sexually harassed at work.

A counsellor on the 1900 8088 hotline said this is not because it does not happen, but because women are unwilling to share these sensitive stories.

Sandra Polaski, executive director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) 's Social Dialogue Sector says that sometimes a victim of sexual harassment does not report it out of fear that people may misunderstand and criticise her, or gossip about her story.

"Very often the victims don't complain because they feel embarrassed and humiliated," Polaski adds.

Her opinion is shared by Hoang Tu Anh, director of the Ha Noi–based Centre for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population.

She says that if a women claimed she had been sexually harassed, her personality would be questioned and people would say "there is no smoke without fire".

"People will ask: "Why did it happen to her, but not to other women? There must be something about her," and so they will judge her behaviour, her clothes and the ways she talks."

Nguyen Kim Lan, National Programme co-ordinator in Gender and Employment at ILO's Office in Viet Nam says there is a "culture of silence" preventing women from complaining about being harassed.

Lan believes that women harassed at work are often subordinates between the ages of 18 to 35.

"They don't know who to turn to for advice, because the legislation on sexual harassment is not clear enough making it difficult to make a complaint or prosecute someone."

Lan says that in the few past cases where harassers have been publicly accused, they were only punished by their workplace or trade union and not the law.

Only when a victim is sexually abused is the case taken seriously and brought to court.

Tu Anh lays the blame on a culture than is dominated by males, along with the long-rooted habit of touching people to express affection.

"There is a thin line between caring, teasing and harassing, and in many cases sexual harassment is tolerated in the name of culture," she says, adding that it is common in Vietnamese culture for people to affectionately touch each other even in private places.

"If people do anything that isn't sexual intercourse, it is not considered a big deal; the feelings or mental health of the victim are ignored," she adds, pointing out that in the criminal code, there is an article on rape and forced sex, but not sexual harassment.

Lan from ILO believes that the common understanding in Viet Nam of what defines harassment needs to change.

"Sexual harassment refers to any physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature and other conduct based on sex affecting the dignity of women and men, which is unwelcome, unreasonable and offensive to the recipient."

A revised Labour Code including some specific provisions on the issue will come into effect in May next year; a move the ILO have praised as a significant step by authorities towards addressing the problem in Viet Nam.

The revised law specifically features an article prohibiting sexual harassment at work, and making it illegal for companies to turn a blind eye to complaints.

The law will also give workers the right to terminate their labour contract at their will in cases of sexual harassment.
Lan, however, remains cautious, pointing out that the new Labour Code does still not provide any clear definition of the crime to promote law enforcement, and does not fully explain the phase "at the workplace."

"If a woman is sexually harassed when she has dinner at a restaurant with her company's business partners to discuss business issues, will it count as sexual harassment at work?"

ILO are set to make several proposals, including ones about a more extensive definition, at a future workshop on sexual harassment attended by policy makers. They are also co-operating with the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to develop a set of guidelines for companies and social organisations to adopt.

Polaski says that it is essential to have a safe mechanism in place allowing victims to complain about sexual harassers without being afraid that their personal affairs could become widely known. This mechanism could be created by the Government, the employer, or the trade union.

She is hopeful that through widespread public campaigns raising awareness, progress can be made in Viet Nam, just as there has been positive change on the issue in the US, her home country.

"No culture is immutable, cultures can change."

VietNamNet/VNS

STi-
18-12-2012, 10:32 PM
Hey Bros,

What does "Lai len mang ah" means?

forgotoldnick
19-12-2012, 12:03 AM
Hey Bros,

What does "Lai len mang ah" means?

It could means, come online ah???.......usually asking u a question.....

Lai--come
len mang--go online, play internet.
ah-???

jackbl
19-12-2012, 09:58 AM
Young sex
======================
Morning after morning, the urban fisherman of Hanoi give each other plenty of space along the concrete banks of Ho Tay, or West Lake, the better to avoid tangled lines. With long bamboo poles they cast far into the murky waters.


Hours after nightfall, the fishermen are gone and young couples give each other space where the road bends around the lotus ponds to become Lovers' Lane. These couples, teenagers and young adults, are engaged in a different sort of fishing – for affection, love, perhaps a later visit to a nhà nghỉ.

But now we interrupt this romantic reverie for a public service announcement: A recent survey about the sexual behavior of Vietnamese teenagers "indicates an urgent demand for sex education for children aged 15 and under,” says Pham Vu Thien, director of the Hanoi-based Center for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP). “All the participants admitted that their schools and parents had not educated them on any precautionary methods.”

And so among sexually active teens, only one-tenth of the female participants brought condoms to a rendezvous while one-third of their partners did so.

The CCIHP surveyed of 762 Vietnamese teenagers and disclosed the findings at a recent workshop on reproductive health. The survey found that about nearly half of teenagers had engaged in sexual intercourse, including about one-third of 16- and 17-year-olds.

What troubled Thien is that so many teens did little to safeguard themselves against unwanted pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections. One-third of the young people said they did not take any safe sex precautions when they were in a relationship, simply because they did not see any risks.

“The most common guidance parents often give their children is a 'warning' rather than detailed information on advisable responses to insecure situations," Thien said.

Adolescents are easily left in the dark, he said, because parents tend to avoid discussing sexual matters with them.

Sexual mores vary considerably between cultures. Some, no doubt, would be scandalized by such a survey. But even in the more progressive cultures I suspect parents wrestle with when and how to talk about a very private matter. I hope to learn from the example from my parents – the bad example, that is, since I was clueless after the hormones kicked in. (Please do as I say kids, and not as I did.)

In this regard, I suspect that Vietnamese teenagers (and their parents) aren't much different from their peers in much of the world.

While Thien found aspects of the survey troubling – and some parents may be shocked – a comparison to some studies of American teens leave the impression that the Vietnamese teens are a bit more innocent and romantic than their American and European peers.

One recent survey, for example, found that American youth, on average, lose their virginity (to use an old-fashioned expression) at age 17 – a bit later than American teens did in the 1990s. The comparison also suggests that American teens are more likely than Vietnamese to engage in casual sex – to be, as the euphemistic phrase puts it, "friends with benefits."

Tuoi Tre reported that about 8 percent of the teenagers who had sexual experience "revealed that they had sex even when they were not in love." By contrast, the American survey found that 16 percent of females and 28 percent of males reported first having sex with someone they had just met or simply a friend.

Funny how when it comes to sexual matters, innocence and ignorance tend to mean the same thing. That's the parental dilemma – the fear that sex education will inspire experimentation and a loss of innocence. Sex, after all, is ultimately something that can't be explained – it has to be experienced, like love. And, better yet, both together… with proper precautions.

STi-
19-12-2012, 08:10 PM
It could means, come online ah???.......usually asking u a question.....

Lai--come
len mang--go online, play internet.
ah-???

Bro forgotoldnick, thanks for the help!

forgotoldnick
19-12-2012, 09:15 PM
Bro forgotoldnick, thanks for the help!

Thanks for the generous uppsss, bro sti.
At least my reputation looks better now.

dingding75
20-12-2012, 01:21 AM
Hi bros,
need help here "Ben day thi ok, tiem c ngay nao cung co khach het.. moi ngay boss co 1ngan may gan 2ngan. Nen hnao vang khach thi 500 la it" what it mean thanks

volcano
20-12-2012, 01:50 AM
Hi bros,
need help here "Ben day thi ok, tiem c ngay nao cung co khach het.. moi ngay boss co 1ngan may gan 2ngan. Nen hnao vang khach thi 500 la it" what it mean thanks

over here is ok..shop everyday also has customer.everyday boss has 1k+ to almost 2k.when shop has little customer 500 is little.

jackbl
20-12-2012, 09:51 AM
Green grass on the other side
=================================================
A couple of weeks ago I went on a little trip to Cambodia. From moment One I was amazed by beauty. The buildings are an architectural must-see and the countryside has Zen written all over. The exploration delighted more than just my eyes. The warmth offered by the locals was seductive. Honest smiles, innocent greetings. And yes, I was struck by their proficiency in the English language.


Vietnam has a long way to go to compete with its neighbors in that aspect. For four days my senses were relishing. To be honest, after being settled in Bien Hoa for 7 months, this was a welcoming change. I blamed myself for not discovering Cambodia earlier. With every encounter I would make up the balance and Cambodia would overpower Vietnam. My travel-mate strengthened those thoughts. He travelled through Vietnam for a month, but was just as overwhelmed by the new encounter.

Hold on for a moment, if you think this post will blossom with dazzles about my little side-trip, you’re wrong. This one is about the bigger picture.

If you’re accustomed to certain things, there will come a point in which you will be met by boredom and annoyance. Familiarity aligns with comfort, security, easiness. But doesn’t it lie in our nature to wonder how it would feel to step out of our comfort zone, to explore the unknown? For most of us it stays with questioning and creating imaginary thoughts, but I don’t want to expatiate on that aspect. An unfamiliar touch will stimulate your curiosity. You will be tempted to compare. Sorry, to burst your bubble here, but we compare all the time. Lifestyles, prices, moments, people, work, knowledge, flavors, colors…

If the balance shows you’re pulling the weight, it gives you a pleasant, satisfying feeling, a boost in your self-esteem. When the unfamiliar opens up a new world that overthrows you with positivity, you are reluctant to appreciate what you had before. It will accentuate the boredom and annoyance that was underlying your comfort. I have to confess that this progression I experienced during my short trip. I saw all the negative sides of Vietnam at once: the struggles to get something across due to the language barrier, the endless polluting by littering and burning rubbish, the all-around annoying hooting, the rudeness in the staring, spitting and nose picking, the laziness and inefficiency.

Aspects that I didn’t come across during my trip to Cambodia and that made me yearn for the other side. The feeling built up during four days, but it collapsed in exactly 17 minutes, the time it took me to cross the Cambodian border to the Vietnamese side. Vietnamese authorities aren’t exactly known for their kindness, but while they were checking my passport I muttered some Vietnamese words. They looked at each other and gave me a familiar smile. It sprouted a feeling inside me, saying ‘Hey, I’m back home’. It felt absolute great.

I love the challenge to get something across; it definitely improved my body language. Somebody up for charades!? I’m hooting my way around, even developed different rhythms for ‘Overtaking’, ‘Crossing, without giving priority’, ‘Arrrggghh!’ Their slow beat tempo makes being aware to take it easy once in a while. And, come on, you have to give them some credit for staring, spitting, nose picking en public without remorse. The littering is a different story of course. But I hope you get my point. I truly love Vietnam, with all her colors. I love how the women and children wear their pajamas in the daytime, how the men effortlessly align their body with their motorbike for a powernap, how they master karaoke, their perseverance in selling something, their top notch cuisine, their endless respect for family, their gratefulness for what is, their smiles and authenticity…

Sometimes you just need to go away, to appreciate what you have

jackbl
21-12-2012, 10:23 AM
Three Vietnamese hotels listed in world top 500
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VietNamNet Bridge – Three hotels in Vietnam have been named in the 2012 T+L 500 list following the selection of readers of the Travel + Leisure magazine, the biggest tourism publication published globally.

They are Hanoi-based Sofitel Legend Metropole, Ho Chi Minh City-based Park Hyatt and The Nam Hai in central Hoi An City.

This marks The Nam Hai resort’s first entry in the list, which considers the quality of accommodation, services, location, cuisine and values of nominated hotels for selection.

The 12-page covered full list, which is topped by Singita Grumeti Reserves Hotel of Tanzania, will be issued in January, 2013.

Source: Vietnam Plus

jackbl
21-12-2012, 10:24 AM
Christmas celebrations in town
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*Caravelle Hotel (19 Lam Son Square, District 1, HCMC)

The Lobby Lounge will be beautifully decorated in the entranceway with the sound of classic carols performed by the Saigon Children’s Charity Choir ringing out in the hotel lobby every afternoon between tomorrow, Dec 21, and Tuesday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Early each morning, the kitchen will fire up the ovens to bake a mouth-watering selection of Christmas goodies, while the Lobby Lounge will serve special Christmas Teas with sweet and savory treats each afternoon until Sunday.

Nineteen Restaurant is presenting festive Christmas Eve and Christmas Day gala dinners while the fine-dining Reflections Restaurant on Christmas Eve will set the tables for a five-course menu by Chef Darren Watson. For more information, call 3824 7155.

*Hotel Equatorial HCMC (242 Tran Binh Trong Street, District 5, HCMC)

A Christmas Tree and Christmas Goodies Counter are waiting for guests at the lobby.

Diners can celebrate their Christmas dining at Chit Chat @ The Cafe and Orientica to experience mouth-watering dishes especially designed for Christmas by an award-wining culinary team.

Chit Chat @ The Cafe Restaurant offers Christmas Eve Buffet Dinner at VND1.39 million++ per person (5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.) and VND1.64 million ++ per person (8 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.). Christmas Day Buffet Brunch is
VND890,000++ per person (11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.) and VND890,000++ per person (6:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.).

Orientica Restaurant offers Christmas Dinner on Monday and Tuesday for VND1.2 million ++ per person (6:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.). For reservations, contact the hotel on (08) 3839 7777 ext. 8333 (Orientica Restaurant), 8000 (Chit Chat).

*InterContinental Asiana Saigon (corner of Le Duan Boulevard and Hai Ba Trung Street, District 1, HCMC)

Market 39, Yu Chu and Basilico restaurants have special programs for this festive season. The Library on the ground floor offers freshly baked sweets and cakes for guests to enjoy in a festive mood. It offers signature spa services, specialty treatment and wellness recommendations that combine cutting-edge techniques with local traditional ingredients. For more information, contact (08) 3520 9099.

*New World Saigon Hotel (76 Le Lai Street, District 1, HCMC)

The Parkview Restaurant on the ground floor offers Christmas Eve Dinner Buffet from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. for VND2.05 million per person and Christmas Day Brunch Buffet on from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at VND1.5 million per person. There are Christmas Eve Chinese Set Menu and Christmas Day Chinese Set Menu at Dynasty Restaurant from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. atVND1.36 million per person. All prices exclude government tax and service charge and include live entertainment at Parkview as well as a special gift for each diner.

*Legend Hotel Saigon (2A-4A Ton Duc Thang Street, District 1, HCMC)

A Christmas Eve gala buffet dinner will be held at the Poolside with a free flow of selected beverages, variety entertainment and live performance by a Filipino Band. The band will take things up a notch, playing a medley of popular hits and festive favorites into the early hours. Santa will give gifts to your kids at Christmas.

The renowned Atrium Cafe will have a Christmas Eve Buffet Dinner and a buffet brunch on Christmas Day. Tickets are available for sale at the hotel lobby counter. For reservations, please call (08) 3823 3333 ext. 180.

Yoshino Japanese Restaurant will serve Christmas Set Dinner (Christmas Omakase) from Dec. 20 to 25. For reservations, call (08) 3823 2738.

*Lion Restaurant

Lion restaurant launches its Christmas Party on Monday featuring a fabulous buffet dinner with Western and Asian Food Fusion. For tickets tel: (08) 3823 8514 or cellphone: 0909 650 480 (Ms Tam)

*ParkRoyal Saigon (309B-311 Nguyen Van Troi Street, Tan Binh District, HCMC)

A fabulous Christmas Eve Dinner at the Garden Brasserie will be accompanied with fabulous live music. Children will be thrilled to find out that Santa Claus has again especially prepared surprise gifts for them. The dinner from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. is priced at VND1.28 million net per adult and half price for kids aged between 5 and 12 years old. The hotel also offers gift vouchers for overnight stays or meals at the Garden Brasserie restaurant. For reservations, call (08) 3 8421111, extension 1.

*Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon (8-15 Ton Duc Thang Street, District 1, HCMC)

Riverside Cafe on the ground floor offers an enchanting Christmas Eve for VND1.7 million++ per person and a Christmas Day Brunch at VND1.2 million++ per person. The Poolside on level 21 is where people can enjoy the panoramic view of the city and Saigon River with a savory dinner on Christmas Eve for VND1.7 million ++ per person with a free flow of champagne, house wine, beer and soft drinks.

*Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers (88 Dong Khoi Street, District 1, HCMC)

There is a festive season desk and life-sized gingerbread house in the hotel lobby offering a variety of luxurious gift certificates and Christmas treats and roast turkey for your party at home. Festive tickets will be sold for December 23, 24, 25, 31 & January 1. Customers can contact the hotel at (08) 3827 2828 or come to Festive Season Desk to buy tickets for this festive season from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

*Sofitel Saigon Plaza (17 Le Duan Boulevard, District 1, HCMC)

On Christmas Eve, Cafe Rivoli treats diners to a vast array of fresh seafood available either chilled or cooked at the grill station, a selection of lobster dishes, foie gras and oysters, and a carving station at VND 2.1 million++ per person, including free-flowing Bordeaux, soft drinks, beer and champagne.

At L’Olivier, a cozy Christmas Eve dinner features a traditional five-course set menu such as amuse bouche, cream of Jerusalem artichoke with lobster custard and winter vegetables, beef tenderloin with Perigueux sauce, zite gratin and bone marrow. It is priced at VND 1.45 million ++ per person including one glass of champagne.

*StarCity Saigon Hotel (144 Nguyen Van Troi St., Phu Nhuan District)

For only VND860,000 net per person, you can enjoy an abundant Seafood Dinner Buffet with unlimited drinks except wine and juices at the four-star StarCity Saigon Hotel’s La Mezzanine Restaurant on Monday. Kids from 5 to 13 years old enjoy a 50% discount. For bookings, call (08) 3999 8888.

*Sunrise Hoi An Beach Resort

The five-star resort in Quang Nam Province offers great deals for Christmas and New Year with the holiday traditions of carol singing and Santa Claus gift-giving for kids.

Choices are available for the festivity from traditional lavish buffet that opens at 6 p.m. on Monday. Christmas Day brunch buffet and luxury tea-party at Givral Bar are open at 10 a.m. till late.

Prices start from VND728,000++.per person. For those who prefer to celebrate Christmas at home, Sunrise Hoi An also offers an array of mouth-watering Christmas takeaways including succulent roast turkey, beef, honey glazed hams and freshly baked cakes.

For further details tel (0510) 393 7777.

Source: SGT

jackbl
21-12-2012, 11:01 AM
Stealing to keep mistress, Japanese man jailed
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A court in Dong Nai southern province Tuesday sentenced 62-year-old Nishimura Setsuo to 20 years in prison for embezzling nearly US$7 million from his company to maintain a mistress 32 years younger than him.

Prosecutors said Nishimura - who was Sanyo Di Solutions Vietnam’s HR and finance director - withdrew US$530,000 and VND132.5 billion ($6.35 million) from many banks in Ho Chi Minh City’s district 1 and in Bien Hoa town of Dong Nai province where his company is headquartered.

At the trial on Dec. 18, the Japanese man told the court that he spent most of the money on opening bars for his mistress and gambling together with her at casinos in Macau.

However, 30-year-old Duong Thi Thanh Nhan, the mistress, told the court she received a mere VND19.4 billion ($930,000) from him.

Nishumura had earlier admitted he gave her $500,000 from his own pockets to help Nhan open a restaurant.

He added that Nhan wanted more money afterwards, so he decided to steal money from his company.

After successfully withdrawing money from banks, Nishimura lent Nhan VND30.4 billion ($1.46 million) of which she later returned VND11.9 billion ($571,000). After their wrongdoings were found, Nhan and Nishimura fled the country but were arrested later.

Nishimuara told the court: “I gave the money that I withdrew from my company’s banks to her and her relatives. I did not use the money for other purposes. If she needs money today, I will give it to her tomorrow.”

Nhan said that she got to know Nishimura in 2005 when she was a student and doing a part-time job as a receptionist at a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City.

Going abroad 212 times

To prove that she did not receive all the money that Nishimura misappropriated, Nhan said that she had a wealthy boyfriend in South Korea during the time she was going out with the Japanese man.

Nhan explained she handled some accounting job for her Korean boyfriend’s business and from that, received a monthly salary of $10,000.

The woman also claimed she earned from VND20 million to VND30 million ($1,439 to $960) a month from tips as a receptionist in Vietnam.

During the time she maintained relationship with Nishimura, she went abroad for a total of 212 times.

“Nishimura did know that I had a boyfriend. Even if I get married, I will tell him,” she told the court.

jackbl
22-12-2012, 05:39 PM
The controversial provisions issued in 2012
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VietNamNet Bridge - ID cards with the name of parents, wedding party with less than 300 guests, VND5 million fine on those who use cell phones at gas stations, meat must be sold within 8 hours after slaughtering are the most controversial provisions in 2012.



Motorbike registration

Decree71/CP sets out fines of VND800,000-1.2 million (US$38-57) for those who possess motorbikes for which they failed to complete change of ownership procedures. These are eight times higher than the previous fines of VND100,000-200,000 ($4.7-9.2).

Automobile owners who make the same mistake will be fined between VND6-10 million ($285-476). Formerly they only had to pay between VND1-2 million ($47-95).

This provision makes hundreds of thousands of people anxious because they are using vehicles in the names of others and in many cases, they cannot find the owner because some vehicles are passed around to so many people.

More than 40 per cent of vehicles currently on the road lack proper transfer of ownership documents, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

Many expressed concern that the new regulations are irrational.

Ms. Le Thi Nga, Deputy Director of the Justice Committee of the National Assembly affirmed that the Decree is "wrong and unfeasible," adding that the too high fines make people have extreme reaction against the state policy.

Director of the Legislative Studies Institute, Mr. Dinh Xuan Thao, said the decree should be suspended for 6 months or 1 year and the fees for changing the ownership should be slashed.

Before the reaction of the public opinion, the government asked the Ministry of Public Security to soon prepare a guiding circular and while waiting for the circular, the police are not allow to fine vehicles of this type. The relevant agencies are also working to reduce the fees for ownership change to 1 percent.



Dogs and cats must be registered, too

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) approved a plan to control and eliminate rabies. Accordingly, those who raise dogs and cats will have to register with commune and ward-level authorities to get a pet code. The local veterinary agencies will have to monitor the number of dogs and cats in their districts and provinces. Commune-level veterinary stations will have to make statistics on the number of dogs, cats and the owners of dogs and cats in their communes.

The People's Committees at all levels will establish specialized teams to capture wandering dogs and cats in urban areas, populated areas or dogs and cats that are suspected of being rabid. Veterinary stations will take care of captured dogs and cats. After three days, if no one comes to take the pets, they will be killed.

The plan also specifies the target as 80 percent of the dogs are under management and get vaccinations; deaths due to rabies down by 30 percent from 2011, etc. Most of the contents in this plan were mentioned in a document issued by the MARD in 2009.

However, as well as three years ago, the above provisions received mixed reactions from people. Some people agreed with the new regulations, reasoning that dogs and cats should also have "identity cards."

Meanwhile, many others proved embarrassing and that the new regulations are annoying and impractical. For example, a family raises two dogs and seven cats (just born), they must take all the dogs and cats to the local people’s committee for registration?

According to a veterinarian, the new decision of the MARD is to continue the implementation of the objectives of raising awareness of the people and the quality of the supervisory veterinary authorities at all levels of rabies, not a legal document. The decision, thus, also does not prescribe sanctions, such as a fine on the pet owners who are in the absence of registration.



ID cards with parent names

Circular 27/2012 of the Ministry of Public Security on ID cards took effect on July 1, 2012. Accordingly, the new ID card is a plastic card. The front side has the basic information of the citizen such as name, date of birth, gender, ethnicity and native place of residence. The back side has two-dimensional barcode, fingerprints of the left and right index fingers, identity, and the parents’ names.

When the circular was implemented, it caused a lot of controversy, even the opposition from the legal authorities.

The Ministry of Justice has finalized a report to the Prime Minister on the issuance of controversial new ID cards.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, from now until the end of 2013, the ministry will continue to issue new IDs cards with the full name of the card bearer’s parents in Hanoi and some Northern provinces. However, the Ministry of Justice will ask the Prime Minister to reconsider this provision.

An official of the Ministry of Justice said the ministry’s leaders had assigned relevant departments to make study on the legality and rationality of Decree 170/2007/ND-CP on ID cards. If the Ministry is found to make mistakes in the evaluation of the decree, which results in omitting the provision on noting the ID bearer’s parent names, the Ministry will not deny its responsibility.

"However, this provision was issued more than ten years ago so it is necessary to have a thorough review. The viewpoint of the Ministry of Justice is to ask the Prime Ministers to reconsider a provision that causes the reaction from the public as well as from the law-makers," the official said.

According to Dr. Le Hong Son, Director of the By-law Inspection Department, the department has found out that the above provision is contrary to the Civil Code and the International Convention on the Rights of Children to which Vietnam was a signatory since 1989.

Moreover, Article 38 of the Civil Code 2005 on the right to privacy, the mother has the right to keep secret about the father and if administrative procedures require parents named on the ID card, it would violate the right of privacy.

Article 16 of the International Convention on the Rights of Children says: "No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference in privacy, family, home or correspondence, as well as the illegal attack on their honor and reputation."

Item 2 of Article 759 of the Civil Code specifies: "In the case of international treaties which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a contracting party contains provisions that are different from the provisions of this law, it shall apply to the provisions of international treaties."

Lawyer Pham Quoc Anh, Chairman of the Vietnam Lawyers' Association, said the addition of parents name on the ID card is clearly unnecessary because the current information on the ID card is pretty full.

"The new ID card only needs to be printed by modern technology to enhance its security and durability," the lawyer expressed.

Dr. Nguyen Dinh Loc, former Minister of Justice, said that putting parent names on the ID card is unnecessary and must be stopped immediately.

The introduction of human origin to ID cards is very emotional and it can cause psychological effects on those whose parents died or those who do not know about their parents. Though the Ministry of Public Security said in these cases, the parent names can be ignored but these people will feel unhappy, shame when they show their ID cards for others to see.

"My point of view is that this provision must not be implemented. Now it is still in the pilot period, the Government should be able to stop it like it did to the Ministry of Public Security’s decision on imposing fine on those who use vehicles not being registered under their names," Dr. Le Hong Son said.


To be continue......

jackbl
22-12-2012, 05:40 PM
The controversial provisions issued in 2012
================================================== ===============


Restaurants only host weddings with marriage registration

In early December, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City collected opinions of more than 60 restaurants that offer wedding service in the inner districts about how to implement "standards on restaurants with cultural wedding services in 2012 - 2015 ". The standards for being recognized as a restaurant with cultural wedding services consist of the contents: "restaurants only organize wedding for clients who can show the marriage certificate."

This "standard" has been criticized by a lot of people because wedding is wedding and marriage is marriage. Restaurant managers said that a restaurant is the place to hold weddings, not a state management agency to have the right to ask the customer to submit a certificate of marriage.

According to an official of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the organization of a legal wedding is necessary. Many customers are willing to accept a few conditions to have their weddings held at good restaurants. However, the standard is voluntary, not mandatory.



Hanoi set restriction on the number of wedding party guests

To realize a civilized lifestyle in organizing weddings, the Hanoi Party Committee in October issued regulations on culture in organizing wedding parties. Accordingly, the maximum number of guests that officials and Party members are allowed to invite to their or their relatives’ wedding parties is fixed at 300. If the two families hold a joint wedding party, the total number of guests must not exceed 600 people.

Also, officials and Party members are not allowed to organize weddings many times, in many days and at 5-star hotels or luxury resorts. They are encouraged to send wedding announcement cards instead of organizing wedding parties.

The Hanoi Party Committee also assigned the Inspection Commission to supervise the implementation of the instruction among officials and party members.

This provision has received mixed opinions. Some said that this provision is to practice thrift while others said that it interferes too deeply into personal lives and it is unfeasible to count the number of guests at wedding parties.



Selling meat within 8 hours after slaughter

According to a circular of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, from September 3, raw meat preserved at room temperature is only allowed to be sold within eight hours of the time of slaughtering. In case the meat is preserved under 0 – 5 degrees Celsius, the time limit is 72 hours.

Food by-products such as pig’s tripe and stomach should be sold within 24 hours after slaughtering, and no preservative chemicals are allowed to be used on fresh meat.

In Vietnam, it is common for pig and poultry products to be sold on street stands. In some areas they are sold from early morning to late in the afternoon, with almost no adequate preservation methods used.

Immediately after the circular was issued, the public questioned about its feasibility. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had to cancel the circular.

"In terms of science and international standards, this provision may be appropriate, but in the actual conditions in Vietnam it is inappropriate," admitted Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat.



Mobile phone users at gas stations to be fined

According to a new regulation that took effect on August 5, users of cell phones at petrol stations will be fined up to VND5 million (US$250,) 10 times higher than the previous provision.

Fire-fighting police will be in charge of catching "red-handed" violators and imposing the fines.

Whatever fine is necessary, the new provision is doubted about its feasibility. Shortly after the regulations took effect, Dr. Le Hong Son, Director of the By-law Document Checking Department of the Ministry of Justice proposed the Ministry of Justice to review the reasonableness and possibility of the regulations.

Compiled by Tran Cham

jackbl
23-12-2012, 11:44 AM
Teachers getting emotionless to avoid troubles
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VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese teachers complain that they always bear a too hard pressure in their job and that they have not been respected by the students and their parents as they expect.

A nursery school may receive a threatening gesture, if a parent sees a graze on the hand of his child after the school hours. The image and personal information of a general school teacher could be made public with the support of Internet, if parents do not agree with their children’s teachers. An old teacher may be abused just because he punishes a student for his mistakes. In order to avoid the possible troubles, teachers would rather turn a deaf ear to the students’ problems.

Dr Ho Lam Hong from the Hanoi University of Education has noted that people nowadays tend to think little and scorn of teachers, especially at private schools.

“Parents think that they pay teachers and they have the right to order what teachers need to do for their children,” he said.

A lecturer of the HCM City University of Education also noted that parents nowadays believe they have the right to tell teachers and schools what to do. “They would get boil over with anger just because of a graze on their children’s hands,” she said.

The lecturer said she herself could see with her eyes a colleague who was threatened by a man that he would apply the “law of the jungle” if the teachers did not admit her fault when causing the graze to his child.

Dr Dinh Quang Bao, Head of the Pedagogical Research Institute, has noted that nursery school teachers have a hardest job. They have to work hard at school to take care with tens of children, while they would be scolded just fore minor mistakes.

A teacher in Hanoi, who has special students – autism-suffered children – said that the parents of her students are all very friendly and constructive, because they understand the problems of their children. However, the teacher said she once got a sound scolding from a parent, who commented the teacher could not help anything to the child.

“A child stumbled and fell. And I received a slap on my face from her father. However, the father then apologized for his behavior, because he understood how hard I had to work to help his child,” she said.

A nursery school teacher in Cau Giay district said she has never been threatened by the hot tempered parents. However, she also has her problems. One of the students has a VIP father, who never wants to meet teachers to discuss about the student’s activities at school. The only thing which helped him contact the teacher is the envelop with money inside forwarded to the teacher at the beginning of every academic year.

Headmaster of the Dinh Tien Hoang people-founded School Nguyen Tung Lam has noted that parents nowadays, who are busy all the day with their works, tend to entrust the school with all the works relating to the education. Therefore, they would get angry if they receive the notices about the bad learning records of their children.

Mass media have been criticized heavily for “lending a hand” to the parents to conduct bad behaviors to teachers. Any mistakes made by teachers, even though they are minor, could become sensational stories on local newspapers. A literature teacher of Lomonosov Secondary School decided to resign just because of a mistake in a student’s essay.

Le Huyen

jackbl
23-12-2012, 11:50 AM
HCM City: Market for infertile couples
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VietNamNet Bridge - Due to the sources of sperm and eggs in the hospital which cannot meet the needs of infertile couples, a “market” where sperms and eggs are traded has appeared in HCM City, according to Tuoi Tre.

This "market" is located in alley A1 on Cong Quynh Road, Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1. A1 alley is widely known as the "infertile alley" or “alley of pregnant women” because many infertile couples rent inns here to live during their treatment of infertility at Tu Du Hospital.

There are 4-5 women in the alley who are both the landlords and intermediaries for the sperm and egg trade and seeking surrogate mothers for anyone in need.

One of these women is Ms. Ngoc, around 50 years old.

Ngoc told a Tuoi Tre reporter, who played the role of a woman who was seeking for a surrogate mother: "If you have to find a surrogate mother, I’ll help you. Although it is a bit hard to find one, but I will find people in the countryside for you."

She said the two sides would discuss about the price and told the “customer” to keep it secret. "It is extremely confidential because surrogacy is prohibited by law," Ngoc said.

She instructed: "The surrogate mother must pretend to be your husband's wife and they have to go to the hospital to perform necessary procedures. When she is pregnant, you have to bring her home or rent a room for her. You also have to hire someone to take care of her because she carries your child. You have to take care of her for nine months and ten days, until she gives birth. It will take time and money."

The woman also said that she would help seek an egg seller for the reporter. She advised the customer to invite the egg seller to live together to take care of her and to improve her health to obtain good eggs.

She then introduced an egg seller named Nhi, 28, to the reporter. Nhi said she had two children and "because of difficulties” she had to sell her eggs. She offered the price of VND14-15 million ($700).

As the reporter hesitated, Ngoc introduced another egg seller, named An, 19 only. An said she sold noodles on Cong Quynh road. This time Ngoc asked for VND15-16 million ($750) because An is younger than Nhi.

Another woman in A1 alley, named Thao, was willing to introduce a sperm seller to the reporter. She said that is a young, healthy man who was married and had children.

The reporter said she wanted to find a man with good sperms, Thao said that it is unimportant because the customer would have to use the sperms of another man, not the man she chooses if she takes him to the hospital’s sperm bank.

However, she suggested the customer to visit doctor C. This doctor will help take sperms of the selected man for insemination. Thao said that the price for sperms is only VND10 million ($500) while it is VND20-25 million ($1,000-1,200) for eggs.

This woman suggested making a fake ID to turn the sperm or egg seller into the husband of the wife of the customer. The price for such a fake ID is only VND2 million ($100).

The reporter saw the third intermediary named Nga, who arranged a meeting with the sperm seller at her home. This man is named Chau, 33, from District 8. Chau went to the meeting with a woman, who was introduced as his wife. He also showed the picture of a boy on his cell phone as his son. Chau agreed to sign a commitment to not claim the baby after the customer pays.

At Tu Du Hospital, which is very famous for infertility treatment in Vietnam, reporters found small ads of the so-called “Association of sperm donating students.” Making a phone call to the contact in the advertisement, a man named Thuong made an appointment the next day.

At the meeting, Thuong called himself “the executive” of the “Association of sperm donating students” for infertile couples. Thuong said he was a master's degree trainee at a university in the city.

He said the association has more than 30 members who are students of universities and colleges in HCM City. The price is VND10 million.

"Our members are poor students who do not smoke or drink. We have served many customers and the results are always perfect," Thuong said.

Compiled by P. Linh

jackbl
23-12-2012, 11:52 AM
Vietnam falls 11 grades in Transparency International’s corruption index
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VietNamNet Bridge - According to the 2012 corruption perception index (CPI) released by the Transparency International (TI), Vietnam ranks 123 out of 176 countries and territories, dropping by 11 grades from last year.

More than two-thirds of the countries were surveyed as "very corrupt." Only 53 of 176 countries surveyed attained a "passing grade" of 50 out of 100 in the annual corruption report.

Two typical trios book ended the index, with Denmark, Finland, and New Zealand all tied on 90 at the top. Somalia, North Korea and Afghanistan shared the ignominious end of IT's table, scoring just eight.

The world's largest economy, the US, could only manage a score of 73 - 19th in the standings, between the UK and Chile.

Vietnam, Laos and China have significantly downgraded in the rankings this year. Vietnam ranks 123 out of 176 countries and territories compared to 112th last year. TI's 2011 rankings included 180 countries and territories.

According to TI, the Vietnamese economy has many uncertainties in the context of a series of scandals associated with state-owned groups and the inefficient management of state-owned enterprises, making investors worry. The Vietnamese government has recently increased efforts to combat corruption, arrested some bankers and businessmen.

“After a year of focus on corruption, we expect governments to take a tougher stance against the abuse of power. The Corruption Perceptions Index 2012 results demonstrate that societies continue to pay the high cost of corruption,” said Huguette Labelle, the Chair of Transparency International.

Thai An

jackbl
23-12-2012, 11:54 AM
Teacher whipped students with rod, students happy to get spanked
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VietNamNet Bridge – A new video clip has been posted on Internet showing a teacher whipping students on their faces. The noteworthy thing is that the students were still happy when they got spanked. It seemed that the students got too familiar to this kind of punishment.

The 2-minute video clip is believed to record the scene happened at a secondary school in HCM City. A teacher found out that their students did not fulfill the home exercises and said that they should be punished.

The students were told to choose one of the two kinds of punishment, either their names would be written down in the class’ record book, or they would get spanked. All of the students chose the latter. And every student was given four strokes of whip.

The teacher was a woman, about 30, who was correct and decent in a traditional long dress. Meanwhile, the students were all in bright green uniforms.

The students were asked to lie prostrate on the table, so that the teacher beat them with a rod. Before executing the punishment, the teacher warned that she would inform to the students’ parents about their learning records at the upcoming parents’ meeting.

A question has been raised that why the students preferred getting spanked to seeing their names written down in the class’ record book. If they had accepted the other option offered by the teacher, they would have avoided the heavy physical punishment.

Commenting on this, Van Toan, a reader of Giao duc Vietnam newspaper, said that no student would prefer bad marks or criticism from parents, teachers or friends. They might think that after they got spanked, their mistakes would be forgiven, while no evidence about their discipline violations would exist.

This also means that their parents would not be informed about their problems, and of course, the parents would not feel ashamed about their children.

“As such, the students would rather get spanked than becoming the shame to their parents. Why should we still punish them so heavily?” Toan commented.

He went on to write that the students who got spanked not only had to endure the physical pain, but also the spiritual pain, because they got spanked before the class and in front their friends. This could be the germ of the hatefulness that the students may always keep in their souls during all of their lives, which would prevent them from growing into useful citizens of the society.

A lot of video clips showing the teachers whipping students have been posted on Internet recently. While the punishment was considered quite normal in the past, this education method is not advocated by modern people.

