Turquoise and Roses

GOOD MORNINGGGGGGG VIETNAMMMMMM!

The name City of Love, is a christening I gave to this lovely city, owing to many many reasons. But please let me tell you the story from the beginning. Ho Chi Minh is one of my best homestay experience, so it deserves a proper post.

When we berthed, it didn’t seem like much. I didn’t have high expectations of the country. Most of us were dreading homestay even. I don’t think I can ever explain how nervewrecking homestay matching actually is, especially for me. I hate surprises, and this was nothing short of a blind date.

All of us were very much encouraged to bring backpacks for homestay, instead of the usual rollie pollie ollie overnight luggages. Why? Because about three quarters of the Ho Chi Minh population drives a motorbike.  I was optimistic, hoping maybe we’ll get a taxi, but also feeling rather “mati tah ku ni naik mutubiskal”.

But before homestay, we do our institutional visits, as part of the country program. On the bus was my Solidarity Group (SG) mates. An SG basically contains a few members from each contingent. Travelling by SG in every country is a safety precaution whereby in case anything happens, whole contingents won’t be wiped out. It’s a lesson learnt from the great and devastating tragedy of 2001.

We were transported to this place I can’t pronounce where we had a mega huge lunch, sponsored by Becamex. I will never forget a place where I almost ate sand while watching a Shakira lookalike belt out her rendition of Gina G’s “Ti Amo”.

Hehe, we all took this in great humour, despite the serious hygiene breaches. After visiting 4 countries, I learnt that sometimes, I need to overlook certain things in order to enjoy the bigger picture. It’s all part of growing, it’s all part of understanding.

Another bus ride transported us to the weirdest and irrelevant institutional visits. Hehehe. We went to a fishing line assembling factory! And no, we did not get free samples.

Some fishing enthusiasts will recognise the brand name Varivas. I for one, have no idea that it is a well established brand, nor am I the least bit interested in it.

It was, however, very interesting to see how a factory works. So many.. machines.

Another bus ride took us to the youth centre, for homestay matching! Finally! I learnt that my homestay will be in District 1. Apparently, Ho Chi Minh, formerly known as Saigon, is divided into District 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on. It goes on till District 10 I think. Do Google it up to be sure.

More performances from the local youth. They really like to perform over there. By this time, the Nippon Maru song was sang about 5 times already. Anyway, there I met my host family, and my homestay mate, Meika from Indonesia (IPY).

Meet our handsome Vietnamese… chaffeurs cum translator cum tour guide. On the left is Anh, and the right is Tau. They are really the sweetest! However, *kwang kwang kwang* they drive motorbikes. Thankfully, both Meika and I brought backpacks, as per strong suggestion from SSEAYP admin.

We went home, and that was the first ever motorbike ride of my life. Guess what? I LOVED IT!

We met the other members of the family, and had the loveliest home cooked almost vegetarian somewhat pescitarian dinner! I’ve found that Vietnamese food is deliciously simple, just the way I like it.

After dinner, Meika & I were brought out to tour around the city on motorbike. It was all very romantic. The picture above is taken next to Roberto Cavalli (the boutique, not the person) in front of the nicest Christmas decorations in Ho Chi Minh.

Yellow lights, beautiful French-inspired architecture, and not to mention that there is a lovey dovey overtly PDA couple everywhere we turn. It was all very Parisien.

Many whimsical things around the city. For example, this man stopped in the middle of traffic just to reply to a text message. Hehe.

And here is Zina Restaurant. Hehe. Need I say more?

Next morning, we had a long day ahead of us. Woke up in the morning and went to the roof to take pictures.

Ok is it just me or does the view reminds you of… the movie Rattatouille? Or Aristocats. The morning was very cold. Ho Chi Minh was just overall quite chilly all day, but the morning was quite cold.

We went to the Reunification Palace…

… where I discovered that my small Sony camera actually has a black and white function…

… and a sepia function. So I took a lot of artistic-ish shots with my newfound knowledge..

… hehe, or somewhat artistic shots. Here is the cloudy Vietnamese sky…

…and here are some of the MANY PYs that I bumped into while we were at the Reunifiation Palace. Throughout the homestay program, I think I met more than 30 or us.

After the visit, some of us walked all the way across a park to the Notre Dame Church which was just nearby.

Where I continued to abuse and overuse my camera’s black and white function.

We didn’t go inside the Church. I don’t think we were allowed to…

…but there was a wedding photoshoot going on outside of the church.

Then we walked some more, to a famous post office. Meika bought stamps, while I still fiddled around with my camera, taking pictures of silly things.

A lady was selling snacks outside for 200 Dong, and Anh bought us a pack. It was really delicious!

It’s a dessert snack, tasted like honey ice-cream cone wafers. Crunch crunch crunch it goes, pulverized by the power of my chewing jaws.

