A bit about Flocations, it’s a Web service that lets you pick Southeast Asian budget flights based on your budget and dates. Same end goal as Flight Lover (Cheap flights within my budget but different way of doing it.
PS I’ve just started my guest posting journey, which Alexis Grant from the currently-called The Travelling Writer recommends doing right at the start.
If you are looking for travel/lifestyle posts on Singapore, Malaysia or the Southeast Asian region, drop me a mail yqtravelling[at]gmail.com.
Extra: How to renew your Malaysian passport online
1. Sign into MyOnline Passport using Chrome.
2. Fill in correct information and upload a photo of the right format.
3. Pay using credit card.
4. Save the receipt onto your computer.
5. The passport should be ready at where you said you will pickup in 2 hours time.
How many travellers does it take to renew a passport?
The answer is one. But when the traveller is well-known for being a scatter-brain procrastinator, it might take a lot more than that.
My passport with the number H180XXXXX was expiring on Jan 30, 2013. But we need at least 6 months of validity for our passports if we want to travel overseas.
I’m working in Singapore with a Malaysian passport, I don’t think having an “expired” passport will sit well with the authorities.
While I was determined to get a new passport when I head home during the end of June, I only successfully retrieved the new passport on July 28, in Johor Bahru which is 8,000++km away from home.
Here’s the story of how I finally renewed my passport.
Pre-June 29. Location: Singapore
(Countdown to expiry 30+ days + 6 months) At the office
More than month till my passport expires. No worries.
I keep announcing to my colleagues that I will renew my passport when I am back home at the end of the month for my classmate’s wedding.
I even make sure to place my passport in my handbag (which is really redundant because I need it to travel home anyway.)
June 30. Location: Kota Kinabalu
(Countdown to expiry 30 days + 6 months) Home sweet home. No, that's not my house
I am supposed to renew my passport today. I have even planned out the day’s schedule: renew passport in morning, go to mall nearby while waiting for the passport to be churned out in two hours, collect passport.
But it didn’t happen. Why? Because I’ve forgotten to bring my Identification Card (IC) back home.
It did cross my mind that I should bring my IC back. But being me, I didn’t heed that small warning.
My parents grumbled. I told them to relax.
Instead of a new passport, I had passport photos taken.
July 2. Location: Singapore
(Countdown to expiry 27 days + 6 months)
Back in Singapore, maybe I can renew my passport at the High Commission of Malaysia here.
Oh no, Sabah/Sarawak passports need two extra months of processing since they need to send it back. This is ridiculous.
July 11-15. Location: Hoi An, Vietnam
(Countdown to expiry 15 days + 6 months)
Well, since I’m overseas having fun. It’s not possible to renew my passport.
Let’s not worry and eat this bowl of pho. Nom nom nom.
July 19. Location: Singapore
(Countdown to expiry 10 days + 6 months)
Only 10 days weeks till I’m considered an illegal alien. Gaa! Let me drink this cup of tea to calm my nerves.
Boss asks when my passport is expiring, gives hint of an upcoming trip.
I call up the Johor immigration office to ask if Sabah passports take a longer time to process. It doesn’t. (Phew.)
But the immigration office will be closed during the 21st and 22nd weekend because of the beginning of the fasting month.
Panic starts to creep in.
July 23. Location: Singapore
(Countdown to expiry 7 days + 6 months)
OK, do not panic. D suggests I sleepover in Johor and run to the immigration office as soon as the door opens.
Sounds like a plan.
July 24. Location: Singapore
(Countdown to expiry 6 days + 6 months)
I decide I should get the online passport renewal system, MyOnline Passport, a try.
I use Firefox which has always been more stable for important sites. After filling in all my details, I find out that I cannot upload my photo.
Panic.
I decide to use Chrome. Oh! Photo upload works. Let me fill in my credit card details, select Johor as my pickup point, and sent everything over. A Web page gives me the receipt for the transaction and says I can pick up my passport after 2 hours.
July 25, 26, 27. Location: Singapore
(Countdown to expiry 5, 4, 3 days + 6 months)
I keep worrying that MyOnline Passport doesn’t really work, while reassuring my boss my passport will be collected on Saturday.
July 28. Location: Johor Bahru
(Countdown to expiry 2 days + 6 months)
Today’s the day of passport collecting, if I don’t get it done, I will be stranded in Johor until I get it sorted out.
