NickinNam's profile
NickinNam's Posts
1 reviews or comments posted; 1 questions asked; 12 answers given.
Reviews / Comments (1)
I credit Lora at Companion Travel as being among the first people I could trust in Vietnam. I met her at a Cafe in PhuongMai street, near my hotel and she began eagerly practicing her rapid fire English on me. I explained I had just arrived and wanted to stay and find work. She told me that for a few dollars, Companion Travel could handle all the details of getting me a one year working visa.
I trusted her--and it was the first good decision I made here in Hanoi. Just like she said, I returned to her office exactly 12 days after our meeting in the cafe and my passport was waiting with a shiny new one year working Visa.
This was six months ago. Since that time, Lora pops me an occasional email or Skype message just to say "hi"! No pitch. No hard sell.
She is very proud of where she works, and the adventures she has sent many foreigners on. Their entire staff is multilingual and friendly and go out of their way to make your travel adventures come off without a hitch.
I've been working hard for the last six months on various projects and after the Tet holidays will be planning a trip somewhere. I will not be banging my head against the wall trying to figure out who to go to or who to trust--
I'll just skype Lora at Companion Travel and let her take care of it all for me. No worries.
Companion Travel is just friendly and efficient and after haggling and bickering for everything else in life you need in Hanoi, it's nice to have a friend like Lora that takes the BS out of planning a trip or handling the Visa authorities.
I really cannot recommend them enough! There are plenty of other travel agencies in Hanoi, but why not deal with people who become your friends long after your trip is a fond memory?
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Questions (1)
I got here a few months ago. I've been using ebay for years. I wanted some old camera equipment--50 year old cheap Russian cameras and 30 year old Nikons, lenses and filters.
I ordered about 10 different things, to the tune of about $350 7 weeks ago.
One camera and one lens arrived from the Ukraine and Russia after only 3 weeks.
The packages had been opened and resealed by the Vietnamese Post office, but the equipment was unscathed.
The rest of it, I haven't seen yet--7 weeks down the road.
Should I be worried? Does it just take a long time? Or do Post Office Employees go "shopping" in our parcels? I mean, none of this stuff is very attractive--really old cameras and lenses that look it. Not spiffy new digital things...
What is your experience?
Any advice? Should I quit my ebay habit? Should I pay for Federal Express?
Answers (12)
Posted Saturday August 9th, 2008.
Hi. I just arrived 6 weeks ago and I used Companion Travel, in Phuong Mai. Speak to Lora, who speaks excellent English. They were able to get me a one year business visa for $250 cash, all visa fees, bribes, and their profit included. email lora@companiontravel.com.vn or call (84-4) 577 1557 and ask for Lora.
It took 12 days. No hassles. No photos, no nothing. Just give her your passport and $250 in cash and wait 12 days. I'm already working.
Tell her Nick the American sent you.
In response to the question: Does anyone know of any agents in Hanoi who can sort out a business visa...
Posted Saturday August 9th, 2008.
Inflation in Vietnam is 25% annual this year alone. Which means that the $100 you paid your housekeeper last year only buys her $75 worth of food, rent, petrol etc. compared to last year. You should have been giving her raises all along, indexed to the inflation rate here.
That said, we are 5 expats sharing a large house. We pay our woman 1.2 million per month ($72) for 2 days a week which is VND 160,000 or about $9 per day for about 4 1/2-5 hours per day. She cleans and does laundry/ironing and little errands (dropping off dry cleaning etc...) for 5 of us. No cooking.
So my housekeeper works 8 days a month for $72 and yours works 20 days a month (AND cooks you dinner) for $100.
By equivilance, we pay ours $181 per month if she worked as much as yours did.
I think you are a cheap SOB. I think this woman should tell you where to stick it.
I also think I'm going to suggest to the housemates we give our woman, who is wonderful, a $1 a day raise to round it out to $10 per day. I think you should pay $10 per day too.
In response to the question: THis may be a question more for older hanoians than younger hanoians... Or at least ones who have been here longer. When I first arrived i hired a...
