"Rood zijn de daken
Geel zijn de helmen
Groen is het gras
Blauw is de lucht
Wit is het zand
Dit zijn de kleuren van Schellingerland"
translated to english it would be like this:
"Red are the rooftops
Yellow are the marrams
Green is the grass
Blue is the sky
White is the sand
These are the colors of Schellingerland"
Hendrik Koning, 17 Aug 2002
here i'm at terschelling,netherlands
after 13hrs of flight, 1hr bus and 1 hr fast ferry. we landed on the shores of Terschelling in the town of west terschelling.
There are three main villages: Westerschelling, Midsland and Hoorn. The island is c. 30 km long and nearly 4 km wide, with an area of 9616 hectares.
school is only a short walk away. course schedule is not that packed.
nearest town is about 15mins away. but we could easily access to other towns via bus which cost 1 euro and 2.5euro for their version of night rider.
breakfast and lunch is basically bread, ham and cheese, only dinner is hot food -_-
Terschelling is basically like our sentosa, where the rest of the dutch people comes in trongs here in the weekends. monday till friday is quiet and apart from the locals you'll most likely see us walking ard.
but by Friday afternoon, you can see lots of them taking the ferry in. all the bikes rental shop displayed their gleming bikes for them. all along the road to town you can hear the clak clak clak sounds made by the wheels of the luggages being lunged around.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Welcome to 289SA
289SA is a new battlion formed fully in March 09. Her sister battlions are 286SA, and the upcoming 292SA. This battlion is run on bronco and primers platforms.
286, 289 and 292SA are under 89 Arty GP.
Expectations of a Nsmen
As Nsmen, you are required to be prepared to be called back for ICTs as well as Ops Manning (Mobilisation). You will have 2 Ops manning periods and one ICT per work year. In addition to that you are to clear your IPPT on a yearly basis, and if you fail, complete the RT program.
oh well 289SA here i come.Great to have a familiar team you know you can count on for the rest of your reservice period. =)
289SA is a new battlion formed fully in March 09. Her sister battlions are 286SA, and the upcoming 292SA. This battlion is run on bronco and primers platforms.
286, 289 and 292SA are under 89 Arty GP.
Expectations of a Nsmen
As Nsmen, you are required to be prepared to be called back for ICTs as well as Ops Manning (Mobilisation). You will have 2 Ops manning periods and one ICT per work year. In addition to that you are to clear your IPPT on a yearly basis, and if you fail, complete the RT program.
oh well 289SA here i come.Great to have a familiar team you know you can count on for the rest of your reservice period. =)
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Dec 31-Jan5
Place: HongKong/Macau
Personal involved: Chuao Bao / Jia Wei / Zhi Wen / Ren Cheng / Wen Han
Dec 31 Day 1
Landed in macau international airport. where we have to transfer to HK via a ferry.
took a 30 mins ferry ride up to HK.
touching HongKong soil by 1800 we made our way up to USA hostal which was located in Mirador mansion sitting right on top of tsim Sha Tsui station.
we were given a 5 men room. which is erm.. reasonable..
5 hungry guys roamed the streets of hk.. desperate for food.. we rushed into DA JIA LE or so call cafe de coral for our first bite of food since morning 1000hrs. it's a fast food style food court, whereby you que to order then they process you through another que for your orders.
Finally after filling our poor stomach we headed towards ave of stars.. i thought only Singaporeans are the kaisu lot.. but boy oh boy.. we are so wrong there are throngs of people there! can hardly move ard so we decide to settle down in the middle of the road somewhere behind. With 3 hrs to kill.. our bodies decided to do some involuntary actions one their own..which is basically shivering cuz it's darn cold. brrr..
moments of excitement sounds through the streets with every min nearer the strike of midnight and finally 5 4 3 2 1!! whoosh out came the fireworks. 10 mins of pyrotechnics .
but it's kinda of disappointing nothing spectacular..
we took over and hr.. to move from ave of stars back to our place.. which normally will only take at most 10 mins.. imagine the crowd..
Day 2
went for walkabout starting from top till bottom.
Wong Tai San was our first stop. we pop by da jia le again for breakfast and decided that this is the last time we
should have da jia le. what's in that area is basically just a temple structure.
