Word of the week - Enabler

Yesterday I was at the Parkson food court with M when we both bumped into a mutual friend who had come to eat on his own...coming to think of it - we do go to Parkson quite a bit huh? So anyway, yeah, we were all talking about future plans and the usual..'so when are you leaving' Vietnam conversation popped up. I used to get conversations that would usually start by 'how long have you been living here already..?' but now after a year, it goes more like 'oh....so when are you leaving?' followed with a grin that says "just give it up - you know you hate it here so stop pretending and go home!"

So friend mentioned above was just about to start eating while we were about to leave (he had invited himself over to our table) and us being us, didn't have the heart to leave him alone. Started talking and the usual conversations came up. M was of course excited to tell him that she was leaving to seek a new adventure in a new country. And we then asked him about HIS plans. He's been in Vietnam for almost 3 years now (i think) and he then shared with us a brilliant idea about starting a culinary school for the underpriviledged children in central Vietnam. He's going to house it in a mini boutique residence that he'll manage so he'll be able to generate income and allow the kids to study culinary skills for free at the 'institute' - which will be obviously in the boutique residence.

Social business is what he coined it as. BUT he told us that in order to do so, he still needs a job at least for the next couple of years - corporate most likely just so it can enable him to fund his dream project...this will eventually be his retirement job/home and in a way, he wants to help the society as well. He shared with us many different ideas during lunch while chomping down his food. So yeah, whatever said and done, he said he still needs money - the ENABLER - that will then fund his retirement project(s). And why would he start thinking now about retirement since he's just more or less in between my age and M's? Well ladies and gentlemen, because he's a Singaporean!!!! (i forgot to mention that bit in the begining) and they're always just one up on us Malaysians! So yeah, here's wishing him all the best with future jobs which whill ENABLE him to save up and fund his cause at the end of the journey :)

I better start thinking of my retirement plans now too if it's not already happening! ;)

Childhood scent memories

Last Thursday, Estee Lauder invited a bunch of us to drop by their Parkson Saigon Tourist Plaza for the 'launch' of their latest product - the Advanced Night Repair Synchronised Recovery Complex.

Now I've been a huge fan of the Estee Lauder brand and was exposed to it ever since I was a little girl. My mum would only buy Estee Lauder perfumes - dating back from the bottles of Knowing, Youth Dew, Spellbound and right up to the newer ones in recent years such as the White Linen and Pleasures range (she just got herself a new bottle of Beautiful by the way - talk about loyalty!) In short, my childhood memories involved all these scents which my mum would religiously spray on before she left for work everyday. So when I started working two years ago with a local fashion and beauty magazine, I got acquainted with the brand on a closer note. Yes, I was privy to all the launches of their products even before it hit the stands and I even got to try them way before everyone else did. Sometimes, I would even get limited edition items which I so preciously collected and kept even though I know I'm not supposed to be keeping make-up for too long a time!

The new bottle of Beautiful which I'm sure my mum's already enjoying right now!

When I moved to Ho Chi Minh City for work about a year ago, I was introduced to the Brand Manager of Estee Lauder here, Ms. Amy Wong. When I first met her for lunch at the Park Hyatt, I was a little apprehensive thinking she must be a Singaporean. To my surprise, she turned out to be a fellow Malaysian and from then on, the rest they say is history! We've since become close, occasionally calling each other and just talking about life in general (it's not easy living in Saigon, trust us!) She's been always encouraging me to start my blog and start writing - not mainly about her products but just write, she says. Well, here I am now - doing my first Estee Lauder write-up if you may call it that and hoping she'll have the time to read it!

