Sweetest sound

On 29th March 2013, we heard the most sweetest heart beat that we have been longing to hear. The sound that I will never forget. It feels so excited, so fast and healthy. I am blessed!

Mommy was also too excited that she can't hold her laughter. The doctor was shock that the sound was too loud and lower down the volume of that ultrasound machine.

Me and mommy can't stop laughing and we sometimes look at each other and start laughing, so spontaneously...

Vietnam 2013

Its been a year since i last visited Vietnam, to be specific, i stayed in Ho Chi Minh City. Due to my work nature, travelling here is an annual event.

Here i am sharing my experience with probably nobody i know on this little, quiet blog of mine.

Its has been a tiring trip this year, I have lost track on the total mileage i had made. So, what are the experience that i gained this year. Quite a lot... let's get started!

First of all, i am really getting tired of flying. Travelling back and forth every week makes me thinking of what am i really doing here. Every mondays and fridays i won't missed this place, the Airport. My check-in at airports in my foursquare has topped the chart. But this time, i am smarter, i left my baggage at the hotel in HCMC so that i dont have to wait for it everytime i arrived airport. It saves alot of time.

One thing remains the same, the speed limits is killing me everyday while i am here. Oh, not really, to further add on my miserable travelling experience to customers place, there are two new drivers. My agent has got two engineers passed their driving test. So, the car is their training ground. Travelling has not been easy with speed limit of 40 to 60 km/h, it is getting worse with new drivers. What i didn't wished to see happened, ACCIDENT!. Well, its a minor one though. But it is a major hole for the engineer who drove the car as the compensation is about 30% of his monthly income. Nothing much to say about the transportation. Its just getting worse. But to compliment these two new drivers, they are getting better at driving. Hope that next year, when i, if i come again, they can drive even better.

About the colleague who travel with me. Its the same shitty attitude problem. Calling the locals monkey. Just wtf is his problem i have no fking idea. Just that he thinks he is smarter and everyone has to follow his way. I have gave up in moderating him about different culture has different way of doing things. So, ended up we had a complaint from one difficult customer. I don't like complaints, it shows that i am not professional enough in doing my job. But being in the same company, when complaints are made, we are at the same fcking boat, i hope he understand this point. Please don't drag me down to your level. Respect others as a human being, not monkeys!

About food. This year i tried more local food than the previous year. Found few new places for dinners. The one that top my list is the Mi Car Truong Dinh, it is located near my hotel, 5 minutes walk. They serve Cambodia pork noodles, soup and dry. My fav is the dry pork noodles. Another restaurant is the Nha Hang Mon Hue restaurant, aslo nearby my hotel, District 1. They serve mini clamps porridge and rice. Nice! Then the famous Ngon Restaurant, a more expensive restaurant serving all sorts of local foods. But it is a little bit pricey, one can see most of the diners are westerner. Then on and off while on the way to customer place, i ordered a take away Banh Mi, its a French Bread stuffed with either duck meat, pork, eggs or chicken with some vege. Convenient to eat on the move.

Tourist spot. Went to War Remnants Museum, Unification Palace and Ho Chi Minh Museum. I would say out of these three places, War Remnants Museum is a must visit spot. I've learnt a lot about the Vietnam War and what America did to this country. Pictures of this wars are being displayed to show what war has done to this country and how the locals were tortured. Even after the war has ended almost 20 years, the side effect of Agent Orange used by America before they exit Vietnam is still affecting the offspring of those affected. If you are visiting Ho Chi Minh City, worth your time and money!

I got a chance to show my friend from Malaysia who were here with his girlfriend for holidays few places in town. I played the role as Local Tourist Agent. A nice nite walk around town to places like Notre-dame, Level 23 @ Sheraton, and some other places that i do not know the name of it. It feels good when you have friends from Malaysia when you feel so boring overseas. Why is it boring? well, i walked to most of the places that i know of and too lazy to discover more. But i have to make sure that next year, if i come again, i have to visit Hard Rock Cafe Ho Chi Minh City, i said it last year but i am still too lazy to walk there.

Since i am here every week, i had a chance to catch up with my ex-colleague, she is a local. So, she took me to local places that i probably wont go on my own. It was a good catch up, she is getting married in October and invited me and wifey to attend her wedding, i had to refused because we are expecting a baby which at that time my wife is not convenient to travel by air. Congratulation!!!

To write about all my experience in Ho Chi Minh City this is will takes me few days and i am too lazy to write about it for now. Lets jump to my experience in Phan Thiet, my final week of this year schedule requires me to travel to a customer place in Xuan Loc, its 3 hours drive from HCMC and 1.5 hours drive from Phan Thiet. To make my life easier, my manager approved and agreed with the suggestion to stay in Phan Thiet.

Not only Phan Thiet is a tourist location by the coast line but it is also a hometown for my agent's service manager, Mr. Dahn. He arranged my accommodation at Duparc Ocean Dune hotel. And he took this opportunity to visit his family for a week. Talking about the hotel, it has sea views and golf course view. I was expecting him to booked me a seaview room but instead, he booked a golf course view for me... kidding me? yeah, really kidding me... anyway, this is a quiet hotel, nice beach, nice GOLF VIEW!

