Ho Chi Minh City’s annual Saigon Cyclo Challenge will be held in District 7 on March 10, offering a day of fun and challenge for both locals and expats.

It is organised by Saigon Children’s Charity, an NGO established in 1992 to bring education to disadvantaged children in HCMC and the rest of the southern region.

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This year, as usual, Saigon Children’s Charity is looking for sponsors for the event. Contact Frederikke Lindholm at freddi@saigonchildren.com for details.

Eight-year-old Nguyen Song Anh’s "Big Bang" Clock has been awarded first prize at the British Council’s Global Young Learners’ Art Competition 2011

Eight year-old Nguyen Song Anh of Ho Chi Minh City has won first prize at the Global Young Learners’ Art Competition launched by the British Council last July.

For the competition, which aims to celebrate the upcoming London Olympics, Anh, a student of the Luong The Vinh School in the city, drew a sketch of the Palace of Westminster best known for its “Big Ben” clock. However, the boy named it Big Bang Clock.

A press release from the council on Monday said: “Anh’s young ears must have misheard his teachers as he mistakenly labeled it ‘Big Bang Clock’, however, the misspelling of London’s famous Big Ben captured the hearts of judges.”

Instead of his error counting against him, judges including British Council director of teaching Anna Searle and Paralympics competitor Susannah Rodgers awarded him first prize in the category of 8 years old and under, and his work will be displayed around the world.

Robin Rickard, director of British Council Vietnam, said in the release, “It’s hard to second guess the judges’ thinking, but either they were charmed by the innocent spelling mistake or thought that there was a deeper hidden meaning.

“Next year will see the London 2012 Olympics and in his picture, Anh also shows us a winners’ podium complete with medal winning athletes. So the ‘big bang’ could refer to anything from the starting ceremony to the starters’ pistols in each race. So if it was a mistake, it was a very good mistake!”

Anh admitted the misspelling but thought perhaps he’d become confused with the Swiss brand of watch of the same name.

He said he was “very pleased and happy” when he found out he was a winner, and thanked British Council teachers for encouraging him to enter, as well as his parents and his art teachers at the Luong The Vinh School.

He attributed his good fortune to increased confidence in academic activities since studying at British Council Vietnam.

Anh’s drawing together with other 11 paintings by young children from around the world, including Thailand, Kuwait, Egypt, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Mexico, have been printed by British Council offices around the world for their new desk calendar.

The Big Bang Clock is on the front page of the calendar which is already sitting on thousands of desks in over 100 countries.

Alongside the honor of having his artwork viewed internationally, Anh also won a selection of London 2012 souvenirs, including a soft toy of Olympic mascot Wenlock, an Olympic gym bag and a cup showing both Olympic mascots Wenlock and Mandeville, the Paralympic mascot.

He will also receive 10 copies of the calendar to give to family and friends.

Entries to the Global Young Learners’ Art Competition 2011 fell into three age groups: under 8, 9-11 and 12-15.

The three winning pictures and nine runners-up from the art competition will be available to download from the British Council website, the press release said.

Police have arrested a person alleged to have hacked the website of Vietnam’s leading internet security company last week, Tuoi Tre quoted the company’s representative as saying Tuesday.

Nguyen Minh Duc, director of the Hanoi-based Bach Khoa Internetwork Security Company’s Internet Security Department, said in the report that the suspect, whose identity was not revealed, was an employee of an information technology company in Hanoi.

Initial investigations by the Ministry of Public Security’s hi-tech crimes investigation department (C50) found that the suspect attacked the website http://webscan.bkav.com.vn from the suspect’s house in Hoang Mai District using two laptops.

Police are continuing their investigations to determine whether there were more culprits behind the attack, the newspaper reported.

According to Tuoi Tre, the site was hacked on February 2 and since then the company has been cooperating with members of C50 to trace down the culprit.

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On Monday the Vietnam News Agency reported that the company’s main website was also compromised last week. Beginning on February 4, the company’s website became unstable and was sometimes impossible to access at all, it said.

Both the websites have been restored and are now up and running.

In 1994 I made my first trip back to Vietnam since the war.Little did I realize then the impact that trip would have on my life. It launched me on a journey to conduct research about the war, but from a viewpoint few Americans appreciated—that of the enemy we had fought there.

