I Survived 1 year...

Exactly one year ago, I left on a jetplane to this foreign land to start a new life. Out of God's conviction, I came, not knowing many people, not knowing the culture.

As I reflect back on what has happened for the past year, I truly thank God for the experiences that He has put me through, the good as well as the bad. I've gained a new language, a new culture, a higher level of independence, a promotion, good friends, experiences in 4 difference countries, and I can see that there is more to come. I've also been through lonely boring days, working through nights, and recently a horrible flood.

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My mind has significantly mellowed down in this 'peaceful' city. It is noisy with all the motorbikes and honks, but as you sit down by the lake and read a book, watch the sunset, and listen to the sound of waters, your mind clears out....

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From an advanced capital in KL to a developing capital in Hanoi... my life changed, my thoughts grown, my experiences added.

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Goals for the coming year... a helping hand, a healthy fit body, and purpose driven life.

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I may not be doing all the right things now but God's promise remains in my heart. Jeremiah 29:11 says 'I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.'

Travelling Month...

Last month has made me relaxed yet tired... travelling around Vietnam with the people that came to visit me...just a few common tourist places...

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To take advantage of the public holiday of Vietnam's National Day, we flew to Nha Trang (where Miss Universe was recently held) for a relaxed holiday... it was beautiful beach... :)

view from our hotel

island hopping on these boats, they had really funny entertainments on board

The following weekend, Molly and friend came to visit, our first destination... Sapa. A night's train away... up in the hills, cold, local villages, see how the traditional tribes live...

it's really beautiful real-life

our guide at our hotel

After a 3 nights 2 days trip to Sapa, we reached Hanoi at about 6 a.m., rushed back home to take a quick shower and off we go for a day trip at Halong Bay... taking a 3 hour bumpy road ride to the harbour...

my second trip to Halong Bay.. still alright

Two weeks after Molly went back, mum, Olivia & Matthew came to visit.... our first destinations were to the Pottery and Silk Village. I have not been there myself and thought we could maybe do some shopping there. But to my dismay, we find these 2 places ..erm... boring? yea, kinda... didn't really have anything to buy...
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The next day, we went to Hoa Lu Tam Coc (Halong Bay on Land)... a 2 hour bumpy road ride from Hanoi...

we sat on these 'sampans' and went around the lake

a visit to the Hanoi Museum of Ethnology the next day

After a day's tour around Hanoi, the next day it was Halong Bay... (AGAIN for me...)

my third visit to Halong Bay... ok.. maybe it's enough for me now

this trip we stayed a night at Catba Island...

Enough of travelling I say, but I guess not... haih.... more to come...

Hope & Faith

You know how we always set our resolutions or theme of each year on the new year's day? I've done that in the past but this year, I just didn't bothered cos I nv truly achieved most of my resolutions made each year. And amazingly, when I chose to have no particular aims, a theme is revealed to me along the way.

The words keep popping out to my face in different ways… Hope… Faith… I even find myself purchasing a fiction storybook in borders entitled ‘Keeping Faith’…

Each one of us hope for something at any point of our lives. Be it a holiday at Paris, a huge bonus, a handsome lover, a better job, a bigger house, etc etc etc.

We hope for things that we do not have at the moment. Hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? If I own a RD300GX digital piano, I wouldn’t rationally hope for another one.

But if we hope for what we do not have, we wait for it patiently. The longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. We get more anxious when we’ve waited for a long timeee… and when we finally see our hopes come true, our joy exceeds…

Faith is the THING! Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. It’s the firm foundation that makes life worth living. It’s how we handle what we cannot see.

Faith… its just so much to say about it… and yet so many reasons that one can say to refuse it… So many ‘but’s and ‘if’s …

When a good thing happens, it’s easy for anyone to say it’s a coincidence / it’s my own effort / I deserve this… but because of my faith, I know it’s from God… Why do I know that? Cos I’ve hoped for it, and asked for it in faith…

The way to see by Faith is to shut the eye of the Reason – Benjamin Franklin

Stop reasoning. You just need to have childlike faith, God says.

