A week in Saigon
At the tail end of a busy week, jam packed with meetings, we attended The Guide Awards and picked up one each for the Emeraude and the Press Club.
The week was a busy one with 6-8 appointments throughout the day and in various parts of the city. One thing I will say about Saigon – it made me appreciate living in Hanoi. The traffic in Saigon is horrendous. A sea of motor bikes and cars squishing together on tiny roads, as there is lots of construction in the streets, and all over the place (I think they are fixing the sewer system). I can definitely appreciate Saigon for a better selection of restaurants and shopping venues, but the noise and pollution from all that traffic makes Hanoi look like a green zone. World of difference!
The week ended with a dinner and award program for Vietnam’s The Economic Times Guide. It’s pretty much a thank you to all who advertised during the year. While I was happy to do my duty and attend the event, I was not so happy that it made me miss Friday Night on The Terrace. This is the biggest social event of the month in Hanoi and I love our party for the meet-new-people factor and for the possibility of a step forward with Project Shanna 2009. Having to sit this one out really irked me.
For those of you who have not heard about Project Shanna 2009, it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what the goal is for this year. I should probably name it Project Shanna +1 so that we are all clear. Or Project Shanna +The Dude, so that we are even more in sync. It’s six months into the year, and by missing a big event like Friday Night on the Terrace, I almost feel like I’ve missed a whole month of efforts! Yikes!
Anywhoo, June will be busy with a move into my new apartment hopefully on the 10th and then a trip to Laos, two visits to Saigon and who knows what else which may be thrown in my direction. My job keeps getting busier and busier! I love it, but there are just not enough hours in the day!
The important thing is that I’m ready and I’m game. And I’m not talking about work!!!
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
Get a life!
What gang sign is that? I am such the loser that I meant to put an L on my forehead and ended up with this weirdo version. I’m so NOT cool!
Berlin was great on many levels. I got to spend a romantic weekend with a very cute boy. I enjoyed sightseeing in a remarkable city in the world, one more pin for my map. I’m truly fortunate to “have to” go to Berlin once a year. I like traveling for work! The exhibition was amazing and provided an opportunity to learn a lot about the travel industry, as well as provided a view of the bigger picture.
But on the plane back to Hanoi, I was working on my 3-month report for the owners, and as my list of things I’ve accomplished at work grew longer, I recognized that my list of personal achievements would pale in comparison if I had to write those down.
And that’s not me. I’m the gal who gives 110% in everything I do. Of course I want to be the best I can be at work, but at what expense? Until I made time to write updates for the entire month of March, how often did I update my blog here? How many photos have I taken in and around Hanoi? And what have those photos mostly been of -my commute to work. Yes I’ve met people, but I haven’t made much of an effort at making new friends. Correspondence with my Japanese students or friends? It’s been months. Keeping up with my On The Bright Side newsletter? Writing to my friends? Writing in my journal? Exploring my new surroundings? Exercising and taking care of myself? No no no no and no. That doesn’t make me feel too good.
I had a rough week back at work this past week. I was fighting jet lag like crazy and I got side-tracked with interviews for Press Club staff (20 hours!) instead of focusing on the bigger picture and following up after my trade event. So by the time the weekend came and my half day of work on Saturday turned 4:00 pm. I simply stopped.
I had the Tang man pick me up and take me to a furniture shop called Dome. I looked at sofas and dining tables and scheduled an appointment with a designer who will come to my home, measure my windows and space and suggest designs and colors and pieces to buy. I’m excited. I can’t wait to have a proper living space with fun, lively and bright colors. I may end up paying more than I should, but I simply want a lovely home to return to at the end of the day.
I did more research on the motorbike and asked our HR Madam, Ms. Ngoc to help me by the Honda AirBlade I’ve set my heart on. I finally sent my parents my wish list – there are some things they can send which would add convenience or luxury to my life. And I got my HSBC banking account set-up online so I can transfer money to my US account.
I got a little bit more organized at home and actually wrote a “to do” list for my maid. I do, at least, have a maid who comes once a week. I still feel weird about having a maid just for me, but she helps me tremendously. It was awesome to come home from Berlin to a perfectly in-tact home.
So – I apologize once again for not updating you more often. Enough is enough. Sharing these life adventures with you gives me tremendous joy. The thing is – I’ve got to get out of the office and live a little so I have something interesting to share! I have got to get a life…
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
Privacy Please
We Westerners sure love our space. And we adore privacy. We put a fence up around our homes and stick signs up to say KEEP OUT. At hotels, we have the option of letting everyone know that we do not want to be disturbed. Even on SKYPE, you can select a status of “do not disturb” which, frankly I wonder why someone wouldn’t just log off, but that’s a story for another day.
