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May 25th, 2009 by sixpegs
The Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh trip has finally come to an end!
Although it was just a short 4 day trip,
Buttons & I had such a great time there.
The short break was much needed
for the busy Buttons before starting work proper.
Check out the rainbow outside the aircraft window.
It looks like a big, warm
WELCOME TO VIETNAM! ?
It is the first time I’m travelling with Buttons.
Being a paranoid myself, I was pretty worried that we might end up in disagreements and big fights!
But fortunately, we didn’t & it ended up really well on the contrary!
We REALLY dig the Vietnamese rice noodles (Pho) because it tastes good with practically anything!
I’m like a super noodles person – SUPER LOVE IT!
So the first meal is at this growing Pho chain in Vietnam called PHO24.
What a good name because we can really eat it 24/7!
We stayed in the backpackers’ area called Pham Ngu Lao.
This street is littered with budget hotels, hostels & lots of eating places.
Buttons & I fell in love with this place right away – mostly because of the wide variety of food it offers.
AND GREAT COFFEE TOO.
What a colorful & bustling city Ho Chi Minh is!
We checked out the famous Ben Thanh Market on our first day there.
To my disappointment, this place sells mostly souveneirs & textiles (which I am not interested in).
The market is like the Chatuchak Market in terms of its layout, but WAY smaller.
The aisles are narrow and it can get really crowded at times!
I didn’t take much pictures there because it’s not exactly very pleasing aesthetically. HAHA.
Buttons LOVES getting souveneirs and little gifts – maybe that’s why all the vendors loved him!
There are a lot of budding artists there & they are damn good at duplicating famous art pieces!
Great place for people who loves cheap and pretty art pieces.
For a camera whore like me, I fell in love with the vibrant colors of the streets.
AND THE CHEAP BEER OF COURSE!
Our days there were pretty much only made up of feasts and beer blasts.
Oh! And we took a little tour around town on Cyclos on the second day too!
I’m really bad at bargaining so this is not exactly the best city for me.
I heart how friendly the Vietnamese are though.
While on the Cyclos, there were occasional Hellos, waves & smiles from the locals.
Those friendly gestures definitely warmed my heart a little.
The Cyclo rider commented that I look Vietnamese too. You think so?
HAHAHAHA!
That’s Buttons & I at the Reunification Palace in Ho Chih Minh City.
Huge palace with lots of pretty rooms in there.
Nothing much other than that.
Even the very-cultural Buttons thinks that it’s over rated. You can imagine.
Just look at Buttons yawning in one of the pictures below!
B O R I N G .
We continued trekking around town & went to the War Remnant Museum next.
And now we’re talking because this place is really freaky.
All you can see from this place are pictures from the Vietnam War – tons & tons of them.
I can feel that the Vietnamese are really quite against the Americans.
The war ended in the mid 1970s.
Doesn’t that mean that the second generation of these people are still living around us in Vietnam?
They described in details how gruesome & ruthless the Americans were during war.
And together with the photographs on display, they really made me a little sick in the pit.
My deepest impression of the museum was the dead foetuses on display.
But to be fair, I thought the whole view on the Vietnam War was a little one-sided.
Oh well, why do people go to war? Sigh.
ALRIGHT. NEXT UP!
We haven’t forgotten about our dear friend Tommy.
He is the luckiest tomato ever – to be able to travel from USA to Taiwan & now Vietnam.
In just a matter of days, Tommy will be heading to UK with Buttons.
LUCKY HIM. *frowns*
We FREAKING love this French Restaurant called Au Pare on Dong Khoi Road.
Day two was fabulous although we were all thrashed out towards the end of the day.
And cheap beer will never fail to make my day.
HURHURHUR!
Buttons & I set foot on the dusty Vietnam streets in our super Vietnam Nationalists attire on the 3rd day. :p
I love the red and yellow star on their national flag.
SO PRETTY!
We visited the American Army Market & got some pretty good buys there!
I’m loving my 3USD vintage spectacles & Buttons his 12USD old clock.