Cheung Sha Wan was next. there's nothing in that area!suppose to be a veg and potlry wholesell market but we are not
allow to go in so yar.. other then that it's a older housing area.
Sham Shui Po was next where we pop by a computer outlet building.. but alas! we were way too early.. when we arrive
only a few stores start pulling up thier shutters sigh..
we had this gu ling gao there. it was yummylious! athought abit ex. $HKD42 for a cup. but it's really nice haha
So being the very kei kiang me i suggest that we walk to prince edward.. got abit de-toured in the process haha walk
for over an hr and we made a big round to bypass the same place we started off(that's after lots of asking.
apparently lots of them also dunno their directions..)
Upon reaching Prince Ewdard, we headed for the goldfish street. then ladies streets and all e others streets.(all 3
streets is next to each other but starts from Prince Ewdard all the way till mongkok.
Sport shoes streets and ladies street is at the Mongkok side while Goldfish and flower street is at Prince ewdard
side
From noon till dusk we walk shop bargain eat shoot shop again.
Day 3
BIG buddha and Disneyland(HK)
another day of early rising. took a train to tung cheng the last station after sunny bay.
where we took Ningbo 360 a 25-30 mins cable car ride up to the place of Big buddha. from the cable car one can see
HK international airport and the inlet bay quite a nice view. but please go early cuz when we return in the noon the
que was terrible. what took us 10 mins in que would easily take you over and hr in the afternoon.
view at Big buddha is quite nice got quite a long flight of steps up.. but if you plan to trek there.. please spare
half a day there as there's lots of tracks leading all around. One can visit wisdom paths if you like,it's a 15mins
walk from the buddha. The place is basically stake with wooden poles with words of wisdom inscriped on it. take the
same path back would be good unless you wanna start exploring like us which was a bad mistake. instead of 20 mins it
took us over an hr to get back via running..
taking the cable car back down towards the station, we pop by city gate. A place where wholesale factory outlets are
. lots of brands with mouth dropping prices totally good place for shopping.
Disneyland was next we drop off at sunny bay for a train transfer to Disneyland.
Disneyland remains somewhat the same from the last time i step in.
only additional is a not very nice exhibation call it's a small world.
manage to catch the last christmas parade . fireworks reamins at the same timing of 1900hrs.
Day 4
Hong kong island.
Today we tread over unto HK island taking the well known Star ferry.
after a 5 mins boat ride we proceed towards western market and start our journey from there.
after breakfast near western market we walk along hollywood ave all the way till where peak tram is located.
Both mid-level esclator and Lan Gui Fang is near to Peak tram.
Peak tram comes every 10 mins. take about 15mins to go up.
The peak has change since. now there's a place called sky terrace quite worth it to go up. very windy!!
central was next. we pop by H&M it's huge! and lots of sales. haha
times square was next on the list.
finally after that we proceed to hong hum for the gundam expo at meteropolis (nothing much there)
Day 5
Basically spent doing last mins shopping at ladies st again and SOGO to buy lao po bing.
head over back to macau.
arrive back in macau ard 1600 and manage to find a super cheap hotel called East ASIA HOTEL near the places of
interests.
walk about macau for abit there's a map indicating the tourist routes so quite simple. just need to follow the
gravel path.
pop by grand lizbo casino(just 10 mins walk from ym hotel) after dinner. hmz.. nothing really fanstic haha
didn't spent long in there cuz non of them wanted to gamble.
bought more almond biscuits from the famous shop.. they had like 4 shop fronts along one strecth of street super kua
zhang.
Day 6
arrive in macau airport early in the morning for flight back..
pass by the world famed venictian hotel. which we plan to but end up didn't go..
nothing opens. super hungry. haha
wolf down a double whopper once we arrive back in sg.
slurps. Home sweet Home.
6 days 5 guys.4 dslr 1 compact = 12GB of photo.
Expense:
Cab ride from macau airport to ferry terminal : $60
Macau ferry : $140
Octopus card : $150
Disneyland : $350
Ningbo cable car : $107(2way)
Peak tram : $120(2 way with sky terrence)
Bus down from peak : $2.5
Star ferry : $1.7(lower deck) $2.2(upper deck)
*prices are recalled from memory might not be accurate.
