The Black World Of Solitude.

Wednesday, 16 March 2011

HCM City - Day Two

As I mentioned two days ago, the second day was the most unlucky day of my life. I should be able to remember the details, though I usually attempt to forget about it. The chain of unlucky events took place during the afternoon.

Hello Day 2! I wanted my day to be happy, but no, you've ruined it all for me. Go to hell.
This is the scene from the hotel.

I wouldn't say I'm that unlucky, for this chandelier didn't drop on me. But yeah, it's still very unlucky day for me.

Ok, first place, war museum. It was quite depressing actually, seeing all the pictures of the dead bodies...

Yeah, that's one of the pictures.

US arrogance. They pulled out from South Vietnam in 1973 I think. Probably couldn't fight the North Vietnamese any further.

Guns.

Real life image of a blasted room with fragments lying around.
Actually, it's just a room undergoing renovations.

Torture devices used on the Vietnamese by the US.

Painting of the cell that the Viets were placed in.

On a side note, a very minor event took place, and i consider this as a wasted opportunity. :(
While around this area I passed by a cute Viet girl. Should have talked to her. We stared at each other, eye to eye, for a few seconds, but didn't utter any words to each other. We could have been friends. Ah well. :'(
I didn't seize the day.

That's me in the picture.
Nah, kidding, that shows how the prison cells look like. Hell.

Another torture device. The prisoner is forced to crouch down and this device is placed on him. If he sits up, he gets stabbed by the sharp wire. And I don't think he can lie down as well. Ouch.

Guillotine.

Prison cells. You can see that except for the one closest to the camera, the rest are painted on a wall.
Ok, and henceforth, my chain of unlucky events took place. I didn't take much photos, so... Ah well.

Ok, the bus drove us down to the Mekong Delta. The tour guide claimed that it has a cool atmosphere. Wa, damn hot place sia. (sorry, can't resist urge to use singlish.) I was sweating profusely from the freaking heat. We took the boat to some Unicorn Island and some other islands. And it all started there.

The port. I realised I didn't take much photos. I guess the reason was that my stomach was feeling really uncomfortable during this time.

The first island. We went to have lunch.

Elephant fish!

My cheeky friend carrying a python/cobra/whatever, I'm no snake expert.

Ok, apparently I didn't take photos for this one. Right, we were to take another boat ride back to the main boat to move on to another island. So first things first. I didn't listen to the tour guide talking for I was playing around with a dog, so when I went on the boat I stepped on the edge of the boat to get in. The result? The boat almost capsized with two of my friends in there, along with the two people who propelled the boat. Luckily I grabbed onto something and the boat didn't capsize, but my feet entered the water. Damn.

And so that was the first unlucky event. I was scolded by the tour guide.

The next thing. I tried to use the oars to propel the boat. There was an extra oar for us to use. However, I've never used an oar before, and while I was learning to use it, the current was too strong and it smashed the oar onto my thumb which was smashed on the sharp edge of the boat. Skin tear only, no blood, but pain.

And so that was the second unlucky event.

The third. Damn, because I didn't listen, I didn't know how much to pay for the boat ride. So I paid them 100000 dongs (around SGD 7) and was waiting for my change back. The boat woman sailed off without handing over change. I realised something was amiss, for they were all laughing and the boat woman thanked me as though I was some God. Pretty scary, since I can't understand Vietnamese language as well. But she thanked me and sailed off. It was only then my friends told me that it was a tip, not payment. Such good friends indeed. And how much did they give? 500 dongs. That's less than a cent in Singapore I think. So I was scammed of SGD 7. But I tried to look on the bright side and tell myself that I was helping them, for they were poor.

And that's the third unlucky event. I couldn't take pictures of this, of course, for I was so close to water, and if my camera slips off, I won't be able to post anything anymore.

Ok, after the events we went to a next island to see Vietnamese cuisine and tradition. We went to this bee farm. No idea where the bees were, though, but the people there were promoting their honey tea, which tasted like sweet and sour water. My fourth unlucky event took place here.

Yup this is the place. My good friend from China urged me to try this snack that the people were promoting. It looked like biscuits with a coating of sugar. So I placed the entire thing in my mouth. There was the sweet taste of sugar before a spicy, bitter and sour taste took over which brought tears to my eyes because I was about to vomit. It was GINGER. And whenever I taste ginger I'll have this sensation of vomiting. Holy crap. I had to swallow the hot tea to destroy the taste. Awful. Really awful.

Ok, another unlucky event. After watching this music performance, I had a stomache. I rushed to a nearby toilet, and was forced to enter this cubicle where the toilet bowl cannot be flushed and there were stuff inside which I will not want to describe for I just had dinner. But I had a stomache so yeah, no choice. It took around 10 minutes for the pain to clear (my stomach wasn't feeling well remember? It had been, since the first day). And because of that, I made my class stay on the island quite a while before they could back to the main island.

So that was the fifth unlucky event, though not as unlucky, but it sure destroyed my day.

Last photo of the day. I apologise for not taking more, but we stayed in the same hotel, so no point. This restaurant is the last place where the last unlucky event took place. So there were six after all. But still unlucky.

The waiter served this dish first. It was some vegetable that I know not; we were in Vietnam and the vegetables they ate could be different from what we eat here in Singapore. Since I vowed to eat more vegetables at the start of the year, I took a moderate amount and placed it in my mouth. Hell.

The vegetables had a taste of ginger (but it wasn't ginger for sure), and it has this paper taste (yeah, I've eaten paper before and I know) along with an extra spicy taste. Almost vomitted. Worse still, they haven't served water yet. And because I took a plane to Vietnam I didn't bother to bring a bottle of water. So yeah, hell.

After eating at the restaurant we went back to the hotel where there were reflections and then we had to sleep. The third day, although not as unlucky as the second, was a day where I used the toilet more than 5 times I think. More on it tomorrow or the day after.

Yeah so that's about it.

Oh yeah, I have a CPR test tomorrow. Wish me luck. :D (thanks)

=D

Labels: Mohenjo-Daro

人之命，若无意，何生乎？20:12