A step back in time

Hut bar-b-que Phu Cat Phu cat Air Base 1968

Qui Nhon, Tet 2001 Once again I'm out at the train station queuing up with bazillions of  Tet holiday travellers  all of us with the same goal of booking a seat on the next train heading north. The concept of first come first serve, orderly lined up is lost on many of my fellow travellers.  As I'm elbows out of the way by a little lady, a third older than me, six inches shorter and half my girth.  I claw my way through the throng to have the ticket window folks tell me “no seat, come back tomorrow.” Three days in a row this has been repeated. I walk away making a silent vow that by hook or crook I'll get me a seat on tomorrows outbound train. I'm not sure how to do crook so that leaves hook.  Hook it is and on my return to Qui Nhon I quickly hook the night security guard for a early morning (really early,5:00 am) train station trip on the back of his motorbike and for for him to be my stand in for a ticket on that mornings train.  Anyway, I hope that is what we agree too as my Vietnamese is zilch, and his English is only slightly better.  Success. Three hours later I'm stretched out on my hard sleeper bunk chugging on to Hue. The train is packed,.The conductor and his helpers line up little plastic stools down the isles to seat the over flow, within an hour I've gained three or four people seating against me on my bunk, as I pretend to sleep. The bunks were laid out, three on each side of the cabin, with the top one at least six foot off the floor.  So it’s understandable why everyone got so attached to my lower bunk.  It’s interesting how intuitive some Vietnamese are, not one person with in my eye sight speaks any English, all the station announcements crackle out in Vietnamese and I'm worried I'll miss my stop.  Not to worry, just before the train arrived at the stop, there is frenzy of movement as my backpack is pulled out of its storage spot and my pack and I are guided to the train door as it rolls to a stop in Hue.  The window of my car is lined with smiling, waving Vietnamese as the train pulls away. I've made several trips over the Tet holiday and it’s always crazy, especially for foreigners. While my Vietnamese friends seem to thrive on the craziness.   This is the biggest holiday in Vietnam, Vietnamese living over seas come home for the holiday.  Many businesses close and the employees head to the countryside to spend the holiday week with family or just travel.  What looks like chaos to foreigners like me, is part of Tet’s fun for the Vietnamese. Reduced hours or closed restaurants and stores,  everything at premium prices is all ok “it’s Tet!”   Finely getting away from Qui Nhon felt good, not that it’s a bad place and I had a nice room in a hotel on the beach where the friendly managing director gave me a special rate after I told her my story and that I had been a way for 33 years.  Funny as time passes, some memories get out of focus so I was there, not for the beach but to re visit my old duty station at Phu Cat Air Base.  Not surprising but disappointing nevertheless, as it was hardly recognizable, except for the remnants of the revetments on the flight line. Of course, the gun towers, F100’s, Caribou cargo planes and the assortment of helicopters I remembered were long gone. The barracks (huts really) we lived in, the gun tower at gate by the end of my hut, all the make shift beer bars constructed of bamboo and tin, with beaded entryways off base by the main gate, of course gone also..  The makeshift  road that ran by my hut where on many a morning  I would a wake to the rumbling of tanks is now a paved and well maintained motor way taking you directly to Qui Nhon. Maybe memories like I have of my time are are meant to fade, so the experiences doesn't drag us down.  Anyway, it was good to be on my way again.

The last needle and I'm all cupped out

Grandma Ecker used the expression "he was in his cups" and above is new twist to that old saying.   Yup, the reddish coloured stuff inside the glass vials is me, well anyway my skin. After the needles it's on to the cupping.  I've done a bit of research and now some what understand the logic behind while thinking it fits into the category of if you believe cupping works, maybe it does.

Anyway, it's hardly the new guy on the block in regard to medical treatment.   It's an ancient form of Chinese medicine with it's origins dating back to 3000 BC.  The air inside the glass globe is heated as you see in the photo above, placed over the injured area and as the air inside cools a small vacuum is created drawing your skin inside.  The concept is based on the idea that this will increase blood flow to the injured area enhancing healing. 

we got cups

wired up with no place to go

About 3 weeks have passed since I started my acupuncture
treatment and think it was time well spent.  Even though I'm
not back to running, I'm walking fast enough that those
pesky birds haven't tried nesting on my shoulders.  I'm starting
to climb stairs two at a time, instead of the super slow one step.
Still have some pain but such is life. If I was 30 something instead of
60 something  or as the good doctor has told me if I would have came
treatment straight a way instead of waiting a few weeks my recovery
would have been faster.

I had a great close but an electronic glitch stole it from me and you get the
following instead.  So even if your legs aren't as great looking as mine and you screw em up or injure
something else you might go for the needle and if Doc Monika is available your really in luck.

• It looks painful, is it?   Not really but it feels and looks strange, along with leaving black and blue  circles.     
• How long are the cups left on?  Not long, a few minutes.    
• Do you think it has any benefit, other than bragging rights that you've been cupped and as a photo op?   Maybe

laying cup

Part two - Doug goes under the needle

Dr. Monika's treatment regime is a 10 course venue set up as an every other day course of treatments. Yesterday, I completed number 9 of the 10.  Wish I could jump up and say "ah, it's a miracle, he can walk" but still not walking so good and jumping is not going to happen.  Matter of fact yesterday walking to the store I was moving so slow, had to shoo birds away that I'm assuming, once again I had mistakenly been thought by them, a statue.

