Yay!!! Its been decided! I'm heading to Mumbai & Aurangabad this May!!! by now most of the pple who knows me well... are not surprise in the countries that I visit anymore. lol
In fact 1 of my friend & I were talking on msn... and we wanted to go somewhere in may. initially had decided on Tibet.... coz the both of us wanted to visit some nice place in Asia, where anywhere u take a picture, the picture will turn out nice. I quoting from another friend who had visited Tibet a few years ago. Furthermore, Tibet being in the high altitude regions... its better to visit it when we're still young. lol
We decided to change our destination, when i realised that I've got a duty @ work that will last from jan till june this year. So no choice, we can only go for a short trip. So we decided to head to India instead!
U may be wondering why india of all places? well, somehow, I managed to convince my friend to give India a try. Coz its 1 of the countries that I've always wanted to visit someday. I was more intrigued to see the Taj Mahal, Ref Fort & some of the majestic temples of India. Ironically, this time round, I'm not going up to Delhi, but the more metropolitian cities of India. and also the home of Bollywood. (not that I'm a fan of Bollywood) And I've also managed to convince my friend to include Aurangabad. hahaha... think this city may sound foriegn to most. Me too.... in fact i was googling on the places of interest of Mumbai, then they mentioned about the state on which mumbai is in. That's Maharashtra, then when I googled this, out popped the UNESCO heritage sites "Ajanta Caves" & "Ellora Caves" & also a picture of the 'Poor Man's Taj". these are pretty intriguing places... and decided to pay these places a visit since we'll be going to Mumbai.
Not to forget that we'll also be visiting some of the sights in Mumbai too.... but i doubt we'll be paying a visit to the Bollywood studios... hahaha... coz i read from the guidebook that the Bollywood tours maybe a little expensive. We're still finalising our plans for the trip. It will be a short 6 days getaway from singapore. hahaha... I'm juz very excited and really looking forward to this. We've managed to get another 2 other friends to join us in this trip also. It will be my maiden voyage to India. I'm not sure what to expect. My family members and some of my friends who knows about my travel plans are telling me to be extra careful and bring lots of charcoal pills. hahaha... yeah i think i will.
Well.... till then! I'll fill u up on my trip once i've been there and back in 1 piece! =D
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Musical in Klang
Sorry took me so long to get this up. was tied up with some stuffs and also meeting with friends. I mean friends other than my gakkai friends. Anyway i'll be sharing on the recent trip that I had to Klang (巴生), Selangor.
this must have sounded foreign huh... i also did not know we were heading to Klang until we reached KL train station.
I was one of the 12 youth to represent SSA to head up to Klang to watch the Human Revolution musical that the youth of SGM-Selangor had put up. we left singapore on 11th Jan. We were to meet 7am at the Copthorn Orchid hotel along Dundern Road. Coz we were to board the 'Nice' coach bus. the trip will last for about 5hrs. I was thinking perhaps i can do some reading or 'rest' my eyes. but i was not so lucky afterall. Coz i took the last row of seats with Jiayang and Derui. I must say the bus trip was a little bumpy... it was hard for me to take a nap. Hence most of the trip i was either talking to the guys (jiayang, derui, lenoard, chye long & Terry) or read my book (The empty chair by Jeffery Deaver).
but once we cleared the customs, the traffic on the expressway was light and it was around 9.30am (i think). about 1.5hrs later we stopped at a rest place and there were stalls selling food and drinks. but the one thing that all of us were relieved to see was toilets!!! muhahaha.... some of us got noodles but me & qiuyi we got some curry puffs which we can eat along the way. Coz i wasn't hungry then and i thought perhaps we can take our lunch when we reach KL. the curry puffs were pretty gd u know... hahaha... maybe because i was not expecting it to be good. it was another 3++hrs before we reached the KL KTM station.
once we got through the gentry, we were greeted by 3 YMDs, who had driven there to welcome and pick us. they were going to drive us to the hotel where we were staying. and when we reached our hotel, really amazed coz the hotel was soooooo new!!! yeah it was only opened for 3 months. really posh. because the hotel was new, it had some sort of promotions so we were able to stay in the hotel at a pretty cheap rate. As all the non-smoking rooms were taken up, we were assigned to smoking rooms.
once we were done with the souvenirs, it was time for us to meet the SGM leaders who will be bringing us for dinner. when i reached the hotel lobby i was really surprised to meet my friend, Keiko. She managed to take time off to come and watch the musical. hahaha... coz she was there in Malaysia to collect certain water samples for her final year project. I asked her where she was going to sleep that night. Coz piror to going to Klang, I've exchanged emails with Keiko and she had asked me if she can stay over in my hotel room for that night. I told her its ok with me as long as Qiuyi was ok. After all the hand-shaking & greetings, we headed to a row of shop houses and were treated to 'Ba Kut Teh' (chinese: 肉骨茶). Ermmm... when I heard it was this, i was not very enthusiastic about it... hahaha... reason being i'm not a fan of Ba Kut Teh. coz the soup has too much pepper. With every mouthful of the soup, i'll hiccup once. it can be really irritating and i can't really enjoy the food that i eat.
u maybe wondering what exactly is Ba Kut Teh. literally translated to english its "meat bone tea". At its simplest, consists of meaty prok ribs simmered in a complex broth of herbs and spices (including star anise, cinnamon, cloves, dang gui, fennel seeds and garlic) for hours. A dry form of bak kut teh has become increasingly popular within Malaysia, especially in Klang town. Although called dry, the broth is in fact reduced to a thicker gravy, to which other ingredients such as wolfberries, dried dates, dried chillies and dried squid are added. Unlike the original rib soup, the dry version has a tangier, sharper taste and is more akin to a herbal stew than the classical broth. It is often recommended locally in Malaysia as an excellent hangover cure. Yeah this was what we had for our dinner. 1 pot of the dried Ba Kut Teh cooked with dried chillies & dried squid, another pot was more soupy with tofu puffs. and we were served chinese tea. i must tell u i was surprised by the taste of the Ba Kut Teh. It was really nice... unlike the ones that i've had which were too peppery. Over dinner, the Malaysian members shared about how they went about preparing for this musical and also shared a little about the members movement in Klang.
