Showing posts with label Vietnam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vietnam. Show all posts
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Oy Choy Oy!!
Vietnam pictures - Two rounds, seven weeks, lots of soup, tailored clothing, numb bum and stolen shoes. Loved it.
Not too much editing going on, so there are a lot of shots in a few of the albums. Here they are - well, about half of them at least.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jeremy.buddress
Not too much editing going on, so there are a lot of shots in a few of the albums. Here they are - well, about half of them at least.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jeremy.buddress
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Booty Call
Ever since we got to Bali we've been working to control our urges when it comes to buying the crap out of all of the knock-off and pirated goods we've come across. From Billabong t-shirts to fake Zippos to Fau-lexes to Oakleys, Lonely Planet guidebooks, DVDs and CD and on and on... With the exception of some real artwork that we got in Bali and a few $3 t-shirts, we've kept it pretty well in control. That is until we got to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. From everything you read in the guidebooks this is the capital of copies. The number one for knock-offs. The front runner of forgeries.
We had heard about the pirated DVDs, CDs and software that go for next to nothing. I got the urge to pop into one of the DVD/CD stores while we were wandering around the streets near out guesthouse in Saigon one night. I was skeptical at first. On a previous pop-in to a shop in Bali, the Valkyrie DVD that was for sale, prior to the movie even being released, while of good quality only had the first chapter in English. The rest of the movie was actually in German, much to the contradiction of the shopkeeper and the DVD packaging. No, really, sir. That's not English. Whatever, that was Bali, this is Vietnam – they take this pirating stuff seriously here!
So in we went to browse the new release wall. Wow, look at that – I don't remember half of these movies even being released yet. The concerns with the pirated movies, aside from them being “pirated” (hey, when in Rome, eh?) are that they could be in a foreign language, they could have been filmed by some dude who snuck into a theater with his tripod and a camcorder or of course they may just not work. One of the guys working in the shop even let us know that we shouldn't buy Inkheart or one other movie as they were filmed in the theater and weren't actual copies of the original DVD. Fortunately this shop had four TVs and DVD players so that you could test all of the movies you were interested in buying. We quickly had an arm load so I went over and started checking them out. Much to my initial surprise, everything worked great. So while I tested away, Courtney turned one arm load into several. Round one racked up close to 60 DVDs for somewhere around $50. Sweet!
Of course now that we were seasoned film buyers our antenna were up and eyes open for more opportunities. Shop two came a few days later and jackpot, this place had box sets. Yes! They have Lost Seasons 1-4!! We're back in action! Round two rolled up half a dozen box sets of our favorite and soon to be favorite TV shows along with a few more movies. I think stop brought in another 30 or so discs. On our last day in town we wandered through one of the local markets in search of a dust mask to wear during our Mekong Delta motorcycle tour. But hey, what's that? A DVD stand? Ok, I think the entire Sapranos series and every single James Bond movie ever made should be bought for $15. Just to round out the collection... We found 40 or so CDs that we “needed” to add to the collection too.
Ok, we got the loot. But crap, it's heavy. And since the mini laptop doesn't have a DVD player, we don't actually have a way to watch them. Time to find the post office. This is where our new found elation over discount goods starts to go downhill. “No DVD!” says the man at the post office counter. After a bit of further inquiry and additional confusion, it was clear that for some reason?!?! they do not allow you to mail home the knock-off DVDs. Good thing our crack research department caught onto that one before we had our stack fulls bought and paid for. Ok, I guess we'll just have to carry them for a bit.
On to Cambodia we will head, then straight to the Fed Ex office. As we rolled up to the airport in Saigon, we wondered if we were going to run into any issues getting through Vietnam or Cambodian customs. The answer would be yes, we would. Quickly we check in and get the bags on their way to the plane. Our big mistake, we've decided, is lingering at the adjacent airport map to find the restaurants instead of getting as far away from our bags as possible. Because out comes one of the customs officials to bring us back for a security check on our bags. Sweeeeeeet.
You have DVD?
Yes.
Take out.
Ok.
Oooohhhhhh. That way to many.
Ok.
Copy. Too many. You pay fine.
?????
$50.
$20?
$30.
Ok. Here.
Pack your bags. Have a nice day.
Let's go.
The unabridged version of this conversation had much analysis of the “officials” document (which was in Vietnamese, no English version available for some reason) explaining the rules about pirated DVDs and Courtney's defiance that our “fine” was way too much. Pretty sure the $30 went into the guys pocket, but hey, we still have our new DVD collection in hand. Let's see if we have better luck getting them home from Cambodia. Movie night at our place when we get home!
And no, we did not actually get Booty Call, though it was one of Jamie Foxx's finest 90 minutes. Right up there with Ray in my opinion.
March 12th Edit: The handy UPS tracking number has at least let us know that our package home with said DVDs has made it into the US. Let's hope the calls that my brother and Eleissa are having with US Customs officers about “contraband materials” that are being sent to their house are going well...
