'Twas the Night Before Christmas

I'm not much for crowds; I get claustrophobic when I can't see what's around. But Asian crowds aren't so bad because everyone's so small. And last night (Christmas Eve), the streets were filled.

From the Opera House to the Ben Thanh Market, a critical mass of people, some walking but most on motorbikes, congregated to celebrate. While the outer lanes of traffic slowly lurched along with riders waving the red flag of Vietnam, the central lane down Le Loi was jammed with groups of people loitering around the odd drum circle (by drum, I mean any thing not tied down: bucket, water cooler, pots and pans, etc.).

But were all these people really that excited about the Fat Guy shimmying down their palm tree? Were they hoping to get their names on the naughty list? Were they out buying milk and cookies? Had they forgotten that Buddhists don't worship idols?

Hell no.

They were celebrating Vietnam's 2-1 victory over Thailand in the first round of the AFF Suzuki Cup Finals. This was a sweet win for Vietnam, pitted as the underdogs, and now the boys will bring it home to play the final in Hanoi on December 28th.

I Got Mail!

My first and probably only Christmas card of the season came in the post today. I was pretty surprised to get it. 

First off, let me admit that I'm a snail mail whore. Ever since a friend gave me a wax seal engraved with my initials, I've been addicted to sending personal notes. And don't get me started about the paper; I'm obsessive about my stationary, preferring a handmade stock out of Italy (I forget the name) that is as smooth as silk to the touch. I even ripped a page out of Karl Rove's book, adorning vintage stamps to my envelopes.  

But not only was it great to get a physical Xmas card in a foreign country and in a time when the status quo is the flashy e-card, I was more impressed by the fact that it was from a creative agency based in Australia, whose services I chose not to use. 

Accepting rejection is an art. And trust me, there'll be a time when I say yes to these guys.  

Radio Silence

Please excuse me for my radio silence. I've been a little preoccupied, not that you care. Plus, I'm on constant beach-time here in the tropics.

Ode to The Times

Back in May, I contributed an item to a freelancer with The New York Times' T Magazine. The story brief, as described to me by my contact, was a roundup on the frivolities of the world's wealthy-set. He pointed to someone buying a vanity plate in the UAE at auction for US$14 million and was curious to know what Vietnam's nouveau riche were spending their money on. While the coffers of the oil soaked sheiks are incomparable, I had heard, and later substantiated, that people were spending major coin on phone numbers with sequential digits, repeated numbers, or lots of 8s, considered a lucky number. The term in Vietnamese is "so dep," beautiful number. And an online forum, which I have now lost the link to, was selling so dep numbers for around US$2,500 -- I bought my not so beautiful number for US$10, if I remember correctly.

I was informed today by the Times' research dept that they pulled the piece. The fact checker, who I had exchanged some cordial emails with, expressed a tinge of frustration for the way things work. No one likes to see their work on the cutting room floor.

For whatever reasons they chose not to run the story, perhaps my friend over in Times Square should simply appreciate that at least they don't jail journalists where we're from. (Oh, wait. Let me rephrase that: we constitutionally support freedom of the press because jail journalists we have.) At present, two Vietnamese journalists are being held on charges for "abusing democracy and freedom" associated with their investigative reporting on officials in the Transportation Department who used state funds -- some of which came from the World Bank and Japanese governmental aid -- to gamble on European soccer matches. (I wonder if they won?)

But anyway, I have to tip my hat to the old hometown read, The New York Times. In particular, I have become quite enamored by their interactive, multimedia presentations. Check out their color coded, spatial graph of America's CPI, and even more pertinent, their comparison of our current stock market crash to the bear markets that have preceded it.

The fact of the matter is that reading a paper here is like reading press releases; rarely do you read stories that actually dig into a situation or provide an original perspective. And in terms of their visual display of data, let's just say it's sub par in comparison.

The New Look of Saigon

While America is going through one the greatest housing slumps it has ever witnessed, with housing prices down 15% across the states and one out of every three Americans living in a home that is worth less than their mortgage, Vietnam is experiencing a building boom. Sure, inflation has gotten us down a bit -- headline inflation peaked in August at 28.3% -- but developers are still going at it.

FDI continues to pour into the country, reaching a record high of US$57 billion as of September. And a lion share of that, roughly 40%, is committed towards real estate development across all sectors: office, retail, residential and tourism.