Posted Monday August 18th, 2008.
I bought mine at Borders in Brisbane Australia before coming. They are available on ebay, but a bit pricey. Hope that helps.
In response to the question: Does anyone know if it's possible to buy Moleskine notebooks in Hanoi? Or perhaps some other notebooks of similar design and quality (sturdy oilcloth ...
Posted Monday August 18th, 2008.
"Our chick?" "Our girl?" "Our maid?" "Our housekeeper?" "Cleaning lady" "Household Hygiene Engineer?".
Ya just can't please the politically correct folks anymore.
No offense intended to any genders, races, professions or other subdivisions of humanity. I really don't know what to say here other than to say that Lan is a wonderful woman for whose services I am grateful and I hope what we pay her buys a relatively comfortable life and we have begun to discuss it among the roomates, and a raise is definitely in her future, and linked to inflation with regular reviews.
Or was that "whom's" services? I don't want the grammer police on my ass now!
It's only fair folks. You can't make these wonderful people trade in the hours of their lives for a handful of dimes and laugh about it like your station in life wasn't just the luck of the "where you were born and the opportunities you had" lottery.
You and I are in the relatively lucky sperm club. You could have just as easily have been shot out here, needing a raise to buy rice for your family.
'Nuff said.
Nick-in-Nam
In response to the question: THis may be a question more for older hanoians than younger hanoians... Or at least ones who have been here longer. When I first arrived i hired a...
Posted Thursday August 21st, 2008.
Dear Sam,
At least in Korea, according to the pilot episode of "M*A*S*H", my only point of reference, the term is "house boy". As in Ho-Jon the house boy from the original book, the movie, and the pilot episode, summarized here:
#01 – Pilot
At the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (M.A.S.H) unit in Korea, two army doctors by the names of Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre receive some exciting news in the mail. Their Korean house boy, Ho-John got accepted into Hawkeye's old college. Hawkeye and Trapper decide to hold a party filled with music, dancing, and alcohol to raise money for Ho-John's plane trip to the U.S. (http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?p=3603453)
So here's a suggestion, you could send your housekeeper to your old college! You could pay her tuition like Hawkye, and we could all have a fundraiser for her at one of the many expensive restaurants you regularly review on this site!
When I eat (rarely) at one of these places, I often drop more than 1.2 million VND for a freakin meal for me and a friend or two. That's why I don't begrudge our Local Household Hygiene and Organizational Engineer a few more dong.
Who ARE you Sam? I'm sorry, but you reek of privilege and condescension. Did you make fun of the kids at school who didn't have the cool clothes and sneakers that you did?
Always remember, "there but for the grace of God go I". Unless you are very rich, and covered by your parent's wealth, you are but one economic ripple away from working for minimum wage, washing other peoples knickers, and praying you'll be able to feed yourself and your progeny.
This is no longer about your housekeeper, it is about your sense of humanity.
My fondest wish is that we don't run into each other in common circles. It wont be pretty.
Regards,
Nick
In response to the question: THis may be a question more for older hanoians than younger hanoians... Or at least ones who have been here longer. When I first arrived i hired a...
Posted Saturday August 30th, 2008.
You're joking, right?
Why would someone who speaks English, Chinese and German in addition to Vietnamese be willing to work for $100 a month doing anything--much less cook you weiner-snitzel chow-mein, bangers and mash for dinner and wash your knickers?
You're havin' a larf mate!
For a $100 a month, you can get a fine housekeeper. Why do you need to talk to her so much? She'll see what needs to be done. I just smile and grunt and give pantomime shows to ours--she gets it-and she's great.
That said, ha ha, pretty funny. You are quite the joker.
Nick-in-Nam
In response to the question: Hi, I'm having trouble finding a part-time, Vietnamese House Keeper who, can cook, shop, clean, speaks English, German and Chinese (max. sal. USD1...
Posted Sunday September 21st, 2008.
Hi Cresent,
I would have thought that nobody does this anymore with the proliferation of Audio books for the mainstream and computers that can read any text loaded into it.
