what do you arm yourself with at home?

That's easy. I don't live places where  I feel I must be "armed".
Live, I don't even visit.

Never had it, never will.

2 hands, 2 feet, a vindictive nature and 15 years of full contact martial arts.
Trouble is I'm old and fat now so they could fail me.

A Vietnamese wife!   

As a matter of fact, she insist we have a gun!

Hit em over the head with your colostomy bag.
Cover em in shite. 😆

Yogi007 wrote:

Hit em over the head with your colostomy bag.
Cover em in shite. 😆

I have pictures in my mind that'll ruin my dinner this evening.

Ah Fred.....I do recall you saying recently that your wife would serve you "sausage" for being a naughty boy.

Yogi would have thought " bangers & mash" would be like a homecoming for a British gent.

Will you be having  some flavoursome " gravy" with that🤓🤓

If youre going to hide yourself away in a gated estate or an apartment , then no need. I usually have some type of wooden object just to be safe. Caught a guy breaking into my house in Vung Tau in a nice area, good families and a safe place, all because I was Anh Tay, and he had that VN logic I may have some goodies inside that he could have.

Yogi007 wrote:

Ah Fred.....I do recall you saying recently that your wife would serve you "sausage".....

......Will you be having  some flavoursome " gravy" with that🤓🤓

colostomy bag after a curry?

Fred wrote:

Yogi007 wrote:

Ah Fred.....I do recall you saying recently that your wife would serve you "sausage".....

......Will you be having  some flavoursome " gravy" with that🤓🤓

colostomy bag after a curry?

Make sure its vindaloo curry

Knowledge.
+
An Aluminum Bat in the bedroom.

You gotta make some serious noise to break into an apartment with iron gates on the door.

By then, I'll be awake and waiting to hit a homerun with someones head.

haha that's probably the most effective weapon of all.

Wxx3 wrote:

That's easy. I don't live places where  I feel I must be "armed".
Live, I don't even visit.

good on you buddy.

as you can see from the replies, sometimes circumstances dictate that one has to stay in an area where you do need to think of such things.

i'm paranoid, so even though i stay on the 19th floor i still wonder what i'd do to protect myself and most importantly my wife when the shit hits the fan.

colinoscapee wrote:

If youre going to hide yourself away in a gated estate or an apartment , then no need. I usually have some type of wooden object just to be safe. Caught a guy breaking into my house in Vung Tau in a nice area, good families and a safe place, all because I was Anh Tay, and he had that VN logic I may have some goodies inside that he could have.

hi colin, thank goodness you are safe! what time of the day was it and what exactly happened?

i'm of the opinion that even if you live in a gated estate one should take safety precautions.

when my wife was in pham viet chanh someone broke into her house through her room mates balcony (4th floor, no idea how he got up there. the place is barb fenced and barb wired real high), while her room mate was asleep. the thief crept around and left with the girls laptop and cell phone. i'm just glad she was safe. he left a big ass kitchen knife behind when he left.

the following week at 10am in the morning someone tried to snatch my wife's bag but she managed to hang onto it. it caused her to fall though and hurt herself, so that was really upsetting. the audacity.. this guy actually rode past her and then stopped, reversed on his bike with his legs, then tried to do a snatch as he accelerated.

Zepo wrote:

Knowledge.
+
An Aluminum Bat in the bedroom.

You gotta make some serious noise to break into an apartment with iron gates on the door.

By then, I'll be awake and waiting to hit a homerun with someones head.

hi zepo. thanks for sharing. 12 posts and finally 2 useful replies! be safe buddy.

Are you serious.

vndreamer wrote:

A Vietnamese wife!   

As a matter of fact, she insist we have a gun!

Of course with the right connections and money you can most anything in Vietnam but unless your wife is a daughter of a high ranking CP official, owning a gun could be a route to deportation with a little jail time before that.  I understand there are conditions which will allow private individuals to own a gun but the hurdles must be nearly impossible and almost certainly involve Party and Police connections.

Agree with Thigv

G'day Villa,
Holy Jayzuz mate...your having a rough trot.

What's happening now, the barbarians are at the gate.😆
Sounds like that Sheila you upset at immigration is coming after you.

Personally, Yogi reckons that when you have to start thinking about carrying weapons to defend yourself in your own home it's about time you reassess whether your choice of abode was a good one or not. 

It's pretty safe here.  The crime rate is a lot less than some supposedly civilised countries.   I know some Americans here that feel a lot safer here than stateside.   Someone cops a bullet in the ass every 5 minutes there.

