What to do when mid-afternoon hunger strikes? Step out onto the street with this list.
3 p.m. is the perfect time to find middle-aged vendors pulling their chè carts on the streets of Saigon, loaded with tapioca, mung beans, black peas, sesame, lotus seeds, longan, mango, jackfruit, and sometimes, even durian.
Don’t like the tapioca-based chè? You can pretty much try anything with this iced flan, from jackfruit to lotus seeds, and longan to jelly.
It’s not a sin to get a mid-afternoon sugar hit, and if chè is not your cup of tea, try a small jaw exercise with grilled corn braised with oily scallions.
Can pizza be an afternoon snack? Yes, if you replace the pizza crust with thin rice paper, cheese, ham, eggs, butter, sausage, scallions and pulled smoked beef. Grilled Vietnamese super-slim pizza is the star for mid-afternoon hunger, if you don’t mind a little grease and oil.
Want something heavier? Xôi can fill you up until midnight, but might leave you craving for more. Xôi is glutinous rice and everything savory that goes with it: fried scallions, pulled chicken, smoked sausage, groundnuts, pork floss and pate. It’s on-the-go, cheap and hard to resist.
The reason for mango salad addiction is simple: you have one bite, and you have to have another. The recipe is even more simple: sliced mango sprinkled with lime juice and a whole lot of dried, crushed chili.
Stop in front of a highschool in Saigon at 3 p.m. and you’ll see vendors selling small bags of a spicy salad with tiny wooden sticks. That’s rice paper salad, mixed with quail eggs, pull smoked beef, Vietnamese coriander, and yet again, a lot of finely crushed chili.
Pennywort juice is the perfect sidekick for greasy food, but it’s reviving alone too. Don’t expect much out of the taste, drink it for the vitamins and minerals you need mid-afternoon. It’s a decade-old home remedy, your Vietnamese grandmother would say.
If you are no fan of anything green, opt for sugarcane juice. It’s everywhere on the street and very soon, you’ll be back on your feet.
Duck fetuses are certainly not for first-time wanderers, but if you’re feeling adventurous on your 100th afternoon food quest, dive in.
‘Abuse of laws and arbitrary behavior at public offices are still very common.’
Experts and businesses have all too often lamented that superfluous formalities and corrupt government agencies remain one of the biggest problems plaguing companies in Vietnam. It is now serious enough for a senior government official to use strong words when he disparaged the deep-seated problem.
Mai Tien Dung, Minister and Chairman of the Government Office, said at a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday that despite many directives on administrative reforms, officials in Vietnam have been “slow” to change.
“Abuse of laws and arbitrary behavior in public offices are still very common,” Dung said, as cited by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.
According to a survey released at the conference, around 73 percent of businesses polled confirmed that red tape is the biggest obstacle they faced in Vietnam.
Of the 100 businesses surveyed, 64 said “authorative” agencies were frustrating, while 46 percent said they were troubled with overlapping demands, according to the survey commissioned by the Advisory Council for Administrative Procedures Reform, which consists of government officials and business association representatives.
Dung said many government agencies do not communicate with one another, so overlapping procedures force businesses to pay multiple times for one single paper.
One company had to spend VND15 trillion ($660 million) a year on customs checks, Dung said, without naming names, to prove his point that superfluous formalities in Vietnam render its businesses uncompetitive. Most businesses in Vietnam are small and medium sized, with registered capital of up to VND100 billion.
Ha Cong Tuan, vice minister of agriculture, backed Dung’s argument, saying businesses find it much harder to access government support now.
A business investing in high-tech farming will have to go through 16 doors and 40 procedures to finally win the privilege it legally deserves, Tuan said.
In Vietnam, the practice of passing money under the table is so common many don’t consider it bribery, but an inevitable part of getting things done. For years studies have confirmed what everyone in the country knows: Bribery is bad and getting worse.
The thirty-three-year-old weightlifter born with deformed legs set a new world record.
Vietnam has bagged its first medal at the 2017 Mexico World Para Powerlifting in style after weightlifter Le Van Cong broke the world record in the men’s 49kg class by lifting 183.5 kg on Monday.
Cong set a world record of 183.5kg (4,045 lbs) in his fourth attempt, breaking the mark of 183kg he set at Rio Paralympic 2016.
It was the third World Championships for Le, who claimed silver at both Kuala Lumpur 2010 and Dubai 2014.
