Whatever Things 2.

Fark... Had written an entry full of angst about this fucker on the train who was just so effing inconsiderate. Blinking idiot. But decided not to post in full description as might have repercussions.

I saw a little girl who suffers from Down Syndrome today. Wasn't the first time of course that I had seen someone who suffers from it or someone who is less fortunate in another way. But then I couldn't explain the feeling that came from within...if i could put it in words it felt like my heart was wrenching. Like how you would squeeze a wet towel or cloth dry. And then my mind drew a blank and I couldn't think anymore for a few moments.

On Ch8 news, they reported that a lady took all the trouble to travel all the way from her home to the red cross HQ to donate her daily household expense of $10 to those who suffered recently in Indonesia. Nothing big, really cannot be considered a candy but I was just so humbled by that gesture. Puts me to shame really...

School is pretty fun so far, amidst fears of being unable to adapt after 2 years, everything should be good to go. Glad I made the choice of this place.. seems a good one so far.

I hate my mum's work, makes me wanna just earn all the money in the world so she can get out of her job and enjoy life. I may be 21 and all adult and manly but yes I'm my mummy's boy and proud of it.

I watched Singapore Idol and cannot help but feel for the contestants [no matter how much I don't like some of them] when they give a bad performance[and they know it] and everyone knows just what Ken Lim is going to comment. Truth be told, it hurts, and some have probably overstayed like some prepubescent hopefuls. And I think sometimes Singaporeans need that slap in the face, me included recently, so thanks coach for telling me straight in the face "you suck!" Unpleasant no doubt but surely something to reflect and improve upon. Eating humble pie wholeheartedly, willingly & unreservedly is indeed a rare and fast-disappearing skill in today's world.

Recently there has been a insatiable urge/craving for charkwayteow, stingray, laksa, all the potentially fatal food rich in poison. Screw the inflamed throat and doritos nachos that caused this.

Whatever Things.

Sports Camp was easily the most fun camp I had ever been to in terms of pure unadulterated, free and easy fun. Not those kind where you have to strictly adhere to instructions, being bossed around type of camps. So many things I tried the first time like archery, dragon-boating, running around singapore, going up on a hot-air balloon and trying to pick mealworms up with my tongue and lips. Those were enjoyable times.

We played out 3rd match on Sunday and though we won 6-3, it definitely wasn't a good game for the team and for myself. I assisted one pretty early on and scored another but you know you're having a bad day when you just feel lousy after that. Back in JC hockey, I would have shouted and outburst at every mistake or bad move. Trying very hard to curb such behaviour on court these days and I have indeed changed alot. However almost there is always almost never good enough as I've learnt time and again. I've been lucky enough to tasted the sweetness of sporting success in the fraternities that I've been associated with. In sec2 we won the 'C' Div Badminton Nationals, in JC we beat every traditional powerhouses in hockey only to lose to RJ in the finals after throwing away a 2-0 lead, in the army 3Div went against the odds to get 3rd with the limited pool of players we had. Those what-ifs and close shaves have been aplenty and the journeys to the end have always been frustrating. But that's what makes me addicted to sports and playing competitvely in team games because after a bad day or a dip in form you know the only way the curve will go is up and when you triumph against your internal demons you know you become stronger and the feeling is exhilarating and empowering. I may not have played at a national-team level but even at the humble stages that I've participated in, I do feel all these emotions each and every single time. Wasn't too pleased with the way I trained yesterday as well, just simply lost and lost focus after the second half. Many fail because of pride, thinking they're good, good enough or too good for others. For me I fail because of my own expectations and weight on my shoulders. It is something that I am slowly trying to let go or reduce.

I saw a butterfly flying around the plants at my balcony just now and somehow it had a calming effect on me at that instant and put a smile on my face. It was as though at that point in time someone out there knew what I was feeling and sent a butterfly to take away all the negative ions that I've been harbouring since the bad game on Sunday.

Yesterday I passed my advanced theory test, way overdue since I passed basic theory a week after my A-levels in 2003. Apart from seeing no hurry in getting a license as well as not having enough money to go for lessons, I hope that knowing how to drive or having a car is not a prerequisite for a lady to love me.

Yesterday during training coach was alluding the way a guy was playing to frying char kway teow and on the spot I imagined walking up to a hawker and asking him:"Uncle Char Kway Teow ji bua, ham zuay zuay, neng kor mai hiam." Before training I took a piece of Doritos Nachos from Farhan to snack and I did not remember it tasting that good ever before.

