Sunday, June 18, 2006
okay.
first time i reach home so early after a flight.
well, cause this time round, it`s a morning one.
BUT unfortunately, i didn`t get the window seat, so i couldn`t catch a glimpse of the bird eye`s view of singapore in the day... where normally i`d always be at the window seat but those are night flights when i can`t see anything clearly like the pilots can.
let`s start with the first day.
15 june 2006.
first day of journey. all set with packed luggages, ready for our journey. somehow, it seemed a better idea to use a lousy china brand luggage than a reliable polo brand luggage to my brainy father. it didn`t bother him that half the zips and 1 of the wheels were spoilt.
reached changi airport and decided to go for lunch at staff canteen.
yesyes. even before checking-in for flight, our luggage broke.
but my determined father decided he was strong enough and he didn`t need the thing for pulling.
so, i blogged at T1, right before boarding the plane.
it was vietnam airlines, airbus A321 type i think.
good window seat i got. busy throughout the flight.
either looking at the scenery, or eating.
yes. the air stewardess asked me what drink i wanted.
and i said milk. then the reply was milk? what`s milk? oh fresh milk!
well.. then i saw on the drink cartons, FRESH apple juice, FRESH orange juice.
i think next time i better add FRESH in front lest i get something stale.
reached there. it was the old type.
those types where you walk down the stairs and take a bus.
we did everything and only got to check-in hotel at 5plus sg time.
all were hungry and so we anyhow settled in a decent-looking restaurant.
the meal, consisting of 5 simple dishes for 7 person came up to an astonishing USD72.
super expensive + food wasn`t in the least delicious.
free day, so we shopped and walked around.
went back to hotel earlier to bathe and sleep.
or just recharge for next day`s journey.
16 june 2006
went to the cu chi tunnel.
quite a nice and enriching experience.
i love boardwalks, but it wasn`t.
we got a chance to crawl the tunnel.
super small and super damn dark, i mean it.
i went less than 5m and decided to get back.
to think the whole tunnel was 30m long.
after that, went back to hochiminh for buffet lunch.
wide variety of food available, and it was quite yummy.
followed on with a city tour, and some shopping.
after which, it was dinner, quite sumptuous one, but everyone was full already.
didn`t finish the food. went back to hotel to put our stuffs and went shopping again.
when everyone was tired enough, we went back to hotel.
7 seater taxi. LOL! first time i see lah...
17 june 2006
woke up early in the morning.
breakfast in hotel. had some tough competition for food with the taiwanese and chinese, in this case i`m referring to those from china.
my mother told me to toast the baguette... and i asked her do you still remember what happened in australia? and she went laughing.
HAHA! just a piece of interesting information, some kinds of bread, when put into the toaster, can cause fires which could jolly well burn down the whole place. so be careful next time.
after that, went out to shop awhile and smuggled durians into hotel.
finished it and went down.
it so happened the tour guide just came.
and he kept saying we`re so so damn punctual.
HAHA! i guess other people must be so unhappy.
2h journey to mekong river. another fun time there.
i love the boat journeys. where at one part, i almost fell into the sea with the help of my mother who almost capsized the whole sampan boat. it so happened that those boats are easy to capsize and we had to get in one by one. my mother got in first, sat down and followed by me getting in. as the boat was rocking, i couldn`t move about inside yet and so stood. after which, my very intelligent mother decided she should stand up to probably do a headcount? so 2 people standing, with 1 very rough one... therefore, it was highly possible to capsize the sampan.
around 15 minutes on the sampan and then transfer to those kinda boats.
had fun walking from 1 boat to the other.
another boat ride back to the land.
went to a temple, then for lunch.
i like the dish called konglongdan.
of course, it wasn`t real dinosaurs egg.
after lunch, it was 2h journey back to hochiminh again.
also followed by some city tour and dinner.
then again, back to hotel and went for shopping.
last night of shopping. my mother exchanged USD50 worth of vietnam dong for the shopping she was looking forward to.
but.. everything went quite badly.
and we didn`t buy anything at all. like WOW! that`s the first time.
what happened was that...
we`re all tired and concluded there wasn`t much to buy, so we decided to flag a taxi back to hotel, all 7 of us.
due to the fact it was night time, we`re all tired and trying to spot a vacant 7 seater taxi, plus the fact we are foreigners and we`re all at a crowded place, all of us were caught being not caution. and THAT, led to the fact that my mother almost got robbed by some money hungry vietnam idiots.
what happened was...
we were at the road junction, all 7 desperately spotting a vacant 7-seater taxi in the dark. suddenly, i heard a loud shrilling high-pitched aiyo! from the direction of my mother. all of us turned over to look and all i could see was that she was lying on the road, rushing to get up and away from the city`s never-ending traffic. and i mean, she was lying on the road, where vehicles could just well run over her. i think you should know what just took place. if you ain`t got any idea yet, it`s highly impossible for someone to trip over something and shout and lie right in the road even though my mother`s one who always doesn`t walk properly.
in this case, she was a target of those vietnam idiots, like i`ve mentioned before. and previously, 7 of us were together while some bargained for fruits. it was probably at this moment where those vietnam idiots spotted my mother and targetted her. then as we went to flag for taxi at the roadside, these vietnam idiots caught us off caution and decided to rob my mother. but as i`ve said before that they`re just vietnam idiots, they of course didn`t make a successful attempt at it. but still, these vietnam idiots made my mother injured. well well... there goes the story of vietnam idiots. in the end, my mother got bruises on her hands and legs and also scratches. stupid vietnam idiots! and it was lucky escape for my mother. she was lying on the road, and if you haven`t know, vietnam`s full of traffic flow.. fortunately for her, there wasn`t any other vehicles behind the motorcycle the vietnam idiots were on. and as i`ve mentioned that they`re vietnam idiots, they just gave up and let off my mother`s bag, therefore my mother wasn`t dragged away by those vietnam idiots. damn those uncivilised vietnam idiots!
18 june 2006
again, breakfast then off to airport.
we had this Mercedez-Benz fetch us there.
like WOW! then again.. plane.
but there was a rain, and our flight delayed 20 minutes.
all of us thought because we`re at 2nd floor, we`re probably walking thru those lanes to the plane. but NO! we were the unfortunate ones taking the bus and climb up the stairs to the plane while others had those thingy. GRR!
this time round, the plane was slightly bigger.
if i`m not wrong, it`s a Boeing 767.
but no window seat, and i was sad.
i love window seats! HAHA!
vietnam airlines service is quite good afterall.
LOL! then so funny..
during landing, the cabins were shaking and vibrating non-stop.
then those people were all looking at the cabins, like terrified that the cabins would give way.
couldn`t help laughing. well, i just can`t control it cos i`m like sorta used to this kinda sights?
and yes finally! HOME SWEET HOME!
tomorrow...
1 more day only!
shall upload some photos later.
gotta get a relaxing bath at home first!
i failed once again @ 5:09:00 pm
