Vietnam Journey - Day 2 - from Saigon to Phan Thiet (Sept 24, 2007)

Denis and I woke up pretty early in the morning. Had some light breakfast in hotel and then waited outside the infamous travel agency - Sinh Cafe - for the bus departing for an overnight journey to Mui Ne of Phan Thiet, about 5.5 hours drive from Saigon.

The bus was full of people of different nationalities. We bumped into 2 girls - one from Beijing and one from Korea both travelling on their own. On arrival, we had lunch in the Mui Ne Resort Hotel and then proceeded to a pretty remote area in Mui Ne for sand-sliding. Originally we intended to go fishing but for unknown misunderstanding, we boarded the wrong bus and thus joined the wrong group for a wrong activity - sand-sliding. It turned out to be not bad though probably fishing in a boat might be more fun.

In the evening, Denis, Qing (the lady from Beijing) and I had dinner together and then moved on to play snooker before we had fun in the swimming pool. After so much laughter in the pool, we went outside to join 2 Korean ladies in a beach bar called Pogo for midnight drinks. I then noticed that the bar is owned and run by a German lady who has been staying in Mui Ne for 2 years. She leased the land for 12 years and invested some money to build the pub nicely.

And then I bumped into a Swedish-French who has been staying in Mui Ne for 8 years. In fact, Mui Ne is really a small town technically without any fun. But I really admire the two foreigners who are able to let go everything at home and then live in a super remote small town for the rest of their life. I asked myself what I'm looking for? My desire grows as I get more and more. There is never an end. For now, my dream is to earn a reasonable living for the rest of my life and then I can 'retire' early and do something that I like.

Beijing Olympics 2008

During my stay in Beijing, I experienced the impact of traffic jam myself.

From Aug 17-20, Beijing Municipal Government conducted a trial-run of a measure to control the number of vehicles to half of the normal number. On the day when I arrived Beijing (which was Aug 19) as well as on Monday (Aug 20), I felt that the traffic in Beijing was pretty good 'cos I could hardly see any traffic jam in the streets. But then my colleagues told me not to be that happy right away 'cos that was a result of the trial-run. I should be able to witness the seriousness of traffic jam the next day. And yes! I experienced that myself when I was on the way to a meeting in a remote area outside of the downtown. I was stuck in the road for an hour without moving ahead for even 1 meter. Of course finally I (and my colleagues) didn't attend the meeting (actually a visit to a logistics centre of dangdang.com - the largest online shop in China) and went back to our office in city centre as soon as the driver found the way out as I needed to catch my flight back home. Traffic is one of the top priorities to be resolved before the Olympics next year.

Another issue to be resolved is the English language skills of the citizens in Beijing, and particularly taxi drivers. I casually talked to a taxi driver (actually to warm myself up to speak in Putonghua in the meeting I was going to attend) and asked about the English language skill issue. He said all of them are taking English classes to learn basic English. Of course we can't simply hope that these 1-year course will help them much ... but at least it helps.

There are really a lot to be done ... in preparation for the Olympics.

Good Business

For this Beijing journey, I'm staying in the same Traders Hotel that I spent a few nights several years ago. I recall that I had some yogurt in TCBY during that trip. I thought at that time that such shop wouldn't last for a year since that wouldn't be popular and thus not profitable in China. To my surprise, I see the shop just now in the same location of the shopping mall underneath the hotel.

Shops selling top fashion brands are everywhere in the shopping mall. The gap between the rich and poor is probably getting wider though on average people earn more and live a bit better than in the past.

Couldn't make up my mind for what to eat and thus I simply bought some sandwiches from Subway (almost same price as in Hong Kong!) for in-room dining. Cheers!

Beijing

Here I'm in Beijing again! I came here two months ago for a conference and this time I'm going to meet with a number of companies to explore co-operation. But don't worry, this particular post is not about business - it's about what I think and what I feel.

AppleDaily
The first thing that I noticed once I got onto the plane was that AppleDaily was not available inflight. When I saw the crew holding a pile of newspapers and asking me for my choice, I asked if she had AppleDaily. But after a second I suddenly realized the reason for not having that. I'm so insensitive to politics and I always focus on myself and my wish!

Efficiency
I walked quickly after getting off the plane but I actually doubted the efficiency of the airport service whethey the checked-in luggages would be in the belt as quick as I was. And yes, my doubt was valid! I spent about 20 mins standing in the belt to wait for my luggage. Perhaps I would consider buying stocks of Beijing Capital International Limited (0694) when their service level is up to international standard one day.

Beijing Olympics 2008
I saw over 200 people queueing up for taxi outside the airport. A lot of airport police youngsters were directing the taxi coming in but then it was still a bit chaotic. On the back I saw a super large TV screen playing video clips about the Olympics. And I saw a large construction site nearby for the airport-downtown railway. I hope everything will be getting better and better so that Beijing is ready for the world next year.