Off season darts tournaments in Ho Chi Minh City

I've entered two off season darts tournaments this week. One at 'Game On' bar in District one and one last night at 'The Tavern'. This is a nice chance to get some practise and meet some players from other teams in the higher leagues.

Action shots from the darts tournament

The formats vary and depend on the number of people who turn up. Both events got about 20 people so we played a mixture of singles and doubles with names drawn out of a hat. 

Overall I didn't play that badly but went out quite early on in the competitions. These contests, which have prizes provided by the bar, attract some pretty handy players. I can immediately see the standard is a lot better than division three last season. I felt a bit out of my depth. More practise is needed.

Action shots from the darts tournament

Anyway it was good fun and free food was provided! i may go to some more of these over the coming weeks before the season starts again.

Internet Service providers in Vietnam

Not much to report since I've been back from England. I'm in my third week of working. Its all going well and nothing of interest to report.

Thought I'd blog about one of the frustrations here in Vietnam. On the whole I really enjoy living in Vietnam. It's far more relaxed and a much different way of life than England. However with this trade off you have to accept that some things are never going to be as easy taking into account its laid back, the language barrier and its a developing country.  In this particular instance is the service providers. 

Coming back from England I made sure I paid all my bills so ensure nothing was cut off when I returned. A few days after returning our Internet was disconnected. I was greeted with this message on my web browser when I opened it.

As you can see 'we are please to inform, your access account is temporarily locked because you have not paid the charges'. It was the choice of words I found particularly amusing 'pleased to inform'. Also where it says 'please see the details here' there is no link.

Anyway most people here would think 'well, its your own fault you should have paid the bill'. I agree except they don't ever send me a bill so its up to me to remember to pay for it each month. Also I can't pay online I have to go to a shop a few minutes drive from home who work similar hours to me and everyone else in the city so usually its pretty busy. I've also been down there in the past when I predict it's time to pay the bill and my psychic powers aren't as good as they should and they've told me it wasn't time to pay yet.

In addition they cut me off on Friday afternoon and then shut for the weekend so i had no Internet until I paid the bill on Monday morning. Very frustrating. 

In England I could go and shout at someone but that's pointless here. Also I could change ISP except from my initial research these jokers are the only providers in my area. So as you can see, very frustrating.

Anyway this story has a happy ending as I paid the bill and now have Internet.

Will blog again when I have something of similar interest to report.

Back in Vietnam after Christmas in England.

Just a sort message to say I've arrived safely back in Vietnam after a three week holiday in England. Feeling very Jet-lagged at the moment but I had a fantastic time and caught up with most of my friends and family. As always I've eaten far too much so its back to work and the gym tomorrow.

The flat was fine when I got home except the TV company have disconnected me so I'll need to take a trip to the shop to pay my bill sometime this week.

As I said its back to work tomorrow where I'll be taking over a class mid semester. The good news is that its only 4 weeks until TET when I get another week off work!!!! Its like having two Christmases in two months!

Flying back to England for Christmas 2014

Tomorrow I fly back to England to visit family and friends. I'll be staying for 3 weeks before flying back to Vietnam on 2nd January 2015. Once again I'll be flying with Emirates and leaving at 0030 hours on 13th December 2014 on flight EK393 from SGN to DXB then leaving Dubai at 0745 on 13th December 2014 on flight EK001 and arriving at LHR at 1135 where my mum and dad will pick me up.

Its been 693 days since I last visited England at the end of 2011. This is actually longer than my first stint away from home by about five months. I'm really looking forward to seeing my family and some nice cold weather.

I have my darts end of season party tomorrow night which starts at 7pm. This is where I get to go on stage and hold aloft my 'division 3 champion' trophy. Sadly I need to be at the airport at 9:30pm. I may well go along for an hour to try and get my trophy but may miss going on stage to collect it.

Anyway, since this is 'Joel's South East Asia website' I won't be updating it whilst I'm in Europe but I'll be back in the new year. So I'll take this opportunity to say Happy Christmas!