I hope for many things in life. Some of which may not be what God has in mind for me. But I have faith that God has plans for us. Plans to prosper and not to harm us. Plans to give us hope and a future. To have faith in God is to trust that He is in control.

The Promotion

Dear all

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Your effort, hard work and achievements are being rewarded by the Firm in line with our policy to ensure KPMG remains an "Employer of Choice" for Vietnam's leading professionals.... Congratulations to all of you who received promotions, and we wish you continued success with the firm.

Best wishes

Happy Day.... :) Congratulations all... looks like our late nights are worth something... Waiting for each other's treat of dinner!!

The Piano

my hobby, my given gift, my passion...
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presenting the RD300GX... after much thought and consultations... i landed my 'pocket' on my desired keys... portable and most natural piano feel...

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a significant invesment... took me 'a while' to have my final thoughts ready and to gather some courage to purchase it... thank you to 'those' who have encouraged me, talked sense into me, and followed me to the shop... :P

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this shall keep me busy in my hanoi residence... :)

My Desire...

Bobby gets a shower

Victim of a bored night...

Now he smells good...

Beauty vs. reality...

Halong Bay... the World's Heritage... All who come to Hanoi must pay a visit to this place... (who says so? i don't know) so wat's so great about this place? well yea, it has the beautiful sights of lime stones and sea... There is nothing to do other than looking at the sceneries, eating on the boat if u want, enjoying the cruise and the walk up a cave...

What striked me more is the life of the people in the fishing village... these ppl live on their floating houses and survive on their catches... some sells fruits on their small boats... can you live like this? at this pace, i personally can't... looking through into their bedroom - just the bed, living room - maybe a tv and a radio, kitchen - just a few pots n pans... thats it... no room to run around...

what i have seen since i left msia is the various life of different people... people who could afford drivers to drive them around with maids who cook and clean for them... people who live mediocre-ly, rides their motorcycle daily and eats by the streets... a man who lived in a 10m square room with his wife and kid... a driver who learnt english by his own chasing his business dreams... a man who meets a girl for a couple of times n say 'lets go meet my parents'... families surviving on a usd50 wage a month... a living room where there is no room for you to put your legs up on the couch to watch tv cos there ain't any... i could never fully understand some of these people manage it... but i'd always like the opportunity to realise that we should be grateful and content with what we have... money ain't everything...

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When you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, i'll make sure you won't be disappointed - God's Decree (Jeremiah 29;13)

The call...

It started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word

And then that word grew louder and louder
'Til it was a battle cry
I'll come back when you call me
No need to say goodbye

Just because everything's changing
Doesn't mean it's never been this way before
All you can do is try to know who your friends are
As you head off to the war

Pick a star on the dark horizon
And follow the light

You'll come back when it's over

No need to say good bye

Now we're back to the beginning
It's just a feeling and no one knows yet
But just because they can't feel it too
Doesn't mean that you have to forget

Let your memories grow stronger and stronger
'Til they're before your eyes
You'll come back when they call you
No need to say good bye

by Regina Spektor

Leaving again...

Time to leave again... or is it time to go back? Am I going back to Hanoi or am I leaving Msia? Well well, it has to be that I'm leaving Msia, and I'll be back again... :)
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I had some good rest this time... sleeping till 12pm at home and lazing around... until the last day, today, where I have no sleep for the night... blogging from the airport at 5.30am, waiting to board the airbus at 6am...

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This time it's not 'Molly driving Glo in Glo's car', but 'Glo driving Molly in Molly's car' to the airport. It has been the practice for her to drive me around in my car... ahah... but this time, my turn. Well, I should as she has already sacrificed her night to send me off to the airport at 2.30am and will have to drive all the way back home again... We weren't suppose to leave so early she couldn't sleep anymore since I woke her up at about 1am... :P xin loi oh...

