Language barrier sometime help...

Hi All,

I very serious & funny incident happen to me in Vietnam. A different experience all together. I was going to a hospital & I was on my motor-bike. Suddenly I jump a red light as I use to do many times in Vietnam. I saw a policeman just come out of the clouds & wave his hand to stop me. I got little worried that I have an appointment & this policeman is now stopping me. With in a second many thoughts just pass through my mind. I just thought to escape, or turn right instead of going straight. But finally I decided to stop there & face the policeman.
Now I stop the motor-bike part it beside a bush & go to policeman. As expected they dont know English & I dont know Vietnamese so the only means of communication was sign language. Although I was very much aware of my crime but I pretend to be innocent & confused why he stop me. He draw a picture to explain that I have cross the red light & was trying to pronounce the word Red in a different way. After his 3 trials I show him that I understood what he want to tell me. Then I innocently reply that it was green when I cross the intersection. But he shouted on me & said no it was Red (ofcourse in Vietnamese). Then I also raise my voice a little & tell him in English that it was Green. He got irritated & then tell me to go & do not repeat it next time.

Oh such a relief. I finally ran from there & reach the hospital. Then I told my-self that I should take care of traffic rules at least inside the city.

So guys some time its really helpful to have a language barrier...

Professionalism Vs Relationship

Hi

There was a time when I work professionally with everyone in my office. But since a year I try to work for building good relation with my other colleagues. I got some good friends due to this. But now a days I am feeling like there are some jerks in every organisation who somehow manage to grab top position in the team & then start ruining others. My team is full of those jerks. My role in my team is not very clear due to overlapping of different responsibilities. I try to mange all my responsibilities with polite & friendly nature. But people use to think that they can deal with me in any way & they start actually mis-using my friendly nature. Whenever they have some work from me they behave so good but on the other hand if I have some work with them they just behave abruptly. I hate this double standards.
I try to be friendly with everyone but of course in return I also looking for some politeness & friendliness from them. But instead of showing that they are showing attitude. Oh my Ghosh...So I turn off this friendly nature. Starting from my team mates till the customer including all my managers I will be a true professional. I will do only those activities which are meant for me. I will never miss to kick their ass whenever I got a chance. Uh lala...I can even create opportunities to do that as I am also animal of this kingdom only....or I can say I am also the beast of this kingdom only....

Hey readers...just post your experience too guys n gals...Its good to know that I am not alone facing these things...

Next time I will definitely tell you the story of my success with this attitude...till then I just say...Hey Raj...Welcome back to this cruel kingdom.... :P

missing home !!

Hi All,

Now a days I am missing home. One reason could be because I have seen all the places, meet all the people & also enjoyed so many things in Vietnam. Another reason could be there are many other places in the world waiting for me to come... :P..
But I thought what all I can do to come up with this homesickness...I found very interesting way...I should invite many different Vietnamese friends for dinner or lunch. So I invited my landlord, two of my office colleagues with their wife. But you see bad luck is your best friend & never fail to help you at right time. So all three invitees denied due to some work. At first I thought I should convince them that I am not such a bad cook but then I realise that who cares...
So I invite my-self. I cook kheer for my-self & believe it or not it was world best kheer man. Also I first taste it hot & after some time I taste it cold. It was awesome man...

Other than this I have a new neighbor. She is an Aussie...She got internet problem & by chance she come to visit me to ask if my internet is working or not. I thought it could be a good pass time to fix her internet problem so that I can get a company who can speak English well at least. So I spent 1.5 hrs to fix her problem. Although I am not good to fix the problem but I spent most of the time chattering with her.
She is a teacher in Vietnam for some time. Hey dude...don't give your dirty mind so much trouble. She is 75 years old so nothing.... :P

But I enjoy the weekend to have different stuff...Lets see what can I try for other weekends...

Making schedules: useful although you don't follow them

Hey guys,

You all must have prepared schedules for your day, weekend & life. I never use to make schedules as I believe making schedule is complete wastage of time & energy. But for the first time I learn sometime it is useful to prepare schedule even though you don't follow them. I am having a tuff time due to heavy workload in my office. I hardly get time to do any thing else. I love to visit different places around me but due to heavy workload I was not able to visit the places.
One of my close friend suggested me how can I achieve this. He told me to prepare the schedule of the day & then mark what have I followed & what have I missed. Initially it was such a boring job for me but I started it for a week. After two days I saw that I hardly meet any of the scheduled timeline. Then I try to think the reason behind it & I discover that I waste most of the time watching idiot box (television). So I quit watching television.
Can you imagine from the next day onward I can go out for walk in the morning and evening. I visit some nice restaurants, best saloons...& so much.
Wow I was so surprised. But u know irony is that I still do not meet my schedule...hehehehe...
But good thing is I can fulfill my wish to see different places around me. Thanks to my friend for giving me good advise. So I can say the result for making schedules is zero but its side effect is 100% useful...

