Helmet?

The 15/12/07 it became mandatory to wear a helmet while driving a motorbike... I was surprised but the police was efficient to enforce this (probably a good way to write some "nice fines"?).

Although it may not be efficient enough thus some truth pictures might be of some help?

If you really want to see some more...really 'trash' pictures!

(yeah i fucked up again with the layout -_-)

MSM asia survey

MSMSexSurvey is a survey about gay men (though they ask what sex we are first O.O )in Asia. I decided to answer it as i would be very interested to know the result of such a survey thus i enjoin to take some time to do it (if you live in Asia). You have until the 30 of April to do so.

Aesthetic?

A not so overcharged website...

(you may notice the flash blocker i installed when i arrived in Vietnam)

Why vietnamese (and maybe asian in general) website have to be overcharged using Flash, javascript, etc, ?

It particularly does not make any sense as in Vietnam (at least Hanoi...), the internet connections are so crappy !#?@!!

Back from the south

That's it!

I finally fulfilled my dream of going from Hanoi to Saigon by motobike, 2200km!

I saw many beautiful things like landscape, villages... and boyz! Unfortunately, i lost my camera on the way...

And so many more things to say, especially about Saigon but so little time since i came back. Consequently it will be for a little later!

Happy V. day!

I m currently totally lost in nha que land (countryside) and far away from my computer so... no interesting post.

"Also" so far from my dear... so i wish him and all of you a very nice and sweet valentines day...

Planet vietnam

Vietnam is not a country, it's planet!... according to a friend of mine. He's working as an architect and many world used rules don't apply here, why?  Because "this is Vietnam" or T.I.V. and it is the only answer in 99% of times. From my own experience it's very true also.

Another "funny" stuff about Vietnam within the world is that foreigners (probably expatriates only?) are 90% of the time expert in "foreignology". For example, we were talking with my colleagues about Thailand, Laos and Cambodia and i was the one expert even for countries i didn't visited yet! It's like my colleagues (and many friends) have no idea, and no interests, in their neighbouring countries!

In contrary they seemed quite well informed about China but it may be explained by its giant status in Asia and as it is a closer culture to the vietnamese one. I would also add that it's perceived as a major threat to Vietnam as far as i know.

To finish this international concern, i had quite a surprised from a book street vendor. There were several books of Obama in vietnamese... I was miles away to imagine they would be interested by him.

ps: i'm going for two weeks of crazy holydays on motobike, see you... if i come back alive!

Addendum

In my previous i wrote about photobucket and flickr and i had in my mind to give you a link to a nice vietnamese model. Unforntunately i could not find the link again. Fortunately i just found it.

So gay ?

Although you will have to dig the gallery a little to find neat pics like:

Please enjoy La Ngoc Duy flickr...

nb: reminds me i should tell you that he is not typical of the vietnamese physionomy.

Vina-Photobucket going wild

 It looks like vietnamese (girlz at least... too bad) are getting wilder and wilder on photobucket!

What is funny in her album is that it starts with cute, innocent or family pics then .... this.

I hope to find some boyz later. ;)

Hopefully thai guys use flickr:

check it

Co Ca

Yes Vietnam is still communist (Ahem... considering my recent trip to Saigon) and Ha Noi is still a communist city:

Coca-cola pagoda in front of Vincom

Maybe Coca-Cola is the best of both worlds as we can read it like: COmunist and CApitalist cola?

More Tet photos later...

Long time no see

Christmas time has passed and now is Tet (vietnamese new year) time: not much too say?

Actually yes, i've been working for all that, just a quick break to visit South Vietnam, Saigon and have new year's eve party on the beach: nice but not incredile, am i getting jaded? Not really i would say i'm becoming used to live here, moreover i am thinking about continuing my life here even after the end of my contract (which should arrived within a year).

On the opposite i was so surprised by Saigon (first time after 2 years here!). It's so different from Hanoi much more like Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur like what should be a big asian capital city. At least district 1 is so much more modern than Hanoi: you never think "Oh that's a luxury and it's the only of its kind in the city" or "that's an expatriate place where i won't see any vietnamese". Indeed, i was quite surprised by the glimpse of night life i had. The few "expat style" places i've been had more vietnameses than foreigners which is quite uncommon in Hanoi.

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I didn't write in this blog for than a month because i didn't many interesting ideas as life goes by uietly here though i decided that i should do some kind of guide like RQD but about Vietnam (Hanoi). I intend to start that in a few days though i'll be on vacation in two weeks so it will be a new break... but i'll break back some photos!