More and more letters piling up on the AO's desks...More and more happy faces seen upon adding to the collection of letters..
On the Flip side, more uneasy feelings among those who play no part in the letter collection process..
My Fav character from Bleach!!He is so damn COOL and POWERFUL!! Love his Zanpaktu - Cherry Blossom...so cool!! And Extremely Good-Looking!!
Which Bleach Character are you??
You are Ichigo. all your friend look up to you, and you will stop at nothing to complete the goal that is set in front of you. sometimes you think too highly of yourself and dont realize what you have gotten yourself into until it is too late. Keep up the hard work and u'll have great friends till the end.
Take this quiz at
Ok, not fair, cos they do not have Kuchiki Byakuya as one of the options...
That is me with uncle Ho Chin Minh statue
Nice quote (note the grammatical errors). I want to live by this quote! The quote says "All The Peoples on Earth are equal. Each people has the right to life, happiness and liberty"
Could not see the body, but at least at a picture of the Mausoleum
That's my itinery for the day. Went for my last Vietnamese meal before I set off to the airport by the minibus, which costs US$2 per trip.
Another foolish incident happened. I checked out of my hostel without claiming my items in the safe! Yes, how foolish. I walked all the way (10 minutes walk) to the minibus station, boarded the bus, and 5 minutes into the journey, I realised I forgot my safe! All my identification cards, credit cards and important documents were inside! So I had to alight by the roadside, took the motorbike (for 10,000 VND) back to my hostel to claim my items. No time to catch the 2nd minibus as I would be late for my flight. Had to catch a taxi to the airport instead. Waste of money but oh well, I couldn't possibly leave my things behind!
Met two French guys on a holiday travelling back to Singapore before flying back to Paris - Benjamin and Jerome. They were two really fun people! Typical French - Loud. Haha. Really funny pair of guys, kept me entertained throughout the flight and the waiting time.
Flight back to Singapore was FULL. But it arrived on time, and I missed the last MRT. And it is HOme Sweet Home..
Exciting and interesting 2 weeks! I am so going to do it again! And I have gotten so much tanner (or darker as some would prefer to put it) Yes, even my indian client says I'm now darker than her!
For more pictures, please visit my online photo album at www.dianshan.shutterfly.com (the link is also provided on the left under "LINKS")
What's up next year? I have so many options in my mind
1) Germany (Or in general Europe, yet again)
2) South East Asia
3) Mongolia-China-(Maybe) South East Asia
4) Tibet
Pretty interesting places yar..Any interested parties?? This has got to take at least 1 month or even 2!
Met a Singaporean couple on the trip. The guy had been travelling for 3months (around China, Tibet, and SouthEast Asia) and he had quit his job before he started his journey. Met a Scotish guy - Steve, who had been travelling for 6 whole months! And he is going to continue his travels till the end of the year. WOW! Anyway, he is going to start his own business - A travel agency in Scotland. Next time when I go Scotland, I'll get free accomodation and tour! If anyone is going to Scotland, drop me a note. I can get him to bring you guys around or recommend places to go (probably at a discounted rate)
Went to visit the caves, stopped for a dip in the water and kayaking. The weather was really good, bright sun for the trip. We were so lucky! The day before, it was raining almost all day long! Sat on the top deck to await for the sunset. Real beautiful!
Just as the sun set, everyone decided to jump into the water! I did as well..after much hesitation. It was fun, almost like committing suicide, only not landing on ground. Swam our way towards the neighbouring boats and back. The water was a little cold and not very clean, but whatever! Overnight stay on the boat.
Did not manage to capture me jumping off the deck. This is me in the water after the jump
Swimming towards the neighbouring boat
Drama unfolded the next day. A lot of people were unhappy with the tour package as it was not as promised to them when they booked through some other agencies. Well the thing in Hanoi is, alot of the tour agencies promise more than what is to be offered. They sell the tours but they do not organise them. Another company does. So some of the people onboard were not happy that they did not go to places as promised. We were supposed to go to a floating market the 2nd day but did not as the boat captain refused the request. A huge argument followed with the boat captain and passengers shouting at each other. It was rather chaotic. The French guy spat on the money he used to pay the boat captain as he was really pissed off with the whole arrangement. The guide was the poorest thing in the whole saga. He had no control over the itinery. He was only following instructions from the company and also had to follow the boat captain's orders. In the end, a complain was lodged with the company and they agreed that they were in the wrong. Steve went to settle the complain and he got a refund of US$6! Damn it, I should have followed him. But overall the trip was alright. Beautiful scenery of the Bay. Word of advice, go for the more reputed agencies. Pay more and you get more and better service.
