In 1997, we moved to England as the possibility of settling down to family life in Prague was remote due to our inability to earn a decent salary. We both had temporary jobs throughout 1997 and I applied to do teacher training. My course was not due to begin until September 1998 so we decided to go to Vietnam for half a year to work. The adventure began on 14th October 1997. We got to Hanoi via Hong Kong and were picked up from the airport by a Czech embassy driver. Our friend Jana, who worked at the Embassy had arranged it and we stayed with her for the first month that we were there. The whole thing was a culture shock for me but I was amazed how Petra took it in her stride. The ease with which she conversed with the locals was incredible and it never failed to amuse me when the Hanoi traders seeing what they thought was a gullible blonde tourist were reduced to silent amazement when said blonde tourist answered them in immaculate Vietnamese. We both got jobs around Christmas time. I started teaching at a language school and Petra became the PA to Mr Pommier, a french director of a real estate company. It is worth noting at this point that Mr Pommier was completely insane and possibly quite the vilest person I think either of us had ever met. So horrible was he that he struggled to get prostitutes to go on holiday with him, even though he was going to pay them. He made Petra's life a misery but she stuck it for nearly three months. Then, when Pommier finally went on holiday, she gave the company stamp to the Vietnamese partner, which gave him all the power. She resigned on the spot and fled to the Czech Embassy. She even had to buy a black wig so she would not stand out in the crowd. She was really convinced that when Pommier returned to find that he no longer controlled the company, that he would seek her out and kill her. The start of March brought something of a change in my circumstances as I found myself the de facto director of my school. Realising that my school was bankrupt, I set about salvaging what I could from the wreckage. The staff were paid for March and the school was closed. Both of us fearing for our lives, decided the safest, if not the noblest course, which was to leave for bangkok as soon as possible. We left Hanoi and set off for the holiday of a lifetime.