I wake up at 7am, take the bus to Woodlands, switched to a bus to the checkpoint. A cab drives slowly pass the lobby after the checkpoint, I jump in.
After a RM16 cab ride, I am at the Johor Bahru immigration center at 9.40a.m. I don’t know which of the four buildings houses the passport office. I sprint from the car park to the center of the buildings–if my online passport application hasn’t been successful, I will need to get the paperwork done before 10am as the office closes at noon on weekends.
The employees at the carpark stopped me.
-Where are you going?
-To get my passport renewed.
-Oh! I thought you dropped your passport or something. Take that lift to the third floor.
-Thank you!
I reach the office. The queue is crazy. I am going crazy. I ask the lady for a queue number. She sees that I am collecting my passport so send me to counter 11.
OK, not as many people here. I hand over my passport pickup slip, telling the person I renewed it online. He tells me to take a seat and they will call out my name.
I stand in the corner and send an SMS to mom to tell her that I am waiting to collect my passport. I see a man with a stack of passport coming from behind the office.
My name is called. I take a seat, sign my passport and give them my right thumbprint.
I’m in the office for less than 10 minutes and my brand spanking new passport is in my hands.
In Part 1 of Glutton in Hoi An, I introduced the street food (ok, ok some were from restaurants) I had while in the town.
For Part 2, I’ll be talking about meals I had in restaurants–a bit pricey but still cheap when compared to Singapore.
Restaurant: Morning Glory
Address: 106 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street (TripAdvisor)
One of the restaurants run by Miss Vy (She’s Lonely Planet famous) where I had my grandest meal in Hoi An at the Morning Glory.
Instead of the airconditioned seats, I picked the two-person seater at the veranda. Similarly, I ordered enough to feed two persons and a child.
I ordered the stir fried morning glory (which disappointly turns out to be just kangkung), Hoi An pho, iced coffee and a kem flan (Vietnamese crème caramel).
The stir fried vegetable came with a serving of rice. I wasn’t brave enough to ask the waiter to take the rice back as I didn’t want to seem like a food waster. So I ended up eating my bland veggie with rice.
The Hoi An pho was the first I had. I was surprised by the mild soup as I remembered a stockier soup in Saigon. It was OK.
The kem flan came with shaved ice on top of the creme caramel. Interesting traditional combination.
The bill was 200,000 dong, one of the more expensive meals I’ve had but worth every cent.
Restaurant: Blue Dragon
Address: 46 Bach Dang St., Hoi An, Vietnam (TripAdvisor)
I visited Blue Dragon at one of those awkward timing in between lunch and tea time.
The meat set meal (120,000 dong) was definitely not an Asian-person appetite serving. Maybe a really hungry Asian person-sized.
Overall, the meal was yummy. The beef fried spring roll was a bit dry. The fried wonton and it’s spicy seasoning was great, it felt like I was eating seafood because of the sauce.
The rest of the main meal: rice with chicken and fried noodles wasn’t fantastic.
I forgot that I had a frui salad at the end so I was pleasantly surprised to be serviced cool banana and pineapple.
Please don’t let my review of the food stop you from visiting the place. It’s actually pretty cool since they are linked to a charity also called Blue Dragon. On the yellow wall, you can see the mark of where the last big floods reached in the shop.
Restaurant: Chinh’s Riverside Restaurant
Address: 54 Cua Dai Road, Hoi An +84, Vietnam (TripAdvisor)
Since Hoi An has both the sea and a huge river, seafood is a recommended dish. I did a search of cheap seafood places on TripAdvisor, found Chinh’s and decided to visit when I was at Cua Dai beach.
The place is right before the bridge bringing you back to Hoi An old town. The view is fabulous since you can see the river. I saw two fisherfolks who sat so still that I thought they were puppets put on water as a symbolic tip of the hat to the fishing life.
Chinh’s seems to be a family-runned place When I was there, there was a lady and an elderly lady. I heard them chopping and stir frying in the kitchen.
Again, being the gauche tourist, I ordered a two-person’s servings of seashells and prawns. The coffee was unfortunately from a 3-in-1 mix.
Nice place to watch the river flow by.
Restaurant: Mermaid
Address: 2 Tran Phu Street (TripAdvisor)
On the first night, Linh the homestay owner made a face when she heard that we were heading to Mermaid for dinner. The place is too small and not airy, she said.
Linh was right.
I decided to visit the Lonely Planet-famous eatery during yet another awkward meal time. I ordered the white rose and a coffee.
