Sao Nam Hotel

This is another overdue post. My family, friends and myself have been staying at Sao Nam Hotel on and off for the past 2 years. It's a nice and decent budget hotel and cost between USD20 to 25 per room per night. You can't find it on the internet (unless you come across a posting by me or someone else). It is conveniently located in Pham Ngu Lao (backpackers' area) in District 1.

Hotel Sao Nam

175/5 Pham Ngu Lao

District 1

Tel : +848 3920 6471

The 2 main reasons why it is my preferred hotel :

1. Clean and well-equipped for the price we pay - refrigerator, air-con, cable TV, sheets are changed everyday, attached toilet and there's a lift in this budget hotel so that you don't need to lug your heavy luggage up. Even if there isn't, the staff will still help you with your luggage.

2. Convenience - it is less than 10 minutes walk from Ben Thanh Market and 15 minutes walk to reach town. Sinh Cafe, the budget tour company that I always use when I travel out of HCMC to nearby destinations, is 5 minutes walk away. Restaurants and cafes are all within 5 seconds to 10 minutes walk - western, Italian, Mexican, Vietnamese, vegetarian, halal, Thai and even Singapore noodles (which can never be found in Singapore) - you name it, they have it in Pham Ngu Lao. Lots of shops to while your time and money away too. What more can you ask for?

3. Nice staff, nice boss - Ms Thi and Ms Phuong are 2 of the nicest Vietnamese receptionists that I've met in HCMC. They speak English well so no problem with language, and they're always so polite and willing to help. Mr Hiep, the boss, is a nice and humble man who has managed to send his children for overseas studies - that speaks loads of how hard he has worked.

Here are some pix of the hotel :

For those who must see a satellite photo, here it is

A closer view

Hong Seng's Visit

Fetched Hong Seng to TAIK today. Had him for free labour as he spent the afternoon doing up our invoice and receipt template in his super duper Excel way. Thanks, buddy...appreciate it loads.

Hong and me...

Free labour @ work!!

TAIK Opening Day

Finally, the day has come after all these agonizing months - opening day of The Alpha International Kindergarten. It was a quiet opening, no fanfare except for our dancing puppet in the artificially created wind. Some light snack and drinks and lots of appreciation for our visitors.

Our first student Bao

Our second student Ngoc

Mr & Mrs Poh, Cassie, Thuy & friend

Kim Ngan, Son, Vy Anh and Bidan

TAIK Update V1.3

Final update before opening day on 8 Dec 08. The name and address are up in front, making it look more like a school. Drilled so many holes in the wall to put up the holds for the rockwall - the walls are just a brick thick, we drilled thru the wall!!! and the owner is making noise about that. Will have to patch up for him.

The teachers are decorating their classes so that parents have something to see when they come for enquiries. The Promethean Activboard is up, the comp lab tables are done and the class chairs and tables are in. Looks like we're 80% ready for business.

Huong Xuan - Local delicacies

I putting this here cause I always forget the address.

HUONG XUAN
991, Ben Thanh Market
Right side of the main aisle - somewhere in the middle next to a fruit stall - if you enter from the front.


We been buying the following from here for ages :

Coconut Candy
Soursop sweet - best in the world, cannot find elsewhere...yet! - 100k/kg
Cashews - 180k/kg
Pistachios - 180k/kg
Roasted lotus seeds - found only in VN - expensive - I think 300k/kg
Lots of other types of sweets like banana & "asam", dried goods, coffee and tea. They also have dried meats - you can try exotic ones like deer meat and rabbit meat. Not sure, but I think there's a horse meat too.

Vietnamese are CHAMPION...

...busybodies. Worse than Singaporeans. No offence to my VN friends, but it seems to me that Vietnamese love to witness quarrels, accidents etc. I just came back after ploughing through a massive jam at District 4 - only to find that an accident had occurred on the opposite side of the road and it seems mandatory that every VN driver or biker must stop and stare for a few seconds (actually many seconds) before moving on. Hordes of kaypoh on-lookers gathered to stare at I-dun-know-what (as I wasn't looking but speeding off).

Black Taxis

Many have been taken for a "ride" literally by the "black" taxis of Saigon. These are unlicensed taxis whose meters have been tweaked to "Top Gun" speed. Even locals get taken in. I was ripped off once or twice in my early days here. Have known better since it hurts the pocket. But the following is really something ...




















