by Yongxin & Ngyuen Chi Haiand here it is! the write up of our vietnam trip! wheeee!
day1 - 26april 07
things we did the airport - the LKKs acting old and at the duty free shops.. LKKs in fashion parade!! woch out for the summer season's felt cap and bumble bee sunglasses!!
WHooHOO!!! Lool C(k)ool kool~~~
woohoo!! feel like celebrities when we walk to our 'private jet'!! muahahahaaa -waves-
ah hai's attempt to zi4 pai1 is chuiiiiI~~
comment frm ah hai > this is abstract art okay!! its titled Abstract Ascending Orders
the lift in our hotel! haha its super super tiny....
exterior of our hotel.. see the red skinny building that protudes out from the buildings by its side... thats our hotel. ITs called Thang Long, meaning rising Dragon!!
ROARS!!! and let all Mac Thi Buois
kia follow behind u!!
this is lunch! at a german restaurant... mamma mia~~ the food is salivating! look at the sausage... the meatballs and pork knuckles are also very tender and soft.... and there is ah hai's carbonara spaghetti which is super creamy..
Notre Dame Cathedral... the interior is very nice.. the colours n drawings on the tainted glass are very brilliant and exquisite.. didnt take photos of them though..
here's the view of the cathedral from the main door..
ooommmmggg...
the Buu Dien central post office:
as we were walking back from the cathedral area, this girl was trying to sell roses to ws.. she
stalked him! hahaa.. followed him across dunno how many streets, then overtook him to
wait for him at a corner to pester him to buy flowers! haha and when he say he really dun want then the girl beat(
smack~~臭男人) him and walked away! hahahahah!!!
then we walked past this fountain thingy and the lights are very pretty! see the background of this photo.. we attempted to take pics of ourselves but haiyah, cannot capture the beautiful lights..
walked to Diamond Plaza to walk walk and for the air con cos the weather was damn warm... then it was arcade time! haha bishi bashi!!
went to this famous vietnamese restaurant Lemongrass to eat authentic viet food! there was this spring roll that contained raw vegetables and shrimps... and this left a
scar on ah hai!! he has a traumatising experience with this spring roll... he couldnt stand the taste of the raw veggie and then subsequent nights he keep saying he smell that veggie! even in the hotel room after ws bathe le then he still say he smell it... then when we went to this bar Manna the next night, he also claimed he smell the veggie in the mocktail! hahahahaa.... see our faces when we attempt to conquer the springroll....
the other dishes we ordered..
wanted to walk along the Saigon river/ wharf so we tried to cross the super super busy road from where we were at Dong Khoi... it was
mad... the bikes and vehicles refuse to stop and they just keep streaming past us... we had a very hard time before we crossed the road!! scary traffic in Vietnam! then turned out that the riverside had not much.. haha all the floatin restaurants out to 'kah3' (cheat) tourists.. and an atmosphere of thick
longkang smell!! so we had to cross back! hahaa.. we saw this big group of tourists crossing back to their hotel on the opp side of the river and we ran like crazy to catch up with them so that we can cross with them but by the time we ran there they already crossed the road.. but this kind local who we think work at the hotel led us to cross the road.. haha scary! and after that, we've learnt to just walk across the road! dont 'hum ji'!! haha now back in singapore must use traffic lights and the cars move faster, feel abit not used to it.. haha
and we missed being honked at!! Being honked is like given a complimentary
weewee from the drivers... muhahaaa
so we crossed over and decided to go lim kopi at Gloria Jeans.. and then here goes our funny chio-ga-peng photos! ahaha or maybe only we 4 think it's funny.. everytime see these 4 photos will laugh out..
we thought ah hai's caramel coffee so cheap leh! cheaper than kopi tiam! cos we saw '50,00' --> we thought the person key wrongly, key as 5000 dong! haha but yuan lai the other zero is at the bottom! haha
and we have debrief sessions every night by our head of family - ibu.. haha
ibu always say "tighten ur purse strings!! and lights out!!" ahha bluff one laa... See tis pic where ibu looks sooo
patriarchial...
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day2 27apr07
in the morning i woke up with something feeling stuck in my stomach... then before i even took breakfast, i puked! and that marked the start of my pukey day..
we realised from the first day that vietnamese can carry everything and ANYTHING!!! from big water bottles, TV, shelves, basically anything!!!
even the people they also can carry more than 2... so unlike singapore. and they dont wear helmets. haha. and some even wore those arm guards / gloves to protect their hands /arms against the sunlight. haha!! took us some time before we could make up the whole collection of photos of people on bikes...
then we went over to Cu Chi Tunnels... muahaaha quite fun eh! the tunnels are so small we had to duck walk while crawling... then the entrance is so so tiny we thought this tourist who was quite fat will get stuck cos he enthusiastically just went down the entrance.. haha but when he wanted to get out his tummy abit stuck.. hahaha!!
one very malu incident at the Cu Chi Tunnels shooting range... we bought 5 bullets for the range to
biang biang**. First WS shoot liao okay... next came YX... she was there sooo long!! not becoz did not know how to aim and fire... instead, it all went like this:
in picture framesA - heart beat begins to race...
bloop bloop blopblopblop blop BLOP!!! B - palms begin to sweat.....
