Can Ph Revokes the Chinese Visa to Prop Up Her Tourism Industry?

 

By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA

While going back inside the Sison Auditorium after the State of the Province Address of the Governor of Pangasinan, I saw Bombo Radyo Framy Sabado interviewing Pangasinan 4th District Rep. Christopher “Toff” de Venecia.

I stopped my pacing on the light brown narra floor of the ritzy building and whisked up my cellphone cum tape recorder from my right pants pocket and butted in after the Solon answered Framy’s query about the vaunted employment juggernaut ‘s Creative Law he authored and was lengthily reported by my son Jigger (the De Venecias (Mother (come backing congressional bet Manay Gina) and Son P.R Man) at our Northern Watch Newspaper.

 

Here’s my posers to the young Congressman in English:

Me: Are you a member in Congress of the Committee on Tourism?

Him: No.

Me: Are you privy about Tourism issues in our country like the Philippines being a laggard while ASEAN members like Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, and Cambodia have dusted us off in snaring foreign tourists?

 

The Congressman extensively answered my queries that I’ll be posting soon in my blog for all and sundry to read.

BY THE WAY, here’s the score of the state of our tourism industry versus those of the mentioned Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN):

“Thailand has reclaimed its title (for year 2024 – emphasis mine) as the most visited country in Southeast Asia by getting 35.5 million foreign visitors in 2024 after losing the crown to Malaysia in 2023.

Malaysia was second with 25 million visitors, which was short of its target of 27.3 million. Vietnam ranked third with 17.5 million visitors, followed by Singapore with 16.5 million and Indonesia with 13.9 million. The rest included Cambodia with 6.7 million arrivals, the Philippines with 5.4 million, Laos with 4.1 million, and Myanmar with 1.06 million” (E.vnexpress.net/)

***

Thailand became No. 1 in drawing foreign tourists among the members of ASEAN because she revoked the visa requirement for Mainland Chinese tourists to come to her shore.

The second biggest Southeast Asia’s economy hosted 32.7 million foreign tourists as of December 8, 2024 generating approximately 1.5 trillion baht (US$43.9 billion) in revenue.
China was the largest source of visitors of Thailand last year, with 6.3 million arrivals, followed by Malaysia (4.6 million), India (1.9 million), South Korea (1.7 million), and Russia (1.5 million).

Can the Philippines – which is No. 7 (eclipsed by backwater Cambodia which is No. 6, sanamagan!) emulates Thailand in getting rid of those Chinese visas to catapult her slow growing tourism numbers in the coming years?

It is quite impossible because of the military spat we have with Beijing. Incase that would happen, we could not be a Thailand in drawing Chinese tourists with an average of P100, 000 to spend from per tourist in Dakak, Boracay, Palawan, Siargao, or whatchacamacallit.

With that, we deprive our countrymen of employment and better standard of living unless national security is paramount to us despite the humongous number of the Chinese tourists.

What say you my friend on my opinion?

Walang CS Law na Nalabag; Hindi Kawani ng Munisipyo Iyong Tao

 Ni Mortz C. Ortigoza

MANGALDAN, Pangasinan – Mariing pinabulaanan ng babaeng alkalde sa mayamang bayan na ito na isa sa kawani ng local na pamahalaan ang may hawakhawak na poster ng kalaban niya sa pagka alkalde at nagsasayawsayaw at nagsisigaw na talo na ang karibal.

REELECTIONIST Mangaldan Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno (red arrow above) mingles with her consituents while her mayoralty opponent Vice Mayor Mark Stephen Mejia poses at the right photo.

Matapos batikusin ng mga mediamen at bloggers ang kanyang pangasiwaan, ani Mayor Bona Fe D. Parayno: “as a government institution committed to upholding the election laws of the Philippines and Civil Service Rules and Regulations, LGU Mangaldan cannot over emphasize the importance of political neutrality in the government service bureaucracy”.

Sinabi ng alkalde na nag-isyu siya ng Memorandum isang araw o noong Marso 27 bago magsimula ang 45-araw na campaign period para sa mga kandidato sa local eleksyon sa Mayo 12 na ipinagbabawal ang pakikilahok sa electioneering o political partisan ayon sa Commission on Election (COMELEC) – Civil Service Commission (CSC) Advisory on Electioneering and Partisan Political Activities (Joint Circular No. 1, s. 2016).

