Another Day in the Antz Farm

Vietnam is a beautiful country with diverse richness in every sense - people, history, natural produce and amazing sights. Recently, I had the opportunity to experience all these first hand in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), formerly known as Saigon and Hanoi (the capital of Vietnam).

The friendly, good natured nature and genuine warm Vietnamese people struck me when I stepped out of the airport, hotel and onto the streets. There are plenty of motorbikes taxis (xe om) and street hawkers but they are not rude nor overly pushy. Almost all the time, a “No, thank you” and a simple smile from me is returned with a bigger smile.

Vietnam’s history is chequered with many foreign powers influences. Chinese, French and American powers had left cultural, institutional, economics and psychological impressions on this rich and fertile land. The Chinese brought in the Chinese language, important institutions like University, monetary policy and Confucianism. The period of the French colonisation, interference and exploitation left a bitter aftertaste in the older Vietnamese’ psyche. The French contributed in the development of the Vietnamese romanised alphabet (Quoc Ngu), the introduction of Christianity (Catholicism) and many colonial cultural artifacts like the Opera Houses of Hanoi and Saigon. The America’s involvement in the Vietnam War, developed the Vietnamese sense of triumph over externals threats and a deep appreciation for their autonomy that came at such great human cost.

Vietnam’s rich and fertile land fed by the great Mekong and Red River Deltas and its coastline bordered by the South China Sea meant that the country has some amazing quality of fresh produces and cuisine. Every day while I was there, I had either bowls of Pho (rice noodles with rich clear beef broth), Bun Cha (grilled pork, herbs with rice vermicelli served in vinegar-ed fish sauce) or Com (rice). The food was GREAT! If you love tropical fruits, you would reckon Vietnam is the gateway to Eden. Dragon fruit, logan, lychee, mangosteen, bananas, jambu and even strawberries .

There are so many breath taking sights in Vietnam. Places like Ha Long Bay, the Cu Chi Tunnels, Cao Dai Temple, Ben Thanh Market and War Remnants Museum are my must-see places around Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Below are a summary of pictures taken during my journey. Each picture is linked to even more pictures from the location. You can find my entire selection Vietnam trip pictures (even places not mentioned in the above) from my flickr Vietnam collection.

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

	Tay Ninh Temple - Cao Dai Holy See Cao Dai is a Vietnam indigenous religion, officially established in Tay Ninh, southern Vietnam. It combines elements of Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity - Catholicism and even Hinduism
	Cu Chi Tunnels The Cu Chi Tunnels are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Cu Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. These tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War against the Americans. The Vietnamese guerrillas used these tunnels as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters.
	Ben Thanh Market During the day, it is an exciting places to have an authentic Vietnamese lunch with the locals, pick up some fresh bread, produces and even tourist souvenirs. The market is similar to Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market during the day. In the evening, the market closes and cooked to order seafood operators operated around the parameters of the market plus some night market retail hawkers too.
	Ho Chi Minh City Sights The sights and colour of Vietnam’s economic engine which includes pictures of the Notre Dame Cathedral - Saigon.

Hanoi

	War Remanats Museum See the pictures taken by military journalists and photographers. Read about the various accounts of the Vietnam War from the war correspondents and the Vietnamese side of the story. The chemical warfare section was very graphical as it narrated the unbelievable pain and suffering unleashed on the civilian and Vietcong during the Vietnam War. Pictures from this section had been omitted in my photo collections. There is no JUST WAR in this world.
	Hanoi Water Puppets Vietnamese water puppetry, literally means “puppets that dance on water.” The tradition dates back as far as the tenth century when it originated in the Red River Delta area of northern Vietnam. When the rice fields would flood the villages, villagers would entertain each other using this puppet form. The puppets are built out of wood and the shows are performed in a waist-deep pool. A large rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by the puppeteers to control them. The appearance is of the puppets moving over the water. When the rice fields would flood the villagers, would entertain each other using this puppet form.(wiki) Video of the Thang Long Water Puppet Theater display (12 secs)
	Ha Long Bay Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Quảng Ninh province, Vietnam. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. (wiki)
	Harvesting Rice in Vietnam Vietnam is the world’s second largest producers of rice.
	Hanoi City Sights A selection of pictures taken in Hanoi which reflects the sights and colour of Vietnam’s capital - Hanoi