WE’RE SUPER UBER HAPPY KIDS! :D
@ Thien Hau Pagoda Temple in Cholon (Chinatown)
Stupid cyclo riders on our 3rd day attempted to cheat our money.
DAMMIT.
We thought they were just being really nice helping us with pictures & stuff.
Buttons & I bought drinks for them somemore. NBCB.
They brought Buttons & I to this massage place in town WHICH WAS SUCH A NIGHTMARE!
The place (called Sunflower in Clamette Street) looked empty and bare.
And we were instructed to strip & wrap ourselves with just a piece of white cloth.
We were then guided to beds that were just separated by white curtains - like those in hospitals!
The curtains weren’t exactly very shut properly & I was feeling really uncomfortable because there are men walking around.
Worse thing is, the massage REALLY SUCKED.
Seriously, I think I can do a better job than the masseur.
She really got NO FREAKING IDEA where the muscles are & is ALWAYS massaging the wrong place.
She cannot speak English for nuts.
And honestly, the massaging is more like caressing!
TWO WORDS – FUCKED UP.
I couldn’t take it anymore so I asked Buttons how his massage was while we were still at it.
And I wasn’t surprised when he commented that his sucked too.
It was the worst massage I’ve ever had and it ended before 60mins (it was supposed to be 60mins!)
But good for me too since it sucked so bad anyway.
As we were changing up, Buttons told me that the way the masseur touched him was really suggestive.
Rubbing him way up on his thighs, making him really uncomfortable too.
She was more like touching him more than massaging, & even asked him who am I to him sneakily!
And it didn’t helped at all because his masseur is this fugly old Vietnamese woman with really CMI makeup. (HAHAHA!)
& he added that the masseur asked for tips!
I WAS REALLY FUMING WHEN I HEARD THAT!!!
Expensive massage – NEVER MIND.
Fucked up ambience – NEVER MIND.
Massaging is like fuck – NEVER MIND.
Try to be funny with my boyfriend?! – N E V E R
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- Posted in Travels
May 25th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
welcome back peggy ^__^
the peektures are so funnehhhhhh~
esp the 4 types of kisses hahaha.
glad its still a good trip after all :)
May 25th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
hi peggy, what camera do you use for your photos? Colours are vibrant! Or did u edit using Picasa/Photoscape to make it so?
May 25th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
HAHA! yeaps thanks abby!
May 25th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
oh! i used picasa to change the brightness and contrast of the photographs! :D
May 25th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
the Reunification Palace was really boring.. why didn’t you guys go to mekong river and cu chi tunnel? those were more fun hehe! nvm, next time!
and i have the same tee shirt your bf wore hahahah the one with mr. ho on it ;P
love your set of pictures, very colorful and you just made me miss the vibrancy of HCM :)
May 25th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
we booked the guided tour to cu chi tunnels,
BUT WE OVERSLEPT THAT MORNING! HAHAHAHAHA.
I guess we can only go the next time round. Boo!
I’d love to go to the cu chi.
May 25th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
lol! go to cu chi next time… must take pictures in the tunnel HAHAHHHAH!!!
May 25th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
wahahaha! this post is shit funny!
glad you had fun in vietnam!
and your funny faces always crack me up!
May 25th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
hey pegs
what cam are u using? the colours are great
May 25th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Hi peggy, can i ask what prog do you use for the photos?
May 25th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
the 4 types of kisses are really hilarious! My favourite? The BJM kiss! Tho’ I dunno wat BJM stands for. haha
May 25th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
cool, great pics to give us a greater insight into vietnam! It’s so unfortunate that you guys have to encounter with such massage parlor! :( Dont the ladies riding the scooters inspire u to want to get a bike license to ride a bike? I was inspired by that sight in Phuket but that lasted only through my trip cz when i was back, i decided tt i wasnt that gutsy afterall lol.
