vietnam travel

A once bubbling love affair between a French husband, Azais Stephane Alexandre,40, and his Vietnamese wife,Thanh Huyen,30, has turned sour, after Stephane took the daughter away from the hospital,3-5 months after Huyen gave to their daughter, Sarah via a caesarean section.

In a video uploaded by a film director, Louis Corallo, the short time film documents the mother who is currently struggling to see her daughter, but have been barricaded by a tall gate, where it is assumed that Stephane and the baby are currently residing, all efforts made by the woman to enter the gate have been denied.

            

                                                  Stephane with baby Sarah

A reporter from a popular Vietnamese new agency, Tuoi Tre, tried calling the building to ask if she could speak to Stephane about the issue, but she was also told that Stephane was not available immediately it was revealed that she was asking about the child case.

What Happened Between Azais Stephane Alexandre And Thanh Huyen

According to Huyen, she had given birth to Sarah with a C-section,and after 3.5 months with the baby, Stephane took the baby with her photocopied passport, the birth document, and without the consent of the mother, the French consulate nationalised Sarah, making her a French citizen, and also means that she could travel with her father without immigration stopping them at the border.

                     

                                         Stephane with wife, Huyen, when the going was great

When the baby was taken away, Stephane makes it difficult for Huyen to meet her baby, so Huyen travelled to France and start legal proceedings to get back Sarah.

In 2015, Huyen could be seen playing with Sarah, but her visitation was allowed with lawyers, and also a French police officer.

So to take control of their child, Huyen took the case to a French court, where Stephane had told the court that Huyen is a bad mother, and is not able to keep the child, providing different documents, and since this document did not hold in the court as evidence, the court asks that Stephane returns the baby to her mother, and confirm she is not a bad mother as Stephane and his lawyer presented to the court.

French Court: All Talk No Action, As Stephane Disobeyed Court Order

Stephane lost the custody of the child in the French court, and while he was told to return the baby to the mother, Stephane seems to throw the court decision away. He fired his previous lawyer, as he blamed him for losing the case, and hired a new lawyer that can help him win the case.

In the meantime, Stephane travelled to Vietnam, and rented a place where he also run a company called the Intrixapple company, he then sent a notification to Huyen, his lawyer, and also the court that he is in Vietnam with Sarah, and this should mean he would be releasing the baby to the mother, but instead, the gate has remain closed, and nobody can verify if Stephane or the baby is really in the building.

The staff member from the building have been told not to talk to the press or Huyen about the case.

                          

                                                         Stephane

In the video, two men were seen entering the apartment, and Huyen tried entering with them, she was kicked out at once, and the gate closed.

Also, another staff in the video had come outside of the company to drink coffee,when she was approached about the case, also said that she is not in the position to talk, and any effort to film her without permission will land the film director and Huyen in court.

She was asked again, as Huyen plead with her, instead she took a new cup of coffee, and threw it in Huyen's face, and started shooting a video of her, and the crew.

Legal Status: Hague Convention

Stephane seems to have done the proper homework on the whole legal proceedings, and while we wait for his side of the story going forward, a French lawyer for Huyen also said his piece on the current custody battle between Stephane and Huyen.

Benjamin Herisset, said that the case of child abduction would have been easy and done according to the Hague convention of 1982. Hague convention helps with the illegal mechanism of court Jurisdiction to solve the problem of child abduction.

While France is a member state of the Hague convention, Vietnam is not a member state of the convention, which means though the French court might have ruled in support of the mother, the Vietnamese might not have jurisdiction yet, as the child is still French.

At the moment, Benjamin confirmed that the court have known about Stephane denial of the baby to Huyen, and he will be arrested anytime he goes back to France.

When Benjamin as a lawyer also called the Intrixapple company that doubles as Stephane apartment and company, to confirm if the baby and the father are actually in Vietnam, or he had just sent false notifications, he was also not given a Yes or No question.

The Genesis

When Huyen was asked about what Stephane would say about her, she said he would only say that she is a bad mother, without evidence, she said that is the only thing he had been saying, and also told the French court.

She also said that their little quarrel had started before the baby delivery, Stephane had said that he would like their baby to have a French citizenship only, something that Huyen disagreed totally with him, and this might have just been where their fight started. 

