issue 54 - AsiaLIFE Magazine

listings
sports &
leisure
Sport Street
Huyen Tran Cong Chua, D1 between
Nguyen Du and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai
Services include mending and restringing
broken tennis rackets. Products range
from badminton birdies and rackets to
basketball hoops, free weights, roller
blades, scooters, soccer jerseys and all
manner of balls.
Trophies & Custom Signage Street
Le Lai, D1 between Truong Dinh and
Nguyen Thai Hoc
Offers custom engraving on trophies and
plaques made of plastic, wood, metal
and glass.
CRICKET
Saigon Cricket Assocation
Social cricket league plays 25 overs
a side matches Sunday mornings at
RMIT’s District 7 pitch. Season runs November
through May, with friendly games
throughout the pre-season. Practice on
Saturdays and Sunday afternoons.
Australian Cricket Club
Terry Gordon
terrygordoninasia@yahoo.com.au
saigonaustraliancricketclub@yahoo.
com
www.saigoncricket.com
English Cricket Club
Richard Carrington
Richard.carrington@pivotalvietnam.com
info@eccsaigon.com
www.eccsaigon.com
Indian Cricket Club
Manish Sogani, manish@ambrij.com
United Cricket Club
Mr. Asif Ali, asif@promo-tex.net
keshav.dayalani@rmit.edu.vn
DANCING
DanCenter
53 Nguyen Dang
Giai, Thao Dien,
District 2
Tel: 3840 6974
www.dancentervn.com
Purpose built studio with foreign trained
dance instructors. Classes in jazz, ballet,
tap, hip hop, yoga, zumba, belly, hula,
capoiera and more. Kids can start from
4+ and adults of all ages and levels are
welcome. Schedule and news on events
available on-line.
Salsa Dancing at La Habana
6 Cao Ba Quat, D1
www.salsaigon.com
salsaigon@gmail.com
Six-week salsa package at 350,000
VND for single persons and 550,000 for
a couple, run by Urko. Lessons every
Tuesday (beginners L.A. style at 7.30
pm; intermediate L.A style at 8.30 pm).
Registration required.
FITNESS & YOGA
AIS Sports Centre
36 Thao Dien, An Phu, D2
Tel: 3744 6960, ext 126
sportscentre@aisvietnam.com
www.aissportscentre.com
Features six-lane, 25-metre pool,
basketball and netball courts, astroturf
hockey/football area and outdoor gym
equipment. Available for party hire, with
BBQ included on request. Membership
packages available. Kids swim club and
adult masters programmes. Rainbow
Divers offers scuba diving courses for
children and adults. Free morning yoga.
California WOW Xperience
Parkson Plaza, 126 Hung Vuong, D5
28/30-32 Le Loi, D1 Tel: 6291 5999
The world’s biggest fitness centre chain
is one of Saigon’s most modern places
to get your sweat on. Located in Hung
Vuong Plaza, CWX offers a huge workout
area and all kinds of classes including
spinning, KickFit, yoga and more.
Caravelle Club Spa
19 Lam Son Square, D1
Tel: 3823 4999
Modern and stylish gym with lots of cardiovascular
machines and free weights.
The swimming pool is a great place for
a dip, and the massage parlour, sauna,
steam room and jacuzzi are there for
winding down.
Equinox Fitness & Leisure Centre
Equatorial Hotel, 242 Tran Binh Trong,
D5 Tel: 3839 7777
Decent-sized 3rd-floor gym with modern
cardio and weights machines, sauna,
steambath, jacuzzi, and large 4th floor
pool great for swimming laps.
Suzanne & Saigon Yoga
Tel: 090 835 2265
suzanne@saigonyoga.com
Suzanne is an ERYT- 200 (Experienced)
Yoga Alliance Instructor. She boasts two
decades of experience, offering various
yoga styles in District 2 and yoga retreats
in Vietnam.
