today + the previous ten
i got up at eleven in the morning, and the tv was on almost the whole day. i was able to see my first episodes of this season's american idol and the amazing race. i don't think i've ever slept as much or watched as much tv in my life.
just got back from a nine-day trip to ho chi minh city yesterday afternoon. i took today off to help reorient my system to normal life. after a day and a half of doing nothing, i think i'm ready to start being poductive again. tomorrow, i'm going to work on my requirements to ue med school--transcript of records, certificate of graduation, choo choo choo.
it's weird being a graduate, and being a graduate with nothing to do. i know the last part of that sentence will only last two months, but i haven't summered in two years, and i guess i'll have to get used to that. the first part, well, not that i have apprehensions about starting over, but i guess i'm just not as excited about leaving college as i was about starting it. i mean, ue's probably gonna be okay, but it wasn't plan a at all. (up med school was plan a, but i didn't get in.) and i've only come to realize this now, but i'm not someone who's used to reverting to plan b. before you start to hate me, i'm not a brat or anything, i'm only referring to important life decisions. like this one. plus, ue's probably soOo different from ateneo--the environment and the people and everything--and i guess i'm uncertain about how i'll be able to handle that as well. owel. life goes on.
anyhoo, my ho chi minh vacation could be best descirbed as nine days at the tiangges. shopping was awesome. ben thanh market was this huge square of stalls tightly packed against each other along narrow alleys, selling everything from silk bags, beaded shoes, apparel, wooden bowls, and traditional vietnamese items like bamboo lamps and chopsticks. i loved the bags. there was this stall with piles and piles of them, flashes of a thousand different colors and designs, beaded and embroidered, the silk giving off a faint shimmer under the light. saigon square sold the cheapest original nike shirts, baby tees, basic collared shirts, and luggage. all in all, i must've bought a dozen shirts and half a dozen bags. but hey, they're not all for me. with the exception of my dad and my driver, everyone on my pasalubong list is a girl.
the bargaining was great. although it took me a while to get used to speaking the broken english that most vietnamese hawkers understand, it really paid off. case in point: i got a backpack for half of its original price! my limited shopping allowance really went a long way.
when we weren't shopping, we were eating, or watching dvds at my friend's place where we stayed. vietnamese food is an experience, although it can get tiring after a while. there aren't as much international food choices in ho chi minh as there are in manila. there was fried fish with lettuce and this aromatic leafy vegetable wrapped in rice paper, sweet glutinous rice balls, deli meat sandwiches flavored with cilantro, spicy squid, crabs with spicy sauce, lobster, and the list goes on. for dessert, there was fresh papaya, grapefruit, pineapple, and dragonfruit. with a diet of seafood and vegetables sans chocolate dessert, it's no wonder there are hardly any fat people in vietnam.
vietnamese coffee is a treat. it's brewed differently. coffee grounds are placed inside the brewer, which fits right on top of your cup. then hot water is poured in, and you can watch the coffee drip into your cup. if you want it sweet and cold, it's mixed with condensed milk and poured over crushed ice. i found it quite fascinating, so i bought my mom one of their coffee brewing thingies. their milk tea was also yummy.
we also visited a few of vietnam's famous tourist spots. we went to the war remnants museum, which displayed artillery used and photos taken during the vietnam war. a lot of the photos were really graphic, from soldiers with head wounds and leg wounds and all kinds of other wounds, to children suffering from the teratogenic effects of agent orange. (okay, so i just wanted to say teratogenic. basically kids born with abnormalities, for example, stubs instead of arms and legs). at the back of the museum were the tiger cages, real detention cells where prisoners were tortured. inside the cells were ragged wax statues of prisoners slumped beside garrotes and other torturing devices. war is a terrible thing.
another day we visited the cu chi tunnels, a two-hour drive from ho chi minh. the tunnels were an extensive underground network built to counter american forces attacking the town of cu chi. americans would just be walking throught the forest, and vietnamese would jump out of the tunnels and attack. the tunnel system was complete with its own kitchen, dining room, living quarters, and medical room. at the deeper levels, you can only get through by crawling on your elbows, but we didn't go that deep. we also saw areas where the tunnels were wrecked by american bombs.
