Wild times in Thailand

Last week it was the Asian Summit in Pattaya when the "United Front for Democracy against dictatorship", other wise known as the red shirts converged on Pattaya. There demonstrations forcing the closure of the summit with the world leaders in attendance being heloed away.

To regain control a state of emergency was declared by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva which in effect pushed the demonstrators back to Bangkok.

Protesters and police have clashed a new in Bangkok, reports of anywhere from 44 to 70 people injured. Reports of streets being blocked, bus and train service halted but my Air Asia flight is still on for Wednesday. I tried to push back my flight but they have set 48 hours as the minimum time frame to change flights and I arrived 45 hours before and was told - "we have our rules so either use the flight or lossthe ticket".

Link to the latest news -news.yahoo.com/

Something else to think about before deciding to rent one of those spiffy little motorbikes :


Foreign drivers must cooperate with traffic police: officer
April 12, 2009 about News, Social

Ho Chi Minh City police will not tolerate resistance from foreign drivers found flouting traffic rules without a driver’s license, a police official said.

The Ho Chi Minh City police department set up a task force to oversee the observation of traffic regulations by foreigners late last month. The move followed a crackdown on foreigners and overseas Vietnamese caught breaking traffic regulations last December. English-fluent traffic police have been dispatched mostly to District 1 to handle foreigner-related traffic infringements.

Any violating foreign driver will have their bikes impounded if they cannot present a driver’s license, said lieutenant-colonel Nguyen Ngoc Loan, head of the Traffic Police Task Force No.1 at the city police department.
Foreign drivers who were uncooperative with traffic police would face additional fines of VND1.5 million, Loan said.

Loan also said the city police department would consider printing traffic violation tickets in English to make it easier for foreign drivers to read and sign.

Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Police Deputy Chief Lieutenant-Colonel Tran Thanh Tra said the current fines for the owners of rented motorbikes were not enough of a deterrent. Owners of motorbikes rented by foreigners face fines of VND100,000-200,000 ($5.90-11.80) if their customers break traffic regulations.

Tra said the fines should be higher.

HOW TO APPLY FOR A VIETNAMESE DRIVING LICENSE:
Foreigners eligible for driving licenses in Vietnam include those who have lived, worked or studied in Vietnam for at least three months and have legitimate driving licenses granted by their home countries.

To apply for a Vietnamese driving license foreigners need to submit the following documents:

• An application letter certified by their Vietnamese employer or agency;
• A copy of their driving license from their home country and a Vietnamese translation;
• A copy of their passport. Those under diplomatic immunity must present an introduction letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Three passport photos.

License applications, which should be processed within five days, can be made at HCMC Department of Transport offices at:
252 Ly Chinh Thang, Ward 9, District 3; 8 Nguyen Anh Thu, Trung My Tay Ward, District 12; or 111 Tan Son Nhi, Tan Son Nhi Ward, Tan Phu District.

In Hanoi, the documents can be submitted at the Hanoi Department of Transport offices at: 16 Cao Ba Quat, Ba Dinh District; or 2 Phung Hung Street, Ha Dong Town.

Reported by Dam Huy

Red, yellow and now blue shirts in Thai politics - plus update

Thaksin Shinawater has had a rough few years, while out of the country in September of 2006 a bloodless coup deposed him as prime minister. As a result he went into a self imposed exile with his wife, ending up in London, I'm guessing with time on his hands, so he bought the soccer team, Manchester United.

Meanwhile, his opponents in Thailand where prosecuting him and his wife in the courts on corruption charges and attempted to have him extradited. In his absence they continued with the proceedings, convicting him and his wife. Shortly their afterward he and his wife divorced, he gave up Manchester United and is said to be using all his time and energy in Thai politics. The power and support behind the red shirts, who are now protesting for a new election.

Q+A-Where is political unrest in Thailand heading?
Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:52am BST - Reuters UK

update 04/11/09 Blue shirts are now involved in the ongoing Thai political protests. Blues represent locale Pattaya residents who are attempting to block red shirts protests. The Nation

Watch out for buses in HCMC

Serious stuff getting out on the streets in Saigon - 38 bus related traffic accidents last year = 38 deaths. Read about the carnage in the last month in following article-

City orders bus driver clampdown after accident fatalities

A public bus picking up passengers in District 1.
The Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Safety Committee Tuesday ordered a clampdown on bus drivers following a horror spate of fatal accidents this month.
The committee requested the city’s Transport Department and Public Passenger Transport Management and Operation Center to tighten control over public bus operators and ensure bus drivers follow traffic safety rules.
It asked the HCMC police department to instruct the traffic and district police to get heavy on bus drivers who flouted the rules.
Nguyen Ngoc Tuong from the committee said many bus drivers were a danger to public safety as they drove carelessly, sped and dropped off and picked up passengers haphazardly.