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Satisfying trip home, being able to meet a number of people and to celebrate my birthday with my family... many asked me why am i travelling back on my birthday... well, cos the flight ticket on the nx day cost USD15 more!!! this trip back has already cost me USD290! due to the change of travelling dates...

The new machine...

Thank you-who-lost-your-laptop for giving me an excuse to get a new machine...

Going home...

Blogging from the airplane, indeed my heart is full with joy going back to my own homeland… J My craving for Msian food has been reduced a little with Airasia’s nasi lemak and aik cheong 3-in-1 teh tarik. Although I was back home 3 months plus ago, it feels like ages ago. With all the travelling for the past months, from Vietnam provinces to Mongolia to Beijing and Hongkong, I’ve had my share of good moments, stressful working moments as well as lonely nights. And now, it’s just an excuse for me to say that I need a break. Anyhow, going home is always good. To see familiar buildings, to eat familiar food, and to meet familiar faces… This time, I know I will hesitate to leave again. So many things in my list to do, so many to meet, yet so little time… Can’t stop smiling knowing I’ll land in about an hour…

Earthquake day....

We had a good lunch meal squating by the road side today, literally sitting on a one foot tall stool holding a bowl of mee. Like the old times during primary school when we sit by the drain eating 20 cents nasi lemak. Just that now we are all dressed up professionally with shirt, slacks, and ties... ahah... the bowl of mien chok taste good alright... not as good as penang hokkien mee but sufficient in hanoi... :)

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After which we went for a good cup of 'ca phe sua', vietnamese milk coffee with ice... man it's very 'kau' but taste good! :P

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Went back to office to continue looking at excel files with many many numbers... after an hour, while trying to listen to a client on the phone, my vision suddenly blurred, my head spinning... numbers were moving... goodness me... did i have too much coffee just now or am i looking at too much numbers???? my colleagues started to make alot of noise... well most of the time i can't fully understand what they are speaking in vietnamese. i wanted to shout 'shutup!!! i'm talking on the phone here!!!' until chi tan, my manager came to me and said 'chiem oi, earthquake earthquake!' my eyes opened wide... 'mr. vinh, i'll call you back later' *slams phone*

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well, my first earthquake vibration in vietnam....

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Dear valuable tenants,

We have had an experience of small earthquake vibration at 13.28hr today 12 May, 2008. The center of this earthquake was in China and Vietnam has been affected as informed by local authority- The Institute of global geographic. According to them, this earthquake is now still under monitoring and we- Vietnam may receive some small vibrations this afternoon.

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oh oh... the silk dresses in vietnam are pretty..... today, i bought a pretty silk dress that cost me USD25... when my eyes laid upon it, i knew i had to buy it... :P gosh... i didn't want to buy anything today except for the coffee beans for uncle ian... but mannnnn... it's so tempting that me and pei see ended up buying 2 dresses each...

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gurls, you have to buy some dresses when u come here! i'll bring you.... :)

Hong Kong 2008...

After reaching Hanoi for 2 days... one day pretending to be sick (eheh...) and one day pretending to work (ahah...), off we go to Hong Kong.... :) I'm not so rich that I'm travelling around Asia... it's just my company trip... :P

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A really quick trip i felt.... 4 days 3 nights... but in fact, we only had a full 2.5 days to tour around. Thanks to Ben, my KTMB and Sapura gang member back in EY, who was able to bring us around a little to HK island... and to The Peak on the first night.

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Shopping at Esprit was heavenly... much much cheaper than Msia or Hanoi. We went to the outlet on the first night and grabbed a whole load of clothes. On the second day, 5 of us were at the Esprit salon and goshhh.... a bomb landed on our pockets. Additional 10% when we spend above HKD1,200 and another additional 10% as it was my birthday month! All on top of the discounted cheaper prices! How good is that! All in all i think its 50-60% cheaper compared to Msia.... felt so good... ahhaha...

