Saturday, September 30, 2006

Surprise


Last Monday when I just stepped into office after coming back from Vietnam, I got the biggest surprise I have this year. A card - A REAL CARD, A HAND WRITTEN CARD - from New York, from one of my close high school classmates. We have not seen each other for over 12 years I think.

I was really very very surprised and touched when I saw it. I have always known that I have good friends around me though they are not really next to me physically. We care for each other in our own way and I believe this is what we call life-long friends. Therefore, I also picked up pen to "WRITE" a card for her and that's something that I have never done for a few years. It's really very different from writing e-mail. Just like what's written on the card. It's not just "Hello" when it is written this way.

Planning to go US if I succeed in opening overseas market by the end of this year. Hope I can make it and meet up with you in New York.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Movie Marathon

Sort of breaking my personal record this weekend as I watched four movies: The Banquette on Fri, Miami Vice on Sat, P.S. and Imaging Me & You today. "Love" is such a popular topic that all the movies here are talking about it. One killed his brother because he loved or I should say desired the sister in law. One sacrificed herself in a way to be the stepmother or aunt because she wanted to save her lover's life. Love between a man from the justice side and a woman dealing with illegal stuff. Love between a 39-year old woman and a 20 plus man who looked like her first true love in high school but died early. Love between a newly wed woman who meet her MISS RIGHT during her wedding. All the different types of loves but what is love actually?

A question that I have been wondering for the past one day. People love by sacrificing, compromising, forgiving, forgetting. The other day, talked with a good friend about her Long Distance Relationship. People sacrifice or compromise to make the relationship work. Lately, heard from another good friend that she forgave to make the relationship work. I support all their decisions because they are working on what they want, but what am I working on?

Have been spending quite a lot of time alone, traveling, working, eating, reading, walking, sleeping, surfing, shopping, watching movie. There was a particular moment when I was watching movie today that I just wanted him to be next to me. Just want to feel his smell, his voice, his hand, his warm shoulder, but where is he? That's probably a question that I would never ask.

National Flag


Went to Fullerton Hotel for a drink with friends yesterday night. After the drinking and chatting session, we decided to walk around Boat Quay area to enjoy the midnight breeze. After one round that we came back to Fullerton Hotel, we saw a very interesting and exciting scene as we saw TAIWAN NATIONAL FLAG flying up there. Not sure who is the important people staying there, but we are really excited to see our national flag flying at public area like this.

I like people calling me TAIWANESE and I like Singapore as they recognize my nationality as TAIWANESE.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Haha... Daddy Mommy Are Coming Finally!!

Finally, my parents are visiting me in Singapore after my 5 years plus stay here. They always said that it's better for me to go back and I can fly back twice if both of them are coming over. However, it's for my MBA graduation ceremony in Nov this time. There is no more excuse.

I just booked the ticket for them yesterday as I saw the special promotion on Singapore Airline's website. It costs only TW$3999 per person excluding tax and surcharge. Even with tax and surcharge, it's less than NT$6500 per person. Don't think I can find anything better than this for them.

Haha... Anyway, they are coming finally. I have started to plan for their trip here. The funny part is other than Night Safari and Santosa, I actually plan the whole trip based on the various types of food to eat. Can't really think of any other must-go places as they are not keen on shopping at all. So let's just eat eat and walk walk lu...

Monday, September 18, 2006

Forbidden City


Went for Forbidden City tonight and it's quite a good performance though I'm expecting some more from Kit Chen. Basically, the story went on quite well with the nice stage setting, humors and performance. Generally, I would say it's a good show worth watching and I'm happy that I bought the ticket quite early so I got some early bird special price and the seat was quite good. For those who have not yet catch, it definitely worth a try.

