Please Dial "3"

This month, the local, which is to say, national, which is to say *only*, landline telephone company, Vietnam Posts and Telecom (VNPT), announced a change in all landline phone numbers.  

In HCMC and Hanoi, all landline numbers now grow from 7 digits to 8 digits.  Plus the two digit city code.  In the outlying provinces that used to have 6 digit numbers, they also grow by one to 7 digits.  While provinces that got recently "upgraded" to 7 digits stay at 7.

For all of HCMC and Hanoi numbers, you now add a leading "3" to the old numbers to create the new 8 digit telephone number.    

A lot of business here, even more than in the US, is conducted via mobile phones.  With no wide acceptance of voicemail, folks carry multiple cell phones.  But still a lot of folks, like us for instance, will be affected by this new landline number change.

And this change is idiotic.  The more reasonable way to go about things is to add an area code "overlay," and not to simply lengthen numbers.  Split HCMC and Hanoi into new area codes, instead of just maintaining one city code.  My hometown has four new overlay area codes since the time of my childhood - and my childhood home number didn't change for 25 years until we sold the joint and moved.  

This new VNPT edict will just create business for the print shops, because now all our business literature - business cards, letterheads, envelopes, marketing materials, etc., etc. - will need to be redone.  Arrgghhh.

And given that short term memory is about 7+/- 2 digits*, as I remember from Psych 101, these new 8-digit phone numbers will start messing with your head.  Mobile numbers in Vietnam are at least 8 digits long, plus at least a two digit mobile provider code.  No one can remember these long assed numbers, that's why people buy and peddle "so dep" - pretty numbers.  One buys a nice and pretty mobile number just to have a number that can be remembered.  

After two years, I've finally been able to memorize my own mobile number!            

* this magical 7+/- 2 standard was put forth in a 1956 paper, since then, and my time in the lecture hall, new research has suggested that we can remember 2 seconds worth of spoken content.  For English speakers, this would be 7 plus or minus 2 digits, depending on how quickly one normally speaks.  For Chinese speakers, the number of digits recallable in short term memory is closer to 10, because the words are shorter.  My impression is that the Vietnamese speak slowly and they'll be closer to the 7+/-2 measure.     

TIps for Vietnam Travel

As my days invariably wind down here, I've accumulated a bunch of (ok, a smidge of) local knowledge, with no avenue to apply it.  May as well throw it up on the blog for others to use.

But before reading the below, head over to Miss.Adventure's Guide to Living in Vietnam. This blogger just recently concluded her time as an expat in Vietnam, but the archives are informative.  

Anyhow, here's what I would add:

Money/Exchange Rates:

One tip for establishments where they allow you to pay in VND or USD - ask what the exchange rate is. And then decide, 'ok, if I were to sell USD today, would I sell my dollars for that much in VND?' It makes the decision to pay in VND or USD much easier, as I'm generally confused if it is a good thing or a bad thing if the exchange rate is 15,900 versus 17,900 (answer: it depends on what currency you have in your pockets).

Weather:

I know some people say that it actually gets cold in Vietnam, but my experience has not borne it out. Lived in Hanoi for an entire year, and I'm coming up to an entire year in Saigon as well. It does get slightly chilly in the fall/winter in Hanoi, but one can venture about in shorts and tshirts still, even if one does not feature the obligatory Northern American layer of organic insulation.

When folks say that Saigon is rainy, well, that they are correct on. It rained like a mother late summer to early fall this year. I mean, crazy amounts that kept me cooped up inside.

Travel/Immigration/Customs;

The in-bound customs officers are really anal about you bringing in laptops. HCMC's customs folks seem to be more difficult than their Hanoi brethren.

Recently I travelled abroad with two laptops, and then returned with two laptops. And they wanted me to pay customs duties on the second laptop. This is after I had paid fees to bring in these laptops the first time, although those monies didn't end up in the government's coffers, as detailed here.

My obstinance prevailed, and I didn't pay anything; the customs folk made me write onto the customs declaration form that I brought in two computers, and warning me that I will have to take with me two computers when I next leave the country, or else I would have to pay duties then.  