We value our personal space and privacy. As much experience as I’ve had and as much traveling as I’ve done, I still value it, too. But this is not the case in Vietnam.
As soon as I moved into my apartment, I noticed that while I was away at work, people, someone, who knows who, had been in my apartment while I was at work. I would return to opened curtains, new paintings hung on the wall, or a note left on my coffee table telling me that the internet was working. At first, I tried not to get upset, because I realized that they were simply trying to check on things and spruce the place up.
After the dust settled, though, I told the manager that no one needed to enter the apartment any longer, that I didn’t want strange people going inside. And me being me, I’d booby trap the place before I left in the morning so I would know exactly if someone had entered and where in the apartment they had been.
One day as I left for work, I was told that a maid would start coming to clean my house and that she would start that day. I thanked our receptionist but politely declined the service. I didn’t tell them I would use only someone I know and trust. When I came home that night, I knew someone had been in my house, but not a maid. I called the manager and expressed my displeasure. He assured me it wouldn’t happen again.
But it did happen again, not long after that and I had to have a face-to-face meeting with him to let him know exactly why it was unacceptable for someone I don’t know to go into my apartment when I am not there and when there is no appointment. He agreed that only by appointment or if I was home would his security or maintenance staff enter. I told him that if an unwelcome entry happened again, I would change the locks.
So everyday for a few weeks, I maintained my simple booby trap and would come home quite pleased that no one had been inside. That was until the Friday before I left for Berlin. The little piece of black paper was not in the door jam. I looked up and down and could not see it. My heart started to race as I put my key in my door and opened it. I could see the little piece of paper in the middle of the hallway. Someone had been inside.
I looked around everywhere, checked all my belongings, checked everything and then sat down on the couch and tried not to get angry. I wasn’t sure why someone had been inside, maybe something happened and there was a legitimate reason. But it felt SO VERY WRONG. I felt invaded, taken advantage of, all sorts of other horrible emotions. I mean – who came in? What did they do? What did they look through? Did they sit on my couch, watch a little TV? Before I got too worked up, I called Mr. Thien, the manager and asked him who had entered my apartment and why.
He responded that the security guard had entered the apartment because he needed to water the plants (I have a window box and a palm on my balcony). I explained that I water the plants every weekend and that in addition, the weather had been wet and rainy the entire week, so there was no need to water the plants. “Oh, I see,” was the quiet response. No apologies, no additional excuses. I asked him if the security guard had an appointment. “No.” I asked him if I was home when the security guard entered. “No.” So I reminded him of our agreement and he left me with, “It won’t happen again.”
You bet your sweet ass it won’t!
I had the locks changed. And I can’t even tell you the peace of mind it provides to know that no one can enter my home except me. I can’t wait for the phone call from Mr. Thien where he says, “Shanna, our security guard tried to enter your apartment today, but maybe you changed the lock.” And this will actually happen. And when it does, I’ll let you know!
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
Yup! That’s me!
I am posting this photo and this entry merely as evidence that I am still alive and well in Hanoi. What you see here is me “assuming the position”. As of late, that is in my office, at my desk, slaving away at the computer, either writing articles for newsletters, reading e-mails, reading reports, writing reports, writing e-mails (way too many!), managing my team or coming up with some *brilliant* idea of how to market and sell our six properties! I’m also likely to be setting myself up for a slipped disc in my neck again with my horrible posture, hunched over my laptop – but that’s a story for another day!
I really want you to know much I love you, I miss you, I am thinking about you and wishing I had the time to take a huge breath and break and touch base with each of you personally. I’m in my third week of “OH MY GOD I HAVE SOOOOoooo MUCH TO DO” mode. But I think all of us have been in this situation where a new job, a new adventure, a new chapter in life is nothing short of all-consuming. And so it is for me. I’m lucky if I remember to brush my teeth before I go to sleep (OK. That was totally an exaggeration! I only forgot to brush them on Monday night.).
As you can see I haven’t lost my sense of humor. Nor my enthusiasm for what I am doing. I am so proud to be the Director of Sales & Marketing for Apple Tree and I am thoroughly enjoying living in Hanoi (what I experience of it when I’m not in the room you see in the picture!).
