please say hi! :)

haha hello mery! i din knw u read my blog!!

im just going to say hi to all my friends, those that i knw who are actually bothering to read my rubbish......
-sarah
-gina
-johan
-mery
-brad
-matt
-aaron
-daniel?
......... and to those friends that haf somehow found this without me telling u abt it :)

*miss all of u tons

~haha i love notes left on my comment portions coz i never knw who's reading my ramblings

day to honour the hiking god

not that mondays off has anything to do with me coz i usually haf mondays off... but it was a public holiday here in hk. got up and spent all afternoon sitting my ass down work on stats and it was extremely frustrating! freak.... i really dont knw what's going on with the subject blah

but as always i had something to look forward to.... met up with karen and christine.... and today's mission: find costumes for halloween!

its a little last min i knw but we did manage to get some really cute stuff.... hopefully it'll all come together tmr. and goodness its sooooooo cheap here! im jus going to plan ahead and buy wigs here for next year! afterall they're going for 100 hk? its soooooo cheap!

after... the dear girls brought me to their local shopping and oh my goodness it's crazy! bangkok mbk all over! and for the first time in the longest time haf i done some thrifty shopping! in all... i spent 500 hk tonite and bought a ton of stuff! these included my costume.... an oversize sweater... a belt.... shoes.... tights and a hat! i manage to buy a whole outfit and extras for 500hk! haha arent all my gfs proud of me.... haha wonder if it'll last more this trip coz rite now im officially BROKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no more $$$$$$$$$$

sarah and gina will like this place.... haha gina when u come i'll bring u there! u'll love it

cheap cheap shopping :p

my body clock is officially screwed up.... sigh.... its 230am now and im not even tt slpy. i dont even take naps to make me stay up. i hate it.... i hate all the issues i haf with certain people but jus cant say anything to them. its the friends that u're seemingly close to that u cant really say anything to them in case u'll offend them or something. and sometimes friendship jus ends up in that particular stage where everything's awkward and no one wants to take the first step, either that or im tired of making the 1st move and seem whinning and clingy when all i want is just for everyone to be happy and not loose contact so easily. i know that friendships are hard to maintain with all the distance with everyone all over the world but that just means that more effort needs to be put into it. and while we are still capable of it y not? good friends are really hard to come by, friends that you can talk to, click with and do the same things as u. trust me im learning it the hard way this trip and maybe tts y im being more sentimental. its not hard for me to make friends if i want to and ive made tons here in hk... but there's only those few that i feel the need to keep very close coz all of u mean so much to me. and u guys i can count with both my hands only so pls dont take it the wrong way when im bugging u to see if u're alive.

its not easy to sit on my bum waiting for u to contact me coz ive decided that this is the extent to which im going try before i turn annoying.

y must all things be so complicated once getting to this stage in life?

food glorious food

bernard was over this weekend and as expected... it was another weekend of wonderful food. it started out with spoon on friday nite. 8 course dinner with 3 glasses wine pairing.

lobster jelly with cream of butter lettuce and French caviar

Foie gras tasting, terrine/steamed and custard

Creamy chestnut soup with fennel, black truffle and caramelized chestnuts

Grantinated macaroni with fresh porcini mushroom, Parma ham and arugula

Pan seared scallops "a la Mariniere" creamy potato

Tajine with lamb tenderloin and autumn vegetables, spicy/citrus sauce

Orange/Grand Marnier finger, vanilla milk shake

Crispy chocolate and raspberry, raspberry sorbet

the menu was made from ingredients that im not particularly crazy abt... like the mushrooms and foie gras... i normally wouldn't haf eaten the whole dish finish if there were these stuff in them but they were really good. the foie gras especially was very nicely made... i think its the first time ive ever eaten finish a whole course of foie gras and still nibbled off bernard's plate. haha he's so conscious of cholesterol that he only took the sides of the delicious foie gras. sigh the "perks" of being a doctor haha. the lobster jelly was really interesting... first time ive ever tried something like that. the scallops were very well cooked not over done.

spoon is located in the inter-con hotel in TST and offered amazing view of the hk habour. compared to iggy's back in spore... spoon's alot bigger so its not as quaint and somehow i wasnt too impressed with the food. dont get me wrong its really good but iggy's was mindblowing kind of good. the wine pairing was a dissappointment too... i only liked one glass out of the 3. iggy's on the other hand had a fantastic selection thou i haf to admit that i got pretty drunk that nite with a glass for every course haha

not to forget... dinner ended with chilli choc and hazelnut cakes... the choc was really good... so smooth on the inside and the spice of the chilli was only as an after taste... very unique

so that was friday nite.....