The teachers, who beat students, had to face the wave of anger from the public. People believed that this is an anti-pedagogical method which must not exist in modern times

Prof Dr Pham Duc Duong, former Head of the Institute for South East Asia studies, said that he has a very good handwriting because he many times got punishment from the teacher who whipped on his five fingers with the ruler made of ironwood.

However, Duong said it would be better if teachers nowadays do not have to beat students but still can compel the obedience from their students.

“A teacher should become respectful in the eyes of students with his deep knowledge, good behaviors, while he should not think of forcing students yield to them by beating them.

Compiled by Thu Uyen

jackbl
24-12-2012, 01:32 AM
E-business of worthless VND paper notes emerges
================================================== ==================

VND10,000 and VND20,000 VND paper banknotes, which will be withdrawn from circulation starting on January 1, 2013, are now offered for sale on many websites and forums at prices up to four times higher than their face value.


Buyers of these bills said they want to buy the notes to keep them as good memories of the currencies or gift them to their friends as a souvenir or lì xì (lucky money) on special occasions like Tet Holiday (Vietnam’s Lunar New Year).

If you search keyword “Buôn bán tiền cotton” literally translated as “Trading in VND paper notes” on Google, you can receive millions of results like “If you are looking to purchase nice and cheap VND paper notes, please visit our store.”

Demand and supply

Following an announcement by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) in late October that the paper notes will cease to be legal tender starting from the beginning of next year, a new trend of e-commerce in VND paper notes has begun to emerge.

“If anyone wants to buy brand new VND paper banknotes for collection purposes at the right price, please contact me. Thanks for reading this information,” said a classified ad posted on a forum for Vietnamese parents in October.

SBV is no longer issuing the two aforementioned banknotes, while the State Treasury is taking back the remaining paper notes from the public, which will be exchanged for the currently circulated polymer versions at banks in Vietnam.

Pham Minh Hieu, an 32-year-old amateur money collector in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh District, told Tuoi Tre: “Ten days ago, I bought five VND 10,000 banknotes listed at VND20,000 each one and one VND20,000 banknote at VND50,000 from an online trader.”

“I want to keep them as a good memory of an old currency that I guess will become an antique item in the next ten years,” he said.

The trend of collecting the notes is growing partly due to their colors. The VND10,000 paper note dubbed “The Queen of all VND banknotes” symbolizes luck thanks to its bright shade of red – a favorite color during Tet holiday.


Young traders

The sale of VND paper notes has become a lucrative business for young people with advanced technology skills who know how to run a successful e-business.

Online traders of these paper notes are few in HCMC and Hanoi. Among them is Nguyen Tan Tai, 23, an IT graduate in HCMC.

“As I studied IT at school, I built and designed my business website by myself. This helped save a lot of money,” Tai revealed. “I also used software to automatically place advertisements on a number of classified ads websites to promote my products.”

Tai has been a trader of old Vietnamese money and world currency over the last four years. Tai said he would shift his focus on promoting VND paper notes this Tet holiday season, as he believes that is the right time to sell.

Last year, from Christmas to one month after Tet Holiday, Tai sold 8 to 10 blocks of VND10,000 and VND20,000 paper banknotes (100 notes each block). In recent times, the young trader revealed that he sells up to ten sets of four different VND paper bills including 10k, 20k, 50k, and 100k per day.

The year-end is always a busy time for traders like Tai. Nguyen Nhat Tan, another young trader in the southern hub, sets a target of earning a profit of VND70 million (roughly US$3,400) from selling VND banknotes and 2USD notes as lucky money for Tet holiday.

Since the sale of VND paper banknotes as souvenirs is legal, Tan was not reluctant to share his secrets: “As far as I know, there are only four professional traders of VND paper notes in HCMC and three in Hanoi. We often do business deals online.”

Tan claimed himself to be the “general agent” because of his abundant supply and because he has a good relationship with a network of “big providers”.


The 21-year-old student, who is currently studying Real Estate Management at a university in HCMC, told Tuoi Tre that he often provides a large quantity of banknotes to smaller agents and earns a profit of VND 1,500 per note.

Hobby makes money

The most beautiful sound in the world is the sound of banknotes rustling, as some say. Most money traders started with the hobby of collecting money first. Now, their hobby helps them earn money.

23-year-old Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong nicknamed Pen Phuong, who has just received a bachelor degree in Business Administration from HCMC-based Foreign Trade University, is both a money collector and online money trader.

“At Tet holiday season, I often sell a lot of money. I earn more than VND10 million (roughly US$500) per month during this period of time,” she said. “Students that graduate with a degree in Business Administration can earn this amount of money only if they have had three years of experience.”

Thanks to her website suutamtien.com, Phuong receives about 20 phone calls from customers asking to buy VND paper banknotes every day.

“I sell whatever amount my customers want to buy, even only one banknote,” Phuong claimed.

Meanwhile, Nhut Tan told Tuoi Tre that he receives about 50 phone calls on average from his clients per weekday and more than 100 calls at the weekend, but just a few people really want to buy.

If his customers are in Ho Chi Minh City, Tan often makes a rendezvous with them at coffee shops for their business deals. But if his customers are not in HCMC, Tan or Phuong send the banknotes to their customers via post but, of course, the customers have to send them the payment via bank accounts first.

For Pen Phuong, thanks to her e-business website, it does not cost her a lot of time and effort to purchase VND paper banknotes from people, who do not know how and where to exchange them for the polymer notes, at cheaper prices than other sources.

“Many people have recently phoned me, asking me to come to their house to buy their VND paper notes. Some others, who hesitate to go to banks to exchange them for polymer notes, often search for money traders on the Internet and find my phone number,” Phuong said.

“I enjoy my job very much. In my opinion, if you focus on ways to make as much money as possible, your business will be dead. Just do it with your passion,” said the 23-year-old girl, who spends most of her time on this business, which she considers as her long-term job.

Honey Boon
24-12-2012, 12:29 PM
Merry X'mas ..... :)

jackbl
24-12-2012, 12:32 PM
To all bros here:

Chuc Mung Giang Sinh :) ;)

vietboy
25-12-2012, 10:01 AM
Merry Christmas Broz!
Chuc Giang Sinh Vui Ve!

whatever897
25-12-2012, 05:52 PM
hi bro.
giang sinh an lanh.
i'm currently trying to learn vietnamese language.
hoping to find some help here.
but 826 page. cant look one by one.
so hope somebody can help me translate this for me.
a facebook comment on picture of a friend(girl) with a guy(which is me)
"Nhjn nhu hai chj e mat giog nhau qua"
please help me translate this.
thank you very much. cam on rat nhieu. :)

i have done some research on some of the short form. but none can help me.
this is what i found. hope its useful to some bro here.

dt-điện thoại- call
wa - quá - so, such. example : so hot -nóng quá. such a smart student - một sinh viên thông minh quá
bjt,bt - biết - know
v - và - and
lh,lhe- liên hệ - contact
ntn - như thế nào - how. example: cv e ntn- công việc em như thế nào- how is your work?
hv- học viên - learners
tb- thông báo - announce
hag- hàng- goods
tt - thanh toán - make a payment
nv - nhân viên - staff
r -rồi - done, or something happened already.
ox - ông xã - darling,sweetheart . note: the female calls the male.
bx- bà xã - darling, sweetheart. Not
dat - giấc
"e"--em
"dc" ou
"đc"--được---yes or get sths
"cv"--công việc---job
"hp"--hạnh phúc---happy
"ng"--người--humain
"vd"--ví dụ---for exemple
"cty"---công ty
"ty" --tình yêu--love
"hs" - "học sinh"- "student"
"ĐH" - "Đại học" - "university"
"bt" - "bài tập" or "bình thường" - "homework" or "normal"
"tn" - "tin nhắn" - "message"
"tc" - "tình cảm" - "feeling"
"ch" - "chuyện" - "talk"
cug: cũng (also)
kn: kinh nghiệm (experience)
hnay: hôm nay (today)
j: gì (what)
t: tôi, tớ (I, the first person)
c: cậu (you: the second person)
hnao: hôm nào (some day)
ng: người (person)

KangTuo
25-12-2012, 06:39 PM
Nhjn nhu hai chj e mat giog nhau qua = see both sister face same same :)

whatever897
25-12-2012, 09:20 PM
Nhjn nhu hai chj e mat giog nhau qua = see both sister face same same :)

lol. they say i got same face with the girl, look like two sister... wth...
anyway the proper way to spell that izzit like this...
Nhin nhu hai chi em mat giong nhau qua ?
haha. just wanna learn. thanks for helping. cam on rat nhieu. :)

jackbl
26-12-2012, 11:13 AM
More foreign companies vanishing from Vietnam
================================================== ==============

A number of owners of foreign-invested businesses in Ho Chi Minh City and the neighboring province of Dong Nai have suddenly disappeared, leaving behind empty manufacturing plants and a huge amount of unpaid wages to employees and taxes to the government.

The Dong Nai management board of the province’s industrial parks has recently revoked the investment licenses of 17 such businesses. Meanwhile the HCMC customs agency said 128 foreign invested businesses operating as outsourcers for other companies have also fled their locations, defaulting on VND400 billion worth of taxes.

Most of the business owners of the canceled projects in Dong Nai have returned to their home countries without completing the procedures to declare dissolution.

Some have even managed to secretly transport their machinery and equipment out of the plants, only leaving behind low-value machines that are not enough to cover the salary debts they owe to workers.

Similarly, the list of defaulting foreign-invested business owners in HCMC has repeatedly seen new names added to it.

Most have left behind enormous amounts of unsettled taxes, local authorities said.

The 100 percent South Korea-invested Silver Star Vietnam, for instance, still owes as much as VND29.6 billion worth of unpaid taxes, but all authorities found at its headquarters in Binh Tan District was a deserted land plot without a single piece of machinery.

Out of control

Doan Phi Van, deputy head of the agency that manages the investment sector under the HCMC Customs Agency, said authorities have trouble retrieving the unpaid taxes as they do not know where to find the defaulters.

Van said inspections of the businesses also face problems.

“Some businesses declare that their headquarters are in the city, but their manufacturing plants are located in other localities,” she said.

“Moreover, we have to inform them of the inspection before hand, which in fact gives them time prepare to pass the check.”

To deal with the issue, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has recently ruled that provinces and cities should withdraw the licenses of sluggish foreign investors.

“Any FDI projects that fail to proceed within 12 months of receiving the license without adequate reasons will be pulled out,” the ministry said in a statement.

jackbl
27-12-2012, 08:59 AM
Workers and cohabitation: bad outcomes
================================================== ===============
VietNamNet Bridge - Happy days of cohabitation end very quickly, leaving the consequences on female workers.

Those who live in the inns near Phuoc Long market in Phuoc Long B Ward, District 9, HCM City all know about the story of the couple named Vi and Ly, who are workers of a company in the Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone.

Vi and Ly used to be students of the same college. In love for a time, they rent a room to live together and tragedy arose from it.

Without proper knowledge about safe sex and contraception, Vi got pregnant but she did not know about it. During that time, she still took contraceptive pills and antipyretics so the baby was affected. When the baby was three months old, he had high fever. The couple took the boy to the hospital and knew that he was retarded.

Vi said, after giving birth, she could not do anything because the baby was sick constantly. Ly’s salary was not enough to cover the cost of living. Vi opened a small grocery at the dorm room to make a little extra money and to take care of the child at home.

After a short period of time, she sent the child to a school for mentally-retarded children with monthly fee of VND1 million ($50) but the child was sick very often.

"Our life always revolves around money to pay rent, tuition for our child resulting in family conflicts, especially when my husband has to send money home to his parents. Many times I felt very tired and wanted to break up but I still love him and we have a child already..."

The couple has lived together for over 5 years and they are still not married. With a four-year-old child who is sick all the time, their life is more extreme.

The innocent children

Freetrend company in Linh Trung EPZ 1, HCM City has many workers who gave birth and left their babies in the toilets. Many innocent babies died.

Phuong, a worker at Freetrend, lived together with her boyfriend in a rent room. The happy life lasted for a few months. The couple then fell in repeated conflicts, which arose from difficulties in life. The conflict reached the peak when Phuong told her boyfriend that she was pregnant.

The "husband" immediately moved to another place. Phuong could not make abortion because the baby was too big. She went to the company with the abdomen wrapped around by cloth. Until the day of birth, because of the fear and shame, Phuong decided to throw the baby in the trash at the company. When people found the baby, the baby was dead.

In another case, during working hours, a female worker was tired so she asked her manager’s permission to leave but just few steps out the door, the woman fainted and blood ran from her body. At the hospital, doctors determined that she had delivered a baby a few minutes ago. The company’s guards searched the toilet and found the dead baby in the trash.

Such tragic stories are not rare in industrial parks and export processing zones in HCM City.

Marriage in hell

Lack of knowledge about safe sex, Ngoc, a worker of Freetrend company had to endure an unhappy marriage.

At the age of 18, Ngoc went from Dong Nai to Ho Chi Minh City to become a worker. A few months later, she acquainted Thinh, also a work and they decided to live together.

Too young and giving up school early so Ngoc did not have any knowledge about safe sex. Until the pregnancy was more than three months, she knew about it. A wedding took place quickly after that. Experiencing the life after the wedding, Ngoc regretted for her folly.

The married life is not easy because they came together too quickly and did not have time to know thoroughly about each other. Thinh was gentle and hard-working but very paternalistic. He decided to return to the countryside without consulting Ngoc. "Sometimes I wanted to break up but then I thought that it was my fault. I have a child so I cannot live on my own anymore," Ngoc said.

Even when they marry, happiness does not come to the couples who cohabited before marriage. Hanh and Thuy, workers of CCHTop Co. in Tan Tao Industrial Zone, broke up 5 months after their wedding surprised many people.

Everyone knows that they were in love and lived together for a long time before they married. During this time, Thuy had an abortion three times. After many days of struggle and overcoming hardships, they were married. But a month later, Thuy knew that she would never be a mother as a result of the abortion. Sadnees and Thuy’s unprovoked jealousy turn the marriage into hell. They decided to break up after five months.

Ms. Ngo Loi Loi, Head of Human Resources Department of Freetrend, said that every month, the company handles maternity policy for 600 women. In particular, one half of the birth certificates were not filed with the name of the father.

NLD

jackbl
28-12-2012, 01:01 AM
Odd services for funeral
==========================================

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnamese people are always respectful of their parents. Therefore, when their parents and grandparents pass away, we always do everything possible to ensure that the dead will have a good life in the other world. However, in modern times, funeral rituals are gradually deformed.

With the concept that the afterlife is the same with the real life, many families try to hold big funerals. Many strange services have been offered to satisfy the need of the dead’s family, as long as they have money.

According to Nguoi Dua Tin newswire, the funeral services at the Phung Hung Funeral Home in Hanoi vary. Normally, funerals will be decorated in the traditional style, with a censer, candles, fruits, small cups of wine and water. For the picky and well-off families, the altar will be decorated sophisticatedly, with a big censer, two trays of fruits and food, horizontal lacquered boards, parallel sentences, big and nice coffin and a special altar worth of VND12-17 million ($600-800).

To meet the maximum demand of the dead’s family, many funeral service providers on Phung Hung road also offer scriptwriters for funerals. Depending on the lifestyle of the deceased when he was in the earth where there are different scenarios. For example, if he liked the Korean culture, his funeral will be organized in Korean style: the stage is in white and black; the receptionists have to wear Korean funeral costumes; the food includes sushi and Korean confectionery; the funeral music is also Korean music, etc.

Also, if one wants his dead relative to bless his family to be in prosperity in the future, he can ask soothsayers to choose good time for the funeral and make a funeral scenario.

Accordingly, the funeral will be held according to royal etiquette. The coffin must be made by rare wood, worth of at least $10,000. The hearse is a big one, with a team of coffin carriers in suits. The funeral script is written based on the information about the dead.

Rowing boat is the custom in many rural areas, which means carrying the spirit of the departed to bliss. But the custom is abused by funeral organizers to make money.

In a funeral in Son Tay, Hanoi, a funeral bandsman pretended to be the boatman. During the boat trip to the cemetery, despite the scorching hot weather, the boatman stopped rowing each several minutes in order to ask for money from the dead’s family. If the dead’s family gave him little money, the ferryman looked unhappy and did not row the boat. Thus the dead’s family had to put big banknotes in the ferryman’s hat so he rowed quickly.

Just like that, the journey from home to the resting place of the deceased was interrupted several times. With a distance of about 1km, the farewell to the deceased also took a few hours because of the boat driver.

Funerals are events of indescribable sadness, when a family says farewell to a beloved member. However, in recent years many families in the southern region make funerals noisy and funny events by hiring orchestras and dancing groups to perform at funerals. Such funerals have no tears of grief but noisy shows all night. Some families even hire troupes of gays who disguise as women in swimwear to sing, dance and perform jugglery at funerals.

HK

jackbl
31-12-2012, 10:38 AM
Workers in industrial parks need further help and consultation
================================================== ====================================

VietNamNet Bridge – Many companies in HCM City’s industrial parks and export processing zones have organized activities to help improve male workers’ knowledge on reproductive health, marriage and to improve their cultural and spiritual life.

To help female workers to know how to protect themselves, the trade union of Pou Yuen Company, in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City, holds several talks monthly on healthcare, contraception, the harms of abortion, etc.

"But they (female workers) live far from home and lack of entertainment facilities, so they cannot avoid stumbling and pitfalls," said Ms. Tran Ngoc Suong, chief of the clinic of Pou Yuen company.

Timely prevention

Suong said, once a female worker had fainted during work hours. The teammates took her to the company clinic for a medical examination. It turned out that the woman was 4 months pregnant. She cried a lot because she was only 20 years old, unmarried and did not know of her pregnancy.

She insisted to have an abortion. "I tried to help her understand that the baby was big and if she has an abortion it will be very dangerous and can cause later infertility,” Suong said.

Suong met the worker’s boyfriend to convince him to keep the baby. The two families then organized a wedding for them.

Female workers visiting the clinic with symptoms of abdominal pain are all provided with a pregnancy test. Once a worker went to the clinic with severe abdominal pain, doctors made a pregnant test, which determined that the woman was already pregnant. Putting on the ultrasound, the worker had a broken fetus out of the worm. Thanks to quick emergency aid at the nearest hospital, the worker was saved.

To prevent negative consequences that can occur from the lack of understanding about reproductive health, the trade union of Freetrend company in the Linh Trung 1 export processing zone regularly organizes talks on reproductive health, safe sex and delivers free condoms for workers.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nga, a leader of the company trade union said that the box of condoms is always available in the office of the trade union for the use of workers. Initially, they were shy but now the box is always empty.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Ai, Deputy Director of the Reproductive Health Advisory Clinic of Marie Stopes International Vietnam (MSIVN) in Binh Duong, said that when workers came to the clinic for examination or counseling, consulting experts provided them with information about contraceptives, but there are many workers who were unintentionally pregnant several times.

Ai said that to raise awareness about reproductive health for workers, MSIVN has coordinated with the HCM City Youth Union to organize free gynecological examinations and consultation for female workers in industrial zones in HCM City. The program began in April 2012.

Many activities to attract workers

Mr. Huynh Ngo Tinh, Director of the Support Center for Workers in HCM City, said to create conditions for young couples who are in difficulties, the center annually holds the collective wedding ceremony. In 2011, the center held an impressive ceremony for 80 couples.

These coupes were presented with an ATM card with VND2 million ($100) in account, one pair of wedding rings, one wedding party table, two wedding costumes, a wedding album worth VND3.5 million. In addition, the brides and grooms were also provided with wedding cars, wedding cakes, photography, film, makeup, etc. In particular, they participated in a pre-marriage class.

This year, the center just organized a wedding for 120 couples on December 12.

In early 2012, the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union in collaboration with the Department of Health organized the "volunteer program for public health." The program provided reproductive health consultation and screening to over 4,000 workers and free health care, free medication and free medicines to 20,000 workers.

In addition, the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union organized a program "Being with young female workers" to provide them with defense skills; psychological, marriage, family consultation; reproductive health advice, nutrition, prevention of diseases, common diseases; free medical and drug allocation.

Mr. Nguyen Van Quang, deputy director of the Center for Social Affairs of the HCM City Labor Federation, said the focus of the center in 2012 was providing knowledge on reproductive health and safe sex to workers.

The Fund for Workers of HCM City also organized points of sale that supply cheap goods, free games and music shows, free phone calls, etc for workers.

Mr. Tran Thien Long, Deputy Director of the Fund, said: "The introduction of free playgrounds, attractive activities will attract workers to help them have a healthy spiritual and cultural life. They will no longer feel lonely and do not fall in love in a hurry."

NLD

jackbl
31-12-2012, 10:57 AM
For those who went to Phu Quoc, will remember this night market :)

Tourist hotspot at Dinh Cau Market
================================================== =

VietNamNet Bridge – Hundreds of lights are on to welcome tourists to the food stalls and eateries on either side of Vo Thi Sau Street when darkness pervades Phu Quoc Island. There, they can taste the freshest catches of the day and buy souvenirs typical of the island’s waters off mainland Kien Giang Province.

The night market Dinh Cau, named after a sacred temple nearby, is open to tourists from as early as 5 p.m. till midnight. From 7p.m. to 9p.m. it is rush hour at the market located in the heart of Duong Dong Town when visitors to Phu Quoc gather to enjoy shrimp, fish, oyster, squid, snail and others that fishermen have caught during the day.

So, choosing what local specialty of Phu Quoc to eat for dinner at the night market is an easy and interesting experience but it is advisable for tourists to walk past all the seafood stalls on the either side of the street to see what is on offer and prices. When having selected and ordered your favorite seafood, you need to look for a table of their choice, either outdoor or indoor, to sit down for a drink before the food is served.

Iced bottled or cans of Vietnamese beer are recommended for tourists to quench their thirst and whet their appetite for the seafood, which can be steamed, boiled, grilled, sauteed… to order.

Ocean breezes, the sizzling sound and savory flavors of grilling seafood, chit-chat among diners give travelers a nice dining experience at the market. However, they should be careful not to sit too close to the outdoor cooking area as they may feel uncomfortable or scared due to the flames and smoke from the ‘open’ kitchen.

The trip to Dinh Cau Night Market often ends with souvenir purchases. After dinner, a lot of tourists stroll along the street to find and buy bracelets, necklaces, rings, earrings and other souvenirs made from shell and other materials of the Phu Quoc Sea.

Source: SGT

vietboy
01-01-2013, 10:21 AM
Happy new year to all bros! May 2013 be a joyous and fruitful year to all! Happy 2013!

KangTuo
01-01-2013, 10:30 AM
Happy new year to all bros! May 2013 be a joyous and fruitful year to all! Happy 2013!

joyous - more vb to teach TV
fruitful - vb teach TV on bed

:)

jackbl
01-01-2013, 01:11 PM
What Vietnamese millionaires spend money on?
================================================== =======================

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese millionaires are rich enough to spend billions of dong on a bird cage, millions of dong on a Canadian gooey duck, or thousands of dollars on tiny shrimps.

Billion-dong bird cage for bird collectors

Not only competing with each other in collecting twitting birds, Vietnamese millionaires have also been vying in bird cages.

The prices of bird cages depend on the materials and the way of treating materials to create the cages. The ones carved in sophisticated style would be more expensive. Especially, if the bird cages are made of elephant’s tusk or tortoise shell, they could be a fortune.

On some cages, one can see the carved images of the heroes and the battles in the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. On others, one would see the images of 12 animal designations existing in Oriental culture.

The most expensive bird cages are the ones made of elephant tusks or tortoise shells, which could be priced at 500-800 million dong. The bird cages made of old bamboo with sophisticated carving would be valued at 50-120 million dong.

Hung “xiec” (Hung circus) proves to be the best known among the bird cage collectors, who is believed to possess the most expensive cages. One of them is the “ngu long tranh chau” (five dragon cage scramble for a gem).

Tuan, a man who lives on Bach Dang Street of Hoan Kiem district in Hanoi, is believed to possess some valuable bird cages worth one billion dong. Other cages are cheaper, but each of them is worth a fortune, about hundreds of millions of dong.

5 million dong spent on a gooey duck

More and more original dishes have been added into the menus of the rich. Millionaires now like gooey ducks imported from Canada, which they believe are very good for men.

The seafood restaurants in Hanoi now provide the luxurious Canadian food products at 1.9-2.5 million dong per kilo.

Since the products are especially expensive, the way they are served to clients is also special. At the restaurants, gooey duck imports are put into cistern where they receive special care. The water here is always clean which is at 10 oC temperature.

A serviceman of a high end seafood restaurant said gooey duck is the choice of many clients, but only the rich order Canadian clams because they are very expensive. A two kilo clam is priced at 5 million dong, the sum of money big enough to afford two tons of rice.

The tiny shrimps worth thousands of dollars








Tuan Dung, a tiny shrimp player in Hanoi, burst into laugher when he was asked why such a tiny shrimp is priced at thousands of dollars.

Dung showed his aquarium, where there are 150 tiny shrimps, each of which is as big as the tip of a toothpick and said that raising aquatic creatures is now in fashion among the players in the north, after they became popular in the south.

Dung said the hobby takes him a lot of time. “They (the tiny shrimps) would die if the conditions are unfavorable to them. Especially, the weather in the north is so changeable. Therefore, you need to take care for them,” he said.

It’s very costly to raise tiny shrimp. A shrimp may costs thousands of dollars, while its life circle is very short, no longer than one year.

VTC

jackbl
03-01-2013, 02:22 AM
Only 10 enterprises sell genuine branded goods in Vietnam
================================================== ===========================

VietNamNet Bridge – Luxurious goods bearing well-known brands have been available at many high end shops or shopping malls in Vietnam. However, only a few of them sell genuine products.

The most shocking news of the last week was the discovery that the Gucci – Milano shop system sold counterfeit goods. The products on sale were introduced as made in Italia, but in fact, they were made in China.

On December 2, competent agencies in HCM City found at the ground floor of Sheraton Hotel at No. 88 Dong Khoi Street in HCM City a lot of boxes of clothes, footwear and belts bearing Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana brands – the Italian famous brands.

The invoices showed that the exporter was a Chinese company based in Guang Dong. The import declaration paper showed that the “branded” imports were valued at just tens of thousands of dong for each. The importer reportedly was imposed 21 million dong in tax for the consignment.

On December 7, in Hanoi, competent agencies released the decision to seal off the shop at No. 63 Ly Thai To Street in Hoan Kiem district in Hanoi to check the origin of the goods.

Only 10 companies sell genuine branded goods in Vietnam

The demand for branded goods has been increasing rapidly in Vietnam, which has led to the establishment of a lot of shops introducing themselves as the authorized distributors in Vietnam. However, in fact, the products are just the ones that bear famous brands, not genuine branded products.

Analysts have estimated that only about 10 businesses have been granted commercial licenses to distribute the products of 100 well-known jewelry, fashion and cosmetics brands in the world.

Meanwhile, the other products introduced as “branded goods” have been penetrating Vietnam through different ways by businessmen with trifling skills.

Most of the enterprises distributing branded goods in Vietnam have been operating under the mode of limited trade, service and import-export companies. In general, the companies have both the functions of distribution and import, because they have to place orders in advance for every season, control the goods and take responsibility for the post-sale services.

Of the distributors, Milano is the only one registered as a business household. This means that it only has the function of retailing, while the import and transportation must be carried out via other companies.

Especially, the household pays fixed tax on its income and personal income tax.

The inflows

Genuine branded goods have been imported to Vietnam by authorized distributors, who can import themselves or authorize other companies to import the products they order.

There is another way for branded goods to enter Vietnam – through the enterprises specializing in collecting sale-off products. The products of this kind always have official documents to show their origin.

Nguyen Thi Huyen, Director of Anh Kim Company, has noted that Vietnamese consumers favor sale-off products because they are cheap. Meanwhile, they can be sure that the products are genuine, because the company can show relating documents to prove their origins.

In general, it is very difficult to differentiate genuine and fake goods available at the fashion shops on streets. A shop owner said that the fake goods made in China are nearly exactly the same as genuine products. Therefore, a lot of businessmen have been selling fake goods at high prices to make profit.

SGTT

jackbl
04-01-2013, 10:12 AM
Korean streets amid Hanoi
=============================================

VietNamNet Bridge – Being surprised is probably the feeling of most people when they come to "Korean streets," because the advertising boards of stores along the roads are in Korean language. They can mistakenly believe that they are in Korea.

Since 2006, the Korean community living in Hanoi has developed strongly, mainly in the areas of Trung Hoa-Nhan Chinh, Trung Kinh, My Dinh - Song Da and Dao Tan. Therefore, dedicated services for Korean people have developed at astonishing speed.

Unlike the "Korea street" Pham Van Hai in HCM City, where shops are mainly owned by Korean, most restaurants, hotels, supermarkets and stores on the “Korean streets” in Hanoi are ran by Vietnamese.



Korea everywhere

Perhaps the largest community of Koreans living in Hanoi is in the area of Trung Hoa-Nhan Chinh. Just looking at the posters, advertising signs there one can realize it clearly. Going along the streets of Nguyen Thi Thap, Nguyen Thi Dinh and Hoang Ngan, it is very normal to see Koreans and hear Korean language as if it is the official language of communication of people in this area.

If you just wear Korean-style outfit (long sweater, tights, curly and lightly-died hair) and enter into any restaurant or shop in this area, the staff will immediately use Korean to talk to you.

Ms. Nguyen Linh, neighbor of a Korean family in the apartment building 17T10 Trung Hoa-Nhan Chinh, said: "Although there are many Koreans here but I do not see big changes because in apartment blocks, households do not contact with each other much. They only say hello when they see each other on the stairs, the hallway or the basement parking lot. The biggest change is a lot of shops for Korean have been set up."

In the "Korean street," there are all services for Koreans, from restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, hospitals, schools to Internet cafes.

Pedestrians can easily find numerous stores with bilingual plates. However, the Korean letters are often bigger and more eye-catching while the Vietnamese text is small and difficult to see.



Integration in foreign land

Besides entertainment services such as billiards, karaoke, spa, etc., social services for Koreans in Vietnam are also available such as schools, hospitals and cultural centers. The International Korea-Hanoi School, located on Le Van Luong road is one of the schools for Korean kids in Hanoi.

Oh Ju Young, the school's fourth grader said that the school teaches Vietnamese but most of them still communicate in Korean language because most of the students are Vietnamese-Korean or Korean.

Most Koreans in Vietnam still maintain their eating habits and favor Korean food, so in addition to Korean restaurants, there are many supermarkets selling Korean food in this area.

Ace Mart on Nguyen Thi Thap Street is a fairly typical shopping destination. Stepping into the supermarket, Vietnamese customers probably feel overwhelmed because the staff here communicate fluently as native Korean and all the products do not have a single word in Vietnamese.

All products are imported from South Korea, to fully serve daily needs of Korean, from Soju wine, kimchi, rice cakes, fish-shaped ice cream, fish sauce to books and clothes. Even the popular products available in Vietnam as Xilytol chewing gum, snacks, Colgate toothbrush, etc. are also imported from Korea because a majority of Korean people prefer to use products from their country.

Mr. Jeon Jeong Seok, 26, an employee of a wallpaper trading company, said: "I’ve lived in Vietnam for a year and a half but I still mainly use Korean utensils purchased at a supermarket near my apartment.”

It is interesting that outside the supermarket there is a small campus with several sets of wooden tables and chairs. "In Vietnam, it seems strange but in Korea, all supermarkets have wooden tables and chairs to serve customers," the supermarket’s manager said.

The number of Koreans living in Hanoi is on the rise. According to Mr. Tran Ngoc Son, head of the administration board of 17T10 apartment building in Trung Hoa - Nhan Chinh, said: "This apartment building has about 200 households, including more than 30 Korean households. Korean always have good attitude. They say hello when seeing us but the relations only stop at the courtesy greeting."


Closed way of life

"The majority of Koreans in Hanoi make the initial impression of being friendly, open, but only at a social level. In fact, they mainly make contact with the Korean community living here," said Ms. Nguyen Lan Anh, a longtime employee at Pan Medical, a Korean firm in Hanoi.

Four years after the normalization of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea, since 1992 the number of Korean to Vietnam has increased rapidly, forming the second largest group of immigrants, second only to the Taiwanese community in Vietnam.

It is estimated that in 2011, the number of Koreans in Vietnam was nearly 90,000, of whom almost half reside in Hanoi. However, Vietnamese do not really understand about their lifestyle and personalities.

Most Korean people living in Hanoi, no matter how long they have been here, from several months to several years, always keep their eating habits. They only choose Korean food for their everyday meals.

Although Vietnamese food is diverse, cheap, and easy to buy but the Koreans in Hanoi only eat Korean food like rice roll, kimchi, etc.

Mr. Park Chang Eun, manager at a Korean firm that manufactures fire extinguishers and steel structures, said: "The Vietnamese cuisines are slightly salty. Especially I hate eating spinach. In Korea, no one eats water spinach but it Vietnam it is very popular."

To find the ingredients of Korean cuisines, they go to K-mart, the supermarkets selling Korean products in Hanoi. For men, who do not know cooking, often eat in Korean restaurants around their workplaces or hire Vietnamese charladies who can cook Korean food.

In addition to food, Koreans only use things from Korea, from the smallest things like toothpaste, dishes, napkin, etc.

"It is a habit to use Korean products. Moreover, they are better in design and quality while the prices are not much more expensive than Vietnamese products," said Mr. Bok Yo Han, a tour guide.

He said he bought these things from Korean marts or brought them from his country to Vietnam.

Coming to Hanoi, Koreans only want to live in places where there are many Koreans living and working, such as Trung Hoa-Nhan Chinh, Dao Tan, My Dinh - Song Da, forming a separate community. Mr. Yoon Jae Min, who works at a Korean IT company, said: "Though I cannot speak Vietnamese but I can still live here very conveniently."

Koreans do not have many Vietnamese friends. They mainly still communicate with the Korean community here. Companies in which they work are also branches of Korean companies in Vietnam, of which only a few employees are Vietnamese and they all communicate with each other in Korean.

Korean people rarely talk to local people unless it is necessary, because as Mr. Jeon Jeong-seok, who has lived in Vietnam for a year and a half said: "I’m afraid to meet Vietnamese because I do not really know that they are talking about me."

Yet there are some Koreans like Mr. Bok Yo Han, characterized by his job as a tour guide, has a lot of Vietnamese friends but they are the ones who he truly know for a long time and know how to speak Korean.

Hong Loan-Van Anh

jackbl
05-01-2013, 03:43 PM
Cancer patients increase quickly in Vietnam
================================================== ===============

VietNamNet Bridge - Patients with cancer are increasing rapidly in Vietnam. The sad thing is that most patients are in the later stage when they see doctors, so the cancer cure rate in Vietnam is not as high as desired.

Dr. Tran Van Thuan, deputy director of the hospital K, Director of the Institute of Cancer Prevention Research, said each year in Vietnam, the number of new patients with cancer are 150,000 and 75,000 others died of cancer.

At the present time, there are 240,000 - 250,000 people living with the disease of cancer in Vietnam.

According to Thuan, the cancer tends to increase, not only in Vietnam but in most countries around the world. The common types of cancer are lung, stomach, liver, colon (men) and breast cancer, cervix, stomach, lung, colorectal (women).

In recent years, many cancer clinics have been opened but the current network still does not meet the treatment needs.

At Hanoi-based K hospital, the number of patients increases by 20-30% annually. Specifically, in 2007, patients with breast examination was 2,476, by 2011, this number was 3,011. Patients with lung examination in 2007 was 1,199, by 2011, this number was 2,059.

According to Thuan, there are many reasons for this situation. The leading reason is risk factor, with more than 80% is caused by the external environment in which, smoking accounts for over 30% of the causes of cancer in humans.

Nutrition with less vegetables, more meat and animal fats, protein excess and especially foods that contain preservatives are also important causes of disease.

Other causes are working in hazardous environments, life expectancy increases, etc.

However, most of patients see doctors when they are in the late stages.

"Up to 70% of cancer patients are at the final stage (stage 3 or 4) when they saw doctors. Therefore, the cancer cure rate in Vietnam is not high," Thuan said.

Cam Quyen

jackbl
05-01-2013, 03:52 PM
The service of hunting vehicles’ original owners
================================================== =========================

Since the Decree 71 regulation, obliging drivers to make vehicle ownership transfers, took effect on November 10, many second-hand motorcycle retailers have offered services to look for the vehicles’ original owner and carry out ownership transferral procedures.

To transfer vehicle ownership, the present owner of a vehicle must have the original owner come with him or her to the authorities before registering for a new registration card, which affirms that individual as the actual owner of the vehicle.

Because it is such a complicated process and, in many cases, the previous owners of the vehicles cannot be contacted, many present owners have decided to use these second-hand retailers' services to look for their vehicle's original owner and carry out ownership transferral procedures.

These services cost from several hundred thousand dong to several million dong, depending on how hard it is to find the original owners.

“Due to the fact that, in many cases, the addresses of the original owners have changed, or the original owners have died or emigrated some time ago, I have to look for them through their registration card details or by following the information I get from their neighbors, relatives or even local officers,” explained Muoi, one of the retailers offering such services in Binh Tan district’s Binh Hung Hoa ward in Ho Chi Minh City.

After looking at a registration card, he said, “This address is quite easy to look for. It’s in the center of town. So I will charge one million dong, not including ownership procedure costs. I must receive a half of it first (VND 500,000) and I will take the rest after finishing within two days or a week, if it’s hard to find the previous owner.”

Service procedures

On November 22, Thanh, a resident of Binh Thanh district, met Thang, who offers ownership transferral services in this area, in order to transfer his new motorcycle's ownership.

Thang said, while looking at the registration card of his customer’s vehicle, “Five million dong. I’ll go to Binh Thuan province, look for this man (the previous owner) and get back the original documents for your motorcycle within ten days. Then, you only need to register with your local officers and this motorcycle will be yours legally.”

After that, Thang took the ID card, a copy of Thanh's household registration record and Thanh's registration card and went to Binh Thuan province.

“I have developed relationships with many people in other provinces and cities, so it’s quite easy for me to do this business,” Thang shared.