April 18th Edit: Well, apparently today was D-Day. It would appear that UPS has destroyed our package for fear of counterfeit DVDs being released on the public and creating chaos. We are so f'n pissed that the pretty much ignored our requests to remove the questionable goods and send on the rest of the package. Here come the nasty-grams!! I guess I'd better re-up my Fed Ex and DHL accounts. Anyone know a good lawyer?
We had heard about the pirated DVDs, CDs and software that go for next to nothing. I got the urge to pop into one of the DVD/CD stores while we were wandering around the streets near out guesthouse in Saigon one night. I was skeptical at first. On a previous pop-in to a shop in Bali, the Valkyrie DVD that was for sale, prior to the movie even being released, while of good quality only had the first chapter in English. The rest of the movie was actually in German, much to the contradiction of the shopkeeper and the DVD packaging. No, really, sir. That's not English. Whatever, that was Bali, this is Vietnam – they take this pirating stuff seriously here!
So in we went to browse the new release wall. Wow, look at that – I don't remember half of these movies even being released yet. The concerns with the pirated movies, aside from them being “pirated” (hey, when in Rome, eh?) are that they could be in a foreign language, they could have been filmed by some dude who snuck into a theater with his tripod and a camcorder or of course they may just not work. One of the guys working in the shop even let us know that we shouldn't buy Inkheart or one other movie as they were filmed in the theater and weren't actual copies of the original DVD. Fortunately this shop had four TVs and DVD players so that you could test all of the movies you were interested in buying. We quickly had an arm load so I went over and started checking them out. Much to my initial surprise, everything worked great. So while I tested away, Courtney turned one arm load into several. Round one racked up close to 60 DVDs for somewhere around $50. Sweet!
Of course now that we were seasoned film buyers our antenna were up and eyes open for more opportunities. Shop two came a few days later and jackpot, this place had box sets. Yes! They have Lost Seasons 1-4!! We're back in action! Round two rolled up half a dozen box sets of our favorite and soon to be favorite TV shows along with a few more movies. I think stop brought in another 30 or so discs. On our last day in town we wandered through one of the local markets in search of a dust mask to wear during our Mekong Delta motorcycle tour. But hey, what's that? A DVD stand? Ok, I think the entire Sapranos series and every single James Bond movie ever made should be bought for $15. Just to round out the collection... We found 40 or so CDs that we “needed” to add to the collection too.
Ok, we got the loot. But crap, it's heavy. And since the mini laptop doesn't have a DVD player, we don't actually have a way to watch them. Time to find the post office. This is where our new found elation over discount goods starts to go downhill. “No DVD!” says the man at the post office counter. After a bit of further inquiry and additional confusion, it was clear that for some reason?!?! they do not allow you to mail home the knock-off DVDs. Good thing our crack research department caught onto that one before we had our stack fulls bought and paid for. Ok, I guess we'll just have to carry them for a bit.
On to Cambodia we will head, then straight to the Fed Ex office. As we rolled up to the airport in Saigon, we wondered if we were going to run into any issues getting through Vietnam or Cambodian customs. The answer would be yes, we would. Quickly we check in and get the bags on their way to the plane. Our big mistake, we've decided, is lingering at the adjacent airport map to find the restaurants instead of getting as far away from our bags as possible. Because out comes one of the customs officials to bring us back for a security check on our bags. Sweeeeeeet.
You have DVD?
Yes.
Take out.
Ok.
Oooohhhhhh. That way to many.
Ok.
Copy. Too many. You pay fine.
?????
$50.
$20?
$30.
Ok. Here.
Pack your bags. Have a nice day.
Let's go.
The unabridged version of this conversation had much analysis of the “officials” document (which was in Vietnamese, no English version available for some reason) explaining the rules about pirated DVDs and Courtney's defiance that our “fine” was way too much. Pretty sure the $30 went into the guys pocket, but hey, we still have our new DVD collection in hand. Let's see if we have better luck getting them home from Cambodia. Movie night at our place when we get home!
And no, we did not actually get Booty Call, though it was one of Jamie Foxx's finest 90 minutes. Right up there with Ray in my opinion.
March 12th Edit: The handy UPS tracking number has at least let us know that our package home with said DVDs has made it into the US. Let's hope the calls that my brother and Eleissa are having with US Customs officers about “contraband materials” that are being sent to their house are going well...
April 18th Edit: Well, apparently today was D-Day. It would appear that UPS has destroyed our package for fear of counterfeit DVDs being released on the public and creating chaos. We are so f'n pissed that the pretty much ignored our requests to remove the questionable goods and send on the rest of the package. Here come the nasty-grams!! I guess I'd better re-up my Fed Ex and DHL accounts. Anyone know a good lawyer?