now on to sat nite.... unfortunately i din take any pics but we had dinner at the shi-shi aqua roma/tokyo. got to see the light show finally and i wasnt too impressed? haha but at least now i can say ive seen the light show of hk :p the food was pretty good. i had a wonderful plate of baked pasta and for dessert their wonderful icecreams... the breadsticks there were really good too. oh and their tiramisu... oh my goodness... bernard ordered that and it was amazing! so light and fluffy best ever.....

haha i sound and feel like such a glutton!

for the last meal with my dear friend before he heads back to spore... we headed to tai po today and had another wonderful meal.... this time italian..... oh my... its in the middle of nowhere but it had really good and cheap and thin pizzas..... sooooooo yummy! the trip up takes abt half an hour but i think its totally worth it. after lunch bernard, gwen (bernard's friend from spore whom stays in tai po for work and introduced me to this place) and i took a walk thru the markets and checked out all the fruits... haha. tai po really reminds me of toa payoh back home... so local and simple haha somewhere i kinda feel out of place but nice to walk arnd nonetheless. wonder if i can go back there again soon....

it was sooooo good of bernard to take me out to all these places. i havent had a good sit down french meal in such a long time and this did not dissappoint me one bit. haha bernard... over for only a weekend and i think i blew a huge hole in his wallet! haha.... oh well heh my sugar daddy for yummy meals

and now its back to dieting in anticipation of the next good food period whenever that might be :)

club no *9

TURNING CAT WALKS TO DANCE FLOORS IS OUR THING

to end off this tiring week.... most of the pepp pple decided to check out the great wall and shanghai but for the rest who stayed behind.... we decided to party hard in central on thurs nite and boy was it fun!

it all started out with cecile.... my wonderful roommate.... we decided to try this club on top a building in central. it was a pretty cool club... one of the best ive seen so far in hk. the people there at least looked decent to pretty with an outdoor balcony that offered central's skyline. it was pretty boring till cecile's interior decorator friend showed up. louis was basically our sugar daddy of the nite and took care of us the whole nite. haha im such a spoilt girl.... missing a sugar daddy at clubs so it was wonderful to haf louis around. haha

there was a fashion show planned so while the girls and i were waiting arnd for it to start... some of the photographers decided that these 4 girls were crazy enuf to be taking pictures of so they decided to take pics of us instead! haha goodness... wonder which mag they work for

while the show was going on, cecile and i were out on a mission to take photos with/of people in the club. thing is... cecile works for juice mag and the pics were for the portion at the back... it was sooooo fun jus approaching total strangers and asking if we can take pics of them. lets just say both of us got quite a few offers and it was hilarious! it was a good ego boost coz i was feeling really ugly that nite.....

after all the work we got done, cecile and i found nicole, delia and the newly arrived stuey and sangi dancing! the music of the club was GREAT... dj did a good job of selecting songs BUT the problem with club no 9 was that they din haf a dance floor.... so the girls were soooo creative and used the elevated cat walk as our dance floor! hahahah it was such a fun nite.... no one else joined us up on the stage so we crazy foreigners were left to dance the nite away in full view of everyone else

my roommate rocks :) thks to her i had a wonderful time clubbing

cecile and i
louis, the sugar daddy
nicole, sangi, stuey, deliasangi enjoying himself with all the girls around him
haha cecile and i hard at work taking pic with random pplemy favourite guys here
this is my favourite pic of the nite :)

~now ive got sore eyes for not being phsically able to remove makeup from this nite once getting back to my room

dessert = happy pris

thank god for concealers! im having a major break out on my face but im still able to haf the ability to head out my room without looking like a freak

it was a really long day.... with stats and mandarin.... the classes really tire me out and im getting worried for stats coz i haf no clue wat the teacher is talking abt!