The white rose were sticking to each other, not quite the “har gao” feeling I was looking for.
There are better places for food in the city but don’t let me stop you. (Bad reviews didn’t stop me from experiencing it neither.)
My parents bunked at Value Hotel Balestier when they came to visit in Singapore early this month.
I was looking for a place that fits three persons in a room because I wanted to overnight with them during the weekend to make it easier for sightseeing.
The room was S$129 on regular nights, and S$139 on Saturday nights. After the 10 percent service charge and 7 percent Goods & Service Tax (GST), the price comes to about S$150. Quite reasonable for three people.
Superior plus at Value Hotel Balestier
The room that we got, Superior Plus, has a queen-sized bed and a sofa bed. I didn’t pick the room with windows because who actually need a window? (Please tell me why you need one if you do.)
The room is small, as expected in Singapore, but I think there will be enough space for two large luggage.
the extra sofa bed
The sofa bed was surprisingly comfortable. It was firm, unlike some foam beds which crush under any weight.
Amenities
At the dressing table, there is a plastic kettle, three glasses and three bottles of water which are replenished everyday. Hairdryer hidden in the drawer.
There was a DVD player, TV with cable TV programs (which weren’t half as scandalous as the stuff I watched on HBO in San Jose) but no mini-fridge (a pity!).
the loo
The bathroom is equipped with toothbrush sets, shampoo, soap and toilet paper which are all replenished daily.
I had to ask for a Wi-Fi password slip from the receptionist. It said it’s chargeable by S$10 but it wasn’t billed. Not sure if that’s the usual case.
Location
If you are familiar with the Singapore public transport, Balestier Road isn’t a bad location. There are buses to the shopping strip Orchard Road.
But the location’s not fantastic because it’s not near an MRT station, it takes a bus ride to reach Novena station.
Taxi fare in Singapore is relatively cheap (compared to Tokyo) so if you have more than 2 people in a group, taking a cab is often cheaper and faster than the bus.
Finding the place
On Balestier Road, there are THREE Value Hotels, a Fragrance Hotel and some Hotel 81’s. To get to the right Value Hotel *Balestier*, here’s what was included in my receipt:
“By taxi, inform the taxi driver to bring you to Value Hotel Balestier located at 218 Balestier Road (opposite the temple where durians are being sold)”
Summary
Stayed: Value Hotel Balestier, Singapore, review
Good for family of three
Pro: Not too expensive, comfy beds
Cons: Not central
I spent four nights at Loc Phat Hoi An Homestay during my trip to Hoi An. The place is runned by Linh–who deserves her Superwoman title–her husband (Quoc) and the two kids Billy and Tony.
It’s a terrific place for a solo travelling female since being in a homestay feels safer than a generic hotel or a backpacker’s place where you meet drunk kids on their gap year.
It’s also great for an ISFP like me because there is just the right number of people for me to interact with and not feel too overwhelmed.
Since I arranged for airport pickup, I didn’t take note of the address when I left for Hoi An. Airport shuttle was US$13 one way and Linh’s younger brother’s picked me up from Danang airport. It’s a lot more convenient than trying to haggle with cabbies.
The household
The previous tenants were not exaggerating when they say how accommodating Linh and her family is.
Linh whose day job is at a nearby hotel made sure that I was comfortable and changed my bicycle which had a loose chain. She even made extra keys for the tenants.
While I was there, Linh and her family slept in the living room, giving up their room to a pair of travellers. I think there was a mix up so they didn’t confirm their accommodation or something like that. I thought it was really nice of the family.
I also ate two of Linh’s meals, not refusing the second serving like how our Asian culture dictates. The family dinner was nice. And the cau lao which I had before leaving was the best cau lao I had during the trip, trumping even the central market one.
The tenants were really colorful characters. There was R who spent 30+ years with her husband and son on a boat! Two travelling 20-year-olds who asked me to have dinner with them (so sweet).
Room
$10 room
My $10/night room was the one facing the front garden. I had a large window and an even larger bed.
In the room, there are hangers which I used to dry my laundry. Multiple electrical plus. A tiny table with an equally tiny chair (children size) which acted as my makeup table.
Room with a view
The room has a standing fan which I had to use throughout the night because of the hot Vietnamese summer. In the morning, I can see a bit of sunrise right out of the window.
I do feel conscious that the opposite neighbors might see me while I change or sleep in ugly positions, but it’s probably my over active imagination.