In the September issue of Travel + Leisure, Peter Lindberg dug up some personal stories of Saigon's new blood, both native and fresh off the boat (including yours truly), that are feeding the city with a new vibrancy. Albeit, what's also happening is a complete remodeling of the built environment. In ten years to come, the city that was once revered for its charming French colonial vibe will be a bustling metropolis, resembling a shadow of its former self.

For those who have fond memories of Saigon, the article may bring a tear to your eye. Don't say I didn't warn you...

Albeit, one of the neighborhoods that he singles out is Phu My Hung, where I first moved to back in the spring. (Personal update: I now live in a little villa in the heart of District 1.) Peter's claim is that the PMH development is a Singaporization of Vietnam. For those who have never been to DinsneySpore, the general consensus is that the city (country) is too sterile for its own good.

And this is pretty much my take on PMH. From the Google earth shot above, the area looks like any planned community in the States with its neatly organized streets and rows of villas. It's what you would expect of suburb. However, it has taken a lot to get this squeaky clean community to where it is now. And as told in a recent Forbes article, the story is riddled with backstabbing, suicide and bribery.

The Occidental Perspective

One of the more common principles that distinguishes western and eastern cultures is how the different societies regard the individual. Westerners are programmed to express their individuality, whereas Asians are reared to approach themselves through a collective mentality.

A Chinese artist living in Germany created a series of visual images to juxtapose the western and occidental view points. Below are some of the choice ones that I've witnessed firsthand.

Cutting the Line

Customer service agents here in Vietnam have their work cut out for them. Rather than queuing in an orderly fashion and waiting your turn, the general tactic is to crash the desk and fight the crowd. From boarding airlines to paying your electric bill, it's a free-for-all mentality.
Friend request

While the advent of online social networking has created a bird's nest out of our Rolodexes, we westerners typically have linear relationships developed through individual connections. But here in Asia, people are so interconnected through the familial network that things end up evolving into an incestuous circle of social and professional contacts. Watch out. That girl just might be the bosses daughter.
Hello Garconne

One thing the French didn't leave behind is their restaurant etiquette. To get a waiter's/waitress' attention here in Vietnam, you just yell "em oi" ("em" is the personal pronoun to refer to someone younger than you; "em" is replaced with the appropriate pronoun for whomever you are addressing). It's a jolting experience your first time out, and I still hate doing it. However, if you want that second round, you gotta use your lungs.
SPF

Pale skin as a sign of nobility and wealth died after the advent of the bikini -- what good is a little body floss if you're gonna stay indoors? Most westerners not only find bronzed skin to be more appealing but a good tan often signifies that you've been out on the yacht or toiling away at the beach, living the good life in other words. However, Asians love their Victorian complexion and often bring their parasols to the shore.

On Location: Saigon

My first byline just ran on Refinery29, a trend setting web publication based in NY and LA. While I'm not trying to moonlight as a journo, I have to admit that it was a pleasure writing a roundup on my new hometown — and even more enjoyable when it gets published in your old hometown.

The pre-edited intro is below, but for the full story, take the jump.....

From Indochina to Indochic, Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1 holds on to its colonial charm — for now.

There’s a palpable energy in the streets of Ho Chi Minh City (HCM City). The city formerly known as Saigon is the epicenter of Vietnam’s capitalist heartbeat, and since the enactment of economic reforms in the late 1980s, the country has been slowly transforming from rags to riches, with Saigon as its poster child for economic prosperity.

Trading in the cyclo in exchange for a future funded by foreign investors, Saigon is in the midst of a renovation, shedding its French colonial past with the welcoming of high-rises into the local vernacular. While the government has shifted its urbanization schemes to the development of satellite communities on the perimeter of the city, Saigon’s main appeal will always be the vibrant, history-laden streets of District 1. Designed by the French during their occupation (1885-1946), District 1 runs along the banks of the Saigon River and is characterized by wide boulevards that radiate from roundabouts with monumental obelisks. At night, these streets come alive with young Saigonese cruising aimlessly on their motorbikes, which have replaced bicycles as the preferred mode of transportation. Passing the time in parks and cafes, their conversations are foreign to older generations — the youth talk of business and amorous affairs, rather than war and heartache.

Lately, the city’s charming history is being mixed with innovations in architecture, fashion and entertainment. Visitors to HCM City will find a city under construction, a civilization being reborn. And as Saigon’s bright and shiny future casts a shadow on its colonial heritage, let’s hope the romance of its past remains.

