Four days in Vietnam :)

Dear M & M,

Earlier in Feb. I’d visited Hanoi (the capital) and Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) on a business trip, what a wonderful couple of cities, I feel the set up is exactly like Beijing (the capital) and Shanghai, one is the administrative city while the other is the business/trade city (respectively), of course the latter is much more enticing for businesses, but one can not avoid the capital as that is where the policies that dictates the country come from.

Geographically VN is in such a strategically important location, the coast line is 3,260 Km long (excluding islands), running the entire length of the country. To the North is China, to the East is Laos and Cambodia, and I think that was/is why VN was/is so attractive. Long coast line means easy access for both ‘trade ships’ as well as' ‘war ships’, for once VN is in your hand one can easily move east to reach Laos, Cambodia and eventually Thailand, and that is it the whole of South East Asia in a jiffy. The Chinese came by land from the North, the French came by sea from the West and the American came from above by air, you two must read up on the history of VN.

Crossing the roads was fantastically fun, it’s like playing Russian Roulette with an automatic revolver. It had been some years since my previous visit and it was amazing to see all of the development! There is no doubt that soon Vietnam will (economic) become a major player at the regional level, and perhaps the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am not going to bore you two to tears on the business side of the trip, just wanted you two to see some of the pictures that I had taken (when not in meetings). You two must read up on the history of Vietnam, it had gone through a lot of heart aches, war after war, and in the end the people did come through, victorious, one must look forward towards the future but the past should never be forgotten.

As I am finishing off this post, I am sitting in Berlin and have been here since Monday (5th of March 2012), this trip was for the ITB Berlin (World’s leading travel trade show), all I can say is WOW what an event… however I think I’ll leave the detail for another posting :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All together in Pattaya :)

Dear M & M,

This past week was Matt’s half term break, so it was the right time to find something fun for the both of you to do, we were a little apprehensive at first because Marcella is so very young, even with Matt, he was at least nine months before we took our first trip to the sea.

Your mother decided to go back to Centara Grand, Matt managed to have a fantastic time there (so many moons ago) even though he had a bit of a run on his tummy :) the water park is superb for children.

Your mother booked a bigger room this time, so all five of us (Pui came too) could be together. The room was fantastic, spacious with a huge balcony and an amazing view. There was a bunk bed for Matt, of course he bagsied the top bunk as soon as he saw it.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Not long after our arrival in the room, Matt disappeared behind the wardrobe’s door without my notice. By the time I heard the ‘beep beep beep beep beep, aaarrrrrrr, clunk’ it was of course too late! He had already locked up the room safe… I wanted to be cross, but from the conversation that we had I ended up laughing my $%@# off :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me:        Matt can you tell me which numbers you’d pressed? (assertive voice)
Matt:     I don’t know Papa
Me:       Come on Matt, you must remember, what was the first number you’d pressed?
Matt:     Zero…
Me:       And then?
Matt:    eight, five, two, one, three, four, fi…
Me:       No, that is too many, let start again
Matt:    Ok Papa, zero, eight, two, four…
Me:       Ok, tell me again which number you’d pressed?
Matt:     zero, eight, four, five…
Me:       ??? tell me again ???
Matt:    zero, two, one, three…
Gio:     Haa, haa, haa, haa, haa (from somewhere outside the room)
Me:      Come on Matt, let start again… (with a huge smile, which was a sign of defeat)

I ended up pressing different set of numbers each time until the safe locked itself for fifteen minutes, of course I gave up and called the engineer, who promptly came with this huge machine, Matt was impressed :) but he promised not to touch the safe again (and he didn’t too :) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The long weekend was wonderful, Matt ate well and virtually lived in the water park, especially the tunnel water slide, he just couldn’t get enough of it, but surprisingly he wasn’t too keen on the sea though.

We had pretty much spent all our time in the resort, so that Matt could have as much water time as possible, but after about two hours or so he would request to go back to the room, to further play in the huge bath.

Marcella had her first real dip for the first time, and didn’t even cry, the weather was very hot from the searing sun, but the small pool was in the shade, so it was quite cool. The water was warm, just right for Marcella, she looked absolutely adorable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately most of the photos were not of us by the pool, I had decided not to take the camera but to actually join in the fun with the two of you (the pics below was taken using your mother’s BB).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the drive back, we stopped off at this great restaurant, ‘Moom Aroi’ (a direct translation would be ‘Corner Delicious’, well, ‘Delicious Corner’ would make more sense) (your mother’s choice again, ten stars for you, Mama), more than highly recommended. On the GPS, there were two ‘Moom Aroi’, so we picked the one by the sea and we were not disappointed, the service was fast and professional, the food was great and the most important thing for me… there were plenty of parking :) We didn’t arrive in BKK until five, of course my parents were there waiting to see you two.