I felt it is always very heartening to hear about members from other countries sharing about how they overcome their struggles through faith and the numerous encouragement. its really very encouraging to me... coz it make me realised that the members and leaders are not the only ones struggling for the kosen-rufu movement. But all the Soka members and leaders all over the world are also working very very hard. we dialouged until midnight, then we were transported to our hotel.
Back at our hotel, the 3 of us washed up and got ready for bed. but we talked about some of the recent happenings in our lives and shared some other things. before we knew it it was close to 2.30am. we decided to call it a night and sleep. hahaha... coz tomorrow oops... not exactly tomorrow, its later, we'll need to wake up at 7.30am to wash up and head down for breakfast. coz we'll be catching the 10am bus back to singapore.
2nd day:
decided to write the 2nda day here here... coz there were not much happenings on the 2nd day. i was disturbed by the phone ringing at 7.15am!!! urgh... one of my friend, Jih Yang rang all of the rooms to give us morning call. So after washing up, we headed down for breakfast around 8am. and u kno what? only 2 other leaders were there for breakfast, the rest were not down yet. They only came down like around 8.30am-8.45am. thinking that we may not be stopping for lunch, i decided to take a super heavy breakfast. hahaha... after yesterday's episode, i dared not take the risk and juz filled my stomach.
anyway after our breakfast, we collected our bags and were transported to the KL's train station by the Malaysian members. It over here that we'll be taking the coach back to Singapore. Pity we did not take the train from the Klang station... hiaz... i missed the chance of taking a photo of the train platform.
Along our way there, I got to know about some of the activities that the SGM youth engaged in. in fact it was more about the Student Division movement and activities that they engage in. really encouraging... and also how the SGM youth acquired the honourary award for Ikeda Sensei.
this must have sounded foreign huh... i also did not know we were heading to Klang until we reached KL train station.
I was one of the 12 youth to represent SSA to head up to Klang to watch the Human Revolution musical that the youth of SGM-Selangor had put up. we left singapore on 11th Jan. We were to meet 7am at the Copthorn Orchid hotel along Dundern Road. Coz we were to board the 'Nice' coach bus. the trip will last for about 5hrs. I was thinking perhaps i can do some reading or 'rest' my eyes. but i was not so lucky afterall. Coz i took the last row of seats with Jiayang and Derui. I must say the bus trip was a little bumpy... it was hard for me to take a nap. Hence most of the trip i was either talking to the guys (jiayang, derui, lenoard, chye long & Terry) or read my book (The empty chair by Jeffery Deaver).
the back of the bus
when we were reaching the Malaysia custom, there was some traffic jam. Hey, how can u enter M'sia without a traffic jam at the customs? tat would be a rare sight. anyway in our queue, suddenly a guy ran across the road and hid behind a big pillar... guess what he was doing??? he was doing his 'business'... guess the wait was too long. yeah the wait was indeed long... it was about 1hr.but once we cleared the customs, the traffic on the expressway was light and it was around 9.30am (i think). about 1.5hrs later we stopped at a rest place and there were stalls selling food and drinks. but the one thing that all of us were relieved to see was toilets!!! muhahaha.... some of us got noodles but me & qiuyi we got some curry puffs which we can eat along the way. Coz i wasn't hungry then and i thought perhaps we can take our lunch when we reach KL. the curry puffs were pretty gd u know... hahaha... maybe because i was not expecting it to be good. it was another 3++hrs before we reached the KL KTM station.
Our baggage
Finally we reached there at around 1.30pm. hahaha... and i thought we were going to take our lunch... but we did not...in fact we went for toilet again! hahaha.... then after that we decided to take the public train to Klang. it was at this point that i realised that we're not going to downtown KL instead we need to travel to a town outside of KL. and to get to Klang from KL, the train ride was about 1hr. as we were waiting for the others, me and Qiuyi were taking photos... hahaha... machiam like somesort of mountain tortoise (sua ku). well... can't help it. =D
@ the KL train station
Ticket machine
Train tic that we bought
so we bought a ticket each (ringitt 3.60) from KL Central to Klang. I must, the train condition is pretty bad.... coz there are only 3 carriages!!! and we were to take it for 1 hr in order to reach Klang. and the train was sooooo jam packed with people. along the way we juz talked to past the time. 
In the cramped train. left to right: Jiayang, Derui, Leonard
finally we reached Klang train station. pity i did not take picture of the train station. coz i thought that tomorrow i will be able to have an opportunity to take pics of the train station. hahaha... but anyway... all of us had to get out the gentry... and i feel that there is something wrong with the malaysia train system. i mean there were quite a no. of gentries... but they only activate 1 gentry!!! yeah so all the passengers had to squeeze through 1 gentry and most of them did not want to queue and they kept cutting into the line! really fustrating! once we got through the gentry, we were greeted by 3 YMDs, who had driven there to welcome and pick us. they were going to drive us to the hotel where we were staying. and when we reached our hotel, really amazed coz the hotel was soooooo new!!! yeah it was only opened for 3 months. really posh. because the hotel was new, it had some sort of promotions so we were able to stay in the hotel at a pretty cheap rate. As all the non-smoking rooms were taken up, we were assigned to smoking rooms.
Our room
but it was ok... coz u can't smell any cigarette smoke in the rooms. i shared room with Qiuyi. after changing, we head to xue ting & kinda's room. coz we had to do up the souvenirs for the SGM members & leaders. 
Combining forces to make the souvenirs
really amazing that in a short time of 1hr, we were able to accomplish all the work and even wrote a short note and stick it onto the flowers that we'll be presenting to the SGM leaders later tonight. hahaha... talking about this flowers.... Raymond (1 of the kaikan staff) helped to purchased it and we hand-carry it all the way to Klang. hahaha... and because we had to indicate on the flowers that its from SSA to SGM-Klang, a couple of us went around searching for somesort of stick for attaching a short note to be stuck into the flowers. but it was to no avail. in the end, someone with the wisdom, wrote a nice congratulatory note, decorated it and stick it to the basket! hahaha... talk about innovation... this is innovation at the last min. =D
Derui examining the flowers. To check if anything's been damaged. lol
once we were done with the souvenirs, it was time for us to meet the SGM leaders who will be bringing us for dinner. when i reached the hotel lobby i was really surprised to meet my friend, Keiko. She managed to take time off to come and watch the musical. hahaha... coz she was there in Malaysia to collect certain water samples for her final year project. I asked her where she was going to sleep that night. Coz piror to going to Klang, I've exchanged emails with Keiko and she had asked me if she can stay over in my hotel room for that night. I told her its ok with me as long as Qiuyi was ok. After all the hand-shaking & greetings, we headed to a row of shop houses and were treated to 'Ba Kut Teh' (chinese: 肉骨茶). Ermmm... when I heard it was this, i was not very enthusiastic about it... hahaha... reason being i'm not a fan of Ba Kut Teh. coz the soup has too much pepper. With every mouthful of the soup, i'll hiccup once. it can be really irritating and i can't really enjoy the food that i eat.