Expanding gross domestic product (GDP), modern infrastructure and a dramatic increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) are signs that Vietnam has transformed into an attractive investment destination, but there are still barriers to doing business which are best navigated with local help on board.
Since 1988, there have been 13,544 foreign investment projects with a total registered capital of US$213 billion in Vietnam, building a large overseas investment sector which occupies about 17% of GDP and 43.4% of industrial product value. Overseas firms are attracted by Vietnam’s 87 million-strong population which supports a large and young workforce and that has also seen an increase in disposable income in recent years.
Strong economic growth rates have been a common feature of the Vietnamese economy since the 1990s, and even though the high levels slumped slightly during the global financial crisis, the country has rapidly returned to pre-crisis growth trends and is expected to continue on this path. Infrastructure, tourism development, and related real estate and retail sector development in urban areas are all attracting large amounts of FDI, and overseas firms are increasingly attracted by the country’s move from a centralised to a market-orientated economy.
However, The World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) rank Vietnam in 99th place in the world for ease of doing business, which means it is essential to seek local help when expanding in the country.
There are 10 procedures to undertake when starting a business in Vietnam, making it among the most complex start-up environments in the world. What’s more, many tasks facing new corporate entities may be unfamiliar to overseas companies, making the task far more rigorous. Registration of the seal-sample at the Police Department, for example, or publically announcing the formation in a local newspaper are procedures most companies generally don’t have to complete.
It takes 110 days and 11 procedures to get permits for construction in Vietnam, once again requiring interaction with several official departments. Inspections must be carried out by the Department of Construction and the municipality, and certificates should be obtained from the Firefighters Prevention Department, the Department of Construction and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
Getting Electricity
Getting electrical connection is among the most rigorous tasks facing startups in Vietnam, taking 115 days to complete and costing a significant percentage of income per capita. Inspections by the local power corporation are required before completing processes with the Traffic and Transport Department and the Firefighters Prevention Department.
Registering property takes 57 days to complete, which is far higher than the OECD norm but around average for East Asia and Pacific. Contracts between the transferor and the transferee are signed before taxation is paid and registration for the right to use land is complete.
Getting Credit
Vietnam is home to quite a stable credit environment, and obtaining capital is a relatively smooth process for businesses. However, the lack of a private credit bureau can make the process a little trickier for overseas firms.
Protecting Investors
Investor protection is an area in which Vietnam fails miserably. It is ranked in 169th place by the World Bank and IFC, with a weak director liability index and shareholder suits index.
Paying Taxes
There are a massive 32 corporate tax payments to be made each year which takes an average of 872 company hours to complete. Compared to the OECD norm of 176 and the East Asia and Pacific average of 209, taxation is one of the most burdensome processes of doing business in Vietnam.
Trading Across Borders
Given its strong manufacturing base and reliance on interconnectivity, trading across borders is a cheap endeavour. However, that isn’t to say the process is not complicated, and the stream of documentation required for both importing and exporting highlights that cross-border trade can be difficult at the best of times.
Enforcing Contracts and Resolving Insolvency
Enforcing contracts takes 400 days to complete and 34 procedures. Resolving insolvency is a far more laborious process, taking five years on average to complete and with a low recovery rate.
Culture
The Vietnamese believe in the teachings of the early Chinese philosopher Confucius which emphasise the importance of relationships, responsibility and obligation. Vietnam is also a collectivist country and community concerns will almost always come before business or individual needs.We have the local knowledge to help you navigate these minefields.
Whether you want to set up in Vietnam or just want to streamline your Vietnamese operations, talk to us.
Source: TMF/ News Insights/ Business culture/ Vietnam
Get the most out of a trip to Ho Chi Minh and discover everything from chic coffee shops and street food to Vietnamese art and Vespa tours
There’s a lot of history to Ho Chi Minh, some of it still pretty raw, but it’s also one of the fastest-growing, most vibrant cities in Asia. You can easily while away three or four days enjoying eclectic dining and interesting tours, in the city formerly known as Saigon, at the start or end of a south-east Asia tour.
Coffee and kitsch
Transport yourself back to the Vietnam War era, with a visit to Cong Caphe, a coffee chain with a retro, Vietcong-inspired decor.
