Dalat Wildlife Raids on Twitter Today

confiscated stuffed gibbon and baby langurs

Today 100 rangers from across the province of Lam Dam came together in a coordinated raid of restaurants and shops selling protected and endangered wildlife in the Central Highlands city of Dalat, Vietnam.

Scott Roberton Ph.D, the Country Representative of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) - Vietnam Program, tweeted the progress of the city-wide raids, live on the internet via the website Twitter. The presentation is perhaps the first of its kind—allowing observers to view photos of the items confiscated by law enforcement as teams reported back from their raids.

Primates seized in the raids included a gibbon and two juvenile Douc langurs, all seized from a single restaurant.

confiscated gaur horns

Other mammals seized included pangolin, mouse deer, wild pig, Elds deer, serow, muntjac, Civet, Bamboo rats, porcupine, and 3 sets of gaur horns (classified as critically endangered in Vietnam).
Additional animals seized by authorities included monitor lizard, a croc skin, and cages of wild doves.

Today is the one-year anniversary since Vietnam’s probably last Javan Rhino was found dead in Cat Tien, with its horn removed. Vietnam is at the center of the world's illegal trade in Rhino horn.

In total 89kg of wild meat was seized today, as well as more than 100 live animals, horns/antlers and stuffed primates. A total of 19 people were arrested and numerous restaurants and shops fined.

Dalat has a previous history of major wildlife problems

confiscated crocodile skin and deer horns

The city’s central market is well known for selling souvenir bear and leopard cat claws and teeth for tourists.

On August 26, the Lam Dong Forest Protection Department (FPD) seized more than 200 kilograms of illegal wildlife meat during a raid on 12 restaurants Dalat. About two-thirds of the meat was discovered at Tu Loan Restaurant, run by Tran Phuong Ha, who also owns a zoo in Da Lat.

confiscated live bamboo rats

Subsequent raids by FPD conducted on September 1 at 17 restaurants in Lam Dam Province, just west of Dalat, turned up around 30kg of wildlife meat and 12 live wild creatures, including one leopard cat.

TV not helping


Last year the American travel show “No Reservations” caused a local uproar when the show’s presenter ate mouse deer (chevrotain), a protected wild animal, just outside Dalat. The Travel Channel advertised the restaurant on its website. After being pressed on the incident the Travel Channel later agreed to remove the recommendation from its website, and said it would not air the episode again until it was significantly edited. However, the episode has remained available for download, unedited, on iTunes for quite some time.

Read about the killing of Beckham, an elephant in Dalat, on www.muinebeach.net.

Photos courtesy Scott Roberton, WCS.

Lonely Planet Warns of Vietnam's Filipino Mafia

I stumbled upon Lonely Planet's December 2010 update to their most recent Vietnam guidebook (edition 10), and was surprised to find several warnings about the group which has come to be known as the Saigon Filipino [Blackjack] Mafia. As previously reported here, although the group seems to center their activity in Ho Chi Minh City, they also operate in Hanoi, Nha Trang, Danang and Phnom Penh.

Lonely Planet produces free updates between published editions, available online as PDFs. The updates are sent by readers and assembled by Lonely Planet in chronological order by relavent corresponding page number. Lonely Planet does not officially verify these updates, although I strongly suspect the writers are asked to fact check them when it comes time to update the next printed edition--in which they have a potential to be incorporated.

There are at least three posts on the mafia in the free update. Two are particularly troubling because they detail how the group drugs their victims (foreign tourists). A number of embassies have also warned that this group has been known to drug victims. I've quoted the relavent updates below:

"I would like to warn other travelers of a serious scam operating daily in Hanoi
Vietnam 2 days ago I lost all my money as well my camera. If you are approached
by a local they will ask you where you are from  it doesn't matter what you say they
will then say that they have a sister going there next month and that she is very
nervous and would you like to meet with her and tell her all about the place where
she is going. The will take you home to meet the sister  make an elaborate lunch
and have small talk for a while. The sister is well prepared with maps etc and
after lunch you will be given some vietnamese tea  obviously spiked with i dont
know what but it knocks you out after one short sip (as it doesn't taste too hot)
when you come to you will realize that you still have your bum bag on but the
contents will be gone. Going to the police serves no purpose at all as they will just
laugh. ( i spent 7 hours in  3 different police stations). The police will not speak a
word of english or any other language for that matter so do not treat it as a serious
problem. They know it is going on on a daily basis but are doing nothing to stop it."

