Tieng Viet lovers club

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Vietnam sentences Singapore man to death for trafficking heroin

A court in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday sentenced a Singaporean man to death for trafficking 2.5 kilograms of heroin.

Lee Loke Dah, 40, was arrested at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in December 2014 with a plastic bag containing thousands of capsules. Further tests confirmed that the drug was heroin.
The man, who had entered the country four days earlier, told investigators that he stole the bag from a stranger in a hotel in District 5 and that he was not aware of the drug.

Prosecutors rejected these claims. The court found him guilty of drug trafficking.
Vietnam has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is punishable by death. Those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kilograms of methamphetamine also face the death penalty.

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British tourists complain to Hanoi authorities about hotel scam

Three British tourists have complained to Hanoi tourism authorities that they were cheated by a man who took them from the gate of a hotel they had booked into to another one by lying to them.
Bradley Spillman, Jonathan Bearman and Matthew Taylor, all 21, told officials at the Hanoi Tourism Department Thursday that they had booked rooms at Hanoi Old Town Hotel, 95 Hang Chieu.
On Wednesday they arrived at the hotel from airport by taxi when a man who introduced himself as the “manager” of the hotel jumped into the vehicle.
He said the hotel’s water system was broken and he would take them to another branch of the hotel at 9 Nguyen Truong To Street, Ba Dinh District.
They booked into the new hotel, called Hai Nam, when they received an email from the Hanoi Old Town Hotel asking why they did not turned up.
Meanwhile, the man sold some tours to them, and after learning he had scammed them, they wanted the money back. But he only made a partial refund.
They told department officials they wanted their money back and the man and the hotel to be punished.
On Thursday Vu Cong Huy, deputy chief inspector of the department, said they were investigating the case together with Ba Dinh District authorities.
Do Dinh Hong, Director of Hanoi's Tourism Department, said the authorities will "seriously address any violation" to "maintain the good image of Vietnam's tourism."

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Vietnam suspends Ha Long boat accused of ripping off tourists


Authorities in Vietnam have suspended a boat in Ha Long Bay for overcharging a group of tourists after serving them seafood early this month, according to local media reports.
The suspension of an undetermined length came after one of the tourists wrote on her Facebook that her group of six was "extorted" by the vessel named Minh Huong 58.

She said the group was shocked when receiving a bill of nearly VND10 million (US$446) and complained to the owner that they had not ordered a big enough meal to justify that total amount.
They eventually had to pay the bill and filed a complaint to local authorities.
Inspectors later confirmed that they were overcharged and that the boat did not list food prices as required.

The boat’s owner has also been fined VND1.5 million and ordered to return the extra money to the tourists.

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'Grossly unethical and unprofessional' bus service



This week I was due to go and meet my fiancé's family in Lâm Đồng province for the first time. Being almost 5 months pregnant with our baby and having never met her family, visiting them for our engagement was very important. As my fiancé is deaf I had no choice but to let her return home to her family for the duration of the pregnancy since I would be unable to assist with hospital visits.

With the trains all sold out for the long weekend, I approached a travel agent in Đà Nẵng, booking a bus to Đà Lạt. All went well at first but just before midnight I was awoken by a loud crashing sound and screams and I was jolted forward, hitting my head on the seat in front. It didn't hurt at the time, perhaps due to the shock. As everyone began filing off the bus, I followed and the reason for the accident became clear. The bus had collided head-on with a man on a motorbike whose lifeless body lay in a pool of blood directly in front of the bus. I did not witness the event personally but it would appear from the location of the body and bike that the bus was in the wrong lane, traveling too fast in an urban area and collided with the man as he exited a side street.

We waited for hours while police investigators questioned onlookers and the driver and took photographs of the body and the bus while all the other passengers arranged other transport in the middle of the night. I simply waited. The organiser of the bus took my bag from under the bus and threw it into the middle of the road, right near the centre divider. I looked at him in shock, wondering why he was dumping my bags in the middle of a highway. He motioned to me and just said "Come". I followed him for several hundred meters down the highway where he silently asked me for a cigarette and then another bus arrived. He threw my bag onto the bus, pointed inside and simply said "Đà Lạt".