Let me back up and explain the customs process. Upon entering Vietnam, the flight attendants will give you a two part white customs form (for foreign passport holders). You declare items you are bringing in and the like, just like other countries. Upon landing, at passport control, they review your customs declaration, stamp one side of the form, keep the stamped part and then return to you the unstamped part. When you collect baggage and leave the airport, the x-ray your baggage, reconfirm the customs form, stamp it and return it to you. When you next leave the country, you are required to submit this customs form that you are required to keep all this time.

So instead of paying more duties, I wrote down that I have two computers on the customs document, and they allowed me to leave. I don't plan to leave with two computers and, because this is Vietnam, I don't plan to be required to pay any duties upon leaving.

First off, the customs guys were lazy and didn't stamp the part I kept. Second, Hanoi is much more lax with the customs procedures than HCMC. When I flew in and out of Hanoi, I never returned the second part of my form upon exit of the country, because I didn't know it was a requirement. They just give you a new form to fill out. These forms are lying around all over the place in Noi Bai airport.

Long story short, I got myself a blank form and will give the customs folks an unadulterated declaration statement upon leaving - if they complain about the lack of an official stamp, well, the explanation that it was never stamped by the lazy customs officers will be readily accepted, because they know that such lack of rigor is common.

The tip is, when you fly into the country, grab extra blank custom forms from the flight crew. Just tell them you made a typo on your form. Then keep it handy, just to have options. You know, just in case you need to forge shit.

If I really wanted to import shit, not get caught by customs and sell under the radar, I would bring in wristwatches. Vietnamese people are bling'n ballers yo, you can easily unload watches costing tens of thousands here.  I cannot think of a more gauche manner to launder money in Vietnam.     

Helmets Galore

You can start seeing lots of helmets on the streets of Hanoi these days - it started about a month ago, when the government mandated that all government employees were required to wear helmets. I think it was Sep. 15th or so. The employees obliged (lest they be fined) and helmets popped up all over. The general populace will have to comply by Dec. 15th of this year.

This quick adoption of the rules is an example of how the government here, like everywhere else, can get compliance to its social policies through its employment channels, simply because it is the biggest employer around. Sorta like how the US government ushered in workplace discrimination, sexual harassment, disability accommodation, and other progressive social change by introducing it first in the Civil Service.

Another thing that the local government enforces is child planning. Unlike China's one-child policy (which has led to China becoming an "aging society" more quickly than it's economic development would have indicated), Vietnam's two-child policy is encouraged by fining government employees for having more than that number of children. You can have more kids, you'll just get into trouble at work.

The other thing you may notice in the above picture is that Minsk rider. If you look through that haze of pollution on the right you can catch him. Some white dude polluting a country that is not his. Maybe I should go on a personal crusade to publicly embarrass all the Minsk riders and other visible polluters around town. Sorta like the Hanoi version of the site Fuck You and Your H2.

If you want to buy a motorbike, scrap together some money and get yourself the new Honda Click. It was designed for the developing market, so it's only $1,550 (a new Honda Dream is about $950), and, most importantly, it's the only new motorbike sold in Vietnam that meets the Euro II standard in actual use, in a study conducted by the government earlier this summer, as reported in Vietnam News.

Chi Linh Star - Golf Tournament

So this past weekend I played in a golf tournament at Chi Linh Star Golf Course, reputedly the toughest course in Vietnam. The tournament was organized by Vietnam Golf Magazine - one of two (that I know of) golf publications in Vietnam. For a country of a few thousand golfers (reportedly 4k local golfers), there is sure a lot of resources catering to this demographic.

Played with some friends that I met on cyberspace, and all in all we all had a good time. Played horribly for many reasons but mainly it was the Indian, not the arrow(s).

Chi Linh itself was a real nice course; not as nice as Tam Dao (which is shiny and new and gets less play), but nearly so. The course didn't seem too difficult - they had smaller greens, a few with multiple tiers, and the superintendent kept the greens firm and no overly receptive to average shots. The design is ok in my book.

