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13 reviews or comments posted; 2 questions asked; 9 answers given.
Reviews / Comments (13) see all
Was caught in a torrential downpour this fine afternoon, which was a refreshing change. Unfortunately my reasonably new and slightly flashy phone didn't enjoy it quite so much. It died a sudden death, but we were due to part ways at some point anyway, we were fighting a lot, it didn't like being seen with me in public.
This has led me to rekindle a previous love affair with a certain nokia phone, which i should never have left, the motorola was slim and shiny, but just never understood me, i don't think it even learned the word "karaoke" after all this time, it just kept trying to convince me that what i really wanted to say was "japanke" or "karaole", they're not even words as far as i know!
Anyway, to rekindle this affair i wandered on down to the er...bar, aka Thuan Phat, masquerading as a mobile/cell phone shop. There was a selection of all sorts of types and brands, i steered cleared of the slim and shinies and made a b-line for the plain and reliables. However i needed some assistance from the staff as i wanted one i could take wherever i went, i.e a tri/quad band phone. Although there was an excessive number of staff (as with most retails joints), no-one could tell me which phones had what features! the staff (all women) were beautiful, but unfortunately not trained in products, which had this actually been a bar, i wouldn't have minded so much, but this is a mobile phone shop where i'd like to at least get some basic info. Their internet was down, so they couldn't look anything up, but instead just suggested i buy the more expensive ones as they were more likely to have what i wanted. Most unhelpful, I guess they didn't know that i had moved on from slim and shiny things and just wanted something i could trust.
Eventually they telephoned someone else for me, who was somehow privy to the finer specifications beyond the price and whether it would aesthetically suit me. This person then rang back after about 5 mins with a list of at least tri-band models in my price range. So i picked one, went round to the accountant, paid my money, and was handed the box and warranty from another staff member.
Not too bad in the end, but I'd suggest doing your own research and having specific phones you want in mind before heading to this place as they don't really know what they are selling, or perhaps they knew all the flashier aspects of the phones (i.e music and camera stuff) but not the real guts of it, i.e battery life, frequency (which i have learnt is Băng tần in viet tongue), the stuff that really holds a relationship together.
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This would rate as one of the worst roads to travel on in Hanoi, it could be a tight battle between De La Thanh, but I’ve tangled more so with Truong Chinh. Having first moved here I lived down on Nguyen Trai and worked over on Giai Phong, a mere 2km drive, “easy” I thought. Easy had I been wearing a gas mask, brought a book along, perhaps a portaloo and a few hours more patience.
During peak hours, this road is no fun in both directions. While commuting on your way to work, you would have time to go visit the Air Force museum (which is ok I hear, if aircraft are your thing), because otherwise you will slug along one small wheel rotation at a time. On the very worst occasion this small stretch of road took me almost 2 hours, due to a heavy morning downpour which once subsided resulted in traffic chaos.
I’d suggest new hanoians to choose their housing carefully, as putting this road between yourself and work/favourite pho joint/loved ones could result in the deterioration of what you hold dear, as you slowly descend into some form of expletive inducing maniac.
I have since moved, but if you insist on battling Duong Truong Chinh, i have heard of secret passages through the maze of alleys between nguyen trai and giai phong if you are brave enough (although most never make it out), or alternatively drive up into Tay Son, turn right and head back down Le Duan, or walk and laugh at the traffic, while you slowly die in their fumes. Best of luck.
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very suspicious, i was so certain it was going to be llama month. Never trust the fortune teller, especially on such important matters.
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I too happened upon this place on the back of the pathfinder article, which questionably credited ownership of this place to Tim Burton.
My friend had read the article and so we went on a mission to find it. We weren't sure this was it, but the plain yet well designed orange signage seemed inviting anyway. I went in thinking this could be another nice hidden cafe, kinda like cafe pho co.
We pulled up at the doorstop and was told to turn around and park across the road in the middle strip of phung hung. Walking through the narrow entrance you reach a small counter where you can see a menu and make your drink order. Walk upstairs to the seating and you are in a different world, with almost no lighting, except for that glow in the dark light that makes all white things fluorescent. The whole place was Tim Burtonesque, with hanging skeletons, possibly cobwebs, a lot of attention to detail. Given we couldn’t see too far ahead we thought we’d explore. There was barely any seating in the place, but instead there were partitioned booths where one could recline with say somebody else. Interesting we thought, we wondered on downstairs to find more such areas occupied with people (young adults) taking full advantage of the situation.
