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FredVN
MF veteraan
- Onderwerp starter
- #2.453
Smoking claims over 100 lives every day in Vietnam
Vietnam has planned to increase tobacco tax to cut smoking rate as the country's smoking population is among the biggest in the world. File photo
Vietnam is among countries where smoking is most widely prevalent, losing more than 100 people a day to the habit and facing a huge financial burden, according to official figures. Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that the Vietnamese smoking population is among the biggest in the world, with nearly half of the male population aged 15 or more, or more than 15 million people, engaging in the habit. The number of female smokers is small.
As studies have linked tobacco to around 25 diseases due to its high content of toxic chemicals, including 70 carcinogens, the habit has proved deadly and costly in Vietnam. Smokers spend around US$1 billion a year on tobacco and treatment of related diseases, but yet around 40,000 die every year, and without drastic intervention the number is expected to shoot up to 70,000 by 2030.
A number of anti-smoking campaigns and regulations have helped reduce the number of smokers and passive smokers over the past few years, but the rates remain very high. According to the ministry, 30 million people, most of them women and children, still have to put up with passive smoking.
The government imposes a 65 percent luxury tax on tobacco and plans to raise it to 70 percent this year and 75 percent in 2019. But the increases have been criticized by health experts as too modest.
Bron: Smoking claims over 100 lives every day in Vietnam
Voor Nederland is er kort geleden iets over verschenen: 'Minder rokers levert Nederland financieel meer op' | NU - Het laatste nieuws het eerst op NU.nl
Maar hoe gaat dat hier in VN? Zit er hier een soort van belasting op de sigaretten?
Minh antwoordt:
According to the 2010 global survey on tobacco use among adults in Vietnam, the percentage of smokers aged 15 and older was 23.8% (equivalent to 15.3 million people). To contribute to the protection of public health and reduce the rate of smokers, the Law on Special Consumption Tax (SCT) in 2014 has defined the road map to increase excise duty on cigarettes, cigars and other products from tobacco plants. Accordingly, from 01/01/2016 to 12/31/2018 the SCT (special consumption tax) for this item is 70% and 75% from 01/01/2019 onwards.
The increase in the excise tax rate is expected to decrease the popular cigarette smoking among adults in Vietnam over the past time when tobacco retail prices is rather low.
Source: Bắt đầu áp dụng quy định mới về thuế tiêu thụ đặc biệt
(Government news online)
De in DKP in "Vietnam" genoemde boetes, die je op de Phillipijnen krijgt, mogen wat mij betreft hier met onmiddellijke ingang worden ingevoerd.
Of als alternatief:
• Roken op de motor? Motor laten staan en over een maand na betalen van een boete (opslagkosten) terug.
• Telefoon gebruiken op de motor? Idem, maar dan 2 maanden.
• Tegelijk roken en een telefoon gebruiken op de motor (je zal ze hier de kost moeten geven). Meteen een vrachtauto over de motor. Geen boete. Wel de verplichting om de restanten mee te nemen.
Ach, en anders kunnen ze altijd nog de inkomsten uit het F1-circuit gebruiken om iets hieraan te doen.
Vietnam has planned to increase tobacco tax to cut smoking rate as the country's smoking population is among the biggest in the world. File photo
Vietnam is among countries where smoking is most widely prevalent, losing more than 100 people a day to the habit and facing a huge financial burden, according to official figures. Statistics from the Ministry of Health show that the Vietnamese smoking population is among the biggest in the world, with nearly half of the male population aged 15 or more, or more than 15 million people, engaging in the habit. The number of female smokers is small.
As studies have linked tobacco to around 25 diseases due to its high content of toxic chemicals, including 70 carcinogens, the habit has proved deadly and costly in Vietnam. Smokers spend around US$1 billion a year on tobacco and treatment of related diseases, but yet around 40,000 die every year, and without drastic intervention the number is expected to shoot up to 70,000 by 2030.
A number of anti-smoking campaigns and regulations have helped reduce the number of smokers and passive smokers over the past few years, but the rates remain very high. According to the ministry, 30 million people, most of them women and children, still have to put up with passive smoking.
The government imposes a 65 percent luxury tax on tobacco and plans to raise it to 70 percent this year and 75 percent in 2019. But the increases have been criticized by health experts as too modest.
Bron: Smoking claims over 100 lives every day in Vietnam
Voor Nederland is er kort geleden iets over verschenen: 'Minder rokers levert Nederland financieel meer op' | NU - Het laatste nieuws het eerst op NU.nl
Maar hoe gaat dat hier in VN? Zit er hier een soort van belasting op de sigaretten?
Minh antwoordt:
According to the 2010 global survey on tobacco use among adults in Vietnam, the percentage of smokers aged 15 and older was 23.8% (equivalent to 15.3 million people). To contribute to the protection of public health and reduce the rate of smokers, the Law on Special Consumption Tax (SCT) in 2014 has defined the road map to increase excise duty on cigarettes, cigars and other products from tobacco plants. Accordingly, from 01/01/2016 to 12/31/2018 the SCT (special consumption tax) for this item is 70% and 75% from 01/01/2019 onwards.
The increase in the excise tax rate is expected to decrease the popular cigarette smoking among adults in Vietnam over the past time when tobacco retail prices is rather low.
Source: Bắt đầu áp dụng quy định mới về thuế tiêu thụ đặc biệt
(Government news online)
De in DKP in "Vietnam" genoemde boetes, die je op de Phillipijnen krijgt, mogen wat mij betreft hier met onmiddellijke ingang worden ingevoerd.
Of als alternatief:
• Roken op de motor? Motor laten staan en over een maand na betalen van een boete (opslagkosten) terug.
• Telefoon gebruiken op de motor? Idem, maar dan 2 maanden.
• Tegelijk roken en een telefoon gebruiken op de motor (je zal ze hier de kost moeten geven). Meteen een vrachtauto over de motor. Geen boete. Wel de verplichting om de restanten mee te nemen.
Ach, en anders kunnen ze altijd nog de inkomsten uit het F1-circuit gebruiken om iets hieraan te doen.
FredVN
MF veteraan
- Onderwerp starter
- #2.454
Freek de Jonge
Bij de post van gisteren moest ik als cynicus-by-nature ook meteen aan Freek de Jonge denken: “Leven na de dood”. Zie en hoor
Een aantal coupletten zou je zo in het Vietnamees kunnen vertalen: die situaties zijn hier zo mogelijk nog een graadje erger.
Bij de post van gisteren moest ik als cynicus-by-nature ook meteen aan Freek de Jonge denken: “Leven na de dood”. Zie en hoor
Een aantal coupletten zou je zo in het Vietnamees kunnen vertalen: die situaties zijn hier zo mogelijk nog een graadje erger.
Laatst bewerkt:
FredVN
MF veteraan
- Onderwerp starter
- #2.455
Springtime 2
Vorige week donderdag vertelde ik in FredVN in "Vietnam" dat we het fotoboek “Springtime” hadden besteld. Welnu, afgelopen dinsdagmorgen kwam de postkantoormevrouw het hoogstpersoonlijk afgeven. Absoluut sneller dan verwacht. Het blijkt overigens, dat de fotograaf in HCM woont.
Het boek valt zeker niet tegen voor de prijs van VND 170.000. Groot (26 x 26 cm.), fraaie uitvoering, dikke kaft met omslag, teksten bij de foto’s, 72 foto's, 104 pagina’s, kortom, ik ben heel tevreden met mijn aanwinst. Mijn enige twijfels zijn, of de lijm, waarmee de bladen geplakt zijn, goed blijft.