I got onto the bus for a sleepless journey with the sound of the man's wife sobbing over the body still ringing in my ears and I messaged my fiancé telling her that I would be late due to a bus crash but that I was ok. However my troubles were not yet over. By mid-morning the bus stopped on the side of the road. My map said were in Phan Rang, more than 3 hours away from Đà Lạt in the wrong direction. No one got off. My bag was retrieved from under the bus and thrown into the dirt on the side of the road. I was handed a piece of paper with a phone number and 120.000 vnd written on it. I shook my head and said "Khong. Tôi đi Đà Lạt. Tôi trả rồi !" and pointed at my ticket. They in turn pointed to their own piece of paper and then at my bag on the side of the road and yelled "Không đi Đà Lạt. Đi. Đi !" and pushed me off the bus. I yelled the most offensive Vietnamese insult I could think of as they drove off, leaving me in a cloud of dust, hours from my destination and late for my engagement party.
I called my travel company and explained what had happened. They were very apologetic and asked me to find out where I was and see if they could do something to fix it. I gave them my address and they sent a motorbike to pick me up and take me to a bus station. It was not one of my agent's busses but the woman said she would pay for the ticket personally because the bus company were refusing to take any responsibility.
I made it to my engagement party, half a day late; injured, covered in dust from head to food and extremely upset. If I had not been an experienced traveler with basic tiếng Việt knowledge and the contact number of an understanding travel agent, things could have been far worse. With my travel agent getting me to Đà Lạt, I asked some school kids if I could get to Lâm Hà on a local bus and I spent a bumpy journey standing up on an overcrowded school bus amongst children vomiting into plastic bags.
Unfortunately the hospitals were closed and I had to see a private doctor about my eye injury who gave me a variety of medicine and said that the damage should not be permanent but that I should visit the hospital for a proper check after the public holiday is over.
Regardless of who was at fault in the accident, the flagrant disregard for either the lives of motorists and the wellbeing of their passengers of the Ha Linh bus company was surely grossly unethical and unprofessional, dumping a foreigner on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere after promising to take him to his destination and then demanding more money to get him there just because they killed a man on the highway and had their bus impounded is absolutely unconscionable. After the accident division are through investigating the impounded bus, the Ministry of Transport should take serious action against the bus company for their actions.

My only consolation was the kindness and helpfulness of the woman at Han Travel in Đà Nẵng who did everything within her power to get my to my engagement party at her own personal expense and promised to refund my ticket since the bus company refused to do so. I cannot thank her enough for helping me out of what could have been a disastrous situation. [COLOR="rgb(244, 164, 96)"]The Ha Linh bus company however should be ashamed both for the man they killed and rudely pushing a foreigner off the bus in the wrong city, and taking no responsibility for injuries caused by their fatal bus crash.[/COLOR]

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Vietnamese jailed for fixing sham marriage in Singapore



A Singaporean court has jailed two Vietnamese women for arranging a sham marriage between a Vietnamese woman and a Singaporean man three years ago for immigration benefits, The Strait Times reported.
Nguyen Thi Yen, 41, was sentenced to nine months in jail and fined US$2,200 in a trial on Thursday while her accomplice Le Thi Tra My, 31, was sentenced to seven months in jail on April 5.

According to Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, in February 2013, My suggested to the bride involved in the sham marriage that she marry a Singaporean in order to apply for a Long-Term Visit Pass and extend her stay in Singapore. In return, the woman would pay her $5,509.
The woman agreed, and My introduced her to Yen, who then found her a suitable groom who would get a cut of the bride’s money.
The wedding took place at a Peninsula Plaza restaurant on March 18, 2013.
Later that year, the bride and groom were each jailed for six months for entering into the fake marriage.

Under Singaporean laws, the maximum punishment for contracting or entering into a sham marriage is a $7,345 fine and 10 years' jail term.

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Hanoi launches new bus route to Noi Bai Airport

Hanoi on Saturday launched a high-quality bus service connecting its railway station in the city downtown with Noi Bai Airport.
The unsubsidized route, numbered 86, runs 33 kilometers from Hanoi Railway Station in Dong Da District to the international airport. Tickets cost VND30,000 (US$1.30) a person.
The new buses are each designed with 25 seats, but there is enough space for a maximum of 80 passengers and luggage.
Hanoi Transport Service Corporation, which operates the route, said the service will start from 6:18 a.m. to 11 p.m. There will be one bus every 25-30 minutes.
Hanoi has been operating two other bus routes connecting the airport with Hoan Kiem and Cau Giay Districts, at subsidized fares of less than half a dollar.

The new bus has a lot of space for luggage.
Officials in the city said the new service is another effort to revive the enthusiasm for public transport, which has been losing popularity compared to motorbikes. Many bus passengers are unhappy with how often the bulky vehicles get stuck in heavy traffic.
Buses were a common means of transport in Hanoi in the 2000s. But it has continued losing popularity, after reaching its peak in 2012 with 416 million travelers.
A new report said bus passengers in the first quarter dropped 14 percent from a year ago to 82 million. The number last year was down 7.5 percent from 2014.

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Tourists recall unpleasant incidents from Hoi An Ancient Town

Recent trips to Hoi An Ancient Town have not been what some local holidaymakers have expected, with several writing to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper and recalling unpleasant incidents they have experienced at the famed World Heritage Site.