However, my pain free range of motion has increased greatly and now and can just about climb aboard a motorbike with out having it turn into a major dramatic event.

Also, for reference, some those needles hurt when they go in and once the juice is wired up and turned on, it can also give you dau (pain).  The good doctor Monika said that, in my case anyway, the muscle has to be

stimulated and the fine line between feeling something and pain has to be hit in order to make the treatment effective.  Once the needles are inserted, the electrical leads are connected and the juice to the needles is regulated your good to go.  The clock is ticking, the needles are vibrating, a little involuntary twitching and then twenty minutes are up.  Then Dr Monika's


Dr. Monika

 

disconnecting the leads and painlessly removing the needles.  

 

Doug goes under the needle - part 1

Doug getting the juice, next to me is the controller regulating it

It would seem that after a while, no matter how active you are, common sense would finely prevail and you would run out of stupid ways of injuring your self.  While in fact, as our bodies and minds age, common sense becomes less common and...

Case in point a few weeks ago I'm doing my morning run at 9-23 park and it's just too hot. I start walking and thinking of other ways to get my exercise and decide to try out one of those exercise stations in the park. The one I picked is this thing where you place each foot on a holder than you make a swinging step with your legs, one out, one back, like an exaggerated running motion.  I had always laughed to my self as I saw Vietnamese just swinging back an forth so I was going to show them and I hit it and hit it hard, pumping one foot out and one back as fast as I could.  Ah ha, yes correcto emondo just described the  how and what of my most recent injury.  When I felt the pain instead of getting off and chilling I got back into my run ignoring the pain and continued my work out and continued like that for a couple more days.  Common sense, who needs it because when the pain got too great it told me I should start alternating running and walking and ultimately that my running had to go but continued to walk several miles every day that is, again no common sense involved, the pain just became overwhelming.  That was about a month ago and now after visits to two doctors who just shook there heads at my story and told me to rest and blamed in on arthritics of the knee and hip. Still not back to the running or heavy duty walking but not sitting back as I've stepped up to traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture.

My doctor here in Saigon is Monika - Bmed Traditional Chinese Medicine Intern & Acupuncture at Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine  dr.monikakleemola@gmail.com

Always here for you

Not my better side but you can see the inserted needles and the 
wires that deliver the pulsating electrical charges from the consoler.

Looking at the time and money aspect, half hour motorbike ride each way, $5.00 the doctor cost is the $20.00/$20.00 equation - $20.00 for the original consultation, then $20.00 a treatment.  A treatment takes about 30 minutes, all toll about 45 minutes to an hour.

The good Doctor Bmed, Monika Thanh Tam Kleemola

Thailand to overtake Canada on list of top global auto producers

Can you say 84 million? In 2012 that's the total number of vehicles manufactured in the world. I wonder if Henry Ford and his group of production car building pals had any idea of the gargantuan size the car industry would evolve into. Along the same lines, not many would have pegged Thailand as becoming one the world’s car manufacturing hubs.

Thailand got into the auto manufacturing business in 1961 but it wasn't until recent years with the help of government supported vehicle rebates, manufacturing has surged. Most major auto manufactures now have facilities there as 60% of all vehicles manufactured in Thailand are sold within the country. Last year Thailand produced 2.4 million units compared to this year’s projected 2.8 million based on figures from the Thai Federation of Industries. Although the flood last year had a big impact on production so the increase in reality may not be as big as the figures reflect. Even so it's a respectable amount and big enough to take the number 9 slot Canada held. Though according to Carlos Gomez, Scotia Bank, Canada's production is forecasted to show an increase, 2.6 million units this year  over the 2.5 million units manufacured in 2012 though not big enought to squeeze out Thialand.

Though, we are still talking about a long distence from the big guys like China who is number one producing 19.2 million vehicles, number two is the USA, manufacturing 10.3 million units and another emerging world market force is Mexico with 3 million plus units rolling out the door.

 

From the beyond - here's the ticket!

It's Doug 

Sequester and up till know I thought it was the name of a race horse..  While I'm thinking race horse our government will cut 85 billion dollars in across the board spending cuts.   Already, due to this the King County Housing Authority in Seattle was forced to stop issuing housing vouchers to "elderly and disability households, vets and families with children"

Meanwhile, I came across this piece "Homeland Security: the trillion dollar concept no one can define" 
Thanks Max Waller  I pulled the link from him.

I'm a frequent flyer and every time I head to the airport and see the mass of personal with limited skills, a weight problem and even one in a wheel chair the hairs on the back of my neck start to lift up and by the time I'm berated for not taking my belt off, my trip is on a down hill slide.   Personally I can't see the purpose of most of Homeland Security, it's too much to late.  On 9/11 the terrorists got lucky and so why couldn't we just move on but no we bowed to them with the military actions in the mid east and the boondoggle of Homeland Security and so you could say they won and are running us on a short chain.

