Sunday, December 30, 2007
Day Four!
SHOPPING DAY!
so finally after visiting the various tourist attractions over the past two days, we specially arranged an extra day for our shopping! ((:
so first, in the morning, my family walked to ben thanh market. walked around and found their local delights! lotus chips! dried kiwi! dried mango! super huge dragon fruit and mango! hahaha went to a few stores to bargain before going back to the one with the best price. bought them back and it was about time to return to the hotel.
met nhan at around 1 plus so that he can bring us to eat more local and delicious foods! ((: so first up was lunch at this really nice restaurant. its carefully decorated, and nicely lit. not too bright and not too dark such that you can see but not see the person. hahahha! the toilet is especially cute! hahahah! what a happy restaurant! ((:
can you see that there's like a 'nature' in the restaurant? ((:
delicious! but i forgot what's inside. but its rice paper on the outside.
something like chee cheong fan. but not really.
i don't like chee cheong fan. ahaha!
beef noodles. again. hahaha!
and some crabmeat noodles. the noodles is super starchy that i only ate 3 bites before stopping. hahahahah!
the pieces on the bowl are actually ginger with sugar. its not very spicy but very crispy and sweet. so you're supposed to eat it with the tea to dilute the strong taste.
and for each dish, there's a special way of eating. all foods come with a sauce. the most common is the fish sauce. haha VERY NICE. ((: best lunch ever in VietNam. hahaha!
so after lunch, we went to Ben Thanh Market again to shop. walked and shopped for the whole afternoon.
we walked the whole place. count the number of shops and that's how much we walked. HAHAHAHA! ((: who said VietNam had nothing to shop? 1 market can last us shopping for 4 days! haha!
so after shopping, we went back to the hotel to rest our feet. bathe. and then meet up for dinner. dinner was at some ulu place. its some small coffee shop. actually its not even a coffee shop. its just a place with tables and chairs for us to sit and eat. the food is ordered from the various small shophouses and they deliver to where we are sitting.
forgot to take pictures but the food is delicious too! Nhan ordered a little for our main meal cuz he's gonna bring us to eat seafood! nice cockerels!
"nails". we termed it another term in singapore. haha! quite nice.
curry lalang.
crab!
more cockerels!
and more cockerels! my sister's favourite. hahah! she only ate these out of the rest. -.-"
and more more cockerels!
and more more more cockerels!
contented and drunk faces after the supper.
my dad's as red as lobster! hahaha.
but i remained sober cuz i only drank a bit of beer! hahahaha
okay so after our supper, we returned back to our hotel and took a final picture with Nhan. the guy in the middle. hahaha! so after taking pictures, we headed to the full body massage next door to our hotel! hahaha!
our last night. ((:
the dress code of massage.
my dad and i! with our respective masseus!
my masseus! ((:
okay so this is what happened at the massage.
we had 5 girls and 1 guy. just nice, 5 ladies and 1 dad. but nhan bullied me and asked me to get the guy instead. !!! i almost died. it's gonna be so painful.. haahha! but of course i demanded for a girl. heehee. at first, we went up to the second level where there was still space. but there were only guy customers so nhan got us transferred downstairs to a family room! hhaha!
so first they did a little head massage which was really comfortable. then they worked down to the face and placed cooling cucumbers on my face! my mom and sister had their face wiped roughly with face towels and they felt as if their skin was about to come out. HAHAHAH! thankfully my face din look oily or something. then because i went to the toilet and came in late while the rest of my family already started their massage, i thought mine was rushed through but turned out to be the best out of everyone else.
then they worked down to our feet. the guy masseus tried to trick me too! after the face massage they all left the room to get more towels and for us to enjoy the cooling effect of the cucumber. hahaha! then when they returned, the guy came in first and sat infront of me. i got a shock! how can they suddenly change masseus like that? !!!!! hahaha and they held me in suspense for super long cuz the guy kept shifting things around me. but then after a while, they started giggling so i figured they were tricking me. HAHAHAHAH!
