Last Walk-About

Recently I was on a final walkabout of Saigon and caught the following sights:

New hanging planters installed along Dong Khoi street outside of the Sheraton Hotel.  

Sorta typifies Vietnam in this time and place - it's great that folks put up some pretty hanging planters, which gets watered from municipal water trucks from time to time, but if you look closely you'll notice that they stripped the tree of its bark in a quite violent manner just to install the mounting brackets.  And no obvious attempts to close up the wound with some physical barrier to prevent insects from getting at the wood.  

Two steps forward, two steps back.  Don't be surprised to see some sickly trees on this stretch of road in the near future.

  

Roadway medians here are immaculately cultivated, and this is one of the reasons why.  If you drive around in the mornings, you'll see teams of people hand cutting, weeding, and watering all the government owned greenery.  Once in a while, you'll see a gas operated weedwacker, but otherwise everything else is done manually.     

I've finally found the Apple-certified store - Future World, on NTMK in D3.  Of course it was accidental, as I wasn't going around looking for it.  

 Compared to Hanoi, you don't see much in the way of food vendors on the streets of Saigon, other than the Banh Trang ladies that is.  My theory is that it is because of the office lunch delivery business that goes on in Saigon.  

You see stacks and stacks of these trays delivered every mid-day to all sorts of businesses.  Even the xe-om guys in Saigon eat their lunch via these delivered lunch trays.  A complete meal - which in Vietnam means rice, veg, meat, soup and something pickled - for 10-15k delivered drives away a lot of street vendor competition.  

A Sense of Place

There's been lots of good memories of our time in Vietnam.  One of the best was sitting at this cafe, Givral, right off Lam Son square next to the Opera House in downtown Saigon.

For those who've been there, especially in its current form, the whole place is nothing to write home, or blog, about.  

But we were sitting there with my Mom, back on a visit, having some ice cream, and recollecting about how things were when she was young.  She would have some money in her pockets, come here and eat some ice cream with her sisters and school mates, while watching the traffic, waiting to see which friend would drive up in their Honda.  

I've been back to the little side street on which we had a house.  But nothing gave me a sense of terroir more so in our years here than this short story with my Mom.  

Bookend Meal at Quan An Ngon

One of the first meals we had in Vietnam, all those moons ago when we first visited, was at the Quan An Ngon in Hanoi.  Our first meal was probably at Pho24 - yeah, cliched, I know.  

So it's faintly appropriate that one of my last meals in Vietnam would take place at Quan An Ngon, this time in the HCMC location across from the Reunification Palace.

It's Saigon, so you gotta grab a Saigon Special beer.  And it's Saigon, so it's freaking hot and therefore I needed a side of iced green tea.  And you thought I was drinking my beer with ice.  And a straw.  Dude, I ain't that local.    

First up, you guessed it, banh cuon.

Next up, some grilled shrimp.  Seeing that I was eating alone, the waiter warned me that a single order was 10 skewers and asked if I really wanted it.  Of course!  Gluttony is best when left last.  

The dish came out with 12+ skewers.  This was some of the best grilled seafood I've had in this country, so I did the proper thing and finished it up.  

You can't often order snails, outside of Escargot at Les Halles or someplace like that, in the States, so I had to get some.  Strangely, they tasted like hard boiled eggs.  

  
To finish things up, I answered a curiosity of mine.  In the evenings till dark, food vendors on bicycles and carts would ply their offerings on the streets of Saigon.  One fare that I often see, and wonder about, is the "Bo Bia" carts.

My limited Vietnamese translates that to 'beef and beer,' which would be an interesting product to sell on the streets.  But I doubt that I was correct, so I never bothered to flag the vendors down and order some.

I saw "Bo Bia" on the menu here and had to finally know.  Turns out it's just a version of some spring rolls.  Then I recalled going to a spring roll dinner party in Hanoi, where the dry rice paper wrappers were in cellophane packaging labelled "Bo Bia."

So I knew it all along, but I forget things.  Coulda used The Google though. 

Tan Son Nhat Rose Lounge

The Star Alliance Lounge at the International Terminal of Saigon's Tan Son Nhat Airport recently changed its name to the Rose C.I.P. Lounge.  I wonder if CIP is some sort of typo.  

Nothing really changed, including the food line layout

It was an early flight, so I grabbed this ham sandwich and some fruit for breakfast.  Don't eat the sandwich!  

The flight was delayed for about an hour - enough time to try, what else, the banh cuon

and some instant noodles
One travel tip: grab breakfast before you hit the international terminal in Saigon.  

Falafel, Again

The Pham Ngu Lao Falafel shop that I posted about earlier has a cool little freebie for its customers.  Besides the common to Vietnam free wifi setup, it boasts free international calling.

Ok, so it's free for 5 minutes and 5k/minute thereafter, but that's still kinda cool and the sort of novel marketing idea that is impressive, especially being the first on the block with it.  

Cutting Thru the Communist Red Tape

So recently I had occasion to experience the red tape in this country, and, to be frank, it wasn't so bad. 

Above is the view I had for about 1.5 hours, waiting for my number to be called.. but let's start at the beginning.

