Goodbye Somerset, Hello Intercontinental, Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, and Cat Ba Island

On Friday September 4th I officially checkout out of Somerset serviced apartments – my home for the last 2 months. I said goodbye to the staff that were so kind to me, made sure all my belongings were packed up, and headed off to the airport for my last trip to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay.

The two hour flight was a breeze, hopped in a cab and found myself at the Intercontinental Westlake in Hanoi. Let me just tell you it was so worth it to have splurged a bit on a totally luxurious hotel and resort. Before I even got out of the cab I had 2 doormen helping me out and taking my luggage.

I was told at check in there was complimentary happy hour from 6-8PM, I had free internet in my room, and breakfast the next morning. After getting my key and learning where everything was in the hotel (fitness club, pool, sunset bar, diplomat bar, where breakfast was served, Milan dining room, Saigon dinning room, and Intercontinental lounge) I was escorted up to my room to make sure everything was how I wanted it.

There was a welcome note and letter addressed to moi, welcome food platter, and minutes after the escort left I received a phone call from guest services making sure I felt comfortable and if there was anything else I needed to make my stay more comfortable, all I had to do was call. Talk about service!

My room was amazing; the bathroom was great complete with nice Jacuzzi bathtub and a shower with one of those over the head shower heads that was super powerful and gave the illusion of rain fall from above or being under a waterfall, you could select the setting. I had a great balcony over looking Westlake and there were even fishermen catching big fish – maybe it was my dinner? It had a nice dark wood floor, chic décor, comfy comfy bed, and a nice flat screen TV – totally perfect.

After settling in I had to take a walk around the resort and get my bearings – investigate where everything was and then make my way into the city of Hanoi and start my sightseeing – I pretty much knew what I wanted to see. The gym is so amazing, blasting cool air, modern equipment, total awesomeness, the pool that is surrounded by the lake is heaven, and everything about the resort is complete awesomeness.

After seeing where everything was I headed into the ancient quarter of Hanoi. The streets in the ancient quarter are so windy and narrow, you are much better of exploring these streets by feet. My first impression was how different Hanoi is from HCMC – there seems to be more going on, people aren’t as friendly, they are ready to rip you off at any chance they’ve got, its more built up but in a different way, it seems more confusing and chaotic, lots more shops but with crap, so much randomness to take in – I totally loved it.

I set off on a mission with my list of places I wanted to check out ready to go. I strolled around the Ancient quarter first, and then walked to Hoan Kiem Lake to see the famous The Huc (red bridge or sunbeam bridge) Thap Rua (in the middle of the lake) and Den Ngoc Son Temple. It was very serene and peaceful on the water. The legend of this area is that General Le Loi was presented with a magical sword from a golden turtle that lived deep in the lake waters. This sword assisted Le Loi in expelling the Chinese from Thang Long (Hanoi today). In the 19th century Thap Rua in the middle of the lake was built to commemorate when the turtle once again rose from the water to reclaim the sword.

I took a couple or more nice shots and headed onto the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Ho Chi Minh Museum, and One Pillar Pagoda. The Mausoleum is a great big structure situated near a huge green grass field with guards at every block. It reminds me of being in Washington DC actual which is ironic since Hanoi is also the capitol of this nation. After HCM died in 1969 the leading members of the Vietnamese altered his final testament to be cremated and instead embalmed him and installed him in the Mausoleum in 1975. This building is an important site for the Vietnamese especially for those living in the North.

I love the story about the One Pillar Pagoda – this structure was constructed by Emperor Ly Thai Tong in AD 1049. He had a dream that the Goddess of Mercy was sitting on a lotus flower and presented him with a baby boy. Soon after that dream he met and married Ly Thai Tong, a young queen who later bore him a son. To show his gratitude he ordered the construction of a singe pillared pagoda which represents a lotus flower.

In the same complex is the HCM Museum, that was est. in 1990, 1 century after HCM’s birth. This museum chronicles and celebrates his life and achievements.