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Driving Around the World - ... and the Ugly
When we got to Vietnam we moved back over to the “correct” side of the road. This unfortunately did not make things easier. The concentration of scooters now on the road increased ten-fold. Giant 8-way roundabouts were now a part of the driving equation (“Look kids. Parliament. Big Ben.”) and traffic laws seemed even less apparent. And going back to the versatility of a scooter – holy crap! You can fit a family of six on a scooter. You can carry a years worth of groceries from Costco on a scooter. You can fit your new flat screen, building supplies, your noodle restaurant, a few bails of sugarcane or your wedding party on a scooter. Those things are amazing. My favorite was a scooter with two giant tractor tires on the back that were so heavy, the front wheel of the scooter was off the ground. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that. And it's not only the “things” that they manage to pile on the scooters, but the people. It's totally normal to see families of four riding on a single bike together. We've seen up to five, and heard many reports of six. Not to mention two adults plus a 20 kg backpack.
No way were we going to try and drive while we were in Ho Chi Minh. It's just way too crazy. We did hop on the backs of two bikes and do some day tours with a few local guides which was totally awesome! You really have to put your faith in your driver though, because if you start worrying about all of the horn honking, bumper dodging and close calls, you're not going to have an enjoyable trip. In the three days we spent on the back of the motorcycles, I don't think we ever had a really close call. Once we got to the less populated areas of Vietnam we had a go at renting a bike. It was still quite nerve racking at the beginning. You have to learn to totally ignore, while also pay complete attention to every horn honk around you. We've found that drivers in this part of the world have an involuntary reflex of their thumbs that honks the horn, approximately on pace with one's breathing. Not like at home when you have to be close to collision or really pissed to use your horn – oh no. In this part of the world it's used to say “Going straight. Going left. Going right. Speeding up. Slowing down. Sitting here still. Passing. Not passing. Honking. Hello. Here I come.” and whatever else you can think of. It's a condition that you have to experience to get used to. And while maddening at first, and for quite awhile after that, you somehow get used to it. Then again, we've never seemed to get used to the semi coming up behind us and blasting his semi horn. That still freaks us the f out. And only makes Courtney's near-deafness worse so that she hears me even less of the time. Uh-huh.
Other fun facts about driving in Vietnam – the drag race starts from stop lights. I know I mentioned it before, but here it's quite literal. The have separate, smaller sets of traffic lights for the scooters and they have timers that count down the time to the next red or green light. So when you're stopped, you start revving the engine and letting off the break about when the timer gets to three seconds, then play dodge-'em through the crisscrossing traffic that tried to make it through their green-to-red lights as they counted down to zero. Also, there are an abundance of hammock bars along most of the roads. What are these? Easy – just as they sound. Little cafes and eateries set up with mostly hammocks to lounge in, right along the side the road. You stop in, park the bike, lay back, have a coffee and relax for a while. We quickly came to find that these are a welcome break from the “numb bum” that you get after about an hour on the road. Much better than a plastic chair. We're totally getting more hammocks when we get home.
No way were we going to try and drive while we were in Ho Chi Minh. It's just way too crazy. We did hop on the backs of two bikes and do some day tours with a few local guides which was totally awesome! You really have to put your faith in your driver though, because if you start worrying about all of the horn honking, bumper dodging and close calls, you're not going to have an enjoyable trip. In the three days we spent on the back of the motorcycles, I don't think we ever had a really close call. Once we got to the less populated areas of Vietnam we had a go at renting a bike. It was still quite nerve racking at the beginning. You have to learn to totally ignore, while also pay complete attention to every horn honk around you. We've found that drivers in this part of the world have an involuntary reflex of their thumbs that honks the horn, approximately on pace with one's breathing. Not like at home when you have to be close to collision or really pissed to use your horn – oh no. In this part of the world it's used to say “Going straight. Going left. Going right. Speeding up. Slowing down. Sitting here still. Passing. Not passing. Honking. Hello. Here I come.” and whatever else you can think of. It's a condition that you have to experience to get used to. And while maddening at first, and for quite awhile after that, you somehow get used to it. Then again, we've never seemed to get used to the semi coming up behind us and blasting his semi horn. That still freaks us the f out. And only makes Courtney's near-deafness worse so that she hears me even less of the time. Uh-huh.
Other fun facts about driving in Vietnam – the drag race starts from stop lights. I know I mentioned it before, but here it's quite literal. The have separate, smaller sets of traffic lights for the scooters and they have timers that count down the time to the next red or green light. So when you're stopped, you start revving the engine and letting off the break about when the timer gets to three seconds, then play dodge-'em through the crisscrossing traffic that tried to make it through their green-to-red lights as they counted down to zero. Also, there are an abundance of hammock bars along most of the roads. What are these? Easy – just as they sound. Little cafes and eateries set up with mostly hammocks to lounge in, right along the side the road. You stop in, park the bike, lay back, have a coffee and relax for a while. We quickly came to find that these are a welcome break from the “numb bum” that you get after about an hour on the road. Much better than a plastic chair. We're totally getting more hammocks when we get home.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Doooooong... Where is my auto-mobeeeel?!?!
So, any bets on how many Dong jokes Jer will make while we're in Vietnam?
(The Dong is the official currency here. At 17,000 Dong to one USD, our bank account looks sweet when we hit the ATM.)
(The Dong is the official currency here. At 17,000 Dong to one USD, our bank account looks sweet when we hit the ATM.)
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