Was supposed to meet Aunty Shirl today or was it tomo? But I just realised we haven't confirmed the venue, and neither one of them's online! See. We all can't live very long without our handphones. *sighs* Why oh why do I have to lose it on the last day of Vietnam, of all days. Haha when I touched down not-so-sunny Singapore, I told my mum it was fated. Hahaha she gave me this look, but yeah all's cool she didn't give me a hard time, mainly cus' Dad's there (I suspect ;D). Whoo thank the Goddess of Mercy. Mercy! This unfortunate incident led to a new friendship which is kinda cool. But then it led to something quite unfunny, got teased like all the way to the airport, on the plane and back here in Singapore. U_U
Okay so I'm gonna sign up for a new mobile and contact Aunt Shirl ASAP, she must be friggin' pissed right now that I haven't returned her library book! Called my sis from Vietnam to return the book, imagine the horror when I come back to find THE book sitting on the very same place I left it 11 days ago. Yeah very horrifying right? Living with a family of procrastinators and being one. Haha so I've decided to pay the fine to Aunty Shirl when we finally meet up! I really hope you're reading this! Hahaha I'm prolly gonna get *bish-ed* by you but it's okay.
Yup back to serious business. So, I'm gonna continue with my 11 days of Vietnam post. Here goes...*deep breath*
Day 6~7~8 - Nha Trang: Islands. Seafood. Biking. Uncle Mun ('mun' means strong in Vietnamese)
Took the minivan to Nha Trang from Da Lat (went to this replica of the Great Wall of China and saw the Zoo of weird Animals, saw real animals there! Like 3-legged dogs, 5 legged Heo (pig) and other weird animals, freaky!!!). The journey down the mountains was totally breath-taking. Gop-ed some rocks on the way, the scenery's like something outta a geography text! I took tons of pics that I'm proud of and now they're all gone. Oh god I'm supposed to put it behind me. Moving on. The scenery's so un-Vietnam, it's like some highway in Arizona or something. The clouds. the lush greenery, God I can barely accept the fact that I'm actually standing in it. Like you only get to see such beautiful sights on magazines, documentaries and now that you're immersed in it...it simply takes your breath away. Geez. I've lost count of the times I said "I can't believe I'm here" during the trip. So yeah gotta wait for pics to come in to justify its beauty. XD Oh and we got to see like REAL kampongs, my first black and white spotted cow (read:dairy)! Cows here are mainly brown. So moooo to that.
Nha Trang's like hot, hot and...HOT. Checked into La Suisse Hotel. First impression of the hotel: SUPERB. It's like some resort in Bali, very islandic feel. Walk out onto the balcony an you get a smashin' view of the sea. Haha and everyone's hogging the lazy chair momentarily. Let's just say first impressions don't last very long. Why? You'll find out soon.
So we rest a lil' after the long and amusingly bumpy ride. We rented a bike from the hotel, Ru's pillion with YC (you really gotta learn cycling! Haha), Bobo and I each got a bike. Imagine how shocked I was when YC and Bobo said we're gonna travel arund by bikes (bicycles). Hahaha and they initially wanted to try out the motorcycles, but yeah since they haven't got a license the receptionist advised against it. I've NEVER cycled along the road, or in any traffic whatsoever. My bike skills (if any to begin with) are limited to the likes of Pasir Ris Park, Bishan Park, East Coast Park (heck even the weekend human traffic at ECP unsettles me a lil'). So to cycle around Nha Trang, I was running on pure adrenaline man which is fueled by the sweet sense of achievement. Haha so yeah we cycled to the Cham Towers, it's like a mini Angkor Wat, it's an ancient temple kinda place. There's some prayers going around, then this uncle popped out tapped my shoulder and went "Korea?". He actually thought we were a bunch of travelling Koreans (*ahem Ru..ahem Hanoi). He's really friendly so we asked him like where to go and stuff.XD
Went to the parking lot outside to get our bikes and we saw a mini rainbow! Haha and we saw this guy hurling bricks at his other friend. Hurling bricks to someone about one storey above you! Haha imagine how light these bricks are! The parking lot people kept laughing at us, I went wooo after getting my bike and this bugger imitated me. -_-" Haha but yeah they're friendly, they asked us where we came from. We played this Guess Where We're From game countless times during our trip, so most of them guessed we're from Japan/Korea and Ru's from Hanoi. Haha but it's all in good fun.
