A friendly lot ...

Naturally the people here are wonderful. As of 3:20PM Hanoi time today, I had sat through 19.5 hours of meetings without dozing off and there will be a national holiday in Vietnam as a result. I nodded off very briefly from 3:20:04PM until 3:20:05PM spoiling my run. Paddy it sounds like a rough life you are living. Sean, do not polish the guitar too much as it will fart a lot :). Thanks for getting the autoharp. I forgot to call, sorry.

We met mostly MoF people Tuesday and there were some heated discussions about many things. The mercury was only 37 and it was very humid. We were at the Treasury building for the morning. We stopped at a local dive for a traditional lunch with the dishes chosen by Quyen (pronounced "Quinn", or more correctly "Koo-yen" with the "oo" and "y" melded together to make the "w" sound).

The afternoon was at the WorldBank building. I decided to brave walking back to the Hilton by myself and got outside and freaked after crossing the street. I went back up to the 8th hoping to find Bruce or Ron and Bruce told me he would be 2 more minutes ... I guess they were Aussie minutes as he came down in 30 :). As soon as we went outside, he pointed at the tan building across the street and around a very soft corner, and exclaimed that was the HIlton :). Once back at the hotel, I did email and a few other things on the internet, then down to the sports bar for World Cup. We went around a few corners and down an alley to a place where Bruce and Ron ate. We watched some World Cup at this joint during dinner.

Wednesday started early, and we were at the Bank building by 7. We piled into a van and drove for 75 minutes or so to one of the provinces. We met with people there for the morning then went for lunch, their treat, close to their offices. Updated list of what I do not eat here ... snake heads and snails. I am sure the list will grow. The fruit here is astounding especially the dragon fruit; it is white, the consistency of watermelon, and has black specks in it half the size of caraway seeds. We spent the afternoon again at the Treasury building and did not break until close to 6PM (again).

Thursday was a little later, our not having to be there until 7:15AM :). We went to the PMU (Program Management Unit) location for the morning, then had a nice local buffet lunch before yet another grueling session in the PM. I came back to the hotel and sauntered around a bit near the hotel. I did not want to wander too far and get lost.

I watched Argentina thump Korea and then headed off to the room. I will probably move to the Horison a week today which is $75 cheaper and within walking distance of the Treasury where my office will be by then. Here's the deal, and I need help from Paddy and Sean and anyone else who cares to assist:

Hilton --> $176 Horison --> $100 both with breakfast
Transportation to office Hilton --> $12 per day Horison --> short walk
Internet Hilton --> included in room Horison --> $8 per day
Sports bar to watch World Cup Hilton --> great Horison --> have to check

So the summary is that the Hilton is $188 per day and the Horison $108 for a difference of $80. Should I stay at the Hilton or the Horison for the last 14 days or eat the extra $80 for a over $1,100 out of my pocket. MoF will only re-imburse me for the cost of the Horison or equivalent. You know, once I do the numbers, it appears to be obvious, waddya think?