First day of work in Vietnam. The driver picked me up and we were at the office like 8mins later. It was actually quite near, but I now understand why they arrange for my transport.
The office there is more open than in Singapore. Like their desks is a stretch of long rectangular table and everyone just sits beside each other with the manager sitting at the end. Too open! But they're like carefree there, even fb is not blocked. Unfair. :(
Anyway the first day of training went well despite some hiccups and we're done by lunch. Asked them if they wanted to continue training after lunch or catch up on their work and they choose the latter so I got my second half of the day free.
The two admin girls there brought me out for lunch at the restaurant nearby. One of the girls came round me and said "I'll protect you, here very dangerous. Have motorbike thief. Many"
So I leave the food ordering to them and they were being cute, telling me what dish it was as and when the dish is being served. No pork, don't worry they said. Hahahah. Anyway I think I had the most vegetable in my entire life within the week I was there.
Since I had free time, I went to Ben Thanh market - which was also few streets away from my hotel. It's huge and the retailers there can speak good malay! Same things are sold everywhere so you really need to check around to get the best price.
My colleagues there reminded me countless times to bargain at least 70% of the retail price, and you should always be able to get away with 50% of it.
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| The stall that I bought my usual travel loots. |
Tip: Most of them accept MYR also. Like at the shop that I bought my stuff, they are selling it at RM5 (S$ 1.67) per piece, or VND 600,000.00 (S$ 3.73) per piece. You do the math.
After I got my usual travel souvenir, I went to eat at this place along the Malaysian Street. There's a few other halal places here, but the others are mostly crowded and I don't want to wait.
The Pho was great, but that was all. The spring rolls looks like they were done in less than 1min and it was super oily. Plus the rest of the food was on the pricey side. Unless you want to eat Pho, this isn't a place I'd recommend.
17th November
Again, I was on half day today. Actually I was done by 10am cause the admin girls were pretty fast. I bet they can survive working in Singapore. Hah. But I stayed at the office just in case they have any queries to ask.
This time, I went out with the whole lot of projects and operations team for lunch. One of the operation guy got a promotion so they were celebrating. They went to this seafood restaurant - quite a distance from the office and we had a 5-course lunch, I think. Like the food was never ending and I got full after the dish. There are really big eaters, but all of them have small bodies. (-.-) Life is indeed unfair. :(
Got back to the hotel after lunch and this time, I sat at the executive lounge with my laptop so that I can liaise with Sean on the things he need. Sat there until about 5:30pm before I told him I'm done for the day and went back to my room.
I felt tired and didn't want to go anywhere so I went to the area where I had my dinner the first night and came across this middle east place and decided to have my dinner there. The boss was friendly and offered to recommend some dishes.
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| Turkish pizza anyone? |
Walking back to my hotel and again, I was fascinated by the pretty lights. Hahah. Think I can never get enough of it.
That's me, trying to entertain myself before falling asleep. Being on business trips can be fun and exciting but sometimes it just gets to you? Like I'm now more confident of travelling solo, but the loneliness can be a burden as well.
xox,