Cycled off to the road along the coast and it's like friggin' Miami man! I swear I almost caused a road accident not just once. Whenever we encounter a circus, I panicked and would stop like in the middle of the road with bikes zooming past me everywhere, hahaha looking back it seemed insanely crazy and I still can't believe I came right out of it unscathed. Thank my lucky stars! Lol. But yeah thanks to YC, Ru and Bobo who kinda herded me, kept reminding me to keep to my right and encouraging me by saying "You're doing well" and stuff. Without you guys, I'd never have the guts to cycle out on the road running on full traffic.
The beach looked smashingly stunning under the white fluffy clouds and oh-so-blue sky! And the pale, pale sand! Haha we stopped at this restaurant (no air-con open air) and that's where we got to know Uncle Mun. Haha we ordered so much shells and shrimps. The 'shells' (si ham) were like cooked with chopped onions and peanuts on it, totally DOPE man! Then Uncle Mun sat down and sorta chat with us, asking where we came from and we told him we signed up with the island tour for the next day. So he suggested that he could take us 4 on his boat on island tours and we could snorkel and stuff, the main draw is that there'll only be us 4 instead of being herded around with 30++ other tourists. Haha we cancelled our island tour and decided to go with Uncle Mun, after downing couple of cans of 333 beers. I think it's the alcohol or something, we actually gave up the floating bar and decided to go on a boat trip with a random stranger. Haha looking back, I think we're crazy. But Uncle Mun tempted us la! He said he' gonna take us on HIS boat (which can seat more than 20 people), bring along kilograms of shrimps, shells, sotong and generous cans of beer and cola, and baguettes and canned food (viva la Viet style!).
So we settled our activities for the next day and cycled on and went on to the beach. Carrot Man played beach soccer (1st time in his life -_-") while us girls slacked around lying on the beach. So like, something unfortunate happened to me *winks winks* and I told Ru and Bobo I wanted to get 'bread', and we wanted to keep it from Carrot Man cus' we thought it'd be a lil' awkward. But eventually, he knows la! Hahaha but it wasn't as awkward leh, felt very normal. We even joked about how in the world we're gonna hunt for 'bread' in Vietnam laaa, so we suggested using body language, do a flapping action to tell the locals we want 'bread' with wings. LOL! Then we went back to the hotel, Ru and YC went off to get us dinner and helped me get 'bread', hahaha thanks you guys made my day man!
The next morning we woke up bright and early with anticipation. Uncle Mun and his other friend drove us on their motorbikes. Uncle Mun drove Ru and i on his bike, 3 people on a bike! Haha we did something illegal Ma! Lol. It's always fun with speed. So we got to the dock, and like many locals seemed to know Uncle Mun la, YC says they're his Ka Gia (subordinates). We realised that it wasn't HIS boat lor, it was RENTED. Haha anyways we reached our first island. Check out their oceanarium, saw puffer fish that refuses to puff despite me standing by the glass furiously bloating and puffing my cheeks. Saw seahorse. Saw lotsa Nemos. Saw lotsa sharks. Saw GIGANTIC garouper fishies. HUGE and according to Uncle Mun, ancient (they were like 80 yrs old!!!). Saw cutesy sea turtles. Then we went to have coconuts cus' it was so bloody hot there. Uncle Mun took ou coconuts to the seller and he chopped it open with a parang and he expertly used the coconut cap to carve out tenderlicious flesh out and fed us that delicacy. Stupid me stuck out both hands and Uncle Mun plopped the coconut flesh on my hands and I stupidly ate it like that. Lol. Thanks ah. They thought it was funny lor, it's normal to eat with your hands what! Haha I'm a hands-on person =D.
Then we went off to another island! This is where the snorkelling begins! We have to pay money to rent a spot by the beach la. Haha then Uncle Mun took out this Peng Gang thingy, and we BBQ-ed the sotong, shrimps, shells. He sandwiched the BBQ-ed sotong inside a stub of baguette and dipped in some canned tomato meat ball thingy, and dipped in pepper-salt concoction, it's so friggin heavenly la especially with 333 beer! I'm drooling just thinking of it. Haha and we just threw away the vertebrae, shells and whatever rubbish on the floor. So freestyle! Lol. Then we headed to the beach and swam around, we actually used the snorkel sets that Uncle Mun brought along. This Canadian guy (he looked Pan-Asian) and chatted with us a lil'. Bobo picked up a 200 Dong bill in the sea! Haha 200 dong's worthless but to pick money in the sea's like crazily lucky lor! First time I wore a ****** la, well only the top with shorts. Haha then washed off the sand at the shower rooms (must pay!) which are not exactly clean =>. Pity we didn't get to jet ski or parasail...it's like friggin 250,000 dong!!! Haha but yeah it was fun watching. Yeah right. Lol.
