Let me write a report on my trip there.
I have touched down eversince 1140 hours local time. Vietnam is 1 hour behind Singapore's time f.y.i. Both flights were morning. Therefore i had to rise and shine at the ungodly hour of 0430 hrs. So yea, took Jetstar Asia(cheapairfares. haha) to and fro to tighten the belt as economy in singapore is presently undergoing recession. So wise thinking and choice comes in handy when travelling. The flight duration was 95mins. That's the utmost reason why my dad chose B.A(Budget Airline). Apart from that, it was to know how it feels/looks like to be flying with B.A. Besides it doesnt look budget at all. We boarded the plane at T1 instead of B.T(Budget Terminal). At least got some class hor. haha! Ok enough about that. The plane sits at one end of the runway and the pilots step on the brake, set flaps accordingly, full-throttled and guns the machine. The aircraft lurches forward, wheels gathering speed as they swiftly glide across the concrete surface and lift into the air. To and fro flight we experienced massive turbulence. I love it seriously. The first time i experienced it was 2 years ago from Melbourne to Singapore on a Qantas B747-400 flight. It was terrific. Coffee on the 'table' were shaky. lol. Our stomach experienced the 'high and low motion'. You know when you were cruising at a uniform altitude when out of the blue the aircraft just descend itself in the same position and creating a roller-coaster feeling in the stomach? That's the same feeling we got. Cool right!? Not to forget when return flight, the aircraft landed itself in a unusual way. Normally aircraft would land with the wings parallel and balance itself when landing. This one was different. It landed itself with the leftwing down first and that made a hard knock landing. My assumption was it was slightly off the runway and the pilot made the adjustment to land safely at the eleventh hour. Ok this section shall be the flight details. Lets move on yea.
Over at Vietnam, the condition was like during our 60's and 70's time according to my dad. I dont wish to give comments about the country here cause blogger is a worldwide system and anybody gets to read your post. However,there are a few significance about the traffic in V. Their main mode of transport is motorcycle. The number of motorcycle that is one the road is the population size of Singapore; 4 million plus motorcycles. Imagine Singapore is filled with motorcycle. There are still cars and taxis but the sight of it is uncommon. The way they ride their vehicles is as if their father owns the road. They dont give way to pedestrian. Zebra crossing was introduced but they did not abide by the law. Instead of them stopping, the pedestrians have to stop and give way to them. I think that is part of their culture yea. So cant blame. You have to cross the road confidently and never take a step back after crossing or be ready to see yourself lying on the hospital bed or in the graveyard. In my lifetime, i got to experience jaywalking without being fined. LOL. When the traffic light is red in colour, there are a small group of motorist that hecked the signal and just drive past the traffic light. Some even drove along the pedestrian pavement by the roadside to avoid the traffic light. Pro ar! try doing that in singapore and you'll see people writting at the newspaper forum section. An eye opener for me ar. The other thing that made the traffic outstanding is the never ending honking from drivers. Every 2 to 3mins you would hear honking from anywhere. Over there, when they honk, it is to give way. Down here if you honk, get ready for a face to face stare. haha. I came up with this theory. If the Sg traffic police were to be deployed there, their issuing of summon paper can be finished within an hour or even faster. Their hands would be tired from writing summons to the drivers. haha. If you catch the ball,you would laugh. Enough about the traffic there.
I thought that when i reached there i could do shopping but sadly no. There is nothing to shop seriously. They hardly sell things that is of our teenage age. A lot are for the parents and children age. So apparently i bought nothing. So my apologies to dear friends cause i got nothing for you. Its the same kinda thing that you would see in malaysia, indonesia on the streets. Wooden art piece which can engraved your name on it and kinda things which i bought for some of you a year back. I only bought a chinese traditional costume cheong- sam(pardon for spelling) for men to be worn for CNY next year for myself. That's all. Its black silver for me and dad and golden for my bro with a big dragon at the back. Only the 3 elder guys got it. Dad would be the leader, i and bro would be the left and right man respectively. Its lame i know. I have to think twice before wearing it next year cause of the dragon behind. People would think which clan i come from walking down the streets like that. haha.
About my life in vietnam, you wouldnt want to know. Some are rated R21. I saw something which im not supposed to. In fact, quite a few times. I shall let you use your creativity to decipher yea. haha. Life there was pretty much mundane and slow-paced. Other than all the things i've mentioned above, the people there from tourist attraction place are all very generous in giving things that you asked for. They are not stingy. I like. The women there are all natural beauty. Just much more nicer and sweeter lah. Charming! lol. I dont mind getting a wife from there but she has to learn english! Just a wishful thinking.
*to my close friends, can we have a trip on our own to foreign countries somewhere next year after the release of results as you would probably be having holidays too. So take this chance to travel on our own yea? Shall we? We shall discuss further on this. I would love to travel on my own with my cliques. The sensation is burning in me =D.
This is the link to the photos snapped while i was there. There are 478 photos. But i only uploaded 71 pics cause my account has no more space. Sorry peeps.
link: http://flickr.com/photos/32518755@N03/sets/72157610738872615/
changing the course of my life
into something special...