First Christmas at foreign land...

First Christmas away from Msia.... it is very different... nobody I could share the Christmas Spirit with... Everybody is sort of a stranger... really made me home sick... Though surroundings may be different, the true meaning of Christmas remains... the love of God that He sent His only son to earth... the birth of Jesus Christ... Happy burfday Jesus...

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Well, me and Brian went to the Christmas Eve service at Hilton Hotel, organised by the Hanoi International Fellowship. There was a candle lighting event, presentations and Christmas carols sang... It was alright but the only thing missing for me is the people... everybody seemed like a stranger to me... all expatriates... and most of them with their families. We left right after the service...

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The traffic in Ha Noi was maddddd.... the traffic lights was uselesss... it seemed like every bike in Ha Noi was on the road. It was the worst traffic I've seen in Ha Noi so far. There is no traffic rules, i could hear millionsss of 'hons', the taxi driver cursing through the window, pedestrians trying to cross the roads... The west lake was filled with people, balloons, and motorbikes...

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On Christmas day... well, frankly I didnt know what to do. There wasn't a Christmas service for me to goto. I ended up colouring my hair at the saloon... ahhaa.. of all things. Had lunch with Bryan and went to visit the old famous church at Nha Tho Lon street. If I'm not mistaken, it's built by the French. It's like.. it's Christmas!!! I want to goto a church!! but we couldnt even go into the church.. ahha.. Just went around and took some picture like tourists... ended up working at the office after...

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We had a good dinner tho after... myself, Bryan and Brian... at Al Fresco's near our houses... it was good company :) enjoyed the dinner very much. Had their famous pork ribs, jumbo pasta platter and a bottle of wine. And we paid like appr. RM25 each cos we had a free VND250,000 coupon to use. :P It made me feel more at home, to be able to speak in mandarin and talk about common things.

Brian, myself, Bryan @ Al Fresco's

Brian.. with Bryan doing the honour of serving the pork ribs... :P

@ the famous old French church
candle lighting, Christmas Eve service @ Hilton Hotel
the mad Christmas Eve traffic

My first visitor from Malaysia....

joining me soon here???

mushroom hot pot for dinner!!

Annual Party!

It was good that I came before they had their annual dinner... They call it their Annual Party. It was held at Melia Hotel last Friday, just 5 minutes walk from our office. It was really a interesting night... To begin with, I made myself a modern 'ao dai' (pronounced as ao zai), with hand embroidery. Well, it kinda looked like a chinese thing as well... ahha. Bryan and I decided to take a cab instead of takine the bike... :) so my hair wouldnt go so messy!! ahha.

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What I find interesting? The locals here are much much more sporting in organising events... They hired no one to present... but instead, they hired instructors to teach them to present, dance.. They tailor made costumes... sexy costumes too!.. all covered by the firm. I was truly impressed with the hard work that they put in to make it a good night. Its not about how well they manage to sing, or dance, act or talk. Their English may not be as fluent nor their dance step may not be synchronised. But, the spirit that they had... They weren't shy, they weren't showing off... :) I respect this spirit... I wish we could have that back home too!

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I had a great time! The after dance session was great too. They hired a famous local DJ to spin. It was good music... not bad...

Brian, me, Hong, Thuy...

Teddy, Eric, Bryan, me, Brian... all from M'sia... :)

Dennis with my gift.. the gloves... he was already tipsy...

No.1 presentation for the night! ahah! It was just hilarious and good!!!

First province visit...

Well, there are many manufacturing companies in the provinces in Vietnam... as labour is cheap... Wages are as low as USD50 a month. I wonder how they survive sometimes, but looking back, many of use survived with averagely RM300-400 in our college years and I wonder how we could back then.

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Anyway, I had this job in Hai Doung (pronounce as Hai Zerng) province... When talking about provinces, I always had it mind it's a country side place, with nothing much to do... its just gonna be work and back to hotel and work and back to hotel. Well, it's half true.

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It is just work - hotel - work - hotel. In 4 days, I did not go over appr 100m radius from my client's factory. The hotel cum resort is just 100m away. Every breakfast, lunch, and dinner we had them in the hotel as it is far to goto the city or town. The resort was nice but it looked like we were the only customers they had... ahah.. I guess when you go to a place with a group of people, its the time you spend together that will bring meaning to you.