The restaurant where we ate Ba Kut Teh
u maybe wondering what exactly is Ba Kut Teh. literally translated to english its "meat bone tea". At its simplest, consists of meaty prok ribs simmered in a complex broth of herbs and spices (including star anise, cinnamon, cloves, dang gui, fennel seeds and garlic) for hours. A dry form of bak kut teh has become increasingly popular within Malaysia, especially in Klang town. Although called dry, the broth is in fact reduced to a thicker gravy, to which other ingredients such as wolfberries, dried dates, dried chillies and dried squid are added. Unlike the original rib soup, the dry version has a tangier, sharper taste and is more akin to a herbal stew than the classical broth. It is often recommended locally in Malaysia as an excellent hangover cure. Yeah this was what we had for our dinner. 1 pot of the dried Ba Kut Teh cooked with dried chillies & dried squid, another pot was more soupy with tofu puffs. and we were served chinese tea. i must tell u i was surprised by the taste of the Ba Kut Teh. It was really nice... unlike the ones that i've had which were too peppery. Over dinner, the Malaysian members shared about how they went about preparing for this musical and also shared a little about the members movement in Klang.
our dinner!!!! left = dried ba ku teh with chilles & dried squid. Right = soupy ba ku teh with tofu
Group photo taken after we cured our stomaches
With our stomaches cured of the hungriness, we headed to the Klang Soka Cultural Center. Wah... when we enter the gates, I must tell u all the Singaporean leaders were awed! Coz the Soka Center was so HUGE!!!! I mean comparing to the soka centers in singapore, Singapore's soka centers really cannot fight with the size. When we reached we were ushered into a room to meet some leaders before going to view the exhibition. And it was there that we had some exchange of gifts.
Exchange of gifts
They also shared with us that they've got a new kaikan being built at the moment. I cannot really remember how many stories will that be. But definitely there will be 1 level which they will used it to show-case all the things that Sensei had used or did when he visited Malaysia.
We learnt that the exhibition was put up by the student division of Selangnor. It was really very well done. And the exhibitors, they were fantastic! I mean each one of them know the contents which they were to share with the viewers very well. But the most impressive thing was the spirit in which they tried to shared with us.
Exhibition of the Human Revolution Novel
Exhibition. This shows the picture of the bottle-cap beads Toda Sensei made & used while in prison
The characters: 人间革命 (Human Revolution). it was made using wooden pieces
Group photo in front of the 人间革命 characters
As time was limited, we only managed to view 3 panels and we were ushered into the auditorium to watch the musical. My thoughts on the musical?? FANTASTIC! hahaha... we were not allowed to take any pictures in the auditorium, hence, u can view any pictures of the musical. I must really applaude the members & leaders in Klang. the musical was really good. they showed case the novel, 'Human Revolution'. Unlike the Soka Youth musical that was put up by SSA, the musical put up by SGM-klang focused more on the mentor-disciple spirit between Makiguchi Sensei & Toda Sensei. Coz 1st 1/2 of the musical was focusing on Makiguchi Sensei & Toda Sensei. Second 1/2 was on Toda Sensei & Ikeda Sensei.
A quick group photo in the main hall
it was later after the musical when we had a dialogue session with all the senior leaders & also the main cast & some of the backstage people that we learnt that the actors for Toda Sensei & Ikeda Sensei were pretty new in faith. It took them almost 1 year to prepare for this major event. Everyone has never done musical before. Hence, there were lots of challenges met. But with all these challenges, it made the SGM-Klang members & leaders even more determined to win no matter what. Lots of daimoku was chanted. For this musical, think they put up a total of 9 shows. All the shows were chinese based. And I must say even though everyone was inexperienced, the musical was really very touching and excellent! I felt it is always very heartening to hear about members from other countries sharing about how they overcome their struggles through faith and the numerous encouragement. its really very encouraging to me... coz it make me realised that the members and leaders are not the only ones struggling for the kosen-rufu movement. But all the Soka members and leaders all over the world are also working very very hard. we dialouged until midnight, then we were transported to our hotel.
The cast members & backstage workers for the muscial
The 2 main leads. (left: acted as Ikeda Sensei, Right: acted as Toda Sensei)
Back at our hotel, the 3 of us washed up and got ready for bed. but we talked about some of the recent happenings in our lives and shared some other things. before we knew it it was close to 2.30am. we decided to call it a night and sleep. hahaha... coz tomorrow oops... not exactly tomorrow, its later, we'll need to wake up at 7.30am to wash up and head down for breakfast. coz we'll be catching the 10am bus back to singapore.
2nd day:
decided to write the 2nda day here here... coz there were not much happenings on the 2nd day. i was disturbed by the phone ringing at 7.15am!!! urgh... one of my friend, Jih Yang rang all of the rooms to give us morning call. So after washing up, we headed down for breakfast around 8am. and u kno what? only 2 other leaders were there for breakfast, the rest were not down yet. They only came down like around 8.30am-8.45am. thinking that we may not be stopping for lunch, i decided to take a super heavy breakfast. hahaha... after yesterday's episode, i dared not take the risk and juz filled my stomach.
The roomies
I really eat a lot... to the extend that Qiuyi & Keiko were really surprised at the amount of food i consumed. hahaha... think my stomach seems to be made of rubber... to be able to expand easily. 