The best thing about Chi Linh however is the drive there. It is a similar distance from Hanoi's CBD as the other course, but the drive was on the best highway I've been on in Vietnam. Divided, two lanes, with a shoulder and a medium amount of traffic. And unlike a lot of large roads around here, this highway did not cross into a hamlet every 5km, forcing the traffic to slow and account for four-way intersections. What a revelation, and what a comfortable 1.5 hour drive.

Pregnancy Costs In Vietnam

So one of the things we checked out prior haphazardly doing some family planning was the medical quality, and medical costs, for having a kid here.

As foreigners, one is able to buy medical insurance through internationals such as AIG or its affiliates, but medical costs are low enough that we chose to pay out of pocket - no need to potentially navigate forms in a foreign language when one needs some care.

The big foreign hospital in Hanoi is the French Hospital (L'Hospital Francais or some such) - in HCMC it is the Franco-Vietnam Hospital (FV Hospital). We checked it out but weren't so enthused by the service, and sometimes it was like playing telephone with the French doctor speaking to the local french speaking nurse, who then retranslates into a English/Vietnamese mix for us.

So instead we chose an upper end medical clinic, Family Medical Practice (how generic!), which has outposts in both Hanoi and HCMC. Here we have a foreign trained local doctor who's English is far superior to the folks at L'H.

The cost for the maternity package, without delivery, at the clinic was $800USD. The cost of the maternity package, inclusive of delivery, at L'H is something on the order of $2,000 and change. Delivery at the hospital is another $800 or so, but we're planning on having the kid qualify to run for president, so doesn't matter.

One thing that frustrated me was that the maternity "package" did not include blood tests to check for chromosomal defects - yeah, it should be an option to check whether your kid has Down's Syndrome. I'm sure plenty of parents-to-be, when presented with that option, decide 'nah.. it's not in the package so it must not be important.' Nickel and dime'ing is constant across cultures in the medical profession, apparently. So add $150USD to the above package price.

So medical costs here are substantially lower than what we would experience (without insurance) in the States. The quality seems fine, but who the heck knows ('what do you call the person with the lowest GPA in the graduating class? doctor.').

I did read in the local paper today that Viet-Duc Hospital (Vietnam-German hospital, another foreign one in Hanoi) got fined by the government for illegally disposing of medical waste. Instead of disposing it per their agreed regulations, the hospital sold the waste (being syringes, medicine bottles, IV tubes, etc.) to recyclers - so basically it gets back out into the marketplace. Now, medical instrument recycling happens in the States too, and it's a very big and profitable business there, but somehow I doubt all the recyclers here adhere to an ascertainable sterilization standard. Just pay and pray.

First Golf Round in Vietnam

So I finally had a chance to head out to a course and get in some golf, and man what a great idea that was. Hanoi doesn't have the availability of courses that Saigon does; heck, the whole country has on the order of 25 or so courses, with another 15-20 under license. But the lack of courses are made up by their quality.

I chose to play at Tam Dao Golf & Resort for two reasons (1) like a few other courses around Hanoi, King's Island and Chi Linh Star being the others, they have special discount days during the week, and I'm all about saving a buck or two and (2) like King's Island, they offered free transport.

Free transport was key - you can't navigate outside of the city through maps or GPS around here. You better know your way.

Here is what the course looked like:






In short, this was the nicest place I've ever played. Back in the States, I would play muni and mid-end public courses, so besides the overdressed greens, the conditions here were fabulous. Conditions are helped by the fact that utilizing a caddie is mandatory on this course - and the caddies are diligent in filling in all divots on the fairway.

The whole experience is more akin to a vacation golf round - beautiful course, great clubhouse, excellent service - yet, besides the long drive there (2+ hours for a 70km (42 mile) drive - yeah, the roadways need improvement here), this is a course that you can (sorta) afford weekly. If every course in Vietnam is similar to this, then I'm in for a treat.

I paid for everything - greens fee, caddie, tip, food and beverage for the day - with $100USD and got change back. Nice.

P.S. re the prior question by Blazer, yes the greens fees posted on the local course websites are accurate, so are the (new) membership fees. Memberships can be resold and are significantly discounted on the resale market.