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On the first day, the client kindly brought us out to have some 'fresh chicken' for lunch. They had this soup and something in it... which I thought was maybe one of the parts in the chicken... but as I eat... it looks like some brains... and I think it is!! I asked one of my staff.. she replied... 'I think you better not know...' hahaha... thus I have no idea what I've eaten.

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I had a lot of fun 'ce bang' (Vietnamese word... not gonna disclose wat it means here... haha) and playing cards and 'hong hut' with my team. On the last night, it was beyond my expectation that there was a famous Vietnamese singer coming to the resort.. I went like... why would he come to such a 'desert' place. It was my first concert in Vietnam!! ahah.. and it's nothing like any concerts I've been too.. ahha... Ppl sit on small stools and with small tables, eating sunflower seeds. And at the end, we found out the singer was gonna stay in the resort!! ahha. I even got a personal picture taken with him!! ahahha. I've never heard him before this!!! Well, he's famous as I know... thats' all... ahhaha

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The Team - Tuan, myself, Hong, Nyat - hot pot for dinner!

Famous Vietnamese singer - Tran Tam

Cheers! Our last meal at Hai Duong... We'll be back!

Arrival of big bro...

Welcome to Hanoi... Bryan arrived last Sunday and started work on Monday. Great to have another friend / brother here... :) Somebody I can speak mandarin with here... :P I really thank God that the management has at the end sent him to Hanoi and not Ho Chi Minh... :)

Bryan, myself and phillipino Dennis with the X'mas deco at our office building...

Bryan will be my manager for a couple of jobs though we're from different deparments. Dennis sits behind me in the office and we share the same 'fridge'... haha... the cupboard where we plan to stock up with food for the peak period.

Christmas is near!!

Christmas spirit on Hanoi streets in the Old Quarters

West Lake

It's been getting colder each day... I'm thinking I need a second blanket at night. I went to West Lake to get some sun this morning. It's about 5 min bike ride from the house, costing me VND10,000. A coffee, breakfast and a book at Highlands Coffee on the ship... relaxing morning :P There're a couple of ship-like restaurants by the West Lake... kinda cool. At night... the lakes are full of couples...

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Girls, it costs only about RM20 (USD6) to get your manicure + padicure done! Cheap eh? I got them done today. With additional flowers drawn, I paid VND120,000 (appr. RM25).

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Went on to get some gloves, socks and scarfs at the old quarters. It's difficult sleeping without socks. This is my first winter! It's difficult trying to bargain in a languange I'm unfamiliar with.

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glo: Bau nhieu? (how much?)

lady selling: mot cham sao

glo thinks: (mot = one, cham=hundred, sao... wait hold on, mot hai ba bon nam sao, okok sao = six) this takes like maybe 20 secs

I need to to practice Vietnamese!

Charity Bazaar

I had the opportunity to help out in the charity bazaar at the United Nation International School, organised by the Hanoi International Women's Club (it's a club for women expats in Hanoi). Celine, from the Hanoi International Fellowship needed some volunteers to help sell soft drinks.

So many 'International' word... yea.. it was very international. Every corner i turn to, a different race, a different colour, a different language. I never could imagine Hanoi had such many internationals. Expatriates with their wives and children. USA, France, Italy, German, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Malaysia, Australia, Belgium, UK, India,... i'm l;osing count... It was huge...

The drinks stall I helped out at... collected about VND30 mil in 6 hours, selling at VND10,000 a can. Not bad eh? Thats about USD6k++

satay was kinda expensive... VND8,000 a stick. tat's almost RM2

i had one of these done on my left hand... :P

Xe om...

Mike has rented a bike and he's been giving me a ride to office on it... got a few heart attacks on the road... ahah... poeple honning everywhere, may be annoying in the beginning. it's really a different kind of traffic jam here. how am i ever going to ride here? i really wonder...

it takes us about 15 minutes to get to office. I wear a wind breaker on top of my working suit, boots, put a clip on my hair, and gets on the bike, without a helmet. By the time we reach the office, my hair gets messy. It's getting cold now and with the wind when riding on bike... i think i need to get some extra jackets soon nearing month end.

It cost VND3,000 (1USD = 16,100 VND) to park a bike in the office building. The parking basement of the office building has no cars. Just bikes. Well, I have not seen any cars but I guess there is. And oh! Highland Coffee is opened at the ground floor of the building! yey!

