Vietnam Tonight

Destination Vietnam - From the Mekong River Delta to Ha Long Bay

2009-10-27T02:24:00.000+01:00

By Samantha Berkin

Fortunately, the present-day experience of traveling from South Vietnam to North Vietnam is not at all like it was during our parents' time. Instead of fighting from a swift boat in the Mekong Delta, you can now be enjoying cheap beer on a luxury liner. You can even make silly television shows about making the entire South-to-North trek on underpowered motor scooters in the rain.

Either way you look at it, the experience is, shall we say, a lot safer. This is even true if you are stupid enough to be taking a scooter into Vietnam traffic as an inexperienced Westerner, but just barely so.

Vietnam is a stunning country with rich history, beautiful, powerful scenery, and it is a good value destination on top of that. It is also popular as a destination for some of the older crowd. There is a generation of tourists out there, freshly retired, who want to visit the country under more favorable circumstances than they did in the past, people who want to choose to visit the country rather than be forced to do so.

Starting in the South, cruising the Mekong River is a popular place to start. Many travelers choose to start in Cambodia and cruise down the river before disembarking outside Ho Chi Minh (Saigon for all you old-schoolers out there) and taking a bus in. Another highlight of a trip in the area can be taking the Cu Chi tunnels into the city instead. The Viet Cong dug this nearly 200 kilometer-long network of tunnels to infiltrate American camps in Saigon during the war.

Ho Chi Minh City is a bustling, modern city, and the most populous one in Vietnam. It is also a traffic nightmare, as well as an excellent place to go shopping and pick up some trinkets for the folks back home. Don't forget the Presidential Palace and possibly a visit to the War Remnants Museum while staying here.

Next on the list of places to see would have to be Nha Trang, consistently ranked as one of the top beaches in Vietnam, as well as one of the most beautiful bays in the world. The scuba diving in particular is making this a huge backpacker destination. More and more, however, the big tour companies are also catching on to this fact. Just check out a comparison of Vietnam tours, browse around, and you will find that many of these tours include Nha Trang. Additionally, it was the site of Miss Universe 2008, and will play host to Miss World 2010. Not my thing, to be sure, but for some, I guess this is an attraction.

Most people do not have forever to dilly-dally in Vietnam, so for the next major attraction on the list, we are going to have to jump all the way forward to Hoi An, home to numerous small museums concerning the history and culture of the region. This ancient town has been remarkably well-preserved over the years, well enough for the area to be recognized as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a traditional South-East Asian trading port.

Hue is another great ancient city with an amazing amount of monuments . This was the Royal City, the ancient capital of Vietnam. The "Pass of the Ocean Clouds" is supposed to be an unforgettable drive. Our imaginary itinerary next takes us to Hanoi, the capital and second largest city of Vietnam. Hanoi has been a city for nearly 1000 years, and this has necessarily left its mark on the area. If you want culture, history, urban tourist attractions, and the like, the city is definitely a must-see.

Of course, the true must-see destination of Vietnam, and where we will end our journey, is Ha Long Bay. This site should be recognizable to backpackers, seasoned world trekkers, and even those armchair travelers out there whose idea of travel is watching an old VHS flick on the tube television. This was where the young couple floated around for days in Indochine (an amazingly beautiful movie, which I highly recommend, by the way.) In more recent times it was highlighted in Tomorrow Never Dies, one of the forgettable Pierce Brosnan Bond films.

Beyond all that, it is shockingly beautiful. The landscape is utterly surreal, with over 2000 small limestone islands erupting from the placid jade waters. A complex of grottos and caves, mountains and beaches, floating fishing villages and spectacular sunsets should enthrall you. Silently, you mourn the fact that you must inevitably return from this island paradise to the drudgery and office politics of the paper company you work for in Scranton.

I'm a world traveler and recent Columbia University graduate. I'm looking to share some of my experiences/tips with others so they can discover their next perfect trip. I'm a little older than your usual graduate, because I took gobs of time off to travel extensively!

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Australian Mining Technology Cos Seek To Invest In Vietnam

2009-05-12T06:36:00.000+02:00

HANOI -(Dow Jones)- Representatives from 15 Australian mining technology firms will visit Vietnam later this month to seek investment opportunities in the country's mining industry, Vietnam's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said Monday.

During the three-day visit starting Monday, the delegation will hold talks with state-run Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Group and visit the Sin Quyen Copper Mine and Tang Loong Copper Refining Plant in the northern province of Lao Cai, the ministry said in a statement.

The delegation will introduce their mining technologies and services to mining firms in Vietnam, the ministry added.

-By Vu Trong Khanh, Dow Jones Newswires; 844 35123042; trong-khanh.vu@ dowjones.com

Standard Chartered: Vietnam makes it a different year

2009-04-23T02:43:00.001+02:00

08:28' 22/04/2009 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - That the Vietnamese economy is showing several positive signs was what Standard Chartered revealed in its latest report entitled “Vietnam-what a difference a year makes”.

In the report released by the bank in mid-April, the Head of the Southeast Asia Research Department, Tai Hui, said that the trade balance in Vietnam is steadily swinging from a deficit to a surplus.

For the first quarter of 2009, Vietnam ran a trade surplus of 1.6 billion USD, compared to a deficit of 8.4 billion USD in the same period last year.

“This was the result of a collapse in imports, which was partly driven by a rapid decline in commodity prices, in particular of steel and petroleum products,” Tai Hui added.

He stated that when Vietnam’s first oil refinery starts production later this year, the country should be better protected from rising oil prices.

Another positive sign came with exports increasing by 25.9 percent in February and 12.9 percent in March after shrinking for three months between November 2008 and January 2009, said Hui.

Inflation remains on a downward trend, dropping to 11.2 percent in March, the lowest since December 2007, after peaking in August 2008 at 28.3 percent.

The senior economic expert forecasted that inflation could drop to a single digit by the second half of 2009 if oil and food prices remain stable.

“The gloomy global sentiment has yet to be seen in local consumption as domestic retail sales have maintained a decent momentum in recent months. Even after adjusting for inflation, real retail sales have been broadly expanding,” Hui said.

“Surprisingly, the global economic slowdown has yet to hurt foreign direct investment (FDI),” emphasised the economist.

Official figures show that the country attracted 6 billion USD of pledged FDI in the first quarter of 2009, slightly higher than 5.2 billion USD recorded in the same period last year.

In his analysis, Hui attributed the State Bank of Vietnam’s (SBV) prompt monetary policy for the U-turn in the economy 12 months ago.

Trade deficits reached up to 9 percent of gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2008 and inflation culminated at 28.3 percent in August of that year.

In response to capital outflows and rising inflation, the SBV raised its base rate aggressively in 2008 to 14 percent by the end of the second quarter of that year from 8-7.5 percent at the start of the quarter.

By the third quarter of 2008, the trade deficit seemed to have been brought under control and the increase of the consumer price index had slowed down.

In this situation, the Government was quick to reverse its monetary tightening, reducing the base rate to 7 percent in early April 2009 from 14 percent in September 2008. Meanwhile, the authorities also permitted the VND to fall further against the USD. Since the end of September 2008, the VND has dropped by 7 percent.

The Government has announced various fiscal measures to support economic growth, including interest subsidies and tax deferrals.

In the report, Standard Chartered remained constructive in its medium-term outlook for Vietnam while 2009 is still a year of great challenges for the domestic and regional economy.

“Several structural factors will drive the country’s development, some of which will still be at work even as growth in the advanced economies weakens”, Hui said.

Standard Chartered experts forecast that Vietnam’s purchasing power will double in the next 6-7 years, after taking into account the growth of other Asian economies.

Vietnam, due to its stable political environment and low production costs, is often regarded by Asian businesses as a good alternative, said the report.

“The experiences of other Asian economies often serve as an example to policy makers in Vietnam as they determine the most appropriate approach to facilitating growth. The domestic market turmoil in the second and in third quarter of 2008, as well as the global financial crisis, demonstrates that the authorities are quick to learn and adapt, in our view,” the report made it clear.

