Mostly we visited museums today.

(The person inside is fake. But he sure gave us a huge scare at first sight.)

We also ate at a noodle shop, Pho 2000.

We also watched a water puppet show, something which the Vietnamese are very proud of:

Everyone was either

1) Hyper

2) Suffering from headaches

or 3) Sleepy and irritated (me)

Thank God we got back to the hotel early. The dinner that night was absolute TOSH. Which translates to SHIT. We ate at the hotel restaurant, and it was air-conditioned. When we first went in, we all screwed up our faces. Guess why?

PEOPLE SMOKED INSIDE THE BLOODY RESTAURANT.

Most of the girls were complaining about the smell. I had to breathe through my shirt, and eventually got used to the disgusting smell. If I get lung cancer when I'm older, I'm gonna sue that restaurant.

Anyway. The food. We had rice, fish, pork, vegetables...typical Asian cuisine, actually. Except that the rice was kinda cold, the pork was far too chewy, the tea tasted like plain water, and as for the fish, when I tried to take a piece, a whole chunk of bones came with it. =_=

The room was one of the perks, though. There were two beds - a double and a single. I was rooming with Elfira and Jessica, and we all agreed to sleep together on the double bed, since it was quite big, and we're all fairly small.

Had a long chatting session with Elfira and Jessica, from about 10.45 to midnight, mostly about guys, then went to sleep.

Day 2 - 15th

Woke up at 6 a.m. (Vietnam time). Had breakfast, consisting of two plates of fried rice and four small buns (the plates are very small, so please don't think that I'm greedy. =_=)

Visited another museum, of which most of the things there were considered propaganda, because they were involving Ho Chi Minh (the man), and he strongly believed in communism, not democracy.

Then, we visited a Handicapped Handicrafts centre, where the people who make the ornaments that are sold are usually handicapped.

Quite nice, aren't they? I wanted to buy some coasters, but in the end I changed my mind.

Went to a restaurant, and we had to cross the road. The traffic on the streets are NUTS. There must be billions of motorcycles, because everytime we tried to cross, a whole cluster of motorbikes would have to stop and wait for us.

At the restaurant, we ate rice, fish, pork, vegetables and more pork. I was bored, so I played with some toothpicks:

Ah. I really missed you. ><

After that, we went to Nyugen High School (something like that). And WOW. When we stepped in, it was UBER-FREAKY.

EVERY SINGLE PERSON WAS STARING AT US.

I swear, we must've looked like aliens or something, 'cause they seemed like they've never seen another human being before. And they're not very different from us Singaporeans back in our school - there were the pai kias, the bimbos, the nerds...that kind of thing.

This uber-cutie caught my attention when he was speaking to us. Damn, he's really cute.

(PUHLEASE EXCUSE MY UGLINESS. I don't know what's up with my fringe. Ugh.)

We took an awful lot of photos together with the students, then we left.

For dinner:

We went on board a ship. Guess what was the food?

Rice, fish, pork, vegetables, meat, blah blah blah.

Moonlight.

There was this female performer who danced with fire. She wore a fancy bra top and mini-skirt and swallowed flames, ran them on her arms and body, and didn't get burned. Many of the guys stepped forward for a closer view. Figures.

Had yet another close-bonding discussion with Elfira and Jessica that night after we all bathed, then hit the sack at about 11.45 p.m.

Day 3 - 16th

We went on a 2-hour drive to Mekong Delta, which means I got to enjoy my music for at least 4 hours. ^^ so I was in a reasonably good mood.

Most people slept on the bus. I didn't.

Boat ride to one of the islands.

At the Mekong Delta, we went to a coconut-sweet kiln. There were lots of scary-looking potions around containing snakes and scorpions, sometimes both, in jars containing tonic water/whisky/some kind of alcoholic drink.

Went on a horse-carriage ride to a small part of the village. We went to this place and tried out some fruits and honey. The honey bottle attracted LOTS OF BEES. Yuck. The fruits were okay, but very sticky.

Then! Horror-time came...

For one of the men let out TWO PYTHONS, ALIVE, and asked us to pose for pictures WITH THEM!

I posed with Khai Yee , and she was holding the HEAD. Bloody brave of her. I was holding the tail, and it kept coiling around my arm. ><

Went back after a sampan trip, which was quite fun.

We drank some (very, very bitter) coffee at a coffee shop. Then went to dinner at a place called La Taverne. Classy.

The photo's not very good, but can you see the sculpture of the dog with a bone? Isn't it adorable? There are loads of other ones - alligators, swans, a mouse, etc.

Meal: rice, fish, chicken, pork, vegetables, soup. Sound familiar?

Went back to the hotel, bonding session again, slept.

Went to Orange Agent centre. It was really sad, I had to gear myself up emotionally before entering. The children there were handicapped, either emotionally or physically. We stood there and handed out biscuits to the kids. A young girl took my hand and we ran to the road where our tour bus was parked at. She was about to step on the sharp pebbles, but I pulled her back. I ran back to get my shoes, put them on, and carried her to see the bus. When I got back, I was called up to go usptairs and see the infants/children who couldn't walk or move on their own.

An adorable young boy looked at me. His smile nearly broke my heart. I walked through all the rooms, trying hard to keep a smile on my face.

I don't understand the use of biological weapons. Can't they see the effects they've left behind, a trail of poor small innocent children, who were born this way just for the bloody sake of gaining a chance to win in the war. This Orange Agent centre experience also showed me just how lucky I am, how we all are, to be born in Singapore, a small, but strong and secure nation.

Afterwards. We went to a museum about the war between the Americans and Vietnamese. Wow. The weapons that the Vietnamese constructed were VICIOUS.

We also crawled through underground tunnels. I think quite a lot of people were claustrophobic. I wasn't, but it wasn't a pleasant experience. There was one part where it was pitch black. I kept bumping my head into the walls and had to feel the path for myself.

Then, we went to Ben Thanh market.

I wanna cry when I recount this part.

Frankly, this place is a bloody tourist trap. Me, Elfira and Jessica made the huge mistake of walking into the clothing sections FIRST. We were conned out of a lot of money. It was only then when I was buying other things, and met up with other people, than I realized that I was cheated. Sigh.

I will post up my purchases at a later date.

I learnt to put on bo-liao, annoyed faces and to say a very blunt "No" to overly-persistent shopkeepers. The women at the clothing stores were scary. Truly scary.

Dinner: rice, fish, chicken, pork, soup.

Bonding session at the hotel with Jessica and Elfira. We all lamented about how quickly time flew, for it was our last night already.

Final Day - 18th

We went to Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park. I was really sleepy and nearly nodded off at the briefing. ><

Had lunch at the same restaurant as on Day 2, the 15th. I see no need in repeating the menu. =_= Basically, practically everything contained pork.

I swore to myself, I'm gonna eat nothing but Western food when I got back to SG.

On the plane, got a tad airsick. Slept for a bit. Woke up, ate some airplane food, touched down.

Checked both phones. Was very, very happy to receive so many messages and missed calls from so many people. ^^

Had dinner at Swensens, at the airport, then went home.

All in all, a great trip. I loved it. I only wish I could have wisened up a little and bought some bargains at the Ben Thanh market, instead of getting fleeced by the bloody shopkeeper.