Next Stop: Da Lat - The central highlands region of Vietnam.

Last night I was typing this exact same entry and I had the whole thing lost on me. Well it isn't the usual click send but did not publish, neither was it because i accidentally deleted it. How high are the chances for you to be doing an entry and a blackout occurs in your house?

Our 3rd day of adventure continued here but with a bad experience because the coach arrived a few hours late, which deprived us quite an amount of precious daylight time to visit and jump in some natural waterfalls or take in the sights of some museums, lakes, pagodas & visiting some ethnic minority people at the outskirts of Da Lat more into the highlands region per se. So basically majority of the pics were taken at the miserable largely man-altered Cam Ly waterfalls where we camwhored the most. If there was any single biggest regret in the whole trip, it probably has to be choosing Da Lat as a stop over the lovely, romantic & serene Mui Ne that has sand dunes to boast. If you liek Genting Highlands, you'll probably enjoy Da Lat.

Da Lat, based on what I read and hear from the Vietnamese, is the most popular honeymoon spot in Vietnam, I think largely credited to the fact that the temperatures here are cool & chilly, a vast difference from other hotter regions of Vietnam during summer. There is an Eiffel Tower replica near the post office and we also took a photo with a sculpted plant deco modelled Eiffel Tower. You can probably explore the option of going on daytrips around Da Lat on the back of the 'Easy Riders', who're a bunch of well-informed bikers cum tourguides who operate out of their own motorbikes. Price is negotiable and they'll have their notebook of testimonials from happy and satisfied tourists as a testament of their good service and a good time for you.

Pics taken on the bus, en route to Da Lat and during the stopover where we had our lunch.

Nice architecture.

Some of my favourite moments in Da Lat. A very helpful roadside stall owner, not only helping us with directions and finding a waterfall that we wanted to visit but also became translator for us to our bikers. Doesn't your heart melt when you see that cute little girl peering from the embrace of her mum? | A plant sculpture modelled after the Eiffel Tower. | Their colourful market. | Her colourful stall & her very cute daughter that I still miss till today.

Cam Ly Waterfalls. Our one only single miserable thing that we did in the touristy sense.

The adventures @ Cam Ly, scenes of waterfalling, small streams running, posing with their fake animal ambassadors & looking cute at every other time a chance is presented.

Luckily Da Lat saved itself with some nice food. The vegetarian stall that we had our dinner at was simply lovely, and the stall helper just totally being the best, most hospitable and friendly host the Vietnamese Tourism Board will be proud to hear. And below the hot & diabetically-sweet dessert that we had for the cold night certainly warmed our hearts back in hotel room.

Camwhoring on the bike as usual and the vast expanse of scenery from our room.

Time permitting, we would have had a better time here. Next up starts the hedonism.

Saigon a.k.a Ho Chi Minh City - The Southern most of Vietnam.

I will be posting up photos of the Vietnam trip in the sequence of the places we layed our foots on. So first up, Ho Chi Minh City, where our plane landed. It is a city with lots of traffic, esp. motorbikes, not that there is less at other parts of Vietnam. You can feel that it is modernising(we saw the one and only KFC outlet throughout our whole tour here) or trying hard to modernise, with a well-established backpacker street in Pham Ngu Lao and the number of pubs with very westernised infrastructure. However you can also feel that it is straddled in between striving for modernity as well as yearning to keep its hidden old-school charm that is Saigon. We're glad to start from South up north instead of the other way round as it gave us a good enough impression of Vietnam to kickstart the trip. Backpacker hotels are aplenty and cheap, almost side by side one another, never a lack of choice or shortchanging of value, just whether you want to bargain anot with the already very acceptable price. $8-10USD/night gets you satellite TV, hot shower water & aircon, pretty decent and very much akin to what you'd get almost throughout the whole Vietnam. Access to internet is available at these hotels but of course the fee is sidecharged. Still very very manageable given the power of the Sing Dollar. Makes you cherish what our forefathers and leaders, old and new have done to bring Singapore to where we are today. Ok enjoy the pics.

At the cross junction near our hotel looking good. | Quirky streetside foodstalls selling foods you can never imagine of and have to look at how the locals eat them to guide your first virgin foray into their local cuisine. | Just to show the amount of traffic in the background. Horns from motorbikes, cars, vans, trucks & every imaginable vehicle are incessant & never-ending & continuous & ubiquitous. Get the idea? | They have many good artists there too. Pity I din check out the Marilyn Monroe PopArt piece.

