Pre-Viet
Went for ZP, sigh hahaha year after year, Shi Ting and I would be tricked by MZ to attend it. But it's always a good time with them.
Played Cards Against Humanity with my family, oh my goodness IT WAS DAMN FUN. HAHAHAHA WE WERE BEING ALL RACIST AND PERVERSE AND SHIT, CAUSE THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT OF THE GAME. sorry for caps.
It got even funnier when my mum and aunt joined. It turned out that my mum is actually super dirty-minded HAHA, she ended up winning the game, even I couldn't believe it.
Vietnam
Ngày 1
I got more than I bargained for during this trip, visited the land of pho with the intention of immersing myself in Vietnamese culture but ended up befriending lots of other travelers that I've crossed paths with - French, Germans, Russians, Koreans, Australians and even fellow Singaporeans :) Surprisingly, Hanoi's Old Quarters is filled with lots of foreigners.
Viet-bound.
But of course, I had my share of bad experiences, such as being constantly overcharged by the locals, risking getting killed every time I cross the streets and being harassed by some sellers.
Mistletoe on the plane, hahaha at least SIA tried to bring in some festive cheer
Oh my goodness where do I begin? Right, traffic first. Hanoi is infamously known for its crazy motorcycle traffic, which NEVER STOPS, making crossing the street terrifying for a tourist like me at first.
Traffic lights are a rare sight and even so, many road-users merely treat it as a guideline, running red lights often. The airport taxi dropped us(my parents and I) off at our hotel in the Old Quarters and we checked-in and washed up before taking on the streets.
At the start, I was so afraid for my life, because since the vehicles never stop, we just have to cross bravely, and magically, the bikes will avoid us and whiz past.
But within the 7 days I've spent in Vietnam, despite being bumped by motorcycles thrice(hurts like a bitch, especially when one of them rammed into my shoulders, but thank goodness it was cold, so I was decked out in about 2-3 layers of clothing plus a jacket, so that offered a bit of protection heh.), I soon got used to the INSANE traffic.
Then comes the issue of being overcharged, goodness, I can't believe how brazen some of the Vietnamese people were. Some of their goods clearly stated the price in Viet dong but once we spoke English to them, they could immediately identify us as foreigners and proceeded to charge us 2-3 times the price of the goods.
So soon, we started to get more street smart, first looking at how much other locals are paying for a good then proceeding to pay the same amount. But even our plan got thwarted because the vendors will reject us and command a higher price. Which got me being thoroughly frustrated all the time. There's no such thing as justice in such situations, and there was nothing we could do but to give in. Some taxis have fake meters on them, which ran super fast, even when the vehicle is stationary, so we ended up having to pay obscene prices for the rides. Yes, being overcharged is a huge deterrence for me ever visiting Vietnam again, but to be fair, not every vendor is like that, and I think I might return in the future, probably because I really like her culture and beautiful landscapes.
First thing I ate when we landed, a chicken kebab which was sooooo good. But the hygiene practices of the seller were quite questionable HAHAH I was cringing all the way when the lady was assembling our kebabs with her BARE hands before accepting our money. I guess this is quite common of street food, oh well.
The night market, which sold TONS of food, there was even pancakes, sushi and spicy Korean Dddeokbokki, which my mum crazily ran to buy.
Life is a bed of roses(I wish)
Ngày 2
The next morning, we woke up and took a SIX hour drive to the mountainous regions of Sapa(cold as f, with temperatures ranging from 3-6 degrees), but to my surprise, it was the best bus journey of my life, and I'm definitely not kidding.
We booked through our hotel a sleeper bus, which had seats that are inclined all the way to 160-170 degrees(sorry I didn't bring my protractor, couldn't measure accurately) with blankets and free wifi and toilets.
I'm someone who can never fall asleep on buses or planes, but lo and behold, I slept for 4 hours and used the rest of the time to reply whatsapp messages and scroll through Instagram and Twitter. HAHAHA I was so reluctant to leave the bus after reaching our destination.
We checked in to another hotel then got ready for a crazy trek in the cold. My dad was feeling under the weather so only my mum and I went. We were joined in by 3 other Israeli girls and our guide and began our 2-3 hours trek to the village. Shucks, the air was quite thin and yea our feet soon got numb and tired. Even the paths were damp and muddy, one side was the mountain, and the other was a foggy abyss, one lost footing and you're a dead man, because there weren't any barricades.
But it was all worth the effort, because the village was stunning, the view was simply picturesque.
So along the way, a few villagers came to join us on our trek, and they were really friendly, I was so glad they could speak basic English, so we ended up conversing and sharing about ourselves.
Adorable fatty pig hehehhe wanna squeeze and hug it.
With the friendly villager that tagged along with us, and then proceeded to persuade me to buy a scarf from her for about SGD$7 once we reached her village, hah well I guess there was a hidden motive for tagging along with us but I bought it from her anyway cause she seemed like a nice chap.
Returned to the town around evening, had dinner, and then we decided to roam the streets for awhile, which was teeming with tourists before deciding to warm ourselves up in a cozy cafe with heating.
Day 3 onwards will come, provided I'm not feeling lazy hehe.
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