thankfully i had something to look forward to.... dinner with karen and christine! it was sooooo good and yummy. we were all soooo tired but made the most of this rare dinner. both girls are busy with their work and study that its extremely hard to get them out for a meal but since christine will be leaving for nz in 2 weeks we all made time to meet and it was really fun. we had la mien and xiao long baos in crystal jade haha.... all the way here and im having crystal jade! the quality was the same so i was happy only problem is the chilli... the famous chilli of crystal jade spore was not arnd! :( but as expected when u put 3 girls together.... we were laughing and making quite a bit of noise in the restaurant... it was a good break from things

who are these pretty girls? karen was an exchange student to pepperdine from hkbu last year and christine is her cousin. they're really pretty and fun girls to hang out with... thks to my hongkee friends i got close to them and got to grow close to them this trip. unfortunately they're very hard pple to drag out... wld be really nice to go out with them a little more but i wont complaing :)

after.... we had REALLY GOOD dessert in TST which was arnd the corner. from choc cake to chestnut pancakes.... it was soooo good.... there goes my diet haha but it was worth it :p (to my darlings... the choc cake is the next best to tamade)







before we knew it..... it was already 1130 and time to go home

but we're planning to meet on monday again ;)

~everyone today kept asking if i was planning to go out somewhere special tonite haha.... put on a little makeup, wear heels and this is the reaction i get.

~going to try cecile's hair straightener tonite... lets see the results tmr!

restlessness

its that time of the year/month again..... i just dont feel like doing anything.... not homework, not shopping, not eating, not talking, not blogging

wat i really feel like doing is heading down to alley and chilling with u know whos with my lychee martini

im in no mood watsoever to do any work.... but on the other hand i dont feel like lazing either so its a no win situation. sigh

life just gets too complicated and i dont want anymore frustrations to cloud my mind with.

hehe..... tt's how best friends are i guess if we dont haf the same period dates then its the same time we haf frustrations.... frustrations with not being able to get what we think we want. and its only becoz we're spoilt. we normally get wat we want and when someone rejects us its down to wats wrong with me?

blah

it would be nice if u were truthful abt things abt everything instead of me finding out from other people.

lack of greens

yesterday was pretty much a good day coz i got to do stuff that ive been planning to do for a long time but never got round to doing it
i got to.............

• watch a rugby game (well 2.5 games to be exact)
• play golf

the rugby games were good ones and i think im finally getting the game well sort of at least. haha after 2 years of frequent games on sat at the padang... i kinda know wat to expect in the games which is really cool. oh and the world is really tiny! i saw someone i recognised at the game too (other than the friends that i was there to watch). his name is alex and he played for scc and he recognised me too... coolness rite

after the games... i dragged my sick ass down to the driving range at TST and managed to stay there for abt 40 mins... hehe it was rather interesting... i think i've forgotten my grip :( but it's slowly getting back to me and hopefully i'll feel alot better the next time i head down to play golf.

maybe i shd head to the docs.... im not getting any better... but then again bernard is coming this weekend................ hmmmmmmmm

~i need a hug desperately

dragons

damages of the past 4 days

food:

• i had goose for the 1st time ever today and boy was it so greasy and tasty!
  
• the smoothest century egg ever.... it literally melts in your mouth
  
• duck
  
• char siew


• pig skin


• fried wanton


• dim sum


• multiple sago and melon in coconut milk

with all that calories i haf taken all over the span of 4 days.... im going to stop eating and exercise my butt off before bernard comes this coming weekend! coz when he comes... ive already made reservations at spoon (http://hongkong-ic.dining.intercontinental.com/honic/spoon.html) and aqua (http://www.aqua.com.hk/) and all this is for dinner only......... yikes im going to turn into a big big round round ball.

its always such a culinary experience when there's visitors here in hk. ive travelled to hongkong island everyday for the past 4 days just to meet up with my mom and her friends for a meal and hang out a little after. got to eat at a really famous chinese restaurant in lan kwai fong today for lunch and it was yummy. but then thinking back... i dont think ive had an average meal here with them thus far. 2 of the ladies are frequent visitors to hk so they pretty much knw their way around. the century egg is really worth raving about. i have never really enjoyed it much but today's egg was just sooooo good.

