Got a couple things going on

Doug in his room in Saigon

Living over here is interesting and at times exciting but it has it's frustrations just like anywhere else.  Let me share two of my recent vexing problems. 

Number 1 - been renting a room for the past 6 years at a boarding house style place on Le Thi Reing Street in Saigon.  Well now it ain't working, the lady who ran it married and moved to the USA, leaving her younger brother in charge, whose main qualification is that his sister was in charge before him.  I like living in this part of district 1 but even before the management change, my one room for a month was okay but after 2 or 3 months it was getting to me. So even before the management change, making a change is something that had been on my mind.  Anyway it's okay for now but what I'm really interested in is something better than what I have now  for a 4 or 5 month stay when I return in November, .

Housing is an ongoing problem here in Saigon, that is for guys like me who are not part of a large organization like a corporation or NGO (Non Government Organization). Those big guys with their deep pockets can and do pay the big bucks for housing and in turn drive up rental prices.  So if your like me and on your on your own dime, finding a reasonably priced place to stay in a convenient area of the city can be a challenge.

Number 2 - I also need something more in my life than the hours I'm spending at my key board Blogging or screwing around on the Internet and a way to earn a little extra money to help me live life in the style I've been accustomed too.  But money aside, I mostly need more contact with people, I'm a single retired American guy who knows very little Vietnamese but lives in a mostly Vietnamese neighbourhood and it can get lonely at times.  I've given my cloistered style of living a lot of thought and one option would be part time work or maybe just give my services to an organization in need of management/sales expertise  just to get out and meet some people. 

Of course there are a few problems to address before I race out of my room to my new fulfilling life.  The biggest is I don't know how to locate a part time work position or volunteer opportunities here so I goggled both topics. My Internet search for part time work came up with the same old gobbel-de-gok that always comes up when I'm looking for job resources on the Internet and it was much of the same for volunteering opportunities except they all wanted money from you first before you could volunteer.  Crap, if I paid the money they were asking to volunteer I’d probably meet some people but I wouldn't be able to eat. 

So I'm still here at the keyboard but with the thought that maybe someone reading this knows about working, volunteering or short term apartments here in Saigon and wants to pass it along.  

Thanks,     Doug

Saigon Tet 2013 the year of the Snake

Nguyen Hue, a major street in Saigon was blocked off for over a week so they could built all this and after wards another week to remove it.

Get your motor rolling it's time to get ready for Tet

Nguyen Hue street - year of The Snake

Communist propaganda poster across from >

<Pepsi advertisement based on lunar New Year across from  

Nguyen  Hue man the flowered all just set in place and then removed a week later

okay, I'll just wait here

Tet in Vietnam is the holiday celebrating the srart of a new Lunar Year and man it's a big deal, no, make that a "mega"  big deal.  Saigon partially shuts down for a week or so as many in Saigon head back to see there families or as most are off so it's a good time to travel.  Unlike the west Vietnamese can't pick a vacation time, and a 7 day work week is not all the unusual so extra time for a holiday is out of the question until Tet.  When Tet week happens, most are given time off along with a holiday bonus, many head home to see family while others use the holiday and extra money for vacation travel. 

A special note:  If you don't have family in Vietnam, eating and shopping can be a challenge as many businesses close.  Travel using public transport can be tough also as a good part of the people in the country are on the move but hotels are normally easy to find as most Vietnamese travellers are visiting and staying with family. Also, during this period prices for goods and services can double or go even higher as Vietnamese except this because it's Tet.

Traditionally the Tet holiday was three days in duration.  Day one spent with the family at home, day two to honour teachers and day three to spend with friends.  The tradition of spending time with families and friends is still the corner stone of the celebration but it has gown into a much grander event. Families save through out the year to assure they have as many resources as possible to welcome in the New Year.  Their are clothes to buy, homes to be spruced up and gifts for friends and family. All with the intent to get off to a new fresh start in the New Year.

