Saturday, November 17, 2007

day 5..

hey:d this is zhongting,chun wei and eddie =) 12.21 currently...waiting for de girls to blog finish, haha now finally my turn..okay okay since nicholas has wrote abt today's stuffs...nth much for us to blog abt too..but just want to say something..Mai was the best tour guide i ever had..he ROCKS big time! i really am grateful to have him as our tour guide :p 6days has past so quicky...really will miss hanoi and halong bay..the pretty ladies and those beautiful scenery...haha okay zhong ting's turn...
haha its pro genuis again...sry la gary hey i bought a dem extra big version of Hersheys' Kisses lor....yes intended was i to buy for everyone but i ran out of VND la ok?!!! this trip was very enjoyable to me personally and i would like to express my gratitude to the tour guide Mai...yes he was a good guy and HE ROCKS ( quoted from chunwei lol ) to the very core...yup i miss the things here esp the Vietnamese girls man..haha they are really Nice Ones la some e.g The Receptionist at 27, the salesgirl at the Choc station at the supermart....as well as those tt came after our Cyclo ride on 2nd day...2 dem Nice Ones..haha ok la i'll stop here cos Security askin me to take my leave liao.....aiya anyway we'll enjoy ourselves 101%....yea bye bye.....eddie gt no chance sia...lol.....
Z.T.LIM
17/11/07
12.31am VNT



ps: Qiyao is migrating to Japan, Osaka.
SAMANTHA AND LEONA HERE ((:
ermm , okay ,
its now 12.11am
and zhongting is behind us telling us stories ,
many boys are inside the cafe watching tv .
hmm , many of us arent sleeping cos of our 3am flight .
nice right :D
we're all eating cup noodles and drinking milo ,
its not a concentration camp okay . [ according to zhongting ]
so , we're gonna watch tv and laze around till our flight comes ,
nth to do on the plane anyway ,
BYEE :D

p.s- we know hanoi will miss us.
[by leona] :D

5th dae(16th nov) by yuhkae

todae we went to lots of muesum to learn more about the history of vietnam.
continue frm nicholas...

vietnamese revolutionary museum, the 2nd muesum which we visited.
the exhibits of this muesum was needed to complete our sbq assignment. we started frm the 2nd storey all the way to the 1st storey. many photos were taken n many qns were thrown at mr siah by us. haha. we spent quite a lot of time there n slowly, we read n try to understand the exhibits. however, most of the exhibits were in vietnamese so provenance was the only thing we could read. after everythin we learnt a lot about the vietnamese history.

now lets move into the shoppin part.
we were given 2 hrs+ to shop ard. traffic was rather heavy n crossin the road was nt an easy task. a laughin stock eh.. haha. things were bought but time was rather rush for us. we learnt a lot todae n it was indeed a educational journey for us.. however if more students from 301 were to come it would be better coz part this trip was bout history of vietnam n it would be useful for our syallbus next yr for SEA history. tts all for the last dae... bye..

day five (november 16)

i'm going to cover some of the iteneraries we visited together.
firstly, the Hoa Lo Prison and the Temple Of Literature.
the rest of the itenararies would be covered by my buddy for this trip, yuhkae.

the Hoa Lo Prison was a prison to contain the vietnamese opposing nationalists.
the statues and artefacts in the prison and some sources of both pictorial/written depicts the prisonal lives of the anti-french politicians.
snapped quite a number of photos which include the prison cells that the nationalists lived in during the period of time.
we also looked through some punishments which our tour guide Mai explained to us.

next up. the Temple Of Literature. we visited it during the late afternoon,
which in Vietnam time is where the evening darkness of Singapore comes in.
the Temple Of Literature is where scholars go there for blessings.
It is a huge 'temple' in which is divided into different sections.
as usual, artefacts and different sources were there to let us better understand the usefulness of the Temple Of Literature at that point of time.

and after that, we went for a shopping 'spree'.
notice that ' ', because the things were all of almost the same kind or doesn't suit us.
but we managed to get a taste of 'bargaining.'
nope, not for fishes in the wet market.
but for clothes in the night market,
we were advised to first slash the prices down by 50%,
we tried that but obviously it wouldnt work.
and so we tried and tried, to get a better price.
we did, we bought, and we left.

thats' almost all. the rest of the iteneraries would be covered by yuhkae.

