By Locals, for Locals 6/2017. (nhiều tác giả) Ấn phẩm chuyên quảng cáo - Phát hành miễn phí

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1 By Locals, for Locals 6/2017 (nhiều tác giả) Ấn phẩm chuyên quảng cáo - Phát hành miễn phí

2 #iamhcmc Editor s note Editorial 2. Editor s Note #iamhcmc By Locals, For Locals Features 3. This Month in #iamhcmc 4. A Day at the Wet Markets 6. Beyond Ben Thanh: HCMC s Specialty Markets 8. Saigon s Shopping Streets 10. Tropical Dreams: Buying Plants 11. How Not to Kill Your Orchid 12. Saigon Souvenir Guide 14. Artisanal Vietnam: Embroidery 15. Artisanal Vietnam: The Ao Dai 16. Artisanal Vietnam: Lacquerware 18. Zen and the Art of the Handcrafted Good 20. Passion for Fashion: Designing in Saigon 22. Needle Masters: Top Bespoke Tailors in HCMC 24. Finding the Perfect Fit: Expat Shopping in Saigon 25. Apartment Boutiques in HCMC: Hidden Fashion Gems 26. Shop with a Purpose: Mekong Quilts 27. Ways to Join the Retail Bonanza 29. Want a Ride? What to Look for in a Bike 30. Plastic Ocean: Shopping Bags in HCMC 31. Convenience Store Culture: What Have We Lost? 36. Closing Time: DIY in Saigon s Music Scene 38. Exploring the Nine Dragons: The Mekong Delta RECIPE OF THE MONTH 32. Spring Rolls with Fruit & Matcha ADVERTORIALS 28. i-megane Glasses 33. Annam Gourmet Market 34. Pendolasco: Pioneering Pizza 35. Take a Bite Out of Suoi Tien s Fruit Festival 37. Thursdays Just Got Better at Lush: Latin Nights & Third Thursday MEET THE EXPERT 17. Ly Sang and the Art of Porcelain Editor s note When friends in other countries ask me what it s like to live in Vietnam, sometimes I joke, It s kind of like living in a gigantic marketplace. Yes, we all laugh, but look around you: once you step outside your door, chances are someone within eyesight will be trying to sell you something, be it food, coffee, fans or a little bit of everything. Saigon is a city with a sales pitch. But what we at #iamhcmc love most about shopping in this city, and what we ve tried to communicate in the following pages, is just how diverse it all is. Depending on your tastes, you can visit a buzzing wet market in District 5 for some fresh rambutan, a chaotic indoor market in District 1 to get your fill of cheap but somehow charming souvenirs and a sleek, air-conditioned mall in District 7 all in the same afternoon. We re all spoiled for choice in Saigon, but who s complaining? However, the diversity of shopping in Saigon, while ingrained in Vietnamese culture, is also somewhat fragile. As the city develops and neighbourhoods change, that shopping street with all the great shoes might become the next Dong Khoi; that cute apartment building boutique with the amazing jeans might be closed down in response to a government ordinance (something that s currently happening to 42 Nguyen Hue, the city s apartment boutique mecca). However, in the end, maybe it s not as grim as all that. As we spoke to shop owners, designers and entrepreneurs, a new storyline has begun to emerge. Yes, consumerism is rampant and malls are large and foreign companies are holding court in shiny plazas. But on the other hand, hand-crafted artisans are keeping traditions alive with embroidery, hand-sewn ao dai, exquisite bed linen and architectural woodworking. Vietnam is a country founded on the delicate touch of the hand, not factory lines and machines. A continuously growing segment of the shopping and selling population is recognising, embracing and cultivating this hand-crafted aesthetic. So, here s to the creative artisans of Saigon. Keep making the city beautiful! Best, Editor-In-Chief Patrick Gaveau Written Content Manager Keely Burkey Content Coordinator Arik Jahn Production Coordinator Oanh Tran Have feedback? Contact me at keely@innovo.vn Writers John Brooksbank Stephen Coyle Kristian Goodchild Jesús López-Gomez Tran Thi Minh Hieu Rob van Driesum Keely Burkey Visual Content Manager Emilio Piriz Cover Illustrator Øyvind Sveen Designers Trang Pham Tung Dinh E-NOVO CO., LTD 42/37 Hoang Dieu, District 4, HCMC sales@innovo.vn SHOPPING (nhiều tác giả) Thanh Niên Publishing House 64 Ba Trieu - Hanoi - Vietnam Tel: ( ) Publishing Liability: Director - Editor in Chief: Nguyen Xuan Truong Editor: Ta Quang Huy Licence Info: Publishing Registration Plan No.: /CXBIPH/18-77/TN Publishing Permit No.: 406/QĐ-TN Issued on 29 May 2017 ISBN: ,000 copies printed at Nhat Nam Printing House (242/16 Tay Thanh, Tan Phu District, HCMC) No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing from the publisher. 2 iamhcmc.com/gazette

3 #iamhcmc This Month in It has become this blight, and it s almost as if we can t help it. It s too convenient! Captain Charles Moore on the world s reliance on plastic products. (p.30) They care more about their children and they care more about survival. Women are key for development. Bernard Kervyn, Regional Director of Mekong+, discussing the importance of women in NGO settings. (p.28) They re kind of like clothes, right? Designer Thi To Uyen Ly, discussing the unique beauty of prawn shells. (p.20) I felt like Ali Baba opening the cave and seeing mountains of gold and diamonds. Designer Si Hoang describing his experience seeing an ethnic minority ao dai exhibition in Photos by: Lam Minh Khang Model: Thao Quyen Art Director: Nguyen Duc Dai Duong Makeup: Huu Tai (p.15) When in doubt, wait another day. Orchid grower Leonard Gines on watering practices. (p.11) Nothing in Vietnam is ever simple. Carey Zesiger, Co-Founder of Havang, on building a brand in the country. (p.29) You can t beat the rawness and enjoyment of a good old DIY gig. I make great use of Facebook to showcase my newest creations, and then the word of mouth does the rest. Designer Lee Seohyun on boutique marketing. (p.25) Punk aficionado Ben Sturdy on live music in HCMC. (p.36) 3

4 #iamhcmc SHOPPING FEATURE A Day at the Wet Markets Butchers preparing orders for customers on the spot. Without a doubt, fresh produce is the best-selling item at these markets city-wide. Transportation has never been an issue in Vietnam it isn t going to be any different at wet markets Dragon fruits and smiles make a distinctive combo. 4 iamhcmc.com/gazette

5 SHOPPING FEATURE #iamhcmc Summer Camp Summer June 19th - July 14th Camp For children 18 months to 11 years old June 19th - July 14th For children 18 months to 11 years old Would you like an artfully cut, fresh pineapple? Limited Places. Register today! (08) / Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh, Ward 22, Bình Thạnh Dist., Ho Chi Minh City Fruit and vegetables are piled on sellers tables and stools to attract customers. 5

6 #iamhcmc SHOPPING FEATURE by Arik Jahn Beyond Ben Thanh: HCMC s Specialty Markets Yersin Market (Dan Sinh Market) 104 Yersin, D1 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Whatever you re looking for, HCMC has it on offer. Where? At the city s many specialty markets! Vietnam s markets are more than just places to do shopping: they are where social exchange happens, where people meet and greet. Every market has something special to offer, be it in terms of products or atmosphere a counterpoint to the anonymous, often generic shopping malls with their repetitive stores. Markets allows tourists and expats to delve into Vietnamese culture by strolling through rows of stalls offering anything one could think of. Vietnam s best-known market remains Ben Thanh Market in HCMC, where travellers find anything from local snacks or fruits to fabrics and souvenirs. There s even a fixed-price area around the market for those who shy away from haggling. However, this market provides less of an authentic local experience: vendors are more aggressive, prices are higher and the product range is tailored to foreigners. Vietnamese do their shopping elsewhere, at one of the hundreds of markets around the city. in the lifestyle of Vietnam s hip urban youth? Then keep an eye out for the next The New District flea market in D4. Love plants? Then read our article on page 10. When it comes to specialty markets, it is often difficult to distinguish between fullblown markets and the many shopping streets that specialise in particular kinds of goods (see page 8). The following selection, however, focuses on some of Saigon s best specialty markets located in a proper market hall. They all offer products that are hard to find elsewhere. Have a stroll, soak in the atmosphere and do your shopping the Vietnamese way. Dan Sinh Market, or Yersin Market, named after the street where it s located, is less of an insider tip, but when you talk about specialty markets, it just has to be on the list. Only minutes from downtown, it offers some goods that you ll have a hard time finding anywhere else in the city mostly army gear and camping utilities, apart from electronics, kitchenware and all kinds of mechanical accessories. Entering the bunker-like building from Yersin Street, you ll find military items and war surplus on your right, while the stalls on your left offer household utilities and electric goods. Straight ahead are the tools and car accessories sections. Admittedly, not everybody might need a gas mask or military regalia like dog tags or mostly fake Zippo lighters from the American War, but if you re up for a camping trip, Yersin Market is one of the rare spots providing all the outdoor clothing, tents, sleeping bags and mosquito nets you will need. Mostly hassle-free and without the maddening crowds of many of HCMC s more well-known markets, it is definitely worth a visit. Remember to bargain. A Market for Every Occasion Do you collect antiques? Then visit the antique collectors market in Binh Thanh District every Sunday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Are you interested by Ythien7.wordpress.com 6 iamhcmc.com/gazette

7 SHOPPING FEATURE #iamhcmc for satin, silk and brocade the fabrics used for tailoring ao dai, the Vietnamese national dress. Prices are generally affordable but this is yet another wholesale market, though the stalls outside do sell retail. Foreigners are not among the usual visitors, so count on a limited level of English. Dai Quang Minh Decorations Market Chau Van Liem, D5 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Medical Market Nguyen Gian Thanh, D10 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Chinese medicine can best be found at what is called Saigon Chinese Medicine Market around Hai Thuong Lan Ong in D5, but the functional building on Nguyen Gian Thanh in D10 houses HCMC s largest market for Western medicine. Crammed with boxes, motorbikes and hundreds of pharmacies, this is your best bet to find rare medications and medical equipment that other pharmacies don t offer. Expats and tourists are likely to be the only foreigners around, and note that this is essentially a wholesale market, so if you want to purchase something, it ll have to be a whole box of it. Prices are cheaper than at regular pharmacies. Bargaining is unnecessary. Dealers don t speak English but if you show them a prescription, they will give you what you need. Soai Kinh Lam Fabric Market 545 Tran Hung Dao, D5 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. by Liêu Lãm Many markets in HCMC sell fabrics. Soai Kinh Lam Fabric Market, however, is the city s biggest fabric market with nearly 500 stalls. A special feature is that each shop sells only one kind of fabric in numerous colours, textures and designs. You can find pretty much every type of textile here, including rare ones such as velvet. The market is especially famous Dai Quang Minh Market is located in Chinatown as well, and it is a paradise for all those who love crafts and decoration. A plethora of shops selling accessories like strings, artificial flowers and ribbons awaits creative minds who are into embroidery, sewing, jewellery making, or simply need some nice strings for gift wrapping. Strolling around here is not always pleasant as the market is often crowded and not airconditioned. However, fashion designers will find lots of stylish accessories like leather strings, buttons or beads, zippers, lace fabrics and studs, and the prices are, as one would guess, highly affordable. Some shops offer fixed prices. As always in Chinatown, English is limited. Ba Hoa Food Market 30CH Tran Mai Ninh, Tan Binh District 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Ba Hoa Market is not located in a market hall, but it shows another facet of what Saigon s specialty markets can offer, as specialty foods from central Quang Nam Province are sold here. Close by Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Ba Hoa Market is the culinary home of the Quang people, which makes it the perfect destination for an authentic Vietnamese food experience. The adventurous might want to try the fried intestines with turmeric and grilled rice paper. For all the rest, we recommend the well-known central Vietnamese noodle soup, mi quang. As all products, such as fresh dairy, vegetables, meat, seafood and fruits, are imported, the prices are naturally higher than they would be for local products. Bargaining is recommended. Count on very basic English skills. 7

8 PHAN DINH PHUNG HUYNH VAN BANH To Airport Le Van Sy Market Tan Dinh Market Catholic Bishop s Conference of Vietnam LY VAN PHUC NGUYEN PHI KHANH To Train Station Tan Dinh Cathedral DINH CONG TRANG Jade Emperor Pagoda DIEN BIEN PHU BRIDGE NHIEU LOC THI NGHE CANAL LY CHINH THANG PHAN KE BINH Xa Loi Pagoda DIEN BIEN PHU CoopMart Supermarket Saigon Square 3 KOREAN STUDENT AREA HOA LU STADIUM TON THAT TUNG Coop Mart Huyen Si Church Thai Binh Market BACKPACKER AREA Little Malaysia NGUYEN AN NINH PHAN CHU TRINH Ben Thanh Market PHAN BOI CHAU LUU VAN LANG HUYNH THUC KHANG Saigon Center NGUYEN THIEP CAO BA QUAT NGUYEN SIEU LITTLE JAPAN BEN NGHE CANAL ONG LANH BRIDGE BEN VAN DON CALMETTE BRIDGE KHANH HOI BRIDGE NGO DUC KE SAIGON RIVER 8 iamhcmc.com/gazette