                            

                                                Huyen smiling with baby Sarah

Huyen also said that Stephane had also accused him of planning to murder him by hiring some assailants, and paying them 17,000,000Vnd ($748) to kill him.

Huyen denied these allegations by saying she does not have such money to dole out to kill the father of her daughter.

Support Or Against, Where Do You Stand?

At the moment, it is difficult to get hold of Stephane after he came back to Vietnam, as his staff won't give lawyers or reporters' access to him, and also not clear if he is with the baby while he claims he is in Vietnam, or just he is just here, while Sarah is in France. Nobody knows the answer to that, not even the neighbours.

At the moment, Huyen has garnered support from different Vietnamese netizens as she continues to upload videos, and post status of the case to social media, hoping that it will reach the eyes or ears of people that will reach out to help her with the case.

                               

In the video, a lawyer also called Huyen, and offered to help her with the case, and she had promised to call him back to arrange a meeting.

Huyen mother told her to move on, marry a new man to start a new life, but she said she won't be moving on, she would like to be able to live with her baby again.

Other Vietnamese like Dinh had said Huyen is only after the baby because of what she stand to earn from child support, and she would have moved on if the father is just a non-entity, or poor.

What Now?

At the moment, Huyen is waiting for the French court document to be notarized in Vietnam, so that the law of getting the child to her mother can be enforced here in Vietnam, but she has no idea when this can be done or how soon.

Watch the short film here

  

 

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Welcome to Vietnam, a country with great hospitality, nice weather, beaches all around you, locals smiling at you just to make you buy the wares, coupled with girls and a lot of headache giving expats. I wrote about the girls,and thanks to the Doynews editor, now let's talk about the different kind expats you will find in Vietnam.

If the shoe does fit you, please put it on, and walk on the red carpet.....

                 

                      Picture for illustration purposes only; Photo credit: Scott in Kabul

The School/English Centre Teachers: These ones are the most common people in Vietnam, and even though they might not be highly regarded back home, they seem to have an ego here, maybe it is because of the Vietnamese girls now boosting their ego, nobody knows, or the Vietnamese parents that worship their skin colour.

These types of foreigners have made it so impossible for Vietnamese to separate the wheat from the chaff, as everybody believes all foreigners are English teachers. 

These English teacher probably have no school degree, They have only been to Thailand to get TEFL or whatever their certification in a month of two, "Thank God he is white", he will get jobs here easily. 

Arguing with these English teacher is the best way to waste your time. Remember my first description of these English teacher in the first paragraph....Most of them belong to a group in Hanoi called "Hanoi Massive". 

A lot of them were only backpackers that decided to make some cash before moving on again...so don't argue with them, I once met one arguing over 5,000 Vietnamese dong which is less than quarter of a dollar , i gave up on him because he was calling the conductor a scammer... Lol

Facebook Troll: I don't want to point fingers, but they know themselves. You will find a lot of them on Facebook, and they are ready to help, you will find them in every comments section in the Expats In Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi Massive or even Da Nang/Hoi An expats.

The troll has nothing to do, he is probably asking money from home, or just a retired civil servant that get paid from his home country. Nothing to do everyday, so the best way to go about is day is by going on Facebook, and insults people's intelligence.

The troll will write a 9 paragraphs line, and you just feel like telling them they are "oxygen thieves", because arguing with them is a complete time waster. They have nothing to offer, what they need is just to do something till the day runs out, and go drink beer at the local beer oi corner after 6pm-4am. 

A dude on Expats in Ho Chi Minh (No Name please) is in this category, he can write nonsense for days, looks like a viet-kieu (am not sure) but he believes he knows everything, and will tell you how he had travelled to gain experience, and you are only in Vietnam. It will be worse if you are a Vietnamese, he will tear you to pieces with nonsense comment...

Best Quote For A Troll: Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.

Facebook Helper/Facebook Bully/Facebook Idiot: I should have added these people as trolls, but while a troll is stupid and he doesn't know it, as he believes he is only helping, these sets of Facebook bullies will make life in Vietnam a living hell. 

