Day 1 - The return

I arrived back in Vietnam yesterday. A stupid long flight from seeing my parents and in-laws in Canada for the last 2 weeks. It feels like I have been away longer, it always takes me a day or 2 to get back into the swing of things.

The flight was good as I got upgraded by a very nice young lady in Toronto airport so it was business class all the way from Toronto to Hong Kong. Nice. I then dismissed any idea of coming to work yesterday and spent the day in bed and on the sofa, sleeping and watching crap. Had a great nights sleep on my new mattress and got up early with the dog today and got into work mode. Pretty unsuccessfully.

I walked into a bit of a disaster today. First I went to 'Five' my restaurant at 5 Hang Be, Hanoi. We have some pretty major plumbing issues from the initial build. The guys have ripped up all the floors in the bathrooms and removed the toilet. I can't help thinking it might have been an idea to have closed but its open right now and unlikely to make any money due to the noise dirt and dust. I walked in and saw the look on the staff's faces and it said it all. Motivation needs a bit of a pickup. They looked exhausted. I guess they knew what my reaction would be. Its very disappointing.

I had to just get out as its a disaster zone. I will deal with it tomorrow once the crap is out of the way. I just can't face it today.

I walked down to Le PUB I can't say I was much happier, I have only been back in the west for 2 weeks but it just seemed a bit tatty when I looked at it with fresher eyes. Is this how everyone perceives it? Possible I guess. It was a bit of a shock. I guess it has been a while since I have looked at it from another perspective. I feel like its going to be a busy year!

Taylor was in Le PUB so we caught up over a coffee before I went upstairs to say hi to the guys and borrow Brighde for a coffee and a chat. Brighde runs iTravel. After telling her about my holiday we discussed iTravel for a while. She is also low on moral, its hard to see the next step from where we are. Basically we need more customers but its hard to work out how to attract them. We have a lot of ideas and a fantastic product but like betamax proved, that does not guarentee success. Some work to do here too I think... Lets hope Seb doesn't come in today or my head may explode! Seb runs vMediaWorks. A boutique film production and graphics company based here in Hanoi but working accross south east asia. That can wait for another day.

I hope I will get a chance to catch up with Jimmy, my partner in all this, but I may drop home to walk the dog and clear my head first.