Place: HongKong/Macau
Personal involved: Chuao Bao / Jia Wei / Zhi Wen / Ren Cheng / Wen Han
Dec 31 Day 1
Landed in macau international airport. where we have to transfer to HK via a ferry.
took a 30 mins ferry ride up to HK.
touching HongKong soil by 1800 we made our way up to USA hostal which was located in Mirador mansion sitting right on top of tsim Sha Tsui station.
we were given a 5 men room. which is erm.. reasonable..
5 hungry guys roamed the streets of hk.. desperate for food.. we rushed into DA JIA LE or so call cafe de coral for our first bite of food since morning 1000hrs. it's a fast food style food court, whereby you que to order then they process you through another que for your orders.
Finally after filling our poor stomach we headed towards ave of stars.. i thought only Singaporeans are the kaisu lot.. but boy oh boy.. we are so wrong there are throngs of people there! can hardly move ard so we decide to settle down in the middle of the road somewhere behind. With 3 hrs to kill.. our bodies decided to do some involuntary actions one their own..which is basically shivering cuz it's darn cold. brrr..
moments of excitement sounds through the streets with every min nearer the strike of midnight and finally 5 4 3 2 1!! whoosh out came the fireworks. 10 mins of pyrotechnics .
but it's kinda of disappointing nothing spectacular..
we took over and hr.. to move from ave of stars back to our place.. which normally will only take at most 10 mins.. imagine the crowd..
Day 2
went for walkabout starting from top till bottom.
Wong Tai San was our first stop. we pop by da jia le again for breakfast and decided that this is the last time we
should have da jia le. what's in that area is basically just a temple structure.
Cheung Sha Wan was next. there's nothing in that area!suppose to be a veg and potlry wholesell market but we are not
allow to go in so yar.. other then that it's a older housing area.
Sham Shui Po was next where we pop by a computer outlet building.. but alas! we were way too early.. when we arrive
only a few stores start pulling up thier shutters sigh..
we had this gu ling gao there. it was yummylious! athought abit ex. $HKD42 for a cup. but it's really nice haha
So being the very kei kiang me i suggest that we walk to prince edward.. got abit de-toured in the process haha walk
for over an hr and we made a big round to bypass the same place we started off(that's after lots of asking.
apparently lots of them also dunno their directions..)
Upon reaching Prince Ewdard, we headed for the goldfish street. then ladies streets and all e others streets.(all 3
streets is next to each other but starts from Prince Ewdard all the way till mongkok.
Sport shoes streets and ladies street is at the Mongkok side while Goldfish and flower street is at Prince ewdard
side
From noon till dusk we walk shop bargain eat shoot shop again.
Day 3
BIG buddha and Disneyland(HK)
another day of early rising. took a train to tung cheng the last station after sunny bay.
where we took Ningbo 360 a 25-30 mins cable car ride up to the place of Big buddha. from the cable car one can see
HK international airport and the inlet bay quite a nice view. but please go early cuz when we return in the noon the
que was terrible. what took us 10 mins in que would easily take you over and hr in the afternoon.
view at Big buddha is quite nice got quite a long flight of steps up.. but if you plan to trek there.. please spare
half a day there as there's lots of tracks leading all around. One can visit wisdom paths if you like,it's a 15mins
walk from the buddha. The place is basically stake with wooden poles with words of wisdom inscriped on it. take the
same path back would be good unless you wanna start exploring like us which was a bad mistake. instead of 20 mins it
took us over an hr to get back via running..
taking the cable car back down towards the station, we pop by city gate. A place where wholesale factory outlets are
. lots of brands with mouth dropping prices totally good place for shopping.
Disneyland was next we drop off at sunny bay for a train transfer to Disneyland.
Disneyland remains somewhat the same from the last time i step in.
only additional is a not very nice exhibation call it's a small world.
manage to catch the last christmas parade . fireworks reamins at the same timing of 1900hrs.
Day 4
Hong kong island.
Today we tread over unto HK island taking the well known Star ferry.
after a 5 mins boat ride we proceed towards western market and start our journey from there.
after breakfast near western market we walk along hollywood ave all the way till where peak tram is located.
Both mid-level esclator and Lan Gui Fang is near to Peak tram.
Peak tram comes every 10 mins. take about 15mins to go up.