Hipster-style spot: head back in time at Cong Caphe
Decorated with Communist propaganda posters, vintage typewriters and army kitbags, this hipster-style spot has the theming of a tourist attraction but also draws in locals with its ambiance and artisanal approach to coffee. Try the house special, a coconut coffee, or refresh with a Vietnamese staple, iced coffee with condensed milk.
Picture this
If a picture paints a thousand words, then Vietnamese art can fill an entire library with its stories. Sophie’s Art Tour takes a closer look at the country’s history through the eyes of artists and curators. The small-group guided tours run Monday to Saturday 9am-1pm, taking in private collections, museums and contemporary art spaces.
The narrative delves not just into Vietnam’s tumultuous recent history, but its contemporary creative art scene, and Sophie and her fellow guides add an extra layer to the city tour experience with their informative and thought-provoking approach.
Sensory overload
Is the smell of chocolate in the dark even more tempting? To debate this and other important culinary questions, try Noir – a tasty indication of Ho Chi Minh’s increasingly sophisticated gastro scene.
Noir’s gourmet plates are served in a pitch-black restaurant by blind or visually impaired staff. This is so much more than a meal, it’s a sensory dining experience built around flavours and textures. You won’t be able to see what you’re eating, but the meal will stick in your mind for a long time after.
Retro ride
You’ll need to hold your nerve while weaving in and out of Ho Chi Minh’s heavily congested traffic as a passenger on a vintage Vespa. The Italian scooters have been a part of Vietnamese culture ever since they were introduced decades ago by the French but they fell out of favour when cheap Japanese and Chinese motorbikes flooded the market.
A man on the back of a Vespa in Ho Chi Minh
On your bike: enjoy an unforgettable experience on a vintage Vespa CREDIT: QUINN RYAN MATTINGLY
Using lovingly restored models, Vespa Adventures offers the best adrenalin rush in the city – if you dare to join the chaotic columns of motorbike traffic that snake around the streets. Trust your guide to navigate the roads with the determination of a marching ant and enjoy the ride.
The concrete jungle quickly fades into the Mekong Delta, a fertile area of rice paddies, rivers and swamps. Here on the outskirts of the city, tourists melt away and village life steps forward – a beguiling picture of farmers tending fields, market sellers peddling wares, children playing streetside and dogs and hens roaming free.
Skyline views
Historic French architecture and tree-lined boulevards record Saigon’s time as a French colony, but there’s energy flowing through this city, and Ho Chi Minh is rapidly growing skywards.
The tallest beacon on the skyline since 2010, the 68-storey, 262-metre Bitexco Financial Tower has an unusual shape, owing to a helipad cantilevered out from the 55th floor. Ascend to the SkyDeck for 360-degree views – or for the price of a beverage that’s roughly the same as the viewing platform entrance fee, you can visit the bar on the 50th floor to drink in the views.
Frozen in time
An imposing concrete block, surrounded by gardens, the Reunification Palace is a time capsule that bore witness to dramatic moments in Vietnamese history. In 1975 tanks belonging to the North Vietnamese Army crashed through the gates, signifying victory for the communist party and the end of the Vietnam War. Two of these original tanks are parked on the lawns outside.
Staff escaped from the rooftop helipad minutes before the palace was taken over, part of Operation Frequent Wind, the largest helicopter evacuation in history. As the former seat of South Vietnamese presidential power, the palace hides secret rooms, a warren of tunnels, and a war command centre with maps fixed to walls. Although the palace is still used for national events, as you wander around, there’s an eerie sense that time stopped in 1975.
Hotel on the frontline
Another landmark with echoes of wartime is the Caravelle, one of the city’s most prestigious hotels. It’s been a hotel since 1959 and during the war, it was the office and social hub for the international media. By its closing days, they could see the frontline from their bar stools.
Landmark hotel: the Caravelle is one of the most prestigious hotels in the city CREDIT: AAPHOTO
Skyscrapers have muscled in on the view from the foreign correspondents’ beloved Saigon Saigon Bar, but Lan Som Square, Saigon Opera House and Notre Dame Cathedral are all still in the picture. Visit between 4pm-7pm for happy hour specials and after 9pm for live music and dancing on the black and white tiled floor.
Puppet wizardry
A water puppet show is a traditional form of Vietnamese art, and the most popular venue in Ho Chi Minh is the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre. The daily 50-minute show depicts the culture, traditions and folklore of Vietnamese life and has a soundtrack of old-fashioned music played on authentic instruments.
Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre
Walking on water: visit the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre CREDIT: GETTY
Don’t worry that the dialogue is in Vietnamese – the puppeteers, immersed in water to the waist and hidden behind the set, create a show that is comical, poetic and visually spectacular.
Hipster house
Want to rub shoulders with an industrious young crowd? Head where the hipsters go, to Cafe Apartment on Saigon’s Walking Street – an art deco nine-storey apartment block that is chock-full with one-off cafes and boutiques. Before you tackle the stairs, step back and admire the view of the tower block from the street below.
Each balcony is decorated a different way, giving the block the look of a giant doll’s house. The building may have seen better days, but the funky personalities of its tenants makes this one of Ho Chi Minh’s most vibrant addresses.
Shop til you pho
Ben Thanh market in central Ho Chi Minh is one of the city’s most diverting areas. An archetypal Asian urban market, Ben Thanh bursts at the seams with edibles, essentials, and expendables.
A social buzz lingers around the tight grid of aisles, and spills out into the surrounding pavements, as locals chitchat and tourists indulge in a spot of good-natured haggling.
Venture beyond the conical hats, lacquerware and T-shirts to see pyramidal stacks of exotic-looking fruit and vegetables, and the eye-popping sights of buckets of eels and baskets of pigs’ snouts. If that’s not the sort of “delicacy” you can stomach, you’ll find everything that’s good about Vietnamese cuisine here too, with the nourishing pho – spicy noodle soup – a lip-smacking winner.
Dare to beer
A popular evening pastime in Vietnam is drinking cheap, mass-produced beer, most commonly consumed street-side while sitting on a low plastic stool. But beer tastes are maturing in Ho Chi Minh. In the past couple of years more than a dozen artisan brewers have brought their trade to the city, giving beer drinkers stronger and bolder alternatives to the ubiquitous Bia Hoi and Saigon beers.
Leading this imbibing revolution are the likes of Heart of Darkness, East West Brewing Company, and Pasteur Street Brewing Company. Their professional craft-brewing expertise and their use of all-natural ingredients produces an intriguing choice of beers.
Infused with hints of tropical fruits, spices, chocolate or coffee, you’re unlikely to stop at one. Feeling particularly thirsty? Then walk and talk with self-confessed beer geeks Saigon Craft Beer Tours to learn about the rapid growth of the city’s craft beer movement.
Icon of the Sky
If you want to see the world and get there in comfort and style, the incredibly well-connected Singapore Airlines is the connoisseurs’ choice, with 17 flights a week to Ho Chi Minh alone, and more than 35 weekly flights to Vietnam as a whole.
Singapore Airlines works with the finest chefs and best staff to ensure wherever you fly on its extensive network is as good as it gets at 30,000 feet.
The public will have their say on the expansion of the city’s already popular pedestrian area.
Saigon is polling public opinion about making more streets in its backpacker area pedestrian-friendly, a plan which aims to provide a bigger venue for the Lunar New Year celebrations in mid-February.
At a meeting on Monday, the city’s government instructed its tourism department to seek public opinion on turning De Tham and Do Quang Dau into walking streets. Both streets cross Bui Vien, which is already pedestrianized over the weekends.
The switch, if approved, should ideally be completed by the Lunar New Year, the country’s biggest festival which will peak on February 16, the city said, as cited by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. Vietnam’s labor ministry has proposed a seven-day break from February 14-20 to mark the holiday, which will need the official nod from the prime minister.
Bui Vien and the two streets up for discussion sit at the heart of Saigon’s popular tourism precinct, which is packed with bars, restaurants and dance clubs. The area pulls in around 2,000 tourists on its best days and earns more than VND37 billion ($1.63 million) a year.
The city spent VND13 billion ($572,300) on granite paving, music stages, surveillance cameras, security guards, free wifi and public toilets to turn Bui Vien into a weekend walking zone in August.
Nguyen Hue, the first walking street to open in the crowded city in 2015, has become an attraction to locals and foreigners alike.
Saigon, Vietnam’s biggest commercial center, is one of the most popular destinations in the country.
During the first six months, foreign arrivals increased 14 percent from a year ago to nearly 2.8 million, while the tourism sector raked in VND53.6 trillion ($2.4 billion), up 12 percent from the same period last year, according to the city’s tourism department.
