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spent the whole morning writing emails and getting ready for the smrt presentation in the afternoon at their bishan office. charlie didn’t come along as he needed to fix up the samsung lcd touchscreen by next week so it was just trond and i. it was a rather waste of time since the person who called us down didn’t really understand what his boss wanted and his boss wasn’t interested in projected touchscreens, he was more interested in oleds (organic leds) which is a rather advance technology and only the big players like samsung and sony carries them…also not forgetting that a a4 size of oled will cost roughly us$10,000.

went back to office and helped charlie with the setup of the samsung lcd touchscreen for a while, couldn’t stand long cause my mom’s waiting for me at imm….

and i got myself a new phone…

i think yiteng will probably kill me for this…

yes! i got a brand new nokia e71 for just $198…for myself!

got rather sick of my iphone after using it for more than a year and i needed a change, was considering a few other phones but i think the e71 is more suitable for me. kinda love qwerty keyboads after the iphone and i wanted something similar.

my mom renewed her contract as well and bought a new phone, nokia e66. rather similar to mine but her’s a slide phone and mine’s a qwerty…besides that difference, everything thing else was about the same.

Now I only hope the e71 can be connected to a mac laptop when i get my macbook pro once steve jobs announces it at the end of the year.

was late for work but still managed to get in without any suspicions, spent 1/2 the day getting ready for the presentation tomorrow for smrt, hopefully we’ll be able to work something out with them.

my mom invited charlie together with his uncle and kid for dinner. they were in singapore just for a few days as the kid needed to get treatment for one of his eyes that was injured during an accident a couple of years ago.

it was also to return a favour since i had dinner at this particular uncle’s place when i was in vietnam. this is the husband of the aunty who cooked 3 different kinds of shell creatures for dinner last saturday in vietnam.

since my mom has nothing to do anyway, she fetched us back to charlie’s place before trond came to pick me up. we needed to go down to neesoon camp to pick up some screws from teck kin’s van. he forgot to return them to us after the nokia event at singfest.

it was kinda weird driving up to an army camp and telling them i need to get something from a vehicle that’s parked inside and it was even weirder that we were allowed to pass without them asking us any questions.

however the weirdest thing that happened when we were in the camp got the 2 of us driving out of the camp like mad.

after getting the screw from teck kin’s van, i decided to smoke before going off and after smoking, i just did what i normally do and fling the cigarette far away. a couple of minutes later when we got into the car, we could smell a strong cigarette smell in the car. knowing very well that i fling the cigarette far away, i told trond to just drive off with the windows open and hope the smell goes away…and sure enough, once we got to the guardhouse, there wasn’t any smell left.

seeing how it was 7th month, we decided to just leave it alone and not be bothered about it.

had the luxury of sleeping in late since i took the day off but there were numerous phone calls that woke me up along the way.

was supposed to go out with vincent and nelson but they had nowhere in mind to go and kai was asking me to tag along with him to sim lim square since as he wanted to buy a new computer.

decided against going to sim lim cause it’s so god damn hot outside and i don’t feel like going so far. at least i managed to get kai to buy his computer from yuying, sim lim square’s ex-flower girl (like 10 years ago).

went over to nelson’s place and then went to the nearby market to buy toto before going back to his place for a game of mahjong.

won over $10 for the first round and i wanted to go home but it was still early and the rest insisted i stayed on for the 2nd round.

ordered 3 medium pizzas from pizza defrance for dinner and we actually finished it all…that’s like a first!

carried on the 2nd round and ended up losing $2…darn!

went back at around 11pm and that’s all for the day.

some random pictures i took…

cherie needed to go home after dinner so the rest of us decided to get meet adree and felicia for chat.

got yiqiang to drive me down to my brother’s new house in bukit batok to drop off a present that i bought from him in orchard before picking up felicia from her place.

it has been ages since i last came to adree’s place, kinda brings back loads of memories…especially the one where raymond fell down in the baby pool with his brand new motorola phone.

and we did what we did like 10 years ago when we first met…we sat next too the pool and talked and talked and talked and talked and talked.

we talked about our lives, we talked about our careers, we talked about our studies, we talked about the past, we talked about the future, we talked about politics, we talked about interest, we talked about everything under the moon and the stars.

it just seems weird that after knowing one another for so many years, we still had loads of things to talk about. it just feels so peaceful being in the same place we use to hang out years ago.