So moving on to my new product, as you can see I'm very excited to start trying it. While at the launch, Amy showed us a little demo of how the product actually works. She dropped a dot of it on the back of our palms and asked us to rub it on (just on one hand). As we did it, we felt the texture of the serum - yes, smooth all over. Just one squeeze of the applicator and it was enough to rub over your whole face apparently. Later, she took out another bottle and started spraying the hand that contained the serum with water. She said to notice the way it still held the water while the other hand (without the serum), the water seemed to be dripping all over. So what does this actually mean? The newer and improved version of the ANR actually retains the hydration levels in your skin. Perfect for those who sleeps with the air-conditioner on at night. In addition to that, it also helps erase past damage and protects against future damage - helping to slow down the anti-aging process in your skin.

psst...look what else I got to pair it with my new product! The Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Recovery Complex!

The future of whitening...

** all pictures in this blog is courtesy of Dan as I was too sick with my cramps after dinner to even participate much in the picture taking session!

Last night Alx suggested we all meet up for dinner before he gets 'locked up' in some beautiful mansion far far away with some good looking people (yeah we know, he's living the life)....!!

Korean food at Cogib (i think that's how you pronounce it). It was ok....wasn't all that comfortable sitting on the floor and eating cold preserved vegetables but hey, with good company and laughter all around the table, it's hard not to have fun!

Abby came late and while we were being entertained by her lovely stories, i tell you this woman has all the stories to really make you break into half laughing - she told us a story about Yeng and her going to some shaddy massage parlour!

I didn't really hear much as honestly, I was kinda cramping then already but here's what we found in Yeng's bag - apparently the dudes at this shaddy massage parlour was rubbing it on her legs :)

yes....you saw that right - wait here's a close up of it!

here's what is written on the back...

I'm still finding the little hidden charms of Vietnam, everyday. It sure is a country of everything that you can possible imagine!

By the way, having previously been in the beauty industry briefly before I came to Vietnam, --- I think I owe my industry friends back home an email now! It sure will perk their day up when they get this in the mailbox tomorrow :)

Life decisions...tough ones

So i had just come back from a meeting at a client's office and as soon as i settled into my seat, my phone rings!

Now if you don't already know, my office phone HARDLY rings. There's only three people that would possibly be calling me - the editor, the Boss or the Friend. It's easy to know when the Friend is calling - it just comes out as LN-003 or LN-002 whereas when a call comes from internal extensions, it's usually the person's extension!

So Friend mentioned calls me excitedly and says (before i carry on with the conversation, i'll fill you in on the plans for tonight). We're all suppose to meet up and meet at the Norfolk Hotel to take advantage of some discount someone in the group gets to chomp down on some good steaks, lamb chops and good wine (i hope!) Now that you know the Plan, i'll fill you in on some of the tough life decisions my Friend and I constantly go through in Saigon.

Friend : Sooo...what's the story?

Me : Erm..i just got back from my client's office and on the way my colleagues and me stopped to ..... (she starts talking)

Friend : Oh...so no plans lah...!

Me : ...............

(we figured our life decisions are too important to be wasted listening to each other's food stories so yeah...)

Friend : So i was talking to D, and he says before dinner he'll probably go to the gym..so i think maybe i'll go too before dinner.

(now i know D was just trying to make himself feel good because he's sure gonna whack food like crazy tonight so gymming before dinner makes up for all the eating - i suppose?)

Me : Erm...ok, so what's plan # 2 while waiting for dinner to start 7.30pm?

Friend : Maybe i'll go buy a dress (the one we saw after lunch earlier)

Me : For what again? To simply waste money is it?

Friend : .... umm, yeah ah - but i need a new closet....

Me : erm...maybe i'll just call A and see what she's up to before the dinner - maybe we'll have a round of starters before meeting you guys...oh but she might wait to close shop then come to dinner...damn!

At this point, we're back to the start of the conversation after reaching no where in that less than 5 mins of planning and deciding what to do to kill time before dinner starts....

Such are the tough life decisions when one works here....I'm gonna miss her and these funny conversations :)

The outcome of our conversation - NIL. What are we doing while waiting for dinner to start at 7.30pm? Well it's 3 minutes to 6pm now and i still haven't got THAT call so i guess i'm gonna have to trick her into not going to the gym OR waste money on the dress....bring on the chardonnay girl!!