o d a c 19
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Sunday, June 19, 2005

hey guys.
didnt really expect a flurry of posts after the night out we had. all that i feel has been said, so yes. this odacian label. it's more than a term for a bunch of people, more than an identifier. It's become integral, something we can never quite shake loose. ok i'm not thinking too well, not writing well At All and quite messed up inside so let's skip the whole nostalgia waltz and head straight into excitingness.

this is an email to my parents abt my trip so far (all of 2 days, but i was in malaysia for the first 5 days i was gone for my Church Retreat), and i'll just paste it here cos i'm too lazy to write up a whole new thing and i dont have the time anyw cos i'm leaving for Ha Long Bay in 15mins. MELODY, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!

dear everyone,

having a really good time in Vietnam now. It's only the second day so far.
after we touched down yesterday at Hanoi, we got fetched straight to
the hotel (its really more like a backpackers' bed and breakfast
thing). Went out to explore the place at night.. was really really
tired and sick cos i got sick during Retreat at Malaysia right. Nose
stuck and all that crap. My hotel now is the Tung Trang Hotel which
imran and my other seniors stayed in.. they helped us book before they
left. they left on the day we arrived. (useless info but yea)

Today we did abit more. Our hotel's in the part of Hanoi called 'Old
Quarter' where there's the oldest buildings and the most preserved
parts. Can witness some residual French influence from the time they
were under French Colonial rule. The buildings are pretty much all
shophouses, save a few buildings like the St Joseph Cathedral,
National Library and some Museums. The whole place is rather a mess,
like a huge Chinatown but damn messy. Thank goodness wei neng bought a
guidebook in Singapore if not we'd have HELL without the maps in the
book to help us along.

The cathedral was beautiful! stained glass windows, doors and all. Sat
in during one of their services. very strange.. chanting and weird
singing. It was such a pretty place though. couldnt go into the
library cos we had to deposit bags and since all our money and
passports were in the bag, its not safe at all to leave with them.
also toured some old vietnamese house building thingie. quite
interesting.

Traffic's Madness. the motorbikes are Everywhere and All the time.
they dont really give a damn about following the traffic lights, zebra
crossings and all. By today we're all really PRO at crossing roads.
the trick is to walk really really slowly into the whole mess of
motorcycles, scooters, buses, cars etc. they'll just swerve around
you. they horn like anything. you wont go a second without hearing a
toot. and the pollution sucks too but it might just be me and my sore
throat acting up. eating my jujubes like Crazy.

FOOD.

Food's been FANTASTIC. i'm putting on FATS and WEIGHT. plus it's all
still considered cheap by our standards, despite us getting obviously
ripped off. sadness. My lunch today cost 1 sgd thereabouts. No
diarrhoea no stomachache, no worries. Ate pho (which is noodles) with
beef and chicken (on separate occasions). very good stuff. Had pigeon
heart! (just a small piece cos i'm squeamish) haha and catfish, which
is very good.

second day: glutinous rice with some fried thing -- it's either a
sausage or a fishcake, i cant tell. also had a mug of beer at this
place called Bia Garden. beer = bia in Vietnam. Damn GOOD beer. and i
dont even like beer, usually. but i only had ONE, so guai. hehe. No
la, actually i wanted to take another mug for dinner (will elaborate
later) but my alcohol intolerance just Got me. I cant take alcohol.
sigh. Had dinner at the same place too, ate frogs' legs and skin, veal
glass noodles, fried rice with salted vegetables and chinese
xiangchang. Vietnamese tea is good stuff, i bought some back. it's
called cha in vietnamese. sounds chinese but the pronunciation is
actually not like the chinese one. Dinner also was intestines+liver of
pigeon (which i obviously didnt really eat much of, but still quite
yummy stuff). The Bia Garden people are very nice, had fun trying to
communicate by drawing pictures. we took photos with them too. they're
about our age.. one guy was 19!

they have bubble tea here la! nice also. this red bean and kidney bean
and chinchow jelly dessert is very nice too. i like! they also have
sugarcane juice here. Dont worry, i am Not getting Diarrhoea so its
Alright. I've got medicine anyway.

today was basically shopping and sightseeing. tomorrow morning (Very
early morning!) we are going to go down to Ha Long Bay. booked a tour
package, will see caves, kayaking and etc. Heard Ha Long Bay is very
pretty, saw some wonderful photos also. looking forward to that. We
will stay on board a boat for one night, then come back to Hanoi to
catch a train down to Hue and Da Nang area, which are in central
Vietnam. In case you didnt know, Hanoi is in northern Vietnam.

the lifestyle here is so different, it's really an eyeopener to see
how things are like. they have many hair salons here i feel like
getting a shampoo! haha see how if got time la. and i ate Lychees!! so
NICE. i love lychees. but must restrain myself now.heaty stuff. I've
got not much of a blocked nose left, now i've an irritating cough.
disgusting. anyway, they use this very strange thing to smoke tobacco,
and the tobacco smells strange too. but it's not drugged, and DONT
WORRY i'm NOT smoking. yea the method of smoking using the strange
pipe is also.. interesting.

Just wanted to send an email since there's an Abundance of internet
cafes and etc here in Hanoi Old Quarter and i wont be sure if i can
get internet access in central Vietnam as easily, so that you both (ie
mummy and papa) wont be worried etc. pa, did you get the sms i sent
from wei neng's hp? about landing safely etc.
will email you all again when i can.

my friends are all out clubbing at this place called Apocalypse Now
and so i'm taking this time to type this long ass email out. getting
very psyched up just thinking about where i am now.

yay!

love you all very much!


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