-nicholas.

Friday, November 16, 2007

hey hey tis is z.t. the pro genius here hahaha.....today's day 5...and we sincerely apologise for incomplet-ing our work yesterday cos K.S.P suddenly came and overtook the com...haiz..to the pokemon trainer Mister Gary, hIS Highness didnt put no pix yesterday cos he was hungry haha and no he wasnt one of the drained out ones:) yup so to those out there Day 4's overall trip could be summed up by combinin' K.C.P blog and our blog yes and we really apologise for the inconvenience caused to those who didnt get the entire picture yesterday...till then bye bye...signin' off.......
Z.T.LIM
16/11/2007
0805HRS 43secs V.N.T

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Day 4 by Eddie, Qiyao and Chun Wei

Today is the day we spent 10++--HOURS on transport ( boats, buses ) It was sit down, getup for 1min walk, sit down, lie down, get up for 5min walk,sit down, walk mountain, see rock, sit down, sit down, sit down, play card play card play card...

the mountain cave was beautiful with many limestone rocks like dripping from the ceiling and sorta

Day 4 by... chiAn yil and zhoN TEng

xin chao, everyone in Singapore...it has been RATHER unfortunate that we couldn't update the bl0g in the past few days cos' of some K.C-SPIDER-IS-TIC ppl but we're so lucky today cos those K.C .S are hyper drained out and exhausted..hahaha(o..yea, hmp...) Now we really have the chance to update the blog AT LAST... yes.. today's been a long day partly because we spent a lot of time travelling from Hai Phong to Ha Long Bay and then back to Hanoi by water and land...whatever it is..lol i'm writing this instantly w/o any reference 'cos normally i'd write from the diary..ok today we awoke from our 4-STAR Camella Hotel beds RELUCTANTLY as almost everybody felt it was a dem gd+high-class hotel with a whole lot of facilities...then it was time we set off on the speed boats to Halong Bay and we later went on another ship to Cat Ba Island and explored the Limestone caves which are a geographical feature of Halong Bay..they were all made up of water over many years it was said

Day 3 by Qi Yao

we spent like 6++ hours on the road travelling. tiring and exhausting. cause all we could do is listen to all the songs in our mp3s or sleep on the bus or play cards. We sat on the boats today in pairs and Yuh Kae kept making noises cause he claims in a pskk. tsk tsk how petty.

the four star hotel is not bad

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Day 3 by Varun Naidu

Hi everyone! Today is the halfway mark of our Vietnam Trip. Today we left Hanoi city for Hai Phong City. Along the way, we first went to uh.. this temple about the 2 kings and 1 queen who had a son who killed the other son or something like that,, i dont know! GAH! Anyway, after that, we went for lunch in some restaurant opposite some shops. The lunch was slightly different today as they gave us the plastic thingy for the spring roll.

After that, we went for a 2 hour boat ride around the caves and rocks. It was a very long and the paddler was a real pro. Like, well he could still row the boat and not even pant at all. After that, we went to the cave where there were some important sutff which sadly, i cant remember now! After seeing the caves, we went for a EXTREMELY LONG RIDE TO HAI PHONG CITY. OMG the ride was damn long. Anyway, something funny happened when we stopped for one of the breaks. We went to the toilet and yeah, well i closed the door so tightly that some of us were TRAPPED. No names, but we were goddamn trapped, it really felt like a TV show such as that UK Absoloutely Fabulous where the 2 main characters, Addy and her goodfriend was trapped in the room. It was scary.

Well, at around 1930, we reached the CAMELA Hotel of Hai Phong City, and believe me, the hotel is GODDAMN IMPRESSIVE and really, i feel seaside hotels rock alot! Now im typing this post and soon the others will update it. I got the pics of the hotel room, ok well, cya ppl.