9 by Tung Dinh & Trang Pham SHOPPING FEATURE #iamhcmc Saigon s Shopping Streets PRODUCT STREET MAP OF DOWNTOWN PRODUCT STREET MAP OF D5 & D10 CAO THANG DIEN BIEN PHU Now Zone Shopping Mall ICONOGRAPHY Food & Entertainment Restaurant Karaoke Bar Sweet Shop Pub, Bar Coffee Shop Grocery Vegeterian Grocery Massage Parlour Art Gallery Activities & Hobbies Bookstore Music Store Stamp Store Sports Equipment Travel Agency Gifts & Souvenirs Souvenir Shop Handcrafted Goods Printed Card Store Cut Flower Shop Fashion & Decoration Fish Tank Store Interior Decor Wedding Decorations Shoe Store Leather Goods Tailor Antique Shop Jewellery Store Eyeglasses Store Kid's Clothing Furniture Store Plant Nursery Technology & Electronics Audio Equipment Mobile Store Car Dealership Auto Garage Camera Store Gaming Store Mechanical Equipment Electrical Equipment Motorbike Dealership Computer Store Moto Garage Travel & Accomodation Hotel, Inn Bus Station Patients First Making High-Quality Healthcare Accessible and Affordable With more than 10 years of experience in evidence-based medicine and serving the people in Viet Nam, Victoria Healthcare now aims to bring the benefits of preventive medicine to your lives. Rather than just treat a patient once they are sick, Victoria wants to help their patient s lead better, longer and happier lives. By developing genuine patient-doctor relationships, every doctor at Victoria creates a personalized healthcare dossier tailored to their patient s medical history and lifestyle. At Victoria Healthcare, patients can access their own electronic health records through a secure website that meets US privacy and security standards. With 3 clinics to choose from, no matter what you come to Victoria for, you can be assured of access to affordable quality care with peace of mind. Clinic 1: 79 Dien Bien Phu, D1 Clinic 2: 135A Nguyen Van Troi, Phu Nhuan District Clinic 3: Broadway D, 152 Nguyen Luong Bang, D7 Website: Phone: 24/7- (08)

10 #iamhcmc SHOPPING FEATURE by Keely Burkey Tropical Dreams: Buying Plants in HCMC Need a little green in your life? Nothing beats a houseplant. Growing plants can be one of the supreme joys of life: they purify your home s air (something not to be taken lightly in this city), they re easy to care for and, best of all, they re incredibly beautiful. After growing up on an orchid farm and working with plants for around 20 years in Hawaii and Oregon, I ve picked up a few tips. Here are a few things to keep in mind: The Good News Plants are plentiful, interesting, beautiful and cheap in Saigon. If you re used to buying houseplants in Europe or North America, you ll be pleasantly shocked by the quality and prices on offer along HCMC s streets. When I scoped out plant choices for my apartment, I checked out two streets: Thanh Thai Street in District 10 and the beginning of Nguyen Huu Tho, soon after you cross the bridge from District 4 into District 7. Both streets have dozens of similar, charming open-air plant shops just begging to be explored. Just be sure to practise your Vietnamese number skills before you go. The shop owners I met were friendly, inviting and helpful, but our English-language conversation ended abruptly at Hello. The Bad News Plants, like every other living thing on this planet, are sensitive beings and have needs. If you re used to growing plants in a different country, you ll soon find that a Boston fern in Ho Chi Minh City, luxuriating in the subtropical heat, will require different watering and light than in, say, Boston. Here s my advice: ditch the traditional European-type plants (hydrangea, basil, petunias etc.) that are better suited to Dalat and go tropical instead. Deck out your house, apartment or office with hanging pothos, dracaena and sansevieria. Here s my list of the finest flora to be had in Saigon: Fiddle-Leaf Fig This variety of fig, native to western Africa and lowland tropical rainforests, is one of the best ways to add a bohemian touch of class to your interior design. Fiddle-leaf figs have grown wildly in popularity in recent years among Western designers for their broad leaves and exotic look. They are notoriously hard to keep alive in temperate climates, but here they thrive. Be sure to water only when the soil is dry and let those big leaves soak in bright, indirect light. This will be a great indoor addition. Bougainvillea You ll see these beautiful, thorny vines growing all over Saigon, and for good reason. Their gorgeous, paper-like blooms (which should be pruned regularly to promote new, healthy growth) in all manners of colour spread casually over walls and fences. This outdoor plant will look great in any garden. If you bring home your own colour vine, here s the trick to getting it to climb: place the bougainvillea against the fence or surface you d like adorned and provide strings or wires that the vines can easily latch onto. As the plant grows, you should see the new growth climbing along the wire. Hibiscus When you think of a tropical climate, the hibiscus flower probably makes an appearance. The large and vibrant flowers are bold and delicate, and in the hot weather Ho Chi Minh City enjoys, this perennial plant blooms quite often. The hibiscus should be a strictly outdoor plant and grown in full sun and with well-drained soil. Give it a good watering about twice a week to make sure the soil is moist, but not wet. Song of India A member of the dracaena family, the Song of India is a showstopper. Its long, variegated leafy arms stretch and bend in a graceful, quintessentially tropical fashion. Seeing one of these in the corner of a living room or a patio outside is truly a joy (they can be indoor or outdoor, but they like humidity, so keep the A/C to a minimum). And here s some more good news: while they don t last long in temperate climates, here in HCMC they re easy to grow. The main thing is, like with many tropical plants, be sure not to overwater. Keep the soil moist, but not soaking. However, rethink this plant if you have pets or young children likely to chew: the Song of India s leaves are slightly poisonous. 10 iamhcmc.com/gazette

11 by Keely Burkey SHOPPING FEATURE #iamhcmc Direct access to cheap, beautiful orchids is one of the pluses of living in Ho Chi Minh City. But how do you keep them alive? Walk into any flower shop, peruse any plant market and you ll see them: dozens of varieties of vibrant orchids. If you grew up in a Western country, you re probably used to accepting the fact that a single-stem, high-quality phalaenopsis (the most popular orchid worldwide thanks to its waterfall cascade of long-lasting flowers, usually grown in varying shades of purple and white) can cost anywhere between US$25 and US$40. And a double-stem? You don t even want to know. Here, by happy comparison, you ll find a healthy phal in full bloom for a mere VND 500,000 at Flowerbox, and even cheaper depending on your haggling skills in some of the local shops on Nguyen Huu Tho in D7. In the local market you ll also find more exotic How Not to Kill Your choices, like dendrobiums, vandas, mokaras and oncidiums. But once you ve brought your tropical beauty or three home, what next? Here are a few pointers from Leonard Gines, an orchid grower with more than 30 years of experience growing Southeast Asian orchid varieties in tropical Hawaii. Step One: Become a Media Expert And by media, we mean orchid media : the stuff your orchid grows in. Depending on where you bought your orchid, it could be planted in any number of different things. You re probably best off leaving the orchid in the medium you bought it in for a while, but if you feel the need to replant it (you should, every couple of years), Leonard suggests picking up sphagnum moss, charcoal and fern shreds. Diced and dried coconut husk also works well. The main thing? Give the roots some room to breathe. Step Two: Don t Smother It! You take home an orchid, give it love by watering it every day, and before you know it, you re left with a soggy pile of yellow, dead leaves. What went wrong? You loved it too much. Overwatering is the number one cause of death to orchids everywhere. A thorough watering every week is plenty to keep your orchid fighting fit. Watering methods vary by grower: some swear by using a spray bottle to the roots and leaves daily, while others use the ice cube trick by placing an ice cube on either side of the pot so the water drizzles through the roots slowly every other day. But What About Reblooming? The effort to rebloom an orchid is, simply put, the clarion call of every orchid hobbyist. After all, who wants to enjoy an orchid s flowers for a month and then get stuck with a green plant the rest of their life? Orchid reblooms are notoriously tricky to coax, but don t lose hope! Here s Leonard s tip: The top reason orchids fail to rebloom is insufficient light. If you don t see flower spikes after your first year together, try moving the plant to a slightly brighter spot, though never into direct sunlight. This of course assumes your orchid is otherwise healthy free of pests and disease and also that you re not overdosing with fertilizer, which can supercharge growth at the expense of blooms. Your best bet will be letting it relax on a shaded patio and giving it time and space to breathe. 11

12 #iamhcmc SHOPPING FEATURE by Kristian Goodchild Saigon Souvenir Guide We combed through Saigon s souvenir stores to find you the worthwhile ones. Successful souvenir buying is a lost art to many. The knack of picking an item that embodies something unique about a place, that feels authentic and emblematic yet not too twee or stale, is a subtle skill. Vietnam is so blessed with a marvellous array of handicrafts and unique, delightful items that it can be hard to decide what to buy. So how best to go about it? What should you buy for your friends, kids or parents? Let us guide you through the best souvenirs that Saigon has to offer. Souvenirs for Friends Non La (Conical Hat) There is little more iconic and unmistakably Vietnamese than the non la straw hat. The supporting star of every Vietnamese film of the last 50 years, it is instantly recognisable and, still today, ubiquitous throughout the nation. Our advice is to seek out a market stall selling only non la, and haggle down to no more than VND 100,000 (maybe less if you re patient). Plain non la are preferable to the gaudy painted variety in tourist traps, so head out to smaller, heartland markets and rummage around with the locals for authentic hats and best prices. Propaganda Art Undeniably kitsch, stylish and relatively unattainable outside Vietnam, cold-war era propaganda art makes for an excellent souvenir. These are perfect gifts for that friend who wants a quirky addition to his Che Guevara poster. These shops abound throughout the city, mainly in touristy areas like Pham Ngu Lao and Ben Thanh. Ao Dai Traditional, beautiful, flowing ao dai are central to Vietnamese ceremonial life. Worn for weddings, festivals and formal functions, the ao dai lends majesty and grace to any wearer. They make a breathtaking gift for anyone with exotic dress sense. However, be careful: ao dai are usually made to fit, so make sure you have a rough idea of the recipient s size, and if in doubt, over-estimate: you can always get it brought in back home. Wartime Zippo Lighters Since the end of the American war, US Zippo lighters have been big business for souvenir vendors. Marked with the insignia and heraldry of the various units that served in Vietnam, they present a somewhat macabre reminder of the individuals who were sent to fight here. Back in the 80s and 90s, markets teemed with genuine Zippos, discarded by fleeing or slain troops. Today the lighters are likely to be fakes, but the effect remains the same. Pop down to Yersin Market in D1. Souvenirs for Kids Bamboo Dragonflies With their ubiquity throughout Vietnam it s easy to forget that these delicate, simple novelties are unique to the country. Handpainted and infuriatingly easy to break, they demand extreme care in transit, but get them back in one piece and they will mystify kids with their graceful balance and gentle movement. Musical Instruments A perfect gift for any family you don t have to spend too much time with, a Vietnamese flute, rattle or drum will keep kids entertained forever while slowly driving their parents insane. Target wisely. Bracelets Simple yet effective, the hand-woven bracelets sold throughout HCMC by street vendors make for fantastic, easy presents. Many of the vendors are parents from the North of the country who sell their wares in the South to fund their children s education, so get to know your vendor before making a bulk purchase. The story of where the money went will keep you smiling long after your gift. Hand-Embroidered Clothes Vietnamese embroidery is world-famous for its delicate intricacy and vibrant colour. The attention to detail and level 12 iamhcmc.com/gazette

13 SHOPPING FEATURE #iamhcmc of craftsmanship is such that you might not think of it as a suitable adornment for children s clothing; however, with relatively low prices it is possible to obtain magnificent children s-wear at bargain prices. Check the items at Ninh Khuong s website to see what s available well worth it for that niece or daughter you ve been itching to spoil. Souvenirs for Adults Coffee Vietnamese coffee with its unique chocolatey smell is the ultimate gift for anyone who likes a morning brew. Quintessentially local in flavour but with a universal richness that any coffee lover will enjoy, it can be ground to suit any coffee maker in most shops. However, for an authentic experience, why not buy a Vietnamese coffee filter to go with it, that simple three-part aluminium ensemble that sits on your morning cup of ca phe sua? Slightly more expensive stainless-steel gift sets are widely available and provide a functional gift for even the most discerning coffee snob. Silk Vietnamese silk is under-appreciated around the world, yet represents some of the finest the region has to offer. The Chinese market in D5 has some excellent varieties on offer, for surprisingly low prices. Raw, un-stitched silk makes an excellent gift for the handy parent who likes to work with fine materials. Alternatively, take your silk to one of the many seamstresses around the city with a pattern or just a picture of the table cloth, dress or whatever you like, to create a unique and beautiful present. Ceramics and Lacquerware The ceramics of Vietnam are internationally sought after for their durable quality and craftsmanship. Similarly, the vibrant colours of the lacquerware make wondrously bright centrepieces for any living room or kitchen. Available throughout the country, be prepared to haggle furiously if you buy in the central markets, as prices are staggeringly high compared to the markets of the outskirts and smaller towns. For something a little different from the usual bright colours, try Amai in D2. Sand Pictures Beautifully ornate and painstakingly tricky to create, Vietnamese traditional sand pictures create breathtaking dioramas with the careful layering of coloured sand. Available in various sizes and levels of detail, they can fit any budget. Be careful when travelling, though: the pictures are best transported in your hand luggage as sudden knocks can shake the sand out of place, leaving you with less of a masterpiece and more of a blurred mess. 13