In een email meldde Thai Phien dat hij bezig is met een deel 2 en gaf de hint, zijn website in de gaten te houden.
Mijn model en ik hebben al uitgebreid zitten bladeren om ons voor te bereiden op de onvermijdelijke fotoshoots. Inspiratie genoeg. Ik wil Thai Phien nog een email sturen of hij ook workshops modelfotografie organiseert. Zou ik zeker aan mee willen doen.
Vorige week donderdag vertelde ik in FredVN in "Vietnam" dat we het fotoboek “Springtime” hadden besteld. Welnu, afgelopen dinsdagmorgen kwam de postkantoormevrouw het hoogstpersoonlijk afgeven. Absoluut sneller dan verwacht. Het blijkt overigens, dat de fotograaf in HCM woont.
Het boek valt zeker niet tegen voor de prijs van VND 170.000. Groot (26 x 26 cm.), fraaie uitvoering, dikke kaft met omslag, teksten bij de foto’s, 72 foto's, 104 pagina’s, kortom, ik ben heel tevreden met mijn aanwinst. Mijn enige twijfels zijn, of de lijm, waarmee de bladen geplakt zijn, goed blijft.
In een email meldde Thai Phien dat hij bezig is met een deel 2 en gaf de hint, zijn website in de gaten te houden.
Mijn model en ik hebben al uitgebreid zitten bladeren om ons voor te bereiden op de onvermijdelijke fotoshoots. Inspiratie genoeg. Ik wil Thai Phien nog een email sturen of hij ook workshops modelfotografie organiseert. Zou ik zeker aan mee willen doen.
Laatst bewerkt:
FredVN
MF veteraan
- Onderwerp starter
- #2.456
Internet
Sinds twee dagen is het internet vrij slecht en soms dramatisch: minuten lang wachten en dan de melding van “geen verbinding”, “URL onbekend” o.i.d.
Minh heeft de monteur gebeld en het blijkt dat er weer problemen zijn met de onderzeese kabel. Er kan de komende dus wat vertraging optreden in mijn posts.
Sinds twee dagen is het internet vrij slecht en soms dramatisch: minuten lang wachten en dan de melding van “geen verbinding”, “URL onbekend” o.i.d.
Minh heeft de monteur gebeld en het blijkt dat er weer problemen zijn met de onderzeese kabel. Er kan de komende dus wat vertraging optreden in mijn posts.
Laatst bewerkt:
jaap43
MF veteraan
Je bent je model al aan het voorbereiden dat ze op een elegante manier uit de kleren moet 
FredVN
MF veteraan
- Onderwerp starter
- #2.458
Mijn model heeft als “slechte Vietnamese” (“goede Vietnamezen” doen zoiets niet ) geen enkel probleem met dit soort foto’s. Voorbereiden is dus volstrekt onnodig.
Alleen vindt mijn model zichzelf niet goed genoeg als model. En datzelfde vindt de fotograaf over zijn vaardigheden op het gebied van modelfotografie. Vandaar dat we hebben besloten om ons broddelwerk niet te vertonen. Xin Loi.
Gelukkig hebben jullie de website van Thai Phien nog.
) geen enkel probleem met dit soort foto’s. Voorbereiden is dus volstrekt onnodig. Alleen vindt mijn model zichzelf niet goed genoeg als model. En datzelfde vindt de fotograaf over zijn vaardigheden op het gebied van modelfotografie. Vandaar dat we hebben besloten om ons broddelwerk niet te vertonen. Xin Loi.
Gelukkig hebben jullie de website van Thai Phien nog.
FredVN
MF veteraan
- Onderwerp starter
- #2.459
Formule 1 in Vietnam
Nog even terugkomen op de plannen om bij Hanoi een Formule-1 circuit te bouwen (FredVN in "Vietnam")
Gelukkig zijn er elders in de wereld mensen met meer verstand en vooral realiteitszin. Zie de door mij vetgedrukte regels. Hopelijk doet goed voorbeeld ook goed volgen (maar ben ik de enige met grote twijfels?)
Hockenheim neemt geen risico voor f1 contract
De Hockenheimring is niet bereid om risico's te lopen bij de organisatie van de Grand Prix van Duitsland. Dat heeft circuitdirecteur Georg Seiler aan DPA en de Stuttgarter Nachrichten laten weten. Hockenheim heeft in elk geval een contract voor 2018.
Seiler: "In 2017 is het eigenlijk weer de beurt aan de Nürburgring, maar alles is mogelijk. We hebben sowieso een contract voor 2018 en wij zullen onze verplichtingen nakomen. Voor daarna zullen we wel zien. Er stroomt nog veel water door de Rijn voordat het 2019 is."
Tegenover Motorsport-Magazin.com vervolgt hij: "De Formule 1 hoort ook na 2018 thuis op de Hockenheimring, maar het contract voor de toekomst mag geen risico's bevatten. Er zijn veel mensen in de Formule 1-keten die geld verdienen aan races. Het mag en kan niet zo zijn dat wij als circuit alleen als speeltuin fungeren voor anderen om geld te verdienen."
Bron: Hockenheim neemt geen risico voor F1-contract
Nog even terugkomen op de plannen om bij Hanoi een Formule-1 circuit te bouwen (FredVN in "Vietnam")
Gelukkig zijn er elders in de wereld mensen met meer verstand en vooral realiteitszin. Zie de door mij vetgedrukte regels. Hopelijk doet goed voorbeeld ook goed volgen (maar ben ik de enige met grote twijfels?)
Hockenheim neemt geen risico voor f1 contract
De Hockenheimring is niet bereid om risico's te lopen bij de organisatie van de Grand Prix van Duitsland. Dat heeft circuitdirecteur Georg Seiler aan DPA en de Stuttgarter Nachrichten laten weten. Hockenheim heeft in elk geval een contract voor 2018.
Seiler: "In 2017 is het eigenlijk weer de beurt aan de Nürburgring, maar alles is mogelijk. We hebben sowieso een contract voor 2018 en wij zullen onze verplichtingen nakomen. Voor daarna zullen we wel zien. Er stroomt nog veel water door de Rijn voordat het 2019 is."
Tegenover Motorsport-Magazin.com vervolgt hij: "De Formule 1 hoort ook na 2018 thuis op de Hockenheimring, maar het contract voor de toekomst mag geen risico's bevatten. Er zijn veel mensen in de Formule 1-keten die geld verdienen aan races. Het mag en kan niet zo zijn dat wij als circuit alleen als speeltuin fungeren voor anderen om geld te verdienen."
Bron: Hockenheim neemt geen risico voor F1-contract
FredVN
MF veteraan
- Onderwerp starter
- #2.460
Scams in Saigon: It’s more than just the coconut peddlers
Foreign tourists in Ho Chi Minh City are now advised to watch out for the vendors who could force them to pay up to US$5 for a coconut, five to six times what locals pay, but there are many other scams foreigners may fall prey to.
Tran Xuan Hung, director of Viking Travel & Media Corp, sounded an alarm about these dangers in an op-ed sent to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday, shortly after reading the coconut rip-offs in Saigon article the same day. These coconut peddlers will charge foreign tourists cut-throat prices, or invite them to pose for a photograph with their ganh – the bamboo yokes hung with baskets at each end used to carry the fruits around – and demand up to VND200,000 ($10) for the tool.