Breakfast photo. Food had been consumed
Group photo taken during breakfast
anyway after our breakfast, we collected our bags and were transported to the KL's train station by the Malaysian members. It over here that we'll be taking the coach back to Singapore. Pity we did not take the train from the Klang station... hiaz... i missed the chance of taking a photo of the train platform.
Group photo taken @ the hotel lobby
Along our way there, I got to know about some of the activities that the SGM youth engaged in. in fact it was more about the Student Division movement and activities that they engage in. really encouraging... and also how the SGM youth acquired the honourary award for Ikeda Sensei.
We took this in front a historical looking building. not sure what's the building.
Qiuyi is behind the camera, So can't see her in the photo. Ready to head back to Singapore
All good things must come to an end. This had been a really short wkend. But i must say this wkend is one of the most fulfilling & educational one for me! Thank you SGM-Klang members and leaders for showing me the strong mentor and disciple spirit, the ever advancing spirit! =D
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Short getaway Ho Chi Minh City - Day 5 (1st Jan 2011)
Happy 2011!!! may you have a very fantastic & fulfilling & exciting year ahead!! yeah! my 1st day of the year and i'm away from singapore! hahaha.... 1st time for me... but i guess for lots of us... this is nothing special.
Today is our last day in HCM city. as mentioned in the previous entry, we'll be visiting a market today. Its An Dong market. U may be asking y that market and not Ben Thanh market. well.... yesterday whilst we were waiting for the bus, i asked the tour guide which of the markets listed in Lonely Planet was good. I even showed him the page where all the markets were listed down. I mean for such places.... its better to ask the locals. He recommended us to An Dong market. Coz for the same quality of things u can get them cheaper. So we decided to head there today. And its pretty easy to get there... but to be frank if u want to walk there from Pham Ngu Lao street is not easy... and it will definitely take u a super long time. we took a taxi there... and it was a bit of a distance. our taxi ride cost us 31 000 dong. Pretty ok... considering that there were 5 of us in the taxi. =P
when we reached there... most of the shops were not opened yet. Think the Vietnamese do not open shops that early or it could be because that day was a holiday for everyone... or it could be people were not able to wake up after partying so much last night.... hahaha... think these are juz nonsense reasons that i can think up of. But i guess they only set up their stalls at 8am-9am. so seeing that the people were still bringing things into the building to their various stalls to set up, we headed down to the 1st level. to them it was the 1st level, but to me, it was sort of like the basement of the building... coz u were required to climb down stairs. hahaha... anyway food stalls are on the 1st level. We've not had our breakfast.... we went there to take our breakfast. when the stall owners saw us, they keep signalling to us to go to their stall to eat. we chose 1 of the stalls that was at the back of the food section. and ordered chicken pho. it was really nice. and the auntie even gave us some fried 'you tiao'. chinese often eat them for breakfast soaked in soya milk, porridge or plain as itself.
after our breakfast, we walked to the dried food section. in fact it was just beside the food section. and over here... u can find all sort of dried fruits, shrimps, fish etc. and even processed dried sugared fruits. my parents bought dried jackfruit chips and dried lotus seeds. they are really nice. and its the healthier versions of potato chips! hahaha....
we also went to the 2nd, 3rd & 4th levels. T-shirts, underwear, bags, shoes, ao dai etc. u name it, they've got these in the entire building. only thing is i did not see lots of those more touristy items that fused with tradition yet modern items in the building. all these items sold in An Dong market was more usable by the vietnamese. mum wanted to get a bag... and we went around looking at bags also. and each level... there are lots of mini alleys packed jammed with stalls selling things. and it was a little stuffy in those mini alleys. seems to me that i've been transported to chatuchak market in Bangkok.
after 2 hrs of hanging around in the market, we decided to leave that place and head back to the hotel. it was about 10.15am then. I told my family that I'll be going on the walking tour myself whilst they do some last minute packing and wash up. i'll meet them at the hotel lobby at 12 noon. with a hundred thousand dong in my wallet, i set off with my camera & the trusty Lonely Planet guidebook (coz i need the map to navigate my way around), getting ready to take in sights of the city. in fact i wanted to take a look at the:
1. Reunification palace
2. Post office
3. Notre Dame Church.
1st stop that i was heading to was the Reunification Palace (Dinh Thống Nhất). It was explained in the LP guidebook that this was formly known as the Independent Palace. This was where the President of South Vietnam stayed during the time when Vietnam was separated into North & South Vietnam.
These days, this building has been converted into a museum that show case the happenings of vietnam war and also the items that were used in the past by the rulers. I did not go in as i was running out of time and also it cost 15 000 dong to enter. I just took a couple of photos and went off.
Since the War remants museum (Bảo tàng chứng tích chiến tranh) was nearby, i decided to drop by and take a couple of shots. This museum is situated @ 28 Vo Van Tan, in District 3. easily reached when you walked from the Reunification palace to there. Lots of rickshaws outside the War Remnants museum. They are there trying to attact tourists to take a ride on them. This will be more interesting for Westerners, but not for Asians. hahaha... coz we've seen these in chinatown and in China. The items that were exhibited in the museum are mainly exhibits relating to American phase during the Vietnam War.
Operated by the Vietnamese government, the museum was opened in September 1975 as the "The House for Displaying War Crimes of American Imperialism and the Puppet Government of South Vietnam." Later it was known as the Museum of American War Crimes, then as the War Crimes Museum until as recently as 1993. Its current name follows liberalization in Vietnam and the normalization of relations with the United States. I did not enter the museum, coz lack of time and it cost 10 000 dong to enter. After taking a couple of shots, i went off again.
Just opposite the curch is another iconic structure of HCM city. Its the General Post office of HCM city. Well the full name of this structure is Saigon Central Post Office (Bưu điện Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh). The building was constructed when Vietnam was part of French Indochina in the early 20th century. It has a Gothic architectural style. It was designed and constructed by the famous architect Gustave Eiffel in harmony with the surrounding area.
U can say that this building was also sticking out of the city... due to its outlook.... Today, the building is a tourist attraction. U can see shops selling touristy things and people taking photos there.