14 #iamhcmc SHOPPING FEATURE by Keely Burkey Artisanal Vietnam: Embroidery Understanding the Art However, Thao has seen a different side of today s consumer trends. by Tran Nguyen Phuong Thao Practised all over the world, artistic embroidery finds a comfortable home in detail-oriented Vietnam. Men read books and perform poems./ Women have to do embroidery and sewing. This old Vietnamese couplet, although certainly outdated today, served its purpose for hundreds of years in Vietnam. Embroidery, traditionally solely a woman s work, has been practised in Vietnam for centuries. And with the legendary Vietnamese attention to detail, here it s raised to the level of high art. Ironically, however, the tradition of Vietnamese embroidery was started by a man. Although details are hazy, it s generally agreed that Le Cong Hanh of Ha Tay Province was the person to thank for this colourful pastime. Legend has it that he was an ambassador to China in the 17th century and brought the secrets of embroidery back to Vietnam. However, today there s nothing Chinese about these wonderful designs. Embroidery aficionado Cynthia Weills writes that originally, Vietnamese embroidery was used to add quotations to pagoda curtains and decorate ceremonial cloths. It was only when the French started ordering pictorial designs that Vietnamese embroidery morphed into what we see today. To learn more about how it s done, we turned to an embroiderer. Through an interpreter, 24-year-old Tran Nguyen Phuong Thao told us about the craft she s most passionate about. Working mostly freelance, Thao does a bit of everything: on the one hand she helps her brother, a historian who focuses on traditional Vietnamese clothing, to recreate the colourful dragon-filled designs that adorned royal garbs in the courts of Hue; on the other hand, she fills orders for customers looking to add a personal touch to handbags, handkerchiefs and clothing. If Thao isn t working on historical clothing for museums and recreational activities, she s most likely filling an order for a young person (typically 20 to 30 years old). Given the influx of brands like H&M and Uniqlo that are currently flooding HCMC s shopping scene, this demand for the traditional might seem a bit strange. Unravelling Vietnamese Embroidery Young people now like embroidery, she said. It s fashionable now. It s like a trend. I ll make designs, mostly of natural things, nature, on handbags, shirts. Anything, really. People like the handcrafted look now. While young people have shown an increasing interest in embroidery, that doesn t mean that many millennials are willing to commit the time and energy to learning this traditional art. Thao admitted that Saigon has never been a place to buy embroidery. Talented freelancers do exist, but Hue and Hanoi are considered Vietnam s embroidery capitals. However, let s not discount the artisans at XQ Hand Embroidery (106 Le Loi, D1) and Ninh Khuong Hand Embroidery (71 Dong Khoi, D1) if you want to get something literally tailor made just for you. Embroiderer Tran Nguyen Phuong Thao says that while the general technique of embroidery might not be unique to Vietnam, the symbols popular here certainly are. Here are some of the most popular images and designs you can get embroidered onto your favourite handbag or ao dai. The Lotus Flower As the national flower of Vietnam, you ll see this image in art across the country. It symbolises purity, serenity, commitment and optimism for the future. Mai Lan Cuc Truc (Apricot Blossom, Orchid, Chrysanthemum, Bamboo) Usually represented side by side, there are multiple interpretations to these plants. Most basically, they can represent the four different seasons, starting with the apricot blossom in spring and ending with the bamboo in winter. However, they also correspond to the different characters within every person, as well as new life, luxury, abundance and resilience. The Dragon This powerful animal has a long tradition in Vietnam. Typically associated with the power of the emperor hence the many dragons you ll see on royal ao dai this symbol makes a statement. It typically signifies power, education, wealth and success. The Phoenix While the dragon is associated with the emperor, the phoenix is associated with the empress. This equally powerful animal brings to mind virtue, grace, peace and harmony. Traditional Scenes More elaborate pieces of embroidery can depict entire cityscapes or paintings. These usually depict quintessentially Vietnamese traditional pictures, such as small villages, Dong Ho paintings, and portraits of Vietnamese women in ao dai and non la (conical hats). These tableaux do their part to celebrate the serene beauty of Vietnam. 14 iamhcmc.com/gazette

15 by Keely Burkey SHOPPING FEATURE #iamhcmc Artisanal Vietnam: The Ao Dai Rich in history, beauty and mystery, there s nothing that symbolises Vietnam more than an ao dai. Get on a plane, go to a bank or even just walk outside and you re likely to see a Vietnamese woman beautifully adorned in this head-to-toe, tight-fitting look. But what is an ao dai, really? Technically speaking, a long shirt ( ao means shirt and dai means long). But it s much more than this simple definition, or the sum of its parts. This is an outfit that has morphed with Vietnam s history for hundreds of years. It communicates more about a woman than a conversation ever could. Designer Si Hoang helps sift through this complicated history. An Uncertain History It s impossible to say exactly when the ao dai entered Vietnamese culture. The first recorded evidence appeared in the 17th century, when records show ao dai worn in the courts of the Nguyen Dynasty in Hue. In the beginning, it was a royal dress worn by Vietnamese aristocracy, and was made in a traditional five-panel style. Heavily embroidered and worn with jewellery and headdresses, it s safe to say that the ao dai looked considerably different from how we see it today. As French writers began to describe the garment in increasing detail, this long dress adapted to Vietnam s changing cultural climate. Things really started to pick up in 1934 when designer Nguyen Cat Tuong got hold of the design. Si Hoang speaks with reverence about Tuong, saying, Before, the colour was very dark and boring. But he designed the ao dai with fabric from Europe and Bombay. He made the design with two pieces, and always used white pants. The bold colours and tight fit we associate with ao dai were developed further in the 1950s. Since then, it s just been a matter of changing design features like the neckline, length of the shirt and designs on the fabric. Ao Dai Translation Lesson While the basic silhouette of an ao dai is relatively fixed, that doesn t mean that all ao dai are the same. In fact, Si Hoang is adamant that every ao dai he makes for a client should reflect her individual personality: When I make an ao dai for someone, I need to understand. I need to understand what they need it for, where they will go, who they will meet. This unspoken language conveyed with shapes, colours and designs is a sixth sense to designers by Si Hoang and sartorially adept Vietnamese in general. Need an example? Western women are often warned against wearing white ao dai to weddings and social events, as they ll look like a schoolgirl many schools, even today, dress young girls in pure white ao dai. Older, unmarried women will typically choose soft pastel shades, while stately, married women will adopt dark, rich colours along with white or black pants. And then there s the ornamentation. Traditionally, ao dai were heavily embroidered, a laborious process that took days to weeks and therefore connoted wealth and power. Today, designs can either be embroidered or painted on (a technique Si Hoang, an artist, is famous for). Popular images include peacocks, dragons, lotuses, apricot blooms and peonies. So, when you get your ao dai fitted, the first question is clear: Who are you? 15

16 #iamhcmc SHOPPING FEATURE by John Brooksbank The meticulous detail that goes into lacquerware is truly something to behold, as well as something to hold. The Chinese discovered that the hardened sap of certain trees was wonderfully useful a natural plastic. Lacquerware has been found in 3,000-year-old early dynasty tombs and the technology involved in its manufacture spread with Chinese influence throughout South East Asia, including Vietnam. Artisanal Vietnam: Lacquerware by Hanoia Trees from the sumac-cashew family in Vietnam mainly a species called Toxicodendron succedaneum, or more commonly Rhus, found in Phu Tho Province are tapped like rubber trees to collect this rather toxic resin. It was used to coat wooden parts of ships, pagodas and utilitarian items. Labour-Intensive and Time-Consuming The wood surface has to be really smooth and sealed, then after every coating of lacquer it has to dry in a humid atmosphere for at least a day before being lightly sanded back and the next thin coat applied. The resin naturally dries brown or black, so other tints are added to produce colours, whilst oils are mixed in for a clear, varnish-like finish. Intricate pieces may take many months to produce. Traditionally, lacquerware utilised three colours brown, black and red but today a whole spectrum of hues is available. Smorgasbord of Materials Other materials to make lacquerware more attractive include eggshell, gold leaf, silver leaf, seashell, sand and clay. Silver leaf used below a layer of colour creates a deep lustre. Gold leaf, on the other hand, is applied as the final layer to give items a more classically rich texture. Many Vietnamese lacquerware items incorporate duck and goose eggshells since they are harder. The shell can be heated to subtly change the colour of individual fragments. Simple lacquerware objects made today concentrate on intense primary colours; others are engraved so that the different colours of lower layers are revealed to form an image. Some pieces are elaborately painted. Uniquely Vietnamese While lacquering has long been used to give wood products a protective coating, the art of lacquer painting is relatively recent. In 1925 the colonial French administration established the École Superieure des Beaux Arts d Indochine in Hanoi to develop the talent of local artisans. European methodology merged with Asian techniques and folk art to create a distinctly Vietnamese form. Lacquer is by its nature hard. Historically problems arose when the underlying wooden base expanded and contracted in different seasons. Today most items use a base of medium density fibreboard, MDF, a favourite of tropical furniture makers because it doesn t move no matter what the weather. Quality So, how does one tell the difference between a true artisanal piece and something more massproduced? Look for a high sheen and intense depth of colour, which can only be created with multiple layers of coloured and clear lacquer; fewer layers will not produce this effect. Then there is the finish. Since each layer of lacquer is polished before application of the next, any surface imperfection will be magnified, so one should check the surface carefully for a perfectly smooth finish. With lacquer art, the style and artist determine value. Vietnamese artists such as Nguyen Sang, Nguyen Tu Nghiem, Le Quoc Loc and Sy Ngoc are worth seeking out. Where to Find Your Vietnamese Lacquerware Phuong Nam Lacquerware 219 Nguyen Trai, D Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. One of the most well-known lacquerware boutiques in Saigon, and for good reason. This impressive workshop and gallery in District 1 gives visitors the best of both worlds: they can see how lacquerware is made and then see the creations. A small bowl will cost you around VND 500,000, although prices depend on the design and materials involved. Nga Art and Craft 91 Le Thanh Ton, D Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The really special thing about Nga Art and Craft is their blend of both modern and traditional styles. Each lacquerware piece is handcrafted, and items range from furniture to dishware to board games. And they deliver! An Dong Plaza 18 An Duong Vuong, D5 Nestled in District 5 near Cholon, this market has a little bit of everything. The atmosphere is one of a busy, crowded marketplace, but if you want lacquerware, you can discover some here. You might just have to root through piles of wholesale clothes before you do, though. 16 iamhcmc.com/gazette

17 by Patrick Gaveau MEET THE EXPERT #iamhcmc Ly Sang and the Art of Porcelain Porcelain products are abundant in Vietnam, but how much do you know about them? How did Minh Long I Co., your porcelain company, start? My family has a long history in the porcelain and tableware business. I m not sure how many generations, because we emigrated from China. My great-great grandparents came from China to Vietnam to continue their business, and then my father continued it, and then me. It s like our blood is running with the porcelain. Where did porcelain originate? Many thousands of years ago it came from China. That s why it s colloquially called fine china. However, today in China, in general, the mass production is still on the low end. They have some good companies, and they have some high-quality porcelain as well, but they don t produce top quality porcelain. You ll find the top quality today in Japan. In the past, it was Germany, France. But now it s definitely Japan. Why did Japan rise to the top? I think it just has to do with the many characteristics that make up quality. The most important part is the material. Secondly, the equipment. And then the formulation of the kaolin as well. If you don t have the correct formulation, it never goes anywhere. So, in Japan these days, I think the breakthrough is the formulation and materials that they find. It s pushed the quality of their products up quite a bit. Where do you source the material that you use for your porcelain? From all around the world. To have good quality kaolin, we have to balance all sides of the product. The strength, the elasticity, how scratch resistant it is, the translucency... There s many characteristics, and one mine can t fulfil all of these qualities. Maybe one has the wetness and one has the elasticity. One has the strength. So we have to select the best mines for each quality and mix them. So that s why our formula becomes very complex. How does Minh Long make a piece of porcelain? We have a few processes. Before anything, we have to boil down the raw material, because Minh Long doesn t buy any processed materials: we buy the raw material straight from the mine. We purify, grind and mix the materials ourselves. After we ve finished making the porcelain mix, we put it into the machine. The traditional method people used in the past is they melt the clay into a liquid and they fill this liquid clay into water and into a plaster mould made of gypsum. And then they dump all of the water out, and the deposit of the clay left onto the mold forms the shape of the product. And the more contemporary way, they use the machine. The machine is forming, it s spinning fast. You see in some videos that they have a spinning table, and the people use your hand to form it. So it s the same method, but with the machine. And the most advanced today is what we call high-pressure casting, which also uses liquid, but we use pressure to push the water out. It results in a more even deposit onto the product, and a more complex design for the tableware and the artform, especially for a symmetrical design. But this technology is very complex. What s important to customers in high-end porcelain? First of all it s the price. Because there s no doubt about the quality the quality they can see and feel. Normally the price is not so sensitive to certain levels of quality, but because our product is made in Vietnam, the reputation cannot compare with Japan, Germany or France. In branding we cannot compete despite our high level of quality, which people can see. What should a customer look for when assessing the quality of a porcelain product? When you buy a piece of porcelain, you can t know how strong the product is until it breaks. The only visual difference you can see is the glossiness and the whiteness. But there are many ways to cheat the glossiness. They can put lead inside. It s very glossy, but it s very soft on the glazed surface. So the end consumer cannot tell. Is it glossy from lead, or is it lead-free? Our products are lead-free. It s important to trust the quality of a company. To learn more about the exquisite art of porcelain, visit minhlong.com. 17