Tuesday, driver Phan Van Toai drove over the leg of an alighting passenger, 71-year-old Tran Ngoc. The bus dropped Ngoc on Le Dai Hanh Street, District 11, and swung back onto the road before the driver was alerted by other passengers that he had run over the old woman.
Ngoc was rushed to Cho Ray Hospital for urgent surgery. So far no action has been taken against the driver.

On Monday, bus driver Nguyen Van Phuoc turned sharply to stop at a bus stop, causing an accident that killed a man engaged to be married this Sunday.

Last Thursday bus driver Ho Van Tay went the wrong way on a roundabout and crashed into a motorbike in District 8, killing the male motorbike driver and his nephew instantly while the man’s 12-year-old daughter died Friday in hospital. Tay was arrested and police have said they will press charges against him.

HCMC public buses last year caused 38 traffic accidents that killed 38 people, the city road traffic police reported earlier this month.

Reported by: Dinh Muoi â Thanh Tung

Busing it - Saigon to Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The bus route between Phnom Penh has become big business; several bus companies ply the route. One of the original companies is Sapaco Tourist and the is the one I picked again.

I’ve written about Sapaco before, they still have nice buses, some with toilets and a somewhat professional staff. A one way ticket is still $ 10.00 US and I always try to book one way tickets. The price is the same as buying a round trip and buying a one way gives you flexibility to return when ever. Though, in this case they said the return date could be changed, but it is one thing to say and another to do.

To enter Cambodia a visa is required and for $ 24.00 the bus company’s also handle this for you. Really not a bad deal as they fill out the forms and get you your visa at the border for you. However if you’re the hands on type a visa can be got on your own for $ 20.00 but it takes a few days on line through the Cambodia e-visa site. A visa can also be got through travel agents in Saigon but again it takes a few days and probably costs about the same as what the bus company charges.

Sapaco has buses leaving Saigon at 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, 9:00 11:30 AM and 1:00, 2:00 PM with two stops, one at the border and another for a food break. In Saigon they are located on Pham Ngu Lao adjacent to the backpacker area of district 1, along with the other bus companies working the Cambodia route. Your hotel or guest house can probably handle your bus reservation and set it up so you can be picked up, how ever you book your ticket it's best to book a couple days in advance to can get that primo front seat. Oh ya, the company also tosses in a sandwich and a bottle of water for the 5 hour trek.

My ride over was uneventful, border crossing took about 30 minutes, a short wait for a ferry across river at Neak Loeing and a food break at one of the nameless highways places buses in every third world country stop at. The bus was clean and nice looking but lacked a toilet and had this rolling ride like running in an off shore swell aboard a boat.

Cambodian kids

Family outing - Cambodia style

Bus tire repair, driver and helper

Cambodian police guard market

tut-tut cruises by grand palace

Phnom Penh is an interesting town, crowded, dirty and poor but interesting. Reminding me of some people I've met in my life, I'm drawn to them but I'm not sure why.

For example you will find loads of bars and girls looking for work on street 116, just around the corner from the upscale riverside cafés. On street 116 places with names like the Oasis bar, 69, Candy bar and Banana bar are the norm. If you meet the lady of your dreams and make that cosmic connection or just feel like messing around, pay the $ 5.00 bar fine and she is yours for the evening and another $ 20.00 gets you a sleep over.

Now if you’re the sort that needs a bit of very personal afternoon attention, The Walkabout is your spot, $ 15.00 gets you a new best friend for an hour plus an additional $2.00 for a spot to get personal, overstay your hour and the room went up to $4.00.

US dollars work great in most places even though the KHR (riel) is Cambodia’s official currency 4,100 KHR = 1 US dollar. At our food stop I exchanged some US dollars at the bank across the road but after a couple days ended up trading them back for dollars. It's just easier to use dollars most places.

I booked my hotel room through agoda on line at the Cara hotel, a little bit away from the action, located on No. 18, Street 47& 84, Sangkat Chork, Khanh Doun Penh though has a real classy disco across the street and taxi’s and tuk-tuk's right outside the front door to carry you away. Great place at a good price $35.00 a night, including breakfast. Has a bank of top quality computers for guests to use at no charge. Rooms are large and quite because of the big windows being double glazed , no mildew in the bathrooms and excellent cable TV.

The bus ride back to Saigon took a lot longer than expected. Somewhere out in the Cambodian countryside the bus blew out the tandem back left tires. Sure made a loud boom and the bus was all shaking and making strange noises until the driver got it stopped. Luckily we weren't going very fast; Cambodian roads aren't made for speed anyway. It took the driver and crew a long time to get both those tires off, crank down the spare and mount it.