Surfed the night away. What to do, I love my Internet and MSN chatting. Last night in Hanoi and last night of my 2 weeks getaway :(
Went for a walk around Hanoi city. The beautiful Hoan Kiem Lake is just 5minutes walk from the hostel.
One thing to note in Hanoi -- Zebra crossings are UseLess!! The motorbikers are oblivious to the fact that zebra crossings are drawn on the road surface. It takes skills to cross the road. You have to avoid the cars and motorbikes (not the other way round) and do not hesitate to cross the road, else you will never get to the other side.
Hanoi has a sort of old quarter charm. Everything is not so modern, even the buildings are a little run-down. Very different from the noisy and bustling city of Bangkok. It gets a little boring after a day or two.
Walked to the bridges - Long bien and Chuong Duong Bridges that connect Hanoi with the other island. It was a REALLY LONG walk. I think it took at least 40 minutes, but I persevered on. The view there was AMAZING!
Paddyfields. View from the Long Bien Bridge
This is the Chuong Duong Bridge
Went shopping at the local wet market for my dinner. Spent S$2 for the grocery (just bought vegetables). The locals LOVE their French baguettes. These are sold everywhere on the streets.
The hostel is great, especially for its free internet service. Surfed my time away at night after dinner.
A dress, a skirt, a bikini, a backpack, Boots products, pork floss sticks.
Got bored walking around Chatuchak and went to get a Henna done for 200 Baht. Pretty cool yar.
Went to the night bazaar at Lumphini to do some more shopping.
I must say Bangkok has changed ALOT since my last visit. There are shopping centres EVERYWHERE!! It is so much like Singapore. Every MRT station has a shopping centre next to it. It has become so much busier and crowded.
The thing about being tan..I got mistaken for a Thai EVERYWHERE in Bangkok, and even Chiangmai! People will just start speaking to me in Thai, and I would just stare at them. Only when I replied "what?" will they realise I am not Thai! Haha..
Oh, and the hostel I stayed in - Bangkok Hostel at Sukhumvit Soi 23. It is a new hostel, just 2mths old when I moved in. The good thing - i was the only one in my dorm. So I paid 290B for 1 bed, and ended up having the whole room of 8 beds to myself! Haha how great right! Anyway the hostel is pretty good. The staff is nice and breakfast included (normal toast and eggs). Just a note though: The dorm has no air-conditioning unless 3 people are staying over. So yupz, I did not have air-con, only a fan, but it was alright as it was not hot or stuffy. It should get busier as time pass. It has double and triple room as well!
Total damage in Bangkok : About 3,500 Baht (equivalent to about S$150+). Yes, Bangkok is evil.
1st itinery for our last day is the elephant ride!45 minutes on the elephants who were walking all around, tearing down tree trunks and leaves on the way. One particular elephant went bizzare and scared the shit out of the siblings on it. The elephant just went climbing up a hill to grab leaves!
After the elephant ride, it time for Adventure! Whitewater rafting! This is our group photo, us in life jackets and bright coloured helmets. From left: Jake, Jeff, Shelly, Michel, Dave, Paul, Judith, Me, Hanna and Oz.
The rafting was SHORT, way too short, only half an hour and not Exciting enough. Well, there are better waters for rafting elsewhere in the world. Went for a short bamboo rafting before we had our lunch of pad thai. Then, it was back to Chiangmai, end of the adventure.
Went walking around Chiangmai, visiting the temples in the late afternoon under the sweltering heat.
This is Wat Chedi Luang.
This is Wat Prasingh. The little monks are all seated inside the temple chanting.
This is Wat Boopparam.
After a while, all the temples looked the same. Oh well, what's a trip to Chiangmai without visiting the temples.
Went to the night bazaar to shop around. Nothing much interested me, 'cos I will be heading to Bkk the next day. Could not buy too many things at my 1st stop. Went for a short foot massage to heal my aching legs from the 3D trekking.
Had a quiet candlelight dinner (i mean it literally). After dinner, we sat around the fire playing cards (Yanneth or something that sounds like that) taught by the Israelies in our group - Shelly, Oz and Michel. Fun card game and I must say I must had been real lucky to win the game. Everyone went to bed early, snoozing off in our room by around 9pm.
My first ever night out at the villages. It was like back to the olden days with no electricity or fan. Candles or torchlights were the only source of light. It was kinda cool to live this kinda life once in a while. The toilet was outside of the hut, and due to the lack of light, everyone did not drink water after dinner so that we did not have to wake up in the middle of the night and walk down to the toilet. I would like to try this kinda life again..
So alot of people are amazed by my great plan, how seamless it is.
So here I go. My 1st ever blog on my travels. Maybe I'll do one for Russia, back track a little. I'll see how it goes after I complete this.