The best 2 taxi companies are Mai Linh and Vinasun. Just look out for the 2 numbers and you'll be quite safe - and there are enough of them around so you don't have to wait long.

Mai Linh - 83 262626
Vinasun - 83 272727

Just remember the last 6 digits... and look out for fake Vianasuns 272777 - dressed up to look like the real McCoy ... they are the ones with meters running faster than the cabs!!!









Their most frequent haunts are outside Ben Thanh Market and in front of Diamond Plaza and the Saigon Tax Trade Centre.

Dinner with Truong's Family

Truong invited us for dinner with his family - Loan, Minh Duy (8) and Minh Khoa (6) - at the Crown Restaurant. It's a nice and quiet restaurant with lovely setting, just off Vo Van Tan (No 50/48A). We had a good time getting to know each other better.

TAIK Update 1.1

Visited the kindergarten today. The rooms have been painted, the entrance is being built and the comp lab is being constructed.

This is our humble comp lab

















































This used to be the kitchen.




























































The entrance

TAIK Update 1.0

Interviewed 16 teachers last Sat 1 Nov 08 and offered 6 of them teaching appointments today. The school's renovation is underway and hopefully can be completed in another week's time. They're working on adding another room now. Have ordered the holds for our rock wall from the US. They should arrive in a week's time. Here's a rough illustration of it.



























The class furniture has been ordered - it's a customized design and I hope it turns out well.

The brochure is done and will be handed to the printer tomorrow. Hope that we can start marketing real soon. The tel and fax numbers will also be finalized tmr. Time is running short and there are lots of loose ends to tie up.





















































The uniform colour is changed - for the better I hope. Have just handed over to the uniform company to embark on the embroidery works of the uniform.

Yishun Sec Visit

Yishun Sec came to Saigon for their Internationalization Tour from 29 Oct to 3 Nov 08 - mainly student leaders. They were a well-behaved lot and I was impressed with them. The highlight were the two visits to Le Anh Xuan Middle School in Tan Phu and Nguyen An Khuong Middle School in Hoc Mon on 3 Nov 08.












Principal, Azizah and staff of LAX & YSS














YSS at LAX















YSS @ NAK











YSS sponsored 16 poor students 300,000VND for their school fees

Of Uniforms and pre-fixes

Version 1.0 TAIK (The Alpha Int'l Kindergarten) uniform is out. Not that good - need a Version 1.1 or 1.2 before we can approve production. Same changes are needed and we'll have to see the final embroidery too. Somehow, the illustration and the actual product can never match. See for yourself.














More confusion as VN fixed line numbers go haywire.

A big mess

The country's gonna go bonkers the next few weeks over the changes in the fixed line numbers. Now we have to add 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 to every fixed line number. Which number to choose? It's so very "simple" that it's totally idiotic!!! All you need to know is THE company that is servicing the line that you called. Now, how am I suppose to know which company Ms Anh or Mr Nguyen subscribes to?

Read article in Thanh Nien News.

Kindergarten @ Tan Phu District

Huu signed the rental contract today for a small int'l kindy (kindergarten) for Vietnamese to be established along Le Trong Tan Street in Tan Phu District - it's near the airport but far from my place. It's pretty cosy but small. We hope to get it up and running in a month or two and will start looking for another place to start a second one.

Here's our humble kindy as it is now














Hopefully it looks something like that after renovation














Joyce, Timothy and the owner

Tay Family Visit

Jeremy, Joanna and Jamie arrived in HCMC yesterday and dropped by our place for a visit and dinner. Today, Joyce brought them shopping around town. They have set the record as the biggest shoppers of all our visitors...and in only one day!!































And I finally bought Joyce her two pets (15k each) ...

Catholic Church vs Govt

We were at the Notre Dame Cathedral for mass and saw this letter pinned on the notice board. there has been an issue between the Catholic Church and the VN Govt over the ownership of a piece of land in Hanoi. The letter states :

“In the morning of 19/9/2008 on the Nunctiature compound at 42 Pho Nha Chung of the Archbishop Palace, a larger contingent of police squads, armed security men, non-uniformed agents and police dogs were deployed to blockage the Archbishop Palace and the Nha Chung Street. At the same time, another contingent knocked down fences, destroyed the constructions and the front landscape of our Nunctiature compound...” Click on the attached pix to read more.