Hope you all will also try to use the funda...

Exchange money in Vietnam is fun

Hey Guys,
Today I come to know very ironic fact in Vietnam. In Vietnam, if you want to convert your Vietnamese dong (Vietnam currency) in USD you need to visit a jewellery's shop. They use to do the exchange on the bank rate....what rubbish... I come here with USD. First I convert them into VND on a loss or 1 USD per 40 USD. Then When I need to go back then again I will convert them into from jewellery's shop again on the loss of 2 USD per 40 USD. so almost 10% loss of every transaction.
When we go to Bank they refuse to convert the VND into USD due to some x y z reason...Irony is that whenever u need to do a transaction in Vietnam.. either house/bike rent or purchase of cloth or taxi fare they all give price quote in USD but when you need to convert from the standard institute they simple refuse.

What a country man...!!! But Don't have an impression that country is not good...this is just one side of the coin...you can get the Jewellery's shop on every small market also so its very easy to get it converted. Also even a 10 square meter shop can provide you around 10,000 USD if u demand. So its acceptable...

Moreover now I am not enjoying my stay in Vietnam as it is so boring now...also there is very high workload so I want to move to some other country...may be bangkok this time or some destination in Europe.

If any one is reading just pray for me.

Adventure ride on the roads

Hi Guys,

Today I went to visit the hospital for my illness. I have hired a motor bike here. So I drive to the hospital. It was a awesome experience. After a long time I drive the bike on high speed. In Vietnam people do not drive very fast but a lot of traffic can be seen on roads. I drive the motor bike in a zigzag way & I found that its a great fun. Wow...at the speed of 80-100 km/.hr you just need to swing your bike left & right..

But after some time I realise that no one else is riving rashly & everyone is driving at about 30-40 km/hr. I dont know the reason. But two thoughts come to my mind
(1) Is there any traffic rule that we can not drive motor bike over 40?
(2) Vietnamese do not like zigzag driving?

these two thought forced me to drive slowly but "Dil to pagal hai" so I still drive fast.. :P
Finally I met with a long traffic jam & stuck there at around 30 minutes. As soon as the jam got over I take a left towards the hospital. Then suddenly I noticed that there are many people waiting behind a long trolley.
I found that there are two trolleys beside each other on left & right. people are waiting for something behind these trolleys. At first I though may be some minister is going to arrive & they all want to welcome him. Suddenly I realise that there are guards present & guarding the trolleys & here we go. I figure it out that its a railway barrier. People are waiting for the train to pass...what an idiot I am. :)

So this was the small story from my life. Please share yours too. till then have as great life...

living in Hell

Hey Guys,

This post is to tell you about thew worst conditions in Vietnam. I am here since many months. Now a days here the weather is sucks. Its too warm & humid weather here. Typical tropical weather. Even when I go to bring out my motorbike (around 5 minutes job) my shirt become salty lake. It so much humid that if you do not have an air conditioner then you can not survive here.
Worst part is you get infection very easily. I got cold flu & eye flu both. Eye flu is not sever but cold flu is so severe that I need to visit the doctor & need to take off from office. Its so painful to take even 1 hr off from office because your coming days become too much occupied & stressed.
My landlord is such a jerk that I told them around four days ago that my table fan is not working. I do not have water to drink. But because here government has declared 4 day holiday including 2 weekends(sat & Sunday) so no one from landlord is responding. Me myself need to go to get the water jar for me. Problem is not to get the jar but the problem is how to explain the jar owner that we need jar...right thats language barrier.
Other than this with this flu I need to cook also for my self because there is no cheap vegetarian restaurant. In Vietnam you will get any animal, bird to eat. I hope there must be some place where you can eat human meat also. So everything we need to cook ourself. Now the problem is if we need to go office I have to drive the motor bike to my office in hot & then I need to enter my office which have air conditioned so very chill...due to this hot & cool change I got this soar throat & running nose.
Someone says truly that
"A healthy body can have healthy mind". If you are not healthy you even can not think properly. By the way there is a good news also. I have bought a new phone also in fact two new phones. They are duplicate of Sony Erricssion Xperia mini with dual GSM sim capabilities. The camera is 2.0 mega pixel & have a very nice clarity.