The Vietnam index rose more than 13 percent in November.
Vietnamese shares reached decade-highs and topped Asia-Pacific with the highest price gains in November, bolstered by rising foreign interest during the month.
Foreigners were net buyers of about $500 million of shares in the country’s stock market in November, the highest monthly purchases in at least seven years.
Singapore-listed Jardine Cycle & Carriage Ltd’s purchases of about $900 million in Vinamilk’s shares was seen as a positive for Vietnamese markets, with government aiming to trim its stakes in more state-owned firms.
Vietnam will also kick off the sale of a majority stake in Sabeco, the country’s biggest brewer, in December.
The Vietnam index rose more than 13 percent in November.
Hong Kong and Japanese shares rose more than 3 percent each in November.
Sri Lankan stocks led the losers with a fall of 3.11 percent, followed by China and Taiwan shares with declines of more than 2 percent.
South Korean, Malaysian, Thai, Philippine and Indian equities fell between 1 to 2 percent.
Smartphone ownership has continued to grow in both urban and rural areas in Vietnam, according to the 2017 Nielsen Vietnam Smartphone Insights report.
The number of people using smartphones in major cities has surged to 84 percent out of the 95 percent of people using mobile phones, an increase of six percentage points from last year.
In secondary cities, 71 percent use smartphones out of 93 percent using mobile phones, a year-on-year growth of nine points.
In rural areas, it is 68 percent out of 89 percent.
“The rapid uptake of connected devices, especially smartphones and tablets, is inevitable in our country,” Doan Duy Khoa, director of Nielsen Vietnam’s department of consumer insights, said in a release.
“This could correspond to the fact that smartphone brands are offering consumers abundant choices at affordable and reasonable prices.
“Another reason is that consumers are enjoying an improving standard of living and expressing their desire for connectivity anywhere and anytime.”
Earlier this year Nielsen had conducted another study in co-operation with Younet Media to shed light on the evolving rural consumer trends.
It found that social media has emerged as a key platform for information, entertainment and keeping in touch with relatives, friends and children, with 22.5 million Facebook users living in rural areas compared with 23.5 million in urban areas.
“This plays an instrumental role in media consumption shifting beyond traditional media formats such as broadcast and cable TV, and also beyond traditional time parts.
“For media owners and advertisers, it is becoming increasingly important to understand both urban and rural consumers’ viewing habits in order to deliver the right content at the right time.”
The report, using online survey method, polled 1,882 frequent online users in major cities, 1,930 users in secondary cities and 2,027 users in rural areas aged 16 years or above
Monkey Junior, the English learning app which won first prize at the Vietnamese Talent Awards 2016, has just received Google start-up financial support funding of USD100,000.
Monkey Junior is Vietnam’s only representative selected for this fund among 24 other projects and businesses from 14 countries.
This is the 5th Google Launchpad Accelerator programme.
Dao Xuan Hoang, Monkey Junior founder, said that Google support would help his app be more widely-known internationally.
The Launchpad Accelerator is a six-month acceleration programme that matches top growth-stage startups from emerging ecosystems with the best of Google people, network, and advanced technologies – to help scale products.
Besides the USD100,000, selected firms will be also offered the two weeks of all-expenses-paid training at Google HQ in Silicon Valley. They also have the chance to meet with senior Google IT experts as well as those worldwide.
Monkey Junior won the first prize of Vietnamese Talent Awards 2016 and Global Initiative 2016. To date, Monkey Junior has attracted around 3 million users across the world.
Newly-launched Monkey Stories, a huge digital library of interactive e-books for kids aged 2-8, has received a positive response from many parents.
The founder Dao Xuan Hoang noted that he and his colleagues will launch other useful apps such as Monkey Maths and Monkey Science.
Foreign conglomerates have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Vietnamese fintech firms, as more bank-fintech cooperation agreements have been signed recently.
Though fintech is still in the early stage of development, it has attracted hundreds of millions of dollars from investment funds.
UTC Investment from South Korea has spent VND542 billion to acquire a 65 percent stake of VNPT Epay, while SEA has a 45 percent stake in VNPAY.
A series of investment deals were made in 2016, including $28 million by SCPE and Goldman Sachs in Momo e-wallet, and Credit China Fintech’s acquisition of a 51 percent stake of Amigo Technologies
Foreign investors have poured money into Vietnam fintech firms as they can see the great potential in the market, analysts said. The 4.0 industry revolution with e-payment solutions is irreversible and Vietnam will have to follow the trend.
