Organised Chaos

It's been a week since I last had to brave traffic like that. 4 whole days of weaving in and out of motorcycles, running across roundabouts filled with moving vehicles, using white plastic bags at night to warn these vehicles that I'm crossing the road.

Then again, after you get the hang of it, it isn't that life-endangering or treacherous crossing the roads of HCMC. The vehicles, mainly made up of motorcycles, travel at 50km/hr, slow down when they are nearing a pedestrian and weave around him. Everybody's safe, happy and in one piece.

Now that I'm back, I wonder if that system's actually better than a super organised one. Like Kayestercan mentioned, Amsterdam, being a drug haven, has one of the lowest drug addiction rates.

Perhaps the theory is as such: the more you try to stifle and control something, the more people try to do it on the sly or illegally. We read of accidents happening ever so often, more often than not involving motorcyclists. Perhaps if we had fewer traffic rules and regulations, the accident and fatality rate might drop, no?

Sunday in Saigon

It's a Sunday, I'm out of the country, and I'm in church. Rare. Usually, when I'm out of town, I tend to miss Sunday mass. However, because Notre Dame in HCMC is a tourist attraction, plus it was near our hotel, we made it a point to attend mass. Part of it was in Vietnamese, and the other parts in English.

After mass, RT and I met Kayestercan and Dr RMM to head to Chinatown for lunch and some shopping. We had so much to eat, we could hardly move! But the $80 worth of steamboat we had was yummy. Here are just some of the dishes we ordered.

Shopping was quite a disappointment. The main shopping building was smelly, stuffy and didn't offer anything interesting. Plus hardly any bargaining could be done. A total waste of time, I felt.

Anyway, we headed back to Ben Thanh Market (yes, again!) and then back to the Dong Khoi area for some last minute shopping. Then RT and I headed to the backpacker's area to collect the Ao Dai I took measurements for just yesterday. Very pretty. Probably one of the very few highlights of this trip.

Mekong River Cruise

I've been on similar cruises in Thailand and Cambodia, but this must be one of the best in terms of the experience. We tried various modes of transportaion. First stop was via the motor boat to a rice paper and coconut factory, where we also had lunch, which was included in the tour. The included lunch was a quite miserable, comprising rice with pork (of bak gua texture), some long beans and a soup, so we topped it up with additional orders.





The highlight of the lunch was this fish.....elephant ear fish (actually it's a tilapia, I think). But it was smelly.

After lunch, we got on the motor boat, which dropped us off at an orchard where we had some tropical fruits for dessert, and were entertained by some Vietnamese music and singing.

Our next mode of transport was a horse driven carriage which took us to a honey farm and a coconut candy making factory. From now on, my honey shall be made with a dash of lime and hot green tea. Refreshing beyond words.

The final mode of transportation along the mekong delta which would take us back to the motor boat, was a wooden row boat, which very nicely seated 4. Yay, cos we didn't have to share the boat. Heh.

We walked around the backpacker's street where I tailored an Ao Dai, and then headed back to the Dong Khoi area for more shopping and dinner at Paloma Cafe. Club Sandwiches, Fillet Mignon and Spaghetti Carbonara.

Oh, I've always eaten sea coconut in desserts, but never really knew what it actually looks like. Well, if you're wondering too, here's what a sea coconut looks like. Loads of them on the Mekong delta.

Cu Chi Tunnel

No visit to Ho Chi Minh City's complete without checking out the Cu Chi Tunnel right?

So we got onto the bus that came to pick us up at 745am, travelled 70km northwest of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). The 3-level, 200m long Cu Chi Tunnel comprises sections for living, meeting and dining, depicting how the people of Cu Chi lived and fought before and during the resistance against America. The width of the tunnel explains how the Americans were kept out - their sheer size made it almost impossible for them to fit into the tunnel. Check it out...

By the time we got back to the city area, it was already 230pm. Famished, we headed towards "Quan An Ngon", a restaurant recommended by one of the hotel staff. Coincidentally, it was also recommended in the guide books. Nice ambience.

Food was so so though. A bit too bland. Don't be fooled by the pics. I'm beginning to doubt these travel guides...

After half a day of exploring the tunnel sites, and the remaining half of the day walking Ben Thanh market (again), the four of us decided to go for a 75 min foot massage, which had a back and head massage thrown in as well.

The picture on the left... Kayestercan thought it was pure 75min of that machine that does the massage!

Back at the hotel, dinner, or rather supper for RT and I was this...

A bowl of instant noodles never goes wrong. :)

Good Morning Saigon!

The alarm went off and I was up at 430am to catch the 725am flight we had booked way back in January.

And 2 hours later, Kayestercan, Dr Refuse-Me-Meso (RMM), RT and I were in Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) at 825am (local time).

We popped into "Pho 24" just across our hotel for breckkie. As you would have guessed, we had one of vietnam's specialty dishes, pho. Quite yummy, but honestly, I had expected much better after hearing all about how good "Pho 24" is. As we were still a tad too early for check in, we stopped for some fruit juice at "Juice". Everyone else except me had something refreshing. I ended up with some really funny tasting watermelon juice. Dr RMM said, "They just added too much skin la." RT said it was simlpy 'chau sng'. Kayestercan said it smelt of 'chau zui gong' (smelly water container). Then she went on to describe how, perhaps it was in the fridge for too long and the water from the fridge had dripped into my watermelon juice. Tsk.

12pm. We crossed the road and checked into Thang Long Hotel. Here's a glimpse of my humble abode for the next 5 days. Extremely well located, right smack in HCMC's shopping district - Dong Khoi.



All checked in and armed with a map of the area, we headed on foot towards Ben Thanh Market, but not before consulting some guide books for recommended lunch venues. We eventually decided on a restaurant called "Nam Giao" near Ben Thanh Market.

