We interrupt your regular programming for this important message :
Been bombarded with projects that i’m not supposed to be doing. I’ve handed it all them nitwits, but why do I get them back…
My head’s feels like exploding … and I’m sick of covering for everyone’s work … kids nowadays .. semua nak suap mana buleh. Research la sendiri ..
Sekian. terima kasih.
BTW, tested the VisualDNA thingie. Hehehe .. i’d say it’s 90% accurate
It’s 6am, and it’s already bright outside … Free bottled water from the hotel
Waited for the driver from ACB to pick us up. My first taste of morning traffic in Vietnam. Road was moderately packed .. with throngs of motorcycles ..
uuu .. a Hummer …
No traffic lights at a junction. Must have the guts to drive here. See the pink piggy leading the way …
Arrived at ACB. That’s the main building. The training is at the datacenter.
Met with the guys that came to Malaysia for the initial training. Got to try their instant coffee. Small cup, but pack a wallop of caffiene punch. Strong stuff …
Lunch time was a dilemma. Asked Hafiz to tell them to get vegetarian. Tawakal je la ..
Orange juice, but it’s actually tangerine. Tasted better that your typical mamak Fresh Oren :p
Vietnamese sour vege soup. Came loaded with batang keladi, ladies fingers and bean sprouts. Tasted like asam pedas sans the pedas.
Deep fried tofu with lemongrass and chillies. At last, something worth eating ..
Continued the training till about 5pm. Waited for the driver to sent us back to the hotel.
While waiting, I observed someting wierd. Almost all cars here have rivets on their embelms. This includes the logos, the names, anything that sticks outside of the car. Asked them, they said it’s factory default.
BTW, the like chrome finishing too… kalau bawak gi Brother’s mesti sawan :p
To be continued …
Reached the hotel at around 5pm. It’s called the Oscar Saigon Hotel. From what I hardly heard at the office, the said i’d be staying at Saigon Hotel. Come to think of it , most hotels here has the name ??? Saigon Hotel.
Though the local time here is 6.00pm, it actually more like 7.00pm. See the sun’s setting already. That down there is the view from my hotel room.
My first night out in Ho Chi Minh City. Motor banyak giler. They rule the streets, and even the sidewalks. People here seems to have their motorcycle grafted to their butts.
That’s the Oscar Hotel where i’, staying. kindly rotate your monitor since i’m just too lazy to rotate the picture. See that car stuck on the wall ? That’s a real Ford Focus chasis stuck on the wall. 
And they do have big American cars here. Behold .. the Escalade .. That one big-ass SUV. 
Went to the mosque there to get something to eat. Tutup la pulak. Hafiz said there’s another place nearby that has halal food. He haven’t tried eating there before.
Found the place. Small but ok.It’s called Bombay somethin’ somethin’ (:p can’t remember). Obviously the boss was an Indian muslim but the workers are all Vietnamese. They can speak Malay too…
This place has Indian food, but we settled for fried rice. Tasted like what fried rice should be, but them Viet loves black pepper. It has black pepper sprinkled on it. Being kinda sensitive to black pepper, I proceed cautiously.
Lapar punya pasal, abih jugak semua :p
Total damage was VND 68000, for 2 fried rice, 1 lemon tea and 1 orange juice. 68000 = +- RM 12.00. Counting money here is very confusing since there’s a lot of zeroes involved 
Continued walking around after that.
Pork … Pork .. Pork .. Pork … It’s everywhere ..
Walked till the harbour front. Hafiz told me he haven’t got here before, since he came earlier with Yus (=not enough stamina to get here :P). Yeah, if I Yus were still here with us, we won’t make it this far through Ho Chi Minh. Thank God he went back to Malaysia early :p
The harbour is not actually at the sea. It’s on the Mekong River. Can see some big frieght ships at the other side.
Lots of people lepak here. All on motorcycles :p
Couples pun banyak jugak. Hugging and smootching … 
Oh, there’s a ferry to get to the other side too. It’s a short distance. Reminded me to the Sayong boats at Kuala Kangsar. It has 2 decks, the top for pedestrian, and the bottom for motor vehicles, which obviously crammed to the brim with motorcycles.
