Tieng Viet lovers club

[jackbl]

Vietnamese crowd pagodas to express love for mom on Buddhist Mother's Day

A considerable number of people in Ho Chi Minh City have flocked to pagodas to observe the Buddhist Mother's Day.
This occasion, also known as the Vu Lan Festival, falls on the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar.
On this day, visitors come to pagodas to express their love for and gratitude to their parents, especially their mothers.
Large pagodas in the southern city, including Vinh Nghiem in District 3, Hoa Khanh in Binh Thanh District, and Hoang Phap in Hoc Mon District, were all packed with visitors.
People received roses of different colors to pin on their shirts.
Pink and red roses were given to visitors whose mothers are still around.
Those whose moms have passed away were handed a white rose to remind them of their beautiful retrospective memories.
Luong Chi Binh, 41, of Binh Thanh District, came to the pagoda with his mother despite the scorching heat.
The man said celebrating the Vu Lan Festival has long been his annual habit.
“I want to pray for my mother’s wellness. I feel lucky still having her in my life,” he added.

[jackbl]

Vietnam diary: The humble gecko

“So I’d just settled into my hotel room when EWWW... there’s this tiny thing walking up the wall! I screamed and called reception...”
Ah... the humble gecko... beloved by expats for their usefulness in keeping the insects under control and loathed by tourists and frustrated receptionists trying to explain that it is part of Vietnam’s ecology and they’ll send the cleaners up to remove it immediately.
A receptionist’s need for the required English to deal with irate guests’ complaints about geckos is probably the most requested lesson in my repertoire, yet I always refuse to teach anything that would lead to the death of an innocent lizard. I often thought it was quite amusing how the country-bred housekeepers would cheerfully pick the geckos off the walls and put them down in the garden soil while the city receptionists would wince and curl up against the doorways in horror.
Even the most heavily fortified five-star resorts, complete with freakin’ lasers, wouldn’t eliminate these little marvels of evolution. So wrongly labeled as ‘bugs’ or ‘a weird thing in the bathroom,’ while the gecko’s place in the tropics is far from secure, it’s the most benign of creatures to humans, posing no significant threat to their health.
They’re amazing little bundles of sticky feet and odd eyes. Did you know that a gecko’s eyesight is 350 times more sensitive than our own? Or that they can see ultra-violet? Their feet are incredibly adhesive, able to hold on to surfaces so well that scientists estimate they would be capable of supporting a hundred kilos if the foot was big enough!

It’s such a routine part of tropical life that I don’t even blink when my friendly house gecko comes down behind my laptop to see what’s on the menu. I say hello to the little green visitor which often tilts its head as if to say, “Leave me alone, I’m busy looking for dinner.” You can hardly feel them on your skin although I can feel the foot pads pulling at the hairs on my arms. I’d love to train one (if that was even possible) to sit on my shoulder while I’m riding around town, just to see the reaction on people’s faces.
For a while, I had a giant gecko, called Tokay, hanging around in my roof. He was louder than the construction truck horns but thankfully smart enough to shut up in the early morning. My neighbors frequently visit to gaze at him and tell me for the hundredth time that he brings good luck to the house. I thought I was luckier when they left!
Mosquitos are the real menace we deal with in this climate, but the fabulous geckos in my house (I dunno... maybe a dozen? Or even a hundred?) keep the hazard at bay rather well. It’s well worth the price of having to sweep the tiny poo away each day. My dogs are fascinated by them and will stalk the ‘pesky bugs’ for a long period of time.
Next time you see a humble gecko, cohabiting with humans in perfect harmony, off to work around your house, don’t reach for the insect spray – raise your glass in salute at nature’s tiny, all-natural insect killer. I mean, think of what might happen if you DIDN’T have one around...

