Prostitution Scene in the Backpacker's Area of Saigon, Vietnam.

Prostitution is a never-ending story in a tourism city such as Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok and Singapore. Even if your travel intention is just for sightseeing and visiting tourist attraction places, single or group male travelers normally cannot avoid from being approached by sexual offers from male or female prostitutes in town. Even, the industry is not as open as in Bangkok or Phuket, the scene in Ho Chi Minh is on the rise especially at the backpacker area, Pham Ngu Lao.
In this article, we describe female prostitutes as “Night Butterflies” which to portray their image who are flying around the city seeking for customers .
“Night Butterflies” on the Bike
Motorbike is a means of transportation in Vietnam. These “Night Butterflies” are very mobile when they are moving around by motorbike. They can ride on streets, alleyways and even in the pedestrian walks. When you walk alone from Ben Thanh Market heading to Pham Ngu Lao across 23/9 Park, do not be surprised when there are beautiful girls on bikes nicely say “Hello” to you and offering sex service. Its can be 1 girl and sometimes they come with another friend. The best way is, just smile and go without looking at their eyes. If you be chattier, they will think that is your “buying signal” and they will bother your way.

“Night Butterflies” on the Pavement
Some of these girls are working together with other teams who are finding customers by using motorbikes. When you out for drinks with travel buddies and walk to your hotel a bit later around 10pm, some girls on the walking side sometimes daringly will ask if you are looking for prostitute and they are very open talking about their services. Not only that, some motorbike taxi or locally called “xe om” driver also play a role as an agent for this prostitution business in backpacker area. With coffee-dirt teeth smiling faces, they will repeatedly asking every male tourist if they are looking for “massage” or pretty women.

“Sexy Shampoo Girls” in Saloon
There are some Hair Saloons or massage centres with half dozen of beautiful girls with a very short mini skirt sitting in front of their saloon premises. It is fine if you just want to cut your hair, but you have be careful whenever the girls are trying to do something weird to you as normally it will come with different price. Some say, it’s kind of weird when it is hard to see a scissors in a hair saloon. The best way is, avoid these places and Google for places that tourists always go.
Mid Age Women at Bar
There are many bars in the backpacker area with American-Vietnamese interior design which are always welcoming American veterans as their customer. The best part is, the waitresses in the bar are just their type which is middle age Vietnamese women with sexy low-cut dress. Not all of them are prostitutes as many say so. It will be best for you to be gentle towards those women and politely say no if you are not interested in other intimidation movements.
For more information you can visit this website as This article was published in The Vietnam Guide on June 25, 2012.

Prostitutes cruising streets in downtown Ho Chi Minh City a few years ago. Photo by Nghia Pham  

The number of sex workers in Vietnam -- criminals according to the government -- increased last year and prostitution became harder to control, the social affairs ministry said Friday.
A report by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said the number grew to nearly 33,000 in 2013, up more than 9 percent from the previous year, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.
But the number local government agencies have on file dropped by more than a third.
Prostitution is illegal in Vietnam and sex workers face fines of VND300,000 (US$14.2) for their first offence and up to VND5 million for repeat offences. Their clients are fined VND500,000-5 million depending on the circumstances.
But civil society has been pressuring the government to legalize prostitution so that the industry could be regulated.
The ministry said prostitution has become increasingly complicated to control as those involved are employing new ruses to avoid being detected.
It is most rife in large cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong and nearby Nam Dinh Province and in tourist destinations, the ministry said.
Local statistics showed that of the country’s more than 83,000 shops offering body services, such as spas, salons and barber shops, more than 8,000 are suspected to provide sex services.
Programs to help sex workers reintegrate into the community were established years ago, but only 500 of them were supported and with loans worth just VND2 billion ($95,000), the ministry said.
It also said other crimes related to prostitution increased from 2012.
This article was published in Thanh Nien News.Com  Sunday, January 12, 2014

 google image.

AirAsia Onboard Meals.

Air Asia in-flight meals are optional and not included in your ticket price. You can buy your meal either on board or buy them in advance, online. If you buy them online, you get discounts of up to 20% plus a free drink.If you buy them on board the flight, you may not get the meal of your choice as they carry limited stock on the flight. The choice of menu is also limited. For flights shorter than 75 minutes fir exmple flight Kuching to Sibu or Bintulu you cannot buy hot meals on board the flight. They served only to passengers that had purchased meals online.You can purchase your onboard meal here AirAsia Hot Meal.

