Are we the only ones who think that the name of a huge casino strip planned for southeastern Vietnam could have been better thought out?

The Ho Tram strip will be built in Ba Ria, a city 78 miles southeast of Ho Chi Minh City. No doubt the name sounds perfectly fine in Vietnamese, but we're just seeing all the rich, foreign tourists adding a "P" to the end and taking plenty of happy snaps.

The development includes two five-star hotels, a Vegas-style casino and a Greg-Norman-designed golf course. Developers are proud that the resort has "proximity to one of the finest unspoiled beaches in the world," which we can only presume is about to be spoiled after all.

Related Stories:
· $42 Billion Luxury Hotel Resort for Vietnam [Asia Travel Tips]
· Vietnam Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Bung Phe]]]> amandak 2008-06-03T09:45:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/10/16/85027/167 Click Here To Go Straight To Chasing Racers Map

Chasing Racers is back, with a brand new Amazing Race 10 mashup. This map will update the morning after every new episode. Send along tips, rumors, gossip, locations and spoilers to our map editors, become a member and comment on the stories below, and add to the Jaunted-Flickr photo pool to get in on the fray. Enjoy.

This week's edition of the million-dollar-race-around-the-world keeps the creep on. Petey and Sarah keep up their bizarre relationship--sort of, including lots of shady behavior from Joe Simpson doppelganger Peter. Rob and Kimberly manage to go a week without fighting like crazy, but did the race turn his hair gray overnight, or is it us? The honest Cho brothers tell us they're in the race for the experience not the money. Dave and Mary on the other hand? They running around the world for the cold hard cash, and the kids. After the jump, the full rundown on all the happenings, financial or otherwise. ]]> pbb 2006-10-16T09:19:20-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/10/8/22253/8394 Click Here To Go Straight To Chasing Racers Map

Chasing Racers is back, with a brand new Amazing Race 10 mashup. This map will update the morning after every new episode. Send along tips, rumors, gossip, locations and spoilers to our map editors, become a member and comment on the stories below, and add to the Jaunted-Flickr photo pool to get in on the fray. Enjoy.

When last we saw our globetrotting teams, they said goodbye to Duke and his (no longer estranged?) daughter Lauren in a rice paddy in Vietnam. After last week's complete snooze-fest, we were ready for some real action. And boy, did Phil and Co. deliver this week. Sarah and creepy Petey are about as far from dating as we can imagine. Dustin and Kandice continue to promote beauty queen stereotypes of both the brains and bitchiness persuasions. And Rob and Kimberly do more screaming than ever before--we didn't think we'd see the day! A full run-down, complete with the dirty details of all the challenges, is after the jump.]]> pbb 2006-10-09T09:30:15-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/10/1/231940/872 Click Here To Go Straight To Chasing Racers Map

Chasing Racers is back, with a brand new Amazing Race 10 mashup. This map will update the morning after every new episode. Send along tips, rumors, gossip, locations and spoilers to our map editors, become a member and comment on the stories below, and add to the Jaunted-Flickr photo pool to get in on the fray. Enjoy.

Not only is "this race like childbirth", according to Lyn and Karlyn, but also, at times, watching this race is like childbirth--um, or what we assume childbirth might be like--c'mon people, spice it up.

In any event, we're already down to nine teams, and this week they dash from Ulaanbaatar to Hanoi, on a million-dollar race around the world. Last week, we kept our eyes on creepy Petey and bemoaned the loss of the cheerleading duo of Kellie and Jamie. This week, it's all Duke and Lauren, as Rob and Kimberly keep their bickering under the radar.]]> pbb 2006-10-02T08:37:36-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/8/24/161413/254
Looking-at-old-preserved-dead-guys tourism doesn't top our list of things we like to do on vacation, but sometimes we just can't help ourselves. Take a visit to Hanoi in Vietnam, for example: A solemn trip to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum is a natural part of your stay. "Uncle Ho" is on display inside a deep dark granite building, modeled after Lenin's mausoleum in Moscow.

Do time your visit carefully, though. For a month each year, the old guy disappears somewhere for "maintenance". He does make it back every time, despite the fact that he actually wanted to be cremated. He must be pretty unimpressed that his body has been getting touched up every year since 1969. We found the old fellow looking a bit like he's long dead. Guess that's because he is.

[Image via pluripotent/Flickr]

Related stories:
From This Small Cottage [Bangkok Post]
Fast Food and Jeans in Hanoi [Jaunted]
]]> amandak 2006-09-06T07:49:59-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/4/13/151859/410

Sticky Rice did some pho sampling in Hanoi the other day. This is important information--there aren't going to be very many cold nights left before summer begins, and we're not the biggest fans of steaming bowls of soup in the summer. Then again, none of those places deliver from Hanoi to Manhattan anyway, so we're stuck drooling from afar.

Nonetheless, he comes away pretty impressed; the beef broth stock is tasty, and the strips of beef--so thin that they are cooked by the heat of the broth--are only briefly stirred, but not too rare. It's topped with chili and lime--just like the peanuts at Trader Joe's!

American soups need more raw meat cooking in the soup while you're eating it; that's the clear conclusion to be drawn here.

Related Stories:
·   Famous Pho [Stickyrice]
]]> AVB 2006-04-13T15:18:59-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/