"Nha Trang scams: Unfortunatelly the Thai type scams have hit Vietnam too. One
of our friends met a man and a woman in a cafe.  They took him to their house.
They gave him tea which he believes was drugged as the rest of the day was as if
he was in a dream. The card scam occurred.  It involved a Japanese business man
and people from Saigon who were trying to get money off the Japanese man. The
woman escorted him to the money machine. After cleaning out $3,000 from his
credit card they took him back to the hotel. They told him they were going to fly him
out to the Philippines and he had to leave that night.. ( What that part is about we
are unsure). Our receptionist helped us by not letting any calls through to this man,
and we sneaked him to another hotel and got him out of town.  He was scared stiff
and because of the drugs not thinking rationally.  I have tried to contact the
embassies with my story but had no reply of acknowledgement. Please warn as
Vietnam people are generally concerned about this sort of stuff and there are not a
lot of bad apples"

Read the full update online here: http://bit.ly/l1Bh6f

Kon Tum Orphanage Needs Your Help

Are you planning to visit Kon Tum (Vietnam Central Highlands, between Danang and Pleiku) soon? A private orphanage there needs your help. The orphanage is run by a group of adult brothers and sisters who were raised in the local Catholic orphanage and have devoted their lives to helping others. The family and children belong to various local minorities including Bahnar, Stieng and Jarai. Most (or perhaps still all) of the funding from the orphanage comes from private donations and the work the family does out int he fields.

The orphanage has 71 children at present. The local practice in the tribes, when a mother dies after childbirth, is to allow the baby to die as well and bury both together. A few of the children have been saved by the orphanage from this fate.

Ultimately the orphanage needs funding. One of their projects at the moment is to build a new schoolroom for studying and homework. They also welcome gifts of supplies. For more information, view my previous post with photos below. If you'd like to help them out, leave a post with your email address.

http://fisheggtree.blogspot.com/2009/07/kon-klor-2-village-orphanage-kon-tum.html

Filipino Blackjack Mafia now in Phnom Penh as well as Saigon

Members of Saigon's obnoxious Filipino "blackjack mafia" have been reported operating their scam in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, as well as Saigon. They mostly appear to wait around the square in front of the Royal Palace and park near the History Museum. They will sit off to the side and when they see a lone tourist coming, walk out to start a casual conversation about the setting, or perhaps the people exercising in the square, or the victim's clothing. If the conversation goes well, then they will try to lure the victim to a secluded location.

Additionally, witnesses and victims have reported that this group is also running this scam in Hanoi, Danang and Nha Trang. The blight on Vietnam's tourism industry keeps spreading. One ray of hope in all this is that this is all the same group--thus they can all be linked together. It appears they are moving to other cities because the pressure on them is growing in Saigon.

Below are a few new photos of members of the group. As with any photos of these criminals on this blog, feel free to reprint, distribute and post them elsewhere (of course any other material here is copyrighted and needs permission to redistribute).

Tourist Testimonial on Filipino Con Artists in Saigon

Below is a note from a traveler in Vietnam last month regarding the Filipino Mafia in Saigon. This is reprinted here with the permission of the author.
..................................................................................
An update on the "gambling scam" in Saigon.

It is going ballistic here, I have heard of 7 different incidents just THIS WEEK.

A guy I met here a couple of days ago told me his story and in HIS case they pulled a pistol on him.
This is big money we are talking here, so the stakes are high for these scum.
just 1 gang is probably fleecing tourists here for $25,000 USD in ONE WEEK.

The guy I mentioned above is on his way back to Europe as I type this, yesterday he went to the Gold Shop that the gang use and he took some happy snaps of the business and the lady that runs it. 
He will be posting his story and pics here and other forums as a warning and to hopefully slow down the scums operations.

By the way, the gold shop is where the scum take their victims and force them to buy gold to pay for their "gambling loss". The gold shop is at An Dong Plaza in District 5

The scam is based in District 1 Ho Chi Minh City, they will approach in bars, restaurants, parks or on the streets, they are well spoken and HIGHLY organised.

There is a couple of girls involved also, to tempt the lone male traveller.
As of 1 hour ago I spotted the gang sitting in a Bia Hoi (beer house) on Bui Dien St District 1 , this is the heart of the backpacker area here. 
This is the same Bia Hoi that 2 people I know have been sucked in just in the last week.
The Bia Hoi is about 200 metres from the police station where the scam has been reported many times.
These scum are so brazen its mind boggling, mainly due to the fact that they keep getting away with it.