Ride in rain

Hi

Yesterday its rain heavily here. I have hired a motor bike here so me & my friend use to travel to office on that motor bike. Here in Vietnam you will see motor bike crowd only. Around 50 types of different motor bikes available here in Vietnam. Most important here you will see a new design for motorbikes. You can call it a mix breed of traditional scooter & motor-cycle. 

Yesterday when we start to come to home it started raining heavily. Here we have bought a special rain coat. This rain coat is open from both sides (left & right). you can wear it like a T-Shirt. So very convenient to use. 

Funny part is that when you are on a motorbike (behind the driver)& you wear it there is no way to cover your legs. Also the rain coat of the driver will end on your legs so one side it is protecting driver & on other side all the water will end at your legs. So I got completely wet below waist because I can not cover the legs & I become drain hole for my friend rain coat as he was driving.

It was so funny that I just laugh the whole way. We use to make fun of this different rain during the way to home. Rain was so heavy that with in 5 minutes my whole jean got wet. Suddenly I missed India rain when during rain I use to have an Ice-cream or MOMOS. But now it all become memories only. 

I want to pull off my Shirt & want to have a shower in the rain. It was so awesome here. Its like a dream come true only thing is that dream was with girl friend but now I need to enjoy with my Friend. But I take it as a pre-date rehearsal. LOL....

There is a small kid in my building. I think he must be 3 yr old. Whenever I use to shake-hand with him he always got scared & start crying. That moment is so embarrassing for me all the time but still I always try my luck. Yesterday when I reach to my building he was there with his mom. I again try my luck & do you believe he was not scared anymore & he did shake-hand normally (although without smile). But its really so great that he is not scared of me anymore....hehehhe...

I will be back with new updates of my life till then enjoy friends.

Eye glasses care

Hi guys,

I use to wear spectacles. Every day when I reach office I bring them out of my bag & wish that I need not to clean them. But everyday I found that dirt is playing cricket on my spectacle glasses. I can see the dirt on my glasses. Sometime I wear them as it is without cleaning them but its not a good practise. It can be harmful for our eyes. So I use to clean them everyday.

Now I went to different opticians & spectacles vendors & everybody give some tips to me to keep my glasses clean. I got so many tips that I got confused which one is good. So I started surfing net to see which is the good way to clean the spectacles. I found one interesting article about it. Here are the important extract of the article which can help you to clean your spectacles:

Step 1- So your spectacles are dirty?
You need to go to the next washing room as you will need some water, preferably warm, a bit of soap and some tissue or toilet paper.

Step 2 - Pre-showering the spectacles
Hold your spectacles under flowing water so the lenses get wet from both sides ! Do not touch the lenses!

Step 3 - Get a bit of soap on your fingers
Liquid soap is perfect, but also any other will do. Right handlers use the right hand and left handlers ?
Get a bit of soap on your index, thumb and middle finger. Disperse the soap a bit on the fingers so the surface gets soft and slippery.
 
Step 4 - soap your pair of spectacles
Now gently take the lenses of your spectacles between the soaped fingers and gently move your fingers to disperse the soap on both sides of the lenses. It is NOT necessary to press and rub like a maniac -- no gently please, because your lenses should NOT be scratched. So once again soap gently,gently.
 
Step 5 - The after-shower - wash off the soap from the lenses
Now if possible turn the heat on to get very hot water also let the water flow strongly. Hold your spectacles into the water stream to wash off the soap. Do not hold the lenses in a 90° angle to the stream of water, because then you will get yourself a shower.
Better the water flows almost parallel to the lens surface. You might shift the angle a bit from one side to the other to wash away the soap from both sides of the lenses. Do not touch the lenses !
 
Step 6 - Finale grosso - using tissue if necessary
If the water has been hot enough it will evaporate immediately after you have removed the glasses from the water stream and you alredady done.
If there are some drops of water still. Take a peace of tissue between those fingers which should be free of soap meantime! Then slightly dab the tissue on the water drops to take them away. Please do not rub the glasses!
 
Step 7 - Enjoy clear sight
Clear sight is not for ever(yone) of course, but it is nice to have it at least for an hour or so !
 
Note: Do not rub or polish your eyeglasses it is unnecessary. At best it will damage your glasses!!
 
Along with this I like to mention about two important tips about our eye glasses:
(1) Never leave your eye glasses in dash board or on dash board of your car. Always try to keep your ey glasses behind front seat. When car get hot dash board area get more hot than other areas. It can damage the screen film of your glasses. This is applicable for all types of glasses including branded.
(2) When you are cleaning your glasses, always clean them in one direction. Do not try left right left right motion or to & from motion while cleaning the glasses. Always move from right to left or left to right while cleaning your glasses. It will help to reduce the scratches on you eye glasses.
 