According to Minh, a motorcycle retailer in Phu Nhuan district, drivers can also find the original owners by themselves, as long as they follow the addresses on their vehicles’ registration card. “If they cannot, they should go to local officers, explain their problems and ask for the original owners’ updated details. However, the point is they need to persuade the owners to cooperate with them,” Minh said.

“Sometimes, it’s necessary to give the original owners money while convincing them,” Muoi revealed.

A popular service

People in Ho Chi Minh City, Ha Noi and other areas can easily find these popular services, which are offered by either motorcycle taxi (‘xe om’) drivers or second-hand motorcycle retailers, via the websites and telephone numbers on their leaflets.

Luu Van Sang, who is responsible for finding vehicles’ original owners in a cooperative in Ha Noi, said, “Everyday, we receive 30 to 40 customers. The service’s cost is VND 1.2 to 1.5 million for each car and VND one to 1.2 million for each motorcycle.”

“It takes more time if they look for the original owners by themselves. So many come to us for help,” he added.

Through many websites, such as www.timchuxe, drivers can send their copies of household registration records, ID cards, registration cards, and photographs of their vehicles to the site and wait for news of the vehicle's original owner. “We have received lots of customers via our website.

Their personal details are kept absolutely private, and because it’s convenient for them, this method is very effective,” Thuy Anh, representative of a company in Ha Noi which offers the services, said.

jackbl
05-01-2013, 03:55 PM
Illegal opium liquor for sale in Vietnam
================================================== ======
Hanoi police have recently uncovered a shop storing 5,000 liters of opium-steeped wine, which is considered a kind of tonic wine with medicinal properties despite the rejection of scientists.


In general, ‘alcohol 138’ is a wine soaked with the roots, stem, or fruit of opium poppy plants.

This kind of wine is sought by many alcohol enthusiasts. In Vietnam, it is named ‘alcohol 138’ after Campaign 138 to wipe out the cultivation of opium poppy plants, carried out by the People’s Committee of northern Yen Bai province.

‘Alcohol 138’ a favorite of carousers

This kind of liquor is talked about among male drinkers as a miracle remedy with different functions, such as pain relief, a cure for ailments of the stomach and intestines, and a promoter of sexual masculinity.

Ethnic minority people in the mountainous areas of the north often used to drink liquor soaked with opium poppies, especially when the cultivation of the plant was not razed en masse. To this day, some locals still plant poppies to process alcohol 138, which is commonly sold in Yen Bai.

The ‘processing technology’ of alcohol 138 is quite simple, as it can be done in one of two ways: soaking the alcohol with fresh poppies or dried poppies.

Soaked with fresh poppies, the alcohol turns dark brown after a week and it is then drinkable. Each 5-liter vase of poppy alcohol 138 is priced at VND1.5 – 2 million (US$72 – 96). A similar vase soaked with opium doubles in price.

In 2010, Yen Bai police arrested a local named Bui Thi Hoa for the illegal sale of 1,500 liters of opium liquor; he was sentenced to seven years in jail.

Tran Dang, former head of the Food Safety Department under the Ministry of Health, admitted that opium liquor is not a new problem. Five years ago, he identified 2,000 kinds of animal parts and plants which were being used to infuse alcohol for their so-called medicinal properties in 30 provinces and cities in Vietnam. Opium liquor is one of them.

“Drinking opium liquor may cause addiction to both alcohol and opium if it is consumed for a week,” he said.

“One of the properties of opium is its ability to create a buoyant feeling of good health, so it is usually misunderstood. Once addicted, people feel pain and can’t resist the drug,” Dang added.

Colonel Doan Huu Chau, head of the Hanoi Environmental Police Department, said his agency has sent samples of liquor 138 for tests to identify the content of the opium.

An opium alcohol drinker is charged with the use of illegal drugs if the result of tests of his blood or urine proves positive, Chau confirmed.

jackbl
07-01-2013, 09:10 AM
The sources of income of Vietnamese bank CEOs
================================================== =========================

VietNamNet Bridge – While some commercial banks keep transparent in the issues relating to the income of the board of directors, at other banks, the pay to the key personnel is confidential.

Generally, the pay to the members of the board of directors would be declared at the end of year, with the information to be found in the finance reports, or at the nest years’ shareholders’ meetings of listed banks.

In previous years, the income of a CEO of a medium bank was 200-300 million dong a month. Some brilliant CEOs received much more, but the number of the CEOs was modest.

Eximbank and ACB are two of the banks which regularly expose the information about the income of the key personnel. The common thing of the two banks was that both of them reported losses from gold and foreign currency trading for the third quarter of the year.

Eximbank is one of the rare banks which make public--the income of the board of directors after every year of operation.

The 2010 annual report of the bank showed that in 2009, the bank spent 11.4 billion dong to pay to the board of directors which comprised of 10 members, which meant that every member received more than one billion dong, or 95 million dong a month.

In 2010, when the number of the board’s members increased to 12, the total pay increased to 16.2 billion dong, which meant that every member received 112 million dong a month.

The total pay to the board of directors of the bank was double in 2011, soaring to 24.7 billion dong. As such, every member got 2.7 billion dong in 2011, or 229 million dong a month.

As for ACB, the bank’s total income of the board of directors was 17.4 billion dong in 2011, or 4 billion dong higher than that in 2010. Each of the nine members of the board of directors earned 1.9 billion dong a year, or 160 million dong a month.

The board of management and supervision board received 10.8 billion dong in 2011, while it was 8.8 billion dong in 2010. Prior to that, the income of the board of director was more modest, at 9.3 billion dong.

Besides the monthly salaries, the members of the board of directors of ACB also received bonus shares, cars, insurance policies and healthcare services.

Some small banks also regularly expose the detailed information about the total income of their key personnel. In 2011, Navibank, for example, announced that every of them received one billion dong a year, or 80 million dong a month.

Declining to reveal the information about the income levels of leaders and officers in 2012, Deputy General Director of ACB Nguyen Thanh Toai said the national economy has experienced a very difficult year 2012, therefore, it would be understandable if the pay to them is lower than the previous years.

A banker in Hanoi frankly said that it is not the right time to be too demanding now, and that one would feel happy if he still can be on the post of CEO. 2012 was an unlucky year to many bankers, when a lot of high ranking executives were arrested, the bad debt increased, capital cost increased and profit decreased.

The banker has predicted that the income of CEOs would be kept secret, because the income levels would show the capability of the CEOs, which is always a “sensitive matter.”

Infonet

jackbl
08-01-2013, 02:57 AM
越南阿嫂流莺,庙宇厕所内接客,亵渎神明,遭阿伯赶走。

热心读者致电《新明日报》指,马里士他路一带,有越来越多流莺站街。

记者走访了解,一名知情者说,这些流莺来自越南,她们大约一个月前出现,每晚10时许就在一家庙宇外寻找目 标,一直到凌晨两三时。

“她们站在一家庙宇前拉客,我和另一名阿叔觉得她们简直是对神明不敬,所以把她们通通赶走,过后她们就站在 庙宇附近的咖啡店去。  

清洁工曾被搭讪。

jackbl
08-01-2013, 10:55 PM
Billions of dollars outflows to fund Vietnamese students’ studies overseas
================================================== ================================================== ==

VietNamNet Bridge – Official statistics show that Vietnamese spend billions of US dollars a year to fund overseas training courses for their children.

Nguyen Truong Giang, a senior official of the Ministry of Finance has confirmed that every year, Vietnamese remit billions of US dollars abroad to pay for their children’s training courses.

Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam has cited a report showing that the number of Vietnamese going abroad to study has been increasing steadily year after year. In 2010-2011, Vietnam had 98,536 overseas students while the figure jumped to 106,104 in the 2011-2012 academic year.

The latest report by the Ministry of Education and Training showed that about 60,000 Vietnamese are studying at overseas training establishments. More and more Vietnamese apply for studying at the schools in the US, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Singapore and China.

The movement of going to study abroad started in 1997-1998, when most Vietnamese enrolled in the schools in the UK, France and the US. However, the list of the destination countries for Vietnamese students has been expanded. Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Switzerland have also become the popular names for the students who plan to go studying abroad.

It is estimated that Vietnamese spend US$10,000-$15,000 a year on average on a seat at foreign schools. As such, Vietnamese have to remit at least $1-1.5 billion abroad every year to fund the training courses.

However, Giang emphasized that this is just the average spending level, while the actual spending would be higher.

A lot of students, especially the ones in big cities, cherish the dream of studying abroad right when they go to secondary or high schools. Some of them try to apply for scholarships to have better learning conditions overseas. Meanwhile, others would rather go abroad with their own money than studying at domestic schools.

Giang believes that Vietnamese tend to go studying abroad because they believe that they can receive higher education quality, the thing they would not receive in Vietnam.

Therefore, in order to attract students, Vietnamese schools have no other choice than improving their training quality.

According to Giang, Vietnam would retain Vietnamese students if its schools just can provide the training quality equal to that provided by regional schools. Around 35,900 out of the 106,000 students going abroad in 2011-2012 headed for Asian countries.

The increasingly high demand for high quality international university education has turned Vietnam into an attractive destination for foreign educators. However, to date, only several foreign universities have arrived in Vietnam, namely RMIT or the British International University.

In September 2012, the government promulgated the Decree No. 73 stipulating the requirements on foreign educators who plan to open universities in Vietnam.

Regarding the financial conditions, the decree stipulates that the minimum investment rate must be VND150 million ($7,000) per student, not including land use fees, while the total investment capital must not be lower than VND300 billion dong ($15 million).

The decree stipulates that the Prime Minister will release the decisions on the establishment of foreign invested universities, while the Minister of Education and Training will decide the establishment of foreign invested junior colleges, and the Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs will decide the establishment of foreign invested vocational schools.

Compiled by Thu Uyen

jackbl
09-01-2013, 10:15 AM
University students get puzzled with English skill standards
================================================== =================================

VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of students complained that though they have fulfilled the training curricula, they still cannot graduate from universities, because they cannot meet the requirements in the English skills stipulated by the schools.


Most of the universities in Vietnam have announced the standard qualifications for their graduates, i.e. the qualifications and skills the school commit their graduates will have.

The HCM City University of Agriculture and Forestry began applying the output standards for graduates from the 2008 academic year. The students of the school must meet the B1 level of the European scale.

The students, who entered the school in 2008, have recently attended the final exams. However, 21.8 percent of the students still cannot show the B1 level certificates; therefore, they still cannot graduate the school.

According to Dr Tran Dinh Ly, Head of the Training Division of the university, B1 of the European scale sets higher requirements than the national B level that schools once applied in Vietnam. Therefore, a lot of students cannot meet the standards.

“I know many students who are very good at their majors, but still cannot have B1 level certificates and they still cannot finish school,” he said.

Ly also said that the students who have TOEFL 400, TOEIC 450, IELTS 4.5, PET 70, BULATS 40 would also be recognized as meeting the output standards.

The University of Technology and the Economics University, the member schools of the Da Nang University, have also required the B1 standards and TOEIC 400 on their students to be able to graduate from the schools.

However, the standards seem unattainable to many students. A survey conducted by the University of Technology has found out only 20-30 percent of students can follow the English curriculum designed for university students in accordance with the Ministry of Education (10 credits), when they enter a new academic year. Meanwhile, the other 70 percent have to attend preparatory classes before attending official classes.

Meanwhile, Tran Cao Vinh, Head of the Training Division of the HCM City University of Natural Sciences, said his school only requires B level certificate, though B level certificate would surely not be able to satisfy the requirements of employers. However, even with the low requirements, Vinh fears that the majority of the school’s students cannot meet the standard.

In the future, B1 level would be the required standards to be applied to all schools as stipulated in the national program on teaching and learning foreign languages.

Meanwhile, Hoa Van Binh, Deputy Dean of the Foreign Languages Faculty of the Saigon University, has warned that B1 would be an overly high goal for many students, saying that students still have not been aware of the importance of learning foreign languages.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Bich, a third year student of the HCM City University of Natural Sciences, has noted that a lot of her classmates do not think foreign languages would be useful for them in the future jobs, therefore, they only spend time on learning some days before the exam days.

Bich also thinks that there is a big gap in the English skills of the students from rural areas and students from big cities. In general, the students from rural areas do not have the opportunities to learn English in a methodical way. Therefore, they find it hard to continue learning English at the universities.

Vinh agrees that four years at universities would not be enough for students to obtain fluent English skills, and that students need to have a good basis when they finish high schools to be able to meet the standards in foreign language skills when following university education.

Tien Phong

jackbl
09-01-2013, 12:38 PM
Phu Quoc’s Magic
=================================
I recently had a break from teaching in Hoi An and needed a holiday. Between visiting Cambodia again and meeting up with people in Ho Chi Minh City, I got the chance to visit a former expat friend now living in Phu Quoc. The winter around Hoi An is cooler than I like so I was also interested in the possibility of some teaching opportunities in warmer Phu Quoc, as the southern tourist season runs from November to early May with dry weather and calm seas.


Like my hometown, Hoi An, Phu Quoc has a great potential for personal and guided bicycle and motorbike tours across the whole island, particularly the National Park, the northern coast and cross-island mountain highway. Local traffic is the typical mad Vietnamese driving style, yet not heavy or crowded, but the taxis need to slow down a lot!

I flew to Phu Quoc and back via Vietnam Airlines because they are reliable – not cheap at the moment, around US$75 one way, but worth it for the extra time I could spend on the Island. One bonus is that the flight is only 50 minutes so it’s worth it if you’re on a tight schedule. Flight prices should come down considerably with increasing traffic and airline competition with the opening of the new, larger airport towards the end of this year.

While I’m sure most Vietnamese know about Phu Quoc, here is a little background for expats and tourists possibly reading this article. The island is situated about 15 kilometers off the south western edge of Cambodia and about 45 kilometers from the Vietnamese border. In fact, you can see the rising hills of Cambodia on a sunny, clear day from the northern tip of Phu Quoc.

While Phu Quoc is still quite undeveloped, it’s remarkably unspoilt beauty is breathtaking, particularly on the northern beaches and over the mountains leading into the national park. The air is refreshing and fragrant in the mountains.

There’s been a lot of what I consider to be unfair criticism of the pace of development, with many investors seemingly expecting the government to provide infrastructure at national expense while the nation has more pressing matters to contend with elsewhere. Most of the coastal ‘ring’ roads circling the island are still unsealed, however the main overland highway is on the way to completion and the undersea power cable from Ha Tien, the mainland entrance way to the island, is slated for completion by the end of 2013.

South of Duong Dong township is mostly pristine forest and shoreline slowly developing into a small Mecca for Vietnamese and foreign tourists. The stunning coastline has some of the best clear saltwater in Vietnam, and the great part? It’s shallow, perfect for kids and families. While there are not yet many good food and beverage outlets along the south, locals are friendly and prices are not bad, and the seafood is excellent.

Pearl shopping is just taking off as a growing business here and a handful of pearl shops cater to tourists on this southern strip of the island. The pearl variety is good and prices are still reasonable, although you may have to ‘shop around’, but don’t be put off, that’s half the fun, haggling!

Duong Dong township also offers some great photo opportunities for camera buffs. The fishing harbor and market is well worth visiting and should become an organized tour feature in the coming years, with fresh seafood restaurants and a great view of the crowded fishing boat fleet. The town is quite small but not particularly suited to just walking around due to the narrow roads and dust from construction and development. It is unique features such as these that make Phu Quoc slightly dreamlike and so relaxing.

The main cross-island highway northwards is great for the sealed sections that are already finished and you can make good time, passing pepper farms and small inland villages. Be warned though, take a lot of sun-cream, for the sun around Phu Quoc can burn you fast! The mountain air is cool and carries a wonderful scent from the tropical jungle. Check out the pepper farms, if you have time, the pepper sauce is fantastic!

The northern beaches are still difficult to get to over rough, pot-holed roads, but given that Phu Quoc is only now beginning to truly develop, this just allows for more of the ‘road warrior’ stories you’ll tell your friends over dinner!

The water on the northern tip is just as inviting as the south, with the added attraction of the view towards Cambodia. There’s a string of small beaches stretching across the northern edge of the island, though good cafes and ‘pit stops’ are rare so it’s worth it to just stop, have a beer with the locals, and bring a packed lunch!

The road to the national park is a sealed one, and the park is gorgeous. It’s mostly stunning and pristine jungle and rainforest so you do need a local guide as the trails are mostly unmarked, and it’s very easy to get lost there. The Army uses part of the island for jungle training but you won’t see them!

The forests are home to a lot of flora and fauna but you have to be quiet and quick to get good photos! If you really like hiking and the mountains, this is the place, the colors and the patterns of the forests are a photographer’s dream.

So it’s all good on the island. There are a few up-market resorts and a cluster of back-packer style hotels and bars in Duong Dong. Phu Quoc’s tourist potential is huge and the national investment in the island is well justified. While food is expensive due to the need to import tourist foodstuffs from the mainland and petrol, accommodation is mostly still reasonable.

In the coming years tourism is set to take off in a big way. It would be to both Cambodia’s and Vietnam’s advantage to agree to a border crossing in Phu Quoc or perhaps a visa free zone to boost tourist traffic in both directions, from Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh or Sihanoukville in the south of Cambodia.

Also there’s a strong need for English and Hospitality training to give local people more opportunities to work at the new airport and around the tourism industry, yet this will probably need some government or private funding as local incomes are not high enough yet for many to access vocational training on the island.

Oh! I nearly forgot! While you’re there, pop in and visit my friend, Lee Webster’s bar/restaurant just about a kilometer south of Duong Dong.

Are you up for some adventure?

jackbl
09-01-2013, 12:39 PM
The hidden side of ancient Hue
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VietNamNet Bridge – When you talk about tourism in the ancient city of Hue, many people will think about the mausoleums of the Vietnamese kings.


Once those sites have been checked off the list, there is nothing left to see and no need to return. That is the established thinking, anyway.

To me, however, it is very different. I am fascinated by this small and historic city and its surroundings, and I am struck by a great happiness every time I return. There is far more to Hue than meets the eye.

I love the cuisine, the beautiful scenery and the slow pace, and it is easily among one of my favourite destinations.

My love for Hue has been enriched even more after a recent visit to Suoi Voi (Elephant Spring), which is hidden away in Loc Tien Commune in Phu Loc District. In this place, my friend and I swam in the springs, played in the forest and ate delicious local chicken. It was a wonderful day.

Suoi Voi is about 60km from the centre of Hue, and 40km from Da Nang City. Its location between these two cities makes it a popular pit-stop for people making the journey between the two.

While people call it a spring, it would be more accurate to say that it is a network of pure springs, boulders, mountains and jungle which come together to create a truly stunning landscape.

The journey there is unremarkable, and the road is made of cement. We parked the car when we could go no further and clambered up high steps with some uncertainty. Then the spring appeared.

It was breathtaking. Suddenly I became very aware of an incredibly fresh atmosphere caused by the pure and cool pool of water and the green of the surrounding forestry.

Bamboo huts built by local people lined the two sides of the stream, with the water bubbling past creating a natural soundtrack to the idyllic scene.

Visitors here are able to hire a hut, take a rest and enjoy the local cuisine.

We did exactly this, and lay back with our feet dangling into the cool flow of water.

Talking to the hut's owner, I was informed that Suoi Voi was once called Suoi Me (Me Spring – me meaning large elephant in the ancient language).

In spring, she explained while preparing a meal for us, when the weather was warm hundreds of elephants from Bach Ma Mountain would come to the forest and this particular stream to find cassava shrubs and other food.

Oddly, they only came to this one region, and then after some time – just as mysteriously – they left for the last time and never came back.

The elephants left their marks in the shape of large holes surrounding the spring, which over time filled with water to become small pools.

These are clear and cool and instantly attractive to visitors who want to jump in and swim as soon as seeing them. Signposts clearly label which ones are safe for them to do so.

My friend, who comes from northern region of Viet Nam, said that he has visited many places like Suoi Voi in the north, such as Suoi Tien, Khoang Sanh and Ao Vua, but he loved this experience the most.

"They all have the combination of natural fountains, forests, and rocks, but the ones in the north are less beautiful.

Here it is clean and safe for swimming," he said.

To make absolutely sure we were safe, my friend hired a lifebuoy to swim for just VND10,000.

Suoi Voi soon proved to be an equally perfect destination for sunbathing, with visitors tired from their swim able to rest at full stretch on the large rocks to enjoy the sun as it radiated through the canopy of trees above.

While my friend swam, I took the chance to gaze out at the surrounding landscape.

I noticed a big rock shaped like an elephant with a long trunk, and the hut's owner told me that it was artificial, made to memorise the real elephants that gave the site its name.

This elephant marks the nearby Elephant Lagoon, which is perhaps the most beautiful pool as it lies between two waterfalls and is completely translucent.

The hut's owner suggested that I explore further inside the forest – packed with rare animals and plants – in order to discover more beautiful hidden scenes and enjoy many new experiences such as fishing in some pools and picking local vegetable to cook soup. I wholeheartedly approved of this idea, and went for a long walk.

I think that Suoi Voi is a special place not just for its natural beauty but also for the things that it brings to the local people.

Since first opened as a tourist destination in 1994, it has brought jobs to many residents, despite only being open throughout the summer. It is estimated that each household can earn about VND12-15 million (US$600-750) per season from offering services to visitors.

At the end of the day – capped off with a delicious chicken noodle dish – I was extremely reluctant to leave. It had been a truly memorable experience, and one that I am sure I will relive in the future. For me, the beauty and cuisine of Hue and its surroundings are sure to entice me back again and again.

VietNamNet/VNS

jackbl
10-01-2013, 12:10 AM
Chan monastery offers haven for pilgrims in search of peace
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VietNamNet Bridge – The bells hanging in front of the main hall of Truc Lam Monastery tinkle in the wind, dispelling our weariness. Located on Phuong Hoang (Phoenix) Hill near the city of Da Lat in the Central Highlands, the monastery is surrounded by whispering pines and overlooks the mystical Tuyen Lam Lake. Since it opened to the public in 1994, its serenity and breathtaking beauty has attracted tourists nationwide and from abroad.

I recently visited Da Lat, known as the city of eternal spring because of its thousands of pine trees and flowers. The Chan (Thien in Vietnamese, Zen in Japanese) Buddhist monastery is 5km from the resort city and sits at 1,600m.

It is the biggest monastery in Da Lat and one of three in the country specialising in the Truc Lam Yen Tu sect. The two others are Truc Lam Yen Tu Monastery in Quang Ninh Province, and Truc Lam Tay Thien in Tam Dao, Vinh Phuc Province.

The monastery was designed by architects Vu Xuan Hung and Tran Duc Loc, with the participation of Ngo Viet Thu who designed the Re-unification Palace in HCM City. The monastery was founded by Buddhist monk Thich Thanh Tu to bring new life to the Truc Lam Yen Tu Chan sect, a uniquely Vietnamese form of Chan established during the Tran dynasty (1225-1400).

"One of the objectives of the temple is to recreate the spirit of Chan Buddhism during the Tran dynasty," says tourist guide Minh Thu. "The monks meditate three times a day, starting from 3am. Each session lasts two hours," she said.

She says the Chan tradition in VietNam was introduced by Emperor Tran Nhan Tong after he led Vietnamese troops in defeating China's Mongol-Yuan forces. He then abdicated the throne in favour of his son Tran Anh Tong to become a Buddhist monk.

The ex-emperor incorporated the three sects of Chan that had come to Viet Nam from China into a new Vietnamese tradition, known as Truc Lam. He then retreated to Yen Tu Mountain to begin his religious life, later travelling around the country to expound the dharma.

According to researchers, Chan, originally founded by Indian Buddhist monk Bodhidharma in China, helps people to live in full awareness while putting their minds into a peaceful state. Truc Lam Buddhist Chan emphasises interior concentration. This introspective training process leads to personal purification and helps one's good nature to surface.

There are three ways for tourists to enter Truc Lam Yen Tu monastery. They can chose the direct entrance to the monastery going up 61 steps from the road next to the hill next to the monastery. Or they can go directly past Tuyen Lam Lake and then climb more than 200 stone steps through a triple-gated entrance to enter the main courtyard.

Since 2003, Truc Lam can also be reached by a scenic 2.3km cable ride from Robin Hill overlooking Da Lat. The price is at VND50,000 (US$2.50) for a return trip.

On the approach road winding up the hill to the temple, the tiled roof and imposing bell tower come into view. At times, the deep boom of the one-tonne gong sounds throughout the region. On the bronze bell is a poem by King Tran Nhan Tong.

The monastery is located on 24 hectares, the largest monastic grounds in Viet Nam. Two hectares are occupied by buildings divided into domestic and public areas. The domestic area is for monks and nuns and is closed to the public. According to tourist guide Minh Thu, there are about 50 monks and 50 nuns at the monastery.

The public quarters were opened to the public in March 1994 and consist of a ceremonial hall, flanked by the bell tower on one side and guest facilities on the other. Inside the main hall which is in the middle of the monastery, golden statues look out with meditative gaze.

The most remarkable is a 2m high statue of Gautama Buddha seated on a lotus and raising a lotus in his hand – a symbolic image of Buddha, expressing the philosophy of "existence in nihilism". The ancient Indian sage is flanked on either side by two bodhisatvas, Van Thu riding a lion and Pho Hien riding a white elephant, respectively known for their wisdom and dedication.

An adjacent hall is used only on the 14th and 29th day of each lunar month, that is the eve of the full moon and the new moon. It's when the abbot holds a discussion session on meditation with students, including lay Buddhists. The monastery sometimes welcomes thousands of Buddhists monks and nuns.

One of the most restful areas is a big flower garden featuring blooms from around the world.

"I feel extremely tranquil when I visit the monastery," says Nhu Nguyen, a visitor. "Its serenity and poetic beauty makes me forget the stress of the daily life."

When they finish visiting the monastery, tourists can take a boat tour on Lam Tuyen Lake to visit nearby areas and enjoy ruou can (rice wine) or other local specialties.

Source: VNS

jackbl
11-01-2013, 08:56 AM
Vietnam's best-kept secret
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VietNamNet Bridge – Roughly 30km from Phan Rang City in the southern province of Binh Thuan, Binh Tien beach is a hidden gem for tourists who want to discover new experiences and rejuvenate.

After you pass over a high slope onto a white sand road, Binh Tien appears in the distance as if a gift from nature.

"Because the road to Binh Tien is only suited for narrow cars, the place is yet to be exploited for tourism. Not many people know this beautiful and primitive landscape," said backpacker Tran Ngoc Diep.

Coming to Binh Tien, you park your vehicle and choose a small cafe under the line of coconut-palms to enjoy the view. Then you can bathe in clear blue water or sunbathe on the soft white sand.

The seaside resort spreads for about 4km and you can swim up to 200m from the seashore.

Binh Tien lures many tourists on weekends, particularly during the summer and on public holidays. Visitors arrive with canvas and a variety of supplies to help enjoy the romantic atmosphere of dawn on the beach.

At 4am, the sky turns pink and dawn begins one hour later. After several minutes, rays of sunlight begin to appear.

"I come to Binh Tien not only for swimming but also enjoying the sunrise on the sea. It gives me a wonderful power," said Nguyen Van Thuan.

The morning sunlight reflects off the delicate dew of the sea to give a silk fibre effect, while a light pink spreads over the sea and sand.

"Binh Tien's dawn is beautiful and very romantic," Thuan added.

If tourists reach the mountain peak when the sun rises out of the sea, they will be amazed and fascinated by the charming scenery.

"The sea water is very clean and clear with white sand spreading out. Many mountains hide the beach so it is rather quiet. It is suitable for children, old people and young people who wants to go camping overnight," Diep said.

You can also follow coastal trails through the forest to find primitive beaches if you have more time. There you can see a collection of natural artwork on the cliff face, featuring striking images carved by nature's hand over thousands of years.

The final stop is a small stream from the Nui Chua forest which trickles gently towards the sea. When you soak in the clear water and familiarise yourself with a small flock of fish, your worries seem to dissolve into the sea.

If you are tired and hungry after a journey to the sea, Binh Tien will offer you thatched huts where you can enjoy such seafood favourites as cuttlefish, crabs and snails while taking in the fresh sea air.

"The seafood here is tasty and cheap," Diep said.

Near Binh Tien beach, there is a small fishing village located under the shade of rows of coconut trees, while the fishermen here are very friendly and hospitable.

You can follow in the fishermen's footsteps by floating on the sea in the early morning, contemplating the dawn and pulling up a good haul of fish.

At present, Binh Tien has very limited tourism services so you should bring necessary supplies in advance or hire them from the fishermen.

There's something about Binh Tien that tells me my first visit will not be my last.

Source: VNS

jackbl
12-01-2013, 12:52 PM
Who benefits from tourism industry?
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VietNamNet Bridge – All the policies relating to the tourism industry have been bringing benefits to resort developers and tourism project investors, but no benefit to local residents.


Tourism should benefit local people

Nguyen Quoc Ky, General Director of Vietravel, has noted that local residents cannot benefit from the tourism development in their localities. Meanwhile, only the fair profit sharing should be seen as the basis for sustainable development.

“In coastal areas, people have to leave to give place to luxurious resorts. However, while they lose land, they do not receive anything from the resorts,” Ky said.

“Therefore, they remain unfriendly to travelers. They don’t consider travelers as the guests they need to receive warmly. They just try to sell local specialties at exorbitant high prices to earn their living,” he added.

He has pointed out that this is the main reason behind the unsustainable tourism development of coastal areas. The environment has got polluted because local residents have been over-exploiting it, discharged garbage and overcharged travelers, thus making travelers hesitant to return to the localities for the second and subsequent times.

It’s necessary to built up the policies which can bring benefits to all the involved parties, said Ky. Especially, there should be the laws which force tourism investment projects to bring benefits to localities.

The project on developing Co To Island tourism is an example, Nguyen Van Thanh, Secretary of the Co To District Party Committee, said that the main principle of the development plan is to develop tourism in association with the local residents’ benefits.

All the investors must be sure that their investment projects won’t have negative impacts on the environment on the island, and that the projects would create more jobs and bring higher income to people. Enterprises will be required to use energy saving equipments, not to discharge waste water directly to the environment and use the seafood products to be made and provided by local residents.

“Only when tourism projects bring benefits to people, will people try to improve their knowledge, make high quality products to serve travelers and provide good services as reasonable prices,” Ky said.

Green tourism and responsibility tourism on the rise

Analysts have noted that travel firms now pay higher attention to developing responsible tourism because the tours not only can attract travelers, but also polish their brands.

Hanoi Redtours has launched the donation tours to the northern province of Ha Giang with the destination in Sung La mountain village. Vu Bich Hue, PR Director of Hanoi Redtours, said a lot of travelers have booked the tour, turning it into one of the best selling domestic tours.

Vietravel and Vietrantour are also selling donation tours with the programs on donating warm clothes, books, toys and sweets to the children in the villages and the schools in mountainous areas.

The tours have been designed in ways that bear the high community level and humanitarian significance. This helps travel firms successfully organize the tours to the remove areas. Meanwhile, in the past, the tours to the areas could not attract travelers due to the poor transport conditions.

The travel firms in the ancient capital city of Hue are running the community tours to the suburbs. These include the tour to the Tam Giang lagoon by bicycle which has been especially favored by foreign tourists.

In Quang Nam province, Cu Lao Cham (Cham Isle) has become an important leg in the itineraries to Hoi An ancient town and My Son relics--with its green tourism products. The travelers can also have sea bathing and admire corals in the sea, but there is no coral trade ashore. Especially, they are requested to not bring plastic bags with them to the isle.

To Quoc

jackbl
12-01-2013, 01:05 PM
More cancer cases reported, people pay penalty for daily food
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VietNamNet Bridge – Industrial factories, workshops have been located in rural areas, bringing money and helping improve the living standards of local residents. However, they have to pay penalty for the money they receive today: more and more people die of cancer.

The Ninh Van commune in Hoa Lu district of Ninh Binh province is a 400-year-old stone fine arts craft village. There are some 60 enterprises in the commune, both big and small and 60 households who exploits and manipulate stones. It is estimated that some 2000 workers have been living on the career relating to stone.

Ninh Van’s local residents have to stay in dust all day long and live in ear splitting noise. Together with cement and fertilizer plants in the area, Ninh Van residents have been making contribution to poisoning their living environment.

The lives of local people have been improved considerably thanks to the fine art stone production. However, their health has been degrading.

Nguyen Yen Binh, Head of the commune’s healthcare center, said: “Ninh Van people are rich, but they are not happy. They earn much money, but live in pollution”.

In 2004-2012 alone, 109 people in Ninh Van commune died of cancer. Especially, in 2008, the number of people dead of cancer amounted to 32.7 percent. The percentage decreased slightly in 2010, but it was still high at 31.3 percent. In the last nine years, 25.5 percent of people died of cancer.

Binh believes that more people died because of the environment pollution and the dirty water they used. Factories produce smoke, dust and discharge untreated waste water to river, while stone workshops produce stone dust. All of them have seriously damaged the environment.

Ninh Van’s people have many times complained about the pollution to the local people’s councils, and to the provincial delegation of National Assembly’s deputies. However, state officials, who came to the locality to examine the environment, all came to a conclusion that the quality of the air in Ninh Van is still safe.

“They told us that the air is still fresh enough. But I believe that 100 people died of cancer is really abnormal,” Binh said.

Dinh Van Manh, a man in Phu Lang hamlet, said he knows this is a dangerous job, but he has no other job choice. “If I don’t take this job, I will have no money to feed my mouth,” he said.

Manh works as a hired worker for big owners and earns VND300,000 a day. He is planning to give up the job after six years of working.

While people in the Ninh Van stone village suffer from the stone dust, the people in Kinh Mon district of Hai Duong province, located not far from Ninh Van, have been living in the dust from cement plants and stone exploitation sites.

People there have been stunned when hearing that more and more people died of cancer. Since 2004, Minh Tan has had 101 people dead of the fatal disease. According to Tran Van Thieu, Head of the Healthcare center of Minh Tan town, estimated that 21 percent of people died of cancer, but he added that the actual percentage could be even higher.

Thieu said that cancer is the biggest reason behind the death of local residents, and more people died of cancer than people dying of traffic accidents.

NLD

jackbl
14-01-2013, 01:35 AM
Vietnamese parents tend to bring children to school before school age
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VietNamNet Bridge – More and more Vietnamese parents believe that their children need to go to school soon before the school age, so as to have the best conditions to develop into child prodigies.

L.V, a parent in Dong Da district in Hanoi, said that her son, a five year old boy, has learnt the alphabet by heart, can count until one million, do four basic operations, and most importantly, he is eager for going to school. Therefore, she wants to bring the child to the first grade right now instead of waiting until the next summer. However, L.V failed to persuade her husband to let the child go to school before the school age.

“If referring to the current regulations, my child would be able to go to the first grade in September 2014. Until now, he still goes to kindergarten, where he only pays and watches TV, which is a great waste of time,” she complained.

In Vietnam, children begin going to school when they turn six. However, many of them become first graders when they get five years old only, because their parents believe that going to school soon would bring advantages to their children in comparison with other classmates.

In order to be able to enter first grade before the age of six, parents have to amend the certificates of birth of their children with the “assistance” of the local authorities.

However, not everyone agrees with the idea that children should be brought to school soon, especially when they have to amend the certificates of birth.

N.P, a parent of a first grader of the Ly Thai To Primary School, said he feels regret the decision on bringing the child to school at the age of five.

“My wife insisted that he needed to go to school soon. And now my son is learning together with the classmates born in 2006. Instead of playing with the friends at kindergarten, my child now has to learn hard at primary school,” he complained.

“When you bring your children to school soon, you would shorten their wonderful childhoods,” he said.

Pham Ha Thanh, a teacher of the Le Quy Don High School in Ha Dong district in Hanoi, also thinks that going to school soon is not a good solution.

Thanh herself went to school sooner than expected. “Though my learning records were okay, I still felt I was at a disadvantage compared with the classmates, because I had to learn harder than them to get good learning achievements,” she said.

Therefore, though Thanh’s son now can read and write well, he still goes to kindergarten and Thanh does not bring the boy to primary school right now. Especially, she wishes that children would only have to go to school at the age of seven.

However, parents have been told that educators have scientific and pedagogical reasons to conclude that children should begin going to school at the age of six. Nguyen Tien Thanh, former Director of the primary education department of the Ministry of Education and Training, said only when children get six years old, will they be physically capable and psychologically ready enough to fulfill the learning duties. Children would have less time in their lives to play, because they have to go to school soon.

Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam, Chair of the Hanoi Education Psychology Association, said a lot of parents had an illusion that their sons or daughter would become child prodigies because they can read and write before the school age. However, a lot of such children never can become prodigies.

Tien Phong

whatever897
14-01-2013, 06:17 PM
hi. guys.. need some help on translation.
what is "Trong luc cho doi tu suong vai kieu...." in english ?
totally cannot translate using translator..
please help..
cam on rat nhieu :)

jackbl
15-01-2013, 12:52 AM
what is "Trong luc cho doi tu suong vai kieu...." in english ?

Can u give some background of this sentence? What you have send him/her to get this reply?

jackbl
15-01-2013, 10:32 AM
The victim advocates for the culprit!
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VietNamNet Bridge - Because of family honor, their own face or the fear of being beaten to death ..., many wives do not dare to denounce, but stand up for their husband when the authorities conduct an investigation against their husbands.

In the last five years, the central province of Quang Ngai has had nearly 100 cases of domestic violence. In particular, there were many cases that the local authorities did not know about or they failed to stop after holding several mediation meetings.

"Losing face"

Not long ago, the public was stirred up when Mrs. Tran Thi Thuy, 32, from Binh Dong village of Tra Binh commune, Tra Bong district, Quang Ngai province, was seriously beaten by her husband but she tried to protect him.

Thuy had been abused by her husband for many years but she kept silently. One day, the cruel husband beat Thuy seriously to such a degree that the Tra Bong District Hospital could not handle it, so they had to transfer the woman to the hospital at higher level, in the state of coma, with one broken arm, severe damage to the face and numerous wounds on the body. After the violence, Thuy still insisted to protect her husband from the law.