Day 3-By Chun Wei,Eddie And Qiyao

Hehe! its 8:15am vietnam time! currently there are 3 kiasu kids...wanting to blog now! :D ok in 15mins time we would be on the bus embarking on a trip to hai phong...so will update again tonight..BYE! :D

Day 2 - Pictorial Update by The Teachers

No thanks to some technical glitches, we apologize for not being able to present a pictorial update earlier ...
So here goes Day 2:

Visit to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
- briefing by local tour guide Mai (and some getting distracted):


Macho Boys outside the Presidential Palace:


The twins focused on getting a good photo shot of ...

... Ho Chi Minh's house-on-stilts:

Visiting the Ho Chi Minh museum:


and then the One Pillar Pagoda:
Chun Wei enjoying the cyclo tour of Old Quarter after lunch:

and Suresh making a deal with a child street peddler.

Water Puppet Theatre
- Vietnamese orchestra on the left:

and the water puppets:


the Ambassador's Pagoda:


and female devotees:

Day ended with sumptuous dinner for Emperor HAIS and his merry-men:

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

water puppets:D duckkkkkkkks!!! - by Sheryl

heyhey ppl,i m so TIRED now!! but i have to type finish this by today ...

this morning, went to see HO CHI MINH mausoleum thingy,then we went to presidential palace thingy...den blahblah...
OKOK!I M GONNA TALK ABOUT THE WATER PUPPET INSTEAD!! because i had a fun time watchin the puppets 'dancing' on the water:D
altogether,there were 17 sessions:D the whole show took 1 hour+ to end:)
i find session 7 the funniest because THERE WERE DUCKS:D:D:D:D
haha,yesyea,DUCKS:) hmm, this session showed us DUCKS swimmin around...
n there was this fox(?) chasing one of the ducks around)):
well,in the end...the duck got caught by the fox* poor duck*
i had an enjoyable time watching this whole water puppet show..n i went 'hyper' during SESSION 7!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAS:D
the water puppets were being controlled by STICKS! n the people controlling the puppets were behind the screen...
OH YES~ there were also the vietnamese orchestra performing. i must admit, the female singers pitched were quite high:) haha...overall,they sang well...n coordinate well with the people behind controlling the puppets:D

all right ppl,i m gonna slp:D my head is super pain...n i m tired+hungry): okok...BYEBYES!!!:D:D:D

Day 2 - by Chee Ying

Here is a summary of what we did today ...
first we went to view the exhibits of the life in vietnam
during the colonial rule and communism...
next we took the vietnam version of the trishaw,cylco:)
the ride was almost an hour long,
its one seater:)
we took many turns and went passed many streets,
seeing those little shops and some streets hawker.
then we went to enjoy the nice little water puppet show.
main thing is we went to a few buddhist temples to in hanoi!
there is something extraordinary:D
back in singapore we see both monks and nuns chanting those
long long scriptures.
that never seem to come to an end...
BUT in vietnam...
you can only find nuns or ladies in the temple.
if you ask why,you gotta read up about the past history of vietnam.
in the past,the male were the sole bread winner of the family.
while the females in the family,will always go to the temple,
to pray for the families members safety and etc...
thats why till now that that 'traditional' is still being carried on...
TA DA!

day 2 in hanoi - by Quincy

too bad there's no picture!hahah!i didn't bring the wire:P
today is our 2nd day in hanoi.
we have to wake up at 6 am and get ready for our trip:D
we went to ho chi min mausoleum but we couldn't see ho chi min beacuse he was sent to russia for repair
after that we went to the yellow house(its like U.S's white house) which is the presidential palace and we saw the cars that ho chi min drove(peugeot and some other car) and the house he stayed in.the tour guide told us that ho chi min was a humble man despite of his fame.The people wanted to build a mausoleum but he did not want them to make it.
I learned that love for his country is very DEEP, because he helped vietnam gain independence and he cares for them.this shows that we must care for people no matter of what rank we are.

Day 2 - by Qi Yao, Chun Wei & Eddie

Hello peeps!

We had hard hard glutinous rice for breakfast. maybe not glutinous rice la but still,...