C - mind starts to hallucinate and imagine wad the AK47 would do...
D - started to blabber these
"我不要!!... hum chi~~~"**pls refer to ibu's rendition~~ "all except yx : SQUEEZE! just pull the trigger!!!! yx: cannot ! cannot!! i dont want !!! I admit i hum chi can or not then i dont fire??? all except yx : *roars in laughter*" ibu's blog on Sunday 29 April 07
mad zi pai-ing sessions... hahaa
After the Cu Chi Tunnels session... all of us were
sooo tak-boleh-tahan!! we need our hotels! we need our baths! we need new clothes!! And we want to wear only slippers!!
flip flip and flop flop we made our way down Mac Thi Buoi and Dong Khoi.. and found ourselves a Korean Restaurant - Seoul House.. ordered a Seafood pancake, Korean hand roll, some soup with bacon meant to help hangover, and steam dumplings!! GOSH! this restaurant served appetizers too!! And there came bowls and plates and more dishes of kimchi, tofu, some rice cake and some spicy pickled orangy unknown veges which only ibu attempted to swallow down her throat...
Ah chui loved her kimchi soo much that she would gulp alot of water frm her
1L water bottle after ever bite. Man!! she was a
camel!! she drank more than half the bottle jus eating the kimchi... in the end, the bottle mouth had tis super stenchy garlicy smell which chased away any contenders to drink water frm her water bottle...
tsk tsk tsk... the kimchi is DAMN GOOD!!! so good i cant stop eating it.... yumyumyum!Thereafter we headed over to the Ben Thanh Market... soo ben4 dan4 (笨蛋笨蛋笨蛋笨蛋).. we had been kah3 siah~~~ yet we din even realised till we return the next day!! But well, Ben Thanh should be considered only a place that tourists would unknowingly go to. Because this is the place where the stuffs are "CHEAP" (
cheaper than here but well, the Im******* mah) Ahha got even cheaper ones jus rite outside 笨蛋market. But!! its really a big place where many things are sold under one big 笨蛋 roof! haha got souvenirs of all kinds where we bought chopsticks, purses and etcetc.. You can also find the authentic Vietnam ca phe (coffee) and all kinds of bags (40L 50L 60L) and dry fit shirts!! Addidas, Nike, Puma... blahblahblah... Go there to see see and haha Try your hardest to negotiate the price they offer to a quarter of it!!
Cautions!! Else, go outside of 笨蛋 and u can find lower offer prices man!! Dont get kah3; dont get lao1 by them!!
On our way back, we decided to try out the Russian Restaurant!! ZEBRA restaurant!! whoopie!! Vietnam trip was meant to try out something unique and not readily available here! HAHA look at their menus and u certainly can find many Authentic and Unique dishes - Grilled Bloody Shells, Grilled Wildboar in 5 Flavors, Deep Fried Crocodile!!! Challenging menus bah!! We ordered Russian popiah - undeterred frm the Viet popiah aftermath, Russian tomato soup with mayo, Russian crab salad!! and Hanoi fried rice!! Hey there was a Singapore style fried noodles under their pasta section!
hmm how is Spore linked to Russian... hahahaa.. there were like 3 flies hovering over ibu's head! hahaha apparently ah hai attempted to hit ibu's head with his spoon which he used to eat the crab salad! muahahaa... ANW the Russian food was SOO good! we gave many many many countless THUMBS up, we could critically amassed the no. of thumbs we could find on the table and took this pic! Food was bery Cheap! and Yummy! Remember! Zebra Restaurant!!
We headed down for a nite walk walk since it was still early and eventually found a place to rest our legs at Manna for some drinks!! Haha we were practically the most Lok Kok-ly dressed patrons that nite - in tees, berms/shorts and Slippers!! We ordered some green slim Mocktails... hahaha reminds me of the previous nite's popiah haunt!! i had to practically use my teeth n lips to stop the minced greenish slims from seeping into my mouth while drinking the apple mocktails. haha
Chui!! bcoz some still to slipped past the double "defense"... the popiah ghoul was immediately paralyzing!!! We also saw tis duo whom we presume they were GAY!! haha and while trying to eavesdrop, my hard of hearing ear only managed to catch the word "
sexy" from one of them while they were looking at the fashion show frm the LCD screen... presumably they work in the fashion industry..
haha wads soo sexy then?? lets try to
bitch around!! whoohoo!! ones an angmoh and the other hmm... some asian...