I used to do it in Paris years ago at the English Language Library for the Blind in the rue Lemercier, 9eme. When I Googled them just now, to see if they still exist, I came accross this list of places around the world that still do it:
http://blindreaders.info/forlibs.html
So I guess people still do it. There doesn't seem to be any listings for Vietnam, but you might be able to contact one of them and see if you can help them remotely, recording on your computer and shipping them a file. When I used to do it, it was reel to reel and cassettes.
It must have at least moved to MP3 by now!
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
NickinNam
In response to the question: Does anyone happen to know where I can volunteer to record books for the blind? I can read both in English and Vietnamese....
Posted Wednesday September 24th, 2008.
As I write this, 165 people have read it and I have only 5 stories? Come on people--I need some closure here! Did I get suckered believing "rain, sleet nor snow" applied here or do I have a hope that the people in the Post Office are as good and honest as 99.99% of the people I've meet here?
Fess up. What's happened to you. Does Ebay work here or not?
Thanks to those who have frightened me so far.
Nick
In response to the question: I got here a few months ago. I've been using ebay for years. I wanted some old camera equipment--50 year old cheap Russian cameras and 30 year old N...
Posted Wednesday October 8th, 2008.
Telephone? What's a telephone? Why don't you use Skype? Or have your friend call your mobile phone? I receive international calls on my mobile all the time.
In response to the question: Hello, Do the telephones in post offices accept incoming calls? That is, can I receive a call from China from one? Any suggestions on how to go abo...
Posted Thursday October 16th, 2008.
Here we are about 75 days down the road. Still no sight of my two cameras: one from Israel and one from Colorado. However, a small cause for hope: the box of filters has arrived from Las Vegas and an envelope with a light seal kit for a Canonet has arrived from Texas! 75 days down the road. Will keep you posted. The expensive, semi valuable stuff, still has yet to arrive ($75 Russian Camera from Israel and $60 Canonet from Denver). I decided to have the Nikon stuff sent to a friend in Boston who will FEDEX it to me.
Keep those stories coming!
In response to the question: I got here a few months ago. I've been using ebay for years. I wanted some old camera equipment--50 year old cheap Russian cameras and 30 year old N...
Posted Friday October 24th, 2008.
OK Gang, here is an update on one of my camera's (well, the camera that was supposed to be mine!). This is a note from the guy in Colorado who sold it to me:
Nick - Well, I guess you can forget about receiving the camera. The post office has returned the package to me,with apologies. apparently the package was torn open and "rifled" (that was the term used in the accompanying letter of explanation). the International Air Mail Records Unit in Daly City, CA forwarded a four page "Cargo Irregularities Report" from Ho Chi Minh,Vietnam with the comment that the package and the form was to be delivered to me, as it had been rifled and that the Postal Inspectors have been notified. Sorry 'bout dat. Do you want me to mail the "report" to you? Let me know.
The Vietnam Post Office is filled with scoundrels and theives. Beware.
In response to the question: I got here a few months ago. I've been using ebay for years. I wanted some old camera equipment--50 year old cheap Russian cameras and 30 year old N...
Posted Thursday November 6th, 2008.
MattandAnh: You must read Candide carefully and thoughtfully before responding with unreflected bile. Our friend Candide like Voltaire before him, uses subtle judo arguments to point out the incongruous logic the simple minded use to sort out their place in the world and reaction to it. Much like an episode of the Simpsons, children and idiots will get only some of the jokes, while Rhodes Scholars, Mensa Members and the well read get an entire other level of enjoyment.
In other words, it's a joke dude. Candide agrees with you and you were just a tad too much of a, shall we say, "speed reader" to "get it".
I believe, at this point, the consensus seems to be that wherever you go, people are people and some of them are assholes but most of them are as afraid of you as you are of them. Peace, Love and Jerry Garcia.
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...
"Before you criticize anyone, always walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you do criticize them, you'll be a mile away. And you'll have their shoes."
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Nick Innam
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New Hanoian Member SinceSaturday August 9th, 2008
