Ho Chi Minh Visit 28 - 30 Oct 2019

Have a snack and a Tiger beer at the 5th floor bar and I get a wonderful view of the surroundings particularly the Unification Palace in the background. 

Ho Chi Minh's own Notre Dame
Vietnam was a colony of France in the 19th Century.

Reunification Palace. The signing of the peace treaty between the North and the South and thus unifying one Vietnam in 1975 was in this historic building 

Very French Like Magazine Booths similar to the ones selling magazines and books on the left bank of the river Seine  

2 weeks ago I made a business trip to Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon) and I was impressed by the economic progress the country has made in the last 15 years. Since the terrible Vietnam war which saw the US retreat amidst accusations of many terrible atrocities committed to the Vietnamese people, the country has in the 44 years since come a long way.

Though the country is Communist ruled, the economy has opened up to many capitalist industrialists and there is a great sense of progress among the people in terms of 
standard of living and tourism is one of the key revenue generators contributing to the GDP of the country. The others being car manufacturing, textile and agrculture. 

There is a young population, many of whom are bilingual speakers, English and Vietamese Some are even trilingual, with many speaking passable Mandarin to cater to the burgeoning Chinese investors, visitors and tourists flocking to the country in the last 3 - 4 years.

Many people are hoping that Vietnam will benefit from the fallout of the Trade standoff between the 2 economic powers US and China and that is why I am also there to try to get a tiny foothold into this country of almost 70 million.

The Genius of Antoni Gaudi - Barcelona Landmarks

La Sagrada Familia Church 




 
                                                        La Padrera 

Inside La Padrera  

Park Guell  

           

                   Baroque Gothic style of La Sagrada Familia Church  

An Oasis in Bangkok - Nice Residence

A none too imposing sign outside 

I have been coming to Thailand for almost 25 years on and off mainly for business. The last 2 years, my favourite place to rest my weary head after a long day's work is Nice Residences. Situated off Sukhumvit  63, along a small soi in the Ekkamai district, it has all the simple creature comforts for a short stay in the city.

Forget 5 star elegance and pretentious in your face ostentatious faux neo classical interior designs. No bell boys, nor fancy carpets, bubble lifts, high tech gyms nor buffett breakfasts for the masses. 

This 2 star hotel offers the basic amenities which I truly appreciate :

a) Quiet oasis in the city

b) Friendly staff who recognise me by face and are very informal and relaxed.

c) Large 400 ft2 room with balcony, clean with bathtub, free wifi,aircond.

d) 24 hour gym with running and cross training machines

e) 10 m lap pool

f) Proximity to the nice pubs, restaurants offering so many types of food, Japanese, 

   Korean Western, you name it. The feeling is laid back bohemian.

    

    Super Bonus 

d) Waking up to birds chirping outside your balcony and the greenery of a large garden 

    from 2 bungalows just  next door. It is a major change to the hustle and bustle of the 

    workday and I get to chill - right in the heart of Bangkok  

The peace and quiet of the country just outside my balcony is priceless !! 

Its roughly 30 minutes by taxi (BHT 250 or so) from Suvanabhum airport to the Ekkamai District and there are many taxis, Uber vehicles and even motorcycle taxis available, moving around is never easier.Traffic in Bangkok can be erratic as is the fumes during rush hour, so its best to arrive late morning or early afternoon and check - in. 

For food and entertainment in the evenings, there are many eating establishments serving French Food, sushi, wine and cigars, a huge Don Don Donki Building with at least a dozen Japanese restaurants, numerous 7 - 11s nearby if you crave a snack. And of course the 2 must haves whenever I stay here ; 

a) The Bee Hoon Soup along Sukhumvit 63 (see previous post) 

b) Coffee and Tuna Sandwich grilled with Americano at Rocky Rooster just opposite along the Sukhumvit 63 main road.

Pool 10 m long  for dipping and just lounging around 

The best thing about Nice Residences ? The price : It is BHT 1,250 per night (or approximately S$ 55 or (US$ 38). You can't get even a capsule hotel for this price in Singapore !   

Really a super deal for small business owners like myself. Inexpensive, No fuss, clean, 

convenient accomodation right in the heart of the city. 

