Friends For Life...

LET ME SHARE MY JOYS AND WOES

Friday, March 30

Joel ~ adaptation

little red bumps on the skin... the little manice of the universe infects... ugly looking bumps isnt all that this little pest does... excreting a potently irritating form of its poison into our skin causing the unbearable irritation to continue...

vietnam as i have realised last night and the nights before some how seems to be the shang-gri la of the mosquito world... the utopia where by every mosquito must pay their pilgrimage voyage to.... the place is infested with these little irritating pest... just in my room alone i killed 4 of them... and the ones here are huge... they are at least twice or three times the ones in singapore as they come wave after wave in their never ending numbers.... they are so irritating... i have no idea how they even get in... all our windows have insect nets and doors closed... o well i guess they have their ways... but if anyone could PLEASE GIVE ME SUGGESTIONS TO GET RID OF THEM.... they are so irritating....

well last night i had aparently been evicted out of my room... my bro and gf had taken hold of the room.... haha i really had no idea where i was going to sleep.... the other rooms were so noisy if you know what i mean... its kinda like a choir down here... well in the end i ended up with my mom and did it take me some time to get a wink of sleep.... haiz.... have really no idea where i am to sleep to night.... pleaseeeeeeeeee dont let me go back there.... i dont want a part 3 to my sleepless nights....

okok away from all of that.... well today was yet another normal day for me... gym in the morning shopping in day and dinner at night... quite routine isnt it... haha... well other than all the shopping and stuff what really ended off the entire day at a great note was the dessert after dinner.... EVON BEWARE..... haha.... if the beef steak was enought to churn and weit your appetite haha then LOOK AWAY... for here i bring to you the sin of all sins.... here i bring to you the element that is able to break any grown men in this world... here i bring to you the only dish in the universe that can menifest enough power to change the mood in any human being... I GIVE TO YOU the deadly the horrifying CHOCOLATE PUDDING....

ooo and the picture only reflects 1% of how good it actually is... a nice crisp, moist, warm and chocolaty cake is served with the simplicity and delicate taste of vanilla ice cream and accompanied by a light, sour and refreshing raspberry sauce... and thats not all... when you start to dig into the cake warm molten chocolate starts to ooze out like a valcano.... filling the plate with a thick and sticky layer of molten chocolate.... now does that sound good? haha.... well COME TO VIETNAM AND TRY IT THEN WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR.... well haha... feast your eyes on the picture then... haha... see ya....

friends always care

23:03

Thursday, March 29

Joel ~ sleepless night part 2

oh man last night was one of the roughest night for me... turned out that the coffee didnt do too good for me... it was way way way too strong till it kinda gave me a dizzy spell... can you just imagine... you feel as if your entire room around you is spinning round and round yet you are unable to sleep... its crazy... thank God i got out of it.... took me a total of 5 trips to the toilet before i could purge out all the cafine... or rather till whatever i passed out didnt smell like coffee...

well after i finally gropped my way out of my blanket entombment this morning i realised that it was 2.30pm (3.30 sing)... man am i a pig... but i guess the last night really kinda knocked me out... so this served as a lesson for me never EVER EVER take so much coffee ag

ain.... it was really terrible...i think i kinda remembered my mom vaguely tryin to wake my stone like body to make my way to the airport to pick up my bro....haha... but as you have guessed... well... i thought it was a dream o well...

so today after lunch we made our way back to saigon square... i didnt really expect to get anything much from there... was going for the sake of my brother... haha but the ironic part was that i ended coming home with 3 tees and goin back to collect another one and a jacket tmrw or some time in the future... so i guess saigon square isnt too bad after all... i realised this because whilst i was bored tired and suffocated in the humidity of the place, i slowly scanned through each individual item and were actually able to select a few out of the heaps of clothes... so ill probably be going back for an aberocrombie shirt tmrw and hopefully a timberland jacket this weekend... haha kinda just realised that all my shirts next sem are mostly gonna be A&F cool.... haha... well actually nothing much happened... i hope i could start cooking again some time soon... hopefully tmrw... thinking of cooking buakuluak and bakwang kepiting... sounds very foregin eh... well they are peranakan dishes... stay tuned yea... see ya... o yea... i wanna go sentosa when i get back..... any takers???