Location
The road to Old Town
The house is in the middle of the roads to Old Town and Cua Dai beach. While it might seem a chore cycling to both destinations, it’s actually really easy if you pick Nguyen Duy Hieu to cycle (there’s less traffic compared with Cua Dai Road).
If you don’t have much time in Hoi An, I would recommend staying in the Old Town for the night view. But staying away from the attractions means I have incentive to explore the neighborhood and to discover the best coffeeplace in Hoi An (Cafe 139, on Nguyen Duy Hieu).
At the end of Cua Dai Road is the tailor where I made a qipao (more on that in a future post) so the location’s great.
Taxis are cheap and run on meters so they are a good alternative to cycling.
My trusty bike
Booking
I recommend contacting Linh directly through the site since it takes away the hotel booking site charges that both parties have to pay.
Stayed: Loc Phat Homestay, Hoi An review
Pro: Wonderful hosts, in middle of road to town and beach, cheap (US$10), airport/train transportation available at extra charge
Cons: Might be a bit warm in the room (because of the Vietnamese summer)
Vietman will always have a place in my stomach. It was the place I first started liking raw vegetable, ate banh minh, slurped good pho and discovered my love for buttery Vietnamese coffee.
So during my trip to Hoi An last week, I ate like the glutton I am.
Thought with all my cycling in Hoi An, I probably would have dropped one dress size. Unfortunately, my body believed in replacing all the muscle and fats I’ve lost in case of a zombie apocalypse so I probably ended up half a dress size larger.
I’m not sure if it’s the food portion or my vigorous cycling, I was really really hungry on Day 2 of my Hoi An trip. Even after a meal, my stomach would send signals to my brain saying: Hey! You should put more food into your mouth.
My brain obeyed and I ended up eating double portions of everything: banh mi (one pate and one plain) for tea time and a dinner for two at Morning Glory. Yikes! I was very pacified after the meal at Morning Glory that my stomach stopped complaining and was busy digesting but the feast went on.
Enough about my appetite, let me show you some of the yummies I had.
Cau Lao
A famous noodle dish in Hoi An. My sister and I were trying to figure out what Cau Lao might mean in Chinese. Translations say “dry noodle” and she wondered if it’s “gon lau”.
The better Cau Lao I had was in the central market, eating next to locals. I was charged the price of a big bowl which I think is my tourist tax. Still, it’s only 20,000 dong (S$1.25).
The noodles are flat and translucent. There are slices of pork and pieces of pungent leaves–a taste I associate with Vietnam and have grown to love.
However, the best cau lao was made by the lady running the homestay. I had two servings and it was terrific!
Banh Mi
My first Banh Mi in Saigon took me by surprise: fluffy, crunchy, tough and airy. A wild combination for a small baguette.
Unlike the jaw breaking French baguette, banh mi is more airy but with an equally stubbon but crispy crust.
The banh mi that I eventually ate in Hoi An was from a stall which legendary Anthony Bordain visited before. The reviews on TripAdvisor raved on and on. Despite just putting my head on my pillow and the sun being bright and strong at 2pm, I decided to find the famous stall and stuff myself with bread.
Banh Mi Phuong is not too easy to find. It’s next to shoes shops so you might miss it. At the junction of Nguen Duy Hieu and Phan Boi Chau, head towards the bridge but look at your right. The stall is right next to the small pedestrian entrance to the cloth market.
I bought one with pate and two empty ones to chew. The lady was puzzled why anyone would get empty ones when her fillings are to die for. (I didn’t dare tell it’s for my food baby–aka tummy.) All that bread for 25,000 dong. Amazing!!
I found a picnic spot opposite Hoi An town. It was a not too romantic place, perfect for my not-too-romantic face stuffing.
The sandwich was alright, yummy but not out of this world delicious. I wouldn’t mind having it from time to time. But the filling were substantial.
Pho
Pho
I’m not a pho connoisseur but Hoi An pho tasted different compared to Saigon pho. The stock less “busy” with clearer soup.
Before starting my meal, I drown the vegetables that came with the noodles. After drowning them in soup, they become half cooked and more edible. The flat noodles were perfect with the clear soup.
Coffee
I had coffee at about every rest stop, coffee shop and restaurant. I was charged all sorts of prices from 9,000 to 25,000 dong. I had 3-in-1 mix, pre-made and metal filtered coffee.