Sugar Cane Man - The Next Generation

I went out for dinner the other night in the backpacker area. There is a really nice restaurant where you get to sit at a table on the street and watch the world go by. I don't go to the backpacker area much anymore since I live about 20 minutes away from it so it was nice to pay it a visit.

Anyway, whilst I was sitting there eating my dinner who should come along? Sugar cane man! But this was not the sugar cane man from three years ago, this was a new younger sugar cane man. 

He stopped right in front of us whilst one of the ladies spoke to him. What happened next was very unexpected, now I'm not sure if this was a service the old sugar cane man offered but there appears to be some product diversification going on in that the lady he was speaking to got him to take one of his sugar canes off his trolley and cut it up for her. She then sat there in front of us munching on it. 

Sugar cane man and the sugar cane

I wasn't aware that the sugar cane was so versatile. Not only can it be crushed into a refreshing drink but it can also be made into a nutritious snack. This made me think about sugar cane and what else I don't know about it so I did some research and found an interesting article on the health benefits of sugar cane. You can read it below but in summary is good for your skin,hair and general health.

Top 10 Benefits and Uses of Sugar Cane Juice

After this the research snowballed really. There is also another website called sugarcane.org. Check out this for an opening paragraph on their website:

'Sugarcane can play a role helping to solve many of the top challenges confronting government officials and global leaders. This remarkable plant has the potential to lower carbon dioxide emissions, create jobs, reduce petroleum use and help create a healthier, cleaner planet. Learn more about sugarcane’s many benefits.' sugarcane.org

So it appears there is much more to sugar cane that meets the eye! It may actually be a solution to many of the worlds problems. Basically this website will tell you anything and everything you need to know about sugarcane.

I'm not sure if the other sugar cane man was aware of all this now that he's retired. I like to think he was. nevertheless it was nice to see that the sugar cane industry is alive and well and attracting a younger workforce to drive it forward in the 21st century.

Christmas is coming to Ho Chi Minh City 2014

Christmas is coming to Ho Chi Minh City! Everyone has an opinion on when the correct time to put up Christmas decorations should be. Many people would believe this is the first weekend in December. I can report that I saw my first Christmas tree in Ho Chi Minh City at the beginning of November. This was in a hairdressers near my house. Pretty much the whole city had there decorations up on display before the 1st December. This seem pretty unusual for a country that never really celebrated Christmas but I suppose with globalization, consumerism and the money to be made it was only a matter of time.

The picture above is of the Christmas tree in the awesome, free gym at my University. It's not in the gym reception but actually in the gym nestled between two running machines and behind the scales. This is something I've not seen before but quite nice to see nevertheless and therefore warrants a blog post.

I had my DELTA module one exam yesterday, I think it went well. It was all very official. The exams are posted from Cambridge in England and opened in front of us at our desk in a very secure looking envelope. At the end of the exam they were sealed in an equally secure looking envelope to be sent straight back to Cambridge for marking. I kindly offered to take them to the post office but the chief examiner wasn't having any of it. I get the results in two months.

Flying back to England for Christmas at the end of next week. Very excited!

DELTA Module one exam at ILA

A few months ago I blogged that I am currently studying for the DELTA module one exam. The DELTA is the diploma in English language teaching to adults. Well this has been ongoing and this Wednesday is the big day and I have the module one exam.

I've been doing this distance learning with International House though their website but I need to sit the exam at an exam centre and the exam centre in Ho Chi Minh City is at my old school, ILA. This is where I worked for two years and studied for the CELTA.

I went to pay my exam fee a few days back and visit the place. Its not changed much but the staff there are all teachers who I used to work with.

Its a three hour exam in total. Two papers of 1.5 hours. The past three months have involved a fair amount of work in learning terminology and different grammatical structures. All stuff I knew but not really how to explain.

I'll be glad when its over, it has been fairly stressful and involved most of my weekends to study. After this Wednesday I can start to relax and look forward to going back to England for Christmas!