Life - A valley of tears and flowers,

I once worked in different working environments and at different positions even in state-run company. I am sure you know what to do to work in that company, first thing is good relationship, second thing is money and i came there to work just with what i had - work experience and responsibilitis and i did not care about what others thought? it's said that what must be , must be! i was forced to stop working there just for unaceptable reasons ( did not give gifts to general director and supervisors on special occasions. Perhaps i was new graduate and did not know what was going in a real life and i only got it when i asked the security guard )

when i graduated from school, i found a job as a salesperson for a travel agent in Hanoi right the old quarter and i remember i worked from morning to dusk with a cheerful face and i did well, i could sell over 40 customers a day and being estimated the net profit was round 2 million vietnam dong and i was paid 800,000 vnd for my salary. Of course i got the commission from my sale. In general on those days in 2000's i got the highest salary in the company.

Especially i learnt that i spent much time getting practical experience for my future career and i got it now and something made me sad in my work and there were complaints from our valued customers from the daily trips such as a bad tourguide, not good food, not clean hotel room or wooden junk and everything heavily weighed on my shoulder and noone could get what was going on? so i always worked under high pressure and no time for relaxing my mind even on my holidays, i had to keep my eyes on everything in the office, something like where to go?, what to see? and where to stay? i once came home at midnight just because i had to operate the trans vietnam tour for a group of 5 chineses and i did well even something has come up during the trip. Finally everything went smoothly and i was happy for that.

Addition to that do you believe that one salesperson like me could get 50 US$ just after talking( consultancy about travel services throughout Vietnam even showed them how to keep contact with their family through email) to our valued customers. It's the best time for my good deeds and i highly appreciate a famous saying" No pain , No gain"

Contrastedly, our tourguides, some of them simply think that Joining the group tour just getting to know what customers will buy and how much money they could spend for daily expenses ( accommodation, shopping, food...)
and they do not care for perfecting their practical knowledge on tourism and that's why they get no tips from our customers. On my side, i think it's fair and natural on that way.

Day after day, i get access to internet just to get travel news from other parts of our country ( flight schedule, hydrofoil and train timetables....and so on ). It enables me to make more interesting itineraries for our clients all over the world
Moreover, night after night i stay up late to update my website by posting the latest travel services on internet just to show our valued clients what we can offer them while travelling in Vietnam when i have free time, making markets for our travel brochures even sometimes developing travel photos just for advertising purposes.

Now, everything has been changed and i can do what i like and think it's right and necessary, i do my own business with my friends in the field of travel services.

At present, it's my duty to support our sales department, travel agents just on the telephone, online chat.Sometimes exchanging points of view about a real life and also business with my friends and colleagues. In the morning i come to the hotel and pick- up my customers and in the everning i collect and transfer my customers to Hanoi railway station for the night train to Sapa... and i am so happy to pay much attention to our customer care...

I always learn that much need to be done in coming times but

A feeling of satisfaction dominating me right now!

First impressions on elegant Hanoi,
when i was home, my father told me that if i wanted to work as a car factory worker, just giving 1000 US$ for the factory's recruitment Divison and everything would go smoothly with a salary level round 100 - 130US$ and my father promised to buy me one motorbike to go to work everyday but finally my father advised me that you had better study at university then looking for a better job with opportunities to get a promotion in your future career.

I decided to go to Hanoi - A political, cultural and educational centre where i could learn something new for my future life. on first days i spent much time on revising my lessons just prepared for an entrance exam at National University of Foreign Language and i did well, during my schooldays i worked as a waiter at restaurants, at a bar, a coffee shop, karaoke shop even a receptionist at private owned mini or state run hotels.

I could speak some English so it's not so difficult for me to get a job like that especially i learnt that i worked to get practical experiences and pocket money for daily expenses and buying reference English books.
I rented a room with 150,000 vnd per month on those days in 1996 and i went to school regularly by bicycle and i took 45 minutes to get to school everyday and i was always on time
sometimes i learnt at school all day and whenever my lesson finished i went directly to work and until 23:00 or some days at 03:00 AM coming home from work and i saw countrymen sleeping on the roadside pavement without a blanket and asking myself how did i survive if i were in their positions and that's the reasons why i studied and worked at the same time and i learnt it's hard to do in that way.
I have many friends coming from other parts of the country and we had a happy student time under the same school even we had different starting points.

