Massage

We went back to the hotel and rain quickly fell ( Go to youtube.com , search Rain Over Me by Pitbull to get my mood )

So that ruined our plans to go ‘ walk walk ‘ along the Vietnam streets. 

Instead? A few of us went for a massage Sherrin’s mother recommended. 

Weird experience. They sat us down in the most comfortable recliners ever created. I think my masseuse picked me cause soon she was talking to me.

Where you from ? ( weird, sexy , alluring , but difficult to understand accent )

Sing-a-pore ( Cause their English isn’t the best ) 

What your name ?

Si-mon ( I had to whisper, cause the massage parlor was meant to be a quiet place where you can lie down and head on to find your inner peace. Sherrin later says she could hear me flirting with the masseuse, but you’d notice to this point I only said TWO  words )

Sai man ? ( well, acceptable )

She looks into my eyes while massaging my hand and I return the eye contact. (*shrugs shoulders* Mutual respect ?)

( Got goosebumps yet ? Don’t worry, I do to )

She says a phrase in Vietnamese and I stare blankly at her. 

She giggles and says ‘ Handsum ! ‘

The masseuse massaging Sherrin’s dad looked at my masseuse and at me and starts giggling as well. 

Oh holy shit right ? 

Next, she places our palms against each other to do some massage move and comments ,’ Wah, our hand same ‘. I play along, giving her my other hand so she can show me, and well, she was right. 

The massage just went on normally, except at the end of it, while the guys were putting their shirts back on, she held on to mine with one of those cunning smiles and I just cracked into laughter. 

Vietnam Day 1 

Dinner

Dinner was just a short walk from the hotel, a street side diner, just the way I like it. Did you know it’s very common to see street side restaurants sit its customers on chairs meant for kindergarteners ? ( We we later debated the spelling of Kindergarten after a few drinks ). I’m a 80 going on 90 KG man sitting on chair which probably has a weight limit of air. Ah , the wonders of Vietnam. 

But chairs aside, the food was the best I’ve ever tasted during an overseas trip. This replaced the dinner I had with my Scouts in Kuching at a lovely seafood restaurant as the first place. 

The host of the restaurant, what a character man. I quickly could guess why he’s little diner was so successful. He was extremely friendly and welcoming, kissing Sherrin’s father on the cheeks ( cause apparently they’re good friends ) and Wan Yi’s father too ( Well, maybe he just likes kissing guys )

At the end of the Makan-ing session, 10 beer bottles and 2 coke cans down, full was an understatement. Here’s an interesting tidbit of information - One bottle of Heineken in Vietnam costs you a mere SGD $ 1.20. The local beer ? SGD $0.60 / bottle. Insane? Insane. Will I be back ? Who said I drank ?

Meeting up

The whole group met at the budget terminal, which I found weird cause why do they have to make a budget airport look so … budget. Just because they’re carrying the budget airlines doesn’t necessarily mean they have to follow suit and use ugly cheap paint for the walls just to prove a point. 

Flight

The Tiger ( meow … ) airways flight was rejuvenating. Especially, with the O Levels having ended, it really felt like I was letting go of that part of my life and flying away to start a new one, or moving on to the next chapter per se. You should try it , if you can’t afford to fly, even budget, then I understand HDB blocks are getting higher and higher ;)

Vietnam

An hour ++ after takeoff there we were in the land of the motorbikes. It’s interesting to note our plane departed from the budget terminal in Singapore and landed in one of Vietnam’s premier airports. Really shows the difference in the standards the two countries have eh ? But I still <3 Vietnam. 

First time in a new country , and first time to a country I’ve been wanting to see ! I read about how 30 people die on the streets of Vietnam everyday in traffic related accidents and seen many pictures of motorbikes weaving in and out on these same roads. So we hopped into a taxi , headed to the hotel, and I finally got to see what I’ve only heard and seen about. 

The traffic was nuts. Period. But, within all the chaos on the roads, the separation of the two opposite heading lanes of a street usually not adhered to, I sensed beauty within in. The beauty within the chaos. I’m still wondering about how to capture this beauty within all these mad hatter motorcyclists with what happens to be their own set of rules for the roads.