Nagsimula itong pangangatiyaw kuno ng kawani ng munisipyo noong na nabidyuhan ang isang lalaki na hawakhawak ang poster ni mayoralty candidate Vice Mayor Mark Stephen Mejia at pasayawsayaw at pasigawsigaw na hindi raw mananalo si Mejia.

Kung talagang empleyado iyong lalaki ng munisipyo ilabas ng mga nagbabatikos ang dokumento na isa siyang kawani para masampahan na kaagad ng administratibong kaso sa Civil Service.

Ilabas na rin iyong bidyo at hindi na lang puro talak na napaghalataan tuloy ng karamihan na paninira lang sa kay Mayor Bona Parayno.

“It is unfortunate that an employee of LGU Mangaldan has been wrongly tagged in the aforementioned report even to the point of redicule when addressing the gender orientation of the employee,” ani Mayora sa maling akusasyon at pagiinsulto sa isang empleyado dito na hindi naman iyong taong naninira kay Mejia.

Ang mga paglabag sa Comelec-CSC Advisory ay ang mga sumusunod:

• Forming groups, associations, or committees to solicit votes or campaign for/against a candidate.
• Holding political rallies, caucuses, meetings, or parades for election campaigning.
• Making speeches, announcements, or media commentaries to support or oppose a candidate.
• Publishing, distributing, or displaying campaign materials promoting or opposing a candidate.
• Directly or indirectly soliciting votes, pledges, or support for a candidate or party.
• Using government resources—such as time, personnel, facilities, and equipment—for political purposes.
• Providing financial or material contributions to candidates or political parties.
• Wearing campaign-related shirts, pins, caps, or accessories, unless authorized by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).
• Serving as a watcher for a political party or candidate during the election.

Ang mga kaparusahan ay ang mga sumusunod:

Government employees who engage in prohibited partisan political activities may face administrative sanctions under the 2017 Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service (RACCS):

• First offense: Suspension of one (1) month and one (1) day to six (6) months.
• Second offense: Dismissal from service, including loss of benefits and disqualification from future government employment.

Nanawagan si Mayor Bona sa mga mediamen na sundin ang “journalistic standards and verify information” first bago bumanat.

Esteves, Sumera Acting Mayor, VM ng Urdaneta City

 KAPWA MAMBABATAS NA NAGMATIGAS MAKAKASUHAN 

Ni Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA

URDANETA CITY – Matapos ang halos tatlong buwang pagkaantala ng mga konsehales dito kung sino sa kanila ang hahalili sa sinuspendidong alkalde at bise alkalde, tinanggap na rin ng dalawang mambabatas noong Marso 28 ang Designation Order sa kanila ng Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

ACTING MAYOR. Urdaneta City Acting Mayor Rio Esteves (left) and Acting Vice Mayor Doc Bles Sumera.

Matapos pirmahan noong Marso 26 ang Order ni DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla, si Rio Esteves at Doc Bles Sumera ay pormal na ring pumirma ng kanilang Acceptance Letter sa opisina ng alkalde dito noong Marso 31 na sinaksihan nila City Councilors Amado O. Veridiano, Onofre C. Gorospe, Aurelion L. Agsalud, Sr., Warren Andrada, at City Local Government Operation Officer Richard S. Real.

Pagkatapos ay inihayag na rin sa araw na iyon kung saan merong flag ceremony ng dalawa sa mga kawani ng pamahalaang panlungsod ang pagtanggap nila ng Letter.

Sa sipi ng liham ni Region 1 DILG Director Jonathan Paul L. Leusen, Jr. kay Remulla, sinabi niya: “Further, with the official assumption of local officials as Acting Mayor and Vice Mayor, may we earnestly request guidance on what will be the next action for the PNP Personnel manning the old and new city hall of Urdaneta City, Pangasinan.”

Si Esteves at Sumero ay numero otso at numero siyam sa labingdalawang mambabatas dito. Nahaharap ang mga kasamahan nila sa kasong Dereliction of Duty sa hindi pagtanggap ng utos ng DILG noong Enero pa na palitan nila pansamantala si Mayor Julio F. Parayno III at ang pinsan niyang si Vice Mayor Jimmy Parayno.

Ang labingdalawang konsehales ay kaalyado ng mga Parayno.