i actually had work the next day but decided to take a day off to catch up with the rest, chatted till around 5am before yiqiang sent me home.

but i still wish the same wish i made years back…i wish they were staying nearer to jurong.

woke up at 7am in the morning, our flight was at 10.30am but we had to run a few errants before we fly.

packed everything up and went downstairs for breakfast, my final bowl of rice noodle with beef. i forgot if i mentioned it in my previous posts but the vietnamese name for it is actually “pu bor”.

took a cab and went to charlie’s aunty’s place to pick up a box that was really heavy before going down to the airport.

charlie’s cousin and sister came along to send us off but they weren’t allowed in the airport, said our farewells and went to check in our stuffs.

we had problems with our luggage since we were obviously overweight but a call from charlie’s aunty (who is a high ranking officer in the airport) cleared everything.

check out our hand carries…this excludes the haversack that charlie’s carrying.

our boarding passes

and a final last picture taken on the airplane just before takeoff…

finally touched down in singapore around 12+, bought a few bottles of alcohol and shared a cab back home with charlie.

with this, i end my first business trip to vietnam. been a pleasant trip and i really thank charlie for being such a good host for me while we were there.

wanted to go home and take a good rest but…

read my next post

happy birthday singapore!!!

not in singapore to join in the excitment and celebrations but then again…it’s the same every year.

it was finally saturday, we’ve finally finished all the work we came here to do and today’s the day we can enjoy without worrying about work.

slept in till around 11am before a sleepy charlie came over for his morning smoke…managed to snap these 2 pictures of that sleepy head…

washed up and went downstairs for breakfast at the hotel…the usual rice noodles with beef and a cup of orange juice. somehow the orange juice in vietnam has this particular taste and i just can’t describe it, all i know is i love it!

another couple of pictures of charlie waiting for his caffeine rush to kick in

“argh, where’s the kick…”

“it’s coming it’s coming! i can feel it!”

we were supposed to meet up with charlie’s sister and cousin but we were still early so went back to our room to take a nice long hot bath and rested a little before going out again.

went to this place that resembles the old bubble tea houses in singapore during the late 90s. felt kinda old there but what the heck.

his sister and the fat girl were already there and they bought these cut fruits that really tasted good.

they even had this dip which tasted salted and sour but yet a little sweet and spicy, went very well with the fruits.

ordered a plate of fried bacon with cheese, looks very good in presentation but tasted like shit. finished only 1 stick and the rest of them refused to have any.

didn’t know what to order for my main dish so i allowed charlie’s sister to order for me, i still have no idea what it is but at least it tasted a little better than the bacon with cheese.

this cup of bubble tea really brings back memories…too bad they don’t have it in singapore anymore

here are the 2 girls

here’s what charlie ordered…it’s smells damn hot

here’s charlie enjoying it…

the brother sister pair posed for a final picture before going seperate ways

took a cab back to the place where we saw the badminton rackets yesterday and went on a shopping spree…

charlie bought 4 rackets, all yonex armourtec 900. at just s$40 each, it’s a steal seeing how queensway is selling at s$200+ each but then again, they are vietnam goods.

the rackets were actually a gift, besides 1 for himself, the other 3 are for trond, uncle jimmy and me!

i also bought 3 badminton bags, the big blue racket bag and wilson haversack for myself and the black badminton bag for charlie.

also bought 2 shoe bags, the adidas one for myself and the other for charlie

charlie and i also bought some shorts, they don’t have my size but i bought them anyway as gifts

also bought 2 tops, the adidas one for charlie and the fugly orange singlet’s a free gift from one of the shops

charlie also bought a pair of shoes, i wanted to buy the same pair but they didn’t have my size…in fact all the shops had the same design and only 1-2 sizes.

also bought a set of chinese chess, something for us to play when we get back to the hotel

last but not least, bought a portable hula hoop for my mom

instead of giving us many bags for everything, the shop gave us this super huge garbage bag and chucked everything inside. went back to the hotel to drop off the stuffs and got rushed out again by charlie.

charlie wanted to visit a few relatives and insisted i came along as well, didn’t want to at first but gave in after much persuasion. sigh, i got weak will power sia…

took a cab to this super huge supermarket and charlie grabbed some chocolates and biscuits before walking over to his uncle’s place. according to charlie, this uncle was the old chief of police in the whole of vietnam until he stepped down a couple of years ago. even in singapore, i could usually detect people in the police force, there was always this evil aura around them but this old man seemed to be just any kind old man you see on the streets.