A recent undercover Tuoi Tre mission revealed that foreigners are charged by street vendors as much as VND200,000 for two coconuts, which normally cost only VND30,000 ($1.4) at most. “But there are many other tricks the street vendors in downtown Ho Chi Minh City use to target foreign tourists,” Hung wrote.
Getting cheated by hard-life appearances
Some visitors are moved by the apparent hard life of the peddlers, who sometimes bring little, sick children with them to work, so they are willing to buy their stuff to help. Tourists usually ask for the prices, and will be told in English that they can pay whatever prices they want, Hung said. “But the vendors then charge them VND50,000 to VND100,000 [$2.33-$4.66] and the visitors, failing to argue, have no choice but to open their wallets,” he said.
The Viking director said some peanut and coconut sellers tend to tell tourists that their goods cost only “fifteen thousand” (Vietnamese dong) each, but in fact demand “fifty thousand” once the products are delivered. “They intentionally mispronouce the word 'fifteen' in subtle ways to dupe tourists,” he said.
And there are also dishonest shoeshiners who quote VND20,000 to get a nod from their foreign customers, but will eventually ask for up to VND200,000 for “repairs they make without asking permission from the customers,” Hung said in his piece. “The tourists may start a blazing quarrel with the boot polishers but in the end they will pay to settle things.”
Tourists could also fall victim to cyclo rickshaw drivers who take them on a roundabout ride and stop at an empty area to extort their money. The foreign visitors will pay immediately in fear of being assaulted. The writer also noted that these scammers are now hunting for victims not only in the downtown area, but many other places such as Cho Lon, Thien Hau Pagoda and An Dong Market in District 5 and Binh Tay Market in District 6. “The peddlers are more and more blatant in their rip-offs toward tourists,” he said, adding European visitors in small groups are their favorite target because they “look polite and affluent.”
Tuoi Tre reported on Tuesday there are around 30 coconut peddlers who overcharge foreigners in downtown Ho Chi Minh City, but Hung said the real figure “must be two to three times that number.” Each area is under the control of a particular group of scammers, who can speak English and are willing to become gangsters, Hung said. “They are confident in cheating tourists in broad daylight and are not scared of anyone.”
How to protect tourists?
Hung suggested that Ho Chi Minh City follow the model of Da Nang, Vietnam’s central tourism hub, which runs a hotline to receive complaints against dishonest peddlers. “The city should also set up security stations at its famous attractions such as the Central Post Office, Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum, or Saigon Square,” he added. Hung said it is more convenient for tourists to report to this security force, rather than having to complete the time-consuming formality at local authorities’ offices. “Tour guides taking holidaymakers around the city should also warn them of these scammers,” he said.
Local authorities have seemingly begun to take action. Huynh Gia Giang, chairman of Ward 6 of District 3, said the ward administration is preparing a plan to “seriously handle the coconut rip-off issue.” The Ward 6 administration will also join hands with the War Remnants Museum to hang signs in English to warn foreign visitors of the scams. The administration of District 1, meanwhile, has called on Tuoi Tre to “provide information about the scammers” so that it can “work with them,” the district’s deputy chairman Le Truong Hai Hieu said Tuesday.
“However, it’s difficult to collect evidence showing that tourists are charged VND50,000 for a coconut,” Hieu admitted.
Bron: TEMPLATE | HOME
Een gewaarschuwd mens…
Het slimste is om niet naar al dit soort lui te kijken, niet blijven staan, gewoon doorlopen, zonodig er omheen te lopen (of tegelijk een bodycheck geven als je wat breder gebouwd bent )....
....en zeker niets zeggen. Kortom gewoon volledig negeren.
Cut di (spreek uit als “Koed die”) blaffen wil soms ook helpen in hardnekkige gevallen (bij mij meestal wel...)
Foreign tourists in Ho Chi Minh City are now advised to watch out for the vendors who could force them to pay up to US$5 for a coconut, five to six times what locals pay, but there are many other scams foreigners may fall prey to.
Tran Xuan Hung, director of Viking Travel & Media Corp, sounded an alarm about these dangers in an op-ed sent to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday, shortly after reading the coconut rip-offs in Saigon article the same day. These coconut peddlers will charge foreign tourists cut-throat prices, or invite them to pose for a photograph with their ganh – the bamboo yokes hung with baskets at each end used to carry the fruits around – and demand up to VND200,000 ($10) for the tool.
A recent undercover Tuoi Tre mission revealed that foreigners are charged by street vendors as much as VND200,000 for two coconuts, which normally cost only VND30,000 ($1.4) at most. “But there are many other tricks the street vendors in downtown Ho Chi Minh City use to target foreign tourists,” Hung wrote.
Getting cheated by hard-life appearances
Some visitors are moved by the apparent hard life of the peddlers, who sometimes bring little, sick children with them to work, so they are willing to buy their stuff to help. Tourists usually ask for the prices, and will be told in English that they can pay whatever prices they want, Hung said. “But the vendors then charge them VND50,000 to VND100,000 [$2.33-$4.66] and the visitors, failing to argue, have no choice but to open their wallets,” he said.
The Viking director said some peanut and coconut sellers tend to tell tourists that their goods cost only “fifteen thousand” (Vietnamese dong) each, but in fact demand “fifty thousand” once the products are delivered. “They intentionally mispronouce the word 'fifteen' in subtle ways to dupe tourists,” he said.
And there are also dishonest shoeshiners who quote VND20,000 to get a nod from their foreign customers, but will eventually ask for up to VND200,000 for “repairs they make without asking permission from the customers,” Hung said in his piece. “The tourists may start a blazing quarrel with the boot polishers but in the end they will pay to settle things.”
Tourists could also fall victim to cyclo rickshaw drivers who take them on a roundabout ride and stop at an empty area to extort their money. The foreign visitors will pay immediately in fear of being assaulted. The writer also noted that these scammers are now hunting for victims not only in the downtown area, but many other places such as Cho Lon, Thien Hau Pagoda and An Dong Market in District 5 and Binh Tay Market in District 6. “The peddlers are more and more blatant in their rip-offs toward tourists,” he said, adding European visitors in small groups are their favorite target because they “look polite and affluent.”
Tuoi Tre reported on Tuesday there are around 30 coconut peddlers who overcharge foreigners in downtown Ho Chi Minh City, but Hung said the real figure “must be two to three times that number.” Each area is under the control of a particular group of scammers, who can speak English and are willing to become gangsters, Hung said. “They are confident in cheating tourists in broad daylight and are not scared of anyone.”
How to protect tourists?
Hung suggested that Ho Chi Minh City follow the model of Da Nang, Vietnam’s central tourism hub, which runs a hotline to receive complaints against dishonest peddlers. “The city should also set up security stations at its famous attractions such as the Central Post Office, Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum, or Saigon Square,” he added. Hung said it is more convenient for tourists to report to this security force, rather than having to complete the time-consuming formality at local authorities’ offices. “Tour guides taking holidaymakers around the city should also warn them of these scammers,” he said.
Local authorities have seemingly begun to take action. Huynh Gia Giang, chairman of Ward 6 of District 3, said the ward administration is preparing a plan to “seriously handle the coconut rip-off issue.” The Ward 6 administration will also join hands with the War Remnants Museum to hang signs in English to warn foreign visitors of the scams. The administration of District 1, meanwhile, has called on Tuoi Tre to “provide information about the scammers” so that it can “work with them,” the district’s deputy chairman Le Truong Hai Hieu said Tuesday.