Ok! by now i've managed to see all the structures that I wanted to see in Ho Chi Minh city. hahaha... these are the iconic structures u know... people will not believe u if u've got no photos to back u up if u were to tell people that u've visited HCM city. =P
so now its back to the hotel to meet my family, where we'll pick up our bags to take a taxi and head to the airport! along my way back to the hotel, i paid 1 more last visit to Ben Thanh market. I wanted to get a couple of vietnamese souvenirs for a few friends. so i bought 3 vietnamese girls bookmarks and a hand-sewen pouch. when i was nearing my hotel, i saw an auntie selling baguettes. and her baguette sandwiches were really cheap! and i mean cheap. coz each sandwich (regardless of the filling) was 8000 dong!!! my eyes almost popped out! hahaha... so much cheaper than the past baguettes that i was eating. Anyway if u really want to patronise her stall (her stall consist of a push cart and her ingredients), she is at the other end of the street that my hotel was situated at). A few westerners were also buying her baguettes. and when i ate the baguette, then i realised why she was able to sell at such a cheap price. Coz there were really lesser veggies. but still the sandwich tasted the same.
So when I reached the hotel, we pick up the baggage, and went to Mai Linh office to asked them if its possible for them to help me call a taxi. The lady at the counter, her English was not too good... but she was able to convey the message that I've got pay by the meter instead of paying a fixed price for the taxi fare to the airport. hahaha... but she was nice enough to help us call for a taxi to come pick us. it was then i realised that the airport was in fact very very near to the HCM city! yeah.... and when we reached the airport, i wet-wipped myself and changed to a clean top as i was a little sweaty after the walk. we waited for a while at the airport to board the plane. when we checked in our baggage, the staff informed us that our baggage exceeded the amount and we had to pay USD 20 for the excess baggage. We were shocked! I mean we did not buy a lot of things... how can that single baggage be exceeding... furthermore, there were 5 of us. So if each 1 of us had 10kg, then we should have an allowance of 50kg right? the staff told us that only my dad was able to check in 15kg whilst the rest of us are not allowed any check in luggage coz our ticket was not the ones for checking luggage. only for carry ons! wah... its totally unbelievable! we were not the only ones who faced this problem. almost 70% of the passengers faced this problem. I think in future i maybe boycotting Tiger Airways. Really terrible. 1st was our plane was delayed, then on the day when we were about land in Ho Chi Minh airport, the pilot suddenly took off! that was scary coz the pilot over-shot the runway when landing! imagine that! but we managed to escaper death. now is we've got to pay extra for the so-called excess baggage. Tiger Airways really got a problem manz....
This was taken @ the airport while waiting for the plane. hahaha... wanted to capture myself in this shirt. lol
Anyway, we managed to reached Singapore safely. It Adios to HCM city & hello to Singapore.
After thoughts of this trip:
this had been an interesting trip. I mean...most of the things were good. My brothers even grew to like the trip even though they can be pretty picky. hahaha... think the most interesting and exciting thing for them was learning to dance on the streets of HCM city! hahaha... y dancing. Coz the motorcycles on the road just zoom about anywhere they like... and u basically have to check all directions when u cross the roads... trying to dodge the motorcycles and cars. =P
I must say the people there are really not that well-off....and more people here know how to speak english and other chinese dialects... but u don't find this in the north. Singaporeans are so fortunate to be living in a city, country where all of us are able to be educated, a society where its really clean and hygenic. Whilst the children living in villages, they run around, play or work in the fields. And in the city, u can see beggars, be they adults or children, u'll see them. Hygiene in vietnam is not the worse but not really good.... hahaha... so there were times that we just eat the food that had been prepared and not think.
Well, i'm not sure when i'll visit vietnam the next time. Coz i've there for 3 times.... both times to the north... this is the 1st time to the south. till then... guess the next place that i'm going will be pretty interesting... the plans are still in the way... when i'm there... will let u all know again! till then as the vietnamese say 'Xin chào'! =D
Today is our last day in HCM city. as mentioned in the previous entry, we'll be visiting a market today. Its An Dong market. U may be asking y that market and not Ben Thanh market. well.... yesterday whilst we were waiting for the bus, i asked the tour guide which of the markets listed in Lonely Planet was good. I even showed him the page where all the markets were listed down. I mean for such places.... its better to ask the locals. He recommended us to An Dong market. Coz for the same quality of things u can get them cheaper. So we decided to head there today. And its pretty easy to get there... but to be frank if u want to walk there from Pham Ngu Lao street is not easy... and it will definitely take u a super long time. we took a taxi there... and it was a bit of a distance. our taxi ride cost us 31 000 dong. Pretty ok... considering that there were 5 of us in the taxi. =P
when we reached there... most of the shops were not opened yet. Think the Vietnamese do not open shops that early or it could be because that day was a holiday for everyone... or it could be people were not able to wake up after partying so much last night.... hahaha... think these are juz nonsense reasons that i can think up of. But i guess they only set up their stalls at 8am-9am. so seeing that the people were still bringing things into the building to their various stalls to set up, we headed down to the 1st level. to them it was the 1st level, but to me, it was sort of like the basement of the building... coz u were required to climb down stairs. hahaha... anyway food stalls are on the 1st level. We've not had our breakfast.... we went there to take our breakfast. when the stall owners saw us, they keep signalling to us to go to their stall to eat. we chose 1 of the stalls that was at the back of the food section. and ordered chicken pho. it was really nice. and the auntie even gave us some fried 'you tiao'. chinese often eat them for breakfast soaked in soya milk, porridge or plain as itself.
after our breakfast, we walked to the dried food section. in fact it was just beside the food section. and over here... u can find all sort of dried fruits, shrimps, fish etc. and even processed dried sugared fruits. my parents bought dried jackfruit chips and dried lotus seeds. they are really nice. and its the healthier versions of potato chips! hahaha....
the dried food section of An Dong market
we also went to the 2nd, 3rd & 4th levels. T-shirts, underwear, bags, shoes, ao dai etc. u name it, they've got these in the entire building. only thing is i did not see lots of those more touristy items that fused with tradition yet modern items in the building. all these items sold in An Dong market was more usable by the vietnamese. mum wanted to get a bag... and we went around looking at bags also. and each level... there are lots of mini alleys packed jammed with stalls selling things. and it was a little stuffy in those mini alleys. seems to me that i've been transported to chatuchak market in Bangkok.
after 2 hrs of hanging around in the market, we decided to leave that place and head back to the hotel. it was about 10.15am then. I told my family that I'll be going on the walking tour myself whilst they do some last minute packing and wash up. i'll meet them at the hotel lobby at 12 noon. with a hundred thousand dong in my wallet, i set off with my camera & the trusty Lonely Planet guidebook (coz i need the map to navigate my way around), getting ready to take in sights of the city. in fact i wanted to take a look at the:
1. Reunification palace
2. Post office
3. Notre Dame Church.
1st stop that i was heading to was the Reunification Palace (Dinh Thống Nhất). It was explained in the LP guidebook that this was formly known as the Independent Palace. This was where the President of South Vietnam stayed during the time when Vietnam was separated into North & South Vietnam.