We scurried back upstairs and found a couple of seats away from booths in the corridor. It may have been suggested that we’d come all this way, we may as well give the booths a try, but being two straight males well beyond high school years, we just downed our fruit shakes and uncomfortably got the hell out of there.
Good place if you need to get out of your parent’s house to make out, and all the park benches are full, not really recommended otherwise.
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It's hard to stand out on cafe street, especially when you really don't try to. You wouldn't bat an eyelid going past this place. It's fairly dull looking with uninspiring decor and seemingly devoid of clientele, easily disregarded.
However, if you are lucky enough to have gambled on or been introduced to the place you may be pleasantly surprised. These guys have three specialities, yoghurt, a tiramisu inspired dessert they call "Tiramisu" (it's not real tiramisu), and a creme caramel (kem karamen) as well as serving standard cafe drinks.
Yoghurt comes in plain or strawberry. The strawberry appears a little to unnaturally pink for my liking, due more so to colouring/flavouring than actual fruit is my guess. The plain however is a fine balance of sweetness, in between the sugary hit of store bought vietnamese yoghurt and the sourness of natural yoghurt.
The "Tiramisu" is served in a cocktail glass of sorts and consists of a thin coffee soaked sponge surrounded by mascarpone like cream sprinkled generously with some sort of coffee chocolately powder. It's no Tiramisu, i.e only inspired by, but is a definite credible much cheaper alternative.
The creme caramel is a little solid but still enjoyable.
Worth going to not for the atmosphere, but for the produce They also claim strangely yet grandly in big letters on their mirror wall, their fame amongst foreigners. I'm not sure where this claim came from, but i guess i'd back it up. Some items are pre-packed and ready for takeaway which is where most of their clientele come from. They also have a fat healthy looking feisty when not chained up ginger cat which bodes well for their business. The owners are lovely too, i cannot help but takeaway an extra tub of yoghurt smilingly forced upon me by the owner, it's only another 4000 dong.
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Questions (2)
Does anybody know of any guitar lessons, or someone willing to teach me? preferably in English but could also possibly manage in a bit of vinglish? Doesn't have to be particularly formal or textbook, just interested in being able to stick few chords together, and some basic technique and then potentially teach myself from there. Thanks.
Does anybody know the distance around the lake in Lenin park? Just trying to work out how far i'm incapable of jogging.(http://newhanoian.xemzi.com/venue/show/1143/Thong-Nhat-Park-)
Answers (9)
Posted Thursday July 10th, 2008.
I went laptop shopping a month or so ago now and ended deciding that these guys were the best deal, http://newhanoian.xemzi.com/venue/show/2134
The good news is they don't take credit cards! so your not having a physical card wouldn't make a difference in this case. The bad news is you still have to pay and that they only accept cash, which may be a problem itself, if you don't have it.
In response to the question: Hi all, I recently got a second job here, proof-reading and editing the results of endearing (but essentially rubbish) Vietnamese-English translat...
Posted Wednesday July 16th, 2008.
It looks as though the south african super sport channel 2 are showing it. I'm pretty sure they have that channel at JASPAS and JAFA. I'm not sure they are making a point of showing it though but as long as Rugby isn't on they'll probably put it on for you.
In response to the question: I am looking for a bar/café in Hanoi that shows the tour de france. Anybody know any places?? please contact me :) ...
Posted Tuesday September 2nd, 2008.
Here's their website, http://www.ngocentre.org.vn/.
It lists International NGOs i believe along with the various working groups and a whole heap of NGO activity. Local NGOs aren't specifically listed as far as i can tell, but they are mentioned throughout the site as they tend to be project partners.
In response to the question: Does any one know where I could find a NGO database for Vietnam? Am interested in a complete-ish, up to date-ish list of all NGOs working in Vietnam, ...
Posted Tuesday September 2nd, 2008.
aah, having actually read your question, i assume you have already been to their site...oh well, good luck anyway.
In response to the question: Does any one know where I could find a NGO database for Vietnam? Am interested in a complete-ish, up to date-ish list of all NGOs working in Vietnam, ...