From what I've seen here in Six years , the most dangerous thing you'll come up against here is your own ego & stupidity.   I see it nearly every day. Blokes getting pissed, falling off bikes , drinking themselves into early graves, marrying gold diggers and getting bled dry, opening business that were never going to work, etc etc..  don't worry about the locals, it's that guy you see in the mirror every morning that will do the most damage.

For what it's worth, most homes here have a meat cleaver.
Swing it hard, swing it often.😆

The most trouble I've had here is from fellow Expats.  Mainly deadbeat fuckin losers that only come here to drink and chase taxi girls.  You hear people say the VN ask for money.......I've had more foreigners front me for a handout than VN people.    I call them "potholes".   Ya steer clear of them.

Enjoy your time here , it's a pretty good life.

Yogi007 wrote:

G'day Villa,
Holy Jayzuz mate...your having a rough trot.

What's happening now, the barbarians are at the gate.😆
Sounds like that Sheila you upset at immigration is coming after you.

Personally, Yogi reckons that when you have to start thinking about carrying weapons to defend yourself in your own home it's about time you reassess whether your choice of abode was a good one or not. 

It's pretty safe here.  The crime rate is a lot less than some supposedly civilised countries.   I know some Americans here that feel a lot safer here than stateside.   Someone cops a bullet in the ass every 5 minutes there.

From what I've seen here in Six years , the most dangerous thing you'll come up against here is your own ego & stupidity.   I see it nearly every day. Blokes getting pissed, falling off bikes , drinking themselves into early graves, marrying gold diggers and getting bled dry, opening business that were never going to work, etc etc..  don't worry about the locals, it's that guy you see in the mirror every morning that will do the most damage.

For what it's worth, most homes here have a meat cleaver.
Swing it hard, swing it often.😆

The most trouble I've had here is from fellow Expats.  Mainly deadbeat fuckin losers that only come here to drink and chase taxi girls.  You hear people say the VN ask for money.......I've had more foreigners front me for a handout than VN people.    I call them "potholes".   Ya steer clear of them.

Enjoy your time here , it's a pretty good life.

hahaha hey yogi, it's not the immigration sheila that worries me. as i mentioned, i'm very happy with my house and i feel safe here. security guards 24/7, access cards required to get through the lobby, access card rquired to take the lift to the level you want to get to. i'm just a paranoid guy who always prepares for worst case scenarios.

thanks for sharing. just curious, do you mind sharing where you were when you had expats ask you for money? bui vien i'm guessing?

a local friend was telling me about the same thing about shitty expats, and that they normally are found in bui vien? Not everyone of course, but what my friend said is that if you do meet one, high chances are they'd be staying in bui vien.

potholes, that is a good one . i mostly keep to myself and because i look vietnamese i'm invisible to caucasians.

have a nice weekend mate.

Did you say paranoid......people think I'm paranoid too. 😳
If being aware of the pitfalls that too many have succumbed to here is considered paranoid , I'm happy to wear that tag. 

My gut feeling on anything here is usually right.  "Murphy's Law " pretty well sums up a lot of things here.  Actually , Yogi is beginning to wonder if Murphy may have been a Vietnamese under cover agent.

As for the Expat moochers,   I have met a few in Bui vIen, but these guys are a lot further north.  I know blokes here trying to live on $700 and LESS a month. 🤓🤓🤓.  Photosynthesis may be their best bet. Fresh air & sunshine , and hope for the best.

At least those blokes don't have women problems.😆😆

There are some advantages to being on the bones of your ass.

Yogi007 wrote:

Did you say paranoid......people think I'm paranoid too. 😳
If being aware of the pitfalls that too many have succumbed to here is considered paranoid , I'm happy to wear that tag. 

My gut feeling on anything here is usually right.  "Murphy's Law " pretty well sums up a lot of things here.  Actually , Yogi is beginning to wonder if Murphy may have been a Vietnamese under cover agent.

As for the Expat moochers,   I have met a few in Bui vIen, but these guys are a lot further north.  I know blokes here trying to live on $700 and LESS a month. 🤓🤓🤓.  Photosynthesis may be their best bet. Fresh air & sunshine , and hope for the best.

At least those blokes don't have women problems.😆😆

There are some advantages to being on the bones of your ass.

spot on buddy. call me paranoid or whatever you want, or say ignorant things like oh stay in a safe place and you don't have to worry about that at all, but i'd much rather anticipate something and be better equipped to handle the situation when i need to.

i had a good laugh about that bit about murphy being vietnamese lol, i think he damn well might have been.

THIGV wrote:

Are you serious.

vndreamer wrote:

A Vietnamese wife!   

