(If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS/Atom feed. Thanks for visiting! - Michael)

I’ve hit a lull in blogging, but things have been happening.

Dark Knight comes here (finally) in 2 weeks. I’m moving to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), essentially, right now. It’s ….a bit sad for me, I actually wanted to stay in Hanoi, well, I didn’t want to leave, since I just really, really love Hanoi, especially my apartment. It’s a good move for my work, and may make me happier with work, which is an extremely important part of my life.

Other:

• Went to Hue a few weeks ago for 5 days, checking out Thuan An (a beach that’s only 15km away from Hue and Lang Co, a more isolated beach town 75 km away from Hue). Very fun trip, plan to make a post on the trip with pictures…just need to get to it.
• My eldest uncle on my Dad’s side died a few days ago. I hope my Dad is doing ok. I’d met my uncle a few times, but don’t really have a connection to my relatives on both sides since I didn’t grow up nothing them. But essentially all my relatives live in Saigon, and now I’m moving to Saigon….so that’s a bit awkward and stress for me. I know for anyone reading this, you probably think I’m a bastard who doesn’t care about anyone, which I suppose is true, but most people are used to relatives and a sense of extended family. I, however, am my sister, and my parents, cousins from Indiana (1 family), and that’s it.
• My Metal Gear Solid and Hoang Thuy Linh posts, are by far, the most popular posts on this web site. I almost feel like I should upload the sex video on here to amp up this site’s page views, but that really wouldn’t be right. Incidentally, Hoang Thuy Linh is an active user of Cyworld Vietnam.(She marks her stuff private)
• It was #1 for a good amount of votes, but it was inevitable that it would fall: I’d be lying despite my grand claim that I thought it would be that good. I think it can stay top 10 over time.
• 
• Not playing basketball at all
• Don’t have a place to live in Saigon yet, which worries me, especially since I loved my Hanoi place so much, but once I’m in Saigon and accept it, I’m sure it’ll be fine.
• Top Gear is such a ridiculously good TV show. Took me forever to start watching it, but oh, is oh so very good. Just damn funny.
• Starting a English club on Cyworld, club.cyworld.vn/VNEnglish. Me and my friend Henry are joining up to help people learn English, but it’s not just on us helping people. We’re creating a club where Vietnamese students join, teach, and help each other, collaborative discussion and learning. I think it be a big success as long as there are a few dedicated people (like me and Henry) to start it off.
• Interested in the Olympics, but have not been watching
• Vietnam played the Brazil Olympic team in Hanoi right before the Olympics started. I didn’t know Ronaldinho was going to play, and that really drove up ticket prices here. I wanted to go, but didn’t. I turned up sick that day anyway. Almost a lock that it will be the only time Ronaldinho comes to Vietnam in his life.

Related posts

• Tourist Guide: Hue (Travel, Good Food, and Beaches, Oh My!) (0)
• The Dark Knight: First 6 Minutes Footage (1)
• The Dark Knight Reaches Vietnam and I Have Seen It (Finally) (0)
• Saigon It Is! (0)
• I Repeat: Dark Knight, Best Movie of All time? (0)

Some things in life are self explanatory. (this is a big post btw, lot of large images)

Take, for example, this Miss Hanoi pageant, sponsored by my buddies at Cyworld Vietnam.

If you’re reading this and in Hanoi, come out this Saturday to Dai Hoc Hanoi, 05/31.

Just print this ticket out and get in:

Back to the ladies, here are some of the hottest young things in Hanoi:

(For much, much more hotness, visit www.cyworld.vn/misshanu, the official site for the pageant, or you can check out my pics)

Click on the pics for the full size versions.

Ao Dai Competition/Evening Gown:

Community Outreach:

Talent Show:

Swimsuit Competition:

Other:

Videos:

I’ll be amazed if you actually got this far down and decided to read my text for the rest of the post, but having a chance to observe some of the competition behind the scenes, what I really like about this pageant is that it’s made up of a lot of “girl next door” types, people who are just normal girls. No one’s really a professional circuit girl, most of them are just “oh, there’s a pageant, sure!”

You could really see this in the talent show. I remember expecting some run of the mill American-style crap, but they really showed me something new, for good and bad.

The winner of Miss Hanu gets $5K USD if I remember correctly. Cyworld’s also giving out a scholarship to the Internet’s choice, so feel free to register and help a girl out.

Related posts

• Bring Out the Hot Girls of Hanoi (3)
• I Have a Basketball Jones (0)
• Vietnam National Basketball Championship to allow foreign players (0)
• The Ride Home (0)
• Thanksgiving to Me! (0)

Going to be a lot of pictures and videos coming up from the various stages of the contest coming to its MyHome soon.

