Scenes around campus

This a picture of one of the reading rooms. Students pay to sit and read the books which you can see on the bookshelves. A lot of them are reading Manga comics, not their text books!



This is an example of an internet cafe on campus. I often do my blogging from one of these places. The kids seem to enjoy violent interactive video games. Groups of them hang out and play these games together as the computers are networked. There is much shouting and excitement when someone beats their friend. The cost is 2000 VND per hour, compared to my hotel where it is 36000 VND per hour.



The market operates next to the uni where you can buy food, ceramics, and clothing. These flower vendors bring the roses to market, each one individually wrapped in newspaper. They unwrap them for display and aren't they lovely!

OHS

I was walking to the bus yesterday past this building site adjoining the university campus. This type of bamboo scaffolding is pretty popular in Vietnam.



You can see one of the workers doing a spiderman impression climbing up and down the outside wall of this building. I am guessing Worksafe don't have much of a presence here in Vietnam.

Tax system

Chatting with the students in the computer lab about taxes, I learnt that no income tax is levied on earnings below 5,000,000 VND per month. This is approximately 300USD.

After this, 10% income tax is applied until earnings exceed 15,000,000 VND per month. The next bracket is 20% tax if your earnings are between 15,000,000 VND and 25,000,000 VND and continue up to 50% in 10,000,000 VND increments.

As many transactions are completed in cash, VAT can also be avoided.

The cultured pearl trade

There is a small pearl farm at Halong Bay which provides seed pearls for the tourist industry. Strings of pearls, earrings and bracelets are for sale at every tourist stop, and most of the boats have a keen saleswoman on board.

It's pretty hard to avoid the girls with the pearls.

Caves at Halong Bay

The boat stopped at a cave, called Hang Sung Sot. The display inside was done really well, complete with mood lighting in violet and red. The ceiling of the cave had a scalloped texture, it looked like something out of the seventies.

Halong Bay has several caves, entry to them is included in the entry fee to the Bay. Most tours stop at only one or two, and spend the rest of the time cruising around the still waters.

Halong Bay

My trip to Halong Bay was fantastic. The boat trip was very peaceful. Many private boats operate in the Bay. Our boat slept 16, and we had a mixture of people on board. Including an Iraqi pediatrician, a jazz pianist and three Filipina dentists.

After arriving in Halong City, we transferred to the boat and cruised around before stopping at the houseboats to buy seafood. After lunch we cruised a bit more before visiting a cave.

It was very fortunate that the visibility was good, the boats cruise quite close to the islands. There isn't any bird life so it is absolutely silent. The upper deck was open so it was the perfect place to observe and take pictures.



In the evening we cruised around as the daylight dimmed, and a light fog descended.

Show me the money

Fishermen live on houseboats in Halong Bay. The tourist boats stop at the houseboats so the passengers can buy fresh seafood. People on our boat bought crabs, squid and prawns which the cook prepared for their lunch.



This child is deployed by her mother to beg from the passengers. She rubs her fingers together and says, 'One dollar'.