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!