[jackbl]

2 arrested for running online sex rings in Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City police have arrested two men accused of running two separate sex rings since 2015.
Police said Duong Van Thanh, 38, launched two websites in early 2015 to advertise illegal sex services.
He hired some people to post photos of the sex workers online, receive calls to the hotline, and collect money for him. The man lives in the southern province of Tien Giang, where he also owns a restaurant.
Police had been watching the ring since early this year. They caught six sex workers with their clients in two hotels in Ho Chi Minh City on July 21. Thanh was arrested in his hometown on the same day.
Thanh confessed he charged each client VND1.5 million (US$67), from which he earned VND500,000.
In the second case, Trinh Van Chuong, 29, used to work for a massage parlor in HCMC’s District 10 and knew many employees who also did sex work.
In July 2015, he created various accounts on Zalo and Wechat mobile chat services and posted sex workers’ photos. He charged each client VND1.6 million and took VND500,000 from the amount.
Police are looking for a procurer in District 4 who allegedly worked with Chuong.

[FireShark]

Originally Posted by jackbl

2 arrested for running online sex rings in Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City police have arrested two men accused of running two separate sex rings since 2015.
Police said Duong Van Thanh, 38, launched two websites in early 2015 to advertise illegal sex services.
He hired some people to post photos of the sex workers online, receive calls to the hotline, and collect money for him. The man lives in the southern province of Tien Giang, where he also owns a restaurant.
Police had been watching the ring since early this year. They caught six sex workers with their clients in two hotels in Ho Chi Minh City on July 21. Thanh was arrested in his hometown on the same day.
Thanh confessed he charged each client VND1.5 million (US$67), from which he earned VND500,000.
In the second case, Trinh Van Chuong, 29, used to work for a massage parlor in HCMC’s District 10 and knew many employees who also did sex work.
In July 2015, he created various accounts on Zalo and Wechat mobile chat services and posted sex workers’ photos. He charged each client VND1.6 million and took VND500,000 from the amount.
Police are looking for a procurer in District 4 who allegedly worked with Chuong.

Hahahaha I wonder this MC is one of them

[jackbl]

Pokemon Go player has phone snatched out of her hand in Vietnam

A man was arrested after he snatched an iPhone from a woman who was playing Pokemon Go in Tao Dan Park in Ho Chi Minh City Monday night, local police have said.
Nguyen Van Hieu, 19, is under investigation for snatching theft, the police said.
According to an initial report, Hieu was at Tao Dan Park in downtown HCMC at 10.20 p.m. when he saw the woman, identified as Tram, 32, playing the game on her iPhone 6 Plus.
Hieu snatched her phone and tried to run of on foot. When the victims shouted for help, the park guards gave chase and managed to catch Hieu.
Hieu was handed over to the police later.
Since the game was available in Vietnam last week, Tao Dan Park has become one of the biggest Pokemon hotspots in Ho Chi Minh City, with many people spending the nights chasing the elusive creatures.

[jackbl]

Shoeshine scammers target foreign tourists in downtown HCMC

A 15-strong gang has been scamming tourists in downtown Ho Chi Minh City by shining their shoes without being asked before demanding an extortionate amount of money, threatening those who do not pay, a Thanh Nien investigation has found.
On August 11 for instance, two foreign men were sitting on a bench in September 23rd Park when two men suddenly approached them and polished their shoes without saying a word.
The tourists did not turn them away but were shocked to be asked VND1 million (US$45).
The two men threatened the tourists until they paid them the money.
Thanh Nien found similar incidents occurring elsewhere in the city’s downtown.
On August 11 a foreign man was about to cross Le Lai Street when a man insisted on polishing his shoes though the former said no.
A Thanh Nien reporter managed to join the shoeshine group and found there were 15 men who had moved to the city from Thanh Hoa Province.
They rent rooms on Hoang Sa Street, District 3, and usually take buses to the downtown area.
A member, who claimed he could earn VND2 million in a morning, said they often go in pairs so that they could threaten the victims easier. One would polish shoes and demand money while the other would keep an eye out for police and voluntary youths, he said.
Dinh To Hoa, deputy chief inspector of the city Department of Tourism, admitted that her agency is aware of the scam.
Authorities have recorded more than 2,500 cases of hawkers and shoeshine boys hassling tourists, she said.
“[My] department has coordinated with relevant agencies to step up patrolling. They will also be punished if caught on street cameras.”