By the time I completed my research, I had completed more than 50 trips to Vietnam and interviewed hundreds of Vietnamese veterans. That research was detailed in the stories of those veterans I shared in my book “Bare Feet, Iron Will.” The book was published in the US in 2010 and in Vietnam in 2011 after being translated into Vietnamese. “Bare Feet, Iron Will” has been described by the Vietnamese media as one of the most remarkable books written in 2011.

Among the many Vietnamese veterans I interviewed, there were several who stand out in my mind. One of those is brigadier general Nguyen Don Tu. A gentle soul, General Tu held no animosity towards me personally. I say that, not because I was a Vietnam veteran but because it was my father who was responsible for the US Navy’s use of the chemical defoliant Agent Orange which may well have been responsible for severe disabilities suffered by General Tu and his own daughter. 

General Tu was someone whom, once met, left you feeling you had known him a lifetime. I returned to Hanoi several times during the course of my research to meet with him and his lovely wife, Vu Phuong Mai. Both always welcomed me as family. It was, therefore, with great sadness I learned of the General’s death in 2009. When he passed, it was as if I had lost a family member as well.

When I returned to Vietnam in April 2011 to start the launch of my book there, I made the trip to Hanoi to meet with General Tu’s widow. The smile she showed me upon my arrival betrayed the sadness she still feels over her beloved husband’s death. But it was a good experience for me to see, once again, a family member and to learn about her children and grandchildren.

James G. Zumwalt (L) is the younger son of Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. (R), who became commander of the Naval Forces, Vietnam, in 1968. James and brother Elmo III served in Vietnam during their father’s command. Admiral Zumwalt approved the use of Agent Orange during the war and, after his eldest son succumbed to cancer caused by dioxin in 1988, he became a leading advocate on behalf of veterans afflicted with diseases stemming from exposure to the defoliant.

She told me that her grandchildren, Hoang Huong Tra My and Hoang Nhat Nam, were studying in a college in the United States.  Both attended Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia, which is only a three-hour train ride from my home outside Washington, DC. I asked Mai to have her grandchildren contact me and we would try to get together with them.

Just before Thanksgiving Day in the US—in November—I received an email from My who introduced herself and her brother. I invited them to join my family for the holiday. It was with great excitement we greeted My and Nam when they arrived at our home the day before Thanksgiving. We immediately bonded with them and, unsurprisingly, by the time they had to leave to return to college two days later, felt we were saying goodbye to family members.

We extended an invitation for them to join us for Christmas and New Year as well—and were very pleased when they accepted. As they visited us for the holidays, we made a point to talk with their mother, Nguyen Lan Thai, and grandmother, Mai, regularly by means of skype. In this manner, I enjoyed having the opportunity to introduce them to my wife, Karin, who has now adopted My and Nam as their American mother!

As 2011 draws to a close and a new year will soon be upon us I cannot help but reflect on my relationship with General Tu’s family and what it says about the human character. Decades ago General Tu and I were on opposite sides of the battlefield.  Had we ever met face-to-face in that conflict, the result of our meeting then would have been much different from that of our meeting long after the war.  he passage of time had given us both the opportunity to greet each other as fellow human beings, motivated by the mutual desire to get to know each other in that light. 

By his humanity, General Tu gave me the opportunity to get to know a remarkable man and a remarkable family. As I observe his grandchildren now, living in my home and enjoying the humble surroundings and environment we can provide them, I can only reflect on how life has changed in the decades since the Vietnam war has ended. I have come to realize the emptiness in my heart left by General Tu’s death is gradually being filled by the happiness I continue to enjoy with the visits of his grandchildren to my home.

As 2012 begins it is my fondest hope that all the problems existing between the US and Vietnam to which the twentieth century may have given rise will be fully extinguished in the year ahead. In so doing, it is hoped the love and humanity that now bonds together General Tu’s family and mine will be achieved by millions of other Americans and Vietnamese families as well.

Chuc Mung Nam Moi!

James G. Zumwalt

An official of the special force tasked with fighting the practice of siphoning gasoline and replacing it with unidentified liquids among tanker drivers has said it has remarkably decreased in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 7 following Vietweek coverage (Issue 002, January 13-19, 2012).

However, no one knows whether this is a temporary reprieve and if the fraudsters are just waiting for reactions from related agencies.

The public is relying on responsible agencies to deal firmly with the problem and ease their concerns, because the agencies are the only ones with resources and authority to do so. The media can only discover and report what they find.

