okay. i shall post 2 posts today. 1 about my vietnam trip and another about my birthday cum countdown.
before i begin, the most fun part of this trip was acting like a Japanese. LOL.
everyone thought my family and I are Japanese. My dad, blame it on him, cause' i look like him and he looks like a Jap, we all look Japanese. LOL. and everyone goes, konnichiwa when they see us. how fun. i told them i'm not japanese and they go oh, really? you look japanese. after the second day, me and bro started to impose as Japanese.
LOL
ho chi minh is fun. and it strikes me as a country stuck between the present and the past. they have got designer brands like Calvin Klein and high street labels like Mango but yet not most of them can afford them.
In Singapore, most people can afford high street labels.
there is the very advanced and rich side and there's the poor, traditional and under-developed side.
you see really huge private homes and squeezy small homes. you see beggers and rich businessmen having feasts in restaurants. you see what left of the French in their country and you see the Chinese influence in their country. you see modern looking towers and shabby shop houses.
however, the people here are quite simple and nice. they got a very humble attitude and can be said to be quite hardworking. but, i feel that they do not reap the harvests of their efforts. well, it's quite a sad thing.
day 1
changi airport terminal 2. before boarding SQ178
at ho chi minh's international airport
bird's eye view of ho chi minh district 1
preparing to speeeeed off!
what struck me about this place is the traffic congestion, huge amount of motobikes and bicycles and the fact that each bike can hold a family.
we were chauffeured to our hotel, Le Duy hotel (leh-zui). service in vietnam is good. they have a very humble and hardworking attitude and the bell boys took our luggage immediately after we got out of the mini van. they were very nice and friendly.
my family tried to find for a tailor. but we realise the tailor my aunt recommended moved away. we later learned that most of the tailors in that street moved away. we asked one of the shop keepers why and they kinda like pointed at the new building that was under construction and i guess probably they were chased away..
we went to an dong market and an dong plaza on the first day. it was, well, chaotic and i don't like the fact that they can smoke in the shopping mall.
we had pho 24 for dinner. and boy, they serve good food.
*pho (fur) is their traditional noodles served in soup. beef noodles are called pho bo.
we went to this night market beside Ben Thanh Market after dinner. they sell cheaper-than-Ben-Thanh stuffs and well, since it's near my hotel we walked there.
day 2
we were brought around by a tour guide. he spoke in chinese and so we had to speak in chinese too.
ho chi minh, formerly known as saigon has alot of reminiscences of the romantic period in france.
notre-dame cathedral
the interior
wedding car. their kind of wedding car.
that's the couple.
that turquoise building is diamond plaza. it's pretty near the notre dame
the post office is just across the street
the second and the only Mercedes i saw that is a private car.
details of the post office. look at the intricate designs that reminds you of the romantic period.
the entrance
telephone booth
interior of the post office
this is a side gate in the post office. i kinda like it for who-knows-what reason. i think it's pretty cute.
on the way to vung tau city, leaving ho chi minh....
i just snapped pictures while on the bus
this is the highway. it's so amazing that people can sit at the side of the highway, walk along the high way, sell things on the high way, cycle on the high way....
wow.
anyway, just f-y-i, the buses there has a speed limit of 30-40km/h. that's freaking slow if u aren't aware. in Singapore, cars go at a speed of 90km/h
that their traffic light. oh and, they have this timer to countdown when the red light would turn green and when the green light would turn red... and their orange light flickers.
in vietnam, red light does not neccessarily mean all vehicles stop. there would be this lane whereby vehicles would still zoom by.
it's a pretty no-rule traffic. lol. and it can be quite dangerous and tricky to cross their roads, so i'm pretty glad their speed limit is like 30km/h. but one good thing is that the vehicles there are very skilled. they will miss u by inches and cm. yup. so, for the weak-hearted, hop on a cab every time u wanna get somewhere.
pretty blur shot. but that's a common scene in vietnam.
we went to visit a factory whereby many handicapped workers did beautiful pictures out of shell and paint. they would embed different kinds of shell in the wood and sand it till it is smooth and glossy.
my mum bought 2 of the wall mounts and a little chest of drawers. it's really pretty and i have to say art in vietnam is pretty advanced. they can draw, paint, sculpt, etc. so much better than Singapore.
crossing over to Vungtau....
first sight of high rise
padi field and a breathtaking sight
backyard!
cemetry.
weddings held in such places are common.
as you can see.. vung tau is much more relaxing and the roads less busy. i actually preferred Vung Tau. but ho chi minh is interesting as well.
quails for sale. would you like one?
at the jetty. my family didn't go to the Chinese temple as we are Christians and there wouldn't be much to see in there. most people went in to pray.
Up Jesus mournumant
breath taking view from the top of the Jesus mournumant
at the beach. this is the south china sea. the water is dirty and looks muddy.
ikan mati
para-surfing at the background.
i think this infrastructure is lovely
back to hotel
this is called fu-qi gao. directly translated as husband and wife cake. it's a delicacy in vietnam that is eaten by newly weds to signify a blissful marriage. it's not very delicious actually.
this cake came about when many years back a young couple who owns a food stall was selling this cake in their stall. nobody in that area sells this cake and this tasty delight was something that was passed from generations in the wife's family. there is no name for this cake. so one day, the king happen to drop by this stall. it was one of his visitation around the country and the king fell in love with this cake. he asked the couple what is this green cake called and the couple told him that it was just a recipe handed down from generations and it has no name to it. and since the couple was so loving, the king named it fu-qi gao.
after we had a scrumptious dinner in this restaurant that serves seafood, we went to imperial plaza.
Day 3
left Vung Tau and back to ho chi minh
first stop - cu chi tunnel
that's their way of sheltering from the rain. look at their family vehicle.
at night, my family and I went to explore the area around our hotel and found brands like Mango, Schu and La Senza. we went shopping on that street. oh, it's the Zen plaza street. and i bought a pair of jeans which cost me only 16 dollars and a jacket. i think i bought my tie dye tee from their own Vietnamese designer boutique too.
Day 4
mekong delta
this little girl is so adorable. she's a poor thing. she looks malnutrition. i gave her a bag of sweets and she gave a little bow. so cute!
destination
chef for the day
we stopped for tea
honey any one?
street stalls. i thought this was uber cool
up the mini bridge
we're gonna take those!!
on the boat. waaay cool
that's me with the Vietnamese farmer hat.
that's called elephant ear fish
it's really good.
i forgot the name of the ball. the waitress helped cut that ball thing into sections and it was eaten with glutinous rice
way back from mekong delta... look at the wires
our next stop was Ben Tanh Market. I didn't take a photo of it. well, the things there are rather okay. not very nice and not very cheap.
the people there say their stuff are imported from Korea. oh well, who knows. and they are very smart. they won't give you much room for bargaining. they would keep saying no, cannot, give me your maximum price... this price too low...
countdown to the new year and christmas were big events. that's a crane lifting off the tent.
their new year decorations.
next, we went to watch their water puppet show.
one interesting find:
worms in their supermarket. it's a common thing for them but not for me.
too lazy to go out at night and so we rested.
day 5
free and easy again.
we went to Saigon Tax Center and had Highlands coffee and cake.
then we went to saigon square shopping mall to grab some good bargains and then head to Ben Thanh again!
after which we had KFC which was 3-storeys high and the food there kind of sucks.
then it was time to check out and we went to the international aiport.
We boarded Singapore Airlines home.
and at Changi Airport's DFS, i bought my very first liquor - Absolut Vodka.
:D