A few weeks prior to the picture, I submitted paperwork to relevant governmental agencies in order to secure a business license and, more importantly, the right to purchase one of these stamps:

In the U.S., business formalities have moved past the "sign and seal" stage of authenticating signatures.  Back in the day when most people were illiterate, the need to sign and seal documents made sense.  Now, not so much.

U.S. contracts these days may still say "sign and seal" under the signature, but this is merely an anachronism, as it isn't legally necessary.  Even the 'requirement' to notarize signatures are not technically legally necessary - it's just a safe harbor in order to expedite the process if the signature was ever challenged as being authentic.

In Vietnam, and in some parts of Asia, the seal requirement is still paramount. Documents are not legal unless they have a seal - be it from a company, a government agency, or whomever.  Documents are never accepted with simple signatures. Everything has to be original documents.. good luck passing off a photocopy of your documents, unless they've been authenticated with a government seal.

Because of this, when you're hanging out at the international departure terminals in Vietnam, you can locate those locals emigrating elsewhere by their dress (Sunday best, naturally) and by the black Samsonite briefcase that they're clutching.  In it will be all manners of original, signed and sealed documents that cost a fortune, in terms of man-hours, to procure.  My folks still have that black Samsonite filled with yellowed documents in a back closet somewhere.

So here I am, sitting in this government office, to get my own seal.  The place is packed, there is no AC and I'm in a coat and tie.  Um.. not good.

I snatch a number, like at a deli counter, realize my position in the queue, and then head towards the folks mingling at the doorway.  This is Vietnam, there are always alternatives.

After some discussion with a few folks in my limited Vietnamese, I learned that I could outsource the wait on line for between 500-750k, but that I would not be able to get the seal today.  If I personally waited, I would get my seal.  Needing to mail out an "official" document today, I bit the bullet, rolled up my sleeves and waited it out.

The room is, as mentioned, packed.  About a 50/50 mix in terms of sex. Most of the guys are either Korean or Japanese expat business folks.  The majority of the women are young sherpas, guiding these guys through this regulatory process.  I figured I could do it on my own.

And after about two hours, I was right.  There were some missteps along the way - I had to run down the street to get my passport photocopied, then head to the police station to pay 2k VND (that's like 15 cents) to get the photocopy authenticated - but the stern dude, dressed in his pea soup green army uniform, who manned the counter was pretty nice and helpful underneath that fascade.

So it was pretty good, not much different than heading to the DMV or Register of Deeds office in the U.S.

A lot of expats have a fear of the regulatory agencies in Vietnam - so they either hire someone to do this work for them or just straight up avoid it altogether and break the law (like riding around without a license).  I met a German expat recently who told me how relatively painless it was for him to get a motobike license in Vietnam.

The assumption amongst expats that nothing gets done in the government, however big or small, without a bribe attached is pervasive.  But it is certainly not true.  Sure niceties grease the wheels, but the same is true everywhere in the world. 

If you've ever had to personally go and file a deed in the U.S., you'll see the runners from the mortgage and title companies plying treats to the filing clerks, who in turn share this corpulence with the rest of their minions, in order to get better service.

It's just that in Vietnam, foreigners have a more limited skill set with respect to 'being nice' to local folks, government clerks or otherwise.   For some expats, their toolbox starts and ends with money.

Airport Troubles

So I'm flying in a coupla days and I read in the paper this morning that the Saigon airport (Tab Son Nhat) just burned down last night!

Ok, so it didn't literally burned down, but a fire ravaged thru the place enough to shut down the domestic terminal. Good thing they built that international terminal. 50% incapacitated is better than a 100% shutdown.

HCMC Falafel

Pretty darn good and worthy of Dagwood Bumstead in size. 39k makes for a good value in the Pham Ngu Lao area.

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.     

Tailor at Work

Here's the tailors at work. They haven't been perfect, but overall they've been decent. As mentioned in an earlier post, I've gone back after mistakes because it would cost more time and money to find someone else.

X Marks the Spot

I was doing some cleaning up and found these in a drawer.  I'm pretty sure they're not baby aspirins.  Probably left by a former tenant or something.  

If you're interested, they can next be found in an undisclosed dumper in D1.  Look out for amorous rats around Saigon in the next few days.      

Beef and Tofu for Lunch

Here's a beef and tofu rice dish from Pho 2000.  I've eaten here a lot, but this is the first time I've ordered this - somehow I've never noticed it on the menu before.  It's pretty good, with a smattering of veggies to satisfy my fiber deficiency.  30-35k.

It may sound odd, but I eat less fruits and veggies in Vietnam than I do back home.  This is in part because we don't cook here, and in part because I shy away from fruits without a peel.  Ya know, "night fertilizer" and all.  

Here is some cha gio (aka fried spring rolls, shrimp here).  Normally I don't order this, but I was hungry enough to eat something more, but not enough for a full blown main course.  That's the point of an appetizer, I guess.  29k or something like that.    

Indian Dinner

Good thing I am not on Atkins. Potato masala and shrimp biryiani. 102k inclusive of a beer.  

I'm starting to think that the best food values around where I live is either the Vietnamese hawker stand or the Korean BBQ place.  

