November 2011

after a long 12 hrs bus ride i finally reached hcmc!
last day at vietnam
gonna take a night flight back to singapore already =(
had my breakfast at a random cafe called sasa

after my breakfast i asked if there is any power point that i can use for my laptop
and u know what?
they didnt have one
and they actually brought me to their office desk and let me use their power point there!
sweet. =)

after that i went back to saigon mini 5
(the hotel i used to stay on my first night)
even though i have already checked out like a week ago
they still let me deposit my bag there
and let me use their internet facilities there!
where can u find such hotel in singapore?
if you do, let me know k?

after deposited my bag
i went for SPA~~~
no pics during spa
i had 90 mins full body massage + 75 mins foot massage
thats abt 3 hrs of massage
and in total PLUS the tips i gave
i only spent abt sgd11.25!!!!

one last look of hcmc

and i went for my lunch

beef noodles again

and yoghurt as after lunch dessert

i really pampered myself on my last day
went for manicure after lunch =P

and then it started raining
so i decided to go for an hour-long hair wash while waiting for the rain to stop
after hair wash the rain still had not stopped
i just sat ard and wait
and ate oranges with them =P

this is what i saw when i stepped out of the salon

luckily my hotel was just opposite
i rolled up my pants and just walked across the street
interesting experience
the hotel staff helped me call for cab to airport
and there i ended my journey
my first backpacking experience alone =)

here are some info you might be interested to know:

in total i spent about S$500+ for the trip inclusive of air fare and accommodation

hcmc

saigon mini hotel 5
196 bui vien street district 1
tel: 84838361008

dalat

yk home villa
09 yet kieu, ward 5
tel: 0633561466

nha trang

ha van hotel
3/2 tran quang khai
tel: 0583525454

you can get all the tourist info and help needed from the hotel staffs
they are all very friendly and helpful =)

and lastly take a look at this that i am very proud of

all these inside my 28 litre backpack (the orange one)!

5-6 sets of clothes
track shoes + 4 pairs of socks
towel
1 set of bikini
swimming goggles
umbrella
torch light
whistle
washing powder
toiletries
sun block
facial kit which includes face masks~
contact lenses and solution
hp with charger
camera with extra battery and charger
mini tripod for camera
laptop with charger
cap
notebook
sketch pad
pencil and pen
dan brown’s digital fortress
extra bag for my daily usage~

and then on return journey i managed to squeeze my buys inside the 28-litre-already-packed-bag:

2 sets of traditional costume
and 1 woolly hat =)

yay i am finally gonna blog abt my day 3 =)
so i talked abt making new frens on the bus
and we realised that we gonna stay in the same hotel as well! =D
yk home villa~

super pretty right!
i really loved dalat all the buildings were so pretty!

very homely interior too

we arrived too early the rooms were not ready too
and new frens invited me to travel with them since they rented bikes
and i cant ride =(

meet turk, who was sharing bike with me =)

yut and xiang! (xiang is a thai chinese!)

breakfast!

and look at what they have on the menu! @.@

the restaurant is located at one of the major lakes in dalat
pretty view~

ok let me warn u first
u gonna see alot of flowers in this post!
i already tried to cut down as much as i can
but i just cant leave out the pretty flowers!!!
flowers on highland area are all so pretty cannnnnnnnnnn

these are flowers at a church

pro photographer in action haha~

nice view right! and of cos nice photo taken by me haha~

and me with the pretty flowers~!

ok i know flowers are prettier~

more flowers!!

after taking pics we were off to the next destination!
my thai frens said they would bring me to anywhere i point on the dalat map
anywhere i wanna go! hehe~
so i said i wanna go to the waterfalls!!!!!!!!

me on bike~

and here i am at the entrance~

gonna take a roller coaster down to the waterfall! cool right~
its like a go cart on roller coaster rail

woohoooo going down roller coaster!

waterfall!!!

sun wu kong? hahaha

more pics on the beauty

and then we took cable car to the next waterfall~

pretty!!!

ya bought me ice cream =)

beauty…

jumps~~~

and we thot the roller go cart was so fun we took it again!!!

and then to the next waterfalls
(yes they really just brought me to all the waterfalls! altho they were not THAT interested as they could see alot in thailand)

my fav out of all the waterfalls!!

monkey king spotted again! lol

harlowwwwwww can u spot me?

met this cute little boy at the site

chang! (thats elephant in thai =)

told u i love the flowers right =P

and on our way out we saw these two kids quarreling hahaha

there were alot of aunties selling fruits along the way
so we decided to just stop and try once

(they bought 3kg and they finished it overnight!)

and then lunch at chocolate cafe =)

nice and cheap meal at chocolate =)

after lunch we headed back to the hotel to check in to our rooms!

so pretty right!

flowers again in the room! altho they are fake haha!

after resting we went to dalat market
saw this at one of the shops =X

this small little girl was really helping!! she was cutting and adjusting the flower basket wow!!!

we had dinner just at the street stalls

clams!~

my fav snack!

not to forget my newly purchased hat @$1.50 only!!

say hi to my travel companion~

after dinner we walked ard for a while and went back to the hotel and rest again haha!
it was really tiring climbing ups and downs to all the waterfalls ok! =)
will continue really soon i hope!

morning!
this welcomes me as i had my breakfast
(before i slpt HAHA)

and my breakfast =)

yeah aft this i really went back to slp
like a pig
woke up to have lunch =P

and i really had this again for lunch!

yum yum

and today finally i was alone on my own!
decided to visit the war museum
while i was strolling to my destination
i realized when u take things slow u really get to observe alot of things
k i am super lazy to type shall just let the pics do the talking

and then i reached war museum
was just taking pics with the war machines outside the museum
didnt have any special feelings
they just looked the same as those we see on tv or movies

and then i started reading and seeing more abt the vietnam war

i really got a shock and literally jumped when i walked past this room and saw…

and i wondered how many heads were chopped under this..

and ppl could show off killing somebody like this

there were alot more gruesome pics and cruel information
i couldnt bear to continue
the pics and words brought me close to tears several times
after that i just briefly walked ard without looking into details
i guess wars are always cruel =(
the story of the war museum was pretty one sided tho..

but the post war damage lasted till today
victims of agent orange were at the museum
the effect of chemicals could be so great

one of them got his eyelids mused together he cant even open his eyes
yet he could play music so well
one girl was born without both arms
yet she learnt to paint using her feet

many many of them showing me how courageous they are
they have at least a skill to support themselves
such as making handicrafts
and i bought two bracelets from the organisation

pretty isnt it?

after that i moved on to independence palace

seriously this place was nothing much haha

just looking at alot of offices and rooms etc

and saw this grp of foreigners making fun of the ‘props”

i heed daniel’s advice and had my dinner at a roadside stall in a rain!

i didnt even know what i was eating seriously
shld be some noodles but the beancurd inside very nice =)

after that i just went back to hotel and nua
while waiting for my bus to go dalat!

here is the sleeping bus!

and the new frens i made! =)

see you tmr morning dalat!