18 by Catherine Denoual Maison Zen and the Art of the Handcrafted Good Sometimes high-quality products can be intimidating. Authentique and Catherine Denoual Maison are here to tell you there s nothing to fear. As I pay my Grab bike driver and walk away, I almost miss my destination, Authentique, which seems to be a hole-in-the-wall shop with glazed ceramic bowls in the window and a translucent, floor-length drape fluttering in the doorway. As I walk through the thin drape, suddenly I m in a different world. The street sounds of Le Thanh Ton are replaced by what seems to be the soundtrack to Amelie. Textile products bags, cushion covers, wall hangings line the walls and, while this shop is certainly different from other shopping experiences in Ho Chi Minh City (think: shop girls looking at their cellphones, and stacks of clothes, almost impossible to sort through, piled wherever you look), dare I say that Authentique seems authentic? Living the Zen Life As Thao Ho, director of all three Authentique stores in HCMC (besides the flagship on Le Thanh Ton, you can find them in Takashimaya and Mac Thi Buoi), says as we walk through the three floors of the largely vertical store, cultivating the feeling of a different environment and, further, a different way of life was entirely intentional. [Founder Doan Minh Phuong] wanted to have a house in Saigon, and she couldn t find any good products. Products that made her feel at home. So she basically decided to make all the products that would make a home a home, Thao says, pointing to a simple, elegant wall hanging portraying a single chrysanthemum. This desire to create real, quality homeware products a passion that began when Phuong moved back to Saigon from Germany in 1976 led her to develop three separate workshops for woodworking, ceramics and textiles in Thu Duc District. For 22 years, some 60 artisans employed by Authentique have been making handmade products, with a quality and durability that s rivalled only by their beauty. Luxuriously Premium With beautiful and high-quality goods, Authentique has carved a niche as the go-to place for tourists and expats to bring back their own piece of artisan Vietnam. However, this desire for premium goods has been a harder sell for the local Vietnamese market. Thao admits, I think about 80 percent of our customers are tourists. But we are increasing our Vietnamese customer base. It used to be solely tourists. While Thao is reticent to admit it, it seems the Zen, minimalist lifestyle promoted by Authentique has not been adopted with open hands by a culture currently embracing an increasingly materialistic lifestyle. As foreign brands, fast fashion and the concept of more for less have become ingrained in Vietnam, Thao s lifestyle of just bringing home the most essential products to highlight the true beauty of Vietnam seems at odds with the environment a few feet outside Authentique s doors. However, Thao is happy to report that, while the going is slow, the culture of more has been shifting, especially among her Vietnamese clientele. Telling a Story For Thao, the hardest part isn t so much creating products that Vietnamese like it s more a question of convincing customers to come in the first place. There s no doubt that the products at Authentique are beautiful, ageless and durable. Oddly enough, this might just be the problem. When I ask Thao if she would consider Authentique a luxury brand, she hesitates, a bit uncomfortable. For me, I wouldn t say it s luxury. It s not luxury because we don t 18 iamhcmc.com/gazette

19 by Keely Burkey SHOPPING FEATURE #iamhcmc overcharge our customers. [Our products aren t cheap] because everything is made by hand. With this assumption that luxury means needlessly expensive, penny-pinchers in Saigon might turn away from a quality item in preference for a cheaper, less durable version. However, Thao holds fast about Authentique s commitment to timeless craftsmanship. For her, it s all about communicating the company s message. The hardest part of the business is just raising awareness, she nods. We re bringing excellence at value to our customers, and we have to make them understand that. instead affordable premium. As Louise Doan Viet, CDM s Business Developer, says, Denoual is making sure that customers can enjoy what previously might have seemed unattainable: We just launched a collection this March that has a 20 percent reduction in price compared to older collections, she tells me. We changed our Egyptian cotton sheets to a 400 thread count rather than our usual 500 TC. It s more affordable, and it s top-notch quality, too. Finding the Premium Middle Ground Introducing the Unique A bit further down from Authentique s Le Thanh Ton location is Catherine Denoual Maison Boutique (CDM) on Hai Ba Trung. Founded and run by Catherine Denoual, a Paris native who came to Ho Chi Minh City in 1995, Denoual has been running her premium linen brand in the city for 20 years. Entering Catherine Denoual Maison Boutique is an experience everything from the knowledge the employees have about the Egyptian cotton bedsheets to their legendarily comfortable pajamas and camisoles make an impact. Even the packaging when you buy a CDM product gets special attention: unwrapping a bedsheet has the fanfare of Christmas Day as the customer unfolds layers of ribbons and silk tissue paper. But like Authentique, the minds behind Catherine Denoual Maison are quick to point out that it is not, in fact, a luxury brand, but by Authentique Home For Catherine Denoual Maison, this is the constant struggle keeping the Vietnamese handcrafted quality and French design style that customers love while avoiding the dangerous pigeonhole of being deemed too luxurious. While CDM enjoys a great network of B2B accounts (mostly hotels in Vietnam, Cambodia and America), it s the B2C relationships that require the most work. For Louise, it s all about making every customer feel special, whether through a bi-monthly newsletter ( We want to be present, but not obnoxious, she says) alerting fans to deals and events or even in-store invite-only soirees to celebrate the launching of a new collection. The bottom line: We do lots of little things to make our customers feel special and inform them about what we do. As the minds at Catherine Denoual Maison plan for the future one that will involve opening a shop in Hanoi for Louise, the trick to successful growth is not losing touch of what makes Catherine Denoual Maison special. For CDM, it s all about the hand-crafted touches like tasteful embroidery and premium materials imported from all over the world. These are best experienced in person, not through a computer screen, making the logical expansion to e-commerce a bit tricky. The thing about bed linen and table linen, it s very much something that you feel. Especially something this high-quality, it s hard for people who don t know us to buy something online. As Vietnam s economy continues to grow and fill the pockets of more Vietnamese customers, we ll soon tell if quality will win. 19

20 #iamhcmc SHOPPING FEATURE by Jesús López-Gomez Passion for Fashion: Designing in Saigon A fashion designer can make you look good or make you think. We spoke to a pair of Ho Chi Minh City-based fashion designers who do both. day, she s a menswear designer. By night, she is Exuvie Gallery, the fashion brand that she created as a bachelor student of fine arts at Reutlingen University in southern Germany. The pieces she makes while in this mode are a strong contrast to her commercial work. While her output for retailers hems closely with classic designs, Exuvie Gallery features designs that don t immediately connect with existing ideas of what clothing is or should be. Ly shows a picture of what looks like a woman wearing a forcefield. She describes the appearance as like an astronaut. The outfit is made of a sheer fabric called organza, an ultra lightweight material with a synthetic recipe that has an almost creamy appearance under certain light. For Exuvie Gallery, I only want to do pieces that [ ] you look at them and you don t know what is it about, she said. I would like to make people think about it. Images by Leo Huynh Trinh - Sinhtolina Pulling the Thread from Both Ends If you cut fashion designer Thi To Uyen Ly in half like fabric, you d end up with two parts: one is a trained artist with an eye for concept fashion made with daring, expressive design; the other is a commercial fashion designer working for garment creative collective Asmara International. Asmara offers design and production services to clothing brands around the globe. On a rainy evening in her kitchen, Ly shows off a drawing of a project she s been working on: a bomber jacket for Zara s menswear collection. Even when working with the most conventional product like a simple jacket, I always think, how can I top it? How can I make people care about it? Ly said. The typical jacket is seemingly designed to accord with a simple wish: not to cause too much of a stir while keeping warm. But the itch to innovate and improvise is what drives Ly to exercise her talents outside of her day job. By From a closet she pulls out a the piece that won her an award in an Asmara International Competition. At first glance, it looks like a collar missing the rest of the jacket. She joins the two ends of the collar with the velcro around her neck and the world seems to tilt slightly when she opens a previously unseen slit and out falls a big, black, light polyester jacket. Exuvie is very free and weird, Ly says. Let s say, art. Artistic Differences Ly is a trained artist with a master s in fashion design and a taste for the abstract, but there s not much on the jacket that belies her practised talents and wilder habits and there s no place for it in a mall-friendly outfit like Zara. Her more occult sensibilities are in check on what looks like a standard jacket except one feature: a large rectangle a badge, as designers call it and a small pocket over the left abdomen. It s size as well as the visual rhyme, parallel to the pocket, makes the eye immediately drawn to it. And that s her mark. 20 iamhcmc.com/gazette

21 SHOPPING FEATURE #iamhcmc It might come from her unique upbringing as a Vietnamese woman who spent her teenage and early adult years with relatives in Germany. She returned in April Ly is a European-trained designer, but her initial inspiration is located much closer to home. Since I was a kid, I wanted to be like my mom. Mom was a tailor, Ly said. I thought it was very interesting that she made a beautiful dress out of anything. I liked to draw all the time, paint, [sew]. It has been following me since I was a kid. Ly s fashion practice mirrors her identity as both a Vietnamese woman and, culturally, Western. Fashion, being duplicitous, reflects the metaphor of dualism: it s both beautiful and useful. The beauty of clothing is in part its use, and seeing or imagining how it would enhance the otherwise naked human form. Similarly, Ly asserts that Exuvie Gallery and the work she does as a commercial designer are related practices. I don t think that Zara is completely away from Exuvie, she says. In both the conceptual as well as the commercial fashion, it s [all] coming from me. Speaking about her earliest inspirations as a fashion designer, Ly recounted a bizarresounding experience she had while eating prawns. She suddenly took notice of the shells the creatures leave behind when you take the food out. They re kind of like clothes, right? Ly says in an uncanny observation that seems to register the porous wall between categories. Eastern and Western, fast fashion or high concept, it is beautiful and you can use it. Bohemian Rhapsody Before To Trinh better known as Leo started selling Sinhtolina s line of expressive and unapologetically fun dresses, she was a young woman cutting sleeves and holes in her clothes to create new and original looks. This cultivated a spirit of liberty that informs her fashion practice today. It aims to bring the free spirit culture, Leo says. We have a lot of fashion brands here but nobody is actually doing, like, bohemian style. Sinhtolina s dresses tend to have a music-festival vibe. There s lots of colour and a lighthearted attitude about the clothes, which would look good with a seashell necklace and a folded beach towel, all on their way to some undisclosed good time. The exuberant patterns are like a wearable good mood. Leo s fashions are also distinguished by the liberties they take in revealing the human form. Both Vietnamese clothing brands and customers at least in polite company, Leo says shy away from clothing that trifles with modesty. Leo s designs tend to be open at the reverse and display the wearer s back, a favourite part of the human body for her. Leo is an interior designer by training, a practice that she explains makes her approach oriented to the materials rather than design. Traditionally, the hierarchy is reversed and clothing elements will accord to the design. And then from [material selection], we will come up with shapes, we will come up with designs, function, she says. This [method] is completely opposite of a fashion designer. Leo began selling her clothes about three years ago in private sales to customers. Today, the Sinhtolina fashion brand of dresses, tops and bottoms is sold at two stores: D2 restaurant-cum-retailer Kokoïs, and a seller in Nha Trang called LIVINcollective. Leo s dresses start at US$40. For US$70, she offers customtailored pieces. 21

22 #iamhcmc SHOPPING FEATURE by Emilio Piriz Needle Masters: Top Bespoke Tailors in HCMC In an environment where readymade clothing and mass production dominates the world of fashion, the role of bespoke tailors is becoming more valued than ever before. Bespoke tailoring is the result of many centuries of commitment to the craft of sewing, stitching, cutting and imitating the human form in fabrics. Regardless of today s technological advancements, modern-day bespoke tailors still use traditional techniques and are seen as skilled artisans who put their creativity to work on designs that differ on a customer-bycostomer basis. It s no secret that Vietnam hosts world-renowned tailors who could compete head-to-head with the finest needle masters on London s Savile Row. The skilful tailors of Hoi An are well-known throughout the world and they are one of the main reasons why Vietnamese from all parts of the country will encourage you to visit the city of a thousand lanterns. However, Saigon residents and visitors will find many an outstanding needle master who can deliver sleek outfits that cater to various styles. We met with four of the best bespoke tailors in HCMC. They all serve foreign clients on a regular basis and speak good English to best serve your needs. H&D Tailor 6 Pham Hong Thai, D With over 40 years of experience in tailoring, H&D Tailor serves a wide range of customers who prefer classic and traditional outfits over the latest trendy designs. Its proximity to New World Saigon Hotel ensures close familiarity with foreign clients and their need for Western cuts. Language will not be a problem since the staff speaks fluent English and know that a rapid turnaround is a major advantage for businesspeople visiting the city for only a few days. H&D Tailor gets lots of repeat customers, which speaks louder than words. Plus, its owner a bespoke tailor himself has a strong and long-lasting reputation in the tailoring business, giving him a competitive edge over other garment makers. SIR Tailor 85 Nguyen Hue, D Enjoying a prime location on one of the busiest streets in HCMC, this shop exudes finesse from the moment you set your foot in the door. In contrast with more traditional styles of couture, SIR Tailor offers fashionable and trendy suits with a distinctive Vietnamese touch for wellheeled Europeans, importing many high-end fabrics from Italy, France and Britain. At SIR Tailor customers will also find bespoke shoes and a wide range of ready-to-wear polos and shirts using fabrics from brands such as Zegna, Rochas and Lambton that complete a true dress-to-impress look. Another great point? The workshop is upstairs, so SIR Tailor rarely outsources any parts of a given design to other tailors, guaranteeing that the work takes place in-house. Kenn Smith facebook.com/mostinterestingtailorinsaigon/ Meets with clients for fittings and consultations at their homes or other venues. Kenn Smith runs a one-man show that caters to foreigners who are looking for a detail-oriented tailor with a fine sense of style. Originally from Indianapolis, Smith comes from a family 22 iamhcmc.com/gazette

