Luck

The Tortoises of Hoan Kiem Lake

Unbelievably, there are tortoises in the mysterious and murky waters of Hoan Kiem lake. Surfacing on rare occasions and bringing luck to anyone fortunate enough to see one. The Sword Lake tortoise is not just your common garden variety tortoise... its a huge animal. A specimen that died in 1968 weighed in at about 250kg (550 pounds) and was 2.1m long (6.8 feet). No one is sure how many there still are, or how they have survived in this urban setting.

Are these really the lake dwelling descendants of the golden tortoise of Le Loi? Or are they safeguarded in enclosures elsewhere and transported to the lake from time to time, where the occasional appearance is simply an orchestrated ploy to keep the legend of the lake alive?

-Lonley Planet: Vietnam

But yesterday morning I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one of the tortoises surface for a few moments... The only time I went out without my camera I see something rare... Sucks!!! Once I told my dad he ran over but it was too late. He said that I'm extremely lucky to have seen one because many people who've lived in Hanoi all their life have yet to see one. My dad saw one many years ago but its really rare.

Anyways... I visited the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology and the Museum of Vietnamese Revolution the other day.

Vietnam Museum of Ethnology





This one is dedicated to Jay Vaugh... Yet another Beanie Man sculpture.

Museum of Vietnamese Revolution


Vietnamese Communist Comic from 1945



Anyhow... I had lunch at one of the most luxurious seafood restaurants in Vietnam yesterday. Too bad I don't eat seafood but I did try some lobster. There was only 4 of us but our bill was well over $500 USD. Check out this crazy lobster we ate... Here's a picture of them weezing out some lobster juice.

My dad and his homies!

Afterwards we went back to his factory where they were planting those trees from the other day. Trees make everything look nice!

I also got to visit a garment factory owned by one of my dad's close friends. Its a huge factory that isn't too far away from my dad's. They have over 750 employees...



It reminded me of the scene from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" where that girl's dad hires people to find her a golden ticket...


Well its actually raining over here so I'm just chillin at home watching a few DVDs. Myster went to Silk for her mom's birthday... HAHA! Have fun! Miss you guys! 143!

MAA!

NEWS FLASH: Angelina Jolie is in Vietnam to adopt a 3 year old boy named Kimtan... HAHA! Lucky boy though.. His mom is a MILF!!! You can read more at CNN.com.


OK back to the blog!

More and more of the homies are starting their own blog... I love it! I like reading... actually I prefer looking at pictures.... HAHA... of what everyone is up to. I need to link everyone's blog on my page... I'll do it after this post.

Its actually almost 4AM over here on the eastern coast of Asia but I just woke up b/c its been rather humid and these baby mosquitoes are buzzin' in my ear! Usually I don't have to worry about mosquitoes at my dad's house but I left the sliding doors open all day and they welcomed themselves in. FUCKERS!

For the past couple of days Mr. Bentley has been transporting these huge palm trees to plant outside the factory. It's amazing what 15 people can carry... Those trees must weigh a ton!

I finally go a chance to drop by the new office building. Its just a temporary home until our new office building is built. I ate lunch and chatted w/ everyone for a good hour. Everyone was laughing when I busted out my phone b/c they expected me to have this like really cool expensive phone but instead I have a dinky used Samsung flip phone... Nothing special but it gets the job done!

The office is to the left... Upstairs is the accounting department and downstairs are the sales reps. The warehouse is in the back.



Here's my uncle Hong who's head of the accounting department.

Later that evening I treated my mom's best friend's family out to dinner at Al Fresco's. They have two sons: Tuan (17) and Nam (13). They've never had a hamburger before so I wanted to introduce them to some American style food. They loved it!

Here they are riding on their Honda in the streets of Vietnam.

Nam's burger is bigger than his head...



Afterwards I had tickets to watch Vietnam's famous Water Puppet Show. It was a sold out show full of tourist from around the world. The show featured a live Vietnamese folk band, opera style singers, and puppetries who performed in the water.

MAA... I'm a Vietnamese puppet!

Puppet Masters...

Afterwards I cruised around Hanoi and stopped by the Tomb of Ho Chi Minh. I wanna go inside during the day but I haven't had a chance yet.



Here are few random pics from the past couple of days... My niece, who's half Vietnamese and half White, just arrived the other day w/ her grandparents. She so cute! She looks like Boo from Monsters Inc.

Also tried some KFC too!