thankfully they've all left already. after lunch.... i sent them off at central and came back to rest. last nite is a whole other story all together but i'll talk abt the ladies first. for the first time in my life i actually approve of my mom's new found friends. they are really knowledgable and capable in their own right. essentially the kind of ladies i want to become when i grow old. and im happy that my mom is finally hanging out with the right people and less with her indon friends. these ladies were so nice, charming, adventurous and welcoming that i enjoyed their company very much. hope i'll be seeing them soon

ive also managed to squeeze in some shopping too (thanks mom!) bought a pair of ck pants, moiselle skirt and a set of off white skirt suit frm armani. will be getting a top from ck when i collect my pants next week and more tops frm shanghai tang.... and all these with the approval of my mom! hmmmmmmm the possibilities. and for once i wont be scolded when i go back to spore for my stuff. oh and not to forget leggys to match with my yohji top i bought ages ago. shop shop shop hehe. all this shopping makes me happy :p and who knws... bernard is coming too... so maybe i'll move on to shoes and accesories next hahahaha

my belief:
good food and shopping really goes in hand!

you eat well and walk it off shopping! that way u'll still stay in size for all the clothes after such a good meal hahaha tasty food goes into u and the pretty clothes for the outside. i really was pampered this week

i have decided that hk is a good place to work at. i get the best of both worlds.... its the middle of spore and USA so in the future all my friends can visit me. i'll starve when no one's arnd and when pple come.... its all going all out with the shopping and eating :) i sound like such a pig!

---------------------------------------------------------

this is me being unable to make up my mind so i get mango with sago in strawberry. yummy!

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maybe its because im so use to staying up late to study over the past week, maybe it was the really short conversation i had that left me feeling empty but i cldnt fall aslp till 6 and tt's coz i forced myself to jus lie in bed and hope that slp comes to me. you keep blowing hot and cold frustrates the hell out of me but yet i cant seem to let u go as my good friend... why is life so complicated

Power lunches

Dress code for the past few days: conservative wear

mom's the word..........

so my mom's in town with all her tai tai friends. these are the friends she made thru my kuma and volunteering at the red cross.

i have come to believe that the place to make friends with rich, powerful friends is to volunteer at an organization... or at least tt's how it is in spore. heh.

my mom has changed in the weirdest way possible. she has always complained abt me wasting money on pedicures and manicures... while walking next to her yesterday, i glance down and guess wat i see? french pedicure!!! my mom has gone over to the dark side...... AND today when i msged her asking how shenzhen was... she was having a pedicure!!! tt's not all.... the most dramatic change ever..... she's here in hongkong to SHOP for Four full days!!!!! she's not here to visit me but to shop with her friends. she's NEVER done this before and its just so weird... dont take it the wrong way... im not complaining coz i get to shop too but unfortunately its during the wrong week. i just finished a midterm today so havent been able to spend much time with them before this... i only haf half a day tmr before she leaves....

here's the best part of this trip....

I HAD LUNCH AT THE CHINA CLUB

in all there were 7 ladies and 1 male for lunch yesterday. it seems that one of the aunty use to be the CFO of stan chart and her former employee, uncle julian invited the whole group to lunch. thing is uncle julian is the present CFO of stan chart in hongkong which is the coolest thing coz he's signature is on all the new notes of hongkong that was printed by stan chart. coolness rite? if you take notice there's only 2 signatures on the currency notes of this country so im finding it really cool and amusing that i now know one of them... haha

the china club is one of the prettiest restaurants ive ever been to. the food was yummy too... and since it was lunch we obviously had dim sum. the interior was decorated in traditional shanghainese style and some tables had old fashion lamps and small antique fans as table settings. it was soooooo pretty. wish i had enuf guts to take my camera out then to take pics but i was with all these elderly powerful ladies that i felt like such a dork and little kid if i started doing so. as it is all of them were at least above 40. i mean to them this restaurant is most prob not such a big thing.... but im sooo glad i dragged my tired slpy ass out all the way to central to haf lunch. the nite before i cldnt fall aslp and only managed to squeeze in 2 hrs of slp before luggin myself out of bed an hr before class coz i had to choose a dress (since a strict dress code was enforced) and do my makeup... all this before an 8am class! thank god for starbucks and double shots.... i showed up for lunch not looking like death with that perkup haha

it was a truely insiprational lunch to see all these powerful ladies together. in fact all of them were linked to the banking world one way or another... thru marriage, own accomplishments, close friends etc. they were women of confidence and pple i wouldnt mind becoming when im at that age. not only was the food good, atmosphere amazing but the company was precious too. a simply one of a kind meal

only thing is.... china club is a members only restaurant sigh i guess i wont be grabbing any more meals there any time soon :(

so this is my mom.... and she's actually using the phone to call her banker! its crazy... this antique phone was usable at the lounge of the china club

and the most stupid thing happened to me 2 nites ago.... i split water all over my poor laptop.... thankfully it started working the next morning but im still going to haf to take it over to fujitsu and let them take a look at it... i really dont want it to break down on me when i need it the most

yummy yummy

these are the YUMMIEST chocolate mochi donuts ever!!! a new discovery right here in hongkong thks to alvin..... haha im going to get soooooo fat just eating these.... thankfully they arent on sale anywhere near where i am!

i dragged poor nicole and delia to walk to ifc mall today to grab this and they din even buy one!

