Wow having a great time in Vietnam. Can anyone confirm that Stars won't let 2 people with a Vietnam IP address join a MTT? How does it work, the first person to enter may, but all others are blocked?

That seems like a crazy rule...I tried to find info about it on Stars' policy but didn't. Maybe I'll write Stars and ask them outright what exactly is their policy regarding Vietnam.

2 players not allowed to sit together with a vietnam ip. First one sits gets to play.

Hey scroosko, this is David from the Saigon fb page. Have fun on your vacation from your vacation.

MTT is fine just all sngs and cash games.

hey david, cheers mate, will be back at some point in the not too distant future. gl at the tables

Pretty sure there is no issue with cash games, I often see players from vietnam on my tables.

Got clarification for the Stars policy regarding Vietnam. I'm relieved.

"Thank you for contacting us. Your email was escalated to me as a member of the PokerStars Game Security team.

PokerStars does have a security feature in place to prevent players from certain countries from playing in the same event together. This restriction will ensure that only one player from each of several countries will be able to play in these events. However, please note, this restriction is currently only applied to Sit & Go's with 45 players or less"

I'm up for a dinner.

Alright, don is also up for some dinner so lets set it up somewhere next week whenever you people (and anybody else who reads the thread and wants to join) are free to go.

I talked with don, we are planning on going on tuesday evening, location yet to be determined.

What are the best spots for kite surfing in VN? Mui Ne? How's the internet there?

Thailand or Vietnam? Why?

mui ne is the only spot for kitesurfing. net is good but have back-up 3g modem stick for power cuts etc. thailand or vietnam, depends what your after

Scroosko is correct. Mui Ne is the only spot for it. No idea about net but being on this forum and asking about internet in Vietnam, getting a 3g stick is the same as having condoms.

Today is the first day in 3 weeks without internet problems for me. I guess they fixed the ocean pipeline not any of you chimed in....

thanks! a couple more questions. how touristy is it? locals are friendly as in thailand? money wise similar to thailand? anything else I should know about Mui ne? thinking of doing 2-3 months (nov - jan) in thailand (chiang mai most likely) and a couple months of surfing in Mui ne (feb -mar).

Just got back from Mui Ne. Had a great time. Food is excellent, beaches are nice. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance. Was only there for 2 nights so can't comment too much on internet, it seemed ok though. No blackouts or disconnects.

It's really really quiet in Mui Ne in the off peak season, but should pick up when it becomes less rainy.

Here's a helpful though sparse link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mui_Ne

its very touristy in season but still a few people about in off season. tourists are predominately russian but you will find other nationlities about, backpackers and holiday makers from all over. during tet it will be really busy as a lot of ex-pats head up there as they are off work. locals friendly but not many about, just working in bars shops etc, you wont really find many vietnamese locals in clubs/bars etc. money wise similar to chang mia in thailand and a little cheaper than the rest of thailand.

Hey guys,

I'd like to ask you about the clubs/bars here in HCMC. I started working here around 3 weeks ago, and was going out usually with my co-workers.

I've been probably twice to Lush, once in Apocalypse, Pacharan and that's basically it so far. Can you recommend something, where I could find some non-working girls? or that's just the way it is ?
I plan on staying here a bit longer, so would be cool to start dating some vietnamese girl and take it slowly. But that doesn't mean of course I wouldn't enjoy a one night stand before that happens...

I had the chance to meet one cute girl but after 10 minute conversation she basically started talking "business"... I was a bit stunned to be honest, because she spoke best English I heard here so far from a Vietnamese person, and was just a real smart girl.

Anyways, I would appreciate maybe some advice on how the things are here, and which clubs/bars you guys recommend.

Last thing - you guys play here live ?