As a matter of fact, she insist we have a gun!

Of course with the right connections and money you can most anything in Vietnam but unless your wife is a daughter of a high ranking CP official, owning a gun could be a route to deportation with a little jail time before that.  I understand there are conditions which will allow private individuals to own a gun but the hurdles must be nearly impossible and almost certainly involve Party and Police connections.

I am very serious, but let me clear up a misunderstanding.  We reside in the USA, not VN. 

I will never forget the first time i asked her if she was ok with having a gun in the home, what did she think?  She did not hesitate and said of course, how will we protect our home?  Wow, the power of mother nature and my testosterone went through the roof.  So I asked why she approved and could she defend herself.  She said "of course, I was trained how to shoot an AK47 and throw hand grenades when I was in school!!!!!!!"    Now I understand the old wise tail, husbands of VN wives sleep with one eye open.

Living in VN, no, no gun.  But would sure like to have one.  However, I do not find it as necessary for self defense in VN.  As others stated,  I find VN a lot safer than the west, but my position is that it has a lot more to do with a Communist/fascist government and poverty than lack of guns.  A gun is just a weapon of choice and you can do your own research, in countries where there are more guns, there is less violence.   I do not want to get into a political discussion on the matter, but the data is out there.

I have never had a problem with violence in VN and I feel much safer there than any other country I have lived or visited.  The wife and the meat clever in VN does the trick.   

We have an excellent dog outside.  When it barks you check out why.  In addition, we have 6 security cameras.  The baseball bats are cool if there're not just sitting around for someone to beat you to death with them.

Use a Teaser........

danhask wrote:

We have an excellent dog outside.  When it barks you check out why.  In addition, we have 6 security cameras.  The baseball bats are cool if there're not just sitting around for someone to beat you to death with them.

And when the dogs stops barking you have less than ten minutes to get it back before they eat it.

Security cameras are good - in a recent incident where we live, a builders labourer working on an adjacent house nipped in to a neighbours house and started nicking stuff. Unfortunately for the the thief he was filmed entering the house by another neighbours external camera.

We have access control and 24/7 security patrols. The access control security can be a PITA as they will occasionally decide to deny bona fide visitors entrance to the estate unless a small fee is paid.

The security patrols can usually be found sleeping soundly at around 03:00 hours around the place, in fact one guard was seen to be bringing a sleeping bag in to work when he was on nights. The practice was stopped and no security guards were found to be sleeping around the site at night ..... Because they were all sleeping in an empty house nearby. The house was sold and someone moved in so now, our security bods can be found sleeping peacefully on benches during the night again. I know this because I am usually up at 04:00 for my daily 5km walk.

After being caught kipping, the guy with the sleeping bag was asked why he bothered to come into work at night and then spend his time sleeping and it transpired that his day job (as a security guard for the same security firm) didn't allow him to sleep during the day. Obviously.

There was an incident last year where a thief climbed over a wall to get on to the estate and got into a house and then held a 12 twelve year girl and her mother at knifepoint, demanding money and valuables. After after that  incident our intrepid security provider decided that they would no longer respond to security incidents that occur inside peoples houses!

The real problem is that the security companies (here and elsewhere in the world) pay rock bottom wages but charge top dollar prices for crap service.  I noticed the other week that all of our security guards suddenly seem to be of senior school age. It cant be a coincidence that it is now the middle of the school holidays in Vietnam.

We have the usual traditional bars at all windows with exterior access. The front door and the back door both have "as built" glass and white plastic doors, as well as stout hardwood doors with german security locks and dead bolts, as does the upstairs balcony. Our security cameras are movement activated and load their images 24/7 to a Cloud data store by 3g wifi and the power for it all is provided by a large capacity UPS.

And the access hatch to the roof space is secured from inside the house with a BFO padlock.

I have seen a Vietnamese "cat burglar" going about his business one evening opposite  BT Market. He missed his footing and fell about 8 metres from the balcony over a shop front on to the pavement. He got up and ran off as if the fall was nothing. He was small, wiry and ninja like.

Carry a smile and be polite. It's their country and if you treat them with respect you will get on fine.
Be sensible and don't wear flashy jewellery and stand waiting for a taxi holding your iPhone way out from your body. Like anywhere avoid the Red Light districts after 11:00pm.
Come and have a good time with a different attitude than you and most others have to have at home.

Gnorris2 wrote:

Carry a smile and be polite. It's their country and if you treat them with respect you will get on fine.
Be sensible and don't wear flashy jewellery and stand waiting for a taxi holding your iPhone way out from your body. Like anywhere avoid the Red Light districts after 11:00pm.
Come and have a good time with a different attitude than you and most others have to have at home.

