Heading to work at the moment and checking out a combination of things. I’ll try to write more in detail about each of these things at a later time.
Nokia E71 on Mobifone 3G
Wordmobi application for E71 – lets you write new posts and manage your blog posts on your E71. That’s what I’m using now.
Nokia Location Tagger with Photo – if you have 3G, you can use Tagger to take a photo and tag it with your coordinates.
That’s this: (taken over the Saigon Bridge, looking at Saigon Pearl)
VOILA! Done in 15 mins.
Posted by Wordmobi
Tags: e71, nokia, plugins, Wordmobi, wordpressI’m back from KL! (see my earlier post http://www.ispithotfire.com/2010/03/19/going-to-video-games-live-kuala-lumpur/)
Here’s me at the Video Games Live concert in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday:
And here’s renown composer (and VGL co-founder/emcee/host) Tommy Tallarico with Norihiko Hibino, composer extraordinaire of every modern-gen Metal Gear Solid game except the Playstation original:
There was also Jack Wall (well known for composing the Mass Effect series) and Laura Intravia there, alongside the Malaysia National Symphony.
It was a good show. Jimmy had a blast, and Bobby and Ed said they enjoyed themselves despite not necessarily being big fans of gaming, though Bobby used to be a World of Warcraft whore.
I had more of an interesting view of it all. I felt like I could have enjoyed it more. Not necessarily that the performance could have been better, but maybe I didn’t get the best of it. Yes, despite sitting in the first row.
I’m a whiner.
Here are the notes:
See all the pictures in my Smugmug gallery:
About a month ago, over the April 30 holiday, I went to Nha Trang for a few days for relaxation.
Nha Trang is a beach city about an hour flight away from TPHCM. When you’re getting there by plane, the trip into the city is quite pleasant as the roads are good and not crowded. It reminds me of getting to Kuala Lumpur from the airport by taxi, and it’s definitely much nicer than going into TPHCM or Hanoi. One thing to note is that it rains a lot in Nha Trang; both of my trips there have been filled by rain, despite being during two different times of the year.
I stayed at the Green Hotel for about $60 a night. That’s a bit expensive for me, but overall, the room was good. Their breakfast buffet (included with the room), however, is terrible.
Regarding food, as I write this, I can’t really remember where I ate or find my receipts to give recommendations. If I find the information later, I’ll just add it to the comments or edit the post, but if you ask a taxi driver where all the seafood restaurants are, they should take you along a long stretch of road near the beach. There’ll be a number of restaurants, and that’s where you’ll find Muoi Do (the name translates to “10 Dollars”), a great seafood joint where locals go (it’s the most crowded). Good pricing, and they can cook- it was the best of the four restaurants we went to for seafood, and no more expensive.
Here’s more about the various things you can do in Nha Trang:
The Thap Ba Hot Springs with its Mud Baths are one of the key attractions to the city, both for Vietnamese and foreigners. Brochures for the springs claim that it has been certified by the government for its health benefits and at about $13 USD per person for the basic mud bath, it’s interesting enough to try. You can lay in a warm mineralized mud solution (it’s definitely mud) that’s been soaked in the natural spring water of the area for about 30 minutes to let the minerals sink in, supposedly improving arthritis, skin, and a bunch of other things- basically, it’s supposed to do you some good. Whether it does or not, I won’t argue that, but it is nice and relaxing. If you’d like to spend more money (I did), you can get a spa treatment (getting both the spa and mud bath runs close to $30 USD per person) in which you get to lie in a spa tub filled with mineral water after the mud bath. You also get a foot massage as part of the deal. Overall, I liked it, but I wouldn’t come to Nha Trang just for that. It’s something unique, though, and is nice if you’re in Nha Trang already with the goal of relaxation.
2) Island Tours and Beaches:
Nha Trang, despite being a popular beach destination, does not have good beaches. Even going to separate island beaches, there’s nothing like what you will find in Thuan An or Lang Co near Hue. There are a number of companies offering one day tours, you’ll probably see brochures at your hotel.
3) Scuba Diving:
Scuba Diving, unlike the beaches, is a good reason to come to Nha Trang. There are number of PADI-certified services and you can get quality instruction and even become licensed yourself for relatively (compared to the US) cheap rates. This is the one thing I wanted to do on the trip but couldn’t, mainly because of the rain. There are a quite a few different companies offering their services there, and I suggest walking around downtown to find the right one for you, but here’s one website: Scuba Zone
4) Vinpearl:
Vinpearl is an island resort off of Nha Trang that combines amusement park, water park, and hotel resort in one. Unless you want to stay at the hotel (over $100+/night), you can get to the island by taking the world’s longest over ocean cable car for 300K VND ($17 USD). That may sound a bit expensive for Vietnam, but once you’re over there, you have access to everything for free, excluding the normal food and shopping.