:) see daniel now u knw how they look like.... u're left to imagine how good they taste

yet another homework post

so i haf decided that a place is only fun when there's people arnd. take for an instance spore... if it werent for my friends and family, i dont think i would want to go back so often.... i mean think abt it. when i go back for summer i dont bother to go exploring new places... its the old and familiar that is fun. velvet, alley, canele's...... its the comfortability that makes it "fun". i understand that my friends who went to spore this weekend came back with lukewarm feedbacks but they view spore with a diff perspective, and i dont blame them coz seriously when u think abt it what is there to do? :) different people will have different perspective of a place

so for this week's assignment, we're suppose to talk abt an outsider's perspective on America. instead of talking to someone else about it... im just going to write my own afterall i am from singapore arent i? :p and there's no intent to insult anyone who reads this entry

firstly i find that Americans tend to be very stuck in their own world, and this feeling has been agreed upon with my other nationalities friends too. my first week in pepperdine, i was greeted by people (who were obviously rich) with remarks such as " oh wow u're from singapore? u're english is sooooo good!" i mean u would think that with all that money and travelling uve done... u would knw a little better

another thing that scares me abt americans are the way they eat! its crazy!!! and this is coming from a person who has brothers, cousins and friends whom all eat alot. take for an instance ive heard of people eating 7 macdonald's burgers a day! can u imagine? all the fat and calories that goes down? yluck.... for breakfast at ihop, you can see people stuffing themselves with 2-3 plates of steak and potatoes. mind you the servings at ihop are HUGE! and its only breakfast. no wonder there's an obesity problem.

but with all its short comings, i have grown to like america... the friends ive made there, the food, the weather. i still have problems with the traffic but i haf my own car so i wont complain too much :p

spg

as fate has it....... my best friends and i are having bad days together.
unfortunately, we all have our own lives to lead, in different parts of the world. had it been the usual... we'll all hit alley and drink up our sorrows together but somehow still come out happy just to be with each other. and like sarah said - we conquer the world when we're together! and how true that is.... nothing can go wrong when we have each other. im so lucky to have found best friends like them. its times like these when im so far from them that i wish i hadnt made the first move away from spore. if only i had stayed, i would be back there comforting them and being there to cheer each of them up

from dec 06 for 3 mths.... its really in different parts of the world - gina in hk, sarah spore and i back in LA (well ok not 3 mths but jan and feb)
07 will be starting sooooo different! we no longer will be together. it really sucks growing up. we'll no longer be the 3 of us at sarah's house eating and stuffing our faces full of yummy food and then exchanging pressies. is this how life is going to be like from now on?

~watever it is i love u girls.... dont be sad and lonely coz we'll always have each other :) hug lots

lousiness

when promises are made i really hope that they are fulfilled.... u cant keep on making empty promises and keep letting me be hopeful but yet disappoint me over and over again. it just gets so frustrating. i dont knw what to expect and i hate this feeling, this feeling of waiting. i know u haf your own life but stop dangling the carrot in front of me promising friendship when u dont even bother to put in the effort. you knw how important friends are to me even more than relationships but yet you keep playing me. you haf issues abt me that's your own personal battle u haf to take on yourself if u refuse to let me help you but please dont let it drag me in too. im too tired, too frustrated with my own stuff as it is that it would be nice to knw where the line is drawn so that i dont need to wait for you to call/email/contact me whenever you feel like it. i always prided myself in being the aloof one in a relationship but inevitably emotions gets involved and i find myself subconciously hoping that this will be one of the times that u'll surprise me.

i wish i wasnt stuck in my room today... everything's just so crappy. tried to head out but really wasnt feeling too well to handle other people arnd much less the public transportation. i really miss sarah, gina and johan now... if this were to be back home we'll be at alley by now.... having lychee martinis.
i miss the times when i still din see the point of having a relationship, when guys were viewed as friends and nothing else coming into play. everything was soooo simple back then, we'll meet up at the playground and stay there till the sunsets and our moms come to pick us up.

