we idolize smart people :)

this is the first blog from the beauty :)

thanks dar!

A day before flying back, we were still hoping to go Halong Bay for a day trip, instead of overnight stay at the junk and our tour agent said he will try his best to arrange for us. When we boarded the tour bus the next day, we were told it was heading to Perfume Pagoda. The thing is, half way through the journey, our talkative tour guide told us that actually Halong Bay had been cleared off from thunderstorm and some tours were heading there at that time. :s

It was raining cats and dogs on most part of the day, but I guess we were slightly better prepared; complete with the hat and raining coat. We were also better prepared to deal with our boat rower. As we were sharing our boat with an Israelis couple, they suggested that we give 10,000 vnd each as the tips to our rower. However, the rower thought 40,000 vnd was too little. Luckily, MH and I were sitting at the prow, so the rower kept harassing the Israelis couple instead. Reaching the shore, there were a lot scene of other rowers harassing their respective customers. MH tried to top up some for our rower; so he took out his wallet and started searching for small change. However, our rower helped herself with 20,000 vnd note in his wallet, almost like snatching it. Oh, well... :)

From a forwarded email, which really make me ponder deep.

Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:
the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the till and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:
A 3 year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.

45 minutes:
The musician played. Only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.
He collected $32.

1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater inBoston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ....


How many other things are we missing?

After the fall, the little guy miraculously knows how to get down from bed. We had a big shock the first time we saw him walking through the door after his afternoon nap. :o How did he get down from the 2 ft high bed? We tried to observe him by pretending to be sleeping while he was up early next morning. Indeed, he managed to escape from the bed all by himself.

So far, he demonstrated that he indeed knows how to get down from the bed, not by some random chance. Hopefully he'll still remember that even after the pain from the fall is long gone.