That’s not too bad at all, but at $17 per person, you’re definitely touching upon the Vietnamese middle class.
Vinpearl is a great place for a families. It’s clean (the water park, anyway, if not the arcade) and reasonably safe. At the same time, I can’t recommend being there for more than 2 days, and I personally think one full day is more than plenty. Do be prepared for a lot of walking, however.
At Vinpearl you’ll have access to:
See more pictures from my trip below or go straight to my gallery on Smugmug:
Lately, some friends (Hai and Jimmy Thong Tran) and I have started playing basketball every Thursday in District 11. It’s basically my one social activity (work doesn’t count) each week, a fun session from 6:30 to 8PM (the courts are lit at night) followed by dinner together. We’re usually joined by a few of their coworkers, and I’m basically the only one who doesn’t work with them, but it’s been a good time. I’m hoping we’ll find a couple of more people so we can start doing full court runs- maybe that will force me into better shape as I’m a really lazy player.
The competition seems pretty good. We haven’t played other groups directly, but I can tell we’d find some good game (and size) if we did. You can see some of the action in the photos in this post, though none of them are of us since, well, we were playing. There are at least 3 or 4 full sized courts, and you’ll see teams come by and run practice there; I assume these are local high school and university teams, but I’ve heard companies (probably foreign based) have teams too.
The court in District 11 is actually quite nice, outdoors and quite comfortable to play in. It’s part of a sports complex, and I’ve noticed there are a few of these around the city, including one in District 1. People can come and reserve courts and mini-football (soccer) fields; our half court costs about $6 USD for the one and a half hours, definitely reasonable if split among the group. You can use the restrooms for 1000 VND (6 cents).
If you want to check it out, ask for the San Thi Dau (Basically Competition Court/Arena/Field) in Quan 11 on Ly Thuong Kiet. The courts are on the right side of the complex, but I think if you’re going down on Ly Thuong Kiet, you just go straight and you’ll see the courts on the left.
That’s me, in the black suit last Saturday night. I’m a VIP at a beauty pageant for university students, a Miss something. When this picture was taken, I had just nervously placed shrouds or ribbons or whatever they’re called on some of the pretty girls you see pictured.
Jealous?
The Vietnamese love beauty pageants. There almost always seems to be some going on around the country at all times (People even run their own on forums and social networks). Many are run by university student associations (which are controlled nationally by the government), and this was actually the second one of those I’d been to this year, in that same building, and the third I’d been to in Vietnam over the last calendar year.
While the idea of looking at pretty girls for a few hours sounds good in concept, it really isn’t. I’d characterize these pageants as:
I doubt you’re jealous about my VIP status, and nor should you be. It’s a long show, where you feel for the girls, but also hate why there are so many things wrong with the pageant itself. I happened to be a VIP because my company helps sponsor/organize these pageants with universities throughout Vietnam and on Saturday, I had to represent the company to give prizes to some of the winners and have my picture taken.
See below for more pictures, and click here to go directly to the album.
I haven’t had a particularly glamorous first 3 months of 2009. I am now the scary old age of 28 (though I may look younger), and I’m still working with the same company I was before when I first settled in Vietnam over two years ago.
And the pictures above, starting upper left going clockwise:
That really is basically it for this year so far, see everything else here.
Tags: Photos 
This was before Guitar Hero was a huge smash, before it was even released.
Guess who I am? (I stand out)
For some reason, I don’t see Kyle in this.
Been a while since I’ve worn that shirt too, only reserve for when I don’t mind really standing out (I’m such a bastard). There’s also a side story about this picture that I was thinking of telling about this soon. Like any good story, it involves women.
Tags: guitar hero, Photos, playstation, redoctane, Video GamesWent out with [[Jimmy]], Thuy, Hai, and Hung for New Year’s Eve (Giao Thua in Vietnamese) here last night, first stopping by Hai’s for Texas Hold Em (I played for the first time and got lucky enough to earn 200K VND net on my 100K VND initial buy-in) and then later going off to Ho Tay for fireworks.
The fireworks view was pretty awesome; we ended up almost directly under them. Debris from them actually landed on me a few times (very small bits, don’t worry), definitely the closet and best view of fireworks I have ever had.
Go Vietnam!
Now, for the next few days, Rock Band, video gaming, and rides around the empty streets of Hanoi. I’m off for 6 days.
Pics:
| Location: | Viet Nam, Soc Son |
| Activity: | Agriculture |
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