23 SHOPPING FEATURE #iamhcmc where tailoring runs deep, meaning that he understands every aspect of the business and is able to make special arrangements for every client who seeks his service. He will go the extra mile for you, literally: his team of tailors often takes clients fittings at Tan Son Nhat Airport before they jump on a plane! Smith has designed bespoke suits for taekwondo fighters who wanted sleek outfits flexible enough to handle front, back and even jumping kicks; despite the challenge, he delivered an outstanding suit that will never break apart. On top of that, as a true businessman Smith offers very competitive prices and relates well to businesspeople. He just gets it. Nhut Tailor 232 Le Thanh Ton, D & 523 An Duong Vuong, D5 Last but not least, Nhut Tailor runs three branches in HCMC and enjoys a good reputation, since the owner has been in the business for over 42 years. These talented professionals carry some exclusive fabrics imported from Europe: Dormeuil (France), Vitale Barberis Canonico and Marzoni (both from Italy); besides these high-end materials, most of their customer base consists of Vietnamese who demand a fullcanvas Asian fitting. Nhut Tailor uses natural fabrics throughout the garment, giving strength and durability to their product which increases the lifespan of every piece of clothing. Plus, they pay close attention to the after-sales service, allowing customers to have their attires altered in case of weight changes or other bodily changes. The delivery wait might be too long for travellers or visitors, but if they manage to stick around a bit longer, they will get superb service at quite a reasonable price. For expats or locals who plan on staying in the city for years, we definitely recommend looking this store up. They ll help you look your best for all events, be they professional, formal or casual. TOP BESPOKE TAILORS IN HCMC Years of experience Able to bring your own fabrics? Western cuts available? After service policy Price range (including the fabrics) Type of fabrics available Waiting time for delivery How many fittings are required? H&D Tailor 40 years No Yes, they do a wide range of bespoke suits from classic to modern styles Free alterations up to one month US$ for shirts and US$290-1,500 for suits 100% cotton, Egyptian cotton, linen, khaki chinos, wool (70%, 80%, 100%) and worsted wool 5 days (shirts) and 7 days (suits) For new customers, a second fitting is required after 3 days (they keep measurements for future orders) SIR Tailor 20 years Usually no, but they make exceptions for loyal customers They particularly specialise in Italian cuts (but also do British) Free for all alterations US$ for shirts and US$420-1,760 for suits Cotton, linen, Italian and Dutch silk and wool (other high-end fabrics imported from Europe) 6-10 days for shirts and 2-4 weeks for suits 1-2 fittings for shirts and 1-3 fittings for suits Kenn Smith 11 years No Yes, he recommends appropriate cuts Free minor alterations up to six months US$ for shirts and US$ for suits Cotton, linen, silk, wool, a wool/poly blend and LT wooll 7-10 days or shirts and 7-14 days for shirts 1-2 fittings for shirts and 3-5 for suits Nhut Tailor 42 years Yes Yes, mostly Italian and British Free alterations up to a year US$50 (on average) for shirts and US$240 (on average) for suits 100% cotton, wool, cashmere, linen, khaki (other high-end fabrics imported from Europe) 10 days for all clothing 1 fitting for all clothing 23

24 #iamhcmc SHOPPING FEATURE by Stephen Coyle Finding the Perfect Fit: Expat Shopping in Saigon 500,000. It has four branches around the city: SD23, Sky Garden 2, D7; 8 Thai Thuan, D2; Imperia An Phu, D2; and E Him Lam Nam Khanh building, Ta Quang Buu, D8. Another option is MQ Shops (mqshops.com/ users/common/men) at 164 Vo Thi Sau, D3. It specialises in shirts from Dockers, Strellson, American Eagle and Zara. But be warned: this website doesn t have an English language option. Trousers For Western men, it s a common story: many wait until they re home to go clothes shopping. But do they have to? As a Western man living in Vietnam, the benefits are well-discussed. However, what is little documented are the hardships we have to endure: sitting on plastic stools that could collapse under our weight at any moment; hitting our heads on hobbit-sized door frames; or having random strangers plucking the hairs on our forearms while waiting at traffic lights (it s happened to me on three occasions!). But perhaps the biggest difficulty is clothes and shoe shopping. The indignity of trying on a supposedly XL shirt but not being able to get that bottom button to close, or the frustration of finding a pair of shoes you like but there s no size available over 42, has been experienced by many a Tay, or foreigner. If you are lucky enough to find something that fits, it s usually the wrong colour or a terrible design. I am 185 cm tall (6 1 ) and 85 kg (187 lb). I wear size 44 shoes and my waist size is 34 inches (86 cm). I m not huge by Western standards, but in Vietnam, I m a giant. From asking fellow giant friends and colleagues, the general consensus is that people wait till they go home or to other countries to do their clothes and shoe shopping, or they go to a tailor and have shirts and trousers made to fit. However, I m determined to find everything I need in shops here in HCMC at affordable prices, and have been on a mission to scout out what is available for the broad-shouldered, (slightly) portly-bellied, big-footed ones among us. Shirts, Professional and Casual For work shirts, An Phuoc (Pierre Cardin) or Viet Tien are popular choices. There are branches all over the city and large sizes are available. Prices usually start at VND 600,000. However, Vietnam is a producer of clothing for a wide range of international brands and some of these find their way into local clothes markets or shops. Two of the larger markets are Saigon Square (corner of Le Loi and Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, D1; and Hai Ba Trung, D3) or Taka Plaza (102 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, D1). There is a wide selection of brands and prices are negotiable; however, the authenticity is often questionable. If you do not fancy facing the crowds, there are some factory outlet shops that offer the same or better. Garment Factory Outlet (facebook. com/garmentfactoryoutlet) sells brands such as Gap, American Eagle, Old Navy and Seidensticker, from around VND 300,000 to Finding work pants seems to be a challenge for all. What were advertised as large can end up cutting off circulation to parts that traditionally require a lot of blood flow. As mentioned earlier, tailor shops are one option. As with work shirts, An Phuoc (Pierre Cardin) has work pants and khakis from VND 700,000, although finding waist sizes over 36 inches is rare. Shoes Vietnam is one of the world s top manufacturers and exporters of shoes. And yet, finding a pair that fits and does not look like clown shoes is a challenge. Factory Outlet Store (factoryoutlet.asia/en) sells clothes, but mainly deals in shoes. Prices can be a little high, but it offers a deal of two for the price of one if you recommend it to three friends on Facebook. There are three stores in HCMC 212B/D90 Nguyen Trai, D1; 540/30 Cach Mang Thang Tam, D3; and 117/3 Tran Ke Xuong, Phu Nhuan District and one in Vung Tau. Giay Xau Gia Cao is a small shop at No. 158 in the middle of Saigon s shoe street, Ly Chinh Thang, D3. It offers big sizes from Eur 44 to 47. Prices start at VND 500,000. Brands such as Clarks, Skechers and Caterpillar are available. 24 iamhcmc.com/gazette

25 by Emilio Piriz SHOPPING FEATURE #iamhcmc Apartment Boutiques in HCMC: Hidden Fashion Gems Customers in these boutiques tend to be awed by the affordable clothing but also by the cosy atmosphere. The visually striking setup represents one side of the business; the other part plays on social media. I make great use of Facebook to showcase my newest creations, and then the word of mouth does the rest, Seohyun says. Entrepreneurial Drive Today we re seeing a growing community of intimate boutiques in old apartment buildings. Here s your guide to the city s newest shopping trend. Many colonial buildings are being renovated and turned into hip-looking cafes, workshops, co-working spaces and fashion boutiques. They mix the old and the new to cater to the new generation of Vietnamese who love these shops fresh ambience. We met up with three fashion designers who own their boutiques and design every item that s sold there. They all share a young spirit, a deep love for fashion and an entrepreneurial drive. Young Spirit Nguyen Anh Thi (24) is the youngest. She has run her BeUnique boutique on the 2nd floor of 42 Ton That Thiep for two months and, despite her youth, feels confident about her decision. I have always loved fashion and truly felt the need to design clothes for young Vietnamese like me, explained Thi, who taught herself everything she knows in design. Most young designers who embark in a small business ownership consider their family s and friends approval a must throughout their journey, and so does Thi. Every time I am about to release a new design, I ask my friends for feedback. My parents supported me from the very beginning because they thought I was capable of succeeding, she says. While talking to her, the shop gets a bit crowded. People coming to my shop range from the age of 18 to 26. This apartment [building] is wellknown in Saigon among youngsters, that s the main reason why I chose this place. Rent tends to be the deciding factor for these young entrepreneurs. I pay between 10 and 15 million VND every month. Even if my sales grew considerably, I wouldn t consider moving the shop to a street-level location because then I would have to spend more money on rent and cut costs on materials. Facebook Power Originally from Korea, Lee Seohyun arrived in HCMC when her husband relocated for work. She opened The Elephant s Closet (2nd floor at 26 Ly Tu Trong) a year later. Getting settled in a new place and caring for two babies probably felt like a full-time job. However, shortly after, she started designing women s clothes and hired a tailor. Now she caters to Vietnamese moms who look for unique designs for their kids closet as well as for their own. Seohyun s matching outfits for moms and kids give her a unique edge. The first apartment boutiques in HCMC appeared about five years ago. Tu Anh opened hers, Thank God I m Fabulous (1st floor at 26 Ly Tu Trong), four-and-a-half years ago, a pioneer in the business. The concept sprung off of L Usine, so, based on that idea, we tried to convey a similar shop experience while dealing with the constraints of being an entrepreneur. Although most of these shops are in the heart of the city, the owners prefer apartments where rents are cheaper than a street-level shop. Tu Anh studied fashion design in Australia 10 years ago and then enrolled in a business course in Singapore, which probably gave her the vision she follows today. I spent nearly a year in planning out the business. Branding took up most of the time, since I really want to serve my clients needs while matching my desires for designing. I would say that s my vision, she recalls when asked about her first steps with the shop. Nowadays, Tu Anh has eight employees, including tailors and pattern makers, working at her shop, which allows her to release a new collection every three months. Her clothes are mainly professional office outfits for women who have a stable income. I target ladies who prefer to pay a bit extra for high-quality clothes. Tu Anh is currently searching for a location in D1 to open her second shop at a regular store space instead of an apartment. 25

26 #iamhcmc SHOPPING FEATURE by Keely Burkey Shop with a Purpose: Mekong Quilts What if we told you that you can buy something beautiful and help people in need? Welcome to Mekong Quilts. The husband is gone, the house is falling apart, the children are sick, they can t feed them, the pigs are dying. Bernard Kervyn, the Regional Director of Mekong+ (the larger group that oversees Mekong Plus and Mekong Quilts) speaks bluntly but with strong compassion about the people his organisations help. Without this compassion, after all, Mekong+ wouldn t have been able to accomplish all that it has since 2001: work with 4,500 of the poorest households in Vietnam and Cambodia, employ 200 women and implement wide-ranging community projects including micro-financing, educational scholarships, health and hygiene programs and agricultural education training. So far the organisations overseen by Kervyn have helped 8,000 households, and the people involved with Mekong+ have no intention of stopping any time soon. And for the sake of shoppers everywhere, this is a good thing. Communities in Need For Bernard, his social work has always been about finding the communities that need a helping hand. Vietnam and Cambodia, with their rural, largely isolated communities nestled deep in the countryside, seemed like the perfect places to target. It s in these communities, which exist in the bottom 5 percent of the economic scale, that you ll find single mothers making less than US$0.50 a day, with little opportunity to improve their situations on their own. Mekong+ offers these women quilting and handicraft work (hammocks, papier mache and handbags are among the other wares on offer), which are sent to Mekong Quilt shops in HCMC, Hoi An and Hanoi in Vietnam, and Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in Cambodia. The women who craft the many Mekong Quilts products are paid US$100 to US$400 per month (a wage that depends entirely on the quality of the product and efficiency of its completion), but Bernard is quick to note that all proceeds help the communities as a whole. We don t want to benefit a small group of people and create tensions in the community. People see that people are getting work and it s good for them, and it s also helping their own children and their garden and so on, he says. Keeping the Customer in Mind As Bernard shows me around the store, I ask him why a tourist would choose to come to Mekong Quilts rather than a cheaper venue like Ben Thanh Market. Frankly, we re not so cheap, he acknowledges with a shrug. Because everything is handmade, because it s a social enterprise and we want to pay the women a fair wage. But we re selling with a purpose. And that purpose? Besides helping underprivileged communities and women, there s also the customer to think about. Rather than focus on the local clientele, who more often than not prefer machine-manufactured goods sold at low prices over hand-made and detailoriented wares, Bernard pinpoints the expat and tourist markets. This has prompted Bernard and the designers to take design inspiration from numerous countries. Among the gorgeous quilts, you ll find pale colours and simple designs that will appeal to French customers; colourful patchwork coverings that will catch the eye of many Americans; and delicate floral designs preferred by Korean and Japanese shoppers. For many customers disillusioned by low-quality items sold at low prices, Mekong Quilts is a breath of fresh air. Here you ll find authentic items you can t find elsewhere, all hand-made and of the highest quality. The singularity of each item has its downsides ( Some people love a quilt but want it in a different size, Bernard tells me, but when we get to the fabric market, all that particular cloth will be gone. There s no solution to that. ), but when you buy something here, you re buying something real a rare commodity in a city in the throes of mass-market materialism. Bernard s mission, it seems, is to give shoppers every reason to come in, look around, and take a Mekong Quilts product home. There are, of course, bumps in the road (heavy import duties on materials bought overseas, lack of participation from targeted villages and local corruption of officials were all noted by Bernard), but the project has been working so far. And if you can get a well-made bamboo bike along the way? All the better. 26 iamhcmc.com/gazette

