A walk to Yen Tu Mountain

Summer for Halong Bay destination is quite crazy with domestic travelers.
Running a resort is like being in prison at this time of year.
Straight two weeks I haven’t seen my apartment in Hanoi.
At 7am I was already on the floor and it went on until late night.
So, when I get the chance to breath away from work,  I visited Yen Tu Pagoda with Lapaz Resort Filipino singers.

Yen Tu is an hour drive from Halong Bay. 

Inspired by King Tran Nhan Tong, who reigned from 1279 to 1293, the temple is located on top of the mountain which has an altitude of 1,068 meters.  

From the parking area we were taken off by 8-seater golf car that we paid a dollar per person and delivered to the foot of the mountain.       

The climb to the first stop, Giai Oan Pagoda was easy.  Nhan Tong accordingly held ritual for wandering souls of the maids and imperial concubines who drowned in Ho Khe stream in Giai Oan Pagoda. 

On our way up to the next stop, we saw canes on display for sale. I told my companions we will go with the trend, buy canes because it might be needed.  

Indeed, I was correct the cane saved our knees from falling down on the rocks. 

It was a challenging climb when we get nearer. The piled rocks were getting stiff. We were soaked even though it never rained. It wasn’t hot either because we were walking in the jungle. The cable car didn’t work, so there's no support system, we have to walk all the way up.  

At the Pagoda before reaching the summit the monks were giving lectures and followers can even stay overnight to pray with them.

I was told during Vietnamese New Year or the so called Tet Season in Vietnam thousands of followers were hanging around the Pagoda with the monks.

Visiting the place took the stress out of me. Maybe because of the challenging long climb or perhaps the interesting history of the temples built in Yen Tu that captured my attention and interest the entire climb. 

If you do climb Yen Tu, the most popular feature of the mountain is the rocky outcrop called An Ky Sinh or known as Heaven’s Gate. It is built at the summit with two meters tall. Go for it, it's worth the climb. 

THINGS I APPRECIATE BEING SINGLE

Are you in the primetime of your life and still single?  Welcome to the club then!

I know it’s not easy to be single when we are getting older especially with the likes of me who is picky. 

Oh well, I have a good life and I am having fun.  If I let someone in, it must have that “awesome” feeling.  Sparks, chemistry, excitement and thrills should be there.

In over two years that I’ve been single, I found only one that qualifies in that category, aka Mr. Clouds. However, for some reasons we are not meant to be together.   

But that doesn’t mean I will be miserable being single.  Having said that, I’ll share to you things I appreciate being single.

1.     I CAN DO THINGS I USED TO DO: 

A simple example is the type of music I listen. With a partner around the house I have to adjust. But now that I am single from pop music to rock I can tune up the volume as loud as I want and dance while cleaning my room without someone telling me to be sensitive.   Or during my day off, I don’t have to wake up before lunch to prepare food. I can sleep the whole day until I get hungry and no pressure of getting dressed. I can just put my shorts and shirt on, go down to any restaurant, eat and go back to sleep, nobody bothers me.

2.       I CAN SOCIALIZE SPONTANEOUSLY WITH FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES:

After work, I can call friends or colleagues without making prior schedule and go out with them. With a partner, if my colleagues asked me out, I often say no because I have to consider the other person.  Maybe the invitation was just for me or if he was invited, I don’t want him to feel awkward that he can’t understand our terminologies at work.

3.       I CAN BE VOCAL IN COMPLIMENTING OTHER PEOPLE

I am a very friendly person. As sassy as I am, I love to throw compliments to people. Imagine how my partner would feel if I tell someone sitting next to me in the pub he has cute eyes. It would be a long story that will end up in argument I am sure.  But being single gives me a license to just compliment everyone whatever nice things I saw. In Hoi An Old Quarter once, a traveler approached me to ask an address written in a piece of paper and after guiding him, with a sweet smile I said, “nice shoes by the way”.  It was very obvious that the shoes were made in Hoi An, so I just throw a bait actually.  He took the bait.  He looked at me with a smile, chatted a little bit about it then he threw an invitation for coffee. I can’t do that if I am with someone, can I?  It’s a nice feeling. The art of compliments which has a power to attract people.

4.     