friends always care

23:40

Wednesday, March 28

Joel ~ home sick

well a few days ago i stumbled across this nice bubble tea shop near my home however was too full to try it then... so today i decided to have a go at it... turned out to be not too bad... bought a cup of iced coffee with pearls... the coffee was strong and cold... the pearls were rubbery and sweet... not too bad... payed an equivilent of 2 sing dollars for it... haha... my driver and maid were shocked... their children could get it for 40 cents singapore... well i guess it is one of those things... unlucky for me.... but i still enjoyed it very much...

recently i kinda feel that i am facing the symptoms of feeling home sick... i wont say i am not enjoying myself here in vietnam... but i kinda miss being back in singapore... being able to go out with my friends of whom i have not seen for so long... or just being by myself away from all the hustle and bustle of the city... but then again i want to spend some time with my family over here... so i am kinda torn between two worlds....

some how nowadays i am kinda envious of my friends of whom have their whole family in singapore or with them.... i guess i didnt really see how difficult life could be or rather how complicated things could get with the family separated like this... i guess we only cherish the things we had once they are gone... kinda sad isnt it... question is why is it that we couldnt open our eyes before? why couldnt we see the beauty and cherish everything that we had...

i have been reading the book tuesdays with morries... its kinda nice a book to read.. makes you really think alot... makes you wonder whether you have spent your time on earth wisely... makes you think whether you have cherished everything that you have....

well i have two more weeks here in vietnam... really miss everyone deeply back in singapore... will make sure ill try and catch up within the last week of holidays when i return to singapore... see you guys...

happiness is not found in achiving what you desire... happiness is taking delight in what you have achieved... (come to vietnam or any 3rd world country and you will see how true this is...)

friends always care

18:14

Tuesday, March 27

Joel ~ time flies

wow 6 days already... time seems to fly here... today was actually not much different than any other day... quite a quiet day i had today... in the morning i decided to head back to the gym to torture myself... haha... well at least today was more productive than my last visit.. managed to complete 3km of running and 4km of cycling... not too bad actually... considering the fact that i ran 1.2km the last time and did the same 4km of cycling... well this all ended at about 1pm... dont ask me why or what i did in between because i seriously dont know... but we left the house at 4pm...

left and headed straight for ben thanh market... nothing has really changed in ben thanh... hmm... actually come to think of it... the vendors are less grabby... i realised that they dont really pull as aggressively as normal... i guess this is probably due to the sudden influx of tourist from all around finding vietnam as a substitute for indonesia and thailand... but sadly i couldnt find anything to buy... somehow unlike saigon square the goods found in ben thanh seems to have stagnated to addidas and nike sports wear... kinda prefer saigon square... woooot... abrocrombie galore.... but the ruthless slashing of prices in ben thanh still remains...

well i headed home had some dinner... after dinner, i decided to try out one of their native fruits, the milk fruit... here it is...

there are actually many theories why it is called the milk fruit one crude one is... the fruit is named milk fruit because you have to massage the fruit like a woman's breast before you can eat it... yes i know really crude... but hey thats what i was told... if you dont massage the fruit on the other hand, it wont be as sweet or as juicy... so thats one probable theory.... but after doing the usual procession of massaging the fruit followed by sliting it across, i realised that when i dug into the flesh, it was very juicy and the juice looks kinda like milk... the taste... hmmm... well i would say it has a mild taste of rambutans... there is a translucent crunchy yet slightly elastic film around the seed kinda like the persimmon and is quite sappy like the sapodilla (chee ku)... actually the picture above is quite a bad representation to the fruit especially the cross section... it is quite a beautiful looking fruit when cut cross sectioned... and yes i did injustice to it by massacaring the fruit with my novice cutting skills... it is suppose to form a nice 8 point star in the centre... but it kinda looks all meshed up in the picture...

haha well thats all i have for today... enjoy your holidays yea guys... wooooot... see ya...

friends always care

21:04

Monday, March 26

Joel ~ all head no feelings

ok now dont laugh... look at the magazine... dont laugh... there is nothing funny... if you laugh they may feel insulted... no no no dont dont look up... &*%*.... im dead...

hey since i have been in vietnam before showing you all the unique things that vietnam has to offer on the surface, i have decided to dwelve into new areas... the people... their personality... their skills... THEIR SKILLS!!!!

wanna know what those few lines above are? simple they are my thoughts... more specifically my thoughts this afternoon... AHHHHHHH i wanna die... my hair is a mess... okok ill get to the point... i went for a hair cut... ARGHHHH DUMB RIGHT?! haircut here????? arghhhh.... my hair looks like crap... he was like cutting straight throughout.... so i have come to the simple conclusion that they cant cut hair... and that hair cut wasnt cheap... the place looked nicer than reds... seriously... service was also way way way better... but everything else that you came for... thats a different story...

