Adventures in Vietnam Part II

Day 2:

We went down to the dining area on Level 1 to have our breakfast. At 7am, it seemed way too bright and could be referred to afternoon. At the restaurant, oh the horror. Steamed pork. My gut just shrank at the smell. I don't eat pork and my friends too. We decided to have bread and toast with omelette instead.

At around 8am, the taxi picked us up to the docks where the boats were. We got into the boat where there were mostly Caucasians. Some of them were from Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Korea, Thailand, Ireland and France. So it was like all over the world. They were really friendly people I might add. Unlike Asians, they really opened up to each other, making friends and chatting up. Somehow, us Asians kept to ourselves. I have to admit though, their merry-making rubbed on to us and soon we were interacting and dancing and taking pictures. It was really memorable.

First, we toured the first island which had an aquarium. It had the common species of marine life so it was nothing really spectacular but it was enjoyable seeing the fishes. We headed back to our boat and our tour guide was one of the funniest, most kick-ass tour guides I've ever encountered. He really entertained us with his funny antiques and although he's a local, he could speak French, Korean. But, I'd reckon he picked it up naturally as a tour guide, he must've been in that profession for quite a long time. Its no easy task to entertain people well, I'd tell you that.

Next we went snorkeling!!! We saw little fishes and coral life. It was fantastic. Simply awesome. Hyder got his feet cut by the coral rocks because he actually stepped on one. A big LOL.

There were people doing parasailing on the platform we were on. We actually had to pay 30 SGD just to experience the 10 minute thrill. Not worth it but I guess its still cheaper than in Singapore.

Next up was our lunch. The seats were transformed into tables which our food was served. And it was alot of food! Seafood mostly. It was awesome man. After our lunch, they actually set up a makeshift drum set and guitar and hooked it up to the boat's PA system. How cool is that!? You don't get this kinda thing in Singapore. They played a few songs and even asked some of the people to come up and sing and dance. And best of all, we're in the middle of nowhere surrounded by beautiful islands. There were other boats too, parked beside us, mostly locals who joined in the fun. After that, they set up a floating bar to the delight of the Caucasians. I don't drink. I just watch them drink. =)

We finally set out to a nearby beach which was something like East Coast, only a little more cleaner. And to actually walk on the island itself, we had to pay like what? 7 bucks was it? I can't remember. It was a 'private' beach and all. But I decided that it wasn't worth it, so I just stayed in the boat and snoozed off.

After 45 minutes later, we finally headed back to the docks from where we were from. We said our goodbyes and the horror!! We forgot to exchange contacts. And the couple which was from Canada was heading the same way as us; Back to Saigon city the next day. Bahhhhh.

We headed back to our hotel, booked the bus ticket back to Saigon city the next evening. We rested for about half hour. Guess where we went to next?

MUD BATH!!!!!! =D

Vietnam's taxi drivers got some skill, balls. At one point in time, there was a BIG-ASS bus and our taxi trying to squeeze in a village. The freaking bus was so close to the taxi and I cheekily put out my arm and knocked on the bus!! It was THAT close 'kay. DAMN........ they got some fine driving skills y'all. So we continued our way UP to the hot springs.

We got there, and lo and behold!! foreign price, 200,000 VND. Like they have special prices for locals? Which translates to roughly 20 SGD. Although they had a specified amount of time in the tub, we went overtime. So for the next 30 minutes or so, we were happy little pigs splashing ourselves in mud. If there were pigs there, I'd reckon they'd join us too. LIKE HELLO??? Mud is good for the skin!! HAHA! PIMPLES NO MORE, MATES!!

After the mud bath, we went to clean ourselves in mineral water (not the bottled ones, but water that has mineral salts). Then, we proceeded to the hot springs. Now you know why the Japanese have smooth, silky skin? They love the hot springs and they're good for the skin. My skin felt oh-so-smooth. And we went to the waterfall after that. We must've stayed there unknowingly quite long because at 6pm, the sky was already like it was 9pm. There were getting lesser people and we're one of the last few to leave.