Its not the Ritz, nothing fancy, no buffett breakfast, the nearest BTS is almost 2 km away, so there is no good (read MBK or Siam Paragon) shopping centres nearby. The seedy bars of Nana and Soi Cowboy are nowhere in sight. 

Suits me to a "T".

The Lounge at Nice Residences 

So make a beeline to this Oasis in the City, the next time you want a change of scenery. 

 Nice Residences

 188/8 Sukhumvit 63 Ekkamai 14

 Klongtun-nua Wattana District

 Bangkok 10110, Thailand

 Tel :+662 391 5888

 www.niceresidence.net

 Email:nice@niceresidence.net

When Changing Money for Overseas Travel, choose money changer with smallest 'spread'

This might seem elementary for some, but whenever I travel overseas, and need to change a reasonable sum of money, it is better to change at a downtown money changer. The reason is that, they offer a smaller 'spread' between buying the S$ in exchange for (say) Thai Baht and when I return the remaining money can be sold back to the same exchange centre or similar for minimal loss.

For example, if I changed $1000 at today's rate, the Changi Bureau de Change gives me a rate of S$ 1 for BHT 20.8.  So for $1000 changed, I would receive BHT 20,800.

If after my short trip, and I used only credit cards and changed back the BHT 20,800. The rate they 'buy' from me is BHT 25 for S$ 1. Hence, that 20,800 would change back to S$ 832.

I would have lost $168 in the process or $18.80 for every $100 I changed to BHT and did not spend. That's 16.8 %.  A huge commission for the money exchanger.

The spread by the money changers in Changi is 25 - 20.8 or 4.2 ; 

Look at the Thai airport, for every S$ 1000 I changed, I would get BHT 21,350. So when I left Thailand and changed back, the 21,350 would change (sell BHT to get S$) 21,350 divide by 22.75 or I get back S$ 938. 

I would still lose S$ 62 per S$ 1,000 or S$ 6.2 per $100 changed. 

But the spread is less 22.75 - 21.35 or 1.4    

In this recent trip of mine, as I did not have the luxury of time (perhaps poor time management on my part), I bought Thai Baht at the Suvanabhum airport and sold Thai Baht on my return at the Suvanabhum airport before heading back. 

What's the Best Way to Save On the Exchange Rate ? 

Estimate as accurately how much I need tor the trip in cash. 

Before going on trips, if need to change money,  estimate as accurately how much you expect to spend in cash. If you spend up to 95% of the cash you convert, well then good for you. You needn't have to change back the money to your local currency. 

Go to any money changer in town 

(Chinatown People's Park Complex has many, little India too , as well as Harborfront).They should offer you a better exchange rate. That is more foreign currency to sell to you when you buy with your Singapore dollars)

Buy what you need for your trip 

They should offer you easily BHT 21.8 to BHT 22 per S$

Choose the One with the Smallest Spread

Normally they will not post the spread so clearly on the electronic board, but the spread normally is  way smaller than what the Bureau de Change or money changers offer to you at the Changi Airport terminals. Choose the Money Changer with the Smallest Spread.  They are all quite competitive, hence the downtown changers will not deviate much from each other. 

Return to the same money changer 

Change money back to your S$ currency with the same exchange which offers smallest spread. This way you can pare the loss if you need to change back to S$ currency.  

  

Bangkok Sukhumvit 63, 112 / 3 Best Soupy Bee Hoon : My Review

The exterior of this non discrepit shop is almost non existent for tourists 

I am a sucker for a nice bee hoon (while vermicelli) soup, and there has been none finer of late than this little coffee shop, located along Sukhumvit 63. I will post the actual address below.

The bee hoon bowls come in 2 sizes Small and Large. Fresh from a short trip to Thailand, I tried the small bowl for 60 Bath (or about S$ 2.80 or US$ 2.20). The vermicelli was very soft yet springy and the condiments were spring onions, some shallots,  minced pork and there was fried pork dumplings, pork balls and some fish cake. 

The soup pork bone broth was rich and very tasty.  with spring onions, pork bone stock, some minced pork  

The owners are a husband and wife team probably in their '40s.

Today, I ordered the large bowl of bee hoon t'ng (soup) and was very pleased at the offerings (see below). Some tau foo (bead curd), pork ball, fish cake, fish ball, a streamed dumpling, a fried dumpling, minced pork, shallots, spring onions - the works.

