Andrew and Joy's wedding

Met up with Puss and Remy on Friday and we went to watch Cloverfield. If you guys noticed it has been quite some time since i last caught a movie. I wouldn't have minded avp2, 27 dresses or american gangster but Puss chose Cloverfield. Turned out to be a really bad show. The show only lasted for like 1 hours 15mins and the camera made everyone dizzy. To sum it all up, they ended the show abruptly. People were all still rooted to their seats when the ending credits came out still expecting more..but we were all disappointed...and super pissed off when nothing came out. The whole threatre started clapping sarcastically in unison. Stupid Puss even ended up puking midway and after the movie...i had to stop him at a macs on the way home for him to puke more and get some hot tea lol. I would like to use this opportunity to warn each and everyone of you about the show..please don't bother to watch it. Haha.



Attended my OC Andrew's wedding yesterday. Went for the day's church ceremony held at Trinity College before the wedding dinner at Regent Hotel in the evening. I got to be honest here..i was bored stiff during the wedding dinner. The major reason being this giant pillar which was blocking my view the entire dinner. It not only made me bored..it pissed me off. I could only hear the people on stage talk but not see them unless i bother stand up and walk elsewhere. The couple made a nice effort to brighten up their wedding dinner by giving accounts of how they hooked up and reminiscing the early days of their courtship. Their stories and thank you speech were really interesting and intriguing at first but it got too long winded in the end i think everyone started to get bored. And i think that was the reason why the food was served so damn slowly. I got really frustrated because i was hungry and i wanted to eat! The couple also got some of their friends to sing but to be honest they can't really sing for nut. I think they even got a few people irritated.

I've always thought that it'll be really sweet singing for your wife and publicly announcing how much you love her on your wedding. I've even thought and dreamt of doing it on my very own wedding but i kinda changed my mind after last night. At least 50% of the crowd didn't even bother to pay attention when that was happening last night...a bulk of them being those sitting behind those giant pillars. Most of them were even chatting amongst themselves and making some noise.

Couples planning for your marriage please please make an effort to recce your ballroom and choose one which has no big pillars blocking anyone's view! It'll really really spoil the whole night! I'm still a firm believer of lovely wedding nights of course....and i'll be looking forward to attending the next! Congrats to Andrew and Joy! You guys can check out their wedding blog..it has a cool account of how they met up and how they hooked up...here's the url!

http://andrewandjoy2008.weddingannouncer.com/welcome.html



I read about this guy on New Paper today about how he met with an accident and lost some of his memories. Then i realised how fortunate i am to have blogged down most of my everyday accounts. So if touch wood i ever get into an accident myself and lose my memory...i'll start reading back!

Nick's lonely planet - Ho Chi Minh City

Daniel's gf Sarah threw a surprise birthday for him on Friday and i was part of it. We all gathered at this place call Screening Room along Ann Siang Street. It didn't turn out all too much of a surprise for him because i guess he either saw it coming already or we didn't really bother to hide our presence lol. Had a mad night where i was forced to toast the birthday boy with Barcardi 151. The poor birthday boy ended up puking at least 7 times there that night and my own world was also spinning after that 1 shot. Before the drinking, we were all also forced to pay $20 to watch the movie Lake House in this small cosy room. I ended up dozing off on the sofa midway through the show lol.



Day 1

Had to wake up early the next day to prepare for my trip to Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City! Kok Bin drove us to the Budget Terminal where we were due to fly. We had brunch at the Budget Terminal's Han's before we boarded the plane. The whole flight to Ho Chi Minh City took around 1 hrs 40 mins.


Budget Terminal


Our plane


Pic of Mum and I boarding the plane


Sis and I on the plane

We then arrived at their really really new Tan Son Nhat International Airport which officially opened only last month. We turned multi millionaires the moment we arrived there. S$1000 gets you 10 million VND! From there, we were brought to our accomodation for the next 4 nights...Somerset service apartments! It was really surprising for me because i expected a normal hotel or something. The service apartment turned out to be awesome...complete with 2 bedrooms, 2 toilets, 2 tv, 1 balcony, 1 large living room and 1 kitchen...shared only by 3 of us..mum, sis and myself! It was really so cosy i don't think i would have minded if they locked me in the apartment for the next few days. The bus journey to the service apartment was one of the scariest in my life. Sitting on the front seat of a car, bus or taxi has got to be one of the most terrifying thing in the world. The hordes of motorcycles on the Vietnamese roads swerve in and out out of nowhere and you get shocks sometimes. I would never want to drive there.