 
I hope this small post help you guys to maintain your eye glasses in a good shape. Keep reading & enjoy.

Himalyas vs Alps

Hi Friends,

Today I watch a movie based on J&K problems. I found that what a lovely natural treasure India have but unfortunately we can't utilize that to increase tourism. I thought about Switzerland. People are so desperate to go to Switzerland. But then immediately a thought come to my mind that why we never go to Himalayas.

I search on internet to found the comparison between Alps & Himalyas. I want to know which one is better place to go. I found very interesting article on internet. Here are the contents


Himalyas are much much bigger than Alps. The most noticable difference between the Alps and the Himalayas (apart from the obvious size) is accessibility. Getting close to the high mountains of the Himalaya tends to involve at least a few days walking on rough paths, you need to be suitably equiped and carry everything with you. In the Alps you can find yourself sipping a coffee in a nice cafe in Chamonix for example, virtually at the bottom of Mt Blanc, and with binoculars you can watch the progress of climbers on it's slopes. Then you can take a cable-car or a "telepherique" to the higher view-points and ski areas (where you can enjoy another cup of coffee while you admire the view down!). There are plenty of well-worn paths as "l'alpinisme" is a very popular family pastime in France. Because the mountains are so accessible, this inevitably leads to commercialisation, and I think you would also find that the element of pristine wilderness is lost. By this, I mean that there is a lot of hardware lying around the Alps - apart from the cable-cars and the cafes there are a lot of aids to climbers and ramblers. For example, on the Mer-de-Glace (a glacier in the Mt Blanc range), you will see lots of rusty old ladders and you may find that in popular climbing areas, the rock is covered in bolts (for 'sport climbing'). I'm not saying this is always a bad thing, it's good to see people enjoying the environment in safety, but the sence of isolation will not be anything like that which you experience in the Himalayas.

The Alps are beautiful and dramatic, but in quite a different way to the Himalayas. They 'behave' differently, the rock is generally more stable and the snow/ice conditions are different as is the weather. NB a thunderstorm in an alpine valley is not to be missed. The only mountains I know which are "like" the Himalayas are the Southern Alps of New Zealand. They are also much smaller but the weather and conditions are more similar. It is no wonder that one of the first men up Everest was a New Zealander IMHO.

For myself, nothing compares to the Himalayas. I walked part of the Annapurna circuit some years ago and saw Kangenjunga recently - but didn't have enough time to trek unfortunately. Next comes the Southern Alps (NZ) - these are definately NOT beginers mountains, but are well equiped with mountain huts and rescue teams when needed. They are VERY prone to avalanches and rock falls and the hardest work your legs will ever do is carry you across a morraine-covered glacier in this part of the world. They are also reasonably free of the commercialisation prevalent in the French/Swiss Alps, and easy to get to.

I want to say that Europe also have another Kashmir & Himalyas named SWITZERLAND. :)

Indian food & grocery in Vietnam

Hi Guys,

Some time ago when I plan to come to Vietnam I was looking for some good indian stores in Vietnam. I got a list of interested things for an Indian to make life cool in Vietnam.

In Vietnam you can get all Indian stuff (might be little costly). Here is a grain market where you can get all cereals, grain, legumes. I saw wheat, udad dal, lobhiya, Chana daal, Rajma, chole, rice, corn etc. Here is one of the address in the market so that you can locate the whole market
69 Nguyen Thi Nho, P.2, District 6, TP, HCM.
Ph: 39604174
I found wheat at this shop.

Another useful shop I found where you can found all Indian grocery (2 times costly than India)
Indian Grocery Shop
429/2 Le Van Sy, District 3, TP HCM
Tel: 39319483

There is one flour mill also where you can go to get wheat flour(lui moi in vietnamese)
369A Le Dai Hanh, P.11, District 11, TP, HCM
ph: 38586695 - 38847723 - 01228901740

Now if you are looking for a cheap service apartment (approx. 600 USD per month)
go to www.vnrental.com
its a very good website & cover all areas in Vietnam. They also do not charge tenant.

Mausam(weather) is awesome!!

x

Hi friends,

As you all know that now a days I am living in Vietnam. Here lots of new things come to my life every day. Now its the usual question that what you like the most about the place? So answer is weather. Here its rainy season & I love rains. In the morning usually temperature reach to 30-32 degree then till afternoon it maintain the spirit of 34 degree but then Go Almighty help poor people & start ordering all its water carriers (clouds) that go & give some relief to poor souls. And believe me guys then the weather start changing & it become so rocking.