the feet massage wasn't painful or anything. it was very comfortable! and relaxing. just that when they massage their way up, it was very itchy. at first, i tried to control my laughter but then my younger sister kept laughing and i started laughing too. ahahha!
throughout the whole massage, i din know whether to sleep or to observe what they are doing cuz i din want to waste such an awesome opportunity just sleeping away. but i can't see cuz no specs. so in the end i just kept staring at the masseus. since i can't really see what my masseus is doing, i kept looking at my dad's masseus. and i think he found it distracting cuz he kept looking at me and smiling too! hahaha!
and when the guy was massaging my dad, i was horrified. he used so much strength to massage and for a longer period of time! to think that he's gonna do that to me... oh gosh. hahahaha! and he used a lot of strength. i could hear him sort of breathing heavily everytime he apply large force. but my dad had no expression. goodness me. hahaha.
so anyway, the best part was the hot stones! they placed hot stones on our back while massaging our legs. it was warm and nice.. ((: then after that, they used 4 more stones to rub our back with. though its comfortable for us, i think its burning hot for their hands!
but i had another mini shock too. the person lifted up my shirt and unhook my undergarment. then she rolled my pants and my undies halfway through my butt. HAHAHHA! no wonder nhan din want to let us massage next to the guys upstairs... hahaha. but anyway, i think the guy masseus peeped over. hahaah!
then after that, they dressed us and continued massaging our back. since they are so light, they stepped on us! using their legs to massage our bodies. quite nice. luckily i hadn't sprain my ankles or something otherwise it'd be very painful when they apply force there. i love it especially when they stepped on my butt! haha very comfortable! they also used their knuckles to massage our back and the guy masseus cracked all his 10 knuckles when he first did that. HAHAHAHA! super funny. but this also showed how much energy he put into massaging..
then the itchiest thing was when the masseus wanted us to stretch our stomach by arching our body upwards on them.when she grabbed my underarms to lift me up, i started laughing non stop cuz my skin there's very sensitive you see. my sister's masseus was even better. she grabbed her boobs! hahaha! then my sister pushed her hand away! hahaha and the masseus replaced her hand back there! ahaha.
that was the last massage and mine ended the first. haha! so after that, i sat at my bed and waited for the rest. then suddenly, my aunt fell off from the bed and said, "oh sorry sorry!" and everyone started giggling even the masseus except my aunt and my dad. i felt it was very mean to laugh at her so i tried to calm down. then as i've somewhat calmed down a little, my mom suddenly let out a burst of laughter, 'BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH!' and i was in my laughing fits again!
actually she was about to do the arching position thingy. but she rested her legs on the outer stool so when the masseus pulled her up, the stool slid further away and she could not stay afloat so she fell off! hahahahaa! i'm still laughing at it now.
so after the massage, they gave us a bowl of ginger soup and 3 pieces of watermelon to eat. after that, my hands and legs felt really soft cuz of the lotion they used. the masseus are really gentle people! maybe next time i want to go for a massaging course to learn how to massage. heehee.
so then finally we all went back to the hotel and spent the last night there.
Day Five!
my family woke up early to have breakfast and pack our luggage to see how mcuh things we can still buy before proceeding to Ben Thanh Market again for the last grabs!
Ben Thanh Market in the background.
this picture was taken by a really helpful australian or german or european or american? he was like,"maybe i can help you all with that." so nice right? hahahaha
after that, checked out of hotel by 11.30 and then took a cab to the airport. the cab fare was cheap. if we've known that, we'd have taken a cab to Bin Thanh Market instead of going Ben Thanh Market for all 5 days! hahaha.
reached the airport and it's quite small. checked in on time but then our flight was delayed by 2 hours! stranded in the airport with expensive food in 1 restaurant. so we bought chocolates to fill our stomachs! hahaha ritter sport chocolate! so long since i last ate it! yummy!
reached singapore and board on a maxi cab back home!
unpacking time!
our fully packed luggages!
this video shows the amount of things we bought. like super alot and we are really good in squeezing and backing things! everything went into 4 luggage bags! the background music is the hwang jini show. hahhaha! my parents were watching it! ((:
OKAY! so finally i'm done with the VIETNAM TRIP!
