Self-Reflection of the Hanoi Trip. By Varun Naidu

This is Varun's whole journal of the Vietnam Trip.
Ok, the post shall start now, this post shall be about ONLY the HANOI TRIP 2007.

Day 1
Once we were in the airport, we were being debriefed by Mr. Siah. Some ppl came to send us off and well, there we went, on the plane to Hanoi. Minh was also on the same flight that day, VN-744:P Anyway well, day 1 was abit hectic, I lost my pencil box in the Hanoi airport. T.T So when we reached our hotel, the Ngoc Mai Hotel, it seemed abit scary but well, got used to it,

Mr Siah with orange sticker stuck to his head! :P














here's the pic of my room from Days 1-Day 2.














The guys practicing flash with my cam!














Day 2
More hectic, thats quite true. Had to wake up early, like around 8.20am to go to the HCM Mausoleum but it's closed as HCM's body was sent to Russia. T.T After that, well like we went to the Presidental Palace, and we learnt that HCM had 2 cars and his house was really nice. Then went to the HCM Museum but i left my camera in my bag T.T. Mr Siah was so nice to lend me his camera. THANK YOUUUU! Anyway, after that, off to this One Pillar Pagoda and Lunch. ZhonTeng ate like over 50 clams?? I said over 70! LOLs it's seriously a hell load of clams! Then went for the cyclo tour, which i gotta say was nice really. Then went to the Hoan Kiem Lake to see the gigantic tortoie, not sure if its real or not. then like well, went for the Water Puppet Show. It was nice, but the pictures were hard to take because they seats are all over the place, heads going straight up for the pictures of the water puppets but yeah got very few good pics seriously, thats all for that day, phew!!! So goddamn tired and even worse, we had project discussion!! GAHH! So Pictures for Day 2? Here they come! Well after that, something scary happened, well that one i will leave it for 2nd or 2rd jan 08 to spread.:X

Our group listening to Mr Siah
















Day 3
In the morning, left the Ngoc Mai Hotel for the Hoa Lu temples. Well after that, we were inside the temple. our tour guide, Mai was telling some ppl to move, luh. Then they behaved in pompous and a rude way saying "Do you speak English?" and laughing at him. Well, i think a few others saw it, and i felt abit sad for Mai. But i really hope he's ok. Well, after that, went to the Bich Dong Caves, hahah the sampan ride was cool :) 2 hours but very nice. Anyway after that, went to the Tam Doc Caves, which was o100 steps high!! omg! anyway yeah aft that went to Hai Phong. BUT on the way, haha we had an interesting stopover. Well, Me, Fird, Isaac, YuhKae, Tay, Joel and Eddie went to the toilet there lah, then i closed the door, well TIGHTLY. And well, i tried to open it but i realised WE WERE STUCK!!! GAHH!!!!! We tried alot of stuff to get out, later our bus driver and his assistant helped us to get out though it took quite long, LOL. Mr Siah even use flash to take pic of us, hahaz like so embarrassing but its nice! LOl "7 guys trapped in a Vietnamese toilet". Moral of the story: Never EVER EVER close a Vietnam toilet door too tightly!! Then we had dinner, i felt abit emo, maybe because of the toilet thingy and i tot i lost my bro's book and medication but in the end i didnt! then well went to my room. It's damn nice. And yeah the bed is so easy to jump on. The bathroom is lovely! And well, that hotel, the CAMELA hotel rocks my socks alot.!!! Never wanted to leave it.

The rocks and the lake at Bich Dong Caves















My hotel room in CAMELA Hotel
















My bathroom in the CAMELA Hotel




















Day 4
Left the awesome hotel. :( Well, i'll miss it loads. Went to the Cat Ba Island by a boat. Mr Siah took alot of pics hahahz, EVIL! Sheryl, Quincy and CheeYing didnt seem impressed. LOL anyway, upon reaching the Cat Ba Island, took a long boatride to Ha LOng Bay. The rocks were so cool!!! :) And we were like basking in the sun. And when we reached HaLong Bay, the caves were so cool, then went back to the Ngoc Mai Hotel.
Pics from Day 4:

The City of Cat Ba Island














Mr Siah uh.. adjusting his camera??















Mr Siah and Miss Kaur looking uh.. horny happy and thoughtful respectively :P















The boys sunbathing!














LOL some peeps on the boat. ;)














All the BOYS! :)



















A view of the sea.















Inside HaLong Bay's Limestone Caves
















Day 5
Last real day in Hanoi. Went to the Hanoi Prison Museum, then well, the cathedral, mosque, and SHOPPING!!! HAHAHHA! And our dinner was fun, haha talk abt teachers and all to Mr SIah.
Dunwan to post a Day 5 pic! LOL Um.. all either Historical stuff or the inappropriate stuff! LOL!

