Vietnam Deel 2

[FredVN]

Immens botte domheid?

En om te laten zien hoe alles hier al dan niet (samen)werkt:

Ho Chi Minh City shutters bars, discos, karaoke following detection of local COVID-19 infection
Bron: Ho Chi Minh City shutters bars, discos, karaoke following detection of local COVID-19 infection

Hanoi closes karaoke parlors, bars, discos after new local COVID-19 infection
Bron: Hanoi closes karaoke parlors, bars, discos after new local COVID-19 infection

En dus…

Top tourist destinations near fully booked despite Covid-19 menace
Bron: Top tourist destinations near fully booked despite Covid-19 menace - VnExpress International

want

“After over a month without a single case of community transmission, many Vietnamese have booked to join tours during the four-day break (April 30-May 3) which marks Reunification Day (April 30) and Labor Day (May 1).”
Wat aan de pestherrie hier ook luid en duidelijk te merken is. Kwam vanmorgen al door de dubbele beglazing en de herrie van de airco heen.

En dit is geen lokaal feestje, hè, dit zijn complete volksverhuizingen. Want het zijn echt niet alleen de top-attracties, die bezoek krijgen.

 

[FredVN]

String portraits depict prominent global artists

Le Van Manh, a 25-year-old Saigon artist, uses nails and thread to create portraits of prominent local and foreign figures.

The artist from Tan Phu District said he discovered string art during the Covid-19 outbreak last year.
"This type of art entails a web of yarn wrapped around a nail system fastened onto the plane surface. Lines are created when the yarn is wound around two nails. Multiple lines intersect and vary in angle to make the image come alive," he said.

Manh applies math algorithms to determine the correct wrapping order.

For a 40-centimeter-in-diameter picture, Manh will have to hammer 200 nails into the canvas, each corresponding to a number from 1 to 200.

"The more threads that pass through an area, the darker it will be, creating contrast in the portrait."

He said an artwork with a diameter of 40 centimeters will need about 3,000 wrappings.

In addition to the wooden frame, the remaining materials for making string art include nails, thread, pliers to fix the nail into position and a hammer. This material set costs about VND300,000 ($13.08).

Manh said viewers should not stand too close to the picture to get a better perspective, advising a distance of about two meters.

He has made portraits of wellknown figures, including General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong, local comedian Tran Thanh and fictional character Harry Potter.


For other types of frames such as hearts, squares or a variety of thread colors, Manh has to use more complex algorithms.
"Even though the computer determines the wrapping order, winding the thread is still done by hand, requiring patience and focus. For someone with no talent like me, this type of art is even more special since it is a way for me to surpass my limits."

On April 2, Manh was invited to take part in a tutorial for autistic children to mark World Autism Awareness Day at a special education school in Binh Thanh District.
"Initially, I learned how to make string art simply because I found it strange and wanted to conquer it myself. Since I want to help popularize this art, I will work on more sample paintings, algorithms and diverse materials."


String portraits depict prominent global artists - VnExpress International

 

[FredVN]

Farmers and football: the Vietnamese women scoring big on the field

Ethnic San Chi women dressed in traditional costumes play a friendly football match as part of the Soong Co festival celebrations in northern Vietnam's Quang Ninh province. Photo: AFP


Legs stiff from long days in the rice terraces of northern Vietnam, scores of female farmers dressed in colourful cloth headbands and skirts gather on a gravel pitch for a game of football.

The all-female squads of Huc Dong commune, a mountainous village only 40 kilometres from the Chinese border, have little time to practice and may spend months away from the sport when it's time to tend their crops.

But the commitment of the women, who hail from the San Chi ethnic minority group, has earned them respect -- plus a little money and fame -- in football-mad Vietnam. Since they began playing in 2016, the women have featured regularly in national press and across social media.

But they are far from the only success story in women's football in Vietnam, with the national side multiple South East Asian championship winners.

Since the team's launch in 2016, the women have featured regularly in national press and across social media. Photo: AFP


Trying to catch a pass from her teammate, striker May Thi Kim bumps against her competition as she aims for the goal on the community's gravel hilltop stadium overlooking the paddy and bamboo-covered valley.

Her team from Mo Tuc village is facing off against friends from neighbouring Luc Ngu in a sports event that is part of the traditional Soong Co festival on Saturday.

As the team dribbles the ball closer to the goalposts, spectators -- many of whom are their husbands, children and tourists -- cheer the women on.
"I used to watch football on TV," Kim, 29, told AFP, recalling the beginnings of the team five years ago. "I told the youth union they must let us women play."

Ethnic Dao women wearing traditional clothing watch a friendly football match as part of the Soong Co festival celebrations in northern Vietnam's Quang Ninh province. Photo: AFP


Skirts shortened, shirts loosened
Kim and her fellow players in Huc Dong commune -- 14 in all across two teams -- play in black skirts, long-sleeved blue shirts and headbands that have been part of their traditional dress for generations.
"There is no difference playing football in either the traditional clothes or sportswear," Kim told AFP before the match.

That said, their skirts have been shortened, shirts loosened -- and some of the women play with colourful long football socks.

Midfielder La Thi Thao, 15, says she might be more comfortable in regular shorts and T-shirt, but is happy to show off the clothing of her tiny community, which numbers just over 2,000.

It helps "people, including tourists, understand us better", she said.