The best coffee place for Vietnamese coffee in Hoi An is at Cafe 139, on Nguyen Duy Hieu. It’s a cafe under a house, next to the ditch/river. For only 10,000 dong, you get a buttery iced Vietnamese coffee *and* a glass of sweetened tea.
The serving is very petite–the regular Vietnamese size–while the ice cube really large. I usually read while I wait for the ice to melt before taking careful sips.
This edition of #FoodFri features part 1 of my Glutton in Hoi An post. In the next edition, I will showcase three (or more) restaurants I visited. Stay tuned!
Sorry if you were led here by the title but I won’t be sharing any sex-on-the-beach gone wrong stories or anything as scandalous as that.
Instead, I will rant about tourons (tourist+moron)–thanks to LandLoper Matt for teaching me this term.
The title of this post came from a conversation I overheard. A local in Vietnam was telling visitors that some tourists would party on the beach at night, get really drunk and pass out on the sand and then hump each other (he used the better word “make love”) during sunrise.
Before I get into the story of my personal experience of meeting unruly travelers, here’s the travel tips I promised:
The “Dos & Don’ts” section in your Lonely Planet is not used to add weight to your guidebook. Read the chapter for Flying Spaghetti Monster‘s sake.
Respect the local culture and don’t do things you won’t do in front of your grandma in front of locals.
Just because you are excited being at a new place, please don’t shout your satisfaction to your fellow travelers.
Stand on the right side of the escalator. No, not the side of your right hand, the correct side which is the side most locals are standing at.
Be polite. Remember, it’s you who’s visiting their country so be respectful.
Lastly, yes. you are allowed to have sex on the beach but please find a secluded area and not hump like wild dogs in public.
Back to the main point
Sunrise, marred by touron backpackers
This post is inspired by a scene I saw at Cua Dai beach:
Picture this: A drunk young person with a buzzcut, who I think is called Allan, was making a fool of himself by first shouting at his drunk sleeping friend Charlie and then walking in a zigzag line into the sea. He proceeded to manhandle a fellow girl traveller–let’s call her B–in what is mistaken as an act of courtship (it’s about hamsters though).
In the sea was also D who probably felt left out from the manhandling was also shouting a lot while flapping around in the sea. Girl, you do not get attention that way and he’s not worth it.
The locals (and I) were sneaking peeks at the rowdy foreigners. It didn’t feel very comfortable watching these people being less than human.
Later, the gang picked themselves up (not very successfully) and headed back. I was also going to cycle back so I eavesdropped on Allan and B’s conversation at the bike parking lot.
–You are a beautiful girl. Something something something.
–Aww, you’re so sweet.
B seemed like the only not drunk person which signals being level headed so I wanted to shake her to say: “Why would you believe a drunk?” Of course I didn’t.
B had a bicycle and wanted to ride back but Allan insisted he ride. I didn’t think he was sober enough to cycle and true to that, Allan also managed to fall off his bike, scraping some skin and brusing his ego.
While I was pedalling back, I saw Allan brought back on a motorbike with two other people while B cycled a long way behind them.
Besides Allan’s friends Charlie who was drunk on the beach. Another girl slept on the pavement in front of a hotel while Allan and B were speaking to each other.
The scene was really disgusting.
‘I pity the fool’
Is there something about being away from home that makes some travellers uncouth? Does being in a foreign country means that the rules and social etiquette at home do not apply anymore?
Guardian has an article of this phenomenon happening in Vang Vieng. Things are not pretty there, some broken limbs and cracked heads (not to be confused with crackheads).
“It’s pure Darwinism,” says backpacking travel expert Stuart McDonald, a regular visitor to Laos and the Australian founder of travelfish.org. “If kids keep getting tanked and jumping off trees or ropes, they’re going to keep dying.”
Perhaps going on the road less travelled means I won’t meet with such travellers.
A portion of this entry was written on July 14. Timestamp of writing time included.
Sunrise from afar [6.08am] The bus that was supposed to take me on the Sunrise My Son tour should have picked me up at 5am. Instead, I’m in my room enjoying the last of the cool morning air.
Turns out, the tour bus misinterpreted my address “3XX, name” as “room 3XX, hotel name”. Worse thing is, I left a wrong phone number with the tour so even if they did try contacting me, it wouldn’t go anywhere.
