Pictures Taken during the London Journey

Vietnam Journey - Day 1 - Saigon (Sept 23, 2007)

Non-stop flying - Hong Kong - London - Hong Kong - Ho Chi Minh City

After the killing flight from London, I didn't really have rest 'cos by the time I was home, I unloaded everything from my little baggage and reloaded that with old t-shirt and shorts (I plan to throw them all in Vietnam!). Managed to finish packing at around 2am and then slept for 4 hours. My brother Anthony then gave me a ride - how lovely! - at 6am to the airport.

Arrived Ho Chi Minh City (also known as Saigon) at around 11pm. The flight was not full but when I looked around I felt that I was surrounded by 90% Vietnamese and the rest foreigners (Americans fighting the Vietnam war again!?).

I've great pleasure to see the brand new airport which was unrevealed just this month. Its design and various hardware are world-class but Vietnam still lags behind in terms of their software - the people and the operation efficiency.

Met my friend Denis in the backpacker paradise - Pha Ngu Lao. He came the day before. I was supposed to arrive with him together yesterday but somehow I couldn't in view of the London business trip.

Had some light food (costing me VND170000!!!) together with Denis after he checked-out his room. We decided to move to a slightly better hotel - Vien Dong Hotel - in the same district with room rate at USD77. It was a 3-star hotel with a decent room. We then headed to the War Remnants Museum to see some exhibits used in the Vietnam war. A lot of pictures showing how cruel Americans (some are really disgusting!) were but I guess both Vietnamese and Americans were cruel when they were at war.

Had some authentic Vietnamese coffee afterwards and then took a taxi to the general post office - Bun Dien T.P. - it was built in the 18 century during when Vietnam was still a colony of France.

When it comes to vacation, you'll find that time runs quickly. We headed to Square One of the Park Hyatt Hotel for Vietnamese dinner. The coconut drink, lamb chop, fresh scallops, river shrimps and the authentic spring rolls all deserved our big hands! If you consider local living standard, the dinner costed us a fortune 'cos we paid USD120. But with the good food and cozy environment, the price is reasonable.

My First London Journey (Sept 19 - 22, 2007)

It sounded funny if you know that I only stayed 1 night in London with 2 nights on the plane.

Similar to the previous Frankfurt journey back in July this year, I took a midnight flight from Hong Kong and arrived in the early morning. But the problem this time was that the room was not yet ready and thus I could only changed my clothes without any shower or wash-up before attending the loooong meeting in office. The 2nd difference this time was that I couldn't upgrade to business class and thus you can imagine that a tall boy like me wouldn't have good sleep on the plane.

After the real-long full day meeting, I had chance to stroll around the Oxford Street and Regent Street for an hour - which was nothing if you want to shop around! I then joined colleagues for dinner in local English pub before heading back to hotel.

The next day, I had a full English breakfast in hotel. Did some exercise by walking from hotel to underground with collleagues 'cos no taxi was around in the hotel. It gave me a good chance to try the pretty old London underground. The design of the train is pretty funny - in a round tube shape. Tall people shouldn't stand close to the doors or thei heads will be chopped off when the doors close.

After the half day meeting, colleagues had a Chinese dim sum lunch in the office. Then the Hong Kong crowd (5 people including me) and our Dubai colleague Lavina spent another 2 hours in Oxford Street and the Convent Garden area before heading back to office in which I surfed the web a bit.

That was it! A real short journey.