My stay in Phan Thiet this year give me a chance to experience the family life of the locals. I was invited by the Mr. Dahn to his house for dinners. Though there is a language barrier between me and his family members, but i felt so welcomed, the Mr. Dahn has then become my translator. He has been very hospitable, showing me around Phan Thiet. Visited the local market cos he said i should see how the locals everyday life. It was a nice visit.

On my last nite here now. Mr. Dahn invited me to dine in his house again. It was his nephew birthday. Its nice to see how the local celebrate birthday. After the dinner, Mr. Dahn and his family members took me to a local Cafe cum Karaoke. It was a fun nite overall and most of them have great voice!

Had a cup of coffee before the dinner and another cup of coffee at the Karaoke. Coffee in Phan Thiet is very strong and aromatic. Nice! And now i am overdosed. The caffeine kicks in, that's what keeping me awake now at 3.24am in the morning updating my blog!

Anyway, overall, for me, to cut the story short, Vietnam 2013 trip has been tiring but at the same time rewarding and memorable.

Sometimes customer just like to fuck around!

As I am here waiting for the customer to come back from lunch at a bus stop under fucking hot sun! I feel that the customer is fucking with me! Asshole said I can come in anytime including lunch time as their lunch time is free and somebody will be at the lab working!

So I arrived at 1215, called that bitch and she said "oh, it's our lunch time, please come at 1400"

What the fuck is fucking wrong with your fucking brain when you said I can come in and do my job earlier on?!

Bitch! Go to hell and hope they fixed your fucking brain while you are there! Ass!

I can feel the pain...

For her to experience it, is very cruel. Something that I know will shadows her for the rest of her life.

I felt useless for not able to take the pain she was in and I can see she was traumatised and devastated by this experience.

There are many whys going in her mind has left her questioning about the decision that we both made.

But... It's the best and only choice we had. I think this is life, full with surprises, ups and downs.

Rest assure that i will go through this with you. Like what i promised in our vows. We must be strong to accept this chapter in our life. It takes time but I am sure we can do it.

Its not our fault my dear.

Love you.

A sad day for us.

Something unexpected has happened. We received the bad news and were devastated by that news.

But we must stay strong and positive. It's heart broken to see her tears rolling down her eyes in silence.

Only comfort is what I can offer by hugging her tied as I brave myself to accept this fact. Just remember that this is not our fault. There are still hopes.

Stay strong dear. Love you.

Finally, the final week.

So, this is the final week of this year schedule to Vietnam. Finally!!! Finally i do not have to work with absent minded engineers, blur faces and somebody who do not understand what i want. Whether i am not clear in asking or they have trouble understanding my request, which i strongly believed is the latter.

What happened today really makes me think it is not my problem at all. We were at a big factory, this factory have few gates and there are few labs located at different gates. At each gate there is security post. After we finished calibrating the machines in the first gate, we went on to the second gate and so happened that it was lunch time. We were not allowed access till the lunch time finished.

So, we were told to wait. As i was not hungry and my back was really aching till the point that i have to walk like a hunchback old man, i decided to wait and asked the engineers to go ahead to lunch. Before that, i requested that I'll wait at the guard post. I talked to the engineer so that he can pass the message to the guard because guards here don't speak or understand English.

He went, talked to the guard and came back to me. He said the guard said cannot wait in the guard house. OK, fair enough, so i will wait outside the guard house. But i had another request, can i borrow a chair as my back was really pain. So he went and talked and came back to me. He said the guard said NO. Well, wtf? NO? OK, i told the engineer to go for lunch, i will stand outside the gate and wait.

After the engineer left and i stood there for few minutes, the guard handed over a chair to me. I don;t understand him but by the gesture, there you go, take the chair and sit outside. Right then, i was thinking, what the hell did the engineer said to the guard and got a NO as an answer?

Apart from this, there are many other cases where the answers you get from these engineers are ridiculous. For example,

1. When i asked them, why do you use the Air Re-freshener to clean the machine?
 They will say, well, it smells good and the customer like it.

2. Can you ask the customer where is the location of the lab?
They will looked at you with blur face and smile and just look around for the lab themselves.

3. You can't knock it that way it will get stuck.
No No No, if no knock cannot come out.
So they went and knock and it got stuck, they will then find other tools to knock it harder, a hammer. And it got stuck harder. Still do not ask for help and keep knocking. I can't just stand there and look, that's what my Malaysian colleague did. So i offered assistance. After i got that thing out, and explained to them why and what went wrong, again, the same blur face and this time a little disagree with my method. Cool huh?

And the list goes on.

I am so glad that this is the final week for Vietnam trip. I don't have to endure the local engineers attitude and behaviour. Also, i do not have to listen to nonsense in the car while travelling. Most of the conversation, lead by my Malaysian colleague, has to be related to some sort sexual activities and vulgar words.

I have never heard so much before and i am going to share it here.

What The F*ck, F*cking idiot, Masturbate, I cum shot Ur face if you don't shut up. Big tit, So Hai, gang bang, penis, blow job, hand job, suck my di*k. Imagine listening to all these words in a conversation, its amazing whats in his fu*king brain. Rite?

So, there are 3 more days and i am free from all these. But one thing i am going to miss here, is the coffee!!! Gonna buy few packets with me this trip.

OK, i am going to continue The Big Bang Theory. I am now at season 5 episode 7. Cheers!