Top-notch bikes (1)

Part 1: motobikes you should never ride!

As you may know mobile phone and motobike are essential accessories to show your social status.

Concerning motobikes you have a few options:

Honda Dream and a kinky pilot (or not)

First, the honda dream which is the traditional countryside or low salary worker... definitely the worst choice!

Honda wave and a 'cookie'

If you go for wave you will even loose the surprised looks about the redneck bike of yours, it's because wave are the most basic city bikes here...but well if you are Mr Dan Danuwong, you might draw some attention...

Finally if you are a real adventurer, here is what you need:

Minsk's fine art

So with a minsk you will definetly loose any attention... you can't be part of "people like us"! unless you go full throttle on color:

If you wonder, i do have a point with this post but the original one was too long so i cut it into 2 pieces. Thus i can talk a bit more:

• Helmet on the first photo is typical from countryside
• The outfit is also typical (kinda countryside style but not only)
• Wave & dream cost barely the price but dream are considered more reliable while wave are more 'trendy' (less grandpa's motobike to speeak nicely)
• Minsk were so cool for expat a few years ago when it was nearly impossible to get a real motobike in Vietnam (taxes problem etc).
  
• There is still a minsk club but i think they are fading
  

Ps: i might look like denigrating country side but i'm not! ^_^ (should do a post about VN city vs countryside)

Nobody

Extremely macho dance on :Wonder girls - Nobody

... Viva Korea again ...

Saving Hoan Kiem's turtle

From AFP:

Testing begins to save legendary Vietnam turtle

By Ian Timberlake

HANOI (AFP) — Researchers have begun testing mechanical "SediTurtles" they say will protect a legendary Vietnamese turtle while cleaning the historical lake in which the creature lives.
Experts showed off the German-developed sediment-eating machines this week as part of preparations before an expected cleanup of Hoan Kiem Lake, the heart and soul of Vietnam's capital.
Nestled in the centre of rapidly urbanising Hanoi, the so-called Lake of the Returned Sword is home to an elusive turtle which symbolises Vietnam's centuries-old struggle for independence.
In a story that is taught to all Vietnamese school children, the 15th century rebel leader Le Loi used a magical sword to drive out Chinese invaders and founded the dynasty named after him.
Le Loi later became emperor and one day went boating on the lake. A turtle appeared, took his sacred sword and dived to the bottom, keeping the weapon safe for the next time Vietnam may have to defend its freedom, the story says.
Occasional sightings of a giant soft-shell turtle draw large crowds, and photographs and amateur video clips attest to the claim that at least one turtle indeed still lives in the lake.
Reported sightings of the turtle, a symbol of eternity, are deemed auspicious, especially when they coincide with major national events.
The site's historical importance therefore requires a delicate clean-up operation, and the joint team of Vietnamese and German experts have been planning how to clean the turtle's home with minimum risk to the creature.
Leonhard Fechter, of Berlin's Herbst Umwelttechnik GmbH, said he knows people care about the turtle, so his company made the SediTurtle with a "soft" technology that will not harm the animal.
"We are sure we won't touch the turtle," he said as he demonstrated the devices at a fish pond on the grounds of founding president Ho Chi Minh's former home.
A thick red hose floating on the water was connected to what looked like a grey metal box. An attached dredging device was invisible below the surface, sucking out sediment from the bottom and sending it down the hose to another machine which separates sludge from water.
The box moved with the slow, quiet movements of a turtle, winched along by ropes connected to a small blue boat.
"That device is moving very slowly. That big turtle can easily escape" from its path, said Celia Hahn, the project manager from Dresden University of Technology.
A second, more sophisticated SediTurtle resembles a giant corkscrew and operates by remote control "like a submarine", said Peter Werner, a professor from the same Dresden university.
This less obtrusive option is Werner's preferred choice because it would not need unsightly ropes to pull it around the picturesque Hoan Kiem lake.
Hoan Kiem has suffered the fate of all lakes. Over time, sediment increases and the water level drops, particularly in urban areas.
The experts said Hanoi's much-photographed lake is only about 1.5 metres (five feet) deep -- close to half a metre at its shallowest -- but a four-to-six metre layer of sludge containing industrial pollutants has built up on the bottom.
Draining the lake, the more conventional way of removing contaminants, is out of the question because it would destroy the treasured water body's entire ecosystem, experts said.
"The big turtle is living from crabs or small fish," Werner said, adding that sediment removal will be done in phases, to ensure part of the lake is always left free for the animal.
Christian Richter, of FUGRO-HGN GmbH, said his engineering firm has already assessed the lake's geology and hydrology.
By the end of this year it will map areas of the lake where sediment can be removed without causing water to drain out, he said.
The Vietnamese and German governments are funding the preliminary stages of the programme but financing is needed for the estimated 2.8 million dollar cleanup of Hoan Kiem to begin, the experts said.
"There are banks interested in financing," Werner said.
Hanoi next year will mark its 1,000th birthday, and the lake cleanup was initially expected to be finished in time for the celebration.
That deadline cannot be met because of the care with which sediment removal must be done, the engineers said.
"Even if they start immediately, they would need at least one or two years for the removal," Richter said.