we also visited the ben duoc temple nearby, complete with temple drums and a huge buddhist altar and everything.
on yet another day, we took a ferry to thon son island, which had a vietnamese restaurant in the middle of luscious green gardens, like an oasis. there, we got to stuff ourselves with more vietnamese food, visit a coconut candy factory, listen to traditional vietnamese band music, and take a boat ride on a traditional vietnamese boat.
plus, i got to visit a lovely bonsai farm, with thousands of mini trees.
ho chi minh is different from manila. there are no malls, only tiangges and department stores. the sidewalks are wider and actually walkable and there are a lot more city parks. there are no skyscrapers, and most of the buildings are under ten storeys high. Ninety-nine percent of vehicles on the road are motorcycles. people on the streets can still be caught wearing au dais, the traditional vietnamese outfit. there is no starbucks, only a vietnamese version of it (sort of like figaro here). in coffee shops, there isn't a single newspaper or magazine in english. they're all in vietnamese or chinese.
i guess the vietnamese are a little (or a lot) less westernized than we are. possessions and porma mean less. patriotism means more.
oh, and it's extremely hot in vietnam at this time of year. yup, hotter weather than manila. as in the you-can-feel-your-sweat-and-your-clothing-stuck-to-your-skin type of weather, especially in the tiangges, which aren't so well-ventilated. totally bad for me. no wonder i broke out into a gazillion zits that need to be dealt with before i venture out into the world a few hours from now.
being a tourist is fun. you can be extremely friendly to everyone you meet. we greeted every tiangge vendor with xin chao (hello) when we arrived and cam on (thank you) when we left. when you wanna tell your friend a secret, you can say it in filipino and no one else will understand it.
being a tourist without your parents is an experience as well. i got to buy my own tickets, watch out for my own luggage, carry my own passport, and get my own food. and i also learned how to share space and time with six other people, and how to be considerate in doing so.
one of the things i want to do with my life is travel the world. however, if i joined the amazing race, my partner and i probably wouldn't win =( i can't carry heavy baggage, i can't stand extremely hot temperatures, and i can't stand dirty bathrooms. unless, of course, a huge chunk of the race involved shopping sprees
pictures to follow =)
just got back from a nine-day trip to ho chi minh city yesterday afternoon. i took today off to help reorient my system to normal life. after a day and a half of doing nothing, i think i'm ready to start being poductive again. tomorrow, i'm going to work on my requirements to ue med school--transcript of records, certificate of graduation, choo choo choo.
it's weird being a graduate, and being a graduate with nothing to do. i know the last part of that sentence will only last two months, but i haven't summered in two years, and i guess i'll have to get used to that. the first part, well, not that i have apprehensions about starting over, but i guess i'm just not as excited about leaving college as i was about starting it. i mean, ue's probably gonna be okay, but it wasn't plan a at all. (up med school was plan a, but i didn't get in.) and i've only come to realize this now, but i'm not someone who's used to reverting to plan b. before you start to hate me, i'm not a brat or anything, i'm only referring to important life decisions. like this one. plus, ue's probably soOo different from ateneo--the environment and the people and everything--and i guess i'm uncertain about how i'll be able to handle that as well. owel. life goes on.
anyhoo, my ho chi minh vacation could be best descirbed as nine days at the tiangges. shopping was awesome. ben thanh market was this huge square of stalls tightly packed against each other along narrow alleys, selling everything from silk bags, beaded shoes, apparel, wooden bowls, and traditional vietnamese items like bamboo lamps and chopsticks. i loved the bags. there was this stall with piles and piles of them, flashes of a thousand different colors and designs, beaded and embroidered, the silk giving off a faint shimmer under the light. saigon square sold the cheapest original nike shirts, baby tees, basic collared shirts, and luggage. all in all, i must've bought a dozen shirts and half a dozen bags. but hey, they're not all for me. with the exception of my dad and my driver, everyone on my pasalubong list is a girl.
the bargaining was great. although it took me a while to get used to speaking the broken english that most vietnamese hawkers understand, it really paid off. case in point: i got a backpack for half of its original price! my limited shopping allowance really went a long way.