My favorite 15 minutes of the day is my motorbike ride to work. The “Tang Man” (real name: Anh Tanh) picks me up at 8am most mornings. I hop on the back of his bike with my brief case between us and purse clutched over my left shoulder. I watch with wide eyes as mornings in Hanoi unfold. Sights of ladies selling produce, men setting up their barber shops against tree trunks, families of four on a motorbike, random people trying to cross insanely busy streets, buses full of middle-aged tourists, and young “cool” guys without helmets all whiz by in a blur. But the wind in my face and the sights and sounds (even the smells sometimes) are all so exciting. It’s a thrill. I can’t wait to get my own motorbike and learn the city streets.
I hope you can lend me your patience and understanding. I miss my routine of writing, of updating my blog, of chatting with you. Love and miss you oodles and will write again soon.
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
Holy crap!
UPDATE #4: A new water heater has been put in. I was told that the only way to hold the damn thing up was to hang it by the “cables” and “wire” in the the manner you see in the photos. It had to be done this way because I’m on the top floor and they can’t secure it to the cement wall??? OK?
Today I came home to see how they repaired the roof. Essentially, they just slapped A LOT of plaster over the bad patchwork they did last week. And tomorrow they will paint. And then it’s a done deal.
I just hope when that thing snaps, I’m not in the shower!
UPDATE #3: Oh, I forgot to mention that I now get only 4 minutes of hot water. Yeah. That’s just not going to work…
UPDATE #2: Not only is the roof a mess, but my bathroom has a sweaty smell to it that is reminding me of the Seinfeld episode where he gets a smelly car back from the valet…remember that one? Yea, not so funny when that’s what your bathroom (the one next to your bedroom) smells like!
UPDATE: Round one of “Let’s fix the heater” is finished. This is the condition the heater and the roof was left in. The manager will come by my apartment tomorrow morning (or so he says) at 9am. Let’s see what happens next. I’m all for adventure, but this is not the fun kind, ne?
Original Story…
So….I’ve been working from home during Tet and at about 1pm, thought I would take a quick stroll around the neighborhood to see what people were up to and to see if the little market had opened yet.
Did see much of the neighbors, but scored with the market! Yes! The couple who runs it are super nice people.
I came home, put down by bag of goods, went into my room to put away my purse and noticed white little rocks on the floor, coming from the bathroom…and then all over the bathroom. And then I looked up and saw the heater coming out of the roof.
What the hell happened? The water heater just fell down? It didn’t burst because there is no water spouting out. It just looks like it tried to escape out the roof panel but got stuck! Yikes!
I’ve called the manager and sent him a photo from my phone. I’m waiting for someone to come fix it. Thank goodness I wasn’t IN the shower when this happened! Holy crap! I don’t even want to go anywhere near this thing, and I’m usually pretty good at fixing stuff!
I hope he/they/someone can come soon…..
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
In Love with Laos
We Want You to be Happy – This sort of sums up the Laotian spirit. This sign was on the retail shop in the Luang Prabang airport. You can also get a Smile Burger, if you need to step up the pep!
I love love LOVE Laos!
I “had” to go to Laos this past week for work. I know, I know. I can hear your shouts of sympathy already. Thank you. ;p The goal was to get familiar with our hotel, Villa Maly in Luang Prabang and Kamu Lodge, our eco-lodge 2 hours up the Mekong River, nestled in the Laotian forest. Have I mentioned how much I love my new job?
Not only did I fall in love with our properties, I found one of my new favorite places in the world. Going to Laos, and particularly Luang Prabang, is like stepping back in time. Slow pace of life, friendly people, buildings no more than 3 stories high, natural beauty, no honking horns and a general sense of peace and serenity. My kind of place.
While I mostly focused on work, Kurt and I did get out a bit to take in the night life. We stopped by the night market our first evening there, where we bought these super comfy slippers. I spent all of $8.00, but could have done a lot more damage had I really put my efforts into shopping. We then went to the main street and found a great Laotian restaurant. We tried 4 different dishes, all very tasty with unique flavors. I loved the Lao basil. It’s a great herb, somewhere between Italian and Thai basil. We also ate a fired bamboo. Yu-um-my!
With our terrific co-workers, Marie-Helene, Henri-Pierre, Aurora and Phone, we enjoyed some Luang Prabang night life in the way of the local disco. And here, too, was like a tour of the good ol’ days. When young men and women dance together, they first greet each other with hands together and a bow. And then they dance without touching. The Laos ladies and men move their hands around similar to a Hawaiian style hula. It’s wonderful. The young kids love to do line dances and I enjoyed trying to catch on. What a fun night.