“However, it’s difficult to collect evidence showing that tourists are charged VND50,000 for a coconut,” Hieu admitted.
Bron: TEMPLATE | HOME
Een gewaarschuwd mens…
Het slimste is om niet naar al dit soort lui te kijken, niet blijven staan, gewoon doorlopen, zonodig er omheen te lopen (of tegelijk een bodycheck geven als je wat breder gebouwd bent
)....
....en zeker niets zeggen. Kortom gewoon volledig negeren.
Cut di (spreek uit als “Koed die”) blaffen wil soms ook helpen in hardnekkige gevallen (bij mij meestal wel...)
FredVN
MF veteraan
- Onderwerp starter
- #2.461
Going deep in Vietnam
Editor’s note: People don’t necessarily come to Vietnam to go diving. It doesn’t have the reputation of the Philippines, Indonesia or even Thailand as a place to dive, but that’s all starting to change. A growing number of visitors are choosing some of Vietnam’s best known and newly popular tourism spots as a place to ‘go deep’ and get qualified.
Expat Australian Jon Aspin recently did his Advanced Open Water diving course on Phu Quoc, and this is what he had to say about it.
I’ve never considered myself the diving type. Pulling off the ‘cool in a wetsuit’ look has proved elusive to say the least. Too much pasty-white and not enough golden-brown if you know what I mean, but it’s more than pure vanity that has tainted my opinion of this ‘sport.’
As a less-enlightened young man, I heaped scorn on silly, rich white people who would lug expensive, heavy scuba gear to the end of my local jetty on weekends. There, on what is a suburban Australian promenade, which juts out all of 100 yards into the chilly Southern Ocean, amorphous black blobs, otherwise known as middle-aged men, would gather. Heavily clad in unflattering wetsuits, sea-boots and neoprene hoodies, they would then stand around and literally steal oxygen.
Eventually, after enough time loudly expelling air from their tanks and officiously tightening and untightening a bunch of knobs, they would labour into their gear and enter the water, struggling under the weight of their equipment, and require assistance every step of the way.
To me, these ‘aqua-nerds’ were missing the point. Being in the water was about being free, not reliant on the storage capacity of a movement-inhibiting metal tube. While they went through their countless procedures and safety checks, I was free-diving in little more than nylon board shorts and a rash vest.
It wasn’t just that though, even their post-dive rituals annoyed me; their clubby behaviour, their show-off T-shirts, and the endless rounds of self-congratulation once their 35-minute cruises were over. “What are they so happy about?” I would think, “I’ve been down here for hours.”
The dark side
Fast forward 15 years or so, and I have the answer to my question. Diving really is freedom. It equals great days on boats, and incredible experiences underwater. And now, having recently completed my Advanced Open Water certification in Vietnam, my transition to the dark side is somewhat complete. I am even the proud owner of not one, but two rather obnoxious dive T-shirts, and will happily volunteer tales about my recent ‘wreck dive’ experience in Bali – just ask me. To confirm that I’m not alone, I asked two of my fellow divers the simple question: “Why diving?”
“Diving for me is freedom,” says Rafa from Spain. “When you are underwater your mind goes empty, (and) there is nothing else but yourself and the environment.”
Outi from Finland is equally loved up. “Diving gives me a sensation unlike anything else, beyond imagination. Being weightless, breathing underwater and experiencing a different world."
The course
To obtain your Advanced Open Water certificate you need to do five dives. There are a couple of pre-dive theory quizzes based on some course work, and several challenging activities to complete on the boat pre-entry. Two of the dives are mandatory, and the other three are up to you. Deep Water is the first mandatory dive and takes you down to the sometimes nitrogen narcosis-inducing depth of 30 metres. Nitrogen narcosis sounds pretty serious, but is something that professional divers will tell you that they love. It is the effect of breathing nitrogen at certain depths, and leaves you feeling mildly but temporarily intoxicated. My experience? Let’s just say I was pretty happy with how my day was going at that point, but I still managed to pass the simple cognitive tests my instructor threw at me. The other is Underwater Navigation, which involves using a fancy piece of kit called a compass. This object will help get you back to where you need to be if you encounter bad weather or bad luck.
For my other three dives I chose Buoyancy, where I was asked to control my balance using only my breath, and then swim through hoops; Search and Rescue, which put my underwater knot-tying skills to the test, and finally Fish ID, where I developed a new language for the various scorpion, clown and butterfly fish I saw.
All five of these dives were fun, challenging, and gave my dive time purpose. Each included at least 45 minutes of ‘bottom time’ and kept my mind busy in what were fairly difficult conditions – visibility was restricted to around 2 to 3 metres on both days.
Determined to impress, I “hid my nerves quite well,” according to my instructor, and appeared “confident and nonchalant,” even though I was nervous. Flapping about like a grounded pelican on your buoyancy test isn’t exactly the look you go for, but it does happen. Tying knots with 15 metres of water on top of you isn’t the easiest thing you can try either. Getting separated from your instructor and forgetting to surface like you’re supposed to after one minute just takes years off peoples’ lives. Sorry Marlee!
Nevertheless, I passed, and am officially an Advanced Open Water Diver. There’s an email from PADI sitting in my inbox to prove it. To say I celebrated with my new diving buddies Razek and his wife Maria from the Czech Republic that night was an understatement, but hey, that’s how ‘we divers’ roll.
Living the dream
Obviously you don’t do this course alone, and my instructor over the two days was Marlee, a 26-year-old marine scientist from Melbourne. Hand-picked by Rainbow Divers owner Jeremy Stein to manage his Phu Quoc operation, Marlee is an example of someone living the dream in this country, and combining it with her passion for the environment.
Keen to allay people’s fears about diving being an overly technical sport, she says it’s about being relaxed. “Once people have that moment when they realise that nothing needs to happen quickly, it’s a game changer,” she said. She stresses the need to have confidence in your buddies, and made certain I understood the importance of safety in the water. “Everything is double and triple checked,” she assured me. “Safety is paramount.”
My advice to people in Vietnam is to just go do it. The PADI Open Water is your starting point and a ticket to some fantastic days of fun on boats, meeting new people and exploring the underwater world. You won’t look back in 25 years and say “I’m glad I didn’t do that.” Just be warned, you may end up the proud owner of some fairly cheesy dive T-shirts in a few years’ time.
Who to dive with?
Rainbow Divers is the premier dive centre in Vietnam. Established in the mid-1990s, it is the first five-star accredited PADI training centre in the country and offers the full range of PADI courses and daily diving opportunities in five different locations. Jeremy Stein is the owner and founder – he still loves diving today as much as when he started the company 18 years ago. “To explore the bottom of the ocean is to go to one of the few places you can still go in the world where there are no phones, there is no Internet, and you are just completely at one with what you are doing,” he told me.
Where and when to dive
Locations & seasons
There are five different locations to experience the Rainbow Diving difference in Vietnam.
• Nha Trang (all year round).
This is where the company started in the mid-1990s. Nha Trang includes a marine park around the island of Hon Mun, a 40-minute boat ride away. Established in 2003, the park features great marine life and a great value destination to do a PADI training course. Best time to dive: February to October.
• Whale Island (February to September).
