My first wedding....

Yup....t'was my first wedding....that I attended here in Vietnam. It was one of our staff's wedding.... Was quite interesting actually....

It was held in a restaurant which I think also operates as a caberet/dinner performance venue. It's somewhat like the Neptune restaurant back in Singapore. There was a huge stage in the front and there were 4 split levels for the tables. When we walked in, there was already a live band going on and there were 2 huge screens at the side showing the couple's wedding pictures.



That's me, Amy (my cuz) & Tata (who works for another auntie of mine in Cambodia)....enjoying the experience....



And our picture with the happy couple....can you tell which one is the bride? I tell you....she looked soooo different! Sooooo much make up until even my auntie couldn't even recognise her! But the culture here is a little different, they hardly dress up or make up for work but when it comes to events such as dinners and weddings, they undergo like a major transformation!


But the 'best' and perhaps the most memorable thing for me that happened during the wedding was that they aired a live soccer match of Vietnam vs Thailand (some asia cup or something...) during the dinner! Yup....a live soccer match during a wedding dinner....


You can imagine that everyone was cheering and booing throughout the whole game.....while the couple was making their way around all the tables for their table photos. Damn sala lah....the couple wasn't the highlight on their special occasion! If something like that ever happened during my wedding....somebody's head will roll! DONT MESS WITH ME :)

On our own...

Both my aunties are back in Singapore so we were on our own for the first time! It was just my cousin, my auntie's staff from Cambodia and myself....It was quite an adventure because I had to put my Vietnamese, however limited, to the test! No one around to help us translate when we went shopping or to tell the driver where we wanted to go next. But I must say that I'm getting pretty good! hehe...at least we didn't get lost and the sales people understood us when we wanted to bargain....lucky they knew some English too! :)

The first Gloria Jean's coffee opened on Dong Khoi street (their upmarket shopping area, like our Orchard Rd) and I had to have their Oreo Cookie Mocha Chiller! Yummy!

And also a slice of cake....but it was too sweet for me... :P

We also ventured out for dinner, wanted to try something other than our regular haunts. Wanted to have Korean food so asked the driver to go along the street where there were a lot of Korean restaurants. Stopped at the first one we saw because there were quite a few people inside....thought that it had to be good to have so many customers. Turned out that we were right, the food was yummy!

My favourite bi-bim-bap...

After dinner, we met one of our staff for coffee and headed over to this newly opened cafe & pub called MGM.

It was quite a wierd experience actually..... The first 2 levels was the cafe while the next 2 levels was the pub. It looked really nice from the outside, very relac-jack ambience but once you enter, the place was packed, chairs and sofas were placed back to back to accomodate the big crowd and they had this DJ that was blasting house music! It was so freaking loud that I dont know how people can actually talk to each other. It felt really wierd sitting there, drinking coffee in a rather brightly lit environment having the loud house music pounding through fibre of your body..... and there were kids around too....wierd to the max!

We went up to the pub upstairs after that....the music was even LOUDER! It was actually more like a mini disco with a dance floor in the center but as usual, people were just sitting around, drinking alcohol...they don't dance and can't talk 'cos of the music....so all just sitting around and people watching. Wierd again.....

So we left shortly after.... half deaf....couldn't wait to get home and watch my DVDs.... :P

Crepes

Had a night out with my auntie and her friend.....First we went for dinner at this French Restaurant called Le Cordon Bleu. Since they dared to call their restaurant Cordon Bleu, we expected to be served exquisite food...but alas...decor was real old (cushions on chairs were stained!) and food was only so so.... Will be the first and the last time I go there!

Wanted to go karaoke after that but all the decent places were fully booked. They love to karaoke here.....maybe there's a potential to bring over KBox or PartyWorld as there isn't anything like that over here....hhmmmm....

So we ended up going for desserts....at this really charming place called Creperie & Cafe. Here's how the place looks like...

But then.....their crepes suck big time! It's awful! The crepe was soft and not cooked thoroughly so it tasted really 'raw'! However, their other desserts were quite nice, quite ironic isn't it? We had ourselves the warm chocolate cake and creme brulee....quite yummy...