Mrs. Tran Thi Dau, in Xuan Dinh village, Hanh Thinh commune, Nghia Hanh District, Quang Ngai was also in a tragic circumstance. They had three children but her husband did not do anything but was eager in drinking and gambling.

Whenever he took alcohol, "joy" of this man was harassing his wife. Many times, their neighbors were awakened at mid-night by the sound of shouting, cursing, beating from Dau’s house.

"Sometimes I thought about suicide or denouncing to the government. But then I thought that if I do so, the neighbors will laugh at us and my parents will worry about us. If my husband is sent to jail, who will feed our children..." Dau said.

The most recent case is Mrs. Phan Thi Trang, Chanh Lo ward, Quang Ngai city. Trang was beaten by her husbands for 14 years. Until she could not stand the violence anymore, the woman reported to the local authorities. However, when the authorities summoned the cruel man for investigation, Trang begged pardon for her husband because she did not want the local community know about her case.

Similarly, a teacher in Son Bao commune, Son Ha district, Quang Ngai was seriously beaten by her husband and had to go to the hospital but when reporters asked her about the incident, she said: "Please do not write about us! I don’t want to lose my face!"

Giving him an inch and he will take a yard

Ms. Vo Thi Thanh Ha, from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Ngai, said the provinces does not have specific statistics on domestic violence. "For years, the propaganda about domestic violence prevention is inefficient because the authorities are not really interested in this task," Ha said.

According to Ha, domestic violence usually occurs in poor families or for the couples who did not get along with each other. In most cases, the women were disadvantaged, but they did not want to kick up but silently endured. As a result, the husbands followed up.

Ms. Tran Thi Phuoc, Chairman of the Women's Union of Trieu Phong District, Quang Tri Province, said the association has coordinated with the commune authorities to hold many talks about family and gender equality. "At these talks, all husbands agreed and committed to not beat their wife but when they drink, brutal domestic violence happens. As victims of domestic violence often do not make denunciations, we do not dare to deeply intervene in it," Phuoc said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bui Dinh Nhi, Deputy Chief Judge of the People's Court of Tam Ky City, Quang Nam province, said the most difficult thing in the investigation and handling of domestic violence cases is the non-cooperation of insiders.

In the case of divorce due to domestic violence, only when the victim is actually injured by more than 11% or the victim and the local organizations make denouncement, the court can handle or transfer the case to the police. "Currently, most cases of domestic violence only stopped at deterrence, education," he said.

NLD

jackbl
15-01-2013, 12:16 PM
The village of wife beating man
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VietNamNet Bridge – Working slowly, a woman would be beaten by her husband. She would also be maltreated if she cooks rice not very well, does not respond to her husband quickly or even with no attention.

In a village with up to 70 cases of domestic violence a year, when the local men were asked "do you beat your wife?" all of them, except only one, said “yes.” This fact has made the village become “famous” as a place of men who beat their wives.

In that village, domestic violence has become something very popular. The rural women who struggle to earn their living become skinny and emaciated because of the harassment from their husbands. The men here get drunk every day and beat their wives constantly.

A typical example is a husband named Nguyen Van Toan who beats his wife, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nhai, all the time.

In the latest case, the couple worked on the field together. At noon, Toan told his wife to return home to cook rice. Nhai tried to make a few more hoes. Toan was frustrated, thinking that his wife was deliberately opposing him. The man rushed to grab her hair to press her to the edge of the field. Seeing a nearby lump of cow excrement, he stuffed it in Nhan’s mouth.

Mrs. Pham Thi Ha is another victim of domestic violence. Living with her husband, Vu Van Yen, for 15 years, with two children, but Ha has not had a single happy day.

She was beaten each several days, whenever her husband got drunk. The husband himself confessed that he was among the husbands who beat his wife the most often in his village.

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Lai had another pain. Her husband, named Hung, wanted to have a son. After having two daughters, Lao was pregnant the third time. Ultrasound scan revealed that it was still a girl. Hung was disappointed and drank all day. He tried to pick a quarrel with his wife. He even asked his pregnant wife to spray pesticide on the field or to carry paddy sacks of 20-30kg. If Lai argued, he gave her a bruised ear.

Similarly, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hoai was harassed by her husband - Phan Van Mung – very often. He was sitting watching TV when his wife walked around. Instead of moving to another seat or telling his wife to not walking around, he beat her.

His family bred chickens but if he stepped on chicken feces, he would find his wife to beat. Once, Hoai was in her neighbor’s home to chat; her husband rushed into the house to insult and kicked her with his chicken feces-covered foot.

That village is Thanh Ne, in Kien Xuong District, Thai Binh province. However, the village is different today.

Last year, Thanh Ne was one of two typical places where the National Assembly took as a basis for drafting the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence.

The men who beat their wives have become members of the club of good husbands.

Husband Vu Van Yen said that, after two years joining the club, he gave up the habit of beating his wife and learned to respect and listen to the opinions of his wife. It is the most valuable lessons of life that he learned at the age of 40.

"After nearly 15 years of marriage and being the father of two children, now I really feel the meaning of the words "happiness" in its entirety. I used to beat my wife very often but since 2004, I was invited to join the club, through which I realized many things and I knew that I was wrong," Yen said.

Yen also volunteered to become an active propagandist for the club. He encouraged the men who beat their wives to give up this habit to together build prosperous and happy families with their wives. He himself loves and shares everything with his wife.

In joining this club, many other husbands have also changed.

The club members meet every Saturday night, with the participation of 40-50 men. They are provided with knowledge on the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence, the Law on Marriage and Family, etc.

Ms. Vu Thi Ton, Chair of the Thanh Ne Women’s Union, said it was very difficult to mobilize Yen to join the club. He refused to receive any official who came to invite him to enter the club. Until officials threated him by the law, he received them. Since then he was gradually convinced to join the club of good husbands, which was held by the local women’s union..

Not only Yen, but all the husbands who used to beat their wives in Thanh Ne and Vu Lac (Thai Binh province), after joining the club have changed completely. There were some husbands at first were very reluctant to participate and those who only joined the club with the intervention of police, but in the end, they become very active members.

Professor Le Thi Quy from the Tradition and Development Research Institute said that once she met with 15 husbands in Thanh Khe, she asked: "Who among you who beat your wives?" only one of them stood up and said “no.”

She asked them why they beat their wives. Most of them could not make any plausible reason. They considered beating their wives as normal because they thought that the husband has the right to "teach his wife" when she does not obey.

ANTD

forgotoldnick
15-01-2013, 12:49 PM
hi. guys.. need some help on translation.
what is "Trong luc cho doi tu suong vai kieu...." in english ?
totally cannot translate using translator..
please help..
cam on rat nhieu :)

Guess the meaning is , Meanwhile , self pleasure type!

jackbl
16-01-2013, 03:57 PM
Hotels earn trillions of dong from gambling services
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VietNamNet Bridge – There are some 50 establishments that provide electronic games for prizes to foreigners in Vietnam. The revenue from the services has been increasing steadily. The figure was VND5 trillion in 2011.

In 1992, the government released an important decision on allowing to set up a casino for foreigners in the sea city of Hai Phong, the first of its kind in Vietnam. No casino was licensed before, since gambling was prohibited in Vietnam.

Licensing gambling services remained a very “sensitive issue” in Vietnam in the years after 1992, which explained why only in 2003, or 11 years later, did the Prime Minister released the Decision No. 32 stipulating the business activities of the establishments providing electronic games for prizes to foreigners in Vietnam.

Under the decision, the enterprises which have the demand to provide the services must apply for the licenses to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, which would then submit the projects to the Prime Minister for consideration.

To date, providing electronic games for prizes has been listed as a kind of business not encouraged in Vietnam. Therefore, service providers have to pay the special consumption tax (luxury tax), corporate income tax and other kinds of tax as stipulated by the laws.

It is estimated that 50 service providers have been licensed so far, which can be classified into three groups.

The first group comprises of the enterprises providing electronic games on machines. These are the 43 establishments located at the 3-4-5 star hotels and some tourist sites, mostly in Hanoi and HCM City.

The second one includes the six enterprises providing prize games. They provide games on machines and on a certain number of game tables. The Ho Tram project in Ba Ria – Vung Tau province, for example, has 180 tables and 2,000 machines which would be put into operation when the construction finishes. Silver Shores Hoang Dat in Da Nang City has eight tables and 100 machines

The third group is the one which only provide casino service. To date, there has been only one of this kind – the Hai Phong International Tourism joint venture. Bacarat, Blackjack, Roulette, PaiGow, slot machines are the most popular games at the establishments.

The only difference between the games of the first and the games of the second and third ones is that the games are regulated by electronic equipments. Meanwhile, all of them have similar game rules.

Service providers pocket trillions of dong

A report by the Ministry of Finance showed that the revenue from prize electronic games has been increasing steadily in recent years of about 10-15 percent per annum.

In 2011, the total turnover of the services reached VND5 trillion. The establishments in the south reportedly have higher revenues and higher growth rates than that in the northern and central regions. It is estimated that each of the service providers reaped a profit of VND20 billion.

The Ministry of Finance has noted that though the number of service providers granted is relatively high, the business efficiency remains modest. Especially, they have not helped develop tourism as expected.

The loosened management over the services has led to the fact that Vietnamese people also enter the establishments, even though the establishments also admit foreigners. Six establishments have been prosecuted so far for letting Vietnamese people play the games here.

In 2007, the government decided to halt the licensing to the services until a new legal framework is promulgated.

Tran Thuy

jackbl
16-01-2013, 04:00 PM
Big bosses tell their staff not expect too much on Tet bonuses
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VietNamNet Bridge – Big bankers and businessmen have prepared their staff for a sad piece of news, saying that there would not be Tet bonuses this year, or the Tet bonuses would be modest.

According to the Quang Ngai provincial Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, only 20 out of the 1,500 enterprises have submitted reports about their Tet bonus plans.

The Dung Quat Oil Refinery, a huge enterprise, Mai Linh Quang Ngai Company and some other big businesses in the central province, surprisingly have not mentioned the Tet bonuses yet.

Cosevco Quang Ngai, a giant in the construction sector, has announced that it would not give a bonus on the 2013 New Year, while every worker would receive VND500,000 on the occasion of the traditional Tet.

Thien Tan Construction JSC remains the enterprise which most handsomely awards its workers: the highest Tet bonus has been set up at VND24.3 million while the lowest at VND3 million. The workers would receive VND1-3 million on the occasion of 2013 New Year.

Meanwhile, the workers of other enterprises said they do not expect Tet bonuses, since they still have not received monthly salaries. Truong Giang JSC still owes VND500 million to its workers.

Commercial banks, which always award big sums of money to their staff, have also told their workers not expect too much on Tet bonuses. Techcombank’s CEO has stated that there won’t be Tet bonuses this year. Meanwhile, a worker of the bank said he feels lucky that no one has been laid off in the economic difficulties, therefore, one should not be too demanding on Tet bonus.

A manager of a big joint stock bank in Hanoi said the board of directors has not mentioned the Tet bonus plan, keeping both the managers and officers waiting. However, they understand that they would have to fasten their belt when buying goods for Tet celebration.

SHB has not thought of Tet bonuses yet. An executive of the bank said SHB is not focusing on dealing with the problems arisen after Habubank merged into it. Especially, it now spends time and efforts to settle the bad debts. Therefore, it still has not time to program the Tet bonus.

Speaking at the time when Habubank was merged into SHB, President Do Quang Hien promised that Habubank’s bad debts would be settled within 2012.

Sacombank, one of the biggest commercial banks in Vietnam, said the business performance in 2012 is not as good as expected. Therefore, it has promised to give the 13th month salary to workers, but it is still not sure about the Tet bonus.

In fact, bank officers understand that they have experienced a very difficult year, therefore, they would not be surprised if they don’t receive bonuses this Tet. Deputy General Director of a bank in G9 group (the group of the most powerful banks in Vietnam), said even the members of the board of directors may not receive Tet bonuses, let alone officers.

Most of real estate firms do not intend to give Tet bonuses to their staff after a tough year. 2012 was considered the worst business year for the firms in the sector, with real estate products unsold despite the dramatic price decreases.

The president of a real estate firm in HCM City, when receiving a call from reporters to ask about Tet bonuses, said he has been moving heaven and earth to beg banks for debt payment delay, while he does not have time thinking about how to arrange money for Tet bonuses.

US$1 = VND20,800

Nhi Anh

whatever897
16-01-2013, 11:15 PM
Guess the meaning is , Meanwhile , self pleasure type!

haha.. i see.. cam on rat nhieu :D

jackbl
17-01-2013, 09:00 AM
54 percent of parents pay underground fee to obtain seats at "star schools"
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VietNamNet Bridge – Fifty four percent of parents have admitted that they “give money under the table” so as to be able to enroll their children in "star schools", a survey conducted by the HCM City Open University has found.

The surveyors received 150 replies from the parents who have children going to primary schools in districts 3, Tan Binh and Hoc Mon in HCM City.

50 percent of students go to the schools not reserved for them

Under the current regulations, local education departments decide which schools students would go to. In principle, students would go to the schools located in the same districts, where they live so as to create most favorable conditions for them and their parents.

However, a lot of parents don’t want to send their children to the schools reserved for them. Urbanites now decide that their children need to receive education in the best possible conditions. Therefore, they would do everything to send their children to "star schools" which can provide better education quality.

Some 45.3 percent of the 150 polled parents said their children go to the schools not reserved for them. Many reasons have been cited explaining why parents decided to send children to other schools. First, their children need to enroll in prestigious schools which can provide good education quality.

Second, the schools reserved for their children have been overloaded, which raises doubts about the education quality of the schools.

Third, it would be better to send children to the schools near parents’ offices, so as to make it more convenient to pick children from school.

To note, 54.4 percent of students admitted that they asked someone, who has good relations with the targeted schools’ leaders, to enroll their children in the schools. Meanwhile 30.9 percent of students said they themselves applied for the seats at the schools. One out of every 10 parents said he has to pay big money in order to be able to obtain a seat at famous schools.

When being asked about the ways to enroll in "star schools", the parents said the easiest way is

Paying underground money to obtain seats at the wanted schools has become so popular with 76 percent of parents saying they heard about this and only 24 percent saying they don’t know about this.

Especially, the majority of parents do not think that this is a bad behavior to pay underground money to be able to go to the schools not reserved for their children.

Also, 64.9 percent of parents said “this was quite a normal thing”, while only 31.6 percent of parents disagreed with the behavior.

Surveyors have found out a link between the parents’ careers and the schools their children go to. For example, the parents who are freelance workers, factory workers who have low income, said they would send their children to the schools they are told to do.

Meanwhile, the parents with high income or high academic standards seem to be choosier about the schools, and they tend to choose prestigious schools for their children. Especially, more parents in the inner city have their children going to star schools than the parents in the suburb areas.

The fact that students refuse to go to the schools reserved for them has caused a headache to the local education department.

Mr. Le Ngoc Diep, deputy head of the primary education division of the HCM City Education and Training Department, said parents always want the schools with good fame for their children, while they don’t know that the schools near their houses can also provide high education quality.

VTC

jackbl
17-01-2013, 10:48 AM
Many kinds of medicines have quality problems
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VietNamNet Bridge - A lot of medicines have been suspended from circulation or had their registration number revoked for quality violation. Notably, most of the medicines are produced in Vietnam and India.

In 2011, the Drug Administration announced that 72 medicines were revoked for violating quality standards. In 2012, this number is 47.

Of the 72 medicines revoked in 2011, 26 originated from India and 36 from Vietnam, accounting for 50 percent.

In 2012, out of 47 types of drug that do not meet quality standard, 20 from Vietnam and 22 from India.

The mainly reason for the revoke or suspension of drugs is not ensuring the quality standards. However, there is a case that the drug was withdrawn because the manufacturer mistook the use of raw materials.

Though having many incidents in terms of quality, drugs produced in Vietnam and India won a lot of drug tenders of hospitals in Vietnam.

In 2010, Vietnamese drugs accounted for 42.58% of the total items winning bids to be provided to hospitals. Drugs originating from India ranked second among the drugs of foreign origin with a share of about 14-15%.

Cam Quyen

jackbl
18-01-2013, 09:49 AM
Got such rules meh??????

$144 fine proposed for liquor drinkers in karaoke rooms
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Under a new draft decree by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, people who drink liquor in karaoke rooms will be fined VND3 million (US$144), 2-6 times higher than the current amount.

Presently, according to Decree 75/2010 by the Government, the act of drinking liquor in a karaoke room is subject to a fine ranging between VND500,000 and VND1.5 million.

The Ministry also wants the fine for selling liquor at karaoke parlors to increase from the current rate of VND1-3 million to VND3-5 million.

The draft decree also stipulates that allowing drunk people to enter dance halls, public dance areas or karaoke rooms will be fined VND1-3 million. Currently, the fine for this act is only VND500,000 to VND1 million, and violators can even be given a warning instead of a fine.

If approved by the Government, the decree, which stipulates penalties for administrative violations in the fields of culture, sports and tourism, will take effect on July 1, 2013.

The ministry is now collecting opinions from other agencies and the public about the decree before submitting it to the Government for approval.

Honey Boon
18-01-2013, 12:08 PM
you go there to drink meh? :D

Got such rules meh??????

$144 fine proposed for liquor drinkers in karaoke rooms
================================================== ===========================
about the decree before submitting it to the Government for approval.

jackbl
19-01-2013, 01:00 AM
Where workers fear New Year holiday
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VietNamNet Bridge - Ho Chi Minh City has more than 250,000 workers in the industrial and export-processing zones (IZs – EPZs.) Up to 70 percent of the workers come from other provinces. Everyone wants the family reunion during the lunar New Year (Tet holiday), but many workers "do not dare" to return home, because of their very low income.

The Trade Unions of IZs and EPZs in HCM City have mobilized various resources to have 6,000 bus tickets for workers this Tet. But so far only 4,200 workers have applied for the free tickets. The rest dare not to receive the tickets because their whole-year savings are not enough to cover the Tet. Workers at dissolved or production-narrowed companies are more afraid of the Tet.



Tet bonus reduced, workers don’t dare to go home

The Nissey Vietnam Co. Ltd in Tan Thuan EPZ, HCM City, used around 2,600 workers. On January 8, workers heard from the HR Department that the company was just fined VND20 billion ($1 million) for the use of pirated Microsoft software, so workers had to share the burden with the company.

For that reason, this Tet festival the bonus would be reduced by a half compared to last year (VND2-2.5 million or $100-120). The workers did not accept the above explanation, saying that if their Tet bonus is reduced due to economic difficulties by the consequences of the recession, they are willing to share. If the company was fined because of software piracy, the firm could not force their workers to share. This year the Nissey Vietnam did not participate in the program to present free bus tickets for workers.

Thanh, a worker of Nissey Vietnam, said: "We work very hard for the whole year but our savings is only inconsiderable. We just hope to have Tet bonus as last year (VND4-5 million – $200-250) to go home with gifts for our family. This year the Tet bonus is reduced by half. We do not think of going home this Tet."

The Sae Hwa Vina Co., Ltd (wholly owned by Korean), according to the Cu Chi District Labor Federation, owning to loss-making, this firm has announced suspension of operations from September 2012. The company still owes more than VND2.3 billion ($200,000) of the July and August wages. Previously, the company did not pay social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance for its workers, totaling VND6.4 billion ($300,000). Facing the fierce reaction by workers, the firm had to pay VND500,000 for each worker and still owes them VND2-2.5 million each.

Chanh, a female worker of Sae Hwa Vina, from Nghe An province, said: "I'm lucky to get a job at a carpark so my income is more stable than my husband. He has to go to construction sites to seek a job, but that job is only for a week or two and he has to look for work elsewhere. Anyhow he is still paid fresh money."

Chanh’s husband, named Tien, said: "Fortunately, my wife’s work is okay so we can hold on. So, this year my wife and I do not have money to visit home."

In particular, at 12:40 on January 9, at the Theodro Alexander Co. (a wholly American owned firm, specializing in wood processing in Linh Trung II EPZ, Binh Chieu Ward, Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City) fires occurred, burning down 15.000m2 of warehouse with wooden materials, chemicals, finished and semi-finished products; making 3,567 workers to lose their jobs. Although the company promised to pay enough salary and bonus but thousands of workers, especially workers from other provinces would lose their Tet because they do not have job. Many workers lost their assets in the fire.



Many workers fear the Tet holiday!

The Minh Viet Long Co. Ltd (No. 168/9 Le Dinh Can, Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City) is working moderately. Nearly 700m2 factory fully equipped with machinery have to close. The firm’s director said that they did not have money to present Tet bonus to workers. Since production has been ceased, more than 100 workers have to wait for job. At present, the company has only 25 workers.

Mr. Dan, one of the remaining 25 employees, said: "The work here is only in moderation. There was a time that the company pays salary on the day. If this situation goes on, we will have to look for a job elsewhere to make a living."

When being asked: "How about this upcoming Tet?" Dan said: "We cannot earn enough for daily meals. Just thinking of the New Year, I and my wife feel... terrible!"

The Dai Thang Loi Import-Export Company in HCM City owed its workers the wage in November and December 2012, totaling nearly VND100 million ($5,000). The director paid only VND47 million, then ran away.

Visiting the company’s workers at their inns in Thoi Tay 2 hamlet, Thoi Tam Thon commune, Hoc Mon district, workers were still resentful. They said nobody paid them the wage for November and 20 days of December 2012 while they had to work very hard to earn some money for the Tet. At present, over 40 workers have lost their jobs and their wages when the Tet is coming.

Similarly, when the director of the Long Dai Phat Company in District 12, HCM City fled, nearly 40 workers also lost their wage and their job. The biggest difficulty for the people whose companies are dissolved, is that they cannot seek a new job near Tet because even the labor-intensive enterprises--such as textile and footwear also do not have demand for labor. Meanwhile most of the construction works are at a standstill.

Ms. Mai, from Nghe An province, whose has lost job, said: "Although we are very tired, but we have to try to do extra work to earn some more money to go home at Tet. Yet we have been pushed into this situation. Tet is our nightmare now!"

The Chair of the Trade Union of HCM City IPs and EPZs (HEPZA) - Vuong Phuoc Thien - said: "Together with the HEPZA Trade Union’s provision of 6,000 free bus tickets to the workers, this year HEPZA will continue the program to visit and present gifts for 1,500 workers who cannot go home for the Tet because their companies are dissolved or their bosses run away or themselves or their spouses themselves are sick.”

Lao Dong

vietboy
19-01-2013, 10:26 AM
hi. guys.. need some help on translation.
what is "Trong luc cho doi tu suong vai kieu...." in english ?
totally cannot translate using translator..
please help..
cam on rat nhieu :)

I try: "While waiting, self pleasure a few pattern/ways liao."

jackbl
19-01-2013, 03:14 PM
I try: "While waiting, self pleasure a few pattern/ways liao."

Also make sense.... wow now your TV so good liao huh..... I dun understand till another person and u translate it....

jackbl
20-01-2013, 03:38 AM
Only students from rich families can study at economics schools
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VietNamNet Bridge – The students, who follow economics related majors, would have to pay 100 percent of tuitions, if a project being considered by the Ministry of Education & Training and Finance comes true.


Budget allocation plan sees big changes

The project has raised controversy among students and educators. The State would not give subsidy to the students studying economics and economic related majors. This means that only the students from well off families would be able to follow the training branches, because they would have to pay 100 percent of tuitions.

The Ministry of Education and Training has approved the budget plan for 2013, under which money would be allocated to three groups of schools. The first one comprises of the schools which have to cover 100 percent of their expenses. The second one includes the schools which follows the partial financial self-sufficient mechanism. Meanwhile, the third one would receive the 100 percent funding from the State.

Agriculture, forestry and fisheries schools would receive the 30-50 percent subsidy, while technology schools 20-40 percent. Meanwhile, friendship schools, and the schools in mountainous areas would be 100 percent funded by the state budget.

According to Deputy Minister of Education and Training Bui Van Ga, the State would support the training majors which are very useful for the country, such as pedagogical, technology, forestry, agriculture, fisheries and arts.

Meanwhile, the State would gradually reduce the funding for the law, economics, finance and banking training branches. The schools would be given the right to define the tuitions for the training branches.

Explaining this, Dr. Nguyen Truong Giang from the Ministry of Finance said Vietnam now has excessive economics majoring graduates already, and the education ministry does not intend to increase the number of students to be enrolled in the majors. However, students still have been flocking into economics schools.

“Therefore, it is necessary to force the number of economics students down by raising the tuitions,” Giang said.

Once economics students have to pay 100 percent of tuitions to follow the training majors, the State would have more money to support the training in forestry, agriculture and fisheries.

Poor students have no chance for economics school

Nguyen Tien Manh, an 11th grader of Nguyen Viet Xuan High School in Vinh Phuc province, complained that he may have to give up the dream of studying at the Banking Academy so as to help my family escape from poverty.

“I have heard that the tuitions would be very high, which is unaffordable to my family,” he said.

Nguyen Hoang Sa, a teacher from Einstein School in Hanoi, also said that the high tuitions would force many students, including the ones in big cities, to rethink their plan.

“Raising tuitions for some training branches would lead to the appearance of the “majors for the rich,” while there would be the majors to be reserved only for the poor,” the teacher said.

President of the Tay Nguyen University Nguyen Tan Vui has expressed his worry that if the tuitions increase too sharply, it would be difficult for the schools to enroll students, even though the schools themselves plan to cut down the number of students to enroll.

Ngo Huong, President of the HCM City Banking University, has warned that if the tuitions are raised, the poor students would have to consider their study plan, while rich students would rather go studying abroad.

Van Chung

jackbl
21-01-2013, 02:20 AM
Working from home a growing tendency in 2013
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VietNamNet Bridge – Instead of seeking long term personnel, businesses nowadays tend to hire short term workers for seasonal production in an effort to cut down expenses.

Analysts believe that the main characteristic of the labor market in 2013 is the rise of part time jobs and the working from home. In the digital era, working from home has become possible and more convenient. Meanwhile, the model can both satisfy workers and employers.

Freelancers work from home through Internet, while they do not have to spend time coming to the office. Meanwhile, the employers don’t have to arrange seats, working facilities and other conditions for more workers, thus allowing them to cut down expenses, while they still can be sure that the works still go smoothly.

With so many big advantages, it is foreseeable that working from home would be a growing tendency in 2012, according to the HCM City Job Center.

The conclusion was made after a survey conducted on 27,247 enterprises and the interviews with 2090 companies about their employment plan in 2013.

In fact, according to Deputy Director Tran Anh Tuan, the model of working from home appeared some years ago already, but it would see a boom in 2013. In the economic downturn, businesses have to undergo the restructuring, scaling down their production and restrict recruitment.

In this case, seeking part time employees proves to be the best solution for businesses, because they don’t have to sign labor contracts with the employees, which means that they don’t have to pay social insurance fee and follow the provisions of the labor code, which costs them a lot of money.

Tuan said that the jobs relating to information technology, event organization, housemaid, accountancy are the most popular jobs.

Working from home allows workers to optimize their income, because the working schedules are flexible. Capable workers can take on many different jobs to earn more money. Outsourcing is also really a good solution for businesses, which need to have best results for their works at the lowest possible costs.

A representative of an employment website said that the number of workers seeking jobs under the mode was 10,000 people in 2012, an increase of 27.2 percent in comparison with the previous year. Meanwhile, the number of businesses which have the demand for part time workers or collaborators has increased by 34.2 percent.

Another website said that in December 2012, the number of enterprises which sought part time workers increased by 12 percent. The manager of the website has revealed that the number of people registering part time jobs or has reached 46,934, up by 17 percent.

Hoang Vu Quynh Ha, Director of Somotsoft, a software firm, confirmed that the firm has been employing collaborators for the firm’s big projects. She said those who take the jobs in the security field or programmers can work at home.

“With the workers, we just have to pay money for their works, while we don’t have to pay allowances and other insurance policies to them,” she said.

Thanh Hai in district 7 of HCM City, who has been working for the projects invested by foreign companies over the last five years, said he has been satisfactory with the jobs.

“Since I can arrange my schedule, I can take more than one job at the same time. Now I can earn 20 million dong a month, a satisfactory income level,” Hai said.

VNE

jackbl
21-01-2013, 02:25 AM
Buying fresh food online gaining popularity among housewives
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VietNamNet Bridge – Like many other housewives in the capital, Hoang My Linh has largely switched to buying vegetables online.

Hundreds of websites and forums selling food have cropped up in recent years. Busy housewives flock to these online markets, including Linh.

You can even find a wide variety of seafood including live goby, climbing perch and pre-cleaned shrimp on websites such as muare.vn, vatgia.com and muachung.com. Other websites offer well-known branded goods such as Tuyen Quang oranges, Bien Hoa dried bamboo, Hoa Loc mangoes and Hoa Binh salt pork.

Since the early days of winter, online shops have promoted their supplies for the Lunar New Year. They put up eye-catching banners advertising "genuine food from the countryside for the New Year," "home-made rice wine," "country chicken" and "clean meats."

Le Lan Chi, a customer who regularly buys meat and vegetables on muare.vn, said that she often orders black pork (heo moi) and vegetables farmed by ethnic people in the mountainous provinces of Ha Giang and Lao Cai. Before ordering the products for the first time, she worried about their cleanliness, even though the website guaranteed the products' safety. However, after eating them, she felt satisfied.

Chi advised that people should seek out reliable sites – and when in doubt, ask where the goods come from and how they are preserved.

"I always buy food for Tet online. I have a lot of experiences buying food online, so I'm not worried about food hygiene and safety," said Nguyen Minh Anh, who lives in Ha Noi's Thanh Nhan District.

Most business owners on the forum confirmed that their food sources are secure because everybody knew each other. If one person complained about a poor-quality food, the information would spread quickly and the shop would quickly be ostracised.

Tran Thi Xuan Thuy, a resident in Lao Cai, sells special food from the northern mountainous region in Ha Noi via online forums. She confirmed that many people in Ha Noi often ordered meat online and called before the meat was shipped to ensure that the food was completely safe.

From 2013, food will be controlled in a strict supply chain, so any hygiene violations can be quickly detected.

With online shopping, the most important thing is to choose sites of reputable companies and buy vegetables with safety certifications.

As online food shopping becomes more popular, it becomes more complicated for officials to monitor the quality and safety of the food offered, so being aware is the best thing consumers can do to protect themselves, said Nguyen Thi Hoa, Head of the Sub-Department of Plant Protection.

She also added that the press should relate any information about food safety problems in the vegetable business to Department inspectors, although the department is not currently responsible for inspecting online food vendors.

Source: VNS

KangTuo
21-01-2013, 10:37 PM
Today, a TV teacher ask me to translate ...I translated by he say incorrect. :confused:

Benh roi, uong sua chac mai mot lang lun wa


anyone know what the hack is it?

forgotoldnick
22-01-2013, 12:30 AM
Today, a TV teacher ask me to translate ...I translated by he say incorrect. :confused:

Benh roi, uong sua chac mai mot lang lun wa


anyone know what the hack is it?

What did u translate???

jackbl
22-01-2013, 03:32 AM
What did u translate???

What's your interpretation?

KangTuo
22-01-2013, 08:15 AM
What did u translate???

i translated lang as calm

forgotoldnick
22-01-2013, 02:41 PM
i translated lang as calm

I would guess Lang in your statement as *neigbouring**nearby**side by side*

zaito
22-01-2013, 05:12 PM
Today, a TV teacher ask me to translate ...I translated by he say incorrect. :confused:

Benh roi, uong sua chac mai mot lang lun wa


anyone know what the hack is it?

I think its mean "im sick, if drink milk will get worst in the future." or "im sick, if drink milk will make me more sick.
"lang. luon qua" = going down forever. (sick forever if he drink milk )

jackbl
23-01-2013, 09:20 AM
Another Vietnamese bride commits suicide in Korea
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VietNamNet Bridge – According to the Vietnamese Embassy in South Korea, a Vietnamese woman named Nguyen Thi Diem Trinh, from Co Do district, the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho was determined to commit suicide in the city of Gumi, South Korea on January 16.

According to the victims' family, Trinh was discovered to commit suicide by a belt. Trinh, 23, married a Korean man in 2008 and lived on Jeju Island with her husband’s family.

The couple had a nearly 4-year-old son. Recently, having conflict with her husband’s family, Trinh left the home to live in an inn in Gumi.

According to a relative of the victim, Trinh’s father divorced her mother, Mrs. Pham Thi Tuyet Hai, just because she could not give birth to a boy. Hai then lived with another man and raised three daughters.

Because of poverty, Trinh and her sister, named Thien, went to HCM City in 2008 to participate in “wife selections” of foreign men. Trinh then married a Korean man who is 20 years old older than her and followed him to live on Jeju Island, South Korea.

The couple lived in their own house until Trinh gave birth to a boy. Since then they lived with the husband’s family. Unfortunately, her son, named Bin, did not develop normally. At present, at the age of four, the boy cannot speak or walk.

Meanwhile, the mother-in-law forced Trinh to have another child. Trinh did not accept because of difficult economic conditions and she wanted to focus all resources on treatment for her son. Therefore, the Vietnamese wife was insulted by her husband’s family.

More than one month ago, Trinh’s husband bought air ticket for her wife and asked her to go home for relieving her stress. But Trinh did not go home. She rent a room near her younger sister’s home in Gumi, who also marries a Korean man.

Recently, Trinh’s mother suddenly received a phone call from Trinh’s husband: "Come to the airport to pick up Bin and your son-in-law."

Trinh’s husband saw his mother-in-law at the airport and assigned his son to her. The man promised to come back to Vietnam after several months to take his mother-in-law to Korea.

On January 16, Hai’s family was informed of her daughter’s suicide. The mother went to Korea to receive the body of her daughter but she was informed that her son-in-law also committed suicide.

The man left a suicide note, in which he wished to be buried next to his wife on Jeju Island.

Quoc Huy - Chau Vu

jackbl
24-01-2013, 09:16 AM
Vietnam lays red carpet to welcome foreign teachers
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VietNamNet Bridge – Thousands of English teachers would come to Vietnam within the framework of the national program on teaching foreign languages at schools by 2020.

An agreement has been signed between the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and ELC, the Australian organization would provide thousands volunteer teachers to Vietnam in the next many years. They are the native English speakers from English speaking countries like the US, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Ireland and South Africa.

All the teachers would join the program “Teach and Travel in Vietnam.”

The program with reasonable cost

An official of the Ministry of Education and Training said the Steering Committee of the National Program on Teaching Foreign Languages would join forces with ELC to give training to the teachers and allocate them to the schools in Vietnam which have demand for English teachers.

Regarding the qualification of the teachers, Nguyen Ngoc Hung from the steering committee, affirmed that the teachers have university or post-university degrees in different majors, but all of them have to go through training courses and obtain pedagogical certificates to be able to join the program.

“We asked the Australian side to train the teachers before they come to Vietnam,” Hung said.

“We expect 300-500 English teachers to Vietnam every year,” he added.

When asked about the cost of the project, Hung said MOET plans to pay VND6 million a month on average to every foreign teacher, which is now equal to the current average monthly salary of a Vietnamese teacher.

Meanwhile, a foreign teacher would have at least 25 periods a week (45 minutes per period), while a Vietnamese teacher has 18 periods only.

Commenting about the scanty salary budget for foreign teachers, Hung said the salary is just enough to cover the basic needs for the teachers in Vietnam.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Vinh Hien highly appreciates the cooperation of the partner to help improve the English skills at Vietnamese schools.

Vietnam doesn’t have money to send teachers abroad

Vietnam is seriously lacking English teachers, while the working teachers don’t have high qualifications, which is really a big barrier to the implementation of the national program.

Ngo Van Hoi, Deputy Director of the Quang Ninh provincial Education and Training, said at a recent conference that only 190 out of the 310 teachers of the department meet the standards. However, of the 190 teachers, only 18 can meet B2 level, 55 B1, while 117 cannot meet B1 level.

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the Da Nang University of Foreign Languages showed that in 2011 and 2011, only 22 out of the 1,996 teachers of the schools in the central region and Central highlands could meet C1 level, 322 met B2 level in accordance with the European frame CEFR.

Admitting that sending Vietnamese teachers to overseas training courses is the best solution, MOET said that the measure proves to be unfeasible, because the state budget cannot afford the training courses.

“We can only send the lecturers at pedagogical schools to overseas training courses. However, I know some pedagogical schools which don’t have any lecturer trained abroad,” Hung said.

The news that Vietnamese students would have the opportunities to learn English with native speakers has been applauded by schools, especially when MOET and the foreign partner affirm their high qualifications. Especially, the pay of VND6 million a month is affordable to the budget.

NLD

jackbl
24-01-2013, 09:18 AM
University students get puzzled with English skill standards
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VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of students complained that though they have fulfilled the training curricula, they still cannot graduate from universities, because they cannot meet the requirements in the English skills stipulated by the schools.

Most of the universities in Vietnam have announced the standard qualifications for their graduates, i.e. the qualifications and skills the school commit their graduates will have.

The HCM City University of Agriculture and Forestry began applying the output standards for graduates from the 2008 academic year. The students of the school must meet the B1 level of the European scale.

The students, who entered the school in 2008, have recently attended the final exams. However, 21.8 percent of the students still cannot show the B1 level certificates; therefore, they still cannot graduate the school.

According to Dr Tran Dinh Ly, Head of the Training Division of the university, B1 of the European scale sets higher requirements than the national B level that schools once applied in Vietnam. Therefore, a lot of students cannot meet the standards.

“I know many students who are very good at their majors, but still cannot have B1 level certificates and they still cannot finish school,” he said.

Ly also said that the students who have TOEFL 400, TOEIC 450, IELTS 4.5, PET 70, BULATS 40 would also be recognized as meeting the output standards.

The University of Technology and the Economics University, the member schools of the Da Nang University, have also required the B1 standards and TOEIC 400 on their students to be able to graduate from the schools.

However, the standards seem unattainable to many students. A survey conducted by the University of Technology has found out only 20-30 percent of students can follow the English curriculum designed for university students in accordance with the Ministry of Education (10 credits), when they enter a new academic year. Meanwhile, the other 70 percent have to attend preparatory classes before attending official classes.