Some of the players have even passed their passion for football on to their children. Photo: AFP


'It hurt every muscle'
All the players in Huc Dong, including Kim, make a living from hard grind on the terraced paddy fields and in the forests, where they grow cinnamon, star anise and pine trees. Their step count climbs into the tens of thousands each day as they traverse hills and navigate rocky streams.

But although strong, the women did not have the physical agility at the outset that football demands.
"When we first started, it hurt every muscle," Kim said, admitting they had very little time to train due to the combined pressures of farming and housework.

Coach May A Cang has trained them hard to improve their flexibility, asking the women to run regularly to limber up their muscles.

It was tough work at first, with the women soaking their legs in warm salted water and medicinal leaves for pain relief -- but gradually their bodies adapted to the training.

The footballers play in black skirts, long-sleeved blue shirts and headbands that have been part of their traditional dress for generations. Photo: AFP


While Cang has taken on a coaching role, he admits that even he was initially hesitant when his wife, a squad member, wanted to join the team.
"I thought her playing could hurt her legs and then she could not go to the field to work," he said.
"But she told me she would train and would know how to play properly."

The women believe they have proved their doubters wrong -- some have even transferred their passion on to their daughters.
"Even if it hurts, we are ok to take it for our love of football," Kim said.


Bron: Farmers and football: the Vietnamese women scoring big on the field



Tekst en foto’s deden me onmiddellijk denken aan lang geleden: een schoolvoetbaltoernooi van 6e klassers. Mijn dochter deed ook (een beetje) mee.

Vlak bij mij hoorde ik een wat bekakt sprekende moeder iets zeggen over “dat haar dochter niet mocht voetballen, ordinaire sport” of zoiets. Denk het accent er even zelf bij.

Zelf keek ik naar één van mijn dochters vriendinnen, die echt met kop en schouders boven iedereen uit stak. Geweldig om die te zien spelen en regelen. Toen al een talent.

Uiteindelijk heeft ze het tot selectiewedstrijden voor het Nederlands elftal weten te brengen, maar dat is helaas niet gelukt.

Meer fraaie en m.i. betere foto’s zijn te zien op Ethnic women play football in skirts
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[FredVN]

Onduidelijk

Ook dit snap ik voorlopig nog niet. Ja, ja, mijn snappertje krimpt blijkbaar met de jaren of droogt in door de warmte.

Het laagste punt van de weg is een brug die ooit door hoog water is ingestort. Zie Vietnam Deel 2

Later nog wat foto’s gemaakt toen de brug gerepareerd was. Zie Vietnam Deel 2

Maar nu.

• Wordt dit een nieuwe hogere brug in plaats van die er nu ligt?
• Op ca. 100 m. links ligt parallel aan deze weg de vermoedelijke nieuwe weg voor het resort langs. Wordt dit viaduct een onderdeel van die weg?
• Komt er iets haaks op dit bestaande weggetje?
• Iets geheel anders?

OK, af en toe maar eens langsrijden.

 

[FredVN]

COVID-19

In een poging het niet altijd over karaoke en Covid-19 te hebben, zal ik voor beide aparte stukjes maken met voornamelijk verwijzigingen.

Hier in mijn provincie Khanh Hoa zijn inmiddels ook alle niet-essentiële zaken gesloten.
Vietnam's Da Nang, Khanh Hoa close non-essential businesses considering COVID-19 scare

Waarom DaLat dit dan wel toelaat?
Tourists face queuing nightmare on holiday weekend in Vietnam’s Da Lat

 

[FredVN]

US magazine lists Khanh Hoa resort among world's 30 best

American lifestyle magazine Veranda named Six Senses Ninh Van Bay in Khanh Hoa Province, home to famed resort town Nha Trang, among the world's 30 best resorts for 2021. It was the only Vietnamese resort to break into the list compiled by travel advisors for the magazine.

Located on Ninh Van Bay in the south-central province's Ninh Hoa District, around 60 kilometers from Nha Trang, the resort consists of 54 villas covering an area of lush greenery. Behind the resort lies a range of hills, home to rare monkeys on the brink of extinction.

The only way to access the resort is by boat, which takes around 20 minutes.

Six Senses Ninh Van Bay in Khanh Hoa Province. Photo courtesy of Six Senses.


"The resort wows with its wealth of one-of-a-kind, secluded accommodations, from hideaways in the jungle to retreats over rock pools. If you can pull yourself away from your villa, there are endless activities to enjoy, from Vietnamese cooking classes and organic garden tours to locally inspired wellness programs," Veranda wrote.

Nha Trang, with its long, sandy beaches and scuba diving, has earned fame as a top travel destination in Vietnam. Nha Trang Bay is widely considered among the world's most beautiful.

Ninh Van Bay remains untouched, with tourism services undeveloped.

Other resorts included in the list were One & Only Reethi Rah in the Maldives, Aurora Cabin in Finland, Triophy Lodge in Iceland and Thailand's Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle.


Bron: US magazine lists Khanh Hoa resort among world's 30 best - VnExpress International


Voor een luizige €900 - €4.000 per nacht kunnen jullie ook kijken of “Veranda” gelijk heeft.

Of zie Vietnam Resorts | Vietnam Beach Resort and Spa Holidays voor wat leuke kiekjes en filmpjes.
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[FredVN]

Werk in uitvoering…

…dus even afstappen en foto’s maken.

Er wordt ook hier een betonnen sloot gemaakt.

En ze hebben nog een aardig stukje te gaan.

Dus ze zijn voorlopig van de straat.

Of van de wal in de sloot.

Of…

 

[FredVN]

Schoolvoorbeeld…

…van standaard Vietnamese afwerking.