Xuxu Chicken

Back to some food - here is the famous Xuxu (alternatively spelled Susu, aka chayote) chicken dish, as blogged by Kevin and Lawrence, among others.

It is good and messy for 35k or so. I don't think their prices have changed since the last time I was there 9 months ago. At 55 Tu Xuong in D3, it is too far from me to eat there on the regular.

Weekend Eats and Other Stuff

I was walking about D1 this weekend to do some shopping.  Ended up at the Parkson's Mall when hunger kicked in.  Unfortunately their food court is undergoing renovations, so I hit the street, hit the wall of steam and quickly decided that I neede to get indoors stat.  So I ventured to the food court at Eden Mall across the street instead.  This is the second time I've eaten at this food court, and again I'm impressed. Maybe I should go here more often.   

I got the above from Little Manila, which also has a full fledged outlet in PMH.  What captured my fancy on the menu was the whole fried Tilapia, for 45k.  Not bad, especially for an aircon food court.  The entirety above was like 120k.  

I don't know if it's a Filipino thing, or if it was just prepared incorrectly, but when the menu said "whole fish" I didn't really expect a whole fish, guts and all.  Maybe someone can enlighten me.  Save for the guts, the rest of it was pretty good.   

It's been a long while since I've had pizza in Vietnam.  It's one of those 'why bother' foods for me in this country.  As in, why bother eating it when you can wait for the next trip home.  But I was lazy and therefore wanted delivery.  Ordered from Pepperoni's in the backpacker area, and it was delivered in about 20 minutes to the CBD.  It was pretty decent, considering where I was eating it.  This large, 8-slicer good for about 2 adults was 110k or so.         

Of course, once in a while one has to do "work," so I attended the grand opening of the first HCMC branch of Tien Phong Bank, which may be more commonly known as the bank FPT (with some others) started.

I didn't do anything but watch the proceedings, yet it was freaking exhausting.  Whomever thought to have a protracted outdoor ceremony in the midday sun in Vietnam should really rethink their event planning skills.    

But the expected dragon dance was still cool.  

It was late, the restaurant was starting to shutter its operations for the day, so the older lady who owns the place broke out her Wii to get some tennis in.  This was more amusing to me than the drunk dude below.

Some dude by the name of Thirsty has been stalking me.  Here he is rolling on a moto, smoking up a cigar.

And again, next to a guy who had a really, really good evening out.  

I've been on a chao kick recently; here is the way they serve it at this particular Chinese joint on Nguyen Trai, which is one of the places in HCMC to grab some late night food after having your fill of beer. 

Fish at Jaspas, Pre-Inflation

As a comparo to the recent photo in Fish at Jaspas, here is a similar fish dish on the Jaspas set lunch menu from about 6 months ago.  Same fish species too (barramundi, if you're interested), so it's not like a bigger slice of salmon vs. a more delicate cut of something pricier.  

Visual evidence of the recent inflation, perhaps.  Actually, I don't really pay all that much heed to the local inflation - I'm more focused on inflation in the U.S.  

Corporate Communications Problem?

So the Highlands rat story hit the local Vietnamese language media.  See this VNExpress web article.  The persons who bought that infected cake refused to be interviewed by the press, according to the story.  

This blog is not very popular, as it's really geared towards a small circle of family and friends back home.  But in the last few days there is a bunch of search engine traffic - the screenshot above is of the recent keyword search term.  Apparently a lot of people are looking for rats.

I wonder how much of this negative pr is caused by the slow response of the staff at the coffee shop.      

Fish at Jaspas

Had the set menu for lunch at Jaspas, which I do about once a month. Inflation finally hit their menu, as it has gone up to 144k (from 120k). And the fish seemed smaller. Didn't matter because I still felt a bit sick and didn't finish my meal.

Asian Chicken Soup

In the States you have chicken soup, or perhaps matzo ball, if you're sick. In Vietnam and Southern China, it's chao/jook/congee.

I had some streetside seafood in the Pham Ngu Lao area, followed by a few drinks over quiz night (note: be suspicious of iPhone toting folks at quiz night!). The next morning I woke up sick as can be.

Perhaps it was the clams, or the beers in glasses cleaned on the sidewalk, or those vodka red bulls. Who knows?! But now isn't the time to look back and play the blame game. I'm a Maverick! And I'm puking.

When I was finally comfortable enough to eat, I went around looking for some plain rice porridge and ended up at my fave Vietnamese hawker stand. Ordered a bowl with no meat, extra ginger and some pickled eggplants on the side. Finished that and had another. Totalled 27k and it was the best money that I've spent in a while.

Highlands Rat

This picture made the expat email rounds within the last week - I received it from Mr. Thirsty himself, after he told me about it over some drinks.  Because it seems that he no longer posts on his blog and is consumed by all things Twitter instead, I thought I should throw it up here.

The back story from the emails is that an expat couple went to Highlands Coffee for some cake, and ended up with a surprise.  Some on the email thread was thinking that may be a gecko, but that doesn't look like a gecko to me.  Too bad it's not Mardi Gras, then Highlands could pass it off as a Vietnamese style King Cake - congrats, you've found the hidden prize!