It is not impossible – Deux

A Few random photo’s to compliment my blabbering

I ordered a computer yesterday for the hotel. Pretty primitive by my standards…. But still way beyond what most places have here. They will deliver it tomorrow and starting on Monday, I will hopefully have a reliable and constant internet connection. It is a little difficult to always have to jump on the motorbike and cruise along the ocean to a romantic café with beautiful waitresses and…………aack!! What am I saying? OK, let’s just say I will have more time on the computer…. I accomplished a big thing today.

 Yesterday I commented how Vietnamese think different from us. In an earlier blog I have commented how they feel things are impossible. Well….. I wanted the granite floors of the hotel polished so they would be shiny again. WHAT?? Impossible I am told. I told them no problem, just get a floor sander such as they use to do hardwood and use fine water based sandpaper under it. WHAT??? No such thing I was told. For one month I have been trying to get the idea to them that a granite tile can be brought back to a shiny condition. Impossible it remained. In frustration, I finally went to a hardware store and found a sanding and a polishing wheel for a hand grinder. I did this because my wife and niece were spending hours scraping paint drops from the floor. I returned and showed the construction people that a person uses the heavier grit wheel first to remove the paint and stains, then use the higher grit wheel to polish the tile. Their eyes lit up in amazement. This was the impossible being done. I had restored a granite tile into almost new shiny condition. There are now 3 men duck walking across the floor with 4 inch grinders polishing the floor that was impossible to do. I win!! He he he…. It is NOT IMPOSSIBLE.!!

I am heading to Saigon for a solo trip to meet a friend, and to do some business. I have decided that in order to make a little profit at the hotel until I can establish a client base, I will need to find another means of attracting customers. I now have almost everything I need to have a very nice coffee shop/ bar. I have decided that I will purchase a projection TV and offer large screen entertainment, something that is very rare here. There are also other things we require that cannot be found here. Four days alone in Saigon should truly test my abilities to cope and interact. Only one problem about this whole trip…. Tet Feb 14 this year is the lunar New Year. It is a very big thing here as our Jan 1 is to us. People from Hanoi and Saigon leave to go home to their families. The whole country will be in Chaos for a week, and it is the same time that I travel to Saigon to do some business. I was able to get a flight to Saigon in a higher class than economy, however, there is no return flights available…. OK…. How about the train? Booked solid. Hmmmmm. I was thinking of hiring a private car when I remembered that the tourist companies in their ever ingenious ways of trying to make a buck…. had created sleeping busses. (I think I have just discovered tomorrow’s topic). I was able to secure a ticket back home this way. Because it is New Year, the price was automatically doubled…. I grudgingly paid the 18 dollars.

A couple of thing worth mentioning…… HEY SPAMMERS!! I have total control of who I permit to comment on my blog. GO AWAY!! You will not get any free advertising from me. Only people who have genuine comments will be allowed….good or bad. Secondly, I read yesterdays post and saw it did not make sense. Sometimes on this small net book, my thumb hits the touch pad the same time I am typing. This can cause a section to be deleted and over written. That is what happened yesterday. I will edit and repost the blog……. For me it is morning, so for you it is night………. Goodnight