Nice setup, cosy lighting, good crowd. Some characteristics of a good eatery. Truth is, the food was bad, and I was too distraught to take any pictures. I'm not quite sure what we ate, but we're staying away from Hue cuisine for sure!

Shopping at Ben Thanh was not too bad. Bought several pairs of embroidered shoes, dri-fit tees, a blouse and a cup of sugarcane with a dash of tangerine. This has got to be the most refreshing drink ever. first time I had it was last December in Siem Reap.

Dinner was back at Dong Khoi area. The original plan was actually to go French, but the restaurant we went to were fully booked and we hadn't made a reservation. Plus the four of us clad in tees and berms/shorts didn't quite fit into the smart-casually dressed ang-mo-filled atmosphere anyway. So we ended up eating Mexican at "Jaspas"

For appetisers, we had Salt & Pepper Squid, Bruschetta and Vietnamese Spring Roll. I had good ole Aglio Olio, RT had the Beef Fajitas, Kayestercan had the Fillet Mignon Steak and Dr RMM had the Tenderloin.

Scrumptious. Especially after that "Nam Giao" lunch. :)

When 4 Girls Get Together...

Little Ghost is back! This piece of news excited and delighted BFC, Shades of Pink and Purples who hadn't seen this missing link since she decided to take up a posting in UK.

So what happens when four girl chums get together? They:

1) Source bridal packages and discuss BFC's upcoming wedding


We were flipping bridal magazines and bits & pieces of our conversation went like that:

Excerpt 1

Little Ghost: Eh this one nice la. Wah, to rent out cost $1,500. I think we should go open a bridal shop.

Little Ghost: This one also nice. Eh you all know the designer or not? Quite cute leh.

Purples: Tomorrow we head down there and inquire about their pacakges la. Then maybe can catch him there?

Little Ghost: How to pronounce his name ah?

BFC: I think it's the same normal "Dennis" pronumciation. These designers just like to spell it differently.

Excerpt 2

BFC: Little Ghost, you not coming back for my wedding right?

Little Ghost: You make it next year la. I come back. This Sept too soon la.

BFC: No. It will be THIS year.

Little Ghost: Eh so who's gonna be your bridesmaid? Shades of Pink or Purples?

(silence for a while)

Little Ghost: Orh, you have to decide you know. Orrrhhhh....... cannot decide right? Ooorrrhhhh.

I think we should call her the Little Shit Stirrer

Excerpt 3

BFC: Yesterday I was checking out the bridal package and they include the loan of the car also you know.

Shades of Pink: Eh! How come you take my job away? I want to drive la!

Honestly, I've not met a girl who wants to be the driver for the wedding.

2) Pig out on fish head curry, hotplate tofu, potato leaves and spare ribs




3) Surf the net (friendster to be exact)
We had to check out someone to determine what was so wrong about the person. BFC got it spot on. :p

4) Play the "hair and chopstick" game
I wanted to know how to bun the hair just using a chopstick. The only thing we succeeded at doing was to leave strands of hair on BFC's pristine white tiles. :)

The Skill of Picking Up Hints.

Or the lack of it. Check this out.

Scenario 1

Skill Lacker: So, where do you stay ah?

Irritated #1: North.

Skill Lacker: So how was your last trip?

Irritated #1: Ok.

Skill Lacker: Usually weekends I take my dogs out or go to the movies. You like dogs?

Irriated #1: Ok.

Lesson #1: When you try to make small talk and all you get is monosyllabic answers, it means the person doesn't wanna talk.

Action Course: Just shut your trap.

Scenario 2

Skill Lacker: Shall we go for a drink?

Irritated #2: It's ok. Let's just head back to the office.

Skill Lacker: A quick one la. Are you a coffee person?

Irriated #2: No. I don't drink coffee.

Skill Lacker: Oh. Let's go to Macs then.

Irritated #2: It's really ok. You don't have things to do back in the office?

Skill Lacker: A short drink is fine, really.

Lesson #2: When you continuously get negative replies to your propositions, it means the other party does not wish to partake of them.

Action Course: Just drop it. You really don't have to try so hard.

Scenario 3

Skill Lacker hears people talking just outside his cubicle right before lunch. And within seconds, the buzzing of human chatter disappears. The people have also disappeared. (Obviously to lunch.)

The next day... ...

Skill Lacker: Eh, yesterday, I heard you all talking talking then suddenly all disappear.

Irritated #3: Oh. We went for lunch.

Skill Lacker: Next time you all go for lunch, call me along also la.

Irritated #3: Orh. We didn't know if you wanted to eat.

Lesson #3: When people mysteriously disappear like they were part of a David Copperfield performance, it's quite clear they are trying to avoid you.

Action Course: Please have some EQ and NOT self invite! Wait to be invited. Earn that.

Scenario 4

Irritated #4: Hi, we would like to know when we will be given our finalized accounts to work on.

Skill Lacker: Oh. It will be this week. It will be announced through email.

Irritated #5: Meaning there is no room for discussion? (not literally cos the company has quite a number of discussion rooms)

Skill Lacker: Erm, still have la, not totally no room for discussion.

Irritated #4: Meaning there will be no proper meeting to disseminate the information. Just via email like that?

Skill Lacker: Er, ya.

Lesson #4: I have no lesson to teach for the simple reason that I am not in THAT position to be disseminating such important information. What I know though, is that this is the first time such important information is disseminated in this manner. I've got some questions though...

1) Who teach you to disseminate liddat one ah?

2) And why via email ah? No guts to do it face to face knowing you'll be thrown questions about your decisions issit?

Action Course: I'm waiting to see, if after that conversation and the faces of shock that Irritated #4 and #5 gave him, whether the Skill Lacker gets the hint. :p