Then we headed to a tire guy, a shoeless man dressed only in shorts, working out of a dirt floored shed with the help of a sledge hammer and some well placed shims, pulled the tires off the rimes. Inserted new tubes from the spares aboard, remounted the tires and we were rolling again.

One of the real freaky things about Phnom Penh are all the new expensive cars clogging the streets. Can you say Lexus, Mercedes and BMW? It makes a strange contrast with people around so poor they can't afford shoes – what’s up with that? Also loads of new construction going on and I'm thinking who is moving into all those new buildings?

Yup, an interesting place where change is charging in but still with still a bit of the old rough side left to make things interesting .

cost of hanging out in Saigon -

• 4/2010 prices of common items you might need while in Saigon - (approx. 19,000 dong = 1 US dollar)
• Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) ......11,000 - 35,000 dong
• can of coke at the market.................................6,500 dong
• can of soda water -market................................4,000 dong
• Aquafina 1.5 l of mineral water market......... 8,000 dong
• iced coffee with milk - ca-phe sua da...5,000 - 35,000 dong
• Ba Ba Ba beer in the market.......................... 10,000 dong
• Tiger beer in the market.................................12,000 dong
• Heineken beer in the market............................14,500 dong
• Budweiser beer - market ..................................21,000 dong
• Filipino Tondena rum gold -750 ml bottle..... 92,000 dong
• Havana Club Anejo 3 Anos, Cuban rum -750 ml bottle. 250,000 dong
• Vietnamese Ruou rhum 650 ml - Ben Tham Mkt . 40,000 dong
• Rex Goliath California wine..................................258,000 dong
• Ruou Dalat red wine.............................................82,000 dong
• Peter Pan, jar (chunky) peanut butter................50,000 dong
• Sardines, can (packed in olive oil).......................46,200 dong
• Spam, can..................................................................63,000 dong
• tray for freezing ice cubes for my rhum and co-ca. 14,000 dong
• nice dinner for two at a Vietnamese restaurant... 160,000 dong
• omelet and coffee in the Pham Nu Lao area...........40,000 -70,000 dong
• hair cut, shampoo, face wash with chair massage. 160,000 dong
• Gillet foamy shaving cream - med. size can...............49,000 dong
• Knock off polo shirt....................................................85,000 dong
• xe om - motorbike taxi in city center............ 20,000 - 50,000 dong
• Guest house monthly stay ................... $ 250-370.00 USD per month including cable TV, AC, hot water private bath, and laundry
• Hotel room ................................. $ 35.00 - 250.00 USD a night
• Air fare to Bangkok from Saigon...$ 200.00 USD round trip
• Air fare to Hanoi from Saigon....... $ 150.00 USD round trip
• Hydrofoil to Vung Tau from Sgn......160,000 dong each way
• Direct bus Saigon to Siem Reap, Cambodia.... .$ 20.00 USD one way
• Cambodian Visa................................$ 24.00
• Serviced apt- fully furnished ........... $ 800.00 USD and up per month
• Mars dark chocolate bar . Zen Plaza................ 14,000 dong
• Breakfast Pho Pho 24, and coffee with milk.. 70,000 dong
• Khoai tay chin small bag (potato chips) mkt.... 14,000 dong
• One hour of computer use at a Saigon Internet shop..... 4,000 dong
• cost of a pet Bull dog bred imported from Australia.......$800. USD on up
• cost of a pet Pug pure bred dog imported from Austrialia......$300.00 USD up
• restored 1950's -1960's Vespa...$ 2,000 - $ 6,000 USD
• new motorbike ....... starting at... $1500.00 USD
• disposable rain poncho bought on the street.....2,500 dong
• copy MS Office Pro 2007................................50,000 dong

Let me know if you would like something added to the list.

Saigon sets the Bench Mark for bad days -

As most I have good and bad days wherever I am but my bad days in Saigon set a new bench mark for badness. If you have a minute I'll take you a long on my last and worst yet day.

It all starts yesterday morning when I trip, navigating my way down those black, narrow, spiral stairs from my room. Recovering from my misstep with no peril to myself or the stairs I stumbled over to change into my street shoes.

I’m rolling now with time to spare to get down to Pho 32 before they sell of their morning Pho and close. Pull open the iron security door to the alley and bang into a motorbike parked up close. Slide out the door and around him only to step out into the path of another motorbike on the move down the alley, he veers around me, with a passing dirty look.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but dirty looks; well they’re just dirty” I try to imply with my reply look.

However, I’m starting to feel more, more uneasy with every step; it just seemed that I was out of step with the world around me. Maybe you've had that kind of feeling, you know when no matter how you try what ever you do just doesn't seem right.

I pass on down my alley and see the food selling is in full swing, which means tables set up on both side of the alley allowing about a 2 – 3 ft space for people and motor bikes to pass through.