“Wat zeik je nou. Niet vlak? Het ligt er toch goed bij? Kijk eens goed op de tweede foto hoe fraai en artistiek we dat muurtje hebben gebouwd. Dat is toch puur vakmanschap? “.

Natuurlijk, als dat t.z.t. een roller coaster moet worden heb je volledig gelijk.

Ach ja, vakmanschap…

Oeps. Sorry, verkeerde foto. Het moet natuurlijk deze zijn:

Want 7 Things to Know About Drinking in Vietnam
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[FredVN]

Taking small steps toward greener life in Vietnam

Young volunteers take part in a GreenPoints event in a supplied photo.


With the aim of creating a community that is big enough to raise awareness of greener life across Vietnam, a team behind the GreenPoints project takes some small but decisive steps toward this goal.

Huynh Hanh Phuc, who created the education project Teach for Vietnam, is also the technical lead and developer for the GreenPoints application.

A little bit of ‘green’ daily
The GreenPoints app was developed based on promoting and rewarding users for their efforts of living a green lifestyle. The team behind the app chose to give green points (GP) to people who adopt environmentally friendly actions. Users then can exchange these points for useful and meaningful gifts. On top of that, they can also give their points to their friends, family members, or to other community projects.

Currently, the GreenPoints app has some features such as

• Reporting grey points (illegal landfill sites that cause contamination or are left undone for a long time);
• Green Action (record, register, and inspire a green lifestyle);
• Green Station (where people can bring waste to and get GP points in return);
• Green Events (events where people come to exchange waste for gifts, to gain knowledge about the green community, and more); and
• Green Contribution (donate GP points to social projects like making libraries for underprivileged children, planting trees in the forest, collecting garbage across the nation, and others).

Think twice before buying
A growing number of people who choose to lead a green life often think twice before making a choice or decision.
“Should I buy it? Is this really a waste? How were these vegetables planted? How was this stuff manufactured?” said Phuc.
“If we do this together every day, small efforts will become big like a ripple effect, we have a greener spring, a greener decade, and then a more sustainable future."

Consuming demand never stops, but a young generation is slower in deciding to buy anything. They pay more attention to the potential risks that a piece of goods can pose to the environment in the long run. They consider alternative methods and think about what people can do to show gratitude to Mother Nature.

In Phuc’s opinion, a child’s love for nature must be nurtured regularly inside each household, where the parents play a key role in developing the love.
“In the state of Missouri [in the U.S.] where I lived before, there was a family with a father who was from Brazil, a U.S. mother, and a daughter named Elina,” he recalled.
“They took the daughter into the garden playing every day or cycling in the forest.
"They have three boxes that were sorted out to contain various kinds of garbage including plastic garbage, paper scraps, and discarded food to be used as organic fertilizer.
“As you can guess, Elina’s love for nature was developed naturally along with her parents through such simple things."

It is the young generation that becomes a source of inspiration for their parents and grandparents to lead a greener and more sustainable lifestyle, he said.
“We found that the young have more opportunities to access information on the environment," Phuc told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.
"They, in turn, can easily encourage other family members to live in harmony with nature.
“I am persuaded to change my view on environmental education.
“We had better firstly focus on the young generation to build a green community."

In Ho Chi Minh City, the young can bring garbage bags and second-hand stuff to Green Station at 106A Nguyen Van Cu Street, Nguyen Cu Trinh Ward, District 1 to exchange for GP points.

Green Station also operates in the central city of Da Nang and the capital city of Hanoi while setting goals of expanding to more destinations in the future.

Currently, the station accepts certain kinds of garbage such as clean-treated milk boxes, discarded batteries, paper, plastic bottles, and broken-down electronics.

Apart from that, anyone can register to become an operator of a Green Station if they feel that they have enough passion for environmental protection.


Taking small steps toward greener life in Vietnam


Op zich natuurlijk een voortreffelijk initiatief. Maar er is zeker hier in Vietnam nog een Sisyphus-taak te verrichten: milieu is hier bij ruw geschat 99,9 % van de bevolking een volstrekt onbekend begrip.

Een voorbeeld is de 100.000 ton pesticiden, die jaarlijks zonder enig probleem wordt gesproeid.

En dichter bij (mijn) huis. De afgelopen maand zijn in een straal van zo’n honderd meter vele tientallen, vaak ook grote bomen gekapt. Dat is voor de verkoop. Ditzelfde zie je op heel veel plaatsen gebeuren. Ook dat mag blijkbaar gewoon.

Dus heel normaal in mijn omgeving:

Misschien ook eens denken aan een GreenPee Duurzaam & circulair | GreenPee, Het circulaire urinoir. Op veel rustige plaatsen op straat met veel muurtjes stinkt het naar de urine. En nee, die is niet van de honden. Althans niet van die op vier poten.

 

[FredVN]

Het kan veel erger. Deze is zojuist op de TuoiTrer-site geplaatst.

Trash abounds on Saigon streets

Indiscriminate dumping is a growing epidemic across the city

tuoitrenews.vn

Nog een hoop werk aan de winkel voor GreenPoint.

 

[FredVN]

Vietnam’s first-ever ‘sleepless city’ officially opens on Phu Quoc Island

A music show during the opening ceremony of Phu Quoc United Center on April 21, 2021. Photo: Hai Trieu / Tuoi Tre


Vingroup’s Phu Quoc United Center – Southeast Asia’s leading entertainment complex – was officially launched on Vietnam’s Phu Quoc Island on Wednesday evening and is expected to open up many opportunities for night-time economic development.