im guessing im only feeling this lousy coz i cant make as many trips back home as i want to. its just one of those days

cough cough

:(

im not feeling well......... so sad........... well i guess this weekend will for once really be used for resting

im having a really bad craving for yummy cheese fondue

one thing amazes me - how people can live in hongkong and not eaten dim sum at all!?! i mean... hong kong is the land of dim sum but yet pple havent eaten it yet? how sad is that?
sooooooo im dragging my swedish friend out on sunday for a yummy dim sum lunch where jon and i ate.... im still dreaming abt the delicious xiao long baos there. and for once he isnt complaining abt the distance so pris is a happy girl other than the fact that my cough is horrible. :) i have something to look forward to this weekend yay

stupid gina..... u haf to come to hk when im abt to leave rite. this semester would be sooooooooooo much better if u had worked here the same time as me! sigh.... now who am i to hang out with when i head home for christmas? and i was looking forward to spending time with u and sarah.................. i guess life is stupid like that sometimes

and before i forget ........

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hope u're able to survive ur bday in one piece :)

birthdays................ the one thing i regret going to the states is not being able to celebrate my bday with my best/close/old friends back home. its not that im dissing friends that ive made in LA its jus different somehow. there's the comfortability of celebrating birthdays in spore with the routine of dressing up with the girls for a nice dinner just the 3 of us, and then heading out with the guys for them to make me drink a little too much. im so happy that im able to be arnd for sarah's and hopefully gina's bday. funny thing is that i was just thinking abt sarah's bday tonite! haha... it was one really really fun/crazy/tiring nite (kinda wished i had more energy to go on and on and on that nite or was it coz i had consumed too much alcohol that i felt tired? haha) but whatever it is.... i enjoyed myself so much that nite and hope u (sarah) did too! haha... im sorta jealous my 21st wasnt that fun BUT at least my darling had it :)

well im off now to watch grey's anatomy season 2 which by the way is a VERY bad show coz ive been hooked on it since starting! within 2 days ive finished watching 10 episodes! yikes

..............................

i HATE stats!!!!! argh.......

having a huge ass headache rite now and ive been starring at my homework for the past hr and still havent figured out how to start! f***

devil wears prada

i FINALLY got to watch the devil wears prada and goodness was it a gorgeous movie! ive been insipired to get the chanel pearls but thankfully they're 2-3 seassons ago? so no way of spending that crazy ass amount of money.... but i love the clothes, shoes, bags, makeup and accessories in that movie.... they were all so pretty!

on the topic of prettyness:

got to haf high tea at the peninsula on sunday and the scones were yummy! too bad i din bring my camera again coz im sure gina would really like it! its 3 tier with cakes and sandwiches.... its ok.... gina u're coming here soon so we'll haf tea there ok? so u can see for urself :)

thanks to alvin... i found and tasted really really yummy mochi looking choc donuts! im HOOKED!!!!! yikes there goes whatever diet that i've been planning to go on? haha... now im planning to travel to hk island every week to get fresh donuts.... :p

hehe.... jus realised that since getting here to hk, ive been living in flats and flip flops (i think some reason is coz i wore so much heels over summer) but then again its also to prevent my heels frm getting ruined frm all the walking im getting accustomed to while im here. so i decided to indulge and get this pretty pair this weekend :) so now.... to find time/events when i can wear them

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

i managed to get an internship here in hongkong at the american chambers of commerce!!!!! YAY :)))))))) im sooooo happy....

only problem now is the wardrobe.... i have NOTHING to wear! all my formal wear is in the US yikes

finally...... the Vietnam post

try #2- this is going to drive me crazy haha... my 2nd time doing this

Vietnam was a really good trip. the place really reminded me of Thailand with great food, cheap things and friendly people. the english of the Vietnamese was surprisingly really good (coz they were a french colony) so there werent too much of a prob communicating. and the coffee..... ohhhh its so strong and fresh. the sights were interesting thou the weather cld be a little better. we were hit with the showers of the typhoon on the 2nd or 3rd day of our 5 day tour. thankfully saigon and the mekong delta is on the south west side of Vietnam while the typhoon hit central.