Hoi An, a beautiful small town in the central province of Quang Nam, was recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999. While the ancient town has long been known for its honest tourism, several Vietnamese tourists have recently warned of dishonest traders there.
One Tuoi Tre reader named L.P. said people should be aware of a woman called Hoang, who forces tourists to buy her floating candles at exorbitant prices.
Releasing floating candles stored in paper flowers onto the Hoai River is among the most popular cultural activities in Hoi An.
According to an email sent by P., Hoang approaches tourists and begins moaning about her hard life, begging them to buy her candles. Then, without the tourists’ agreement, Hoang starts releasing the floating candles into the river, and forces her customers to open their wallets.

P. had to pay VND80,000 (US$3.5) for five candles he did not want, he said. He initially gave the woman VND10,000, which is the usual price for the service, but she rejected and angrily insisted on receiving VND80,000.
The upset tourist had no choice but to give her the money. “It is not about the hefty price I had to pay, but the dishonesty of the woman that angered me,” he said.

Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporter went undercover as a tourist to the area, and had the same experience with Hoang as P.
Hoang again started to lament her life and cried even harder when the Tuoi Tre reporter asked how much her candles cost. The woman then forced the correspondent to release five floating candles to the river.
When asked about the price, she said “this is a good deed so you can pay whatever you want.” However, when the reporter gave her VND10,000 as per the correct price, Hoang started swearing and demanded that she receive at least VND30,000.

Tuoi Tre has verified that Hoang is in fact Dang Thi K., a local resident, and that her dog’s life is totally made up.
Another Tuoi Tre reader has also complained that the boat services taking tourists along the Hoai River to nearby craft villages and local attractions are charging unfixed prices, with boat owners swearing at customers in rejection of their offers.
“This is not what I expect to see at a World Heritage Site,” the reader, hailing from a southern province, wrote. “This is totally unlike the friendly and peaceful Hoi An I have heard of before.”
Tuoi Tre visited the tourist wharf on Bach Dang Street, where more than 50 boats of different sizes are docked, waiting for customers.
Whenever a tourist walks past the wharf, they will be besieged by a number of people, inviting them to board their boats with no official prices.
One boat owner named T., who has eight tourist boats, charged a group of fewer than ten people VND200,000 ($8.9) for a trip to two craft villages, and VND300,000 ($13.4) if there were more than ten passengers.
V., who runs more than ten boats, offered a price of VND100,000 per person per hour for tourists, with a different price for locals. The time tourists have to wait for the boat to be fully loaded is also included, adding to the feeling of being ripped off, they told Tuoi Tre.
“The prices are negotiable because the government has not set any official fare,” V. said.

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Vietnam eases liquid restriction for domestic flights

Passengers traveling within Vietnam are now permitted to take on board an unlimited volume of liquids and gels as the country has eased its restriction.
Under a new circular issued by the transport ministry that went into effect on May 1, passengers on domestic flights are allowed to bring liquids, aerosols and gels in their carry-on luggage with no limitation on volume and container size.
Passengers of course will still have to abide by airlines' regulations on cabin luggage size.

The liquid restriction remains unchanged for international flights. Passengers to and from outside Vietnam are allowed to carry no more than one liter of liquids, aerosols and gels in total in their carry-on luggage, with each of their containers no larger than 100 ml.

The limit is not applied to baby formula and food for children who fly with their parents, nor to prescription medicine.

[ParaParaSakura]

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bro ,system show i up you before .take care ,next time

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Out of place: The increasingly bad reputation of Vietnamese tourists

More Vietnamese people are able to afford a holiday. But that is not always a good thing, at least according to industry insiders.
The number of Vietnamese tourists grew sharply by 48 percent to 57 million last year, including more than 6 million people who traveled abroad. This fast-growing market has brought both big gains and big problems.
At a meeting held by the Vietnam Tourism Association in Hanoi on Thursday, industry insiders did not mince words, describing the behavior of many tourists as "shameful" and "awful."

One of the most vocal critics, Nguyen Van My, director of Ho Chi Minh City-based Lua Viet Tours, even came with a long list of Vietnamese tourists' bad habits in public places, particularly when they are abroad.
"They dress inappropriately, they talk and curse loudly, they spit and litter, and they steal and overstay," My said.
"Our reputation has been tainted," he said.
Nguyen Tien Dat, deputy director of Transviet Travel, said he felt "ashamed" on many occasions when leading overseas trips as a guide.

"Let's not follow the steps of Chinese tourists who have money to spend but are not respected," Dat said.
He pointed out how infamous Chinese tourists have become, following a recent viral clip that showed a group of them using plates to scoop up food at a buffet in Bangkok.