Cheers!

if you have an iphone use scout to find single girls, try checking out the book shop/cafe opposite the university. forget street name. go down hai ba trung past hard rock etc, take right at ANZ bank and then 2nd left on the corner is the bookshop, its located next to some football parks and is a goldmine for vietnamese girls.

check out saigon outcast in d2, just recently oppened and a pretty sweet venue with lots of vietnamese and western girls there. they usually have lots of stuff going on there and one of coolest/best kept secrets in saigon. you will be able to find it on facebook.

lastly get yourself some ex-pat teacher mates so you can get invited to nights out/house parties etc which all their vietnamese teaching assistants and vietnamese friends will come along to. in the house i was living for a few months we had some sick house parties which would have about 100 people there (about 70/30 western/viet). we had installed a lap dancing pole in the living room, had an inflatable pool in the garden and had some sweet barbecues. unfortunately i was dating an english girl at the time so wasnt able to tap up the viet girls at that point and also i dont live in vietnam anymore so cant invite you round

if all else fails just speak to girls anywhere, shops, coffee shops on the street wherever. show an interest and you will get somewhere. as a general rule of thumb basically every viet girl in the backpacker area is a working girl of some sort and same applies to apocalypse. not every girl in lush is a working girl but a lot if not the majority are. you can try blanches and vascos which may have a higher proportion of non working girls.

good luck

I think Internet dating sites are the easiest way to meet normal girls in Vietnam. Vietnamcupid probably being the best. If you cleverly encode your yahoo messenger ID in your profile (perhaps by just registering your profile name the same as your yahoo id), you'll probably get some girls adding you on your ym (everyone here uses yahoo messenger to chat). If you make it too obvious that you're giving your yahoo id you'll be censored by the site. If you pay the fee, you'll get a lot more contacts though.

I've also met girls through tagged.com. It's a mostly free site. But there's a decent amount of spammers and fake profiles on their too.

I've also heard a lot of people use vietsingle.com (I have not).

Scroosko, can you explain exactly what Saigon Outcast is? Is it a bar, restaurant, an event venue, or what?

"Everyone's a DJ" http://www.facebook.com/everyonesadj puts on parties about once a month at a cafe/bar in d1. Usually well attended by expats and viet kieus as well as a few locals. They are usually pretty fun.

Thanks for the info Scroosco and Sl4. Dating > Masturbating. Should come in handy if I happen to wander back to Nam in the near future.

vietsingle.com is pretty easy at adding your messenger ID and fb info

I managed to with little effort and I still get random add/messages today even though I haven't logged on for over 6 months.

When I was active, this site alone was enough to keep me busy once I managed to get my yahoo nick on there.

Watch out for these things:

http://vnexpress.net/gl/suc-khoe/201...i-rove-beetle/
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/factshe...e_beetles.html

I think as far as HCM goes, they are currently mostly just in D2. I live next to a large field and my apartment complex has being seeing a lot of people getting affected by them (including myself).

They don't bite or sting, but their blood is extremely toxic (more toxic than cobra venom). So if they get squashed on you, you're going to get a nasty rash. I suspect one smashed into me while riding my bike home next to the field. So, if you feel something crawling on you, fight the urge to smack it before you make certain it isn't one of these things (easier said than done).

saigon outcast was set up by an ex-pat and his vietnamese wife. its hard to explain the set-up a bit as its pretty unique. they have a big site where they live and have converted a few shipping containers into buildings ione of which has a dj set etc, the site is pretty big and can host a few hundred people and has a half pipe and a few other cool features. usually once a week they have a dj play and sell booze etc out of a converted vw van bar.

the few times i went there was in excess of 200 people with some pretty good looking vietnamese girls and a lot of ex-pats there. everyone basically gets drunk and has a good time.

they seem to be organising more events these days with flea markets and stuff going on. i would defo check it out when its next on. you can find it on fb. check out the pics of the secret garden party. i think this was one of the first ones so a lot more people are going to them since as word spreads

Does anyone know Martha Wells (Australian expat)?

So we are a couple of poker players meeting tonight 8pm at Sin on 22 le tanh ton street to grab a couple drinks then 9pm at Pizza 4P's 8/15 Le Thanh Ton Street.

Whoever wants to join us there is most welcomed!

I'd love to come but already got some plans =/

Question to everybody: Where can I get poker chip set here in HCMC ????

I'd appreciate