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Red - My Route

Friday, September 18, 2009

Dalat

Map picture

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Arrived dead in the night again!

Unless you are an extremely patient person and has a butt of steel(literally). Do not take the hard seater of the trains in vietnam!!. By hard seat, they are REALLY hard!! like Wood hard! Even though the price is really cheap, its just not worth it.

14hours later, at 10pm. Arrive at nha trang to connect to dalat. The last bus for the day had left and i will have to catch the bus the next morning. During long endurance on the train, i promise myself to lie down comfortably on a nice clean bed after a hot shower. This is also where i paid the most a night of lodging.

Most expensive lodging award! Nha trang Prince hotel!

Nice hotel with air con, glass toilet, mini fridge and clean bed. All for just 10 USD. (actually i found out the next morning that i overpaid. But WHO CARES!! I needed it!

Plus i saved quite a bit staying with ivy the last week.

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My once and only stay in a hotel in my 7 months. Most expensive lodging award USD10!

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Wow clean glass toilet!

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Beautiful beaches

1 bus ride up to dalat. 6 hours later. Back to familiar grounds.

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A little coal, a wire mesh and some stools. All that you need to be an entrepreneur.

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Weird looking but tasty snack

My agenda for coming back is to attend my friend Hoa’s wedding.

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The wedding couple!

A typical wedding dinner in vietnam would have about 5-7 dishes. Surprisingly the customs is somewhat similar to that in Singapore as well. :D

Hao looked really pretty and happy on this day. Her family including her parents, sister and brothers were there.

Even though it was held in a 4 star hotel in dalat. The food however was average. even Uyen said so.There were about 15 tables in total.

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Uyen(i first met her and Hoa together while eating beef lungs at a motorcycle vendor) and her friend on her right

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Hoa’s Sister(R)

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Looks very much like a Singapore style wedding

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6 course Menu. LOOK at the 2nd last item.

STEWED PORK TONGUE

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Actually the wedding is very similar to what we experience in SG

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TADA! Pork tongue! EWW

I had planned to leave the next day but was convinced by my friends there to stay another day. I had travelled 500km all the way back here and would take another 500km to head to my next destination. In total that would be more than 20 singapore length!!

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Long distance bus again. –_-"

i was told i would reach my destination hoi an at 5am.

at 3.30am. I saw a familiar sight. DANANG 15km away. it means i overshot again!

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Arrive in Danang dead in the night again. Same time, same situation!!

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Bus sign.

Bus service hour: 5hour to 16hour

Frequency: 20 mins

Fare: 3000Dong/short trip?

             7000Dong/full trip?

Nope nobody teach me how to read :D

So i started walking, walking 2 hours till i reach the river bank and watch ladies shake booties.

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Waited till people start coming out for exercise

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Her food looked pretty good and even though i had a breakfast appointment with Ivy and Kat later, i couldn't resist not getting any

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Chicken with glutinous rice

Called and woke ivy and Kat up for breakfast.

and i am a bumpy rust decorated bus ride towards hoi an!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Danang Part 1

Map picture

Till now, it has been almost a month since i entered Vietnam. For a singapore passport, I am granted a free 30 days visa for Vietnam. So it means i have to leave Vietnam already! BOO HOO!! I am just half way through Vietnam!

BUT, they didn't say i cant come back in immediately huh?

So i played a little trick. I went to the Vietnamese border. Exit Vietnam, enter laos, exit laos and enter Vietnam again! Tada! 30 more days in Vietnam! The custom office at both sides were very puzzled gave me a puzzled look when i went from the arrival to departure counter.

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Hello Laos! - 5mins later- Bye Bye Laos!DSC01241

Arrival and departure in a day, neat trick to save additional visa fee and formalities

Land border there isn't like singapore and malaysia causeway in singapore which is very accessible. Over there, many times it is literally in the middle of nowhere. Remember my ordeal at the laos-cambodia border?

I was feeling lucky on that day and i decided to hitch hike my way out of there!

So after a motorcycle who drop me 2km in the middle of no where and a freezer van to a town that is not even listed in my map, i got stranded in Dak Glei, even my Vietnam friend didn't know where it is! I had friends who i am going to meet for the first time in Danang giving me encouragement during my wait. DSC01236

Somebody pick me up PLEASE!!

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Night was creeping close and i didn't want to sleep in a 1000 star hotel(i mean under) so i hop on a bus towards Hanoi(danang is on the way)

I told the person in charge that i wanted to drop in danang and he fell asleep. By the time he realized it, we were 15km away from where i want to be! Normally 15km is really not a big problem, considering a small country like singapore is just 45km. BUT it was 3.30am in the morning! There were so few transport!

Fortunately, i stopped what seem to be 2 friends who just came back from a drinking session and his friend actually got down and waited while the other guy send me into town. Phew! DSC01238

4AM, the streets were practically empty and i hitch hike once again!