Reunification Palace
These days, this building has been converted into a museum that show case the happenings of vietnam war and also the items that were used in the past by the rulers. I did not go in as i was running out of time and also it cost 15 000 dong to enter. I just took a couple of photos and went off.
A pavilion in the gardens of Reunification Palace
Since the War remants museum (Bảo tàng chứng tích chiến tranh) was nearby, i decided to drop by and take a couple of shots. This museum is situated @ 28 Vo Van Tan, in District 3. easily reached when you walked from the Reunification palace to there. Lots of rickshaws outside the War Remnants museum. They are there trying to attact tourists to take a ride on them. This will be more interesting for Westerners, but not for Asians. hahaha... coz we've seen these in chinatown and in China. The items that were exhibited in the museum are mainly exhibits relating to American phase during the Vietnam War.
War Remnants Museum
Operated by the Vietnamese government, the museum was opened in September 1975 as the "The House for Displaying War Crimes of American Imperialism and the Puppet Government of South Vietnam." Later it was known as the Museum of American War Crimes, then as the War Crimes Museum until as recently as 1993. Its current name follows liberalization in Vietnam and the normalization of relations with the United States. I did not enter the museum, coz lack of time and it cost 10 000 dong to enter. After taking a couple of shots, i went off again.
Took this from outside the museum. 1 of the tankers on exhibit
This time round was to the the Notre Dame Church and the General Post office. This church is known as Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica. It was established by French colonists, the cathedral was constructed between 1863 and 1880. It has two bell towers, reaching a height of 58 meters (190 feet). It was not as grand looking as the Notre Dame church in Paris. But to have such a western looking architechture sticking out in the Asian city is unique in a way.
Saigon Notre Dame church
When I was there there were lots of tourists taking pictures. A wedding was taking place in the church and i also saw another 2 couples taking wedding photos around that area. hahaha... seems like 1st Jan is an auspicious day for couples to get married. think with such a date... couples will not forget their wedding anniversay huh... =P
a wedding taking place in the Notre Dame church
Youngsters picnicing in front of the church
Just opposite the curch is another iconic structure of HCM city. Its the General Post office of HCM city. Well the full name of this structure is Saigon Central Post Office (Bưu điện Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh). The building was constructed when Vietnam was part of French Indochina in the early 20th century. It has a Gothic architectural style. It was designed and constructed by the famous architect Gustave Eiffel in harmony with the surrounding area.
Saigon Central Post Office
the clock of the post office
U can say that this building was also sticking out of the city... due to its outlook.... Today, the building is a tourist attraction. U can see shops selling touristy things and people taking photos there.
Entrance hall of the post office
Ok! by now i've managed to see all the structures that I wanted to see in Ho Chi Minh city. hahaha... these are the iconic structures u know... people will not believe u if u've got no photos to back u up if u were to tell people that u've visited HCM city. =P
City Hall building in the daytime
Close up view of Ho Chi Minh statue
so now its back to the hotel to meet my family, where we'll pick up our bags to take a taxi and head to the airport! along my way back to the hotel, i paid 1 more last visit to Ben Thanh market. I wanted to get a couple of vietnamese souvenirs for a few friends. so i bought 3 vietnamese girls bookmarks and a hand-sewen pouch. when i was nearing my hotel, i saw an auntie selling baguettes. and her baguette sandwiches were really cheap! and i mean cheap. coz each sandwich (regardless of the filling) was 8000 dong!!! my eyes almost popped out! hahaha... so much cheaper than the past baguettes that i was eating. Anyway if u really want to patronise her stall (her stall consist of a push cart and her ingredients), she is at the other end of the street that my hotel was situated at). A few westerners were also buying her baguettes. and when i ate the baguette, then i realised why she was able to sell at such a cheap price. Coz there were really lesser veggies. but still the sandwich tasted the same.
So when I reached the hotel, we pick up the baggage, and went to Mai Linh office to asked them if its possible for them to help me call a taxi. The lady at the counter, her English was not too good... but she was able to convey the message that I've got pay by the meter instead of paying a fixed price for the taxi fare to the airport. hahaha... but she was nice enough to help us call for a taxi to come pick us. it was then i realised that the airport was in fact very very near to the HCM city! yeah.... and when we reached the airport, i wet-wipped myself and changed to a clean top as i was a little sweaty after the walk. we waited for a while at the airport to board the plane. when we checked in our baggage, the staff informed us that our baggage exceeded the amount and we had to pay USD 20 for the excess baggage. We were shocked! I mean we did not buy a lot of things... how can that single baggage be exceeding... furthermore, there were 5 of us. So if each 1 of us had 10kg, then we should have an allowance of 50kg right? the staff told us that only my dad was able to check in 15kg whilst the rest of us are not allowed any check in luggage coz our ticket was not the ones for checking luggage. only for carry ons! wah... its totally unbelievable! we were not the only ones who faced this problem. almost 70% of the passengers faced this problem. I think in future i maybe boycotting Tiger Airways. Really terrible. 1st was our plane was delayed, then on the day when we were about land in Ho Chi Minh airport, the pilot suddenly took off! that was scary coz the pilot over-shot the runway when landing! imagine that! but we managed to escaper death. now is we've got to pay extra for the so-called excess baggage. Tiger Airways really got a problem manz....
one of the airlines (China airlines) that flew to HCM city
Anyway, we managed to reached Singapore safely. It Adios to HCM city & hello to Singapore.
