Man, life and work are just getting busier than usual. There is no time to be down about the close out of my position as I am now busier than ever with work. Kinda strange hu?

They sent me to Vietnam to follow up on a project we funded in Ho Chi Mihn City. It appears to be going quite well as the lives of the city waste collectors are improving in many aspects: savings, health insurance, income, conflict resolution, contracts with households, recognition from the local government people's party and good capacity building towards eventual private syndication.

The NGO coordinating the project, Environmental Development N Action is a group of really well educated and long time development professionals. Got a glimpse into Vietnamese business culture over Mon & Tues as we drank allot of beer at lunch and the lunches were long. About 2 hours on average. Fun but debilitating in terms of continuing work in the afternoon. It reminded me allot of Pace Corps days in Thailand when I worked with up country government officers about 8-10 years ago. Long-ass lunches. Sometimes, four hours long and lots of drinking. Hope that is not still going on to much but in some places I'm sure it is. Pace of life in ?dung chungwat? can be very slow and relationships get formed better (so the thinking goes) over pints or Black Label.

Then to Hanoi for visa and meetings. Nice time there as well. There is so much to do in Vietnam and you really need 3-4 weeks (as I did back in 1997/98) to get to all the sights and town. This was my third time there (2nd this year) and it has changed so much in the last 7 years. It is allot cleaner. The economy is humming, more motorcycles and more cars. Better business practices and the people of Hanoi have got better at negotiating (like their HCMC brothers & sisters.) Okay, I know you want to know- Yes the women are gorgeous and those Aou-Yai's just rock my world. So feminine! Also, seems Vietnamese ladies have quite a larger bosom (in general) than our Thai ladies. (My wife said, "Yea, they do." and then smacked me for having apparently taken a gander. What am I supposed to do? They are like right there in front of me. Moving around and supported. And the Aou-Yai that they wear is very form fitting in that regard. HUBBA- HUBBA. Anyway, I had a nice time and am looking forward to going back soon. Hopefully this year and taking Angel of Yala with me this time too.

Once I got back to Thailand I hoped a train for Surin to see the wife. OH! by the way, I want to give a HUGE THANK YOU to all my TFer friends who called and SMS?d me upon my return to the THEP. Bella, Kitty, 2Unique, Janny & Espresso. That made me feel very good. Thank you! I got to work and had e-mails from some of you too. Thanks guys!

In Surin I finished painting of the bathroom. So I am done with that. No more painting. It looks good enough and while I would like to do more- the little lady has indicated she is looking for some HIV / AIDS work in Chaing Mai or Chantaburi with Harvard University now and this of course means that I will support this endeavor and paint the next place if it needs it. (Can you say lap dog?) Its all good. I love her.

Too long, too lazy

Just saw my name .....

2U- Why thank you. I like to think I can discuss bosom size, business culture, trash collection and home improvement all in one journal entry.

Kit-Self centered indulgent attention seeker! Yea, but I still love ya.