Viet Trip 12 - 20 Jun 2010

Viet Trip came and went. Thinking back, I really enjoyed it. It's my first backpacking trip which we tried to get around on our own. The food poisoning and weather seemed to dominate the bulk of my viet trip tale. It was not until I browsed through the pictures that I suddenly remembered what I saw and enjoyed.

~ Ham Rong Mountain @ Sapa was beautiful. The view was therapeutic though the continuous and steep stairs nearly killed us.~

~ Halong Bay wasn't as cool as it was supposed to be. Hanoi has 4 seasons and Jun happens to be the hottest in Hanoi. Hottest in 500 yrs we heard from the guide. Global warming... sighz~

~ the rice terraces were amazing. city dwellers like us become toads in wells when exposed to wonders of simple nature, gawking at how the rice terraces formed intricate and interesting patterns..~

~ loved the silhouette of the mountains in Halong Bay.~

I might go back to viet. probably in Dec when it's more cooling to visit the more scenic Hue, Da Nang, Mui Ne and all.

down and out

Throbbing headache, super diarrhoea, intermittent fever, sore throat... wrapped up my vietnam trip nicely. My body was telling me that I need to get out of the place!

The harsh cruel 42degree weather dehydrated everyone and provided great breeding ground for bacteria and viruses to multiply in our body.

I enjoyed the trip though, despite the weather. Interesting sights and all. First backpacking experience with my feeonchay and he's really fitto to carry that 55litre backpack! woohooo. Pics gotta come really later.

ES was down with flu and diarrhoea too on the 3rd day too and putri's hubby was also down with fever and cough. My medical kit never did so well before.

I shudder at the thought of nursing a fever in the hotel room in another country. With the 42deg heat outside, I wanted ES to switch off the aircon as I was feeling cold. You should have seen his face. I hid under the blanket instead, put on my socks and sweater, shivering my way through the night and shuttling back and forth the toilet 4 times in the night. At that moment, I wished I could be transported home.

Pampered I might sound but I hate that feeling and I never want to fall sick ever when I'm overseas!!! Ever again if I can.

Pre-quel to Vietnam post

Hellos from Sapa.

We just spent 2 days in Ho Chi Minh and it's our 1st day in Sapa today. Took the overnight train and naz is just taking a snooze now to make up for lost and disrupted sleep. But I'm awake! The trekking and working out perked me up and yep, finally I can get to use the comp coz he's snoozing.

Talk about using comp.. for this developing country, I'm getting free wireless everywhere. From the smallest cafe to hotels.. free wifi is the norm. Ironically, the airport is the only place with no free wifi, with only a few internet kiosks around. Yep, so ES is happy that he gets to check his mails and do his research for his copyrighting assignments. He's like on a business trip, always on the comp doing that thing he do.

We're glad to have survived the crazy scooteriffic traffic in HCM. There's no traffic system and vehicles can just cut and go ANY direction they like, perpetually honking to signal that they're running amok . Rule of the thumb, just walk in normal pace...slowly, steadily, not too fast, not too slow and just look straight, avoiding any direct eye contact with the mob of oncoming traffic.

The pollution is umimaginable. Our friend fell sick from the weather and the pollution.

Sapa's air is MUCH fresher for sure and yep, I wanna breathe that all in.

Pack Pack and away

Doubt I'll not have time to post before I fly to vietnam.. so better do it now since I'm just done with my preliminary packing... yep, there's secondary and then advanced packing more to go.

Kinda excited coz it's like my first backpacking trip with some planning and with Putri! She's my OC buddy and we've been talking about a trip together for eons.. really eons since OC days.

Finally can also bring my Majesty ES to experience some rough it out backpacking coz his first love is still packaged tours where he's king. Well, it's my first too. HK is not counted since our roughing it out is shopping till our feet cramps up.

Cya mina san. I pray that I won't overpack. Amen.

Terminate or Resign? Your choice

This is the 3rd piece of news I've heard that my friends were "asked to resign". Bluntly, the intention is to terminate your services but act like they are giving you a choice of "resigning" which would appear "nicer" on your resume. Also, it could be a way to cover up for themselves as there's a higher chance that firing cases could be brought up to MOM.

All these cases happened within the last 2 months. All the situations described were similar. They were told that they did not perform but could not give concrete examples and they were given the choice of being dismissed or resign from the job. The process was efficient as it was totally 1 way communication, my friends were not given a chance to clarify or defend themselves.

One even asked politely after listening to the executor," So, may I speak now?" only to be slapped with a cold hard "No. You may go." And in his case, he was just praised by the President a few days before on his presentation and the president told him that he'll bring him over to the HQ in front of 20 management staff. WTH. Is that what is considered bad performance? A new way of dismissal - compliment the person before breaking the news.

To me, this simply reflects bad management and it's a blessing in disguise, my friends, that you're out of the crappy place earlier than those who are quietly suffering. It's their loss and I only see a brighter future ahead coz I believe in you.

Ganbarimassho!!

Bloom away..

tried getting the feel of my new 18-200mm lens so that I'll be able to get used to it when I go vietnam next week. I like the colors of it and of coz the zoom is really appreciated especially for travel pics since it's not easy to get up close to what you want to capture most of the time.

Okay. It's heavy. Urgh. Treat them as dumb bells to tone my arms. yosh. Anyway, I'm trying to grow some daisies now but not much progress. hope the seeds have not dried up under the crazy weather. Oh, but the weather has been much kinder for the past few days. mmm. :)

My plants bloomed too sprucing up the exterior decor of my corridor... I love flowers.

~ budding quietly...~

~ they bloomed today! not full bloom though I think~



~ Promegranate plant... many of my friends do not know how this plant looks like though it's made popular now by peel fresh drinks and all.....yep. Here's how it looks! reminds me of my late grandma who taught me how to eat the fruit by sucking the refreshing promegranate juice from the seeds.~

~ testing how zooooooomed it is... okay..200mm. confirm.~

Despite my terrible upper body ache from yesterday's blading....I'm determined to go for a jog..NOW. yep. get moving mochi. Burn burn burn, burn off that McSpicy and the lethargic feeling.... urgh