[jackbl]

Police in Vietnamese province start fining those playing Pokémon Go while driving

Authorities in the southern province of Dong Nai have required traffic police and relevant departments to penalize those people who play Pokémon Go while driving.
Tran Van Vinh, deputy chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, on Friday acknowledged an increasing number of traffic violation cases related to the viral game.
Accordingly, many Vietnamese ‘hunters’ tend to play Pokémon Go while driving on the street, leading to a high risk of traffic accidents and congestion.
The mobile game is dangerous not only to drivers but also to others because players must move frequently and mainly focus on the phone screen even when they are driving.
This seriously jeopardized drivers’ safety and hinders their ability to concentrate, as new creatures can pop up whenever on their mobile phones when they move in the real world.
Following the requirement from the Dong Nai authorities, local police have started patrolling more frequently and penalizing those drivers who violate traffic rules while playing the game.
Meanwhile, authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have also run electronic signs that read, “Do not play Pokémon Go while driving,” on some crowded streets.
According to news website VietNamNet, under the current law, those who use a mobile phone while driving a car will be fined VND600,000 (US$30) to VND800,000 ($40).
The fine is from VND100,000 to VND200,000 for motorcycle and bicycle riders.
Pokémon Go, a game developed by Nintendo and Niantic Labs, has attracted a surprisingly huge number of players thanks to its highly interactive functions.

[jackbl]

Free tourist guidebook launched in Ho Chi Minh City

Expats and visitors to Ho Chi Minh City are advised not to leave home without a new tourism guidebook, released on Tuesday by the municipal Department of Tourism.
The publication, titled “Ho Chi Minh City Hotels and Restaurants 2016,” is a 144-page full color handbook providing tourists with all the necessary information on where to stay, eat, drink and have fun in the southern hub.
The book features addresses and brief descriptions of numerous hotels, restaurants and shopping venues in Ho Chi Minh City, plus essential information such as the phone numbers of general consulates and emergency services numbers.
On the back of the booklet are multiple promotional and discount coupons offered by the facilities mentioned.
The guidebooks authors, the Department of Tourism and Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, held a ceremony in downtown Ho Chi Minh City to introduce the work on Tuesday.

Speaking at the ceremony, Pham Huy Binh, deputy director of the tourism department, said the guidebook is an effort by the city’s tourism sector to create convenience for tourists in accessing information while in Ho Chi Minh City.
“Through this publication, partners and visitors can access famous hotels, restaurants and brands whose quality live up to their prices,” Binh said.
“This guidebook also creates opportunities for service providers to promote themselves and connect with travel firms.”
Binh said if this first edition proved successful, the city’s tourism sector will issue more in the future, with the next editions “surely boasting better design and more detailed and profound content.”
The guidebook is now available free of charge at the arrival terminal of international airports, three- to five-star hotels, restaurants and trade centers. It will also be offered at international events.
The publication is also available online at http://tuoitrenews.vn/hotels-and-restaurants.

[jackbl]

Singaporean jailed for holding girlfriend captive in Vietnam hotel

A Ho Chi Minh City court on Wednesday sentenced a 41-year-old Singaporean man to five months and six days in jail for locking his girlfriend inside a hotel room in February.
Eng Yong Kit was set free after the trial as he had been detained long enough, local media reported.
The court heard that on February 2, Kit forced his 24-year-old Vietnamese girlfriend into a hotel room on District 3’s Hai Ba Trung Street.
He then locked the room and blocked the door with a bed to prevent others from rescuing her.
Police and representatives of the Singaporean Consulate General in HCMC arrived at the hotel, but they failed to talk him into opening the door.
Eight hours later, police had to use smoke grenades and break in to rescue the woman. Kit was arrested.
He told the police that he met his girlfriend online and they started dating in June last year.
When the woman, believed to be a sex worker, decided to break up with him, he did not take it well.
The court said it handed down the lenient sentence because there were no serious consequences and the woman also requested to drop charges against him.