The peak has change since. now there's a place called sky terrace quite worth it to go up. very windy!!
central was next. we pop by H&M it's huge! and lots of sales. haha
times square was next on the list.
finally after that we proceed to hong hum for the gundam expo at meteropolis (nothing much there)
Day 5
Basically spent doing last mins shopping at ladies st again and SOGO to buy lao po bing.
head over back to macau.
arrive back in macau ard 1600 and manage to find a super cheap hotel called East ASIA HOTEL near the places of
interests.
walk about macau for abit there's a map indicating the tourist routes so quite simple. just need to follow the
gravel path.
pop by grand lizbo casino(just 10 mins walk from ym hotel) after dinner. hmz.. nothing really fanstic haha
didn't spent long in there cuz non of them wanted to gamble.
bought more almond biscuits from the famous shop.. they had like 4 shop fronts along one strecth of street super kua
zhang.
Day 6
arrive in macau airport early in the morning for flight back..
pass by the world famed venictian hotel. which we plan to but end up didn't go..
nothing opens. super hungry. haha
wolf down a double whopper once we arrive back in sg.
slurps. Home sweet Home.
6 days 5 guys.4 dslr 1 compact = 12GB of photo.
Expense:
Cab ride from macau airport to ferry terminal : $60
Macau ferry : $140
Octopus card : $150
Disneyland : $350
Ningbo cable car : $107(2way)
Peak tram : $120(2 way with sky terrence)
Bus down from peak : $2.5
Star ferry : $1.7(lower deck) $2.2(upper deck)
*prices are recalled from memory might not be accurate.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Dec 20-21
Event: 100Km ExtremeWalk round island
Team:Slowpoke!
Members: CheeHau , Harrison , Aloy , Hong Hui , Yankai , Wenhan
Time start: 20th 0800
Time ended: 21th 1045
Time of completion: 26Hrs 40mins
Final standing : top 10th
7200 strides,28hrs.
An overnight, round-island endurance walk by Raleigh Society.
Total 907 participants,
228 in 10km JalanWalk, 380 in 50km PowerWalk and 299 in 100km ExtremeWalk
Final figures 99 finishers in 100km ExtremeWalk, 222 finishers in the 50km PowerWalk and 198 in the 10km JalanWalk.
Dropouts
100Km : 200
50km : 158
10km : 30
how it all started:
Ray : "hey there's a walk coming up organized by my society wanna join?"
wh : " what walk? "
Ray : "100km walk, for charity"
wh : "hmz sounds gd. will jio other people"
After some indepth discussion..
wh to cheehau/aloy/yankai/harrison : "oui people how there's a walk coming up wanna join?"
all of them : " what walk?"
wh : " 100km walk!! haha"
most of them : " siaO!"
wh : " can la.. see ah we've done single digit.. double digit.. now we do triple digit la!! "
After more noise making..
all : "okay la.."
and tada.!! team slowpoke! is formed.
Dec 20th 0800
100Km walk was flagged off.
Being the usual me. i printed everything from maps to checkpts to specific timings..
BUT i forgot to bring everything!!
therefore we had to follow behind other team. haha cuz all we had was a checkpt list..
Ten check points in total each indicating a 10km mark.
ckpt 1 : kent ridge park
ckpt 2 : Saab(NUS law school)
ckpt 3 : Bishan Stadium
ckpt 4 : Kampong Kembangan CC (i love this part)
ckpt 5 : Tampines Sports Hall
ckpt 6 : Pasir Park
ckpt 7 : Changi Village
ckpt 8 : ECP carkpark G
ckpt 9 : Big splash
ckpt 10: SMU!!!(FINISH!!)
It's truly a walk to remember.. and to be done once ONLY.
of 6.. 2 had knee problem/ 1 had ankle problem/ 1 had sever ligament stress/ 1 had shin fatigue/ 1 had no problem..
To start all with all of us had no training prior to this walk and the longest any of us slept the previous day was 4hrs..
this walk was totally a mental battle for any of us or rather anyone in the 100km cat.
weather was not forgiving either it's scorching hot for both the days. after 70km all of us was in the zombie state, both aloy and i actually sleep walk..
70km onwards was the killer portion cuz the route covers changi coastal road which is one very very long stretch of road al the way till ecp.
this walk is also a very expensive one cuz nearly every ckpt we went to buy a meal.. 5 main 3 small meals over 2 days.