      I  CAN BE LUXURIOUS  WITH  MY TIME TO WORK OUT

I can hang around in the gym until it closes without thinking someone is waiting for me.  I don’t have to skip Zumba just because I need to catch up.  So being single means no more painful criticism for being late.

5.       

          RECONNECT LOVING MYSELF, DATING MYSELF 

Now I have the so called “me time”.  I can date myself and enjoy whatever I wanted to do.   I can go out on a day trip by myself and I have the time to understand myself better. It makes being single more fun. A relationship is only as good as you invest, correct?  Now that I am single I invested my time to myself, so I am having good relationship with myself.  Here’s an example of having relationship with myself. I fall for aka Mr. Clouds but there’s no nasty pain when he left.  When he waved goodbye at the airport there was tightness in my throat. But I told myself, “oh. I still have myself”. Life moves on and I remember him in a good way. See how loving yourself helps in situation like that?  

These are just 5 out of the many things I can appreciate being single.

Trust me,  I had my share of long term relationship with a man and it’s easier to get destroyed in the absence of kids.  Simple arguments coupled with blaming each other if not resolve in a compromise manner, the word separation will never stop tagging along.  

Anyway, If you cannot prevent the word separation or divorce then you might as well practice living how to be single.    

Random Thoughts

Chocolates anyone?  I am having one now, so I thought I’ll be nice and invite you.

Anyway, I am in the mood to write my thoughts that’s why I’m being generous of posting my “trashes” here.  

This blog is my outlet when I am happy, sad, angry, crazy, emotional, has visited a destination on leisure or just being me.

It’s my blog, so I can talk rubbish and you don’t have to be nice to read it unless of course you are interested to know the “garbage” story of my life’s journey.

 

Curious what’s my trash story today?  

At work, I have what I called “fake days” and today was one of those. 

Big percentage of those fake days consists of handover days.  Why? It’s because I have to say “thank you” for the support and compliment the team I was working with even though it’s not how I feel or I don’t feel what I say.  

I have to leave, so I can’t utter a word of criticism.  Although sometimes I wanted to shout “I am glad I am out here! I can’t stand the way your mind works!” Oh, I love to say that sometimes.  

But this is a corporate world I have to be nice otherwise I can’t win respect, that’s why I called it “fake days.” 

                                               

Fake because I showed concerned when some people were worried. Fake because I joined in the sadness when some people expressed unhappiness just because they can’t see me every day anymore. 

Fake because I cheered with those who were happy that I won’t be bitching at them anymore.   Fake because I know it’s not how I feel. 

It’s not what I wanted to do.  You might be saying I am too hypocrite to say this but trust me I did several handovers already that I can’t feel anything anymore. 

Sometimes I even felt like throwing up thinking about the fake statements I have to say.  You can’t blame me my movement is quite fast that  hardened my feelings. It’s just work and I don’t put emotions to it.

For you to understand why I kept moving around, my boss has expanded the scope of his business and my role is to represent him, so it’s highly mobile. Wherever there is pre-opening, taking over slow performing assets, and risk management, I will be there. The shortest is one month where I have to cover when there’s no appointed leader yet.  I don’t have idea why I landed into this job when it’s not in my dream lists.  

But I am thankful for the opportunity anyway, except that it’s not easy with all the stress that goes with it.

The fact as well that it’s highly mobile also I can’t be consistent in building friendship.  Women friends, yeah loads but I can’t hardly had enough time chatting about shoes or dresses with them. Men friends, yeah many but oftentimes I can only go out for a chat once. The rest, I don’t have idea what went wrong why there’s no interest to see them again.  Some landed in my FB friends lists though.   

I can only remember one person that I was consistent with. It was with Mr. Clouds when I know he won’t stay long. 

Perhaps because we have common denominator, Halong and Hanoi?.  Or maybe because of the catch and play game? Oh well, Mr. Clouds, whatever it was, your charm worked well with me. 

 

Too flattering you looked for me after almost two years. But like a soap bubble, one touch you’re gone leaving behind the Hanoi playlists we both listened. Oh, so nice to remember your memories while listening to Bieber’s remix Despacito and Clean bandit’s Rockabye.   It lightened my day and made me smile.  