only problem was the places we stayed in.... haha my first time EVER to stay in a hostel! and it'll most prob be the last time too... goodness the room they assigned me the 1st nite was so freaky.... it reminded me of the scary room from the beach, the one where leonardo dicaprio stayed in with the fan? the only difference was that it was air-conditioned, but it was making the freakiest noises..... so obviously i cldnt fall aslp the 1st nite, thankfully there was another room i changed to on the 2nd nite

DAY 1

we arrived in time to eat the most amazing pho and spring rolls ever! it was so yummy im going to really miss it...... the spring rolls were so crunchy and full of flavour sooo good. after we took a walking tour of the city centre of saigon.

the one thing that i'll remember the most of this day was the war memorial of the Vietnam war. it's really such a sad place even thou all they had were replicas of the jail cells, pictures and articles of the war. u walk arnd and see all the victims u cant help wonder y pple still go to war with all the suffering that's already going on. the one part that made me so queasy was the photos of the victims and the ones after who still suffer frm the effects of the bomb.

DAY 2

we visited the Cu Chi Tunnels! it's basically a jungle trek featuring the tunnels that were used by the Vietnamese soldiers! and boy were they TINY!!! the holes/tunnels were only big enuf to let me crawl thru.... i cant imagine staying there for long periods... they were dark and short of air... essentially the tunnels were modelled like ants tunnels... far underground to avoid getting bombed.

oh and we got to shoot guns here too... it wasnt anything new to me but all my friends, esp the guys, had so much fun shooting the ak 47s, m16s and other stuff. i din think anyone wanted to leave the firing range

the bus ride after consisted of everyone all smelly, sweaty and muddy after all the crawling

next stop was a Cao Dai Temple... its a religion here in Vietnam where they basically believe that theres only one god in the world.... meaning that the muslim god and christian god are basically the same god just in different forms. i felt so bad for the worshippers here becoz here are all these visitors taking pictures of them while they are at service. imagine if i was to go to church and had people upstairs taking photos of the place i worship and me worshipping... i think i'll be quite irritated

DAY 3

we left for the mekong delta this day.... sat on a boat to check out the floating market there was not much merchant ships by this time of the day and it was raining too so nothing much to see. but after lunch a huge ass python was being passed arnd the pepp people. basically the snake was passed arnd people to take pic with. by the time it got to me i was pretty worried that it wld be so agitated frm being passed arnd so many times i was quite scared. haha.. the only pic i haf wtih the snake has me looking so scared... haha....

after we were dropped off to walk thru this path that involved walking pass monkey bridges... and here's the thing the path was so muddy and i was wearing sandals! monkey bridges are bridges made of only 2 bamboo poles tied together to serve as bridges over water paths... haha it was an experience

DAY 4

sat on another boat tour but this time to the other tributary of the mekong. and headed back to Saigon. nothing much happened this day except for the massages we had back in saigon. lesson learnt: never go for a massage in vietnam unless u want to be groped at..... nicole, delia and i choose to go for a leg massage near our hotel but it ended up with the male massuse sliding their hands up my pants. and basically touched me for a sec it was soooooo freaky! thankfully the one day i choose not to wear a thong was this day! yikes. for those who had full body massages haha.... the guys were groped and offered special services!

DAY 5

din do much this day... we were brought to china town of saigon and then left to shop.... i din get much this trip so im pretty proud of myself :) had the yummy pho for lunch and we headed to the airport 5 hrs in advance of our flight... dont ask me y but we ended up having to hang out at the sad airport of saigon.

i was soooooooo happy to be back in hk.... took such a long shower, scrubbing myself down

its so funny how when i first arrived here in hk... i was so unhappy to be living in the dorms but now its a place i look forward to. human's ability to adapt is so good. i still remember when i first got to LA i was soooo depressed but now i find myself actually missing that place, my life there, my friends etc. im actually looking forward to going back there in spring! but i wont be surprised that when i do i'll still be moping around for the 1st 2-3 weeks abt leaving spore haha

so this trip to Vietnam.......... i was so amazed to see how females were still able to ride their bikes in their ao dais (the traditional clothing) and look so elegant!

insect repellents have also become my good friend... i was slabbing on 3 layers of it every few hours and it kept the insects away! haha

PS. ignore the bottom tabs.... they're jus pic that din download properly and i dont knw how to delete them :P

midterm blues

people i would really like to be with right now...

Sarah
Gina
Johan
Daniel
Aaron
Old Fart
Brad
Shaun&Alvin

:(