I MISS VIETNAM RIGHT NOW!! (cuz no books no lessons no studies no homework just play just shop just have fun!)
planted at 5:38 PM
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Day Three
have i mentioned before? can't remember, but anyway, the vietnamese eat lots of vegetables and so they are very skinny and small size. so they dug small holes, just barely enough to fit themselves in. that's me testing out the hole. its quite spacious inside. but that's cuz i don't have any guns, any grenade, huge and heavy army suits etc and i'm short. hahaah! but anyway, there's enough space for them to stand i think. maybe for smaller size ones they can sit? cuz actually there's quite a large space in front of you when you get in. so these are the small holes for the soldies to hide in. not big enough for the big american soldiers! haha so smart of them!!
this tunnel is one of the tunnels where the soldiers crawl in to run away from the enemies. its actually not too small that you have to go on all fours but then its not big enough for you to stand. so its quite tiring and daark. :s haha! but my sister managed to take some pictures! seems very bright? cuz of the flash! hahahaha. anyway, the soil is very strong! the sides as well as the top are all just pure soil, no cement or anything. uber cool!
traps! to make the soldiers injured but not killing them! how scary!
there are many more traps but i'm too lazy to upload them here! hahahas
now, its time for some outside city stuff! went to near the borders of Vietnam! hahahha. we went to visit only 2 places there before having lunch and returning! that's cuz we had to travel for about 2 hours to get there! felt sleepy so i slept throughout the journey there!
first, we went to visit the Cu Chi Tunnel! the most exciting part of the whole trip.. its the actual site where the Vietnam soldies fought the guerilla warfare. so they have all the underground tunnel, all the traps etc for us to really see for ourselves..
have i mentioned before? can't remember, but anyway, the vietnamese eat lots of vegetables and so they are very skinny and small size. so they dug small holes, just barely enough to fit themselves in. that's me testing out the hole. its quite spacious inside. but that's cuz i don't have any guns, any grenade, huge and heavy army suits etc and i'm short. hahaah! but anyway, there's enough space for them to stand i think. maybe for smaller size ones they can sit? cuz actually there's quite a large space in front of you when you get in. so these are the small holes for the soldies to hide in. not big enough for the big american soldiers! haha so smart of them!!
my dad tried out too and he too, could get in! ((: yay! hahaha. there was this other woman who tried but got stuck so hmm. yes. hahaha well done, dad!
this tunnel is one of the tunnels where the soldiers crawl in to run away from the enemies. its actually not too small that you have to go on all fours but then its not big enough for you to stand. so its quite tiring and daark. :s haha! but my sister managed to take some pictures! seems very bright? cuz of the flash! hahahaha. anyway, the soil is very strong! the sides as well as the top are all just pure soil, no cement or anything. uber cool!
the shoes the viet cong wore! made up of rubber tires! like o.O! haha but to them, its very comfortable and comes in different sizes! HAHAHAH! but then it'll be very heavy to wear or carry around isn't it? rubber tires you know.. hahahahaahaha
so this is their kitchen. where they cook for the soldiers. its actually underground and the fire is real fire. there's no chimney for the smoke to escape cuz if there's smoke, then the enemies would know that their kitchen is located there and thus would drop bombs to destroy it. so smart right? so now, where do all the smoke go to then?
here! this is their 'chimney'. look closely and you can actually see a little smoke. its some distance away from their kitchen so just in case the chimney got bombed, the kitchen will not be affected. its camouflaged by the surrounding trees/forest so not easily spotted by the land army too!
traps! to make the soldiers injured but not killing them! how scary!
