mrvietnam2001

I'm so happy about 3rd party references to Vietnam. That kind of thing will surely keep the riff raff out.

Cambodia has been politically unstable "lately"?

Whew. You're right. Thailand is the best  

Mr Vietnam

Hi Wolf,

Vnam is pretty cool if one has the balls to get right in the communists face. I did. See here: http://www.vietventures.com/Travel_Agreement.htm

I'm almost positive that I'm the first individual American to have an actual signed travel and trade agreement with the government there. But it took some doing let me tell ya.

The environment in Vietnam sucks. Horrible in many places. This is a mostly because the wonderful US Government doing what they did and then followed by the heavy hand of communism and the embargo that coincided with it. It's changing, but in comparison to the beauty of Samui, or even Phuket for that matter, it's got decades to go before it can reconstruct.

The "people" however are the complete opposite of Thais. Industrious, hard working and the levels of scams are so juvenile it's almost funny. None of those death threats as is the case in Thailand. They seem to have a real thing however ( a good one) for Americans whereas the same level of interest doesn't exist for the Brits and definitely not for the Germans. Go figure.

There's a few places that definitely "compare" with the enviro in Thailand, but I wouldn't mention then on any message board    I intend to develop some "sand" there soon and plan to retire there. When I arrive in Saigon, the police are waiting and carry my bags thru so I'm in a bit of a difderent position than most people. Hence I get certain preferential treatment that makes it "different" for me than for the masses I think.

But boy oh boy, living on the side of a mountain overlooking the gulf of Siam sure is something to carve into the memory banks. Which is one of the reasons I haven't completely written the place off.

I think that anyone who can create a little income on the net for example so as to avoid being dependant on any particular place is a really smart thing to do these days. The US is now just a tad under 7 TRILLION in debt and the world is only going to finance this for so long and then the US Collection is going to get even more aggressive.

Maintain a place here yes. Stay full time. no way.

P.S. I thought about buying an island in the PI although haven't been there. Is this a do-able thing?

Best Regards

Mr Vietnam

Democracy=2 hungry wolves and a lamb having a conversation about what's for dinner.

There is not a single country in the world that is Free. The closest the world got in 6,000 years was in 1776 and that of course was bastardized by the federal government starting in the 1850's which reached a cresendo during the reign of a very sharp lawyer named lincoln. Fortunately the man was shot and killed ( albeit too late) and the next real advance towards democratic destruction was under the reign of wilson. Then roosevelt, johnson, nixon the reagan and we all are well aware ( are we now?) of the current bunch mouthing the words of freedom while systematicallly destroying the percentages that are left.

And this is the best it gets boys and girls for the average grunt working class idiot.

Now expats for the most part although not necessarily able to articulate even the definition of freedom certainly by and large have indeed "expatriated" so as to find that "Life" whereas we can go a little bit further up the road of freedom, while somehow advancing our own live and let live schedules while becoming a sort of invisible entity, with less shackles in our respective adopted countries ( regardless of the group or ideology running the place) than we can possibly find in our own.

That's the way I see it.

See y'all on the yellow brick road of adventure.

Mr Vietnam  

Which is why you're only an "expat" physically ( maybe)

The fact is that being an real expat is the same essentially as being PT. But you don't know that because you're just running away geographically.

It's the idea and the movement of your "self" that defines expat.

And as an expat it doesn't matter where you are geographically. Your wits or lack thereof determine the place where you choose to be.

Ciao

Mr Vietnam  

Don't whine. You can't afford to be a customer either.

Loser. You wouldn't know fantasy from reality.

Mr Vietnam  

Uh thank you for further  illuminating your lack of experience in the financial world. Perhaps now you might consider going back to the karaoke bar and searching for your true love. Maybe you'll have better luck there.

Jerk

Mr Vietnam  

Hahaha no, but at Chesters Chicken I have:)

Regards

Mr Vietnam  

P.S. I have two clients who are planners and they make over 50K a year selling coins to their clients for me BTW so the offer wasn't a hijacking it was very much for real.

Joey,

Yes, everyone's beloved power duo. I especially like the one where the little bastard clinton ( actually a physically large guy, 6ft 4?) wrote and congress passed the expat tax, and the current marx wannabe tried to implement the exclusion on 80K.

Debt is just a tad under 7 Trillion now. But people ( some) say Libertarians are a threat.

I'm a threat then.

Rgrds

Mr Vietnam  

Off what tangent? You "were" offered a shot at selling coins ( or buying them) to your alleged customer base on commission.

Forget it. You're in no position to represent anyone in the financial services business.