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day 3 28apr07
Mekong Delta River Tour and the day of meeting some BIG shots!!!
The river tour was rather educational, less interesting except the horse cart ride and the sampan cruise!! ahah! ohh yeah! we ate this
HUGE prawn for lunch!! prawns so big that they have pincer-arms!! They also recommended some elephant ear fish which was fried and to be eaten in the popiah style.. HAHA yeah popiah style with their lemongrass and veges dressing.. hahah
nooonooo we din try... it was soo BIG, imagine an elephant's ear!!! because it looks like the elephants ear...
On the river cruise we met tis old couple, the man claimed to be Su Guan Ning's Hwa Chong classmate and somewad they seemed to be some bigshot frm somewhere too, though they nvr exactly say where they come frm, but his many attempts to discuss topics related to some Canadian University which has some global immersion program with NTU and how they tried to recruit post grad students to do their programs, im sure he must be someone BIG from there!! and his wife we came over to Vietnam for conferences, shouldn't be ruled out as some fry either.. And so, Dr Su's mother taught Biology at Hwa Chong back then and his father taught at Catholic High! And they recommended us to go to
nha hang tu chon Ngon restaurant to try out the buffet which was GOOD... haha it was along this super long Le Thanh Ton street which has houses numbering to hundred and seventy something and our address was 25 Le Thanh Ton!! imagine how far away!!!! whish~~~
Both tired and hungry frm the Mekong Delta cruise we decided to quicken our pace so we could reach house no.25 earlier. haha Ibu was soo focused to eat that she nearly missed 2 vehicles coming out frm the alley ways... We found the place after somewad 10-20 mins walk frm Ben Thanh and having asked numerous locals along the Le Thanh Ton street!! Chuii... it was soooo long a road that we passed by the Reunification Palace!! couldnt take the whole palace in one shot, so had to stitch the photos up.. it's SUPER HUGE lah!
Haha at the restaurant the grilled prawns and sotong were sooo marvelliciously YUMYUM!! but then they ran out of sotongs le.. so each of us only ate one stick. thinking about it now makes me salivate!!
We passed a Jap Restaurant along the way back and the hou high spirit suggest we might as well go in to try since ah chui was craving sashimi already!! HAHA it was another meet the BIG shotss sessions plus some very malu-ating moments... hahaha!! But Oshima is definitely the BEST Jappy Restaurant we had ever gone to in our lives! We SOMBA!! ITS the BEST!! Norwegian flown in salmon fish... (and the Jap Rest owner kept one salmon as his pet fish!!) tats sooo soft and yummy and (
let ah chui describe bcoz i know its good and i only know how to drop food into my mouth and swollow).
oooh the salmon was so soft, it kinda just melted in our mouths after you put it inside.. those who went to miramar jap restaurant the other time, it's far better than that!!! and better than the JB jap buffet also!! it's heavenly!! drop from the sky de salmon sashimi! And one plate with only 5 pieces costs SDG6.50!!! We had hot SAKE and teriyaki sotong.. ANd HAHA they too serve appetizers..
And so the malu moments were about to come.. Read closely...
One of the big shots, this UK guy who had been straddling between Spore, HK and HCMC offered to let us order this not-in-the-menu dish, shortly after we made our orders. ITs some sushi which has avocardo, salmon sashimi, cripsy fried salmon skin and crab meat... cant really remember well.. but, imagine!! "
its not in the menu... " it must be only offered to some
BIG shots or close frens of the Jap Rest owner or it could be priced at some heavenly figures.. Yeah the UK guy and tis other asian who manages the Biggest and Most expensive hotel in Nha Thrang (600USD per room per nite) were regular at Oshima we guessed. We asked and realised that one sushi stick costs 14SGD!! WAH! tats a damn good most expensive sushi roll that we could have eaten man!!
