Saigon opera house dress code

Sam Van Dung, 43, and Tran Quy Vinh, 47, will be investigated for "property appropriation" by the municipal police department, police said Friday. The two visitors from the Philippines, Melannie Sabellano Carna, 35, and Marina Monina Surban Flores, 41, were taking a tour of District 1 in the afternoon of Monday when the incident happened. The two women called two cyclos to take them from the Independence Palace in District 1 to some nearby touristic locations. A deal was reached for the tourists to pay the drivers VND150,000 ($6.5) each. When the tour ended at the War Remnants Museum in District 3, Dung demanded that Flores to pay more, and she agreed to give him VND200,000. Carna was asked for 10 times the agreed amount, and she refused to pay. Vinh then snatched her purse to take the money himself, but his attempt failed. Yet Vinh did not give up. He yelled at her and threatened her. Eventually, she had to give him the VND1.5 million ($65) he demanded. The two women then reported the … [Read more...] about Cyclo drivers fleece Filipino tourists in Saigon

The average selling price of a street-view house in HCMC’s District 1 was VND490 million ($21,124) per square meter in Q3, according to a report by real estate trading site Batdongsan.com.vn. This was 56 percent higher than the average price in neighboring District 3 and 87 percent higher than in District 10. For alley-view houses, the average price in District 1 was VND259 million ($11,164) per square meter, 32 percent higher than District 3 and 52 percent higher than District 10. For apartments, the average price in District 1 was VND114 million ($4,914) per square meter, twice that of the second-ranked District 10. Dwindling real estate supply in HCMC as population increases has pushed real estate prices up in recent years, especially in central business districts. According to real estate firm Savills, total supply, which includes unsold units and newly built units in the city in the last quarter of 2018, fell 44 percent year-on-year. This number fell by a further 34 percent … [Read more...] about District 1 house prices top Saigon real estate chart

The one-meter wide, seven-and-a-half-meter long space in an alley on Vinh Vien Street is home to Nguyen Van Ton, 82, his wife Trinh Thy Y, 74, their daughter, 53, and her grandchild, 12. The house was built 50 years ago when Ton came to Saigon from the Mekong Delta's Long An Province to work as a construction worker. He built the place himself, squeezing three floors and a mezzanine in between the walls of the two neighboring houses. "Even though the house is small, with the help of the ward's committee, I was issued a land use right certificate, a house number, along with electricity and water meters," Ton said. Y has retired as a nurse at a public hospital. She has lived with Ton in the house throughout their married life. "We cannot afford a bigger house. It did not bother us much in the past because we went out to work all day and only came home to sleep." In order to watch the TV, Ton has to stand near the box since there is no space to sit. It does not … [Read more...] about Living between two neighboring walls in Saigon

No you're not mistaken, this truck has been transformed into a coffee shop in Ho Chi Minh City's Binh Tan District. "As an auto enthusiast, I bought a used 40-feet truck with two decommissioned containers, then transformed them into a coffee house. It took me almost a year to finish setting up the shop,” said owner Nguyen Thanh Nhut. The truck’s interior and engine were removed before the cabin was converted into a counter. The truck still has the wing mirrors, headlights and gas tank. These wheels no longer roll along the streets and instead form a staircase. The entire coffee shop is a combination of two containers. "The containers are made from iron and steel, so I have had to use 4 high-capacity air conditioners and fans to cool them down. I've also used canvas to cover the ceiling to cool it down,” said Nhut. The sides of the containers have been cut open to … [Read more...] about Saigon container truck open for coffee, not logistics

The Department of Population and Family Planning has proposed subsidizing or waiving hospital fees for the delivery of the second child and offering families having two children soft loans to buy or rent houses. These are meant only for official residents of the city and not migrants, the department said in the proposal, which will be submitted to the administration for drafting the population policy for 2021-25. Other recommendations include extending maternity leave from six months to one year for having the second child and giving the father a month off, increasing the number of days of annual paid leave from 12 for employees having kids under five, and subsidizing kindergarten fees at public facilities for families with two kids. In the last two decades the city's fertility rate has fallen from 1.76 children per woman to just 1.33 against the current national average of 2.1. The rate is "seriously low", and would keep falling without timely intervention, Le Van Thanh, former head … [Read more...] about Saigon couples might get incentives to have second kid