Standard Chartered retained its previous forecasts of the Vietnamese economy growth at 4.2 percent in 2009 and 5 percent in 2010.

“While this may be low from a domestic standpoint, it is a respectable performance from a regional perspective,” concluded Hui.

Where is Vietnam Headed in 2009?

2009-01-14T04:31:00.001+01:00

by BARBARA CROSSETTE

January 12, 2009

The three-day Tet festival is approaching in Vietnam, the climax of a long season of celebrations that began with the enthusiastic embrace of Christmas in mid-December. In the southern city that residents still call Saigon, parks and boulevards have been festooned with colorful lights, and Christmas carols drifted over restaurants, hotel lobbies and department stores with their resident Santas.

On the surface, the "American" war that ended more than three decades ago seems to have left no traces here. But in the hearts and minds of those who suffered the war and survived to remember it, there is pain. Tet is a time for reflection, and there are some conflicted emotions about where Vietnam is headed in the new year.

It is not only that the spectacle of affluence and materialism, even in tough economic times, and the love affair with things Western seem jarring to a revolutionary generation that gave their all to a cause, losing relatives and friends, often to unmarked battlefield graves. There is also, especially in the south, unease and disappointment that a unified Vietnam has not lived up to its considerable potential. Despite nearly two decades of economic liberalization, the Vietnamese see their country stagnating under the heavy hand of excess government regulation and censorship, and watch politicians squandering the country's economic gains on corruption.

The start of this long holiday season coincided with a suspension of Japanese development assistance after the discovery of a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme that diverted aid funds from Japan, until now Vietnam's largest donor. A reporter from a leading newspaper said journalists have been told to stop dwelling on this. Two reporters were arrested last year for writing about the skimming of aid from not only from Japan but also the World Bank. One journalist is in jail and the other in re-education. The reporters, Ngyuen Van Hai of Tuoi Tre and Nguyen Viet Chen of Thanh Nien, were convicted of "absuing democratic freedoms." (Human Rights Watch has a new report, Vietnam: Stop Muzzling the Messengers, on these and other cases. Colleagues say that the reporters had inside government sources, but that did not save them or their editors. The government, which retains the right to appoint news managers, dismissed the editors of the two newspapers involved. The popular, daring and profitable daily Tuoi Tre saw its editor replaced in December for the third time in two years by ever "safer" government appointees; in early January the editor of Thanh Nien was sacked.

In Danang, a publishing house was shut down in December and two top editors fired for printing "mistakes." Internet users are regularly harassed and occasionally arrested. It is estimated that nearly a quarter of Vietnamese use the Internet to post blogs and share information. Among the bloggers are schoolchildren as young as 11 or 12 who have home computers or frequent Internet cafes, which the government polices clumsily. It may be a sign of a losing battle that new regulations on Internet use have been recently published in an effort to contain the impact of the cyberworld. At the same time, newspapers and other publications are racing to create English-language Web sites to give their reporting wider exposure.

Among students, academics and, above all, journalists, critics are becoming astonishingly outspoken. In a recent seminar of professors and university administrators (some of them retired from careers in the West), speaker after speaker told of chafing under political restrictions imposed from Hanoi. The message heard again and again from participants was that the government should understand that free speech and access to information were prerequisites of human and economic development. A university president, asked how she had managed to gain so much intellectual space for her faculty, declared boldly, "I don't get given autonomy; I take it."

In southern Vietnam there are other grievances beyond those of the classroom and newsroom. Residents of Saigon, officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City three decades ago, complain that more than three-quarters of the earnings of this dynamic, outward-looking metropolitan area are siphoned off by the central government and southerners get very little in return. A recent survey by a British consulting company ranked Saigon 150th among 215 large cities worldwide in quality of life, well behind neighbors such as Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, against which this city should be more competitive. On a scale of 1 to 10, the English-language Viet Nam News reported, Saigon got a zero for the quality of its water, and some hospitals were found to have two or three patients sharing one bed.

Every enterprise and voluntary association gets bogged down in layers of licensing requirements. Trade groups, chambers of commerce and construction companies say publicly that new ventures may face as many as thirty-three time-wasting procedures, frustrating would-be investors.

Among intellectuals there is enormous interest in a new book from Vietnam's most popular dissident writer, Duong Thu Huong, author ofParadise of the Blind and other works of fiction critical of enduring nationalist myths.

The new book, just published this month in Paris and titled in French Au Zenith, is a thinly veiled and not complimentary novel about the national hero, Ho Chi Minh, the founding father of modern Vietnam and an off-limits subject here. Newspapers have been warned not to touch the story, but copies or excerpts of Huong's book in French and Vietnamese began to circulate on the Internet even before its publication.

Huong, who is from Hanoi and was once an active communist cadre, turned against the regime, as did other intellectuals in the north, on learning after unification that much of the propaganda they had been fed about life in the south was untrue, and that Hanoi's army was killing not only Americans but also fellow Vietnamese. For more than two decades northerners have been exploring this theme of official wartime deceit in books, poetry and film.

When Huong, whose works are banned in Vietnam, was asked, at a rare appearance in New York in 2007 sponsored by American PEN, why there was not open revolt in Vietnam, she said there were several reasons, among them that the Vietnamese had a history of fighting outsiders and no tradition of internal conflict--thus the shock at learning how many southern Vietnamese were dying in the "American" war. She also said bluntly that the Vietnamese are ruled by backward-looking leaders whose pride in winning a war against the United States--a pride widely shared--has never been augmented and updated with a compelling postwar vision for the country. The leadership has survived for thirty years "on corpses," she said.

Meanwhile among the young, the majority of Vietnam's population, there is a deep, if blind and unrealistic, belief in the West, encouraged by theViet khieu, or overseas Vietnamese, who return with money to spend on homes and goods that local people without connections cannot afford. In recent years, European designer boutiques have supplanted Vietnamese stores in downtown Saigon, where characterless contemporary architecture is in vogue. A huge shopping mall topped with luxury apartments and a hotel is under construction, covering a full city block of prime real estate from Nguyen Hue boulevard to Dong Khoi, the former Rue Catinat.

The complex is called Times Square.

About Barbara Crossette

Barbara Crossette, United Nations correspondent for The Nation, is a former New York Times correspondent and bureau chief in Asia and at the UN.

She is the author of So Close to Heaven: The Vanishing Buddhist Kingdoms of the Himalayas, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1995 and in paperback by Random House/Vintage Destinations in 1996, and a collection of travel essays about colonial resort towns that are still attracting visitors more than a century after their creation, The Great Hill Stations of Asia, published by Westview Press in 1998 and in paperback by Basic Books in 1999. In 2000, she wrote a survey of India and Indian-American relations, India: Old Civilization in a New World, for the Foreign Policy Association in New York. She is also the author of India Facing the 21st Century, published by Indiana University Press in 1993.

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Vietnam Opens Wider For Business

2009-01-02T04:54:00.001+01:00

Oliver Massmann and Giles T. Cooper, 12.31.08, 12:00 AM EST

With new 2009 trade rules, it's the year to invest.

On Jan. 1, Vietnam opens its retail sector to wholly foreign-owned investments according to its World Trade Organization obligations. Lucrative opportunities await in Asia's new No. 1 retail market.

Times are changing in Vietnam's capital city. While tourists from all over the world are still flocking to Hanoi's picturesque market stalls, the heart of daily life is no longer confined to the old merchant quarters. Western-style shopping malls are popping up overnight, and they are attracting high-end retailers from the U.S. and Europe.

Vietnam officially joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) as its 150th member on Jan. 11, 2007. The WTO requires that tariff regulations, trade rights, national treatment and most-favored-nation treatment be incorporated into domestic law. Essentially, trade barriers must be torn down and the Vietnamese market opened to other WTO members.

Although Vietnam has taken solid steps to restructure and meet these requirements, challenges for foreign investors remain. The economy is still in a developmental phase, relying heavily on traditional sectors such as agriculture.