Vietnam has 45 million internet users, ranking sixth in Asia, while its internet penetration- population ratio was 48 percent in 2015, higher than the Asian average level of 38 percent and the world level of 45 percent.
According to VIRAC, a market analysis firm, by June 2017, the number of bank cards issued had reached 121.5 million. There are 76 institutions which provide payment services via internet and 39 institutions which provide mobile payment services.
By the end of 2016, the number of domestic cards had reached 92.1 million
However, despite the good payment infrastructure, most of the card transactions are made to withdraw cash, accounting for 87 percent. This is both a challenge and opportunity for fintech to develop.
The proportion of online shoppers in Vietnam is now at the average level compared with other regional countries. The conversion rate from the number of visits to websites into orders remains very low compared with traditional retailing.
Analysts noted that commercial banks were joining forces with fintech firms to develop financial services.
The Military Bank (MB) has joined hands with Startup Fintech to develop a technology which allows users to carry out transactions on Facebook’s Messenger app, while VP Bank has been working with Fintech Timo.
The 2015-2017 period witnessed a boom of fintech firms with the appearance of MoMo, Payoo, 123pay and Finsom.
There are 40 operational fintech firms in Vietnam which provide diversified financial services, from payments, remittances, capital mobilization and financial management.
Readers, especially children, can now go on a journey through one of the wildest and most biodiverse parts of the world – a range of rugged mountains bordering Laos and Viet Nam, the Truong Son Mountain Range.
A bilingual book, Wonders of the Annamites, was launched yesterday in Hanoi by Nha Nam Culture and Communications Company.
The story follows a local father, daughter and son on a trek to visit their grandmother in this ancient, almost mystical, mountain landscape.
They journey along rivers and through groves of bamboo, past rocky cliffs and into steamy tropical forests – and discover a wondrous world of wildlife along the way.
Children will learn about the rare and recently discovered animal species exclusive to the Annamites such as the Sao La, White-Cheeked Gibbon, Crested Argus, Red-Shanked Douc and other incredible species.
The book comes out from a long-time research project by Laos-based Camille Coudrat, director of a non-profit conservation project called Project Anoulak.
She has teamed up with Eric Losh, an art director and illustrator from New York, to offer colourful illustrations depicting twelve different habitats and 60 species.
“The Annamite Mountains of Laos and Viet Nam (Truong Son Mountain Range) are home to an abundance of rare wildlife, and now you can explore the mountain range’s natural wonders from your own home,” said Coudrat.
Educational project
An Indochinese Tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti) strolls through a bamboo forest past a hidden Annamite Striped Rabbit (Nesolagus timminsi) and its babies. Illustration courtesy of Eric Losh.
“For a few years I had in mind a children’s book that would feature key species on the Annamite Mountains,” said Coudrat.
“This would not only be used at the site where Project Anoulak is working, but all across the region …and beyond. It could also be used in the West to raise awareness of the international community about this very special mountain range and its very special species.”
Coudrat said she first became aware of Losh’s art through the Holiday cards that he illustrated for the Saola Working Group (of which she is a member).
“They led me to discover more of his artwork, including a beautiful children’s book he did in 2013 about primates in Uganda called The Chorus of Kibale. It was clear that he would be a perfect fit for our project.”
Their collaboration began via a Skype call between the US and Laos.
All the species mentioned in the book are imperiled by habitat loss and rampant poaching, Losh said.
“The situation is grim, and unfortunately, most people outside of conservation circles don’t even know that the region exists.”
He said he hopes that with the distribution of this book, he and Project Anoulak can raise awareness of local and international communities and also funding for the conservation of the Annamites.
“The Annamite Mountains ecosystem teems with biodiverse wildlife, but humans have also been an important part of the landscape for generations. So we would be remiss to not include them in the portrayal of life in the mountains.”
Losh said this was why they decided to use a family’s journey as a narrative to open and close the story, to give the book some context of the people who live there, and make it relate to their daily lives.
Coudrat came up with a list of the key species she wanted to be illustrated in the book, specifically ones that are endemic, rare, beautiful, iconic, evolutionarily distinct, little known, and highly threatened in the region (and beyond).
