Profil de Kurtz
Kurtz's Posts
18 reviews or comments posted; 1 questions posées; 7 réponses donées.
Commentaires (18) see all
Fair enough it can't be easy to deal with the intricate wiring of Hanoi but what's the point of having a customer service department if you don't actually have any recognised resemblance of customer service? Plus you usually can't connect by telephone to the alleged customer service department.
However they do appear to have a pretty handy soccer team so one star for that.
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Great open area to use and I've been to some rock festivals and last year's beer festival here. However why is it that almost every exhibition they manage to host turns out to be like Uncle John's car-boot sale? Great open area, chronic waste of space.
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I was shocked to hear a rumour that Mr. Robert Chinn was being forced out and Ronald McDonald was due to take over the premises. Nothing worse than McDonald's on the edge of the scared Hoan Kiem Lake? Well in this case there is; bring on McDonald's!
Whilst being stylishly designed this place is chronically overpriced and overrated.
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Smile without a service. When you ask for a beer four times and there are no other punters you gotta wonder. The waitress had a nice smile but forgot the service bit.
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It won't be long before these cool villas are wiped out in the face of sticking 17 floors on the ground, briefs being stuffed with a wad of dongage and fingers raised to protecting Hanoi's heritage.
In the meantime it's a top little spot, a classic villa with a chilled garden courtyard, with decent and really well-priced food. Beer is smooth and tasty although the waitress insisted it was 20% vol. I guess she was new or got confused between beer promotions and alcohol levels. Having said that it's fair strong and full of flavour.
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Questions (1)
I have been in a running discussion with the French Hospital in criticism of their maintenance of a dual pricing policy for Vietnamese and foreigners in the present socio-economic climate.
The general manager, Mr Lucien Blanchard, initially only proved able to respond by email that "Our hospital has instituted a 2 tier tariff policy from the beginning to help Vietnamese patients access to our services." So do we assume the higher price for foreigners could thereby be interpreted as a deterrent?
After failing to respond to my email asking for just one reason to justify the price structure I decided to call up directly. On the phone with Monsieur Blanchard today he refused to make any comment or provide any justification for this 2-tier structure. Instead I was ushered off the phone.
So what do you think? Dual pricing for medical services - immoral or our duty to shell out more?
Réponses (7)
Posted Friday June 13th, 2008.
Interesting but let me counter.
SOS is not a hospital. It's more a clinic. They are not able to perform surgery or a host of other activities but instead operate more as a postage & packaging service to Singapore/Bangkok or wherever else your insurance company/pain barrier may request/demand. After all there's a stack of cash to be made in international medivac or repatriation, n'est ce pas?
These private medical services are (naturally) businesses first but compassionate medical services by a distant second although it would be nice to see the 2 sides on more of a par. This is no direct attack on the medical staff as such but more a staunch criticism of the decision making body at the so-called top of the heap.
The French Hospital claimed to me that 90% of their clientele is Vietnamese in which case that's a small minority being laden with a financial burden to provide for a wider group. However, the French Hospital is not a charity but a company making profits and paying extremely fat salaries in order, in my opinion, to extend the scope of La Francophonie rather than to reach out and "heal the masses".
If these "immoral" financial imbalances caused the so-called subsidising group to dwindle to nothing then pray Sir where would the support then come from? Asterix and Obelix?
en réponse à la question: I have been in a running discussion with the French Hospital in criticism of their maintenance of a dual pricing policy for Vietnamese and foreigners ...
Posted Tuesday June 24th, 2008.
Besides pickpockets I've come to know of a recent rise in muggings of (not by) taxi drivers at knife point in recent months. All happening late at night. Guess taxi drivers may be getting a wee tad more concerned about wasted rabbles piling into their cars late in the night now.
Actually talking with nurses at the army hospital (108) there has also been a massive rise in Vietnamese youths stabbing each other. Guess something finally has to replace motorbike related head injuries in the stats department.
Still on the bright side Hanoi is still one of the safest capital cities in the world. You gotta appreciate that.
As for Mr.Ahinger these days it's easy to get a new licence plate for bikes. Used to be a complicated process but now you can order any licence plate you want/need along Tran Nhat Duat St (near Chuong Duong Bridge).
en réponse à la question: Was VERY skillfully pick-pocketed of my iPod in the Church Street area about a week or so ago? Any other had similar experiences? Am wondering if this...
Posted Sunday July 6th, 2008.
Anybody can buy a bike, plant themselves on it and drive it here.
All vehicles need a registration card (frame and engine numbers listed) - it's credit card size. In effect if you hold that card then you own the bike. If you buy the bike from somebody then you should get a sales paper (can be hand-written or can follow the official sample) as proof of purchase.
If you're a tourist then you cannot get your name on a registration paper. If you have official employment - and therefore can get an official company red stamp - then you can get your name on there.
Not as complicated as it used to be and not that expensive, but you need to know who to contact. However it's not at all necessary to get your name on this paper unless you like the look of it. Foreigners registering vehicles is now quite normal, just most don't bother and it's not a major issue.
As for licences you should get one. Full stop. Again tourists cannot get a VN licence but they should have an International Licence (which whatever you've heard to date is legally valid in Vietnam) at least. Fair enough to say you'll always get away with it as a foreigner but if you wait until the day when you need one then you'll wish to heaven you'd done it before. And when you need one you really bloody need one, believe me. At the moment this is usually in the accident scenario, but don't think you're infallible as you're not. Accidents include some other drunk geezer planting his vehicle full pelt into your passive stationary bike.
Licences are neither complicated nor expensive. Accidents without them are both complicated and expensive, and I imagine a bit harrowing.
en réponse à la question: How easy will it be for me to get a scooter when I arrive in Hanoi? I've driven scooters for the past 4 years in Taiwan and would love to purchase on...
Posted Monday July 21st, 2008.
There are glass suppliers all over town and they can all do the job. The only place I've used repeatedly is 71 Hang Thiec. They do a sound job with decent price and have every type of glass.
en réponse à la question: where to get thick glass cut for tabletops, anyone know please?...
Posted Wednesday August 13th, 2008.
http://www.squeakieice.com/ have got a good reputation in Hanoi.
en réponse à la question: i need a website constructing for my new sports supplement business can anyone recommend a good web designer...
Posted Monday August 18th, 2008.
Contact Quan on 0912.907.175 or 01696.896.686
He has classes at a temple on the west side of West Lake. He's a really sound guy.
en réponse à la question: Hi, I'm looking for Tai Chi lessons here in Hanoi, but it's proving harder than I expected. I've tried google and New Hanoian searches without ...
Posted Thursday October 2nd, 2008.
I see there's a table tennis club in the "groups" section of this website. Why not give them a shout?
en réponse à la question: I am looking for a place to play table tennis (ping pong) during weekdays at daytime. Anyone know the place I could go to? Thanks!...
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