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Disneyland on the third day... M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!! ... the live show of High School Musical and the parade was remarkable. The whole place was amazingly disney? ahha.

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What was good about this trip? I guess it was the shopping...

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Hong Kong... another fast paced city with many going after branded clothings, bags and accesories. You'll have to queue up to get into the LV shop! And after a season, there are those who sell their recently purchased bags for the new fashioned ones. And thus, there are outlets selling second hand branded goods. Makes me thing if they are after the right satisfactions. Will all these branded purchases really give you joy and happiness? I do agree retail therapy satisfy me in a way... feels good to be able to spend and buy pretty looking things, especially after a stressful working period. :) But however, I have to keep in mind that there are other more important things in life. Things that could give me REAL happiness. Will I be happy given a chance to work in HK? I'm thinking probably not...

Beijing 2008...

Beijing 2008....Banners of 'One world, one dream - 同一个世界 同一个梦想' , the official Fuwa mascots... lies all over... well, no chance for us to watch any olympic games, just there to buy olympic keychains!!!

We ate Peking duck, shopped around Wangfuqing Street, ate various food at the stalls, and went to The Great Wall... that's our 3 days trip... The Great Wall however, was magnificient... really a great view... :) Shopping at Wangfuqing wasn't that all great. We didn't manage to buy a lot of things below our expected price but I did manage to spend bomb on some nice jewelleries... I was kinda disappointed that I couldn't buy much that i splurged on 2 fcuk shirts at Oriental Plaza... I should be regretting soon...

Beijing gives me an impression of a city full of history and stories. It is now such an advance city with subways, tall buildings, clean streets, and gosh, the international airport is hugeeee.... One terminal to another was as if we were travelling to another province in vietnam... ahah yea i'm exaggerating. One amazing thing is that people are still freely using bicycles at the streets, a popution-free mode of transport... a total opposite to the massive use of motorcycles in vietnam.

Everything was in chinese and most people on the streets do not speak English. Though I speak mandarin, i wished now i could read. This is where Brian is useful on this trip... ahah... bringing me and 2 other vietnamese around as he was the only one who could readddd all the unrecognisable characters surrounding us everywhere. :P

After 4 weeks in Mongolia, we reached our 'hard-earned' destination... 7 wonders of the world, one down... :) Did we deserve this free 'short trip'??? A definite yes!! I'm still paying for the 'price' - I still have to work on the job from Hanoi... probably on and off for another month.

Weather Forecast...

Today was COLDDDD.... the weather forecast said highest temperature during the day time is to be 16 degrees.. but it felt like ZERO!!!... thank God i decided to change into my boots before we went out. My jacket was definitely not enough... should have worn a thicker jacket...

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We went to visit on of the temples with a lot of buddha statues... and they had the 'turning thing' (don't know what to call it) all over, both small and big. There were monks praying in some of the temples. None of us were Buddhist.. so it didn't really mean anything to us. Some temple was did not have a pleasant smell, but me and colleague just wanted to stay inside longer as it was warmER than outside.... ahah... oooo soo cold... A cup of hot mocha felt so good after that....

There were just plenty of pigeons all over the temples... waiting to be fed... was beautiful... :)

Busy busy busy...

忙了还是忙, 然后继续忙, 过后还是忙, 忙完了.........唉, 还得忙........

I thought to myself today. Will I know how to pass time when I'm no longer an auditor... when I have no office to goto, will I know where to go? How long more can I endure this profesion? Am I stuck already?

We have not been working long hours for the past 3 weeks... going for breakfast at 8.30am, to work at 9am, coming back at 7pm... then to dinner together... back to our room to play, sing, or watch movies... going out in the weekends... simple, having fun with colleagues, learning vietnamese song... this definitely does not happen back in vietnam as there are more different files in the office which we'll have to clear and each of us have our own homes to return to. So in a way, I do have good moments in this cold country...