Along with the tables on the sides you have the food prep going on, dirty dishes being washed in strategically placed metal and plastic tubs. The open middle is not just to allow people like me to pass through but for the customer’s coming to eat and the food servers. Then there are the ever present motor bikes forcing their way through the middle section, not just locale alley dwellers but the two way traffic variety tying to beat traffic of the main street.

Three times a motorbikes honked at me to get out of the way and all three time it scared the bajesus out of me and two of the three times I knocked into a dinners trying to eat. All responding with that look that says - “who the hell do you think you are”. Sometimes I’m a bit self-conscious anyway, as a 65 year old, grey haired stocky, white guy in the land of little dark haired, mostly young folk but I try hard to keep it in control but today it’s not working.

Now I’m around the corner, about 20 foot from my breakfast spot, Pho 32 and step out into the street to pass around some side of the road goings-on as the loud blast of a passing bus shakes me out of my sandals. It’s a slow day in Pho 31 so I slide into a corner table and hunker down to my noodles and coffee. For a change when I finish eating I actually offer up the correct amount of money for the bill, so as I step back on the street I’m thinking a little more positive.

After breakfest pho I’m on my way over to the riverside area to check on the boat service from HCM to Can Tho City. I cut across the park and around behind the Ben Than bus station, then down the back streets to Nguyen Hue and over to the riverside. In order to check on the boats I need to cross Ton Duc Thang. A four lane road with no crossing area and jam, chucked full with trucks hauling goods from the harbor, cross town buses, taxis and the ever present motorbikes. Close to a forty minute walk and I can’t get across the damn street, grumbling I start my walk back.

Get back to the room, take a nap and hang out till friends come by for dinner. That evening I decide to take a walk and de-stress myself. My walk has me feeling better so as I pass my favorite bar I decide to stop for a beer and peanuts.

Then on my way home, at about the half way point my stomach starts feeling bad and its getting progressively more uncomfortable as I walk along. I just make it up to my room, step in the john and everything comes up and out, not just once but at least 10 times. It was so bad I brought the stool from the room in to sit on because I was getting worn out from running back and forth.

Finely my system had pitched and flushed out all the bad stuff and I dropped into bed exhausted to dream of better days to come.

Since, I have recovered and took a couple days for my body and mind to regroup but all is fine now. Even made it across the busy street to the riverside and checked on the boat to Can Tho.

Saigon's Dam Sen Park - The water side

You’re tired of wondering around Saigon and you feel like some water fun, what’s a guy or gal to do, get out to Dam Sen Water Park. So toss you swim suit, towel and whatever you need in your bag and you’re on your way.

You can get there on your own by one of the buses originating from the bus terminal; you know the place where you see all the city buses on the other side of the traffic circle in front of Ben Thanh market.

To get over there you have a lot of traffic to walk through so torque up your courage and head out. I’ve written about this before, in passing through motorbike traffic walk slowly so they can navigate around you but with buses, trucks and cars just try to stay out of their way.

Once at the terminal walk around to the back side, looking for the bus with a placard in the window stating Ben Thanh – Dam Sen.

Riding any public bus in Vietnam is always an adventure but the bus your taking terminates at Dam Sen Park so no worries, just get off when the bus stops. Cheap also, 3,000 dong, standard fare on Saigon buses and you purchase your ticket on the bus from the drivers assistant. Oh ya and she makes change.

Dam Sen is really two parks, one is your standard Disneyesk and the other is of the water type. I believe you have to pay separately for each but this time I went just to the water park, the ticket cost of 80,000 dong. However, if you’re over 60 it’s no charge but you get strange looks when you request it, Oh ya and have to prove it. I wouldn’t have tried it on my own but it was my Vietnamese friend idea.
I’m not sure of the parks hours but most public places here open early and stay open late. Probably a visit during the week is best; guessing the weekends tend to be really crowded.
The park has all the standard water park stuff, wave pool, fax river to float on, small slides up to the mega ones. Kiddy area, lots of shaded areas with chairs and plenty of food vendors but you might not have much luck finding hot dogs and Hamburg’s. There is a changing area with showers and lockers for rent in the same area. The changing areas are close to the entrance but if need to be pointed in the right direction ask and if that doesn’t seem to work use a little sign language, like wave your swim suit around and soon someone will point you in the right direction.

Vietnamese are pretty conservative, so guys wear dark blue/black swim trunks or just shorts and t shirts – women also in t shirts with shorts or light weight pants, maybe an old school type swim suit, no bikinis. Anyway, it ain’t no Venice Beach.


The water was pretty chilly the day I visited but the air temp was the normal Saigon day of 90 plus. So it should be a good place to literally chill out and if you have kids they will love it.