After that we slacked on the beach chairs then walked to someplace else, just laying there enjoying the breeze and crapping. That's when we kinda feel like we got cheated, USD20 each for an island tour. Haha but thinking back, the whole boat to us 4, the seafood, price's quite reasonable right? Even though we went to like 2 and a half islands only. Haha the last island wasn't really an island, we stopped by this kelong which is NEAR an island. Haha we stood on floating wooden planks in the middle of the sea la! So exciting, then the kelong people showed us the HUGE lobsters and fishies. But we're bankrupts so we didn't get to see them on our dinner plates. Awww...
Before our boat left for the dock, a kelong kid asked if he could have our unfinished can of cola so we gave it to him. Waah the smile on his face...he took the cola and shared it with his sister and that got me thinking.... =D
So we reached the dock and 3-in-1 motorbike ride back again. YC and Bobo told Uncle Mun we will be at his restaurant to have his 'big fish' for dinner and I really thought we were going back to have dinnr lor. Haha then I realised they were acting, cus' we felt kinda cheated and we just wanted to eat something else. Back at the hotel, we realised how 'deep-fried' we were man after hours under the Nha Trang sun. Lol we're officially black not tanned.
We didn't wanna stay at the hotel that night, cus' it was waay stuffy in there. So YC, Roo and I made this bold and crazy decision to spend the night at the beach blanketed by the starry night while Bobo stayed to rest at the hotel and looked after our stuff, thanks Bobo!
We rented the bikes overnight and we cycled the entire stretch of Nha Trang under the stars, like we cycled until the end of the road, we actually cycled about 30km over 2 days. We stopped by one part of the beach and intended to sleep there but the mozzies attacked us and we decided to cycle on. Stopped at this roadside drinks stall, and the stars are like huge and sparkly, feels totally peaceful just looking at them. After that Carrot Man went to scout around the area. Roo and I realised we totally forgot that we had to pee, and there wasn't any toilets in sight. So we concluded that guys are mor convenient than us girls. Hahaha so we cycled on and entered the undeveloped part of Nha Trang, we used one of the restaurant's toilet and the staff were totally friendly la even though we told them we weren't dining. So Carrot Man exchanged contact with the manager or something and he e-mailed! Haha then we continued on to this ulu stretch near the end of the road, and it's like the undeveloped part populated by mainly kampongs. Then these dogs came charging out la, I cycled like crazy to get away from them, haha scared the hell outta us man! Roo's leg nearly got snitched by one of the dogs!!! Haha exciting but fun!!! Certain parts of the road snakes around these hills by the beach and they were really dark and there's only the occasional bike passing by, construction sites and stuff. Eerie, hahaha felt totally adventurous.
At the end of the road, we turned back and decided to park at a spot at the beach near the town area. The sky's gotten really dark by then. So we played Big Brother 2! Haha thanks to my shifus Roo and YC! I actually gamed twice, hahaha but in like dunno how many games. Moments later, we decided we were hungry and YC went off to find supper while Roo and I laid on the beach, listening to music from his MP3 and staring at the stars. Ahhh~ Slowly drifted off to the Land of Z when YC came back to wake us up for supper. Hahaha and he met this London guy, he's a Vietnamese but he went to London when he was really young, and he's back here to visit his family in like 20 years. Haha and the thing is he's also a Gooner fan like YC and he's like totally excited about it la. And yeah they exchanged contacts. Lol he told YC he can come find him if he wanna see the Gooners in future. Lucky bloke!
Then this guy came along and ask what we were eating, he claims he's the patrol guy of this beach. Haha we didn't really believe him la, but he's pretty friendly. Roo and I had baguette with lotsa filings and YC had this tomyam tasting pho, very nice lor. Then we finally settled down already when these 3 men came and surrounded us. One of them whipped out his police ID (supposedly), when I took a closer look he closed it up, yeah I'm so convinced. Hahaha so we realised we're raided by the police la, and they thought we were illegal or something cus' they were speaking in low, gruff tones, and YC told us later that he feared that they were robbers and was contemplating our escape. Lol thank God a Vietnamese lady (with ghostly makeup in the wee hours of the night) came along and told them we were from Singapore and we didn't know the rules. Haha when she told them we were Singaporeans they became super friendly to us la, one of them even patted YC on the back. Haha when the msunderstanding cleared, the 3 'police' rode off on ONE motorbike, yeah so professional. Lol.
