Vienna Calling...

Well..I am quite aware that I have been neglecting my avid readers of this faboulus travelogue for some time now and for that I would like to offer my most sincere apologies. Thing is.. I am a lazy bum and I haven't been travelling as often as I did in the past. Although there were some destinations where I went without writing anything here but to be honest, there wasn't any material worth an entry here. In the  past months I went to Barcelona, Zagreb, Milan and Vienna. They are all wonderful cities but I had already written about them in the past years so I will start with the last one. I landed in Vienna on a Thursday afternoon and the weather was brilliant; sunshine and warm enough. I took a taxi from the airport to the hotel Vienna 1060 which is located pretty much in the city centre. It is a nice hotel with good breakfast and there wasn't anything to complain about. I paid like 96 EUR for a double room. Vienna is not really cheap when it comes to accomodation but there are many alternatives. There are many splendid restaurants in the city but I could not resist to enter an Indian restaurant, where the food was just delicious. I am a sucker for indian food so what can I do?
I stayed one night only and I didn't have much time to go sightseeing but the whole city is surrounded by impressive buildings and parks. Definitely worth a visit. 

Ho Chi Minh City..

While I am writing these lines about Saigon I have already another trip behind..I was in Belgrade and in Nis last week and I wanted to write something while I was there about my trip to Vietnam but to be honest I am such a lazy bum when it comes to writting my blog that no one gives a effin' shit about so I am doing this at work now..what an example of a white collar worker huh?

Sooo I was in Saigon a.k.a. Ho Chi Minh City last month and it was a very pleasant surprise after visiting th chaotic Jakarta. I took a flight with Vietnam Airlines, which was quite good. The flight itself lasted like 3 hours. After landing we had to go to passport control. Those countries who require a visa can get one at the airport where you have to fill out a form and get your picture taken. However, people get a bit unease seeing the military officials at the counter but everybody's friendly and in a matter of minutes I was sitting in a taxi on my way to the Rex Hotel, where I had booked a stay for 2 nights. The hotel was perfectly located in the city center and the staff was very friendly and helpful. I was picked up by our sales staff at the hotel and we took a small city tour. Very friendly guys who took me to a german beerhouse. I have no idea what its name was but there were pictures of many celebrities like Bill Clinton on the wall who enjoyed a beer at the same spot. 

Food was great too.

The only thing that bugged me about Ho Chi Minh City was the weather..it was really humid and hot. I was out for two hours and soaking wet when I got back to the hotel. There are some beautiful examples of arquitechture going back to the French era. I had only two days there but I would love to spend more time in this city. It is worth a visit.

Jakarta...traffic, traffic, traffic..oh yes...and traffic..

Well, what can I say about Jakarta? I had the luck to spend three nights in Jakarta last month and I must say I wish the good people of Indonesia all the best and a lot of patience but most of all..mental health! I mean who can explain me why there are not thousands of roadkills, people going bezerk, furious madness in the streets of Jakarta? I swear to God, I needed one and a half hour just to leave the airport parking area because of the chaotic car situation..it took me 2 1/2 hours to get to the hotel..luckily I was picked up by our partner there but I really felt sorry for the poor guy. He said he was used to it but how can you get used to such a nightmare?  Anyways, I had a reservation at the Double Tree Hilton, which turned out to be a splendid hotel. Service was top notch. Breakfast was great and the rooms were always tidy. The only minus point I could mention was the difficulty to find the entrance of the hotel. It was hidden in a side alley and a bit complicated for taxi drivers to find it. My customer took me to dinner in a fish restaurant and the food was extraordinary. I am not a big fish-fan (neither the band nor the food :-)) but the shrimps, different dishes in sauce they were all delicious.
I knew about the whole massage culture in Indonesia but I wasn't really comfortable because I didn't want to end up in happy-end massage parlour when my customer suggested to have a massage. But to my surprise the massage center was in a modern shopping mall and it was quite cheap. One hour massage for 25 USD was acceptable and the massage was very relaxing. And no happy ending by the way. It was a very clean and professional place so my worries were needless.
I have to say that I was disillusioned with Jakarta. There wasn't much to see. Tall buildings, shopping malls and crowded streets. But the food was great. So I caught my next plane to Ho Chi Minh-City curious to see what Vietnam was like.