Anyway, be warned, at least 1 of the gangs has a gun and they are not afraid to use it to get what they want.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention, they also use a drug (something like rohypnol) ..they dont want to knock you out, just want to dope you up so you cant think straight, they will put it in your drink or food if you go to their house... they dont do this everytime (I have been there) but they will use the drug and/or the gun, depending on how the scam is panning out for them.

Please Uncle Ho, give us The Hobbit

Dear Uncle Ho,

As you may remember, you turned off our access to Facebook in Vietnam quite some time ago. First we speculated it was for political reasons. Then later, we began to think it was economic. Today I think I finally discovered the real reason: you don’t like hobbits.

You see, I didn’t even know Peter Jackson began filming The Hobbit already, until I saw the Tweet today.  I’ll bet you saw it too. Nothing gets by you.

When I heard filming had begun and Peter Jackson had a new Facebook page, I raced to get on the site and see the new photos and production diary video.

Instead though, I got the same old browser error. What’s more, none of the popular work-arounds, trying as hard as I might, could get me on PJ’s Facebook page.

I know you began blocking the site back in 2009, so this may seem implausible to some. But I think you’ve been following all the pre-production hurdles in the Hobbit saga too, and were just getting prepared for the eventuality of filming. In your wisdom you knew that we’d all want to get on Facebook and see what Peter Jackson and his band was up to. The social evils of nasty little hobbitses became an issue that threatened the stability of your national unity block.

I’m writing to you to try to change your mind about Hobbits. If you only knew the truth, I think you’d like them too.

You see, Hobbits are all about class struggle. They fight insurmountable odds to unite the underclasses and thwart the colonial imperialist, Sauron.

Hobbits are much like our country folk—they love Bia Hoi (fresh beer), tobacco, afternoon naps, good food, they have a uncanny knack for keeping track of their distant cousins for generations—and they are also short.

Peter Jackson’s films are full of symbolism. The stars in Galadriel’s eyes ignite nationalist fervor. The orcs—look closely—carry hammers and sickles. Smaug the dragon shows us the evils of capitalism and the bourgeoisie as he holds all the riches of the people and confounds the means of production.

In the Lord of the Rings, like the Party Central Comittee, is found fantastic leadership, though sometimes it loses its revolutionary spirit. The Politburo, or rather the Council of Elrond, meets some struggles when members chase individualism, or rather the power of the ring.

In the end, the task of Frodo the Hobbit is to destroy the symbol of capitalist imperialism: the ring of Sauron. And as we all know, Frodo succeeds, uniting the workers in a collective of peace and equality. Frodo is the Vladimir Lenin of Middle Earth.

Please dear Uncle, Hobbits are good for Vietnam—we can learn a lot from Frodo, Bilbo and that greatest of all communes, the Shire. Please give us back Facebook. Let us rejoin the adventures of Peter Jackson. Please Uncle Ho, give us The Hobbit.

Mui Ne Beach Gossip: Look What’s Washing Up

A couple of weeks ago Mui Ne’s midsection suffered another bout of serious erosion and lost a bit of its beachfront.

We’ve all seen what washes up on a regular basis—piles of garbage, bags and bags of old cloths, medical waste, dead animals, fruit rinds… need I say more?

This time a local property found something a bit more unusual. By all accounts, it looked like a UXO, or rather a grenade of some sort.

The local police were called, who referred the situation to the army. A few members of the army did arrive but the object in question was thrown back into the ocean – definitely not what had been expected to happen!

At the time there was genuine concern about somebody on the beach finding it and something terrible happening (if in fact it was an explosive devise).

Given the fact it was a Saturday (and the Army don’t apparently operate on weekends) it was obviously a lot faster for them to throw it back in the water and pretend to forget about it then remove it properly.

Its nobody’s fault that this object washed up where it did, whatever it was. The handling of it seems rather inappropriate however.

Look Mommy, Tommy Glows in the Dark!

There’s been much discussion in the Vietnamese media, thankfully, about the Titanium mining controversy in this province. It’s my understanding from what I’ve read, and I might not be entirely correct, that all large building projects on the coast must first have their land surveyed for mining potential. So much for a province that supposedly puts its tourism industry first.

The local papers have talked about some of the problems the mining has caused—it has brought about the delay or outright cancelation of more than one resort project.