27 by Arik Jahn SHOPPING FEATURE #iamhcmc Ways to Join the Retail Bonanza Vietnam s retail market is a true gold mine if you know how to make it work for you. But chances always entail challenges. Much has been written about the country s growing middle class creating a market that barely existed some 10 years ago. When Carey Zesiger, Manager of Business Development for HCMC-based international fashion distribution company Havang, thinks of when the company started in 2003, he can t but wonder: It was enough to open a shop at Diamond Plaza. There was nowhere else to go to shop for international products, so the customers pretty much came to you. This, however, has profoundly changed and there s no shortage of places to shop. Understanding Vietnam More competition means shops and products have to be actively promoted to attract customers. The brand has to be built. The first step for this is understanding the specific business environment. Brands that are wellknown in the West are not necessarily known in Vietnam. So, there s a choice to be made: selecting products, finding a shop location, elaborating a marketing strategy. When it comes to the location, the costs of renting retail space in Ho Chi Minh City have skyrocketed with an average US$60.89/m 2 per month in Q1/2017 according to CBRE Vietnam a US$4.47 raise since the same period last year! In view of the unaffordable rents downtown, retailers are pushing the boundaries and moving to places out of the city centre, Zesiger explains. Shopping malls like AEON MALL Binh Duong show that even the outskirts of the city can work as a location, provided the offer caters to this specific business environment. Helping Vietnam Understand These kinds of considerations precede the actual brand building, which consists of finding ways to introduce the brand(s) to local residents, tell them what the product is, what value it offers and how it may fit with their lifestyle. Zesiger has met many capable traders and businesspeople in Vietnam, but most lacked understanding of how to develop an international brand. The means to build a brand can roughly be divided into four categories: print branding, bricks-and-mortar branding (the shopping environment), online branding and word of mouth. Increasingly in these days, it s about digital and social media, which in Vietnam basically means Facebook. That s where especially young Vietnamese get their news and information and even do shopping, Zesiger says. Creating an effective Facebook presence and making yourself searchable on Google is the first step and for some retailers even the only step, Zesiger adds. Bear in mind that in mobile-phone-mad Vietnam online commerce mainly means mobile commerce. Not for the Faint of Heart When asked about obstacles in building a retail brand in Vietnam, Zesiger sighs: Nothing in Vietnam is ever simple. There s all kinds of licensing and business issues, he says. Hiring staff and HR is always a challenge here, importing products is challenging, the taxes can be high The bottom line is, There s a lot of moving parts there and it s not for the faint of heart. However, if there s any more proof needed that Vietnam, and especially HCMC, has become an attractive retail location, suffice it to say that many global players, like fashion retailers Zara, H&M and GAP, have entered or plan to enter the Vietnamese market. 27

28 #iamhcmc SHOPPING ADVERTORIAL i-megane Glasses Finding Glasses for Every Lifestyle When Shinichi Suzuki travelled to HCMC in 2011, he wasn t satisfied with the glasses stores he found. So, he did something about it. Here s the undeniable truth: with glasses, one size definitely does not fit all. The success of a good pair of glasses depends primarily on the lifestyle of the person wearing them and what they want to use them for: while a pair of glasses might be perfect for one person, it might be completely unsuitable for another. And when you re looking to buy something that you use every minute of every day, there s no room to mess around. When Shinichi Suzuki, the owner of two eyeglasses shops in Hokkaido, Japan, first visited Ho Chi Minh City in 2011, his intention wasn t to open a business in Vietnam. However, as he visited local shops to check their wares, he wasn t satisfied. The quality of the frames and the choices available weren t what he expected from a rapidly growing city like Saigon. Rather than expanding his business to Tokyo like he originally planned, Suzuki decided to head south. Today i-megane glasses boasts locations on Dien Bien Phu and Le Thanh Ton, and more locations are soon to come. There are two reasons for this rapid expansion: i-megane has a huge selection of highquality frames, glasses and contact lenses, and employees who take pride in customising every pair to fit each customer s individual lifestyle. Quality Matters One of Suzuki s primary concerns when he first visited Ho Chi Minh City s glasses shops was the quality of the products. Although frames were cheap, he noticed that there was a reason for it: the lifespan of many local frames was just one to two years something that becomes costly as a customer keeps replacing an easily damaged product. By contrast, in true Japanese fashion, glasses at i-megane transcend typical spectacles and become works of art and design. 28 iamhcmc.com/gazette The materials are better, stronger and more flexible; the lenses are more precise, durable and thinner; and the frames are elegant, sophisticated and subtle. Many of the 4,000 frames i-megane has in stock help rethink the comfort of traditional glasses. For example, when a person wears a pair of normal glasses, there are three points that allow the glasses to rest on the head: one on each ear and the third on the bridge of the nose. This model has worked well for hundreds of years, but Japanese designers have discovered that it can be done better. Some of the premium frames offered at i-megane are made of a new, highly flexible titanium that increases the amounts of resting points on the head. For those who wear these new designs, the difference is clear: the glasses feel lighter, don t shift as often as traditional glasses and don t break as easily. Tai Kitamura, the Assistant Director of i-megane, explains the new technology and adds, If it s not made in Japan, it s probably not made like this. Rather than a lifespan of one to two years, these glasses hold up five or six times as long. Here s a challenge for you: try wearing a premium Japanese brand of glasses like Line Art, Banerina or for a month and then go back to your old glasses. Chances are, you won t be able to. Tai lists the many factors that go into choosing the right glasses for a customer: Our doctors will ask you questions about your work, your lifestyle, how many glasses you have, what you ll use the glasses for If you go to other stores, they can measure the power of your eyes, but they don t think about your lifestyle. Plus, there s our lenses. We can order a full line-up of made-in-japan progressive lenses to make sure you have the best products available. At i-megane s Le Thanh Ton location, English-speaking optometrists and employees have become trusted and artful long-term vision consultants and every customer gets the warm welcome and friendly service that s become a trademark of Japan. Although i-megane s Le Thanh Ton store opened in 2015, the professionalism of this company goes back decades. The flagship store in Hokkaido, for example, just celebrated its 86-year anniversary. Our customers will buy two or three glasses for different purposes. We often see customers who come back after four or five years just to change the power of the lenses, he says. That s how good our glasses are. 122 Le Thanh Ton, D Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. 285B Dien Bien Phu, D Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. info@i-megane.com.vn i-megane.com.vn SAVE 10% on any glasses frame at i-megane Le Thanh Ton* *Only from price tag; expires July 1st, 2017

29 by Rob van Driesum shopping FEATURE #iamhcmc Want a Ride? What to Look for in a Bike Taiwanese Sym Attilas are popular too, though their tiny wheels aren t ideal. A new Piaggio (Vespa) can set you back around US$6,000. Steer clear of the China-built Honda Win 110cc, advertised by backpackers who come from Hanoi two-up with luggage: they don t have the legendary reliability of proper Hondas. Everyone in HCMC rides a motorbike. How do you join them? You move to HCMC and soon notice that the seemingly chaotic traffic is quite civilised without necessarily adhering to road rules, and there s very little if any road rage. The give-andtake seems to work well. You also realise that some sort of motorbike could be very useful, and that nothing beats it for (relative) speed and ease. Unfortunately, you ll need a Vietnamese motorbike licence. You don t need a licence for anything under 50cc, which may be enough for city traffic if you don t carry too many passengers; but otherwise, you ll have to convert your foreign licence or get a local one. The legalities of foreign licences and International Driving Permits are unclear government announcements seem subject to different interpretations, and police on the ground may be characteristically ignorant of them. You can do this either yourself for a few tens of dollars if you re willing to run around for lots of make-work bureaucracy, or go through an agent for a few hundred dollars where you ll still need to run around a bit with them. At least they ll take care of the theory test in Vietnamese if you don t have a foreign bike licence (you ll still have to do the practice test yourself see Google Videos). Keep in mind that if you convert a foreign licence, it will only be valid for the duration of your visa or foreign licence, whichever comes first. Get the mandatory third-party insurance, less than VND 100,000 a year, sold by women (always women) by the side of the road. The police like to see that. Much more importantly, however: check your own medical insurance about riding a bike. Scooter or Proper Motorbike? Many foreigners and aspirational Vietnamese want Vespas, especially the vintage two-strokes with their tiny, dangerously unstable wheels. Modern Vespas are more stable, like their (much cheaper) Asian counterparts. Scooters have the advantage of bodywork (floorboards, leg shields) that keep you relatively dry on flooded roads. What to Remember? by Dinh Thinh Depending on specifications, you can buy a popular Honda Wave (motorbike, little water protection) brand-new from around US$800, or a Honda Airblade with some bodywork from US$1,400, right up to a delectable Honda SH150 for US$4,000. Yamaha Nouvos and Suzuki Hayates are other sensible choices. If you buy second-hand, do it from a resident expat who knows a bit about bikes, or at least from someone who understands regular maintenance not just workshop visits when something snaps. Servicing receipts are priceless. Regular engine oil changes are crucial the oil breaks down quick smart at low speeds in stop-go city traffic. Caring owners change the oil monthly or every 1,000 km, which takes less than 10 minutes at a dealer for VND 100,000 max. Also look for clean air filters and decent tyres, along with a near-new battery (batteries don t last long in this heat). Where to Buy? If you can afford to buy new, see what the official dealers can offer. Go there in person and bring a Vietnamese-speaker. Do an all-in offer with cash on the table. Avoid their second-hand bikes, you don t know the history. Try to get the bike registered in your name, which may or may not be possible without a Vietnamese partner see how you go. Until recently, if you bought a bike second-hand, holding the blue registration card was proof of ownership, regardless of the named first owner three steps removed. Apparently this is now illegal, but no-one really knows. Expats advertise second-hand on An Phu Neighbours and Phu My Hung Neighbours (find them on Google Groups), com/en/classifieds/asia/vietnam and several other such sites. Make sure the sellers have cared a bit about servicing, and check all details on the registration card! 29

30 #iamhcmc environment FEATURE by Keely Burkey Plastic Ocean: Shopping Bags in HCMC No Easy Solution You probably received a plastic bag today. Chances are, it ll be pollution in a week. Walk into pretty much any store in Vietnam, and the process is generally the same. Bring your items to the counter, pay and receive a plastic bag for transport. Buy a carton of orange juice along with some toothpaste, and you ll most likely receive two plastic bags: one for the orange juice and one for the toothpaste. The convenience might be nice, but the results? Tragic and irreversible. Trash Vortex It s estimated that a staggering 8 million tonnes of plastic is dumped into the ocean every year. At this rate, by 2025, there will be one tonne of plastic for every three tonnes of fish. In HCMC alone, 8,000 tonnes of garbage is produced daily, and according to VietnamNet, 10 percent of this waste is plastic shopping bags. These have devastating effects on the aesthetic landscape along with marine life in general. If you haven t heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch or its more ominous nomenclature, the Pacific Trash Vortex yet, here s the ultimate wake-up call: according to a study put out by Greenpeace, no less than 270,000 square kilometres in the central North Pacific Ocean is filled with plastic trash swept together by the ocean s various currents. Captain Charles Moore, the environmental activist who discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, spoke to us about this issue in an interview via Skype. He said that the reliance on plastic goods we re currently seeing in many ASEAN countries (the biggest plastic polluters, according to The Asian Foundation, are China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Thailand) is a byproduct of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. Super rapid development, like we ve been seeing in Asia, has to leave a lot of issues by the wayside, he said. We now have this permanent detritus, plastic, which doesn t decompose. And it s versatile. It packages everything and creates a kind of feeling of wealth amongst a poorer population because it s things. But when they photodegrade and break, they don t simply go away. Solutions, however, are hard to come by. After all, customers will always demand some vessel to carry products with ease. If not plastic, then what? David Bonnin, co-founder of Direct Imex in HCMC, offers a few solutions. The small company run out of District 2 provides suggestions to companies looking to switch to more environmentally friendly bags. Around 30 plastic manufacturers currently operate in and around HCMC, and it s Bonnin s job to communicate with them about multi-use bags, biodegradable bags or compostable bags. However, each bagging option comes with its own, well, baggage. For example, take biodegradable bags. There s still a certain amount of plastic that goes into making them, meaning that plastic will still exist for hundreds of years on land or in the ocean, just in smaller pieces. There s a market for these bags, and in some ways that s a problem: biodegradable bags look and feel exactly like regular single-use bags, leading some companies to simply stamp biodegradable on regular plastic bags to increase their value. Compostable bags, on the other hand, are an entirely different animal (or vegetable, as the case may be). The bags made in Vietnam are composed out of a tapioca-based formula, meaning that within six months, these bags will completely dissolve if left in a compostable area. This seems like the perfect solution, but Bonnin regretfully informs us that the complicated production process makes each bag cost twice as much as its biodegradable counterpart, making this product a hard sell. The best answer? Multi-use bags. Made from thick plastic, cloth or any other sturdy material, multi-use bags will dramatically cut down on the amount of bags bought and given away. According to Thanh Nien News, a Vietnamese family on average uses more than a kilogramme of plastic bags every month. With a few sturdy cloth or multi-use plastic bags, this alarming number could be brought down to almost nothing. The key to making this work, however, is educating consumers. As Bonnin points out, There s no use providing multi-use plastic bags if everyone uses them like single-use plastic bags. At that point, there s more plastic involved so the waste would be even greater. With Vietnamese consumers enjoying the manifold conveniences associated with plastic bags, making the switch might be the toughest challenge of all. 30 iamhcmc.com/gazette

