Living In Hanoi

Banking: the ANZ Bank (14 Le Thai To) on the western edge of Hoan Kiem lake is the only place in town with an ATM that accepts Cirrus and Plus. Great way to access cash from home without having to open a bank account in Hanoi. Cashing travelers checks there, either into dollars or dong, has a 2% charge. Citibank also has an ATM, but you must have a Citibank account to use it.


Groceries: In addition to the street sellers and local markets, there are several western type mini-markets, including one located in Hanoi Towers, Western Canned Goods (Ba Trieu), and Fivimart. Many restaurants deliver at no extra charge (see the eating in Hanoi).


Internet: There are tons of internet cafes all over Hanoi. My favorite is Café Julien located at the southern end of Hoan Kiem Lake; cheap internet and good food. Although they vary, internet cafes tend to be slow. If you want the convenience of internet from home, there are two ISP's in Hanoi. My preference, FPT Internet (75 Tran Hung Dao), provides either a monthly flat charge service (about $14 for 26 hours) or you can purchase an internet card.


Health Clubs: Most of the major hotels have health clubs you can join. Fees vary widely. Popular ones include the health clubs at the Sofitel Metropole, Nikko, and Daewoo. The Army Hotel is low cost with a great pool. When they are running specials, the Sunway Hotel is a good buy (no pool).


English Language Books: There are several book exchange places in the backpacker area of the ancient quarter (for ex., Love Planet on Hang Bac). The large bookstores have the classics we were assigned to read in high school. A new bookstore, Bookworm, recently opened by an Australian woman, has reasonable prices and a great selection of new and used; across the street from Le Tonklin restaurant.


Vietnamese Language Lessons: You can arrange for private lessons from ESP Language Center (1 Pham Ngu Lao; about $7 per lesson). You can also find a teacher through the paper or on bulletin boards, like the ones in the Hoa Sua bakery or outside Western Canned Goods.

Love very much - The central of Viet Nam

Storm Ketsana claims at least 74 lives

HA NOI — Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh and President Nguyen Minh Triet yesterday sent consolation messages to authorities and families in areas hit by the Ketsana Storm, which has already claimed the lives of 74 people.

The two leaders expressed their condolences for families whose relatives died or were injured during the storm. The urged them to try to surmount the losses and overcome the difficulties in the coming time.

Manh praised the efforts of the authorities, people and armed forces in the central region for providing aid and support to the affected areas.

Meanwhile,Triet called on authorities and relevant agencies to stay united to support the affected people in order to help them overcome this difficult time.

For his part, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung urged ministries, sectors and cities in the affected areas to concentrate measures and forces to overcome the consequences and minimise the damages caused by Ketsana.

Dung asked the army and police to closely co-ordinate with localities to search for the missing and move people living in low lying and mountainous areas into shelters.

The storm has downgraded to a tropical low pressure, however, central localities from Quang Binh to Phu Yen, Central Highland provinces of Gia Lai, Kon Tum and Dak Lak were warned of serious flooding, flash floods, landslides and wide inundation, due to rising water levels in local rivers.

According to the National Hydro-meteorological Forecast Centre, water in the rivers of Thua Thien–Hue, Quang Ngai, Gia Lai, Kon Tum and Dak Lak provinces started gradually going down but were still high. Meanwhile, water levels in the rivers of provinces of Quang Binh and Quang Tri continued to rise, and are at or have exceeded the third warning level.

Losses and damages

Before the storm landed, nearly 47,000 boats with approximately 194,000 fishermen operating offshore had been informed about the storm’s movements and were guided to shelters.

More than 104,000 households with about 370,000 residents had been evacuated to safety.

Despite the localities’ efforts to cope with the storm, it still caused 74 deaths with 10 missing and 81 injured people. Ketsana destroyed nearly 6,000 houses and more than 14,000ha of rice, according to the latest report from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The storm also damaged more than 163,000 houses, 215 classrooms, 12,000 offices and public spaces and hundreds of kilometres of roads and dikes. It also sank 116 boats and ships.

Overcoming

Military Region 5 has sent three helicopters to directly relieve people, who are still in isolated areas.

As many as 500 soldiers from the military region have been able to access seriously flooded and isolated areas in Da Nang City, Quang Ngai and Quang Nam provinces.

Two ad hoc groups from the National Steering Committee for Research and Rescue yesterday also arrived in the Central Highland Kon Tum and central Quang Ngai provinces to join the local rescue and relief works.

In Central Highland Kon Tum Province, the storm caused 21 deaths and two people are still missing.

Provincial authorities decided to provide families that have lost a relative or are injured with VND5 million (US$275) and VND2 million ($110) for support.

For citizens that lost their homes, they will receive VND5 million in support and an assistance of VND2 million will be given to owners of damaged houses.

The province has also planned to provide its people with 500 tonnes of rice for famine relief.

Deputy PM Hai visited Kon Tum Province to monitor the province’s relief efforts yesterday.

Hai warned that the possibility of a disease outbreak had been heightened due to flooding. He asked the health sector to provide adequate and necessary chemicals for sanitation.

The Deputy PM asked Ministry of Transport and military forces to promptly clear the two artery routes of the National Highway 24 and Ho Chi Minh Highway that pass through the province.

On Tuesday night, relief forces from Army Corp 3 in Kon Tum Province successfully rescued 200 people living along the Dak Bla River, who were facing rapidly increasing water levels. Also, 20 passengers that were stranded on the Lo Xo mountain pass on the Ho Chi Minh Highway were also rescued.

The same night, 200 people helped protect the Dak Uy and Dak Trit reservoirs. If these reservoirs had not been protected thousands of lives would have been threatened if they had been broken.

In central Da Nang City, the storm left four dead and one missing with estimated property losses of VND120 billion (US$6.6 million).

In Quang Ngai,where seven people were killed, nine ad hoc groups have been assigned to help local authorities provide relief to affected areas.

Provincial authorities have taken measures to repair damaged electrical systems, which have most occurred in the Dung Quat Economic Zone, in order to make sure that Dung Quat Oil Refinery will continue to operate on schedule.

In central Thua Thien–Hue Province, where the storm left three dead and 16 injured, 100 tonnes of rice have been supplied to the people.

Nearly 1,000 passengers, who were stranded in the province’s stations, have been moved to the My Chanh Station in Quang Tri Province and Da Nang City’s Station.

In Central Highland Gia Lai Province, about 8,000 youngsters have voluntarily participated in helping with relief efforts.

In Binh Dinh Province, people with destroyed houses will receive VND8 million ($440), and those with destroyed boats will receive VND5 million ($275) in assistance. Families, who have lost relatives, will receive VND3 million ($165) each and those with injured members will receive VND1 million ($55) each.

The storm caused six deaths and 29 injures with three still missing. Property losses have been estimated to be VND115 billion ($6.3 million).

According to the Viet Nam Airlines, 12 more flights have been scheduled up for the central provinces after the airline cancelled 64 flights in the region on September 28-29 due the storm. — VNS

Nguon: Vietnamnews

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