Sex Via Internet

The Internet is a very popular and useful tool which is needed in this modern life. Lots of people use the internet at home or at internet cafes. Lots of Vietnamese people can now afford laptops and sometimes they bring their own laptops to cafes to use instead of using the public computers. Besides the positive benefits that can be seen daily, people reading the lastest news, paying their bills and so on, there are problems too. It may not be new for western countries but sex on the internet is getting popular in big cities in Viet Nam.

Some young girls who are lazy or have problems with their families, study or reationships spend a lot of time selling themselves on the internet. After days stuck at internet cafes without any money plus big bills, they advertise to try to find some guys who can afford to pay them. Young men get online to chat with them, attracted by their very sexy and welcoming nicknames. They show their faces and other parts on webcam, and then exchange their internet cafe's addresses. After paying their internet bills and taking them out for drink and a meal, the night ends in a hotel with free sex. Some of these girls are from very rich families but like to play, but only with young handsome and rich boys. Of course, most families have no idea about this behaviour and think their children are perfect.

Besides the hundreds of girls who have this kind of trouble with money, there are lots of cheating groups with very young and beautiful girls and boys about 16 to 22 years old, who operate various scams that sometimes end in violence.

Also, the percentage of prostitutes who use the internet to operate their 'business' is very high. They have ads with their mobile numbers. Anyway, what can be done to stop this kind of really bad crime which is affecting our next generation?

Beef Salad With Carrot and Celery

Beef salad is one of my favorite cold salads which I make sometimes at home by myself. I am sure that you guys can make it as easily as I do. It's really healthy and easily prepared and very cheap for the ingredients which you can buy at any Asian market.

Ingredients:
Beef sirloin: 500g
Spring onion: 50g
Carrot: 150g
Celery: 100g
Onion: 150g
Garlic: 10 g
Red chilli: 50 g
Fish sauce: 1 teaspoon
Sugar: 2 teaspoons
Lemon: 10 pcs
Fresh water: 2 teaspoons

How to make:
Put 3 litre of water into a saucepan then put beef sirloin in and bring to the boil, then simmer for two hours until cooked. After cooking cut the boiled beef into 4 cm long and 1 cm thin strips
Clean spring onion, carrot, celery & onion well then dry them before cutting them in to long and thin pieces (5 cm long).

Dipping sauce:
- Lemon: squeeze for juice. Put fish sauce, sugar, lemon juice, garlic and chili in a large mixing bowl; put 2 spoons of water in then stir well.
- Put beef meat & all prepared ingredients in above mixture; use chopsticks to mix all the ingredients.
- Serve cold.

Fire Cracker

New year in Asia called Chinese new year, Tet in Vietnam. Fire crackers used to be one of the most important items that every family needed to have to celebrate until about 10 years ago.

Nowadays, due to numerous accidents which killed many people, the government has banned their use. Fire crackers can damage your body when they explode. Some people make firecrackers themselves at home using paper and powder bought from the market. I actually made a huge one at home when I was young and I was really scared when I heard the noise, but it's very exciting.

With Tet coming, people are trading in fire crackers from China in an illegal ways by hiring people to carry them over the border or by boat along the river. Students are the main target customers. The police have stopped many people and confiscated thousands of tons of crakers but there is another million tons of crackers being sold in Hanoi and around Viet Nam. The noise is happening throughout the day, almost every day.

There are many stories of little boys throwing something into the middle of street, waiting for the bang, then running away down the alley and of course noone knows who did it. The victim is left on the street and needs to be taken to the hospital if it's serious. Even if not, he or she has to spend money to repair their motorbike and buy medicine for the injury. There have been hundreds of people who have lost their arms, eyes and some other parts of their body through playing with fire crackers.

This needs to be stopped because it affects innocent people walking around or driving on the streets.

Tea, Chewing Gum, Rustic Tobacco and Rice Wine...

A woman or a man who sits on the pavement with a very small table displaying tea, rustic tobacco, rice wine and chewing gum is a long tradition and very common in northern Viet Nam. Most young and old men use them from morning til midnight. This is one of the smallest kinds of business that need to be maintained.

A motorbike will suddenly stop and turn onto the pavement and the driver sits down and has a cup of tea, or rice wine and smoke of the rustic tobacco. There are thousands of this kind of tea shop along the streets from the busiest parts of the city to the suburbs and you can see all types of people in life. From a famous singer, young guys or girls with very fashionable clothes, an architect, a farmer or a xe om to teenager students. They all drink tea and smoke as part of their daily routine. I think this is a good thing that needs to be mantained. It's also a chance for old people to earn some extra money, meet old friends, talk about politics and tell stories.

Despite the hundreds of expensive cafes with free wifi, the tea shop is still alive. For as little as 1000 dong, they can have a hot or cold cup of tea and a cigarette, look around at people walking along, and get the latest gossip from the street.

Can you open this kind of business in your own country? In Viet Nam, we don't need any licence to open a street tea shop.

Winter Is Coming

Another year and another winter, a time which offers everyone in Hanoi a chance to dress up in a few extra layers of winter clothes. I've just realized that many more shops have just opened and also winter clothes are so expensive. I stopped at a shop in the old quarter just to have a look and I asked the shop owner about the price of a pair of jeans. Guess what? she told me they were $350. I almost died - $350 for a pair of jeans? I would never pay that much but I saw a couple go in and they bought two pairs of them. Oh my gosh, I wondered where the money comes from? They were only about 17 years old.

In Hanoi, there are different areas which sell different items of clothing. If you want to buy leather jackets, you have to go Hoang Quoc Viet Street, near Lenin park. The whole street only sells leather jackets and cheap suits. The leather jackets are from $100 up to $500 and the suits, quite cheap, from $15 to $90.

For the latest fashion in clothes, you can check out the shops around the old quarter and in the center where you can see heaps of real and copied clothes from CK, Chanel to Chinese clothes. If you don't really know about much about the quality you may get a copy with a high price.

Soft Shell Crab In Sweet and Sour Sauce

Happy New Year everyone! Sorry but I've been lazy and I've been travelling. Wishing you guys a great new year in 2007 with lots of luck, happiness and health. Today, I'm giving you one of the most popular dishes which appears many restaurants in Hanoi. It's called soft shell crab in sweet and sour sauce. This is a delicious dish which you can eat for either a main course or as a starter and it's also very easy to make it yourself at home. Please, take a good look the following recipe. Hope you guys can make it as good as in the restaurant. Sorry for the picture which I took without the sauce.

Ingredient:
Soft Shell crab: 400g
Egg: 1 egg
Sugar: 10g
Starch: 100g
Green pepper: 50 g
Tomato: 300g
Potato: 100 g
Carrot: 50g
Cooking oil: 200g
Chicken Powder: 2 teaspoon
Garlic: 5g

How to make:
- Wash crab thoroughly, drains well.
- Whisk the egg well also. Put crab in to this mixture then put it into starch until starch stick well onto the whole crab.
- Pour cooking oil into a pan bring to a boil, put prepared crab in fry until crab turn into brown color.

Sweet & sour sauce:
- Wash tomato thoroughly then chop finely
- Green pepper, tomato, carrot cut into small cubes (0.5 cm)
- Garlic chops finely.
- Pour cooking oil into a saucepan; bring to a boil, put garlic in and stir until garlic turn into brown color with nice smell. Pour prepared tomato in, put chicken powder & sugar in (enough for your taste)
- Put all prepared green pepper, potato, and carrot in; stir for 3 minutes then pour onto crab. Served hot.