31 by Tran Thi Minh Hieu FOOD FEATURE #iamhcmc Convenience Store Culture: What Have We Lost? In HCMC we see convenience stores replace cafes at a rapid clip. What are we losing as the city s youth begins to prefer canned coffee to cafe sua da? A young woman walks into a convenience store, buys a cup of instant noodles, sits down in front of the glass window and eats it right there, while the rain falls outside. It sounds like a common scene in Korean dramas. But wait, this is not Korea this is Ho Chi Minh City. Nowadays, it is just as common to find young Vietnamese studying on their own or spending time with each other in the numerous convenience stores. A Growing Business, a Growing Demand Convenience stores such as Family Mart and Circle K have grown fast in the last decade. According to Ho Chi Minh City s Department of Industry and Trade, by 2016 Circle K has had at least 150 stores in the city, Family Mart 73 stores, B s Mart 98 stores and Shop & Go 111 stores. Newcomers such as Ministop, VinMart and K-Mart are also quickly increasing their presence. International grocery research organisation IGD predicts that Vietnam s convenience store market will grow by 37.4 percent in the next four years, the fastest in Asia. For students and young people in the city, convenience stores have become not only a place to shop but also where they can hang out with air conditioning, Wi-Fi and food available 24/7 (or 24/24, as they say in Vietnam). The stores are conveniently located on every other block of streets, with large signs and bright lights, easy to spot and easy to remember. And the ready-made food, while maybe less tasty than elsewhere, is relatively safe and inexpensive. The recent wave of convenience store franchises resembles the wave of fast food chains that came into Vietnam over a decade ago. KFC, Lotteria and Jollibee became favourite hangouts for young people and enjoyed rapid growth for a few years, though recently their expansion has started to slow down. Compared to fast food restaurants, convenience stores provide a cheaper and more casual alternative for students, and sometimes even healthier options. However, convenience stores are also in direct competition with more traditional venues for socialising, such as coffee shops and street food vendors. Disappearing Cafe Culture Unlike the more established and omnipresent coffee chains, indie and small cafes usually attract a more mature clientele. It remains to be seen whether the teens who frequent Circle Ks today will switch to more sophisticated food and drinks as they grow up, or whether convenience stores will eventually replace the need for neighbourhood coffee stores. The future may look brighter for street food stalls, as they are almost impossible to replace it is not likely Family Mart will sell bot chien anytime soon. But without the almighty air conditioner and Wi-Fi router, their millennial customers are unlikely to linger for long. Food safety and general hygiene are also areas in which convenience stores outshine street vendors. Young people seem to be moving towards an on-the-go lifestyle that values connectivity and convenience more than ever before. Convenience stores fill this demand for something that s more modern than street food eateries, and less expensive than cafes and restaurants. Students can spend hours on end there, studying, discussing group projects, or just casually chatting and enjoying each other s company. They do not seem to mind the drawbacks of convenience stores a somewhat industrial atmosphere, lacking the creativity and diversity that local stores offer. They often do not mind the quality of food either, as long as their friends are with them. The Lure of Convenience While there is still a lack of free and easy-toaccess public spaces like libraries, convenience stores provide a great alternative. Even though their shelves are filled with mostly junk food instead of books, they provide enough study space at a price students can afford. With most stores having security cameras and located in crowded areas, they are also safer than many other places in the city for teenagers to hang out after school. Perhaps what young people will demand next are convenience bookstores, where they can borrow a magazine to accompany their quick lunch and feed their hungry minds as well as their hungry stomachs. Wouldn t it be nice? 31

32 #iamhcmc Recipe of the Month by The Golden Spoon Awards Serves: 4 Cooking time: 60 minutes Difficulty: Easy Ingredients Spring Roll Wrappers 400 ml water 300 g flour 5 g matcha 1 g salt Sauce 1 g matcha 5 g white sugar 50 g mayonnaise Filling 1 banana 50 g pear 50 g apple 100 g shrimp 50 g pineapple 100 g crab meat 30 g mayonnaise 5 g fresh cilantro 50 g strawberries 50 g purple onions 2 wedges of Laughing Cow soft cheese 500 ml cooking oil 2 g ground pepper Spring Rolls with Fruit & Matcha Originally created by the Tien Loc Wedding Restaurant from Dong Nai Province, this inventive take on the classic spring roll helped this team win runner-up in the Golden Spoon Awards Might we suggest a glass of champagne to accompany this beautiful dish? 1. Prepare the Filling Peel and dice the apple, pear, pineapple, purple onion, strawberry and banana. Poach the crab meat in boiling water, then take it out and leave to drain. Boil the shrimp, peel them and dice the meat. Clean and finely chop the cilantro. 2. Make the Filling Put the diced apple, pear, pineapple, purple onion, strawberry, banana and chopped cilantro into a large bowl; wring out any excess water in the crab meat and add the meat to the fruit. Stir in the shrimp meat. Add the 2 g ground pepper, 30 g mayonnaise and 2 wedges of cheese and toss to mix well. 3. Make the Wrappers Pour the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add 1 g salt and 5 g matcha to the flour, then slowly pour 400 ml of water into the mixture and combine thoroughly. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes to swell. Dip a paper towel in cooking oil and use this to brush base of a non-stick Directions crepe pan on the stove over low heat. Use a brush to cover the pan with a thin layer of batter and tilt the pan so the batter is cooked through until transparent. Use a metal spatula to flip, then transfer to a plate to leave it to cool. Repeat with the remaining batter. 4. Assemble the Spring Rolls Lay a wrapper on a plate. Place the filling near the centre, leaving about 5 cm uncovered on each side. Fold uncovered sides inward, then tightly roll the wrapper. Repeat with the remaining filling and wrappers. Put a wok on the stove over a medium heat. Pour 500 ml of cooking oil into the wok and when the cooking oil simmers, slide each spring roll into the oil one at a time until they are golden brown. Place the spring rolls on paper towels to drain the excess oil. 5. Make the Sauce Put 1 g matcha and 3 ml water into a small bowl and stir the mixture until combined. Add 50 g mayonnaise and 5 g sugar. Continue to stir until the sauce is blended and creamy. Presentation Arrange the spring rolls on a serving platter and serve with the matcha and mayonnaise sauce in a ramekin or directly on the plate. Quality Check The spring rolls should be golden-green, crispy and smell of matcha. The filling is naturally low-fat and should be sweet with the natural taste of fruit. Tips Try not to bruise the diced fruit. If you make the dish with large amounts of fruit, you should drain them in a culinary basket to keep their crunchiness. Be sure to make the wrappers right after you prepare the filling so the cut fruit doesn t sit too long. However, wait a minute or two before assembling the spring rolls the fried wrappers can get quite hot! The spring roll wrappers shouldn t be too thin, otherwise edges of the fillings will tear through. 32 iamhcmc.com/gazette

33 SHOPPING ADVERTORIAL #iamhcmc Annam Gourmet Market Annam Gourmet Market s philosophy is simple: great food, good times. Mission accomplished. Ever wonder where you can get a good glutenfree loaf of bread in Ho Chi Minh City? Or where all the quality cheese is hiding? For people who have wanted a little linguine pasta alongside their vermicelli noodles every now and then, Annam Gourmet Market has been a godsend for 16 years. Journey of Taste Around The World If the original goal was to create a high-end market for the best foods, beers and wines, founders Eric and Ha certainly succeeded. Walk into any of the five Annam Gourmet Market stores in HCMC and Hanoi and you ll instantly be transported to a place where taste is king. The presentation is beautiful, new products are constantly added, and every member of the staff is happy to talk about their more than 10,000 products available throughout their stores. Of course, not all things can be imported successfully. Breads and pastries are a key example. Eric and Ha found that, for one thing, bread became expensive when it s shipped in due to the import duties. For another, all baked goods had to be frozen and thawed upon arrival, resulting in a sub-par taste and quality. So, why not make them here instead? That s exactly what Annam Gourmet Market does in its factory in District 2. Today it produces over 100 different baked goods and pastries that it delivers to all locations in Ho Chi Minh City. If you control every aspect of a production, after all, the food being produced will naturally be better. If you don t believe this, just head to an Annam bakery counter; you ll be instantly convinced. Simply put, you walk into Annam Gourmet Market wanting food, and you ll walk out a bonafide foodie. Creating a Gastronomic Community And once you love your food, join Annam Gourmet Market s food-loving community. This is a market that makes it easy for every shopper to feel comfortable and at home. Maybe you d like a quick bite of salad after a shopping expedition, or a place to go with a colleague during an informal meeting. Well, Annam Gourmet Market has cafe lounges in every store with a small-bites menu developed by renowned French chef Sakal Phoeung. Or perhaps you d like to be the first to know about special deals, promotions and VIP food tasting events? Then check the membership awards you can get when you sign up for the Annam Gourmet Market discount card. This is a market that has created a space for foodlovers to join together and experience the best international food that Vietnam has on offer. Bon appetit! Summer Recipe of Choice: Pineapple Fever Ingredients 500 ml fresh pineapple juice 1 cup finely diced pineapple 2 tbsp Teisseire pineapple syrup 2 cups ice cubes 1/2 tbsp honey 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice 1 pinch McCormick finely ground cinnamon powder Saigon Centre, B2- unit 11/12, 65 Le Loi, D1, HCMC saigoncentre@annam-gourmet.com Syrena Tower, 51 Xuan Dieu, Tay Ho D, Hanoi hanoi@annam-gourmet.com Images: SOL Studio Find your nearest store at annam-gourmet.com Directions 1. Combine pineapple juice, cinnamon powder, ice cubes and lemon juice in a blender. 2. Blend for about 1 minute until smooth. 3. Meanwhile, lightly grill the diced pineapple in the honey until golden brown. 4. Serve the mixture in glasses and garnish with the pineapple on top. Serve either chilled as a drink or frozen as a pineapple sorbet. Enjoy! 33

34 #iamhcmc RESTAURANT ADVERTORIAL Pendolasco: Pioneering Pizza There ll always be debate as to where they make the best pizza in HCMC. But here s news: Pendolasco Italian Restaurant s new master chef is a certified pizza expert. 87 Nguyen Hue, D Tong Huu Dinh, D info@pendolasco.vn Monday to Sunday: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Pendolasco is one of Ho Chi Minh City s longest-established Italian restaurants. With its two venues on Nguyen Hue in District 1 and on Thao Dien in District 2 it treats customers to some of the most authentic and delectable pizza and pasta dishes in southern Vietnam. However, you may notice that its pizza doesn t taste as it used to. That s right: Pendolasco has a new master chef. Making a Good Pizza Great For an outstanding pizza you need more than the inevitable wood-fired oven, a skilful cooking staff and first-class ingredients. You need a chef who knows the secrets of the perfect dough. When Carlo Anzon, Pendolasco s delightfully Italian owner and manager, invited Manuel Reale to Ho Chi Minh City last February, he just wanted to provide training to his staff by one of Italy s pizza greats. After a training of one month, Manuel asked me if he could stay in Vietnam to work with us in the long term, Carlo recalls. We agreed and now he s with us full-time. Making pizza is one of those things in life that are easy to learn but hard to master. After all, a traditional pizza dough consists of only five simple ingredients: water, flour, salt, oil and yeast. Chef Reale slightly tweaked a good recipe to turn it into a great one, and really, in two months time, we already saw a leap in sales, Carlo says. So what makes this pizza different? Crunchy, Yet Airy Pendolasco follows the paradigm that is popular in Rome: a thin crust and edge, complementing the tomato sauce s fresh sweetness and the hearty flavours of top-quality cheese. What really makes it unique, however, is the texture of the dough. Unlike industrial chains like Pizza Hut or Domino s that produce the kind of pizza that Italians hate, as Carlo complains, with their thick and cakey texture, Pendolasco s pizzas manage to combine crunchiness with airiness. One of the secrets, Carlo explains, is patience: If you don t give the dough the time to rise, it ll make you feel heavy for hours. You can test it yourself: if, after having a pizza, you can t stop drinking, that means the cook didn t give it a long enough resting period. A Pizza World Champion Manuel Reale took part in the World Pizza Championship in Parma in northern Italy, proud home to a food university, for the second time this year. The contest attracts chefs from all over the world and covers 12 kinds of pizza, ranging from classic pizza Napoletana to gluten-free and pan pizza. Chef Reale competed in the pizza alla pala ( paddle pizza ), a long pizza prepared with special flour that allows a maximum of air to enter the dough so that, despite being stretched, this pizza is not heavier than regular ones. In 2016, chef Reale ranked seventh worldwide in this category. This year he swept the board and came in first! No wonder Carlo Anzon plans to include pizza alla pala on the menu, to offer guests a new culinary experience and to further promote international pizza culture in the Vietnamese market. Food for Everyone This culture is dear to Carlo. Pizza is one of the world s oldest dishes, and it has always been food for the poor, he says, bearing in mind the rituals of his home country: In Italy, there s the tradition to drop all the work on Sundays and to eat pizza. Sunday is pizza e birra: pizza and beer a tradition worth sharing! Pendolasco organises a pizza class for kids every weekend, where children can make their own pizza, instructed by chef Manuel Reale himself. After that, they are full of flour, Carlo laughs, but also very happy. In his view, pizza is quintessentially a food for everyone: In Italy, you can enjoy fine dining just like in France, for instance, but traditionally we are drawn to trattorias, the Italian take on a quan com, if you will a popular restaurant where everyone can eat, from rich to poor. So, next time you re hit by pizza cravings, give Pendolasco s new recipe a try and catch the 5 percent discount for online orders on pendolasco.vn 34