Our senior manager arrived last night... and during lunch today, we discussed about work and the thought that we only have 4 more days left to finish field work here in Mongolia scares me now. What scares me more in the job waiting for me in Vietnam... sigh... We'll need time to complete this job in Vietnam but no... we don't have any. There are other jobs planned for us... messy accounts waiting for me... I feel tired already... although I know I still have Beijing and Hongkong to enjoy before that... my mind feels exhausted.. in advance... ahah.

When I feel a little relaxed in this cold country, the thought of busyness comes back... this profession is all about being busy, is it?? Is this a reason why I do what I do? To keep myself busy?

I try to console myself... In every bad situation that we're in, there is something to be joyful about, be it a good memory or something new to learn. Good moments leaves a smile on our faces and bad moments makes us stronger to face the coming challenges in life. Yea that's right, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Life in Mongolia...

Why do all messy jobs follow me around???? From Malaysia to Vietnam to Mongolia!!! I just finished a ‘dao dao’ (headache) job in Vietnam whereby the accountant uses excel sheets to record EVERYTHING!!. Man he is such an expert in excel that I’m greatly impressed. But dem it is still messyyy… Tho so messy, the accountant is so funny that I cannot get angry with him.. that’s the best part. Ahah. He’s the only client that comes to our office… to my seat… to settle his outstanding matters.

Here I am doing another messy job where the chief accountant does not know which is her latest trial balance. The Finance Director even asked me if I can work on Saturday to help train their staff re-calculate their depreciation. I’m thinking.. you must me mad.. this is not even my job scope and I don’t even get paid working on weekends and what not in Mongolia where I don’t even get extra allowance for this trip. (We just get a Beijing trip…!! Ehehe).

I don’t know whether I’m really enjoying this trip. Yea we were all very excited to experience snow on our first day and the beautiful country side. This country is cold. The weather, the people, the building, the sceneries… No one smiles in all the pictures we saw at our client’s place. The people here just don’t give me a very friendly impression.

When we went to the Black Market, Brian’s wallet got stolen. And the best part is, after 2 minutes, one guy came to return his wallet to him .. but of cos without all the money. Thank God he distributed some of the money to be before that. The Black Market was indeed impressive.. It’s like an open air Carrefour. Everything under the sun, name it.. they have it… food, clothes, shoes, kitchenwares, cds, sunglasses, electrical appliances, cashmere, etc etc etc… its just a huggeee market. So many things yet we didn’t buy anything other than fruits. Ahah. Well, if I’m staying in Mongolia permanently than I’ll have a lot of things to buy. :P We’re all waiting for our shopping moments in Beijing and Hong Kong. :)

We went to the departmental store yesterday and again we found nothing to buy except souvenirs for our friends. And even that, we found difficulty. Ahha. What’s famous in Mongolia? Let’s see… there’s about 50 million livestock of camel, horses, cows… compared to the 2.8 million human population. So cashmere is their specialty… camel and sheep wool… but man it’s expensive. I saw a nice SMALL camel wool scarf which I am about to buy until I saw the price of 18,000 turiq. That’s like USD15. I can get a normal scarf for USD3 in Hanoi. There’s a lot of nomadic tools made from animal skins, bones, legs… not suitable to buy.. ahah.

The country side trip was good. We paid USD100 for the return trip to Telrej, the National Park for 4 of us. There’s a 300 years old monastery up the mountains. We decided to take the horse ride up to the monastery. When we made the decision, all the local men with their horses just surrounded us asking us to take their horse. Man I hate these situations. Not that I know how a good horse looks like. At last each of us took one horse. It was cheap. The 2 hour horse ride cost us each 5,000 turiq. That’s less than USD5. It was a great experience with painful butts. The scenery is beautiful to begin with.