Si Mayor Parayano at Vice Mayor Parayno ay nakasuhan ng kasong Grave Abuse of Authority at Grave Misconduct na pinirmahan ni Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin noong Enero 3, 2025. Sinuspende sila ng Office of the Philippines President ng isang taon magmula noong Enero 7 noong isinilbi ng DILG sa tanggapan ng dalawang Parayno.

Kahit na binarikadahan na ng mga kapulisan ang tanggapan ng dalawa noong Pebrero 4 ay patuloy pa rin silang nagsisilbi ng tungkulin nila. Ang pagmamatigas ng dalawa na bumaba ay magiging dahilan na sila ay makakasuhan ng Usurpation of Authority or Official Functions (Article 177 Revised Penal Code) at Falsification of Public Documents (Article 171).

Binalaan ni Atty. Romeo P. Benitez, Undersecretary for External, Legal and Legislative Affair, si Councilors Francis del Prado at Warren Andrada ang numero uno at numero dos  na may pinakamaraming boto na nanalo sa Mayo 2022 eleksyon noong mga nakaraang buwan na ang kabiguan nilang sundin ang utos ng batas na umupo sila sa nasabing pwesto ay maging “ground for criminal and/or administrative sanction”.

Ang kasong administratibo ng dalawang magpinsang Parayno ay hango sa “OP-DC Case No. K-090 entitled Michael Brian M. Perez vs. Mayor Julio F. Parayno III and Vice Mayor Jimmy D. Parayno” kung saan ni indefinite suspended ni Mayor Parayno si Liga ng mga Barangay (LNB) President at San Vicente Punong Barangay Perez dahil sa June 14, 2022 na Manifesto ng 33 sa 34 na Punong Barangay ng lungsod na ito para alisin siya na LNB President.

Pogi Sinungaling, Banat ni Monmon

NI MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Walang pagaalinlangang inilantad ng kasalukuyang nakaupong gobernador ng Pangasinan ang mga kasinungalingan ni dating gobernador Pogi Espino gaya ng walang pasubaling pag-ako  niya na sa kanya ang Point of Care noong panahon niya.

LIAR! Pangasinan Governor Ramon “Monmon” V. Guico III exposes the lies of his predecessor and gubernatorial rival’s former governor Amado “Pogi” Espino III. 

Ang Point of Care o Point of Service ayon sa Philippines Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) ay “program (that) provides immediate PhilHealth coverage to unregistered or inactive members, especially those who are financially incapable, seeking medical care in government facilities, ensuring universal health access”. 

“Napanoond ko sa isang speech niya noong panahon daw niya merong Point of Care ang mga hospitals ----- oy, mag isip ka!” banat ni Pangasinan Governor Ramon V. Guico III sa kanyang hinalinhan.

Sa isang pagpupulong kamakailan, binanatan ni Espino ang pagpapatakbo ng Guico Administration ng provincial hospital.

“Sabali met na mangyayari ti probinsiya siguro kadayo ada ti ospital idjay Bayambang o edi Urdaneta District Hospital edi Point of Care punyan tayo libre kayo no umunos kayo idyay nga ma insured kayo nga dagos,” aniya sa Ilokano

Ani Guico ang Point of Care ay programa ng pamahalaang pambansa. 

“Ang Point of Care is not a program of the province and of the provincial hospitals. Point of Care is the program of PhilHealth! All administrations merong Point of Care or Point of Service as they call it. So don’t claim that it’s yours,” patutsada niya kay Pogi.

Paliwanag niya na hindi tinanggal  ang programang pangmahirap sa gobyernong panlalawigan bagkus pinalawak pa niya ito.

“Dinagdagan ko, ni enhance ko at make sure that may doctor tayo at may mga gamot tayo”.

Inupakan pa ni Guico ang dating pamahalaang  Espino – kasali na diyan ang sa amang kapangalan niya na nagsilbing gobernador ng siyam na taon – kung may nabili silang mga MRI (magnetic resonance imagery), CT  scan (computed tomography), x-ray machines, ultrasound, at iba pa.

“Noong time nila may nabili ba silang MRI? Noong time nila ilan ang nabili nilang CT scan? May nabalitaan ako walang ganoon gawang CT scan. Papugakpugak iyang CT scan sa LDH (Lingayen District Hospital). Bumili tayo ng pito. Noong time ko as governor bumili tayo ng 19 brand new x-ray machines and 21 brand new ultra sound, we hired psychologist, we hired radiologists, and then medical specialists to cater to the needs of our patients and to work to the equipment that we purchased”.