Therefore, if the agencies do not take bold measures to get rid of this practice in a thorough manner, it is very likely that it will crop up again in more sophisticated forms.

Dismissal, or even jail terms, for a couple of unscrupulous drivers will not be enough. What the public needs is the authorities’ determination to clean up the whole process – from importing gasoline to selling it to customers. Corrupt employees and employers need to be punished strictly as well.

This is no longer a matter of the gasoline’s quality, but one of citizens’ safety. Spurious gasoline is suspected to be the main cause in numerous instances of vehicles catching fire recorded in the country since last year.

In fact, during the Tet holiday (January 23-30), vehicular fires causing serious damage were constantly in the news, heightening public concern. “Now we do not know whether we are riding a motorbike or a ball of fire,” a reader commented.

In Vietnam, spring is unmistakably the season of festivals.

On the fourth day of the first lunar month (January 26), the Dong Ky cannon procession festival opened in the northern province of Bac Ninh with the number of people taking photographs exceeding the number of local attendants.

The Huong Pagoda Festival in Hanoi did not start until the fifth day of the first lunar month, but tens of thousands of people began gathering at the spot since 11 p.m. the day before. It was suffocating to see 150,000 people crowding into the famous pagoda on the first day of the festival.

According to statistics compiled by the Department of Culture and Information, every year, 7,342 festivals take place across the country. As Vietnam is an agricultural country, 90 percent of the festivals originated in villages and were held to pray for good weather and good harvests, and to pay homage to people who were community benefactors in various ways. Therefore, most of the festivals were limited to a village or a group of adjacent villages sharing the same customs.

Noisy crowds where people elbow together and show off huge offerings are anathema to the spirit of the original Vietnamese festivals. Trays full of beer, wine, pork and chickens on Buddha altars, and currency notes scattered all over temples – which people offer to deities in exchange for personal gains – are totally in conflict with the spiritual and physical purity that praying practices demand.

However, the practice of distorting the nation’s venerable festivals continues unabated.

Dr. Le Thi Minh Ly, who studies intangible culture and used to serve as a cultural official, said she was once mesmerized by the way parishioners rode their bicycles in an orderly, solemn manner to a church in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum. After that, they left the church in the same manner, peacefully.

This is because the people knew what they were doing and had trust in their actions, Ly said.

She said she was also amazed by the way locals in the southern province of Kien Giang voluntarily contributed to the organization of a festival on the death anniversary of Nguyen Trung Truc, who led a campaign against the French domination in southern Vietnam in the late 19th century.

The festival’s atmosphere of peace, orderliness and happiness originated from locals’ respect toward the national hero.

Without respect and genuine piety, festivals lose their sanctity. Instead, the crowding, jostling, slavish offering and calculating prayers turn festivals into fearful events devoid of real joy and peace.

At Pizza 4P’s Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City guests can order one pizza with two different styles, split half and half

With the cool weather of Ho Chi Minh City this festive season, we decided to visit Pizza 4P’s last week.

It was around 8 p.m. and the restaurant was full of young local people and foreigners. My friend booked a table with a view of the wood oven and a spacious spiral staircase with stonewalls that created a “stone city” atmosphere reminiscent of ancient Rome.

Pizza 4P’s offers a very creative menu. In addition to traditional pizza, this restaurant also has modern Asian versions which use unconventional Japanese sauces, seaweed, Vietnamese fresh vegetable flowers and other local ingredients such as shrimp, pork and beef.

If you are after a fusion of new pizza culture you will surely have to try the Calamari Seaweed Pizza (squid, mushroom, homemade mozzarella, parmesan, olive oil, seaweed and soya sauce), or Teriyaki Chicken pizza (chicken, homemade mozzarella, seaweed, shiso leaves, mayonnaise, olive oil and teriyaki sauce). At Pizza 4P’s you can taste something Italian and something Japanese in a single pie, all smothered in homemade cheese.

For an appetizer we opted for “today’s marinade” which turned out to be our beloved mushrooms, and for the main course we choose something classic and something innovative: Margherita Pizza and Quattro Flowers Pizza (pumpkin, leek flower and daylily flowers and homemade parmesan with sweet chili sauce).

To encourage customers to try the diversified dishes, at Pizza 4P’s you can order one pizza with two different styles, split half and half. The simple Margherita was out favorite with its generous distribution of wonderful cheese while the Quattro Flowers Pizza gave us a taste of the exotic, the succulent homemade cheese mixing nicely with the light fragrance of vegetable flowers.