I came back home tonight with a xe om (motorbike taxi) today. It costs VND25,000. Enjoying the rides without helmets now before it's compulsory to wear one in Decemeber. It's really cooling and erm.. exciting!

oh oh... me and Mike went to the night market last Sunday.. and gosh... its even better than SS2's pasar malam. Clothes are very cheappp.. I bought a cotton jacket for VND45,000 (about RM10!).

New Home...

We've moved in our new home for the coming 1 year... :) I like this place very much. It's a 3 storey house at Tay Ho, Hanoi and about 50m from the main road. It looks a little luxurious and its comfortable. They landlord has been very kind to provide most of the things we need to bed linens and toilet papers. And we've got fish pets!! We're suppose to feed them only once a week. We've also got a maid to come twice a week for USD60.

There's is Makro hypermarket in Hanoi!! It's a little far from the city centre but a good place to stock up. Me and Mike bought household things worth VND3 mil yesterday! Now, we're almost settled in .... :)

Me and Mike occupies the 2 rooms in the first floor. Mike's kind enough to let me have the bathroom in the 2nd floor while he uses the ground floor's. Well, it's also because there's a urinal in the ground floor's bathroom, which I will not use in a million years.

My room is the smallest room in the house. :) You can play basketball in Mike's room, and futsal in Bryan's. haha. Bryan's room on the third floor is just hugeee and with a spacious balcony too..

Peep of the place: No.6F, Alley 94, Au Co Street, Hanoi.

my room...

More pics at flickers... http://www.flickr.com/photos/9241123@N05

Millionaire!!

I'm a millionaire!!!!

Well, I'd wish so... I'd be a REAL millianaire if it's in USD... :P It's only my air flight claims to Hanoi in Vietnam Dong...

Week 2 in foreign land...

Well... week 1 was fast... We've signed the rental contract today and paid a month's deposit... So i'm really broke now... ahah. Thank God we're allowed some cash advances from the company to cover 3 months advance rental. We'll be moving in this weekend... :) The landlord is a nice local couple, friendly and honest people. We got to choose some of our furnitures... Can't wait to move in. Will post some pics when we're settled in.

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Church made me feel more at home yesterday... I managed to find the place myself as one of my boss who told me about it was back in Msia. A group of say 200+ expats gather in Bao Son Hotel's ballroom every Sunday morning to worship and fellowship. And they are an established group of people. Check it out http://www.hifvn.org/app/ Friendly Tram (pronounced as 'Cham') invited me to join she and her family for lunch at Pho 24 (popular restaurant chain http://www.pho24.com.vn/ ).

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Week 2 in Hanoi also means job 2. I have yet to finish my previous job and today i'm off, bringing 3 juniors to another new client. (For those auditors who understands this part..) guess what? First 3 weeks of my job schedule... one job a week, with all first year clients! you gotta be kidding me... new to the methodology, new to the language, new to the place, new to the work style... i just wan to say.. omigawd... i feel tired thinking about it... but yea it still has to be done.

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My experience today... with 3 juniors, we went to Thang Long Industrial Zone to audit this new client of ours. Another thing that amazes me... none of my them has accounting background... :) one has a degree in business admin, another in economics, and wahlah.. one in chemistry! ahah. really amazing how this chemistry guy can end up in an audit firm. They don't speak very fluent english. Therefore, they don't really feel comfortable asking me questions. They often talk among themselves discussing audit works that they don't understand I presume. All I hear is...*#&$(*&$*@ trade receivables... (&*(& debit... *&()(0 system.. *&()* fixed assets...*&8&& depreciation..^&*((()) etc.. eheheh.

House Hunting...

House hunting lasted for about 3 hours... We saw about 6 houses... We've decided on a really nice house... :) Houses in Vietnam is very different... You don't get to drive your car and park right in front of your house. Roads are meant for motorbikes. Houses are tall as land is expensive.

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A 2 room apartment in the business area cost about USD1,200. It's too expensive for us, although it's 5 minutes walk to office. A reasonably nice house with 3 rooms at a better and quiet area costs us less. We decided to stay 5km away.

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Houses in the expat area (Tay Ho, Ciputra) can be really nice... although roads heading to it may seem to be creepy. :P

Peep of the road to the house... :)

Weekend is coming soon...