Meanwhile, Tran Cao Vinh, Head of the Training Division of the HCM City University of Natural Sciences, said his school only requires B level certificate, though B level certificate would surely not be able to satisfy the requirements of employers. However, even with the low requirements, Vinh fears that the majority of the school’s students cannot meet the standard.

In the future, B1 level would be the required standards to be applied to all schools as stipulated in the national program on teaching and learning foreign languages.

Meanwhile, Hoa Van Binh, Deputy Dean of the Foreign Languages Faculty of the Saigon University, has warned that B1 would be an overly high goal for many students, saying that students still have not been aware of the importance of learning foreign languages.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Bich, a third year student of the HCM City University of Natural Sciences, has noted that a lot of her classmates do not think foreign languages would be useful for them in the future jobs, therefore, they only spend time on learning some days before the exam days.

Bich also thinks that there is a big gap in the English skills of the students from rural areas and students from big cities. In general, the students from rural areas do not have the opportunities to learn English in a methodical way. Therefore, they find it hard to continue learning English at the universities.

Vinh agrees that four years at universities would not be enough for students to obtain fluent English skills, and that students need to have a good basis when they finish high schools to be able to meet the standards in foreign language skills when following university education.

Tien Phong

jackbl
24-01-2013, 09:21 AM
Saigontourist offers foreigners Tet celebration tours
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VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s leading travel operator Saigontourist has launched two programmes for international travelers eager to enjoy the Lunar New Year Festival (Tet) in Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta.

The Mekong Delta tour will run from lunar December 23–29. Visitors will have the chance to experience the bustling pre-Tet atmosphere in My Tho City, exploring the local flower market and Vinh Trang Pagoda.

A number of families have offered to let tourists observe their busy festival preparations including making Banh Tet (a bundle of sticky rice, fatty pork, and soy bean paste compacted into a banana leaf cylinder), traditional confectionary, and customary festival meals.

The Ho Chi Minh City tour will last from lunar January 1–4.

Visitors will be taken from their hotels to Tao Dan Park for its Spring Flower Festival. They will then admire a number of sacred temples and pagodas, wander around Cho Lon’s Chinatown, and relax with a city cyclo ride before sampling traditional meals with locals.

Initiated in 2003, the two tour packages have enabled foreign tourists and expatriates to experience some the annual Tet celebration’s excitement and festive cheer.

Source: VOV online

jackbl
24-01-2013, 09:23 AM
In crisis, people celebrate Tet in home cities, air tickets unsold
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VietNamNet Bridge – Numerous air tickets for the flights to depart on Tet days from HCM City to Hanoi, Da Nang and Vinh City have been left unsold. Meanwhile, more air tickets for the flights at non-peak hours have been put on sale.

Contrary to all predictions, the travel demand of people is very weak this year. The economic downturn has forced people to cancel the travel plans for Tet holiday. Though Tet would come in just three weeks, a lot of air tickets for the flights from HCM City to the provinces in the central region and the north remain unsold.

Strange thing: air tickets unsold

No need to hunt down for air tickets or queue up on Internet to register ticket purchases, no need to pay money for intermediaries to buy tickets, one now can easily book tickets for the flights on Tet holiday.

Thu Hang, a worker of a media company in district 1 in HCM City, said she was so surprised when she found out from the official websites of airlines that seats on the flights on key air routes still have been vacant, including the ones of the flights on rush days, just before Tet.

Meanwhile, Le Thuy from Nam Dinh City, who works in HCM City, feared that she would not be able to book tickets for the flights to Nam Dinh City; therefore, she decided to book tickets very soon, in November 2012.

Thuy felt happy when she successfully bought tickets at reasonable prices of VND2,974,000 dong per ticket. Therefore, Thuy has been exceedingly astonished when hearing that her sister has just bought a ticket at a much lower price.

“It’s quite a strange thing. You have to pay higher when you book ticket sooner,” she said.

Demand weaker due to economic difficulties

The official websites of Jetstar Pacific, Vietjet Air and Vietnam Airlines on January 16 showed that high numbers of tickets still have been available.

A booking agent of Vietnam Airlines also said the travel demand in 2013 is very low. Tickets have run out only for the flights on some special air routes, while a lot of tickets have been available on the backbone routes, including the Hanoi-HCM City route.

Reducing airfares may help boost sales

While the demand gets weaker, because people tend to choose other mans of transport to save money, airlines all plan to provide more flights this Tet as a result of the stiff competition in the domestic aviation market.

A senior executive of Jetstar Pacific has noted that the demand has been very weak since the beginning of the year.

A family with four members would have to pay some VND20 million on air tickets alone to fly from Hanoi and HCM City and vice versa. Van Trang in Tan Phu district in HCM City said a trip to the homeland to celebrate Tet would cost her the sum of money equal to many-month salaries.

When asked why the air tickets have become cheaper than the tickets sold many years ago, a senior executive of an airline said in principle, the sooner passengers book tickets, the cheaper tickets they can get. However, it happened that passengers usually changed their plans.

Since passengers would not fly on the initially set days, airlines have to slash the airfare by a little to attract passengers.

US$1=VND21,000

NLD

jackbl
26-01-2013, 12:11 PM
Along the Saigon River
=======================================

VietNamNet Bridge – The VIP speed boat eventually glided into the wharf, it was forty-five minutes late, and we had been waiting impatiently for it to arrive so that we could begin our journey along the Saigon River to the Cu Chi tunnel historical site.


The boat looked to be full but our party of six adults and two children were eventually accommodated in the front of the boat, under the awning which shielded us from the hot overhead sun. The children were delighted that they were able to utilize the pilot’s seat and for most of the journey, each way, they took turns on one of the adult’s laps, the wind created by the high speed boat blowing their hair back. They were entranced by the foam created by the turbulence of the boat which climbed almost to the deck on each side.

The Saigon River is a busy waterway with heavily laden barges, smaller pilot boats, fishing boats and local ferries all utilizing this water course. Dense blankets of water hyacinths floated along the top of the river, the flowers still in bud; these aquatic weeds are a curse to the propellers of high speed boats and our driver did his best to avoid the thickest areas. The weed is harvested by locals who make attractive baskets in varying designs and quality to sell at markets.

The boat took an hour and a half to reach its destination; it was an enjoyable ride with the distractions of the daily life of the river continually changing. We passed through the industrial city and into the countryside where farmers were seen working in the vibrant green paddy fields and laborers tended the forests of rubber trees.

The tunnels of Cu Chi are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Cu Chi District of HCMC. They are part of a much larger network of tunnels that extend throughout the country. This section of the tunnels has been turned into a War Memorial Park and is very popular with tourists who can get some small idea of what it must have been like for the Vietnamese guerrillas who lived, worked and fought inside the very narrow confines of the tunnels. Some portions of the tunnels have been enlarged so that they can accommodate the larger stature of the modern day tourist and, for the adventurous and those that do not suffer from claustrophobia, crawling through these shafts is one of the options available.

It is almost impossible to believe that both men and women lived in these confined spaces for months, even years, fighting off not only the American soldiers but dangerous insects such as scorpions, ants, poisonous centipedes, spiders and rodents, diseases facilitated by the lack of fresh air and healthy food and water, particularly malaria, which was the second largest cause of death after battle wounds.

Tourists are able to witness the booby traps, fashioned from basic materials but used to deadly effectiveness. They can fire a variety of Vietnamese War Era weapons, which include the AK47 and M16 rifles and the M60 machine gun, however, there is a need to take good ear protection, it is extremely noisy and that supplied is not altogether effective.

It is a grueling glimpse into the lives of the guerrilla fighters in their resistance against the American forces and it was a relaxing getaway to seat ourselves next to the fast flowing current of the river while being served a traditional Vietnamese lunch. The small restaurant, set on a platform above the reeded banks of the river and open to any light breeze which could permeate the mid-day heat, provided a relief from the horrors of war.

Source: SGT

jackbl
26-01-2013, 12:13 PM
The tour guides in the clouds
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VietNamNet Bridge – The tour guides have never attended any training courses before. However, they still can work well when receiving tourists to their homeland, Sa Pa.

How to find tour guides in Sa Pa?

Most of them are girls. They have great advantages to work as tour guides: they know all the paths to the villages, they know the ways to every corner in the town, because they have got familiar to them since the day they were born.

The thing they need to learn to work as tour guides is to learn foreign languages to communicate with foreign travelers. However, this is never an obstacle to them.

The children here have high capability of aping others. Especially, their H’mong ethnic minority language is a language of spirants. A linguistic has also noted that no any elsewhere children can learn English better than the H’mong children in the land.

H’mong girls undertake the job of tour guides very spontaneously. Those, who have good health, who think they are fluent speakers and who have good English enough, would go to the downtown, visit restaurants or guest houses to make acquaintance and say “hello” to foreign travelers.

In Sa Pa town, it is estimated that tens of girls are seen working as tour guides in a professional way. Besides the girls in the downtown, there are also the girls staying in hamlets and communes.

If someone goes to Sa Pa these days, he may see two or three small girls standing next to samu trees, or wondering at the market with a brocade bag, a jungle knife in hands. These could be the mountain girls - tour guides. If so, he can meet the girls and say to them he wants some tour guides and receive the answers if they can help him.

This is the way tourists and tour guides can meet each other so easily in the land. Not only Vietnamese, but foreign tourists as well, have got familiar to the method.

What the local tour guides do?

The job of tour guide has become more demanding, because trekking tourists now want more than visiting nearby villages or tasting some local food.

Cat Cat, Cau May villages, Ham Rong or Ta Phin mountains – the short day tours have no more attracted the foreign travelers who want adventurous trips. They now want to travel to further villages and take week-long trips.

Hang A Sinh, a tour guide in Xin Chai hamlet, said this is really a hard job. Tour guides have to spend weeks with travelers, lead them to the targeted destinations, help them wander up hill and down dale, carry luggage for them. Especially, tour guides need to buy good and necessary things on the way, and prepare meals.

Therefore, tour guides always have to think carefully so as to arrange the trips in the best possible way: how many pots to bring, how many legs should be in the trips, how many meals to have and what to do in emergency cases.

Sinh recalled a day when Sinh met an Australian student, who asked to help lead her to San Sa Ho, a very deserted land. Suddenly, the girl suffered a serious stomachache. Sinh had no other choice than carrying the girl on back to a Sinh’s friend nearby.

Sinh only could carry the girl to the friend’s house in late of the day, where the girl was treated with the herbs found in the forests. Luckily, the girl recovered the next morning, backed to Sa Pa then and returned to Australia.

Sinh said that the Australian girl paid $500 for the trip, a big sum of money, but Sinh fell sick for three days. However, Sinh did not regret the day spent with the girl, because Sinh had a new good friend, who usually returns to the land with her husband and invites Sinh to Australia one day.

Dai Doan Ket

jackbl
27-01-2013, 02:53 PM
HCM City plans to shift noisy karaoke parlours
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VietNamNet Bridge – Karaoke parlours in HCM City are set be bunched together in designated streets, and authorities will not issue licences for opening them anywhere else, a senior culture official has said.

Vu Trong Nam, deputy director of the HCM City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, explained that this would make it easier to manage what is a "sensitive" business.

Last April the city People's Committee issued a decree on improving oversight of several industries, including karaoke, to combat prostitution and other social evils.

It tasked the department with drawing up comprehensive regulations for the functioning of karaokes and discotheques.

The only regulations in place now are on the number of karaoke parlours that can be opened in residential areas.

The department plans to designate areas in each district by 2015 where karaokes can be opened.

Similarly, discotheques can only operate in hotels and cultural centres.

Nam pointed to the case with which District 10 authorities manage the many karaoke parlours bunched together on Su Van Hanh Street.

"That is a good model for managing and preventing social evils," Nam said.

After refusing licences for karaoke and discotheque businesses for many years, the People's Committee has again started to allow them.

Nam said that district authorities had recently started receiving applications for setting up karaoke parlours, which are licensed for two years.

The department will decide the number of fresh licences to be issued in each district and submit to the People's Committee in the first quarter of this year.

Source: VNS

jackbl
28-01-2013, 09:24 AM
Street girls learn new trade under charity project
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Still in short pants and sleeveless jackets, 21 women who were once street girls attended a public meeting on Thursday to speak up their ambitions for a chance to return to normal lives.

With well-trimmed eyebrows and fresh red lips, they represented their colleagues whose job is illegal by law and not recognized in the Vietnamese conservative society. But the highlight at the meeting held in Ho Chi Minh City by the Department for Social Evils Elimination was that the women showed strong ambition to quit the controversial job.

The 21 women belong to a three-year pilot project in the city that offers prostitutes free vocational classes to help them find employment and thus lead independent lives.

They were recommended by local authorities and peers’ clubs and other social affairs organizations; the first condition being a strong will to return to normal lives.

Ngo Thi Mong Linh, chief of Binh Minh Dem (Night Sunrise) peers’ club and vice chairwoman of Niem Tin Moi (New Hope) charity club, said at the meeting, “Many, many women want to have a chance to attend vocational courses.”

She told moving stories of women who had to earn money as prostitutes because they had no other choice.

Ten years ago, NTL in district 11 had to raise her ailing infant younger than one year old after her husband abandoned the family. Being unemployed and untrained for doing any job, L had to ‘take to the street’.

Initially considering it a temp job, L has failed to quit prostitution in the past years until three months ago when a woman of a peers’ club came to talk with her and asked her to join the Binh Minh Dem.

“Not only being taught how to prevent diseases and HIV infection, I have also been trained as a nail worker,” L said at the meeting.

“No one wishes to become a tool for others to entertain. I will definitely earn my living with pedicure/manicure. I will get married and have children,” L said.

Another case was HKO, who got married at the age of just 18 years old. She had to leave her husband when their daughter was 17 months old since the husband was sent to a rehab center. She became a street girl soon after that to have money to feed her child.

O and L are two of the 21 prostitutes attending the training course.

“I hope my girl will not feel ashamed of her mother in front of her friends. So I will try to get trained to have a right job,” O confirmed.

Besides enjoying free training courses, each participant of the pilot project is given VND2 million (US$96) to buy toolkits to pursue a trade.

Yet, many women honestly admitted that they still ‘stand the street’ as they need money to make ends meet.

“I need money to buy a bicycle to go around,” one of them said.

Nguyen Thi Hong Phuong, vice chief of the Ho Chi Minh City Department for Social Evils Elimination, assured that, “We stand side by side with you whenever you need, provided that you have the determination to quit the past. We are mulling to have better support. Remember that no one loves you more than yourself.”

jackbl
29-01-2013, 01:32 AM
Families with two daughters may get social welfare
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VietNamNet Bridge - In order to reduce the sex ratio imbalance at birth, the General Department of Population will propose the Government to provide social welfare for the families that have two baby girls.


Dr. Duong Quoc Trong, head of the General Department of Population, told an online newswire that putting the policy on giving priority to women, assisting families that have two daughters into practice is the long-time desire of the agency but it has not been implemented.

Trong said the General Department of Population would propose to the Government to consider the plan to reduce the sex ratio imbalance at birth, in which a special solution is giving financial support to the families that have only two baby girls.

Specifically, these families will be supported with cash and incentives for their daughters in studies, vocational training, employment, and developing household economy, etc.

According to an officer of the General Department of Population, in fact, a number of provinces have implemented this policy. For example, Thai Binh province presents gifts for the families having two daughters while Hoa Binh province encourages and supports women and girls, especially the girls in the families that have only daughters.

In addition to giving support for the families having only daughters, the plan also focuses on a number of measures to reduce the sex ratio imbalance, such as reducing the birth rate in areas with high birth rates, the mountainous and disadvantaged areas, strictly prohibiting sex selection...

At present, gender imbalance has appeared in many provinces in the country and it is more volatile. In 2009, Hung Yen and Hai Duong led the country on gender imbalance. In 2011, Quang Binh and Bac Ninh took the lead, with a ratio of 120 boys for every 100 girls.

According to the Ministry of Health, without active intervention, the sex ratio at birth in Vietnam will be still imbalanced, with 125 boys for every 100 girls in 2020 and it will remain until 2050.

Compiled by Le Ha

jackbl
29-01-2013, 10:14 AM
Air ticket agents hike prices over false scarcity
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Although tickets for several domestic long-haul routes over Tet are still available, many ticket agents have told customers that they are running out to force passengers to buy tickets on alternative routes at exorbitant prices.

While information and prices of available flights are displayed openly at the official ticket agents of the airliners, and the surcharges only range from VND30,000 to VND50,000, there is no such information provided at other agents, and customers have to mainly rely on the employees there. The surcharges are also hiked to hundreds of thousands of dong.

Tuoi Tre reporters disguised as customers recently visited an airline and train ticket office operated by a construction design company on Cong Hoa Street and asked to buy three tickets from Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh between February 3 and 5. An employee said that there were no available tickets left from the domestic carriers.

However, she added that several Vietnam Airlines (VNA) tickets were available, but the departure dates are either January 29 and 30, and they cost VND3.02 million each, excluding surcharge and taxes.

“But we will only know if there really are available seats for these tickets in the next two or three days,” she said, adding that customers have to pay a booking fee of VND200,000, and a fee to register a seat at VNA of VND600,000.

The reporters then asked if they could fly to Hanoi instead. The employee made a phone call, checked her computer, and replied that there were VNA tickets available.

“The ticket costs VND3.02 million for a night flight, and VND3.6 million for day service, excluding the VND600,000 registration fee,” she said.

When asked for details about the flight, the employee shook her head and said the internet was temporarily disconnected.

“Just deposit your money and come back tomorrow,” she said.

But the national flag carrier’s official booking center told Tuoi Tre later that there are in fact many available business class tickets for the HCMC – Vinh route from February 3 to 5.

Meanwhile, the minimum price for the January 29 tickets is only VND2.84 million, without the seat-registering fee as requested by the agent.

The booking center added that tickets for the HCMC – Hanoi route cost VND3.097 million, including surcharge, and is always available between March 3 and 5. Customers don’t have to pay the VND600,000 fee, it added.

Bogus agents

The VNA booking center has warned customers about a common trick of many agents, which tell customers that tickets are still available while they have, in fact, been sold out.

A ticket agent on Au Co Street, for instance, told Tuoi Tre that tickets for the HCMC – Dong Hoi route on February 4 are available at VND3.8 million each.

But VNA confirmed that all seats for the service have already been booked.

“We have had to handle a number of complaints for similar issues,” said a VNA employee.

“Customers will still receive tickets for the flights after paying, but several days later the agent will tell them that VNA has canceled the service they booked,” the employee elaborated.

“Then customers will be asked to switch to other routes, which cost them a great sum of fees for changing flights and tickets.”

Customers should contact VNA for official information before booking tickets for such routes, the booking center advised.

Airliners have also cautioned that customers may fall prey to several bogus ticket agents during this high-demand season of the Lunar New Year.

“The agents will normally sell tickets to their customers, but when the departure day approaches, they secretly ask to return the tickets to the airliners, get the refund, and disappear, leaving the customers unable to board,” an employee of a carrier said.

Customers thus are advised to look official agent certificates at ticket offices before conducting any transactions, the airliners said.

jackbl
30-01-2013, 09:36 AM
HCMC to have “karaoke streets” in every district
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Karaoke businesses will be re-arranged in Ho Chi Minh City under a plan in which karaoke establishments in each district will be gathered into specific quarters to facilitate easier management and better crime prevention.

Vu Trong Nam, deputy director of the city Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, revealed the plan while talking with Tuoi Tre about the re-arrangement of the karaoke business – a sensitive service sector.

Under Directive 13 by the HCMC People’s Committee on strengthening management over businesses that may cause social evils, the department is working on a plan to re-arrange karaoke and dancing establishments from now until 2020, with a vision towards 2025, Nam said.

According to a 2015-2020 roadmap for the plan, every district will have specific streets or areas for karaoke, while dancing facilities will be included in hotels or cultural centers.

Such an arrangement will help concerned agencies manage and control karaoke businesses more easily and prevent social evils, including prostitution and drug abuse, or crime that can arise from karaoke-related activities.

Most districts have supported the idea of creating “karaoke streets or areas”, Nam said.

Currently, Su Van Hanh Street in District 10 has many karaoke parlors clustered together. These establishments do good business and local authorities can manage them easily, Nam said.

The number of karaoke parlors will differ from district to district, based on demand, and each district will arrange karaoke facilities in areas it deems suitable.

Under the plan, a karaoke operation license will be valid for two years. In the first quarter of this year, the department will review the karaoke sector in the city and request that authorities propose the numbers of new karaoke or dancing businesses to be licensed in each district.

After the city People’s Committee decides on the numbers of karaoke facilities and specific streets and areas in each district, the department will begin granting karaoke or dancing licenses based on that decision.

jackbl
31-01-2013, 09:20 AM
Inside a “Vietnamese girl market”
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Chinese men can find sexual partners among Vietnamese sex workers at a “Vietnamese girl market”, which runs every night in Po-chai, a Chinese town on the border with Vietnam.

This market offers only Vietnamese sex workers, although no Vietnamese men are served there.

As evidenced by its name, the “market”, which is located in an apartment complex, has Vietnamese women only, and its guests are mainly Chinese men, An Ninh The Gioi (World Security) newspaper reported.

The ‘market’ mainly runs at night, when a group of at least four young women sits at the ground floor of each apartment building to welcome their guests.

These women usually embroider handkerchiefs while they sit there. Though the temperature sometimes drops to 5 degrees Celcius, they wear skimpy clothes, showing off their breasts and thighs.

No room for Vietnamese men

One night, the women say a man approaching One of them, possibly the group’s leader, greeted him in Chinese. The man said, “My boss is Vietnamese. Will any of you receive him? The group leader replied in disappointment, “We are not allowed to receive Vietnamese men.

Whenever they see Vietnamese men enter the building, the women waves them away and say, “Dear, we would love to serve you, but the police will catch you. Please leave before you get in trouble.”

One of the women at the market is named Hong. She was once the group’s leader, and now she trades sex toys in the area.

“The Chinese government has banned prostitution-related business, but in cross-border trade areas like Po-chai, the business is implicitly allowed on the condition that sex workers must be Vietnamese and their guests must be Chinese or foreign men, excluding Vietnamese men.

A number of Chinese sex workers can also be found in Po Trai. They have fake ID cards stating that they are Vietnamese.

Brothel owners in the area are granted business licenses and they must pay relevant taxes and fees to the Chinese authorities. However, there remains a paradox that if any problems arise, they may be brought to court for charges of “harboring prostitutes.”

“One more oddity of this area is that these whorehouses are not governed by the local government but by ‘procurers’, who claim a right to ‘protect’ brothels based on a ‘fee’ they receive from brothel owners. They also act as tax and fee collectors, passing these payments on to authorities."

Any conflict between brothels or between guests and prostitutes is resolved by the procurers through physical violence and their law of the jungle.

When new sex workers arrive at the market, the local procurers have the right to “taste” them first before they serve their guests.

Any woman who violates the underworld law will be punished by the local boss; for example they may be taken to a room, stripped and beaten.

Tortured to the point of insanity

There have been cases in which local bosses tortured sex workers by continuously stimulating them with sex toys for a full day. After 24 hours of sexual stimulation, many women are so exhausted that they have to lay in bed for several days to recover.

There was one case, in particular, where a sex worker was paralyzed for a week after being tortured with sex toys. Women have also gone insane after being abused, one of whom is Dai, from the northern city of Hai Phong.

Dai, 21, was once considered the top prostitute at the B25 brothel. In her prime many men selected her for her services.

Dai had to give her pimp 40 percent of the money guests paid her, but there were still days when she was able to save more than 1,000 yuan (US$160).However, she still wasn’t able to afford her or her boyfriend’s drug addiction.

Dai’s pimp loaned her money at a 100% per day interest rate, and in February 2012, when her dept stood at 10,000 yuan (US$1,600), Dai and her lover escaped and hid in Pingxiang, a city in the municipal region of Chongzuo in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The pimp reported the escape to the local boss and Dai was seized two days later. She was brutally tortured with sex toys and went mad.

She began to groan and fall over whenever anyone touched her. Her boyfriend eventually brought her to Vietnam for medical treatment.

Hong, one of the prostitutes, said the pimps in the twon do not force any of the girls to work against their will. Only women who are in debt are forced to serve guests, in order to repay their debts.

Ransom and “rotary wife”

Many beautiful sex workers have lured men into paying a ransom to take them from their brothel so that they could live together as husband and wife.

A number of men have fallen into this trap and been forced to pay at least 4 taels of gold to the woman’s pimp for her realease.

However, the women can leave their “husband” at any time and return to their brothel to lure other men. The ransoms are split 60:40 with their pimps.

Some sex workers have been ransomed by two or three men at the same time.
When this happens the women consider themselves ‘rotary wives’.

Thi has experienced this before. She arrived in Po Trai when she was 13 years old to make a living by washing dishes at restaurants.

She was eventually adopted by Hong and led a decent life. Then, one day, after being beaten by Hong for stealing money from guests, Thi left and began working as a prostitute.

Thi later returned to Hong and lured a wealthy Chinese man named A Lo into ransoming her.

Lo paid 10 taels of gold and Thi lived with him for a while. Then, she started a fight with him and returned to Hong’s brothel. Lo ransomed her again, this time for four taels of gold.

After spending several years as Thi’s “husband”, Lo had no money left and Thi has since left him for good.

A similar trick is to sell girls to men looking for a wife or brothels that need workers for 10,000 yuan, of which the girl will get 6,000. However, after a certain amount of time, the girl will leave their husband or new brothel, leaving them in the lurch.

The girls will then be sold again, and the cycle will begin all over.

jackbl
01-02-2013, 10:40 AM
Male and gay prostitution is increasing
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VietNamNet Bridge - Although there are no specific figures, according to representatives of the Departments of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho City, male prostitution is on the rise, including students. The handling of these people is in trouble.

Speaking at the conference reviewing the implementation of the action plan against prostitution in 2011-2015 last week, Mr. Le Van Quy, Deputy Director of the HCM City Bureau for Social Evil Prevention, said in HCM City, in addition to a number of rings of high-end call girls, with the participation of actresses and models, male and gay prostitution is growing and increasingly sophisticatedly.

"Some spas and beauty salons use gays to serve homosexuals. There is sophisticated development of male and gay prostitution, foreign sex workers and Vietnamese prostitutes going abroad in the form of sex tourism," he said.

Although there are no specific statistics about male and gay prostitution, Quy said the number of men doing this job is increasing, including students. Due to social stigma, most gays do not get tests or go to health facilities for consultation, resulting in the increase of HIV.

"Five years ago, the HCM City Bureau for Social Evil Prevention arrested and sent to treatment centers 22 male and gay prostitutes, but then we had to release them because the current law has not related provisions," he said.

Ms. Pham Ngoc Phuong, Director of the Can Tho Bureau for Social Evil Prevention, also expressed concern about the development of male and gay prostitution in the city. "It is very difficult to handle male and gay prostitutes," she said.

Not only in Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho, a "love market" for gays has recently appeared in Da Nang City. This place is not only is the venue of homosexuals but also a place for crime. Many gays were robbed there.

Major Vu The Huan, from the National Criminal Police Agency, told VNexpress newswire that the agency used to arrest male prostitutes but had to release them because of the lack of related provisions. "We will propose to the National Assembly and the Government to amend the law," Major Huan said.

As being reflected by representatives of some provinces and cities, prostitution has been disguised in various forms, so it is difficult for the authorities to control it. In many cities, there are prostitution services over the phone or Internet; employees at karaoke bars, hair salons and massage shops work as prostitutes, etc. Instead of standing in public places, sex workers now use motorcycles to run around to seek customers.

Prostitution flourishes at coastal resort such as Do Son (Hai Phong), Sam Son (Thanh Hoa), Quat Lam (Nam Dinh), Cua Lo (Nghe An), Ky Anh (Ha Tinh)... in summer. Most of sex workers are from the southwestern region. According to Mr. Pham Duc Chinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Nam Dinh Province, the situation is very difficult to handle because prostitutes disguise as tourists.

In this regard, Major Vu The Huan said the police will strictly handle prostitution. "We will coordinate with the telecommunications agencies to hinder prostitutes from posting their pictures or advertising on the Internet. The Ministry of Information and Communications should also combine to closely control the use of Internet and telephone for sex transaction," said Huan.

At the conference, many delegates proposed amendments to the Law on Administrative Fines and Resolution No. 24/2012 of the National Assembly, which takes effect from July 2012 for being inappropriate to reality. The HCM City Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs said that prostitutes in public venues will increase because if they are caught in the act, they are willing to pay a fine and continue to practice prostitution. The sanction is too low compared to the "income" of sex workers.

This department also proposed to the National Assembly Standing Committee and the Government to add regulations on handling sexual service at service establishments, male and gay prostitution and foreign-related prostitution.

Delegate Pham Duc Chinh form Nam Dinh suggested to remove fines on prostitution and instead, send them to medical facilities for HIV testing.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, from the Hanoi Bureau for Social Evil Prevention, said that it is necessary to classify prostitutes. For sex workers from other provinces, who do not have a certain place of residence and have been fined several times and are infected with social diseases must be sent to social protection centers for management.

According to the Agency for Social Evil Prevention, in 2012, the authorities seized 1,077 prostitution cases, with 4,543 people and handled 744 criminal cases.

At the border, the border guard force handled 133 cases of prostitution and human trafficking for purposes of prostitution, rescued 177 victims, including 16 children.

In Lao Cai, prostitution from outside the borders takes place publically, with about 100 prostitution rings totaling about 600 Vietnamese prostitutes. The court also accepted 507 cases on charges of prostitute harboring and brokerage.

Compiled by Tra Nguyen

jackbl
01-02-2013, 10:44 AM
HCM City wants to gather sensitive services into one zone to prevent prostitution
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VietNamNet Bridge - Given that the situation of prostitution in the city is very complicated, hiding in the form of barber shops, massage, traditional medicine, etc. HCM City has recommended gathering these sensitive business establishments in an area.

HCM City has proposed that the government allows the "regional planning" for sensitive business establishments which may generate social evils to closely manage prostitutes.

The city said that to help the effective prevention of prostitution, the central government should supplement the provisions dealing with acts of harboring, use of porno methods in service establishments, male and homosexual prostitutes, prostitution involving foreign elements and remedies to ensure enforcement.

Ho Chi Minh City proposed to issue tougher administrative fines on the production, circulation of porno movies and performances, which promote hedonistic lifestyle and prostitution. The city also asked the government to study and promulgate "regulations on ethics and dignity" in the training of artists, organizing beauty contests, modeling and the accompanying administrative sanctions.

In addition, the city wanted to set up social work centers on a trial basis to educate and support prostitutes in terms of psychology and counseling. These centers will also coordinate with local authorities to help them feel secure and have stable life.

According to the HCM City People's Committee, there are 30,000 sensitive service facilities in the city, nearly 800 more than 2011, including 19,705 accommodation establishments (guest houses, hotels, rooms for rent, etc.); 750 karaoke establishments, studios; 25 bars, discothèques; 943 restaurants with female attendants; 134 massage parlors; 805 barber shops and more than 7,600 cafes.

HCM City police also identified the major roads of prostitution such as: Ngo Van Nam, Hai Ba Trung, Tran Quang Khai, Nguyen Phi Khanh, Dong Du, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, Hoang Sa in District 1; Nguyen Trai, Le Hong Phong in District 5; D2, D5 in Binh Thanh District, Tu Xuong, Nguyen, Hai Ba Trung Street in District 3, Nguyen Chi Thanh, Chau Van Liem, Dao Duy Tu, Ngo Quyen in Districts 5 and 10.

Compiled by Mai Lan

jackbl
03-02-2013, 03:45 AM
Spring colors cover the entire country
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VietNamNet Bridge - Apricot, peach, flowers, ornamental plants ... are coming to town these days, bringing the New Year to all over the country.



The Mekong Delta: promising flower season

Coming to the flower village of Binh Thuy in the city of Can Tho, the Sa Dec flower village in Dong Thap, Cai Mon village in Ben Tre in these days one will no longer see the "fields of flowers" in the green color of leaves, but the diverse colors of all kinds of flowers, such as chrysanthemum, roses, sunflowers, ...

Mr. Van Tinh, in Binh Thuy village, said: "Flowers have sprung buds as planned so now I do not worry anymore. I’m sure for a good flower harvest! On the 23rd of the 12th month of the lunar year I will sell 500 pots of Taiwanese chrysanthemum to traders. I will bring the rest to the Can Tho city flower market."

In the happy mood like Tinh, the two brothers Quan and Thanh, also in Binh Thuy said, this flower season they leased land to plant 6,000 Taiwanese daisy pots, 500 pots of marigold and more than 100 pots of sunflowers. The brothers were excited because all flower pots have nearly blossomed, promising high prices.
In Cai Mon and Sa Dec flower villages, farmers are very busy taking care of their flower gardens. They work all days in the garden and prepare to bring them to the street on the day of the Kitchen God, which will fall on this Sunday (February 3).

In the last few days, spring flowers have flooded the Ninh Kieu wharf in Can Tho city. Local people begin to come here to choose flower pots for decoration during Tet.

On January 30, the Can Tho City Museum opened the program "Spring Color", with various activities such as performing traditional craft techniques, traditional art, folk games and Vietnamese, Chinese and Khmer cuisines. The program will last until 02/01/2013.

Program of activities including traditional crafts such as weaving, mat weaving, carving, knitting machines; forms of art such as calligraphy, making his first Lan, Chung tray of five fruits; typical cuisine ethnic Vietnamese, Chinese, Khmer...


Central region

On the major streets of Thanh Hoa city, in addition to a wide variety of flowers, plants, peaches and kumquat, wild peach trees are also available, heating up the spring atmosphere. Wild peach trees are mainly sold at the Lam Son Square in the city’s center and next to the Phu Son overpass.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Son, who sells wild peach trees near the Phu Son overpass, said that he has sold wild peach trees here for two days. Son bought wild peach from Laos and some mountainous districts in Thanh Hoa. This year wild peach trees are more expensive than last year because wild peach blossomed early this year.

The lowest price for a wild peach tree is VND2 million ($100) and the highest price is over VND20 million. The older the trees are, the more expensive the price is.

A will peach seller at the Lam Son Square said: "Most of the peach branches and trees hear are at least 10 years old. They are call wild or rock peach because this kind of peach grows on the cliffs in the forest. It took us a lot of effort and time to bring them to the city so the price is very high."

Mr. Tran Xuan Thanh, a customer shares: "Forest Training must go buy early to take care of it until the New Year flowers bloom and are beautiful. Go early training is easy to choose the branch peaches better because there is very little forest, but many people prefer to buy."



Hanoi: various activities to welcome Tet

The Flower Festival and Tet Market to honor craft villages and high-quality agricultural products held at the Vietnam Culture and Art Exhibition Centre, No.2 Van Ho, Hanoi opened on January 30.

The event is held by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in coordination with the Hanoi City People’s Committee, Hanoi City Peasants’ Association, the Vietnam Folklore Arts Association and the Vietnam Association of Traditional Villages.

It offers valuable opportunities for productive meetings between artisans, farming households and businesses, encouraging innovation in the sector as well as boosting trade promotion and the consumption of agricultural products.

The fair not only highlights the best products of craft villages, but also serves people’s shopping needs for Tet, the year’s biggest traditional celebration.

Nearly 100 products made from traditional materials, 100 calligraphic works and parallel sentences for Tet are displayed at the event.

There are also 200 stalls selling quality farm produce from Hanoi’s villages, such as lotus-scented tea, Ba Vi milk, Canh orange, and organic vegetables.

At the same time, workers are busy decorating the city's streets and the center.

jackbl
04-02-2013, 10:13 AM
Legalizing “red light district,” should or should not?
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VietNamNet Bridge - Recently, the Department of Anti-social Evils of Ho Chi Minh City has proposed to open the "red light district" - to turn the phenomenon which is regarded as social evils into a stable "job," which is management and taxed in order to restrict other consequences affecting the security and social order. However, this opinion is so new to our society.

VietNamNet Bridge has received articles discussing this topic. We would like to introduce the following article. Please join our discussion.

The HCM City Department of Anti-social Evils has just proposed the plan to open the "red light district." In everyday language, this is the first "green light" of a turning point, a surge in awareness of the management body and the society for prostitution. Unfortunately, the proposal has been immediately withdrawn.

It is difficult to imagine how intense and stressful the "fight" between the two "sides" of supporters and opponents will be. But, it is for sure that we should discuss this proposal by a truism: It's not just close my eyes and the fact no longer exists....


In other countries

Several years ago I went to Shanghai and I was very surprised because on the crowded and bustling streets, why tens of bras of all colors were "exposed" in the front door of some houses?

It turned out that the local government does not want to advertise prostitution noisily to make harmful impacts on the youth, but it cannot prevent legitimate businesses from advertising their "product." So, the "icon" language was born, though it slightly disturbs but everyone could understand, except… me.

Prostitution is "older than the sea," like the words of the song Love Story: "The sweet love story that is older than the sea." It has at least 2,000 years of history and the clearest evidence is from the Bible:

When the crowd demanded stoning to death a hussy, infamous woman, who committed sexual promiscuity with many different men, the Lord asked that, if anyone of you who has never committed crime, please step up and throw stones! The crowd was silent and left out (John 7:53 -8:11).

The wisdom to understand life, to simply teach people in the Bible reflects a truth, it sounds that prostitution appeared even before the existence of Jesuse Christos.

In Luke 7:4.47, describing that God forgave all the sins of the bad woman, we should agree that when discussing the "bad streak" of a woman, it refers to the default.

The principle of this reasoning is simple: Most of all short, concise and convincing stories in the Bible are common things, at least in the ancient empire of Roma. If we further reason, we know that Jesuse did not say anything about the ban or not but accepted “sexual promiscuity” as a fact that cannot be denied.

The "lesson" of the problem is even simpler than life: Why do we to resolutely reject an obvious fact that has existed for thousands of years and probably will exist for hundreds of years?