Part of the performance is talking about betray and why people are afraid of love because they know it would end with end somehow. Guess that's what I have believed so far and it's not easy for me to open up my heart. Not sure if I would change my view later but I do believe it doesn't worth the time and efforts if I know it's going to end anyway.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Vietnam Telecom 2006

RANGER at Vietnam Telecom 2006
City Hall
This is my 3rd time visiting Vietnam and the 2nd time this year. This time, we took part in the exhibition to penetrate into Vietnam market. The response from the consumers on the products are quite positive but seems it's not that easy to penetrate into the distribution channel. Anyway, it's my challenge to open this market and guess I need to work harder to get our brand and products popular there. So I should be visiting Vietnam again soon.
Jenny @ Inter-Continental Hotel
We went there last Monday evening as we need to do the set up on Tuesday. This time, we stayed at a apartment near exhibition hall which is about 8KM from downtown. However, the amazing traffic makes this 8KM quite a distance to reach. First night, I walked around downtown with my colleague. I actually know a bit about this area because of my last trip. It's quite fun visiting these places again.

I always like to walk around whenever I'm traveling as I think that's the best way to get to know more about how local people live. So on the second day, we started to explore HCM City by ourselves. We walked around the local market to find our breakfast.
First Day Breakfast Part 1
First Day Breakfast Part 2
First Day Breakfast Part 3
We tried the small cake baked by the portable charcoal stove, the French baguette and the Vietnamese pho for breakfast. That was quite a interesting start.
Authentic Vietnamese PHO recommended by Ms Wu
RANGER Girls after PHO
Later that night, we went for the authentic Pho recommended by Ms Wu with my director and colleagues. Body language is really useful as we simply pointed around to tell them what we want.
Jenny at Binh Thanh Market
On sat, our last night in HCM city, we went to the famous Binh Thanh Market which is selling all kinds of different stuff such as food, accessories, textiles etc. It's my first time going inside though I have been there a few times as they normally closed around 6pm. This is really tourist place as they are selling SKY HIGH prices there. Can just go there for experience but for shopping, I would recommend those small shops a few blocks away. Those small shops are much better as they are offering their own design at a much more reasonable prices.
Roadside Carrot Cake Stall
Amazing Carrot Cake
DSC00815
Nice Roadside Food
We tried the local carrot cake there at roadside. It's another portable charcoal stall. Though it's a small stall at the roadside, it's really quite nice and the business is quite good as there are quite a number of local people eating there together with us. Besides, we also tried that shop that I saw at my last trip. The fresh spring roll and the fried rice with chicken slice.
The best dessert
Happy Celina with the nice dessert
Happy Jenny too
After that, we walked back to the central area and this is the best dessert that I had in this trip. Restaurants or shops here tend to decorate their places with the local arts and paintings which make them very unique. The creativity part here is really amazing.
Last day's breakfast at roadside stall
Magic stove inside the stall
Yes, that's my breakfast
Enjoying THE breakfast
This morning, we finally got to try the French baguette at the corner near our apartment. It's another small stall with a small stove inside to fry the eggs and that's really amazing to me. The baugette and cafe are quite nice though it's just a small stall at roadside. This breakfast should be a good ending for all my meals in HCM city this time.
Thinh Vyuong Hotel
This is the apartment we stayed this time. I was a bit shocked when I first arrived as this is sort of one man show operation so that it's quite different from the hotel set up that I used to stay. However, this is quite a nice and warm place to stay and I can't find any other place more convenient to the exhibition hall though there is nothing much around at night.
Shopping Thiumph
Last, this is what I got this trip. A nice handbag costs US$4, a nice skirt with embroidery costs US$22 and the Vietnamese coffee and filer.

Vietnam now should be quite similar to what Taiwan was a few decades ago. So I did not find it very different. Besides, with my experience in Malaysia, I found it quite easy for me to survive here. To summary, it's quite a fruitful trip and I would return again soon to continue my market penetration there.

Nancy's Wedding Pictures


Just got the link from Nancy for her wedding photos. She should be the earliest one to get married among us with the similar age. It's really nice to see good friends having found the person who can share and acompany her for the rest of the life. Seems I would be attending some more weddings later this year. Congratulations to all of you. : )