So we went off to find some bench to get some shuteye. We saw so many weird things happen! And we can safely conclude that Vietnam never sleeps. Haha like around 2~3am, we saw this lady in white pyjamas walking around the same corner of the road, she went on a motorbike and a taxi then came back to the same corner of the road. Weird sighting number 2 was this taxi that behaved like a dog, it actually followed 2 vietnamese along the road, when they stopped it stopped. Weird sighting number 3 was this dude sleeping in a hammock, and he was like rocking his hammock furiously, almost looked like a Viking ride. Lol. It didn't help that the trees were in all kindsa weird shapes, there's the round flat topped trees and the trapezium shaped ones. Mind boggling to the max!
Slept a lil' and while waiting for the sunrise, we crapped a lot and laughed until Roo nearly PS-ed hahaha nah...we laughed till our 6 pacs popped out. Then at like 4am, more and more locals start walking out from nowhere and they're doing this weird exercises, hold on to a tree and kick, they're so flexible almost everyone could kick high into the air above their waists!!! Hahaha then this old man brisk walked around the fountain, tried to challenge him and finally overtake him then he just stopped. -_-" Think he doesn't wanna admit defeat. XP
At the first sign of dawn, like this pinkish tinge around the clouds, we walked to the beach and got a good spot. More and more locals were coming onto the beach too, mostly to swim (in the brrrr freezing cold water) and to watch the sunrise or to play beach soccer. Around 5 plus we still don't see any Sun, we were about to go off when this immensely bright ball rose up from behind the horizon and rose slowly higher and highr into the sky. It was just so.....ahhhh~ Totally worth it, despite all the mozzie attacks (Roo bore the brunt of it mainly), police raids etc...Haha awesome. My first time overnight on the beach overseas.
Cycled back to La Suisse to check out and wait for the taxi to bring us to Nha Trang airport. Walked to the next street to get breakfast, and the people there asked where we were from and yeah the guessing game begins yet again. Hahaha so YC introduced himself as Chao, Ru as Ru and when it's me...I'm Lisa. -_-" Hahaha so in Vietnam I'm known as Meli or Lisa. Lol but yeah they were really friendly. n_n
Took the cab to Nha Trang's airport which is situated in the middle of nowhere. It's in the undeveloped part of Nha Trang, so the runway was like covered in sand, like in a desert. Roo and I weren't convinced it's an airport, looked more like the Malaysian customs lor! Haha so anyhow we checked in our luggage and went into the waiting area. Walked to this mini souvenir shop to get my sis a bracelet when they announced my name. I didn't realise it was my name (cus' it was heavily accented) until they Bobo they all told me. So YC followed me down to see what's the problem. I was so freaked out la, thought they found drugs in my bag or something. In the end, all they wanted was to take the 3 bottles of juice and jam out of my luggage. Weird lor! Cus' Bobo, Ru and YC all had juice in their luggage also! Hahaha so we concluded that they called me only cus' I didin't tie the juice properly and they were afraid it might leak or something. Hahaha thank my lucky stars! Imagine getting your name announced in the airport la. They all talked abou it like it's a good thing, hahaha it's so not lor! Freaky!
Finally boarded the plane. The plane was the really old model with the propellors on the side, look like some kinda toy plane. Haha we took the Vietnam Airlines, domestic so we couldn't really complain la. It was okay, landing's pretty smooth and we even had free Sprite on board. Ahh and the white fluffy clouds floating around us makes it even better. =D
Touched down. Goodbye Nha Trang Hello Saigon once again!
Day 9 - Cu Chi Tunnel half day tour. Sinh Cafe.
Bought my uncle the rocking horse thingy while waiting outside Sinh Cafe for the bus. This little girl was trying to sell us gum and she's sooo cute we eventually gave in and bought 2 packs from her. Haha she asked us if she could have 1 or 2 gum. Really very cute, wait till I get the pics and you'll know just how cute!
The guide's the same one we got from the Mekong Delta one. His name is Thanh and he's a war veteran from the Vietnam war, quite a sensitive issue since there're quite a number of Americans on the tour. Haha he showed us his war 'souvenirs', he shared with us how shrapnels got lodged in his kneecap and stuff. He's really, really lucky man. Haha quite some background info before we got to Cu Chi.
Along the way, we stopped by a lacquer ware workshop. And the stuff there are really expensive, everything's in USD! Haha we were goofing around in the shop. There's this chopstick that looks like Harry's wand haha so we kept swishing and flicking and spouting silly magical incantations. Saw this world cup trophy replica haha of course we had to take photos with it!
Weeee~ Cu Chi Cu Chi! They showed us this video clip on how the locals made brilliant traps and stuff to protect their homes against the Americans, they showed us like images of war and stuff, then there's this very unsettling cheery music playing at the background. Like how weird. Hahaha so anyways we reall crawled in the underground tunnel! It's pitch black inside, and half the time I don't know where I'm crawling to. So we crawled like 30 m, this Japanese guy in the group went on to conquer the 100m, I think he has a torch but props to him man. It can get a leeetle claustrophobic in there cus' it's so dark and occasionally there's one or 2 eerie looking light bulbs that did nothing to light our path. Haha it was really hot but fun.
