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 | Ho Chi Minh City Local Customs | Tips 1 - 10 of 104 |  |
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Nightlife in Saigon offer different things to different people. There are clubs for dancing, clubs for music listening, bars for drinking, and cafés for singing. Although the first three bring in more income, the last one is more popular with the locals. Vietnamese love to sing. There is an adage to encourage this love and practice: "Hát hay không bằng hay hát" (Sing well is not better than sing often). The adage must have been taken to heart because cafés for amateur vocalists grow like mushroom throughout the city. When you come to these cafés, there is music to enjoy and a stage to perform. No, these are not karaoke cafés, there is no TV with on screen lyric, but there is a live band to accompany your voice and thousands of music sheets at your disposal. One thing to remember, when the audience present you with a silk flower, the flower will include at least a VND 100,000 note, sometimes more. This is a symbol of appreciation for your beautiful voice, but the money is actually not yours to keep. What you should do is presenting the flower to the band as *your* appreciation for their accompaniment. This practice may sound strange to you but it is very logical to the locals. You see, the band does not receive any compensation for their work; they are playing their heart out every night for free. The owner cannot afford to pay them because the café does not bring in a whole lot of money, thus the customers who get the pleasure out of listening to the music or having a medium to showcase their talent are the ones who actually help paying the band with their tips. And the tips, you guess it, come in the form of the flowers presented to the amateur singers. So, you have fun listening to the music, then have fun belting out some tunes to an attentive audience who gracefully tell you they like your performance. Then you in turn gracefully tell the band how much fun you have in making beautiful music with them. Everyone has fun and everyone is graceful, and the night is pronounced a success. Leave a Comment
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don't be scared. These bottles of rice wine are everywhere. Imagine taking some sips of this alcohol that has been marinating with cobras, vipers, ginger, and other strange items. It's supposed to be a "cure-all" for disease. The label on my bottle says "cures rheumatism, limbago, and sweat of limbs" Umm sure it does! Cheers and happy drinking! Leave a Comment
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