All black clouds come together & cover the whole city. Winds starts blowing at a speed of 20 km/hr & so cool.
Then as soon as its time for us to leave it starts raining. Rain here is not just simple rain its heavy rain always. if u stand out in the rain maximum for one hour I bet you can't use a single paper you had in your pocket. But as I said I love rains so I always try to get those pearl drops on my face.

Me and my friend use to alternatively enjoy our ghost rider drive (one old motor bike :P). So whenever its my turn to drive & we got rain its awesome feeling. Next best part of the rain is that Vietnam maintains a good infrastructure in terms of drainage. In fact after 30 minutes you can't say that there was a heavy rain. All roads become thirsty again as they have never saw a single droplets. So no bad post effect of rain.So guys I would say Vietnam weather is rocking& I love it.

Do tell me your experiences also.
Chao

Shaving tips for men

Hey guys,
I am back with a big smile. Hope you are doing great. Today morning I shaved my beard & got some irritation after that. So I check the Guru ji (ofcourse http://www.google.com/) to see some good tips for shaving. I found one very good website. I am providing some good tips for shaving the beard. Hope it is useful for all u guys!!


1. It's best to avoid shaving the very first thing in the morning. If possible, let your skin wake up a while. This allows the "puffiness" you encounter from fluids collecting in your skin during the night to recede, thus allowing you to get a closer shave when you do begin the task.
2. Use an exfoliate such as a facial cleanser or scrub to eradicate dead skin cells and open up the pores of the skin to prepare it for a close shave.
3. Stubble should be wetted with warm or hot water before shaving. This swells the hair shaft allowing the blade to cut the hair, not your skin.
4. Thoroughly massage shave cream into stubble. A vitamin and Aloe Vera based shave cream will provide a close soothing shave and protect against razor rashes and burns.
5. Use a sharp blade. A dull blade is responsible for many shaving cuts as it drags over your face and catches your skin along with the hairs of your beard.
6. Rinse the blade often in hot water when shaving and use slow short strokes. Take your time.
7. Shaving with grain means shaving in the direction of how the hair grows on your face. It is always best to shave this way. Shaving against the grain can cause redness, rashes, razor burn and ingrown hairs, which are all painful.
8. After shaving, apply an oil-free moisturizer to soothe and protect the face. If you prefer an after-shave, check the label for alcohol. Dryness and stinging sensations are by-products of most after-shave products whose primary ingredient is alcohol. It may feel good at the time, but alcohol based after-shaves are actually irritating to many complexions.
9. Be wary of mentholated shaving products. Although the "cool" sensation feels good on the face, menthol, like alcohol, can be irritating to the skin.
10. A lot of foam or lather is not needed. Many grocery and drug store shave creams contain skin irritants such as Sodium Laurel Sulfate, which are formulated to "foam up" the product. However, these irritants may be the cause of your skin problem.

Peaceful weekend

Hey guys,

As you all knows that weekend is always a pleasure for all working people. Similar to others I also wait for the weekend starting from monday.

Now a days I have come to Vietnam (HCM) for my company projects. So you all will be glad to know my experiences in Vietnam specially people who are from India. As the life here is quite similar to India. But others don't worry it will be quite a fun for you guys also.

Today I spent my whole day at home. One of my office friend has also joined me at home with his wife. Actually I am very fond of cooking new new dishes. Now all guys must immediately respond "too girlish"...lol..guys will always be guys...because that is why we are guys.. :P

I invite my friend to have some bread rolls. At night only I do all preparation & today when they came we actually cook the bread rolls. They were awesome. I was so amazed to see how good we have cook them.Wow...

To memorize the event I prepare a small video also. His wife also took my cell phone to shoot me too...afterall I should also be part of memories...thanks to her...They have also come with Upma (an Indian dish). As they came at 11:30 am so it was like brunch only.

I have prepare Rajma (kidney beans) & aloo pyaz sabzi (Potato-Onion cury) & Raita. But they said that its already enough for them. How can I say them that see I have prepare so many things for you & you should have lunch also. Nevermind if they don't want then I will have it alone.

Then I watch two movies I downloaded recently. One of the movie was full of tragedies. I was thinking that if I want to take a revenge from someone then I should gift this movie to him. See utilization of garbage...hehehe..

This was small story from my side for today. Actually more fun starts when we go to office on weekdays so read my next blog for this.

About my self

Hi guys,

This is my first blog so I want to introduce my self. I am a fun loving guy who always try to face the life with a smile. I have decided to write the blogs so that I can tell everyone about different experiences I had in my life. Also I want to keep my memories in this blogging website so it will be helpful for me too to go back to my own memories.