Monday, September 17, 2007
●● My Chronicles, Vietnam ●●
Hanoi, Vietnam Labels: Travel-tales, WORKwork
Noi Bai International Airport is a tad gloomy and dimly-lit. Rather Marxism, the man in green and red was pacing up and down, and staring intently at us queuing to get our little red passports stamped.
On our way out, the streets of Hanoi are filled with farm-like paddy fields. The inner city is bustling with motorbikes weaving past one another, and honking away. But it looked run-down, and very 1960s.
With the old french feel, Hanoi's rather rustic and i really have to say, my Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday were uber fruitful.
Thursday 06/09/2007
On arrival, we checked in at Hanoi Horison Hotel. Our hosts, Ben and Linh, went all the way out to try to show us around. I even had one traditional Vietnamese costume made.
Resembling our Chinese's Cheongsam, the Vietnamese's Áo dài is really made to fit and engenders femininity.
"The most popular style of the Áo dài as we see it today is tight-fitting around the wearer's upper torso, emphasizing her curves. For this reason, the Áo dài, while it covers the whole body, is said to be provocative, especially when it is made of thin or see-through fabric."
wow.
So i had the luxury of owning one tailored-made Áo dài to myself :) The whole process was considerably fun, except for the occasional feelings of arising awkwardness when the tailor lady was touching me all over.
Conjointly, after my first taste of Vietnamese's Phở beef noodles at Nisa Restaurant (named after Ben's daughter Nisa), we went exploring the streets of Hanoi.
These Vietnamese are amazing. They can just squat and eat, just sleep on narrow dark and dirty streets, honk their ways around and drive crazily as they like. Coming from an obsessively clean, beautiful and orderly country, I have to really raise two hands and admit that I'm grossly culture-shocked and guiltily over-pampered.
There were rows and rows of shoes, clothes, silk, ties, handcraft shops. The funniest part of it all is that if there's a shop selling shoes, many consecutive shops are also doing the same!?! And this pattern repeats for almost every item i saw e.g. this entire row will be selling clothes, the next row will be selling silk and so on and so forth.
I mean, hello?!, isn't business going to be darn difficult and competitive if you all are selling similar items? I really don't understand their mentality. Perhaps they really do love each other. Communistic.
We went exploring their night life too! Madness, their clubs, pubs and bars shut at 12midnight. So it means that if you are drinking and probably starting to get high, i'm very sorry but you will have to leave. Funny people :D
Friday 07/09/2007
We headed to the Hanoi office. Danang Phuong pillioned me alongside the streets of Hanoi to collect our Áo dài. IT WAS HELL SCARY! Their style of driving: One word, Crazy. The fleet of motorbikes honk at each other, 'cutting lanes' on any impulses, or even doing a sudden as-they-like U-turn in the middle of the road.
Best part is that they don't have much traffic lights (it's considered once-in-a-blue-moon whenever i see one). So they stop in the midst of a busy traffic or move in any directions as they wish. *faints*
And when the docs arrived, we had a quick buffet at the hotel before the seminar. The turnout was huge! We all worked VERY hard :) Surprisingly, a lot of Vietnamese thought i was one of them. My Áo dài seems to have its effects!
I've picked a word or two! 'Xin Chao' (hello) and 'Cam on' (thank you)! Uber fun!
Saturday 08/09/2007
It was a draggy and tiring day. Woke up at 5am to prepare for the morning consultations and counselling. The whole day was action-packed with speeches for manulife and unicef, interview at VTC tv station, visiting patient at his lavishly designed house and mushroom dinner with local radiologists. After which, we even proceeded for jacuzzi and massage at Thu Cuc Exotical Spa. How should I describe the spa.. hmmm... i love the pebble-filled design of its bath area. Awesome. She really kneaded away my aches. That night, I simply concussed.
Sunday 09/09/2007
Morning was a total drag. I almost didn't want to wake up at 5am again for the consultations and counselling. Right afterwhich, we rushed our way to the airport and flew back to Singapore all tired and worn out. So exciting lor but it's a real pity that i didn't get to explore as much as i would love to.
In short, Hanoi is sylvan and cultural, enriched with a tinge of unpolished old-french beauty. If you love histories and admiring structures, Hanoi's definitely for you. But if you're thinking of shopping and luxuries, to me, Hanoi's not up to the current standards yet. Developing, and definitely more to come.
Most importantly, I love the people in Hanoi.
Ben, Linh & Nisa, Dr Tinh, Phuong, Lien, Thao, Chi, Thu, Ngoc, Khuong & Phuong, Hoang. Fabulous team :)
❤❤❤ ❤❤❤ ❤❤❤
Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon, Vietnam
"Hmmm.. Quite brightly lit."
This was my first thought when i entered Tan Son Nhat International Airport. Rather modernised, as compared to its counterpart Hanoi. However, it's quite bare, absolutely lacking in shopping facilities unlike my all-time-fave Changi. *so patriotic!*
This trip to HCMC wasn't as tiring because of the simplicity of the planned programme. No fanciful tricks.
Thursday 13/09/2007
On arrival, we checked into New World Hotel and decided to try French cuisine. We landed ourselves in the posh Khaisilk. It's absolutely extravagant fine dining, beautifully styled with such luxuriant decor right from its gate, spiral stairs and to its dining hall. Expensive.
Dim lights. Pretty chairs. French soup with yummy-licious crust. Grilled medium rare steak topped with my fave asparagus. Ice cube dessert lined with whisky. Plush wine glasses. Humongous pepper dispenser. I think i've fallen in ❤ with frenchies. Absolutely romantic.
We ended the night with a live performance by the Philippinos at the bar at New World. zzz.
Friday 14/09/2007
We made our way to the office, where i've met Dr Nghi, Lan, Chao, Trang and Duong. Duong is the cutest girl ever, also 22, we named her black beauty. She's my sunflower lady :) love her!! ❤❤❤
It was rainy, and we relaxed ourselves in Chy Spa, located at one of the alleys alongside the roads. Rather quaint, i love my masseur Dyan too. The rain was pattering outside, with the looping soft music and her fantastic skills, the pressure points were slowly kneaded away. My neck and shoulder's a total killer. After showering, we went to meet our docs for a dinner at Yoshino, absolutely authentic and Japanese. Well, guess that's why it's priced at US $50 for a set.
Poor us, after dinner, the docs all went clubbing or massages, but the rest of team-hard-labor were packing goodies bags and bumble bees like factory workers :)
Saturday 15/09/2007
The whole process was quite a mess, it's no wonder boss was hopping mad. Kai and I had to do our best to salvage and rectify the arising issues. oops oops.
We went for seafood dinner at a palace-like place. Too sumptuous, lobsters, oysters..
:( not my kind of food. Rather pompous. Anyway, all of us went clubbing at 17 and Gossip Club! Heavy smoking, very-dirrty-dancing and doing drugs.
*quite havoc! for a conservative country*
Sunday 16/09/2007
After sending the docs off, we sauntered off to Ben Thanh market to experience the Ho-Chi-Minh lifestyle!
Rather touristy and commercialised. Lots of fakes -_- and the girls are excellent at pestering tourists to buy their stuffs. C-L-I-N-G-Y! 死缠烂打 technique. Well, it's sweltering HOT in there. VERY VERY HOT!! Can melt. So, such combination can really irritate.
And, "Louis Vuitton", "Prada" and "Coach" are everywhere!?! Probably the owners of these brands will vomit blood and die there. Anyway, I had tonnes of fun :) gotten myself some cds and a bag too!
Absolutely enjoyed my Vietnam trips despite working like a mad cow. A real eye-opener to a developing nation's culture and beauty!