new challenges

Well, as part of your job as an export sales manager is to engange in new challenges whenever they're offered to you in different parts of the world. When I started this profession I was mainly responsible for Europe due to my knowledge of German, English and Spanish. But in time things change and when I took a new challenge in a different company I was assigned to cover countries such as Azerbaijan, Georgia, Usbekistan and India, which was a wonderful experience because I had never been to those places and being a sucker for different cultures I was thrilled to see what the deal was in those countries. Of course the most exciting part of these travels is, besides getting the know the people, tasting different cuisines. When I was in Kazakhstan I was privileged to enjoy mutton, horse meat and plov dishes. In India I went to Delhi, Mumbai and Goa..all different parts but with culinary master pieces. I must admit that I have a weakness for Indian food. Just love it. All the spices and herbs. In Goa you can eat a Kingfish that you wouldn't regret.
So, recently I was told by the management that I needed to change my region because one of our colleagues had split and they needed someone experienced to take over. It is up to me now to cover our network of dealers located in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore etc.
Needless to say that I am looking forward to visit those places..my next trip will be to Vietnam..talk to you later with more interesting stories..

 Stay safe everybody!

a quick flashback..

During the past months I was quite busy travelling both for business and pleasure..here's a quick glance at the cities that I visited and what I liked the most about them. I've been to London, Barcelona, Skopje, Zagreb, Belgrad, Chicago and Hannover. I mean they are nice cities but I must say that London has a special place as it is a really beautiful city. Me and my wife we had limited time; only three days but we tried to see as much as possible. We stayed at the Cleveland in Westminster and the hotel was quite nice. Good value. Totally recomendable and the staff was really friendly. As London taxis can be very expensive we took the bus from Stansted Airport to Oxford Street and from there with a cab for 8-9 pounds to the hotel, which was okay. We saw a lot of nice things but I must say I was impressed the most with the British Museum. It was huge and mostly for free. After that I had a business trip to the Balkan, where I started with Zagreb. The weather was perfect and Zagreb is one of the nicest cities in the Balkan region. I visited our dealer there and they are one of the nicest guys, who took good care of me..feeding me Croatian food..however, the clumsy guy I am, I almost started a mini Balcan conflict..there was some statue of Nikola Tesla in a plaza in Zagreb and the Croats claim that he was from Croatia as he was born in Smiljan, which today lies in Croatia..back then it was part of the Austrian Empire..anyways, I wondered why Croats where claiming him for themselves when the rest of the world claims that he was from Serbia..boy, wrong question asked and immediately the guys started to counter-argue that the Serbs are idiots etc. In order to drop the tension I said..''c'mon guys..of course he's Croatian..I was just teasing you..'' anyways, my friends are really cool so it was all fine and they bought me a nice necktie in a traditional shop that was selling only neckties.., which was invented by the way in Croatia and adopted by the French calling it 'cravate'..in German we also call it 'Krawatte'..

From Zagreb I made my way to Belgrade and the weather was so stormy that night that I literally pissed in my pants as there were lightnings all over the city while I was in the air praying to whatever God was available to land me safely. I took a taxi from Nikola Tesla airport and check in at the Hotel Moskva, which is a splendid hotel. It is a bit expensive compared to other four star hotels in Belgrade but is a hotel that surely has some history and the rooms are nicely decorated. I won't go into further details as I have written about Belgrade before but I suggest you visit the Bohemian quarter which is called Skadarlija as it is absolutely worth to visit with its cool bars and cafes. After Serbia I visited Skopje and the week after we went on a family trip to Barcelona. Actually it was a bit outside of Barcelona, a small village called Santa Susana. We stayed at the Aquahotel 4 nights which had two swimming pools and a short walking distance to the beach. Me and my wife did not like it much there but our daugther was totally happy. She didn't get out of the pool the whole day and whatever makes her happy makes us happy too..the train ride takes like 1 1/2 hours from Barcelona Sants to Santa Susanna. Back in Barcelona we took a hotel in Diagonal Mar called Barcelona Diagonal Cero..it is a nice hotel with nice rooms. I have nothing bad to say about it. So it was quite busy but we are not finished yet..I will be travelling to Jakarta in September and I'm really excited about that. Stay safe everybody..!