Sunny Saturday

Today was nice sunny day – we have had several dreary rainy days – but this was one of best so far. The day started with a meeting with the Anh Long, the IBM CGM for Vietnam. We all appreciated his willingness to travel from Hanoi to Haiphong to meet with the team. We shared information about our assignments and experiences in Vietnam. Long also gave us more insight into IBM Vietnam and some of the challenges faced in the Vietnamese culture.

Following the visit, several of us went on walking tour to the Metro – a large shopping store. Here we purchased a football (or soccer ball to some of us), candy and notebooks for our visit on Sunday to the SOS Children’s’ village, we also got some snacks. We were quite an attraction at the market – you could just see people moving toward the aisle we were in so they could see us. Its quite surprising how few foreigners we see. Plus we are a rather ‘international group’ ourselves. Smile, saying Hello /Xin Chao (sin jow) and Thank you /Cam on seems to go along way.

After a brief rest at the hotel, Arjan, Ashok, Murali and I set off for Sat market. We basically wandered the streets, taking in more of the sights and watching daily life. There are so many shops along the streets, selling various items – most grouped by the type of products. One area had nuts / bolts / compressors /power tools/ wires/cable / rope. Other areas had metal / clothes / shoes/ etc.

As we wandered, we spent time in a park with families with kids on bikes; women exercising, men playing a checker type game, very competitive badminton, more of the game with folks kicking the shuttlecock. (We are still planning to learn how to play!). The weather was so nice – I think many folks were just out to enjoy.