The Dunes

I spent the birthday weekend in Mui Ne with the Gastronomer and Astronomer, who have some choice picks of the trip and me in a trucker hat -- they're still ahead of the trend in 'Nam. We went budget and stayed at at US$30 a night joint called Sunshine Resorts, which sits right on the beach. And besides a brief game of golf in between dips in the sea, the only thing we did was a mini-jaunt to see the Sand Dunes just north of the hotel strip. 

There are two sets of dunes near Mui Ne. The White and the Red. We chose to go to the latter in that they are the closer ones, only 10-minutes from the center of the hotel district. The white ones are slightly farther out, perhaps 50-minutes by car. Before you even get out of the car at the Red Dunes, you're met with a handful of kids, who are clamoring to escort you into the dunes and help you slide down them. The next thing you know, you're walking up the sandy slopes to the constant chatter of kids, who are so enthusiastic about getting your coin, you're never afforded an opportunity to enjoy the scenery -- which is stunning. 

The kids range from 5- to 13-years-old and most all of them have a relatively good handle on the english language. Their strategy is to team up on you, guide you into the dunes, prepare a sledding path and then convince you to go as many times cause they charge you per turn. We made one mistake: we failed to establish a price before sliding down the slopes but were first told that we could pay whatever we want. 

Now game theory tells us that these kids are going to be out of luck if they play by the "pay what you want" rules and even more so when you're only traveling with a couple of thousand Dong stuffed in your swim trunks. When it came time to settle up, we were 1) not willing to pay what they wanted (more than US$10) and 2) unable to pay because we didn't have the money on us in the first place. 

Things got ugly quickly, and our pack of waste-high guides starting picking on the one who was most vocal: The Gastronomer, who was being a pushy Asian broad that day. Rationalizing with kids just doesn't work, and in the end, we went running for the car. 

But as I look back at a great weekend bookended by a terrible experience, I see an opportunity here: someone should go in and organize these little rugrats to actually learn the tourism trade. They'd be damn good at it. Why? Well for starters, they speak English, which is absolutely necessary in the hospitality business, but more importantly, they're g-getters, who know how to turn a buck. 

Someone tell HR to get out there and talk with my girl Linh. She's gonna be a billionaire (Vietnamese Dong of course). 

Always Trust What You Read in the Paper

Before making the jump to Saigon, I told most anyone who would listen that one of my goals was to work with the public sector in its charge to administer the tourism industry. Shortly after I arrived, the opportunity to do just that landed in my lap. A colleague in the hotel industry offered me a seat on the Tourism Working Group (TWG) of the Vietnam Business Forum (VBF). The VBF was established by the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank. There are other working groups each representing a different sector (Capital Markets, Manufacturing, Infrastructure, etc.), and each group has its own ministerial counterparts; the TWG works with the Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

Side note -- Beyond learning Vietnamese, I had three goals to accomplish when I landed: 1) Sign on with a top-tier real estate development firm (check), 2) consult with the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (check) and 3) open up a swank cocktail lounge a la Milk and Honey (still looking).

The VBF meets biannually and provides an opportunity for each working group to present their position on issues affecting their respective industries. One of the critical challenges Vietnam's tourism industry faces is the lack of infrastructure in terms of hotel accommodations, transportation and education, and the TWG used its time at the forum earlier this month to speak about the lack of hard and soft infrastructure.

The local news picked up on the infrastructure story -- see the above article which sources the TWG's position paper quite heavily. In fact, the article is a cut and paste operation, copying entire passages of our policy recommendations. I think the only original copy here is the verb tense change. We can look at this two ways. On one hand, it's great that we're generating ink for the issues and the press is telling the story we want and using our language to do so. On the other, this gives readers no assurance of editorial integrity. I'm of course thrilled to get published under someone else's byline but have to pull out that age-old cliche that 'you can't trust what you read.'

American Muscle in Vietnam

Nothing screams America more than a 1966 Fastback Ford Mustang, and for my parting request in the States, an old friend obliged me by whipping me around in the above beauty to check out his new restaurant in Park Slope and run an errand in the boondocks of Brooklyn. My ultimate mission was to hit up LeNell's liquor store. Tonya LeNell is a venerable spirits expert, and it's safe to say that her Red Hook shop, run almost exclusively by Southerners, offers the city's best selection of bourbon. 

The extraordinary fact on the 1966 Fastback that Nick pulled out of the garage at the Manhattan Classic Car Club is that it's cast in paint colors only available to Ford employees. 

