Sunday, January 04, 2009

Ho Chi Minh part 2

Long over-dued pictures of Ho Chi Minh...

Sorry people... I am just so so so lazy and not in the mood to blog... maybe the new year's air is just 'different' hohoho....

The traffic in Ho Chi Minh... packed with motorcycles :)

And we visited the famous Cuchi Tunnel. It's a man-made tunnel stretched over 200km which was used by the Vietkong to fight the Americans during the American war. WOW....

The narrow tunnel that left us breathless...
*wondering how they can survive...

Yeah...that's how tiny it is...

We also paid Cao Dai temple a visit, 3 hours away from Ho Chi Minh.

Lunch with the group....from Malaysia, China and The Netherlands...

I learn that the safest choice when you have no clue on what to order in Asian countries is to order RICE!!!

Ok..this really shows my laziness ;)

Take care...and oh...

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009
Have a great one!

Labels: AdVentUre, ArOund The WoRld

Posted by Ddee at 9:45 PM

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Monday, November 24, 2008

Day 2 @ Ho Chi Minh

Phew...I woke up this morning feeling much better than yesterday. Thanks cousin, thanks mom & dad, thanks love! Sorry to worry all of you *hohoho...woopzzz

Woke up around 10am and was really really hungry coz I only had 2pc of pears for my dinner and I threw up everything else. Basically whatever that entered was successfully vomitted out. After getting ready, the two of us walked towards Ben Tanh market direction. We saw a decent franchised pho restaurant, Pho 24, and so we had our brunch there. Yummy soup... but slightly tasteless for my tongue.

We roamed around Ben Tanh market after our meal but we found nothing much interesting for us. They sell clothes, souvenirs, arts and crafts, accessories, shoes, bags, sweets, cakes, and so many more. The arts are marvelous, but the quoted price are steep. Cannot afford, not even interested to bargain *haha

Walk walk walk...around Ho Chi Minh

Next stop is the Notre Dame Cathedral, an almost similar replica of the one in Paris. We were approached by a Vietnam trishaw driver outside the market. He said, "15 thousand for two." We checked and double-confirmed. Alright...set to go! One person per 'trishaw'. Along the way, he showed me the embassy, city hall, library and so on. However, when he and his alliance dropped us at the park opposite the church, he asked for "One and fifty!" Damn...I was still pretty blur from everything and was unwell still. That was 10x of what he initially said, and this was per person. Nice...a tourist scam!!! Anyway...that's a small price to pay to be more street-wise huh!

Waks...gotchaaa!!

Notre Dame Cathedral *looks alike heh?

We took some pics outside the cathedral and saw many married couples taking pictures outside the church too. Then, we stepped into the Post Office to chill out for a while *it was friggin' hot outside* before we decided to enter Diamond department store for a better air-conditioning system *haha*. Oh...we played some video games too *what a remembrance of my student life!

Spot the differences!

After that, we walked over to the Reunification Palace and join the tour inside. It was a warm and humid day, we were sweating like mad. And exhausted too. The tour took around 1.5 hrs and we explored the different rooms inside the building.

The Reunification Palace *15,000vnd for entrance fee

One of the rooms inside the palace... the orange room!

Gift for the family... a whole family killed??

The heli used by the president to runaway during the American War!

The view from the top

Half-way through, I was hungry again. So, as soon as we finished the tour, took some pics, we headed to find some decent food. We tried the broken rice... mine came with bbq pork *yummy. Happy happy...

Slurpee....

We continued our walking trip to the city hall cum museum. The entrance was free on that day, lucky! They displayed the Vietnamese village lifestyle, their old money and coins and many more. I was too tired to enjoy and familiarize with all those.

What a long day! haha... we booked a tour to CaoDai temple and Cuchi tunnel for the next day... see you...

Labels: AdVentUre, LiFe

Posted by Ddee at 10:10 PM

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Sunday, November 23, 2008

day 1 in saigon

Seriously... this is going to be one of those holiday trips that I will remember!!

Slept at almost 3am and woke up at 5.30am. I had 2 buns and a cup of Ovaltine for my breakfast *ugh..and I don't usually eat breakfast. My uncle taxi came and picked us up at 6am.

While queueing for our boarding pass, my stomach didn't feel well. I needed something warm so we had a bowl of seafood noodle before we passed through the imigration.