Arrival at Tan Son Nhat International Airport


Yup yup welcome to Ho Chi Minh City..i still prefer the old name Saigon


First rough idea of how the city looks like


Somerset's lobby




Our balcony


Overlooking the pool


And the porch


The living room


Dining table in the living room


Telephone table?


The toilet


Mum and Sis's master bedroom


My very own bed for the next 4 nights


Yipee!

But of course the rest of them didn't think that way and soon we were out of our apartment and on the streets for some sightseeing and shopping! This was a family vacation complete with some of my cousins, aunties and uncles, and our very own personal guide was my auntie Serene also known affectionately as Ah Gim who has been there a number of times. She first brought us to Ben Thanh Market...a much smaller version of Cha Tu Chat market in Bangkok but almost as many things to buy. There was nothing much for me to buy though because most of the items on sale were girl bias. Before shopping, we had lunch at Pho 24 which they have it here in Singapore too but i've never tried. The Pho (pronouced as f-e-r) turned out to be quite ok...tasty and all..just that there was really quite a lot of vegetable which all of you know i don't touch.


Their Notre Dame Catherdral


1st meal in Ho Chi Minh City


Mum and I waiting for our Pho


It came


Sis's Pho and avocado drink


How Ben Thanh Market looks like


Auntie Serene and a store manager


The very prominent statue in the middle of the city near Ben Thanh Market

After enough shopping, they decided that they wanted to tailor make some cheongsam, dresses and pants. Spent the rest of our evening there walking around, taking measurements etc before we settled for dinner at this place call Little Saigon Restaurant where we settled for some simple food like fried rice etc. End of day 1, back to cosy apartment, watch a little bit of soccer before recuperating for day 2!


The tailor shop


Bored Xuemin and I waiting for the rest to take their measurements


The menu


Sis, myself, Mum and Da Yi


The fried Rice


Some chicken, mushroom and toufu


Vege


Some black pepper beef steak cooked local style

Day 2

Day 2 was dedicated to the tour of Mekong Delta. After breakfast at Somerset, the bus came to fetch us bright and early at 8am. The travelling time to Mekong Delta was to take almost 3 hours and i gladly had the whole back row of the bus to myself for lying down and sleeping.


Breakfast by the pool


The continental breakfast set


Living the high life


Sis and I on the bus








Some views along the way

I can't tell you much about Mekong river because i didn't really pay attention when the tour guide was speaking. But i can tell you its one of the world's major rivers with an impressive length and volume. There are supposingly 4 islands around the Mekong Delta, 2 of them being Dragon Island and Unicorn Island. We were brought around Mekong Delta on small boats and even sampans where we were shown how they make coconut candy, listen to vietnamese folks music, try their self grown fruits and eat their famous elephant ear fish.


Mum and I on the jetty


Mum, Sis and I on the jetty


The 9 women on the trip


The guide Mr Viet talking


The boat


On the boat


Pressing the coconut candy dough


Powzhen and Xuemin enjoying their coconut


Sis and Powzhen


Xuemin was the first to pick up the Python


Then we all came in and posed with him


Uncle Koon was next


Then Uncle Richard


And finally me


They had hammocks all around...it was really really comfortable


The elephant ear fish


Ouch!


Some fish trap


Home grown fresh fruits


Enjoying the fruits


Sa Yi with the fruit baskets


Then it was Powzhen's turn


And finally my turn! I do bear a slight resemblance to a Viet Cong soldier don't i?


Mum and Sa Yi


Sis and the traditional Viet hat


Xuemin and I on their some kind of bridge


Mum and Powzhen on the sampan ride


Sis and I on the sampan ride


Then i rowed myself

Ended the day with dinner at this awesome high class seafood restaurant where the guide brought us. The whole building was impressive with nice ancient rome interior designing. Not very seafood restaurant i know but that was what it is. The food didn't out to be cheap of course and we limited our ordering lol. The meal cost 2.2 million VND shared among 14 people.


The seafood restaurant building


Grand entrance gate


Another view


Me at the front door


Cool isn't it


Its really grand


The first dish...oysters


Some crabmeat or fishpaste on sugarcane


Crabs!


Pork


Veg

After dinner, we decided to pamper ourselves with this massage place just opposite our service apartments. I tried the Thai Massage which turned out to be really good...the masseur cracked my back, my neck, my fingers..everywhere! After a good massage it was time for a good night rest to prepare for day 3!

Day 3

We started day 3 with a city tour. Like the day before, the bus came to pick us up at 8am and we were off for our tour. First, we were brought to the Reunification Palace..formerly known as the Independence Palace. It might look grand from the outside but it is actually quite run down inside...there's even no aircon! Considering its a place where world leaders come together for conference, wayang etc. They do have a lot of reception rooms though...and the furnitures were the really traditional kind. There was also a basement where the generals and presidents stayed most of the time to command the war then. An interesting sight nevertheless...you do get to read a lot of history there...most of them American bias lol.