Super entertainment complex
Phu Quoc – Vietnam’s first island city – is granted a lot of special mechanisms and policies to promote economic and tourism development, according to Huynh Quang Hung, chairman of the Phu Quoc People’s Committee.

A total of 328 projects worth up to US$16 billion have been established by major corporations on the island so far, Hung continued.

The number of visitors to Phu Quoc increases 25-30 percent every year, he said, adding that the island is expected to welcome three million visitors, who are mainly domestic tourists, in 2021.
“The brand new super entertainment complex plays a significant role in Phu Quoc’s tourism developmen,” Hung remarked.

The replica of Venice’s Grand Canal at Phu Quoc United Center. Photo: Hai Trieu / Tuoi Tre


Ry, a foreign visitor who has been in Vietnam for a year, said he was extremely excited at the opening of Phu Quoc United Center – an all-in-one resort complex.

Rod Beriver, a Canadian businessman, said he was surprised by the magnificence and cleanliness of the super tourism-resort-entertainment complex, especially the replica of Venice’s Grand Canal, which made him feel like he was in modern and glamorous Europe.
Beriver came to Vietnam about seven years ago and is running a business inside Phu Quoc United Center.
This ‘sleepless city’ can totally be compared with other leading destinations in Asia such as Japan and Hong Kong, the Canadian man added.

Vietnam’s first ‘sleepless city’
Vietnamese singer Dang Khoi arrived at Grand World, part of the Phu Quoc United Center, not only as an artist but also an investor since he owns a shophouse in the complex.
“I've been looking forward to the grand opening of the complex and hope it will become an attractive tourist destination in the future," Khoi said.
"I believe this 'sleepless city' will spur Vietnam’s tourism in the coming time."

Nguyen Duc Duy, a Ho Chi Minh City resident, said he landed in Phu Quoc on Wednesday morning on the occasion of the Hung Kings Festival.
Duy and his friends rented some bicycles to tour the Grand World and planned on partying all night long following the opening ceremony of Phu Quoc United Center.
"I cannot believe Vietnam has such a unique and spectacular entertainment compound," the visitors exclaimed.

Pham Van Anh, who resides in Duong Dong Town, Phu Quoc City, said she is happy that her hometown has such a special entertainment complex.
“I hope that Phu Quoc will continue to develop so that more tourists will come to and fall in love with the island,” Anh remarked.

The woman added her family had spent VND150,000 (US$6.5) on an enjoyable boat ride along the Venice Grand Canal.

About 300 agricultural products and specialties of various localities were also presented to visitors in the ‘sleepless city.'

Bustling promenade, night market
Grand World currently has three main projects, namely the Grand World Phu Quoc Pedestrian Street - Night Market, NightZone 68, and Saigon Seafood Hub Market, according to Huynh Van Son, general director of Sea Star Saigon JSC.

Open from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am daily, NightZone 68 is the first model to be developed in the night economic complex, Son elaborated.
“The night economy here is an example of a 'sleepless city,' which is completely different from the night streets in other urban areas," he elaborated.

The Pedestrian Street - Night Market has 134 stalls selling food, souvenirs, specialties, local products, travel necessities, and fashion items.

A bird’s-eye view of Grand World Phu Quoc – a ‘sleepless city.' Photo: Hai Trieu / Tuoi Tre

Bamboo Legend – Vietnam’s largest bamboo construction. Photo: Hai Trieu / Tuoi Tre


Bron: Vietnam’s first-ever ‘sleepless city’ officially opens on Phu Quoc Island


Nog een zooitje karaoke-boxen erbij en ze kunnen helemaal los.

Sorry, ik ben hier echt te oud voor vrees ik.

Veel meer PR-foto’s en suf geneuzel? Zie de bron.

 

[FredVN]

Celebs show off summer curves in thong swimsuits

Thong bikinis are becoming a mainstream fad among Vietnamese celebrities, who love to highlight their curves and tanned skin ahead of the coming summer.

Model Quynh Anh Shyn is a hardcore fan of thong bikinis, cut very low in the front and with only a thin strip of elastic material running between the cheeks in the rear, allowing for the least cumbersome tan lines. Photo courtesy of Quynh Anh Shyn.

Singer Jolie Phuong Trinh shows off her curves with a blue bikini. Thong swimwear first appeared in the 1980s, but over the course of the last year, it has become a common site on many beaches. Photo courtesy of Phuong Trinh.

Model Ngoc Trinh opts for a white bikini with accessories. According to many fans of thong bikinis, the outfit helps them attract an optimal amount of sun, especially on hot summer days. Photo courtesy of Ngoc Trinh.

Singer Chi Pu sports a pink bikini and robe. Chi usually shows off her body with thong bikinis on her Instagram, attracting thousands of likes and comments. Photo courtesy of Chi Pu.

Model Diep Lam Anh in a summer-time black bikini. According to Wall Street Journal, over the past year, during the pandemic, many women have been able to relax at a safe distance from others in "the opposite of sweatpants": thong bikinis, a.k.a. Brazilian bikinis, or G-string bikinis. This has led to the prominence of thongs in many countries. Photo courtesy of Diep Lam Anh.

Model Hoang Thuy shows off her abs in a yellow bikini. Thuy is a fan of thong bikinis with neon and bright colors. Photo courtesy of Hoang Thuy.