The "disarming smile" technique!

A nine inch,  rock hard flesh light

dude, r u from USA?  We  r obsessed with god & guns.  Let's don't turn this place into something like Chicago, Detroit or Ferguson.  Just let go the idea. 
R U familiar with "The Fulfillment of Prophecy"?

see and have some smile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OZIOE6aMBkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9UFyNy-rw4

If you do arm yourself you must be prepared to use it and take responsibility for the consequences of using your weapon of choice.

sanreza wrote:

dude, r u from USA?  We  r obsessed with god & guns.  Let's don't turn this place into something like Chicago, Detroit or Ferguson.  Just let go the idea. 
R U familiar with "The Fulfillment of Prophecy"?

see and have some smile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OZIOE6aMBkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9UFyNy-rw4

hey mate,
was your message addressed to me? if so, no, i'm not from the usa. i'm from Singapore where firearms are illegal (rightly so), and unlawful possession of a firearm would result in capital punishment (i don't agree with the capital punishment but that's whole other topic).

I started this thread for laughs, but it has turned serious as shit and people seem to be super upset that I asked this question.

Dear Moderators,
If you see this, please feel free to close this thread - too many people can't take the idea of self-defence. Or am I able to delete this thread?

have a good day everyone.

whatever u do

dont say u r from afghanistan or belgium or whetver is first in the alphebet

blows with the mojo/ ad revenue i guess

taliban4life yo

Yo......get dem towell head camel jockeys into da house.

There's a bloke near me that always seems to have a 333 beer can cut in half as an ash tray, an empty packet of Cotabs and a totally stuffed plastic chair sitting outside his door.   

I don't think anyone's in a hurry breaking into his joint.....and he's a "foreigner".

Last time I was in Afghastlystan I stayed at the Gandamak Lodge hotel in Passport street. We were having a cold and frosty beer in the garden one evening when they (whoever they were) attacked the UN building close by with (we found out later) RPG7 rocket propelled grenades.

Next morning I woke up to find a scorpion walking across the ceiling over my head.

They have burglars in Afghastlystan too, but they are easily recognisable after they are caught as they usually have a hand missing. Or they might be a Mullah.... Abu Hamza for example.

On another but slightly related matter, my missus took me to Phan Thiet last year. As a special treat she took me to the famous Phan Thiet desert and couldn't understand why I was less than enthusiastic....... Having worked in Oman, Dubai, Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Northern Peru.........

vndreamer wrote:

THIGV wrote:

Are you serious.

vndreamer wrote:

A Vietnamese wife!   

As a matter of fact, she insist we have a gun!

Of course with the right connections and money you can most anything in Vietnam but unless your wife is a daughter of a high ranking CP official, owning a gun could be a route to deportation with a little jail time before that.  I understand there are conditions which will allow private individuals to own a gun but the hurdles must be nearly impossible and almost certainly involve Party and Police connections.

I am very serious, but let me clear up a misunderstanding.  We reside in the USA, not VN. 

I will never forget the first time i asked her if she was ok with having a gun in the home, what did she think?  She did not hesitate and said of course, how will we protect our home?  Wow, the power of mother nature and my testosterone went through the roof.  So I asked why she approved and could she defend herself.  She said "of course, I was trained how to shoot an AK47 and throw hand grenades when I was in school!!!!!!!"    Now I understand the old wise tail, husbands of VN wives sleep with one eye open.

Living in VN, no, no gun.  But would sure like to have one.  However, I do not find it as necessary for self defense in VN.  As others stated,  I find VN a lot safer than the west, but my position is that it has a lot more to do with a Communist/fascist government and poverty than lack of guns.  A gun is just a weapon of choice and you can do your own research, in countries where there are more guns, there is less violence.   I do not want to get into a political discussion on the matter, but the data is out there.

I have never had a problem with violence in VN and I feel much safer there than any other country I have lived or visited.  The wife and the meat clever in VN does the trick.   

You are right, we were trained with gun when we were in school and at University. But we don't have allow to keep a gun.
I am sure that, if you give it to a Vietnamese woman, she can use it very well, hehe.

Not only that, but my wifes mother was a Viet Cong anti aircraft gunner the age of 16, during the American war - and she can still strip and reassemble an AK47.

You have a dangerous family, Matt, what with your expertise and your MiL's previous occupation. I hesitate to ask about your wife's career.

She's an MBA - business development.

Bucking tradition and arming herself with spreadsheet!