[jackbl]

Vietnamese couple injures genitals using plastic bag as condom

A young couple in northern Vietnam was recently admitted to a hospital with scratched and bleeding genitalia after having sex wearing a plastic bag in place of a condom.
The two undergraduates, a boy and a girl, were taken to the Hanoi Nephrology Hospital with badly injured private parts, said Nguyen The Luong, the infirmary’s deputy director.
According to the patients, the two had used a plastic bag as protection when having their first sexual intercourse, after feeling too shy to buy a real condom.
As the plastic bag was rough and lacked elasticity and lubrication, the young couple ended up scratching their genitals to the point of bleeding.
The lovebirds underwent a thorough check-up and were prescribed with antibiotics and disinfectants for their injuries.
According to doctors, the use of plastic bags or similar household products as alternatives to condoms is strongly discouraged since such items are not designed for the function.
Thick plastic bags can scratch or even tear private parts, while thinner ones are just as damaging and are prone to break much more easily than condoms.
A recent study conducted on over 2,700 undergraduates in Hanoi by Hanoi Medical University and Hanoi Medical College found that 16 percent of those surveyed claimed to have had sexual intercourse by the time of the interview.
However, only a third of these respondents said they had used a condom during their first sexual experience, while a fourth of them admitted that they found buying condoms embarrassing.
The staggering numbers may be attributed to a lack of sex and contraceptive education, a topic still considered sensitive and avoided by many parents and teachers despite it having long been a compulsory part of school curricula in Vietnam.

[jackbl]

Singapore stores’ one-each policy on iPhone 7 sales hinders Vietnamese shoppers

Vietnamese fans and dealers of Apple’s latest flagship smartphones iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus queued for days in advance at shopping malls in Singapore, only to be let down by the store policies throughout the city allowing for only one purchase per customer.
Vietnamese fans of U.S. tech giant Apple’s smartphone duo iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, unveiled on September 7, are willing to pay the price to be one of the first to get their hands on the new gadget.
As Vietnam is not among the major markets enjoying the phone’s first shipments, set for sales to open on Friday, many Vietnamese fans have resorted to flying to Singapore days in advance to queue up for their favorite phone, or even paying extra for a dealer to do the tiring job.
By Thursday at 10 am, around twenty Vietnamese customers could already be spotted in front of a Nubox store at City Square Small in Little India District, Singapore, a day before the phone’s designated sales launch.
A Vietnamese woman at the front of the line said she had flown to the country from Vietnam’s Tra Vinh Province three days earlier and had been in line since the early morning.
She was standing next to a pink blanket laid down in the hallway which she said would be her sleeping place for the night.
At 7:50 pm the same day, 35 eager customers have lined up outside the store, 70 percent of whom were from Vietnam.

Thien Van, a Vietnamese woman in line who said she has been queuing for the phone with her sister since 8:00 am the same day, said an additional SG$300 (US$220) would be charged to those who wanted to get their hands on the new phone before 4:00 pm on Wednesday, when the stores are officially allowed to sign contracts with iPhone 7 owners.
Van said she was buying the phones to resell them to ten clients at home who had already deposited money.
When the iPhone 6 launched two years ago, Van and her husband followed a similar plan, quickly buying over 80 iPhone 6’s and reselling them for between SG$20 and SG$100 ($14.68 - $73.4) each.
The ‘hottest’ iPhone 7 in this release is the glass-backed Jet Black version, for which Apple confirmed on Wednesday that they had run out of initial inventory due to such a large numbers of pre-orders.
Many Vietnamese dealers, including trio My, Trang, and Nga, who arrived in Singapore early on Wednesday, were disappointed to find that they were only allowed to buy one phone each.
The women said they had received eight orders for the phone, so they would have to hail a taxi to another mall in Clementi, which opens sales at 11:00 am, right after buying three in Jurong.
“I hope things work out, otherwise we’ll have to buy from the black market for hundreds of Singapore dollars more for each phone,” My said.
By 9 am on Wednesday, most stores in Singapore had opened sales for the iPhone 7 after a after an earlier morning downpour finished around 7:30 am..
Early campers at some shopping malls were made to queue outside on the pavement as the mall does not allow large gathering sinside.
The price for a pink iPhone 7 in Singapore is SG$1,418 ($1,040) with an added tax of SG$93 ($68).