Model Ngoc Thao spends her time on the beach in a black bikini. In fact, thongs are not universally praised, with many saying they are too revealing. In the past, this type of bikini raised many eyebrows, before earning greater popularity in recent years. Photo courtesy of Ngoc Thao.

Model Ha Anh opts for a white thong bikini while on vacation. Photo courtesy of Ha Anh.


Bron: Celebs show off summer curves in thong swimsuits - VnExpress International


Toch weer iets gevonden voor de zondag.

Tja, ik weet het ook niet meer. Soms mag dit, meestal wordt dit type foto –helaas- heel snel van de site verwijderd. Zie bv. Vietnam Deel 2 waar minder bloot getood wordt dan in deze sessie.
Misschien omdat dit beroemdheden zijn?

In ieder geval was ik er dus op tijd bij.

 

[FredVN]

Sloten bouwen (1)

Tijdens één van mijn tripjes zag ik ergens midden in de landerijen activiteit. Dichterbij gekomen bleek dat men bezig was met het storten van betonnen sloten.

Of dit stuk klaar is weet ik eigenlijk niet. Ik ben niet tot het einde doorgelopen.

Dit mede omdat ze aan de andere kant wel bezig waren. En dus veel interessanter was.

De voorgaande twee foto’s zijn gemaakt, terwijl ik vanaf hier gezien achter de cabine stond. Hier worden zand en stenen in een soort van betonmolen geschept, die achterop het vrachtwagentje staat.

Omdat de persoon, die de dragline bedient, met de vrachtauto mee reed, kon ik op de dragline klimmen en de volgende twee foto’s maken.

Het binnenwerk van de betonmolen draait rond.

 

[Deanevo]

Sloten bouwen (1)

Tijdens één van mijn tripjes zag ik ergens midden in de landerijen activiteit. Dichterbij gekomen bleek dat men bezig was met het storten van betonnen sloten.

Of dit stuk klaar is weet ik eigenlijk niet. Ik ben niet tot het einde doorgelopen.

Bekijk bijlage 1630269


Dit mede omdat ze aan de andere kant wel bezig waren. En dus veel interessanter was.

Bekijk bijlage 1630270


De voorgaande twee foto’s zijn gemaakt, terwijl ik vanaf hier gezien achter de cabine stond. Hier worden zand en stenen in een soort van betonmolen geschept, die achterop het vrachtwagentje staat.

Bekijk bijlage 1630271

Omdat de persoon, die de dragline bedient, met de vrachtauto mee reed, kon ik op de dragline klimmen en de volgende twee foto’s maken.

Het binnenwerk van de betonmolen draait rond.

Bekijk bijlage 1630272

Bekijk bijlage 1630273

Irrigatiekanalen misschien?

 

[FredVN]

Dat zou kunnen. Waar de bron van het water is zou ik niet weten. Mogelijk van hoger op de bergen. Mogelijk alleen de regen.

Wat ik wel weet is dat de meeste sloten heel vaak droog staan. En als er water doorheen stroomt is het eigenlijk altijd smerig. Niet zo vreemd: er drijven dode beesten, feces, pesticiden en ongetwijfeld nog veel meer troep in. Dit is het water waarvan men hier roept: “je ziet er niets in dus is het goed”.

 

[FredVN]

Sloten bouwen (2)

Hier worden de wanden van de sloot gemaakt.

De schep van de dragline wordt volgestort…

…en wordt door deze dame, die ook de andere dragline bedient…

…beetje bij beetje op de plank gestort…

…waarna deze man het met de schep tussen de verticale mallen schuift.

 

[Deanevo]

Dat zou kunnen. Waar de bron van het water is zou ik niet weten. Mogelijk van hoger op de bergen. Mogelijk alleen de regen.

Wat ik wel weet is dat de meeste sloten heel vaak droog staan. En als er water doorheen stroomt is het eigenlijk altijd smerig. Niet zo vreemd: er drijven dode beesten, feces, pesticiden en ongetwijfeld nog veel meer troep in. Dit is het water waarvan men hier roept: “je ziet er niets in dus is het goed”.

Als ik me niet vergis, zijn dat droge rijstvelden. Ze zullen inderdaad vast water uit de bergen willen hebben om te tappen, en dus ook meerdere keren kunnen irrigeren en oogsten ipv 1 x per jaar. Misschien loopt daar wel een rivier daar in die bergen.

 

[FredVN]

Van het verbouwen van rijst (en eigenlijk alles dat groeit en bloeit) heb ik geen enkel verstand. Wat ik zie is dat de rijst meestal in water staat, de sloten vaak droog staan en er wordt dacht ik 3 keer per jaar geoogst.

Hoe het dus precies met al dat water zit weet ik niet. Ik zal eens rondhoren of iemand daar iets zinnigs over kan zeggen.

 

[FredVN]

Sloten bouwen (3)

Ondertussen is deze man bezig om de houten paaltjes uit de vorige stap te verwijderen…

…met dit als resultaat.

Aan beide zijden worden speciaal geprepareerde stukken betonijzer opgehangen…

…en een metalen bodem opgelegd.

 

[FredVN]

HELIOS & COVID-19

Als de herrie al niet stopt bij een Covid-ban, dan wel als je het vriendelijk vraagt? Zucht...

Ho Chi Minh City restaurant fined for offering karaoke service notwithstanding coronavirus ban

The restaurant may also have its business license revoked in the coming time

tuoitrenews.vn

 

[FredVN]

Sloten bouwen (slot)

Twee zijstukken completeren de mal....

…waarna twee stukken betonijzer, die de zijstukken op zijn plaats moeten houden, het geheel completeren.

