XIN CHAO VIETNAM!

so im back. even though ive only left for 6 days, it almost seemed like forever. not that the trip went terribly bad. time in vietnam just passes a tad too slowly. its like, maybe even slower than australia. like we'd play, run around and do random stuff only to realise that 10pathetic mintues had passed. haha. it felt more like a 2 week trip rather than just the mere 6days we went for. i mean, i always thought that the shorter the days, the quicker time should pass. as in, say the sun sets by 4pm, it'll feel really short since technically you've only been in daylight for, well, 8hours? assuming that you're up at 8. so yeah! but apparently ive been proven otherwise. hmm.

we had our whole list of touristy stuff all planned out. lionel and equan did their excellent research on places to go, stay, eat etc. even basic conversational viet. haha. not to mention the very helpful vietnamese dude we met on the plane who helped us out with the pronounciation and warned us of potential threats to be wary of.

i had a very sickening counter person whilst at the airport. you'd never appreciate the efficiency of singapore's customs till you've been out and have seen others. i swear id never take that for granted ever again. its like when i was in the UK, trying to get into London where this stupid ass stopped me, scruntinised my passport and questioned me endlessly. he even laughed at my passport photo and called his colleagues over to take a look. urgh. i hate customs. i ALWAYS get myself into a lot of shit when it comes to clearing customs. like in malaysia where they brought me into the customs office and tried to get me to bribe them to let me go. sheesh. its always stupid. why me. :(

so we got out of the airport and were hounded by taxi drivers. its like newton, but a million times worse. they actually make you feel like superstars prancing around in the glitz and glamour of our undying fans. haha. we really do have to learn to be a little more decisive when it comes to things like these. some were freaking rude, while others had to try really hard to get the msg across. like..."my one goes by metal." ure like, HUH? what? and he goes, ya! metal metal! my go by metal! then it suddenly clicks and ure like. OH, meter aye. hahhaa.

hanoi had the whole APEC convention thing going on. it gave simliar pre-IMF vibes. like, police everywhere, banners and everything saying WELCOME to VIETNAM. the country with hidden bumscharms. or something like that. haha. and because of the stupid apec convention, alot of touristy stuff were closed. not like it really mattered. ive never really really liked museums. i mean, i do have to agree some are really interesting, but others are mostly plain boring. and the fun only comes when you start doing stupid things in the museum like taking stupid random candid photos whilst mocking the artifacts. other than that, there really aint much that could possibly grab my attention. and what more, retain it. this, coming from a person who got bored of even the louvre. so you cant blame me, really.

i saw roasted pups that were selling along the streets. urgh, they were disgusting. i had my roasted pigeon, which was too tiny to even enjoy. i had my BIA HANOI! which tasted like barley that got equan really red and high. haha. poor vege boy got high on barley. hur hur. it was probably some half fermented barley wheat thingy. well, it was worth my 40cents. haha! we had some strange tasting rubber carp. vietnam's tangyuan which was reallyr eally really spicy. gingery spicy but good nevertheless. had this black gooey dessert wrapped in pandan leaves. and their cheekueh thingy which had some strange meat thingy. i really dont wanna think about what went in. but that was YUMMY. ooh, and yes.. my yummy pho bo (furball) hahha. and lionel's pho ga. and the famous cha ca lo vong! and the yummy fruit dessert with condensed milk and ice thingy that lionel and i had. and all the other yummy vietnam delights. oh and yes! vietnam coffee. how could i ever ever forget! :):):)

we checked out a couple of museums/temples. and the waterpuppetry thingy which lionel xinling and i fell asleep in. equan was probably the only person who truly enjoyed everything. haha. it was cool, i guess, but boring after like the first 7mins. heh. we had our motorbike rides, checked out the vietnam prison and a ton of markets. went art gallery shopping. we bought like a ton of paintings. much cheaper than the usual lot all thanks to our personal PR officer, xinling who dug out family histories of the shop owner and in turn, brilliantly used it to make her feel bad for not slashing prices for us. hahaha. cool stuff. and not to forget how she went,"NO MONEY NO MONEY, WE POOR STUDENTS" to every other shop owner. haha. my silly girl.

oh and yes, ha long bay. that was so good ill do a single entry on that later. haha.

all in all, the trip was awesome. though it should have been longer, then we could have at least checked sapa out. but there will always be a next time. not as if vietnams very far away anyway. so yay! heres to more mind blowing, spine chilling, nerve wrecking, tummy testing, exhilirating getaways. and to the 3 who made the trip complete. :)