The monastery has this er… turning thing (picture below).. don’t know what you call it… for good luck. We turned it all.. hoping that all the bad news that I’ve got during this trip will go away. In my head, I know it doesn’t work this way… haih… No matter how far I go, from Penang to KL to Vietnam to Mongolia…. what’s not solved will always be there. Can I accept this fact? I don’t know.. and I can’t think no more.

On Friday night, we went to Strings, a famous night club here. It was good live music by a Pilipino band. I had a little extra to drink. Good dancing floor. Everybody has their ‘undisclosed item’ and maybe I’ve had mine in Mongolia. I’m reminded again that each person is different and unique in their own way. We do not have the capacity to change people around us and that’s not the way to be. I’ve learnt again and again to accept things and people in my life… be it good or bad situations. And yea, its better that way… :) A friend is only a friend when we’re honest to each other.

I really miss the people in Msia now… I’ve spent USD20 talking to people in Msia for the past week over Skype… well half of it goes to my mum. But I really do miss being able to talk and pray about what’s inside. I miss all yam cha sessions. I know I may not be doing what’s best now with all that is going on. I know I need to buckle up and do certain things the way that I’ve done before. I know inside me what is right but right now I just don’t know how I can do what I need to do. It’s confusing even for me to explain. Can I just let it be? Can I… I shouldn’t…

What lies ahead for me is always uncertain to my knowledge. I guess it’s the same for many of us. We do not know the future. My predictions are always wrong… ahha. But there is a God that we can trust. Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans I havefor you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Can I just hold on to this verse and let it be?... It’s been almost 6 months since I left KL to venture into a new land of different people, culture, food, and environment. Is this what God has in mind for me? I still can’t answer that.

Life is challenging most of the time. Whatever happens along the way has built me up to who I am today and more to come. Challenges that comes build us stronger.

This is a long entry after two months. Ahah. I finally found some time in the hotel in Mongolia to blog. It’s cold outside and I don’t want to visit anymore museum or monastery. We’ve gone to see the Mongolian historical museum and yesterday the natural museum where I saw dinosaur bones for the first time.

First snow experience...

Mongolia... it was amazing that we could experience snow on our first day... it stopped snowing after that day...

It's a cold place noww... the amazing thing is that its cold and yet very sunny during the day time. The heating system is good. We do not feel cold at all indoors. People are generally big as they eat a lot of meat. We have been eating heaving meaty meals for the past 5 days that today we stayed back in the hotel to have instant noodles for dinner.. ahah..

The Peak

In general, the best time to spot an auditor is during the so-called Audit Season which runs from January to April. Auditors with their distinctive pin-stripe plumage will be present in large numbers in all major offices, factories and places of work. If you think you have seen an auditor, approach with caution. Avoid making eye contact, as this may be viewed as antagonistic. Should the auditor begin to behave aggressively towards you, asking what proportion of your contingent liabilities you consider probable, the best advice is to shout "Enron!" and run very fast in the opposite direction. This will make the auditor in question shrivel up and die. (Retrieved from "http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Auditor")

Well well, it's now the peakest period in audit firms... In Viet Nam, the reporting deadlines for most companies falls on 31 March. I haven't been blogging much lately tho there are much I wan to say about life here.

Audit packs have their own dens, known as home offices. The pack visits the office on average once a month, in order to refuel on stationery. Auditors can survive several days and nights without water, sex or sunlight but are liable to fall seriously ill if deprived of paper clips and yellow post-its.

I wake up at approximately 7 am daily... take a hot shower. This hot shower keeps me awake for the morning. I put on my jacket, scarf and a full face helmet and leave the house with Bryan on his bike at 7.45 am. I enjoy the morning air... but not the horns and traffic we have to go through. I still get 'heart attacks' on the way. I wonder I will ever ride a bike here.