Offers a genuine getaway nestled two hours north of Nha Trang and an opportunity to do the full range of PADI courses as well as interesting beach and night dives. No roads or motorbikes here, just rustic bungalows and ocean views.
• Phu Quoc (September to February).
A developing island paradise that offers fantastic coral life due to the run-off associated with the Mekong River, which also means it can suffer from periods of low visibility. Local knowledge is important, but there are fun diving opportunities both north and south around the archipelagos.
• Con Dao (March to September).
Make use of Rainbow’s private speedboat to explore an amazing diversity of dive sites here. Flying into this place is akin to discovering the Planet of the Lost Apes. Expect to see dugongs, sea turtles and possibly some of the bigger fish going around out there. Jeremy describes it as “magical and exclusive.”
• Saigon Dive Centre (all year round).
If you want to start your accreditation while visiting the biggest city in the country, make an appointment at Buddha Bar in District 2 and meet Jeremy for a consultation about your business, school or just your own needs. A great resource on making the most of your time in Vietnam.
Diving a Cultural Experience
While the best pure diving in the country is generally considered to be in Con Dao, where the marine life remains relatively untouched by tourism and the variety of fish species is superior to most other spots, Jeremy has an alternative view.
“I always say diving in Vietnam is not just about the diving, it is a whole cultural experience. It’s still ‘off’ a lot of people’s radars. 20 years ago they were surprised it even existed here, but now, 50 percent of my business is pre-booked, meaning people are coming to this country specifically to dive – so there is definitely strong awareness. It’s a hell of a turnaround.”
Vietnam’s top dive spots
Nha Trang
• Electric Nose & Madonna Rock
Whale Island
• The Three Kings & Hon Tai
Phu Quoc
• Dep Reef & Anemone Cove
• Con Dao
• Hon Cau & Rabbit Island
Bron: TEMPLATE | HOME
Tja, nu Coco Dive Center niet meer actief is in Nha Trang –dit was absoluut de beste en veiligste-, is ‘Rainbow Divers’ (Rainbow Divers | Rainbow Divers Vietnam) waarschijnlijk de beste keus. Het is zeker de meest bekende hier.
En wie weet, misschien hebben ze hun leven gebeterd en hoef je na bovenkomen niet meer een paar honderd meter terug te snorkelen naar de boot, zoals Jean-Pierre van CocoDiveCenter meerdere malen heeft verteld.
Editor’s note: People don’t necessarily come to Vietnam to go diving. It doesn’t have the reputation of the Philippines, Indonesia or even Thailand as a place to dive, but that’s all starting to change. A growing number of visitors are choosing some of Vietnam’s best known and newly popular tourism spots as a place to ‘go deep’ and get qualified.
Expat Australian Jon Aspin recently did his Advanced Open Water diving course on Phu Quoc, and this is what he had to say about it.
I’ve never considered myself the diving type. Pulling off the ‘cool in a wetsuit’ look has proved elusive to say the least. Too much pasty-white and not enough golden-brown if you know what I mean, but it’s more than pure vanity that has tainted my opinion of this ‘sport.’
As a less-enlightened young man, I heaped scorn on silly, rich white people who would lug expensive, heavy scuba gear to the end of my local jetty on weekends. There, on what is a suburban Australian promenade, which juts out all of 100 yards into the chilly Southern Ocean, amorphous black blobs, otherwise known as middle-aged men, would gather. Heavily clad in unflattering wetsuits, sea-boots and neoprene hoodies, they would then stand around and literally steal oxygen.
Eventually, after enough time loudly expelling air from their tanks and officiously tightening and untightening a bunch of knobs, they would labour into their gear and enter the water, struggling under the weight of their equipment, and require assistance every step of the way.
To me, these ‘aqua-nerds’ were missing the point. Being in the water was about being free, not reliant on the storage capacity of a movement-inhibiting metal tube. While they went through their countless procedures and safety checks, I was free-diving in little more than nylon board shorts and a rash vest.
It wasn’t just that though, even their post-dive rituals annoyed me; their clubby behaviour, their show-off T-shirts, and the endless rounds of self-congratulation once their 35-minute cruises were over. “What are they so happy about?” I would think, “I’ve been down here for hours.”
The dark side
Fast forward 15 years or so, and I have the answer to my question. Diving really is freedom. It equals great days on boats, and incredible experiences underwater. And now, having recently completed my Advanced Open Water certification in Vietnam, my transition to the dark side is somewhat complete. I am even the proud owner of not one, but two rather obnoxious dive T-shirts, and will happily volunteer tales about my recent ‘wreck dive’ experience in Bali – just ask me. To confirm that I’m not alone, I asked two of my fellow divers the simple question: “Why diving?”
“Diving for me is freedom,” says Rafa from Spain. “When you are underwater your mind goes empty, (and) there is nothing else but yourself and the environment.”
Outi from Finland is equally loved up. “Diving gives me a sensation unlike anything else, beyond imagination. Being weightless, breathing underwater and experiencing a different world."
The course
To obtain your Advanced Open Water certificate you need to do five dives. There are a couple of pre-dive theory quizzes based on some course work, and several challenging activities to complete on the boat pre-entry. Two of the dives are mandatory, and the other three are up to you. Deep Water is the first mandatory dive and takes you down to the sometimes nitrogen narcosis-inducing depth of 30 metres. Nitrogen narcosis sounds pretty serious, but is something that professional divers will tell you that they love. It is the effect of breathing nitrogen at certain depths, and leaves you feeling mildly but temporarily intoxicated. My experience? Let’s just say I was pretty happy with how my day was going at that point, but I still managed to pass the simple cognitive tests my instructor threw at me. The other is Underwater Navigation, which involves using a fancy piece of kit called a compass. This object will help get you back to where you need to be if you encounter bad weather or bad luck.
For my other three dives I chose Buoyancy, where I was asked to control my balance using only my breath, and then swim through hoops; Search and Rescue, which put my underwater knot-tying skills to the test, and finally Fish ID, where I developed a new language for the various scorpion, clown and butterfly fish I saw.
All five of these dives were fun, challenging, and gave my dive time purpose. Each included at least 45 minutes of ‘bottom time’ and kept my mind busy in what were fairly difficult conditions – visibility was restricted to around 2 to 3 metres on both days.
Determined to impress, I “hid my nerves quite well,” according to my instructor, and appeared “confident and nonchalant,” even though I was nervous. Flapping about like a grounded pelican on your buoyancy test isn’t exactly the look you go for, but it does happen. Tying knots with 15 metres of water on top of you isn’t the easiest thing you can try either. Getting separated from your instructor and forgetting to surface like you’re supposed to after one minute just takes years off peoples’ lives. Sorry Marlee!
Nevertheless, I passed, and am officially an Advanced Open Water Diver. There’s an email from PADI sitting in my inbox to prove it. To say I celebrated with my new diving buddies Razek and his wife Maria from the Czech Republic that night was an understatement, but hey, that’s how ‘we divers’ roll.
Living the dream
Obviously you don’t do this course alone, and my instructor over the two days was Marlee, a 26-year-old marine scientist from Melbourne. Hand-picked by Rainbow Divers owner Jeremy Stein to manage his Phu Quoc operation, Marlee is an example of someone living the dream in this country, and combining it with her passion for the environment.