Here, these people pay a salary  http://www.funnyjunk.com/pages/burger.htm

Good Luck

Mr Vietnam  

Dear Mr Thetyim

I think I was the first and only rare coin dealer that scope recommended:)

Great to hear from someone who knows.

Best Regards

Mr Vietnam  

HI Bob,

I lived in Vietnam for 22 months and then went on to Koh Samui for a total of 10 months.

I noticed that Brits put up with a LOT in Thailand. I didn't go thru that except with the locals in the development I was in. The thai government was an open door to me as an investor and I learned from being in Vnam to never ( ever) allow my assets to be out in the open there. This was a major help in me creating what I think was the first free trade agreement between an American individual and the government in Vnam. Without going into details on a forum, I can honestly say I couldn't get that much openess in the US, unless I was very rich and bought off the politicians. ( oops, did I say something aggregious?  )

The people were incredibly receptive and helpful, especially when 9/11 hit. Strangers came to my house offering everything from food, to "protection" and even the communist government who I personally saw took a lot of people off, were so helpful, that I was able to do things there with regards to openning lines of communication and dialogue that was almost surreal. ( case in point I flew the Dixie battle flag on my house during Tet, friends regularly sent me VERY Libertarian magazines and newspapers, films, etc, the kind of thing that people generally disappear over)

Perhaps it was that particular space in time. Maybe my attitude ( a British friend told me that Brits would never take the "kick the door in New York attitude I did) I don't know. I'd like to believe that my real laizzez faire attitude was so transparent, and my just wanting to be left alone as well as the fact I represent an un-touchable dollar asset ( I have employees there still) that it became as mesmerizing to them as it did for me. I'm still very much involved in day to day activities in the country and have many aquaintences and a few friends that have developed into deep enough intimacies, I would use the word "friend" in descibing them.

I didn't get the same impression from Thai's at all. Definitely not the Chinese ( I spent a lot of time in China). And friends of mine from Canada as well as Australia have told me they never got as deep into the culture as I did ( in Vnam).

Perhaps the Thai people have been exposed to a different side of western culture that they are themselves confused over. They see the money and it would almost seem they've come to think they're entitled to it. I couldn't believe the laziness I saw in Samui. Or the arrogance I saw in BKK. Maybe the current bunch in government there need to be slapped around a bit to start to realize that we foreigners really "can" and "do" represent income to the country. Maybe it would in fact helpn for foreigners to take a more "arms length" approach and maybe, just maybe if they were left to peddle their wares on the basis of mutual respect, then maybe the attitude will change.

It's like the US. People here really do think this is the only game in town. That attitude allows the government to rip people off ( in my case IF they could based on income, would steal over 50% of my earnings) and there's a lot of Americans in this boat but never took the time to get on an airplane and look at how many other places there are in the world that are beautiful, and if one keeps the money away from the government, find themselves treated like desireable assets that require certain inalienable rights. And get them or leave.

People will never do that in the US to the extent that the Brits I know have done to just wave adios. Perhaps after this current gang in government spends a few more trillion dollars that they're going to collect as you all well know in the UK, then maybe there will be a new group of expats joing the ranks worldwide.

Maybe eventually with enough chutzpah we'll all find freedom in an unfree world.

Thanks for hearing me out and regards.

Mr Vietnam  

P.S. I'm still looking for that island BTW. Think PT!

Hi,

How long were you in Cambodia??

Regards

Mr Vietnam  

Hmmmm, it'll be interesting to see if you caught what I said. The thing about print is it can't be erased and the perceptions can be so easily distorted.

You and I had differences before. Hope this one doesn't get out of the realm of where I meant it to go:)

Rgrds

Mr Vietnam

Cool. I don't plan on BKK though. I hate the place.

But Saigon?

There's a lot going on there. Unfortunately due to big big bigger than big government crappola with regards to spousal visa's in the land of the free and home of the brave ( barf), I am stuck back in the western "woild" ( as they would say in brooklyn) with my wife until we can get her the famed "green card" ( costs enough it should be a gold card).

I was originally going to buy the place we were living in on Samui. And if it were populated by Brits, Americans ( now expats are different aren't we:) ), Vietnamese or even refugees from Mexico, I would have stayed. But Thai's?

Where do they think they are!

If and when we get to know each other better, I'll turn you on to a few places that will blow you away. But as Otis would have said, I "gotsta" wait right now.

A story in the papers would be interesting though and we could make it a quasi-series.

Regards and really gotta go now. 3 hours to closing and the butterflies have started to fly in  the stomach.

Mr Vietnam  

It's what government does. Steals from us.

Speaking about a British collector and please forgive the following as it's not meant to be a shot at anyone other than the specific people ( yes another story!)