At the same time, it is leapfrogging other Asian markets in retail thanks to rapidly growing consumer demand and low barriers to market entry. According to a 2008 ranking by consultants AT Kearney, India has yielded its position as first in "retail investment attractiveness" and fallen to second behind Vietnam, formerly in fourth. Russia and China dropped to third and fourth respectively. While the retail outlook in the U.S. is grim, Vietnam provides corporations with an alternate growth strategy.

As Vietnam strives to emulate a Western standard, transitioning from a socialist system to an internationally integrated market economy is a bumpy process. One WTO requirement is to end import tariffs that had been imposed to protect local businesses against foreign competitors. The country has been reluctant to adapt this rule in the case of agriculture, given that entire villages depend on it as a main source of income.

The 2006 Law on Intellectual Property, by comparison, has been better received. Recent high-profile trademark infringement cases represent remarkable progress.

Vietnam Tourism Sector Seeks Luxury Travellers during Economic Crisis

2009-01-02T04:52:00.001+01:00

According to the International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM), the Vietnamese tourism sector should focus its energies on the luxury market with figures during the current economic crisis indicating that the top 3% of tourists are spending 20% of total tourism expenditure.

The top 3% of tourists represent a significant segment of the Vietnamese tourism market as they have an average spend of approximately $5000 compared to tourists normal average spend of around $750.

Luxury travellers have been placed in the enviable position of being able to demand nothing short of the most thrilling and unique experiences and personal and confidential service during their holidays in Vietnam.

Ha Pham, founder and CEO of the Luxury Travel Company said that Vietnam has the potential to develop into an upscale destination, where products and services must be created to cater for the niche market rather than “sell the same tourism products since 10 years ago”.

He added, “Golfing, spa, beach vacation, family travel, junk and sampan cruises, honeymoon and romance moved up to the top notch and favorites for upscale travelers. Vietnam’s appeal is vast”

Vietnam will be provided with the perfect opportunity to advertise its image on a global platform next year when it hosts international events such as the ASEAN tourism forum 2009.

Vietnam: 100 million people fast approaching!

2009-01-02T04:29:00.000+01:00

VietNamNet Bridge – The birth rate in Vietnam is quickly rising again, posing many challenges for the country. Food shortages accompany enormous populations. The health sector will have to take drastic measures to prevent the “prospect” of a population of 100 million.

Limited land, crowded population

With limited land and natural resources, Vietnam has to nurture over 86 million people. At the current growth rate, Vietnam’s population would hit 115-120 million people in the not too distant future.

Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu said without drastic measures to curb the birth rate, Vietnam’s population could even reach 145-150 million.

The increase of population, according to experts, will slow down economic growth and increase unemployment. Vietnam is now in a period of golden population, during which the number of working-age people is higher than that of dependent people (children under 15 and elderly people over 64). Annually, Vietnam has around 1.5-1.6 million people reach working age, posing challenges in creating jobs for new labourers.

The country will enter a period of old population structure in the next 15-20 years, and at that time, challenges in terms of social welfare will arise. The young population structure goes with pressures in terms of health, education, and child care.

As the number of couples having more than two children is on the rise, Vietnam will have to once again resume its campaign to call for each family to have no more than two children.

The re-increase of the birth rate has been said to originate from the dissolving of the Committee for Population, Family and Children, which was in charge of family planning and population tasks, in August 2008. Since this agency was dissolved, family planning and population tasks in localities have been suspended.

Risk of food insecurity

Each year Vietnam has an additional 1 million people, equivalent to the population of a province, even though each couple has two children at most. Its population is forecast to reach 100 million in the coming years. At that time, the current 40 million tonnes/year of cereals that Vietnam can produce now would be just enough to feed domestic demand.

While the population is rising, the land area devoted to rice growing is narrowing. This means that while the need for rice is increasing, rice output will not increase, and may even decrease.

In the 2002-2007 period, the area for rice decreased by 0.46 million hectares (around 4% of agricultural land area). The biggest drop happened in the Mekong Delta (0.26 million hectares); the figure was around 0.11 million hectares for the Red River Delta. At the same time, the birth rate increased quickly; in particular, the ratio of families with three or more children rose by 16% and it was even 19-20% in 2008.

Vietnam aims to become an industrialised country by 2020, with over 40% of its population living in urban areas. The challenges for maintaining rice crops will be great. Controlling birth rate, thus, becomes a key job.

Vietnam to declare higher education quality in 2009

2008-12-31T03:39:00.001+01:00

VietNamNet Bridge – The results of the training quality appraisal of 20 universities will be announced in January 2009. It will show the overall picture of the higher education situation, while helping create a competitive environment among universities, according to the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET).

The deputy head of the Examination and Education Quality Accreditation Department under MOET Pham Xuan Thanh said that the department has got information about the appraisals of the first 20 universities, including two people-founded universities. However, the appraisals still need to be reviewed by the National Council for Education Quality Accreditation, which will be the body announcing the results.

“The council was established on October 23. I hope that the results will be approved in January 2009,” Thanh said.

The Examination and Education Quality Accreditation Department has ‘placed orders’ with Higher Education Project No 2 to hire experts and foreign institutions to appraise the training quality of 60 universities. The appraisals will be carried out in three periods and focus on established universities.

Thanh said that the appraisals will be completed by early next year at the latest. Thanh said that the goal of having 80% of universities and 50% of junior colleges accredited by 2010 proves to be within reach.

“Every year, the Examination and Education Quality Accreditation Department surveys the situation of training quality at universities and colleges. However, the universities have reported inaccurate information, making it difficult to appraise and accredit training establishments,” Thanh said.

According to the department, in the last three years, 173 universities and 178 junior colleges, including 20 universities, two of which are people-founded, have finished the self-appraisal process, and have got appraisals from independent institutions. The universities are awaiting accreditation. Meanwhile, 27 universities, 16 junior colleges and 10 junior colleges have appraised their own curriculums, and are waiting for independent appraisal.

An appraisal of teaching quality by collecting opinions from students has been carried out at Can Tho University, the Hanoi University of Education, and the Academy for Journalism and Communication.

Meanwhile, the Hanoi and HCM City National Universities are striving to meet international standards in training and have been registering for accreditation with international accreditation institutions.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan said that most learners do not have enough information about training quality. Sometimes, universities launch big advertisement campaigns, but learners later find out that it was no more than that – just advertising.

Nhan has decided that by April 2009, universities have to announce the number of students who can find jobs one year after they graduate.

MOET has decided that 2009-2010 will be the time for pushing up education appraisal and accreditation for higher education. MOET encourages universities to be accredited by international institutions.

Top Gear coming to Vietnam

2008-12-31T03:38:00.001+01:00

The Top Gear team is going global. Location shoots are planned to take the British trio all over the planet, starting with Vietnam. Clarkson, May, and Hammond loved the idea when they were plotting it in the pub, but they didn't actually plan for the fact that Nam doesn't have adequate roads... or very many cars. That made the idea of finding a £600 vehicle and racing it across the country a non-starter, but that doesn't mean the crew couldn't come up with an adventure worthy of Top billing. James May didn't want to give too many details of the Vietnam show during his interview with the Daily Mail, but he did provide enough of a tease to make us want to watch. The program will include the bike-loathing Clarkson on two wheels, and there's even footage of the Top Gear star strapped to a third world Ski-Doo (pictured above).

The Vietnam show will be followed next year with trips to Hong Kong, Johannesburg and Sydney. Since there is a 21-year waiting list to see the Top Gear crew do their thing in-studio, these exotic locations may be the best chance anyone has to see the popular show in-person.

Vietnam targets to export 4.8 mln tons of rice in 2009

2008-12-31T03:28:00.000+01:00

HANOI, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam made the target to export 4.8 million tons of rice in 2009, exceeding the estimated 4.5 million tons in 2008, the local newspaper Industry and Trade reported Monday.

The export is expected to go up next year because the global economic crisis may drive some people into starvation and to rely on rice instead of fruit, vegetables and meat, according to Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The estimate is also based on increasing demands from potential foreign importers. African countries, especially Nigeria and South Africa, have expressed interest in importing Vietnam's rice in coming years, said the ministry.