Dit lijkt op een mal voor een smaller deel…

…dat er dan zo uitziet.

 

[Deanevo]

Sloten bouwen (slot)

Twee zijstukken completeren de mal....

Bekijk bijlage 1631430


…waarna twee stukken betonijzer, die de zijstukken op zijn plaats moeten houden, het geheel completeren.

Bekijk bijlage 1631431

Dit lijkt op een mal voor een smaller deel…

Bekijk bijlage 1631432


…dat er dan zo uitziet.

Bekijk bijlage 1631433

Een soort dwarsĺiggers voor stevigheid? Weet je al waar al dat water vandaan gaat komen? Dat wordt in sommige jaargetijden wellicht een snelstromend kanaal, met op sommige plekken misschien ook til-schuifdeuren aan de zijkant. Dit om water tot het gewenste peil in het rijstveld te kunnen laten stromen.

 

[FredVN]

Ik zal Minh vragen of ze iets bij wat moeders kan achterhalen.

 

[FredVN]

An epidemic Vietnam has no cure for: real estate fevers

For many people, including yours truly, Vietnam’s real estate fevers have killed the dream of owning a home.

I intended to buy a land plot and build a house 10 years ago. Thanks to an acquaintance, I was able to acquire a 55-square-meter plot in the HCMC's outskirt district of Nha Be. The transaction took place during a land fever outbreak and therefore, I rushed to close the deal via an intermediary.

The cost for the plot was VND7-8 million ($305-350 as per current exchange ratio) per square meter and I made a deal with the broker on a handwritten paper without getting it notarized.
"Let's just cut the deal and we will have all the paperwork legalized later," the broker assured me, showing me a list of customers that had bought land with exactly the same process I had gone through. "See? Now they are building their houses like mushrooms." Convinced at last, I agreed to make a deposit and transferred the money.

At that moment, as a salaried employee, I had to gather almost every asset I had and sell away all pieces of jewelry, apart from borrowing from others to have enough money to obtain that one land plot.

Yet once I got the plot, I could not get anything built on it because that land was situated in the path of a high voltage transmission line. I was stuck with the plot for five years. Then I had to try many different ways and spend several tens of millions of dong asking for help from intermediaries so that I could sell it at half the price I spent on it.

That land fever of 2010 in Ho Chi Minh City lasted several months, before cooling down in mid-2011.

After that failure, I only paid attention to real estate projects that were fully legal.

But real estate fevers keep recurring every few years in HCMC; and whatever I saved up only allows me to get land plots outside the city, in neighboring Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Long An provinces. But those are places I do not know well, and it would be difficult to travel back and forth as I work in HCMC. If I were to buy a property there, I would not be able to keep a close eye on it. My friends then advised me to invest in condo apartments.

Five to seven years ago, such an apartment in the city’s outlying areas, about 10-15 km from the downtown area, cost around VND2 billion ($86,700). And if I wanted to buy one, with my financial ability back then, I would have to get a bank loan worth 70 percent of the house’s total cost, not to mention borrow more from friends and relatives.

Thinking about a future in which I have to endure chronic debt and yet like many others, still face the risk of unemployment, illnesses, and all other possible vagaries of time, I just wanted to shrink away.

The story of settling down, having a career, and building a family sounded so simple at the time of my parents, but these have become very stressful for me and my generation. The path to realizing the dream of owning land and houses is just as tough for youth in other countries as it is for Vietnamese youth. Houses in South Korea are so prohibitively expensive that many married couples, despite six-digit incomes, have had to give up the dream of having a house in a city. In Hong Kong, many people can only afford several dozen square meters, and have to live their lives in so-called "coffin homes."

Other factors, too
Yet, I cannot blame everything on the "real estate fevers" that arise out of greed and speculation. There are other factors that have a say in deciding whether or not one can own a house in a city in Vietnam.

Many friends of mine have devoted all their time and effort to making money; earning as much as they can has become the biggest goal in their lives. More than a few of them have managed to own houses in the city, eventually, but, to achieve this goal, they’ve have had to trade away their youth, health, relationships and other things. Some did not even dare to get married.

Some have been lucky enough to acquire property in real estate projects when the market was down and prices were not pushed up too high, compared to the actual value of the properties.

In the 2008-2010 period, we witnessed a sideways movement in the real estate market and saw it "plunge" by nearly 50 percent between 2011 and 2013. Then in the 2014-2019 period, prices surged sharply by 50-300 percent in big cities. House prices in the center of HCMC jumped 21 times after just 16 years.

So after more than ten years of hard work, I still could not buy any real estate for myself. One reason of course is that the sum I have saved up has never been able to match the continuously rising land and housing prices. The other reason is that every time I want to make some investment, brokers would show up and I would always fall into a matrix of information and tricks.

Many people accept the notion that one can never suffer losses by investing in real estate. This explains why 90 percent of land buyers in the suburbs of HCMC are speculators, according to surveys by the HCMC Real Estate Association and independent organizations. In the middle and high-end apartment segment in the inner city area, a majority of buyers are investors who buy houses to resell or lease out.

Investing in real estate is not a bad thing, especially when the bank interest rate is just 4-5 percent per year. However, when the fever rises quickly due to asymmetrical information generated by a network of intermediaries, the market is distorted.

Most recently, information on planning and building large-scale projects like bridges and airports in HCMC’s neighboring and nearby localities, like Dong Nai, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Phan Thiet and Binh Phuoc, has triggered yet another real estate fever, fanned as ever by eager intermediaries.

