Nice Ta-Ta's

So this is Tata Motor's 1-Lakh car, or roughly $2,500 (but buy soon, before the dollar drops some more!).

It's pretty impressive, imho, and looks a bit like the Japan Domestic Market kei-cars, especially the Mitsubishi i-Car.

A lot of commentators on car blogs, such as Autoblog, are blasting it, but it's because they simply do not get Asia and the emerging market. For $2,500, you're getting a car a bit smaller and with less motive force than a Matiz - and the Daewoo is about $10k ($18k in Vietnam due to taxes).

You're talking about people replacing Yamaha Nuovos, Piaggos, Honda @, and other upmarket motorbikes for something that is safer, more useful in weather, more capacious, still relatively thrifty with fuel (50mpg) *and* has lower emissions. I am pretty darn sure it wouldn't meet US emissions controls, but this thing is designed to reduce emissions if you're trading up from domestically (as in India, or Vietnam, or other emerging markets) available motorbikes.

Tata will be too busy satisfying the local market, but someone should import this thing to Vietnam.

Down Goes the Dollar

For the first time the official exchange rate between the Vietnam Dong (VND) and US Dollar is below 16,000. The official exchange rate was pegged at a lowered 16,107 yesterday, and combined with the recent move to widen the allowable trading band from 0.5% to 0.75%, this meant that local banks are now buying and selling VND at below the psychological barrier of 16k.

With the weakening dollar over the past year, and the concomitant appreciation of virtually all world currencies, including the basket of ASEAN specie, most local market participants have expected the VND appreciation, and apparently in 2008 the Government is starting the process. With all the FDI, some have forecasted VND appreciating to as much as 14k.

It'll be a slight pain for those tourists who'll have to do more complicated math in the coming months.  It'll be more of a pain for those who make money in USD but have the majority of their expenses in VND.    

Susu Fields Forever

Before we got to VN, everyone told us how we'll enjoy the abundance of local fruits and veggies. While there are certain edible flora here that is quite nice, overall I would say the average vegetarian can have a wider, and more fruitful (natch!), experience in the States. Frankly, the median quality of produce here is lacking.

One item that stands out, however, is susu - another name for the familiar chayote of your local ethnic grocery or corner bodega. I've seen chayote in my discount korean hypermarket back in DC (Super H, for whoever is wondering), but we never bought it, cause frankly, we didn't know how to utilize it.

After living in VN for a bit, it's become one of my favorite veggies (alongside the irrepressible rau muong - water spinach - and pumpkin shoots). All stages of a susu plant are eaten here , from the typical avocado-sized gourd/squash stage, to its string bean like stems, to its young leaves, be it deep fried like tempura vegetables or simply stir fried with garlic like other young shoots. Susu, in all its forms, is quite a tasty and healthy treat. It's also a name for a tasty chicken shack in HCMC.

A bit back we visited Tam Dao mountain and discovered the following susu fields that went on forever.

The Belvedere Resort at Tam Dao:

A short hike up the mountain. After a while, 2km seemed pretty long though.
These are the all encompassing susu fields.


The French Hill Station, now part of the susu fields:


The steps of the former French Hill Station:

Treking down the hill; much easier than walking up, obviously.


Resting at the endless pool at the resort. Yeah, we're fat suburbanite Costco shoppers. Except for the fat part.

Vietnam Post (ZIP) Code

So I was signing up to buy something online and needed the local post / postal / zip code in Vietnam. Within the country, the postal system doesn't rely on post codes. But some international shippers require them, so a halfway lengthy google search (i.e. I didn't hit success on the first search term) gave me Hanoi's code, which is 10999. I dunno if this is correct, because I faintly remember that the system went to a six-digit number sometime in mid-2007, but it could just be some incorrect detritus in my mind.

The info was sourced at TNT, a FedEx/DHL/UPS like delivery service.

New Year's Eve Video

New Year's Eve 2008 in HCMC

Some random intersection:

Lights down Le Loi Street:

Saigon Tax Center:

A government building, all lit up:

Saigon Tax Center, part 2:

Christmas in Hanoi, the Video(s)

This is outside Nha Tho Lon (St. Joseph's Cathedral), around 8pm on Christmas Eve.

The entertainment at the Christmas Eve dinner - a dancer at Finnegan's Pub doing his Michael Jackson *and* his Michael Flatley impression:

Where is the HCMC Apple Store?

So I happen to be down in HCMC and I happen to need to price some hardware - trying to see if I should pay the premium here or hand carry stuff back from the States.  As an aside, it's gosh darn warm here in HCMC.  The city is all strung up with lights (more on that later), but it's still too freakin' hot to fully get into the holiday spirit.  I miss the Hanoi weather, and I never thought I would say that about Hanoi.

Anyhow, I dropped by the big local electronics store in D1, Nguyen Kim.  Relatively impressive - not exactly like Best Buy, more like a Circuit City (oops, that place just went into bankruptcy..), but shockingly their computer department doesn't sell any sort of hubs or routers.  Either that or I failed to communicate with the sales staff.

So I headed to the much ballyhooed FPT owned, Apple Authorized Reseller store.  Got the address and phone number off the web and the local news accounts from earlier this year.  And I walked.. and I walked.. and I can't find the place.  Then I called.  Both numbers, and no one answered.  What the heck is up with that?  Everyone and their mother has an iPhone down here in HCMC, yet the FPT Apple store can't keep a location for 6 months?  Or it moved and failed to forward the phone number?  Short FPT stock already.  Oh yeah, the Vietnam market doesn't allow shorting yet.  Dangnabbit!