Overall: It was a fun trip, the 19 of them were nice, Mai was real nice, Mr Siah and Miss Kaur were very helpful and the Vietnamese people are helpful, friendly and look sad. But anyway, i wish i didnt become so careless. So to all u guys, thank you for making this trip fun for me ;) And i learnt not to be so careless and maybe be abit more thick-skinned. And thanks to all those who have commented on this blog! HAHAH its so fun talkin to u ppl!

Oh and the buses in Hanoi ain't so nice. Nicest buses are found in Europe, then USA and Canada, Australia, HK, then Singapore, then elsewhere. :P

IMPORTANT: Sharing of Photos

hi fellow participants!

Thank God for FREE online file sharing!

I've sent an email to you with the instructions to access the site and upload your photos.

Deadline to upload your photos: 30 Nov 2007

I will consolidate all your photos and burn a CD for every Hanoi Tripper.

Caphe Phin Tutorial - how to brew vietnamese coffee

Quite a number of you bought the renowned Vietnamese ground coffee and drip filter.

However, take note: DO NOT brew the Vietnamese ground coffee the way you do to coffee/Milo powder; you need the filter!

Here are the instructions on how you can make Vietnamese drip coffee:

What you need:

1. Vietnamese ground coffee
2. drip filter
3. condensed milk
4. sugar

The following steps are taken from

http://www.ineedcoffee.com/05/caphephin/

Vietnamese coffee is surprisingly good. The best preperation I found while visiting was this remarkably simple drip filter made of stainless steel. This little guy takes a few teaspoons of finely ground coffee and makes a unique drip brew that is less concentrated than espresso but stronger than traditional drip coffee. Makes about 4 or 5 oz. of coffee - or a cappuccino cup full.

The preperation is a short ceremony as detailed below:

Step 1: Spoon a few teaspoons of good finely ground coffee into the filter.


Step 2: Screw the top filter (lightly) into place.

Step 3: Pour hot water to fill the filter.

Step 4: Place lid and allow all water to drip through. This can take up to 5 minutes depending on how fine your grind is and how tightly you have screwed the top filter on.

Step 5: If you want authentic Vietnamese 'Phin Ca Phe' you will top the glass with condensed milk and plenty of sugar!!!

Day 6 - Pictorial Update

Day 6 saw us making our way back home.
Started as early as 3am when we had to check out of the hotel and make our way to the airport.

A token of appreciation (i.e. tips) presented to Mai, a tour guide with Fiditours.



Prize Presentation Ceremony at our brief stop-over at Ho Chi Minh airport

Winner of the pre-trip blog quiz: Ng Chun Wei!

- he won for himself a fully sponsored ticket to .... GV Cinema!
- however, in this photo, Mr. Siah used the yogurt given by VN stewardess as a representation first


An award of special mention:

A responsible group leader, an enthusiastic learner, a polite student and a caring gentleman throughout the duration of the trip: JOEL LEE!!

Our final group pic:

Yuh Kae waiting anxiously for the flight...
and Sheryl eagerly sending SMSes

Day 5 - Pictorial Update

Day 5 was Museum Day as we went to 3 museums.

1st Museum: Hoa Lo Prison Museum (aka Hanoi Hilton)

Chun Wei and Eddie trying to break down the old main entrance (forget it, Chun Wei! You are just not strong enough!)


A view from inside the cell:

A view of the Prison Museum from the outside:
2nd Museum: Museum of Ethnology

(note the gorgeous Vietnamese students in ao dai in the background!)

Samantha: Hmm...the hut of a minority tribe feels really comfy!

An outdoor water puppet theatre:

Another hut of a minority group:

Chief HAIS and his villagers!

Of course Mr. Siah is gay! Can't you see the happy look on his face?


A mosque (and the only) in Hanoi.
- caretaker told us that only 20 Muslims visit the mosque to worship

3rd Museum: Museum of Vietnamese Revolution
St. Joseph's Cathedral:

A wedding ceremony in progress ...

Temple of Literature:

The carps who are waiting eagerly to morph into dragons!

Sanjeevan and Chun Wei immersing themselves into the bargaining culture:

Joel getting a portrait of himself done:


During the trip debrief at the hotel:

Yuh Kae: Hmm...let me calculate the caffeine level in this packet ...

Study Isaac's t-shirt carefully ...

"Hey Chian Yil! You are supposed to complete the feedback form! Not pose for photos!"

A serious Nicholas at work.

(ya lah, Chian Yil, you should learn from this good example!)

Day 4 - Pictorial Update

3 studious girls making their way from Hai Phong to Cat Ba Island on a hydrofoil ...


... together with 3 sleepy heads:

a cool-looking Zhon Teng:

Eddie, Chun Wei and Isaac - determined to get a tan:

Mr. Siah with the Inseparables Team 1:

Joel and Fir enjoying the picturesque view of Halong Bay:

Mr. Siah and the Pure History students:

Pirates of Halong Bay

Captain Suresh and First Mate Fir making a navigational decision:

Seafood lunch!

This time, it's Samantha's turn to be pensive:

Our junk!

a 'dragon' in Tau Go cave:

inside the cave:

and another view of a part of Halong Bay

(Halong City is in the distant background)