Good job guys for making it that far it's really a plesure walking with you fellows.
something you could be proud of. woohraa!
Event: 100Km ExtremeWalk round island
Team:Slowpoke!
Members: CheeHau , Harrison , Aloy , Hong Hui , Yankai , Wenhan
Time start: 20th 0800
Time ended: 21th 1045
Time of completion: 26Hrs 40mins
Final standing : top 10th
7200 strides,28hrs.
An overnight, round-island endurance walk by Raleigh Society.
Total 907 participants,
228 in 10km JalanWalk, 380 in 50km PowerWalk and 299 in 100km ExtremeWalk
Final figures 99 finishers in 100km ExtremeWalk, 222 finishers in the 50km PowerWalk and 198 in the 10km JalanWalk.
Dropouts
100Km : 200
50km : 158
10km : 30
how it all started:
Ray : "hey there's a walk coming up organized by my society wanna join?"
wh : " what walk? "
Ray : "100km walk, for charity"
wh : "hmz sounds gd. will jio other people"
After some indepth discussion..
wh to cheehau/aloy/yankai/harrison : "oui people how there's a walk coming up wanna join?"
all of them : " what walk?"
wh : " 100km walk!! haha"
most of them : " siaO!"
wh : " can la.. see ah we've done single digit.. double digit.. now we do triple digit la!! "
After more noise making..
all : "okay la.."
and tada.!! team slowpoke! is formed.
Dec 20th 0800
100Km walk was flagged off.
Being the usual me. i printed everything from maps to checkpts to specific timings..
BUT i forgot to bring everything!!
therefore we had to follow behind other team. haha cuz all we had was a checkpt list..
Ten check points in total each indicating a 10km mark.
ckpt 1 : kent ridge park
ckpt 2 : Saab(NUS law school)
ckpt 3 : Bishan Stadium
ckpt 4 : Kampong Kembangan CC (i love this part)
ckpt 5 : Tampines Sports Hall
ckpt 6 : Pasir Park
ckpt 7 : Changi Village
ckpt 8 : ECP carkpark G
ckpt 9 : Big splash
ckpt 10: SMU!!!(FINISH!!)
It's truly a walk to remember.. and to be done once ONLY.
of 6.. 2 had knee problem/ 1 had ankle problem/ 1 had sever ligament stress/ 1 had shin fatigue/ 1 had no problem..
To start all with all of us had no training prior to this walk and the longest any of us slept the previous day was 4hrs..
this walk was totally a mental battle for any of us or rather anyone in the 100km cat.
weather was not forgiving either it's scorching hot for both the days. after 70km all of us was in the zombie state, both aloy and i actually sleep walk..
70km onwards was the killer portion cuz the route covers changi coastal road which is one very very long stretch of road al the way till ecp.
this walk is also a very expensive one cuz nearly every ckpt we went to buy a meal.. 5 main 3 small meals over 2 days.
Good job guys for making it that far it's really a plesure walking with you fellows.
something you could be proud of. woohraa!
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
28th NOV -1st DEC
Vietnam(HCMC)
//revised\\
yes.. another back to back holiday str8 after aust.. hoho am totally enjoying my self spending silly...
well cindy was totally nice to get her dad down to yishun to pick me up so early in the morning.
reach airport just awhile after the rest. after check in we had breakfast at han's..
budget airport.. is really budget.. sheesh
i think vietnam airport even better then our budget...
upon arrival we hop onto the pre arranged taxi service with bring us to our hotel..
can't remember the name.. but the street address stays deeply in my head..
195 bui vien street dist 1.. haha a results of too many taxi rides. =x
Day 1 (28/11/08)
went for lunch at lemongrass, then head down to Ben Thanh market. it's basically like our wet market.. just super size it and divide it into 2 different sectors outer and inners. For outer sectors it's mainly souvenirs for inner sectors it's further divided into 4 major sections namely handicraft/food/clothes/bags.
after walking ard buying stuffs like cashew nuts and coffee, we went back hotel for a rest..
before head back to Ben Thanh Night Market which is like our pasa malum and that's where you will find all the Addias and Nike shirts.