.. reach the office at about 8am.. gather my team... and we head on to client's office by taxi. As most of my clients are manufacturing companies, they are mostly at industrial zones or provinces. Unlike in Msia, they serve us lunch here. Some good, some eatable, some makes u hungry by 3pm. At my current client, well, I have to say the food sucks... On the 2nd day, all of us brought biscuits, chips, sausages and made sure we ate breakfast for the day.

Unlike Msia as well, it is the practice of the staffs to leave the clients premise at 5pm. I like this practice. I get tired by 5pm and time for a break, have some chats before finishing what I have to finish. I have to say, some of my junior staffs have been very helpful and smart as well. I've learnt a lot of Vietnamese from them and more to come I hope. The A1s I work with have been good and I appreciate the help that they offer voluntarily. Tho communicating in English may not be as fluent, I learnt to be patient and understanding. (But today, man I wanted to ask my intern to just shutup and listen to me... this doesnt happen all the time la... but sometimes yea.. i do get fethup as well... sometimes I turn to my A1s and say... 'can you pls help me to explain to her'... and I leave the spot to get some fresh air... sometimes i'd just say...'ok ok .. em hieu (i understand)... no need to continue, I'll do it myself''...) There have been good helpful people as well as people who are irresponsible and doesn't give a damn on what they produce. I thank God that most of my team members have been nice to work with... even the bad ones... I enjoyed playing blackjack with one very irresponsible staff of mine... ahha... after working with me on 3 jobs, he finally resigned! haha.

The peak season here has been tiring as in KL... leaving my house at 7am and reaching home at 11pm... going back to office on both Saturdays and Sundays. One client each week... different location each week...it's tiring to manage... Next week, I'll be going to Hai Duong province, about an hour drive away from Ha Noi, for 2 weeks on 2 different clients... It has basically nothing there. The last time we were there, for the whole week, we went from the clients office and back to the hotel and back to clients the next day and it goes on for a week. And that's when we started to play blackjack... ahaha.

The culture here is rather people oriented compared to KL. You feel that the partners and directors do care about the employees. We have staff parties quite often and recently my director treated us for a karaoke session for us to destress during the peak period. She even went along with us. The partners and directors take turns to stay up till 10pm to make sure that staffs are not over worked unncessarily.

ok... its 1am now... i'll continue nx time... :) till then... oh yea.. the weather has been better these days.. not so cold as the previous weeks... it was like 6 degrees before and after CNY... its now about averagely 15 - 18 degrees.

Brian, me and Dennis taking a break on the roof top of our office building on a Sunday afternoon...

CNY / TET 2008...

Well, well.. today is chap goh meh.. the last day of chinese new year celebration... we had bak kut teh for dinner here at Ha Noi and of cosss it taste better is Msia... :P but good enough.

Nine days spent in Msia for CNY this year... :) it was good to be back... i'm missing it already... the people, the weather... it's been very cold here... it went as low as 3 - 6 degrees...

Steamboat has like been the 'only' meal ppl prepare during CNY in Penang... I've had 3 steamboats in the 1 week at home, Molly had 7 steamboat sessions in 4 days. Similarly, in Ha Noi, hot pots are popular. Hot pot = Steamboat. Something that I enjoy these days :), with seafood... :P

Steamboat @ Molly's

CBM girls reunion...
the 'in-between' hits the girls...
'lou sang' @ Hanoi home...

the food... it's definitely more than enough for 7 of us..
Hai Long and his winnings... from 'in between' again... in Msia, we played RM0.10 a game, in Ha Noi, it's VND10,000!!! ahaha.. (it's not that small as it sounds, its equivalent to RM2 a game)

1000 years Old Quarters...