That down there is a boat converted into a restaurant.
Enough walking for tonight. Headed back back to the hotel. Tomorrow’s a working day. Must sleep ..
To be continued …
Safely landed at Tan Son Nhat International Airport at 3.40 pm (where’s the missing 1 hour ..). The weather’s kinda hot, a ‘lil bit windy.
So this is Indochina .. this is where the VietCongs lived :D uu .. napalm ..
Landed not at the main terminal. Had to get on a bus to get to the imigration counter. There’s 3, I got unto the last one.
In ‘da bus. Note that the 737 is in the background. Can you spot me in the picture ? >:D
‘da busses. All three of ‘em. The blue plane there is Vietnam Airline’s Boeing 777. Huge …
After the bus ride came the imigration check. Nice, they’ve got special lanes for ASEAN citizens. Since when does Australia join ASEAN ? (yeah, there were a bunch of mat saleh’s holding australian passports queuing the lane too..)
Imigration check was ok, though very slow. Had to wait for almost 30 minutes in line. There’s this mat saleh cursing, "30 fuckin’ minutes !", repeating it all the way out of the imigration counter to get his luggage
Switch on my phone and thank god my international roaming is still in service. Got a SMS from Hafiz that he and the other Viet guys are waiting outside.
The guy’s came in a taxi. It’s a Mitsubishi Jolie. Haven’t seen this yet anywhere before. Looks like a Toyota Unser crossed with a Pajero.
Whoosh … here we go on the taxi .. seemed to be smooth .. until ..
the first traffic light .
Swarms of motorcycles. No one wears helmet here. Notice the uber-small baby traffic light there ? that’s just nice for those on the motorcycles. But here, no one really obeys the lights >:) Must be a cool place for those rempit wannabes ..
Oh, honking on the road is a must. The streets are very noisy. Pedestrian will cross the road at any time. Right in the middle of the swarming vehicles. Oddly enough, the traffic will just flow around you if you’re in that situation. No accidents too …
BTW, coming to a junction or roundabout is just plain scary :O .. or is it because they drive on the leftside of the road that needs a little bit of getting used to ..
if you’ve seen the video of how the traffic is in India, well, you get the idea ..
To be continued …
Had to go to Ho Chi Minh City to train those damn lazy Viets at ACB on March 4th till the 8th. I didn’t want to go, but after numerous attempts skipping prevoius trips quite succesful(made thousands of lame excuses to the boss :P) , this one didn’t.
Anis sent me to KLIA. Ate first at Mcd. Seen here filling her McD Drive-thru VIP form hmm… free apple pie ….
*mushy stuff alert - other readers please ignore*
She’s really kinda sad at this time.. (Don’t worry dear, i’ll take care of myself there, and i’ll be back real soon :* :*)
*end of mushy stuff*
Boarded the 737 in the economy class. Leg room sucks, pretty much like the one’s in KTM’s second class.
Anyway, the plane took off somewhere at around 3.00pm.
20 minutes later, in-light lunch was served. Chicken Kelantan with rice, some wierd sotong salad and a decent-sized baked cheesecake. The chicken was ok, tasted like an unholy alliance of percik and rendang. The sotong salad was good, but the real star was the cheesecake. Cold and firm enough to cut without crumbling it. It was really dense and creamy …
That’s Terengganu’s coastline :
Entered Vietnam air space 90 minutes later. Seen here is only a part the the Mekong River.
Landed on Indochina’s soil at about 3.30 pm, after 1 1/2 hours.
Let’s see .. took off at 3.00 pm + 1.5 hours of flight = landed at 3.30 pm = what happened to the missing 1 hour ?
OMG !
I’ve gone back 1 hour to the past :O .. (you noob, that’s because Vietnam’s timezone id GMT+7 as opposed to Malaysia’s GMT+8, do the math ..)
to be continued …
Finally , i’m connected !!!(going to the CC sux, line’s so siputy slow)
Damn, still no internet connection at the office till next week …
Oh TMnet & TimeNet , how i loathe thee ..
At least all those unproductive hours at the new office was worth something .. >:)