A real estate project in Phu My Hung Urban Area in HCMC's District 7 in 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran.


Around me, people keep bragging about how they have just acquired another piece of land, cut a deal to sell properties at good prices, or how they are going to earn big money, now that some large-scale projects are about to go up nearby their properties, or that the districts their properties lie in have become localities with a higher level of administration, and therefore higher value properties.

I know some of them have mortgaged their houses and cars and borrowed from banks to invest in places where the land fevers are raging. Most of them are very excited about the huge profits that will arrive soon, and only a few think about how much they would suffer if they make losses.

An acquaintance of mine had borrowed money from different sources to buy a land plot in Binh Duong during a land fever 10 years ago. The land is still there and if it is sold now, the acquaintance must accept 70-80 percent of the original cost, and this is not accounting for inflation.

What does a land fever do, apart from the obvious gains for developers and investors/speculators? It distorts the market and business environment and causes inequity in the enjoyment of land use values, contributing to increasing "conflicts of interest" in our society.

Once a land fever sweeps through a locality, there is little chance it can return to a peaceful normal. In 2018, when the prime minister agreed in principle that the central province of Khanh Hoa can adjust the general construction plan for the northern part of the Van Phong Bay, hundreds of brokers flocked to Ninh Hoa Town and Van Ninh District nearby, as also inside the bay, to buy and sell land.

In just one night, the price of one square meter of land there went up 50-70 times. From the national highway to the alleyways in those two localities, signs of real estate sale and brokerage advertisements went up like mushrooms after rains. Many fishermen in Ninh Hoa put aside their boats and fishing tools and began working as brokers.

Then last year, when information was released about suspending the plan to develop the Bac Van Phong special economic zone, thousands were hit hard and left with no option but to sell the properties they had raced to invest in and suffer heavy losses.

When a land fever happens, the sudden increase in land prices means an increase in compensation costs, factory construction costs and rents for businesses. It also makes it difficult for the government, which would have to pay more to clear sites for public projects.

In developed countries, any real estate transaction must go through a third party, which are brokerage companies and banks, lawyers and appraisers, and the process is supervised. Healthy economies accept healthy increases in real estate prices over time, and transactions are transparent.

In case real estate prices suddenly surge, by 10-20 percent for example, in a short period of time, authorities will jump in and investigate it. Individuals or organizations that have spread rumors or other misinformation to push up land prices will face criminal charges for manipulating the market, causing property differences and committing fraud.

Strict supervision of the real estate transaction process and equally strict law enforcement have helped many countries manage the risk of market manipulation.

It is not difficult for Vietnam to do the same. Apart from ensuring openness, transparency and strict supervision by local authorities, all the existing loopholes in the Land Law, which have been pointed by more than a few people many times, have to be fixed.

Will this happen and will people like me be allowed to dream again of having a home? Or, will land fevers continue and speculators rule the roost?

*Ngoc Thuy is a journalist. The opinions expressed here are her own.


Bron: An epidemic Vietnam has no cure for: real estate fevers - VnExpress International


Het stuk over Khanh Hoa slaat op Van Phong Bay, ca. 50- km. N van Nha Trang. Niet op de hotels bij het vliegveld ten Z. van NT.

 

[Deanevo]

An epidemic Vietnam has no cure for: real estate fevers

For many people, including yours truly, Vietnam’s real estate fevers have killed the dream of owning a home.

I intended to buy a land plot and build a house 10 years ago. Thanks to an acquaintance, I was able to acquire a 55-square-meter plot in the HCMC's outskirt district of Nha Be. The transaction took place during a land fever outbreak and therefore, I rushed to close the deal via an intermediary.

The cost for the plot was VND7-8 million ($305-350 as per current exchange ratio) per square meter and I made a deal with the broker on a handwritten paper without getting it notarized.
"Let's just cut the deal and we will have all the paperwork legalized later," the broker assured me, showing me a list of customers that had bought land with exactly the same process I had gone through. "See? Now they are building their houses like mushrooms." Convinced at last, I agreed to make a deposit and transferred the money.

At that moment, as a salaried employee, I had to gather almost every asset I had and sell away all pieces of jewelry, apart from borrowing from others to have enough money to obtain that one land plot.

Yet once I got the plot, I could not get anything built on it because that land was situated in the path of a high voltage transmission line. I was stuck with the plot for five years. Then I had to try many different ways and spend several tens of millions of dong asking for help from intermediaries so that I could sell it at half the price I spent on it.

That land fever of 2010 in Ho Chi Minh City lasted several months, before cooling down in mid-2011.

After that failure, I only paid attention to real estate projects that were fully legal.

But real estate fevers keep recurring every few years in HCMC; and whatever I saved up only allows me to get land plots outside the city, in neighboring Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Long An provinces. But those are places I do not know well, and it would be difficult to travel back and forth as I work in HCMC. If I were to buy a property there, I would not be able to keep a close eye on it. My friends then advised me to invest in condo apartments.

Five to seven years ago, such an apartment in the city’s outlying areas, about 10-15 km from the downtown area, cost around VND2 billion ($86,700). And if I wanted to buy one, with my financial ability back then, I would have to get a bank loan worth 70 percent of the house’s total cost, not to mention borrow more from friends and relatives.

Thinking about a future in which I have to endure chronic debt and yet like many others, still face the risk of unemployment, illnesses, and all other possible vagaries of time, I just wanted to shrink away.

