First Day as a Vietnamese (Almost)!
Tuesday, February 27, 2007 18:33

Finally stepped foot on Mr. Ho Chi Minh’s piece of Vietnamese land! I am an millionaire now!! FYI, SGD$1 = ~ 10 500 Vietnamese Dong.

First impression: Looked somewhat like Malaysia and Thailand.

Second thoughts: Worse (in traffic sense).

This is the most orderly picture of their Vietnamese traffic that I saw! If you saw an aerial view of any Vietnamese road, you would have thought ‘why would anyone take boring pictures of ant swarms?’. No lines/markings on the road, no ten-cross junctions yellow boxes whatsoever. You drive to where you want to go, and that’s it. Not reckless, probably just murderous. =X Btw, heard the ambulance siren at least 4 times.



Ok that’s probably what kept us most fascinated on the roads.



As for the budget terminal and planes… Hmm. Not too bad, for the terminal, but the plane’s really squeezy. Not advisable for people with long legs.



At the Ho Chi Minh airport, but still didn’t felt like it yet!



We’re now staying at Hope Hotel 希望旅店, in Cholon district where Vietnam’s Chinatown is! Heh. We have KFC and a shopping mall opposite us! Anyway, from the airport, we put our luggage at the hotel and went straight to the bakery. x_x The bakery is basically the factory, where they produce all the hamburger patties for fast food restaurants, puff pastries, cakes, breads etc. Then they have the mini outlet for selling their stuff to customers and guess what we bought?? =D



2 baguettes, 4 coconut strudels, 1 mint strudel and 1 chicken pao.

For just 20,000 Dong, which is equivalent to SGD$2.00!!!!!!!!



Some stuff at the bakery



Guess what? It’s butter!!


Oooh. Meat floss that is white in colour. Tastes really, mmm. =) Might bring some back for you all to try!


I didn’t know M***** came to Vietnam with us! Oh… so he/it’s been hiding in the fridge all this while =)




You see all the stuff they can come up with – it’s real cake you know! Cream on the outside, cake on the inside! Really amazing, but believe it. And no, we probably won’t come back with skills like this.



And last but not least… who said they don’t have Subway in Vietnam!! That was a treat from our boss btw. Everybody in the factory is so friendly and polite! =O (Good though!) Basically we just did a tour of the factory today, no work, and for tomorrow our boss’ given us a off day (on top of ang bao..haha)! ^_^ Working hours: 9 am – 5 pm, 12 – 2 pm is lunch break!



Actually it’s 27 Feb now, and Siewlee, Pd and Mr. Sammy are still sleeping… Hrmph. Ok I’m really hungry now, and if they don’t wake up soon I’m going to starve! =S One last thing: Their sun’s really weird over here – At 6+ am the sun’s already up and about, like Singapore’s 9 a.m. and at 6 pm the sun’s already almost went home.