The Facebook bullies are in the Da Nang part of the country, when you visit, Da Nang/Hoi An Expats Facebook page, you will find them lurking around there, they have been blocked by a lot of expats who had visited that page, including myself the writer of this article. They are also trolls, when you arrive arrive Da nang, they will offer help, and you feel like home...hahahaha....that is a smokescreen.

The bullies torment the admin of that group(a lady) till she drops her mantle of power, and handed it over to a local to manage the same group created for expats. The other admin of the group blocks people he doesn't like outside of Facebook, this is a win for this admin. So get help elsewhere if you can.

The most funny thing is that this set of groups has their cliques, so if you go for one, they will all come after you, and your person/family will be the talk of the town, and how cocky it is you are. 

They have bullied a lot of people into blocking them, they will talk to you as they believed they know more than you, especially if you are new, if you try to go out of the zone they kept you, you are their next target.

A recent issue happened and a man and his family had to leave Da Nang to Chiang Mai, Thailand, after a lot of these bullies attacked him..

 

     

       Picture credit : Taco Fleur

     

If you are the emotional type of person, make sure you know what you are doing before joining the Da Nang/Hoi An Expats Facebook page, they will ruin your Da nang trip for you. Websites in these cities are better, send email to administrators of websites supporting expats in the Danang/Hoi An area, not the above Facebook page.

Read the story of Taco, an athlete that was living in Da Nang with his family, before these Facebook trolls came after him.  Check some articles about Mr Fleur experience in Da nang via his website here

Hey Taco---This is me, saying Hi....

The Lonely Westerner (Women) : The lonely westerner is a very arrogant and also a complainer, she had left the shore of her country, hoping to start a new life, and hopefully thinks she will meet other expat to date/marry in Vietnam, unfortunately, expats (men) in Vietnam don't take a second look at the other westerner(women) in Vietnam, they absolutely prefer the slim, good looking Vietnamese lady.

                   

                                Picture for illustration purposes only; Photo credit: Thomas Wanhoff

Instead of taking it out on herself, she complains every time at the bar or the corner shop of what men see in  Vietnamese girls. Most of these women also get jealous as Vietnamese ladies stay winning on the relationship angle.

After few years in Vietnam, they find a Vietnamese boy and hook him up...It sometimes is a mutual relationship, the boy gives her the D, and she does all the shopping and spending.

The Vietnam Stone Age Talkative: These types of expats are what you call the perfectionist. They have left Europe, America and God Knows where, and will come to Vietnam to complain about everything.

These expats will complain about the hair in their food at a $1 restaurant they had visited, yes,it is your right, don't make it look like that deserve a death penalty. They will complain about the noise in their backyard as Vietnamese families mourn their loved ones who passed (Call 119 or 911). They will complain about the Vietnamese driving expensive cars, and that is an abomination because they should only use bicycle and motorbikes.

These expats will complain about almost anything and they are not always joking, they are quick to say "Vietnamese are f***king stupid or without manners".  These types of expats resides in Saigon, expats in HCMC.

They want to tell Vietnamese how to live, how to talk, how to drink coffee, why they should not mourn their dead, and they must not sing Karaoke after 9pm or not to sing Karaoke to pass their loved ones to heaven.

When you tell them, this is Vietnamese culture and they should respect it, then they will go ahead and tell you how they have helped the country better than you, or tell you how much their government are spending, and they have a say (clowns) then end it by calling you a "Coward".

The Vietnamese Supporters ( The Vietnamese Stone Age Replier) : Yaaaay, When Devil created Osama, God created Obama that will tackle him till he is resting at the sea. The same goes to the talkative that complains about everything. 

The Vietnamese supporters are ready to lock horns with the  Vietnam Stone Age Talkative, the supporter has a phrase they use "If you don't like it here, go back home, this is Vietnam". The supporters also garnered massive support from the locals as well, especially the Vietnamese ladies, whom we all know to be smart and defensive. These supporters are just random people, but we love them. Don't You?

The Expats With Bad Ladies Experience (Loser)/Sexpats : These expats are losers and they can't score a lady from their own home country, nobody likes a loser. So, YOLO (You Only Live Once), these expats have known they are not good with scoring girls back home, so they checked Vietnam and having noticed what some other losers have written online about Vietnamese girls, they decided to try their luck.

