Hanoi brief

Two days in Hanoi consisted of my introduction to the managing director and the team. Greg and all the staff members seem really nice and I am happy having been offered the opportunity to work for this renowned and professional company. I was introduced to several basic procedures by Janine, my colleague, who I had already met in Germany a couple of months before. In the evenings we went out for dinner and a cocktail party at the Press Club. I was welcomed in Vietnam with all comfort one can imagine, hotel rooms and personal transfers, services I had not had before when travelling individually on the backpack. Anyways, most important is that people are nice. In about six weeks the high season will start. I hope that I will be ready for my task until then and I will do a good job “có đi có lại…” as the Vietnamese say. I have to thank Greg and Janine so much for welcoming me so friendly and for them being helpful with any matter.

snapshot during my training in our Hanoi office – the view from the restroom(!)

arriving in Saigon – my new hometown for the next years

days in Bangkok

Bangkok finally became a great time and I will remember those days well. The lunches and dinners in cosy family restaurants or right out on the street with Alfred from Berlin came along with discussions on Thai and East Asian culture, on politics, on social issues, and all we are interested in…

meeting back Alfred - talking about Asia and the world

There was Irfan whom I met back in a Japanese Restaurant near Si Lom street where we had delicious Salmon Maki and good talks. Wolfgang from my university is staying in Bangkok in order to study in the library of Chulalongkorn University. So we met for a dinner on Sukhumvit and a round through Nana Plaza… just looking not touching. Nana Plaza is one of the red light areas in Bangkok; once more it was quite impressive to see how open and to which extent the industry is developed here. Anyways, it was good to get out of here soon as it was noisy and a bit stressful and the neither the clientele nor the girls (and boys) were the kind of persons we were interested in. We went home early and we will remain in contact…maybe until the next dinner in Bonn, Bangkok or Saigon.

me and Wolfgang - both a bit tired - in the skytrain station at Sukhumvit Road

Nana Plaza – visual pleasures as fast as light

Ladyboys and Gods – the bar-scene at the third floor of the Nana Plaza complex

Meeting friends, visiting universities and dropping in at our head-office, Bangkok was also a busy time, of which I have spent many hours in traffic jams in that concrete hell. When I had the meeting with our COO his first question was where I would see myself in 10 years. And honestly I have no idea. So my answer was not really professional and I was afraid I made a bad impression. In my opinion personal planning horizons distinctive like that simply aren’t realistic, following my experience regarding myself and also regarding other people I have met. Anyways, it finally became a nice conversation and I was welcomed very warm-heartedly by the management and the staff. And it was good to hear that I don’t need to wear a tie, as the philosophy and atmosphere in our company is very open and easygoing. And so is the dress-code, as long as we don’t have important meetings with clients. All I have learnt about the company does very much fit my own imaginations on how corporate culture and management style should be, and I hope I will meet their expectations and that it will be a fruitful cooperation with new perspectives opening up in the future.

Role taking in Bangkok: Is that me? Am I one of “them” now? I was happy to hear that our management style is constructive and that there is no need to wear tie!

Big City Life: the Bangkok skytrain system – like an anaconda in a concrete jungle

mass transportation in Bangkok: air-conditioned smog underground…

…overground…

…and above ground

And finally the person who made my stay in Bangkok that wonderful was Moji. She again became something like my teacher - a teacher of life. We have spent two and a half days together and it was so nice. Our reunion recalled our time last year, how good she was and how much she made me understand. She is a person who earns all my respect. I see her working hard and saving all her money. She does this not only for her future but also for her family and for the poor people in the streets. She makes extensive donations to temples and she lives in a simple place and saves up money in order to also fulfil her own dreams. One of them is a huge double-cabin pick up truck she had recently bought. This cute little girl, her reasonable, fair, honest, truthful and good way, the way of the Buddha, lets me admire her, makes her almost something like an idol for me. I feel a deep respect for her.

Moji – camera-shy as always

We have been to the Carrefour food court in Ratchada Street in north Bangkok, before going to Esplanade Center, a huge shopping mall with a stylish ice-slating court and a cinema of which the size of the lobby is almost as big as a whole cinema in Germany. At chilled temperatures we have watched a Korean movie which was a mixture of drama and comedy including a happy end with some tears in the eyes of the both of us.

the cinemas at the Esplanade Center on Ratchada Street, north Bangkok

spacy architecture - ice skating in a chilled-down shopping centre in a tropical city

On the next day I finally had the chance to show her a place that she did not yet know, and me neither. So we climbed the Golden Mount where we rang all the bells, said our prayers, made donations, ignited joss sticks and decorated the shrine with lotus. Then we consulted the oracle. For me it said “no lucks”. As a consequence we headed to Hua Lampong temple in order to put oil in the lamp. Moji donated to the rescue services and pinned her offerings-card on one of the coffins. After that, we had a stroll though Lumphini park where we were fooling around on gender issues.

a model of the Golden Mount at the Golden Mount in central Bangkok

The view from the Golden Mount: “Bangkok too big” – every direction offers the same picture

offerings at Hua Lampong Temple

two nights in Bangkok and…

...she is sitting in the airplane back to Vietnam again. On the first evening I still thought that inviting Thuy was a full success. She said that Singapore was not nice at all whereas Bangkok was nice and funny. She was totally impressed by Khao Sarn Road and paid her attention to every little detail, staring for minutes at all what’s on offer, such as the “dread your hair” guys at work, people carefully painting henna-tattoos, people cooking and selling Pad Thai and other local specialities, at all the stalls and shops. But later that night she could not sleep for some reason. She could not eat Thai food, could not breathe in this big city and would not survive until our appointment at the hospital, as she said. It would have been an important milestone in our relationship, but instead this event became very disappointing. We don’t know whether we can keep on this relationship in the way we did it before. I have to make a point right now. Maybe I was demanding too much. Maybe it simply doesn’t fit. For sure we will stay friends, and we will remain close. But maybe a relationship won’t work any further. When she left, it was a sad and stressful day, but yet, I was relaxed then. Much as I love her, life is maybe easier without her… unfortunately.

the only photo of our common stay in Bangkok – Thuy Hang and the Pad Thai stalls at Khao Sarn Road