OF course we had more than enough money to foot the bill! There were 200USD in the pocket! but not knowing why, we decided to count the remaining Dong we had, though we know the amount we had was also more than enough to foot the bill... but CHUI!!! the waiters and waitress saw us counting our notes and fumbling around, because the numerations were too big and confusing and that we counted and recounted and pass around for recount and then rearranged in notes' denumerations... They suddenly looked soo delighted, some giggled and tried very hard to suppress their laughs, and came running down another chief from above to see wad was happening. He tried very hard to suppress his laughter also! KNN... ahahhahaa anw they din asked if we wanted tat special sushi anymore.. ahha perhaps they really tot we were poor.. hahaha
oh the rich businessmen asked if we were all same age.. haha then we said ah hai oldest..
bizman: so he's like the father figure of your group?
us: papa hai!! -signs 2 times 2 'P's on our 2 temples -> then both hands sign 'H' 'A' 'I' from covering eyes to revealing the eyes (ending with the 'i' at the end)- hoho, ah hai's new sign name sia!
and also dunno why ibu disown ah hai in vietnam!... haha i cant rem why! i think maybe because of the flies thingy from yesterday!!
We continued our nite walk around the area and saw a Spanish restaurant... Pacharan.. haha CUFL continues.... whoohoo~~~... But kitchen had closed and so it was time for ice
creme anw!!
we returned and gathered at ibus room for our expenditure debriefing session.. we Spent a million day tat day!! Finished 100SGD alone for dinner... haha!!
WE
EAT
aLOT!! Later we moved over to our room where ibu stole my pillow before she left!! We made a touching video abt leaving Vietnam, the motherland!! And lights off!!
ah hai did something really chio-ga-pengz in our room manz! he said the corner of his mouth was sore, i think swollen or split or po4 pi2 (peeling) ah... this was his convo with ibu:
hai: ibu u got mopiko?
ibu: u kena bitten ah?
hai: noooo~ my mouth zhong3 (swell)
ibu: nono!! mopiko is for mosquito bites!! cannot use on mouth!
hai: i dont care!! i want mopiko!!
*ibu already clutching her tummy in pain having laughing fits..*
hai: ibu! u rather laugh at me then gimme mopiko! you jian4 si3 bu4 jiu4!! (see me die also dont wanna save me)
*me and ibu bursting out in laughter and still refusing to give ah hai mopiko*
then after that, we went over to ah hai and ws' room to nua cos laugh until very high liao.. haha.. ah hai then made a touching video about leaving his motherland - vietnam... i think we lost the video! must be an evil plot by ah hai to delete the precious footage..
scene 1:
ah hai wiping his tears with his folded shirt (
eek)
looking into camera
voiceover -yx (VO): ah hai, tell us how you feel abt leaving your hometown
hai: very sad..
*the usual cliche thingyyy*
VO: haha ah hai! talk to us in viet leh.. your language
hai: *vietnamese*
*the rest of us laughing*
VO: can you terp for us? we dont understand viet leh..
hai: aiya just saying what i said just now lor
actually.... must see the video lah! it's 10 times funnier.. he misses his home!! haha see how he labels his hometown. Ngyuen Chi Hai!! welcome to sunny island singapore!
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Day4 29apr07
Our flight timing was 1250 and the hotel taxi service would come at 9am. We realised we would not be doing anything much.. Thus, we decided to wake up earlier and go eat PHO24!! A Vietnamese restaurant selling rice noodles.. hmm the think kuey tiao looking thing hah, dunno why i always call it the stick noodle.. thai version. ANW its a franchised!! First ever franchised restaurant you could find in Vietnam except for KFC, Pizza Hut and hmm Lotteria, which is their only version of MacDonald. They Dont have Mac!! Except for Mac Thi Buoi~~ HAah! Heeey its pronounced "fur -24" not pho-O with the O sound okay.. mai lao kui when u go there.
The pho tastes GREAT! ahha We had ca phe too! Finally some Vietnam coffee! hmm.. it sorta tastes creamer, not bcoz of the condensed milk added or wad, its just that is not soo watery looking compare to our Nescafe.. it does look Thick in terms of texture! haha and denser, haha describe it as
silky looking. ITs got this earthly sense and not too acidic/ sour. Good coffee but different for our usual taste buds! Worthy of TRY!!! mai hum chi like Ah Chui okay!!
Trip back to Spore was erm... plain and okay, we posed for some pictures and HEY! i must reiterate! IM Locale okay! Dont mistake me siah!!
comments from yx: hahahaa! on the plane ah hai helped the viet lady beside him to ask for a singapore immigration card.. he showed the steward '1' indicating he needs one card and pointed to the lady beside him. but then the steward gave him TWO cards! hahahaa so he is the true blue vietnamese manz... somemore the first day he wore such a vietnamese looking shirt... wohooO!! trying to hun4 into the local culture~~
then after we landed i said "yay!! we're home!", but ngyuen said "yay!! holiday!!" hahahaa.... we all chio-ga-peng.. welcome to singapore, ngyuen chi hai! and thanks for the accommodation in your motherland! hahaa nice place over there~!
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majority of the photos
hereLabels: adventure, food
