Arriving at Ho Chi Minh Airport. Woo hoo! A holiday trip out of Singapore! So proud of myself! Finally, at 26, I have the chance to travel on my own.
Tried to be arty here. But it seems like having an idea and not having a good equipment, spoils the whole idea! Need to invest!
The first thing we ate after leaving airport. It's called Mee Guang! It has 2 types of mee in it and some other ingredients. Not too bad!
The interior signboard of the shop's name! (The owner thought that we were some food critics. Their faces were so disappointed when they found out we were just some hungry Singaporean)
The shop's signboard on the Main Road! (I'm not sure if I would recommend this stall or this Mee Guang since it's my first time eating. No harm trying!)
A wood-craft shop which Claudia brought us to. Amazing! There were many wooden boat and ship. And honestly, the price is pretty reasonable. However, too big and no place to display back at home!
Interesting! A ship in a light bulb!
A mega sized ship!
Can't remember what Hotel! In district 1.
Erh.. Can't remember what is this also! Theathre or monuments???
Hehe! Didn't realise the top and bottom fotos kind of link into like 1 foto! haha! Ingenious me! : )
An oil-painting which I saw in an Art shop. It was so real! But my camera CMI! Now it looks like some errie B grade horror painting, where the lady in the paint will turn around and smile at you while you are not looking!
Bbbburrrrrppppppp.... Lunch at this French Restaurant!
The French Restaurant!
Coffee Break at this coffee house, Trung Nguyen. I love their coffee and especially their cakes. We had cheesecake and some other cakes. I love the cheesecake and it's so cheap! Cheap cheap cheap! (did try coffee at Highlanders but i tot this Trung Nguyen nicer and cheaper)
Well! This is how you drink the traditional coffee style. A metal filter on the cup. Simply love it!
Arh... Finally a foto of the 3 of us in the coffee house!
And the Sa-aat (beautiful in khmer) lady!
Highly recommended if you are not a higherpricebettercoffee person. Nice ambience and got free Internet and priniting service. Woo hooo!
The LOVERS' PARK! At night, the whole park will be swarmed with couples, each individual seated on their bikes. So you will see many rows of bikes at this park. When it hits the wee hours, the park converts to a "Pharmacy'' centre. Drug abusers heaven! : (
Ben Thanh market! Equavialent to Central Market of Phnom Penh! Bought a pair of slipper! : )
Have no idea why a Goa (cow for khmer) and Bi Dtrai (2 fish). Hehe! I know this is Vietnam but I want to brush up my Khmer! : )
Dinner place! Something like S'pore Marsche. The owner gathered the best street food and sell them under one restaurant. Smart guy!
Ban Ciao! Vietnamese pancake! Can't really appreciate the greens. Have unique taste.
My dinner. Some eel noodle soup. So so only! Rating 6.5/10. A few small pieces of deep fried eel floating around. Got this You Tiao that was like frozen hard! : )
This was supper. After Claudia brought us to a cell group, we went to this rice roll shop.
Ordered a few dishes. Not bad!
This is one of Claudia's fav dish. It's something like S'pore's Juay Kui but it has some soupy gravy. Quite interesting. Maybe can try bringing this to S'pore and sell! $$$ making! : )
2 DANIEL??? Oh no......
This is 2nd day in HCM. We make a big boo this morning. Both of us only tune our watches to Vietnam's timing which is 1 hour behind S'pore. So when we were supposed to wake up at 5.30am to prepare ourselves for our trip to Cu Chi tunnel, we set our alarm on our handphone and alarm clock. So we woke up at S'pore time at 5.30am and Vietnam time, 4.30am. Wah......... So early. Haha! Since we had the luxury of time, we went to have breakfast at a nearby restaurant near the tour agency.
That was another experience. I had tried to order the breakfast which includes 2 eggs for one set of price and add sausages, hams for another set of price. I told the waitress I wanted the 2 eggs, (1 poached and 1 sunnyside up) and also the sausages and ham. She was puzzled so I tried explaining my order again. After much, she finally nod in agreement that she understood my order. I ordered an ice coffee with milk as well. Daniel just ordered the beef noodle. When my order came, it came with only the eggs. I was too "pek chek'' to reorder so I just settle for wat they gave me. Less than 20 seconds, another plate of eggs were delieverd to my amusement. I really why the waitress bothered to write down my order since she couldn't even understand my order. An my ice coffee came like after 15 minutes and that was only when I reminded them. And they gave me ice coffee black! *O* I nearly wanted to scream. Hehe! Next time, keep my order simple!
My precious long-waited iced milk coffee which was only so so.....!
The 2 Sa-aat men again! I really like my goatee!
Something that I saw which I thought was interesting when we were on the coach to Cu Chi Tunnel!