The plus side for us foreigners visiting during this period, especially here in Saigon, is the city is just about deserted... However, you miss out on a lot of interesting things so visit during Tet but extend your stay so you can get the real feel of Vietnam not just the stuff open for tourists during the holiday.

Chuck mung nam moi (happy new year)!!

On the bus to Phnom Penh again - (photos) February 2013

While in Phnom Penh, my old body developed red hives, joints swelled and my whole body ached and just getting up was a real problem.  Though, here we are 10 days later and it's just about all cleared up. So my heart wasn't really into my visit, no that's not right, my heart was into it but my body had other ideas.  Then while putting this together today my computer crashed twice and I just lost the page another time.    So this is going up now before anything else happens.

Vietnamese / Cambodian boarder crossing

passing through the boarder

emigrations officer with a wave to the camera

                                                                                                    

   

our driver and his bus

20 minute lunch stop on route

Royal Palace

the streets of Phnom Penh

       

Cambodia emigrations

                                 

Tonley Sap River front - Phnom Penh

The obligatory pretty girl with motorbike

Raggedy and not so cheap but have a Vietnam visa

hungry, we got food

Just got back from five days in Phnom Penh and it was disappointing for me because I'm a long time fan of the place.  Maybe the mess I encountered  was do the recent passing of King Noradon Sihanouk but whatever, every thing in Phnom Penh seemed over priced and the streets and side walks were strewn with litter that challanged you to find way through or over.

Along with that my health was not good, felt tired and achy and came down with a red rash on my legs and arms.  Sure that didn't help my state of mind as these problems arn't the sort of things that are normally a problem for me.

However, my goal of this outing was to obtain a new Vietnam visa which I did get so maybe not a nice place but I'm legal in Vietnam again.   Just for reference my three month, multiply visa through the Blue Tongue Hotel cost me  $110.00 and it took about a day and a half to process. 

Though shopping around I found the bus company SAPACO Tourist which I used to get to get to Phnom Penh offers a 3 month single Vietnam via  for $57.00, multi entry $77.00, 3 month multi for $95.00, 6 month multi for $140.00.  So if your visa shopping look around and oh ya my visa was cut at the Vietnamese Embassy in Sihanouk ville.  So maybe a trip to the beach can be fun while saving you a few bucks by going directly to the source.

Next will be busing it to Phnom Penh and a few random photos.

Doug fixes the US economy

The US needs to shift its focus from Wall Street to the mean streets of American where the US Census Bureau estimates that  16 % of the US population lives at or below the poverty line and has them daily looking over their own personal financial cliff.  There life is a day to day proposition, praying for good health because of lack of health insurance and savings makes ill health a potential game ender. Welcome to what might be considered a new expanding third world.

The Dow is up but the economy is still in the doldrums so maybe further proof we need to something to boost the lower levels of our population out of poverty.  Government needs to shift its focus from the upper end of earners and jointly with industry develop strategies to get these folks back into the game.  Maybe through developing low tech cottage industries in underdeveloped areas such as textiles, or outsourcing for components in manufactured products, maybe a neighbourhood based, co-op style low cost home building source.  Granted some of these endeavours  may not be financially self sustaining at first but though the use of government funding, looking past short term returns and concentrating on greater long term rewards, the potential benefits would be more cost effective and potentially offering  greater rewards to the overall economy than the present solution of unemployment payments.

So why is poverty reduction such a non starter? In the recent elections I can’t remember a mention of a comprehensive or for that matter a non-comprehensive plan to reach down and pull these folks up. Possibly the out of sight out of mind kind of thinking effects politicians as they don’t spend much time in these places and anyway there ain't no money there for campaign coffers down here.

Until our leadership can start thinking toward our nation’s future with creative solutions and by creative I don’t mean trying to create a new industry or just job retraining but rethinking our success of the past and using it to restart our industrial base.   Building a strong, self sustaining, economic future based on the production of goods and services and not on the financial transactions of Wall Street we will be mired in this economic mess.