When I finished these 3 stops in one visit there was a guy on a cyclo haggling me to get a cyclo ride. All I wanted to do was head back to the resort and he said it would only take him 5 minutes to get there for $2. I said why not, when in Vietnam…After about 10 minutes I knew we were nowhere near the resort and told him to stop, I wanted to get a cab. He then told me it was 200,000 VND which is $12, I told him NO, 50,000 VND is what he was getting because that is what is equivalent to $2 and he happily took it of course.

The cab took me back to the Intercontinental and I felt right at home as the sun was setting, the night lights were coming on and the lake was glistening all around me. All I wanted to do was enjoy happy hour, even though every hour of the day has been happy for me lately. The spread at happy hour was so nice. There was wine, champagne, beer, vodka, whisky, coffee and tea, water, sodas, sliced carrots, cucumber, fruit, mini sandwiches, grapefruit salad, and more but I totally forget now. It was so relaxing; I made friends with the staff as they kindly kept refilling my glass. I think I must have checked in on a day when people had checked out because it was super quiet.

After happy hour, I freshened up a bit and headed to the Saigon dining room which served a Chinese/Vietnamese fusion – I found 2 of my favorites: fresh shrimp spring rolls, and morning glory. I even ordered a yummy desert: mango sabo, that was delicious. I then proceeded to check out the Sunset bar that is right in the middle of the resort that is great for an after dinner drink, two or three. There was more activity here and I helped myself to another glass of champagne.

To finish off my first day right I had a nice bubble bath. After I got out I realized there was a bathtub menu on the nightstand. They offered lavender, rejuvenated, and luxurious baths. I was perfectly happy with the one I gave myself and soon tucked myself in the comfiest bed ever. They also had a pillow menu for you to select what pillow was best for you from about a dozen.

I did not wake up until my alarm went off the next morning. I could not wait to use the gym and was there in no time. I had such a great workout and was ready for a nice breakfast. After taking the best shower with the most water pressure I think I’ve ever had I headed to a wonderful breakfast spread that had my favorites: eggs (no duck embryo’s) and fruit – the fruit is so amazing here – if only I could take a suitcase back with me…With a full stomach I headed off to the Temple of Literature which was a great place to see.

The Temple of Literature according to the Vietnamese is one of the finest architectural complexes in Hanoi. This temple was est. in 1070 during the Ly Dynasty. It was founded in the honor of the Chinese philosopher Confucius serving as a center for higher learning and educated future mandarins for more than seven centuries. The temple was molded on the original temple of Confucius in the Chinese city of Qufu. It has 5 courtyards. Things you’ll see on the complex are the well of heavenly clarity, Khue Van Cac (huge gate entrance), Tortoise Stele, Altar of Confucius, Temple of Confucius, Great Drum, and a music room. It was really cool to see the Tortoise Stele, there were rows and rows of these stone Tortoise with great big scripts over them. The scripts hold names of all the students that came and passed tests and exams here. They date from the 15th to 18th centuries, there are only 82 of the original 112 that still survive today. All the visitors would kiss their hands and pat the heads of all the tortoise, it was very interesting to see and observe.

Of course after my tour of the Literature Temple, I got suckered into going on my first moto bike ride. I swore I would not go on one while here but figured I had to try it out while here, it’s the main form of transportation here! I said to myself again, When in Vietnam….I had some sense of direction and knew the moto bicyclist was not taking me where I wanted to go. I do have to admit cruising around on one of those was a lot of fun and the quickest way to get around. I would not drive one myself here though! Lesson learned – only taxis! But it was fun nonetheless.

I quickly hoped off – I was near the Mausoleum which is where I was told Ho Chi Mihn’s house on stilts was. As I was walking away, the cyclist was asking “I wait for you?” They are relentless! I hope he’s not still there waiting for me, I mean I think he got the hint, but you never know with some of these people…Finding HCM’s house became a wild goose hunt for me.