Recently approached by a local Frenchman in Phan Thiet about buying his lot of 3 classic Fords, I thought it an interesting idea for some of my hotelier friends here in 'Nam. Most hi-end hotels have luxe cars to scoop their VIP guests from the airport and whip them around as necessary. But the below set of Fords, which are all for sale, would break the status quo of Benzes, Beamers, Bentleys and Rolls-Royces used at most 5-star properties. 

The seller is asking US$22k for the entire lot but will settle for US$20k. He doesn't want to sell them individually, knowing that it will be difficult to find three separate buyers. He was a little unclear about their provenance, and I'm unsure if the engine even turns on any of them, although the seller claims that they are all in good condition. The one thing that the pics won't tell you, and which he divulged, is that the convertible is faux; a previous owner chopped off the hardtop to make way for wind whipped hair.

The initial concerns from a local hotel GM of a reputable international brand are 1) maintenance issues and 2) road conditions. Do we even have shops that can maintain and repair vintage whips in Vietnam? And even worse, the roads here are sometimes equivalent to the surface of the moon, not exactly ideal driving conditions for classic cars. 

But to entertain the idea of fitting these into my garage, I called in the expert for his opinion:

"They all look pretty clean, but it's really hard to value classic American cars overseas, as the manufacturers sent different models with different specs. The other issue is knock off parts used for repairs. When pricing these, you have to factor in the cost of insurance, the reality of keeping these things on the road and the wear-and-tear on the essentials: engine, interior, stereo, etc."

Nick's offer for the lot sight unseen is US$17,500 with an itemization of  US$10k-12k for the Fastback, US$5k-8k for the Fairlane and US$5k for the convertible.

I wager that American Muscle Cars as hotel amenities in 'Nam can generate more than US$20k worth of editorial ink. I'd bet the Fairlane on it. Pony up boys. 

 

Village Incognito

I recently visited Son La in the Northwest region of Vietnam on a fact finding mission with the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV). I wanted to learn more about the potential of pro-poor tourism, particularly SNV's program in Moc Chau, and decided to trek along with their guides for the weekend. The itinerary was a simple overnighter at a home-stay in a Muong village and a day trip to a tea plantation before heading back to Hanoi. 

The scenery is beautiful, and while there was a couple from Spain traveling with another tourism outfit, this area is certainly off the beaten path. The trek down takes you through the villages of other ethnic minorities, namely the Thai and Red Dao, where they were bleeding a dog in preparation for a nightly feast. 

From the Muong village, you can easily hike through glistening rice paddies to a nearby waterfall and hot spring. Watch out for leeches. They're out there. And back at the village, there is little more to do than eat and drink with the locals. I think they were upset when I bowed out after about 10 shots of wine -- which is their classification for a gasoline-like alcoholic fermentation -- and ripping the tobacco bong once or thrice. 

In the morning when it came time to settle up with the homeowner, who is also the head of the village's tourism board, I gave my thanks and handed over what was due (about US$5). And while there aren't many people taking these trips, less than 500 people have come to this village as a tourist, major tourism companies are looking at developing this area particularly the town of Moc Chau, where companies like Exotissimo are offering biking tours through the tea plantation. 

In the meantime, this hidden village will remain off the map. It reminds me of Tom Robbins' book, Villa Incognito. 

"Meet me in Cognito, baby

Of course we'll have to color our hair

The best thing about life in Cognito

Is that everybody's nobody there."

The Singapore Model Part 2

An island guarded by a Merlion (half mermaid, half lion), Sentosa is a manmade wonderland for grownups and kids alike. While the view isn't all that pretty (it's of the Singapore Port, the world's busiest in terms of tonnage) -- Sentosa is about the only option that Singaporeans and visitors have for R&R en plein air. 

The most amazing thing about the island is that it turns a pretty penny for the state bank. The island is accessible by a bridge, monorail and, on weekends, about 5,000-10,000 guests make the jump via cable car each paying $13 SGD to take the roundtrip ride. Once there, rest assured that the majority of these visitors take the luge down to the beach ($10 SGD) and then buy some nosh ($8 SGD) and might even catch a ride on the Tiger sponsored Watchtower (priceless -- actually, I passed so don't know the cost). 

The island got an injection of hotels and themed activities about 4-years ago. The word on the street is that the guy responsible is an Aussie and that he was recently plucked by developers from the UAE to come do for the Emirates what he did for Sentosa.