im back!! after a 4 days 3 nights tour to ho chi minh city..

the whole trip was ok i shld say.. first time on a plane!! ahaha.. abit san gui but was quite cool to be up on air. the return trip was more scary cuz weather was a lil cloudy thus there was alot more 'turbulance'.

its was an experience to be in another country and furthermore in vietnam being my first trip out, on a plane i mean.. there was a lot to see and experience.. and from some of them who went along, the place was like singapore maybe 30 years ago..

the traffic was terrible.. there were so many motorbikes..!! the ratio is like singapore's no. of cars == their no. of bikes and vice versa.. and they didnt have lanes on their roads.. traffic light were also few and almost not in use.. the cars could go anywhere in any direction, and u-turn at any point also.. and amazingly, somehow these drivers could navigate their way so well that it was.. *clapclapclap* we also heard there wasnt much of accident over there.. the most was drivers would honk when they are coming close. and we literally went hand in hand when we had to cross roads. the thing was, they didnt drive very fast, thus they could control their speed to avoid other cars and pedestrains..

we stayed at a 2-star hotel.. very budget one.. haha.. even our flight is budget de.. but lucky there was aircon in the room which we had to keep it on the whole day to keep the room cool and there was a bathtub!! but we didnt get to use much cuz after returning to our rooms, we'll be dead beat and the water there also wasnt very clean.. it was a lil murky ya..

but the tv was great!! we could watch channels like animax, those scv channels that we have at singapore and even more!!! the most commonly visited place by us was the Ben thanh market.. it was near our hotel and like singapore's wet market jus that it was much bigger.. we went in a few times to get their local tidbits, look at their apparels and bags so on.. the pple there are really persistant for sales and somehow im not so keen to buy from those who 'lure' u to their shop..

i only managed to buy 2 tees, a cap and some chewing gums.. there wasnt much to buy.. cuz all was in USD and jus cost too much to buy tt item.. :S the most remembered thing that we were doing is eat!! almost every few hours, we will look for a place to settle and eat.. vietnam food is very similar to thai.. sour, sweet with alot of spice. there were KFC and Lotteria(a jap fast food) over there.. amaing neh! the prices were close to our pricing for food court and restaurants price.. i wonder how the common people could afford?

there were many many many shop houses.. you know it when the plane is almost landing into the city.. there was many short, but clustered houses all over.. it was very obvious what some were selling, while for others, i couldnt tell at all what service or goods they provide. but the most heartbreaking scene is when you are walking along the streets, there will be some begger either sitting there lookin at potential-donators and tourists or some will be selling foodstuffs like coconut or homemade kuehs.. there was this one lil boy who was wheeling his younger brother and begging money around the shopping districts. it was helpless as we see the huge gap between the poor and the rich. no doubt this is the effects left behind by the war. there must not be war anywhere else in the world.

how glad i was when we were on the plane back.. no more non-unstandable language, no more hurtful scenes, no more being pushed from behind, no more being touched or grabbed to buy stuffs.. im jus glad to be back to this comfortable, familiar land.. Heyo! be glad you are born in singapore! =D