May 26th, 2009 at 12:04 am
looks like a rly good trip! do you mind, sharing your itinerary? will be a great help! (:
AND THE MASSAGES, im sorry, it’s supposed to be an awful experience, but if you look at it with humor, its pretty funny. just take it as a lesson learnt then!
May 26th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
ahhh… i heart your collages! nice to see you so happy and ever energetic! perks my day up too! and the photos are all so colorful and vibrant. Now i want to go vietnam too! Oh, just wondering if people there understand english with ease? (:
May 26th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Blow Job Mouth. HAHA.
May 26th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
oh i think riding a bike is cool but i don’t think i got the guts to ride a bike in places in vietnam!
May 26th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
HAHAHAHA! yes it is! funny in a way.
buttons & i were laughing about it and grossing out after the whole thing.
and we kept imitating them and grossed each other out further.
and even discussed what could have been worse! :p
May 26th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
thank you gwen! if you really go vietnam you should tour all the way up north too.
i’d love to do it if only i had more time there.
the people in touristy areas could understand basic english.
but the older ones or those in areas more for locals couldn’t really communicate well.
generally, if you’re asking for toilet or that kinda basic simple stuff, still ok.
May 26th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
PHOTOSCAPE!
May 26th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
there are pictures from canon and casio in these pictures! :)
May 26th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
hahaha thank you huishan!
vietnam has been a blast for me! :)
May 26th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
all the photos are so damn nice…
i like your style and personality…so cool and funny..
wink~
May 26th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
You guys look like you have alot of fun together! And I love the dress you wore to the airport.
May 26th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
thankew phoebe! :D
May 26th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
yea it was a great deal of fun.
btw the grey one is not a dress! it’s a tee and a skirt. haha.
May 26th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
haha, yr expression is so hilarious in that grey outfit with the new (old) specs. very ah por…hehe.
May 26th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
wow! vietnam looks really good! will be heading there with my bf too! hope it will be a blast :) any other places besides cu chi to recommend that you reaaaalllllly want to go but did not have the chance to? also, around how much did you spend there?
*really nice old specs you got there!*
May 26th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
looking good! (: love the colooorrs.
May 27th, 2009 at 11:50 am
hello cherie,
i spent like S$500 there. Buttons sent S$400 but seems like he bought more things than me. DAMMIT! But I think with S$400- 500, you can live comfortably like a queen there already. hahaha.
as for places, some said mekong delta is nice. but most of the others just described it as a dirty river. haha! you can read up more and decide for yourself if you wanna go. but cu chi will be interesting i think! :D you should tour up to hue and hanoi if you have time, since you’re already in vietnam.
May 28th, 2009 at 8:02 am
hey pegs,
ur entry really brought back memories of my trip to hcmc last yr… yes, encountered those cyclo cheats too!! (was trying to see if they were the same peeps.. lolz but they weren’t) ours drove us to this crowded market in Dong Khoi. We alighted and paid up but those cheats snatched US $40 dollars from my friend and sped off….
afterwards I checked with my viet fren here and she sed that she as a local wouldn’t even dare to visit that mkt alone….
oh well, but that’s hcmc’s charm i guess… glad u had a great time!!! the pho 24 outlet we visited blacked out when we there…….
May 28th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Marvellous honey! :)
Love the photos, am using canon but Ixus 75.. yet my pics are so dull! :( Think canon is not good for indoor phototaking. HMMS!
Let’s countdown to Ben’s return now.
love ya~
May 29th, 2009 at 2:54 am
hey pegs, i love this post!!! brings back good memories of Vietnam! u’ve to go to Cuchi tunnels one day, u WILL LOVE IT! but its alot of things on Vietnam War, and abit disturbing lah.
omg reading this post makes me wana eat pho. SLURPs. glad u had a good trip there, girl! vietnam rocks!! miss the coffee,pho,traffic,art replicas! :D
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:05 am
omg SCARRYYYY cyclo riders!
it’s so scary.
but feel lucky that it’s just 40USD and not something life threatening at least.
we visit pho24 in the day only. haha. so blackout also nvm. lol.