I remember the last words over coconut coffee smoothie, “see you when I see you” and I was tempted to answer “not when I see you first!” J           

Oh well, there’s my rubbish story. Putting my thoughts in writing, so when Alzheimer’s disease hit me one day I have something to read.     

“Life is short, break the rules”

Hello there, I am back again.

I actually just came from cinema where I’ve watched movie with aka Mr. Clouds once.  Then I remember I wrote something few weeks ago that I didn’t post.  I was having second thoughts of posting it because I am pouring my heart out and I don’t even know where he is now. Funny isn’t it?  

Oh well, that’s how crazy I can get when I like someone.  I am a strong believer of Mark Twain’s famous phrase, “life is short, break the rules”!

I had enough of depriving myself of happiness, so I might as well be selfish.  “Love truly, laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything” that made me smile.   He made me laugh and I felt special when I was with him.  It was only for quite a short period of time though but it was such a moment to cherish.  

Two months ago, I got a text message from an unknown number which was supposed to land in unattended inbox had it not been for the picture attached to it.

My heart leaped when I saw the familiar face of a friend whom I danced with during my surprised birthday party over a year ago.  I couldn’t believed he still had my number.  

We met for an afternoon coffee that extended to dinner and a movie. We parted past midnight and I thought I won’t see him again. But I was wrong, the one day was extended into over a month.

 It was a month of beautiful banter in life which composed of laughter, sweetness, thrills, excitement, dreams, wishes and what’s not.  I was like a teenager, a school kid with him.  We throw jokes that only us can understand. I found a chemistry electrifying all my senses which I didn’t know it exists.

Funny but even the lyrics of my favourite pop music suddenly become meaningful.

And it’s weird he was gone but I am not miserable remembering him. I still smile when something or any activities reminded me of him. It’s like the thrill is still there.

I had my share of painful separation in the past but being with him for a month I realize I am way over my grief and I didn’t know it until I played fire with him.

There was “no we” but it was the best days of my life. No regrets at all.

Life for me was all about work and networking party but having a short encounter with Mr. “Clouds” told me I am ready to open my heart again to someone I will meet in my journey. It took me over two years and an encounter with Mr. Clouds to realize I am healed.  

Thanks to him. 

Time healed the wounds but I didn’t know until Mr. Clouds left.  Everything happened for a reason I guess.

I thought, just as I was enjoying the course of life with Mr. Clouds and he had to go. 

Life is short when I am happy but life is too long when I am not, I think. 

To Mr. Clouds, wherever you are, thank you for making me feel very special and being loved.  The attention and care I get were enough compensation for how short our time was.  

And to everyone, do not judge me by my past because I don’t live there anymore. I broke the rules and what I got is a new me.  J

"Alone"

       
“If this night is not forever, at least we are together”... Ever heard of this line in your radio?  I am dancing to the beat of it actually.
 It’s Alan Walker’s song entitled “Alone”.


Right now, I am sitting in my kitchen drinking a glass of water (which all I have in the fridge) while listening to this song. It’s past 10pm.

Outside, I can see glitters of the neon lights in the streets. My place is on the 9th floor and the kitchen’s wall is glass, so everything are quite visible outside.

I hardly see stars in the city but from where I am sitting now, I can also see sparkle of them as they loiter around the dark skies.

The music, the dark skies and the stars somehow brought smile to my face.

Simple things but just playing with it in my thoughts made me happy.

 Life is not that complicated at all.  You can find happiness in anything, just don’t break the spell on your thoughts.

Call me crazy but I am loving life, though I am alone.  My happiness belongs to me. Maybe this is what they called fabulously single?

The truth is, I don’t have idea at all. What I know of now is that, I am in cloud 9, as happy and free as the bird flying on the sky.  Just don’t get your hunting gun and shot me dead.


Well here’s the thing, I am so scared of flying. In fact, every time I get on the car to the airport I feel like throwing up.  But when I look at the sky from the plane’s window, the fear becomes tolerable.  You can’t blame me, the clouds looks so beautiful.

Even now when it’s dark, just sitting here in my kitchen with the laptop on hand, the sky still looks beautiful surrounded with glittering stars.

I know life can be complicated but we run the show, don’t we? Our happiness belongs to us, doesn’t depend to other people.