35 Entertainment ADVERTORIAL #iamhcmc Take a Bite Out of Suoi Tien s Fruit Festival But what fruit festival would be complete without entertainment? The 50,000 expected daily visitors at this enormous yearly event will get a taste of traditional Vietnamese music with groups of acoustic musicians serenading every fruit lover. And let s not forget the competitions. This year, get ready for the Fruit Bartender Contest. This family-friendly show will pit mixologists and fruit connoisseurs against one another to find out who can make the best fruit drink in Vietnam. 120 Hanoi Highway, D info@suoitien.com suoitien.com/en/ Southern Fruit Festival: June 1 st to June 11 th Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Fruit Festival Tickets: Adults: VND 100,000; Children: VND 50,000 Get ready for some fruit! From June 1st to June 11th, Suoi Tien Park will hold its annual Southern Fruit Festival. And the dragon fruit has never tasted so good! The beautiful and unique texture of rambutan; the subtle creaminess of jackfruit; the fresh citrus zing of pomelo. Now you don t have to take a trip to the Mekong Delta to get the freshest fruit available, because Suoi Tien Park is bringing all of it to Ho Chi Minh City. A Time-Honoured Tradition With so many beautiful and delicious fruits to choose from in this region, it s hard to pick a favourite but trying them all is half the fun! Now, just in time for summer, Suoi Tien Park and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism are working together to showcase all of these succulent varieties in style at the annual Southern Fruit Festival. Suoi Tien Park s Southern Fruit Festival has been dazzling guests for 12 years, and year 13 will be no different. Award-winning and nationally celebrated, this festival of all things fruit will give you a literal taste of what Southern Vietnam has to offer. Over 50 stalls will be showcasing and selling more than 150 types of fruit grown in the South. These fruits will come from all over this vibrant region: only here you can taste Hoang Gia grapefruit from Vinh Long, Vinh Kim guava from Tien Giang and custard apples from Tay Ninh. Plus, every piece of fruit at this festival will be 30 percent cheaper than fruit you buy at traditional markets! Go ahead and eat your fill at the festival, and be sure to bring home a few bags of nature s candy for later. If there s a particular variety or fruit you ve always been curious about but have never gotten around to trying, take a stroll in Suoi Tien s Magical Garden, a beautiful exhibition of strange, rare and giant fruit all ripe and safe to eat. There s no better way to spend an afternoon than at the Suoi Tien Southern Fruit Festival. Family Fun and Games Eating delicious fruit won t be the only activity on offer at the Southern Fruit Festival. With these natural delicacies holding such a special place in Vietnam s culture, exhibiting the broad array of Vietnamese fruit art will be one great way to celebrate. The fruit art exhibition will certainly be a sight to behold: dozens of artists will contribute their ode to fruit with huge paintings and sculptures. Come for the Fruit, and Don t Forget the Park And perhaps best of all: this beautiful festival will take place in Suoi Tien Park! For over 22 years, this singular destination in breezy District 9 has been serving up fun for young people, families and couples with over 150 attractions and rides. Once you ve had your fill of fruit, take a stroll around the theme park to check out all the different sights and sounds that help make Suoi Tien one of the city s premier destinations for young and old. With beautiful Buddhist pagodas dotting Suoi Tien s landscape and a water park, the fearsome Crocodile Kingdom (over 25,000 crocodiles lived here at last count, and you can feed them!), Snow Castle, countless different rides and a new, 360-degree, 8D cinema to keep the entire family occupied, the Southern Fruit Festival will be one event you don t want to miss. 35

36 #iamhcmc Entertainment FEATURE by Kristian Goodchild Closing Time: DIY in Saigon s Music Scene James and the Van Der Beeks Has Ho Chi Minh City s rapidly shifting culture spelled the end of staged shows and live music? The venues are all gone Live music is dead, it ll all be covers in a year, you watch It s a familiar lament from London to Singapore and Saigon is no exception. Following the closure of super-venue Cable and the shift towards EDM nights from once-stalwarts of the live scene, Saigon Ranger, it appears the rock crowd is suffering under the commercialisation and marginalisation of its favourite venues. Once you get used to the idea that you can find quality live music somewhere, that place can become a sanctuary. It becomes part of the cultural identity that you share with others who share your tastes in music. Indeed, such a place can begin to feel like a second home And, as those venues close and the club nights move in, as guitars give way to DJs and top 40 remixes, it s easy to feel pushed aside in favour of the sort of clientele the venue owners are now more interested in courting who like their bottle of Chivas with a side of Chainsmokers. You d be justified in feeling down. The loss of any live venue is tragic, but the reality is, the live music scene in Saigon is as vibrant as ever, it s just that the venues are no longer the focus. Same Music, New Scene Where once it was possible for music lovers to go to a favourite venue on the right night and be guaranteed the right kind of show, now they have to dig a little deeper. And with a little perseverance, if you look carefully enough, you ll be able to find something suitable. Post-hardcore band James and the Van der Beeks have seen it all. For over five years they ve played all over Southeast Asia from their base in Saigon and have watched the landscape shift. As such, the current scarcity of venues doesn t bother them too much, it just means they have to work a little harder. Guitarist Seamus explains, If you re a real band, you started with that DIY ethos already. [Whether that meant having to] call a bar owner, or make a show poster. Seamus also emphasises that while originals and English language music may currently be hard to find, there is still plenty of music happening around the city: RFC, May Cay, YOKO and La Fenetre Soleil host all kinds of musicians, maybe not always playing new original music but the [LFS] Sunday jam still rocks, he says. The live music scene in general is pretty stable, but seems to get better after rainy season. There are thriving Vietnamese language music scenes that drive most of the events around. Maybe there has been a dip lately, musicians sometimes get tired of the same old [venues] and move cities or countries. Playing into the Aesthetic However, many have criticised the lack of quality original music available today. Ex-Secret Asians bassist Hamish Hawkins says, The rise in popularity of EDM is destroying live band venues. DIY gigs have always been around but seem to be the only real option nowadays. But is that such a bad thing? Punk, hardcore, rock and metal are all rooted in a street-level DIY ideology, underground ethos and grassroots authenticity. Could it be that the removal of venue infrastructure may provoke bands to reinvigorate the music scene? Punk aficionado Ben Sturdy thinks so: You can t beat the rawness and enjoyment of a good old DIY gig. Saigon is slowly realising this. Soon the days of Vina-House and Westlife blaring from the overcranked PA systems of motorbike sales centers will be surpassed with instrument-wielding local talent on every street corner... It s an optimistic vision, and one that would require a paradigm shift of sorts, but possible. So how do you go about saving your musical life, and in doing so show that you, the consumer, want live music, original songs and the kind of nights that support creativity instead of repetition? Get active. When it comes to nightlife, your best vote is made with your wallet. 36 iamhcmc.com/gazette

37 Entertainment Advertorial #iamhcmc Thursdays Just Got Better: Lush s Latin Nights & Third Thursday Nights to Remember 2 Ly Tu Trong, D facebook.com/lushsaigon 8 p.m. to late But the fun doesn t stop there. You might remember that Lush used to throw special parties every third Thursday several years ago. Well, now it s back and better than ever. This time, however, it has a unique twist: famous international DJs will lead the herd on these lively Thursday parties and they re aiming to impress. The upcoming months will feature DJ Maraphoria in June and DJ Element in July, and they re both going to play the best electronic, hip hop and R&B tunes for nights of plain, unadulterated madness. Let s have some fun! Lush Saigon will be caliente every Thursday for Latin Night. Ole! At the cutting edge of Saigon nightlife, Lush has managed to make Ladies Nights on Tuesdays almost an institution. Now it s keeping the ball rolling with Latin Nights on Thursdays, along with special parties every third Thursday of the month. The Sights, the Sounds, the Drinks Without a doubt, Lush s main attraction is its buzzing interior, where stylish graphics on the TV screens harmonise with its comfortable lounge seating. The venue is getting ready to undergo some minor renovations before the end of the year, so Lush, with three distinct areas catering to every customer s desires, will have a fresh look for those who want to groove the night away in one of HCMC s most popular late-night destinations. Besides the outstanding atmosphere on Tuesdays and Saturdays, there are still plenty of reasons to go to Lush throughout the rest of the week. Its sleek decoration and great variety of Western music please clubbers who are seeking fun vibes and a legendary night with some friends. Unlike some ultra-exclusive lounges in Saigon, Lush prides itself on making everyone feel comfortable and enjoys a nightly mixed crowd of Vietnamese, expats and tourists. Thursdays Just Got More Fun What is in store for Latin Nights? First and foremost, crazy fun is guaranteed. Clubbers get value for their money thanks to the buy one cocktail, get one free offer, while ladies enjoy free Mojitos highly recommended! until midnight; and here s the best part: there s no cover fee. On top of that, for VND 200,000 you can get special access to the Budweiser draught beer on tap all night in the back garden s open bar. Need we say more? How is it going to compete with other Latin bars? While other venues might offer two-step Salsa dance lessons and similar catchall events, Lush will focus on celebrating the distinctive energy that s made South American culture so vibrant and famous. Even better, you and your friends can use this legendary energy to your advantage by enjoying the hottest tunes Reggaeton, Moombathon, Bachata and Salsa have to offer. So get ready to bring your best moves and shake your hips like Shakira. Every Thursday will be a party that will last all night long. To cap it all off, Lush is getting ready for a huge party on June 24 for its 13th anniversary. Contrary to the unlucky feeling the number brings, Lush Saigon, one of the most wellestablished bars in the city, deserves one hell of a party. And with DJ Mike Hyper headlining the festivities, this is going to be a celebration that does not disappoint. Clubbers should expect Lush s buzzing, electric vibe to be kicked up even further for a night to remember. 37

38 #iamhcmc travel FEATURE by Keely Burkey Exploring the Nine Dragons: The Mekong Delta Rich in history and multiple intertwining cultures, the Mekong Delta s past is as complicated as its circuitous rivers. Here s our experience in Vietnam s rice bowl. Saigon is an amazing city, but one of the best things about living here is being able to leave it for a weekend getaway. And what better place to visit than the Mekong Delta? The southern tip of Vietnam is sometimes passed over for more overtly beautiful destinations like Hoi An and Ha Long Bay, which is a shame. Here you can enjoy the greenery and nature of Vietnam s intimate natural waterways while avoiding the crush of fellow travellers. The Mekong Delta: A Few Facts Considering a trip there? You totally should. As the rice bowl of Vietnam, it s one of the integral places to visit if you want a complete Vietnamese experience. However, if you think the Mekong Delta is a untouched set of rivers ideal for a honeymoon vacation, think again. The Mekong is a working river, and you should look at it from a historical perspective rather than a thing of pristine beauty. When you visit pretty much any place in the Mekong Delta, get ready to see some farming (farmland covers 2.6 million hectares of land in the area). The farming here is so extensive that, according to a report by the Mekong River Commission, from the 1950s to the mid-1990s, over 95 percent of forest cover had been reduced (although, to be fair, trees didn t cover 100 percent of the land before the 1950s). Today, the Mekong Delta supplies over half of Vietnam s rice output, as well as a variety of different fruits, most of which I saw (and sampled) as I toured the countryside. Indulge in the longan, papaya, grapefruit, jackfruit, pomelo, durian, rambutan, guava and more. And, by the way, spring months are when most fruits are at their most delicious. Just saying. Travel in Style If you really want to take your weekend trip to the next level, might we suggest a tour with TransMekong? These ships, entirely made of wood, provide a taste of luxury along with a taste of authentic Vietnam. This cruise, starting in Can Tho and ending in Cai Be a day later, floats serenely along the river and gives all passengers a first-hand look at what the Mekong has to offer. Here s some of what I experienced. 38 iamhcmc.com/gazette

39 TRAVEL FEATURE #iamhcmc Vietnam s Working River As the Bassac II got under way, the sky was overcast with pockets of blue sky, and the water of the river matched the colour, with a tinge of brown from the silt that makes the soil in the Mekong Delta so fertile. The real scenery was, of course, along the shore. From my vantage point I could see dozens of different kinds of trees and plants all mixed together. Ramshackle houses appeared amidst the greenery. Once, I even heard the familiar sound of karaoke, still audible even from the middle of the river. The scenery, mixed with the sounds of work boats passing by and the occasional small children screaming Hello from the shore, made for a memorable experience. Floating Marketplaces We saw a floating market made up of about a dozen boats selling everything from fruit to clothing moving serenely and still in the equally serene river. Floating markets are a throwback from the time when personal canoes were used as a family s main mode of transportation. Little Villages If possible, try and check out a village or two while you re here. Walking through a small village gives you a great impression of what most of Vietnam is really like. The TransMekong package included a twohour walk through one such village. I was immediately impressed by the amount of different vegetation I saw everywhere. Along the sides of the roads we saw wild pineapples, papayas, pepper, water hyacinths and about everything else you would expect to grow in a tropical climate. Botanists, bring a notebook and camera. The Canals The next day, after breakfast we were ushered into traditional long canoes, each deftly steered by Vietnamese women clad in ao ba ba and non la. In a row we went down a winding, narrow canal. Houses were (somewhat) evenly spaced along the edges, and you could really see rural lives being lived. Some long canoes, obviously the vessels of the families living there, were tied outside some houses, though many were rotting and sinking into the water. Of course, nature stole the show. For the length of this boat ride, nobody spoke we were too mesmerised. The branches of the trees on either side of the canal met overhead, forming a lushly latticed roof. Things to Watch Out For As with all tourist destinations in Vietnam (and everywhere in the world, really), locals might look at you as an easy mark. Be careful, but don t be too careful most local people here are amazing and genuinely nice. I ve never said cam on so often in my life. Bring mosquito spray and sunscreen lotion. With all the water around, mosquitoes are ubiquitous. I m a particularly poor planner and didn t bring any with me. If the Bassac II didn t come fully stocked with its own supply I don t even want to think about the outcome. Who Should Go? Although obviously everyone should go to the Mekong Delta, some would enjoy it more than others. Many people on my TransMekong cruise were a bit older, retired and all couples. They all enjoyed the trip immensely. However, river cruises are just as good an idea for families. Here you ll find little distractions from the scenery and the experience of being on board a classic wooden boat with your loved ones. And since the cruises here are generally only one night, it s perfect for a quick weekend getaway from Saigon. For more information about TransMekong, be sure to visit transmekong.com 39

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