Saigon and Tet 2009

Arrived back in Saigon a few days before the official start of Tet but the craziness had already begun. Streets filled with motorbikes, so what’s new; ya, but it seemed even more of them than normal and all in a rush, and again – OK, the same rush but this scene now had most bikes laden down with plants, flowers, cases of beer and all kinds of treats and gifts for the holiday. This getting ready for Tet is big stuff – parks are filled with flowers, trees and all kinds of special stuff for hearth and home. Street vendors increase in density and diversify, lit plastic devil horns where an especially hot item along with colored light gadgets you hold.

It can be hard for foreigners to appereciate all this effort required to get the holiday going and some may not understand why the Tet New Year is celebrated on a different day every year. Because as we all know the first of January as the start of the New year sp wjar'ts thos all about. Well, strange as it may seem there was civilized life before us, even a different calendar was established by the Chinese. This Chinese calander was pretty complicated and heady stuff, moon phases and all that were used as the bases for keeping track of the passing of time. Hence the lunar Year was created and the celebration of this in Vietnam is called Tet.

I don’t know about the rest of Vietnam but HCM City puts on a super duper show. The most dramtic event is the blocking off Nguyen Hue to motorized traffic and turning it into a giant walk through display of exotic tropical trees and flowers. Among all this living beauty are sculptured traditional characters and objects depicting the characters related to Tet, all this is lit in a fantastic show of show of lights and with traditional music cascading out.

The main street Le Loi, which terminates into Nguyen Hue is draped with lights and interwoven with artistic renditions of flowers creating a breath taking canopy over the entire boulevard. Bright red wrappings wound with more colored lights cover the trees lining the sides of the boulevard, giving a dramatic approach to the main show on Nguyen Hue.

It seems the celebration of Tet lasts about a week and during this many businesses close and so travel is big for Vietnamese during the period. Either heading back to the country side, Mekong, Hanoi, heading out for a holiday or just around town on your motorbike, Vietnam is in motion. While this is an interesting time, filled with tradition, so very interesting to us foreigners but traveling is just about impossible and many places of business are closed, even eating can be a challenge.

The opportunity for a new start is taken pretty serious, houses are cleaned from top to bottom, new clothes are bought and friends and family are visited and treated politely, gifts are given to insure transgression are over looked and things get off to a good start for the New Year.

Which leads us to Lucky money, my thinking is it’s kind of a karma thing coupled with the trickle down theory of economics carried out with in a little red envelope. So here is - a little red envelope with a crisp small denomination dong note inside, it’s passed from elders down or maybe hung with no money inside from a decorative Tet tree in the house where visitors are allowed to pluck one off for good luck. It’s really not about the value of what is inside but the concept of sharing your wealth for a New Year.

For me, after surviving the celebration of two new years, I know 2009, the year of the buffalo, is going to be a good one.

Chuc Mung Nam Moi

On my way to Saigon - January 09

Lumpini Park - Bangkok noi

I’m passing through Bangkok on my way to Saigon from California. I saved enough money by using Bangkok as my gateway to covered the cost of a round trip ticket from Bangkok to Saigon.

The legacy carriers such as Air France, Thai Air, and United used to control the corridor between BKK and SGN until discounters like Air Asia came along. The new discounted fares are great but it seems Southeast Asia is trying to make their money on your baggage instead of your seat. It’s possible to pay more for the luggage you’re dragging around with you than your ticket. To save a few bucks they offer an option to prepay for your overage at a discount if you do it when you book the flight in person or on line. Though for guys like me that is a tough one, I don’t carry a scale and anyway I’m still stuffing things in my bag on the way to the airport

Another little get sha, - open seating is standard but for 20 bucks you can get pre boarding and snag that primo seat or have a good shot at it.

Air France was discounting BKK to SGN but the tab was still about a 40% premium over Air Asia. I took a ticket just because I didn’t want to deal with Air Asia but on check in found they also have a strict baggage allowance, per person a checked bag, 22 kg and 1 carry on, 8 kg. My checked came at 28 kg, with a big smile I started getting loud and acting a little crazy (they hate that) and digging stuff out of my checked bag and stuffing it into my carry on. They were so glad to have me gone they didn’t bother checking what I was carrying on, other than making me put my motorcycle helmet back in the checked bag. So in retrospect I’m not so sure if flying through BKK to save a buck is such a good deal but there are other reasons to pass through Bangkok.

One of those reasons are night spots like Soi Cowboy. Down the soi you'll find bar’s like Spicy Girls, Sheba, and Dun Dee, which all most likely evolved from days of old when this was a primo R&R spot for Vietnam War weary solders. The solders are now history only to be replaced by Indian’s, Japanese, Brits, and Australians on holiday and of course Doug.