Interesting: We all get dressed for him :)

Late one afternoon, like so many afternoons before, I found myself wandering aimlessly with a mouse in one hand, staring blankly straight ahead. Click after soulless click, hopping from one numbing page to another, hoping to find gold but all I’d found were grits.

That was until ‘The best 50 movies of 2011’ (of course there are probably a million more sites claiming to have the same list but with totally different films). Most of the films I have never heard of, but one particular film caught my eye like a vice laced with super glue, perhaps because it was a documentary about a photographer living in New York.

The documentary was “BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK”, if you are into documentary / biography I am sure you’ll like this one; what a life :)

Talking about dedication to one’s trade, he is the manifestation of the word “Passion”, he literally sleeps with his work :) the art of photography may not be his main concern, he simply wanted to catalogue everything he believes is important in the world of fashion, perhaps that sounds too simplistic, but the way he goes about it and the way he thinks is so fascinating (in a very good way).

With over 3 decades worth of photographs, consisting of street fashion and important social events (for the New York Times), he had seen it all, oh, did I mention that he was born in 1928/1929!. There are many memorable points of view from Mr. Cunningham, one of my favourite is “You see if you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do kid. That’s the key to the whole thing, don’t touch money, is the worst thing you could do” (Bill Cunningham New York, 18:12 – 18:23).

I wonder what he will do, now that Kodak (sadly) is no more, only kidding, I think he uses Fuji films anyway (saw a few glimpses of green film boxes), will he ever move to digital?  The way he takes a photo is like watching fencing at the Olympics; the camera starts down low just below the chest, with both hands on either side of the camera, then suddenly it comes up to his eye as fast as an alcoholic downing a shot of whiskey in a typical Hollywood cliché film, SNAP SNAP SNAP, a quick jab and it’s down again.

After the documentary all I wanted to do was to go out, buy a blue smock, steal a bike, ride down to Siam Paragon to take pictures :)

Thousands of these… :)

Dear Marcella,

Using a camera with a left hand, sounds easier in words than in practice, trust me I should know, I have thousands and thousands of this exact shot of just you and me :) (with different mirrors though, and I am sure there will be thousands and thousands more :)

I was thinking of creating a Yoga class for photographers, I sure could have used it here :)

By the way, your mother and I now know exactly when to catch you smiling. So simple, all we have to do, to be guaranteed with a beautiful huge smile, is to make sure that you are full of milk. ‘Stomach Full of Milk’ = ‘Mogwai’, ‘Stomach Void of Milk’ = ‘Gremlin’.

 

Just got back from Vietnam, lovely place and people, and just found out today that I have to go to Singapore the day after tomorrow… so be a good girl and keep you brother in line, ok. :) Missing you already…

Moment to Remember: Angie’s comment :)

Dear Matt,

Your hair cut was long over due, so late Saturday evening I drove you to your usual place, but this time it was only you and I, so when the lady asked for the style, I’d said one simple word, 'Short', now if your mother was with us, her direction to the lady would have been just a page shorter than the Bible, lol.

Of course your face have totally changed, haa haa haa, and everyone who knew you have since rushed up to you to make all sorts of comments (of course all were favourable, at your bafflement :) ).

Today is Monday, the traffic was terrible as usual, by the time we arrived at your class most of your friends were already busy doing things in class.

Here is the moment to remember, as always you have to take your shoes and socks off before going into the class room, the only separation between you and the class is a huge pane of glass with two huge sliding glass doors. As soon as you sat down, Angie (she was in your class at Noddy, and she has always been one of my favourite, totally adorable with great manners, an absolutely beautiful little girl) came running out of the class, plonked herself next to you, all smiling and laughing!

In her sweetest little voice she simply said "Matt you had a hair cut", no… I got it wrong, it was like “MATT YOU HAD A HAIR CUT!!!!!!!!!!!”, with a laugh and a huge smile between each word, she was more excited than me :) you muttered some kind of an answer that only an elf could decipher, of course I was already on the floor laughing :)

I shall never forget today :) perhaps I should ask your mother to join us for the next trip to the barber (actually I can never imagine your mother letting me go anywhere alone with you again (ever)) :) with hind sight, going from a Korean-ish style to a Dek Wat (Temple boy) style was a bit much, haa haa haa.