the only thing that was good during my little visit there was the hair wash which came after they harvested my hair... then they decided to make me look as if i just got eletricuted... they got some gel that was really like glue... made my hair stick all over my ears and neck and it was quite disgusting.... well they then used the gel and made my hair just stand out in all directions... and the "hair stylist" was told me : "every morning apply some gel it looks nice".... lol....

seriously i found it hard to control myself from laughing through out the proceedure... i found it really funny that i actually decided to cut my hair here in vietnam... and was amused by the way things were turning out... haha.... quite funny... o well... heres a picture of me...

doesnt look too bad eh.. but i think it is just some illusion caused by the photo bec it really does look quite bad... luckily i asked him to cut it long in case this happens...

o well after that i joked with my mom:"hey mom lets go to kim's(another hair dresser) for a hair wash i really need to get rid of the gel". but in reality i really wanted to try out their head massage that comes with the hair wash... i heard it was really good... and they were right... i think i fell asleep whilst my head was being marinated in shampoos and conditioners... haha... it really felt good... i think they massaged a total of 50mins if i am not wrong... and all this just for 8 bucks... not too bad eh...

well later on we just walked around ben tan market for a while bec all the shops were closing already so we decided to pick dad up and head home... had really nice food... tamarind chicken, soft shell crabs, pomfret... and so that was the end of my hair raising day... haha... but had alot of fun... i think i enjoyed it more than hated it... i think this vietnam air is making me think a bit strangely....see ya..

friends always care

23:26

Sunday, March 25

Joel ~ THATS IT!!!! GET LOST!!!

i have had enough with you... i have reached my litmits with you... NOW GO GET A MOVE ON... stop whinning and take a hike... just get on out of here... MOVE YOUR LAZY @&$ THIS MOMENT AND DO NOT RETURN TILL IT IS DONE...

relax relax... i aint that bad right? haha... well at least not to many of you guys... hmmm... i hope... haha... but towards myself... well thats another story... haha... that little top bit up there well yea... thats my little wake up call pun intended... to get me out of bed and to get me back into shape... haha and IT WORKED... after one whole year of sitting down like a sack of potatoes i finally went to excercise... see i did it... woooot...

but man was it pathetic... i only cycled 4km and ran 1.2km and i felt like dying.... hey my father is fitter than me... my o my do i have a long way to go... haha and straight after that guess what... guess what happened... haha... silence? well YES CORRECT nothing happened.. i sat my big butt nice and flat down on that horrendous sofa... o my goodness...

oh any guess how i celebrated my victory over the battle to get myself to the gym... one round of pizza one round of beef noodles and one round of ice cream before adding on more when i got home... man it is final... i am a pig... P...I...G... pig... well other than that thats all that happened today for me... haha... i am so lazy it sorta sickens me... i bet the ache is going to be bad tmrw... and i havent started yet... ahhhhhhh.... not even a fraction of my goal...sigh... one itsy bitsy step at a time i guess..

friends always care

22:43

Joel~and again piggerism strikes

soft and comfortable... cool and nice... mind at peace... your back praises you... your legs adore you... your eyes love you....

OKOK!!! i know i know... i shouldnt be describing what i feel like when i wake up or am half asleep... i shouldnt be describing how i felt this morning and early afternoon.... ARGHHHH i just couldnt pull myself out of bed.... i just couldnt get my legs to the gym... BLAME THEM NOT ME.... argh....

well other than that i had fun today... OKOK today was really bad... you would see why later on... now let me tell you what i did today FIRST then get back to that topic...

well today we made our way to UNDERGROUND where we drowned ourselves once again in the gorgeous food... and simmered in the surroundings.... (1)

we then made our way to the new saigon centre... man alot has changed... the old saigon centre of which i adored for their wide selection of timberland shoes and abercrobie originals has now moved along to its new home some where down the road... and like in singapore when you see a hawker get knocked down and rebuilt you know it is never the same again... my timberlands were missing.... ARGHHHH so sad.... sighhh... but hey now they are filled with jackets of all kinds... addidas abercrombie... my goodness.. sigh... but none for the guys... i dont know i kinda still prefer the old saigon centre... that rustic feel was kinda lost somewhere admist the hustle and bustle of development...but the good thing is that we managed to buy some dvd.... got hold of movies such as flag of our fathers, the queen, the last king of scotland, 300, path finder and many more woooot.....(2)

we then made our way to METRO... if you guys remember this is the large and gigantic wholesaler.... we marched our way there across 3 districts... but was it worth it... we came back with 1kg worth of aberdeen angus steak.... wooot... but the crowd was crazy... its kinda like singapore during sales in orchard road, where by, everythig for that moment in time are given away for free....(3)

nah.... this cant happen to all pigs... hey look at me i am standing there arent i?? or are they waiting to slaughter me... AHHHH...

