Hot town summer in the city

So we met with a Vice Minister and the MoF people all day until about 3:50PM. I wore a tie as I was advised to do when talking with senior government officials. The day was long and we covered a lot of ground. After the meeting I went to a budget team meeting with Bank people then to the MoF data centre at the Treasury building. This 15 days working for MoF are turning out to be more technical than anticipated. Some of the database reporting and setup issues that have surfaced over the past 6-8 weeks have taken centre stage more over the first four days I am here.

I am hoping to be up early tomorrow and get out before 7AM. It gets uncomfortably hot here by noon. It's supposed to be 41 and cloudy Saturday, dropping to 30 by Monday and about 28 degrees overnight all weekend. I have no plans for the weekend except I will probably watch some World Cup. I may be moving to another hotel over the weekend, but more than likely that will not happen until early week. I must but some short sleeve shirts. I bought a nice striped one last night size XL (43-44) and it was too small. That reminds me of how difficult it was to get ferenge-sized clothes in Addis.

When at the meeting all day, it seemed that every other word that came out of the Vice Minister's mouth was "Looking forward to Mr. Michael's looking into this too." Realistically they have needed an Oracle resource here for at least 2 years and maybe more to serve as a sounding board/reality check for the vendor who is doing the DBA work under contract. I have been even more fascinated by the local dialect, and have noticed a number of people inserting a very high-voiced "duc" into their sentenced haphazardly as they speak. I am wondering if it is their version of our interjecting "and ah" or the odd "ah" into our speech. I still have really only mastered thank-you in Vietnamese.

I have been told to take a city tour and want to go see the Hanoi Hilton where US prisoners were put up during the Vietnam war. I have been told that historical remnants of the war are all but gone from Hanoi but still very much a part of the landscape in the south (Ho Chi Minh City aka. Saigon). If I were to come back here again, especially with a Sweet Thing, I would consider flying out of HCMC by taking a 30-hour train-ride down the country from Hanoi.

Vietnam facts
Population - 84 million
Length - 1,600 km
Width - as little as 40km
Languages - Vietnamese, English, French, Chinese, Khmer, local languages
Religions - Buddhist, Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, Christian, indigenous beliefs, Muslim

The Red River delta lowlands in the north are separated from the huge Mekong Delta in the south by long, narrow coastal plains backed by the forested Annam highlands. Hanoi, the capital, is the main city on the Red River and Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon, is the main city on the Mekong.

Independent for almost a thousand years, Vietnam fell prey to French colonialism in the mid-19th century. During Japanese occupation in World War II, communist leader Ho Chi Minh formed the Vietminh, an alliance of communist and non-communist nationalist groups. Armed struggle won independence in 1954 and led to the partition of Vietnam.

For two decades non-communist South Vietnam, aided by the U.S., fought North Vietnam, backed by China and the Soviet Union. American troops withdrew in 1973, and two years later South Vietnam fell. In 1976 the country was reunified under a communist regime.

To replace support lost when the U.S.S.R. dissolved, economic policy encouraged a free-market system as well as trade with the West. Vietnam saw dramatic economic progress throughout most of the 1990s. In 1995 the U.S. resumed diplomatic relations. Economic growth stalled, however, with the Asian financial crisis. A stock exchange was launched in 2000, and Vietnam has seen increasing levels of foreign investment.