I had the address out of where I wanted to go and all these guards kept pointing me in the same direction. I felt like I was walking forever, there was no shade, and it was about 110 degrees. After about 40 minutes I found myself in the Botanical Gardens which is where the house is located, deep inside. I bought my entrance ticket in and set off again in the right direction.

I then realized I was sent in a huge circle and should have gone left instead of right…Oh well, I got a good walk in and the botanical gardens were beautiful. There were lots of brides and grooms inside taking lots of pictures as it is customary before they get married.

I had a card with me from the hotel with some places that are nice to see while in Hanoi. One of them was a silk village that I thought would be nice to see while here. I noticed everything else on the card was all close to each other and the resort. I hoped in a cab, showed him the address and we were off. We were headed in a direction I hadn’t been in before and were going for quite some time. I kindly asked how much longer until we get there. He had no clue what I was saying and thought I was asking something about the meter. He pulled over and I was asking people on the street if they spoke English – no one did…So as he is sitting there looking out the window for an answer I called the resort and explained the situation, the concierge soon became my translator, I asked her questions, gave the phone to the driver, he gave it back to me, she gave me answers.

Within 2 minutes I knew it was a bit farther away than other places, it should cost $5 to get there, he would bring me to the silk village and wait for me, drive me to the cathedral I wanted to see and wait for me and then bring me back to the resort. Totally perfect and it all worked out without me speaking a word to me. The rest of those plans went just as they were planned to and he was happy he was busy, I was happy I had a driver the whole time and wouldn’t have to find another cab.

I was back by 1:30 and lounging by the pool by 1:45. I parked myself there until I’d had enough of the heat, had another great workout, treated myself to happy hour, followed by dinner and was in bed early so I could wake up for my early morning workout before being picked up at 7:15 for the 4 hour ride to Ha Long City.

Again, I did not wake up until my alarm went off and felt so refreshed when I did awake. I had a nice quick and intense workout before breakfast. Just as I was told the tour guide was there to pick me up at 7:15 AM. I was the first pick up since the rest of the group were all staying in the old quarter. By 8AM we were on the road and Ha Long City bound.

At the half way point, we got a rest stop with every other tour group headed to Ha Long bay, we were the first group there and within minutes the place was packed. After stretching our legs for 25 minutes, we got back on the bus and got to the Junk port around noon time. At this point my tour guide Son told me I would actually not be going on the same junk as the group I rode with. I would be going with a different group that would be at the port shortly.

Next I met Kenny, my new tour guide, waved goodbye to my old group as they boarded the Margarite Junk and blended in with my new group. Once everything was all figured out we boarded a small boat that would take us to our Junk ship, the “Cristina Cruise.” There were 12 of us in total, me, this Australian dude – Bruce, who seemed to have a story about anything and would not stop talking the entire time. Maureen and Noah also from Australia – they are retired and had already been traveling for a month, from Vietnam they were headed to China and then to Japan for another 6 weeks of travel. Maureen would not stop talking about her daughter who lives in NYC with her husband and 2 children. The husband works for Deutsche Bank and “they moved there to make a billion dollars to be set for life and then move back to Australia…the have a huge 3 million dollar apt on Lafayette and Prince and another 35 acre house in upstate NY that they go to every weekend and bring half of NY with them bc they have so much space…” By the end of all her endless bragging about her daughter I wanted to barf!

Nichole and Jeremy from Germany, really nice and loved chatting with them. I got to know all those personalities the best since we sat at the same table for lunch, dinner, and breakfast. There were also a trio of French people that will be traveling for a year, a mother and I couldn’t tell if it was brother and sister or boyfriend and girlfriend, another French couple and a Vietnamese dude.