went Ngon for dinner(marche style.. just that you order and they serve str8 to your table)
Day 2 (29/11/08)
Cu Cui tunnel and cao dai here we come. bus ride was about 3hrs? we visited the temple first just in time to catch the afternoon prayers. the origin of cao dia was quite interesting.. i can't remember anything the guide was talking about so can't really give a detailed explanation. it's made up of 4 different religion chrisitian,taoist, 2 other i can't remember.. went for lunch which was hmz.. i would say it's quite nice.. i knoe my tour mates will totally disagree with me.. haha it's basically steam rice top with really colourful veggies and the main dishes will be served on other plates. like i mention.. out of 5.. 4 gave bad review..
still trust my taste? haha
After the "outstanding" lunch we took another half hour bus ride to Cu Cui tunnel
Cucui tunnel was basically a tunnel system dug entirely by hand throughout the viet nam war. it's not dug by south or north but rather by the villagers themselves.
the tunnel system is one of the most impressive underground system ever built by human. consisting of 3 different levels. 2-3m 5-7m 8-10m underground. each some areas are big enough to hold a meeting in there. others are simply just small tunnel about .9m high and .6m across. but the one open to public was widen to allow tourist to enter in.
each tunnel system had their own defense system. for gas, flood, etc
they even have a smoke-less kitchen where by smoke will get re-routed into a small hole several meters away from the kitchen with lot of small openings along the entire smoke tunnel. thus dispersing the smoke relative near to the ground in small amount.
kk prob dun touch on all this if not will be an essay liao..
went stella for dinner. pizza fiesta!
Day 3 (30/11/08)
Mekong delta! the life giver of HCMC.
2half hour on a mini bus to the jetty and a short boat ride to coconut island. where they made coconut candy and every other things out of coconut. the coconut candy when served hot is woohoo, super nice! but the cold harden version i won't comment on it..
transfer to a short bike trip down to another place for tea. mixed with honey. which is quite refreshing. my groupie had a chance to take photo with the local star.. a 2m long python! ha!
After the drink we transfer to a sampan along a small stretch of inlet there the locals use the oldest method known to man.. paddling to get us to the inlet opening where our boat was waiting for us, few of us got a chance to do the paddling.
went to Eagles' island which was in front of coconut island. there we had lunch which was erm.. 'nice' is hardly the word to use.They serve a fish call Mekong fish, they way they present is kinda hmz unique.. the fish was deep fried then made to stand the then help of 4 chopsticks.
There's hardly any eagles to see.. rather.. none.. boo
After lunch it's boat ride to another island for fruits.
like my friend phrase it.. "da chuan huan xiao chuan, xiao chuan huan da chuan"
this is really the case of swapping mode of transport to everyother place we visited.
and everyother places we visited we had something to munch on. it's liken to a food tasting trip
we had dinner at a corner shop(santa's corner i believe) totally a wrong choice bleahs. food not really that fantastic..
Day 4 (1/12/08)
Head out early to Notre Dame Cathedral. which looks like that actual Cathedral back in erm.. france?
Head to ngon for breakfast had a hard time explaining to the staff about our choice of food.
after breakfast we stroll over Reunification palace for some photos. decided against going in.
as it's not worth it to spend the money for half and hour..(they have a closing time and we are just half hour away form the closing time. the place i reckon would take about and hour or more the walk finish. )
went back to Ben Thanh market to do last min shopping. all of them are really putting in effort to spend the last of their Dongs.
not worth it to bring it back.. even though i would love to bring back some.. haha =\
Flight back to SG.
thanks to my wonderful groupie, consisting of cindy,verity,sherlyn and muyi.
who mange to hit a total shutter count of 2.2k of photos in a mere 4 day 3 night holiday.
for photos please refer to cindy's blog.. http://misscindylin.wordpress.com/
Vietnam(HCMC)
//revised\\
yes.. another back to back holiday str8 after aust.. hoho am totally enjoying my self spending silly...
well cindy was totally nice to get her dad down to yishun to pick me up so early in the morning.
reach airport just awhile after the rest. after check in we had breakfast at han's..
budget airport.. is really budget.. sheesh
i think vietnam airport even better then our budget...
upon arrival we hop onto the pre arranged taxi service with bring us to our hotel..
can't remember the name.. but the street address stays deeply in my head..