The story of settling down, having a career, and building a family sounded so simple at the time of my parents, but these have become very stressful for me and my generation. The path to realizing the dream of owning land and houses is just as tough for youth in other countries as it is for Vietnamese youth. Houses in South Korea are so prohibitively expensive that many married couples, despite six-digit incomes, have had to give up the dream of having a house in a city. In Hong Kong, many people can only afford several dozen square meters, and have to live their lives in so-called "coffin homes."

Other factors, too
Yet, I cannot blame everything on the "real estate fevers" that arise out of greed and speculation. There are other factors that have a say in deciding whether or not one can own a house in a city in Vietnam.

Many friends of mine have devoted all their time and effort to making money; earning as much as they can has become the biggest goal in their lives. More than a few of them have managed to own houses in the city, eventually, but, to achieve this goal, they’ve have had to trade away their youth, health, relationships and other things. Some did not even dare to get married.

Some have been lucky enough to acquire property in real estate projects when the market was down and prices were not pushed up too high, compared to the actual value of the properties.

In the 2008-2010 period, we witnessed a sideways movement in the real estate market and saw it "plunge" by nearly 50 percent between 2011 and 2013. Then in the 2014-2019 period, prices surged sharply by 50-300 percent in big cities. House prices in the center of HCMC jumped 21 times after just 16 years.

So after more than ten years of hard work, I still could not buy any real estate for myself. One reason of course is that the sum I have saved up has never been able to match the continuously rising land and housing prices. The other reason is that every time I want to make some investment, brokers would show up and I would always fall into a matrix of information and tricks.

Many people accept the notion that one can never suffer losses by investing in real estate. This explains why 90 percent of land buyers in the suburbs of HCMC are speculators, according to surveys by the HCMC Real Estate Association and independent organizations. In the middle and high-end apartment segment in the inner city area, a majority of buyers are investors who buy houses to resell or lease out.

Investing in real estate is not a bad thing, especially when the bank interest rate is just 4-5 percent per year. However, when the fever rises quickly due to asymmetrical information generated by a network of intermediaries, the market is distorted.

Most recently, information on planning and building large-scale projects like bridges and airports in HCMC’s neighboring and nearby localities, like Dong Nai, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Phan Thiet and Binh Phuoc, has triggered yet another real estate fever, fanned as ever by eager intermediaries.

Bekijk bijlage 1631866
A real estate project in Phu My Hung Urban Area in HCMC's District 7 in 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran.


Around me, people keep bragging about how they have just acquired another piece of land, cut a deal to sell properties at good prices, or how they are going to earn big money, now that some large-scale projects are about to go up nearby their properties, or that the districts their properties lie in have become localities with a higher level of administration, and therefore higher value properties.

I know some of them have mortgaged their houses and cars and borrowed from banks to invest in places where the land fevers are raging. Most of them are very excited about the huge profits that will arrive soon, and only a few think about how much they would suffer if they make losses.

An acquaintance of mine had borrowed money from different sources to buy a land plot in Binh Duong during a land fever 10 years ago. The land is still there and if it is sold now, the acquaintance must accept 70-80 percent of the original cost, and this is not accounting for inflation.

What does a land fever do, apart from the obvious gains for developers and investors/speculators? It distorts the market and business environment and causes inequity in the enjoyment of land use values, contributing to increasing "conflicts of interest" in our society.

Once a land fever sweeps through a locality, there is little chance it can return to a peaceful normal. In 2018, when the prime minister agreed in principle that the central province of Khanh Hoa can adjust the general construction plan for the northern part of the Van Phong Bay, hundreds of brokers flocked to Ninh Hoa Town and Van Ninh District nearby, as also inside the bay, to buy and sell land.

In just one night, the price of one square meter of land there went up 50-70 times. From the national highway to the alleyways in those two localities, signs of real estate sale and brokerage advertisements went up like mushrooms after rains. Many fishermen in Ninh Hoa put aside their boats and fishing tools and began working as brokers.

Then last year, when information was released about suspending the plan to develop the Bac Van Phong special economic zone, thousands were hit hard and left with no option but to sell the properties they had raced to invest in and suffer heavy losses.

When a land fever happens, the sudden increase in land prices means an increase in compensation costs, factory construction costs and rents for businesses. It also makes it difficult for the government, which would have to pay more to clear sites for public projects.

In developed countries, any real estate transaction must go through a third party, which are brokerage companies and banks, lawyers and appraisers, and the process is supervised. Healthy economies accept healthy increases in real estate prices over time, and transactions are transparent.

In case real estate prices suddenly surge, by 10-20 percent for example, in a short period of time, authorities will jump in and investigate it. Individuals or organizations that have spread rumors or other misinformation to push up land prices will face criminal charges for manipulating the market, causing property differences and committing fraud.

Strict supervision of the real estate transaction process and equally strict law enforcement have helped many countries manage the risk of market manipulation.

It is not difficult for Vietnam to do the same. Apart from ensuring openness, transparency and strict supervision by local authorities, all the existing loopholes in the Land Law, which have been pointed by more than a few people many times, have to be fixed.

Will this happen and will people like me be allowed to dream again of having a home? Or, will land fevers continue and speculators rule the roost?

*Ngoc Thuy is a journalist. The opinions expressed here are her own.


Bron: An epidemic Vietnam has no cure for: real estate fevers - VnExpress International


Het stuk over Khanh Hoa slaat op Van Phong Bay, ca. 50- km. N van Nha Trang. Niet op de hotels bij het vliegveld ten Z. van NT.

Het is triest..