FOOTBALL & RUGBY
Australian Rules Football
Tel: 093 768 3230
www.vietnamswans.com
vietnamswans@gmail.com
The Vietnam Swans play regular
international footy matches around Asia.
Training sessions are held weekly in HCM
City (2.30 pm Saturday, RMIT D7) and
Hanoi (midday, Saturday, UN International
School, Ciputra). All skill levels and
codes welcome.
Les Gaulois de Saigon
www.gauloisdesaigon.com
info@gauloisdesaigon.com
A new team of French footballers, the
side invites players and their families to
come and join in their friendly training
sessions, where everyone can get together
and enjoy the sport while making
new friends. Contact Sebastien on 0919
691785 or Romain on 0908 060139.
RMIT Vietnam
sports.recreation@rmit.edu.vn
A new player on the SIFL scene with
a team made up of students from the
University. They have their own football
ground on-site consisting of two brand
new pitches. Contact Landon Carnie.
Saigon Raiders
jon.hoff@saigonraiders.com
Sociable football side who are always on
the lookout for new talent for their weekly
matches and training sessions. The team
participates in the Saigon International
Football League and also has regular
fixtures against local teams in the outlying
provinces and also participates in
international tournaments.
Saigon Rugby Club
Tel: 0903 735 799
www.saigonrfc.org
saigonrugbyfootballclub@yahoo.com
Social, mixed touch rugby played
every Saturday afternoon for adults at
RMIT from 4 pm until 6 pm. Regularly
welcomes visiting teams and tours the
region for men’s contact and women’s
touch rugby tournaments. Beginners
welcome.
counsel corner
True Beauty, Part Two
By Briar Jacques
For a woman who grew up
in a culture that allows media
misrepresentation of beauty,
what happens when she
moves to a county where
women are naturally petite and
very pretty? Where women
seem to age a lot slower, often
still looking girlish well into their
30s?
In many cases, a western
woman may feel large, all of
a sudden. She may feel even
more pressure to change and
‘improve’. Increased insecurity
about both her attractiveness
and her ability to stay attractive
to her partner can become a
big problem. Eating disorders,
smoking, exercise addiction
and abuse of diet pills often
result from such intense pressure
and lack of emotional
equilibrium. For many expat
women, this is another factor
that can make living in Vietnam
a challenging experience.
Of course, Asian women
are just as affected by the
unrealistic standards of beauty
all around them. The cosmetic
surgery industry is growing
in Vietnam as it follows the
trend in the rest of Asia.
Vietnamese women may be
more petite than their western
counterparts but the pressure
to have the right look, skin
tone and shape is still there.
Korean movie stars are often
held up as the ideal standard
of beauty and an industry of
cosmetic surgery to specifically
copy certain actresses
has emerged.
If only we could relax and
accept the things about us
that are beautiful! We should
spend time working on our
positive self-regard instead of
just our abs. If we now look at
photos of ourselves at age 20,
we will probably only really see
the good stuff. Yet when we
were 20, chances are we were
locked into self-criticism. The
same will happen when we are
60, looking back at photos of
ourselves now. We will think
we are young and cute. Why
can’t we feel that now —
focus on what we have rather
than what we don’t?
There is nothing unhealthy
about striving to be physically
fit and healthy and look good.
However, just as much attention
needs to go to developing
our appreciation for what
we have and integrating the
knowledge that we have been
manipulated by the media
into judging ourselves harshly.
Imagine if all the energy that
goes into trying to achieve
slimness or physical beauty
went into working to develop
true beauty — kindness, compassion,
wisdom, humour. It
is possible to improve these
qualities constantly if we
choose to direct our time and
energy in their direction. And
these qualities actually exist!
They are attainable and they
endure. The same can’t be
said for the images of physical
beauty we have been force
fed.
Briar Jacques is a trained Australian
counsellor who deals
with issues like expat adjustment,
depression, anxiety and
drug abuse. Call 0 12 14 80
87 92.
64 asialife HCMC