195 bui vien street dist 1.. haha a results of too many taxi rides. =x
Day 1 (28/11/08)
went for lunch at lemongrass, then head down to Ben Thanh market. it's basically like our wet market.. just super size it and divide it into 2 different sectors outer and inners. For outer sectors it's mainly souvenirs for inner sectors it's further divided into 4 major sections namely handicraft/food/clothes/bags.
after walking ard buying stuffs like cashew nuts and coffee, we went back hotel for a rest..
before head back to Ben Thanh Night Market which is like our pasa malum and that's where you will find all the Addias and Nike shirts.
went Ngon for dinner(marche style.. just that you order and they serve str8 to your table)
Day 2 (29/11/08)
Cu Cui tunnel and cao dai here we come. bus ride was about 3hrs? we visited the temple first just in time to catch the afternoon prayers. the origin of cao dia was quite interesting.. i can't remember anything the guide was talking about so can't really give a detailed explanation. it's made up of 4 different religion chrisitian,taoist, 2 other i can't remember.. went for lunch which was hmz.. i would say it's quite nice.. i knoe my tour mates will totally disagree with me.. haha it's basically steam rice top with really colourful veggies and the main dishes will be served on other plates. like i mention.. out of 5.. 4 gave bad review..
still trust my taste? haha
After the "outstanding" lunch we took another half hour bus ride to Cu Cui tunnel
Cucui tunnel was basically a tunnel system dug entirely by hand throughout the viet nam war. it's not dug by south or north but rather by the villagers themselves.
the tunnel system is one of the most impressive underground system ever built by human. consisting of 3 different levels. 2-3m 5-7m 8-10m underground. each some areas are big enough to hold a meeting in there. others are simply just small tunnel about .9m high and .6m across. but the one open to public was widen to allow tourist to enter in.
each tunnel system had their own defense system. for gas, flood, etc
they even have a smoke-less kitchen where by smoke will get re-routed into a small hole several meters away from the kitchen with lot of small openings along the entire smoke tunnel. thus dispersing the smoke relative near to the ground in small amount.
kk prob dun touch on all this if not will be an essay liao..
went stella for dinner. pizza fiesta!
Day 3 (30/11/08)
Mekong delta! the life giver of HCMC.
2half hour on a mini bus to the jetty and a short boat ride to coconut island. where they made coconut candy and every other things out of coconut. the coconut candy when served hot is woohoo, super nice! but the cold harden version i won't comment on it..
transfer to a short bike trip down to another place for tea. mixed with honey. which is quite refreshing. my groupie had a chance to take photo with the local star.. a 2m long python! ha!
After the drink we transfer to a sampan along a small stretch of inlet there the locals use the oldest method known to man.. paddling to get us to the inlet opening where our boat was waiting for us, few of us got a chance to do the paddling.
went to Eagles' island which was in front of coconut island. there we had lunch which was erm.. 'nice' is hardly the word to use.They serve a fish call Mekong fish, they way they present is kinda hmz unique.. the fish was deep fried then made to stand the then help of 4 chopsticks.
There's hardly any eagles to see.. rather.. none.. boo
After lunch it's boat ride to another island for fruits.
like my friend phrase it.. "da chuan huan xiao chuan, xiao chuan huan da chuan"
this is really the case of swapping mode of transport to everyother place we visited.
and everyother places we visited we had something to munch on. it's liken to a food tasting trip
we had dinner at a corner shop(santa's corner i believe) totally a wrong choice bleahs. food not really that fantastic..
Day 4 (1/12/08)
Head out early to Notre Dame Cathedral. which looks like that actual Cathedral back in erm.. france?
Head to ngon for breakfast had a hard time explaining to the staff about our choice of food.
after breakfast we stroll over Reunification palace for some photos. decided against going in.
as it's not worth it to spend the money for half and hour..(they have a closing time and we are just half hour away form the closing time. the place i reckon would take about and hour or more the walk finish. )
went back to Ben Thanh market to do last min shopping. all of them are really putting in effort to spend the last of their Dongs.
not worth it to bring it back.. even though i would love to bring back some.. haha =\
Flight back to SG.
thanks to my wonderful groupie, consisting of cindy,verity,sherlyn and muyi.
who mange to hit a total shutter count of 2.2k of photos in a mere 4 day 3 night holiday.
for photos please refer to cindy's blog.. http://misscindylin.wordpress.com/
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