Pho Bo, our staple almost, in Saigon - Lonely Planet calls it "The breakfast that built the nation." | Local footballers - Nguyen Boon Ash & Phan Tranh Jasp buying their Jerseys at a stall at Ben Thanh Market, kinda like our Bugis Street? | Sporty Vietnamese in their element in the parks. They play sports like no one's business, even capteh(and they're fucking skilled in this game).

Perhaps arguably the best and my favourite part of Saigon, going on the Cuchi Tunnels tour. Where else can you find a reaching-elderly age Guide who's full of enthusiasm, wit, humour & sincerity, a hot chick from England, narrow tunnels to give your quadriceps a good workout & at the same time making sense of what you learnt for the Vietnam War during 'A' Levels. Sell-out combination I must say!

At the War Remnants Museum. I'm pointing to the 1st Logistical Command, and hell NO am I endorsing or supporting the War that never should have occurred. Here you can read on the atrocities of war, get a brief facts & figures, see famous pictures like the one you see with the naked little girl. If you did not know, that's the most famous picture to have come out of the Vietnam War. Everything I learnt just seemed to fall into place and made sense once i visited the tunnels and stepped inside here. And there you see Uncle Ho in a bust.

Desserts at roadside stall. | Local Capteh player teaching HB to do a reverse behind supporting leg kick. | Easily the best pork chop I have eaten in my life at Kim Cafe, heaven;y onions and garlic flavours! | Us with the guy who taught us a trick or two, in the end we each bought a capteh from him. | Watching soccer at a roadside coffeeshop/pub with the locals. | Idiot cuttlefish seller inflated the price of his cuttlefish but nice pic here. | Isn't this life? Cheap booze and enjoyment. | Our Onitsukas lookalikes for $4.50SGD. Our Vietnamese friend at the hotel got his for $5 bucks, how about some Singaporean bargaining la.

Not Europe but Notre Dame Cathedral, yes in Vietnam, HCMC. | The Central Post office that was a cross between a train station & a church in my opinion. It was beautiful... | Postcard for you Mum! :)

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Bro on a bike, cheap shit. | My god, our pork chops...Thankfully we obediently followed the recommendations of Lonely Planet(not always though). | Green bean ice & Cheng Tng, Vietnam style. | With Duong, our hospitable host at the hotel and Tim, a friend from UK we watched soccer with at the hotel.

Surely there is more to HCMC, but we had a schedule and had to fit in other places so the primary reason of time constraint made us have to reconsider some places to visit. And some places that we wanted to visit had closed by the time we arrived so plan your routes when there & read up to see which can be visited at a later time. Other highlights in HCMC include:

- Mekong Delta Tour, Ho Chi Minh Museum, Museum of Ho Chi Minh City, Reunification Palace, a few beaches & pagodas.

Back from Vietnam - The Hidden Charm.

I was back on the 20th June, albeit with pangs or cries of unwillingness. It was my maiden, virgin, first, debut backpacking trip ever even though i've travelled further and to more countries in other continents but nahh...never once did I act like a virgin.

We had so many experiences money cannot buy, from doing things out of the usual beaten path, to getting culturally involved with the locals, mingling amongst them in the sea and doing things they did, with them. Flexibility, spontaneity, going with the flow were the ideals that conceptualised this trip and shaped how the trip turned out throughout the 13 days.

Photos of course aplenty but really don't know where to start from. Images and experiences like the ones we had, surely money cannot buy, and though i stopped keeping a diary of the day's events after 2 days, what's kept inside our heads and hearts will also definitely stay with us forever. I also really cannot start to describe what we went through one by one. Many great times were also due in part no less to the people - the locals, the local tour guides on the tours, the kids selling pineapples on the beaches of Hoi An, fellow backpackers from other countries and backpackers from other countries who're living in Singapore and also singaporeans(Singaporeans!)

I will go back again for sure for some unfinished business, as you see, nothing will always up as rosy as the bed of roses you see in orchards and gardens. We had bad experiences and gripes and regrets and some places unvisited due to lack of time. Luckily ultimately the good time we had still tipped Vietnam into our good books. And we'll strongly recommend it for anyone to have a genuine good experience. Photos soon hopefully and fishing tmr till sat. WooHoo.

Right at our shores before departure at CIA - Changi Int'l Airport for the less-informed. The 2 backpacker brothers - Ashley Oh Han Boon & Jasper Ang Cheng Zhi.

More to come of these 2 goodlookers soon. Yes yes you got to be patient. Like a good friend always says," Good things comes to those who wait." muacksz.