Despite the estimated increase in volume, the prices for Vietnam's rice exports in 2009 are forecast to decrease, causing the shrink in export revenue, according the ministry.

To achieve the target, Vietnam's Finance Ministry has recently approved the elimination of the export tax for rice as part of the government's effort to boost the country's rice export.

Vietnam's An Binh Securities to begin remote trading

2008-12-31T03:20:00.001+01:00

HA NOI — An Binh Securities will begin conducting remote trading on the HCM City Stock Exchange on January 12. Buy or sell orders from clients will be input directly to the stock exhange’s central computer system-without going through brokerage representatives at the exchange. An Binh Securities will also conduct remote trading via the Ha Noi Securities Trading Centre on a trial basis.

Surfing Internet Vietnamese-style

2008-12-28T06:43:00.001+01:00

16:50' 12/12/2008 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – An Internet service investor shook his head, said: “We can’t understand Vietnamese people’s Internet surfing habits. We have invested a lot to study their habits but we can’t understand.”

This fact explains the losses suffered by many foreign networks which have invested in the online industry inVietnam.

The following four items about Vietnamese and their relationship to the Internet may be of use to some.

Yahoo! Messenger, the “king”

A survey ordered by a world-famous social network that plans to enterVietnam shows that 90% of Vietnamese people immediately log in to Yahoo Messenger when they open their computers.

Email, blog, online transactions and many other things are conducted through Yahoo! Messenger. Recently, many people have begun using Yahoo! Messenger mobile.

Talking to friends around the world, to colleagues in the same office, exchanging files, information, sharing photos, etc. and even declaring love to somebody are conducted via Yahoo! Messenger.

Yahoo! Messenger is the “king” in Vietnam, despite the presence of Skype and many other applications, thanks to one simple reason: The whole society is using Yahoo! Messenger, so nobody does differently.

Some employees have even quit their jobs when their employers banned Yahoo! Messenger at the office. “Without Yahoo! Messenger, I feel like I’ve lost an arm. For me Yahoo! Messenger is an indispensable part of life,” said Nguyen Bao Anh Huy, who left a foreign bank for a financial company for this reason.

Willing to pay unexpectedly

It is not true that Vietnamese Internet users just like free products. The evidence is that many online gamers are willing to pay a hundred US dollars to buy a pair of shoes for his/her characters while they wear real shoes costing around $10. They are also willing to pay several dollars to download a game from the Internet or to open an online shop on a website.

An official from an online entertainment service company said if a website has around 50,000 members, it can support itself with just VND3,000 ($0.17) collected from 20% of the members a day.

Kind-hearted people

It is interesting that online games are no longer considered dangerous by elderly people, who often don’t like their children or grandchildren seated behind computers the whole day. Vietnamese people have realised the real usefulness of the Internet.

Programmes for public benefit originating from the Internet are spreading in various forms, from raising funds for charity to assisting others via blogs, Yahoo! Messenger and websites on social activities.

Vu Thuyen, the owner of Dalatskill blog, confirmed: “Without the Internet, I don’t know how I could lend a hand to others so effectively. With only woolen hats and sweaters woven by myself during free time, many kids can have a warm winter.”

More time for computer than TV

More and more Vietnamese people spend more time on the Internet than watching TV because their favourite TV shows are available on the Internet. They can also submit comments about the shows.

The attractiveness of interactive services on the Internet is now a real challenge for TV show producers.

Vietnam to have circular on Internet-based information violations

2008-12-26T04:02:00.000+01:00

16:58' 25/12/2008 (GMT+7)

Mr. Luu Vu Hai

VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) is compiling a circular to deal with violations related to the provision, use of the Internet, including information on blogs, said a senior official.

The Chief of the MoIC’s Broadcasting, Television and Electronic Information Control Agency, Luu Vu Hai, said: “The state encourages the use of blogs to serve personal freedom but bloggers have to respect social interests and community interests under the laws”.

VietNamNet talked with Hai about the new rules on blog, which was issued recently by the MoIC.

According to circular 07/2008/TB-BTTT, bloggers are banned from some things. But they can claim freedom of speech as stipulated in the Constitution. What is your opinion about it?

Nobody is banned from freedom of speech and giving information but freedom of speech and information must not harm the public interest, the personal freedom of others and the interests of the country and society in general.

Bloggers are not forced to declare their true names when they use blog services. When they commit violations of the rules, will it be very difficult to find out who they are?

It is difficult but it is not impossible.

We will have to ask social network service providers to force blog service users to declare their true personal information.

An issue always has two faces. But we have to see the requirement of development of the society to have measures of management. State agencies want to take feasible measures of management, which are appropriate to the trend of development and create favourable conditions for the people to use scientific and technological achievements, especially Internet applications.

Why does the circular ban bloggers from diffusing press works on their blogs? Maybe bloggers are correspondents who want to archive their works on their blogs or bloggers who are not correspondents but want to archive information for their own reference.

The Press Law stipulates responsibility in using press works. When we use the press freedom right we have to obey the Press Law and we couldn’t use the press freedom right in a non-press environment.

Blogs are encouraged to develop to help individuals share information which is suitable to customs and habits and Vietnamese laws.

Is it troublesome for social network service providers to report on their blog services every six months?

I don’t think this is an administrative difficulty because the contents that they have to report are readily available. This is two-way cooperation between businesses and state agencies.

How will bloggers who commit violations be punished?

The MoIC is compiling a circular on dealing with violations related to the provision and use of Internet services, including information provision on blogs.

Violations related to blogs are stipulated in various legal documents and now they are being grouped together.

Tourism sector hindered by poor infrastructure, services

2008-12-26T03:48:00.001+01:00


It is time for the tourism sector to stop focusing on how many foreign visitors travel to Vietnam, but on how satisfied they feel, a tourism official said

Vietnam needs to improve infrastructure and diversify its tourism products to attract more foreign visitors in the long term, experts and insiders have said.

The tourism industry is already feeling the effects of the global economic downturn, with international arrivals falling by 22 percent year-on-year in November.

The sector, which employs more than 10 percent of country’s workforce, faces zero growth or even worse next year, AFP quoted Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh as saying earlier this month.

But analysts said once the world economy recovers, people will start travelling again and Vietnam should be prepared for opportunities.

Ngo Minh Duc, Huong Giang Travel Agency general director, said Vietnam needed to restructure its infrastructure for tourism, especially accommodation, otherwise tourists would not return.

Analysts said there were several factors that decided the success or failure of a tourist destination, including the convenience of air traffic and the availability of accommodation, entertainment facilities and public services.

Shorokin Andrey of Russia’s Capital Tour Company said because Vietnam only has international airports in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, it is hard for operators to arrange tours.

Russian tourists are often exhausted after a 10-hour flight to Vietnam, but they then face another four to eight hours in a bus to get to resort cities like Phan Thiet or Nha Trang, he said.

If Vietnam could launch more air routes, the country would attract as many Russian visitors as Thailand or China, he said.

Many tour operators said the local tourism industry depended too much on natural attractions and it has failed to diversify tourism products or improve services.

Patrick Gaveau, marketing director of HCMC-based Focus Asia, said after complaints that prices of tour packages to Vietnam were high, many people suggested travel agencies lower their prices.

However, lowering prices would not solve the problem once and for all, Gaveau said, noting that it was necessary to figure out why there were such complaints.

He said tour packages to Singapore, for instance, were even more expensive, but tourists were happy to pay because both the infrastructure and services were good and most people speak English.

Meanwhile, there are few tourist attractions in Vietnam and foreigners only know a handful of places such as Phan Thiet, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc or Da Nang, even though Vietnam has a coastline of more than 3,000 kilometers, Gaveau said.

La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said it was time for the tourism sector to stop focusing on how many foreign visitors travel to Vietnam, but on how satisfied they feel.

Nguyen Manh Cuong, deputy head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), said poor infrastructure was the biggest problem that the local tourism industry had to face now.