I “have” to head over to Hanoi University tomorrow to check out the interview portion of the contest. Time to meet some pretty girls.

http://www.cyworld.vn/misshanu

Related posts

• Hot Girls of Hanoi Strike Back! (0)
• I Have a Basketball Jones (0)
• Vietnam National Basketball Championship to allow foreign players (0)
• The Ride Home (0)
• Thanksgiving to Me! (0)

Nice Redesign: (no, they did not pay me to post this, but I wish they had)

Related posts

• Woo! Hah! Twitter! What is it Good For? Absolutely Something! (0)
• Saigon It Is! (0)
• Moving to Saigon (And other News) (0)
• Hot Girls of Hanoi Strike Back! (0)
• CyDay And Cyworld! (0)

You can see some of the pictures in the “New Photos” sidebar widget right now, and a bunch of the better pictures are highlighted at the end of this post. CyDay was a few weeks ago but I’m back in Saigon for a few days again for work, and hopefully I can get back to Hanoi on Saturday.

CyDay was a concert hosted by Cyworld on October 6th. A lot of big stars came out: My Tam, Ha Anh Tuan, Anh Khoa, Quang Vinh, Bao Thy, Luong Bich Huu, and some other people. Nice venue, over 6K+ people (over capacity, I hear), got broadcast on BTV live, and has been viewed on VTV, HTV, etc.

• My Tam is by far the biggest star of those who performed, she’s one of the biggest stars in Vietnam. She’s good looking, but a lot shorter than you’d think. (I’m not tall at any means at 5′6, she’s probably around 5 feet-ish. She also looks a lot older (than she should?) I look younger than my age (26) but she’s younger than me, and I would never think she was my age or younger. Her performance was good, you can tell why she’s a star. She closed off the show, and the event organizers had balloons drop from the ceiling to celebrate. Cool effect, not sure how they got the balloons to drop (balloons are hung on a horizontal string line, and then they started dropping off one by one. Other times, from sporting events, I just see that things are dropped as if a hatch opens up and stuff empties out.
• Ha Anh Tuan’s a relative new comer, he won Vietnam’s version of American Idol last year. (There’s also Vietnam Idol now, fully licensed from American Idol)
• Quang Vinh’s an emerging pop-star, has an Elvis-ish look to him. His look is a bit quirky, not sure how to really explain it, he’s got the long sideburns. I know the girls like him. A good performer and a nice guy from what I’ve heard.
• Bao Thy’s another emerging star- former model turned singer. Turned popular after winning the Miss Audition contest. Audition is a super popular PC dance rhythm game that originated in Korea. I think it was supposed to be released by Acclaim in the US, but not sure about its current status. She can’t sing very well, and she isn’t the greatest performer, but she was pretty ok in the concert once she was at “concert” level Bao Thy.
• Anh Khoa was the first act, but he’s a good performer as well. Very entertaining, more of a rocker…to bad he didn’t have a real rock band behind him. I guess Vietnam is not so ready for him yet, but I can imagine him being bigger if live rock catches on here.
• Luong Bich Huu, I wasn’t a fan of at all. Her wardrobe, or her pajamas, her songs, not sure why she’s popular. She came off like a 12 year old to me, but I think she and Bao Thy are both 19. Anyway, everyone has their own preferences.

Other Notes:

• Vietnamese people in front don’t stand for concerts. Very unlike America. There’s just a layout of seats throughout. They did get rowdy thought at certain moments. The MC’s did a great job of getting the crowd involved, though this came mainly from the front.
• I obtained some tickets for family, kind of nice thing for them not see what I do (not easy to describe), but that I’m connected to a legit operation. Too bad parents couldn’t attend. Mom’s side couldn’t attend either, they were rebuilding their house or something. I still haven’t visited them since I left the US over a year ago.
• In the afternoon activities, the agency has Wii Sports running along with Dance Dance Revolution. Interesting “cameo” appearance/reminder from the RedOctane days.

Related posts

• Saigon It Is! (0)
• One of My Favorite Photos of Me (0)
• Music Industry: Are Musicians Getting The Shaft From Guitar Hero? (0)
• Moving to Saigon (And other News) (0)
• Hot Girls of Hanoi Strike Back! (0)

I’ll be in Saigon over the weekend- Cyworld is doing a big concert event to help promote its service and I have an invite. Should be a lot of fun. Will take pictures and show off. They even have My Tam!

The details:
Saturday, October 6: Cyworld CyDAY live-concert with My Tam, Ha Anh Tuan, Anh Khoa, Quang Vinh, Bao Thy, Luong Bich Huu, and others.

Be a nice cultural experience, something I need more of, just been so busy with work. At the same time, I need more cultural experiences to be better at work. The irony.

Related posts

• Moving to Saigon (And other News) (0)
• Office rental rates in Ho Chi Minh City, San Jose, other cities (0)
• Hot Girls of Hanoi Strike Back! (0)
• Finding Housing in Saigon [Fail] (2)
• Cyworld Vietnam Looking Good (2)