Day 4 – Taking A Break
Today, Bob is meeting his client and I do not
wish to follow. So I decided to stay in the hotel to take a break and do my work. Yes, I have lots of work to do ranging from my own study, office work, blogging etc. Actual there is one “most go” place in Ha Noi – the Halong Bay. Unfortunately we need at least two days to visit Halong Bay but we are flying off Ha Noi in 2 days time. Plus the fact that Bob still has business appointments, so we have to give it a miss. But mark my word – “I’ll Be Back”!
After Bob left, I climbed down the stairs to the reception to send in my laundry. The friendly receptionist Van Anh was at the counter. I chatted with her and asked if I can order for lunch. It is a budget hotel so there is no room service. Van Anh replied that she could help me to order for lunch. I asked her whether if she is ordering from a restaurant. She nodded. I was a bit puzzled as I don’t recall any decent restaurant nearby except those located along Hoan Kiem Lake. But those restaurants are not cheap. Apparently, the hotel staffs also order their meal from the same source. Then I asked whether if it is ok for me to dine with the hotel staff. I mean come on, what’s the point of eating in my room alone. I should mingle around, networking and understand people’s culture. Van Anh invited me to join them with delight. I was in the mood and so I told Van Anh to order for more food like fish, pork, chicken and everything and it’s on the house.
At around 12:20pm, I got a call from the reception “sir, your lunch is ready”. I walked down the stairs again and jokingly reminded Van Anh that my name is "James", not “sir”. There is a table in font of the hotel reception and I saw three lunch boxes. When Van Anh opens it up, oh gosh it was just three simple lunch boxes – rice with meat plus vegetable. That’s all. Each box came with different selection of meat. And you can tell that the food was prepared by certain “household” and it was very cheap - 15,000 Dong per box, equivalent to around S$1.50. Actually my intention was to order for many dishes and we (hotel staff and myself) can all share the dishes together. Then came in another young and humble chap by the name of Yog (I don’t know the exact spelling). I invited him to sit down to eat together. A bit of intro – Van Anh speaks good English, the best I encountered so far in Vietnam. That probably explain why she is hotel line. She attends the language class after work. She joined the hotel for couple of months whilst Yog had joined for at least a year. Of course they asked about my job, my holiday here, my feedback and all the usual stuff.
After the lunch, Van Anh said that she wish to give me a treat for the lunch. I rejected the offer. I replied that I am on holiday and she is working so I can’t possibly let her buy me lunch. Instead I paid for all the lunch boxes.
Meeting The Accountants
In the evening, Bob’s group of friends came to invite us for dinner. All these people are accounts professional including a senior management accountant. One thing about Vietnam hotel you need to know is that Vietnamese girls are not allow to enter into the hotel room. This is especially so for 3-stars and above hotels. Foreign girls are ok but not Vietnamese girls. I’m sure you know why. Prostitution is strongly prohibited in most hotels, if not all. Vietnamese government spare no effort in fighting against HIV. If you brought along a Vietnamese wife, then I suppose you need to produce your marriage cert. Vietnamese girls know the rules; they hardly enter into the hotel room unless there is very good reason to do so. So Bob’s friends waited for us at the reception. As usual, we always let the local friends decide the venue since we were still new to this place. We hired a cab and so the ladies brought us to a famous place to eat. It was the same place (quan an ngon) that we had our dinner the night before (with Son). But we have no problem going into the same restaurant since there are many other dishes that we have yet to try. When I look around, there were indeed many foreigners dining inside the restaurant. And many of them look like some big shots to me. I chatted with one of the lady (Lan) who is a senior management accountant. She does budget/forecast for her company and managed a group of accounts personnel. And guess what! I am also doing budget/forecast for my company! But, I don’t do accounts and I don’t have any accounts staff. I felt so small!!!!
And so we ended the night early as we (or Bob) have an early appointment next morning.
Today, Bob is meeting his client and I do not
wish to follow. So I decided to stay in the hotel to take a break and do my work. Yes, I have lots of work to do ranging from my own study, office work, blogging etc. Actual there is one “most go” place in Ha Noi – the Halong Bay. Unfortunately we need at least two days to visit Halong Bay but we are flying off Ha Noi in 2 days time. Plus the fact that Bob still has business appointments, so we have to give it a miss. But mark my word – “I’ll Be Back”!After Bob left, I climbed down the stairs to the reception to send in my laundry. The friendly receptionist Van Anh was at the counter. I chatted with her and asked if I can order for lunch. It is a budget hotel so there is no room service. Van Anh replied that she could help me to order for lunch. I asked her whether if she is ordering from a restaurant. She nodded. I was a bit puzzled as I don’t recall any decent restaurant nearby except those located along Hoan Kiem Lake. But those restaurants are not cheap. Apparently, the hotel staffs also order their meal from the same source. Then I asked whether if it is ok for me to dine with the hotel staff. I mean come on, what’s the point of eating in my room alone. I should mingle around, networking and understand people’s culture. Van Anh invited me to join them with delight. I was in the mood and so I told Van Anh to order for more food like fish, pork, chicken and everything and it’s on the house.
At around 12:20pm, I got a call from the reception “sir, your lunch is ready”. I walked down the stairs again and jokingly reminded Van Anh that my name is "James", not “sir”. There is a table in font of the hotel reception and I saw three lunch boxes. When Van Anh opens it up, oh gosh it was just three simple lunch boxes – rice with meat plus vegetable. That’s all. Each box came with different selection of meat. And you can tell that the food was prepared by certain “household” and it was very cheap - 15,000 Dong per box, equivalent to around S$1.50. Actually my intention was to order for many dishes and we (hotel staff and myself) can all share the dishes together. Then came in another young and humble chap by the name of Yog (I don’t know the exact spelling). I invited him to sit down to eat together. A bit of intro – Van Anh speaks good English, the best I encountered so far in Vietnam. That probably explain why she is hotel line. She attends the language class after work. She joined the hotel for couple of months whilst Yog had joined for at least a year. Of course they asked about my job, my holiday here, my feedback and all the usual stuff.
After the lunch, Van Anh said that she wish to give me a treat for the lunch. I rejected the offer. I replied that I am on holiday and she is working so I can’t possibly let her buy me lunch. Instead I paid for all the lunch boxes.
Meeting The Accountants
In the evening, Bob’s group of friends came to invite us for dinner. All these people are accounts professional including a senior management accountant. One thing about Vietnam hotel you need to know is that Vietnamese girls are not allow to enter into the hotel room. This is especially so for 3-stars and above hotels. Foreign girls are ok but not Vietnamese girls. I’m sure you know why. Prostitution is strongly prohibited in most hotels, if not all. Vietnamese government spare no effort in fighting against HIV. If you brought along a Vietnamese wife, then I suppose you need to produce your marriage cert. Vietnamese girls know the rules; they hardly enter into the hotel room unless there is very good reason to do so. So Bob’s friends waited for us at the reception. As usual, we always let the local friends decide the venue since we were still new to this place. We hired a cab and so the ladies brought us to a famous place to eat. It was the same place (quan an ngon) that we had our dinner the night before (with Son). But we have no problem going into the same restaurant since there are many other dishes that we have yet to try. When I look around, there were indeed many foreigners dining inside the restaurant. And many of them look like some big shots to me. I chatted with one of the lady (Lan) who is a senior management accountant. She does budget/forecast for her company and managed a group of accounts personnel. And guess what! I am also doing budget/forecast for my company! But, I don’t do accounts and I don’t have any accounts staff. I felt so small!!!!
And so we ended the night early as we (or Bob) have an early appointment next morning.
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