Running away with the circus

We spent the morning on an excursion, which was arranged by the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce, to Do Son Beach and Hon Dau Island. This would not necessarily have been our choice of excursion, had we arranged it ourselves, but it was interesting to see what our Vietnamese hosts thought would entertain us. We were given an intriguing insight into their perception of foreign business people and this was particularly evident when we were taken to an exclusive local casino only to discover that neither the IBMers nor our Vietnamese hosts where interested in gambling. There also seemed to be endless team photos where everyone had to line up and pose in front of the local sites to get snapped. This contrasts with the more informal photos my team mates and I prefer to take of our activities.

The afternoon was spent back at the SOS Children’s Village playing games with the kids. We had a lot of fun and they seemed to appreciate the lolly pops, books and IBM stationery we were giving out as prizes. We arranged a treasure hunt, were introduced to a game of keepy-uppy using something similar to a shuttlecock and, with the help of Debbie, I honed my circus skills. We were mobbed by children as we entertained them with our juggling and balloon animals. Yes folks, I can now make swords, dogs and cats out of balloons. So, you'll be please to know that I now have a fall back plan of running away with the circus, if a career in consulting doesn’t work out! ;-)

With all the activities and excitement of the day, this leaves me with only one thing to say and it sounds like toy daang met (tone going down), which means I am tired.