Hindi umayon si Guico sa sinabi ni Espino na mas maganda ang pamamalakad ng huli sa pamahalaang panlalawigan:

“No! I don’t accept that!

Hindi napatapos ni Espino ang siyam na taong panunungkulan basi sa saad ng batas dahil tinalo siya ni Guico noong Mayo 9, 2022 election ng may mahigit na 187, 807 botos.

Merong 1,592, 189 botante ang bumoto noon kaya doon pinaghatian nila Guico (885,272 votes), Espino (697,465 votes), Rolly Jimenez (6,209 votes) at Caloy Padilla (3,243 votes) ang mga boto.

Samantala, inupakan si Pogi ng Facebook Page na True Lovers of Pangasinan noong sabihin niya na kinukupitan ni Guico ang P1,700 – P2, 100 na PhilHealth Konsulta Program ng pambansang pamahalaan.

“Psst, Pogi, narinig ko iyong speech mo sa Urbiztondo. Ipinakita mo na naman ang katangahan mo.

Sabi mo, "No agak bimmatik, wala tan ya Konsulta ya P200, P300 yo? Walay kuwarta yo natan. Asibletan kayo, asaol kayo. Dapat P1,700, o P2,100 itan. Naulew kayo, pirma pirma kini. Anggapoy danum, anggapoy meryenda,”ani True Lovers.

Ani Facebook Page na tanga daw si Espino dahil alam naman niya na iyong P300 na ibinibigay ay aprubado ng Sangguniang Panlalawigan (provincial lawmakers).

“Pero kahit ganyan ka katanga, alam ko namang alam mo na iyong P300 ay ibinibigay ng probinsya bilang incentive sa mga magpapakonsulta. Maong labat sa pangalaan day isaliw da na meryenda o pamasahe da. Aya may government unified incentive. Guiconsulta. Aprobado na provincial board,” ani True Lovers.

Paliwanag ni True Lovers ang P1,700 o P2,100 ay bigay ng Philhealth sa kanila bilang mga pasyente dahil  bayad iyon sa accredited facility kung saan nagpakonsulta ang isang mamamayan na nagparehistro sa Philhealth Konsulta Program at naging miyembro na rin ng Philhealth.

Ang nangunang Guiconsulta ay hinahangaan ng liderato ng PhilHealth at gusto ng huli na ito ay tularan ng mga local government units (LGUs) sa buong bansa.

21 K𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗻𝗴 L𝗶𝗺𝗴𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗮 𝗣’si𝗻𝗮𝗻, P𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗻ang I𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗹𝗮

 

Pormal nang ipinakilala sa local at national media ang dalawampu't isang kandidata ng Limgas na Pangasinan 2025.

Kasabay ng press presentation ay ang official sashing sa Sison Auditorium Lingayen, Pangasinan nitong March 16, 2025.

Ang mga mag-aagawan sa korona ng Limgas na Pangasinan 2025 ay ang mga sumusunod;

1. Reign Joy C. Lim - Bayambang

2. Kayzee Shasta P. Brillo - Umingan

3. Leinahtan L. Sarmiento - San Carlos

4. Kyla S. De Leon - Basista

5. Xyza Nicole C. Aguilar - Mangaldan

6. Louise Anne A. Vergara - San Manuel

7. Cheska T. Donato - Bugallon

8. Grace Jineah C. Lumague - Pozorrubio

9. Clarisse C. Borbe - Alcala

10. Liannah Jermayne L. Mangosong - Asingan

11. Felicity C. Mamplata - Lingayen

12. Krysha R. Villanueva - Binalonan

13. Marianne Jinnah F. Nandin - Balungao

14. Chelsea Mae M. Oranza - Malasiqui

15. Alannis Sophia Melarnie F. Hodge - Sual

16. Ma. Julianne Vernice F. Nandin - Rosales

17. Venus B. Sawaysaway - Dasol

18. Freda V. Rosario - Labrador

19. Angelica Joy B. Flores - Sta. Barbara

20. Claire Arwen V. Cacal - Calasiao

21. Rosemarie O. Erang - Urdaneta

 

Pinuri ni Limgas na Pangasinan Committee Chairperson First Lady Maan Guico ang mga kandidata dahil sa kanilang galing at dedikasyon na maging kinatawan ng kanilang bayan.