PIZZA 4P’S

8/15 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3 822 9838

For dessert my friend chose her favorite tiramisu which was very tasty and had a delightful presentation. (This dinner cost us about VND200,000 each).

“We targeted Vietnamese customers so we conducted research before opening the restaurant. We invited 50 Vietnamese people to come to taste our pizza twice a week and gathered their opinions. This menu was designed by Vietnamese people,” said the restaurant’s young CEO, Yosuke Masuko.

Masuko said he came to Vietnam from Tokyo three years ago to work in the financial sector. After this restaurant he plans to open an eco resort. “10 years ago I wanted to open an eco resort. That is why I came to Vietnam. Resorts and restaurants are similar businesses and I started with a restaurant first,” said Masuko.

After spending one year in Hanoi, Masuko moved to Saigon two years ago and together with his wife, opened Pizza 4P’s last August. The four P’s acronym stands for: Platform of Personal Pizza for Peace.

Now Masuko said works with former film director turned pizza chef, Takaaki Yoshikawa, a good friend for over 20 years.

Masuko said Yoshikawa has a good time making pizza and meeting customers in Saigon. “Six years ago, we made a pizza oven in the garden (in Japan) and cooked pizza as a hobby. We also offered pizza making classes for children,” said Masuko.

Pizza 4P’s follows an open minded concept. Masuko said pizza lovers could submit ideas for new dishes and after tests, the most popular innovation would be added to the menu. In addition to minor fame, the winner will receive copyright royalties for as long as the dish remains on the menu.

A 12th grade student in north central Vietnam died from a fall from the second floor of her school on Thursday.

Ngo Thi Thuy apparently slipped while climbing over the second floor banister at 6:30 a.m., a time allotted for cleaning duties, said her classmates at a high school in Nghe An Province, the news website Dan Tri reported.

Some teachers at the school said Thuy was wearing high heels. 

However, what remains unclear is precisely what the girl was doing around the banister, as a normal cleaning duty for students at the school only involve classrooms and corridors.

The school has given Thuy’s family VND6.5 million (US$312) for the funeral.

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Vietnamese health authorities are seeking help from international experts in identifying an unusual skin condition — suspected to be caused by agrochemicals — that has plagued the central province of Quang Ngai since last year, Tuoi Tre reported Thursday.

Nguyen Trong Khoa, deputy chief of the Ministry of Health’s Medical Services Administration, told the newspaper that his agency too planned to study the condition that had affected more than 150 people and killed two children as of last December.

Patients have ulcers on their hands and feet that look like they were caused by severe burns, stiffness in the limbs, and, in serious cases, liver damage.

Local health officials have linked the condition with plant protection chemicals.

Tuoi Tre said Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Xuyen recently approved a regimen for diagnosing and treating the condition.

It says mild symptoms can be treated with ointments, anti-inflammation drugs, and vitamins together with a dietary regime and liver supplements.

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Those with severe symptoms have to be admitted to hospital for treatment.

The regimen also advises people to wash their hands and feet after coming back from fields and avoid coming in contact with plant protection chemicals.

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Police in Hanoi have asked local prosecutors to charge a man with robbing Techcombank’s board chairman of VND500 million (US$23,980), after having threatened to murder him back in 2009.

According to police’s findings, in April 2009 Nguyen Hoang Long, 30, texted and called Ho Hung Anh, the bank chairman, offering to give him a CD related to his “privacy.”

On April 21 that year, Long met Anh at the latter’s office, claiming he had been hired to kill the bank executive for VND500 million. Police said the man also told Anh that he was carrying a handbag containing one kilogram of explosives.

Long then asked Anh to pay him VND1 billion ($47,900) in exchange for his life and information on the person behind the murder plot.

The board chairman offered to pay Long VND500 million and the latter agreed, police said.

After taking the money, Long escaped the bank’s headquarters and was not seized until August 13 of last year. Police said that following the arrest they confiscated VND302 million ($15,300) from the suspect in order to pay back Anh.

Police said the CD that Long offered to give Anh was in fact not related to the board chairman’s privacy.

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A report on the news website Hanoimoi (New Hanoi) said that in 2006 Long returned to Vietnam after studying abroad in Singapore and established a company providing hospitality services.

He then allegedly defrauded people by promising to help them study in Singapore, but then fled to Hanoi with their money where he allegedly plotted the robbery of Anh, the report said.