We had to wake up VERY early in the morning because we must be at Kim Travel by 7.30am to take the bus that'll bring us to Mekong River.
It was raining VERY heavily. Hmm...
We had a quick breakfast (hee..Scrambled eggs with French bread... Yummy!) and made our way to the cafe, only to be told that... THE MEKONG RIVER TRIP'S CANCELLED! Typhoon Durian had made its way to Mekong River and for safety considerations, the Mekong trip's cancelled. So, we would be going to CuChi Tunnel instead.
So, we went back to our hotel... rested for a while... about 15 minutes... and we went back to Kim Cafe again...
Hmm... we got onto the bus and saw that the three of us are the only black-hair Asian around. The rest are Caucasians. The first stop was a handicraft centre for the handicap where some of the physically-inpaired Vietnamese learned some handicraft skills and made handicraft items for sale. The three of us were exactly attracted by the handicrafts. We explored the centre and found a rickshaw! Guess what we did? The corny-ness in us welled up and we began taking corny photos again! Haha...
We got back onto the bus and took our seats again. This time, we had 4 additions. Asians! One of them sat beside me, and his lady friend took the seat in front of Jasmine. They spoke! Ah... Korean!
We slept on our way to CuChi tunnel (for Singaporeans to travel in Vietnam, everywhere's far away... Ha...). When I woke up just as we were reaching our destination, the rather cute Korean guy beside me turned and asked "Hi... Where are you from?" And from there, the three of us started engaging in conversation with him. His name is Mun Soo and he doesn't really speak very good English and I think we were sometimes talking too fast for him to comprehend us. Haa...
Anyway, we finally are there! CuChi tunnel! It's amazing how the Vietnamese peasants actually lived in these places!
We were first shown a spider-hole... small small hole! And then a fox-hole... small hole! Gosh... we were just joking that we now know why Vietnamese are so slender. If you're fat, you won't be able to get into the holes!
We were shown an entrance to the tunnel (a hole) and when covered by a piece of board, you won't even know that it existed! It's amazing! Really! The guide invited us to try getting into the hole and have a feel... so I gave it a try. Was initially worried that I won't be able to 'squeeze' myself into the hole.. but hey, I got in with no problem! Mun Soo's friend climbed down the hole too and Mun Soo actually stood on top of the board! Haha... So funny!
Then we were shown the different traps that the Vietnamese peasants 'specially prepared' for their enemies. It's simply "wow! wow! wow!" all the way for me. They simply used bamboo and wood to make all those booby traps! They're so ingenious...
The video that we watched upon arrival said "[the peasants] are not fighting for the Communist Viet Cong and the communist ideals. They are fighting to protect their own land and their family" It is the love for their beloved ones that keeps them going.
Indeed, LOVE is what motivates them to live through those VERY DIFFICULT times and to come up with all those ingenious ideas. :)
We continued our conversation with Mun Soo once back on the bus. And man! Guess what? He is one of Confucious' (many) descendants! He's the 175th generation! Wow... We really 有眼不识泰山! Haha... And we found out in the course of the conversation that him and his friends had come to Ho Chi Minh City to play golf, but because of the typhoon, they couldn't get onto the golf course! They actually flew in from South Korea just to play golf! Our jaws dropped. Haha...
We alighted from the bus earlier because we wanted to visit the War Remnants Museum.We were greeted by photos that made our hairs stand on its ends. The war photos showed the very realistic realities of war. The desperate helplessness of the civilians, the still continuing effects of Agent Orange, the utter destruction and ruin of a nation... It's so painful just looking at the photos. I wonder what was going on in the minds of the war journalists. They must be hurting too... to see the agony and yet no being able to do anything for the innocent Vietnamese.
Hee... we found out that we took Mun Soo's pen and forgot to return him, so we called him. Ha... That's just one reason... the other reason is to confirm if the dinner for the night is still on (earlier when we were on the bus, he asked if we would like to have dinner with him and his friends later that night). Set! Dinner at 7pm... we'll meet them at their hotel (the hotel's called Remember Hotel... a little cliche... isn't it?)