Solutions?
The tourism association will soon publish an official pamphlet with 30 dos and don'ts that Vietnamese tourists can find useful when traveling to a foreign country. Most are just simple rules about queuing, saying sorry and thank you, or tipping.

Dat said real-life situations have showed that tourists' bad behavior could be positively altered when tour guides took a more active role.
Trinh Le Anh, a lecturer at the tourism department of Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, agreed, saying that Vietnamese tourists behave badly because they lack guidance and information.
Ha Van Sieu, deputy chief of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, on the other hand, was among participants who believed the most important thing is education. He said such rules need to be taught at school and even young children should know them.

Others said guidance alone is not enough, arguing that punishment is needed.
When a tourist is discovered misbehaving, they should be banned from going abroad and their tour operators must be punished too, a representative of a Ho Chi Minh City-based traveled company said.

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Hanoi restaurant faces fine for putting waitresses in bikinis


Hanoi authorities are considering a fine against a restaurant for putting women in swimwear to serve drinks to customers after several photos of the waitresses went viral.

To Van Dong, director of Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said his agency will announce a strong punitive measure, adding that the act was “against Vietnam's traditional culture and fine customs."
Images of the waitresses at the restaurant on Tran Thai Tong Street spread on social networks early this week. The waitresses can be seen serving beer and sitting next to the customers. The photos are believed to be taken on Sunday.
Lam, the restaurant manager, confirmed that the photos had been taken at his restaurant.

However, he claimed that the women were hired by Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage JSC (Sabeco) to promote and boost sales of its own products.
He said most of the so-called "promotion girls" were wearing formal clothes except for a few.

“The ones in bikinis were here for only one or two minutes. We asked them to cancel the promotional campaign after seeing how they were dressed,” he said.
Truong Van Tuan, director of Sabeco’s northern branch, rejected the claim, saying his company had never run such a campaign at the restaurant.
Earlier on May 6, Hanoi cultural inspectors issued a fine of VND40 million (US$1,795) against an electronics store for using women in swimwear to promote its business.

The managers of Tran Anh electronics store claimed that they were only filming "sex education videos."

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Couple arrested for trafficking Vietnamese women into Malaysia sex ring

Authorities in the southern province of Tay Ninh have arrested a Vietnamese woman and her Malaysian boyfriend for allegedly trafficking nine women to Malaysia to do sex work.

Police said Nguyen Kim Ngan, 26 and Kim Eng Hoe, 39 found and sold Vietnamese women to a prostitution ring in Kuala Lumpur run by a Malay man known as Banh. They were paid VND3-4 million per woman, police said.
Ngan, who had done sex work at a Kuala Lumpur bar since 2013, returned to Vietnam with her boyfriend in 2014, seeking young women for Banh.
She promised the victims high-paid jobs as waitresses in beer clubs and massage parlors.

But investigators said when the women arrived in Kuala Lumpur, they had their passports taken away by Kim and forced into the prostitution ring.
Those who tried to resist would be tortured, the victims said. They have all been rescued.

Banh is still at large.
Sex work is illegal in both Malaysia and Vietnam.

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Vietnamese drink 1 billion liters of beer in 4 months

Brewers in Vietnam produced more than a billion liters of beer in January-April, mostly for domestic consumption, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Production was up 5.8 percent over last year, VnExpress quoted a ministry report as saying, while per capita consumption in the country of 90 million has been 11.1 liters in four months.
But br$$$$$es’ profits fell as special consumption tax increased from 50 percent to 55 percent this year. It will continue to increase to 65 percent by 2018.
Le Hong Xanh, board member of Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Joint Stock Corporation (Sabeco), said, “This will affect profit and increase beer prices,” adding that Sabeco – known for its Saigon Beer – is considering increasing prices.

Vietnam is among the leading countries in beer consumption a glass of beer is often available for a mere 50 US cents.
In related news, the Vietnam Association of Financial Investors has recommended that the government should sell its stakes in Sabeco and Hanoi Beer and Beverage Company (Habeco) totally worth around US$3 billion at current prices.

The government owns 90 percent of Sabeco and 82 percent of Habeco.
In 2014 Thai Beverage, owned by billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, offered to buy the stocks of Sabeco from the government for $2 billion.
Denmark’s Carlsberg Br$$$$$es owns 17.23 percent of Habeco and is seeking to raise its stakes to more than 30 percent in the Hanoi-based brewer.
Sabeco has a 46 percent beer market share and Habeco, 17.3 percent.

[ET]

i very disappointed with viet liao

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Originally Posted by Eddie Tan

i very disappointed with viet liao

Difficult to learn and not easy to master?