We went back to the trade fair yesterday to buy samples to show clients and our financial sponsor. Even though we thought we had slim pickings, we still had some good ones. I also did one interview and that exec gave me one intro to one of the biggest companies in Vietnam. Another interview prospect is still hanging in the air but it could be worth pursuing.

After the trade fair, we hopped to the Factory Outlet where they sell export overruns of foreign brands manufacturing here in Vietnam. I bought Adidas apparel for my sister and Crocs for my girls. My friend bought six pairs of footwear (including the Saucony running shoes she bought near the exhibition center).

This morning, we were awakened by jets flying overhead again. We were shocked to see all the roads closed off and breakfast places shuttered. We had to walk several blocks to get to the nearest open restaurant.

It was hard booking Grab on the way the airport even an hour after the roads had been opened.

And I need to buy a new laptop bag. This one is already saying farewell. One zipper already gave up and this handle is on its last thread.

Landing in NAIA is wasteful for airlines. The planes circle around Manila Bay until the pilots get the go signal to land. They do this for 30 mins because we only have one runway so there’s a long queue of planes circling above Manila Bay.

So technically, Ho Chi Minh should only be 2.5 hrs or less but it takes longer because of that idiosyncratic airport.

I didn’t realize that being 1hr behind would really wreak havoc to my schedule. My brain was fixed on having the online presscon at 10 am Manila time that I forgot that it meant it was 9 am HCMC time. 😱 I was already having breakfast when I realized I have to log on Teams.

After breakfast and the presscon, we hopped on to our Grab car and went to the trade fair.

I have two interview prospects so far, which is a bit disappointing. But then again, the main reason why we’re here is we’re scouting for potential suppliers for the business that my bff and I are going to put up. So I have to think positively that this trip is not really a waste of resources.

However, we had low pickings. We realized that it would have been better if we attended the Hong Kong leg and the Canton Fair because the choices are wider and they have a variety of price points to choose from. Even though they say that China is getting more expensive, we still find that Vietnamese goods are still more expensive if we base it on the minimum order quantity.

After lunch, we decided to go to Ben Thanh market for ground coffee and fruits. Bff was hankering for a giant atis.

I know Ben Thanh is also the center for knock off things and I’m not interested in that. I’m not really a coffee drinker but I ended up buying freshly ground coffee worth PHP 3,000. 😩 The vendors there were smooth operators.

It was so hot and humid inside but that didn’t stop me from trying some noodles.

We do have them back home but not in those sizes. Our mangoes are still better though.

Today is a bit hectic as I had a meeting at 10 am and we were only able to get to our breakfast place at 9 am.

I was 8 mins late because traffic was heavier than usual. The government was closing down streets in District 1 because they were having some kind of celebration to commemorate the reunification of Vietnam. Jets and helicopters were flying overhead, with Vietnamese flags on their tails.

The culminating celebration is on the 30th but they’re already in a celebratory mood.

After my meeting, bff and I went to the Adidas factory outlet store in District 11. She used to be an active triathlete—the first Filipina to compete in Norseman triathlon—so naturally she wants to check out some bargain finds.

Twin A is really serious about her volleyball training so she asked for additional training gear. Twin I, on the other hand, has taken up long distance running/walking. I added two more shirts to this lot and it only cost me PHP 6000++.

Then we went to a nearby Lotte supermarket for Vietnamese instant coffee, some tea, and lots of instant pho.

We had lunch at past 3 pm—we were already starving. We went back to out hotel back in District 1 and opted to have lunch in a restaurant just within spitting distance.

We were pissed. We were like eating beef jerky. It was so tough that it was such a chore to eat. The rice was really dry. We just had to plod on because we were ravenous but if we weren’t, we would have left the restaurant with only a few bites of our food.

After coffee, we ended up in a plaza where people were starting to converge.

This is so unlike me to arrive in another country in the afternoon. Normally I take the earliest flight out of Manila so I can take advantage of my free day after arriving. This time, I’m with one of my bffs who has a toddler. They had to bring the son first to her brother who will/had sent the kid to daycare so my friend’s husband can drive us to NAIA.

The last time my bff was here was 20 years ago. She said things have changed so much that she failed to recognize HCMC. She was surprised that 4-wheel vehicles outnumbered motorbikes now. When she was last here, it was just motorbikes. She was also wondering why all cars look relatively new and half of them were EVs or hybrid.

Our Grab ride was cheap—only about PHP 200 from airport to our hotel in District 1!