stayed there for about a hour before going back to the supermarket, it’s time for our own shopping.

here’s a picture of the supermarket

today’s my 2nd last day before i fly back to singapore and i’ve not bought anything for my mom yet so decided to just spend all my remaining money at the supermarket.

chips of all kinds, bought some for my colleagues as well

vietnam coffee, loads of them! probably enough to last my mom for a few months. those 2 silver tins are actually for the coffee powder, there’s a unique way to brew the coffee, vietnamese style.

they used to sell these hotdays in singapore but can’t seem to find them anymore…bought loads of them. charlie’s sister also got me another bagful of them just before my flight

chewing gum, they’re compulsory everything i travel

assorted food

loads of sour plums and other sour stuffs for my mom and granny

the all new colgate toothbrush that i always wanted, i actually bought 1 on my first day in vietnam but i gave it to charlie cause he lost his toothbrush and so i bought another one…

a new nail clipper and 2 tweezers

i actually didn’t have enough money for everything and had to borrow 50,000 dong from charlie.

yes sir yes sir, 3 bags full

also got a wrap for my iphone, it’s just like gmask in singapore cept that the workmanship isn’t as good but the price is much cheaper. paid s$10 for a picture of a tiger, no picture cause my iphone’s not with me by the time i wrote this post.

we were rushing for dinner at charlie’s aunty’s place so we had to bring everything along with us. 3 huge bags.

dinner was simply fantastic and delicious…

a huge bowl of weird vegetables, something i just refuse to eat

3 bowls of chut chut, a kind of snail that’s available in singapore as well

a huge plate of clams

and another huge plate of something that really resembles garden snails

i would very much love to give charlie’s some face and eat something but i couldn’t bring myself to eat any of those…her aunty finally gave up pursuading me and gave me a bowl of fruits.

went back to the hotel and starting packing up, wasn’t easy to squeeze everything into my luggage bag. went out around 10pm for a last supper in vietnam before going back to have a good rest.

woke up at 7.30am in the morning dispite sleeping at 4am, having an meeting with some important clients so i die die have to show face there.

had a quick breakfast at the hotel and ate the usual thing i eat almost everyday…

rice noodles with beef, minus the gross veges that vietnamese love to put in their food

took a long cab ride down to their office…and i really mean a long ride, took us almost 45 minutes before reaching the place. from the way charlie told me about their company, i have expected their office to be something big and fanciful but it turned out to be some house that was converted into an office in some rural part of the city.

charlie had a long discussion with them and i was like pinching myself just trying to stay awake. didn’t understand a single word they were talking about but had to look interested in the conversation, that’s like virtually impossible.

after a hour of discussion (my whole hand was red from the pinching), we finally set off for lunch with the client. they brought us to this fanciful chinese restaurant that serves almost every creature that can be eaten.

there were 5 of us but the food we they ordered were enough for 10 people. we had chicken, duck, pork, beef, greens, greens and more greens, a pot of soup that had whole abalones in it and a whole suckling pig. thank goodness the suckling pig came last cause everyone was already quite full and i had almost the whole suckling pig to myself. it was just out of this world.

wanted to take photos of all the food but had to act professional and suppressed the blogging blood in me. the food was really really great and a meal like that in a nice chinese restaurant in singapore would probably cost s$200-s$300 but in vietnam, we only paid around 1 million vietnam dong which is about s$90.

sent the clients back to their office before carrying on the journey to our office, our final official business stop for the day week. took some pictures of the scenery from the office’s balcony when i was having my smoke break.

left my last pack of viceroy menthol lights at the balcony, which means i have to start smoking vietnamese cigarettes and i seriously think they suck!

here’s a sneak picture of charlie “eating snake” at the canteen in the office building…

left office early and took a cab down to some sports stadium where we can finally buy our new badminton rackets, there was a whole stretch of shops all selling almost the same thing but i have my doubts about their quality.

wanted to get some stuffs but charlie refused to let me buy, he told me to wait for his cousin to bring us here again after dinner since his cousin was a southerner and could get better bargains.

i also learnt that northern and southern vietnamese speaks with a different accent and apparently the 2 sides doesn’t go well with each other.