Even though we didn't get to karaoke, we were also thoroughly entertained that night! Because the cafe was by a little park, we saw lots of 'action' going on! It seems like the dating scene here is to 'pak tor' on their motorbikes by the park or any secluded areas. Because they are quite poor, they can't go to the cinemas or restaurants or beach (no beach in city area) and their homes are usually also out of bounds 'cos there are too many people so they just park their bikes by the park and they just 'action action' on the bikes! I'm serious! And they are truly not shy!Some of these parks are just by the main roads so it is free show for all! Ok ok....don't get all to excited, their 'action action' only got hugging and kissing, no home runs....but I was told that some of them actually do their homeruns on the bikes but it's usually at the more secluded parks and much later into the night when there are less people around.

Wanted to take some pictures but scared I kenna whack by them! heehee....

A cozy little restaurant

Went out for dinner last night at this new restaurant called Dong Pho. It was really quaint and the decor inside was really pretty.

They also had these really cute tables! Really pretty drawings lacquered onto the table tops and each table has a different design. See what I mean...

The restaurant serves Hue food. Hue (Hueh) was the old capital of Vietnam when there was still royalty, so Hue food was the kind of food the Emperor used to eat. Tho I can't figure out what so 'exquisite' about it, it's basically a lot of items made from rice flour and salads.....

Very healthy food....not much fried items and 'cos mainly 'floury' items, you get full quite fast. On the whole, the food here was pretty good and you can stuff your face without feeling too guilty!

Things I see everyday....

To give you guys an idea where I work.... I decided to take a couple of pictures of my office.....

Here's my small little work area.....quite sparse still, haven't had time to make a serious mess out of it! :)

As you can see....there are some snacks by the side....here's a closer look....

but...erm...that's just like the few things that I brought over to my desk.....see what I have in the gold mine, just round the corner from my desk....heehee.... :P

hahaha.....shocked? No lah....that's not just for my consupmtion...I just buy all the snacks for the office and all my staff can eat it!

Here's my cousin working real hard....to protect all the goodies!

Here's some more pics of my office as well as some of our salons that are in the same building as my office....

Office reception area....

Beauty salon....

Hair salon....
Accessories and equipment showroom area...

So this is what I see everyday.... when I need a hair cut, I just pop into the hair salon to get it done, when I need a massage or a facial, I just pop into the beauty salon to get my fix! Hehe...don't be envious, I work 6 whole days a week so I deserve it! :)

Or you can always come visit me and I'll treat you to a facial, massage or hair treatment...Hurry while offer lasts!

Hanoi

Went to Hanoi for work to scout out a suitable location to open a new salon....and at the same time to catch some sights and SHOP!

Weather was great as it's winter now....so I got to wear my furs and minks! Kidding....just a plain old jacket for me...

Took a ride around the city on a Sichlo (Seek-low), its like a trishaw...here's a my auntie in one...

The main shopping street is called Hang Gai. Its just streets and streets of these little shops. The funny thing about it is that each street has its own characteristics....its either a shoe street or scarves street or toy street etc etc, all the shops sell the same things!

Shoes anyone???

A cute little cafe at the intersection of Hang Gai....see all the motorbikes?!!? They are EVERYWHERE!!!

Went to this restaurant called Jungle where they served mainly traditional food from the tribes...check out the English translation on the menus...I especially love the 'Chicken' items!

They had a dish that I really liked, Bamboo Sticky Rice. It was just plain rice stuffed into a bamboo but it was really fragrant and yummy...

And they had this really funky heater! It looks like a fan with no blades! Maybe they fix back the blades during summer so that it can be used as a fan then.... Cool or what!?

But the most interesting thing for me in Hanoi was the pedestrian walking signs....they are all different!! Every where I walked, there were these walking signs...and whenever I turn into another street, there's a different one looking at me! Ok maybe not every street, but at least a couple of streets down, you will see a different looking sign! Suspect there's no quality control whatsoever...whichever contractor gets appointed does their own signs! Hehe...