Vietnam Pics III

wHeRelse cAn yOu fInd This 'EYE'???

InsIde the Cao Dai Temple, Red rep Confucianism, Yellow rep Buddhism and Blue rep Taoism

foRtuNate fOr hIm, tHe grEnAde iS faKe, so aRe oUr BudDies...

tHe faMoUs tunNel, Cu Chi Tunnel

tuNnEl at Cu Chi Tunnel

nOt tt muCh shoRteR leH

BooBy BoBbY tRaPPppee

shAdEs aNd icE-creAm okIe, not the UglY faKe NIKE pouch!!!

we contracted the two-finger syndrome, but apparently quite happy abt it.

BuN is aCtuAlLy noOdLes!!!

LittLe HAnOi,duhzzz!

seAsemE chIcKeN, frOm liTTle HaNoi

FrIed SprInG rOlLs, froM LitTle HanOi

yUmMliciOus Kangkong w/O chiLli, frOm LiTtLe HaNoI

A scEne FroM tHe fAmOuS Water Puppet Show...

harDly aNy cArS!!!

Part III...Did you know that there are abt 18million motorcycles in Vietnam??? The traffic in Vietnam is crazy!!! They have traffic lights and junctions but the people do not follow or use them at all!!! No helmets too except on expressways!!!

Vietnam Pics II

cAn yOu sPoT wHo iS imItAtiNg mE???

Us iNspEctIng iF wE cAn fIx e proB wItH wInGs...

GiAnT

a BoMb tO Be rEcKoNeD wItH...

cOllaTeRaL dAmAge & aTroCitIeS oF tHe ViEtNaM wAr

tHe ReKnoWn Pho2000, a pLaCe fIt foR PrEsiDeNts

BeEeeeEEeF NoOdLe frOm Pho2000

PoRk 'SlaB' wiTh rIcE aNd soMe vErY nIcE saUcE frOm Pho2000

oNcE uPoN a tImE CoLa botTles!!!

oUr tRanSporTatIon, a 1Hp 'FeRrArI'...

InSiDe tHe bOaT tT tOoK uS aRd MeKoNg RivEr

Mekong River

A loCaL mAkiNg soMe riCe pApEr sNaCk

Second Installment of the pictures from my Vietnam trip. We were at Ho Chin Minh City(HCM) and visited the war museum, the Mekong river and Pho2000 ( a restaurant which Bill Clinton ate at when he visited HCM in 2001 ).

Vietnam Pics I

Finally! Got my hands on those much 'coveted' pics taken during my visit to Vietnam. Introducing some of the food section......we ate some really cheap ones while we indulged in some ridiculously expensive ones(by Vietnamese standards)...all in the name of filling our tummies...

ElEphAnt FiSh

sOmE siMplE VieTnaMeSe fOoD. ThEir 'sPriNg roLls' aRe kiNd of a sTapLe.

'Augustin', a FrEnch reStuRanT whICh cOstS uS a boMb to Eat, bY tHe waY.

Some sOuP, oySteRish iN tAsTe, aPpeTizEr. yuMMy!!!Dip frEncH toAst In iT aNd yOu wIlL fEel liKe yOu aRe in cLoUd niNe!!!

BeEf steAk iN sOme SpeCiaL saUcE...

mYseLy wItH mY sAlMon kEvIn, mY brOtHeR wiTh hiS sTeAk

AnNa, mY tO-Be siStEr-In-lAw wiTh hEr jUiCe & stEaK

(L-R) JaSmIne, jAbriEl, mE & kRiSteL

Teresa Teng II

Was feeling nostaglic all of a sudden and decided to listen to some classics. Yue liang dai biao wu de xin is an everlasting love song. This beautiful song was of course sang by a fabulous singer, Teresa Teng.

Teresa Teng was like the Madonna of Asia in those days. She captured the hearts of our parents and grandparents. Teresa visited Singapore in 1992 before her untimely death in 1995. She was 42. It's pretty strange that talented people usually do not live very long. Leslie Cheung jumped to his death in 2003 at 46. Marilyn Monroe died of drug overdose at 40. She's one of the very first Asian to enter the western music market.

If angels have voices, the female ones will sound like Teresa Teng and the male ones will sound like me. NOT! What audacity for me to compare myself with her. I cannot even be mentioned in the same breath as Teresa Teng.

For ppl who frequent Taiwan and have run out of places of interest to visit, why not visit Teresa Teng's tomb? She is buried in a mountainside tomb at Chin Pao San (金寶山; jinbaoshan, literally Golden Treasure Mountain), a cemetery near Jinshan, Taipei County in Taiwan. A memorial was built at the tomb with a statue of Teng and her stage clothes on display, with her music playing in the background. There is also a large electronic piano keyboard that visitors can play by stepping on the keys. The tomb is well visited by her fans, a notable departure from traditional Chinese culture shunning visits to burial sites.

Teresa Teng

鄧麗君 - 月亮代表我的心

This is a classic which I used to listen pretty often when I was in secondary school. It has been sang by other singers, notably Lee Ming.

Ring Finger

Have you wondered why wedding rings are worn on the "fourth" finger?
Came across this email that explains why. Here it goes:

Thumb represents your Parents
Second (Index) finger represents your Siblings
Middle finger represents your-Self
Fourth (Ring) finger represents your Life Partner
Last (Little) finger represents your children

Firstly, open your palms (face to face), bend the middle fingers and hold them together - back to back Secondly, open and hold the remaining three fingers and the thumb - tip to tip
Now, try to separate your thumbs (representing the parents)..., they will open, because your parents are not destined to live with you lifelong, and have to leave you sooner or later.