went back to the hotel to freshen up before going down to his cousin’s place for dinner, i was rather reluctant to go since i’ll probably feel awkward but had to give charlie and his cousin face.

there were a total of 7 of us including charlie’s sister, 2 cousins and their parents. the spread was huge but my choice was rather limited.

they had beef from a baby cow which tasted rather odd, clams which i don’t eat, weird looking greens, a soup that was filled with the vegetable i hate most (can’t remember the name offhand but they do have it in singapore as well) and a plate of prawns fried with onions and peppers.

love the fried prawns and onions but barely touched the rest of the food. all the food were spicy and i badly needed water but all that was available to me was red wine.

sat down at the living room for a while (for them to chat) for another 45 minutes which seems like hours to me. thank god for the fruit basket that kept me company. i think i almost finished the whole pamelo myself.

left the place and took a cab down to the place we saw the badminton stuffs hours ago but most of the shops were already closed so decided to go somewhere else. i suggested the club at sheriton hotel but somehow the idea was rejected and we ended up at this club which sells s$19 milk shakes.

there was a live band with people singing. the singers were rather good, better than our singapore idiots idols anytime but too bad i didn’t understand their language. they actually sang some chinese and cantonese songs but i could hardly make out the words…pronunciation was too off.

oh and the fat girl i met last night at dinner came along as well, found out later that charlie and his sister are actually trying to matchmake the fat girl and their cousin (nicknamed fat boy) together.

left the place after an hour or so, i was dead bored there and only had chewing gums and my strawberry milkshake to keep me company.

charlie’s cousin left with the fat girl since it was already getting late but charlie, his sister and i decided to go for a walk and maybe grab some supper.

ended up at this fastfood place, probably their equivalent to our mcdonalds (i didn’t see a single mcdonalds there). the place was open 24 hours but we were the only customers there. ordered a burger meal which tasted very alike mcdonald’s samurai burger but better. however, the same cannot be said for their fries and chicken tenders, they were just aweful!

the set meal…look at the chicken tenders, they look really horrible and it tasted horrible as well.

the burger, upside down. i still have no idea what meat it is but i think it’s beef.

chalie and his sister camwhoring while waiting for my food

i later found out that charlie’s sister is actually not his real sister but his cousin, he didn’t want to explain it in details so it’s probably something i shouldn’t know.

took a walk along the streets after supper and saw this…

from first impression, one would assume this building to be a cinema or a night club from the neon lights and bright colours but it isn’t…it’s actually a community center.

i wonder what’s inside…a small casino?

had a meeting with nokia in the morning but i didn’t feel a need to attend it since i’ll be as useful as a spec of dust so decided to just stay in office and let charlie handle it.

woke up at around 10am and wanted to blog but ended up getting glued to animax, hbo and some other channels.

charlie came back at around 12pm, took a bath and rested for a while.

yes, he’s wearing my shirt cause all his clothes have been sent for washing, that’s what you get from bringing only 2-3 shirts for a week long trip.

finally we have sometime to go out and enjoy a little. went around the shopping centres ready to spend my money since i’ve hardly touched the money that i changed.

bought some magnets for zhilong, a box of abba greatest hits for myself and 2 pairs of undies for shenton…weird that another guy will ask me to buy undies for him overseas.

this is the first time i’m shopping overseas with nothing to buy. everything was either cheaper in singapore or things i know i won’t buy.

took some random pictures while shopping…

manual erp gantry, just like singapore before the erp started

stop for pasteur?

went for dinner after that, was craving for the same food we had on our first day here so decided to have it again.

nam bo!

sounds like mambo…

was supposed to have dinner with ah dung, the colleague from our vietnam office but he couldn’t make it last minute so charlie got his cousin, sister & sister’s friend to come along for dinner.

order a charcoal bbq beef and a plate of veggies while waiting for them…

here’s the beef

charlie also ordered a plate of greens, i’ve no idea what it is and he doesn’t know the english name for it

bird eggs and some leaves as appetizers

bird eggs or birds? gross!

when everyone has arrived, more food were ordered.

more greens…

roast chicken! the chicken here in vietnam are very different from singapore. they are skinny with not much meat but they taste so much better than the ones in singapore.

chicken head!

here’s a group photo, too bad charlie’s cousin had his eyes closed

didn’t get a good picture but the plants there are actually roses, heaps of them bought by charlie’s sister

went separate ways after that and headed back to the hotel.