Special Moments in Vietnam

Happy pple on hol

Special Moment 1 - Sewei's Interactions with Locals

Sewei def made this trip v hilarious due to his interactions with the locals. First he displayed rich indulgence towards the vendor who sold him his diamond water. He also sorta pissed quite a no. of locals off. For eg, at the palace, when a guide was asking him if we wanted a tour, he interrupted her halfway in her speech to tell her that we were fine, and wanted to walk around by ourselves. The guide looked very irritated at this interruption and raised her voice at him....telling him which areas were restricted and which areas werent...before walking off. That was surprising but funny... like wth man....maybe the guide was irritated that sw interrupted her pre-planned and memorized English speech... In his own words, he called them angsty.

Sewei & his diamond water

Haha. In another instance, the waitress at some restaurant totally ignored sw and forgot to ask him his order or served him last if i remb correctly. And one night, when sewei wanted to show us a particular direction that he wanted us to go to, he raised his hand to point, but didnt realize that there was this vietnamese lady near him and this resulted in the lady receiving a whack on her nose when sw raised his arm to point the direction. It was quite sad and maybe a little painful for her...but it was so funny and coupled with sewei's already numerous famous interactions with the locals, that all of us just burst out laughing and laughing. We simply couldnt help it, and we all hastily said our apologies to the stunned Vietnamese before rushing off...still in fits of laughter....

Special Moment 2 - Crossing the Road

Crossing the road was really the most exciting thing that we all did in Vietnam. Why? Cos not only are there lots and lots of vehicles on the road (esp motorcycles), but normal traffic rules just dont seem to apply over there. Not only were there no lane/road markings whatsoever, but the vehicles just dont seem to slow down or give way to pedestrians. Even the pedestrian crossing looks like its there just for decoration. We had to huddle together as a big group and move in unison forward..while the vehicles will then swerve to avoid us or horn. Speaking of which, the horn is used so liberally over there that almost every min u will hear someone horning. Sometimes its for the most flimsy reason. Ridiculous. But ya crossing the road was may's trauma and she was always so reluctant to do it...quite funny in a way. But then she managed to do it in the end! So ya everyone of us seemed to have passed our jaywalking lvl 4 mod...

Special Moment 3 - Vietnamese Propaganda

The Vietnamese sure can be sarcastic....my experience with their propaganda LT at Cu Chi and their skilful use of American quotes at the war museum supports this. They spoke of the murderous Americans, who were so mad that they shot at pots and pans. And of giving awards to Best American Killer etc etc. Frankly the vid at the LT was so full of propaganda that it was funny...but we dared not laugh too loud. But well...after all...i guess the US has only themselves to blame for this?

Special Moment 4 - Nha Trang

Not only did we have fun playing with the sand and water at the beach (burrying geri and sk), but we also had a massage there and of course the night of alcohol and cards that geri and may were so excited about. Wanted to get me drunk. Huh as if. I do recall though that some of us that night got a bit affected by alcohol shall we say? No one drunk or anything...but still there were some signs eh? Gab shaking his head early on in the game that he drank too much too fast, geri getting irritated that she cannot drink so much.... And of course....why did inami wear a red shirt? :) Hahaha.

Special Moment 5 – COFFEE

And of course who can forget the one souvenir that all of us prob will remb and associate with Vietnam from now on. We were quite excited about getting souvenirs from the Ben Thanh Market, and coffee was something that quite a no. of us were keen in buying. I still dunno how we could have been so silly. We just went to this first shop, sat down when the lady told us to sit. And we simply took her suggestion of 500g of coffee to buy! Yes yes we all did bargain but what we bargained for was the price PER 100G! We did not calculate what the final sum would be for 500g....or for 1kg for that matter for pple like inami, sewei, and me. Not surprising really considering inami and my standard of maths. But STILL we should have realized SOMETHING.... Only AFTER we paid up and walked off for some min that it dawned on us that we paid so much for our coffee. I think the lady of that shop earned so much from us that she can close her shop for one week or more. I think after that, inami and sewei got quite depressed and sorta stopped buying stuff for a while... hahaha

We'll hex you

All in all, we were just enjoying each other's company throughout the entire trip, and that was what made the trip fun. What made it extra fun were the funny & special moments that each one of us contributed somehow in one way or other... :)

Vietnam Trip 2009

Welcome to Saigon!

Some Highlights of our 6 Days Vietnam Trip ( 6 July - 11 July 2009 )

- Beef Pho

- Sewei paying a ripoff price for his diamond water :)

- Sewei's interactions with the locals :)

- Constantly being asked to buy stuff (some of which were by v young kids!)

- Reunification Palace

- Ho Chi Minh Museum

- Notre Dame Cathedral

- Ben Thanh Market (COFFEE!!!)
- Vietnam's really really sweet coffee (condense milk AND lots of sugar added)

- Crossing the Road!! (May's Trauma) :)

- Taking cabs wherever we went (It was really cheap)

- Cu Chi Tunnels (They shot at pots & pans...)

