Lost in Transalation

Finally I made it to Hanoi, Vietnam. Suppose to come here last week but due to the delay of signing my travel order, it has postponed till today. My time in Vietnam is very limited, if I am still with Huawei, I guess I will have stay here for at least 2-3 weeks if I am lucky, so that I can have more time to finish my task or with a even more 'luck', perhaps stuck here for 2-3 months. Anyway, it will be only a few days for me to stay here. This Daewoo hotel is charging us USD100 per day, if I stay here for 30 days, it will be USD3000, I don't think they can afford that. How I wish I can stay here longer...
My first impression about Hanoi is I think it is a very interesting country. Why I say so? If you look around the sign board in the streets, all are written in English character, of course, a lot of them comes with special additional symbols. But then, you won't have any idea what is the meaning even though you know how to spell English words.
From the airport to hotel is about 37km, the hotel send us the driver and bill me 50USD for pickup. It was a previous model, black coloured Camry2.4L (Manual). I find it quite hard to communicate with the locals if I don't speak their language. The driver speak a little language, and when I ask him how's the wheather recently, he don't understand what I try to say, so I have to transalate into a more simple and easy-to-understand English, I mentioned that "the water falling from the sky", then finally he get my question. After this question, he "remind" me there is a newspaper at the back which I have noticed it the moment I get into the car... a English local newspaper which I am not keen on reading it. After flipping it for a few minutes, I direct my attention to the outside scenery, 2 two-lanes road leading to the heart of the city, where as motobike and buses on the right, sedans on the left as they were influence deeply by US, left-hand drive...
While I was in reception counter checking in, a chinese couple approach the reception and ask if anybody can speak Chinese, the reception answered him in English. I offered my help that I can help him to transalate his message. He didn't make any booking though, more like a "walk in check in". He is also unsure if his ticket is confirmed because he had a hard time booking the ticket because he might not be able to find someone that speak Chinese. After helping him, he handed me his business card, I smiled when I spot a typo on the card later. "Limited" ended up as "Limiled". The person who print the card doesn't know English, so does the person who wants the card printed. Interesting... :)
I went out and get a quick lunch before going to office. The meal is like close to RM20 and the portion of the beef noodle is big enough to feed 2 guys or 3 girls. I ask the shop owner what time they close the shop, again, nobody understand me. So I have to point at the shop, use both hand to show some sign language of closing, then I point at my watch.. finally on second guess they know my question. Wow, I guess if I stay here long enough, my sign language will improve for sure.
Things were not cheap in Hanoi due to the inflation, 3km to the office cost around RM10-12, the roads are quite dusty and most of the bikers are wearing masks. Had fastfood for dinner, I walk around and notice that there are more coffee shops than restaurant. Still haven't find my favourite Vietnamese delicacy yet - Beef Pho' because I have a hard time finding out what they are offering because I have no clue with their language except "P-H-O"!
I guess now it is time to go to bed before I feel really hungry, while I am typing this post, I am only wearing a bath robe after taking a shower without nothing inside.. hahhah, that is a good thing that you can do if you are not sharing room with others. Good night!!!