Holland is famous for tulips and... the red-light district. Almost everyone knows that the Netherlands is one of the world's top five countries in living standards, with the best standard of living (after Norway, Sweden, Australia and Canada) and is also considered one of the most liberal and democratic countries. It is not accidental that the International Court chose the Netherlands to base in.

When the "red light district" was formed, the reaction of the people and the world opinion was extremely intense. Yet, only a few decades later, the red light district of the Netherlands has become a popular tourist destination. It is difficult to find a tour to the Netherlands that does not have the red light district as a part. In other words, naturally, it has become a part of life...

Analyzing the sensitive thing...

The people (a lot) who said that the "red light district" is unacceptable, have a series of walls to protect their prejudice: to protect the habits and customs, the red light district is an expression of the cultural degeneration, it is defamation of and lowering the dignity of women, it indirectly makes negative impacts on the education of the young generation etc.

Let’s analyze that argument.

First, all the alleged "customs, tradition" does not have, even if only a few percent, of persuasion. In fact, it is just another way of support from the burden of Confucianism.

There are evidences from ancient books showing that prostitutes appeared in China from the fifth or sixth centuries. In Vietnam, everyone knows Kieu, a prostitute in The Tales of Kieu by great poet Nguyen Du. In the eyes of Vietnamese people, Kieu is a good girl.

Second, from the evidence about Kieu, we postulated that young people are familiar with the image of prostitutes. And, the image which is both beautiful and poignant has followed us a lifetime. So, do not assume that opens the "red light district" is corrupting the young, because they know it... a long time ago. The media also talk about prostitution, crime, gambling everyday.

It is time to accept that reality as an integral part of life. Why is there no possible way to live with it? At least we can make 'it' less bad, less harmful to life?

Third, tens of thousands of prostitutes are an obvious fact. It is not the problem in Vietnam but an undeniable fact of each country. If it is not managed in terms of administration, health, society, that social evil and its consequences will be more serious.

Diseases, accompanied evils, the mess, the disguise make the society more tired with prostitution. Why don’t we “collect” or “gather” prostitutes into one “dim” zone to make the remaining 99% of the city be brighter?

Society will be less contempt for prostitutes if we see it as a “job” or at least a “work” that can be accepted? Once they are less contemned, then the girls would be better or worse?

Imposing very heavy fines will force all the disorder and chaos into control. And, every man wants to visit that place would have to look ahead, look after and their womanizing character - will definitely reduced because if they go to that place, they accept to be “considered” by society.

Fourth, Vietnam’s neighboring country – Thailand, which has had the “red light district” for a long time, in 2012 attracted 22 million foreign tourists. My grandmother (85 years old) recently traveled Singapore and Malaysia; when I asked her was there any place that I’ve never known, she said she was taken to a "red light district."

At this point, we must ask the question--why in Buddhism in Thailand and Confucianism in Singapore, why not loosen the "red light district" which has been there for a dozen years?

Fifth, in life, there are questions that the answer is often neglected but it must be answered. For example, you want a "red light district" to know where to avoid, rather than carrying your 10-year-old girl around the city to see..."red light" everywhere?

Ha Van Thinh

jackbl
05-02-2013, 09:00 AM
Prostitution is not a profession!
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VietNamNet Bridge - If seeing it as a profession and licensing the establishment of a “red light district,” it will certainly cause many implications, not only for those who participate in this sector, but also cause negative consequences for society.

After publishing the article supporting the legalization of the “red light district” by Ha Van Thinh, VietNamNet has received an article from reader Giang Son. We would like to invite our readers to continue contributing your ideas on this issue.

On January 22, the vice chief of the HCM City Department for Anti-social Evils told the press that the city had asked for the government’s permission to gathering prostitutes into one zone for easy management, not to open a "red light district."

Answering the question--should Vietnam have "red light districts" or not, it is quite difficult but if prostitution is considered a profession, perhaps it is one of the few occupations appearing most early in human history.

Despite that fact, not many countries, including the "most open" accept prostitution as a profession. Why? In the view of the author, it is considered to be a profession, no matter what it is? It must benefit the ones who do that job and society, contributing to the development of society, making society better, more beautiful and healthier.

Prostitution could not do that function though it has apparently developed and brought about revenue for a group of people, including tax revenues for some countries. But if you consider it as a profession, and to admit it as a profession, the permission of “red light districts will certainly cause many implications, not only for those who "participate" in this field, but will cause negative consequences for society.

Who sell and who buy?

This question, the author once asked a French professor during his class that the author fortunately attended 30 years ago in magnificent Paris, in the "La France d'aujourd'hui" (France Today). At that time, in northern Vietnam there was almost no concept of "prostitution."

The professor answered and explained as follows: Sex workers are jobless or unemployed who have nothing to sell or have had not anything left to sell. For a living, they have to sell what the God gave. They are pitiful. The society and the government bear some responsibility here. Let’s go to Pigalle Street, you will see them. It's pitiful!

But part of them were those who love to have a lot of money fast. And people who went there to buy? They were mostly foreign tourists who liked “strange things." The French were quite "allergic" to this place.

A few days later, on a Saturday night, I visited this street with some friends. It was precisely as what my teacher said. Looking at the women of all ages, different colors standing on the sidewalk, under the snow, dressing very thin clothes, with heavily makeup faces and an invitation on their mouths: Please come in, guys!

Paris, at that time, was -5 degrees Celsius but they were in revealing outfits, their skin was pale... it was so pitiful! When we said "Nous sommes Français. Nous sommes de Paris" (We are French, Paris people), they went away.

Pigalle is considered the "red light district" of Paris and there are many other "red light districts" in France, but today the French government, the French people still do not recognize prostitution as a profession although they recognize legal prostitution and strictly manage it.

In Vietnam, in the French-ruled period (possibly before that), Hanoi had Kham Thien Street as the “street of songstresses” but this was not a "red light district." Prostitution in Vietnam from ancient times has been still a covert operation. So far, there are probably not many Vietnamese who accept that "job" and even in the existing psychological prejudices, they scorn, contempt it but prostitution still exists to meet the demand.

The Vietnamese society has to accept it as colds and headaches and has tried to reverse it gradually. There was a time when prostitutes were nearly wiped out. But today...

What should be done?

From the current social practices, prohibiting prostitution is impossible. Because if it is banned, how can we explain about the mushrooming development of motels and inns on Nguyen Van Cu Road and some other roads in Hanoi? Where many prostitutes were caught in the act? Local people there used to ask to change the street names to avoid the fame of living in the street of prostitution.

It is needed to confirm that prostitution is bad. We cannot condone this phenomenon because it involves a lot of implications. Therefore we cannot turn on the "green light" to the establishment of the "red light district."

But now, it is difficult to make full statistics of prostitutes and whoremasters. So what should we do?

The author just wants to reiterate what the social evils prevention force has more than once said: strengthening education by a variety of means, in which the media plays a very important role. Most importantly, the State must create jobs for people, especially young people.

Prostitution itself is not a crime, but it is a source creating crime. Therefore, we need more effective administrative measures, which are strong enough to prevent and reverse this operation, especially for whoremasters who have been neglected for a long time. Civil servants and State employees who are detected as whoremasters must be punished more seriously.

Vietnamese habits and customs cannot accept the "red light districts." There is no "red light district" but prostitution has destroyed so many families, "killed" a significant labor force and caused moral corruption.

Now, "gathering all sensitive activities into one area for easing management" as proposed by HCM City is feasible? It is worried that once this proposal is approved, it will be the beginning for the appearance of a "red light district" and the development of prostitution in other areas. At that time, what will the state management agencies do?

The Vietnamese society has its own specific characters and it's hard to apply the "model" of other countries in Vietnam. Prostitution in several neighboring countries is considered as motivation for tourism development but they do not know that the "driving force" has made the image of the countries worse.

Just to easily control prostitution is why we should open a “red like district?”

What should we do with the phenomenon of prostitution? We need a long-term strategy, with the participation of many sectors, agencies rather than just the immediate “doses of medicines” to treat the symptoms.

Giang Son

jackbl
06-02-2013, 01:20 AM
Red light district” is not simply “service zone”
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VietNamNet Bridge – Setting a “red light district” seems to be a good way to solve physiological needs and related problems to illegal prostitution. But...

After the world-shaking case in India, when a girl was raped by a group of men on a bus and later died, the protection of women in this country has become a big issue. Some have suggested to "inject specialized chemicals for rapists" to take away their sexual inability.

When being asked about this idea, National Assembly deputy Do Van Duong said that besides imprisonment, "chemical castration" is an additional penalty. Duong also stressed that this is a measure of the efficiency and humanity!

Another controversial idea is legalizing prostitution and opening a "red light district" to manage prostitution in a formal way.

Both ideas related to sex are quite shocking and controversial.

The author of this article is not sociological expert. In this short article, he just gives a perspective on this complex social problem.

"Humanity" and the "inevitable?"

Prostitution is an ancient and common commercial activity of human. The use of sexual behavior to exchange an interest or goods is not uncommon. Even in Islamic countries which are bound by the strict religious and moral law, prostitution still take place silently.

It means that wherever men and women are, there is prostitution.

In Vietnam, which has never recognized legal prostitution, prostitution has been existing half-closed and half-open, exciting or hidden depending on ... the attitude of the social management body.

In densely populated cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, the "prostitution market" is also developed.

According to data provided by the People's Army Newspaper, the urban population is 26.88 million people. The labor force at the age of 15 and older in 2011 was 51.39 million. The number of people of working age (15 to 60) who can have sexual ability accounts for 58.4% of the total population of 88 million people.

Meanwhile, the age of marriage under the Law on Marriage and Family is from 18 to 20. Ignoring the factors such as marital breakups, adultery, wives/husbands incapable of sexual activity ... etc. the number of people in the age of having sexual demand but do not have sexual partner is estimated at about 10% of the total population, or 8.8 million.

Those in this category will have a number of solutions: 1) restraining their sexual needs; 2) finding a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a temporary sexual partner; 3) using sex services.

In the first situation: The views and 'solution' depend on the particular person, to go in in-depth analysis, we need another article with the participation of scientists and psychologists.

The second situation: It seems that this is the ideal solution for those who come of age, have sexual needs, but do not have sufficient conditions for marriage. But is it easy to do it? No! Especially in Asian countries, particularly Vietnam.

We can point out the clear phenomena for it: When "virginity" is still account for the majority of articles and is the cause of so many unhappy marriages, seeking a "temporary partner" is not and seem to be not a good choice.

Even in the Vietnamese thoughts, they are not sure that having sex (no marital relations) violates ethics or not when Confucianism and Western thinking are in a conflict in Vietnam. The school and parents still wonder whether they "show the path for the deer" or not when they discuss sexual topics with their children. A large group of people consider talking about sex is taboo and premarital sex relation is bad.

The third situation seems to be a good way to both deal with physiological needs while not committing all the problems in the two situations. But...

Lead to what?

The management bodies worry that legalizing prostitution will lead to problems in management and cause a lot of other implications, affecting the habits and customs, Eastern morals and the peace of families which are being shaken in the "corruption" of culture and morality.

Prostitution is much less a tourist attraction factor when it does not have the supportive conditions like services, environment, social... Nobody goes to a messy place just to sleep with prostitutes.

Nobody can ensure that once prostitution is admitted, the state of fraudulence, abuse and trafficking of women will reduce. Because when prostitution is considered illegal, in many cases the girls who for many reasons entered this path could not escape. So when prostitution is legalized, if they sign a "labor contract," do they have any opportunity to escape prostitution?

Legalization of prostitution, namely to build a special area for this activity seems not to be a viable idea. For example, in Hanoi, which area will be chosen as the "red light district" because such an area must satisfy the material conditions (hotels, motels concentrated in one area). In social and security conditions, how people will accept it?

In this assumption, perhaps we should let’s the owners of hotels and motels to register for business services (if prostitution is legalized) instead of building a separate area.

Not to mention that sex always goes with drugs and HIV... It may be more practical to close "rehabilitation" centers to open community health centers and health support and information centers for sex workers?

If prostitution is legalized, whether sex workers have the right/obligation to implement the Law on Marriage and Family? Do they have the right to have a family while working in this field? Or they lose this right until they give up this “job?”

On the subject of sex whoremasters, given the current conditions and social concept, customers will still be mainly... men. In conception, the women who spend money for sex, or relationship that is formed mainly from the sexual benefits are not supported by society.

In fact, the legal aspects of protecting women and children still have many loopholes. Women are still dependent on men and they ability of men taking advantage of this factor to force his wife to accept his “going” with sex workers. The marriage ties will be certainly affected, not to mention more relationships and moral standpoints to be hurt.

The collection of "income tax" and development of "tourism" is also unfeasible. Prostitution is only a small array of life, is a simple transaction between two subjects, it cannot be regarded as an economic sector to make profits, not to mention the moral relations.

With many complex factors, this idea, in comparison with the idea of "chemical castration" of deputy Do Van Duong, is equally challenging.

Hoang Huong

jackbl
07-02-2013, 10:41 AM
Urban families pay highly to keep charladies at Tet
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VietNamNet Bridge – All families that hire charwomen want to have their assistance during the Lunar New Year in order to have really free and relaxing days. They have to employ adequate ways to persuade charladies to stay with them during the longest holiday in the year.


Previously, the New Year bonus for charladies was usually a Tet gift basket worth VND300,000-VND500,000, plus VND100,000 of traveling expenses. But in recent years, Tet bonus for maids has become a big headache for many families.

It is very popular that the Tet bonus for charwomen is even bigger than the Tet bonus that their employers receive from their companies. This year, a difficult year, when many companies have slashed the Tet bonus for their employees, the salary and Tet bonus for maids keep increasing.

As the need for charladies is rising, many maids ask for very high salaries and bonuses to work during the Tet holiday and after Tet.

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Huyen in Cau Giay District, Hanoi, has two children, at the age of 6 and 2. Huyen works for a foreign company. Because of work pressure and strict time requirement, she depends on her maid for housework.

Because of economic difficulty, last Tet Huyen gave her maid VND2 million ($100) as the Tet bonus. The maid immediately said: "I'm afraid that next year I cannot continue to look after the house for you." A few days later, she said goodbye and did not return after Tet.

The maid of Mrs. Tran Thuy Lan in Trung Hoa, Cau Giay district, made a straightforward proposal: "I would like to have a saving book as this Tet bonus." Although Lan’s company did not mention about Tet bonus yet, to keep her charlady, Lan had to give her VND6 million, equivalent to her two months of salary.

Mrs. Thuy Linh, from Ngoc Ha Street, Ba Dinh district, said: "My maid has lived with my family for three years. I currently pay her VND2.5 million per month. Annually, I pay her the 13th month salary as the Tet bonus, plus confectionary worth about VND300,000."

This year, despite common difficulty, Linh said she would maintain the Tet bonuses. By Linh’s experience, she usually gives the Tet bonus to her maid 15 days before the holiday so the maid has time to go shopping.

"Many families often buy candy, clothes and home appliances as a Tet bonus for their maids, but I prefer cash. Anyone prefers cash than gifts because they do not know the real value of the gift,” Linh added.


Mrs. Ha An, also from Hanoi, said: "My charlady has lived with my family for nearly six months so I will give her half of her one-month salary as the Tet bonus, VND1.5 million". In her experience, it is necessary to have a transparent “policy” on Tet bonus.

Mrs. Thu Ngoc from Thai Thinh Street, Dong Da district, said that her trick to force her charlady to return after Tet is only giving the Tet bonus when the maid returns after the Tet holiday. She also encourages the maid to return early by promising big lucky money.

Mrs. Nguyen Thanh Hue in Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, said: "Charwomen now give themselves superior airs. They self suggest the New Year gifts, not waiting for the employer’s decision as before. This New Year my maid asked for the Tet bonus of at least VND5 million ($250). She told me to extract VND2 million to buy a coat which is the same with my coat and give her the remaining to send home."

Many women are willing to spend a lot of money or even “hunt” unique Tet bonuses to please their maids.

Having a qualified maid, Mrs. Nguyen Quynh Tram in Tu Liem District, Hanoi tried her best to keep her maid: "I had to buy clothes and worship items for her because her family just built a new house. I also gave lucky money in advance to her children."

To keep her maid to stay with the family until the last day of the lunar year, Mrs. Pham Mai Anh in Kham Thien Street, Hanoi had to take her mad to a supermarket to purchase a new coat. However, the maid also chose a coat for her daughter and a skirt for her grandchild.

"At the cashier desk, when she managed to pay for the two additional items, I had to pay for her to please her in order to keep her staying with us until the last day of the year," Mai Anh said.

This year, her company did not work well but Tran Hoai Anh, an office worker in Hanoi, planned to give Tet bonus of VND3.5 million to her maid, plus presents like candy and clothes...

She explained: "I have to try to win her heart. If she quit the job after the Tet, my family routine will go upside down." Hoai Anh’s anxiety is also the concern of many other women.

Gia Van

jyjyjy88
07-02-2013, 04:26 PM
what does the shortform bj bj and hj hj means in vietnam language?

jackbl
08-02-2013, 02:48 PM
what does the shortform bj bj and hj hj means in vietnam language?

I guess that they are :

bj bj = bi bi = bye bye

hj=hj= hi hi = hehe

jackbl
09-02-2013, 01:57 PM
Chúc Mừng Năm Mới! Cung Hỉ Phát Tài!

jackbl
09-02-2013, 02:14 PM
The most famous "flower paradises" in Vietnam
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VietNamNet Bridge - Going to New Year flower markets is a habit and traditional culture of many Vietnamese people. From north to south, the flower markets of each region have their own characters.



Hanoi’s flower markets, from ancient to modern

This market is special because it is located amid the ancient street of Hang Luoc, where people can walk from road to road to purchase flowers. The most beautiful flowers from Hanoi’s suburbs and neighboring areas are available here.

Currently, in terms of size, Hang Luoc flower market has been narrowed but it is still a favorite destination of many people during the Tet holiday. There, people can feel the ancient atmosphere, a taste of Hanoi’s Tet from the old days.


Every Lunar New Year, the market opens from the 23rd to the 30th day of the last month of the year. In addition to fresh flowers, there are also artificial flowers at the market.

Because the market is located in the busy trading area in the old quarter, visitors can also go from this street to others to purchase decorative items.

Starting from the 19th day of the lunar month, people from everywhere bring flowers, plants, seedlings to the Buoi market, which stretches more than 2 km on Hoang Hoa Tham Road.


In the last two market days on the 24th and 29th days of the 12th month of the lunar year, this place becomes a great flower market, which is bustling and crowded from morning until late at night.

The advantage of this flower road is locating next to the most famous night flower market in Hanoi in Nghi Tam, along with the ancient flower villages of Quang Ba, Quang An and Tu Lien. This is your must-come place every Lunar New Year.

Here, you can buy any kind of flower. From imported flowers to local flowers from all over the country, such as Dalat, Sapa, etc…



Mekong Delta floating flower market

Floating markets are the cultural characteristics of the Mekong Delta. When the New Year comes, this region "blooms" with flowers when hundreds of boats carry a wide variety of flowers from various flower-growing regions.
The most beautiful floating flower markets in the Mekong Delta region are Cai Rang in Can Tho City, Nga Bay in Hau Giang province and Chau Doc in An Giang province.

There are 1,000 species of flowers in the village. Thanks to skilled gardeners and good climate, Sa Dec flowers are very beautiful. Sa Dec flowers are transported through the southern region and to Laos, Cambodia and China.

Sa Dec flower village is the place where tourists can enjoy flowers all year round, especially in the spring.



Flower markets in Saigon

Like Hanoi, Saigon also has many flower markets, with Ho Thi Ky and Go Vap as the most famous.

Ho Thi Ky flower market is the largest in Saigon. It has been held for nearly 30 years, selling flowers from Da Lat, southwestern provinces and flowers imported from countries such as Thailand, Japan, China...

Flowers here are plentiful and the prices are often cheaper than flower shops from 30-50%. You can choose many kinds of flowers here and especially the accessories for making New Year beautiful bouquets.

However, as a wholesale flower market, Ho Thi Ky is not very suitable for visitors because it is not decorated well.

In Saigon, the Go Vap flower village is also very popular. This is the major source of Saigon-origin flowers. The market stretches along Phan Huy Ich and Cay Tram roads.



Da Lat flower market

Da Lat is the city of flowers, where flowers are everywhere. Da Lat Market is also the largest flower market here. Near Tet, the area around the Xuan Huong Lake becomes a forest of flowers, which are in very unique and fancy shapes

vietboy
10-02-2013, 11:14 AM
Chuc mung nam moi! Van su nhu y! Cung hi phat tai! An khang thinh vuong! Phat tai phat loc! Happy year of the snake bros!

jackbl
11-02-2013, 10:24 AM
Inward remittances hit four-year high
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Overseas remittances to Vietnam were estimated at a total $10 billion in 2012, the highest figure in the last four years.


Most of the remittances were sent through banks, according to the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs, compared to previous years when a lot was exchanged on the black market. The committee reported that the remittance volume was up 10 percent on 2011.

Around 4.5 million Vietnamese, including more than 400,000 guest workers, are living in more than 100 countries and territories worldwide, with over 80 percent of them in developed nations.

The remittances sent home by Vietnamese guest workers from Japan, the Republic of Koreas, Malaysia, Taiwan and elsewhere in Asia have increased considerably, while these from Europe and the US have decreased, according to Maritime Bank’s foreign remittance department.

Vietnam plans to send 90,000 people to work abroad this year, mainly to the RoK, Malaysia, Russia and Taiwan, according to the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs. Last year’s number was about 80,000.

The increase in oversea remittances is attributed to the renovation in money transfer to make transactions faster and easier.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the State Bank’s HCM City branch, said normally the remittance volume sent to the city accounts for between 42-43 per of the country’s total.

About $4.1 billion in foreign remittances were sent to HCM City last year. Of this figure, 70 percent went into production and business, 23 percent into real estate and 6 percent to relatives.

A leader of a commercial bank in Hanoi said that in previous years, a large volume of remittance was sent to Vietnam through unofficial channels due to the high disparity in exchange rate between the banks and the free market.

However, with new policies and measures put in place last year to keep the exchange rate relatively stable, thus helping narrow the gap between commercial banks and the black market, most of the remittances sent to Vietnam last year were made through commercial banks.

jackbl
12-02-2013, 11:36 AM
NĂM tròn xin tiễn tiết đông qua
MỚI đón xuân tươi đến mọi nhà
CHÚC tặng trên đời thêm chữ Hỷ
MỪNG vui khắp chốn cất lời ca
HẠNH dung lễ nghĩa ngời tâm ngọc
PHÚC lộc, công danh rạng ánh ngà
CHAN chát trống kèn, Lân hợp cảnh
HÒA đàn, tấu sáo rộn ràng ca

jackbl
12-02-2013, 04:42 PM
Just celebrate Tet as Vietnamese do
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This is my 6th Tet. I think I prefer Tet to Christmas since Tet is more about family with less emphasis on consumerism. I have learned in Vietnam, family is very important. Western culture is much more individualized as people spend more time with friends than they do with their family.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, I usually go to my Vietnamese wife’s family around Binh Thanh district in Ho Chi Minh City to visit her mom, uncles and aunts as well as give li xi (lucky money) to children. My favorite Tet food is thit heo kho trung (pork cooked with eggs). We also go to pagoda during Tet for praying. For foreigners, they can see Vietnamese tradition from different aspects through Tet.

But I find many expats in Vietnam do not like Tet. Many foreigners I know tell me that they don’t celebrate Tet, they travel to Thailand or Cambodia for vacation instead. I understand Tet is very boring for them but then many are not married into a Vietnamese family. In my opinion, if a foreigner weds a local and want to stay here for a long time, they have to adapt to the local culture to fully appreciate living here. As for me, the weather, the food, and the people keep me stay in the country.

I traveled a lot of countries and I found that Vietnamese has an interesting culture. I like the Vietnamese history and tradition and of course I like to learn about Tet. I’m trying to learn Vietnamese customs and practices like cúng ông táo (Kitchen God worshipping ceremony) through bilingual books I’ve bought from bookstores in the downtown city.

In my experience, the best place to play during Tet is Ho Chi Minh City where you can visit Pham Ngu Lao spring flower market or Nguyen Hue flower street. But I have a feeling that Tet festivals in the city are getting smaller as the years go by such as the flower show on Nguyen Hue Boulevard. As far as I know people these days flock to district 7 to visit flower shows more than district 1. I spent my first Tet in Hanoi – my mother-in-law’s hometown - and I found that Tet in Hanoi was not as exciting. Hanoi is very quite during Tet as most restaurants and shops are closed while many local people stay in their house.

hrzr
13-02-2013, 01:36 AM
Không hiểu tiếng việt :D

Hurricane88
13-02-2013, 09:51 AM
NĂM tròn xin tiễn tiết đông qua
MỚI đón xuân tươi đến mọi nhà
CHÚC tặng trên đời thêm chữ Hỷ
MỪNG vui khắp chốn cất lời ca
HẠNH dung lễ nghĩa ngời tâm ngọc
PHÚC lộc, công danh rạng ánh ngà
CHAN chát trống kèn, Lân hợp cảnh
HÒA đàn, tấu sáo rộn ràng ca

what does this poem meant?

jackbl
14-02-2013, 12:05 AM
what does this poem meant?

Sorry, I dunno. Please help to find out from your gf(s) and share with us your findings. Thanks :)

jackbl
14-02-2013, 12:26 AM
Top 10 taboos during Vietnamese Tet
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For Vietnamese people, Tet is a wonderful occasion for family reunion but certain things must not be done during this festive season. For foreigners who are still not familiar with Vietnamese customs, or the way the Vietnamese celebrate Tet, here is a Watch out list!


Rule number 1: Don’t show up at somebody’s house on the 1st day of the new year unless you have been invited by the house owner first, and especially if you are not lucky enough to possess a name associated with wealth, happiness, prosperity or longevity.
Well, still plenty of time to get your name changed! And be careful not to visit anyone’s house for the first three days if you have funerals in your immediate family in the last 3 years.

Rule number 2: No black and white, or dark clothes– they are for funerals, not New Year holidays. Wear red –hopefully bulls will pardon you during these days.

Rule number 3: Don’t swear, curse or argue. Avoid negative topics such as accidents, deaths, or funerals. Put on a smile for at least the first 3 days of the year, even if somebody slaps you in the face, and on the safe side, do as the Brits do – talk about the weather! Oops, but maybe not the black holes or floods!

Rule number 4: For those who enjoy giving presents, make sure you avoid the followings: clock or watch (the recipient's time is going to pass), cats (mèo in Vietnamese language pronounced like nghèo, poverty), medicine (the receiver will get ill), writing ink (ink is black, an unlucky color), scissors or knives (they bring incompatibility).

So if you are thinking of giving your girlfriend a Rolex, it is high time you changed your mind!

Rule number 5: Don’t sweep the house or empty out the rubbish to avoid luck and benefits going with it, especially on the first day of the New Year. So be prepared to live with dust and dirt!

Rule number 6: Don’t ask someone to repay you a debt or loan (but wait until the next 2-3 weeks!) People believe that if they have to repay or borrow money at the beginning of the year, they will have to borrow and repay money for the rest of the year. Best time of the year to dodge your debts, eh?

Rule number 7: If you have been proud of your ability to devour any kind of food, stop yourself from eating squids (its ink is black, not the favorite color, remember?), duck meat (duck is stupid), or shrimps (you will move backwards like them!).

So if you are seeking promotion, probably best not to eat shrimps for the whole year – not so sure about lobsters though!

Rule number 8: Don’t take things that are related to water or fire out of somebody’s house: Fire is considered to be the source of the warmth of the family, whereas water appears in the popular wish “Tien vo nhu nuoc” (“Money rushes in like water).

So, taking water out of somebody’s house is equivalent to taking away their wealth. A relaxing time for firefighters!

Rule number 9: the fifth day of the New Year is considered to be anniversary of the death, not good for departures. A good excuse for not having to start work that early, and if your boss is a western, he needs education!

Rule number 10: And last but not least, don’t kill, or hurt! If you feel like eating chicken, buy it ready prepared – the guilt is with the slaughter house owners and we remain always innocent and pure!

VGP

jackbl
14-02-2013, 08:43 AM
Chúc Ngày Tình Nhân Vui Vẻ !

jackbl
15-02-2013, 10:05 AM
Break in the 'cosy nest' of homosexuals
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VietNamNet Bridge - Looking at the radiant face of Tan when he said the word "together," we can recognize the simple happiness from this small "nest" of the two men who are in love and always want to be happy for long.

Despite the country's current laws which do not recognize same-sex marriage but the pursuit of happiness is the fundamental human rights and it is protected by laws. Thus, the families of same-sex couples are no longer uncommon in Vietnam.

VietNamNet does not criticize or support, but we will learn about all aspects of the life of homosexuals to give our readers better understand about them.


Many happy "families"

Leaving home at the age 18 to start independent life, Hoang tried to study and work hard so he currently has a good job that many people have dreamed of. In addition to the relationship at works and friends, not many people know that Hoang has been living with a gay for many years.

"We have known each other for 6 years and lived together for four years, but only our close friends know about us. Our friends all understand and sympathize with us so there is nothing for worrisome. The two families also know but we are adults so our parents do not monitor our lives anymore," Hoang said.

In addition to their work, Hoang and his 'lover' often travel together to change the air and to live in romantic atmosphere. Hoang said he was looking forward to have same-sex marriage recognized in Vietnam to reassure to build his “family.”

Hoang said if the law does not recognize same-sex marriage, he would still live with his “lover” but he wished the society to open up a little to regard homosexuality as a normal sex.

Unlike Hoang and his lover, Thanh Tam and Thu Huong choose a flower shop as a place to build their 'cosy nest.'

As one of the several lesbian couples who have openly been living together for nearly 3 years, they have had a lot of good memories together. Both attended the same university. After a long period knowing each other, they decided to live together and work together at a flower shop.

Referring to the early days of fighting for the love of two people against their families, Thanh Tam said: "That day our parents severely opposed it and they threatened to break off with us. They also tried to persuade us but finally they had to accept our love.”

Tam said she loves her parents but she could not live different from her true self and her heart. “Now it is important to live well so that our parents do not regret for accepting us," Tam added.

Unrecognized but still durable

Many people think that the love of gay people is often not durable and less faithful. However, there are many gay couples though not being legally recognized still living together happily for years.

Through the introduction of a long-time friend, I went to the room of two men in Go Vap District, HCM City. For a long time, close friends have known that Tan, a healthy young man with a stable job has lived with his gay lover very happily for over three years.

Welcoming us very warmly, Minh Tan, 30, was not afraid to talk about her relationship with his 'lover' for over 6 years.

Tan said: "We happened to know each other through an online forum for gay people. A few months after the meeting, we dated and then moving in to live together. It has been 6 years but our relationship is still very good."

Seeing our surprise for the long period that they lived together, Tan smiled and said: "6 years? 10 years, 20 years would be the same. People need a lifetime to love each other."

Tan said since they lived together, the couple also quarreled or took offense against each other but they have never “hurt” their lovers. On the contrary, after each quarrel, they further understood and 'trusted' each other.

When we wondered in not seeing his partner at home, Tan said: "Today he goes to work but he is about to go home. Perhaps he drops by the market to buy food for the dinner. We are going to cook together."

Looking his radiant face when Tan spoke the word “together," we could recognize the simple happiness from this "nest" for the gay couple who always wanted to be happy for long.

Leaving the "family" of Tan, we knew that: whether it is legally recognized or not, we cannot stop gay people living together as husband and wife, when that relationship comes from the feeling of communication, sharing and love.

Hieu Minh

jackbl
16-02-2013, 02:56 AM
Snakes in Vietnamese culture
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In Vietnamese culture, snakes compose a popular icon having a strong obsessiveness. For centuries, the worship of snakes became one of most ancient belief practices of the Vietnamese people who live in water-related environment.

This is the Year of the Water Snake Quy Ti, which only comes around once every 60 years.

In fact, snakes are worshipped by the Vietnamese people not only as the Gods of Water but also their ancestors. The Vietnamese people are so proud of their legend “Descendants of the Dragon and the Fairy” which explains their origin as children of a Bird Mother (Au Co) and a Serpent Father (Lac Long Quan).

Folklore scholar Dinh Gia Khanh explained “Lac Long Quan comes from a dragon family. This detail reflects the worship of serpent... The ancient Viet people, who used to tattoo their bodies with serpents, considered themselves as descendants of the animal”.

Why snakes?

In the process of evolution, the class of fishes was followed by the calss of replites in which snakes are a member. According to scientists, snakes might appear on the earth in the Triassic, around 200 million years ago.

Snakes have all colors and sizes and they can exist in almost all different natural environments, from high mountains to deep seas, from deserts to rain forests. Being legless reptiles, they can move fast without making noises.

Their shape and movement may be the grounds on which they are identified with rivers and water sources. Viewed from a high position, a river looks similar to a moving snake. Snakes hibernate in winter and reappear in rainy season. They can swimm well and many species inhabit in water. In many cases, such natural phenomena as waterspouts and whirlwinds are incarnated as snakes.

A symbolized lightning (signal of rain) is similar to snake’s tongue. Thanks to their colors and stripes running along the body, snakes are sometimes linked to rainbows.

Snakes lay many eggs in a batch. A male snake normally has a big sex organ. The shape and movement of snakes’ head also evoke sex organs. Therefore, snakes are a symbol of fecundity.

They also symbolize immortality because they can regularly shed their skins.

Obviously, there is an interrelationship between snakes and natural phenomena. These natural phenomena directly affect production and life of the ancient people, especially the wet-rice cultivators like the Vietnamese. This is why snakes became a totem and were worshipped in Vietnam.

jackbl
18-02-2013, 02:52 AM
Fortunetelling big business after Tet
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In recent years, the time immediately following Tet has been very lucrative for fortunetellers.

After Tet, fortunetellers have been working all day and even late into the night in order to serve the increased numbers of customers, usually young women who are single or are having trouble conceiving children.

Many customers are willing to wait for hours, with some coming early in the morning and waiting well into the evening for their turns. Some will even sell their place in line to less patient customers for thousands of VND. A number of people hope that fortunetellers could predict their unlucky things so that they can avoid them.

Vu Dinh Chung, 27, speaking about the fortuneteller he was referred to, said, “Many people said this fortuneteller is very accurate. I had to travel dozens of kilometres to get here and then wait for more than two hours for my turn. Some people choose to pay VND10,000-50,000 for a few minutes, but I'd rather have the fortuneteller spend a few hours with me, so I was willing to pay VND500,000. In the end I was a bit disappointed because he only gave me general predictions like all the other fortunetellers I've seen. He told me that if I wanted to avoid bad luck I would have to spend millions."

Customers trouble themselves

Most questions at one famous fortuneteller’s home in Thai Binh Province’s Kien Xuong District, were about their jobs and marriage in the new year.

One of the most popular questions for young women was, “When will I get married and what will my future husband be like?".

Many have come to see fortunetellers as something akin to professional actors, who learn certain lines and can repeat them with conviction. These are the most successful.

Mrs. Bui Thi Thu, 54 years old, a neighbour of a fortuneteller said, “He told my daughter that she would get married at the end of 2012, but she remains single. I went to see him again, and have just heard him repeat the same things he said to my daughter to another customer. Local people do not trust him, it's mostly people from other places who come to see him."

Many fortunetellers ask their relatives to promote their prestige so that they become more well-known.

A fortuneteller at work

Ms. Loan, who went to a fortuneteller in Kien Xuong District, said, “Even though he was not completely off, I later found out that my neighbour, who recommended him, was actually his younger sister."

With fortunetellers more money equals more time. Mrs. Tu, of Thai Binh Province, said that she spent VND1 million (USD47.6) for her fortuneteller to spend the morning with her, making other customers jealous.

Afterwards she admitted that the money she spent was a waste, and only caused her more worries. She has decided that the 'craft' is actually a con and will not return.

Dan Tri

Honey Boon
18-02-2013, 01:17 PM
bj is $80

hj is $50

:D

I guess that they are :

bj bj = bi bi = bye bye

hj=hj= hi hi = hehe

Honey Boon
18-02-2013, 01:18 PM
Huat ah !!!!! :p

jackbl
19-02-2013, 08:48 AM
Students spend millions of dong to invite teachers to New Year parties
================================================== =======================================

VietNamNet Bridge – Pre-Tet and Tet days prove to be the busiest days for students, because they not only have to prepare for the semester exams, take extra jobs to earn money for Tet celebration, but also have to move heaven and earth to arrange money to invite teachers to Tet parties.


Giving gifts to teachers is a normal practice

Dang Duong, a fourth year student of a technology school in Hanoi, said visiting teachers and giving presents to them was the “most important thing” he had to do before leaving for the home village to celebrate Tet.

“In previous years, I left Hanoi right after the semester exam finished. However, as I will finish school this year, I have to give presents to the lecturers in a hope that the lecturers would be “more generous” when marking exam papers,” he said.

Duong and the other four classmates invited the lecturers to a New Year eve’s party at a luxurious restaurant, where they gave presents to them instead of visiting the lecturers at their homes.

“I have heard from the elderly students that visiting lecturers and giving presents is a normal practice,” he said, adding that the presents cost him a big sum of money. “Each of us has to contribute VND500,000,” he said.

The Phuong, who also graduates university this year, also complained that it takes him a lot of time and money to “take care of lecturers.”

“I am not a good student, therefore, I have to meet lecturers more regularly and give presents, hoping that the lecturers would ignore my mistakes and let me pass the exams,” he said.

“I am now writing a thesis. It is a completely new theme; therefore, it’s very difficult to find materials. I have no other choice than asking for the help from lecturers,” he complained.

When asked how much money Phuong gave to the lecturers, he declined to reveal the sums, but said that he visited lecturers many times during the time of writing thesis, and he always gave the envelops with no less than VND1 million inside.

Chivas, Napoleon or envelops with money inside?

Thuy Nga, a student of an economics school, said she feels luckier than the students from technology schools. Nga thinks she would give the children of the lecturers some hundreds of thousands of dong as presents on New Year, while she doesn’t have to spend money on luxurious presents.

Meanwhile, Lan Phuong said students would think carefully before buying presents for teachers after considering their needs and hobbies.