My Dung! I wonder who buys his/her waste? tsk tsk.....
At Cu Chi Tunnel! This is the original entrance to the tunnel. Small siah! Max waistline or buttline is 36inches. Anything more, they will let the hungry strays loose on you. It's easier to drag a corspe out of the hole. haha! Joking.....
Wah! Daniel fit into the small hole. Haha! And he managed to enter and crawl through the dark tunnel!
Actually, I want to try and I believe I wil fit just nicely! But just to save myself the embarassment if I were stucked at the hole, I decided that I shall not be so gung-ho! : )
This is the exit!
And here's Daniel exiting the tunnel! I thought I lost him! Took him quite a while to figure out his way!
Mr Sa-aat Number 1! In the tunnels which had been enlarged for tourists!
Mr Sa-aat Number 2 with the cute goateee! (ok fine! stopped puking everytime I said my goatee is cute!)
What does this look like? A floor of dried leaves rite! Nope!..........
It's the roof of a shed! Hehe!
The shells that were dropped on Vietnam. Those undetonated were used by the Vietnamese to fight back their enemies!
Another arty foto that I tried to capture. The shophouses with the linings in the evening!
The don't know wat monument? Took a closed up!
Vietnamese Currency, Dong! Claudia teaches us an easy way to convert the Dongs back to S'pore Dollar. Simply remove the last 4 zeros and that's the conversion. Eg: If it's 16,000 Dong, it's S'pore $1.60. That simple!
Claudia's office! She's having a good time in HCM! : )
Saigon River! A ride of abt an hour down the river cost about $20USD! I nvr took the ride. Too expensive! Even if I want, I could easily swim down and up the river by myself! : )
I was wondering what's with all these penguins! They are dustbins! Interesting!
Hehe! Me again! But without my cute goatee! Eating a roadside yoghurt! My goodness! It's so lovely! As good as those you get from the supermarket shelves! And at a fraction of the price! Wah!
Can't resist taking a foto of the Sa-aat people!
Another market that Claudia brought us to. It's more like a wholesaler market. Everything they have is in bulks!
I took this picture and I stood there............
for another 2 hours to turn dark before taking this foto at the same spot!
: p If you believe me, den you are really a ............. hahhhahahaha! : p
Our 3rd day's dinner! Back at the Vietnam Marche! Ordered alot of food!
Snails........
Beef with fries!
Bread with some minced meat!
North and South Vietnamese Rice soaked in wine. Bleah.........! Inedible! horrible! It's rice soaked in who knows what alcohol! Wah! Very choking! Thkfully it was cheap! Nvr finished! : s
Chendol in Vietnam! This is good! Must try! : )
On my way way to Phnom Penh! 6 hours on the road!
A fried spider! Cool! Got Mab to buy for me! Cost about 700 riel. The legs taste like crab meat. As for the body, i suspected the meat is marinated with sweet sauce and thus taste a bit like Char Siew!
Fried crickets! A packet of about 10 pieces cost about 2500 riel. It took me a few good seconds before I took the first munch. Taste like prawns with shell!
On our way to Svey Rieng! Have to cross the river to get to the other side.
This is Savy, Sopheat and Preney. Savy and Sopheat are interns with the church. Savy is based in Kampong Speu and Sopheat in Phnom Penh. Preney is Rev Tit Hieng's 2nd daughter.
Arhhhh. Finally, another foto of the Sa-aat one! : )
At Svey Rieng, Rev Tit Hieng decided to show me a side of him that I didn't know! Fishing! Pretty skillful with the net and he caught quite a good catch! I had a try at the net. No joke siah! It was pretty heavy. 2 attempts and I caught 1 fish! Not bad for a first attempt!
What's in my hand? A frog which Rev Hieng caught during his fishing! Poor guy!
An enlarged version of my poor friend! I witnessed how it was killed and skinned alive! : x
Well during my stay in Cambodia, I decided not to take too much fotos! Dun wan to make it seems like it's some kind of tour for me! So the later fotos are fast forward. The last few days in Phnom Penh!
Here is a foto of Ninia, Nita's sister. A look at her and you will think she is one cute little girl from the neighbourhood. Guess again! She is 19 and studying in Uni. Haha! She is cute but also 'deadly'. Once she opens her mouth, you may need to take a few yards back. Haha!
The day that I was leaving! I took foto with Sopheat and Phun. Phun is one of the guards in CCOP!
And this is Barang (Lina's nephew) and Preney. Bought them a box of chocolate each and was trying to 'teach' them to share! Haha!
Well! This kinda end my 16days adventure in Cambodia! So fast! Way too fast! I wish it can last longer! And I wish I can share my dreams with someone! : )