The miners have also allegedly (according to newspapers) destroyed the water table in what was the most fragile and arid ecosystem in Southeast Asia by pumping seawater into the very limited groundwater supply. Now families must be relocated because there is no more groundwater where this has been done (and the mining covers kilometers and kilometers of coastline).

While news stories make vague references to additional pollutants, nobody ever gets specific about what these pollutants are. A search finally turned up a few things.

Titanium mining releases radiation into the environment. Specifically, the sands where titanium is found tend to also include Uranium, thorium, and radium. I don’t have any data on just how radioactive titanium sludge might be from local mining, but online sources such as the US Environmental Protection Agency seem to suggest high levels of radiation from Titanium mining wastes can be up to 450 times more radioactive than “normal” soil samples. However radioactive the mining around Mui Ne might be, I think it would be a good idea to do some testing and inform the public.

Swimming in a Milkshake

Again, most of us living in Mui ne have seen the wastewater being pumped onto the beach by a variety of resorts, bars and restaurants. Most of it is just grey water—the stuff washed out of sinks and showers. Occasionally, as I think we all know, it is raw sewage—especially the stuff that’s pumped into the bushes across the street when septic tanks get full.

Not to be outdone however is the Ca Ty River in Phan Thiet. This year—or was it last year—on two separate occasions the national newspapers posted photos of our dirty river and all the sludge floating out to the bay.

I was disgusted to find a study posted online, commissioned by the government about 5-6 years ago, of all the urban rivers along Vietnam’s coast. The study included data on coliform and ecoli counts. Counts for coliform were in the tens of millions. If I’m not mistaken, a mere 300 in many western countries is enough to shut a beach down.

This isn’t to say our beach has levels like that. There’s some distance between the Ca Ty River and Mui ne (It does probably suggest that Doi Duong Municipal Beach in Phan Thiet should be roped off). However Mui Ne should be tested immediately… and lets just say that previous anomalies in water testing at the “official” lab in Phan Thiet suggest water should be tested by an independent source outside the area.

Heads in the Sand

All of this going on and nothing being done about it. There was a National Geographic Traveler magazine article a few months that rated Mui Ne and Nha Trang as “one of the world’s worst beaches” (as thought Nha Trang and Mui Ne aren’t 6hrs apart—or any of the judges has ever even been to Vietnam). It definitely ruffled the feathers of officials in Nha Trang. They are reacting, though we can debate whether their plans help or do more harm than good. Curiously however, Binh Thuan didn’t make so much as a peep about the article. One wonders how bad the pollution has to get before we decide to do something.

Western Media Telling the Wrong Story of Bob Dylan’s Vietnam Visit

As every expat in Vietnam should know by now, Bob Dylan is performing tonight in Saigon. By now most of us who have taken interest in Bob Dylan’s visit to Vietnam have seen the stories in both Vietnam and US media, recounting his allegedly renowned discography of anti-Vietnam-War songs. Stories in major newspapers portray Dylan’s visit to Vietnam as a homecoming of sorts—“he’s coming full circle.”

In response, many of us have uncovered and discussed the fact that the claims by the media have largely been unfounded. Digging a little deeper, one finds that Dylan’s protest songs were pointed toward cold war issues between the US and Soviet Union or other issues. In fact, Dylan remained silent on the issue of the Vietnam War.

This doesn’t in any way undermine the importance of his visit or the historical nature of it all. Dylan did have profound influence on the US protest movement, and his music was indeed used as anthems by his listeners, regardless of the original intent of the lyrics.

The real story about this event is that in Bob Dylan we have a champion of American free speech and free expression, and one of the most influential people in American Folk music who is now visiting Vietnam—a country which was until recently, closed to western performers.

Dylan’s visit marks a new openness, a new way forward in Vietnamese society, and a milestone in Vietnam’s music scene.

This year, together with visits from the Backstreet Boys, South Korea’s Super Junior, and rumors of other bands like Linkin Park coming, Vietnam has suddenly emerged from irrelevance to potentially becoming a major player in the Southeast Asian Music scene.

This is good not only for Vietnamese music enthusiasts and local musicians themselves (who will have new opportunities to gain inspiration and grown, as well as perform in tandem), but also the nation as a whole, which will benefit from the new exchange of ideas.

But then lets not get ahead of ourselves. Our champion of free speech still had to submit a song list and lyrics, which he cannot deviate from, in order to obtain permission to perform in Vietnam. Vietnam has come a long way, but its still not 1960s US. There is also much debate on whether Dylan will [be able to] offer any significant commentary during the performance.