In 1933 the US Government banned gold ownership ( roosevelt) and the few double eagles they struck were supposedly melted down. However a couple of them ( a couple is speculative) escaped the melting pot and one of them was thought to have escaped the USA entirely and was placed in the collection of King Farouk of Egypt. When Farouk was finally told to "get outta town" ( paraphrase) his collection was seized and sold in Cairo in 1955. Ah Ha! The alleged 1933 St G was reported and the secret service dispatched. The SS ( strange how they have the same initials eh?) was detained at the airport and the alleged 33 St G disappeared! Lost in the wonderful world of numismatics and away from the thieves in government.

I offered the coin to a client of mine app 8 yers ago. My cost from a British dealer was 400-500K and I offered it with the understanding that I would need to make 100K on the coin and the buyer would have to pay that. The deal would HAVE to be set up as a smuggling deal much like what some "other" businesses do:) My client felt I was being too greedy and passed.

A year later, the coin surfaced in New York City.......during a "sting" operation involving a jerk dealer from Kansas City, the British dealer and a secret service agent. The dealers were attempting to sell the agent the coin for 1.5 Million. All conducted at the Waldorf Astoria. Arrests were made, the coin confiscated, and the dealers put in jail to await bail. ( Yes I sent copies of the news to my client who told me I was being too greedy, and yes I told him he was an idiot)

I mean really. What idiots. The coin was like drugs. They werre doing the deal at the Waldorf? Why not give it a ticker tape parade down 5th avenue and have it blessed at St Patricks Cathedral while they were at it! I was intending to bring the thing to Georgetown Grand Cayman, do a cash deal, hide the thing in a box there, make a few "donations" to certain Congressman to get the law repealed and it was my guess the coin could be a 5 Million dollar prize after all that.

Alas, the US Government sold the coin at public auction after they repealed the law for themselves last year, and the coin sold for a little over 6 Million! The government further made the community laugh by saying the 6 million was going to be used to "reduce the national debt".

But I was greedy. Arghhhhhhhhh.

I would have written a book about that one.

Gotta go. We're closing on a house today! Hanh and I are already excited as heck. Hopefully in a year or two we can both return to SEA and get one there ( I'm not telling where yet though:)  hehehehe:)

Have a nice weekend!

Regards

Mr Vietnam  

A plug if you don't mind

http://www.usrarecoininvestments.com

Not the biggest, but for real.

I started in 1969 when I was a kid. Wanna hear a story? Once upon a time, way back in olden days I was partners with a fellow in a coin shop in New Jersey and a rather "upscale looking" gentleman walked in looking to sell some US double eagles. The price we agreed on allowed my partner and I to make a few percent but the coins "looked" too good to be true.

Now mind you in those days I was pretty good at this but my partner was a genius. And we just couldn't quite be specific as to what it was about these coins that made us suspicious.

We weighed them and tested them and every variable looked just fine, but there was a "feeling" lingering. I asked the seller if he had any more and he replied, "oh yes, how many can you handle"? This was 1979 just as the world was going gold crazy. I told him that with a little advance notice we could handle any size transaction, in cash. I asked him if he could bring in a few thousand of these "twenties" and he replied " no problem" ( ! ) ( each was about 300US)

Gold content was perfect. Specific weight was as known. But they still had a "look" of being too nice. So we agreed that he would bring them in in a few days, and my partner and I set out to end this controversy and went to a huge metals dealer we were scrapping too in Manhattan and looked thru thousands of coins trying to come up with anything that was inconsistent other than the darn things being "too nice" and I did! Around the rim on all St Gaudens is the inscription " E Pluribus Unum". The "B" is somewhat mushy on every authentic St G we ever saw. Ahhh not so on the group in question. Sharp as a razor. ( ! )

In any event, the secret service was called in and they "requested" to use the coins we paid cash for as "evidence". They promptly set up their sting operation, caught the guy with millions of dollars, confiscated our St G's as evidence, thanked us for discovering the link to a counterfeiting ring coming from "Libya" and we called it a day a few thousand dollars ligher.

All in the spirit of "education".

Mr Vietnam  ???

Took a long time to develop my business. And there's a lot of fakes, especially in Asia.

There's one guy in Saigon who has a huge private home filled with what seems to be antiques and atiquities. " 1 Million US Dollars" was the quote. I spent almost 3 full days cataloguing that stuff.

Not a single piece was authentic. A Korean investor went in after me and bought the deal and looked like a cheshire cat when leaving.

I'm quite sure he didn't look that way when he got that load of crap to New York.

The gold piece from the Tang Dynasty was cool as ####. My connection in NYC just looked at me and asked "how'd you get this one" while writing the check.