Then we rest at this makeshift area, drank tea and had tapioca. We had to dip the roasted tapioca in salted peanuts. Salty tapioca!?! Haha takes some time for my tastebuds to get used to it. But tea was nice. When they told us we were going to get some HOT tea, I was thinking it's the last thing I'd need in this HOT weather. Haha but tea proved me wrong, cus' it actually made me feel a lil' cooler. We chat with this ang moh lady and her friend, she lives in Singapore too! Haha she's a teacher from the United World College, you can spot their students hanging out at Orchard Rd like all the time in their multi-colored checkered uniforms. And she said that mooncakes were disgusting, and she obviously didin't appreciate the green tea mooncakes her neighbor gave her. Lol.
We saw many kinda traps there, there's this see saw trap, step on it and it'll flip you around and get pierced by bamboo skewers! There's another one that ensured guys out there don't get to celebrate their Father's Day if you know what I mean. Sick but fascinating, their intelligence I mean.
After the tour went back to Lac Vien to rest. Watched Australia vs Japan and it extended to extra time. Haha so we went out for dinner. Went to Ben Thanh area to get Bobo's coffee and fruits so that Roo can poo poo. Hahaha.
Tired. Zzz...
Day 10 - Shopping at Cholon and District 5 An Dong! Die die must buy!
Cabbed to Cholon, a.k.a Chinatown and my Cantonese came into good use at the temple! Haha feels like home to speak Cantonese to an elder person. Drank bubble tea!!!
Went to An Dong as suggested by the Da Lat guide. She told us here's where locals get their fashion stuff. Had KFC for lunch, their meals like served in plates! Reminds me of my childhood. Haha An Dong Plaza is like Far East Plaza man. Roo bought her mechanical dog, really VERY cute!!! I wanna get it but got no reason to bomb 50,000 dong on it T_T Haha it can do somersaults but it seems the baby's afraid of it. Hahahaha gimme Roo!
Then saw DC shoes! The skate shoes! Haha they were selling for I forgot how much, but it's very much cheaper than the originals. So we decided to go check out their street stalls, will be a whole lot cheaper.
Got DC shoes at like SGD16!!! I got 2 pairs!!! Hahaha damn cheap lar, and they're originals just that they're rejects. I'm loving them! Lol we bargained like crazy but the seller finally relented when YC (that smartass) took a can of Bobo's tiger beer and stuffed in his pocket. Hahaha he looked so happy with the Tiger la! So fellas, Tiger beer is a worthy tool in bargaining.
Walked the entire day, really shopped till you drop man. But since it's the last day, die die had to get something! Wah we saw this hardcore streetwear shop, the graffiti's smashin cool!
Dead beat by the time we are done, and we've walked like more than 8 hours. Hahaha good buys!
Went back to Lac Vien and realised my phone was missing. My heart sank at that instant man. Slept on it and decided to go to the police the next day.
Day 11 - Tearful goodbye
Asked the receptionist where the police station is. And this guy brought us there, he's really very nice and helpful! The police station was scary and all of them kept reminding me not to 'luan jiang hua'. Hahaha and the police brought me to this room with a jail in it! The inspector took my statement, and Bobo, Ru and YC can't come in. Thank God for the guy, helped me translate (couldn't understand some stuff he told me) and helped me write an eyewitness account and a Vietnamese version of my account. Can't thank him enough la! Without him I think I'd be freaking lost.
So like we went back to Lac Vien and we gave him tips! Those irritating Kukus keep sabo-ing me!!! And th atmosphere got a lil' awkward U_U Haha YC said since the Viet police couldn't give us a copy of the statement (for insurance claim), I need to take Lac Vien's namecard just in case. So I asked for the namecard and he gave me his e-mail address so I can contact him for the insurance thingy. But the 3 kukus kept teasing me all the way back to Singapore -_-" Friends. Hahaha but it's ok.
So finally came back to Singapore (raining!) and I sent him a thank you e-greeting. =)
In conclusion, Vietnam is an awesome place to visit, with friendly people that helped us along the way. Lac Vien ROCKS! Please stay there when you're in Vietnam. Vietnam's pretty good for shopping, like Chatuchak but cheaper I think. Hahaha I miss Vietnam! T_T
And there wraps up my Viet trip! Here's a pic I gop-ed from Bobo. Us crazy ginnas and the Reunification Palace in Saigon. Enjoy! Shall get more pics!