Regardless, go be a part of history and see Bob.

Lonely Planet Sightings in Mui Ne

There were a couple sightings of Lonely Planet writer Nick Ray in Mui Ne this week. Did you meet him?... and more importantly, did you show your best side this week at your restaurant, resort, shop or tour company? You better have, because you may not have another opportunity to impress Lonely Planet for perhaps two more years. He's already left town, so I'm told.

Guidebooks send their writers out about every 2 (or 3 years) to survey Vietnam. This year happens to be the year nearly all the publishers are researching their next Vietnam editions, which will appear on shelves in late 2011 or early/mid 2012. I'm not sure why they all do countries at the same time--perhaps its with the hope of getting their newest edition on the shelves just before the others each time, and just ahead of tourist season.I know they are all doing it now because I'm writing or updating nearly all of the other internationally-available guidebooks for Vietnam.

I've not met Nick myself yet, but I hear he's a nice guy. If you had a polite, sandy-blonde-haired british chap visit your establishment, who lives in Phnom Penh, and from what I've seen fancies wearing Khmer Kramas, you may just be lucky enough to get your placed reviewed in Lonely Planet.

As for getting yourself in all the other books, well, if you don't think I've been around to your place in a while, it might not hurt to give me a shout and remind me.

Mui Ne & Nha Trang Beach Hospitality Property Gossip

Many of Mui Ne's original businesses will be running to the end of their leases over the next two years. Its no surprise. Mui Ne's getting older. The prices in rent might shock however. Rumor has it that some properties will increase their monthly rent by factors of 10-12, compared to previous leases.

On to brands. One new international hotel brand is coming to Mui Ne this year. Another well-known brand is leaving.  A third is changing its name.

The City of Nha Trang is rumored to be making major changes to the beachfront that will forever alter the character of the city. Perhaps its a reaction to National Geographic. But is it a step in the right--or the wrong--direction? Goodbye Nha Trang as we knew it.

Feel free to post speculations about what I'm referring to in the comments below. I might be able to confirm one or two things if you are correct, but others will have to wait...

One I can confirm: Sankara changed management and much of the staff recently. Best wishes to the previous team and the new one. It's undoubtedly a tough transition for the new management, as Sankara, along with its neighbors, lost a big chunk of its beachfront very suddenly. Fortunately the seas have settled down so folks can catch their breath and repair damages.

Another Filipino Con Artist Update

Great post from September last year, with a couple photos of Saigon's Filipino con artists:
http://owee58.com/2010/09/27/a-vietnamese-funeral/
These are criminals which I have seen before but not yet photographed. Kudos to Owee58.

I was also just shown this warning on the US State Department's travel website:

"Some scams target tourists.  Specifically, tourists have been victims of gambling scams in the Pham Ngu Lao neighborhood of Ho Chi Minh City. This scam usually starts with a friendly invitation to someone’s home to meet a relative interested in visiting or studying in the U.S.  While waiting for this individual, a casual game of cards will start. Victims have reported starting the game with only a small wager but losing thousands of dollars over the course of an evening. Be aware that gambling outside of licensed casinos is illegal in Vietnam."

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1060.html

You can see more at the link above.

US State Department issues Travel Warning Due to Violent Crimes Against Foreigners in Vietnam

The US Embassy in Hanoi on Thursday issues a Warden Message “to alert U.S. citizens living in, or traveling to Vietnam that there are numerous reports of home invasions, robberies, and assaults against the ex-pat community, including what appears to be an uptick of activity during the last several weeks in Ho Chi Minh City.”

The bulletin went on to elaborate “During the last 7 months the Mission has received reports and verified numerous instances of pick-pocketing, bag snatches, and residential break-ins targeting the expatriate community.  Additionally, two residential guards of an ex-pat compound were found murdered while on duty. “

Additionally they stated “The U.S Embassy in Hanoi and the U.S. Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City also reminds U.S. citizens that there have been acts of extreme violence in local nightspots frequented by ex-pats, including District 1. “

I am aware of the general situation and increase in crime in Saigon and Hanoi, however the double-murder was news to me. As many people know, I have been reporting on the situation of Saigon’s Filipino Mafia. It is unknown whether any of the incidents referenced by the embassy involved this group yet.

The US State Department releases Warden Messages sporadically. The last message on the US Embassy to Hanoi website was in October of 2010. This warning has not yet been posted online and was sent via email, directly from the embassy.