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.