In a city just over 6.4 million people, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) has about 4 million motorbikes (xe om) (wiki). Who needs a big bunky family sedan when a family of four can easily get around in a motorbike, helmets included. Talking about doing things together as a family

1. Copenhagen, Denmark
2. Munich, Germany
3. Tokyo, Japan
4. Zurich, Switzerland
5. Helsinki, Finland
6. Vienna, Austria
7. Stockholm, Sweden
8. Vancouver, Canada
9. Melbourne, Australia
10. Paris, France
11. Sydney, Australia
12. Honolulu, Hawaii
13. Madrid, Spain
14. Berlin, Germany
15. Barcelona, Spain
16. Montreal, Canada
17. Fukuoka, Japan
18. Amsterdam, Netherlands
19. Minneapolis, United States
20. Kyoto, Japan

Key: Green - City I visited, Blue - City I wish to visit one day

Analysis
I’m surprised to see no mention of any east coast cities like Boston. Also there is a heavy gearing towards European cities but not totally without merit. Good to see Australia retained two spots within the list through Melbourne (#9) and Sydney (#11). With such survey, the devil is in the details (ranking methodology). My top concerns for these two cities to retain it’s liveable status are the housing affordability and the state of public infrastructure.

Related link: A Singaporean reporter response to this listing (mypaper, SPH)
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Monocle is my current fav mag read after I discovered it in Melbourne in Mar 08. The articles are original, well read and offers a diverse coverage within affairs, business, culture, design and excellent editoral (most important component to me). I also appreciate it’s compact size and excellent colour print.

A truly well made magazine. Check out the distribution link to see if it is distributed in your country.

Suffering from consumerism, alcoholism, too much sexual encounters (is that a problem?) or other superficial evils in your life

Forget about your Hail-Marys! Take Lin Yan Yin Chiao (Chieh Tu Pien) pills today!

PS: I’m just kidding about the Hail Marys! Remember to say your daily Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be for good daily spiritual health!

I was visiting an academic when I came across this print out published in CHI 2008 on a staff’s wall. You can click on the link to read more about this paper (ACM Library). I am keen to hear your thoughts after reading it.

Wishing all my China based colleagues in MS Research Asia, an enjoyable and restful Duan Wu Jie long  weekend. Hope you have lots of tasty zongzi (rice dumplings) to eat.

Over here in Singapore, neigbours or family members would either make or buy rice dumplings and give them as gifts among friends and family. The picture above are precooked rice dumplings, which would have to be boiled to cook the glutinous rice (see picture below).

“To complain about things in my experience is always lowering. Who wants to draw attention to the fact you have been slighted? Isn’t that in itself a form of failure?” - Susie Boyt

Susie Boyt from the FT Weekend (”The Art of Complaining“) shared an observation of a young child’s gracious manner to present a simple complain. She distilled that observation a simple and effective manner to put forward any complain. She later went on too long in her column about her experience being overcharged in a restaurant. I thought to myself, why do we even bother to complain?

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This afternoon, I was attracted into a bak kwa (local pork jerky) store (near Centerpoint) because of the massive promtional posters. I decided to get some as a personal treat after a hard day’s work. I was charged at the regular price because I bought 2 pieces by the Sales Auntie (local context knowledge required).

She said that the promo pricing is only applicable for 1-jin (local weight unit) and above. Due to a lack of promotional disclaimers, should I demand for the poster pricing reinstated or take it up with the management (in some remote office) via email? I decided it was a pointless exercise to deal with Auntie since she is just doing her job. Nevertheless, I took photos of the posters which clearly shows not include any sales disclaimer or promotion terms and condition.

Image taken from the Straits Times, 24 May 2008

Singapore Press Holding (SPH) doesn’t understand, respect, or demostrate proper care for reader’s personal information and privacy. Click on the above image for enlarged version.

I encourage everyone in Singapore to get serious about protecting their personal particulars and privacy. The image above is an example of the common unawareness and lack of personal privacy protection around Singapore. Such examples can also be found in many registration forms and marketing peripherals.

As members of the public, we should ask the organisers:

- why organisations are collecting information about us
- who else these organisation might give it to; and
- what recourse on does the public have within these organisations after their information has given away