and to end my day off well and for every one else, we decided to stay home whilst i whipped up the beautiful steak that we just bought, accompanied by a red wine sauce and boiled potatoes and cheese... and man was it good... really i really loved this meal... the meat was a perfect medium red.... and the sauce was nice strong and bold... oooo that was good... but dang was it difficult to do the dish... not because of anything but... WHERE ON EARTH IS THE PEPPER??? that was what i was asking myself... we spun all around HCMC looking for one small bottle of darn black pepper... it is almost as if this city cooks with out a basic spice such as pepper... oh my... and when we did find it it was like as if we have just won the war in 1945... unbelievable... thinking of doing it again tomorrow for lunch with what ever steak i have left......(4)

now that i am done with my days happenings i am going to explain to you why it has been a bad bad day... wondered what the numbers are for??? well.... 1,2,3,4, what do they have in common... NO EXCERCISE.... and my goodness... it is so unhealthy.... argh.... i think i shall really force myself up this time to excercise... give me one more chance yea... i think ill start off light with a short 4km cycle... see ya guys soon yea...check my blog tmrw to see if i succeeded...

i am missing you so much... many sleepless nights thinking of you...

friends always care

00:32

Friday, March 23

Joel~ chpt 2

glaring rays shot back all too familiar feelings of hatered for the sun of which i am cursed to experience every first morning here...

well today i kinda woke up half drunk... all tired and still exhausted...stumbled around for a while before i fell flat and succumed to the calling of the sofa and TV... i know i know... i said i wanted to excercise everyday... the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak... ahhhh... ok ill force myself to do it tmrw ok... i am just so lertagic and need a break from any form of activity...

well so after some lazing around mom and i decided to head somewhere near by to get a quick bite... we sorta decided to try out this new restaurant called TIBs situated right next to my favourite PHO24... and little did we know this new place, tibs served excellent Hue food (viet cuisine)... just some historical info... Hue was the former capital of vietnam of which the imperial family stayed and ruled from so they tend to serve one of the best, finest and most delicate form of vietnamese cuisine.... and man was it good... for the first time, i really thought the food was good... light yet flavourful...

here you can see an example of one of the dishes i had and the drink... the dish here is sort of a very thin slice of zui kueh (rice cake) served with some minced crab on the top and a nice fish sauce as the accompanyment.... next to it is not coke... that is vietnam's famous jet black iced coffee... i finally realised why i like this coffee so much... it is so strong, cold and it has a hint of rum in it... beautiful taste...

well one our walk back home i started to discuss with my mom how much i loved cooking up dishes for dinners and planning dinners... and i started to drift into the future of perhaps starting my own home "restaurant" okok i might be a bit far off... but i was thinking of maybe during the holidays when i can or when i feel like have a small restaurant at my home where i cook for a maximum of 6 people a night and it is based on reservation basis... i think it should be quite fun... so she was suggesting to me to learn some peranakan dishes from her... but honestly i really think it is possible... it dont matter how old you are in singapore... wat matters is how good your cooking is, quality of food, price and the contacts you have... haha might be too far fetch but hey maybe ill give it a try... i mean what do i have to loose right... no rental no nothing... and at most i loose on the cost of ingredients... but i doubt it would be any time soon... need to master some dishes first... probably in two years time or so when waiting to enter NS...

well after arriving back home i decided to have a quiet evening reading a book and just talkin to my mom over dinner... poor dad had a fever so he was kinda knocked out.... after which we decided to walk around the complex... well here are some photos from today... see ya...

my TV darling and my little book

a shot i took whilst walking around the complex

friends always care

23:31

Thursday, March 22

Joel~ my return home

everything feels the same... nothing has changed on the surface of this rapidly growing country... the streets are in a mess, the buildings are delapitated, streets are littered... nothing has changed... but yet it is still home...

and so the chapter continues again... i have made my return to this wonderful country of Vietnam... well this time round i took tiger airlines over to vietnam... after hustling with the crowd under the blistering sun, i finally made it to this little cramped up seat, size befitting to that of a 5 year old... however upon sitting on it i just slumped over as my body caved in... exhaution had taken its toll on me... clearing the house, preparing the dinner, packing... well that was too to be done within a day... but i did it...