Before the season of rushing for deadlines, we had a good lunch and went for my first movie in Viet Nam last Sunday. Well, the Megastar Cineplex at Vincom Tower is actually as 'hi-tech' as those in KL. It's clean, modern, good sound system and has the latest shows. We watched The Heartbreaker Kid.. good funny show. :)

Last Sunday was also the Old Quarter's 1000 years celebration. The Old Quarters is the busy heart of Hanoi. The traffic is crazy with motorcycles everywhere, honking without anybody's business, and street hawkers at every corner. I'm already quite used to crossing the road 'like a Vietnamese'. To walk across the road without stopping slowly... You don't really have to look out / stop for the bikes, they look out for you. But of cos, be smart also la... :P

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In the Old Quarters is where most of the shops are... clothes, shoes, bags, stationeries, music instruments, decoratives, herbs, you name it... It's where all tourists come to shop. A number of streets here starts with Hang, which means merchandise or shop. Each of it has its own history... named after its product or location...

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To me, well... this is what I know / do at these streets...

Hang Be - the tailor shop where I made my first suit, and where Hang Be Pub is - a Pub where expats like to go. Lara first brought us there when she first found out that beer was really cheap. It serves good burgers.

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Hang Dao - alllll the clothes are here... on Sunday night, they have their long night market...i bought a jacket once for VND45k (that's like RM9). Walk right to the end, you'll see the market where I bought my comforter for VND300k. Don't know what market it's called but it has all sorts of cloths, blankets, etc...

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Hang Non - where I did my mani and padicures for VND100k.

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Come to think of it, I don't know what the other streets are called... ahahha... There's one where I buy shoes, one where the cheap DVDs are, one where we had our first 'chap fan', one where I duplicated my keys, one where I bought a guitar. It's a small town. I can do most of my errands here and find a place by the Hoan Kiem lake to cool down after.

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Anyways, we watched the celebration put up by the people. There were thousands of people, thousands of motorbikes. We had ice cream by the Hoan Kiem lake and sat by the rock. There were kids running about having pop corn and candy floss.

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I was just thinking, I wouldn't have even gone for the Merdeka celebration in Msia and here I am at this anniversary where I don't even understand what they are saying. But yea, since I came here, I've had a more peaceful mind and I've learnt to be more patient. It's a place without much distraction here for foreigners like us. We fill the empty time slots with time to think and ponder. Sitting by the lake or just at home at this cold weather, having a cup of hot coffee. I just wished it's not our peak period at office so I could really enjoy the cold weather relaxing. :P

Cheap DVDs & CDs...

i nv imagined it's gonna be so cheap... Heroes Season 2 (Episode 1-11) in a reallyyyy nice packaging... looks sooo genuine... costs VND60,000. That's like RM12... i was saying to myself... how can this fake dvd be so real and yet so cheap! A normal movie DVD costs VND15,000 (RM3). DVD series are all up to date... name it, i think you can find it really cheap in Ha Noi...

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I got cheated anyway... i bought the above Heroes Season 2 myself for VND120,000 (RM24) and i thought it was already a very good buy... And then, Brian brought me to this other DVD CD shop... and crap... it's only VND60,000 there... arghhh.... well, we all learn from our mistakes... But hey, its gonna cost at least RM50 in KL...

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Music CDs... cost VND40,000 (RM8) in really 'real' packaging, with lyrics and etc... in KL, you get a really fake CD for RM10...
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What am I doing here...

Ever wonder why you are at where you are? I think everyone will come accross this question at least once in their lifetime. Well, especially when you are not near to things you are familiar with and when you are alone... this thought / doubt / I don't know wat to call it... will haunt you...
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It came to me on new year's eve... I wished I was out somewhere, with the crowd.. where the noises would cover my thoughts. Unfortunately, I stayed home.

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Am I too young to be here? To be where I am, doing what I'm doing? Many think I'm young, as compared to what I've done after schooling. But in fact, I guess it is quite a norm now for people to graduate at 21, and begin their career.

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To wipe off my doubts, I look up (in the ceiling) of my bed, sharp at new years and I know I'm here for a reason. It cannot be specified. But if God has brought me here, He will bring me through.