Love you (and sorry, lol :)

 

Dad :)

I am a wolf, a nice wolf :)

Dear Matt,

A couple of days ago it was ‘Jungle day’, so all ‘early years’ had to dress up as an animal of their choice, for the past week you felt in love with the ‘song of the week’, “Who is afraid of the big bad wolf, big bad wolf, big bad wolf…” (and kept singing over and over like a broken record), so it was so appropriate for you to go as a wolf, luckily you had a wolf hat (actually its a wolf/sheep soft hat, I can’t even remember who bought it in the first place), so on that day a wolf you will be :)

Of course that morning you had suddenly decided you didn’t like the wolf hat after all, and absolutely refused to wear it. What could I have done, we were running late so there was no time for one of our infamous negotiations, and decided to tackle the ‘no hat’ issue at the school.

Well, you’d won, so instead of being a wolf, you went as an ‘activist’ (your shorts did say “Save wildlife”, it was a good enough excuse in my mind). You jumped out of a car like a young joey (baby kangaroo), all triumphant and all smile having won a hard fought battle (known as ‘Battle of no hat for me, thanks dad’, fought at Shrewsbury’s car park, on the day of 31st 2012).

But soon after, I could tell you were changing your mind :) because as soon as we left the car, there was a tiny elephant in front of us, one of the boy from another class had dressed up like an elephant, and I don’t mean a t-shirt with an elephant hat, I mean a full grey body suit and an elephant’s mask that would have surely won the 2012 Best Costume Design at the Oscar.

You looked at me with your soppy eyes, they were saying “holy crap, why didn’t I just wear that darn hat”, a couple of steps further we saw a wonderful zebra, and by the time we got to your class I had really thought I was in the jungle and was ready to leg it with all those wild animals roaming around.

I just couldn’t let you be the odd one out, I knelt down next to you by the door to your class and asked if you wanted to be a wolf, you’d simply nodded with a gentle smile… After breaking the current 100 metres’ record rushing to the car and back (wolf hat in hand), you had already started your class so I had to call you out, through the large glass sliding door you came running all smiling, in a blink of an eye you had transformed into a wolf and rushed off back to your friends.

Is was so good/funny to see you all smiling and growling at your teachers and friends, just to let them know that you were a wolf wearing a ‘save wildlife’ shorts :)

What can I say :)

Dear M and M,

When you grow up, life will throw you ‘responsibilities’ whether you like it or not and it may not even be just. But however good or bad it gets, we hope it will be us who you think of first in the best and the worst of times.

Matt, I wish you could remain this happy forever, that is all we ever wanted for you and little miss M :)

Missing you, see you both in a couple of days.

Interesting: “and then…” will f*&% you up, shared South Park creators :)

Came across this short VDO through my Google+ stream that led me to ‘Mentorless’ and finally ended up at ‘MTVu’.

The creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone surprised a freshmen class of ‘Storytelling Strategies’ at NYU.

The writing tips in this 6 and a bit minutes clip is like pure molten gold, poured while red hot into a bowl of flawless, colourless, grade 1 plus diamonds, click ---> here to jump to the video :)

Our M & M, one can’t stop talking and the other won’t keep still :)

Dear M & M,

Soon Little M will be 3 months old, we keep forgetting how quickly you all develop at this stage. For the past three weeks, the most noticeable thing with our Little M is that you like to have a bit of a chin-wag, nothing deep like the latest round the cabinet reshuffle (what was our first ever lady PM thinking?), in fact any topic will do as long as we make it sounds soft and gentle, Little M will always join the conversation with very insightful thoughts such as, ooohhh aaahhhhh and back to oooohhh again (by the way, if we don’t talk to you, you’ll start crying :)

As for you Big M, last Saturday your music teacher asked me (right after your morning lesson) what I fed you for breakfast? She thought I must have given you sugar cubes (and about a ton of it too) because you were like a very bouncy bouncing ball for the whole forty minutes.

I don’t know why all the scientists are spending so much time researching into ‘fusion’ as a new form of clean energy, all you have to do is to construct a humongous hamster wheel (link it to a generator), and chuck in just a few three year old kids, and voila, clean energy at a cost of a couple chocolate cookies and a glass of milk. Honestly, I don’t know where you get your energy from, my camera is now permanently on S (shutter speed priority) instead of the usual A (aperture priority) simply just to keep you in focus while you were dashing around :)

Life is amazing with you all :)