Kurt is a running maniac (way beyond enthusiast, folks) and had all of us up at 5:30 in the morning for jogging in the dark. My first morning out, we ran 5k. Let me back up for a moment and tell you how much I dislike running. I’m good for a quick sprint, say from home to 1st base, a 50 yard dash, or running for my plane. But I don’t really run, unless it’s for my life! While HP and Marie-Helene may have become semi-hooked, I’m not giving in just yet! I like my walks and hiking and mountain biking!
Having said that, it was quite humorous to jog in the dark and climb the stairs of Phousi Mountain. How is that pronounced? Think kitty cats. There is even a Phousi Market. Both of these monuments are (unfortunately) named after one of the founders of the city. We all kept pronouncing it poo-say, just to avoid the giggles. But giggled anyway. How can you not? It’s not every day you say, “I climbed Phousi Mountain.”
After a couple of luxurious nights at Villa Maly, we took the boat up the Mekong River to Kamu Lodge. On the way, we stopped at the Pak Ou caves, home to more than 5000 Buddhas. It’s a religious site where even the King used to come to worship. You can see some photos HERE. I had a little too much fun taking photos of all those Buddhas. It was pretty cool to learn that some of them have been there a couple hundred years!
Kamu Lodge is an eco-lodge. We share the property with the local Kamu tribe. I LOVED visiting the village and meeting all the little kids. They got a kick out of seeing their picture on the LCD screen of my camera. Bless them. I hope you’ll take a look at my photos. At Kamu, there is no internet connection or cell phone reception. You unplug from all of that and get heavily connected with nature. The sky is black and the stars are bright and sparkly. You go to bed early, letting the crickets and frogs sing you to sleep. And in the morning, it’s the birds and monkeys which call you awake. If you really want to unwind, this is the place to go. Layers of life and complexity are quickly stripped away. I could have stayed a week and not gotten enough.
On our last leg of the week, Kurt and I traveled to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. I was pleased with the warm weather – a balmy 28C degrees (82F). And while it was the capital, there were still no honking horns. I met more of my colleagues and we all enjoyed a night out. We had Lao Beers (very tasty) at a restaurant where you were looking at Thailand across the river. And then enjoyed a sort-of-Korean-sort-of-sukiyaki style BBQ meal. Very nice.
We only managed to see one monument while in Vientiane, as our one day there was filled with meetings. But nonetheless, Laos captured my heart enough that I know I will be back soon. How nice it is that the flight from Hanoi to either city is a short 50 minutes! I am going to love to be able to say, “I’m going to Laos for the weekend!”
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
Happy New Year and Helloooo!
I’m such a dork! – I have no idea why the Press Club photographer thought this was an opportune time to take a photo, but it actually is fitting for the swirl of emotions of the past 1.5 months.
There is no question I have been a busy little bee since arriving in Hanoi. I used this really dorky photo of me for this post, because that kind of sums up how I feel at certain moments. It’s a combination actually of surprise, joy, misunderstanding and happiness. It’s bizarre at moments, frustrating in others, and amazingly wonderful in most.
It must be the same everywhere in the world – when you start a new job, you are bit consumed for a good month or two, yes? And so I have fallen into this phenomenon for the past 6 weeks. Mostly I have been at work, attending work functions, meeting people through work and have had work on the brain for most of every day. It’s a big job ahead of me, a good challenge, and I love it. A little hard work never killed me!
Yet I’ve still had a few moments here and there to observe life in Vietnam, to laugh at a situation, to take in a new culture and to attempt getting cozy in a new apartment (even though I haven’t been home so much!). Here are some notes I’ve taken as I’ve been blazing through each day here:
At Work
- At Christmas time, we had the local orphanage as our guest choir. They (mostly girls) came dresses up like little Christmas princesses, complete with tiaras and sang all sorts of songs…just no Christmas carols!
- For New Year’s Eve, we had a huge party on The Terrace. Indeed, we were THE party in town! I really didn’t know what to wear, with trying to mix business and pleasure, so I opted for a (big surprise here) black shirt with my black pants (the outfit in this photo). Not bad except that what all our waiters and bartenders were wearing, too.
- No matter, I met a very cute Austrian boy who was in Hanoi on vacation who didn’t seem to mind the all black attire. He arrived a bit after midnight, but I got my NYE kisses in after all. Yum.
- I get e-mails addressed to “Shanna oi”
- Some of my co-workers don’t close the door to their bathroom stall and think it’s OK to pee when talking to me.
- On the way back to work one afternoon, I saw a very large, very pink and very dead pig in a trash can, feet sticking straight up in the air.
