Damned Hanoi-ing cold!

Here I am in Hanoi (Vietnam) on a business trip for the whole week. Temperature is ranging between 10 and 15 Celsius and the weather is all gray and sad. Quite a shock for me! I’ve not been exposed to such low temperature in the past two years, and I realize that I can’t stand it anymore! Or at least that I need time to adapt. It’s really damned annoying and depressing! Barely wanna go out at night and discover this amazing city!

Well, in order to not sound too negative, here is a good side of being here: French colonialism has left a strong influence on the Vietnamese cuisine, and I was happy to re-discover real croissant, cheese and oven fresh “campagne bread”. Not that I’m obsessed with those things, but once in a while it feels good to bite into good old bread tasting like bread.

Edit: One thing I forgot to mention: most of my colleagues around my cubicle are heavily smocking in the open space! Really disturbing, not to mention the impact on health in the long-term… I’m happy I was born in a world where, in most places, smocking in the office is not only frowned upon, but forbidden by law. Gosh that must have been really major annoyance when it was a normal practice in the offices!

Edit 2: I had the chance to secure a few hours on Friday afternoon to visit downtown before heading to the airport on my way to KL. I just fall in love with the city. I loved the narrow and crooked streets, the traditional handicraft in all the market places like Dong Xuan, the peaceful walk around Hoan Kiem lake and its Ngoc Son "floating" temple. I met a very kind lady who spent about one hour trying to teach me "survival vietnamese" in order for me to be able to order food at the foodstalls by the streets. It didn't feel bustling at all, and the whole city seemed very authentic to me. This city still has a soul. I can't wait to be back, but for the fun this time!

Indian hahas

With all respect due to the USA presidency, please enjoy this piece of joke I got from an (American) friend of mine, currently living in India, namely, Jayna:

“Donald Rumsfeld is briefing George Bush in the Oval Office.

‘Oh and finally, sir, three Brazilian soldiers were killed in Iraq today.’

Bush goes pale, his jaw hanging open in stunned disbelief. He buries his face in his hands, muttering ‘My God…My God.’

‘Mr. President,’ says Cheney, ‘we lose soldiers all the time, and it’s terrible. But I’ve never seen you so upset. What’s the matter?’

Bush looks up and says…’How many is a Brazilian?’”

-as seen in Eastern Panorama (January 2008), a monthly publication about North East India

Singapore Q&A

Kuality Time >> Hi Remi, is it true that last Friday was public Holiday and you took your motorbike out on a trip to Singapore?

Remi >> That's correct!

KT >> Awsome, how was that?

R >> Moist... it rained every afternoon :-( Fortunately I got to wake up early and enjoy some morning sun.

KT >> So it's been your trip on the East coast, then a trip up North to Penang & Pangkor, and now Singapore, not counting all the weekend trips in Selangor... Don't you get any bored of it???

R >> No, really not! It's been different every time: Malaysia is full of variety, and conservative East coast is definitely different from urbanized Penang or wild Pahang! And while driving down South through Johor I got to discover a new face of Malaysia: little towns that are fare less developed than Klang Valley, but that are still very different from conservative East coast. Actually I think this was a glimpse of what Malaysia used to be 50 years ago, before Kuala Lumpur and the whole Klang Valley become so industrialized.

KT >> Did you bring any picture back?

R >> Not really, I'm definitely not good at capturing urban scenes and I'm not happy with was I shot.

KT >> Come on, you're being shy, I'm sure you've got some OK shots!

R >> No, but I wanna work on this aspect of photography and learn how to capture street snapshots...

KT >> So you crossed borders by plane, bus, boat, car, train, taxi, foot... and now motorcycle. How was that?

R >> Actually a bit boring: a crowd of Malaysians from Johor Bahru crosses the border everyday to get to work in Singapore, and the queue of motorcycle is huge! With all those engines idling, I was breezing in exhaust gas during all the waiting time...

KT >> And how was Singapore?

R >> Actually I've been there 5 years ago. I remember when I was roaming through Little India, I thought it was a bit messy and dirty. Now, 5 years later, after living in Malaysia and traveling through South-East Asia, I found Little India was the cleanest Little India I ever saw! Singapore reminded me of some Europeans cities. The memory I had of Singapore from my previous trip 5 years ago was wrong: I forgot how much greenery there is, and how pleasant it is to walk around. Singapore strongly differentiates from other Asian capital in that it is not as bustling. I expect quite a reverse cultural shock when (if ever) I'll settle back to France...

Aside from this I really enjoyed the cultural display in Singapore, like the amazing Asian Civilization museum (currently being renovated btw, can't wait to see the new version). Singaporeans are very good at preserving cultural heritage and old buildings, which is definitely missing in M'sia.