- War Remnants Museum (Historic Truths...)

- Seafood Dinner

- Nha Trang Beach

- Massage at the spa in Nha Trang

- The Alcohol Drinks & Cards Night at Nha Trang (Why are u wearing a red shirt?) :)

- Eating burgers, & omelettes more than local food at Nha Trang (THAT really crap local dinner place!!)

- Blackout on our last night at the Saigon hotel just before going for dinner

- USD AND VDONG!!!

This summer's Vietnam trip was really fun! So many experiences! One thing's for sure, Vietnam is def not as nice a country to go to as compared to NZ. NZ's scenary, food etc beats Vietnam hands down for me. BUT Vietnam was just as fun...why? Thats cos of the great bunch of pple i went with to Vietnam, my jc classmates. 7 of us in total. Like a class outing.

For this trip, we went to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and the sea-side town of Nha Trang. Both these places offer a contrast to each other, with the former a bustling, old & dusty city, and the latter a nice beach town. The whole trip involved a total of 4 flights...our Tiger Airways flight to and fro between Spore & Saigon, and the Vietnam Airlines domestic flight between Saigon & Nha Trang....(we were too lazy to spend 7 hours or so taking a train!)

To be frank, the excitement of going abroad again for a hol only hit me belatedly on Sunday. Somehow even taking a plane just wasnt so exciting...maybe cos it was a budget airline? Oh but anyway, I realized that our Budget Terminal and the budget airline isnt as bad as what u might think them to be. There were quite a no. of shops at the terminal...including DFS and Macs! As for the budget airline, just dont expect sq service standards, and tolerate the very little leg room and lack of food/water. For a short flight, its quite ok and besides the experience is almost like taking a domestic flight.

Nha Trang Beach

But by mon morning (v v early morn!!), i was getting excited and i think the rest were too. So excited that i brought a big luggage bag. When we all touched down in Vietnam, the excitement increased...after all it was a full 6 days ahead of us of exploring and having fun in a foreign land. What was my very first impression of Vietnam the moment i touched down? Dusty, old, and lots of horning. The streets of Saigon in particular reminded me of Chinatown. And lots of pple over there wear masks...no, not because of H1N1...but because of the dust! Its almost a fashion item over there.

Indoctrination LT at Cu Chi

Souvenir Trap

There will be more elaboration on the special moments that stood out in this trip in the next post. For now, here are some more pics to summarize our very fun Vietnam trip!

This was my favourite museum out of the lot that we saw

The Vietnamese sure know how to be sarcastic....but then of course, the US has only itself to blame for this....

This trip was really fun, and i think my friends really made it special and memorable. (I think i've been hit by their hex...) I cant wait for e next summer hols to come! In fact I cant wait to travel again! Hopefully we'll go somewhere again next year....Maybe hk, bangkok or phuket or something... Haha.

New Zealand Trip 2009

One interesting fact about New Zealand is that the country has more sheep than humans. Yeah you read that right. NZ may not be very big, but its certainly bigger than Singapore, and yet its human population is about the same - around 4million plus. On the other hand, guess how many sheep there are estimated to be? Around 40million ! Yeah that extra zero is not a fault of your eyesight...

I just spent 2 weeks in the beautiful country of NZ, specifically the southern part, with Clem and my godparents. It was my first time there, and man, the experience has certainly left a lasting impression on me. Our timing was really good - the foreign exchange rates were in our favour, the flight and tour were on a discount, & the weather was great as well. (It rained quite badly the week just before we arrived...but it stopped just when we arrived in NZ....and it only returned the day we left NZ....cool huh....)

But I think the best part of this hol is the people that I spent it with, and frankly, it was they who really made my hol so fun, meaningful and special. It was esp meaningful for me to be able to find out more, interact and really bond with my godparents - both of whom I've little memory or interaction with prior to this trip. In fact, they moved me greatly with their sincerity, generosity, kindness and hospitality...In fact, being able to bond greatly with my godparents was a highlight of this trip as well.

Now about this trip....Not only is the country very scenic, but the people were also friendly & the food was great. There were really so many interesting moments during the trip that its impossible to list down all. So i'll just list one.

While in Hanmer Springs, we happily entered the hot spring from the icy cold air. We made the mistake of leaving our towels etc far away...and we had great difficulty in forcing ourselves to get out of the hot pool into the cold air once we were done soaking happily in the hot spring! And when we did manage to force ourselves out, we were all shivering a lot and were running to grab our towels and then into the toilet which was further away...It must have been quite a sight to some of the other onlookers... :) It was certainly an experience to remb...and one that u need to try it firsthand in order to understand our emotions and experience then. There were of course other moments/experiences such as for eg the chateau, the heater, the camera, the dog, sheep, weather etc...hahaha

Looking back now, there was a lot of anticipation & planning involved...but the 2 weeks went by very fast and now its over! There's really so much I want and can write about this hol, but then if I do so, this entry would look like some essay to be submitted for a Lvl 2 or above module midterm essay....hahaha

So let me end here by summarizing. Good food, weather and scenary are necessary but not enough to make a good holiday. To me, what makes a holiday a special and great one is the company that we spend it with, and I think the people i spent this holiday with really made it special. Life isnt just about work or money, & sometimes it involves simple things such as appreciating your family and friends. Maybe in this aspect, Spore can learn from NZ, with its slower pace of life a sharp contrast to Spore's mad rat race.