Work's really taking my energy... It's tough adapting to changes... New documents, new people, new language, new culture, new methodology.

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Had training for half a day at a club today. They have their trainings at clubs and hotels, except their conference rooms... Too much money? And the partner was pissed off as half the people turned up late. ahah.

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My first Taiwanese client... it's 1 hour away from the office... I thank God that they arranged a Msian fren, Eric to go in with me on my first job. Yea they have a translator ... but this time not for me! ahaha... I speak mandarin... but man... I still cant understand half of their mandarin... so deep... They have a translator that follows my junior around to translate Viet-Eng and vice versa. Sometimes, I just stand to watch them communicate and be amazed... Sometimes my client's tone gets louder and louder cos he just cant seem to get the msg across and vice versa. I think i need to learn more business terms in mandarin...

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There will be many times that I'll be sitting in a room where people speak a language that I cannot understand. A few days of this has not yet annoyed me. Maybe i'll give me peace as I wouldnt have to listen to what these ppl are saying. Maybe it'll disturb me as I wont know if they are talking about me? Well, we'll see how it goes....

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Weather is good here now... air-con temperature... real nice and cooling... i love it.

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In this small shop on the road nx to my office, I bought a pair of nice boots tat cost me RM35 and two ZARA knitwears for RM70. Two weeks ago in KL, I bought the same sweater in black for RM99. Dem… what was I thinking. It’s all made in Cambodia.

First day at work...

The plane from HCM succesfully landed at Hanoi at 8.15am...

First unsuccessful scam!

The taxi driver was about to charge us USD25 for the ride to our hotel when it cost only USD10. Knowing this fact well, I asked the hotel receptionist to kindly translate to this , and finally he said a price of USD12. Fine, we paid him and he drove off so fast with his car boot still open! He must be really mad.

With only about 3 hours of sleep last night, my head is spinning a little by then. Took a shower, had lunch, and went to report at the office. Well well, first day, people are generally friendly. :) Got a new HP laptop for work and also a job scheduling tats just packed. And looking at documentations tat I'm unfamiliar with scares me a little. There is a need to pick it up very quickly as we are on jobs straight away. One job each week... Now i'm scaring myself more.

Just too tired to do anything else today. Gonna have dinner here at the hotel and got to bed soon.

Horrible flight?

My adventure to Hanoi started even from KLIA itself.

'Oh man, flight is delayed for two hours! Oh well, it's ok, I can walk around duty free shops and write type some emails with a cuppa coffee.'

After 2 hours:

'What??? Another 2 hours delay??? Ok, not that I can do anything about it. We shall find a comfortable spot to get some rest'

After another 2 hours:

'You got to be kidding me!! Your dinner vouchers ain't gonna make me happy!!! FINE, we shall have some pizzas for dinner and call the hotel in Hanoi to notify them that we'll be checking in after midnight.'

All in all, we had a 6 hour delay at KLIA!!! :S

'Alright... we're boarding... here we go to HCMC and then to Hanoi!'

Plane lands in HCMC...
'It's raining... oh wow, we need a bus ride to the airport... '

At the terminal...
'What's going on??? Hi, we are to transit to Hanoi, where do we goto?'
'*&*(923&^ @^#*( @*((# lang bang tong song etc '
'Hey, English pls?'
'What??? No more flights to Hanoi????? NO WAYY! Hey, I start work tomorrow!!!'

'I'm sorry mam, we can't do anything. There is only flight tomorrow morning.'

After a longgggggg explanation and arrangements... (man... I think these ppl need management training for unpredicted situations), we are to stay a night at HCMC and take the 0630 flight to Hanoi. Great, I'm going to miss my first day of work.

They had a bomb scare on the plane. Therefore, for precaution purposes, (yea i get it), they checked every spot on the plane causing the longggg delay.

Oh well, I get a glimpse of Saigon and it's a 5 star hotel but what the heck it's 1am now, I'm too tired to enjoy it.

Good side of it? If it has been a normal flight, I would have nothing to remember it. Met some Malaysians on the flight. Made some friends from a horrible flight.

I'm leaving on a jetplane...

But oh jetplane.... where art thou!!!! My flight has been delayed for 4 hours! N here I am blogging from KLIA, feeling tired for tomorrow. Expected arrival time at Hanoi has been delayed from 7pm to 11pm. And i start my first day of work tomorrow... :S Vietnam Airlines... you ain't giving me a good impression.

