a 5 star Christmas

I'm having a five star Christmas, Vietnam style along with affluent locals and Westerners in two fancy hotels.  I was invited for lunch and dinner and, as I'm greedy, I accepted both offers. They both involved eating from the buffet as the waitresses come round constantly filling my glass with more wine.

My day started with me listening to a few carols form King's College Cambridge before switching to my favourite Christmas song, 'A Fairytale of New York'.  I caught the 11am bus into town and headed for lunch at the 'Intercontinental' where I carefully selected only high value low carb food, oysters, giant prawns and rare beef all washed down with the contents of my ever refilling wine glass.  There were even sprouts!

The hotel had a choir and a Santa to entertain us between 12 noon and 2:30 as we tucked in.  The food was impressive and I ate loads, including my first ever go on a chocolate fountain.

After lunch I made my way to the Botanical Gardens and Zoo for a snooze in the shade by a lake with a monkey island in the middle. The monkeys were running along their scaffolding poles and flinging themselves into netting whilst I rested and digested ready for the 6pm start at the 'New World' hotel.

By 9pm I was stuffed and couldn't eat or drink another thing so I headed out into the mayhem of the town centre traffic, into a taxi and home.  Christmas over for me for another year.

One week later

One week later and my apartment is still bare. There's nothing in the kitchen cupboards except the grass jelly and nothing to cook or serve it in either.

I did buy a chopping board and a Chinese style chopper and a bag of limes, some beer, wine and Bacardi for my opening drinks party last Saturday night. I invited all the people who I started with and a couple of others whom I've met since. Everyone is at a different stage in deciding where to live, how much to pay and we talked a bit about where they had seen. I'm the first in the group to move out of a hotel into a permanent place. We had good moan about some of the miserable types who populate the office. It's very corporaty and serious, unlike most language schools or universities, and some of the people won't even make eye contact. We sit in pens in an open plan office and stare at our computers until its time to go to class. I don't care, as there are enough friendly people about, the work is fine and the students pleasant enough. Tonight there is a Halloween party and I've been told they change their personalities when they get drunk. We will see.

I do plan to buy food this weekend and attempt to cook. Stupid really as Ganesha, one of the nicest Indian restaurants is just around the corner where for about £4 you can get a great curry, some naan and a beer. There's Nathalie's, the Thai where for the price of a sandwich in Pret a Monge back home you eat red curry with chicken, pork or beef. Last Sunday I splashed out a bit more on Japanese and had fish so fresh it was almost wriggling. There are endless Vietnamese places to sit and eat and drink plus weird flavoured Korean if you like strange vegetables in tiny bowls.

I also plan to buy a few bits for the apartment too and arrange for the internet to arrive as I miss not being able to sit in bed and read the Guardian in the morning.