vietnam

greetings from hcmc~ =)

booked my tickets on impulse and here i am in vietnam alone haha

well not really alone..

meet my travel companion! =)

first time traveling on my own and its really quite interesting

traveling super light this time so bear with me for looking lok kok in all photos =X

faye’s angelic voice accompanied me thru out my flight

and of cos now as i am typing

omg her concert was super aweeeeeeeeeeeeesome i cant stop thinking abt her =(

this has been distracting me from functioning properly

even when i am in vietnam now!

tsk tsk i shall not start on her again altho my mind is full of her =P

here’s my room~

staying at saigon mini 5 hotel

after checking in and nua-ed for a while

went to this beef noodles place that the hotel staff recommended

they give the vegetables separately so you can add in as you like

my personalised bowl~

its really good!

(think i gonna have it again tmr before i leave hcmc =P)

after lunch when i was abt to begin my adventure alone

i met this american backpacker, nick, at the road junction

i wanted to check out ben tanh market and he was going to have lunch at a recommended restaurant

but he decided he would walk with me!

so my adventure alone was not really alone

i was just doing what i do best - following! haha~

it was quite nice of him to always shield from the cars while crossing the road

traffic in hcmc is crazy!

u have cars and motorbikes (lotsa them!) coming from all directions

and they dun follow the traffic light!

frens shld know that I AM SCARED OF CROSSING THE ROADS!

so its great to have someone to protect me on my first day haha~

otw to ben tahn market =)

and finally reached!

they sell all kinds of goods in the market

from clothes to shoes to groceries to food

the only thing i bought was two pieces of traditional costumes

love collecting them haha!

shall decide if i wanna post their pics =P

after shopping at the ben tanh market

nick invited me to join him for lunch

so we (erm actually only he was) were navigating thru the map

and we arrived at this really nice place! =)

love the decor

this is their table!

cant help camwhoring haha

fooooood

love the coconut~

so cooling and refreshing after a long walk in the afternoon

the juice is super sweet and the flesh is tender to the max!

can you spot my little travel companion?

after the late lunch we were just exploring ard

and along the way i saw this pri sch having some event

awwwwwwww i miss my kids and miss teaching!

cant wait to finish my nie course

i am such a bad student i cannot stand it haha!

some pics taken at the park (forgot its name)

alot of sculptures in this park

and this one is looking eeeeerie

and and..

there was a playground!

ok looking super silly but i had fun haha!

loves swings <3

next i went to catch the water puppet show

which i purchased the ticket thru my hotel

nick managed to get a ticket on the spot

but our seats were not together

i was quite glad actually =X

he is a nice guy la

but my main purpose here was to enjoy the freedom of traveling alone

so yeah.. haha

alot of tourists arrived in trishaws to catch the show too!

actually camwhore really little this time cos i am looking so ugly n unglam =X

but still cant help it

camwhore again while waiting for the show to start haha~

i thot she was looking really sweet and demure in the costume

but 偷拍 failed haha!

and then finally the show started!

i have no words to describe the show

it was.. interesting (description borrowed from daniel)

i believe it really takes a lot of skills to control the puppets to make them so lively

altho i couldnt understand a single word thru out the performance

they were siniging/screaming (?)

it was quite funny actually

but i still fell aslp haha!

woke up from time to time to take some pics here n there wahahaha

and the hands behind the puppets!

they were all in the water omg @.@

after the show i quickly evaded

=(so bad of me)

let me walk the last part of my first day alone! =)

congratulations to whoever getting married haha!

u know what?

crossing the roads in vietnam is REALLY scary

look at this!

i even have phobia crossing roads in singapore

i thot i would never be able to do this

but i was on my own

i HAD to do it u see

there were twice when i really felt like crying while crossing the roads

cos i was so scared omg

but u know what?

u shld be proud of me cos i am so proud of myself

i did it =)

well i had no choice but i did it haha!

after that i just settled my dinner at somewhere nearby

the chicken was nice

but honestly i dun really fancy vietnamese food as much

would probably look for a western restaurant for one of my meals tmr haha

thats all for my day 1!

i am alone in the hotel room

thats another thing i am proud of!

i dun dare to slp alone usually

always have someone to slp with

be it at home with sister

or in hostel with roommates

but i am learning and adapting as my current roomie is always missing =P

and i think i am coping well so far

(well i really have no choice haha!)

i probably need to stock up some food tmr

always getting hungry at night as i am used to supper every night

but dun dare to go out alone here at night haha

see you!

gonna grab breakfast at the hotel =)