- I caught a bad cold just before the big trade event in town. I met some key players in the company with my stuffy nose and a voice like a toad. Great first impression! And also on all the new contacts at the trade event!
- Vietnam hosted the Asean Travel Forum for the first time. It was a very poorly organized event (but that was done my folks from Singapore), and at the end of the event, when all of the exhibitors had left, a gang of thieves came and stole all the furniture from the booths. This does not fare well for Vietnam. It’s bad on so many levels. What’s worse is that one week later, the event organizers have yet to contact us and we have been unable to get help from the police. Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore!!!
- I just have to say this, and it is not very nice, but at the trade event the weirdest people I met happened to be American. Why do we feel the need to talk so much? And what’s with all the catch phrases and corporate lingo? We really need to relax a bit and learn how to just sit down with someone, relax and just have a normal conversation. Please.
At Home
- In finally moved into my apartment on December 28th. I have a long way to go before it feels cozy and mine, but I am happy to finally have a place to call home. Living out of a hotel is simply not fun at all.
- In the beginning, the manager said that 4 single men who worked for Ericsson were moving into the building. I could only dream and hope. In reality, 6 men and 1 woman, all Phillipino and doing IT work for Ericsson moved in. All very nice, but no hot single studs like I was hoping. Is that so wrong?
- It’s totally normal in Vietnamese culture to go into a tenant’s home when they are not there and have not set an appointment or invited you in. I’ve had several discussions with my manager and am two seconds away from changing the locks. You see, I booby trap my apartment everyday, with a simple piece of black paper in the door jam. So I know exactly when someone has been in my apartment. You, too, would be disturbed if you saw how often this happens.
- On one occasion when I was home and had the “security” man and the maintenance man here to fix my water heater (I was getting only 4 minutes of hot water), the “security” man thought it was ok to make himself at home and take an empty bottle from my cupboard, open the windows and water the plants in the window box. Since he couldn’t understand me and wouldn’t listen, I finally grabbed the bottle from him and said, “No!” He just smiled back at me.
- Now that the water heater is fixed, I get a whopping 7.5 – 8 minutes of hot water from the 30L tank. Boys, that may be plenty of time for you, but for us girls, it’s nearly impossible to wash/condition our hair and shave our armpits and legs and bikini lines in 8 minutes.
In General
- The current exchange rate is 17,500 VND to US $1.00. Even so, there are 500, 1000 and 2000 VND notes. However at the grocery store, when they are out of 1000 VND notes, they give you this change in the form of candy.
- On that ‘note’ the Vietnamese currency is called Dong. Dong. Dong. Dong. How can you not laugh?
- Mr. Thanh (pronounced like Tang), is my motorbike driver and now pipcks me up everyday from my house to take me to work. I SMS him something like… 15.1.09 7:30am ok? …and get a response “OK”. That’s about as much communicating as we can do for now! But it works!
- Until I get my own motorbike, I am also taking taxis to get around. These are more expensive than motorbikes and I hate the fact that the drivers never seem to have change. So when your meter says 20,000 and all you have is a 50,000 note, you have to argue with the driver a bit to get your change.
- I finally bought a vietnamese phrase book, but haven’t the faintest clue how to pronounce anything in it! And for some reason, Japanese doesn’t work in this country!
- I can see a lot fromt he back of the motorbike on the way to work. One of my favorite sights is men getting a haircut from the barber. A barber who has hung a mirror from a tree trunk and plopped a chair on the sidewalk. These stations are everywhere!
- I’ve had two suits made by my new tailor. Good looking suits. In V-style, the suits are very form fitting. In fact, when I lift my arms, the suit jacket goes up with ’em! I’ll have to work with them on that. My suits look nice, though when I’m not moving too much!
- There are plenty of places to find amusing forms of ENGRISH. I like the menus in particular. At the City View Cafe you can get a “Generous turnip with tomatoes.”
- We Americans haven’t played too nicely in SE Asia. I had to pay $10 more for my visa to Laos than my buddy Kurt. He’s Swiss. The Swiss know how to play nice.
And on that note, I’m off to Laos tomorrow! I’ll visit our two properties there and get to know Luang Prabang as a destination. Since I didn’t get to visit Laos this past spring, I am more than eager to visit now. After Laos, my schedule is a bit more calm and I hope to fall into a MUCH better routine of updating the blog and photos. You can see there are a few updates below…especially one on my boxes! Thanks for keeping in touch and tuned in. Check back soon!
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
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