But analysts said even the administration was not determined to solve the problem. They said the government set a higher target for the sector every year but it had not created any specific plans to improve infrastructure or develop accommodation for tourists.

Many travel agencies said they had been asking for the construction of a tourism seaport for more than 10 years but it has not yet been built.

Focus Asia’s Gaveau suggested the government should play a greater role in the development of the local tourism sector and create a comprehensive plan for tourism with the participation of all related agencies.

Other hindering factors

The visa application process was the “largest obstacle to establishing Vietnam as a global destination,” AFP quoted Baron R. Ah Moo, CEO of Indochina Hotels and Resorts, as saying.

“Due to the processing time, last-minute travel to Vietnam is not an option and has been replaced by weekend trips to Phuket, Bali, Macao and Singapore,” he said.

Tour operators said the government should grant visa exemption for tourists from important markets.

For example, while many countries are easing their visa application processes to attract more tourists from China, a main market of Vietnamese tourism, it still takes a Chinese tourist up to one month to get a visa to travel to Vietnam.

Baron R. Ah Moo said an online registration or a visa-on-arrival system would help speed up the process.

Another weak point of the tourism industry was the lack of marketing.

Claire del Rosario-Bernabe, a hotel marketing director, said she wondered why Vietnam had not launched any new marketing campaigns to help its tourism sector overcome the current difficult time.

The recent political crisis in Thailand was a good opportunity for Vietnam to promote itself as a safe destination, and with effective marketing campaigns, the country would attract a large number of foreign tourists, she said.

But because of limited funds, it would be hard for Vietnam to be able to launch large campaigns like its neighboring countries, RosarioBernabe added.

According to VNAT, it is allotted around VND20 billion (US$1.18 million) for tourism promotion every year.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, deputy head of the Tourism Promotion Department under VNAT, said her department needed larger and more stable funds because it is hard to embark on a long-term campaign when funds were allotted on a yearly basis.

VNAT has asked the government to spend $20-30 million on a global marketing campaign to draw back visitors next year and afterwards, AFP reported.

Vietnam Devalues Dong to Fight Slowdown, Help Exports (Update3)

2008-12-25T08:01:00.001+01:00

By Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen

Dec. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Vietnam’s central bank devalued the dong by 3 percent to help exporters after the Southeast Asian economy expanded at the slowest pace in nine years and the trade deficit widened.

The State Bank of Vietnam fixed the reference rate at 16,989 dong per dollar, versus 16,494 yesterday, according to its Web site. Policy makers maintained a currency band that allows the dong to rise or fall 3 percent a day, said Nguyen Quang Huy, director of the regulator’s foreign-exchange department.

Export growth slowed in the past three months as stagnating global economies cut demand for Vietnam’s garments and coffee and the country became less competitive after currencies in neighboring markets weakened more than the dong. Vietnam’s currency has dropped 5.5 percent this year against the dollar compared with an 18 percent slide in India’s rupee, 14 percent decline for Indonesia’s rupiah and a 13 percent slump in the Philippine peso.

“The devaluation is necessary as the government is trying to increase exports,” said Do Ngoc Quynh, chairman of the Vietnam Bond Forum in Hanoi and head of currency and debt trading at Bank for Investment & Development of Vietnam, the nation’s second-biggest lender by assets. “Other currencies in the region have considerably declined against the dollar, but the dong hasn’t dropped that much.”

The dong traded at 17,250 to 17,499 a dollar after the central bank’s decision, according to Hanoi-based Lai Tat Ha, head of currency trading at Vietnam Technological & Commercial Joint-Stock Bank, also known as Techcombank.

Free-Market Rate

At money changers, or the so-called black market, the currency traded between 17,270 and 17,350 to the dollar in Hanoi, according to a telephone directory information service, known as 1080, run by state-owned Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications. The dong has tumbled 35 percent since the end of 1994 as the central bank devalued the currency every year.

“The State Bank of Vietnam will take necessary action to maintain dong at this level,” the bank said in the statement on its Web site.

Vietnam’s VN Index of stocks fell 0.6 percent to 302.19, the lowest level in more than a week. The measure has declined 67 percent this year, the worst-performing benchmark index in Asia.

Gross domestic product grew 6.2 percent in 2008, after expanding by a record 8.5 percent last year, the government said in a statement yesterday.

Trade Deficit

Vietnam’s trade deficit widened 56 percent to $16.9 billion in the first 11 months of the year, according to government data. The current-account deficit may grow to $12.1 billion in 2009, or 12.3 percent of GDP, from an estimated $10.5 billion this year, or 11.7 percent of GDP, according to a Credit Suisse Group research report dated Dec. 17.

State Bank Governor Nguyen Van Giau told the Tuoi Tre newspaper that the devaluation policy is aimed at helping exporters.

“The Vietnamese dong is facing downward pressure due to the current-account deficit,” said Yuichi Izumi, an economist at Nomura Securities Co. in Tokyo. “The State Bank wants to guide the dong lower to support the export sector.”

Slower gains in consumer prices may have also provided more room for the central bank to weaken the dong. Inflation cooled for a fourth month in December to the slowest pace in nine months, with consumer prices rising 19.9 percent from a year earlier, the government said today. The rate touched a record 28.3 percent in August.

The devaluation followed five interest-rate cuts by the central bank this quarter to help bolster the economy. Policy makers last lowered the benchmark rate on Dec. 19 by the most ever this year to 8.5 percent, from 10 percent. The new cost of money became effective Dec. 22.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen in Hanoi atuyen1@bloomberg.net

Vietnam still fumbling with designing low cost tours

2008-12-23T05:28:00.001+01:00

Thailand has surprised the world as just ten days after the chaos, they are ready with a new program to lure travelers back to the country. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, low cost tourism products are expected to be launched by January at the earliest.

Looking at Thailand…

Foreign travelers in HCM City

With the slogan “Thailand sorry,” as well as lower tour fees and hotel room rates, Thailand has become more prominent than ever in a campaign to attract travelers back to the country after the chaos. Tourists have seemed to forget the political uncertainties that occurred only several days ago in the country.

The free flights on international routes provided by Air Asia, departing from Bangkok to Hanoi and HCM City, Cambodia, Myanmar,Malaysia, Singapore and China are expected to bring several hundred thousand tourists to Thailand, with these flights occurring between January 6 and March 31, 2009.

Travelers have been promised surprisingly low hotel room rates with discounts of up to 50-80% in Phuket or Pattaya.

Many Vietnamese travelers have booked air tickets online to travel to Thailand. According to Bui Duc Hanh, Chief Representative of Air Asia in Hanoi, Vietnamese travelers like booking tickets on weekends or holidays. Travelers only have to pay the airport tax, insurance premium and administrative fees.

‘Jealous’ of Thailand, Vu The Binh, Director of the Travel Departmentm, under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), admitted that Vietnam is inferior to Thailand in the area of professionalism. With their professionalism, Thailand has not been on the defense with the political crisis, as it has discovered initiatives to persuade tourists back to the country.

Meanwhile, according to La Quoc Khanh, Deputy Director of the HCM City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Vietnam has not been professional in promoting tourism, as Vietnamese companies cannot cooperate with each other for the development of the tourism industry.

… to seek solutions for Vietnam

Many directors and officials of VNAT were present in HCM City late last week to meet 60 travel firms and hotels to discuss plans to lure more travelers to Vietnam. Two similar meetings will take place in Hanoiand the central city of Da Nang this week.

Nguyen Manh Cuong, Deputy General Director of the VNAT, affirmed that tourism products must be ready by December 30 at the latest.

Khanh said that a plan to cut tour fees has been designed, and is called a “6 in 1” program. The taskforces for key markets have been set up and they will sit together to discuss the measures necessary to cut tour fees and design mechanisms for controlling the implementation of commitments.

Once tourism products with reasonable prices are ready, travel firms will register to VNAT and the local department of culture, sports and tourism. Afterwards, products will be introduced and advertised to foreign partners.

Khanh said that in the meantime, HCM City’s tourism promotion will focus on Japan, Australia andMalaysia, while it will still need support from VNAT to promote tourism in France, East Europe andChina.