Most of them have seen things like ; You could score girls when you are rich/white, OH Sweet Jesus, so, the the loser packed his bag and moved to Vietnam, he will say to himself :

1: Have some money in your bank---Check

2: I am white : Check

He will then go to a bar in Pham Ngu Lao (Saigon), hoping to score all the girls with what he read online, luckily for him, some beautiful Vietnamese girls with bare back nakedness and red lips walk up to him, and things got so good, he scored his first goal. It keeps happening till he got one that looks like he could start a family. Most of these ladies have learned English to help them communicate in public with these set of foreigners, no Educational background, they are only hustlers in a sheep's clothing.

After marriage, the whole stupidity comes out, and the Vietnamese girl told him about a dying grandma, about buying her a house and a new ox for her parents. He knows it is time to move on, and he had married a hustler.

So this same man with bad woman taste, will then start shouting on Facebook about how dirty the Vietnamese girls can be, how they have been scammed and all that nonsense. They will warn you, don't date Vietnamese girl, she will ruin you.

First, let me tell you, any girl in any part of the world will ruin you. (I stand to be corrected), but the real Vietnamese ladies don't stay up all night drinking with a man he only met few hours ago, but in the loser's mind, she is with him because he is white, and rich. The hustler will give you the much sex you never had back home, and later gives you the imaginary bill

A lot of Vietnamese are happily married to foreigners, and they all have 2-3 kids, and their relationship is solid. So stop whining of the girls, and dude, you are not even rich anyway, a rich man can never fall to a girl demanding list. You have "Mo", you don't have "Ney" Go figure.

              And to add this to it : The best person to scam is a fool, because if you don't scam a fool, can you scam a smart person?  (No, am not encouraging scam, Go figure).

The Aggressive Competitors : There are some business owners that hate new expats bringing up their business in Vietnam. Maybe it is them being envious or jealous. They will kill your business before it rises up. They will discuss on how they can draw your business down, and never see the light of the day.

These people will congratulate you on your new business opening, but will strangle the business at your back, and any day you try identifying these, they will come over to Facebook and write all about how sh***ty the business is anyway. 

They hate competitors or when other expats are trying to do something new.

Joey Arnold Expats: Joey Arnold is a an American expats in Saigon that nobody understands. He goes from pillar to pole trying to feel relevant and claims that he is an English teacher. A lot of people have given him different names, and he had been blocked severally different expats Facebook page.

A lot of expats (even some locals, but this is not about locals) are in Joey Arnold group. These sets of expats will ask you where they could get salt and fish in a district in Saigon. They will ask you how to go from district 7 to the airport for 30,000 Vietnamese dong ($1), a 14.2/17Km journey...Surprised

These are the group of Joey Arnold, they don't even know it..

The Nice/Supportive/NGO supporters: This article will be useless if we focus the whole energy on the bad eggs and not removing the wheat from the chaff. The good expats are also everywhere in major cities. You will have them in Hanoi, Da Nang, Saigon. Note that they are also in small towns around too, I met some on recommendations in Hoi An during my last trip.

They are owners of NGO, restaurants and more. Just go to a western-owned restaurants and talk to them about suggestion, i remembered a lady drawing me a map in Hoi An during our visit, she doesn't even know me. And some will introduce you to other good expats like themselves. So we have the good ones in Vietnam too.

You can meet great people in Ha Noi, you should check the nice places to meet this people if you need help, or sometimes better off with a young Vietnamese, trust me, they are always helpful to new people around.

Saigon is a mixed town, so you can run into a kid in a grown man body or a grown man with mature mind. The good thing here is that the admin of Expats in Ho Chi Minh clamps down on trolls and mature too, if you are OK yourself, and respect people, he will cut off trolls from you, he warns trolls and idiots, and use something he called "Ban Hammer" when he sees anyone to that acts up as Boris Johnson

All the good expats are here, they are around, they are around you, but might take another good person to recommend them, as they hide from all the people above too, that is why you should talk to someone...

But the bad eggs are more than the good ones...#Fact

If you need recommendation, we will give you some that could help you, some website to visit..Just comment below, and we will check it out.

Do You agree with this list, what other group of expats did we miss, please write to us or comment below : Hen gap lai

Share please and where do you belong. If the shoe fits, please wear it and walk on the Vietnam red carpet....

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