SaigonNezumi.com

Last Tuesday as some you are aware, I was involved in a motorbike accident on Nguyen Dinh Chieu street in District 1.  I was riding along parallel with my ‘work permit’ service agent’s motorbike.  As we stopped at the intersection, another motorbike passed right between us.  Unfortunately for him, he lost control of his overweight motorbike and ran into my handle bar.  The next thing I know I was using my right leg to keep both of our motorbikes from hitting the ground.

That was my mistake.  I should have let my motorbike fall and I would have had little injury.  Instead, my right calf took the brunt of his motorbike impacting my motorbike.  He luckily was able to pass with no injury.  Since he REALLY looked guilty, I let him go.  I was fine but I knew I would get some really bad bruises which appeared today after 5 days.

My right calf is still sore but recovering.  I did not do any lower body this week but was able to attend kendo last Thursday.  The bruise will be there for a couple of weeks (unless I can find some leaches).  What is really funny about this accident is that many of my Vietnamese friends do not believe I was in one.  For some odd reason, people here think bruises appear suddenly and do not realize that it can take days to appear.  Well, here are the proof now

For the last couple months now, one of my neighbors started to renovate their house.  Since they had no place to part their motorbikes, they decided that the front of my house could be a great location.  In normal circumstances, I would not mind.  In the past, each of my neighbors rebuilt their houses so they had no choice but to park their motorbikes in the area near my front door.  They ALWAYS made sure that the motorbikes were moved when my housemate and I needed to leave our house.

This neighbor would not get the similar treatment from me or my neighbors.  For one, in the last 4 years that I lived here, the old lady from the renovated house always went through our trash.  At times, she would not even clean up the mess she made.  To make matters worse, the children from this house would steal my mail, open it and return it later.  I received many “opened” letters.

Hence, when they started to block my front entrance, I would let them know I was not happy.  Several times they found their motorbike in the middle of the alleyway.  It was not just me that did this, my other neighbors would take their motorbike from the front of my house and move it to the middle of the alleyway.  This makes it easier to thieves to steal them.

Nope, after two months they never learned but at least now when they see me, they run.

We are all wondering where they got the money to build their new house.  I suspect they may have been responsible for the stolen motorbikes the last couple of years in my alleyway.  There is a chance they also stole my black cat nearly two years ago as well.

It looks as if their house is nearly finished so I can get my free entrance back again…

(I was trying to leave my house)

(When I came home)

(Russian Tortoise – Image Source: Wikipedia)

The other day I was surfing online which somehow brought me to the Wikipedia article on Russian Tortoises.  It brought back memories of the 1990s in Seattle.  As a student at the UDub, I actually owned 3 Russian Tortoises.  I think I bought my first two in 1993 if I remember right.  I had a UV lamp and made a small pen for my two tortoises I named Gorby and Tatiana.  An older Russian tortoise, Katya, joined the duo later.

Russian tortoises are quite easy to take care of.  I just fed them bok choy and romaine lettuce everyday.  During long weekend trips, I could leave them in my pen with a head of romaine lettuce.  For longer trips, my gymastic’s coach and his girlfriend would take care of them.

These guys are fun.  I let them roam my room when I am home.  You will be amazed at how much water their bladder can hold.  If they are scared, they can soak an entire pant leg which has happened to me on one occasion.  Most of the day they just soak under the UV lamp.  At nights, I would turn the UV lamp off at which point my tortoises would start to burrow underneath my wood chip bedding.  Since they were in my room, it would be annoying to hear their feet scraping on the wood floor of their pen but I think I got used to it.

Sadly in 1996, I had to sell them back to the pet store owner who sold them to me 3 years earlier.  I moved into an apartment complex that did not allow pets of any kind including fish.  I lost contact of my gymnastic’s coach so I had to let Gorby, Tatiana and Katya go.  Yeah, I do miss them.

Ironically, in the summer of 1998 which I was serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Karatau, Kazakhstan, some Kazakh students brought a couple Russian tortoises to me.  It turns out that in the Karatau area, there are many wild Russian tortoises.

In Vietnam, though, I have not seen any.  They are not as popular as the turtle.

Watch some funny YouTube videos on Russian Tortoises.

I really like this video by Shahzoda, a famous singer from Uzbekistan.  Shahzoda puts some Islamic influences in her videos which tell a good story.  Enjoy this video:

Last Friday was the official Grand Opening Party at the Hard Rock Cafe Ho Chi Minh City.   Last month was the soft opening.

Leon Sikes, the Managing Partner at MNG Joint Venture Partnership, and I were given invites by the Viet Thai International Joint Stock Company, or VTI for short.  For those of you that do not know, VTI is the owner of Highlands Coffee, and the master investor for Hard Rock Cafe HCM.  MNG, which focuses on global commerce and trade, intends to distribute Highland products in Turkey with hopes in expanding to the Central Eurasian region.

Since Leon and I did not have our invitation passes, Derick from VTI walked us in.  Once inside, I forgot I was even in Vietnam.  They did an amazing job with the interior of this Hard Rock Cafe.  Since it was the grand opening, the drinks and appetizers were free.

Hard Rock Cafe HCM was a bit packed since there were actually two parties, the 6 PM and the 9 PM (for VIPs).  At 9 PM, the early group just stayed, I would not have left either.  Run-DMC was the star of the grand opening.  If you did not get an invite, you really missed a great party.

Hard Rock Cafe HCM is definitely the place to go to hang out, have a drink and listen to good much in Saigon.  Actually, I would say it beats all the other clubs in Saigon now.

Photos and 1 video below.  Sorry, I used my G1 Google Phone so the picture quality is a bit lacking.

(Hard Rock Cafe HCM from the front of the Intercontinental Hotel)

(Entrace of Hard Rock Cafe HCM)

(First band playing)

(Run-DMC playing)