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Many, if not all Hanoians, believe that the turtle exists though very few actually pretend having witnessed it. My boyfriend pretends also it exist though he didn't see it. For myself, I am really very dubious about that... just another Nessy!

VN Photoblog

Though I am not really fond of the guy, I do like the photography. Probably because of the mix (imho) of fragility and determination. I just wonder wether this guy is the (kinda cute) dj I saw at the Hanoi Sound Stuff festival or not. He reallly look the same even glasses (except clothes!).

The rest of photoblog is at the same time amateur and a bit kinky. Nevertheless this photoblog is new and I hoped it will improve... and i wonder if he would photograph westerner living in Vietnam as well?

The photograph also has a photoblog about fashion (LINK COMING LATER)

A final bonus photo from the HSS (I guess I missed some action there)

Great

I guess everybody knows about this photo but just to make sure it is the case i re-publish today (stolen from SF as usual).

Welcome to pinkVN

I forgot to welcome my follow gay-expatriate-in-vietnam-blogger: Jean @ pinkvn !

Although his blog is much more recent than mine i have to admit, it may contains more entries in the near future (sorry sorry about that). I didn't read so much of his blog but he has many cuties and especially vietnamese ones which quite original as it's not so common on the web.

ps: if you missed the link to the hyper cute korean boysband, here is the video:

Me korean addict? not yet! (though my flatmate is working on it -_-)

(Jean talked about it)

Singapore leading the way for the rest of Asia?

I hope so... more information @ fridae.

Help Vietnam : be gay!

According AFP Vietnam is facing the same problem as many Asian country: there are too many boys... so help them by having a vietnamese boyfriend or if you are vietnamese just be gay (it's ok!...)!

The article:

HANOI (AFP) — Officials in Vietnam have warned that too many boys are being born and said the country should learn a lesson from its Asian neighbours, state media reported on Tuesday.

Vietnam produces 112 boys for every 100 girls, a gender imbalance that will leave about three million men with difficulty finding wives by 2030 if it continues, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan told an online conference of officials, according to Vietnam News Agency.

He said Vietnam could learn big lessons about gender imbalance from China, Japan and South Korea, and asked people's committees to raise awareness through the mass media.

"Strengthening the dissemination of news and information on the issue is necessary," Nhan said.

In the country's commercial capital, Ho Chi Minh City, there are 113 boys for every 100 girls, said Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, deputy chairman of the People's Committee, the local government body.

According to Vietnam News Agency, Ha said many books, newspapers and the Internet provide information on prenatal gender selection, violating state policy on minimising prenatal gender inequality.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Ba Thuy was quoted as saying the number of families with three children has continued to rise and gender imbalance is becoming very apparent.

In late 2007 a UN Population Fund report highlighted "growing concern that the sex ratio at birth is becoming unbalanced in Vietnam", while the international ratio at birth was about 105 boys for every 100 girls.

Reasons for Vietnam's unbalanced sex ratio included pressure to adhere to a two-child policy, a preference for sons, and ready availability of ultrasound and abortion, said the report.

Although Vietnam in 2003 banned foetal sex selection, many doctors tell parents-to-be if they are expecting a boy or girl.

Men in Vietnam have traditionally carried on the family lineage, inherited homes and land, cared for elderly parents and overseen funerals and ancestor worship rituals.

China, where most parents are banned from having more than one child, has faced a marriage squeeze.