Thursday, August 03, 2006
Hanoi
It was bloody hot lah that's all i can say. 38 fkin degrees... the minute I stepped out of the hotel I was covered in a thin layer of perspiration. But still, i wouldn't trade the experience for anything. I loved the paranoia that accompanied the constant mysterious and "coincidental" appearance of vietnamese police wherever we walked and stopped to shop. Lisa the avid shopper could bargain till the vietnamese guy wanted to cry. All so we could save 50 Sing cents (think Russell Peters).
The food was really very good... but only if you ate at the roadside stalls... they're not as dirty as they smell... in fact, i realised that the funky smell is actually from one of their sauces. And trust me, it tastes GREAT. And it cost me like S$1. Their more expensive dishes include snake, beef testacles, and noodles with... materials??? WTH.
Another good thing? Beer was dirt cheap there. My colleagues and I just had loads of fun relaxing after a hard days' work at the ASEAN conference we presented at. The local Bir Han oi was so cheap DanSoon and I bought 10 bottles with a bottle opener for just 80,000 dong (ie. S$8)! Even Yongjia's wife drinks more than me. Check out the picture with Sasa and her... that's her 5th glass. Lisa's just pretending, she only drank one glass. She posed with the same glass all night. Eh what you think this Balaclava or what?? Wuse! :P nyuknyuknyuk
After missing her flight, the silly darlin finally arrived in Hanoi and we immediately... well, ALMOST immediately - hit the streets shopping again with Sasa. I just loved all the shops! But after 4 hours of intense walking and shopping... well, you know how much I so do NOT like shopping. *groan* my poor feet and back!
On with the sight-seeing! To see Ho Chi Minh's body... they worship him like a God man... of course I couldn't take photos unless you want me to appear on the news in a profile shot with a numbered tag held in front of me...
So after an interesting conference experience, the marketing, and the dead bodies... it was all but a fleeting memory.