After thoughts of this trip:
this had been an interesting trip. I mean...most of the things were good. My brothers even grew to like the trip even though they can be pretty picky. hahaha... think the most interesting and exciting thing for them was learning to dance on the streets of HCM city! hahaha... y dancing. Coz the motorcycles on the road just zoom about anywhere they like... and u basically have to check all directions when u cross the roads... trying to dodge the motorcycles and cars. =P
I must say the people there are really not that well-off....and more people here know how to speak english and other chinese dialects... but u don't find this in the north. Singaporeans are so fortunate to be living in a city, country where all of us are able to be educated, a society where its really clean and hygenic. Whilst the children living in villages, they run around, play or work in the fields. And in the city, u can see beggars, be they adults or children, u'll see them. Hygiene in vietnam is not the worse but not really good.... hahaha... so there were times that we just eat the food that had been prepared and not think.
Well, i'm not sure when i'll visit vietnam the next time. Coz i've there for 3 times.... both times to the north... this is the 1st time to the south. till then... guess the next place that i'm going will be pretty interesting... the plans are still in the way... when i'm there... will let u all know again! till then as the vietnamese say 'Xin chào'! =D
Short getaway to Ho Chi Minh city - Day 4 (31/12/10)
sorry was held up with other things.... hence this entry came a little late.
Onward to 4th Day in HCM city. another day cruising in the Mekong Delta. I booked this day tour only after we went for our 1st day tour. I felt that we've got another day... and there are not much things to see in HCM city... unless my family members are into museums & lots of shopping... and i've asked them a few times if they wanted to watch the water puppet show... but they did not give me very clear answers... so i juz decided to book another day tour. hahaha... and that time i was contemplating booking a day trip to Muine or Vung Tau. When i went to the tour agencies then realised that its not possible to have day tours to these places... they only have buses there... and its inevitable for u to stay at least 1 night in these towns. coz they are juz too far from HCM city. so i had to abandon that idea and juz book another day tour to the mekong delta region. I got my day tour from Delta Advertures tour agency. I've read about this agency from the trusty Lonely Planet guidebook and also checked out its website. Pretty gd and also affordable prices for the day tours. and the guides all spoke pretty good english and they will explain things. If u're interested u can check out Delta Adventures website:
www.deltaadventuretours.com
the tour agency is situated at: 267 De Tham St.,Ward Pham Ngu Lao, Dict 1 HCM City
for the 1st day trip, we paid USD 9 (does not include lunch & entrance fee to the Cu Chi tunnels), 2nd day we paid USD 15 (lunch included) and 3rd day tour we paid another USD 9 (lunch included). pretty reasonable prices. =D
Onward to 4th Day in HCM city. another day cruising in the Mekong Delta. I booked this day tour only after we went for our 1st day tour. I felt that we've got another day... and there are not much things to see in HCM city... unless my family members are into museums & lots of shopping... and i've asked them a few times if they wanted to watch the water puppet show... but they did not give me very clear answers... so i juz decided to book another day tour. hahaha... and that time i was contemplating booking a day trip to Muine or Vung Tau. When i went to the tour agencies then realised that its not possible to have day tours to these places... they only have buses there... and its inevitable for u to stay at least 1 night in these towns. coz they are juz too far from HCM city. so i had to abandon that idea and juz book another day tour to the mekong delta region. I got my day tour from Delta Advertures tour agency. I've read about this agency from the trusty Lonely Planet guidebook and also checked out its website. Pretty gd and also affordable prices for the day tours. and the guides all spoke pretty good english and they will explain things. If u're interested u can check out Delta Adventures website:
www.deltaadventuretours.com
the tour agency is situated at: 267 De Tham St.,Ward Pham Ngu Lao, Dict 1 HCM City
for the 1st day trip, we paid USD 9 (does not include lunch & entrance fee to the Cu Chi tunnels), 2nd day we paid USD 15 (lunch included) and 3rd day tour we paid another USD 9 (lunch included). pretty reasonable prices. =D
anyway as usual in the morning we bought our baguettes. But this morning we bought them from another auntie. she sold them at a much cheaper price. for the ham baguettes, she sold them for 10 000 dong!!! that's 5000 dong cheaper. today the number of tourists in our day group was slightly larger than yesterday's. and our guide was a nice person and his english was very much better than the previous 2 guides. But pity we had a couple of difficult & rude french couple. They were talking whilst he was talking. So he asked them if they want to contiune talking or he should stop? and u know what the French couple said?? "If you want to stop u can do that." wah... super super rude! Coz its basic human curteousy that when someone is talking u shld keep quite and listen even though he/she does not explain that well. anyway for the rest of the bus trip, all of us engaged in our own conversations.
Jetty where we board our boat. that's not the boat that we'll be boarding
This is the sort of boat that we'll be taking... lol
For this day trip, today we'll be visiting unicorn island (think this is where they've got another coconut factory here) and another island (i cannot remember whether is is dragon island or tortoise island) but i do know that the unicorn island is the largest. and the dragon island was named as 'Dragon Island' as it was said that the people living on the island saw the island was shaped in the long manner. Sort of like a snake. But naming it as a 'Snake island' does not sound good, hence they chose another animal that may sound good and can bring wealth & good fortune. Hence 'Dragon' was chosen. We got onto a boat at the My Tho city (the vietnamese pronounced it as 'Mee Tho'). Hmmm... its mentioned in the Lonely Planet guidebook that My Tho is sort of like the capital of the Mekong Delta region. However, its one of the poorest citied in Mekong Delta. But we did not have time to explore this town, hence I can't really tell u if i do agree with the guidebook. But the jetty looks better as compared to the other jetty where we were at yesterday.
