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.

Good buys

Joyce's dad, auntie and June came over for a visit from 16 to 20 Sep 08. These were the good buys that they were very happy with.

Their good buys
@ Cho Ben Thanh














@ Saigon Square & Le Thanh Ton














@ Saigon Square














@ Saigon Square














@Saigon Square














This are our good buys - caps at Russian Mart














@Russian Mart



















@Cho Dan Sinh



















Saigon Square

Saigon Square is packed with "copy" brands - and a teenagers' paradize...well, and some undergrown adults too. The outlets sell everything from Mont Blanc pens and LV bags to Adidas apparel and North Face winter wear. There are shoes, socks, DVDs, belts, t-shirts, jeans, shirts - I think anything remotely linked to apparel can be found there. Prices are cheap by SG standards but for us, it's still slightly expensive compared to the other places that we buy from. But it's convenient for the tourist as it's just a stone's throw from Ben Thanh Market.

Cho Dan Sinh (closed down)

Cho Dan Sinh is a strange mix of machinery, tools and equipment coming together with military stuff, clothes and kitchen ware. This is the best place for military buffs esp if you're into the Vietnam War - you can buy "Vietnam War" lighter souvenirs, watches, full packs, uniforms, bags etc. If you're short of tools, this is also the place to go - I bought some of my tools here, and my tea spoons as well. Cho Dan Sinh is sandwiched between Pham Ngu Lao and Nguyen Thai Hoc but it's not on the main road itself. You need to take one of the side roads to get there.

Cu Chi Tunnels

Visited Cu Chi Tunnels again to see what updates they have made to the place. There is a new tunnel with a turnstile for visitors to walk through ...a marked improvement esp during the rainy weather. The video presentation rooms have been "upgraded" - I saw 3 underground viewing rooms with LCD TVs - another improvement. The last time was a small old TV, and only 1 viewing room. Other than that, the rest of the tour and exhibits remained largely unchanged. The only distinct change was in policy - now you have to pay for 10 bullets (minimum) instead of 5 - at 22,000VND per bullet, 10 bullets will set you back 220,000VND!!!













The time schedule :

• 0820 Leave Sinh Cafe
• 0930 Handicapped Handicraft - ...it's a rip-off here as they exploited the word "handicap" to charge 5-6 times the normal prices for the items there ... and I thought Sinh Cafe was doing them a favour
• 1000 - Left handicap place
• 1040 - Reached Cu Chi Tunnel
• 1210 - End of tour
• 1220 - Bus leaves for HCMC
• 1345 - Sinh Cafe

In case you want to go there on your own, head for Cong Hoa Road in Tan Binh District and go straight past District 12 into Hoc Mon District. You'll see a "Welcome to Cu Chi Tunnel" sign. You will come to a Y-junction after a few minutes - take road on the right - go straight, turn right @ cross-junction. Follow the road which will lead you pass the next landmark - a rubber plantation. Turn left at the T-junction (you'll see another signboard on CCT). Go straight across the next cross junction, the road winds a few curves and then it's a straight road until you see Cu Chi Tunnels on your left. From the main road (first Y-junction) to the tunnels, about 30 minutes by coach.

Phan Van Tri, Go Vap

Huu, Timothy and I went to view 2 villas at Phan Van Tri in Go Vap. They look suitable for use as a school. Huu will check up to ensure.

Cho Tan Binh

Visited Cho Tan Binh today - the girls have not visited before. It wasn't really their cup of tea - they preferred Cho Ky Hoa. Nevertheless, the rows and rows of instant wedding boutiques were an eye-opener. Of course, there were lots of other stalls selling lots of other goods, as in any good old Vietnamese market.












































We walked down to Nguyen Kim/Vinatex for a look. Nothing interesting, same as in their other branches except for something that caught my eye and made my day ...

The men swear here


















And the women swear over here!!!

Street : Cach Mang Thang Tam (CMT8)

CMT8 is a shopper's mini-paradize - well...depending on your preference. We took a cab to Le Thi Rieng Park and started browsing at a local departmental store next to park - had lots of fun there. We worked our way down towards Duong 3/2 - many apparel boutiques, esp for the young and trendy. Adel and Nicole were bowled over by the "almost-original" A&F and Hollister clothes that they found at the following outlets :
Holliter 503B CMT8, LX Collection 431 CMT8 and Sacola 331 CMT8 - there, we have shared our secret finds!
We moved on to Cho Ky Hoa, everybody's favourite night-market. We been here a couple of times but tonight, the girls (and boy) had a whooping good time snapping up almost everything (just exaggerating...). Undergarments for 10k, Tops for 15k, trousers from 60k-100k, shorts from 40k ... you can't go any lower. Adel got a"Dickie" backpack for 40k ... her friend bought a similar one for S$40 in Singapore. All in all, a very good night's shopping.

Dinner with My Uc

Huu, Timothy & Lucy came over for dinner tonight. Long overdue as Huu has been paying for lots of our meals.