as the planes tires touched down on the hot tarmac, suddenly the rustic air in the atmosphere welcomed me back... welcomed me back home... well you might be asking.. isnt singapore your home? well soon after my parents went over to vietnam and my bro went to camp, i finally realised that my home had moved along side them... a home is where you find comfort, love and safety... and this is where i find it... not in singapore but here...

well the firsting that i realised upon stepping out of the terminal was... " ZUAH SI!!!" well i dun knw whether i spelt that correctly but basically in direct translation, "HOT TILL I DIE!!!" the mercury had seemed to got rocket high as compared to the last time i was here....

well straight from the airport, i left to deposit all my bags at home first and made off to my favourite noodle shop... PHO 24.... wooooooot.... the silky smooth, light, springly, flavourful noodles just brings back memories of my last visit, accompanied by a thick and creamy soursop juice... oooo la la.... my goodness it is so arousing... haha.... and the price... WAHAHA... i forgot how affordable the meal actually was... so much beef such pure juice for such a mere price... this is heaven indeed...

well wanna know what i did after all that? well simple... walked around a shopping mall for 15mins then that was it KO!!!.... man Qingyun that dinner completely knocked me out gal... haha... i ended up sleeping in the car transfered my body up to my room and went flat out once more and i could barely wake up till my mom had to physically pull me up.... haha... but it was great fun... Qingyun round 2?

haha.... well thats all for today.. prob have more intersting stuff to blog about tmrw... remember to visit everyday ya... ill be posting and be online everyday.... see ya...

friends always care

22:20

Friday, March 16

Joel ~ hey guys

well other than that sleepless night, during the day a few of my frens came over... ariel, bernard, shane, qingyun and joseph... haha... had a blast with them... baked up some cream puffs and grougeres... was really nice... haiz... still not really in the mood to blog nor do anything... well i hope you guys had fun... prob plan a round two when i get back from viet... and this time i think ill try and hold a dinner instead... see ya...

cover my head with a pillow and screaming out loud... no one can hear... isnt that good?

friends always care

13:07

Joel ~ sleepless night

man i was really tired last night.... decided to go to bed at about 10pm... but the funny thing is that i only got to sleep at 2am... was tossing and turning around the bed... i just couldnt sleep... my stomach was really uncomfortable all filled with air... got no idea why... haha... then i started to think about stuff during that time...

first was about how much God had blessed me during the exam... how i saw his hand of grace upon me...

was thinking about a few other stuff... then came the topic of my dad's posting... well if you guys didnt know when i come back from vietnam, i am basically more or less all alone at home... and i mean no one else... so i started to think of the stuff i had to do to maintain the house.... ARGHHHH.... till now it still haunts me.... i dont know i guess i am just kinda scared of the unknown... but then last night i started to question once again... why why must the family be split? the company thinks that since dad's children are all grown up already there should be no problem? question i pose to them is how would you know? you are in singapore... and yet they want to scrouge on a few tickets to see each other once in a while... it was actually not till last night did the weight of the whole matter sink in... i suddenly realised that i have hardly been seeing dad or actually interacting with him for some time... i dont know... maybe i am still imature about all this but all i seriously want now is for things to go back to the way it was where everyone was together...

i know i shouldnt be questioning nor be ungrateful for the blessing bestowed upon us... however i mean i just cant help it... really... i just want to be at home....

friends always care

12:39

Tuesday, March 13

Joel ~ WOOOT

yayyyyy... finally completed my new blog skin... i seriously hate the new blogger it sux to the core... argh... takes so long to republish... anyhows... i know this skin looks kinda like a girls blog... but hey wat the heck i like it... wooot... i gues my feminine side is startin to show... hahaha.... wait... warren that still means that you can only look but no touch.... haha... jkjk...

well i just got a new phone... woooooot.... got the motor razor v3... well actually i could have got the v3xx for a top up of 40 bucks more... but i realised that the only diff was 3G and the 1.3 mega pix camera... and i figured that i dont really use either one of them so i decided to save on the 40 bucks and get this decent looking and well good enough phone... and it is only 48.... not too bad eh....

well i should be flyin off to vietnam soon... ahhhh i really really want to meet up with all my friends before i go but well i dont think that is possible... sigh... as of now i only have fri, mon and tues open... i hope i can fill them up soon... *hint hint* o well off i go.... ahhhhh i seriously need a hair cut...

friends always care

16:57