Keen to allay people’s fears about diving being an overly technical sport, she says it’s about being relaxed. “Once people have that moment when they realise that nothing needs to happen quickly, it’s a game changer,” she said. She stresses the need to have confidence in your buddies, and made certain I understood the importance of safety in the water. “Everything is double and triple checked,” she assured me. “Safety is paramount.”
My advice to people in Vietnam is to just go do it. The PADI Open Water is your starting point and a ticket to some fantastic days of fun on boats, meeting new people and exploring the underwater world. You won’t look back in 25 years and say “I’m glad I didn’t do that.” Just be warned, you may end up the proud owner of some fairly cheesy dive T-shirts in a few years’ time.
Who to dive with?
Rainbow Divers is the premier dive centre in Vietnam. Established in the mid-1990s, it is the first five-star accredited PADI training centre in the country and offers the full range of PADI courses and daily diving opportunities in five different locations. Jeremy Stein is the owner and founder – he still loves diving today as much as when he started the company 18 years ago. “To explore the bottom of the ocean is to go to one of the few places you can still go in the world where there are no phones, there is no Internet, and you are just completely at one with what you are doing,” he told me.
Where and when to dive
Locations & seasons
There are five different locations to experience the Rainbow Diving difference in Vietnam.
• Nha Trang (all year round).
This is where the company started in the mid-1990s. Nha Trang includes a marine park around the island of Hon Mun, a 40-minute boat ride away. Established in 2003, the park features great marine life and a great value destination to do a PADI training course. Best time to dive: February to October.
• Whale Island (February to September).
Offers a genuine getaway nestled two hours north of Nha Trang and an opportunity to do the full range of PADI courses as well as interesting beach and night dives. No roads or motorbikes here, just rustic bungalows and ocean views.
• Phu Quoc (September to February).
A developing island paradise that offers fantastic coral life due to the run-off associated with the Mekong River, which also means it can suffer from periods of low visibility. Local knowledge is important, but there are fun diving opportunities both north and south around the archipelagos.
• Con Dao (March to September).
Make use of Rainbow’s private speedboat to explore an amazing diversity of dive sites here. Flying into this place is akin to discovering the Planet of the Lost Apes. Expect to see dugongs, sea turtles and possibly some of the bigger fish going around out there. Jeremy describes it as “magical and exclusive.”
• Saigon Dive Centre (all year round).
If you want to start your accreditation while visiting the biggest city in the country, make an appointment at Buddha Bar in District 2 and meet Jeremy for a consultation about your business, school or just your own needs. A great resource on making the most of your time in Vietnam.
Diving a Cultural Experience
While the best pure diving in the country is generally considered to be in Con Dao, where the marine life remains relatively untouched by tourism and the variety of fish species is superior to most other spots, Jeremy has an alternative view.
“I always say diving in Vietnam is not just about the diving, it is a whole cultural experience. It’s still ‘off’ a lot of people’s radars. 20 years ago they were surprised it even existed here, but now, 50 percent of my business is pre-booked, meaning people are coming to this country specifically to dive – so there is definitely strong awareness. It’s a hell of a turnaround.”
Vietnam’s top dive spots
Nha Trang
• Electric Nose & Madonna Rock
Whale Island
• The Three Kings & Hon Tai
Phu Quoc
• Dep Reef & Anemone Cove
• Con Dao
• Hon Cau & Rabbit Island
Bron: TEMPLATE | HOME
Tja, nu Coco Dive Center niet meer actief is in Nha Trang –dit was absoluut de beste en veiligste-, is ‘Rainbow Divers’ (Rainbow Divers | Rainbow Divers Vietnam) waarschijnlijk de beste keus. Het is zeker de meest bekende hier.
En wie weet, misschien hebben ze hun leven gebeterd en hoef je na bovenkomen niet meer een paar honderd meter terug te snorkelen naar de boot, zoals Jean-Pierre van CocoDiveCenter meerdere malen heeft verteld.
FredVN
MF veteraan
- Onderwerp starter
- #2.462
Nog 2 weken aanmodderen:
The undersea Internet cable connecting Vietnam with the US, which snapped on August 2, is scheduled to get fixed on August 21, a source familiar with the matter said Sunday.
The cable operator Asia-America Gateway (AAG) earlier said that Typhoon Nida caused the rupture and bad weather obstructed the repair work.
This was the third time this year the notorious cable, which is used by four Internet providers, VNPT, FPT Telecom, Viettel and SPT, broke.
The 20,000km cable, installed in 2009, is capable of delivering up to 2.88 Tbit/s.
The undersea Internet cable connecting Vietnam with the US, which snapped on August 2, is scheduled to get fixed on August 21, a source familiar with the matter said Sunday.
The cable operator Asia-America Gateway (AAG) earlier said that Typhoon Nida caused the rupture and bad weather obstructed the repair work.
This was the third time this year the notorious cable, which is used by four Internet providers, VNPT, FPT Telecom, Viettel and SPT, broke.
The 20,000km cable, installed in 2009, is capable of delivering up to 2.88 Tbit/s.
FredVN
MF veteraan
- Onderwerp starter
- #2.463
Eten in Vietnam
Een paar van de meest bekende gerechten met eetlustopwekkende foto’s staan in:
What to Eat in Vietnam
Een paar van de meest bekende gerechten met eetlustopwekkende foto’s staan in:
What to Eat in Vietnam
Dat is weer een voordeel als je 1,85 meter lang en breed bent. In Milaan heb ik al gehad dat iemand mij ongevraagd ging helpen met het kopen van een metrokaartje. Na enkele keren vriendelijk te bedanken voor de service, probeerde deze fijne meneer vervolgens geld te vragen voor zijn ongewenste diensten. Ik heb mijn kaartje gekocht en ben toen op 10cm afstand van deze Italiaanse dwerg gaan staan en heb hem toen duidelijk gemaakt dat ik hem toch wel wat opdringerig vond en geen gebruik wenste te maken van zijn diensten. Dit alles in het Nederlands met een dusdanig volume waardoor het gehele metrostation ons aanstaarde.Scams in Saigon: It’s more than just the coconut peddlers
... (of tegelijk een bodycheck geven als je wat breder gebouwd bent
Vond hij niet grappig.
In de VS vragen ze aan me of ik van de WWF ben. Daar heb ik dus nooit echt last van verkopers die me proberen te flessen. (m.u.v. taxichauffeurs)
Eerlijk gezegd, ik was in Thailand, Laos, Cambodja, Maleisie en Singapur (en Vietnam) en de Vietnames "scammers" waren met grote voorsprong het allerirritantst.
En dan is het "ik vraag meer voor iets van een toerist dan van een inheemse" nog helemaal niet erg.
Een prijs afspreken en dan bij het betalen nieuwe verhandelingen beginnen schijnt eerder typisch te zijn.
FredVN
MF veteraan
- Onderwerp starter
- #2.467
Moet je zeker naar Vietnam komen. Kun je je met jouw lengte heerlijk uitleven. American football is er dan niets bij.Dat is weer een voordeel als je 1,85 meter lang en breed bent. In Milaan heb ik al gehad dat iemand mij ongevraagd ging helpen met het kopen van een metrokaartje. Na enkele keren vriendelijk te bedanken voor de service, probeerde deze fijne meneer vervolgens geld te vragen voor zijn ongewenste diensten. Ik heb mijn kaartje gekocht en ben toen op 10cm afstand van deze Italiaanse dwerg gaan staan en heb hem toen duidelijk gemaakt dat ik hem toch wel wat opdringerig vond en geen gebruik wenste te maken van zijn diensten. Dit alles in het Nederlands met een dusdanig volume waardoor het gehele metrostation ons aanstaarde.