If some people doesn’t like me, who cares?  There’s music to listen, there’s mall to go around, there’s movie theater to go to, there’s a plane to get on, there are colleagues to hang around and there’s my family who will always be there for me.

I am thousand miles away from home but my niece won’t give up inviting me for a badminton game. This is on top of my sister, who at certain time, kept asking me if I get emails from different types of men because she signed me up for a dating site.

They are so sweet that having them on my thoughts don’t make me feel alone at all.

There’s also my memories of the beautiful sky. Trust me, I don’t find it easy to be on the plane but I am still flying around.

 I don’t like international airport because I know I am taking longer flights than domestic but I just booked a ticket to Bali on May 9th. Worse, it’s not a direct flight.  Oh well, I still have the beautiful clouds with me. The unpredictable clouds that melt my senses, so I know I will be fine.  I will just listen to music and I know I am not alone in the clouds at all.

Exactly what the lyrics of Alan Walker’s song “Alone” says.

“If this night is not forever, at least we are together, I know I am not alone, I know I’m not alone. Anywhere whenever apart but still together, I know I am not alone. I know I am not alone!”

PRIORITY 101

Wow, it's been awhile since the last time I logged in here.  Welcome back Ms. Salome aka MicMic!   

Now, let me ask you a question. Do you ever understand the person sleeping next to you?  It’s a question that always boggles me.   

One day I woke up and realized, “OMG, I don’t have anyone except career!” That was the day I remembered what my boss told me, “I am throwing you in the water and let you swim by yourself. It’s up to you to survive.”

If I can’t make personal life better, I might as well take care of the opportunity that my boss led me.  I wouldn’t be a hotel general manager if he didn’t open the door for me.  But here’s the twist, people think a general manager does nothing but “just give orders”.

 Well, let me share to you my experience.  As a general manager, I must relate well to people not only to guests but to employees as well. The HR function is as important as sales and marketing.  It’s the life blood of operations. I am handling different types of people, so it’s quite a challenge to be level-headed sometimes.

My bachelor’s degree in Commerce helps me to have a solid financial background enough to balance the cost against operations. Also, my management experience in sales and marketing and food and beverage give me insights on how I can analyze operations through numbers and constant visibility on the floor.   These skills are very important for locally owned properties.

If you dream of becoming a Hotel General Manager then forget about your eight hours work mentality.  I tried developing one Filipino manager once and when my boss reassigned me, I was surprised to learn he insisted working from 6AM-2PM and won’t even volunteer staying few minutes unless a senior manager would ask him to stay a little bit.  I hope his experience with us taught him to be committed to his job now.

 A general manager for locally owned hotel is on call 24 hours a day. This is on top of the daily tasks studying daily management report, occupancy reports, operations meeting, executive meetings, going over room assignments, staff assignments, food and beverage plans and programs, chasing guest complaints, and getting a call wee hour in the morning with graveyard shift staff asking help to solve guest complaints that sometimes turned out to be simple issues of language barrier.

If I have to name it all, 24 hours are not even enough.   Plain and simple, this is a job that requires total commitment and dedication.  I love my work, my owners and my boss definitely, that I am not comfortable sleeping outside of the hotel anymore. I get so jealous of employees not showing their loyalty to the property and it’s becoming a habit for me to install 4G on my phone even I’m on holiday. 

If you ask me what’s my typical day like, have a glimpse of this:

6:30AM – visit the kitchen and check if dining areas are ready for breakfast

7AM – walk around the properties 

9AM – browse emails, study daily management reports and occupancy reports

10AM- operations briefing

11AM to 3PM- Administrative tasks

4PM to 9PM – Visibility on the floor

Those schedules are not static though.  On top of this, a hotel general manager must think of promoting the property outside. 

But what is really the most crucial task of a General Manager?  I may mention a lot of things that molds a GM’s personal life but really there’s only one thing all GMs care about, it’s the GOP.  I may have very nice owners and COO who offered me an opportunity to grow with them but at the end of the day, the expectation is high GOP turnover. It’s business after all.         

On a personal side, you may think I have this title and yet posting irresponsible crazy stuff in FACEBOOK.  Facebook is one form of Social Media that is built to trigger people’s interests through social interaction, isn’t it? It’s like gossip that interests people’s attention.  