Japan will be the first target in the tourism promotion campaign with roadshows and press conferences to be held when the 30% decreases in tour fees will be announced.

HCM City is hurriedly selecting “Saigon, 100 most interesting things,” which includes the 10 most attractive sightseeing points, the 10 most delicious dishes, 10 original markets and the 10 best hotels to be introduced in the campaign.

Binh, from VNAT, said that the tourism products need to be designed and available soon so that VNAT can advertise the products directly to 500 foreign travel firms and the foreign press in January 2009 at ATF 2009.

Ben Thanh Market - District 1 - HCMC - Vietnam

2008-12-23T04:50:00.001+01:00

Last night we headed in to Ben Thanh Market. One of the most famous markets in Vietnam which by day is a crazy place selling foods and assorted goodies, while by night it transforms in to a bustling Night Market full of great food at cheap prices!

We hit the Hai Lua Restaurant and managed to get a table with out to much hassle, however 10 minutes later, people we're queuing at the front to get in. The busy eatery has a great menu with plenty of choices from beef, chicken, pork, frogs and seafood. There are also plenty of Vege dishes for vegetarians and a full range of soft drinks, beers and fruit shakes.

We went for the BBQ Whole Fish, BBQ Pork Kabab's, Seafood Fried Rice, Stir Fried Vege's with garlic, all washed down with an icey cold Saigon Beer!

I have to say the food was fresh, hot and really hit the spot. The staff we're flat out, but still attentive and friendly.

Overall it was a great meal and worth the 300,000VND which included food and drinks for 4 people.

The only real issue was the BBQ and smoke as it got rather thick at times! But with the atmosphere, good food and craziness of a Sunday night in HCMC, it was all good!

Ben Thanh Market is located at the end of Le Loi Street in District 1. The Night Market is open from 6pm and finishes up between 11 - 12pm.

Images From Ben Thanh Market

Cooking up a storm at Ben Thanh Night Market

Popular with Locals and Travelers

BBQ Pork Kabab's

BBQ Whole Fish with a lemon, chili and salt dip

Seafood Fried Rice

Cooking Mekong Elephant Ear Fish and Pork Kabab's

Smokey but a great atmosphere!

Woking good times!

Busy in the Kitchen

Smoking BBQ

================

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IMF urges Vietnam to scrutinise stimulus plan

2008-12-20T02:52:00.001+01:00

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has suggested that Vietnam thoroughly consider its economic stimulus plan and give priorities to such vulnerable groups as the business and banking sectors.

The IMF made the recommendation in a notice released on December 18, following a week-long Vietnam visit by an IMF working mission led by Shogo Ishii, Assistant Director of the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department.

The IMF forecasts that Vietnam ’s economic growth rate will reach 6.25 percent in 2008 and may reduce to 5 percent next year due to the worsening global economic environment, said IMF Senior Residential Representative in Vietnam Benedict Bingham.

Vietnam ’s trade deficit is expected to go down in the following year but will remain high, accounting for around 9 percent of GDP, he added.
The IMF experts also predicted the country’s inflation rate to decrease to a single-digit level by late 2009, leading to the government’s loosened monetary and financial policies. However, Vietnam ’s position in the international arena is not so strong compared to some regional countries, which may restrict the government’s capacity in pursuing those policies, they said.

The IMF mission, however, noted that Vietnam ’s outlook remains positive given that the government maintains sound policies and continues reforms to increase the country’s competitiveness.

Maintaining reforms in this difficult period is very important for Vietnam to bolster investors’ confidence and ensure a better position for the country when the world escapes from the current economic recession, Benedict said in conclusion.

Vietnam's pepper exports to reach yearly target of US$310m

2008-12-20T02:50:00.000+01:00

Vietnam will reach its target of exporting US$310 million in pepper by the end of this year, helping the country cement its number-one position in the world pepper market, according to the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA).

The country exported 86,000 tonnes of pepper over the past 11 months to earn a turnover of US$300 million, the association said.

Despite global economic difficulties, world demand for pepper would still rise by 15 percent, or 50,000 tonnes, next year, a representative from the India Pepper and Spice Trade Association predicted.

Meanwhile, the International Pepper Community (IPC) forecast that the world pepper supply would be lower than the demand due to the world’s shrinking pepper cultivation area as well as the recent poor weather and disease outbreak in major pepper exporting nations like India, Brazil and Indonesia.

Vietnam would remain the world’s leading pepper exporter in the coming years, said the IPC.

The Vietnamese pepper industry is playing a more important role in the world pepper industry, said VPA general secretary Truong Thi Thong.

Vietnam Visa - Apply Online

2008-12-20T02:46:00.000+01:00

Not so long ago, Vietnam introduced an Online Visa Service where by travelers can apply online instead of the traditional and sometime painful method of contacting Embassies in your local area.

Whilst I have yet to use the service myself, several people I know have and they are all saying good things about it!

To find out more details and what it is all about I spoke to staff atwww.myvietnamvisa.com an online company based in Hanoi. Check out below for the details!

Adam - Who needs a visa for Vietnam?

My Vietnam Visa (MVV) - All visitors to Vietnam require a visa except those coming from ASEAN Countries, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway. As of the 1st Jan Russian visitors will not require a tourist visa either for visits of 15 days or less.

Adam - Whats the process for applying for Visa?

MVV - Travelers wanting to apply for a visa, can simply visit our site (see below) and follow 3 easy steps. Firstly fill in and submit a form through our site, then confirm and pay for the visa. Finally travelers will receive a Visa Approval Letter via email which they can show immigration officials on arrival in Vietnam.

Adam - How long does it take to get a visa approved?

MVV- The Visa Approval Letter is sent to customers with in 48 hours of applying. For special cases, the Letters can be approved within 4 - 8 working hours.

Adam - Can you use Online Visa's to enter Vietnam via airports and land borders?

MVV - No. Travelers can only enter through Vietnam's 3 International Airports in Hanoi, HCMC and Danang. Online Visa's can not be used for land crossings.

Adam - How much does it cost for visa's online?

MVV - The cost varies for different visa's your visitors can visit our website for exact costs. (Ed - Go here for Pricing)

Adam - I believe there are two payments travelers need to pay. Can you explain what they are and when they have to be paid?

MVV - There are two payments required. When you apply online for a Visa you pay a processing fee (pay online).

Then once you arrive in Vietnam, you must pay a Stamping Fee direct to the Immigration Official at the airport (upon arrival in Vietnam). Payments in Vietnam are payed in USD.

Adam - What sort of visa's are offered online?

MVV - Visitors may apply for tourist, business and student visa's online.

Adam - Thanks for your time!

For more information about Vietnam Visa's or to apply for a visa, visitww.myvietnamvisa.com/

Vietnam: Where pirated apps match personal budgets

2008-12-18T08:42:00.000+01:00

Posted by Dong Ngo

The bootlegging in operation at a store in Hanoi, one of many such shops that sell pirated goods.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CBS Interactive)

Editor's note: CNET editor and Crave contributor Dong Ngo is spending part of December in his homeland of Vietnam and is filing occasional dispatches chronicling his impressions of how technology has permeated the culture there. Click here for more of Dong's stories from abroad.

HANOI, Vietnam--You say you can't afford the $699 price tag on Adobe Photoshop CS4? How about a $698 discount?

That's the kind of deal you'll get here in Hanoi, where pirated software--and virtually any other kind of digital content--is sold indiscriminately at many local shops for about $15,000 dong (90 cents) per DVD, or half of that for a CD.

These shops are open, just like any legitimate business. I checked one out and was impressed by the number of software titles it carried. While there, I also learned a thing or two about the piracy industry here in Vietnam.

The store I visited is a small shop facing a busy street, with walls covered in CD and DVD sleeves--all black and white copies of those found in the original software package.

"I hate having to use some sort of hack for them to work, but it's worth it. It's a no-brainer, really."