Back to the hotel!!!!!!! And WHAT A DAY!

I caught a fever on the way back to the hotel. My body temperature was rising as I showered and went to bed.

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End of Day 2.

Adventures in Vietnam Part I

Day 1:

I didn't manage to get any pre-departure flight sleep as I was busy packing my luggage 6 hours before flight. So by 4am, I was having a running nose. I tried to sleep, but to no avail. I went to bathe at 5.30am, got ready and took a cab to Sud's house where Hyder is going to pick us up to the airport.

At the airport, we were scheduled for the 7.50am flight on SQ 172 at Terminal 2. We checked-in and went to buy some hot drinks. We went to board the plane soon after.

The plane took off at around 7.55am. Reached Saigon City at 8.55am local time, which is 9.55am Singapore time. We went through Customs and collected our luggages. We exchanged currencies which I thought had the best exchange rate there. 1 Singapore dollar to 12,800 Vietnamese Dong.

Now, Vietnam is waiting for us!!

A guy approached us outside the airport doors, offered to take us to the city for 100,000 Dong per person, so that's about 300k Dong or about 24 Singapore dollars. We agreed without thinking because our priority was to get to Saigon Railway station. As we were on the way, we realised that 24 bucks for a taxi ride was ridiculous!! And it was our first 'ketuk'. Meaning got conned and being overcharged.

That didn't dampen our spirits as we reached the railway station. We were heading to the coastal city of Nha Trang (read: Nya-Chang, trust me, i know).

We got the queue ticket which had like 80 people before us. Hyder had the idea of jumping queue and so we did. And we got the tickets first!! HAH! Lucky!!!!~ =)

Our train was set to leave at 12.20pm local time. We would reach Nha Trang 8 hours later.

We had berth 5. A hard-sleeper cabin. I've no idea what that means between that and soft-sleeper. We went in and hard a rather difficult time climbing into our 3rd level and my 2nd level bunk. The train ride was long and bumpy and I had this Vietnamese lady who was eyeing me like I was some fresh meat off the slaughter house. Because she was sleeping opposite me, so we had eye contact several times. I switched on my PSP and went into my own world.

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8 hours later in Nha Trang...

It was havoc at the train station, we got off and passed our train tickets to the person standing at the exit. We went out to the streets and tried looking for a cab.

In Vietnam, they use their horns incessantly, which is considered a rude gesture to us back here. There's not even 10 metres they would travel without sounding the horn, so you could imagine the sound when there's like a few hundred vehicles, mostly motorcycles, using the road.

We got a cab, like after some walking, and since we haven't got any hotel bookings, we decided to leave it to luck. We first tried Rainbow Hotel, FULL. The next one, FULL, FULL, FULL, FULL. When finally this motor taxi came up to us and offered us a hotel to stay in. At first we thought that this kind of people couldn't be trusted. Which of course, stands true everywhere.

We walked on and showed us the hotel, Golden Rain Hotel. It was just literally seconds away from the beach. We found out it was a 3-star hotel which recently opened 3 months back. It had a swimming pool, gym, sauna, a restaurant. A pretty nice place and for about 60USD per night, we thought, we didn't wanna walk anymore after being turned down at the other hotels.

We had no choice but to go for the Superior room as the Standard one was full. But, behold!
Samsung LCD TV, mitsubishi air-con unit, 2 beds, a hot water tub, Wi-Fi access and a fridge. It was worth it and we decided to stay at that hotel for an extra night. Since we hadn't had a decent meal since the morning flight, we got changed and headed out to look for a restaurant for a late night lunch and dinner.

We kept on walking and walking till we saw this restaurant. We just ate the seafood fried rice which was just awesome. We bought some dragonfruit back to the hotel as well.

We went back to the hotel to use the computers they had in the lounge to look for some fun things to do in Vietnam. There's this hotel receptionist named Mai, which we befriended. She spoke VERY FLUENT English. Trust me, she's good. We asked her about the attractions there and stuff and about the tours we could go. Thanks to her, we became quite aquainted around the area.