This little boy was looking at us (maybe we're aliens to him) when we were 'trekking' to the river banks
lane in front of a house sunning pomelo skins
For the island that the coconut sweet factory is at, on this entire island, the villages only planted coconut. They did not plant other fruits or veggies or rice for exporting or to be sold at the market. The reason being, the water is slightly saltier than normal water, hence this is not suitable for planting other crops. Whilst for coconut, the plant is able to survive in such environment. That's why everyone plant coconut or keep bee farm as a form of living. On the coconut island, we were treated to the same sort of coconut sweets and sight that were similar to yesterday's. We also visited the farm that kept bees. They were selling royal jelly and honey. At this bee farm, one of the promoters told us that besides using it to apply onto our face (especially for ladies who are into facial care) we can also eat it. she scopped a little of the royal jelly and some honey for me to try. I tell u, never will i ever try this again! its really repungent! i almost gagged! coz the taste was juz tooooooo horrible!!! tasted sort of like vomit! and the lady still dared to tell me its nice! its really puky. it tasted worse than those 'exotice' stuffs i've tasted in my previous SEA trips like fried tarantulas, 1/2 formed egg, snake wine etc. but come to think about it, royal jelly should have some sort of vomit taste huh... coz its a form of by-product from the bees. Royal jelly is the milk of the queen bee. whilst honey is the vomit of the bees. yuck!
After the exciting tasting of the royal jelly, its onwards to switching to another island. its at this other island where we took the similar sampan as yesterday. But for this tiny boat ride, there were 2 rowers instead of 1. we were rowed down 1 of the mekong canals back to our boat,
After the exciting tasting of the royal jelly, its onwards to switching to another island. its at this other island where we took the similar sampan as yesterday. But for this tiny boat ride, there were 2 rowers instead of 1. we were rowed down 1 of the mekong canals back to our boat,
1 of the typical village house we passed on our way to the mekong canal
Me, mum & dad in sampan
where we were then brought to another island where we had our lunch and also another biking session. lunch was almost similar to what we had yesterday. But my family ordered an extra plate of fried spring rolls. 
Restaurant where we had our lunch
This water buffalo was cooling fof in the longkang in the restaurant
my lunch. finally i see leaves on my veggies!!!!
after lunch, my brothers and I took bikes and rode around the village. We did not venture far, coz my parents did not want to bike around. Coz after yesterday's biking, my dad was feeling a wee bit tired and mum does not know how to ride a bike, so they waited for us. My brothers and i rode around for about 45min before heading back to meet my parents. 
Banner in the middle of the road. Not sure if its the name of the village
Brothers on their bikes
a small alley in the village
But we had 2hrs for us to move around the island. and whilst riding around the vicinity, i took pictures of the day to day events of the vietnamese. pretty interesting... its sort of like going back to the 1960s of singapore. 
A woman having her eye brows shapped at a village beauty palour
Pedicure anyone??
took this with 2 village girls who were sitting at the road side watching the world pass by
Another beauty palour. women were there for haircuts & facial
Woman selling longangs while watching tv
after riding for 45min, we went back to put back our bikes and get our parents to walk to the town with us. its better than sitting at the restaurant to wait for the time to pass. I told my parents that there are things u can buy in the town... and when they heard that they 'perked' up and went for a stroll with us. and there was a group of vietnamese (think its a friends gathering) having lunch together. i stood across the road trying to get a picture, and a couple of them saw me and they started to wave in my direction hoping that i'll be able to get a good picture of them. hahaha....
they are the ones who let me take their picture. they were having some sort of friends gathering
My mum saw some huge dragon fruit and after asking the price realised that they were really cheap and tasted very sweet (coz the vendor (husband & wife) cut up 1 dragon fruit for us to try) my mum decided to buy 2kg of the fruit) whilst i saw some super huge mangoes and took pictures with them. lol and some weird sort of fruit which the villagers preserved.
i blend in pretty well with the mangoes
These are the bottles of preserved fruits i'm talking about
after the fruit shopping spree, we headed back to board the boat to another place. and on this island, we were treated to some tropical fruits and vietnamese tea. at the lunch place, some of the tourists left 45min earlier coz they were taking the boat trip back to HCM city.
the boat that we took
anyway there weren't much things to see on this island. it was pretty boring...we were treated to some vietnamese songs.... hahaha... but i could not appreciate it as i do not understand what they were singing. anyway the melody sounded pretty 'chinese' like. 
cultural performance by the Vietnamese
CK swinging in the hammok
after the performance and tea, its back to the boat on which we'll be transported to the main land. hahaha.... and on mainland, our bus had not come. in fact we had to wait for like close to 40min for the bus coz it was being held up in jams. and during the wait, we sat around, talk, eat and drink water.
When is the bus coming???
there was a polish family (parents & a young daughter) the wife suddenly yelled at the husband. we were shocked. and she was like weeping. but that lasted for a short while. Could be she was a little 'high' after drinking the beers (2 cans). finally our bus came and we managed to reach HCM city around 7.15pm. My family and I asked to be dropped off at the Ben Thanh market. Coz we wanted to take our dinner at Pho 2000 (the shop juz beside the Ben Thanh market) and also to view the lightings that had been put up for that night's New Year's eve celebration. After dinner we walked down to 'Orchard Road' of HCM city and saw there were lots of people. More than the past few days when we were here. Perhaps everyone is out to join in the celebration party that was going to take place that night. u see lots of kids playing with a sort of catapult thing. shooting a lighted item into the skies and catching them as they fall to the ground. and lots of people snapping pictures in front of the city hall building. The Vietnamese media was also there to do a coverage. We saw a TV presenter interviewing someone. the whole place was 'chaotic' in a happy sense. and the decorations... hahaha... its like u've been transported to a communism world?? hahaha.... coz the red communist icons were put up in front of the huge Ho Chi Minh statue. But its not so bad... i mean looking across the streets, u see green lightings welcoming 2011 and another building with all the Christmas deco still intact.
Communism deco
Welcoming 2011!!!
Posing in front of the city hall building
One of the big shopping centers in HCM city
after taking all the pictures, we left the place and went to the street market. We want to buy some stuffs. and because the main roads were being barred from traffic, hence motorcycles had to sift through small roads and this include the streets where the night markets were. it was really irritating that motorcycles horned u when u're looking at some wares/items wanting to make a purchase. really terrible. hahaha... but its an encounter.
Night market infested with motorcycles. Chaotic!
after buying what we wanted, we headed back to our hotel to call it a day. and that night the area that we stayed in had a short blackout again! hahaha... by now my family was a little used to such things. and we had to packed our bags tonight coz tomorrow we'll be leaving HCM city for Singapore. But since we've got some time tomorrow in the morning, we'll be visiting another market whilst i'll also be doing a short walking tour that was recommended by the Lonely Planet guidebook. =D
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)