Pak Nasser Nasir Lemak onboard AirAsia.This is the only thing that would keep me sane through out the journey. The meals were served hot, seems like it just being cooked in the oven. have to wait for several minutes before i can start chew it.I pre-book the meals before the flight.

 Based on statement made on Air Asia website, food served on board AK flights are halal although there are no sticker to say so on the meal packaging.

Photography:The Golden Hour.

If there's one thing that can make or break a photograph more than any other, it's lighting. You might have the most incredible landscape but without the right quality of light you can still be left with a flat, dull, and uninspiring photo.This is particularly true in outdoor photography - it can often be difficult or impossible to use artificial lighting to illuminate your subject, so you're completely reliant on the natural light.As a result, it's critical to find the right time of day to shoot your outdoor scene. Thankfully, professional and amateur photographers have been thinking about this problem since the invention of the first camera, and have found the perfect solution - the so-called "golden hour".
Below is the photographs that I shoot during golden hour near to Kuching International Airport.

Kuching City At First Day of Chinese New Year (the only day with empty street).

This is KUCHING CITY as you’ve never seen it before; a ghost town empty of people, traffic and life, with  no shops open and deathly quiet streets.It’s a reality for just one day a year, I shows  a series of photos taken on first day of Chinese New Year.I went all round the city on January 31st, taking series shots of the usually bustling city center  without  any activity.

Air Asia Fly From Kuching to Langkawi.

There are many option of how you want to go to Langkawi from Kuching.First of course you have to take flight to Kuala Lumpur either with Malaysia Airline ,Malindo Air and AirAsia.From Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi you can take either by Air or Land and Traveling time may take you almost one day from Kuching to Langkawi .
Come 20March,2014 AirAsia will take you from Kuching to Langkawi (Direct flight) & flying time will take you to Langkawi in less than 2 hours.
Book Low Fare or FREE Seat now to Langkawi.
Booking Period

: 28 January 2014 - 9 February 2014

Travel Period

: 20 March 2014 - 31 January 2015 

 To Book on line click AirAsia

Perhaps you want to know about Langkawi you visit  this website Langkawi Tourism

or Visit Malaysia 2014 Langkawi,Kedah Tourism Malaysia 

 

 AirAsia Airbus A320 in Kuching International Airport.

Aircraft/Plane Spotting In Kuching International Airport.

Spotting a plane in Kuching International Airport(KIA) is a bit boring .We don't have a suitable view gallery or Anjung Tingau like we have in Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).Further more our KIA is not a busy airport with the arrival and departure of foreign  Airline.All we can spot for the day was the arrival and departure of carrier namely MASwings,Malindo,AirAsia and Malaysia Airline.In my case if i wanted to go for plane spotting during weekend. Firstly I need to check the arrival and departure of the aircraft from FLIGHTSTATS..I prefer to spot AirAsia plane because their plane Usually have different  Aircraft livery is also the term describing the paint scheme of an aircraft.
Yesterday was a good weather and beautiful sunset near to airport.Below are few set of photos from my plane spotting yesterday.

Eating Sarawak : Kuching.

AirAsia, the world’s best low cost airline further enhances connectivity from East Malaysia, particularly Sarawak with the announcement of its 3x weekly direct flights from Kuching to Kota Bharu, which will commence from 22 March 2014 onwards.This new route will be AirAsia’s eighth domestic route from Kuching, and AirAsia will be the sole airline to connect Kuching directly to the East Coast of Semenanjung Malaysia.
To celebrate the announcement of this new route, AirAsia will be giving away free seats which are available for booking online at www.airasia.com from 20^th January until 2^nd February 2014. Guests will only need to pay for the applicable taxes and fees from RM29 one way. The travel period for these free seats will be from the commencement of the inaugural flight on 22^nd March 2014 until 31^st January 2015.
I welcome tourist from KotaBahru to visit Kuching.
Kuching officially the City of Kuching is the capital and the most populous city in the states of Sarawak. The city covers an area of 431 km² and has a population about 165,642 on the north, while 159,490 on the south. If mixed, the total of the population are 325,132.
Kuching is one of the two subsets of the Kuching Proper subdistrict, the other subset being part of the Padawan municipality. Kuching Proper is one of the three subdistricts in the Kuching District, which is one of the three districts in the Kuching Division.
Sarawak  Tourist Attraction & Hotel guide HERE
Freelance Food & Travel Writer in Kuching HERE
Blogger trip to Kuching HERE

Visit Sarawak Year 2014 ..Selamat Datang ke-Sarawak.