Don’t you enjoy it when you are getting the attention you don’t normally get? You may describe it as attention seeker but well, what can I do? It makes me laugh amidst of my heavy responsibilities at work. It’s actually a nice break from all those seriousness in life.  

Well dear! Forget about me being serious in Facebook, okay? Nothing can boggle my mind now except messages from my owners and my boss! Let’s put it this way, if you are in front of me and you hear a sound of Viber message on my phone, my apologies but please forget I ever thought you exist. They're my priority.      

COMFORT ZONE

Some of the high rise buildings in district 7 

On August 1^st, 2015, I woke up with a realization that I finally am leaving Ho Chi Minh City.  “This is it, I need to pack and get myself sorted before I’ll change my mind,” these were the thoughts that came into my mind.

After five years, Ho Chi Minh has already become my comfort zone.  I can walk everywhere without getting lost, guide a taxi without a hassle on language barrier, where to go for my facial routine, which spa to go for specific requirements from stone massage, body massage and foot massage, where to go for badminton on specific days, where to go for zumba classes with specific teachers, where to eat depending on what I desire, where to chill out when I’m bored at night, where to watch movie for CGV outlets (I have CGV membership card if you ask me why CGV), where to go for manicure and pedicure, and good outlet for eyelash extension too.  And the most important things of all, if I feel like I wanted a very Vietnamese environment my staff at Oriental Saigon were there to drag me along to squat down the alley of District 4 for Vietnamese street food.

 It may sound silly to you but all those I mentioned above were part of my stress relieving activities after a hard day at work.  Not to mention my unrealistic decision to live extravagantly in Phu My Hung when I’m supposed to save money.

Call me silly and unrealistic for living in District 7 while working in District 1, I just want to have that feeling of being in my “comfort zone”. 

I was packing but I had butterflies in the pit of my stomach thinking about my decision to give up my expatriate life in Saigon and move to another city.   

Later in the afternoon, I phoned my ever beloved girlfriends and buddies in Ho Chi Minh, Yvonne and Michelle for coffee just to keep me preoccupied. 

Then there it was the realization that boosts my confidence, “Michelle’s tantrum against our order for pizza. It was served quite late and so spicy that Michelle went out for a walk, leaving us behind.”

The scenario reminded me that “life is not always rosy at all”.  There will always be a time that we have to let go of our so called “comfort zone,” whatever it is.  May it be in a form of relationship, things or career there will always be an ending and a beginning.   I have to start again somewhere, look for places to go and things to do when I get stressed at work.  If there’s no badminton court or cool zumba teachers then time to change the pattern.  

Speaking of pattern, before I left Saigon I’ve asked my girlfriends if they have patterns with their relationship wondering why we still stay single at our age.  Never mind knowing their answers otherwise they’ll hate me.  It’s enough to know how “single and fabulous” they are.  

Single and Fabulous

Michelle, who works in the marketing department of Coca Cola, lives in a nice two bedrooms apartment in Saigon Pearl.   Invite her for a movie and she’ll say no, but once you dragged her into

watching movie with us, she’ll be the first one who gets affected, like she’s watching a real scene.

(Left to right: Michelle,Yvonne and me

Invite Michelle for Karaoke she’ll say not her type, but once we dragged her into Karaoke session she’s the one who can sing for real. Yvonne and I ended up back-up singers.  Make a comment about seeing her always in pants and she’ll prove her femininity by buying a skirt.  It’s the cute side of Michelle. Sorry Michelle but I felt the need to let the world know how cute you are.  

Yvonne is the exact opposite of Michelle.  She’s outgoing and a “kikay” like me.  Yvonne works and lives in New World Hotel. She loves to go out and have a glass of wine outside of New World.

Perhaps her desire to chill out was also brought about by the fact that she could feel being held hostage living in her working place.  Taking charge of the revenue producing department of a 500-room hotel is stressful enough, let alone living in the same hotel, sort of office below and bedroom upstairs scenario.  It’s like absorbing the stress 24/7.

   

Yvonne is smart and bubbly but still single.  She’s a “cool girlfriend” material, if you ask me.  Sorry Yvonne but I am selling you for our promised reunion in six months.

    

Ladies, I’ll leave you for now but I’m sure I’ll see you in the other side of the world soon. Take life easy and enjoy the life of being “single and fabulous.”