As I sit on my bar stool taking advantage of happy hour, OK, happy two hour – 6:30 to 8:30, 40 – 80 baht a beer depending on the bar. It’s around 8:00 and the soi (alley) is a buzz with motor bikes ferrying the girls in for the night. As I watch this I can’t help but make the comparison between their start up ritual and bus tours I’ve been on, the bus finely arrives and we are rushed aboard, it races away only to stop shortly thereafter for gas. Much the same with the girls as they girls race down the soi side saddle astride motor bikes to their bar positions, hurriedly get dressed and apply their makeup, only to plop down, break out the chop sticks and top off the tank with a heaping plate of noddles. Pay attention as we will have a Q & A later, meet me at Soi Nana, you’re buying.

A few beers, a long day of sunny walking a little dizzy from watching all the hot chicks pass only to be shaken by a series of loud shirks. As a full grown elephant comes into view, like a couple feet from my outpost with his trainer riding atop as an assistant try’s to peddle food for folks to feed to the behemoth. I’ve seen baby elephants paraded around Bangkok before but this was a first for the jumbo variety. The authorities and animal rights groups are trying to discourage this kind of thing, they say it’s not fair to the animal and it could possible be hazardous to all. Yes, I’ll buy all that and I’m to cheap to get into feeding elephants. Anyway, between all the girls and I'm trying to imagine with all the traffic in Bangkok, along with it being illegal how the heck did they get this giant animal into the middle of the Bangkok?

Still have a few days more to go so I’m going to pace myself and head back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

Saigon is now Ho Chi Minh City
Saigon is now Ho Chi Minh City and you’re thinking old news, ok, but not so fast. Saigon has changed so drastically over the past few decades it deserves a new name and Ho Chi Minh City is as good as any. After all uncle Hoe, as he is affectionately known, is the man behind the unification of North and South into one Vietnam.


The change in the city was slow and stumbling at first but in the last few years it has accelerated at a mind numbing pace. HCM now has a complete medley of designer shops – ranging from Gucci to Louis Vuitton, along with Tag Heuer, Bally and a Chloe boutique in the new Rex Hotel annex.
The Rex was the Hotel where higher up military were billeted during the war years and its roof top bar offering a great vantage point for the viewing of night skirmishes going on between Uncle Hoe’s guys and us.
Personally I hate change so it’s more than a little frustrating to head out to one of my favorite spots and find a vacant lot or instead of a Pho shop or a high end place specializing in Brazillion beef or some other exotic fare. Though to be fair all the changes aren’t just up scaling everything, there is the fairly new Pho 24 chain with its squeaky clean, hermetically sealed super efficient restaurants, while still offering Pho at a reasonable price -– kind of like the McDonald's of Pho.



They still haven’t completely forced out all the old Saigon, you can still find the odd street vendor and if you step off the tourist tract or away from the foreigner haunts you’ll find the basic street sellers of old. Complete with those little plastic kiddy chairs where good and cheap noodles are still available at a buck or less.

-coconut juice sellers Lam Son Square -

While pursing markets like Ben Thanh is fun but if you’re on a mission it can be frustrating, even for Vietnamese. So the new Uncle Hoe city has a multitude of 7/11 style, super cooled, buffed and polished mini marts opening all over the place. There prices seem to be in line with the market but without the haggling. Large department stores like Zen Plaza and retail areas like Saigon Center and the Tax Mart offer US style goods from hair care products to California wine and locale products all at fair prices. Today I noticed several newly opened Circle K mini marts to offer more help to meeting our shopping needs.


I’ve even seen some infrastructure improvements, like new sidewalks and traffic signals. I read about big plans the city has to provide potable water, low cost housing for the workers, even a subway but I’m thinking the government moves a bit slower than the private sector.

Even with all the changes, inside its still Saigon and you can still call it that if you want and no one will care. To celebrate the future we will call Saigon Ho Chi Minh City or whatever other name that is decided on.

Thia's making the best of political change process

Back in the US now so all I know about the political turmoil going on in Thailand is what I read. Every thing I picked up made the political goings on sound very serious and the country seem to be a scary place, which goes against my Thai experience. With the exception of ex Thai girlfriends who lead several aggressive protests against me and my behavior. Other than that I've always found Thia's to be peaceful, understanding and flexible in their acceptance of things. So hearing about the ongoing protests against the government which in the process even managed to shut down two airports and even railroad service for a for a short while, I was shocked. However, as you'll see in the photos the Thai personality and love of snook (fun) shines through even in these troubled times of change.



After mentioning this to my Thai friend Mati she sent these photos.

Doug, Victor and friends in Chiang Mai

The past few months has been pretty calm maybe even a little boring, which is OK from time to time. I arrived back home to my apartment here in California the end of May. In time to enjoy some of that great California spring weather. I can't believe how time fly's, it fall now and I'm just getting around to editing this.