Mr Vietnam  

If by chance you stumble into someone who has what appears to be authentic Thai, Vietnamese gold coins, or Chinese auto dollars from the 1920's/30's, HK and Vietnam paper money at least 50 yrs old ( preferably older), and can do a site draft deal to a US Bank, let me know and I'll pay you a good finders fee.

Before you think it's not possible, I did a deal that originated in Hue ( Vnam) which turned into a multi-6 figure trade and we're now connecting the happy camper with a connection of mine that also buys ( on sight) specialty items of other old things worth quite a bit of $$.

Another fellow was able to get to me a Budhist burial gold medallion from the Tang Dynasty, ( out of my realm somewhat) and allowed me to research it in NYC. I showed it to a friend of mine and we agreed to pay $10K for it. The seller was previously offered only a few hundred dollars for it so it worked out real well for all involved.

I will also offer you a commish on sales and work with planners in the States, so maybe it's about the same?

Any questions please PM me.

Regards

Mr Vietnam  

Sev, you are!

Rgrds

Mr Vietnam  

How bout investing a little of your money into an internet business and at the very least developing a mailiing list for future commerce?

I'll be the first one to tell you that the business ( web developers et'al) is like jumping into a pit of snakes and hoping you don't get bit, but really, you could buy a domain name, pay someone a little cash ( you don't need data base programming to start out with), start writing a newsletter, or WHATEVER interests you, and see if that will develop into something you can get a thousand or so a month on in a years time ( which would definitely put you in a position of making choices while in SE Asia). Or develop some contacts to buy ( you don't indicate enough $$ to do this but I'm throwing it out just in case you have more than you're divulging) some inexpensive products and re-sell to flea marketers etc for a few bucks a month.

Bottom line in explore your options and cover your back. The fact that you've admitted you're t the same job at your age indicates you don't have the entrpreneur spirit, and either you better start developing one or you're going to blow your money in Thailand or wherever, find out you have NO options, and maybe even have to beg, borrow and steal to get back to your home country sooner than you think.

Freedom doesn't come cheap. And you don't want to trade in one mundane life where at least you have the options of getting out for another life where you won't have that option so easily.

Do you at least have a certification to teach english ( just in case?) so you "might" puick up a few bucks along the way?

I'm going to start rambling here, but hopefully you get my drift.

Good luck in any case

Mr Vietnam  

Franchise opportunity:

http://www.funnyjunk.com/pages/burger.htm

But ya gotta show some real net, plus considerable cash to buy.

Mr Vietnam    

LOL+ I didn't know that Ikonboard was charging a few hundred dollars a month. Last time I set one of these up it was free except I paid my webguy to set up my site templates to match the board and there are some other costs but nowhere near what you just claimed.

It's great that you want to "share your experiences", however when you also see a need to hype your own posts with your "largest business broker in the universe" signatures, I just have to laugh. I'm not even going to comment on the alleged web buiness "offerings".

Mr Vietnam  

Your Welcome Mr djinn !

Mr Vietnam  

So succesful, can't you afford to put your own forum online and get traffic to it? What a joke.

http://www.toilette-humor.com/cartoon.html

Mr Vietnam  

With the amount of deception and fraud in the web development business, it's a lot tougher than you think.

Which is ONE reason why the gang in the business are whining in the USA and UK about all the outsourcing going on.

Which is a good thing ( the outsourcing).

Rather than get ripped off by the dirtbags in the US and UK for 50+ bucks and hour, who have no integrity, we now send our dollars to Asia and do NOT get ripped off and get the work done at a fraction of the cost in the big empire and it's little lap dog.

However, once done, I'll agree that yes, it can be done and once consistent, can be done from anywhere in the world. But it's not as easy as claimed.

We own 9 websites and have just gone partners with someone who has over 60 sites online. We have better connections in Vnam and SE Asia while the partner has multiple top 5 and top 10 rankings on every search engine with over 100,000 unique visitors a month. It would have been impossible to compete realistically with that guy on traffic. On the other hand we will crush anyone in Vietnam who tries to hurt our business there. The partner wanted to get "in" on Vietnam. We wanted "in" on the traffic he gets on the engines. It's as perfect a match as we could think of.

So, choose a developer wisely. The majority of them are either incompetant, dishonest, overpriced, or all of the above. MOST people get ripped off.

But if you really think it thru and factor in a serious premium you will pay for research into finding competant, fair people to work with, AND if you have the tenacity to see a good idea thru, you'll eventually do ok and maybe a lot better than ok!

Hope this has been helpful to you.

Regards

Mr Vietnam