Holiday'10

Back from vietnam & Jessie's bday.....

& I am pretty bored, left with nothing much to do.

Vietnam trip 2010

Hmmm, 8 days trip & I am almost done with touring the once France colony( almost, cause I have yet to visit the World renowed SAPA, famed ffor the scenic padi fields). Flew via Vietnam airlines first to Hanoi ( Capital of Vietnam), toured the World heritage site Halong Bay ( which comprises of many many islands & caves), had lunch on board the junk that ferried us around the Halong area. Visited the many antique looking temples, that carried a distinctive rustic charm. Took a cyclo ride round the Old quarters of Hanoi, due to time constraint, we didnt manage to shop at any of the shops in the 36 streets, each with their own distinct wares on sale.

Rushed off to the Hanoi airport, boarded the flight after dinner at the 4th level of the airport. It was a 55 mintues flight to Hue, a dsistinctively unique heritage site filled with a myraid well preserved cultures. Visited imperial palaces, imperial tombs that were more like palaces, with lakes and carvings of dragons and plaques with chinese characters that made me felt as though I was in China instead. Had something so called "Imperial cusine", which is basically a pseudo meal of Emperors, with musical performance, rather boring...... Afterwhich, it was a ride of a life time... 4 hours bus ride on bumpy road to Danang(which makes me feel the effects of motion sickness, regret my trip to Vietnam instead of Korea or Australia hahah), where Canon produces those marvellous photos for their advertisements.

Reached Danag at nite, just in time for dinner at this marvellously "antique decorated "restaurant with an ancestral hall that we only see in the little noya show, but too bad, I was too giddy to enjoy the ambience....... After dinner, checked in at this 4 star hotel, but it wasnt really a nice experience. For, my 4 star room had windows that couldnt be fully shut, resulting in gushes of wind blowing into my room producing this utterly errie ghostly sound that forces me out of the room seeking for a change to another suite........... Luckily, everything went well, and next morning changed my view of vietnam, visit to an aged old temple and various scenic areas via boat relaxed my tensed soul........ Went to this rustic town, with shophouses specialised in silk waving, wood carving, marble carvings and agarwood products, (shopping hahaha)........ Next was lunch and trip down to the seaside of Danag which is ranked top ten of world's most beautiful beaches. After which we proceeded to the domestic airport of Danag ( I was thanking my lucky stars that I am flying off at Danang and not Hue, cause the 4 hours of bumpy ride, really wasnt a joke!) for flight to Ho Chi Minh City which was delayed by 40 mintues after a 3 hour wait at the airport.... zzzz

Ho Chi Minh city was much more modern & developed with familiar brands- UOB, BREADTALK, KFC, DBS........More livable and inevitabley roads flooded with motorists. CuChi tunnels and Mekong river wasnt places that I was interested in, afterall I have been there before and Cuchi tunnels made me screamed like an idiot ( and was hence not advisable by doctors for me to visit) Mekong river, nothing changed - the fertile soil, muddy waters, fruits they served, coconut water they gaved, just that there's more stalls selling trinkets meant for tourists..... It was the dinner at 外省街, dinner on board Mekong nite curise, shopping at Ben Than market that interested me...... Last day was free and easy, was lucky enough to have 2 tour mates to bring us to this shopping mall hahahha

Shopping was ok, didnt get much food this time round, but got quite some non perishables, my holiday shopping list was almost done ( hehe). Got quite a few good deals... :) Mum was in particularly happy with her buys, afterall she got quite some stuffs at a steal.... hahahah

But this trip was rather an enlightenment.... The life we lead in Singapore was perhaps really world class, afterall children ( Secondary level) in Vietnam surivied with mere 20000 dong per day ( sounds like some astronomical figures but the actual conversion rate was 15000 dong to 1 SGD) and mineral water was only 2000 Dong at suoermarkets ( thats when u dont compare it with the 2 USD , which my dad gladly paid for at the airport and even lamented that he bought sky juice lols)

Now that I am almost done with relaxing, time to get some jobs & spend my holiday in a more organised manner.......... My table is still in an disgusting mess..........

Perhaps I should have gone for prom.......