My hometown was not so far from school just 60 km south-east of Hanoi and it took 2 hour ride on a motorbike and i used to come home to visit my parents by local trains from Long Bien railway station to Hai Duong city then taking a motorbike to get home for 20,000vnd

And the exit exam was coming soon and my schooldays would be finished in coming times wa had a farewell party with classmates and teachers then we looked for jobs from different walks of life, some came home to be a village teacher of English and others would like to struggle themselves with a luxury life in Hanoi and me is the case.

Please see the next page 4 a real life!

Schooldays at Primary school,
Like other children in the village, i often went to Commune school ( just 2 km from my home) on foot, especially during summer time. On the way to school, i went swimming with my fellows and at least i once lost my handbag with notepaper and that was the worst time for me to get a punishment from my father, at school we used to play the children's games even fight against each other and i remember clearly one thing, i once got 10 - scores for my drawing subject, and that was the exam on drawing your lovely house with your own imagination and i did focus on describing normal items at home like well, redtiled roof with a fence around the house and i was satisfied with the result.

At home, i did the same things everyday, in the morning i drove a cow to the field until noon time coming back and prepared someting for lunch then in the afternoon i went to school with other children and a new day has come to an end on that way.

On the first days at secondary school,

there are more subjects for all of us, i am a pupil with average performance and i must confess that i am not good at maths when my learning finished, coming home directly and did housework.

On summer days, i used to go to the field to collect crabs and catching fish then cooking broth for the whole family. Especially i got one commendation certificate for my good performance at school. It's hard days but funny and unforgettable...

At the eleven grade, i was gathered for taking a photo and i got that afterwards it's needed for my ID card and the last days at High school has come by taking a final exam and i got 10 scores for my English test and i was so happy and satisfied with that result.

PTO 4 a new student's life!

First days at my village school,

To be honest, first days at school always hit my mind up to now even it makes me burst into laugh. I remember clearly that when my elder brother went to school day after day and i once thought at school there might be something new that was waiting for village children then i insisted my parents on going to school even early than schoolage. i sometimes cried for that but nothing could be done just because of my schoolage although i know that it's compulsory to send children to school at 6 years old.

One year has gone and it's time for me to go to school like other children, i felt so happy for that thing.
Only one thing makes me laugh right now is selling a dead mouse to our village teacher, at that time i did not know how terrible it was to do that and it's my fellow who asked me to do that to my teacher even i was a class monitor for many other convincing reasons.

It's natural to understand that children are innocent and naive and do anything or follow adult's actions and don't know what is right or wrong?
People say that what must be , must be and i was strictly punished for my innocent actions and it's a good first lesson for me in the real life up to now.

Hi everyone,
It's an honour of me to make friends with you all just for a better world of wide smiles and happiness to everyone.

me, i was born in a family of 6 members. My parents, my elder brother, two younger sisters and i, My family solely live on wet rice farming, vegetable planting and cows tending, when i was a small boy, my father took me to a fishpond in my house's garden and taught me how to swim like any fish in the water. Firstly i drank some water and tried to struggle myself with water and moved my feet and hands well just to balance my body by always letting my head on the watersurface and i did swim well even across the countryriver that has surrounded my small village.

On summer days when i and my fellows drove a herd of cows to the village dikes or open rice paddyfiels after harvest time then we climbed up the trees and played the children's games( hide and seek game...) even sometimes catching cicadas, locusts, dragonflies or collecting bird's nests...when i was home, i often cooked meals for the whole family and cutting vegetable for our pigs even pretty rabbits...
I used to walk in the sun with my bare head even when i went fishing during summer time or flying the kite in the open windy field in the golden evenings.

I must say that i had happy childhood days under the same roof with the whole family although we still lived in poverty like many other locals on those days.

Please turn over and see reverse page 4 the 1st day at school.