About the last 1.5 weeks I spent in Hanoi.

Hello everyone,

I'm sorry you had to wait so long for this new blog. So much things going on last 1.5 weeks in Hanoi!
First of all my Terms of Reference has been slightly adapted and extended to include the marketing side of doing engineers work abroad. Since Friday the 17th I've been analyzing the organizational structures focusing on its activities in Vietnam. Besides that I'm analyzing the process of acquiring projects, and how this process differs between different divisions. Last of all I will give an extended description of the Strengthening Water Management and Rehabilitation of Irrigation Systems Project that I've been studying before.
This extension means that I'm still a lot behind my computer, but to acquire information I have to search the internet, talk to a lot of people and require and read different documents.
In my last blog you could all read that I had a hard time adjusting to the climate and the country. But after 5 days I got used to the weather, the people and the life in this city. The only thing I'm still not used to is the traffic. I still hold on tight if I'm in a taxi. The temperature has not been less than 28 degrees since I've been here and the humidity is still between 70 and 90%, but it is strange how you adapt to these conditions. Once you're adapted to the climate you can start focusing on other things like the beauty of the city and the country as a whole. The first two days I never expected it to be this nice, but now I really love Hanoi and Vietnam as a country.
As I told you in the last blog, I went to see some projects with Marco Neerings. He took me to two projects of the division architecture and building. First we went to UNIS, the international school of Hanoi. On this site they were building and upgrading the international school. I had a tour around the site and I was able to ask a lot of questions about constructions and the international school. After UNIS we went to the ABB site. On this site a big factory was being built for ABB. I really liked this day, because it showed me what it is like when a project is executed.

Besides my work I also have been travelling in my spare time. This weekend I've been to Ha Long Bay and last week to Sapa for two days. To both Sapa as Halong Bay I've been traveling with the Hanoi Backpackers Hostel. I went to Sapa with two people I knew through Royal Haskoning. After Sapa I decided that the people travelling with the Backpackers Hostel were all so nice, that I could easily go to Halong Bay on my own. Besides that I had dinner with a lot of different people that I met in Sapa, Halong bay and in town when I was going out.
Last Friday I went out in Hanoi. But when we arrived at the bar, and I got of the motorbike, I touched the exhaust. So now I have a second degree burn on my leg. Sunday morning the blisters opened and when I woke up yesterday morning, my leg was all red and swollen. That’s why I went to the SOS clinic where a doctor told me that I had a second degree burn with a second degree infection. Now I have a bandage on my leg which has to been cleaned and renewed every day for three days at the SOS clinic. So please people watch out with the motorbikes, because I've seen so many people with burns on their legs. Even though, I’m very glad that the medical services are arranged properly and the wound is taken care of in a professional way.
Well, tomorrow I'm going to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) where I will be working for another week to finish my internship. I'll write another blogpost when I'm in Ho Chi Minh City to keep you informed.