Here's me and one of my dad's close friends from Vancouver, Canada eating at the 5 star Sheraton Hotel Buffet. It was just as expensive as the Rio Buffet in Las Vegas... $25 but the selection of food was not even 1/6 of the Rio's. $25 is about a weeks worth of pay for a middle class worker. For those of you that know about what goes on in Vancouver aka British Columbia... He's the head of the whole Vietnamese operation. TJ and Ron this is someone you need to know... He'll hook it up!

Outside the Vietnam Military Museum... Thats a huge helicopter!

$500,000,000 VND = $31,250 USD... CASH MONEY!

GOOD NIGHT!

Going Away Pics

Pictures from my Going Away Party at Excelsior are now up on SDNightClubs.com... But be warned they're mostly of me. HAHA There's some great group photos in there though! Thanks to Jason for the photos and Aldryn b/c I love you!

www.SDNightClubs.com

Vietflix

Welcome to Vietflix: The New Online Movie Store

With Vietflix you can buy as many DVDs as you want from the comfort of your home and have them delivered to your door personally by TKoftheWildboyz! There is no extra international shipping cost. DVDs start at $2.99 plus any applicable tax.

Build your DVD collection w/ Vietflix!

HAHA... Well if anyone wants any DVDs let me know. Don't worry they aren't like the ones you buy in front of Fam Bam. They're all DVD quality picture or your money back! Here are a few of the ones I've already purchased. Buy 10 get one FREE! DVDs are only $1... I'll have to charger you at least $3 though b/c of the handling cost. HAHA Just email me!

Workshop Launch

Congratulations to Willy Santos (Inventor of the Backslide Nip Slide) and the Workshop Fam on their brand new website & online store!

FYI: Did you know Willy Santos is an official Wildboy? Its true! Willy's Workshop also employs about 85% of the Wildboyz... Including myself! I only work special occasions but I use to work once a month but my hours have been cut b/c I'm always in the dog house! HAHA

Look out for the Workshop's second location opening up soon in Mira Mesa. For more info and details check out the site!

www.WillySantos.com

My Plan

Looks like I'll be in Vietnam till the end of the year... NOT!!! I know many of you have already heard that I'll be coming back soon. HAHA I'm sure many of you aren't really surprised... To tell you the truth neither am I. Yet there was always the possibility that I would be here for a long while.

Originally I thought I could come back and help my dad w/ our new 30 liter water heating systems. But we're still in the testing phase and mass production hasn't begun yet. My dad wants to start selling the water heaters in Vietnam for the next few years first, then eventually take it to the international market. That's where I come into play but things don't really ever go as planned. You never know...

So now I've decided to go back to school to get my Master in Business Administration (MBA). I need to turn in my application and take the GMAT test before April 15, which gives me about a month. I'm still not even sure how the whole process works but I'm hoping to get into SDSU again.

I was planning on going to Osaka, Japan or Tianjin, China to visit friends the end of this week but my dad thinks its best if I go back to the states to prepare for the GMAT and get all the paper work ready for my graduate school application. He said that he would be more than happy to send me to China or Japan after I finished both. I'll always have the opportunity to travel so I have to get my priorities straight.

I agree w/ him... So I could be coming home as early as next week. But I'll keep you posted!

Here's a few pictures from the past few days:
KJ calls my dad the Vietnamese Wade Robson but that was when he had bleached tips.

Funny Dog!

My grandpa has dope style!

Stunna Shades

P.S. Good night Myster and sweet dreams... I miss you! See you on SKYPE! XOXO

P.S.S. If you have Skype add me... toekneenguyen! Give me a ring!

The Guardian

I just finished watching the movie "The Guardian" starring Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher... Its a great heroic movie that is truly inspiring. I give it a BUCK BUCK BUCK (highest Wildboyz rating)! You should watch it!

P.S. I love Pirated DVDs for only $.90... YIPPY!

P.S.S. HAPPY belated BIRTHDAY Ms. China 2006... Jenny Ly!

P.S.S.S There's a *NEW* Video of the Week... Its the Karaoke video that started it all... Thanks Rhoda for finding it again... MONEY!

MTV: Cribs Vietnam

Welcome to MTV: Cribs Vietnam featuring Vietnam's most eligible bachelor aka my dad... Mr. Ben! Here's the view of his house from the 6th floor balcony, which over looks two different lakes.
WARNING: The furniture and interior of this house is extremely colorful please proceed w/ caution... HAHA

Here's the 6th floor kitchen and dinning area. Outside you'll find a marble waterfall w/ a koy fish pond w/ two turtles.


The 5th floor gaming/living room. Notice there's lots of green!




No Homo!

I'll have more pictures of the garage and bedrooms but its currently being repainted. Look out for part II of MTV: Cribs Vietnam coming soon!