*Growl* We realised we've not eaten anything since breakfast... So, once again, we set upon our quest for food. We decided to walk back to the hotel and grab some food along the way. Ha... Walking was the only option because we (1) don't know what bus will bring us back to the hotel; (2) wanted to take photos; (3) wanted to soak in more of the city sights!
We passed by Ngon Restaurant and took photos. We passed by the Reunification Palace and took photos. We passed by the Church of Notre Dame and took photos. Haha... It was simply photo-taking galore! Haha..
We were so hungry... we decided to just settle for fast-food! Fastfood here is not exactly fastfood... Only after they receive the food order, then did they start cooking the food! Almost fainted when I saw that... Ha... But we must still wait. While waiting, we witnessed a couple fighting. It happened very adruptly. The woman suddenly threw something at the man, pushed the chair away, stood up and walked off. Then the man pulled her and made her sit down. But before long, the guy also stood up and threw something HARD across the foodcourt (and in our direction!). Then they started fighting! Right before our eyes! The woman and the man were exchanging blows! And they actually were moving nearer and nearer to us... so, we quickly walked away! Didn't want to be beaten up... haha... Anyway, the security guards came over and 'invited' them to the office. *Phew* And then we saw what the guy threw across the foodcourt... it was a nokia handphone bent into half! Wow... that guy must be really angrily mad!
We had our burger on the go and guess what? We took photos again! Haha...
Dinner time! Yeah!
The guys brought us to a North Korean restaurant and man, they really know how to enjoy! The kind of food they ordered are so so so high-class (ie expensive)! But the food's really delicious! We had Pyongyang Cold Noodle, Kimchi Pancake and Korean Whisky! Ha...
MunSoo文洙 and Sejin世真 are pharmacists and were college mates, Sejin世真 is SangWoo相雨's subordinate. The lady惠娟 was travelling alone and got to know them at the hotel.
They told us that anything North Korean is not allowed in South Korea and that in order to enjoy North Korean cuisine, they'll have to do so outside the country. We also got to enjoy a North Korean song-and-dance performance that evening and the guys told us that it's their first time watching the performance too! Wow...
But we had a lot of fun chatting and getting to know about the South Korean culture. Hee... They even taught us how to write our names in Korean! 美秀 is pronounced as MI SU, 秀月 is SU WUL and 慧玲 is HYE KUEM. Though there was a language barrier (we can't speak Korean... they can't really speak English that well), but we had a lot of fun. I guess it's that genuine interest and sincerity in getting to know a new friend that made it so great! MunSoo picked up the tab secretly and refused to tell us how much the meal cost. Gosh... feel so bad... because the meal is definitely not cheap...
MunSoo suggested that we adjourn somewhere for a drink. So... Jasmine, Xiuyue and I determined that we'll pay for drinks. Hee... Otherwise, we'll feel so bad. Hee...
We went to this Western-themed restaurant named Saloon 17. And there's a live band too! So cool! We ordered drinks and continued our conversation!
Hee... SangWoo is realy cute. He simply sat there, closed his eyes, tapped the table as listened to the live band. So cute... Ha... and then, at one point, he seemed really tired. Ha... And guess what 'woke' him up? Ha... Sum-Chee-Gee! Xiuyue and I were playing with the watermelon seeds on the table... I covered the seeds, and told Xiuyue to guess 'even' or 'odd' (as in after putting the seeds away in groups of 4, how many seeds will remain) and SangWoo saw and his eyes just brightened up! Ha... he took over my spoon... and the watermelon seeds, looked at us, and said "Come! Bet! One-dollar!" So funny! Then he told us during his days, all the high school and college fellows would play this game. But they do so with coins! Ha...
Meanwhile, I sneaked away and settled the bill. :)
When I came back, SeJin was showing Jasmine some of the Korean currency notes. The notes belongs to SangWoo. And Jasmine used SangWoo's money to place her bets! Haha...
The night is not young anymore and we had to bid farewell. But we told one another that we will keep in touch.
Oh... We found out that 惠娟's birthday is on 11 Dec! So, we went back to our room and made her a simple card just to wish her happy birthday. And we'll drop it at her hotel reception for her the next day...
No comments:
Post a Comment