One thing that people describe when I ask, “What is Vietnam like?” Almost all of them will say that it is a lot like Jakarta in the eighties. A friend tweet me last night, “feels straight out of a Dono movie eh?” (for those who are not Indonesian, Dono Kasino Indro is a very popular trio comedian who made a lot of movies in the 80s. They’re synonymous with bellbottom jeans and bad hair-do.)

And I must say that she’s right. I mean I just got here, but you can see the city (now in Ho Chi Minh City, or affectionally called Saigon) is just starting to become a metropolitan, but not yet. Right now as I am typing, from my 9th floor hotel room, I can hear tai chi music from people performing it in the park, horns honking, and the buzzes of motorcycles and cars. Just lovely.

This trip, no clients 🙂 After two exhibiton in a row and managing business and a lot of photosessions in between, I think I’m gonna use my ‘Take Vacation For A Week’ card. We opened the slot for couples really, but since some of them are not to fond about shooting in a communist country (hey, it scared me as well at first), this time, no clients 🙂

I think I need this vacation. As you know, people demand me to be creative all the time. I know, that is what I am selling 🙂 But sometimes I can hear me head is puffing steam because it seldom stands still due to all the deadlines and concepts and business sides and yadayadayada… I need a break.

God didn’t create sabbatical just for fun. He knows that people need to stop too.

Sometimes we let things get in our way. “I don’t have the time,” or “People will call me a lazy bastard,” or “How exactly am I going to afford this?”

Don’t have to be a week. Don’t have to be Vietnam. Bogor or Bandung will do.

And don’t blame yourself for being a lazy bastard. Trust me, as a person, to perform superbly, you need vacations. The important thing is you know that once you get back, you’ll be in tip-top shape, and doing things better than before. This is not the industrial age, where people work with muscle and hours. We are knowledge workers, we work with our heads. So get that brain cells some rest. 🙂

So, I am a lazy bastard for this week. It’s good for me marriage, good for me business, and good for me as a person.

Love this hotel Internet access. I will be yapping my experiences here. Stay tuned.

Now, if you excuse me I have some banh mi and vietnamese coffee to try.

PS: The view from my room ain’t that bad, eh? Kinda like Fifth Avenue looking over Central Park 😀

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