We all checked into our cabins. It wasn’t the Intercontinental but it totally worked. I cannot complain, it was clean, I had my own room and bathroom so I was happy. The bathroom was funny though. It was an all in one toilet, shower, and sink….It worked though. After check in, we were served a nice seafood lunch and continued on towards Hang Dau Go “surprise cave”. We had about an hour or so until we go there so I enjoyed the sights and sun on the rooftop lounge deck.

I knew we were getting closer to surprise cave once I saw all the other junks docked and anchored. We climbed the steep staircase to the cave entrance, Kenny told us some facts about the cave and we soon entered. In the 13th Century, General Tran Hung Dao used to hide his lethally sharpened weapons in this cave. The weapons were later planted in the shallow waters near the shore to destroy enemy Mongol fleets.

What a fascinating place it was, we walked around and explored for about 45 minutes. Every other tour group was in the cave as well. I waved to Son and my previous group I was with for all of 4 hours. Each part of the cave was more fascinating to me than the part before. My pictures do not do it justice. It was just amazing to see how this has been created on it’s own in the middle of nowhere, I’m sure there are more caves that are similar that have not been discovered yet. Everyone worked up a great sweat and we were ready for water fun.

Next on the list – kayaking. We had to go out in pairs of 2, so I was with story telling Aussie Bruce, we had fun in the kayak and it was nice to cool down a bit from the water splashing us. What I really could not wait for was swimming. Around where we kayaked was a fishing village and there were dozens of brightly colored floating houses with huge fishing hole nets set up off the houses. Very interesting to see. There are also women who row these large wooden boats filled with beverages and snacks they try to sell to the tourists, they are relentless and tie themselves up to the big Junk boats hoping people will buy from them. It gets totally annoying after awhile.

We kayaked for about an hour, then headed to a man made beach we had passed earlier in the day. It was just about sunset, the water temperature was perfect, and we all had a blast in the water. We spent about an hour or so there, then headed back to the Junk where we’d be for the rest of the night. After a nice shower and freshening up – oh it felt so good after a day of sweating non stop. We all enjoyed lounging on the roof before dinner was served. After dinner I headed back up to the roof to read and write in my journal. I was in heaven anchored in the middle of Ha Long Bay in a total relaxed state of mind. As I was unwinding more and more the staff of the ship thought it would be fun to sing some karaoke…Fun for them, not so fun for everyone else. They chose these sad love songs to sing at high pitched decibels that made me want to jump off the Junk…LOL, it ended before midnight, thankfully.

My cabin was super comfy; the air was blasting, I hadn’t been sure about it earlier, since they would not turn on our ac’s until after dinner, but once I walked in a nice chilly burst of air slapped me across my face. I had such a good nights sleep, it must have been the sea air. The Bay is also really still, so you never felt the ship rocking at all!

I woke up right when my alarm went off, got ready for the day and headed upstairs for some iced coffee to enjoy on the roof top before breakfast was served. Once it was ready for us, we were all alerted it was time to head to the dining room. We each got one egg, one banana, and one slice of white bread. I chose the egg and banana and made do with that. We then got split up again. Some people had chosen the 1 night/2day option and others had chosen the 2 night/3 day option 2 nights on the boat, others like me had chosen 2 night/3 day 1 night on the boat and 1 night on Cat Ba Island.

The majority of the group stayed on the Junk that would sail them through Ha Long Bay back to Ha Long City a different route than they had taken to get out to sea. The others boarded the small boat and headed to Cat Ba Island. When we got off and made the long walk schlepping our luggage to the bus stop I was told I would again be going with a different group. It’s a good think I am flexible here! Basically I just went wherever they told me and as long as I got back to Hanoi, I’d be a happy camper.

I soon realized I was re-united with my group from the day before, Son the guide and 2 other girls that were on the bus with me. We got on the boat that took us to Cat Ba National Park where we’d get to go for a jungle hike 250 meters up. They did not really prepare us for what was ahead and there should have been mention to wear the correct clothing and shoes. I was so happy I went with my gut to wear my sneakers and workout pants. I felt bad for the girls who were wearing jean skirts and flip flops, they totally managed but it wasn’t as fun for them.