Went home for another delicious biiiig mega huge lunch after that. Which resulted in us getting all sleepy. Hehee. Took one of the most satisfying afternoon naps in a long while.

Went to a business school Anh and Tau goes to…

… and met students. I think we explained abit on the SSEAYP programme and what we do on board, judging from he things we wrote on the whiteboard. It’s all a blur now.

We spent the rest of the day shopping at Ben Thanh Market, where I only bought a hairclip and earrings.

At night, we went with some other PYs to Acoustic Bar for a little party for Nene from Laos. It was her birthday! Acoustic was a great place as well, we got really nice seats in front.

Then us girls left for a little Arabic shisha, at a place called Warda.Warda is actually featured in The Miele Guide, and rightfully so because it has beautiful interior, great ambience, and serves one of the best Persian Tea ever! The shisha also did not hurt.

Maurina and Meika with birthday girl Nene. After that we all went home by taxi and called it a night.

Then it was our last day in Vietnam. I was actually feeling kind of sad o leave. Three of us, Meika, Anh and I, slept sooooo late just talking.

After buying fuel and a quick stop at the supermarket, we had our last ever meal in Vietnam.

Funny story here. They actually served chicken! The night before, Anh was looking through my camera, and he saw a chicken dish (atcually duck, but it looked like chicken). Then he assumed that I could eat chicken eventhough they were informed that we could only eat fish and vegetarian meals. Hehe. It was rather awkward telling them that we can’t eat it because it was not halal.

We went to the port by bus, and at the bus station met the rest of the PYs in the same district as us! Here is my darling cabin mate Pori from Japan, with her 1 million dong worth of SNACKS! Hehehe.

After the open ship, we said our goodbyes. Though it was not tearful, I did feel like I left some part of me in Ho Chi Minh city, the city of love.

Good bye Vietnam. I will see you again.

Image uploaded by 3liz4

Yes, it is that specific period of the year again where I’m just CRAVING for a delicious, tart, crumbly, yummy, orgasmically delicious PIE that I cannot obtain from anywhere in the country. I am also too lazy to make one from scratch even though it’s easy.

Here’s the thing. If a pie is so easy to make, why is it not so widely available in Brunei? Hmm. I want a whole pie, with warm berry filling, blanketed within a crumbly crust that is just to die for!

Served with whipped cream.

The last port-of-call before we embarked to Japan, was sunny Philippines. Before I start blogging on any of my SSEAYP excapades, I must apologise for my photo collection. It is a very small one. During the program, I find that my desire to take photos is next to no. This was I believe caused by the fact that cameras are shoved up our faces 24/7, or at least, that’s how I felt. But I did take some pictures, and those will be showcased in this blog. For more pictures, please feel free to browse through the official BPY 2008 blog.

Now, long post ahead! Enjoy!

The journey from Vietnam to the Philippines was the worst journey ever! I am generally not prone to seasickness, but with giant waves outside, and the fact that the ol’ faithful Nippon Maru was sailing against them created the worst kind of sensations in my gut. The ship produces a deafenning clang noise everytime it hits a wave, which we described as “telanggar ikan paus”.

Seasickness was agony, and it lasted for two whole days. Everyone was pretty much lying down all the time in the centre of the ship, on every floor, because that is where the swaying can be felt less. All cabins situated at the ends were described as hell. We were all numbed b seasick pills, which didn’t really do anything but keep us sleeping.

Some people tried hard to enjoy the shimmying and shaking. Smiles could still be seen in the morning. And no, my camera was not shaking, the ship was.

By noon, everyone had their own corner, equipped with some snacks, and seasick bags. Snacks, which had no taste or smell are a precious commodity for the seasick. It is important to eat someting so that you would have something to… eject. Otherwise vomitting would just be an extra painful affair.

Pillows and blankets were brought out to the public areas. No one, except for those lucky enough to have cabins near the centre of the ship stayed it. The common motto was, “its better to be seasick together than to be seasick alone”.

The Philippine Contingent had it bad. They had to perform their Cultural Show the night of the seasick. The girl sleeping on the floor is Anna, head of the cultural committee for the contingent.

Chris (PPY) all weak and plopped near the cushions. Chris joyfully sings the Parampampam song wherever he goes. But not when he’s seasick.

I truthfully thought the non-stop waves were very stressful. Imagine an annoying beeping sound, and imagine it not stopping for two whole days. And imagine doing that while puking your guts out, hungry, and sleepless. That’s how it felt to be seasick.

After we reached calm blue waters, beneath the fog, lay Manila. We berthed, and so began our country program.

With our Youth Leader, Ariffin, during the Welcoming Dinner at Manila Hotel, established in 1912. Check out our shellfish necklace! It was given upon arrival.