More Golf in Hanoi

Haven't yet hit the links, but recently discovered that King's Island golf course runs a free shuttle bus during the week from the Lang Ha driving range (or just across the street) at 7:30 in the morning, returning at 2pm. And it's free too - great way to manage that 50km trip.

Additionally, the Hanoi Golf Club - which is not to be confused with Hanoi Golf.com (a golf travel and booking site) or the Hanoi Golf Club golf course - is a local membership organization that post events and tourneys on their site. The tournaments are actually cheaper than greens fees - an oddity from the States - so being the budget golfer that I am, I may just subject my woeful game to tournament pressure.

Managed Traffic

These days major urban centers are implementing things such as a "congestion" tax to manage traffic during the work day. Examples include London, which is attempting to expand its current congestion tax to levy higher rates on 'Chelsea Tractors' (aka SUVs), Bloomberg's plan (recently defeated) to impose a congestion tax in NYC, and Beijing banning cars via a lottery, in preparation for the '08 Olympics.

Here in Hanoi the traffic is pretty bad. But just imagine how bad it could be without the current congestion controls. Within the city delivery trucks, sized more like lorries than American delivery vehicles, are prohibited during the morning and evening rush. The morning rush is between 6am and 8:30am and the evening rush is between 4pm and 8pm. These smaller Hyundai Porter and Suzuki Hi-Jet trucks have a a bit easier time than the bigger delivery trucks, which can only travel the streets from 9-4 and then after 9pm or so. Every bit helps, I guess.

Big C and Me

A few weeks ago we suffered from poor groceries planning so I had to head to Big C hypermarket for foodstuff on a weekend. Not exactly a recommended activity one finds in a Lonely Planet for ex-pats, if there were such a thing (NewHanoian sorta comes close though).

For most of the people in Big C, the shopping experience is more like a fun weekend activity rather than a chore. People languidly stroll the aisles hand in hand with three of their friends. Entire extended families peruse the wares while leaving their little ones in shopping carts-cum-baby strollers. Instead of typically ambling about interlocked, young women share the duty of carrying the plastic shopping baskets, each responsible for one of the handles. It doesn't really matter that the basket only contains a 12 oz baguette - it's more about maintaining physical intimacy than shouldering the load.

Were these activities taking place in a local park, I would quietly muse about the low key nature of this society. But I'm shopping, so you people are cutting into my weekend time. Buy something or get out of my way, pretty please.

Before finally leaving the bedlam, I score a small moral victory in maintaining order in the checkout queue.

Big C management makes a mistake in not manning their checkout lines more efficiently - they skimp on one of the cheapest inputs for business around here, unskilled labor. They should have baggers, but they don't - penny wise, pound foolish and all that. Because of this, the lines are pretty long. Invariably this leads to folks trying to jump in line.

In such occasions, I remember what my high school track coach taught us - run with wide, sharp elbows. So I strike a pose not unlike Captain Morgan and thereby thwart all but the most fool hardy. An attempt is made by a twentysomething male. I shoot him a dirty look and ask, in English, what the heck it is he is doing. A feeble reply, in Vietnamese, of 'oh, you are waiting on line?' is made before he slinks away. Of course I am on line, and so are the four people behind me. Two young women slowly creep up, pretending to examine the chewing gum packages offered on the endcaps to the checkout lane before sliding into the queue. I was about to yell at them, but the 50ish man behind me beats me to the punch.

Expat or local, the people in line are not suffering any fools this morning. Even though all the bump and grind of this morning resulted in broken sunglasses - I made a mistake of not leaving them on my head but rather placing them in my front pockets - this little victory leaves me partially happy, as I squint into the equatorial sun on the way home with the spoils of the effort.

Free Hug Day

This Saturday morning my office internet was down for a bit (one of the drawbacks to working in a foreign country that has an antiquated infrastructure - still, no exploding transformers under roads though). So I did what everyone else in this country would do - head to a nearby cafe and mooch their wifi.

