People Committee Hall

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here and tonight was particularly beautiful. After spending time relaxing and drinking tea at “La Fenetre du Soleil”, I decided to walk around and enjoy the cool breeze. I took a leisurely stroll stopping to admire how festive and happy the city is in preparation for Christmas and Tet (Vietnamese New Year).

Tonight, however, people were celebrating for a different reason – Vietnam won a soccer match against Singapore and took Southeast Asian championships for the first time in a decade! It was a mob scene, much like Times Square in NY the night Barack Obama won the election but roughly 50 degrees hotter…

This is the first time that Tamar will be working in Asia since she’ll be consulting at a mobile content company in HCMC for a month. But what other NEW things will we attempt to experience on our upcoming trip in 2009?

First of all, we’re planning on spending a good deal of time in Thailand. A couple days after I arrive in HCMC we’ll take off for some island fun.

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Koh Chang

This archipelago is situated far from the famous islands like Koh Pi Pi and Koh Phangan and the full-moon parties. However, everything I’ve heard about Koh Chang sounds just as good if not better than most of the other more popular islands of Thailand. From beaches to hiking, motorbiking (although reportedly risky for beginners) to hanging out with elephants, this island getaway sounds like the perfect break from the fast paced life in New York City. In addition to the main island of Koh Chang there are several smaller nearby islands to explore and we plan on doing some island hopping just like we did last year in Si Phan Don, Laos.
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The latest film directed by Clint Eastwood stars Eastwood himself as a disgruntled Korean War veteran, Walt Kowalski, whose next door neighbors are a family of Hmong immigrants. I haven’t seen the film yet but after reading the NY Times movie review of Gran Torino and seeing the initial 8.3 rating on IMDB I’m really looking forward to seeing what looks to be another great and interesting film by Clint Eastwood!