We set off at 8.30 for the HCM mausoleum and Varun was jumping up and down cause he got too excited and the bus was shaking and we were all screaming and......BLAM!! we arrived at HCM mausoleum with all the guards and they looked at varun as if..

okay enough of rubbish. down to the information. We were disappointed when we were told by Mr. Siah told us that HCM's body was sent to russia for re-embalment or sorta. HCM has very stylo cars that can we worth like 10000000million nowadays. (DONGS) We went to the museum where it was filled with pop art by russian artists. Cause HCM went to moscow to escape from the capitalists gov.

Next was the ONE PILLAR PAGODA built by a king who received it in his dreams something.
(QIYAO SIGNS OFF HAPPILY (: )


(Chunwei and eddie stepping in *hop*)
ok continuing from wherever qiyao stops :D one pillar pagoda, okay never really listen to the tour guide but roughly know that it is for people who wanna have a baby..*we drag mr siah into it,hoping he could quicky give birth* oh ya, and after that, we went to this "temple of longevity"..it's for ppl who wishes to live to a long life..NOT! XD haha after that was lunch, we ate our lunch at some vietnamese restaurant where after eating they gave us souvenir, funny thing abt vietnamese food, their watermelon has too many black seeds! very very very hard to eat :D

after lunch we went for our cyclo tour! one person per cyclo...we travelled round the city and finally realised how dangerous the streets could be! traffic non-stop! haha...

after the cyclo tour we went to a lake, it was abt a tortoise getting back de sword of a king...after which, we went to watch a water puppet show...very very "interesting"... unique in their synchronisation... after that was visits to religious places which includes hai ba trung temple and the ambassador pagoda! okay okay after that we went to a supermarket to get snacks...den we ate dinner...haha now at our hotel's cafe updating our blog...haha see you all soon.. pictures will be uploaded soon... byebye and take care! :D (eddie's and chun wei's work...)

Monday, November 12, 2007

Day 1!

Hi everyone!

Here are some photos to share with you on our first day!! :)

The Hanoi Trippers (some say Hanoi Troopers) at Changi Airport all ready for departure:



What happens when you mix creative juices with bread and a piece of leaf ...
Creative juice in action again ...


A happy traveller:

A blue phantom onboard VN744:


and ... having our very first meal in Hanoi:



Will update you more tomorrow! :)

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Quiz Question No. 4 ...

a) Who is the most revered person in 20th century Vietnam?
b) Why?

Send your answer to mistersiah@hotmail.com NOW!

Weather Forecast

Here is the weather forecast for Hanoi for the next few days, taken from three sources.

(A good History student must always keep a look out for a variety of sources!)



Source A: http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/48820.html



Question: So, what can you infer about the weather in Hanoi from these three sources? :)

ITINERARY

Hi everyone!

This is the itinerary that we will be following:

DAY 1:
Night: Arrival in Hanoi, Dinner, Settling into Hotel and Project Discussion Time


DAY 2:
Morning: Ho Chi Minh Complex - Museum and House, Presidential Palace, One Pillar Pagoda, Lenin Monument, Temple of Literature

Afternoon: Orientation Tour of French Quarter by cyclo, Ambassadors' Pagoda, St. Joseph's Cathedral, Hanoi Al-Noor Masjid, Hai Ba Trung Temple, Hoan Kiem Lake

Evening: Water Puppet Show


DAY 3: Journey to Halong Bay
Morning: Hoa Lu

Afternoon: Bich Dong Caves, Tam Coc Caves

Evening: Hai Phong - project discussion and overnight stay


DAY 4:
Morning: Cat Ba Island, limestone caves in Halong Bay

Afternoon: Return to Hanoi

Evening: Individual Assignment and Project Discussion Time


DAY 5:
Morning: Fine Art Museum, Museum of Ethnology

Afternoon: Hoa Lo Prison Museum, Museum of Vietnamese Revolution

Evening: Tour of Old Quarters


DAY 6:
Return to Singapore
ETA at Changi: 1325


*While we will try to visit the sites as scheduled, do be advised that the itinerary may be adjusted in response to local environmental conditions - e.g. weather - as SAFETY is our TOP PRIORITY.