“The lecturers at my faculty go abroad regularly to attend seminars. As they have got used to the western lifestyle, they would only accept valuable gifts,” {jipmg said.

In general, students visit teachers at their homes in groups of four or five. Each of them contributes VND1 million which would be used to buy valuable presents. “Foreign made liquor such as Chivas or Napoleon are the top choices for us,” she said.

Tuan Anh, a student of an economics school, though having contributed money to buy presents to lecturers, still feels insecure, because he does know if the money can help. Since Anh could not come to see the lecturers, he wonders if the lecturers realize who they received money from.

Van

jackbl
20-02-2013, 09:56 AM
“VND100mil bribe for becoming a Hanoi’s public servant just rumors”
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VietNamNet Bridge - Director of the Hanoi Department of Home Affairs - Tran Huy Sang, affirmed that by January 4, the city did not find any case of giving or taking bribes to get a post of public servant in Hanoi.

Talking to the press on January 21, Sang said after the Hanoi leaders decided to set up inspection to verify information on corruption related to the recruitment of public servants, he directly met with the Head of the Hanoi Party Committee’s chief inspector--Tran Trong Duc. Duc said the rumors of giving bribes of VND100 million ($5,000) to become a public servant came from the districts of Thanh Tri, Ha Dong and Ung Hoa.

After the media mentioned a number of violation cases associated with public servant recruitment in Ung Hoa District. The police identified 16 candidates in violation of the exam, related to 12 officials of the education department of the district.

According Sang, the verification of three inspection teams in the above districts showed that, by January 4, no bribe cases related to public servant recruitment was detected. Even the violation in Ung Hoa District was not “bribe.” The district police claimed that some people took advantage of their relations to ask for favor, not giving bribes to officials. Sang said the "information on VND100 million bribes for becoming a public servant in Hanoi is only rumor."

Asking Sang that why violations related to public servant recruitment in Ung Hoa district were detected but the head of the home affair department of the district was appointed as a commune chair, he said the transfer had been arranged before the violation was detected. However, if he made mistakes before the transfer, he will be punished under the law.

Sang also said that the inspection teams found some error-prone steps in the civil servant recruitment exams.

At the Hanoi People’s Council meeting in December 2012, the Hanoi Party Committee’s Chief Inspector--Tran Trong Duc, said to become a public servant in Hanoi, some had to pay VND100 million. He also said that the quality of these exams is problematic and the exam papers of some contestants are 100 percent precise to the answers.

Compiled by Tran Cham

jackbl
20-02-2013, 09:59 AM
Sea horses – gentlemen’s panacea - get exhausted
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VietNamNet Bridge – Sea horses have been hunted everywhere in coastal provinces by people, just because they are considered the panacea for gentlemen.


Sea horses favored by men

The Song Cau town in Phu Yen province is called the “metropolis” of sea horses. Numerous sea horse shops can be seen on the Highway No. 1A which goes across the Xuan Thinh, Xuan Canh and Xuan Binh communes. Especially, the shops were always crowded on pre-Tet days, since people flocked there to buy the “gentlemen’s panacea.”

A truck was seen stopped in front of Ty Shop in Xuan Thinh commune. The driver got out of the truck and entered the shop. There were two decanters of liquor soaked with starfish, seahorse. The driver gave the shop owner VND3 million and took the two decanters away.

“As a driver, I have been tied to my seat all day long. I heard this is not good to my sexual capability. Therefore, I have to drink the liquor soaked with sea horses. It is a kind of panacea for men,” he said.

Le Thi Hang, the owner of Ty Shop, said more and more people have been flocking there to buy sea horses, which has pushed the prices of the panacea up. In the past, a couple of fresh sea horses (sea horses can be panacea only if people have them in couple, while a male or a female sea horse separately would be useless) was priced at VND200,000 only. Meanwhile, the price has increased to VND250,000.

Similarly, a decanter of liquor with a couple of sea horses, which was sold at VND1.2 million, now is valued at VND1.5 million.

Hang said that sometimes she could sell 12 liquor decanters and 8 couples of sea horses a day.

Sea horses get exhausted because of the cupidity of people

Diem Truong of Xuan Binh commune has been well known as the sea horse hunting hamlet.

Nguyen Xuan Hiep, a young man, happily said to reporters that he found three sea horses all morning. “This is an encouraging result. Many other people could find anything though they dived under the water all the day,” Hiep said.

The three sea horses could be sold at VND200,000 to the shop owners, with which, Hiep would have some more money to buy new clothes for his children to celebrate Tet.

The Cu Mong lagoon was once the favorite destination for sea horses to come to look for ephemera. However, since people have been hunting for sea horses, they have got nearly exhausted in the area.

“I previously just needed to dive at the 2 meter depth to get a lot of sea horses. But now I have to dive at six meter depth, but sometimes I could not find anything,” said Nguyen Chi Hieu, a young man, showing reporters the empty basket.

Since sea horses are getting exhausted, in many cases, people mistakenly bought fake sea horses. Therefore, people have been advised to spend more money to buy fresh sea horses in order to avoid fake products.

Meanwhile, the owner of Hai Ban Shop said it’d better not to buy dried sea horses, even though they are cheaper than fresh ones.

“In many cases, dried sea horses have no nutrition, because their nutrition has been squeezed after many times of being soaked in liquor already,” he explained.

Also according to him, in general, buyers want couples of sea horses, but they cannot tell the difference between the female and male sea horses. Therefore, they have to pay money for two male or two female sea horses.

NLD

jackbl
21-02-2013, 09:51 AM
City shoe shine boys ripping off tourists
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Editor’s Note: Jason Kan, an expat in Ho Chi Minh City, sent Tuoitrenews this article about shoeshiners fleecing foreign tourists. He said that he saw many boys overcharging their victims in front of his very eyes.


Many articles have addressed the issue of street peddlers ripping off tourists, but few have mentioned shoe shine boys on the street.

Many times I have seen a group of four to six boys hanging around in front of hotels near Ben Thanh and also Dong Du Street where they hunt for victims.

When they first approach a victim, they will show their pitiful faces and persuade victims to accept their shoe shine service. They will say that the service is cheap and also that they have not eaten for a few days.

They offer to polish shoes for VND 20,000 per pair until the victim takes pity on them. After polishing the shoes, then they will slot in shoe pads and ask for VND 300,000 for the extras.

When foreigners ask why the price is so expensive, the boys will pretend not to know English and try to confuse the victims. They will threaten not to return the shoes if the victims do not pay.

Sometimes, when the victims do not know the exact amount and give them VND 500,000, the boys even try to give the excuse that they do not have small change and even expect the victims to forget about their change.

I came across one incident involving a victim who had just arrived in Ho Chi Minh City for the first time and was not used to Vietnam’s currency, which has so many zeros. He was trying to find the correct notes and when he opened his wallet, the boys snatched the amount they wanted and ran away. That evening the victim lost VND 700,000.

I once saw a victim who was surrounded by six of these boys, as they were trying to confuse him and cheat him out of a big amount. Seeing this, I could not stand by and told the boys to return the change, and if not I would report them to the police. After arguing for some time, they finally gave the man his change and cursed me for intruding on their business.

I guess local authorities should look into this matter, as these groups are damaging the image of this country. Elsewise, tourists will think that Vietnam is a country full of con men and rip-offs.

I think it is time for all expats to warn their friends who come here to be on the alert for shoe shine boys, too

jackbl
23-02-2013, 02:02 PM
Expatriates experience joys of Vietnamese New Year festival
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VietNamNet Bridge – One week after Tet, the party spirit is still very much present in the streets and in the houses of Vietnamese families. While it has long been a sacred festival for Vietnamese people, it has deeply impressed the increasing number of foreigners living in the country who are able to experience its rich traditional and cultural heritage.


This year was the fourth Tet holiday spent in Viet Nam for Matt Dworzanczyk, a Polish-American man who works in film and television production.

During this year’s holiday, he visited a friend and his family in Yen Bai Province.

Unlike many expats who chose to go overseas to escape the cold Ha Noi weather and empty streets as shops and restaurants close for Tet, Dworzanczyk has chosen to stay in Viet Nam every year to celebrate the holiday since he arrived. He always spends time with his Vietnamese friends and their families who invite him to parties at their homes.

“I always love eating fried banh chung (sticky rice cake) and other good stuff. On my way back from Yen Bai, my friend’s family gave me a whole bag of banh chung, so I’ve been eating them for every meal this week.”

He cherishes souvenirs of Tet and the warm sentiments of Vietnamese people have deeply touched him.

“I always appreciate how friendly and welcoming all Vietnamese people are. This year, even on the way back to Ha Noi, when I stopped for a short break from driving, people nearby still invited me to eat and drink with them,” he recalls.

He’s always kept with him some Vietnamese banknotes he received as “lucky money” from a friend, as well as an ethnic minority scarf a friend’s mother once gave him in the northern mountains.

For Dworzanczyk, Tet in Viet Nam is like a western Christmas, New Year’s and birthday combined into one holiday.

However, he was surprised to realise the importance of the altar in Vietnamese houses, which is different from the west.

“My first Tet, the family asked me to take a picture for them and I did, but then they were confused why I didn’t get their altar in their picture with them – I didn’t know before, but they said that I need to take a picture of the altar together with their family, so that their family members who died would also be in the picture – that’s a really nice custom. I appreciated it a lot,” he said.

Like Dworzanczyk, Philippa Wood from Australia, an events manager, producer and writer, has also celebrated Tet every year since she first came to Ha Noi six years ago.

Thisy year, her family spent a lot of time preparing for Tet and decorating the house.

“We bought a very large pink peach blossom branch – I am sure it was the most beautiful one ever to be found in Ha Noi,” she says.

“I purchased some decorations from Hang Ma Street specially to tie to the branches and also some large pieces to decorate the inside and outside of our house.”

“We have a big red and gold sign to hang on our gate to wish luck and happiness during the year, and one for our front door.”

During the celebrations, Wood and her sons enjoy watching the lion dancers and drummers, finding their colourful costumes and rhythmic movements “spectacular”.

She also loves seeing Vietnamese families dressed up to visit their relatives and friends, looking happy and enjoying their holiday.

But what amazed her the most, however, is the work of Vietnamese women.

“I cannot believe how much extra work the women manage to do in preparation for the celebrations and also during the festival – so much shopping, cooking and cleaning on top of their regular jobs,” she says.

The Tet holiday not only attracts those who have lived for a long time in Viet Nam but also newcomers.

“Even though it was my first Tet, I understand how important this traditional festival can be for Vietnamese families,” says Pierre Aguado, a French volunteer who works as the Communication Advisor of the Central Committee of Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and has lived in Ha Noi for eight months.

Meanwhile, for James Fox, Senior Regional Programs manager in Asia for Operation Smile Incorporated, who has lived in Ha Noi for a year and a half, Tet is a special festival where he can receive lucky money as well as the traditional cake.

“I like Tet because I love how people spend time with their families and get together to celebrate the new year,” he confides.

Source: VNS

jackbl
24-02-2013, 02:04 PM
Tra chanh phenomenon in Saigon
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VietNamNet Bridge – Hanoians or those who have visited the capital are probably familiar with a popular treat called tra chanh (lemon ice tea) served at numerous streetside shops around Hanoi Cathedral.

The image of a tra chanh shop is considered a cultural trait of the capital. After creating a phenomenon in the central city of Danang, tra chanh arrived in HCMC earlier this year and has received a great response from local people, especially the young and celebrities.

After bun dau mam tom (vermicelli served with tofu and shrimp paste) which was a hit last year, tra chanh is another trendy food in town. “Tra tranh chem gio” which means drinking tea and chatting is now a popular phrase with Saigon’s youth on Facebook and texting language.

The first and most popular tra chanh shop in town is at Ngo 89 (Alley 89) in Nguyen Du Street in District 1. Then numerous shops were born in the streets of Nguyen Trai, Pho Duc Chinh, Le Thi Rieng, Tran Quang Khai in District 1 and No Trang Long in Binh Thanh District. They have drawn huge crowds sitting on some small tables and chairs on the pavement daily after work or after school time from 6 p.m. onwards.

These shops serve simple Hanoi-style food and drinks like nem chua ran (grilled fermented pork roll), pho mai que (cheese stick), hat huong duong (sunflower seeds), sua chua nep cam (yogurt with violet glutinous rice), and mo dam (soaked apricot), among others. But some also offer shisha pipe, a treat that is normally found at luxury bars, clubs or lounges.

Minh, a Hanoian who works in HCMC, said that she can feel a bit of nostalgia for the capital whenever she comes to Alley 89 shop as it serves the same taste of tra chanh in Hanoi and the shop’s owner is also a Hanoian.

No one knows when the tra chanh phenomenon will be over but for now it’s a hot trend to city people and a night out with friends at a tra chanh shop is a must to many of them at weekends.

Food and drinks at tra chanh shops are priced from VND12,000 so everyone can afford to go. If you haven’t heard about this phenomenon or a new style of hanging out with friends, check out tra chanh this weekend to get your own experience.

Source: SGT

jackbl
24-02-2013, 02:08 PM
People desert offices for pagodas and post-Tet parties
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VietNamNet Bridge – Offices in many parts of the country remained deserted during the first working days after Tet as people instead visited pagodas or met friends.


Deserted offices

On the first working day after Tet on February 18, several one-door state offices in Hanoi remained almost deserted despite the need for administrative procedures.

While most office staff follow normal working hours, in some places the staff did not appear at their workplaces.

Notary Office 2 in Long Bien District served only three members of the public on the first working day after Tet.

“People often apply for notary services for trading, leasing and mortgage procedures before the end of the lunar year. During the first working day after Tet people only visit for less important issues,” a staff member at the office said.

Only a few people filed for business registrations at the municipal Department of Planning and Investment at Cat Linh Street after Tet. Normally the office suffers from serious overcrowding.

While several desks remained empty, only one person was sitting in the waiting room on the afternoon of February 18.

“Normally the offices receive hundreds of dossiers from people. The number tumbled on the first few days of the new lunar year,” Tran Minh Quang, head of Busines Registration Office 2 at the department said.

The same situation was replicated at several other one-stop offices at ward and district people’s committees citywide.

“We’ve requested all one-stop staff to arrive at work on time. However, only a few people file procedures on the first working day after Tet,” Nguyen Tiet Cuong, Chairman of Hoang Van Thu Ward People’s Committee in Hoang Mai District noted.

Only two staff were at their seats at Dong Da District’s Taxation Office on the afternoon of February 18 while almost all other seats remained empty.

A staff member named Tuan said while leaders were busy with New Year greetings, many staff were happy to go elsewhere as too few people coming for transactions.

Many state offices in Danang City also experienced the same situation.

Only one vice chairman of Tan Chinh ward’s people’s committee and one staff were on duty on the morning of February 18.

One staff member said only a few people had come for transactions since the beginning of the day.

Nguyen Minh Tam, vice chairman of the ward people’s committee said that all staff had come and attended a morning meeting. Some were busy doing the cleaning and others had disappeared.

“We often receive from 30-40 dossiers a day normally but only a few people have wanted to be served in the first working day after Tet,” Tam commented.

Only a few people came for transaction at one-stop office in Chinh Gian ward of Thanh Khe District and Hai Chau 2 Ward in Hai Chau District.

Dang Ngoc Phong, a staff member from Hai Chau 2 Ward office said they often received between 50 and 60 dossiers per day, but the figure fell to about a dozen in the first working day after Tet.

Crowded pagodas

After the Tet holiday, it seems few people have not regained their enthusiasm for work.

A vocational school in Hanoi’s Cau Dien area remained deserted, until some teachers came in later in the morning of February 18 to meet colleagues and visit the pagoda.

“We don’t want to work after a long Tet holiday. Many students have yet to return to school, so we’ve decided to go to the pagoda to pray for good luck for the whole year,” one teacher said.

A state office on Dai Co Viet Street in Hanoi’s Hai Ba Trung District was full of staff, but they were too busy with meeting and parties.

“In the first working day after Tet we came to office for a meeting. Some went to the pagoda while others went on the internet or meet friends,” one staff said.

In contrast to deserted offices, several temples and pagodas around the capital city were seriously crowded. Overcrowding was a problem at Tay Ho Temple, Ha and Phuc Khanh pagodas and Kim Liem Temple.

Serious traffic congestion around the sites was also a problem.

Some companies and state offices even arranged tours to go to pagodas of Bai Dinh, Yen Tu and the Huong Pagoda to pray for good luck.

Nguyen Thinh Thanh, head of office of Hanoi municipal People’s Committee said the city’s leaders have requested leaders of departments, offices and agencies in the capital city to direct their staff to restart work right after the Tet holiday in order to ensure meeting the socioeconomic targets set for this year.

“Strict punishments will be applied to any cases of violation, especially those who organise tours or use public vehicles for their staff to go to festivals or pagodas during working hours,” Thanh added.

Source: DTriNews

jackbl
25-02-2013, 03:00 AM
The ones who earn big money in economic crisis
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VietNamNet Bridge – While tens of thousand of businesses went bankrupted, a lot of others still can earn big money with small scaled business.


The benefits brought by crisis

AppeRice, a rice burger chain, which started up its business five months ago, has had tens of shops on advantageous positions in HCM City. AppRice has invested one million dollars on the production line, which is a big sum of money for the investor who cannot get the finance support from banks.

However, the investor not only sees the financial difficulties, but great advantages as well.

It is now easier than ever to lease retail premises: the rents are low, while the supply is profuse, which allows AppeRice to easily access consumers, cut down expenses and become more competitive.

In the economic crisis, people tend to look for stable sources of income instead of big but risky ones. Since the required investment rate is small, just VND50-100 million for an AppeRice shop, which fits the pockets of many people, a lot of investors have been running AppeRice shops under franchising contracts.

Facing the high inflation, people have to fasten their belt, but they still need to spend money on basic needs such as meals and drinks. Therefore, AppeRice still can attract a lot of customers, especially with the competitive prices.

Niche markets can bring fat profits

The Nui Ba Cable Car Company in Tay Ninh province, carrying passengers and cargoes with cable car, has a modest chartered capital of VND31.97 billion. However, its profits have been always very big in the last many years, far higher than the chartered capital, despite the economic recession.

In 2008-2010, the company’s profit grew by 15-16 percent per annum. In 2011, the growth rate jumped to 50 percent with the profit reaching VND47.76 billion, or 50 percent higher than its chartered capital.

The company planned to obtain VND62.5 billion worth pretax profit in 2012. However, it had got VND68 billion just by the end of September. The encouraging business result has been explained by the fact that the company has been concentrating on the core business field by providing services in the Ba mountain area, while it did not borrow capital and throw money into many other business fields which were out of its control.

The company’s shares have been traded at VND76,000 per share, the highest level now seen in the market. The share price has increased by 86 percent just over the last year from the deepest low of VND3,000 per share.

Earning fat profit by providing safe food

The Vietnamese husbandry met a very tough year in 2012, but some enterprises in the field still could find the ways to develop.

Lam Thanh Duc, the owner of the Thanh Duc fowl farm in Dong Nai province, believed that developing animal husbandry and making food was the wisest investment for now, because food can be consumed everyday, no matter they have much or little money. That explains why the demand for meat, dairy products and eggs keeps increasing.

However, Duc understands that smart consumers nowadays only want clean and safe products. And the thought then gave him a good idea to earn money – providing clean and safe products.

In early 2012, Duc decided to spend VND8.5 billion dong to install two German production lines which allow to raise animals in an automatic and clean process. Though the husbandry scale has increased recently, Duc does not have to expand the farm area. Meanwhile, he can save the production costs and earn more money thanks to the higher productivity.

Tran Thuy

jackbl
26-02-2013, 02:08 AM
Is Tet determining an attitude?
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To describe the characteristics of Vietnam or Vietnamese people, their positive attitude towards future is often cited in Western countries. To my experience, people in Vietnam do not spent much time in looking back but are usually looking forward.


When feeling Tet approaching it becomes more obvious. You don’t really need to monitor your calendar to know the time is coming closer, you actually feel it. I do not mean the obvious appearance of motorbikes transporting huge trees of various kinds or the suddenly swelling traffic even at unexpected times of the day. Just through this you might get it that something is going to happen but this is by observation.

What I mean is, did you ever try to start something personally important closely before Tet? Before the last year’s Tet I wanted to start my little bit unusual hobby again and searched for possibilities and place where to practise. After some time of desperate research I got a precious contact, a high ranking, and as it turned out, very kind and helpful person. But he apologize that he couldn’t do anything for me at that moment and asked for understanding, of course with reference to Tet. When the time had come things went quickly to the point and appoints were made to arrange the right contacts. And I must say It was a good time to start. Coming into something new and meeting new people by saying Chuc Mung Nam Moi is just a good feeling, it creates a positive attitude.

But this postponing to the next year goes even further than one might think. A dear friend of mine is recently looking for a new job. Although he is somehow really in need he does not expect that anything is going to happen yet. Surprisingly, he’s not desperate. Instead, he is optimistically looking forward to when things get started for a new year which is expected to bring something positive.

To get back to the point, after some years staying in the country I feel my attitude changing as well a little. From my last visit I brought some dry twigs of my favourite berries back from my home country. Miraculously, they lately started growing small green leaves. My immediate first intention was to put them apart in bigger pots I have got any way around the house somewhere. But something was holding me back and I decided to postpone it until the new year. It’s any way the lunar year which corresponds with the natural course of the seasons. I will take one, the one with the most leaves now already, for Tet to my parents in law. We can set it into a suitable garden pottery together and being sure they will grow a lot better then, I feel that.

jackbl
27-02-2013, 02:31 AM
Meeting the in-laws
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My kids never address my mother as grandma. She loves being called ba noi, and my Vietnamese in-laws are of course ba ngoai and ong ngoai. So now I sometimes use those terms too, just as I’ll call mom ba noi.

And so this was a special Tet for us, with the two ngoais journeying from Orange County, California to visit us and a Vietnam very different from their memories. Through my American eyes, I’ve come to think of Tet as Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day all rolled into one: a long holiday that is a pilgrimage of homecoming, a time devoted to family and generosity – and to continuity and renewal. And for some, perhaps, reconciliation.

Ong ngoai and ba ngoai were young parents with three children, my future bride being the eldest, when they left their homeland during the hard times after the end of what the Vietnamese call the American War. Before this visit, they had only returned to Vietnam once – and that was more than 20 years ago, to visit family in Saigon.

Things change, and so this time they would improbably and auspiciously arrive in Hanoi, where their daughter works as a journalist. Ong ngoai expressed pleasure upon seeing banners advertising Bia Saigon, thinking the name Saigon wouldn’t be used in Hanoi. We were with them for much of a journey to places they had never seen, first-hand, when they were coming of age during the war years.

The modernity of Da Nang, aglow for Tet festivities, dazzled them. They enjoyed the beach and a climb into the caves and temples of the Marble Mountain and the touristy charm of Hoi An. At the Citadel of Hue, ba ngoai found herself sympathizing with hundreds of women who in earlier times were plucked as wives by the emperors. Perhaps ba ngoai, who passed her beauty to four daughters, imagined what her own fate may have been had she been born centuries earlier, and not in 1954 as the French were banished from Vietnam and the Americans blundered in.

Saigon startled with its growth and vibrancy, while the familiar added sentimental notes. Ong ngoai pointed out a butcher shop advertising wild game meat – just as it had more than 40 years ago. “Remember me?” he called out in Vietnamese to an elderly woman in his old neighborhood. She did, from when this 60-year-old man was just a boy. And ba ngoai couldn’t stop smiling as she told me how they found the same restaurant near the spot where they first met, when she was a teenager selling sandwiches and he worked in the port.

But family, of course, mattered most. Ong ngoai’s mother and father and several siblings all left the country, but three of his maternal aunts remain in Saigon. We visited with ong ngoai’s aunts and cousins in Saigon, and also with ba ngoai’s half-brother and his pigs in a village on the northern edge of the Mekong Delta. Family values, Viet style, were on display in the way ong ngoai referred to his cousins as “brothers” and in how he seemed to hold special status as the first-born of his generation.

We spent time with ba sau and ba muoi – aunt No. 6 and aunt No. 10 – and the families united for to a day trip to Vung Tau, joining thousands on the beach. Ba muoi’s brood included two sons and a daughter who had come home for Tet from Australia. If Vietnamese Americans in our party represent one harsh passage of history, these nominal Aussies represented another phase of the later Vietnamese diaspora, an important source of remittances that go far beyond Tet’s red envelopes. They are the post-war generation in the land that ong ngoai, despite his hard-earned American citizenship, will always refer to as “my country.”

On another day ba ngoai’s gracious older brother, a retired school teacher, welcomed us to his home where he raises a small number of pigs and fish. The first time I met him, in 1999, it was a two-hour journey on country roads; now we seemed to be the far outskirts of Saigon’s sprawl. To him, ba ngoai will always be his baby sister, the only child of his father’s second marriage. As a child she doted on this brother who is 17 years her senior and who now, she says, looks exactly like their father. We visited their father’s tomb, across an ocean from where ba ngoai’s mother is buried. (I scored points with the ngoais when my uncle-in-law spoke of surprise in seeing my picture and column in Tuoi Tre.)

We returned to Hanoi first, leaving the ngoais down south for more visits, including a poignant one with ba ngoai’s elderly sister, now in her 80s. Back in 1999, this tiny woman warmly greeted us in the small home that had electricity and a floor of hard-packed earth. An alter honored her late husband and Ho Chi Minh – a testament to a fissure in a family.

She now lives in more comfortable circumstances, with a son I hope to meet someday. He was born inside the jail where South Vietnamese authorities had placed his mother for words and deeds they considered treason.

But this time, our presence might have spoiled the moment. When the old woman met her little sister, she wept.

jackbl
27-02-2013, 11:20 AM
Tet through New Zealand professor’s eyes
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When I became interested in Vietnam I decided that a good way to learn about the country, its people and their culture, would be to do research on Tet. In my experience, important national days like Tet are a window through which one can see many aspects of life. So from 2008 onwards I have come to Viet Nam for Tet every year, spoken to many people, and visited many homes in Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho, Hanoi, Danang, Vung Tau, and elsewhere. People have been very kind and generous in sharing their knowledge and beliefs with me.


My original belief that Tet allows one to see many aspects of Vietnamese history, tradition and culture was correct. Through studying Tet I came to realise many things about Vietnamese life, such as the importance of family, the respect people give to their ancestors, and the many beliefs that people have about gods and spirits.

It is also clear that not everybody is the same – different families, regions, cities and religious groups have different Tet customs and beliefs. For example, In Tan Phu and Tan Binh districts of HCMC, people who trace their origins to Quang Nam and other areas in centre of Vietnam have a custom called ‘cung xom’ which they perform 9 or 10 days after Tet. In this they worship all the gods and spirits associated with the land, and also the ‘homeless ghosts’ (co hon). Other people in HCMC do not know about this, and are surprised when I inform them about it.

It is also clear that although many Tet customs are traditional, Tet is also changing and developing from year to year, and this is normal, things do not stay the same. Travelling overseas, or to another part of Vietnam for a short holiday during Tet has become quite common, but usually those who travel also try to make sure that they spend part of the Tet holiday at home with their family.

Tradition and modernity can be combined – another example of this is the annual Ong Tao Ve Troi TV show. Many people send Ong Tao/Tao Quan to heaven in the traditional way on 25 December, and also watch this TV show a few days later.

jackbl
28-02-2013, 01:04 PM
Why do city expats pay for sexual services?
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Note: Cathy Truong is a Vietnamese American who spent two years living in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. She submitted this story to Tuoitrenews from Vancouver, Canada, where she now lives. Truong discusses the issue of expats using sexual services in the southern city based on the personal experiences she amassed during her stay in Vietnam.

Within a few months of moving to Ho Chi Minh City, I was surprised to find out about the large number of male expats and travelers alike that pay for commercial sex in the city. When I was in the US, within the Vietnamese community, I would sometimes hear about how men would go back to Vietnam to choi gai, an expression with sexual undertones meaning ‘playing with the women.’ It wasn’t until I came to Saigon that I understood how readily available sex is and how frequently the men like to play.

I found out about these rarely spoken of services from many of my male friends, who were willing to trust me enough to open up about their sex life. As expats are visitors in a foreign country, they are likely to have fewer connections than in their home country. Hence a mere acquaintance or co-worker can quickly become a close confidante. I have developed friendships that have transcended age, gender, and social barriers which would have been uncommon in the West.

Since my fellow cohorts were receptive, I wanted to find out why they would pay for sexual services. Being a foreign male in HCMC almost automatically guarantees a lot of attention from the local ladies. So when it’s so easy to date, why resort to paying for sexual services?

One American English teacher, Matt, didn’t want to get attached in a relationship, so he went to prostitutes instead. Ironically, he would develop an emotional attachment to these women, much to his dismay. Like in Pretty Woman, Matt, too, had fallen in love with a prostitute.

Adam, an American Viet-Kieu who also teaches English, does not pay for sexual intercourse out of fear of catching STDs, however he does like to get his hair washed, or goi dau. This erotic service is performed by scantily clad women who brush their bodies up on their clients while cutting hair, shaving facial hair, and cleaning ears. Sometimes other services such as oral sex or intercourse can be negotiated for the right price. The typical price for this service is VND120,000 plus tips on Tran Hung Dao Street, D5, but prices vary according to location.

One of my Viet-Kieu friends from California, Vinh, travels to Saigon once a year. He was invited to a bia om on a visit, a bar where men can touch, fondle, and grope the waitresses for entertainment. These places are generally popular with the older Vietnamese generation.

A massage parlor is what Diep, a Vietnamese-German businessman, prefers. He likes to go about once a month. Diep told me that “you can take a woman out for dinner and she won’t even have sex with you. Rather than hunting for sex, I’d rather pay to get myself relieved.”

The most open of my male expat friends is Robert, an American professor. He is engaged to his fiancée, who doesn’t mind that he visits massage parlors. Sometimes, they even call for a girl to join them in their home. The typical price is $10 for a massage ticket at a massage parlor in Phu My Hung, where Robert frequents. The tip for extra services is around $15 for a handjob, $25 for oral sex, and $50 for intercourse.

Robert related to me that the girls at his favorite spa are all natural, unlike the working girls he sees at night clubs. According to him, the girls at the spa are good at sexual techniques. They are also consistent with using condoms.

When asked why he pays for sexual services when he has a partner, Robert said, “When I was single I would tend to go for a sexual massage less often as it is easy to meet women. When I’m in a relationship the massage is fast and there are no complications.”

Robert also took me to the massage parlor he frequents. I had the opportunity to meet and talk to the owner, Lan.

She said that most of the men who come to her spa work in high paying positions. Some are executives of multinational companies. The majority of her clientele are usually Korean, but there are also Americans, Europeans, Japanese, and other nationalities.

The workers at the spa pay Lan a VND2,000,000 fee to work for her. On average, they make VND40,000,000 in tips per month.

I used to resent my male friends and relatives who did engage in prostitution or attitudes or behavior that degrade women. As time went on, I came to accept what they did in their pastime, though I still didn’t approve of it. Men have urges and are not perfect, and after all, prostitution is the world’s oldest profession and will continue to exist.

Several years ago my Vietnamese language teacher back in Orange County said that she doesn’t want Vietnamese culture to be represented by rows of coffee shops in Little Saigon, California, where the waitresses are half naked. I agree with her. I don’t want people to think of Vietnamese women as prostitutes who say “me love you long time” or who chase foreign men for ulterior motives. I believe our people deserve better.

As HCMC is a bustling financial center, many things can be bought. Just make sure that what you get for your exchange is worth it, whether it’s VND120,000 or VND40,000,000.

* Note: The names of the individuals in this story have been changed.

jackbl
01-03-2013, 10:26 AM
"Vultures" at cemeteries
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VietNamNet Bridge - In cemeteries, behind the cold graves is the underground world with “odd” tricks to make money. Except for honest people who make a living through their own labor by digging and exhuming graves, these "cemetery vultures" must be inspected and removed by the authority.


Rare burglary

Some people saw a small piece of paper sticking on the grave. They picked up the paper to read and all of them were appalled. "Your grandfather’s head is in our hands. If you want to get it back for reburial, you must redeem with VND50 million ($2,500). Preparing the money, we will call to tell you the place and time," the piece of paper wrote. Some family members jumped into the grave in a hurry to check and they did not find the head.

It is one of the numerous cruel “affairs” that the group of “vultures” at this cemetery has made. The day before, the tomb of Mr. T was dug up. The sorcerer told the family to open the coffin for a night before reburial. The next day the dead’s head disappeared.

A family meeting was held on the spot. This is a rare extortion and the blackmailer might be a local man and perhaps a drug addict who needed money to buy drugs. The family secretly informed the police.

About an hour later, Mr. Pham Dinh Hoang, the dead’s grandson received a phone call from a stranger. He intimidated and suggested that the family quickly prepared the money otherwise he would throw the head to the river.

Hoang begged: "Our family could only prepare VND10 million ($500). Please return our grandfather’s head!" The 30-minute negotiation ended and the stealer agreed at the ransom of VND21 million ($1,000). The location for "delivery" is behind the local cemetery for martyrs.

The two drug addicts were arrested in this case but since then, all families when perform reburial rituals appointed family members to guard the graves.


The story in a cemetery

When I told this strange story to a friend, he laughed and said: "Not only that. Just hanging around cemeteries, you will see a lot of interesting stories. Nowadays it is the easiest to make money of the dead because the living do not dare to bargain about things related to their dead relatives."

The Yen Ky is one of the largest cemeteries in Hanoi. It was built in the 60s, located on a 37ha campus, in the village of Yen Ky, Phu Son commune, Ba Vi district. Currently, Yen Ky has 15.000m2 of bare land which is available for reburial in the next three years. Therefore, this cemetery is always busy with the people who come to visit the graves.

These people are the prey of the so-called "cemetery vultures."

The Yen Ky Cemetery on a summer morning, playing a man who was seeking for a lost tomb, I entered the "world of the dead" here. In front of the cemetery is a row of shops with the signs "tomb building service with long warranty," "Building graves - carvings stone steles,” "Building graves from A to Z" ...

When I was bewildered, a group of about 10 people surrounded me, pulled my shirt, my bag, and invited: "Brother, let me paint and clean the grave," "Which tomb do you want to find? Let me help you," "If you want to find a plot of land to move tomb, I’m the best service provider in this region...”

I had to try my best to escape from the crowds and got into the coffee shop in the middle of the cemetery to relax. Looking at my stagger, a customer in the cafe, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Hai Sinh, from Ta Quang Buu Street, Hanoi, said: "You must come here for the first time. Any time I come here I was also disturbed like you. This cemetery is in a stir like a coach station. Let’s check your bag!" I startled and hastily checked my bag. It was lucky that I did not lose anything.

I was still lucky because I came here at the year end, when people flocked to the cemetery to clean and decorate the tombs of their relatives. During this time, the cemetery is always crowded and visitors are quite safe from drug addicts or robbers.

I entered the block D1. Immediately I was surrounded by dozens of people, including those who were building nearby tombs. I was like a prey and they are predators. I said: "I come here to visit the grave of my relative. On this occasion, I find the tomb of my friend’s grandmother. This tomb was lost since 1982. Her name is Le Thi Thom". The group immediately spread out to search for the tomb.

A woman who looked kind approached me and whispered: "If you do not bargain at all, they will ask you to pay at least VND300,000-VND400,000. I’ve just paid them VND400,000. It hurts!"

I thanked the kind woman and chuckled because it was just a fake name that I made up. But about one hour later, that group of people returned and said they did not find any name like that. A man looks like a gangster told me: "Please give us VND200,000 ($10). We did not find the tomb but we tried to search for it. If you really want to find it, we will look for it in the cemetery’s record book for you. But you have to pay." I had to give him the money.

The man, named Son, continued: "Give me your phone number, if I find the tomb, I will call you. Just give me several hundreds of thousands dong for a drink. It is so cheap because there are tens of thousands of tombs in this cemetery. It will take you at least three days to find the tomb."

According to him, just two days ago, a woman from Ho Chi Minh City paid him VND2 million ($100) to find four lost tombs of her parents and grandparents. This woman and her elder sister had conflict. The elder sister moved the tombs of her parents and grandparents to this cemetery without telling her younger sister. The woman only knew the names of the dead so she had to ask for the “help” of these “detectives.”



Underworld after tombstones

Escaping from this group of “detectives”, I was again followed by a group of four people. They begged me to use their tomb cleaning and decorating service. They offered VND200,000 ($10) for each “service” like cleaning the tomb, painting the scripts, planting flowers around the tomb, etc.

A woman named Nu said: "I’m willing to take care of these four tombs for the year round. You just need to give me VND500,000 ($25) a year."

When I said that that price is high and I would take care of the tombs myself, a man in the group said: “You are so hard. Don’t regret your money. Your grandfather’s tomb is nice. Do you want to recognize it the next time?"

I was angry so I said: "Are you threatening me? Well, just do it." The man smiled: "Who know! Let’s see the tombs over there. I do not know why they are cracked and damaged. This is where we earn our living. If everyone is as hard as you, we will all be starving!"

Many people who come to this cemetery for the first time are very surprised seeing a group of strangers who rush to cut the grass, clean the tomb stele and plant trees for the tombs of their relatives. They even took soil of the nearby tombs to bank the tombs of their relatives. After that they ask for money for the job that nobody hires them to do.

Even kids of only 13, 14 years old also come here to make money. There are two jobs for them here: seeking tombs and collecting citrus peels to dry and sell to Vietnamese traditional medicine shops.

All people living around the cemetery flock into this place to earn their living in the early or at the end of the year, when people come here to clean and burn incense for their relatives. Only visitors are the sufferers because they dare not to do anything. They do not fear for themselves but they are afraid that the tombs of their relatives will be harmed by the locals if they do not use their “services.”

In this cemetery, the "service suppliers” are the inferior. There are some “barons” in this cemetery. Anyone who wants to seek land to move tombs in this cemetery has to negotiate with these “barons” and pay them “service fee” from VND8-12 million ($400-600) for a tomb.