there are many more traps but i'm too lazy to upload them here! hahahas
okays, so this hole here is actually another tunnel. the viet cong crawled on all fours for about 4-5 km i think or maybe longer to get out of this area to the borders of somewhere. can't really remember. but see how tough life is during war? sighhh.
actually there's also the shooting range. but then we din go and try cuz we have to pay 10USD for each try. its actually 2USD per bullet but you have to buy at least 5 so we skipped it. hahaha!
then we tried the tapioca dipped in peanut fillings. the peanut fillings are nice but i don't like the taste of tapioca. hahahaha! and to think that the people mostly ate that during war times. I FEEL SO FORTUNATE! (((((:
there are alot of various other things which i din have the chance to take pictures of cuz the stupid guide kept rushing us. this place is so exciting but we were rushed. down at the palace, not so interesting, we stayed there for like almost eternity. hahahahaha!
next, our second destination was the temple! not sure what temple it is but apparently, its a mixture of christianity, buddhism etc. hahaha! language barrier you see, so we couldn't ask what we wanted to know.
anyway, actually, we were not supposed to take pictures but the tourguide told us we could. so i quickly took 2 shots. HAHAHA! after that, the nuns came over to tell us we can't take any pictures but oh wells, done that! hahahah. but since i'm not allowed to even take the picture, i should think its wrong to share it here so only the outside of the temple! anyway, the temple is very intricately carved and built! hahaha. very nice! ((:
my parents!
okays so went to eat lunch at their restaurant and the FUNNIEST thing happened. the tourguide, demonstrated to us how to eat their local dish. its this rice paper thingy, with some vegetables, pork, onion and more vegetables. so first he laid the rice paper. then he took the whole stalk of vegetable and put it on the rice paper. after which, he added the other ingredients. finally, he rolled it up and made us eat it. HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA! guess what. we were not supposed to eat the stalk but only the leaves! no wonder all the waiters and waitresses were staring at us. and we only realised it at night when nhan brought us to eat delicious beef noodles and he taught us how to eat! hahahah!
took these pictures on the way back to our hotel. hahaha! look at the large fields they use to plant padi and their many many vegetables! OHH. yes they love mint. every thing has mint. hahaha!
we ate these stuff during lunch.
wait no, actually more than these.
hahahhaha! longer ones too!
our delicious beef noodles! they have very unique way of eating! first you add some sauce, then some chilli, then squeeze some lime and mix the sauce. first, you finish eating all the meat. then you pour the remaining of the sauce into your soup and you eat the rest of the noodles with the mint and other vegetables. YUUUUUUUMMMY!! hahaahahaha! finally one decent meal after being 'tortured' by the tourguide! hahahahaha! look at our happy and contented faces! KUDOS TO NHAN! ((: YAYY! he's good in bringing us delicious food! and TEACHING us how to eat the CORRECT way. HAHAHAHAHHA!
after beef noodles, we went to ben thanh market to shop again! hahaha and bought more stuff. mostly socks, my dad's clothes, clothes for my cousins etc. hahaha! yupyup. the night ben thanh market is more of clothes than eating stuff. hahaha! ((:
planted at 4:12 PM
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Day Two!
Gifts, Elephant legs, given to Vietnam King
we toured the places in the city centre. haha so first up went to the rejuvenated palace, notre dame cathedral, the post office, the war memorial museum, lacquerware factory, then the thien hou temple (thien hou miew.. HAHAHAHAH!) and finally shopping in the chinese market!
we toured the rejuvenated palace for a super long time. HAHAHAHAH! we thought that maybe after being scolded last night for the messy dinner, the tourguide hurried home to do some homework. so he ended up talking a lot and a lot and alot about the palace, which we weren't very interested in. HAHAHA! and since we had so many other places to go to, we just kept walking before the tourguide introduced us the places. we were getting impatient alr but he just kept on talking and talking. cuz like the palace is huge and he brought us to every single room etc. hahaha! okays so finally we left the place after snapping a few pictures! ((:
the palace from the outside.
fountain outside the palace.