So how do I feel as I'm about to leave now...? Totally mixed feelings i would say. I shed no tear. Not that I won't miss anything in M'sia. So much that I would miss that cannot be described by words. Anticipation of a new life in a new place... it's an excitement within. Also, I think the delay of flight is making my feelings more mixed than ever. Oh jetplane, pleaseee arrive soon!! Better not delay again!

Bye all..... good time of trying to squeeze my things into the limited weight of 30kg. :P

More goodbyes & insighful thoughts

me, Azlan, Huzaimi @ Marmalade

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I still remember wat you did last semester(s)!! haha. It's a good afternoon of lunch and coffee.

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Lan - the big bro. Thanks for the times in college, listening to my craps/cries (yea, I know i've been silly in college). But you agree that i've grown rite.. :P

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Imi - yo, the fun fren? dunno wat to call u la. roommate? aahha. Couldnt have enjoyed the 3 yrs in Nilai without ur presence. :)

me & Daniel @ Haagan Daz

This guy sure can eat! Ate half of my dinner and can still fit 14 scoops of ice-cream!!!

Insightful thoughts for today:

If God is omniscient (having complete unlimited knowledge), a God that knows everything, and has predestined our destiny before we were even born, able to see our future & decisions before we even consider our options, knows which road we are going to take before we even make them... etc, why did God predestined for some people to end up in hell? Does He predestined who would be saved and who would not? Do we choose what God has decided from the start of creation?

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- How do I answer this question? God's sovereignity and men's freewill - mutually exclusive?

Memorable farewell...

As a Malaysian, it is with regret to say that this is my second visit to Putrajaya. But hey, I bet there are many of you out there whois never been! Do give this place a visit... It's beautiful at night... We were at Putrajaya Lake Club. It's restaurant is open to outsiders and prices are totally reasonable. (http://www.kelabtasikputrajaya.org/) Food was good and the views are fantastic.

My heartiest gratitude to Peter & Yvonne for organising a farewell for me at this place. Perfect for photo shoots.

R4 - Reload, Refresh, Refined, Relevant (a.k.a Ruggeds) has been a place where I find Godly encouragement and fellowship for the past 2.5 years. There has been ups and downs for this group of people. With God's grace, we've not only sustained it thus far but is now growing to a greater height.

I've enjoyed myself so much with this group. I will mISS the many CGs meetings, dinners & yamcha after church... To the board games kakis... I really really enjoyed the Risk & Power Grid sessions at PD camp, Bkt Tinggi Camp, and the one successful board game meeting at my home. To the rock climbing kakis... something that i've picked up and will miss.

Of the so many things that we do together, I will miss. But... it's the fellowship that we have that I'll ultimately miss... Thank you so much for making my life meaningful in KL.

It's not my birthday... it's Bon Voyage! But with a birthday song as they didnt know wat song to sing!

These ppl are the cutest... My farewell gift - a external HD with 80G of animes and series! for my entertainment at Hanoi

The ladies...

The gentlemen...

Putrajaya Lake Club @ 19 Oct '07

Ready to go?

I got my visa approved today... my flight ticket booked for 4 Nov... 2.20pm... Am I ready to go?? NOT JUST YET!!!!

Happy BiRthday Becky...

A year ago, this cute little girl (Small) came into the lives of a beautiful couple (Big & Medium) and to our lives.

Big & Medium has been a blessings to many of us in manyyy ways. Me being the 'PR' in the Taman Sri Rampai residence has given me the opportunity to be part of this family. I enjoy the many gatherings that we have had... Christmas gatherings, sleepovers, lunches, dinners, coffees, HFs, Hari Raya buka puasas, all the fooooddd... Being like parents to us, giving us advices and support, bringing meaningful moments into our lives...

How God has brought Small into the arms of Big & Medium as they waited patiently is a miracle. And there will be more miracles to come along as she grows up. :)

Happy Birthday little Rebekah... I pray that you'll grow up with God's blessing and wisdom showered upon you, mummy and daddy everyday! Keep that cute smile on your face!

Medium, Small & Big

15th Oct @ B Sentral

Rebekah Ghee Xiao Ern.. sooo the cute...