--Trung, college student,
Vietnam

Virtually any PC software application I've ever heard of can be found here: Windows operating systems, popular Office suites, and high-end professional software such as Photoshop, AudoCad, and Corel Draw, are available in any versions. I even found different builds of Windows 7, which is currently still in pre-beta and is supposedly available to only a limited few.

These software applications, of course, come with "crack"--a hacking application that allows for bypassing the vendors' antipiracy mechanism. All are guaranteed to work; if not, you'll get another copy that does or get your money back.

Out of curiosity, I asked one of the shop's two operators, Nam--a friendly 24-year-old man--where this copious amount of software comes from. He said there's somebody who gets his shop the "master" copy of any titles he wants, and the master copy costs just about $5.

I made up a fancy name of a nonexistent software title and asked for it. After searching his large database to no avail, Nam indeed picked up the phone and made a quick call. After that he told me to come back the next day. "They don't have it now, but they probably will soon, don't worry!" he said, sounding very sure.

Of course, not everything in this shop is bootlegged. There is also stuff you can legally download for free, such as OpenOffice, Linux distros, and service packs. It's a good way to save time and Internet bandwidth at home.

The shop's business is going very well. Nam said it sells about $100 worth of discs a day, which comes to about $3,000 a month. However, Nam himself gets paid only $150 a month, which is a little above average for a Hanoian.

A short list of what you can get at one Hanoi store for less than $1 per DVD.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CBS Interactive)

It's interesting to note that Nam, if he ever wanted Photoshop SC4, would have to save for months before he could afford it at the full retail price. Maybe that's the main reason bootlegging is so rampant here in Vietnam.

I talked to Trung, a college student, who stopped by the shop to fetch the latest revision of Medal of Honor. Trung is an avid gamer whose knowledge of video games could easily land him a job at GameSpot, even in these tough economic times.

He told me there's no way he could afford any of the games he's played--and he's played a lot of them--at the retail price. "I hate having to use some sort of hack for them to work, but it's worth it. It's a no-brainer, really," he said. The truth is that getting even one game legally could easily cost a student like him a whole month of food and rent.

According to the Business Software Alliance's and International Data Corporation's Fifth Annual Global Software Piracy Study (PDF), 85 percent of all software currently used in Vietnam is pirated. In 2007, piracy in Vietnam accounted for $200 million in losses for copyright owners.

I wonder how they came up with that number, however, as it is hard to calculate what the real "loss" would be if antipiracy laws were strictly enforced. Most people here would stop using a lot of software applications at all. They simply could not afford them.

The truth is the law doesn't seem to be strictly enforced here. Asked what would happen if the police found out, Nam said that he knows all the officers in the local unit and that they know what the shop does. He hinted that there was some sort of arrangement and the shop would close on those days, several times a year, when antipiracy inspectors head out to clean up bootlegged software.

In the event that the owners get caught and their equipment is confiscated, it's not hard to start anew. All a software shop needs are a couple of computers equipped with fast burners and large hard drives.

It seems bootlegging and using bootlegged software have become so common that nobody here considers those practices illegal or even "bad." They don't even seem aware of the fact that the software might come with malicious code designed to compromise their computer's security. It's going to take a long time for people here to change this mentality, if that's even possible.

In the meantime, it would probably be helpful to price the software differently for low-income parts of the world, such as Vietnam. After all, it's better for software vendors to have their products used for less than for nothing. And I would think that it's still better to have them used for nothing than not used at all.

The good news is that there are vendors that are making just such price adjustments. BitDefender, for example, has been using separate pricing for the Vietnamese market. Its Total Security 2009 suite, for example, costs$59.95 in the U.S. but only 399,000 dong ($24) in Vietnam. Kaspersky is doing the same thing.

While these two won't change much about the piracy landscape in Vietnam for now (and I think their prices could still go a little lower), they will hopefully raise awareness that legitimate software can be affordable, help create jobs, and come with benefits that are worth the price. Now that's a start.

Dong Ngo is a CNET editor who covers networking and network storage, and writes about anything else he finds interesting. You can also listen to his podcast at insidecnetlabs.cnet.com.E-mail Dong.

A Vietnam expats world through photography

2008-12-18T03:35:00.000+01:00

Through an expat’s eyes

Peter Pham originally came back to his native country for business but the snapshots he took on that trip changed his life.

He moved to the US at the age of nine and later became a computer engineer for IBM, but it seems that the real destiny of this 42-year-old Vietnamese is photography.

Peter Pham, whose full name is Pham Manh Hung, first returned to Vietnam in 1992 for a business project. But with things not going so well on the business front, he did some traveling, snapping tourist shots with an automatic camera. The strange images that he took home of Vietnamese daily life were engraved upon the expat’s mind. So began a photographic journey to the land of his forefathers.

“When I look back at those photos it calls up so many memories. At first, in America, I was a landscape photographer, but when I returned to Vietnam, portrait shots drew me in. I love it for the reality, without effects and unarranged. That’s why I just like wandering and chasing every natural moment of life,” Pham says.

Another work by Pham, “A cute smile” taken at the Nhat Le River in the central province of Quang Binh

Since 2002, Pham has been returning to Vietnam for the sole purpose of taking pictures. With photographic knowledge learnt from the Internet, books and his main occupation selling oil painting reproductions online, Pham’s view of the world is both familiar and strange.

Seeing the country through an expat’s eyes, Pham approaches his subjects from another angle - deeply sympathetic and respectful to the masses. “Having sold oil-painting reproductions for five years, I am really interested in that style. When I look in the working people’s eyes, I feel the joy, peace, innocence and happiness that go along with the hard work. I want to capture and share that feeling with the viewers. I have traveled many places, but there are several ones, such as Hoi An, Northern East, Highlands, Nha Trang, Hanoi and Ca Mau, that I want to visit again to get a better understanding,” shares Pham.

The result of Pham’s photographic journey around Vietnam is a full-color book called Duong ve va khoanh khac (Journey Home). At first, Pham planned to make the book for friends. But he was encouraged to publish it for general sale. Pham’s pictures also appear on postcards which have become one of the top sellers at Tribook bookstores and Phuong Nam’s chain of bookshops – 30 percent of the proceeds from their sale goes to charity.

“Coming back and settling in Vietnam for nearly a year now, there have been a lot of changes in my family’s life. I want to reflect that in my art. Now my wife and I are preparing the second book in the trilogy. This collection is like my awareness of my new life. I also want to make an exhibition. Perhaps it could tour galleries, and all the profits could go to charity. We want to do something small for my native Vietnam. But the problem is that my wife and I cannot handle everything. I really need some help and sponsorship to organize it,” Pham says.

Soul mate

In Pham’s photography career, his 29-year-old wife Ngoc Anh plays a very important role. Anh was the first to appreciate and encourage Pham’s talent. Perfectly matched in nearly every way Pham and Anh, also a US expat, decided to marry after a whirlwind three-month relationship. They shared a common yearning to return to Vietnam.

“She was working at a tour services company and I was the client. She was the partner I was seeking,” says Pham.

The couple enjoy their life together both as soul mates and business partners. Anh is the manager of finances in Pham’s business and always supports her husband to build his dream.

“This art business has a lot of remarkable and funny memories,” Anh said.

“I still recall when a Thai customer insisted on buying a picture of an old man standing beside stacks of canned fish. We felt it was strange, because it wasn’t a popular photo. Finally, I discovered the reason. By sheer coincidence that man was the sales representative of the canned fish product in my husband’s picture.

“Sometimes, I tell Peter that maybe he should change his style to satisfy his customers’ taste but his definitive answer has always been ‘No.’ I understand that photography is my partner’s passion and he has to please himself.”

“Do what you like” is the young couple’s motto. The husband and wife team have displays in the showroom of Nha Xinh, a famous trade name in Vietnamese interior decoration.

More of Pham’s photos are available on his websitewww.perterphamphotograph.com.

“Sad eyes,” a work by Peter Pham depicting a star fruit vendor in Hanoi

Vietnam eyes 3.1 billion USD in trade with Middle East in 2010

2008-12-18T03:34:00.001+01:00

HANOI, Dec. 17 – The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has issued an action plan targeting to increase the country’s two-way trade with the Middle East region to 3.1 billion USD by 2010 and to 9.6 billion USD by 2015.