 

Ayon naman kay Vice Governor Mark Lambino, ang Limgas na Pangasinan ay hindi lamang patungkol sa ganda at talino kundi ito rin ay plataporma para maipakita ang kakayahan at galing ng lalawigan.

Dumalo rin sa press presentation si Atty. Melanie Lambino, ang maybahay ni Vice Governor Lambino.

(Patricia Sevilla, JP De Vera| PIMRO)

Kabayan, Tulungan In; API, Aksyon, Abono Out

 

Pangasinenses Lead Partylists

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA

DAGUPAN CITY – Among the five Pangasinenses lead partylist, only the province’s homegrowns Kabayan and Tulungan win the latest survey of the Social Weather Station (SWS) for the partylists’ election on May 12.

FIRST NOMINEES of Pangasinenses lead partylists: (From top left and clockwise) Kabayan Partylist Cong. Atty. Ron Salo, Pangasinan's mediaman Cisco Flores, Abono Cong. Robert Raymond Estrella, Aksyon Dapat nominee Hernani Braganza, and API nominee Amado Espino, Jr.

Based on the March 15 to 20, 2025, Kabayan and Tulungan Tayo entered the winning Top 57 partylist seats for the 63 congressmen from the partylist needed to fulfill the constitutional mandates that twenty percent (20%) of the 313 members of the the House of Representatives should be allocated to partylists. Fifty-seven (57) partylists should have won incase election was held on that period and not 63 because 4Ps, Duterte Youth, Duterte Youth, and FPJ Panday Bayanihan got additional six seats based on the 4.17% to 10.44% respondents that voted for them as seen on the table of the pollster.

A party that got 6% or more of the total votes cast for the present 156 party lists that joined for the May 12, 2025 election gets three seats while those that got 4% and 2% of the total votes get two seats and one seat, respectively.

In the survey, Kabayan got 0.68% (ranked 43) while Tulungan Tayo 0.59 (ranked 48).   API (Abante Pangasinan Ilocano), Aksyon Dapat, and Abono poorly chalked up 0.30% (ranked 73-74), 0.25% (ranked 83-87), 0.12% (ranked 111), respectively.

There are 156 partylists that vie for the May 12, 2025 national and local elections.

Kabayan Partylist represents marginalized sectors of the Filipino community, including the disabled, senior citizens, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), fishermen, farmers, and the poor.

Kabayan was founded by Ron Salo – a resident of Binmaley, Pangasinan -- in 2009. Salo is the present congressman of Kabayan in the 19^th Congress and he is the first nominee in the May 12, 2025 election.

Tulungan Tayo Party List’s first nominee is Cisco Jay Flores, a media practitioner from Dagupan City. He vowed to introduce bills designed to empower peasants, women, and youth. Its second nominee is JB Acosta of Calasiao, Pangasinan. Acosta’s wife is Pangasinan chain of malls heiress Dagupan City Councilor Irene Lim.

      The first nominee of Abante Pangasinan Ilocano (API) is the former Governor of the Province of Pangasinan Amado T. Espino, Jr. while its second nominee is Laoac Vice-Mayor Atty. Nelson Valdez Gayo. In the May 9, 2022 election, API made raves and waves as it got 449, 346 (1.24%) votes while its rival Abono settled for 287, 460 (0.80%). API then was basking on the popularity of the former Governor and his son and namesake who was the governor of the gargantuan province. But after the latter lost to Pangasinan Governor Ramon V. Guico III, API lost its glitter under its congressman Mike Morden and even plunged to the cellar among the 156 partylists that shoved and jostled to be a member of the 20^th Congress. 

 

The first nominee for this year’s election of Aksyon Dapat Partylist is former Alaminos City, Pangasinan Mayor Hernani Braganza. He said – as culled from online data -- that his group initial plan was to create a peace advocacy organization, but his group’s diverse and inclusive platform paved the way for them to run under the party-list system.
Braganza – a former Press Secretary and Congressman -- stated that part of their advocacy was to increase the capacities of public hospitals in the country and also look into reducing the out-of-pocket expenses through the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation.

Abono Partylist represents the agriculture and marginalized sector especially the population of Pangasinan province. Its first nominee is Congressman Robert Raymund Estrella – a resident of Rosales, Pangasinan -- while its chair and treasurer is Eng. Rosendo O. So.