spot the rainbow! (:
Gifts, Elephant legs, given to Vietnam King
King's car! ((:
next was the Notre Dame Cathedral. once we entered, it was super peaceful! the whole cathedral is very big. there are like confession areas for about 4 different languages i think! hahaha! quite cool. the music was not from a cd as i thought it was until my mom showed me the person playing the piano. hahaha! stayed there for a short while before leaving for the post office next to the cathedral! ((:
spotlight? nah. its just sunlight!
in front of the cathedral!
the post office is very big too! too bad i din take a nice view of the whole post office. sighh. only some mini pictures. hahaha! but anyway, there are a lot of people there. the ceiling is very high and the whole building is very long! and there's this whole row of telephone booths! ((: quite a beautiful place. i like both the Notre Dame Cathedral and the post office cuz both places are quite meaningful to me. very purposeful cuz they are still in use now. yeah. haha!
in front of the post office! beautiful building isn't it?
inside the post office
cin zhao! (hello!)
so after we left the post office, we travelled to the war memorial museum. there, i saw lots of war pictures. so cruel, so heartwrenching, so... unacceptable. now i really think war is quite stupid. make the people live in fear, risk their precious lives, waste money and resources just cuz people can't get to an acceptable conclusion. this is just my childish opinion so you can just ignore it. hahaha! wait till i become more mature, i shall revisit this topic of war. hahahaha! anyway, in the musuem, there are lots of pictures hung up on the walls for us to see. and its incredible to see the number of pictures. its just so weird, like people are having war and there are people who are so 'free' to take pictures and not help to fight the war. but without them, i won't get to see the actual scenerios of war. i think that its kind of weird. hahaha!
so just randomly took some pictures with the aircrafts that they used.
bomb that is bigger than me!!
how they torture the prisoner!
so poor thing! -sobs-
try reading the chinese words in the background!
the rectangle box on the right is where the prisoners are kept on the way to their execution. when they reach this room, they are being lifted from the box and seated in the device on the left and then beheaded. OUCH! -shudders-
all right, enough of the gruesome stuff. the next stop was the lacquerware factory! a very cool factory! the end products are very nice but the procedures are very tedious. they have to do repeated steps just to get the shiny and smooth effects. but still, they are pieces of art which are so amazing! ((: they use materials like wood, duck egg shells and clam shells to create beautiful pieces of arts and other items like boxes, furnitures!
cool isn't it? look closely and you'll see the human body is made up of shells! they have to break the shells into tiny pieces and then fit them like jigsaw puzzle! and this piece isn't small! took them a few months to finish! AMAZING isn't it?
boxes to contain make-up and stuff.
2-piece picture! it just fits so perfectly!!
after the lacquerware factory, we went for lunch before going to the Thien Hou Temple. lunch was good! hahaha as compared to the dinner last night. how good? we ate at their hawker centre. but the tourguide is still the same guy. so my parents had to point to the pictures to order the food. HAHAHAHA! but its quite a sumptious meal! ((:
Thien Hou Temple. quite big. prayed to the various deities and gods there! i hope they can hear me! ((: took a group photo infront of the temple and boy, the sun was glaring! so you can see all our frowning expressions. hahaha!
in front of Thien Hou Temple
after the visit to Thien Hou Temple, we went to shop shop! went to the chinese market and its super nice to shop there! my sister bought her big big lagguage bag from there, and we bought slippers, and socks and bags! a nice place to shop but not enough time! grrrr. hahahaha. otherwise we'd have bought a lot more thing! this market is even nicer to shop than Ben Thanh Market.
the way they store their goods- big boxes!
the many many things they sell in one shop!
after shopping, we went back to our hotel to bathe, wash up, freshen up, rest a little before heading to the river cruise for dinner! a pretty place with nice ambience and lightings. haha but again, we had to point pictures to order food. hahahaha!
on the cruise!
after dinner with the cruise!
so that ends Day Two!
planted at 10:33 PM