At the base of the mountain, I saw Kenny telling Nichole, and Jeremy and the French trio something and I waved. We were split apart but together again. Basically it was one big tour bc I kept seeing the same people over and over again. I came up with nicknames of the groups I kept seeing. There was the “wooly mammoths” this group of about 6 Aussie dudes that looked as though they’d been backpacking for a while, long curly hair to match their hippy-ish looking beards and moustache. Then there was the “young English girls” who were always wearing jean skirts and flip flops. And then some other random groups that were all familiar faces to me by the end of the 3 day excursion.

I started chatting with Susana and Mayte from Madrid, Spain. They had been on my bus the day before and we started climbing the mountain. The stairs we climbed were getting steeper and steeper until there were no longer any stairs and it was nothing but natural terrain ahead. I was so glad I had done X Rock a couple of weeks ago, it totally prepared me for actual rock climbing and climbing out in nature is so much more fun! I kept on moving forward and came to a fork in the trail, at first I went right and then I wasn’t sure if that was the right way to go. I could hear Mayte and Susana at the fork and headed back to them, there was also Frank and his Uncle Christian from France, they all thought left was the way to go so to the left we all went. Left actually turned out to be the harder way to go but what an adventure it was.

I was carrying a large water bottle and a plastic bag that had my wallet, passport, sweat towel I never left anywhere without, hand sanitizer, gum, camera – the basics. Frank insisted I give it to him to put in his backpack. So since he insisted I gave it to him, I kept the camera to flash pictures. We chatted the rest of the way up and soon became quick friends. The terrain was getting steeper and rockier but I loved it. I soon was given the name “Jungle Woman” from Frank because I was having a great time and wasn’t complaining about anything. I think people thought I was going to be this prissy, bratty, annoying girl, I totally proved them all wrong!

We got to the top after about an hour and the top was so small, it could barely fit all the groups. Atop the top of the mountain was this old scrap metal look out tower that could only fit a maximum of 5 people at a time. There were not that many floorboards on the floor of the tower and the wind made it sway side to side. After catching our breath and lowering our heart rates we decided it was time to descend back down.

The climb down was actually more difficult than the climb up because of the steepness; you really had to plan each and every step you took. Frank kept checking on me to make sure I didn’t need any help. We all made it back to the bottom where there was a water and beverage station waiting for us. It was the best water I’ve ever had, super cold, so cold there was even some ice formed on the inside of the bottle – the best!

We boarded the bus again that would take us to our hotels. I was dropped off first to the Cat Ba Water Resort. Everyone else was staying at the Holiday View Hotel. I loved where I was staying and would have been content staying there the rest of the day. There were 2 pools, one had a huge water slide set up and everything overlooked the beach that had a beautiful view of Ha Long Bay. It was so nice. I did find it strange at how quiet it was though; it was like a ghost town. I mean I know it’s the quiet season but this was just weird. I think it’s because you could really plan a cheap trip if you stayed at one of the other hotels and most people did that. But selecting this option really wasn’t that more expensive and it was totally worth it to have a nice place to come back to at the end of the day.

I checked in, got settled in my cute little room with white wicker furniture that overlooked one of the pools and a great view of the Bay. I took a quick shower and headed to lunch. I was served a delicious lunch and was then picked up at 2 to head to Monkey Island with the rest of the group.

We boarded another little boat that took us to Monkey Island. There we could swim, lounge on the beach, kayak, and observe actual monkeys monkeying around. It was perfect and the water temperature was perfect, it had just a bit of a chill to it to cool you down. The coast also had lots of seashells and coral to scavenger for, and I had fun doing that. After a couple of hours we headed back to our hotels where we’d have the rest of the evening to ourselves. I sat by the pool and enjoyed reading my book. I headed back up to my room, showered, and went back downstairs for dinner. I was served the best dinner. Seafood, vegetable soup; spicy beef salad; steamed shrimp, fish with tomatoes, clams, steamed spinach with garlic, and some other cucumber soupish thing with shrimps. Everything tasted so good but I could not finish it – way too much food! With a very full stomach I went to relax back in my room and before I knew it, I was fast asleep.