It was springy yet soft and very flavourful. The spring onions were freshly cut and the dumplings were all cooked very recently. There is some fish sauce added to the soup to make it an extremely tasty offering for breakfast or lunch. The large bowl costs Baht 70 or S$ 3.50 (US$ 2.80) but very satisfying to say the least. 

The Piece de Resistance 

My Review

Taste      : 4.8 / 5

Location :  Subjective

Price      :  4.5 / 5  (OK, I am biased but the large bowl can fill your lunch cravings)

Service   :  4 / 5  

Overall  Value :  4. 4 / 5  (Excellent)


Bee Hoon Soup (Sukhumvit 63 , Ekkamai district, nearest BTS Ekkamai station)

112 / 3 Sukhumvit 63 
Opposite Don Don : Donki BUilding.

Try it and see for yourself 

Jiminez to the rescue for Wolves against Arsenal

The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. More and More like Fiction to Me.

"The four riders on white, red, black, and pale horses symbolizing pestilence, war, famine, and death, respectively."  Rev. 6:2–8.

In the book of Revelations in the Bible, the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalype namely 

a) pestilience
b) war
c) famine
d) death

would signal the end of time. As we enter bravely into the 3rd millennium after the birth of Jesus Christ (AD 2020), the 4 Horsemen look more and more like 4 fictional characters from the latest Pikachu or Cosplay movie.

War
With the multipolar world, the world has mitigated the threat of war. Yes, there are numerous countries with nuclear capability, however, that scenario in itself is a no-win game. If we go down that path, it is Mutually Assured Destruction. The probability of this happening is quite low, I would assume.

Wars are still fought on regional and sectoral levels. However, the art of diplomacy has replaced the threat war. The winner takes all the riches as in the Game of Thrones or in the past is no longer relevant nowadays. Wars are namely fought mainly for independence of the unique peoples and not to gain riches of the enemy as in the past.

Famine
The world is facing an obesity and diseases related to obesity are much more than compared to famine. Thanks to the efforts of many courageous NGOs and the United Nations, there are  more people dying from obesity and high blood pressure than from starvation. That is a fact now.

Pestilence  
The advancement of medicine and the swiftness of the frontline doctors and scientists in finding cures, for diseases such as the SARS, bird 'flu and others gives me confidence that another pandemic on the scale of the Black Death in Europe and parts of Asia is highly unlikely to occur.

Thanks to almost 200 years of genuine advances in medicine and science, most of these diseases caused by virues and bacteria are well under control.  

SUBNOTE : Today is 27th March 2020. The world is in the throes of a Global Pandemic called Covid 19. I admit I was too optimistic in saying that Pestilence is well under control. So, given time perhaps by the end of the year, we will have the vaccine. By that time, the world as we know it will have changed totally in the way people meet, entertain and communicate. 

So I am wrong on this count ! 

Death
Everyone succumbs to death. However, as the world is becoming more automated and the convergence of human and bioengineering. DNA and Genome sequencing are will become very mainstream as a result, we will have super or Alpha humans who will be living  much longer and healthier lives. People who are born today in developed societies with the advancement of medicine, proper nutrition and exercise, can expect to live well past 100 years of age.

Japan is one such rapidly aging society. 


The 4 Horsemen ? Well, its time they rode off into the sunset just all those comic characters whose time and relevance have gone. 

They wont be missed.  Really. 

14th March 2020 Addendum - Pestilience 

I was wrong on this count ; we are now in the midst of a global Pandemic called the Covid 19. While the mortality rate of this as a percentage of the infected remains low (about 2 - 3 %), the rate of transmission and the scale of escalation of this Coronavirus is unprecendeted in modern times. 

At the time of writing, there are over 140,000 cases and mortality globally of 3.2% of the infected. There are close to 80,000 who have recovered fully and this is indeed an encouraging sign. 

The only thing to fear is fear itself and we must keep calm, wash our hands often, don't touch our faces, practice common sense and social distancing  to keep our mental spirits up and wait for a vaccine which will surely come sooner rather than later.

Israel's Government Migal Galilee Research Institute is about to begin production of a coronavirus vaccine for the COVID 19, although the general population will only get one probably in 6 months earliest.

So, we had better learn to live with the risk of infection and stay as healthy and strong both physically and mentally possible.

Carpe Diem !!