I had a very very long day and i desperately needed a shower. I kept walking to look for a guesthouse. Ironically, a big city like Danang has very little of them. Fortunately i found 1 with a old man inside for a very good price of 60,000VND. When i went down to get my keys, his son(who spoke good english) came to me

"how long are you staying here?", I replied " 7 days maybe?".

"Just you alone?" he asked. "Yeah..."i answered with a puzzled look(thought there is a ghost behind me) " So how much do i have to pay?"

"usually is 80,000VND for 1 night, 1 week i give you 70,000VND"

*i was actually told 60,000VND/night already and i expected a longer stay to be cheaper*

Being extremely puzzled, he further explained.

"My father thought i would be staying just 1 night so he told you it is 60,000VND. In my motel, i usually charge 80,000VND for the day and there are many people who come and go....in 1 hour, you understand?"

"So how many days do you want to stay?"

Feeling dumb, i told him i will tell him tomorrow whether i am still staying. He already knew the answer.

Back in the room, i actually dug out my sleeping bag and lay it across the bed!

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Hour based "hotel" disguised as a guest houseDSC01240

Much needed breakfast. Danang speciality Mee Kuang

I met up with some couch surfers from Danang and told them about my adventure the day before and the dodgy motel. Fortunately IVY, one of the couch surfers offered to provide me lodging for my stay! WOO HOO!

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Better than a hotel, nice new toilet right beside my room :D

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My big comfy and PINK bed DSC01503

My pretty(she will kill me if i dont say this) host IVY!!!

Ivy brought me to meet 2 of her best longtime friends, kat and Sa. We had dinner and drinks along with conversations and laughter that lasted through the night. DSC01313

Her 11 years of best friend (but no discount on ivy's blogshop) KAT!

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A new way of marketing technique.

Want the terrible singer to go away? Buy candy from his assistant. –_-

The next day, i went to join another couch surfer for her English club session. The activities were very interactive and engaging, as i was the main english speaking person there, everybody came to me to practice their english. I have to say, they were pretty good.

Next, i was invited to join Nha, also a couch surfer in Danang English club (apparently they have a few there) and her family to visit a special exhibition for the city. A very special jade statue was in town and it was the last day. I asked to be the rider for the motorcycle and we zipped away to fetch her family.DSC01247

Swimming on her motorcycleDSC01248

Banh Cuon, another Vietnam delight everybody must try. Vietnam's own version of Chee chong funDSC01255

The sheer number of people was overwhelmingDSC01253

Many people with disability and handicaps were there selling and asking for money. Nhu's mum deliberately changed a BIG stack of change to give out. A good act of kindness, but are we really helping them?DSC01260

This is the big WHO HA everybody came for. Apparently it traveled from Thailand, well so did i.. :D

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Nhu with her Mum, grandfather, cousins and her couch surfer

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I looked kinda silly here! HAH

Later in the day we picked up Aline, Yen's couch surfer from Switzerland and fab (yet another english club member) and went for sightseeing.

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Me, Yen, Nha, Aline, Fab

We all know there are many religions on earth. Do you know one of them originated from Vietnam?

Cao Dai is a local religion and has very interesting beliefs. Why? look at this picture and tell me who you see.

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From left, Muhammad, Laozi, Jesus, Buddha, Confucious

" 10,000 religion one belief"

So this is kind of like a rojak religion where everything is incorporated. I am not a religious person so google it if you want to know more.

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The Cao Dai symbol, the spherical divine eyeDSC01275

Curious minds about the religionDSC01281

And we were invited to view the prayer session

3rd day in danang is devoted to my host who took special care of me. We went on a foodie tour around danang with me riding and her giving directions.

Note* if you ride her around. She will tap your right shoulder and shout " LEFT,LEFT" and vice versa.DSC01296

Fish cake noodle. Much better than the ones in singapore,cheaper tooDSC01297

Sink into a coffee house and "Niop" (Gathering and chit chatting session with friends) about everything under the sun with my pretty host IVYDSC01306

Vietnam's royal rice cake series

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Rice cake 1

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Rice cake 2

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Rice cake 3

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Rice cake 4

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Rice cake 5

Got to know her a lot better, about her life, her family, her boyfriend, life in Vietnam and the problems and limitations youths face in Vietnam. Singaporean are in fact very lucky, we have the chance and opportunity for good education and chase after our dreams with nothing holding us back. In Vietnam, everything you do is met with adverse obstruction and it really takes a great deal of determination to break through it.

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The infamous duck fetus egg! They only set up stalls near dark places and use only candles. No prize for guessing why

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Atmospheric sculpture near the riverDSC01308

Ivy and friends and Danang english club buddies!! My greatest assets in danang

Time to head back to Dalat for my wedding invitation!