California's dry hot and days and cool nights were a welcome relive from the hot, hot weather washed down with the sudden rains of Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok. 90's with rain showers has you in stifling humidity as soon as you step a way from the luxury of an air-conditioned room.

On the 13 Th of May after a sleepless night I climbed on the back of my friend Gia My's motorbike and we heading over to get my visa extended. All night I had been up most of the night with serious heart burn so I asked her to drop me at Columbia Asia Clinic to get a bit of doctorly advise. I've used the clinic before, good service at a reasonable price and in this case a beautiful Vietnamese doctor to boot. Her verdict after an EKG and blood tests was that I had the makings of a heart attach. Next thing I know I'm bouncing my way through Saigon laying in the back of a van masquerading as an ambulance. Arriving at Tham Duc cardiology hospital they wasted no time and rolled me directly into the operating room for an angioplasty procedure, resulting in a stint in my right carteo artery and the information that my left artery was about 80% blocked. A week or so later my air evac insurance guys - International SOS decided to speed things up and air evaced me to Samitivej Sukhumvit Hospital in Bangkok for another surgery to open the remaining blocked arteries. I'm doing pretty well now, physically anyway but mentally it's hard admitting I can break and that my life may have an end. Of course dealing with the insurance company and US bank’s World Perks Visa Signature card’s Nazi customer service hasn’t done much for my mental state either.

Just for reference to have an angioplasty and a stent inserted in Saigon takes about a weeks hospital stay and costs $ 6,500.00 (US). While the complicated procedures to open two arteries, with hospital stay in Bangkok was about $ 13,000.00. A room at Samitivej Hospital in Bangkok is about $ 200.00 a night (US) – all rooms are single even in intensive care. While Tham Duc Cardiology Hospital offers an open bed intensive care of about 18 beds and shared rooms at $ 35.00 (US) and private rooms at $ 50.00 a night. Samitivej Hospital billed my insurance company – Blue Cross Blue Shield – direct but the Vietnamese hospital wanted the money up front.

It happened again, this morning walking along side the road, more on the sidewalk than on the road and I was hit from behind by a motorbike. Two silly Vietnamese girls abroad a Honda something or other clipped me on my right side, lost control of the bike, bounced over a cage where a hamster or some little rat looking creature was being housed. Then the out of control motorbike, silly girls still hanging on paused against a tree where a couple of security men from the building we were in front of, grabbed the controls and shut the thing down.

Interesting – the folks gathered around kind of gave me a look of apology and concern but not the driver. I’ve been through things like this before and it seems some Vietnamese care less about the damage they cause than the damage sustained to their image.

It’s become so crazy that it isn’t just foreigners who are at risk; I’ve seen locals get clipped also, one by a bus, along with seeing a bunch of close calls. The traffic is getting so thick that motorbikes are not only being parked on the side walk but are using the walks as an extension of the roadways, which as you can imagine really increases the hazards for walkers. Recently I’ve even read about concerns by the government because of traffic police being injured by motorbikes running into them.

It’s 5:30 pm in Bangkok as I’m polishing off a couple beer Chang’s and a plate of chicken and rice at Mikes Corner bar and Restaurant. Mikes is an open air spot at the end of soi 18, Sukhumvit Road. I’ve been here before, for no other reason than I just end up here. As before I’m looking at the “Maxims Inn” sign – proclaiming “quality, budget accommodations and good food” and wondering if I’m really in Mikes or Maxims? Kind of like when you see a cat staring at the wall and you wonder what they are thinking, that’s me on beer chang.

The cat analogy fits well because at the time a cat was messing around under my chair. This is Thailand and maybe a Buddhist thing but cats and dogs seem to be welcome everywhere and of course restaurants are especially popular hangouts for them. In the process of disentangling the cat I glanced across to the Tequila Dragon Bar and lost interest in the sign dilemma and the cat and to see 8 bar girls sitting out in front of the bar. Preparing for the evening with a bar set up off bottles of Mekong whisky and cokes. My beer Chang drained I wonder over to be greeted with “Welcome, please come in”, and my night begins.

Sukhumvit is one of the main roads in Bangkok and off of it on the soi’s is where the action is. A soi is like a side street off a main road but instead of having individual names, are numbered, odd on one side and even on the other. The main action spots are on Soi’s but are not know by name, Soi Nanna and soi Cowboy but wonder down most and you’ll find some thing happening.

It’s been reported to be the most expensive city in the world for expats to live. A little island where the lack of land area has its residents living in towering apartment buildings, dwarfing the skyline of the city center.

Hong Kong Special Administration Region (SAR) is its official name since the 1997 take over by the Chinese. Yes and still expensive, crowded, a little crazy but much like all large Asian cities and Chinese Communist or not still one of my favorite spots.