Losh spent a lot of time looking through tons of pictures from the field and from camera-traps pre-selected by Coudrat to get a better idea of the details of not just the animals, but everything from orchids to ferns to tree barks.
The family encounters the rarest animal in the Annamites: the saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis). Illustration courtesy of Eric Losh.
Many of the illustrations in the book were directly inspired by certain locations in the photos.
“Despite the fact that it remains an illustrated children’s book, it was very important for it to be as ecologically accurate as possible, including the representation of certain behaviours of the different species,” he said.
There is a section at the end of the book that provides additional facts and details about all of the wildlife featured throughout.
The authors sought advice, suggestions, and comments from wildlife experts and colleagues working in the region to compile it.
The book will be produced in four language editions as physical and/or e-books in English, English/French, English/Lao, and English/Vietnamese.
The 2nd Food Fest 2017 is set to transpire on December 8-10 in Ho Chi Minh City where guests can indulge their palates with as many as 1,500 types of food and drinks prepared by leading cuisine experts.
Festival goers will have a chance to get free food at 10-10:30am, and 4- 4:30 pm, join cooking classes run by well-known local and international chefs staring from 4pm, and enjoy a music programme at 8 pm.
Gourmands can also tempt their taste buds at Food Studio at 5 p.m.
The first event of its kind was held at the Royal City Mall in Hanoi in April this year, offering an opportunity to guests to savour 1,000 Vietnamese and foreign delicacies, and diverse beverages from almost 300 domestic and foreign brands.
The central province of Phu Yen has launched the first public solar power project in the provincial capital city of Tuy Hoa after six months of construction.
The province said the project, which will provide lighting for the city’s Walking Street, marks the first step of promoting a series of renewable energy projects in the near future.
The solar power system, which generates energy from 78 solar panels on the rooftops of two public rest-stops on downtown’s Doc Lap, will supply 81.12 Kwh (kilowatts per hour) in ‘green’ power each day, saving 65 million VND (nearly 3,000 USD) annually and reducing carbon emissions by 20 tonnes.
According to the province, the ‘green’ power system will light up the coastal pedestrian street at night for tourists and locals.
Phu Yen is regarded central Vietnam’s second-strongest province in developing public solar power projects, after Da Nang.
In September, the province began piloting a solar-powered watering system for a 10ha sugarcane farm in Son Hoa district.
The latest report from the provincial Department of Industry and Trade notes that 16 investors have been seeking investment in solar, wind and gas-driven power projects in the province.
Last month, the province officially launched the first stage of the 30MW (Megawatts) biomass power plant.
Phu Yen province also plans to operate a solar-powered automatic watering system at a 6ha public park in Tuy Hoa city.
Vietnam is witnessing the strong expansion of small supermarket and convenience store chains applying high-tech solutions in sales, storage and customer management.
Vietnam is listed among the 30 most attractive retail markets and has returned to the sixth position in GRDI (global retail development index) as announced by AT Kearney.
There are 800 supermarkets, 150 shopping malls, nearly 9,000 traditional markets and 2.2 million retail households throughout the country.
According to A.T. Kearney, small supermarket and convenience stores are the fastest growing segment in the retail market.
To date, FamilyMart chain has 100 stores and it plans to have 800 by 2020. 7-Eleven plans to open 100 shops within three years and 1,000 within 10 years. Meanwhile, Vinmart+ hopes to raise the number of shops from 1,000 in 2016 to 2,500 by the end of 2017.
A survey by Kantar Worldpanel found that one-third of Vietnamese households bought things at small supermarkets and convenience stores at least once and 10 times a year on average.
Nielsen reported that the growth rate of the modern retail channel was 7.7 percent in the months from April 2016 to March 2017, higher than the 6.1 percent of the traditional retail channel.
Meanwhile, a report from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) shows that the modern retail growth has slowed down, now accounting for 25 percent of total retail revenue. High retail premises rent, higher retail prices and the Vietnamese habit of going to traditional markets are the major reasons for the slower growth.
The Leader quoted Nguyen Huy Hoang from Kantar Worldpanel as saying that the market share of FCMG at convenience stores has increased from 2-3 percent in 2015 to 4 percent.
Hoang predicted that the figure would continue to increase and reach 8-10 percent by 2022.
The expert noted that convenience stores with the area of 200 square meters which sell FCMG and food is the choice of many retailers because it doesn’t need large retail premises, while it can satisfy demand from busy urban consumers.