First Vietnamese friend. Ka-ching!!!! =]

Added on Facebook. Everybody has Facebook! haha.

And we went to sleep at 1am.

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End of Day 1.

Back From The Battlefield

I'm back from Viet Nam!!

and I'm so exhausted and famished.

Good Morning Vietnam

I've been coughing non-stop for the past 2 days. I wonder if its the weather that's making my throat uncomfortable.

Anyway, I'm leaving for Vietnam tomorrow. My enlistment for Advanced Military Training by the 21st Vietcong Elite Guards Regiment. We're going to learn Basic Tunnel Digging & Tunnel Combat. Other than that, weapon-wise, we'll be trained to effectively use the AK-47 rifle, AWP sniper rifle, Glock 21 pistol & a pump-action Remington 870 shotgun. I'm also attending their 5-day long jungle survival skills course designed for prolonged guerilla-tactics warfare. Its an 8-hour ride from Ho Chi Minh city by train. It takes another 15 minutes of troop lift to the Tien Banh Training Camp.

i wish. =)

Flying Chronicles

"Ghost Lead, I have you in my sights, bearing zero-niner-zero. Your course is clear straight to the designate point Bravo."

Two pairs of F-22 Raptors entered Tokyo airspace seemingly unscathed by the anti-aircraft installations. Up ahead at point Bravo lies another two pairs of aircraft of unknown make and origin. (Actually we knew coz we saw it on the loading screen. And I'm just trying to make a story here. OK?)

"Captain Matriix, this is 1st Leftenan Beagle, I'm your wingman for today!", the guy chirped on his mic.

"Nice.", I muttered.

What are the chances of having 4 raptors flying in the same formation? WOOH! NICE.

As we turned on the afterburners, our targets appeared on radar, 4 bogeys, 23,000 miles and closing. My squad was assigned to guard the back rear of the formation, so called vanguard. So I watched as the other pair flew by. Just as I was about to head past the river, WHAM!!!!!

The lead raptor blew off!!! "Ta'Fuck was that?!?!" Somebody mashed the mic. Looked like he got killed by a barrage of rockets. Damn these guys are good. As we got closer, we noticed that 2 of them were 2-star Generals, 1 Captain, and 1 Leftenan and they were riding on Mig-32 SuperFulcrums and Mirages. Fuck I hate Mirages. They're so bendy and twisty but hell they're lethal. (read: VERY DANGEROUS.)

So, with the Major shot down, I assumed command. Captain Matriix. This rank, didn't come easy balls. You have any idea how I got this rank? Countless hours of play. Captains seem to be just another pawn in a General's eyes.

"Missile incoming!! Break!!! BREAK!!!!" Leftenan Beagle screamed.

"Beagle, shut the fuck up goddammit. I know how to fly this goddamn plane."

And he muted I guess.

I got a lock on the Match Ace. I fired 2 JSM, 2 All-Aspect and hell lot of cannon fire. You're going down sucker!! Just as I was doing some celebration stunt, that damn Mig-32 got behind my tail and drove a Radar-Guided missile up my plane's ass. It blew up like fireworks, instant kill.

So much being a Team Ace. I hate Mirages, period. I'm due for promotion to Major if I chalk up at least 15 more ranked matches. Its all about the pride as a fighter pilot. When it comes to flying, nothing else comes close. I love flying.

This country seriously has some issues. *points RSAF*

Disappointing Yet Again

Oh hello again. I'm exhausted.

I stopped by school this afternoon. Met some of my old lecturers, namely Mr Sng and Mr Shawn. We talked about some things in NS and everything post-graduation. I miss school, truely. (Read: I miss being a mischievious punk.)

I'm having this BBQ reunion of my former Sec 2 classmates tomorrow. Though I have to admit, the turnout isn't really that good. We gave them a good, solid 1 month to make themselves free; to adjust their schedules so that everyone could make it. Some don't even bother replying my messages. I'm too lost for words. Fine by me. Its just another wasted opportunity. And these people, just lost their credibility.

Planning isn't easy. That's all I can say.

Well, I suppose tomorrow will be a great day afterall. =)