when we weren't shopping, we were eating, or watching dvds at my friend's place where we stayed. vietnamese food is an experience, although it can get tiring after a while. there aren't as much international food choices in ho chi minh as there are in manila. there was fried fish with lettuce and this aromatic leafy vegetable wrapped in rice paper, sweet glutinous rice balls, deli meat sandwiches flavored with cilantro, spicy squid, crabs with spicy sauce, lobster, and the list goes on. for dessert, there was fresh papaya, grapefruit, pineapple, and dragonfruit. with a diet of seafood and vegetables sans chocolate dessert, it's no wonder there are hardly any fat people in vietnam.
vietnamese coffee is a treat. it's brewed differently. coffee grounds are placed inside the brewer, which fits right on top of your cup. then hot water is poured in, and you can watch the coffee drip into your cup. if you want it sweet and cold, it's mixed with condensed milk and poured over crushed ice. i found it quite fascinating, so i bought my mom one of their coffee brewing thingies. their milk tea was also yummy.
we also visited a few of vietnam's famous tourist spots. we went to the war remnants museum, which displayed artillery used and photos taken during the vietnam war. a lot of the photos were really graphic, from soldiers with head wounds and leg wounds and all kinds of other wounds, to children suffering from the teratogenic effects of agent orange. (okay, so i just wanted to say teratogenic. basically kids born with abnormalities, for example, stubs instead of arms and legs). at the back of the museum were the tiger cages, real detention cells where prisoners were tortured. inside the cells were ragged wax statues of prisoners slumped beside garrotes and other torturing devices. war is a terrible thing.
another day we visited the cu chi tunnels, a two-hour drive from ho chi minh. the tunnels were an extensive underground network built to counter american forces attacking the town of cu chi. americans would just be walking throught the forest, and vietnamese would jump out of the tunnels and attack. the tunnel system was complete with its own kitchen, dining room, living quarters, and medical room. at the deeper levels, you can only get through by crawling on your elbows, but we didn't go that deep. we also saw areas where the tunnels were wrecked by american bombs.
we also visited the ben duoc temple nearby, complete with temple drums and a huge buddhist altar and everything.
on yet another day, we took a ferry to thon son island, which had a vietnamese restaurant in the middle of luscious green gardens, like an oasis. there, we got to stuff ourselves with more vietnamese food, visit a coconut candy factory, listen to traditional vietnamese band music, and take a boat ride on a traditional vietnamese boat.
plus, i got to visit a lovely bonsai farm, with thousands of mini trees.
ho chi minh is different from manila. there are no malls, only tiangges and department stores. the sidewalks are wider and actually walkable and there are a lot more city parks. there are no skyscrapers, and most of the buildings are under ten storeys high. Ninety-nine percent of vehicles on the road are motorcycles. people on the streets can still be caught wearing au dais, the traditional vietnamese outfit. there is no starbucks, only a vietnamese version of it (sort of like figaro here). in coffee shops, there isn't a single newspaper or magazine in english. they're all in vietnamese or chinese.
i guess the vietnamese are a little (or a lot) less westernized than we are. possessions and porma mean less. patriotism means more.
oh, and it's extremely hot in vietnam at this time of year. yup, hotter weather than manila. as in the you-can-feel-your-sweat-and-your-clothing-stuck-to-your-skin type of weather, especially in the tiangges, which aren't so well-ventilated. totally bad for me. no wonder i broke out into a gazillion zits that need to be dealt with before i venture out into the world a few hours from now.
being a tourist is fun. you can be extremely friendly to everyone you meet. we greeted every tiangge vendor with xin chao (hello) when we arrived and cam on (thank you) when we left. when you wanna tell your friend a secret, you can say it in filipino and no one else will understand it.
being a tourist without your parents is an experience as well. i got to buy my own tickets, watch out for my own luggage, carry my own passport, and get my own food. and i also learned how to share space and time with six other people, and how to be considerate in doing so.
one of the things i want to do with my life is travel the world. however, if i joined the amazing race, my partner and i probably wouldn't win =( i can't carry heavy baggage, i can't stand extremely hot temperatures, and i can't stand dirty bathrooms. unless, of course, a huge chunk of the race involved shopping sprees
pictures to follow =)