Vond hij niet grappig.
In de VS vragen ze aan me of ik van de WWF ben. Daar heb ik dus nooit echt last van verkopers die me proberen te flessen. (m.u.v. taxichauffeurs)
Lukt mij zelfs af en toe met mijn (gebrek aan) lengte.
FredVN
MF veteraan
- Onderwerp starter
- #2.468
Ik ben het grotendeels met je eens.Hier krijg ik overal jeuk van.
Duiken in verre-vreemde landen? Doen!
Duikqualifikatie halen bij vakantieduikers? Niet doen!
Ook ik heb diverse sporten met een “wat verhoogd risico” beoefend als motorrijden, klimmen en duiken. Daar is een extra risico-factor bijgekomen toen ik dat in Vietnam ging doen. Ik ben daarom altijd uiterst kritisch geweest op mijn buddies. En weigerde om met een heel stel daarvan mee te gaan, ondanks dat ze beter klommen of meer duikervaring hadden.
Ik heb mijn 1 ster-CMAS gewoon in NL gehaald. En daar ben je de gehele winter zoet mee.
Ik heb wel de SSI Advanced Adventurer bij Coco Dive Center in Nha Trang gehaald. Maar toen kon ik Xuan en Jean-Pierre al een aantal jaren en had meerdere recreatieduiken met hun gemaakt. Met die ervaring + de grondige basis in NL kon het (vond ik en vind ik nog steeds). Zomaar een beginnerscursus bij een willekeurige duikschool hier: niet doen. Ik heb daar iets te veel negatieve ervaringen over gelezen.
FredVN
MF veteraan
- Onderwerp starter
- #2.469
Klopt. Dat is iets wat je hier vaak ziet en ook ik me mateloos aan erger. Ik was voor mijn eerste Vietnamreis 3 keer naar Indonesië geweest en dar is afspraak gewoon afspraak.
En met mijn eerste groepsreis naar Vietnam zaten we al meteen de eerste dag in een discussie over de prijs met een cyclo naar het hotel. Helaas wilde mijn medereizigers betalen i.p.v. mijn voorstel te volgen en gewoon het hotel in te gaan. Deze gebeurtenis heeft de basis gelegd voor mijn huidige "lomp reageren".
FredVN
MF veteraan
- Onderwerp starter
- #2.470
Attention trainers: Pokémon GO is now available in Vietnam
Trainers in Vietnam do not have to wait any longer to start ‘catching ‘em all’ as the phenomenon mobile game Pokémon GO is officially available in the Southeast Asian country as of today, August 6.
Pokémon GO is now available for download from the Play Store or App Store in Vietnam and 14 “new countries and regions across Asia and Oceania,” the game’s Facebook page announced at 8:00 am on Saturday.
The countries, territories and regions include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau.
This screenshot taken on August 6, 2016 in Ho Chi Minh City shows a nearby Gym of Pokémon GO
Enthusiasts of the Pokémon franchise in Vietnam have been longing for the official launch of Pokémon GO in the country ever since the Niantic app began taking the world by storm early July. People have tried all possible ways to play the augmented reality mobile game but eventually had to give up and kept waiting for the official launch.
Built on Niantic’s Real World Gaming Platform, Pokémon GO uses real locations to encourage players to search the Poké world in order to disocver ‘catch ‘em all.’
“[The game] allows you to find and catch more than a hundred species of Pokémon as you explore your surroundings,” the app creator writes on their website.
Bron: TEMPLATE | HOME
Wie de vakantie naar Vietnam hiervoor had uitgesteld kan nu rustig boeken: je kunt hier gewoon verder gaan met spelen.
Alhoewel gewoon... Ik ben benieuwd of het gemiddeld aantal verkeersslachtoffers sterk of heel sterk zal stijgen. Ik hou in ieder geval mijn hart vast.
Gelukkig heb ik helemaal niets met gamen.
Trainers in Vietnam do not have to wait any longer to start ‘catching ‘em all’ as the phenomenon mobile game Pokémon GO is officially available in the Southeast Asian country as of today, August 6.
Pokémon GO is now available for download from the Play Store or App Store in Vietnam and 14 “new countries and regions across Asia and Oceania,” the game’s Facebook page announced at 8:00 am on Saturday.
The countries, territories and regions include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau.
This screenshot taken on August 6, 2016 in Ho Chi Minh City shows a nearby Gym of Pokémon GO
Enthusiasts of the Pokémon franchise in Vietnam have been longing for the official launch of Pokémon GO in the country ever since the Niantic app began taking the world by storm early July. People have tried all possible ways to play the augmented reality mobile game but eventually had to give up and kept waiting for the official launch.
Built on Niantic’s Real World Gaming Platform, Pokémon GO uses real locations to encourage players to search the Poké world in order to disocver ‘catch ‘em all.’
“[The game] allows you to find and catch more than a hundred species of Pokémon as you explore your surroundings,” the app creator writes on their website.
Bron: TEMPLATE | HOME
Wie de vakantie naar Vietnam hiervoor had uitgesteld kan nu rustig boeken: je kunt hier gewoon verder gaan met spelen.
Alhoewel gewoon... Ik ben benieuwd of het gemiddeld aantal verkeersslachtoffers sterk of heel sterk zal stijgen. Ik hou in ieder geval mijn hart vast.
Gelukkig heb ik helemaal niets met gamen.
FredVN
MF veteraan
FredVN
MF veteraan
- Onderwerp starter
- #2.473
Beating the heat in Vietnam
I’ve been trying to persuade my landlord to put in a small pool like a Jacuzzi in my garden. After eight years in the same house, I figure I deserve it for my diligent rent payments and watering his twenty seven trees. He always smiles the lazy ‘fat chance’ grin as he pockets my money, but even still, it’s worth a try every time...
Beating the heat is easy if you’re near the beach, but that only covers part of the day providing you have the time. I’ve got two adult dogs and no transport capable of carting them down to the surf, and I’m certainly not risking my life with dogs on leashes on the Hoi An Hai Ba Trung to An Bang Formula 1 track.
Still there are clever ways to deal with Vietnam’s inevitable heat waves.
Work often requires me to commute to Da Nang at around midday, so I put on a wet T-shirt that I’ve cooled down in the fridge, meaning that for the forty-minute trip, I’m literally wearing my air-con while cheerfully waving to my fans. I’m usually bone dry by the time I arrive at school, and snuggle into my air-conditioned classrooms chilly ambience.
I must thank the resorts with automatic watering systems too. It’s a mystery to me why more of my fellow road users don’t slow down and allow the water sprinklers to give them a brief, refreshing spray of grass-scented water. It’s often a highlight of my otherwise grueling trip.
Another trick I’ve learnt is to put a wide flat dish under the kitchen fridge when we have power cuts. As the freezer’s ice melts into the dish and the rest of me wilts in the humidity, my feet are ice cold, soaking in the miniature arctic circle I’ve created and thanking me with every wiggle of my toes.
A refrigerated towel laid across my bed before sleep can also act as a muscle reliever, slowly unwinding the tension in my shoulders from carrying a 10-kilo backpack to school every day. In the evenings I face one of my fans outwards next to my garden table as the air around the neighborhood is frequently still on clear nights. My dogs love it, collapsing instantly in front of the artificial midnight breeze.