“Convenience stores have been expanding. They appear in residential quarters, jostle among supermarkets, hypermarkets and street front shops,” he commented.
A report of the HCMC Industry & Trade Department showed that by the end of September, the city had 1,079 convenience stores, including stores specializing in food and FCMG. The average growth rate of convenience stores was 15 percent in 2014-2016.
According to Do Quoc Huy from Saigon Co-op, the retail chain has opened 177 food convenience stores bearing the brand Co.op Food, and 70 modern groceries called Co.op Smile.
By the end of February, Satrafoods had 100 food convenience stores, while the figure has risen to 150 in HCMC and 50 in Can Tho.
November’s uptrend in Viet Nam’s stock market could extend on the back of strong capital inflows from both domestic and foreign investors, analysts say.
The VN-Index of the HCM Stock Exchange rose 2.65 per cent last week, concluding Friday at 960.33 points, the highest since December 7, 2007.
Viet Nam’s key market index gained nearly 13.5 per cent in the past one month and has climbed 44.5 per cent since the beginning of this year.
In north, the HNX-Index rose 4.2 per cent last week, closing Friday at 115.49 points. The northern market index has also expanded over 44 per cent this year.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)’s announcement on the long-awaited competitive share offering of Sai Gon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation, better known as Sabeco (SAB), and the Development Investment Construction Joint Stock Company (DIG) has spurred investors’ interest in the stock market.
SAB was also among the biggest gainers with a weekly gain of 3.5 per cent given that it is the most expensive stock in the market, at VND330,000 (US$14.47) per share.
MoIT has said that 343.6 million, equivalent to 53.59 per cent of Sabeco’s charter capital, will be offered at an initial selling price of VND320,000 a piece on December 18, as the State looks to reduce its holding from nearly 90 per cent to 36 per cent.
Meanwhile, DIG’s shares increased over 17 per cent last week, trading over VND20,000 a share, when the Ministry of Construction successfully offloaded its entire holding of nearly 50 per cent in the construction corporation.
The investor excitement has spread to other large caps and lifted their prices, including Vinamilk (VNM), up 5.9 per cent; Masan Group (MSN), up 6.5 per cent; and Ha Noi Beer Alcohol and Beverage JSC (BHN), up 7.9 per cent.
Banks were also on the winning side with most stocks gaining value. Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange posted weekly rises of 13.3 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively.
The value of Military Bank (MBB), Sacombank (STB), VPBank (VPB), Vietinbank (CTG), Vietcombank (VCB) and BIDV (BID) shares on the HCM Stock Exchange increased by between 1-4.8 per cent.
Shares of the two biggest oil and gas companies, PV Gas (GAS) and Petrolimex (PLX), rallied 2 per cent and 8.3 per cent, respectively, thanks to positive developments in the global oil market.
“Cash inflows alternately running into different blue chips of different groups have backed up VN-Index, minimising the chance of tumbles,” said Tran Hai Yen, a stock analyst with Bao Viet Securities JSC.
In a note last week, Yen said money may keep pouring into large caps early this week and this will have positive influence on mid-cap and penny stocks, though this effect may be short-lived.
Thien Bui, senior analyst at Viet Dragon Securities JSC, agreed that strong capital inflows are supporting the market. Many large caps faced corrections but other shares have moved up and pulled the market.
“It implies that investors are very active in this period. However, there might be a risk, as we do not know whether the current capital is financed by (a lot of) margin lending or not. If it is, the capital will be very fragile in the context of a highly volatile VN-Index,” Bui wrote in a report.
Liquidity was high last week with an average of nearly 315 million shares worth VND7.3 trillion being traded in the two markets per session.
However, according to Duong Van Chung, head of MB Securities Co’s northern branch, the market this year has been very bullish, drawing not only big foreign capital but a great proportion of available money from residents into stocks.
“Thus, the market is longer dependent heavily on margin lending,” Chung was quoted as saying on tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn.
Foreign traders were net buyers of stocks worth nearly VND11.3 trillion ($495.6 million) in November, lifting the 11-month net buy value to VND25.7 trillion, the highest ever recorded, according to Bao Viet Securities.
The record was motivated by divestment in State-owned enterprises and the outlook for an upgrade of Viet Nam’s stock market. Strong buys by foreign investors are expected to continue provide momentum for the VN-Index rally