With one of the performers from the Malaysian Contingent (MaPY), Fadhlan, in costume for their comedic Joget piece. He’s also one of our favorite people on the ship! (Because he has the big can of magical sweetened condensed milk and with it, he makes MILO!!!)

A sovenir given by one of the Japanese delegates (JPY) while we were at the Manila Hotel. I love the writing and this was truthfully on of the most memorable things I’ve received throughout the program.

The next day we went to our respective institutional visits by SG. My SG, which was SGB, went to a famous TV station, ABS-CBN, the place where all the men were handsome and attractive.

We were brought all over the station to the filming sets, museums and such. Quite interesting.

But it probably was not as interesting as the homestay I had. On the first night, I slept not in a condo, not in a hut, not in a bungalow, not in a house, but I slept in…

A KINDERGARTEN CLASSROOM.

On tables!

Do you have any idea how unsanitary a kindergarten classroom is?

I cannot even begin to describe the toilet (or “Comfort Room”, as they say). I can only say this: “comfort” was the last thing it provided me. I did not shower for 2 nights and I only did my “business” in shopping malls.

And, to clarify the picture even more, I’m definitely not picky. People who knows me would know very well how high my level of tolerance is. But after I saw the toilet, I immediately dialed the emergency number to my national leader.

The next night I was transferred to the host family’s house. But that night I could not sleep a wink until about 5am in the morning. Then I had to wake up at 6am so that we could begin the day’s activities, which I describe as…. peculiar.

No, we did not go to any of Manila’s famous tourist attractions. Our f irst stop, JAIL.

The drive there took at least 2 hours, and the tour around the facility took about 10 minutes, conducted 100% in Tagalog. A language that none of us understood. I was thankfully accompanied with 3 other host families who brought my fellow PYs along with them.

The whole day, we laughed very hard at our predicament and especially when Denny (IPY) from Indonesia exclaimed loudly,

“Aneh ya kita dibawa ke sini!”

LOL. I don’t know what I would do without them. We laugh all the time!

This square sweet piece was lunch. The sweet, sticky rice cake actually tasted nice. Reminds me of wajit. However, I only had a muffin for breakfast at 7am. Cue laughing sounds.

By 4pm, we were really hungry. We were brought to some vocational school, for another visit. Here are the tired and hungry faces of SSEAYP 2008 in Manila.

Allez from Vietnam (VPY)

Hadi from Brunei (BPY)

Mei Ping from Malaysia (MaPY)

Mamul from Brunei (BPY)

Denny from Indonesia (IPY)

We were served more wajit-like snacks, and more sweets. None of which did anything to calm our hunger. However, I was thankful I was with these kids. In hunger, we laughed again at our predicament. It really put meaning into the saying that “together we are strong”.

After that we were brought to the famous Mall of Asia.

The hungry PYs made their way to McDonald’s and stuffed their faces there like there’s no tomorrow. Then they went shopping.

I can’t believe we only get to spend 2 hours in the Mall of Asia.

Then we went to our respective homes. I went back to a proper house this time, it was not a 5 star hotel, but much more comfortable than the classroom, and I fell asleep instantly.

The next day I took pictures of the house grounds.

This is a side of the Philippines that you don’t get to see a lot, I think.

Before sending us off to the pier where Nippon Maru was already starting its engines, we were brought to see the Mayor of Cavite. Maybe it was a courtesy call, but it felt like a photo session.

From the building, I took some more pictures.

Kampong Ayer! Isn’t that interesting?

As soon as I came to Nippon Maru, I immediately showered! I scrubbed and washed all the gunk away from my face and body. At one point, I even said to myself, I’d never go back there.

Well, if I do, it’s for the Mall of Asia.

Whenever I am feeling low
I look around me and I know
There’s a place that will stay within me
Wherever I may choose to go
I will always recall the city
Know every street and shore
Sail down the river which brings us life
Winding through my Singapore

Chorus:
This is home truly, where I know I must be
Where my dreams wait for me, where that river always flows
This is home surely, as my senses tell me
This is where I won’t be alone, for this is where I know it’s home

When there are troubles to go through
We’ll find a way to start anew
There is comfort in the knowledge
That home’s about its people too
So we’ll build our dreams together
Just like we’ve done before
Just like the river which brings us life
There’ll always be Singapore

( Repeat Chorus )

For this is where I know it’s home

This was a song performed by the Singapore contingent during one of their Port-of-Call performances. I know the song was meant to be about Singapore, but this song just perfectly described how I feel right now.

Yes, I’m home safe, sound, and in one big, generous piece.

I stayed with professional bird watchers in Fukushima, with a politician mother in Jakarta, a banker in Bangkok, student and NGO volunteer in Ho Chi Minh, and a crazy elementary school principal in Manila.

But now I’m home.

I’m home.