We are unable to care for the needy our infrastructure is imploding and we spend millions on drones for the Military and instead of investing in our cities police and public security we continue to pump money into that money pit called Homeland Security.

Still not sure about the Sequester thing but believe now is not the time for cuts in public spending, mostly effecting the core population of our country who needs all the help it can get.

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. 

Odds and Ends from Ho Chi Minh City - January 2013

street crossing in Saigon is always dicey

9-23 park, New Year 2013

More stuff I've picked up on over the past few weeks that I thought might be of interest to you.

Here goes: 

A bit of history - 1944, the British Air Force flew a mission over Berlin with 769 planes dropping 2,300 tons of bombs.

Propagandist jailed - HCM City people’s court sentenced Ms Lo Thanh Thao 36, to 42 months in jail for dispersing anti-national propaganda. She scattering leaflets on 20 March in Binh Than district and 4 days later scattered more in front of several buildings in district 1.  Ngayen Thi Nhi a living overseas Vietnamese in the USA is said to have given her a cell phone. Laptop and $490.00 in payment to carry out the mission.

Visiting HCM City -  Three Chinese navy ships made a 5 day port of call to Saigon, a supply ship and two destroyers.   While in port they had meetings with the Peoples Committee and the high command of Vietnam's Military zone 7 along with athletic and social activities with Vietnamese military personal. 

Military buildup in Indonesia - In 2010 Indonesia started a military expansion program that would allocate 16.7 billion dollars for military equipment. Including  Sukhumi fighter jets, KT 1 Wong-bee trainer/Lt attach planes from S. Korea, Toucan anti-insurgency planes from Brazil, Leopard battle tanks from Germany and two billion dollars worth of on spec fighter jets from South Korea.

Suicide rate a national tragedy in South Korea -    33.5 people per 100,000 committed suicide  or 50 per day in 2010 in Korea.  To stem the tide CCTV camera have be installed to monitor know hot spots for suicide.  One of these areas is the Mapo bridge in Seoul where 96 of the 196 suicide deaths occurred in that city.  The pressures of success in academics and career achievement are the major forces pushing people to try suicide. 

Han Noi projects increase in textile exports -   Na Noi has targeted an increase in textile exports in the range of 18 - 19 billion dollars  equaling a 12 % increase.

Glut of real estate in ha Noi - According to a recent report by CB Richard Ellis at the end of 2012 Ha Noi had 20,400 apartments on the market, which in today's real estate climate would take up to four years to sell.   In 2012 real estate prices dropped 15% but in order to get the market moving they would have to drop 30-50%.  The major problem is the lack of affordability, personal savings of Ha Noi residents would only put  2% in the new apartment market.  Then with regard to available office space it would take up to 10 years to absorb the existing vacant properties. 

Auto sales slump in Vietnam -  Auto sales slumped to 26,000 units or decrees of  37%.  A proposed decrease of government fees to 10 % on new vehicles and 2 % on used if approved will stimulate the market.  This down turn in auto sales will affect Vietnam's state budget tax rolls by an estimated 2 billion annually.

Gun sales in the USA -  In 2011 gun sales totaled 66.3 billion.  With that much money involved it's no wonder the NRA is calling the shots (pun intended) in Washington.

Good eat -  Ban Ong is a Vietnamese treat made from rice, sugar and coconut.  This is available street side in Saigon's dist. 1, at the Phu Dong Tien Vuong roundabout on Nguyen Tri Street. 

 

cyclo guys staff meeting

new and older Saigon

  

That's all I got for now, but always thinking of you...  Doug

Vetjet Air is a new low priced air carrier and the first privately owned airline in Communist Vietnam, based in Ha Noi.  The airline spread it wings and took flight December 25, 2011.  Now with six A 320 narrow body aircraft and staffed with all foreign flight crews, it's flying seven domestic routes - Ho Chi Minh City, Ha Noi,  Hi Phong, Nha Trang, Hue, Danang, and Phu Quoc. 

The auspicious date of 10 February, Tet is also when Viet jet’s makes its first move into the international market, flying once daily to Bangkok, leaving HCM at 1120 and returning from Suvarnabhumi at 1355.  Projected regular fares to be in the $129.00 range compared to Air Asia, around $159.00.  However, Air Asia discounts all of its flights regularly and Vetjet according to the pricing on its web site will follow the same business strategy as discounts are available on its upcoming flights.

Just for reference here are some of the major carriers who also offer flights in the HCM City – Bangkok corridor:

·        Vietnam Airlines - 3 flights daily

·        Thai Airways – 2 flights daily

·        Qatar Airlines – 1 daily

·        Turkish Air – 1 daily

·        Lufthansa – 3 times weekly

·        Thai Air Asia – 3 times weekly

While these airlines are a bit pricey but all offer special pricing from time to time and their baggage policies are normally more flexible than the discounters.  I'm away for a long time when I'm in Asia so I'm packing lots and I've had the cost of my ticket surpassed by luggage fees on Air Asia. Also, if you want a pillow or a blanket it's an extra charge on the discounters and its all part of your ticket price on the majors.