Myself, Mum and Sis in front of the Reunification Palace


Vietnamese flag flying high


The fountain in front of the Reunification Palace


Mum inside the Reunification Palace








A few pics of the many reception rooms they have inside the palace


Apparently, the President went hunting


I do look like i've been super imposed inside..but i wasn't!


A display of a pool table there...and there are no holes on the table. Play what?


The palace's helipad behind me


Myself, Xuemin and Sis


Some signal stuff display in their basement, and i'm supposed to be knowledgable at this


Fooling around in the palace's kitchen


Their rover


Presidential car?

Then we were brought to the Notre Dame Cathedral...it was kinda big and really traditional. Just opposite the Cathedral was their Central Post Office. I don't really know the story about these 2 buildings..you guys can always wiki if you're interested!


The Cathedral


People praying inside


The inside


Me inside


Sis on the pews


Myself, Sis and Mum posing outside the Cathedral


Mum and Sis outside the Central Post Office


Woman selling waffles and some other snacks along the street

Next we were brought to some War Museum where they have displays of weapons, tanks, aircrafts etc used during the Vietnam war. There were also gruesome pictures of war victims plus stories.


And I'm supposed to be sick of tanks


Not exactly


Posing with a plane now


And then a helicopter


Sis's and Huishan's turn


They have a prison display there too

We were then brought to this Hue restaurant near town call Rat Huế. They serve the traditional Huế food.


Mum and I at Rat Huế


The group of us now with Dua Yi


The fruit juice plus coke


Some edible snails


Some beef noodles


Fried rice


Wet rice? Don't really know what they call this.


Some fish paste wrapped in banana leaf. Kinda like otah

After lunch, the guide brought us to this lacquer manufacturing factory where you see people painstakingly craft art on the lacquer...then sanding then vanishing etc..a tedious process..which explains the exorbitant price of the products.


Most of them were handicap people


At work


Really cool


The finished product


A closer look

Then we were off to Chinatown. Like most Chinatown, it was really crowded, dirty and messy. I didn't really enjoy myself there although the rest did buy themselves some stuff. Along the way, we also dropped by this temple there.


The temple


Ah Gim trying hard to explain the chinese words on the pillars lol


Sis and I in the temple


Uncle Koon offering incense


The incenses


The Chinatown Market..known as Cho Ben Thanh


It was really messy and crowded


Powchuan looking lost among the crowd

They then decided they wanted to drink coffee. We ended up at the roof top cafe at Rex Hotel.


Xuemin and I in front of Uncle Ho Chi Minh's statue


Sis and I in front of Uncle Ho Chi Minh


Xuemin and Sis inside Rex Hotel's lift


Ah Gim and Powchuan relaxing


Enjoying my mango ice blanded


Powchuan and Powzhen


Mum, Powzhen, Ji Yi and Powchuan

And for dinner, Puss told me that CNN.com recommended this place call Black Cat and rated it as one of the top 10 dining experience in the world. How could we give this place a miss?! We then decided to search for it and we finally found out where it is from the Tourist information centre. Turned out to be a really small place and when we got there, we were the only customers till another group of Singaporeans came in. They serve really really big burgers there. And i mean really really big. I'm not exaggerated when i say the circumference of the burger is as big as a regular pizza in pizza hut...complete with 2 buns, a 500gm beef patty and some veg. Its that big! It has an appropriate name too...its called the Big Cheese. A pity we didn't know about that special burger and so we didn't order it. We ordered their smaller burgers individually...but they were still huge nevertheless and we were all bloated after the meal. A nice experience...but i'm not convinced its one of the top 10 dining experience in the world.


Anxiously checking out soccer results and details of Black Cat at the tourist information Centre where there's free Internet!


Finally found it


Not all 14 of us were keen on eating burgers in Vietnam though..there's only 9 of us here


Huishan and her Garfield Burger


Sis and her Cheshire Burger


Mum had Garfield too


Powzhen's dunno what..pancake wrapped with veg and chicken


Powchuang's salad


My Calico Cat Burger..its french toast with a 150gm steak


The Big Cheese we didn't order but managed to get the other table to let us take a picture of it..and trust me that guy in the picture is big...and so is the burger lol


A group photo there to mark our dining experience!

After dinner, we walked around the popular Dong Khoi area...similiar to our Orchard Road before heading back and prepare for Day 4!