When I said I wanted to move the grave of Mrs. Le Thi Thom to a better location, a "baron" said: "Let us help you! It will take you a lot of time for fulfilling procedures with the cemetery management board, but we can do it very quickly. We can exhume and move the tomb at night to avoid the eyes of the cemetery managers. The fee is only VND2-3 million." It seems that these people dare to do anything.

According to our survey, these phenomena have existed for many years and have been increasingly sophisticated and blatant but the cemetery management board and the local authorities have not made definitive reactions.

Mr. Phung Van Vinh, Director of the Yen Ky cemetery said: "We know the situation and we have tried to cooperate with the local police to prevent these phenomena. But because this cemetery is too large and does not have a fence, anybody can enter this place. We have only 16 persons in the management team to manage tens of thousands of tombs. Each year thousands of families want to repair the tombs. We can only manage the tomb size.”

Vinh confirmed that only when the Yen Ky cemetery has fences, he can better manage the cemetery."

In some cemeteries in Hanoi, there are several 3-4 shops selling garlands for the dead. All garlands look the same, except for the color of the tripod to distinguish the garland of each shop. What to do? When the families of the dead leave the cemetery, these shops will carry their garlands back to sell to other customers.

Nang Luong Moi

jackbl
02-03-2013, 12:53 AM
Couple’s pants stolen during sex
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Police in the southern coastal city of Phan Thiet are investigating a case in which a male thief stole two pairs of trousers from a couple who were indulging in pleasure at a deserted embankment area.

The young man and woman, whose names are yet to be publicized by the police, reported to investigators that they came to an embankment section on Road 706B in Nui Ne Ward and sat there to “exchange confidences” on Monday night.

Before embracing and cuddling each other, they took off their pants and underwear and then placed them on the edge of the embankment, the victims told police.

While they were indulging themselves, they found a strange man who came from nowhere and took their pants and ran away.

Since the couple could not run after the thief with their lower bodies naked, they only shouted for help in vain.

The young man later found out his briefs thrown nearby and put it on, while the young woman had to borrow a pair of pants from a local resident.

The young man reported to police that there was a wallet in the pocket of his lost pants. The wallet contained VND5 million (US$240), the papers of his motorbike and some personal papers.

Meanwhile, the young woman said she had only VND50,000 in her lost trousers.

Honey Boon
06-03-2013, 11:33 AM
could it be any of our sbf brothers here who visited Mui Ne recently :D


Couple’s pants stolen during sex
=================================================


The young man and woman, whose names are yet to be publicized by the police, reported to investigators that they came to an embankment section on Road 706B in Nui Ne Ward and sat there to “exchange confidences” on Monday night.

Before embracing and cuddling each other, they took off their pants and underwear and then placed them on the edge of the embankment, the victims told police.

.

Goalie
06-03-2013, 06:20 PM
could it be any of our sbf brothers here who visited Mui Ne recently :D

Wonder who ha?

jackbl
11-03-2013, 12:37 PM
Not My First Vietnamese Wedding
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Columnist Richie Humphrey takes a look on the differences between Vietnamese and American wedding styles.

Last weekend I was excited to attend what I thought was my first Vietnamese wedding. But when I arrive, déjà vu hits. I remember a time right after I moved to Hanoi over two years ago, a large dinner party for a couple who had recently been married. Now I’m realizing that “dinner party” was the wedding. I’ve since learned, most Vietnamese ceremonies of matrimony are attended by immediate family and close friends only. The wedding for everyone else is basically dinner at a banquet hall.

In Vietnam, cash is the only accepted wedding gift. The wedding invitation comes in a reusable, red envelope that doubles as a money holder. When I arrive at the wedding, I am greeted by the bride and groom who stand next to a cardboard house with a slot in the roof like a mailbox for red envelopes.
In the U.S., many people (especially my people, the W.A.S.P.’s) feel uncomfortable giving cash. Etiquette requires guests buy something for the happy couple’s new life together, something useful like a microwave oven. Before the internet, it would not be uncommon for the bride and groom to receive four or five microwaves. These days, thanks to online wedding registries, friends and family choose from a pre-approved shopping list. With a few clicks of the mouse, the gift can be wrapped and shipped directly to the newlyweds. I’ll never forget the time I waited until the day before their wedding to check my friends’ online wedding registry. By that time, most items on the registry had already been purchased by other people. The few items left were expensive, and the only thing I could afford was the Silver-plated Toilet Brush. I had it gift wrapped for an additional $4.99 and was allowed to write a gift message up to 80 characters. Congratulations! May you always be joyful and happy, let your toilet be white and not crappy.


The funny thing about the whole wedding gift giving tradition in the U.S. is that most young couples actually just want the dolla-dolla-bills-yo. Fortunately for them, most gifts these days come with a gift receipt. So when the boxes from Potterybarn.com arrive, they are promptly returned for cash. Vietnamese is more direct than English. “Sorry to bother, but do you think you could possibly give my dear friend John a ride back to his house?” is properly translated to the equivalent of “Give John a ride - please.” And when it comes to wedding gifts, the Vietnamese bride and groom want Đồng, not a microwave. Here’s an envelope.

Traditional Vietnamese wedding ceremonies at the home of the bride or at churches are reserved for immediate family. But in U.S. weddings, it is expected that all guests go to the church for the ceremony, then on to the reception which includes cocktails, dinner, and dancing. Aside from everyone speaking Vietnamese, I don’t see many differences between the Vietnamese wedding and the dinner portion of an American wedding reception: white tablecloths, flowers, photos of the bride and groom, and a big sign in front with the names of the happy couple so you can make sure you’re in the right banquet hall. An MC announces the family and offers some witty opening remarks. The bride and her white gown enter the room, and everyone rises to take a photo. The father of the groom makes a toast, and dinner is served. They even have the same overcooked chicken I’ve enjoyed at countless American weddings. And that’s it. After the last course is served, I am surprised to see people make for the door. Wait, we can go home now? No dry wedding cake? No drunk Aunt Mildred making a scene? What about the Chicken Dance?

I’m not trying to make any statements on marriage. A celebration of two people’s love for each other is a beautiful thing, and I’m glad I went to this wedding. From a guest perspective, I like the succinctness of the Vietnamese wedding. You can drop off the red envelope, eat dinner, toast the bride and groom, and still make it home in time to watch the Euro Cup on TV. Everyone’s happy. Maybe the shorter Vietnamese style wedding celebration is one reason Vietnam recently ranked #2 on the HPI Happy Planet Index.

jackbl
12-03-2013, 01:17 PM
The money-making formulas of Vietnamese celebrities
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VietNamNet Bridge - Hiding behind the halo of beautiful girls in the Vietnamese showbiz are the two popular “formulars” to make money or to earn fame.

Besides the wrong lifestyle of a few long-legged girls who are beautiful but lack of knowledge, some girls earn others’ respect by their wisdom in every move to build up reputation as well as in using their reputation to earn money.

Many people often wonder, they just play in a few movies, perform in several shows but why many girls in the showbiz have a lot of money to buy big houses, fancy cars and luxurious clothes?

After some sex scandals involving models and actresses, they thought that most of these girls get rich from working as “kept women” or even “call girls.”

But in fact, once they have a little-known reputation in the showbiz, they can earn money very easy.



Make money by going to the party

Going to party is now no longer so strange in the Vietnamese showbiz. This is a relatively relaxed profession that can bring about huge amounts of money in a short time.

With a little reputation, some girls are invited to events organized by the firms that sell wine, fashion and beauty products. Just appearing in a party, with a charming smile on the face and clinking glasses with other guests, some models and actresses like Thanh Hang, Tang Thanh Ha, Huong Giang, Ha Anh and Mai Phuong Thuy can earn from $1,000 to $2,000 from an event.

They are paid because thanks to their reputation, these brands can appear on the media. It is part of the answer to the question why these women do not involve in many art programs but they still have abundant money.



Make money from advertising contracts

The more "difficult" occupation than attending party is playing in commercial advertisements. This is one of the money-making professions of famous actresses and models. People are stunned when they know that the pay for singers, models and actresses in advertising clips or photos is tens of thousands of dollars.

The most favored names in the advertising industry are Miss Vietnam Mai Phuong Thuy, actress Tang Thanh Ha, singer Ho Ngoc Ha, singer Minh Hang, actress Ngo Thanh Van and singer Thuy Tien. Some senior singers like Phuong Thanh and My Tam also signed big contracts with the world's most famous brands.

However, along with the hefty remunerations are strict conditions. Typically, firms often choose celebrities with “clean” images who are also “attractive” to the public because no big company wants to invite a scandalous face to represent their brands.



Doing business based on their reputation

Many Vietnamese celebrities develop business based on their reputation and their relationships in various fields. The most popular businesses for celebrities in Vietnam are opening clothing stores, restaurants, coffee shops and beauty salons.

Based on her beauty and her good taste in fashion, model Ngoc Trinh recently launched a brand of fashion shops, spas and restaurants of her own.

Ngoc Trinh’s friend, actress and model Quynh Thu has just opened a fashion shop. Model Trang Tran is getting rich with her noodle-tofu shop.

Singer My Tam suddenly released her first fashion collection and opened a coffee shop combined with a fashion shop. Singer My Le also launched her own fashion brand for children. Actress Ly Nha Ky is the owner of luxury diamond shops.



Working as impresarios

The job that requires more efforts, time and money is working as impresarios. This is not an easy job and it requires the artist to have their own calculations and strategies to recruit and train young artists and singers.

Among artists-impresarios are actress Ngo Thanh Van with the 365 band and singer Ho Ngoc Ha with the V.Music band. The two bands are now very popular with young people.

Actress Phi Thanh Van, singer Dam Vinh Hung and singer Ung Hoang Phuc have also revealed their plans to train "young bands."

As impresarios, these artists will earn money from the performing activities of their bands, from music royalties of the bands, etc.

In addition to the above jobs, many stars can earn extra income from their participation in reality shows as judges or guests...

It is easy for celebrities to get rich. But ultimately, the main task of the artist is art activities to serve the public. It is expected that they know how to make harmony between money making and art activities.

Compiled by P. Linh

jackbl
13-03-2013, 07:39 AM
Experts speak about same-sex marriage
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VietNamNet Bridge - Same sex marriage is a controversial topic in Vietnam, especially when some same-sex weddings were held recently. At this time, when public opinion is relatively "open" for gay marriage, the legal barriers for this should be uninstalled? VietNamNet talks with experts on this issue.


The law does not recognize same-sex marriage, but it needs serious research

Lawyer Tran Ngoc Quy, from the HCM City Bar Association, says that, according to Article 1 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2000: The Law on Marriage and Family is responsible for contributing to the development, improvement and protection of progressive marriage and family regime, inheriting and promoting the good moral tradition of Vietnamese families to build prosperous, equal, progressive, happy and sustainable families.

Therefore, in order to achieve the above purpose, Clause 5, Article 10 of this Law "prohibits marriage between persons of the same sex." Therefore, the current law does not allow, not recognize and not protect marriage between people of the same gender.

According to the lawyer, although same-sex marriage is not recognized by law, but in fact there are still weddings appearing between people of the same gender.

For an objective perspective on this phenomenon, it requires thorough and comprehensive research of the competent authorities, sociologists, psychologists ... to consider comprehensively, completely the phenomenon and its arising impacts on family and social life to have adapted rules.

Open-mind and altruism needed!

Lawyer Tran Cong Li Tao, another member of the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association, says that the issue of same-sex marriage "is not new, but new" in the current situation.

He explains that this issue is not "new" and homosexuality has existed for a long time, but it is "new" because whether the law accepts them or not is still under consideration.

According to lawyer Li Tao, a number of countries around the world with the progressive legislation still recognize same-sex marriage. Vietnam is an oriental country and according to oriental culture, one of the most important purposes of marriage is to maintain the breed. It is the tradition but gay marriage does not achieve this goal.

However, gays cannot decide their gender; that is their nature. They are human beings and they have the right to have their personal emotional needs and we need to empathize with them.

According to the lawyer, the research and issuance a mechanism suitable for homosexuals or even recognize the marriage between them is now necessary.

However, this mechanism must be suitable, not too loose and not too harsh and it is the responsibility of the legislators.

Should respect tradition but ...

Lawyer Nguyen Van Duc, from the East Sea MTV Ltd. Co., analyzes: The Law on Marriage and Family 2000 does not recognize same-sex marriage. In the process of the Ministry of Justice’s consultation experts on the amendments to the law, many experts suggested the laws recognizing same-sex marriage.

However, the opposite view says that the recognition of same-sex marriage will generate unanticipated legal consequences. This matter will be still a debate in the near future.

Currently, the demand for marriage of homosexuals is real and it becomes a social phenomenon.

A small number of countries around the world have recognized same-sex marriage. However, the recognition of legal marriage for people of the same gender in Vietnam should be weighed carefully in many ways.

Personally, lawyer Duc says that Vietnam should not recognize same-sex marriage at the present time because homosexuality is unnatural relations, inconsistent with the Asian notion and ethics. Even some of the more developed countries are also quite cautious with this issue.

However, the need for the living together of homosexuals should also be recognized and controlled by the laws to avoid discrimination against homosexuals when they live together and create gradual social change in thinking about marriage.

In the short term, the state may issue a legal document in the form of a decree, forcing homosexuals who live together to register with the competent authority.

According to lawyer Duc, this is a model of legislative technique that is "separate but equal" and it has been applied by some countries, such as Austria, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Finland, etc. This model does not affect traditional marriage, but still create equality for all people in society.

M.Phuong

jackbl
13-03-2013, 07:40 AM
Bachelors with two university degrees also stay redundant
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VietNamNet Bridge – There are very few job opportunities for new school graduates nowadays. A lot of young bachelors, including the ones with two or three university degrees, have to lay by their degrees in wardrobe and take the jobs as blue collar workers.


“It’d better not say you have university degree”

Tran Ngoc Vinh, who finished the Hanoi Trade University, only accepted to meet the reporter for an interview after the reporter contacted him the third time.

Vinh seemed to be reserved when meeting strange people in his small rent room in Thanh Tri district in the suburbs of Hanoi. He feels the inferiority complex because he is now just a freelance construction worker, who only earns a little of money just enough to pay for the room rent and the basic needs.

Vinh finished the Hanoi Trade University in 2009, but he has not found a job since then, though he introduced himself as an industrious worker. Finally, Vinh decided to lay by the university degree in the wardrobe and take a job as a worker on the construction site of a project in Ha Dong district.

Vinh said that some friends of his, including the ones who finished schools with excellent marks, still have not found jobs. One of them is now also working together with Vinh, for which they both received VND3 million, enough for them to stay in Hanoi to continue looking for jobs.

In fact, Vinh is not alone. Analysts said that the Job Day in 2012 gathered thousands of participants, the highest ever number. These included the bachelors who wished to find any kinds of job, provided that they could bring money.

Hong Nga, a graduate from the Hanoi Labor and Social Affairs, said she has been staying jobless over the last two years, since the day she finished the school.

Unlike many other bachelors, who only want the jobs in Hanoi, Nga returned to the home village and applied for a job at the culture division of the Binh Giang district local authorities. Since she has been refused, she has decided to come back to Hanoi, where she planned to take any jobs to earn her living.

“I feel ashamed that I have to take manual works though I have university degree. However, I cannot continue living on my parents and stay jobless. I need to work to earn money to feed myself,” she said.

When asked why she was refused by employers, Nga said they were all too demanding. They wanted the candidates with experiences and fluent English skills.

Sometimes, Nga got so discouraged that she decided to return to the home village to work on the rice fields like her parents. However, she then changed her idea, promising that she needs to find a good job to deserve the money paid by her parents to fund her university study.

Nga now works as a forwarder for a company in Bac Thang Long Industrial zone in Hanoi and receives VND2.5 million dong. However, her parents still believe that she works for a private enterprise for a high monthly salary.

Still staying redundant with two university degrees

Tran Nam Ngoc, Director of Blue Company, a labor supplier, said that a lot of university graduates come to see him to seek the jobs which don’t need high qualification such as house maid, salesman, waiter or coffee makers. However, Ngoc does not accept the candidates, because they would only take jobs for some time and would leave immediately if they can find better jobs.

Ngoc said that even those who have two university degrees have also been waiting for jobs at his company, because jobs are not always ready for them to take.

Dan Viet

jackbl
14-03-2013, 01:43 AM
Hoi An: World’s favourite destination
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VietNamNet Bridge – Ancient Hoi An town wins the hearts of tourists with its laid-back lifestyle and the sincerity, plainness and enthusiasm of its residents.


Located in central Quang Nam province, Hoi An was ranked first in the world’s top 10 favourite cities by Wanderlust, a well-known British tourism magazine, on January 31, 2013. It beat Cusco city in Peru, Kyoto in Japan, Copenhagen in Denmark, Italy’s Venice, and even New York and San Francisco in the US.

An attractive ancient town

Hoi An is located on the northern bank of the basin of the Thu Bon River, 25 km southeast of Da Nang city and 50 km northeast of Tam Ky city in Quang Nam province.

It lies in a coastal estuary area, where big rivers, including Thu Bon, Vu Gia, Truong Giang and De Vong, meet before flowing into the East Sea through Cua Dai estuary.

Thanks to these rivers, people from Hoi An can go upstream on the Thu Bon River to Dien Ban, Duy Xuyen, Que Son and Dai Loc districts or downstream on the Truong Giang River to Thang Binh, Tam Ky and Chu Lai districts. From Cua Dai estuary, people can reach all regions in the country and the world by sea.

There are not many places rich in relics like Hoi An. It has more than 1,350 relics, including 1,273 civil architectures (houses, bridges, wells and markets), religious architectures (pagodas, temples and family houses of worship) and specific architectures (such as tombs).

Each type of architecture contains particular features, contributing to Hoi An’s cultural diversity. Of which, its architecture complex is considered a “live museum” as the residents of Hoi An have “lived in the town, lived with the town, and lived for the town” for generations. Their daily lives go on within the ancient town; each piece of architecture is imprinted with the residents’ particular lifestyle and culture.

Hoi An is inhabited by people from various strata, origins and ethnic groups. It is from where Catholicism and Buddhism spread in southern Vietnam, one of the two birthplaces of Vietnamese script in the 17 th century (the other is Hanoi), and the crossroads for Champa-Vietnamese-Chinese-Japanese-Indian civilisations and western countries.

Cultural features of different origins have formed unique aspects of Hoi An’s intangible cultural treasures. The main stream is the system of customs and faiths of Vietnamese and Chinese-Vietnamese communities.

Traditional festivals take place around the year in Hoi An, such as fishermen festivals like the Cau Ngu (praying for a good fishing harvest) festival, the whale worshipping festival, boat races, and festivals to worship the ancestors of carpentry, tailoring and pottery.

In recent years, modern festivals together with cultural and tourism events, and big ceremonies have attracted a large number of local residents and tourists.

Heroic tradition

Besides distinctive historical and cultural features, Hoi An also owns rich traditions of patriotism and revolution.

It is the homeland of Nguyen Duy Hieu – leader of “Nghia Hoi Quang Nam ” – and the glorious uprising against French colonialists from 1885 to 1888, as well as a number of patriotic scholars including Tran Trung Tri, Luong Nhu Bich in Cam Pho village, Nguyen Binh in Son Pho village, and Chau Thuong Van in Minh Huong village.

Following the Can Vuong (Aid the King) Movement (1885-1889), revolutionary movements associated with the names of Phan Chau Trinh, Huynh Thuc Khang, Tran Quy Cap and Phan Boi Chau broke out.

Hoi An was the centre of patriotic movements at that time and the location of secret meetings between patriots from the south and the north of Vietnam . It was the key location of the anti-tax movement in 1908 and the uprising led by Thai Phien and Tran Cao Van in 1916.

In October, 1927, the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth League was established in Hoi An. It was also the birthplace of the Quang Nam temporary provincial Party Committee, which was founded on March 28, 1930, and the location of the provincial People’s Committee.

Hoi An’s first Communist Party cell, set up in April, 1930, guided the people’s revolutionary struggles. On August 18, 1945, the uprising in Hoi An was victorious, and made it one of the first four localities to gain authority control during the August Revolution.

In the resistance wars, the struggles of the town’s army men and people grew strongly and achieved resounding success.

Thanks to its outstanding development achievements and the preservation of its heritage values and revolutionary tradition, the State presented Hoi An a number of noble titles, including Hero of the People’s Armed Forces and Labour Hero of the Renewal Period.

Upholding the values

The ancient town was recognised as a World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO on December 4, 1999, and presented four awards in heritage management, protection and promotion. In May, 2009, the Cu Lao Cham islands’ ecosystem was officially added to the list of the World’s Biosphere Reserves.

To uphold its values, the ancient town has taken audacious measures. It has banned motorbikes and the use of electricity during certain hours. It has provided free wi-fi service across the locality. These make Hoi An’s rhythm of life “slower” but more colourful, attracting greater numbers of tourists, especially from abroad.

Tours for visitors to experience farmers’ life and discover the Cu Lao Cham Biosphere Reserves and nipa forests are also available. In addition, the town has organised cultural events like Vietnam-Japan cultural exchanges, international choruses and heritage journeys, drawing the participation of representatives from various countries and popularising Hoi An to the world.

Thanks to its continuous efforts, Hoi An welcomed 1,375,000 visitors last year. The town’s Cu Lao Cham recorded a year-on-year increase of 41 percent in visitor numbers (97,000), demonstrating that it was the right decision to develop other types of tourism, such as sea and islands tourism.

Chairman of Hoi An People’s Committee Le Van Giang said that it is the city’s honour to possess a World Cultural Heritage. Hoi An has always tried its hardest to create a comfortable atmosphere for tourists.

Winning “The world’s most favourite city” title is a honour and also a challenge for the city. Hoi An will continue its efforts to promote its heritage and maintain its position as a leading and attractive draw to both domestic and foreign tourists, he added.

Source: Vietnam Plus

jackbl
14-03-2013, 09:32 AM
Vietnamese children get confused with too many English certificates
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VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese parents urge their children to attend foreign language training courses and attend the exams for certificates, even though they don’t understand the meaning of every certificate in the “forest” of certificates.

English centers in HCM City have opened a lot of training courses to help students prepare for exams for Cambridge certificates at different levels – Starters, Movers, Flyers, KET and PET.

According to the centers, the certificates are very important for students who plan to go studying abroad or work in an international environment. These are the internationally recognized compulsory English certificates for primary and secondary school students to shift to follow the intensive English curricula as required by the HCM City Education and Training Department.

The certificates have also been advertised as bringing the opportunities to students to obtain international education degrees, which would be very useful in their future lives.

The tuitions parents have to pay for their children’s attendance at the training courses are relatively high of between VND1 million and VND3 million. One would have to pay fees to attend the exams for certificates, about $20 for Starters, Movers and Flyers levels, and $32 for higher English level certificates such as KET or PET.

Despite the high tuitions, the number of learners at foreign language centers has been increasing rapidly. In general, children begin attending exam preparation training courses at the ages of 7-12, striving for the certificates of higher and higher levels.

Hoai Sa, a sixth grader of a leading state owned school in HCM City, said he has four English certificates from Starter to KET, and now he goes to CA English center to prepare for the exam for PET certificate, slated for March 2013.

Sa said that his mother has set up an English learning plan for him, under which he would have certificates of different kinds of up to PET level by the time he enters the ninth grade.

He complained that he does not have free time, and he has to learn hard even in summer holiday. Though Sa has got tired of learning, he still keeps going to class every day, because his mother said English certificates are very important in his future life.

What’s it for?

Most of the parents said that obtaining international English certificates in Vietnam is a preparatory step for their children to go studying at foreign universities in the future. However, they don’t have sufficient information about the meaning of every kind of certificate.

A parent has admitted that she brings the son to the foreign language school because she has been advised to do that.

Hoang Hoa, who has a 9-year-old daughter going to a foreign language center in Hanoi, said several million dong for a training course is a small sum of money for her family, and it would be better to bring the girl to class than staying at home.

Ha, a parent, also said she heard that international English certificates are compulsory for those who enroll in foreign universities. “If my child can obtain necessary certificates now, she would be able to go abroad any time she wants,” she explains.

Meanwhile, Doan Thi Thanh Nga, an education consultant, said obtaining as many certificates as possible is not the “best way of investment.”

Nga said different countries and different schools set different requirements on their students. Therefore, it would be better to let children learn English as per their capability. Later, when students decide what schools and what countries to go to, they would attend the exams for suitable certificates.

NLD

jackbl
14-03-2013, 03:42 PM
Woman attempts suicide after cutting her husband’s penis
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VietNamNet Bridge – Knowing that her husband has a child with another woman, Hong was very angry. She cut his penis to throw to the river.

On the morning of March 8, the General Hospital of An Giang Province, treated a 27-year-old woman named Hong, who attempted suicide by drinking rat poison.

A few hours earlier, Hong’s husband was also hospitalized after his penis was cut off by his wife and thrown into the river in front of their house in the city of Long Xuyen, An Giang.

The family said that after more than five years of marriage, Hong unexpectedly discovered that her husband has a child with another woman. At around 9pm on March 7, this woman suddenly used scissors to cut off her husband’s penis, while he was sleeping.

While her husband was at the hospital, she drank three packs of rat poison to commit suicide. Currently, this woman is in deep comatose.

The husband's health is stable but he has lost his penis because his relatives could not find it.

In latest news, doctors could not save the woman and died yesterday, March 11.

jackbl
15-03-2013, 01:09 AM
Adults are the…barrier to sex education
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VietNamNet Bridge – The policy on saying “no” to pre-marriage sex and the scrutiny kept by parents and teachers are the biggest barriers to the sexual health education to minors.

Only threats and warnings…

A survey conducted by the Center for Health and Population Initiatives, more than 1/3 of polled minors said they have sex at least one time, but they considered these the accidental things, which were out of their control.

The center has also found from the survey that it is popular that minors have lovers. Especially, 24.27 percent of the minors said they have three and more lovers. However, the polled minors proved to have very ambiguous knowledge about pre-marriage sex, and they did not have proactive protection when having sex.

Fifty percent of the minors aged from 16 to 18 who had sex revealed that they did not use any protective measure when having sex for the first time. Meanwhile, 40 percent of them said they also did not apply any protective measure when having sex lately.

Most minors have the willingness to learn more about sex and emotional relations from their parents and teachers. They believe that sex education can bring important knowledge necessary for their lives, and they want to be able to learn about this right from primary school. However, what they have received so far is just threats and warnings from parents and teachers.

Students complained that parents and teachers have been unfair in behaving with minors, while they do not think that juveniles’ sex and love are serious matters.

A parent said frankly that if she finds contraceptives in her daughter’s pocket, she would tell the daughter to stop, if the girl wants to grow up into useful person.

“If my daughter really wants to become corrupted, I will let her leave home,” she added.

Most of the parents express their uncompromising attitudes to their children in the matters relating to love and sex. This explains why children tend to be not open to their parents and teachers. Since they cannot get useful advices from adults, they may make mistakes in their lives.

… and dry, academic knowledge given to students

Scientists have pointed out that sex and reproductive health education is not the matter of the juveniles aged 16-18, but the education should be started when children get 12 years old.

Tran Thi Hoa, a doctor in Hanoi, said she receives a lot of patients, who came to her private clinic not to treat normal diseases, but the sexually transmitted infections.

She believes that a lot of minors suffer from diseases just because they lack necessary knowledge about sex and reproductive health. Therefore, she has suggested opening an exhibition on sex education for minors.

“I have learned that two girls have given birth recently at the age of 15. It’s necessary to do something to stop the problem,” she said.

The Ministry of Education and Training has recently decided to bring sex education curriculums to general schools. However, this still has not helped much, because the knowledge given to students is dry, academic and unattractive.

“General schools don’t have social workers, though the supply is profuse. As far as I know, some 40 training establishments in Vietnam produce the graduates in social works,” said Nguyen Hiep Thuong from the Hanoi University of Education.

Tien Phong

jackbl
16-03-2013, 01:21 PM
Starbucks “teaches Vietnamese a lesson”
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VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnamese people’s high sensitivity to the new things, and the overly high enthusiasm of the mass media have both helped promote the US Starbucks brand in Vietnam.


In general, the opening of a new retail chain would not catch the special attention from the Vietnamese who hear about the opening of shops every day.

However, the opening of the first Starbucks shop in Vietnam, located in district 1 of HCM City, was a special case. Opened on February 1, 2013, the café has been attracting a high number of Vietnamese over the last half a month. Long queues of people still can be seen every day in front of the café. People stand there and wait in patience for their turn to enjoy the coffee from the US.

Observers said they have not seen such a thing before in HCM City, where most of the big consumer food brands have made their presence when penetrating the Vietnamese market. Here in HCM City, people have got used to the presence of the global big brands, including the well-known coffee brands from Australia, the US or Italy.

On the first days after the opening, Vietnamese had to queue up under the baking sun to buy the “low-quality coffee” as described by real coffee addicts, at the exorbitant high prices of between VND60,000 and VND100,000.

In fact, the “Starbucks phenomenon” not only takes place in Vietnam, while the phenomenon is foreseeable, because Starbucks is a gigantic brand. Moreover, marketing experts said the brand has experiences in creating Starbucks phenomenon in the markets it lands in. Howard Schult, President and CEO of Starbucks, has been considered as the businessman who has many great ideas to catch the special attention from the targeted customers.

Marketing experts have noted that Starbucks has made a wise move when deciding that its first shop should be opened in early February. The month is the transitional period between the old and the new lunar years, when a lot of domestic cafes close their door but Vietnamese people still have the demand for going out and having meetings.

Vietnamese mass media has also helped a lot in making Starbucks brand more popular in the Vietnamese community. The appearance of a series of stories with the keyword “Starbucks” on websites and newspapers has helped the US coffee brand advertise for its products free of charge.

Hoang Tung, a well-known marketing expert, has noted that Starbucks has succeeded in using events to attract the mass media.

In the countries, where Starbucks once landed in, especially in Asia Pacific, it is quite a normal thing that people have to queue up for services on the first days after the opening.

The long queues and the series of stories on local newspapers prove to be the most powerful tools for Starbucks to polish its images. In the eyes of businessmen, the long queues and the stories are obviously less costly than the expenses to be paid for advertisement campaigns.

However, analysts said when the “Starbucks fever” is over, no one would be ready to stand for a long time under the summer heat to buy a cup of coffee, even though it is Starbucks coffee. They believe that the Vietnamese buy Starbucks coffee nowadays just because they want to try the US coffee, while the “Vietnamese coffee culture” would not change overnight.

However, Vietnamese enterprises have been told to be cautious with Starbucks, while they should be aware that the Starbucks’ way of doing marketing is great for them to inquire.

DNSG

jackbl
16-03-2013, 01:22 PM
Women paid 13% less than men
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VietNamNet Bridge – The income gap between men and women in Vietnam is on the rise, although the rate of women working is still high compared to global levels.

Around 72% of Vietnamese women are working and this rate is higher than in several other nations around the world, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said in a statement.

However, Vietnam is among the few countries that have a widening gap in salaries between the genders, going against the global pattern in 2008-2011 compared to 1999-2007.

The Global Salary Report 2012-2013 of ILO shows that the gender income gap of Vietnam has surged 2% in recent years. Meanwhile, the 2011 statistics of the General Statistics Office indicate that incomes of women are lower than those of men by 13%.

A survey of workers’ incomes among local companies conducted by the Vietnam General Federation of Labor also shows that salaries of female workers only account for 70-80% of incomes of male colleagues.

Tim De Meyer, a senior expert of ILO in Asia Pacific, said: “The rising gender income difference unveils a worrisome tendency even though it is difficult to get exact figures of salaries and incomes in Vietnam due to the incomplete data collection and surveys at home.”

A labor investigation report made in 2012 says that the monthly average income of women is lower than that of men in State and private economic sectors and foreign investment sector. Even women in the industries of healthcare services, social activities and sales are subject to lower salaries than their male colleagues.

Source: SGT

jackbl
17-03-2013, 11:01 AM
Gender stereotypes hold women back
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VietNamNet Bridge – Gender inequality remains a huge problem in the field of employment in Viet Nam, with a pay divide between men and women growing and experts warning that there is continued discrimination against women in recruitment and benefit policies.

According to the General Statistics Office's Labour Survey Report for the first nine months of 2012, female workers had a lower average monthly income than their male counterparts in all economic sectors - State, non-State and foreign-invested. The pay gap was estimated at about 13 per cent.

The International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Global Wage Report 2012-13 also shows that the gender pay gap in Viet Nam has been widening in comparison to the declining tendency of the gap reported in many countries.

Dang Quynh Dung, a former employee of a construction company in Ha Noi, said she quit her old job because she felt it was unfair that she was being paid less than her male co-workers for the same job.

"I was assigned as many responsibilities as my former male co-workers but was paid US$300 less," Dung complained.

Tim De Meyer, ILO's senior specialist on International Labour Standards and Labour Law pointed out that the gender pay gap increased when employers were given too much freedom with their staff policy, implying the need for intervention.

Meyer added that women could not enjoy the same career path as men as they were more burdened by family-related responsibilities and had more frequent breaks because of these domestic duties.

Tran Thu Phuong, head of the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL)'s women workers department, said gender inequality can be seen in public job advertisements.

A reporter at Viet Nam News observed that postings on the front page of the job placement website Vietnamworks.org showed that some companies, including a construction company in HCM City, a food company in northern Bac Ninh Province and a service company in northern Ha Long City, stated an obvious preference for male applicants.

Despite these companies requesting that only men apply, there was no clear reason given why the vacant positions (accountant, chief executive officer and project manager) could not be filled by women.

Phuong argued that inequality in recruitment and salary payment are having a considerable negative effect on the working spirit and professional ambition of women.

"This means that half of the labour force may feel less motivated, contributing to decreased productivity and decreased work efficiency," she said, adding that any reduction in the financial income of individuals and the operational efficiency of enterprises would have negative consequences for the country's floundering economy.

Breaking stereotypes

According to Nguyen Kim Lan, ILO's national programme co-ordinator in gender and employment, inequality was caused by gender stereotypes which started among boys and girls at a very young age.

She said that due to their interaction with parents, children formed an early idea about which subjects they should choose to focus on in schools and later which kinds of professions they should pursue.

For example, boys tend to choose natural sciences as their major at college, while girls tend to pick social sciences and foreign languages.

Suzette Mitchell, country representative of UN Women in Viet Nam said the country needs to break its stereotype about suitable professions.

She argued that women are under-represented in decision-making and management positions, citing the 2/20 ratio between women and men holding ministerial positions in Viet Nam and the much lower ratio of women sitting in the National Assembly compared to men.

Nguyen Mai Huyen, a traffic policewoman in Ha Noi, gave an example of gender discrimination when responding to media questions about the mobilisation of policewomen to leave offices and control traffic circulation on the roads at the beginning of the year.

Huyen said her accquaintances and friends were initially under the impression that their new assignment was only a strategy to create a nice image for the police force, and many still believed that men were better suited for the job.

Huyen pointed out that in reality the group had proved their ability with their work performance.
"In addition to fulfilling family responsibilities, women nowadays are capable of doing the tasks that had previously been seen as being the domain of men. They may even be doing them better," declared Huyen.

Call for change

Pointing out that indirect discrimination had the biggest effects on the gender pay gap, Tim De Meyer from ILO said Viet Nam should adopt the principle of "equal pay for work of equal value" instead of the current principle of "equal pay for equal work".

De Meyer cited an example by comparing the professions of motor mechanics and nurses.

He pointed out that motor mechanics working in a male-dominant environment are paid more than nurses who are mostly women, even though nursing should score higher in terms of required skills, training, tolerance of working conditions and responsibility.

He said a comparison between the remuneration of women and men when they do different jobs can make it apparent how women earn less because the remuneration reflects the worker's gender rather than the actual contents of the job.

De Meyer added that the retirement age should not be based on gender at present as women retire five years earlier than men - an opinion that mirrored the positions of many labour experts, including senior State officials.

Nguyen Thi Thu Hong, vice president of the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour, pointed out that reducing the gender gap was a process that involved the combined efforts of employers, trade unions and female workers themselves.

"Don't limit yourself," said Mitchell of the UN Women as she called for young people to fight for their ambitions and break free from professional stereotypes about women and men to create equal opportunities for all.

Source: VNS

jackbl
17-03-2013, 11:05 AM
Rise in infertility in Vietnam
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VietNamNet Bridge – A latest survey showed that the rate of childless couples in the country has gone up by 8 percent or a total of one million Vietnamese couples.

This upward trend is worrisome as even medical experts warn of more and more couples in the country facing infertility.

The survey also pointed out that in some regions of the country the rate of childless couples was higher, such as in Hanoi with 13 percent and the central province of Khanh Hoa with 14 percent.

Infertility puts a lot of pressure on Vietnamese women and affects the quality of their marriage. X.Hoa, 35, a director of a private company in the northern province of Hai Phong, said although he married more than three years back, he is still issueless because both he and his wife suffer from a problem in the reproductive system.

The National Maternity Hospital in Hanoi used to receive only five such couples a week, which has now increased to 10 infertile couples a week for treatment.

Noticeably, the Hanoi-based Military Hospital's Embryo Technology Center treats around 10,000 childless couples annually. Doctor Quan Hoang Lam, the center's director, said the demand for infertility treatment is increasing and most infertile couples are between the ages of 25-32.

According to scientists, stress, improper diet, and consuming contaminated food are the main causes of infertility. Even living in a contaminated or unhealthy environment can cause infertility.

Infertility in men can be attributed to low sperm count, up to 90 percent, and the condition can be brought on by work pressure, alcohol and smoking.

More worrisome, infertility in women can be caused by unsafe sex resulting in infection in sexual organs, leading to miscarriages and abortions. Statistics show the rate of Vietnamese women undergoing abortion is around 32 percent or one million cases a year. This is the highest rate of abortion in women in the world.

Health Deputy Minister Nguyen Viet Tien said infertility is a grave challenge for the country.

Vietnam now has a total of 14 centers for infertility treatment. Skilled physicians in these centers are as good as their counterparts in the world with a higher rate of success of 35-40 percent or even 50 percent in Tu Du and the National Maternity Hospital, along with lower cost of VND60 million (US$2,867) while it is more than $15,000 in the US.

Source: SGGP