Please join your thumbs as before and separate your Index fingers (representing siblings)...., they will also open, because your brothers and sisters will have their own families and will have to lead their own separate lives.

Now join the Index fingers and separate your Little fingers (representing your children)...., they will open too, because the children also will get married and settle down on their own some day.

Finally, join your Little fingers, and try to separate your Ring fingers (representing your spouse). You will be surprised to see that you just CANNOT....., because Husband & Wife have to remain together all their lives - through thick and thin!!

Kinship

A show that is worth catching (occasionally). The storyline is passable and the cast is relatively unknown. Least for Chen TianWei, XiangXun and Lin MeiJiao, the rest are fairly new to showbiz. Acting needs some improvement though the looks of the cast are already there.

Dinosaur(Elvin Huang) is really cute but Yusheng(dunno who) is even cuter! Dinosaur is the silliest lover since Romeo while Yusheng is the silliest lover since Dinosaur.

A concise summary of the storyline; Dinosaur is in love with Lynn who happened to marry Dinosaur's father for money while Yusheng is a step-cousin to Dinosaur who is hopelessly in love with him and does the craziest things for him. Villian Martin is out to manipulate Lynn, Dinosaur and his father.

Do tune in. Personally, I like Darren Lin's character who spices things up. Veterans Xiang Yun and co. add variety and substance in the otherwise lacklustre plot and inexperience newbies.

Ratings: 3/5

Choices

Time realli flies...I think this phrase is enormously overused that it has lost it's significance and meaning. Watever...

Back to wat i m trying to say. Looking at my tuition kids who are doing their O levels this fall, it suddenly struck me that i sat for mine 7 years back! Tt's damn long lar. Also, i m a NSman le for 2 years! Wat the heck? And in 2yrs' time, i m going to start work and gg to face the crazy world outside. No more fooling ard. Whatever I do will be judged all that more seriously and responsibilities will mount.

Am I prepared? Definitely not! Am i doing anything abt it? Nope...not realli. I am just following the mainstream route. Complete pri, sec, jc then uni route. Everything is pretty much planned up to the Uni stage. From there on, prudent choices haf to be made.

Choices are impt becoz some ppl made incorrect ones and lived a lifetime of regrets. For now, my most impt choice to make is to go SEP or IA.

SEP OR IA ???

Mess

timespassesverythefast.nowalreadyjulyninafewweeks'timeschisggtostartagain.madnessisggtorepeatitself.Cannotcatchmybreath.Seeppldosomanythingsduringthisholidayswhileislackednenjoyedmyself.feelingvguilty.tt'sallfornow.

GST

Checked your bank account yet ? I guess most of us have. Extra money from the government to alleviate the burden of the impending GST hike. Right. I received $300 and with some quick calculations, that works out to cover $15 000 of expenditure. It may seem alot but when it comes to breadwinners, $15000 barely covers a year's worth of expenditure!

I still remember some opposition MP saying that the incumbent government gives us a drumstick and wants the whole chicken back, loosely translanted from Hokkien. Singaporeans like to complain, just check the coffee shops and markets but that is just about all we do. Complain! Don't get me wrong, I am not fanning any anti-government sentiments or instigating some coups. I will be in ISD's custody quicker than you can say ISD if i ever habour that thought.

What I am driving at is we have to understand why there is such a need to increase GST. Unfortunately, I don't and I belong to the majority who complain. However, Singaporeans are peace-loving ( eh..hem, apathetic ), so we don't take to the streets. Give it 2 months and we will sweep our grievances under the carpet.

Now, the sand issue is another touchy topic. I just hope that some clever ppl in the top rungs of the government will resolve this issue because this may potentially stifle our country's growth.

There is another issue I wish to voice out. This has got to do with my job. My supervisor was approached by this customer from another country. She complained that our products are more expensive than the duty-free shops. Hello, excuse me! There is a reason why these shops are known as duty-free shops. "Duty free" is not for namesake, it means something.

Furthermore, she wanted a refund. When my supervisor refused, she was pissed. She retorted that back in her own country, customers were able to refund if they found another shop selling the same products at a cheaper price. Hello, excuse me! Almost none of the shops in Singapore practice that and besides, you are shopping in TOWN! Not your village! Also, we did not even mention that our products are the cheapest.

Before she left, she told us that we should have informed customers that our products are expensive. I was dumbfounded. If you cannot afford to shop in town, then don't buy anything. If you are stupid, keep your trap shut, you don't have to tell us how stupid you are.

If you want to know which country this customer hails from. I am not revealing. But here's a hint. They have lotsa human rights issues and their exchange rate is roughly 5 times smaller than ours.

Anyway, she made my day because I couldn't stop laughing after she said those things. hahaha

Updates

Yay, just gotten the Nasa thingy...a much welcomed financial help for next year's exchange program. Realised that I have written so much twisted truth and hidden so much damaging truth to gain "sympathy" that led the selection panel into believing that i needed the award. haha...3,500 is a big sum to forgo.
What can i get with 3.5K ?
Return airtix plus 1 mth spending money,

Began some work that needed to look prim and proper, which is so unlike me. Longsleeves and all. So hot and so uncomfortable. The good thing though is, free fragrance, moisturizers and ogling...The bad thing is, pay is meagre and tiring. The good thing is, traveling time is not too long. Bad thing is I am terrible in what i do. Good thing is I DON"T CARE. Also made new ( and pretty ) friends. Had a great time chatting instead of working...hahaha...Agreed to the job becoz it's something really different and it offers me a good chance to learn new things....stuff that my boring course don't teach...