I’ve also leant to ride my bike in the shadows of trees. You know you’re a long-term expat when you’re parked in the shade ten meters from the traffic lights while waiting for the lights to change.
One friend places a tray of ice cubes in front of a USB-powered fan next to his laptop. He claims it works and I’m not one to dispute such ingenuity. While I’d prefer a bikini clad Vietnamese lass behind my office chair waving a large hand-held fan in my direction – sadly I’m not married, and I doubt young Ms. modern could manage the task while tip-tapping on her mobile. I blame this idea on watching too many Egyptian epics in recent weeks.
While our usually extravagant expat lifestyle affords us the atmosphere of the beach on a regular basis and chilled wine with a cheese platter, it’s a different matter for my students. While their homes are a cut above the one and a half story constructions that pass for modern design, air-conditioning for homes is still a real rarity. I know of at least two former students who do their homework on the roof while swinging in a hammock in the evening air.
The right kind of floor tiling brings relief too. Yet it’s surprising how many Vietnamese I know who seem to choose the wrong material that absorbs heat like hot sand. I pity the children of these parents who choose the neighborhood’s worse architect. Furthermore, people who install ‘skylights’ in their kitchens – what were they thinking? You could bake a cake and save electricity with some of these bench tops just by the natural heat that gathers.
Another interesting innovation is to put the fan just outside the bedroom or study room. Inside an hour it’s pushed so much hot air out that the temperature has dropped enough to feel like spring in England – you know – that time when they moan ‘Isn’t it hot?’ while the Aussies just raise their eyebrows and the Egyptians don’t even look up from their smartphones.
Nothing of course beats that first cold beer after work. Even better when you’re quaffing it down in a swimming pool in the garden of your own home...
Are you listening to me, dear landlord?
Bron: TEMPLATE | HOME
Een aantal nuttige tips voor wie in de zomer deze kant op komt. Zijn die er eigenlijk?
Op zich spreekt dat wuiven door een “bikini clad Vietnamese lass” mij ook wel aan. Maar ik ben bang dat Minh hier niet voor te porren is (dat wuiven dan). Tja, jammer, de Vietnamese cultuur verandert en helaas niet altijd ten goede...
I’ve been trying to persuade my landlord to put in a small pool like a Jacuzzi in my garden. After eight years in the same house, I figure I deserve it for my diligent rent payments and watering his twenty seven trees. He always smiles the lazy ‘fat chance’ grin as he pockets my money, but even still, it’s worth a try every time...
Beating the heat is easy if you’re near the beach, but that only covers part of the day providing you have the time. I’ve got two adult dogs and no transport capable of carting them down to the surf, and I’m certainly not risking my life with dogs on leashes on the Hoi An Hai Ba Trung to An Bang Formula 1 track.
Still there are clever ways to deal with Vietnam’s inevitable heat waves.
Work often requires me to commute to Da Nang at around midday, so I put on a wet T-shirt that I’ve cooled down in the fridge, meaning that for the forty-minute trip, I’m literally wearing my air-con while cheerfully waving to my fans. I’m usually bone dry by the time I arrive at school, and snuggle into my air-conditioned classrooms chilly ambience.
I must thank the resorts with automatic watering systems too. It’s a mystery to me why more of my fellow road users don’t slow down and allow the water sprinklers to give them a brief, refreshing spray of grass-scented water. It’s often a highlight of my otherwise grueling trip.
Another trick I’ve learnt is to put a wide flat dish under the kitchen fridge when we have power cuts. As the freezer’s ice melts into the dish and the rest of me wilts in the humidity, my feet are ice cold, soaking in the miniature arctic circle I’ve created and thanking me with every wiggle of my toes.
A refrigerated towel laid across my bed before sleep can also act as a muscle reliever, slowly unwinding the tension in my shoulders from carrying a 10-kilo backpack to school every day. In the evenings I face one of my fans outwards next to my garden table as the air around the neighborhood is frequently still on clear nights. My dogs love it, collapsing instantly in front of the artificial midnight breeze.
I’ve also leant to ride my bike in the shadows of trees. You know you’re a long-term expat when you’re parked in the shade ten meters from the traffic lights while waiting for the lights to change.
One friend places a tray of ice cubes in front of a USB-powered fan next to his laptop. He claims it works and I’m not one to dispute such ingenuity. While I’d prefer a bikini clad Vietnamese lass behind my office chair waving a large hand-held fan in my direction – sadly I’m not married, and I doubt young Ms. modern could manage the task while tip-tapping on her mobile. I blame this idea on watching too many Egyptian epics in recent weeks.
While our usually extravagant expat lifestyle affords us the atmosphere of the beach on a regular basis and chilled wine with a cheese platter, it’s a different matter for my students. While their homes are a cut above the one and a half story constructions that pass for modern design, air-conditioning for homes is still a real rarity. I know of at least two former students who do their homework on the roof while swinging in a hammock in the evening air.
The right kind of floor tiling brings relief too. Yet it’s surprising how many Vietnamese I know who seem to choose the wrong material that absorbs heat like hot sand. I pity the children of these parents who choose the neighborhood’s worse architect. Furthermore, people who install ‘skylights’ in their kitchens – what were they thinking? You could bake a cake and save electricity with some of these bench tops just by the natural heat that gathers.
Another interesting innovation is to put the fan just outside the bedroom or study room. Inside an hour it’s pushed so much hot air out that the temperature has dropped enough to feel like spring in England – you know – that time when they moan ‘Isn’t it hot?’ while the Aussies just raise their eyebrows and the Egyptians don’t even look up from their smartphones.
Nothing of course beats that first cold beer after work. Even better when you’re quaffing it down in a swimming pool in the garden of your own home...
Are you listening to me, dear landlord?
Bron: TEMPLATE | HOME
Een aantal nuttige tips voor wie in de zomer deze kant op komt. Zijn die er eigenlijk?
Op zich spreekt dat wuiven door een “bikini clad Vietnamese lass” mij ook wel aan. Maar ik ben bang dat Minh hier niet voor te porren is (dat wuiven dan). Tja, jammer, de Vietnamese cultuur verandert en helaas niet altijd ten goede...
FredVN
MF veteraan
- Onderwerp starter
- #2.474
More train services to Nha Trang, Phan Thiet
Saigon Railways will add new services to the resort towns of Phan Thiet and Nha Trang, starting July 1, to attract more passengers this summer, Tuoi Tre reported.
The daily service SNT3-4 between Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang will cost between VND166,000 (US$7.40) to VND340,000 ($15) one way.
Tickets for the Phan Thiet service SPT3-4 range from VND92,000 ($4) to VND125,000 ($5.60).
Passengers going in groups of 10-20 will get a 10 percent discount, and groups of 21 and above will get 15 percent off.
Bron: More train services to Nha Trang, Phan Thiet
Saigon Railways will add new services to the resort towns of Phan Thiet and Nha Trang, starting July 1, to attract more passengers this summer, Tuoi Tre reported.
The daily service SNT3-4 between Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang will cost between VND166,000 (US$7.40) to VND340,000 ($15) one way.
Tickets for the Phan Thiet service SPT3-4 range from VND92,000 ($4) to VND125,000 ($5.60).
Passengers going in groups of 10-20 will get a 10 percent discount, and groups of 21 and above will get 15 percent off.
Bron: More train services to Nha Trang, Phan Thiet
Maar niets over service in bikini...
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