Clean and organized but not the Disney LANDesk feel of Singapore. You see smoking bans in parks, restaurants and curb side ash trays, and yes people cleaning them out along with sweeping the sidewalks. Signs posted warning of a $ 600.00 (hk$) ($77 US) fine for violators and enforced by special officers.

Excellent public transportation, subway, tams, buses, ferries and taxi’s get you easily anywhere you want to be. If you’re visiting for a few days, purchasing an Octopus Card is a good bet. Allowing the use of most mass transit options by just a swipe of the card and eliminating those embarrassing moments of trying to figure out the system on the fly.

Kawloon and shopping you bet – Mon Kok where the locals shop clothing, bags, computers and other everyday items. Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui - bargain basement nick knacks to original Chinese art with all kinds of electronic stuff in between. Hong Kong - hunt for antiques on Hollywood road in center; take a peak in the Rolls show room or just window shop all the interesting shops.

I remember back in the day Hong Kong was the premo place to shop for electronic bargains but the Internet has em beat now a day. Actually, Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh City might even have better deals on clothing and the other sundry items us travelers look for. But Hong Kong is still great and such a wonderful experience.

Hop a ferry to one of the outlying islands such as Lamma. What we did was take a ferry to Yung Shue Wan and then hiked the 4 km “family trail” to Sok Kwu Wan for lunch and a return ferry. Great fresh seafood served in open air restaurants over looking the harbor.

Take buses over to Stanley, shop the Stanley market for cool stuff at bargain prices and lunch at one of the many outdoor cafes over looking the waterfront. Being a sailor I really enjoyed the Hong Kong Maritime museum located in the beautifully restored Murray House built in 1846. Especially cool where the models showing the evolution of Chinese sailing craft and the junk.

All this sight seeing and shopping can make a guy darn thirsty and a little hungry. Depending on your budget and the social level you feel most comfortable at, Hong Kong has your back. You have Lang Kwi fong in Central and SoHo in the same general area but take the mid level escalator for the got a new Am ex Card and I want to enjoy it crowd. For the pub crawler sort grab some street vendor chow while heading over to the sting of places on Lockhart Rd. in Wan Chi. The area looks much the same as it did when I took an R&R to Hong Kong in 1967. Lock and Load!

I've been away for close to three weeks and this is my first post. Oh no, don't worry your not going to forced to read through three weeks of my ramblings in one sitting. I'll get my posts up to date over the next few weeks.

I'm typing this in Chaing Mai Thailand at an internet shop, which is slow going but next week I'll have my laptop to work on again in my room in Saigon.

Trying to do my share for the green effort, on 4/7/08 took Amtrak from Sacramento to Richmond and then the BART to SFO . Darn cheap, Amtrak's Capital corridor train cost $20.00 less my senior discount = $16.00 and Bart was only a couple bucks on top of that. Felt kind of dumb lugging all my luggage around but other that that it was a nice ride especially on Amtrak. Think it took around 2 hours plus.

The flight to Hong Kong, "can you say cramped" and so many non English speaking Chinese along with a bazillion kids.

People always ask - "OK, so how long is that light across the pacific" this time I paid attention and wrote it down. The flight was 13 hours and 56 minutes and it's 6,921 miles that's from SFO to Hong Kong international.

Getting ready to head back to SE Asia. In a few weeks I'll be flying Cathay Pacific to Bangkok via Hong Kong and on ward to Saigon. Seems I hear a lot about air travel prices increasing but in shopping air fares for this trip it wasn't the case. Probably cheaper guys than Cathay but they are a good airline and allow stop overs in Hong Kong and open returns.

-

I use Sandra, a native Philipa, at Kinney travel in Sacramento as she normally can come up with good fares, especially on Cathay. Sandra is efficient and dependable - so if your planning a SE Asia visit check her out at - 1916-928-0434 /1-800-783-9634 Mention my name if you call - thanks!

-

Hong Kong has always been an expensive place to stay but as I work through my trip planning it doesn't seem any more expensive than before. The exchange rate has pretty much stayed the same - 7.75 Hk$ = 1 US dollar, which must be a big part of it.

-

On this visit as my last I used Hotel Club to find a room , I used them again and picked the Charter House in the Wan Chai distinct on Hong Kong Island. Looks like a pretty good deal, Charter House's web site lists a rate of $180.00 (US) a night, which I reserved through Hotel Club for $ 85.30 (US).

-

Now Bangkok is a surprise, normally super cheap but the dollar was worth more then. My stand by in Bangkok Jim's lodge room rate has increased from the low to mid thirty's US a night to the mid forty's. The exchange rate is mostly to blame, the room increased a couple hundred baht's present exchange rate of 31 baht to a US dollar, from the high 30's, yikes that hurts. Thank you George Bush!

Cyclo guy Pham Ngu Lao - Saigon