The MoIT has formulated a host of specific plans, including boosting the export of farm products, food and fine art articles to the Middle East markets, which are expected to rake in export earnings of 2.3 billion USD by 2010 and 7.5 billion USD by 2015.

According to the MoIT, the past two years have seen a considerable growth in trade between Vietnam and the Middle East as some Middle East countries are shifting their trade and business activities to oriental countries, including Vietnam .

The United Arab Emirates and Turkey are currently the leading importers of Vietnamese goods in the region while the markets in Israel and Saudi Arabia have also opened up to Vietnam ’s products.

The MoIT reported that last year the two-way trade between Vietnam and the Middle East reached around 1.2 billion USD, 700 million USD of which was Vietnam’s exports. The figure excluded the value of goods Vietnam exported to the region via a third country.

Vietnam’s major export lines to the Middle East include rice, coffee, textile and apparels, computers, electronic components, footwear, seafood, and wood furniture while it imports mainly oil and gas, petrochemical products, fertilizers and iron and steel from the oil-rich region. (PNA/VNA)

Cam Ranh Bay back in strategic limelight

2008-12-18T03:30:00.001+01:00

Cam Ranh Bay back in strategic limelight

South China Morning Post
August 16, 2008 Saturday
Cam Ranh Bay back in strategic limelight

Greg Torode

Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam is one place that never seems to die.

Built up as a vast air and sea base by the US military at the height of the Vietnam conflict, it became a glittering prize of the cold war when Hanoi allowed its Soviet Union patron to keep its biggest southern base there.

Cam Ranh's deep harbour hosted submarines, ships and an electronic spying centre that swept the Pacific to watch Chinese and US forces.

Russia withdrew the rusting remnants of its presence in 2002, two years before its lease expired, as Vietnam jacked up the rent to $200US million a year. Cam Ranh may have largely returned to its natural state of windswept beaches, salt pans and rice paddies but it has never been forgotten.

Major militaries, including the US and India, have discretely but repeatedly dropped hints to the Vietnamese that they would like ship visits to the area, even though they appear to realise Hanoi is unlikely to grant a foreign power full base rights again.

China is eyeing developments closely as Vietnam seeks to broaden and deepen its international military ties. The strategic value of Cam Ranh is difficult to overestimate. Considered the best natural harbour in East Asia, the bay sits beneath the resort of Nha Trang and just west of the disputed Spratly Islands that straddle the vital shipping lanes of the South China Sea.

Recent developments suggest its importance certainly has not been lost on Moscow, which is actively seeking to rebuild its once mighty Pacific fleet out of Vladivostok.

Russian defence analysts and retired generals have talked up the value of Cam Ranh in the Russian media, all reflective of a broader push to expand its military presence as it grows in wealth and confidence after leaner post-Soviet years. The commentaries appear linked to official Russian approaches to Cuba to reopen its controversial listening post at Lourdes - a sister facility to Cam Ranh Bay that closed at the same time.

Alexey Muraviev, a Russian security expert based at Australia's Curtin University of Technology, said the flurry of articles appeared to be based on speculation and wishful thinking.

"But I think they do reflect a widespread view that Russia should never have left Cam Ranh," he said.

"Some kind of future return would certainly fit into Russia's broader strategic logic."

Russian president turned prime minister Vladimir Putin apparently agrees.

In April he expressed concern that the US had displayed little goodwill over Russia's closures of bases at Cam Ranh and Lourdes. "What did we get?" he said. "[US] bases in Romania, bases in Bulgaria, the missile shield in the Czech Republic and Poland."

Russian entrepreneurs, meanwhile, are also eyeing Cam Ranh's commercial potential as they move into the region, something Hanoi government planners are keen to exploit even while its military experts still debate future usage.

Large Russian property developer Mirax Group this week won a licence to build a $200US million resort at Cam Ranh. The group is planning a 300-room five-star hotel and 100 villas, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

It would be the first significant resort development in the area.

Already, Hanoi has allowed internal commercial flights to use the massive airfields, built initially to handle giant US B-52 bombers.

While it remains far from clear whether Moscow has yet made any formal overtures to Hanoi, the pair have a strong military relationship. Russia remains a key supplier to Vietnam's military and is building two state of the art guided missile frigates, with two more reportedly on order.

But Carl Thayer, a Vietnam specialist at Australian National University, has noted than any return on the Cam Ranh base may not come cheaply given the state of the remaining facilities.

Sunbathing in Vietnam, kind of

2008-12-17T08:44:00.001+01:00

Solar water heaters like this one are getting popular in Ho Chi Minh City.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CBS Interactive)

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam--It took me a few minutes to realize how crowded Ho Chi Minh City is, and a few hours to experience the first power outage. Welcome to the dry season of the South.

The season lasts from November until April. It's when this part of the country experiences its most severe energy shortage, with rolling blackouts taking place in HCM several times a week, if not daily.

(Unlike the four-season North of the country, the South of Vietnam has only two seasons--dry and rainy. Nonetheless, it's generally sunny all year around in Ho Chi Minh City. It's hot, too, with the exception of a few weeks around Christmas when it gets a little chilly, around 60 degrees F. However, it's always humid here and you'd probably want to shower a few times a day.)

Most businesses, and even some households here, have a backup power generator. Drive around the city at any given time, and chances are you'll see some of these in operation.

With the sharp population increase, Ho Chi Minh City, now home to about 10 million, is facing an apparent energy crisis. According to HCM City Power Company, the city's power demand is now in excess of 1,000 to 2,500 megawatts every day.

To battle this, the city has turned to a source of energy that it has a lot of: the sun. Since July, it has been developing a program to support businesses that produce and sell solar-powered appliances, including water heater and lighting systems.

I found out about this totally by chance when I got on the rooftop of a friend's house to view the city. There I ran into something I've never seen before: a solar water heater.

The machine includes a large solar panel and a water tank. The panel consists of 18 glass tubes made of stainless steel aluminum nitride cermet that work as the solar-absorbing layer. The gathered heat is then used to warm up the water in the tank.

According to Chau Nguyen, the owner of the house, the 180-liter (40 gallon) tank is enough to replace four electric water heaters previously used in four bathrooms of her house. This replacement saves her about $10 a month on her electricity bills.

(If you have followed my series of blogs from here, you'll notice that there are a lot of Nguyens. The truth is about 7 out of 10 Vietnamese people have the last name Nguyen. During my trip, it seems like almost everyone I've run into has this last name.)

From the top of her house, I could see many other buildings and houses in the city with the same type of water heaters installed. There are many sizes, though, with the one used at Chau's being the most popular for a private house.

Chau said she paid 13 million dong ($760) to have the machine installed, both parts and labor, including new pipes and other accessories. That price is after a 1 million dong ($60) subsidy by the government, an incentive for the switch from using a traditional water heater to the solar one.

The Vietnamese government has been giving this incentive since the beginning of the year, with a goal of putting about 30,000 solar water heaters into use by 2013. As it turns out, many parts of the country have participated, but HCM, thanks to its particular weather condition, has the biggest penetration.

This five-year program also aims to make people aware of the benefits of using solar energy, though it seems to me that many here care more about savings and resource availability than going green. "Now we still have hot water, even during blackouts," Chau said.

Nonetheless, the country now imports hundreds of thousands of solar-power-related appliances annually. According to HCM City's Energy Conservation Center, the 30,000 solar water heaters could help save up to 57 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 23,541 tons every year.

While these numbers are hard to comprehend, I thought it was really cool to know that the hot shower I just took in the hotel came in part directly from the sun.

It's sunbathing redefined. And I love my tan.

Another sunny day in Ho Chi Minh City. Unlike the four-season North of the country, the South of Vietnam has only two seasons--dry and rainy.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CBS Interactive)

Dong Ngo is a CNET editor who covers networking and network storage, and writes about anything else he finds interesting. You can also listen to his podcast at insidecnetlabs.cnet.com.E-mail Dong.