Finding New Opportunities...!

Dear friends and family, a warm “Xin Chao” from Hanoi, Vietnam!

More than two months have passed since my last update on this travel blog. Although I wrote it from exactly the same desk at my father’s apartment in Hanoi, enough has happened to tell you about :-)

…Let me take you back to one early morning in mid-December…, it was 0500AM and still dark. My father gently knocked on the window of a Vietnamese taxi that was parked at the end of the small alley where we live. The taxi driver who had agreed to take us to Noi Bai Airport woke up and a few minutes later, we were on our way… Both my parents had managed to get a three weeks' Christmas holiday and my mother was coming over to spend the end of the year with us in the South-East. As my parents had not seen each other for about five months, all of us had been looking forward to this reunion for quite some time… :-)

After acclimatising a few days in and around Hanoi, we booked a night train to the beautiful mountains of Sapa in the far North of Vietnam. Hiking through minority villages, going off-road with our rented scooters, enjoying the stunning mountain scenery and taking pictures all along…, Sapa was quite impressive. Before we would start our longer journey to the South of Vietnam, we made a short pit-stop at base camp Hanoi. The first place to visit was centrally located Hue, the former capital of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945). Here, we visited the impressive Imperial Citadel and a few pagodas before we moved further on to nearby Hoi An. Adored by some because of its picturesque and historical Old Town, disliked by others because of the many tourists it attracts, we spent a few very relaxing days here. Highlight of our stay in Hoi An was perhaps the trip we made to the ancient "Cham-ruins" in the jungles of My Son. Going there by bus and getting back by boat, we especially enjoyed the company of our fellow travellers and our compassionate guide ("Please call me King Tiger..., Mr. King Tiger!!").

As distances in Vietnam are quite far, we had decided to “cheat” a little to reach our next destination by taking a domestic flight to Ho Chi Minh City. "HCM" as it is often abbreviated, used to be the capital of South Vietnam and was known for a long time by its more romantic name "Saigon". From here, we explored the beautiful Mekong Delta. Even though the area is a labyrinth of waterways in all sizes, it is a densely populated region and it is also nicknamed the "rice bowl" of Vietnam. Not surprisingly, the biggest part of daily life takes place on the water and we enjoyed a boat trip with a local guide who took us from beautiful green villages to bustling floating markets. A few days later and just before New Year's we were on our way to a country which I know well...., Cambodia! Visiting the magnificent temples of Angkor and showing my parents around the surprisingly relaxed Phnom Penh turned out to be a great end of our three weeks family reunion…

In Phnom Penh, we split up: my mother went back to the Netherlands, my father returned to his work in Vietnam and I stayed for another week in the city where I did my internship a few years before. It was great to be back and to recognise so much. Over this week, I visited many familiar places, I met up with my former boss at the Cambodia Tribunal several times and I also spent time with a new friend of mine who I had only met in Brussels, the evening before I had started off this trip to Asia :-)

A few weeks before, while I was still in Hanoi, a friend of my father had introduced me to a French/Vietnamese law firm. As you may know, I was eagerly looking for an international working opportunity and for a new challenge. After meeting the two partners (bosses) of the law firm, they had offered me to do a one-month internship with them. I thought it would be a nice opportunity for me to experience the kind of work that they were doing and at the same time, they could see me “in action” :-) Before leaving Phnon Penh, I made sure to visit a tailor who could make me some nice looking office clothes. A few days later, I was back in Hanoi and determined to make a good start…

As the days of my internship passed, the little scepticism I had about working for a commercial law firm slowly passed too and I was starting to see the opportunities… This was a young and expanding law firm, ran by ambitious French and English lawyers, here I could work with wonderful Vietnamese colleagues on cases for international clients. And if that was not enough, the office was located in the very historical centre of perhaps the most charming city in the region where my father was living and working as well….! When, at the end of my third week, the partners asked me whether we could discuss the conditions under which I would stay in Hanoi to strengthen their team, you could see me broadly smiling from a lóóóóng distance :-)

However, before my internship could be converted into a working contract, first the whole of Vietnam came to an almost complete stop. Like the Chinese, the Vietnamese live according to the lunar calendar and around mid-February, the only thing people were talking about on the streets was the upcoming “Tet-holiday”. Full with traditions and very much an event to celebrate with friends and family, it was a pleasure to watch a whole country prepare for the main event of their (lunar) year. My father and I had decided to use our short holiday to further explore the region: HCM, Singapore and Malaysia!

Malaysia was probably the country we enjoyed most. Three years before, we had already been to its capital: Kuala Lumpur and we had visited Penang, an island on the West-Coast. This time, we arrived from Singapore, in the South-East of the country. Reading our Lonely Planet while waiting at the airport, we decided to visit Pulau Tioman, an island off the East-Coast of Malaysia, first. Tioman immediately lived up to our expectations as we were hiking through a dense jungle from the touristy side to the other, almost deserted, part of the island. We stayed in a beach hut for a few days and we enjoyed delicious Malaysian food at a pristine beach: welcome to the good life!! :-) A few days later, on our way to Kuala Lumpur (from where we would fly back to Hanoi) we made a last stop in quaint Melakka. There, we enjoyed the so-called “Straits-culture” and we took some history lessons on this settlement which was once on a very important trade route.

Going from one holiday destination to the other…, I already warned you that I would have a lot to share with you? ;-) Hope you are still with me! Alright, let’s cut things short here: about a week and a half ago, we came back from Malaysia. Fortunately, the partners at the law firm had not changed their minds and last Wednesday, I signed the contract!! And then, all of a sudden, I went from having all options open to knowing exactly where I will spend (at least) the next year……, here in Hanoi! Our short holiday had given me some time to reflect on the opportunity that I had been offered and when I was back in Hanoi to sign the contract, I was convinced: let’s go for it!!

Dear friends, that will be all for now. Next time, I will probably write to you about my new experiences of working in Hanoi and about my younger brother’s visit to Vietnam. In fact, he arrived yesterday morning and I’m writing this update while he is trying to sleep off his jet lag :-) Over the next three weeks, we will give him a “grand tour” of Hanoi and its surroundings! After reading this update, you know where to find me the coming year and it will be my great pleasure to welcome you in Hanoi too ;-)

“Tam Biet” and see you soon….!

Marijn