The Contenders - The Guys
Part one in a two part feature From The Word Hanoi. Fisrt the guys and then the girls
We’ve had such a great response to The Word Ha Noi Challenge that we’ve decided to up our contestants to 13. So, time to introduce them as they embark on their two-month journey to transform themselves from overweight or even underweight, into the physical Atlas of their dreams. The challenge will finish in early November.
No Logo
Once again, the powers that be have announced another competition to design a logo & slogan for Vietnam’s tourism industry, following the much-maligned Hidden Charm campaign. Presumably they have been casting admiring glances at Amazing Thailand and Malaysia – Truly Asia, and hope that the new slogan will act as a silver bullet and turn Vietnam into a major tourism player overnight.
Meet Charisma Man
An average Joe Ruelle moves to Vietnam and is suddenly a casanova. Or so the story goes...
My sister, who lives in Tokyo, once sent me a copy of Charisma Man the compilation. For the uninitiated, Charisma Man was a comic book anti-hero popular with western expats in Japan.
“Back on his home planet of Canada”, the opening strip begins, “Our hero was just an average guy.” This means loser.
“But when he landed on planet Japan…” — well you can see for yourself.
Street Talk :Tran Huy Lieu
Julia Plevin waxes poetic about an invigorating street that allures to an era bygone. Photos by Francis Roux / Noi Pictures.
Tran Huy Lieu is far too easy to miss but definitely worth a visit. It snakes around Giang Vo Lake and connects two major thoroughfares – Kim Ma and Giang Vo.
Fill Your Cup
Solace can be hard to come by in Saigon. Luckily the city possesses a wealth of cafes where peace and respite are as plentiful as the coffee. Karin Esterhammer investigates. Photos by Linh Phanroy.
If prizes were awarded for the noisiest city on the planet, Saigon would assuredly be among the contenders. If you’ve ever been irritated by a neighbour who liked to rev up his or her motorcycle, multiply that by 3.2 million or so. Mix in a cacophony of horns, loud karaoke music and nonstop construction noise and, within a few days, you’ll have inadvertently ground your teeth down to little nubs.
Why the travelling habits of Vietnamese and overseas tourists often clash
In the first of a series of columns designed to give a deeper insight into Vietnam, Vu Ha Kim Vy explains why the travelling habits of Vietnamese and overseas tourists often clash.
When the Vietnamese travel they are noisy, overly active, jump queues and have no respect for other tourists. It’s an observation I often hear from foreign friends and colleagues, usually with the word ‘Why?’ attached at the end.
The Value of Tour Operators
Since the advent of online travel, observers have been making doomy predictions about the travel agent/tour operator sector, assuming that now consumers can make all their tour bookings online, they no longer need to go via agents such as ourselves.
There are several reasons why this hasn’t happened and probably won’t happen for a long time - one of them being that tour operators still get better rates from suppliers than direct customers ever could - but the chief reason was summed up neatly in an email we had from a recent customer.
Vietnam in Germany
The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 683
There are at present two issues which dominate the media in Germany since my arrival 10 days ago: the decision not to phase out the use of nuclear energy in a couple of years – as had been decided by the former government – a decision now reversed during a high level meeting between the head of government with representatives of the energy industry, but surprisingly enough without the participation of the Minister of the Environment. The other issue is a broad and emotional discussion about the role of migrants from other countries.
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Changes to site navigation. We have now relocated all articles related to Vietnam to out main Vietnam pages.
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Foreigners Share VN Tales on Telly
A reality travel show hosted by foreigners fluent in Vietnamese debuted on Ho Chi Minh City Television last month.
Each episode of Viet Nam — Dat nuoc toi yeu (Vietnam — The country I love) features several 10-minute short stories narrated by foreigners who discuss their favourite things about Vietnam: the society, landscapes, culture, arts and entertainment, lifestyle, tourism and sport.
The series aims to provide local viewers with unique views of their home country, as told by foreigners studying and working in Vietnam.