Day 4

A bunch of us including myself decided day 4 was a day to continue more adventures while the rest wanted to relax and rest. So we separated for the day. My bunch joined another tour group and visited the famous Củ Chi Tunnels. The bus ride there took around 2 hours and my whole body was aching by the time we got there because we had to squeeze on the small bus.


Sis and Powzhen on the bus


Huishan and Uncle Richard on the bus


Xuemin and I on the bus

The tunnels of Củ Chi are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Cu Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country. It has been hailed as one of the most ingenious tunnel system ever seen. The trip there was educating...although the outfield surroundings did remind me of my sad old army life.


Arrival there


The guide telling us a bit of the history of the tunnels


They used nothing but these to dig the tunnels..now how cool is that..to think i didn't even complete my fire trench with better tools than these in Sispec


A model of the tunnel


One of the small entrance to the holes


Xuemin trying unsuccessfully to enter






Then a Caucasian bigger than he is tried and succeeded! Complete with his son inside with him


Wax figurines of the VCs


Me and a female VC


The group of us


Uncle Richard and I on an immobilised American tank


The girls' turn


We got a chance to shoot live rounds there. Each bullet cost 20000VND (Around S$2)...here sis having a go at the AK-47


Huishan's turn


And finally mine


Our entrance to the tunnel


Xuemin and the rest inside the tunnel


Relived to be out


They served us tapioca there, supposingly what the Viet Cong guerillas ate while in hiding there

After the Củ Chi trip, we got back to the city and it was time to try out our tailor made dresses and pants. Did some fitting and amendments before we were back on our way to Ben Thanh Market because the rest of them wanted to buy more stuff from there. Before the shopping, we had late lunch at Pho 2000...another chain. And you don't find this in Singapore. And apparently President Bill Clinton visited the branch we went to in year 2000.


Powzhen and I at Pho 2000


The group of us in Pho 2000


Me and my curry chicken rice


Sis and her Pho


Powzhen and her Pho


I asked for watermelon juice but they gave me a soursop juice and mineral water

While the rest went shopping, Xuemin and I got bored and decided to venture on our own and so we ended up walking along the streets before meeting up with them again in the evening for dinner. Wanted to try out this french cuisine restaurant Powchuan read about on a book call Augustin there but the place was fully booked by the time we got there. We then ended up in another place call Le Mekong which also serves french food. But i didn't really enjoy my meal there because i had late lunch merely 2 hours ago and the whole floor was shaky..which gave me a headache. And the food wasn't cheap..that sums it all.


The menu at Le Mekong


We ordered Escargot's


Scallops


My assorted seafood speghetti


Sis's chicken breast


Sis and Mum and Le Mekong

After dinner, we went to collect our tailor made dresses and pants after final amendments. Then we decided that we deserve another massage..and so a bunch of us went again..now thats what i call a holiday!


My new pants! I've no idea why it looks so wide here


Powzhen and Huishan with their dresses

Day 5

Day 5 marks the last day of a short of fulfilling trip. Woke up bright and early at 6.30am though because i wanted to utilise the service apartment's facilities namely the gym and the swimming pool. After a nice workout and a cold swim, i went out to venture around the area on my own and look for breakfast.

Ended up at a Korean fast food chain outlet Lotteria which we all know they don't have in Singapore. Tried the burgers for myself and wasn't too impressed..paid around 42000VND for a double cheese burger and a cup of coke but no fries or any other thing. But at least i tried! And thats an experience!


Lotteria


The inside


My set meal


The double cheese burger

It was then time to leave and say good bye to Vietnam. Back to Singapore where i belong and back to damn work. We had lunch at the airport where they have a place serving Singapore Cuisines call Prima Taste.




Last goodbye to the apartment


In the airport


Mum and I in the airport


Mum and Sis in the airport




Jumping with joy


The view of the airstrip from the restaurant


Goh Family


Loh Family


Lim family with missing Sis


Choo Family


My US$7 hainanese chicken rice


Sis's japanese fried rice




Back to Singapore back to reality

It has been a fun trip. I learnt a lot of things and saw a lot of things. I can speak a few words of Vietnamese now.

1. Gam En - Thank you
2. Gam Gia - Discount
3. Bao Nu Dian - How much?
4. Mak Kwa - Expensive

So you can actually start a conversation like that.

You: Bao Nu Dian ah?
Stallholder: 50000VND
You: Mak Kwa!!!
You: Gam Gia lah!
Stallholder: Ok 5000VND
You: Gam En!!

Cool right? Ignore the terrible traffic condition there and Vietnam is actually quite a nice place to visit. I should think its quite a safe country too. Start planning now...throw away all work like me and enjoy!