Just right before we boarded the plane, I felt like vomitting. I ran out from the queue to the toilet...and yeah, successfuly vomitted on the bloody floor before I managed to reach the toilet. Puke no.1 *smart huh....^^''

During the flight to HCM, I slept like a baby. I only remembered I bought a bottle of mineral water that cost me $3 for a mere 300ml and an urgent call for a doctor or qualified nurse onboard as someone fell sick too. See...memorable, right?

Ho Chi Minh reminds me of Indonesia in a way, but less modern and cosmopolitan compares to Jakarta. It is chaotic...*cmon...you gotta agree with me on this, especially about the traffic. So many motorbikes everywhere and they just drive as they want *ck ck ck. The government needs to put more effort into its city management :) *peace...

Anyway, once we reached our hostel, we slept our way through till around 2pm before going for lunch. I ordered a bowl of fish porridge and a glass of hot tea as I was still not feeling well, and my cousin ordered a plate of fried rice. I took a few sips of my tea...when I suddenly felt the urge to vomit again. I ran into the kitchen wanting to ask where the toilet is. Too bad...too late... I vomitted on the bloody floor again -___-'' arrghhhh....

Apologetically, I walked back to my seat slowly. Sigh... what a day! I lost all my appetite. Before long, I vomitted again. Third time in a day. I must have looked like a ghost...freaking pale according to my cousin. Even the restaurant staffs were worried *hahaha... they asked my cousin to buy the medicine at the opposite pharmacy. LOL, the problem is..how to communicate? My cousin went to the pharmacy and used sign language. We are not even sure till now if he gave us the right medication. Anyway... I have already consumed 1 tablet *haha.

The fish porridge was finally packed to go. Hurriedly, we walked back to the hostel, a block away. Right in front of the room, I needed to vomit again. Right...nice timing!! Fourth and luckily last in a day!! Phew.... I slept through the day... feeling unwell and weak. Man, I hate this feeling!! but thank God I did not faint like when I was Penang.

Today...I am feeling much better. Thanks for the concern.. love you!! Thanks for being my dear nurse, cousin... hehehe

with love from Saigon!

Labels: AdVentUre, ArOund The WoRld, LiFe

Posted by Ddee at 5:56 PM

| 0 guides for Eden

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Back to the Roman

Man.... our flight was delayed for 3 hours. We were wary and so do the passengers. But hey... what can I do except to make their journey as pleasant as possible?

We were supposed to arrive at 7am, but eventually we reached the hotel around 11am. Tired? definitely. But this did not hinder us from venturing the city as soon as possible.

ROME....there I was again!

Our day 1 was filled with lunch in the city (shuttle bus at 12.45noon). Hm... not a good lunch tho -__-'' I was so-called the guide for the crew as many of them were first-timer in Rome and hey.. I just visited it in February. We went to Arco di Tito, Colosseum and Vatican City on Day 1.

Madelaine, Cher Wei, Diana @ St.Peter Basilica

Before the flight, I planned to venture out of Rome and so I digged out some research. Florence? hm... a bit too far. Tivoli? Sounds great!!

So, Cher Wei was my very first company. He agreed to go out of Rome, and so we did a little extra research. How to get there? Take the subway/Metro to Ponte Mammolo (blue line, rowards Rebibbia). Take the cotral bus from the station after buying the ticket at the counter or tobacconist. Ask the driver for where to stop as Villa Adriana is also a whole small town *hehe. The bus takes around 40mins from Ponte Mammolo station.

The hotel actually has a tour package to Tivoli too. It costs 56euro (incl Villa Adriana and Villa d'Este). Hahaha... how much did we spend?
subway: 1euro
cotral bus: 4euro for return tix
entrance to Villa Adriana: 6.5euro (same price for Villa d'Este)

Lotsa money saved!!!

A nice lady helped showing us the way to the place. She even invited us to go to her house should we need anything :)

Hadrian's villa was a complex of over 30 buildings, covering an area of at least 1 square kilometre (c. 250 acres) of which much is still unexcavated. The villa was the greatest Roman example of an Alexandrian garden, recreating a sacred landscape. The complex included palaces, several thermae, theatre, temples, libraries, state rooms and quarters for courtiers, praetorians and slaves. The Villa shows echoes of many different architectural orders, mostly Greek and Egyptian.

Hadrian's Villa is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and important cultural and archaeological site. It is also a major tourist destination along with the nearby Villa d'Este and the town of Tivoli. The Academy of the villa was placed on the 100 Most Endangered Sites 2006 list of the World Monuments Watch because of the rapid deterioration of the ruins.
- Copied from Wikipedia