Posted Monday September 15th, 2008.
wow, my sentiments don't seem to be too far off Jimbo's (respectfully) for a change ! "hate" may be a little harsh for me though, and “all” well just wouldn’t be accurate.
As far as i can tell, Riki's question is genuine and innocent enough, he is merely relaying his actual experience of not having met the right person. There is a generalisation that “upper class, educated” women all hang out at certain places which does not seem an unreasonable assumption as the “upper class, educated” would tend to be like minded and people of like mind tend to hang out together. Not all of course (as that is merely just a generalisation), as people as individuals generally have the right and exercise the right to be different. But it’s hard to answer a behavioural question without generalising, because answering all possible outcomes is well impossible, and even breaking it down into categories is plain hard work, so we as simpletons living in a foreign city merely write from our own experiences (as opposed to well thought out research), there are no absolute truths here, just general ranting.
This answer so far is of no help to Riki however, and unfortunately I don’t think I have an actual answer as meeting the right (educated, upper class, poor, green hairy monster, whatever) person is more a game of chance than a straight function of a function. I’m pretty sure the sort of person you would want to meet, probably had an evening amongst friends and/or family over dinner somewhere with a few drinks, followed by possible karaoke and back home not too late to start work. And although the sort of people you may want to meet are probably hanging out together, Hanoi is too big a place to narrow down to a particular bar or venue. I think TangoLA seems to have provided one possible practical solution, my only suggestions to increase any likelihood of meeting the right person are apart from just being decent is to try something new, go somewhere else, learn more Vietnamese, get to know more people as whatever you have been doing hasn’t obviously worked for you, but good luck.
And thus my ranting ends.
In response to the question: Okay people...don't bash me too hard here (he-he): Since I have been in Hanoi, I have only met the WRONG types of women. Either they don't speak Engli...
Posted Friday September 26th, 2008.
as dodgy as the job sounds, if you wanted further confirmation you could contact the website of the company the poster is supposedly acting for, http://www.craft-fabrics.co.uk/contact_us.htm.
the job ad even abbreviates your to "ur", for a job paying that well, i'd think that they would put more information in the advert. As far as scams go, this is pretty poor. I'd give it a forced one star rating if i had to review it on this site.
In response to the question: Does any body help me to explain the truth?. Did you see an ads about job offering on Jobs box. it's UK-craft and textiles co.lmt(its email:allprodu...
Posted Thursday October 2nd, 2008.
Availability of Baking Powder at L's Place and Western Canned foods seems to come and go.
At a previous house, our landlord supplied us with a halogen oven (http://chotroi.vn/bh/Xemchitiet.asp?ID=80979&name=_Noi_nuong_Halogen_Oven). It cooks using its halogen lamp, which emitted a blinding light and looked as if it may take off and return to the planet it came from. It worked though, for roasting a whole bird, baking cakes and was easy to clean (i wish i had one right now), and is an apparently healthier and more energy efficient form of cooking, according to the one source i've found (http://inventorspot.com/innovative_halogen_oven). They seem pretty cheap and i think i've seen them in appliance stores around Hanoi.
p.s i like how your question looks like a poem, and when read as such goes beyond the realm of baking and can amuse the likes of me for about 4 seconds.
In response to the question: i want to bake myself at home. but i can't find any shops selling all the stuff i need. either they have this or don't have that. so please anyon...
Posted Tuesday October 7th, 2008.
We should all be riding llamas. They can be fed on scraps, they are clean, their faeces make good manure (and also doesn't smell much), can be trained to spit at your mortal enemies, produce fine wool, are agile enough for the Hanoi traffic and yet most adept at climbing mountains, the perfect clean city/country means of transport, and when they eventually break down you can eat them.
Just need to convince them to let us ride them amongst a few other negligible factors.
In response to the question: The other day a Vietnamese friend and I watched some guy putter through Hanoi traffic on his Minsk, cutting a wake as other riders veered away from th...
Posted Monday November 3rd, 2008.
Trust is function of understanding someone. I'd say two years without building any trust with a local Vietnamese person is more a measure of the person's inability to connect and has nothing at all to do with a person being Vietnamese. Pity, i'd say is the right emotion.
hmmm, this could be entertaining...
In response to the question: A person I know complained that she cannot trust ANY local people because she has enough bad experiences about Vietnamese people during her 2 years st...
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