Being me, I had two criteria: hassle free wifi and air conditioning. Headed to the closest Highlands Coffee, en tete of Ho Guom (aka Hoan Kiem Lake). Unfortunately they only had the overhead fans on, and were pretty empty too. Instead of wondering if one led to the other condition, I just booked and decided to walk down to Ciao Cafe, which is on the other end of the lake.

Power walking along the concrete banks of the lake, I saw the interesting sight above. There were about 50+ kids, probably college students, who all increasingly look younger as I age, a curious development we are all seemingly afflicted with, in a few disparate groups advertising free hugs. They were carrying both English and Vietnamese signs and attracted the tourists wandering around the lake as well as passing moto riders.

For a country that does not have public displays of affection, this was a light and lovely situation to behold. These kids were 'taking advantage' of the unspoken exception to the social opprobrium against PDA - that of the "public parks exception."

Day or night, in any park space, be it large areas like Lenin Park, or small tiled squares serving as a public plaza, you will see locals - teens, twenty-somethings, sometimes folks pushing parenthood - draped on each other, engaged in activities usually left to darkened movie theaters or back staircases in the high schools of one's youth. You witness more action in the local parks than in the Hollywood blockbusters imported here, mainly because the latter are censored a bit.

Anyhow, I refused the free offer but did get a chuckle to start my day. This all happened around 8:30 am on a Saturday morning. Don't these kids know the benefits of a hangover?

Driving Around Lost

So the company driver quit last week and now there is a new driver. From Saigon. Which means *I'm* the one who's the local, giving directions. It also means I'm more short tempered than normal, 'cause a ride around town now becomes a pain.

Not only is the dude unaware of the roads, he has the amazing quality of being slow and reckless.

Perhaps he's just not used to the traffic here. The traffic in Saigon is almost placid in its order. At least in the central business district (Dist. 1), it's pretty controlled and manageable. Yes, the roads are overwhelmed with volume, but people actually stick to traffic rules, more or less.

Perhaps there is more traffic enforcement in Saigon. Perhaps in Hanoi everyone and their mother thinks they're a big shot. You know, the whole politico feel of the place - I know somebody who's somebody who can get me out of a ticket, so why bother following the rules?

So this guy with a decade of service in Saigon is relatively dangerous on these crazy Hanoi streets. It is true that there is a cultural gap between the North and the South.

And now I'm annoyed a bit every day. Where's the cheap Lifan taxi service when you need it?

Hanoi's Augusta

or so they intend - Van Tri Golf club.


The pictures look pretty nice and they supposedly will stick to their 400 members, no visitors policy (member guests are ok, obviously). Membership is at $35k USD, which is sort of in line with the other courses up here, but this one has the added benefit of being 30 minutes closer to Hanoi CBD than any other course (until the golf course in Ciputra is built, that is), and having no visitors running around (i.e. ruffians like me).

However, I have doubts as to how they expect to run this place on what is essentially a $14M endowment (400x$35k), not to mention paying for the development costs. Unlike the States, memberships in Vietnam typically demand relatively minuscule annual dues, on the order of $1k or so. Good luck maintaining the beautiful sand bunkers on this budget, much less the greens.

Perhaps they're banking on having profits from the housing lots prop up the course costs - but why would anyone prefer to buy a house on a course where they can't be a member? Something has got to give here.. and when it does, I'll be one of the first daily fee guests playing this thing :)

Martini Review: Pane E Vino

* Location: Pane e Vino - (nearby) Hanoi Opera House.
* Size: small cocktail glass, and not to the brim.
* Olives: one, green.
* Taste: after navigating through a bit of floating ice (Pane e Vino, meet strainer, strainer, Pane), it tasted like a lemon drop. This country has heard of a martini, right?
* Price: 3.5 USD. This is Vietnam. Why is the menu priced in a foreign currency? And besides, isn't trading in US dollars illegal or something?
* Synopsis: 0 of 5 stars, because I think it was vodka and not gin in this lemon drop.