The many experiences and memories from this trip are greatly treasured...and i'm really grateful and thankful for everything and everyone... Deo Gracias... I really hope and wish to have more of these in future....maybe switzerland next?....hahaha. But first, vietnam's awaiting next... :)

Parking Pontianak

This is simply hilarious... Do watch... :)

Ippt

Whew...my ippt is finally over! I really genuinely thought that i would fail...but looks like i was lucky...esp in sbj....that really shocked me today.

In any case, although there's still ict coming up rather soon, at least one burden is off...for now, there's no need to worry about having to do rt...at least for this year! And the incentive money will certainly come in useful for my hol! Yeah once i've tallied all that the govt has given me this year in the form of the ippt money and the gst credits, it should be enough to pay and cover my vietnam trip. Now thats another relief.....esp when it looks like nz is going to cost me more than what i expected, such as food prices etc etc. Ok now can go slack a bit....at least until ict....

Sem 2 & Exams are over....

Hello, its certainly been a long while since the last post....why so? The Ans: either no time, no mood, didnt know what to blog or just plain laziness. Time really passes damn fast, its nearly the mid year mark, the 2nd uni sem just went by, exams just ended, and not to mention the end of daily sch life week in week out....But so far based on events this year, i think i can conclude 2009 must be an animal year or something, just look at how cats and pigs have made front-page news recently. Enough said.

On to sch, the one thing that stuck out this sem is the rubbish SEA mod, where every fri lecture was spent having a BK picnic in the LT. Having to go out to the 'field' and 'interview' migrant workers......and based on some observations, some of them who hang out at orchard certainly appear quite well off! Well at least the mod was quite slack. Thats a good thing. Other mods were ok...and of course there were some funny moments in between during the mundane of daily sch life. And somehow this sem seemed more fun than the last, maybe its cos of the fri-s. Ahh its really fast, 1st year of uni is already over.

The road ahead is a 3month hol, and so far I got 3 major events so far. New Zealand, reservist, and Vietnam beckon in that order! And of course the middle one looks the least enticing.... But I'm looking forward esp to NZ. Initially i was worried that the swine flu/pig flu/hini flu or whatever-u-want-to-call-it-flu would derail my hol plans, esp when news broke that this flu 'flew' across to more and more countries from Mexico. (It almost sounds like the supermarket product 'airpork' eh) But so far to date, it seems to be alright though precautions still need to be taken of course. Lets hope it improves or at least stays that way....

In any case, better be wary of pigs onboard the plane...You never know who's gonna sit beside you.....For all you know, the fellow next to you could be a pig and gobble up all the food/wine etc avail onboard.... And of course i should keep an eye out for any pigs wandering around in NZ....I bet u if there are more reports of pigs falling ill to this flu, not only will there be culling, but some might go to the extreme of imposing HYGENE on pigs...yeah can u imagine that? The pig is considered by lots of pple as a dirty animal, and oh man, trying to teach pigs personal hygene is like....transforming it and giving it an image makeover? Hmm...i dunno...but the day might just come when all pigs wear masks....hmm food for thought?

Trust me, dont dwell too long on that. The more u try to use the above as food for thought, u are prob gonna think of bacon or that moviestar BABE sooner or later. So lets move on. Its seldom that I have the blogging feeling, so might as well carry on for a while more. Hmm it could be the post-exam syndrome, where there is now no more chance to write out long essays. Haha ya right. Ok anyway, the year 2009 till now has really seen quite a lot of stuff happen. Sadly, i havent been able to fulfill what selig told me to do when the year started...i really genuinely hoped to do so but...oh well. There's nothing much i can do anyway...hopefully the rest of the year will turn up something. Maybe it might just turn out that events will have an influence. And furthermore with zak and prob leong flying off soon by the start of the 2nd half of this year, I realize that i cant just call or sms them to go out as and when i like. Thats 2 down from the list of pple i know here in spore. Having friends in diff parts of the world can have advantages of course, but it also makes u realize other things....

Merry Christmas

Stille Nacht
Joseph Mohr / Franz Gruber

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht!
Alles schlaft, einsam wacht
Nur das traute, hochheillige Paar.
Holder Knabe im lockigen Haar,
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh'.

Thats Silent Night in its Austrian version....Its been a very cold and wet Christmas so far yest on the eve.....anyway, its that time of the year again.....Merry Christmas to everyone.....