[jackbl]

Vietnam has more than 100,000 sex workers: ILO

Vietnam has more than 100,000 sex workers, many of whom have to work more than 12 hours a day, the Vietnamese chapter of the International Labor Organization (ILO) said Friday, citing its statistics.
Of these sex workers, some 72,000 are prostitutes, according to the ILO Vietnam figures, released at a conference held by the social evils prevention department under Vietnam’s Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.
The social affairs ministry admitted at the meeting that Vietnam has more than 160,000 establishments offering ‘sensitive services,’ with hundreds of thousands of laborers who are forced to have sex with their customers.
The ILO research was conducted via in-depth interviews with men, women and transgender people who do prostitution, as well as owners of ‘sensitive services’ and local authorities.
According to the study, women working at establishments offering prostitution have to ‘serve’ six to ten customers a day on average, with the number reaching up to 30 on peak days.
In the meantime, male prostitutes receive an average of three to ten customers a day.
Prostitutes working on the street have a smaller amount of costumers a day, no more than five.
Occupational health and safety issues
Pham Thi Thanh Huyen, national coordinator of ILO in Vietnam, said big financial burden is the main motive behind prostitution.
“Many had tried other jobs before deciding that prostitution is their best option at the time,” she added.
Among 73 prostitutes interviewed, only one said she was cheated into do prostitution.
Many sex workers have their travel controlled over, and their personal papers held by their ‘employers,’ according to the study.
The study also found that while most sex workers voluntarily take part in prostitution activities, only a few of them are able to control occupational health and safety issues.
The ‘workplace’ of those workers is mainly neat and dirty brothels in poor conditions.
Prostitutes often feel unsafe, and worry about the risks they may have to face including being raided by police, thief and violence.
As a result of unguaranteed working condition, hours-long working, slogging, and violence, the job they are doing has left bad consequences on their health.
“Many prostitutes stress and have metal problems as they feel uncomfortable with working,” Huyen said.
“They also suffer stomachache for heavily drinking alcohol, either because they are forced or choose to do so on their own accord.”
Many sex workers also have tremor as a result of having too much sex, or injures due to gang rape, Huyen added.
“We need to make sure that employers follow regulations to ensure safety, health and rights of their labors,” Dr. Chang Lee Hee, director of ILO Vietnam said.
Dr. Chang said the local labor and health inspectors play a very important role in protecting sex workers.
“They need to be trained regarding the issue and bring labors’ safety, health and rights into their plans of inspection,” he explained.

[jackbl]

HCM City restaurant accused of cheating Australian man of $30,000 in payment card fraud

An Australian tourist has recently reported that he was charged nearly AUD39,429 (nearly 30,000) for a dinner via payment card without his acknowledge in a Ho Chi Minh City restaurant two months ago.
On August 11, Caracciolo David John had dinner at Nightfall restaurant in District 1’s Thai Van Lung Street.
He paid the meal with his payment cards and after got back to his home country, the man realized he was charged with the above amount.
Le Kim Yen, his authorized representative on Saturday confirmed with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the restaurant staff deliberately swiped both of his cards multiple times.
At the time, they also asked him several times for the cards’ passwords, saying there were technical issues.
They did not provide John with any payment bill or money transfer receipt, Yen added.
“He believed and did not check his account until getting back to Australian and received an account statement from his bank,” Yen said. “He found that Nightfall swiped his cards 8 times and took the money”.
The Australian man’s authorized person confirmed again that he did not sign any bill at the time the payment was conducted at Nightfall.

According to lawyer Truong Xuan Tam who represents Caracciolo David John in Vietnam, Nightfall restaurant must be responsible once the money was transferred to their account.
“We are currently not able to contact to the owner as the restaurant was moved to another location,” the lawyer said. “However, its registered business address is still valid.”

[stoneage]

Here supposed to learn what?

[Selecao]

Originally Posted by stoneage

Here supposed to learn what?

Please move your nonsense out of this thread if you are not here to support.

Thank you.