In the elections of 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2022, Abono got 1 seat, 2 seats, 2 seats, 2 seats, 1 seat, and 1 seat, respectively.

 

                     GNAWED BY FPJ PANDAY BAYANIHAN AND SOLID NORTH

       This writer sees that one of the culprits that gnawed the votes of these five Pangasinan folks lead partylists are the presence of FPJ Panday Bayanihan being led by Senator Grace Poe whose first nominee is her son and Solidarity of Northern Luzon People (Solid North) run by the political family of Bernos of Abra.

FPJ (ranked 4 with 4.17% respondents) is based in Manila while Solid North (ranked 41-42 with 0.695 respondents) was just sued at the Commission on Election lately against its first nominee and a school division superintendent in Abra for alleged vote-buying and bribery.

These two partylists have been aggressively campaigning in Pangasinan to win its huge more than two million voters (a column/blog on this to follow – MCO).

According to Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia, the complaint against Solid North Party-list first nominee Menchie Beronilla Bernos and Schools Division Superintendent of the Department of Education (DepEd) – Abra Amador Garcia was filed last March 7.

SWS explained that the survey was done through face-to-face interviews with 1,800 registered voters: 300 in Metro Manila, 900 in the rest of Luzon, 300 in the Visayas, and 300 in Mindanao.

It added that the poll had a margin of error of ±2.31 percent for national percentages, ±3.27 percent for percentages in Luzon except Metro Manila, and ±5.66 percent for percentages in Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao.

 

Tata Max, My Son Nico Become Instant Millionaire

 

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Amused by this 2002 column of the late Max V. Soliven - the quentessential opinion writer during my younger years -- how he became an instant millionaire. Upon reading it I hailed my son Nico to come in my library and asked him how he got hold the 13 million Laotian Kip when he went to Laos last January.

Here's Soliven -- the Maestro in Journalism subject of the late Senator Ninoy Aquino and Speaker Joe de Venecia in Ateneo --:

"It’s easy. All you have to do is fly 1,627 kilometers from Manila to Ho Chi Minh City (which everybody here still calls "Saigon", except for government officials and official documents). It’s a two-hour flight by private jet to Tan Son Nhat Airport. Anyway, Philippine Airlines flies down here three times a week. When you get into town and check into your hotel, exchange US$100 at the cashier’s desk (or at the money changer down the street). Immediately, you get handed Dong 1.53 million. Voila! You’re a millionaire – in Vietnamese Dong. That’s the local currency".

Nico told me that when he went to Laos -- formerly part of Indochina with Vietnam and Cambodia under the yoke of the greedy French colonizer --, he exchanged at the money exchange there his U.S $600 with KIP 13 million.

"Ano uli ang pangalan ng currency ng Laos, Teng?" I asked him.

"Kip," he said.

"Parang bastos naman ang tunog, "Kipyas! hihi," this malicious geezer -writer retorted.

Here's Soliven again:

" In time, you’ll be able to figure out how far your tourist dollar goes. A buck gets you 15,300 Dong. Dong 200,000 equals roughly $18. A million Dong is equivalent to about $70.

Can you expect to pay more for what you buy? Of course. You’re a tourist. You must bargain fiercely. But they deal with you here with pleasant smiles. There are many wonderful souvenirs and works of art to purchase within a two-block radius of your hotel. The Vietnamese, so formidable in war, are also the world’s most consummate artists: They paint, lacquer, do terrific silverwork (though much of their craft comes from Cambodia), ceramics — you name it. They can fake almost everything to perfection, too – including fake Zippo lighters with the emblems of American regiments and units, as if they had been captured by Viet Cong (their Dads) or North Vietnamese Army soldiers on the battlefield".

Photos of Nico (a graphic designer of a U.S company in the Mainland) below when he visited Laos. I mull to go to Vietnam instead of Laos and Thailand and visit those historic places - like Dien Bien Phu, Khe Sanh Combat Base, Hue (for the Battle of Hue during the Tet Offensive), the tunnels, and others when the humiliated French and U.S military juggernauts tangled with the pajama clad, old tire made sandal wearing, and Russian and Chinese AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle wielding chink eyed tiny Vietnamese soldiers called NVA (North Vietnam Army as what Saluyot man Tata Max of Ilokoslovakia said) or Vietcong.