How does our agile team gets its energy back?
It was on the 15th of July…
Our Vietnam team has finished a really big and important Agile project with perfect results after long busy days and weeks. We were tired but as new projects are coming up one after another, we really needed to refresh our minds and get our energy back.
Amazingly, the day we celebrated our successful project, we received a letter from our CTO, that said that we deserved a gift – a company trip to Da Lat city. It was actually exactly what we needed – escape from the office and spend 3 days outside the city, breath fresh air and relax without our computers.
At 11:00 on the 17th of July, our team left Ho Chi Minh city and went to Da Lat city in a nice bus. We were really excited about this vacation. On the way there, we were playing guitar and singing both Spanish and Vietnamese songs together. The song “Tokio ya no nos quiere” is one of our favourite songs. We really had lots of fun together.
At work, even though we are organized and serious professionals, we still have a friendly atmosphere. We make jokes, we smile, we work in a more engaging way and when we have free time, we play guitar, we sing, we go out together, we constantly organize company events like BBQs, walks, trips etc. We are all creative people and we like spending time together.
It was a long trip so we had a rested a bit in the middle at a nice restaurant. We tried a fish massage which was really funny and new to us. You put your feet in to the pool and hundred of fishes bite your feet. Try it and you will know how amazing it is!
17:00 we arrived to Da Lat city. I’ve been here many times before but each time I come here, I discover something new. Da Lat’s view from above is incredible, it is impossible to describe with words, it would be better if you see our pictures. You will see green hills looms in the fog, mountains, forest, and colourful flower gardens, that ‘s why Da Lat is named as the flowerful town of romance.
We rested in a nice hotel and next morning we were ready to start our journey.
On the first morning we visited the Bidoup forest. We really relaxed in the wild nature. We followed Hà Cước – a K’Ho ethnic tour guide – to the forest, explored many valuable medicinal plants and took some funny pictures there.
After walking for 3 km, we finally reached our target place – Thien Thai Waterfall, where we could hear the beautiful songs of the birds, breath the clean air from the stream and admire the awesome view.
Actually we were a bit scared of the small worms in the forest, they are named; small leech or ” vắt”. They live in wet environments. When they touched us, we were screaming and laughing at the same time!
On the way back from the forest, we also visited sturgeon fish farm which belongs to K’Ho ethnic. Now, we understand better how local people feed the fish. It is also their main income.
Later we had a delicious lunch; sour soup cooked with sturgeon fish in a local restaurant in the middle of the forest. How wonderful… you should definitely go there and try it!
At night, we had a tour of “Âm Phủ” market with lots of hand-made wool clothes and delicious food too, then we walked around the romantic Xuan Huong lake. It has the name of a famous Vietnamese poet.
One that same day, we had a special activity in the evening. It was a Gong Culture show where we could dance with K’Ho ethnic, have a camp-fire and drink wine from a jar through pipes. It was a crazy night! Like we always say: work hard, play hard!
On our last day in Da Lat, we had a peaceful trip to the Valley of Love -a romantic dating valley for couples in the past. It was also named Vallée d’Amour by France. Then we visited Linh Phuoc Pagoda or “Ve Chai Pagoda”. This is one of the biggest Pagoda which was built from debris of glass in Da Lat. It is famous for its majesty, mystery and sacred view.
We ended the trip with a tour of the Robin Hill, we took an aerial cable to see the view from the top of the hill. It really makes you realize how big the sky is and how small we are!
Last but not least, one of the most interesting thing during this trip was the delicious food. We all loved the special fresh salads, the fish and the different kinds of meat…
After this nice trip, all of us came back satisfied, happy and relaxed. It was a sort of a team building as we spent a lot of time together, doing fun activities. Once again, we felt like we were part of a big family, and now we are full of energies to start new projects and achieve our goals.
Our next trip will be a beach trip, follow Apiumtech’s Blog to know more interesting places to visit. It is a secret now.