Martini Review: Mediterraneo

* Location: Mediterraneo - Old Quarter, Nha Tho Street
* Size: small cocktail glass, and a short pour at that. Even VA wondered what was up with the shortage.
* Olives: two green ones. No pits, as I recall.
* Taste: watered down to heck. Is there gin in this thing? Tasted like La Vie; easily emptied before the bread basket arrived.
* Price: 60k or so.
* Synopsis: 0 of 5 stars, because I was drinking mostly water.

Martini Review: KOTO

It's difficult to find a nice martini around town. Here's my little search for one.

• Location: KOTO (Know One, Teach One) - 59 Van Mieu
• Size: a jigger short in a full sized cocktail glass
• Olives: three black canned olives. WTF?
  
• Extraneous: a twist of lime zest. Did I order a gin and tonic or something?
  
• Temp: adequately cool.
  
• Taste: ok, but odd. Missed the brine of green olives and got the cardboard/tin of black olives instead.
  
• Price: 55k or so.
  
• Synopsis: 1 of 5 stars, the minimal rating for something with gin in it.
  

Random Pictures

Recent random images:

A sign outside the Dong Da market in the Old Quarter, for VA's bemusement.

Chaly Time.


Everyday view. Dual screens means you have more real estate to do less work.

A view on the weekend - Hanoi Opera House. Actually, we were pretty much right in front, with the Singaporean conductor's odd choice of fabric for his suit distracting me the entire night. Darn fashionistas.

Ssadest, Ssorriest looking passenger vehicles in the world. I can't believe they put it in production; I am flabbergasted that folks actually choose to buy them. They list for $30k USD, which is reasonable for a car that is not lilliputian. There are quite a number of these eyesores around, in part 'cause I live in a Korean ex-pat neighborhood.

Eatin' Good in the Neighborhood

A common query from family and friends must be answered: the food so far is good, but nothing has bowled us over. The last time I was impressed by a meal was in Napa, three plus years ago, so my definition of being impressed is a bit different. For the most part, I would welcome eating at the establishments we've been to so far.

Unfortunately for ya'll, we're not the type to eat and snap pics. We're trying to not look like overwhelmed tourists here.

So far we haven't eaten in any street side plastic stool joints. If you dodge the moto fumes, the food at these places smell pretty tempting. But we're waiting for our bodies (read: stomaches) to adjust to this hemisphere before diving in. Therefore we've been limited to restaurants that cater to the local middle class.

For example, I had breakfast this morning near the office at an almost empty tablecloth restaurant. Simple order of eggs, bread (banh mi style loaf), butter (which one has to order) and the de rigeur ca fe sua nong (no ice for me, as of yet). 20k VND or $1.25 - nice!

One place that deserves a mini-review is KOTO (biết một, dạy một - Know One, Teach One). It is across the street from the Temple of Literature. The whole good samaritan aspect of this restaurant is better detailed elsewhere (like on Our Man In Hanoi).

The food itself is pretty good, and geared a bit towards the foreign crowd, who dominated the dining room on our lunch time visit. Prices were more reasonable than I expected - I thought there would be a good conscience tax, but there wasn't really (50k VND for the bun thit nuong). Service is better than the typical Hanoi joint with full sized chairs, but maybe a bit too ever present for a local; a bit of tweaking and they would be unimpeachable.

I wonder how much money KOTO makes, and whether the training costs eats into margins quite a bit. F&B is a growth industry here and an establishment that can deliver good, consistent and reasonable fare should be able to expand and take some market share.

There is nothing in the front of the house that would prevent them from opening up new locations, imho. What is stopping them from being a mini-Highlands Coffee? Having a foreign clientele base is nice, having a local burgher class clientele is better.

A Brief Reversion

This is for VA, more than anyone, because she enjoys Mark's writings. HanoiMark recently dipped back into the Hanoi ether, if only for a short breath. He's recounting it now at Six Months in Hanoi.

Fly Over of Tam Dao Golf Course

Flyover vid courtesy of YouTuber FlycamVietnam.

The Tam Dao Golf and Resort is about 45kms from Hanoi. Looks nice enough, and they seem to be really smitten by that large clubhouse, but its kinda flat and open. I'm used to losing balls in the underbrush and woods. It looks like I can attempt an approach from a fairway over at this place. Nice way to lower one's score.