Checkout was at 8AM the next morning when I would also be picked up. I had a great breakfast, got my things from my room, and checked out. At around 8:15 I was picked up and we picked up every one else to head back to the Junk that would take us back to Ha Long Bay. We all went right up to the rooftop, some people stayed in the shade, and I lounged in the sun. We joked around and chatted while making our way through Ha Long bay – everything was beautiful and we were all busy snapping pictures away of everything! We got back to the mainland where we again had to schlep our luggage to the restaurant where lunch was being served. It felt like forever with the sun beating down on us. We had a nice lunch before making the 4 hour journey back to Hanoi.

Again, we stopped at the same rest stop for 25 minutes. I was the 1st one dropped off back at the Intercontinental; everyone else was staying in the Ancient Quarter. I felt like I was right back at home when walking through the lobby. I checked in, got my key and was brought by golf car to Pavilllion 3, this time I was staying out near the Sunset Bar. Same room, just different location. I did have a better view this time though so that was nice.

I dropped my things down, got into my gym clothes and had a great workout. I guess one the girls who works there remembered me and greeted me with, “hi there, are you going to have another hard workout?” as soon as I walked in. I replied with, Of course! I finished my workout just in time to enjoy happy hour and then dinner. I made my way back to my room and sunk into the comfiness of the bed, pure bliss!

I woke up this morning, worked out, had breakfast, checked out and was in the cab by 9:30AM to make my 12:15 flight back to HCMC. I got here at 10:40 to find my flight has been canceled until 2:30PM and they did not contact me to let me know, so I’m stuck for a few hours, at least I was able to finish writing about my trip! Once I’m back in HCMC I’ll feel better, as long as I am back before my 6AM flight back to the US tomorrow I’ll be ok!

I just cannot believe it’s all over! I remember when I first got my job offer from Reebok that part of my program would be living abroad for a few months. I could not wait for that to happen and it was something I was so looking forward to and now it has came and gone! What an awesome experience it’s all been and like I’ve said before, I feel so lucky to have been able to have gone through something so amazing and learned so much in such a short period of time.

People keep on joking with me that it looks like I didn’t work while I was here. I totally did! The work week was grueling, I just played really, really hard on the weekends and every hour I wasn’t working. So maybe I spent more time giving updates on where I was or headed, but I thought that would all be the fun stuff you’d want to hear about!

So in about I don’t know 36 hours or so I will be back in the US, back to reality, back to 02072, back to life in the US but my adventures will not stop! I am coming back a new and improved Jennie, so just be prepared – I’m looking forward to seeing you all and perhaps plan some adventures on familiar ground, who’s in?

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END...

Here I am in the domestic terminal in HCMC all ready for my last big trip to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. It seems like I just planned the trip two months ago and now…here it is! Tonight and tomorrow I splurged and booked a room at the Intercontinental in Hanoi, then will have my 2 night/3 day Ha Long Bay tour and stay at the Intercontinental again on Tuesday night before flying back to HCMC on Wednesday and then leave for the US on a 6AM flight back to the states!

