Come on Vietnam… You are such an amazing place and I had no idea. Vietnam has safe streets, delicious food, beautiful beaches, and some of the nicest and hospitable people that I have ever met. I felt no danger on the streets of Da Nang or Hoi An as I walked around, except for maybe getting run over by a little Vietnamese guy on a moped. And I had the most delicious food everywhere I went, whether it was the employee dining room, the nice restaurants at the hotel, or the street food that I had. And the people as warm as the tropics in the summer - they always greet you with a big smile as you walk by.
On my very first night there, I met a really radical dude at work and he took me into the city where we had a couple of drinks… (see the couple of drinks below, lol). I really couldn’t believe that the club was going up on a MONDAY. All the girls were dolled up and dancing on the tables before it even hit 9PM. Needless to say I got HAMMERED and had a really rough Tuesday full of meetings.
On Tuesday I had lunch with management, and when we were getting up I commented on what a nice suit one of the guys had on. He told me that Vietnam is famous for the tailors and that I should see about getting a bespoke suit while I was there, but that it might be difficult because there were only two days left to my trip. Hardly more than 48 hours. But I figured that I could probably get it done, so I hopped in the shuttle to the nearby town and went straight to the tailor that they recommended to me at the front desk. There, I met my sister, Mimi, who helped me get the most beautiful bespoke suits. Could you believe that FOUR suits and FOUR shirts only cost me $1,000? And they are really high quality suits! And they were made in 36 hours! I am still freaking out and I can’t wait to wear them all the time.
When I went back to get my second fitting, I randomly met this guy, Archie, who was sitting and having a beer by himself. The beer looked ice cold and super cheap, so I asked him if I could join him. He gratefully obliged, as I am sure that he just wanted some company. We ended up drinking a couple of beers and then went to eat dinner at the most local restaurant we could find. When we finally found a restaurant that would take credit card, we had the most amazing meal - appetizers, entrees, desserts, beers, and even a beer for the road that I was too full to even drink - all for a whopping $12 between the two of us.
Then on my way home I took a Grab (Vietnam’s version of Uber), which was a nice guy on a moped. We ended up seeing one of his friends who was going the same way and we rode side by side the three of us talking in the middle of the open road all the way back to the hotel. My 40 minute uber on the moped costed me a whole three dollars, including the hefty tip that I gave him.
I really enjoyed myself over the next couple of days engaging with the different teams. And I really enjoyed spending time with the analysts, even aside from the work that we did. The vibe was really chill. People still worked hard but I didnt get the same sensation of busy-bees like I always get in Macau. When it was time to leave and go back to Macau, I really wasn’t ready. I remained curious about the market and wanted to learn more. Plus I didn’t want to say goodbye to my new friends, Iris and Ha (the analysts that took care of me while I was there). And my boys from IT, one of whom, Kelvin, lived in Barcelona at the same time that I did when I was a teenager!
So I packed up my bags and said the only bit of Vietnamese that I learned to everyone: cảm ơn (thank you).
