New Year!

Wow I can't believe it's already 2 months into 2008. I don't think I have worked at all in 2008. It's been like this for years now - the next 10 months I end up working enough hours for a regular year.

In 2007 I worked 160 days and while that sounds like a part time job, the hours in 2007 came up to 1924 which amounts to 240 8-hour days a year. A regular office shlub only works 230 8-hour days a year. Crazy huh?

I'm supposed to be blogging about work life on this blog but having no work to do I might as well write about my vacation!

Chinese New Year was spent in Johore Baru Malaysia with my family. It was pretty good - no huge blow-ups which is usually a hazard when the Ngs come together for more than 2 days. The new niece is adorable, her parents are a little tense but that's to be expected for new parents. No one pumps out an 8 lb baby and then lays back - I wouldnt think that would be normal at all.

Then Mike and I went to Vietnam on our personal vacation (I couldn't drag him 10,000 miles and spend his vacation days only to just hang with my dysfunctional family) We spent 2 days in Saigon - very crazy and frenetic - people watching was really fun and shopping for cheap fun things like chopsticks and trinkets was great. We also took a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels (yes I said Coochie Tunnels) where there's some 200 miles of tunnels underground that the Vietcong used to evade American troops. Pretty crazy - we crawled through 90m of it and my quads were sore the next day. It was big enough for me to crawl through in the squat position and Mike, who cannot do the Chinese squat (resting on your haunches) it was very difficult. It was also pitch black and would have been terrifying if not for the incessant chatter of the 2 South American men that were ahead of us reverberating in the darkness ruining my re-enactment of the Tet offensive.

Then we travelled down the Mekong river to the largest town in the delta called Can Tho. We saw some floating markets (and some floating mini-markets), ate tons of fruit, shopped some more and then headed off the beaten path to a port town called Rach Gia. That was interesting to say the least - sitting in a minibus hurtling down these narrow roads they call highways sandwiched between Mike and a one-eyed, one-toothed lady, beeping away at the countless bikes and motorbikes while hanging on for dear life.

From Rach Gia we took a fast boat (called the Super Dong) to this island called Phu Quoc. It's not very developed as yet but it will be in a few years. We rented a motorbike and drove around all day discovering deserted beaches and coves. It's all dirt roads around the island so it was very fun and felt very adventurous. Then we got a massage on the beach which was double the price of the massages we had been getting outside the resort - a hefty sum of $12. Really amazing. You havent lived until you have been pummeled by a chubby Vietnamese lady, listening to the waves and watching the sunset.

It was a great trip, all in all. I never drink coffee but the Vietnamese iced coffee was so amazing I drank at least 2 cups everyday. Being back in the winter in New York makes me feel like Vietnam was ages ago but the jetlag helps to remind me!