If someone had told me two years ago that in only two months I would have had the opportunity to work in Sourcing for Reebok, work closely with 4 different factories, learn so much about product development and sourcing from an abroad perspective, live in Ho Chi Minh City, make a nice group of new friends, explore the Mekong Delta, visit the Cu Chi tunnels and crawl through them, shoot a machine gun, religiously take a mixed martial arts class 3 times a week with the hottest instructor, have an inner self makeover, travel to Singapore, visit Da Nang and Hoi An, get clothing tailor made, hike marble mountain, see the ancient ruins of My Son, step on China Beach – where the US soldiers were first dropped, see a water puppet show, bargain prices for EVERYTHING especially at Ben Than market, get weekly massages, have a house calling mani/pedicurist, go to the most hidden tropical paradise I’ve ever been to – Phu Quoc, see a Pearl farm, fishing harbor, see Sao Beach, go to the Saigon zoo, the War Remnants museum, find the mosaic pagoda that is in the World Guinness Record book for having the most hand laid tiles, have 4 rotations in the FTP program at Reebok under my belt (Project Management, Costing, Pattern, Sourcing) and now make my way to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay – I would have laughed in your face and not believed you!

It’s been more than a trip, the last 2 months and I think I have taken the phrase “live each day to the fullest” to a whole other level! I taught myself how to live in the present moment, enjoy it, and not be rushing into the next thing on the list. If you keep rushing into something else and get excited for what’s next instead of what’s now, when do you really ever enjoy what you are doing?

Many people have said to me over the past few days, well you know – all good things must come to an end. I have to disagree here and say that yes, this great adventure is coming to an end but I am ready for the next great adventure once I return back to the states. I will be bringing with me my new sense of adventure, enjoying life, and living each day beyond the fullest – bringing this back will keep my adventure going, and keep the good to continue!

The last couple of weeks here seemed to have gone faster than I had liked. I still feel like I just got here. It was so strange checking out of Somerset this morning. The staff there were incredible, so friendly, hospitable, and helpful. It will be hard to adjust to not having daily maid service, pool, gym, restaurant, and staff that would do anything to make your day or life easier at my disposal…That good thing did come to an end I must say!

Last night was my last MMA class with FX. I of course gave it my all throughout class and knew I’d miss this weekly ritual but really look forward to keeping it up at home and finding a new studio to box at.

All of my projects came to an end at work. I ended up managing 50 styles spread between 4 factories while here and let me tell you it made things very interesting. I’m going to miss working with the factories and being inside of them almost every day. This is where all the dirty work is done, and I LOVE IT. It was great coming here at the end of PPR stage (our first samples) working with the factories on improving the samples for second sample shipment (PFR) back to HQ. I now see things from this side and will return seeing things with a new pair of eyes. I look forward to maybe changing the way some things are done so that the work flow is somewhat smoother and certain processes run a bit more efficiently, it will be a challenge and it will be interesting but I am up for it!

I also know that once I get back and continue my rotations in other departments, more connections will be made and this experience will have really made a difference for me. I already know it has but am excited to see how else it will help me.

Luckily Dave and Margarita (Dave is a team leader on the footwear classics team here for 2 years, his girlfriend Margarita is here with him) were ok with me leaving my 3 very packed suitcases that I will be towing back with me to the US while I went on my little adventure to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. They are actually on the same flight back to the US with me on September 10th for their vacation. So they also offered I stay with them Wednesday night instead of getting my own room for 13 hours. It totally works out perfectly!

I totally took advantage of my last few days here and did EVERYTHIING I wanted to get in. I climbed X rock which is a huge rock climbing wall in the middle of D3 of the city, walked through the zoo – its such a nice zoo I must say, found the mosaic pagoda that I had read about, its in the Guinness Book of Records for having the most hand laid tiles and I managed to get the driver lost trying to find it, saw the War Remnants Museum, checked out some new restaurants, had my last few visits to Saigon Square and Ben Than Market, took full advantage of the pool at Somerset, had a really fun Saturday night out with Pam, Mark, Dave, and Margarita – we basically had a pub crawl. It’s really been so surreal and I am just so happy I was able to experience so much in such a short period of time professionally and personally – what could be better? Like I said I know the adventure DOES NOT STOP HERE – it’s going to continue and I cannot wait!

Thanks so much for keeping tabs on me while I’ve been away, it sure has been a journey!!!