The good thing about traveling with a friend from childhood is that more or less you’re on the same wavelength. Our agenda after checking in our hotel is just this: Vietnamese coffee, pho, and massage.

It seems like we’re located in an expensive part of town because there were a number of older white tourists all around. We were just spitting distance from Hyatt and a large Louis Vuitton store. Our meal was cheaper compared to Manila but it wasn’t as cheap as I expected because it cost us PHP 500 each.

We were so full and satisfied with our dinner. 😎

It was like Manila without potholes and heavy traffic. The vibe is more or less the same. Street vendors selling cigarettes and banh mi. Trash/dumpster at the corner and broken sidewalks. Same same. Bangkok also exuded the same vibe. Southeast Asia can be so familiar and yet each country is also distinct from one another.

I left so many stuff at home. 🥴 I had to rush last-minute errands and address work-related issues that had thrown me off-balance. I’m supposed go online this morning because I had a terrible article that I was editing last night. The reporter may come back to me this morning… but I’m dealing with airport stuff right now.

This interview of National Artist Nora Aunor was hilarious. Her stories about her drunkeness sounded familiar—because she was me or I am her when drunk. We could’ve hit it off.

I am not easily star-struck but there are only a few people who I asked to be photographed with while getting tongue-tied: goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, long-time Purefoods basketball player Alvin Patrimonio, and actress Nora Aunor.

When I was still with my old TV station, I was covering/live tweeting the fundraiser our broadcast company did for victims of Typhoon Pablo (was it?). There were celebrities manning the phones, performing, hosting, etc. I didn’t care much for them so I just continued to work. But when Nora Aunor came in, I was star-struck. I stopped whatever I was doing and watched her open her bag and pull out wads of cash in thousand peso bills. I heard her say, pasensya na, konti lang to. Kawawa naman sila…

My heart melted. She was so humble and shy. I got shy, too. I would have wanted to have taken a photo with her. She was just literally at arm’s length. I would’ve bragged to my long-dead father and his mother that I had a photo taken with their idol. Well, technically Nora was my grandma’s idol and my father… It was just transference. I would have wanted to have a chat with her, I wanted to tell her that my lola, until her dying day, was a solid Noranian.

But I didn’t. I was just too shy. I should’ve.

Now she’s gone.

Fresh air. Light. Wohoo! This is very important now that I need ventilation inside my tiny home. Summer months are always brutal.

Staying home during the Holy Week is perfectly fine. I want to just relax and recharge my battery. I don’t want the stress of having to deal with people, like this:

Nope, I’m perfectly fine here at home. I’ll do my gala on other days. I don’t want to people. I’m already old and cranky and people-ing is no longer me.

It’s like a tradition now: breakfast at the community market on Sundays. It’s the best way to catch some Vitamin D, exercise (around 3,500 steps) and food. I brought Twin I with me, who now developed an obsession for walking. Yesterday she went around the campus and went up the mountain (upper campus) despite the heat. Twin A, on the other hand, also went walking with a girl friend yesterday but a few hours earlier than her twin.

It’s good that my daughters are now developing their love for the outdoors. I have been training them since they were babies; I always brought them to the beach and every summer months I bring them here in my hometown so they can run around freely at the park or anywhere on campus. On weekends in QC, I brought them to UP Diliman so they can play under the trees.

One of the major considerations I had for moving back here is the accessibility of the outdoors for my girls. All they have to do is walk out of our front door and they have the open field and mountain to climb if they get bored. And now they’re bored, which is a good thing. Boredoom pushes kids to be creative and to explore the world around them. They can also move about on their own because my hometown is safe; I won’t have to worry that much compared to when we were still in Metro Manila.

My faith in humanity (somewhat) is restored. I almost believed that Koreans are bad news and I hate the fact that they look down on Filipinos—they just use you and take advantage of you. They’re not nice. I know it’s not a fair assessment but I really have a tainted view of them, especially with my experiences with them in my personal and professional life.

This interview of Ryan Bang by Karen Davila changed my mind. Ryan is really a blessing and his outlook in life is admirable. He also goes to the same church as we do, only I think he goes to BGC branch. What’s surprising is that it was Yeng Constantino who brought him to church.

I really do pray for his happiness and success. Despite our religion, he hasn’t judged Vice Ganda, a trans, and even made her his surrogate parent who guided him in his showbiz career.

Because who are we to judge, right?

I didn’t know he and James Reid were batchmates in Pinoy Big Brother. My Pinoy showbiz IQ is really low. 🤣