additional notes

Alain P, the Port's Area Manager. He's a very funny & easygoing French man.. I find his actions a lil like Mr Bean. Haha..
Pic taken at a coffee house in Hanoi's Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.

This the room where I spent a night in Hanoi. Don't ask me "how come there's a pillar in the middle of nowhere??"... I was asking myself that too once I stepped into the room. It's a small hotel - Majestic Salute Hotel in the old quarters of Hanoi.

The toilet was clean... believe they'd refurbished the rooms recently. The bathtub looked nice rite? It's actually plastic (or perhaps some kind of acrylic fibre?) & not attached to the walls, ie. there's a gap between the tub & the walls. It's a lil shaky whenever I got in & after I showered, water would go through the gap & flowed underneath the tub then out to the drainage that's near the door. Hmm... for that I'm not very comfortable as it'd mean there's a possibility that bugs might breed in damp & hidden areas... the creature that I fear most in my life - cockroach!! It'd be the scariest nightmare if I were to see a huge roach crawling out from under the tub! Yeeeekzz! A mere thought of it gives me goose bumps..

Though they'd tried to renovate the room & at least kept it clean, the whole place looked drab & weathered.

I've Alain to thank for where I got myself in. Unlike his predecessor who's a lady & (like me) preferred to stay in good hotels, he's 1 who loves experiencing the true local way of living, as close to it as possible, & doesn't mind where he rest his feet... well guess the latter is a man's nature?

Oh yes... there's a lil prelude before our flight took off @ HCMC airport on Sunday. There's a bit of commotion as Presdient George Bush was at the taxiway... or so our fellow passengers at the windows exclaimed. Hubby did see a car next to our aircraft but I didn't bother to look as there're too many heads in front of me wanting to catch a glimpse. But based on the traces of events - APEC meeting in Hanoi & when we're back I did read on papers about President Bush arriving in HCMC around the same time, I'd no doubts about what they said. So we're in the same country as many important leaders & diplomats at the same time huh... hmm...

OK, as for those stuff I bought in HCMC... I'm carrying/wearing these to office today!

My pretty turquoise bag

My matching clogs