I decided to sign up for the sunrise tour the day before because I want to escape the tourists and the heat. I biked to Hoi An old town and stopped by a travel agent, which turned out to be Blue Coral, and signed up for a tour + boat ride package. It was US$14 but I didn’t have dollars so I was charged 210,000 dong.
Really excited for the trip, I woke up at 4.30am, went to brush my teeth and put on BB cream in the semi-darkness lighted only by my torchlight.
At 4.50am, I was waiting at the junction.
The 10 minutes until 5am there felt like a very long time. The sky was still light blue with a peep of orangege from the east. There was a surprising number of people zipping by. 5 am! 5.13am
I waited and waited.
Then a public radio started broadcasting. I wasn’t sure what the content was but it felt very socialist–in a positive way. A very uplifting female voice was announcing something which I regret not being able to understand.
As I waited, taxis passed by, giving me a honk or two. I shook my head.
I saw buses turn into a corner but they never turned to me. Dog which kept barking menacingly at me
At 5.25am, I texted the phone number on my receipt. At 5.40am, I decided to head back.
At 5.50am, a phone call arrived. A man said the tour bus has left as they thought I was staying in a hotel. I asked them to pick me up at the right place for the 8am tour instead.
Funny thing is, my homestay owner said last night that tours sometimes don’t come and pick people up. And that if we have a tour, we can ask her to call and confirm.
I thought to myself: Nah, it won’t happen to me. I just booked it this morning.
And it did, but in a different way.
But the time standing outside was not wasted. I got to see and hear a part of Vietnamese life that was hidden from travellers who wake up at 9am for breakfast.
Still, next I’ll remember to be really specific about my pickup address and also write down the right phone number.
PS Luckily, I was still able to join the 8am tour to My Son. The sun was hot but there wasn’t too many people around. All’s well that ends well.
What travel mishaps have you encountered? Did it end well?
Hi folks, I’m still in Hoi An, Vietnam, now until Sunday. Instead of showing you what I’ve eaten for the past two days, I plan to reveal it all in one go after the trip as part of my Glutton in Somewhere food series.
So today, I want to share the different seafood I had while I was back in KK at the end of last month. I didn’t do a Glutton series for Kota Kinabalu because the food was too familiar for me to cheer about.
KK is a seaside city and there’s plenty of seafood to go around. My favorite seafood is probably prawns but they’re a bit more expensive than crabs so I don’t eat prawns too often. I also suspect it’s because I don’t get to eat it so often that I like it more.
Mom usually brings me to this other seafood place when I’m back. But this time, they changed location to somewhere nearer my house. This new eatery opened while I was in Singapore so I never visited the place.
We had crabs (the seafood, not the STD).
Crabs
As well as some challenging seashells. She eats seashells by the seashore
On another day, my sister brought us to a roadside eatery for coconut and clams. (An odd combination, I must say.)
The clams were barbequed and quite yummy. But the chilli is what brings the yumminess to another level. Even I as a non-chilli eater liked it (but didn’t have too much of it). Clammy
So the next time you are in Kota Kinabalu, remember to stuff yourself with seafood!
If the weather permits, I’ll be landing in Da Nang airport, Vietnam, at 4pm+ Singapore time later today. I bought the tickets last October when AirAsia started its flight to Da Nang–9 months in advance.
It wasn’t until the past few months that I started reading up on Da Nang. I was thinking of places to visit but I realized the historical town Hoi An is more suitable for me than beach town of Danang. (I’m also very tempted to visit Hue.)
I’ve done the best I’ve could in preparing for the trip, including reading guidebooks and clipping Hoi An-related content from the Web using Evernote.
I’ve also booked a room at a homestay with good reviews on TripAdvisor. As a solo female traveler, I feel safer living with a family than a single room in an unknown motel especially in a country where I don’t speak the language.
I expect to eat, cycle, get tailored clothes, pretend to sun myself at the beach in Hoi An. But the activities aren’t set in stone. ;) Onward march!
Revisiting Vietnam
The last time I was in Vietnam, it was in the summer month of August in 2009. I just graduated and was looking for a job. But Nguyen, whom I met while on student exchange in China, persuaded me to visit her in Saigon to eat pho.
Since then, I’ve leveled up my travelling skills. I’ll be bringing the same red backpack but without the heavy carry-on. (My goodness, was the bag really only $4.90?!)
The food was wonderful! Pho, french baguetee and all those yummy unknown. Also, Vietnamese coffee can only be described of as f*cking great(a la DollarShaveClub).
YQtravelling 