Touring Vietnam – Prelude
Finally, after what has seemed to be a never ending flow of work; updates for Symmetry, media meetings for brochure and CD/DVD Rom design work, development of said DVD and CD-Rom products, itinerary scheduling for an upcoming trip abroad in September, project documentation and notes for while I am away in Vietnam, software development meetings and progress reviews, teleconferences with resellers in Belgium and Phoenix… Finally, after a week and a half of holding the fort and preparing for my own leave of absence have I completed everything on my list and am feeling comfortable about stepping out tomorrow for two weeks while I explore Vietnam with my babe.
I am now one step closer to looking forward to the Vietnam trip. Up until now the trip has been shrouded behind the escalating piles of papers and tasks that have been dumped on my desk since taking the helm while my co-worker is off running through the Sahara trying not to get trampled by elephants or eaten by a lion. During this time, aside from the occasional moments of boredom which are quickly rectified by visiting my co-workers at the other end of the building I have been most productive, and firmly believe I have shown my peers and superiors just how well I perform.
These efforts of late have been rewarded by my September/October holidays to the United States and Europe being approved along with substantial compensation due to ‘work related’ stopovers I agreed to do whilst away. As much as this trip is a blessing, the timing of this proposal has taken the lime light away from Vietnam almost completely. Which I find both sad and mesmerizing; sad, simply because time goes by so quickly, and part of the travel experience is looking forward to a trip, something I have been robbed of and mesmerizing simply because we haven’t yet departed for Vietnam and we are already knee deep in planning the next larger trip.
So what can I say about this next trip? Well, the flight itinerary has been in the works for some time. Currently, we have an approved itinerary and costing for it. What we are currently waiting for is the go-ahead from my boss, and in turn, he is currently waiting for the resellers in the USA and Belgium to get back to him on the notification that I will be visiting them in September. If all goes according to plan, our journey will be as follows: Stopovers in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver and New York City, before flying over to London and finding our own way to Brussels where we then move on to St Petersburg and Moscow before returning back to Perth. Hopefully we will get the green-light on this in the coming days so we can secure the airfares.
Anyway, back to Vietnam. Our first stop will be Ho Chi Minh City, formally known as Siagon, the southern capital of Nam. I am not too sure what to expect of Ho Chi Minh, the write-up of our hotel (The Duxton) is very good, and the location of it is supposed to be very close to markets.. In my mind Ho Chi Minh is going to be the more rural of the two capitals, I am thinking a lot of farming produce and dirt roads. I guess I will see soon enough for myself. I can’t wait.. I am so looking forward to escaping western civilization for a while and just experience life in another country.