Recess Week part II: Big Hit in Thailand

We said goodbye to Vietnam for the moment and hailed to another South East Asia beauty: Bangkok. As for now I'm still in a speechless and *shaking-my-head* mode of all the amazingly random things there, but let's start on the Pattaya day trip. It was the closest beach to Bangkok so it's a good way of sampling the beauty of Thai beaches. First activity in Pattaya, though, was riding the elephants. Yes, there's an elephant village near the beach. Only in Thailand haha. The beach was quite crowded during the day, and from what I heard Pattaya is actually one of the quite shady spots in Thailand where the tourists love to go. Oh well, beach wasn't quite a big deal but Tiffany's Show definitely was! It was the Broadway for prettiest and most talented lady boys in Thailand. They were such princesses and they'd chase after you after the show to get you take a picture with them (and hence your tip).

So what does a city tour of Bangkok look like? Temples, temples, and more temples. Oh, and the grand palace that looks like a temple too. If you're feeling cheap, look for one of those 3-cents tuk-tuk ride. The driver would tale you to few temples but he got a task for the passengers. Beside taking you to the temples, he would take you to jewelry stores and ask you to pretend to be a potential buyer so that he can get the free gasoline voucher to take you around.

Khao San road is where the wild things are, as featured in the "Hangover 2". Backpacker ghetto full of night market stalls, massage houses, bars, restaurants, lady boys, and other random happenings. Shopping there isn't so great, but street pad thai is cheap and decent. It was raining so we decided to go into the McDonald's, ordered a drink, and eat our pad thai dinner there. All the sudden, a random Vietnamese Australian guy with his friend asked if we were Singaporeans. How have we become such, oh my? Apparently these guys were past NTU exchange students who are just spending months travelling in Southeast Asia at the moment. They have been, let's just say, through a lot of random things. But they knew where the free and hygienic toilet is where they also gave free soda (which happened to be a pub with lady boys as ushers). And they know how to distinguish lady boys from real ladies accurately, which is by asking directly (Ann tried this to a hostel employee before asking about nearby shows but he gave a not-so-pretty face. Woops). No offense to Thai ladies (you're amazing just the way you are), but that got me to question the femininity of the ladies I saw in Thailand thereafter.

Ok so the overall best thing to do in Bangkok, well other than getting Thai massage, is shopping.  Chatuchak market is where you can find everything under the sun, but I prefer the cheap and trendy fashion items. Not satisfied? Head to the outdoor market at Siam Square on the way back but expect slightly higher prices. Still have money to splurge? Go to the 81st floor of Baiyoke Sky, which is the tallest building in Bangkok, and get a nice buffet dinner with the best view of Bangkok just for about US$ 20.

Recess Week part I: Bonjour Vietnam!

What a wonderful week it has been. I'm sitting now in my dorm room thinking where did my recess week go? It was definitely the highlight of my exchange semester. I flew to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam as my recess week commenced 2 Fridays ago. Having many Vietnamese friends back in US, I was really enthusiastic about the whole experience. All of which was possible thanks tho the hospitality of Rensy and her family who have let us be a part of their household for 5 days.

First night in Vietnam was all about the coolest hangouts and food. Rensy took us to her favorite bo bit tet place downtown and walked us around the Notre Dame Basilica. Next to Notre Dame was a park where Ho Chi Minh youths like to hang out over coffee and street snacks. It was really cool to hang out on a Friday night just like they do, but it's even cooler to try the very original pho at the restaurant that made the dish for the first time. At Pho Hoa Pasteur was born my favorite comfort dish of the winter, by a man named Mr. Hoa. Now we know why pho restaurants all over the world love that name.

Weekend scene in Ho Chi Minh was just like any other weekday. I was surprised that they have a 6-day work and school weeks. Amidst the busy streets, we headed over to Ben Thanh market to shop for souvenirs. Bargaining power and a local translator came very handy this time (Thanks, Rensy!). After such a tiring shopping trip, we made a stop at Nhu Lan, a banh mi bakery with a proper deli counter that has existed since the days of the French. Since most attractions opened all week long, we saved the trip to Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Basilica, and Central Post Office on for Sunday. It also happened to be the full moon night, so it was just perfect for heading to Chinatown and saw the commotion at lantern street.

After a having a couple laid-back days, we had a couple days of bigger trips. We cruised on a small speedboat to the Mekong Delta at My Tho with another group of exchange friends from NTU who happened to be in town. It was quite rainy and muddy that day. Nevertheless, I was thrilled to float on a wooden boat, saw how coconut candies were made, and had a python wrapped around my neck. It was also quite surprising to meet someone from Philly on the same trip. At the end of the day, we went crazy over karaoke and saying "see-you-later"s to the other group until people on the street side started to wave to us as well. It was too much fun that it was so hard to wake up the next morning for another trip to Cao Dai temple and Cu Chi tunnel. Thanks to the "Gangnam Style" anthem playing in the cab on our way to the tour agency, I became quite pumped and knew it was gonna be a great day :D The bus rides were quite boring, but our guide was hilarious and spoke very good English. The Cao Dai temple stop was only 30 minutes since we were only there to see the religious service of the Cao Dai faith, which is an interesting mix of Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, and Islam. The rest of the trip was spent at the Cu Chi tunnel where I got to learn about the Vietnam War from the Vietnamese perspective, which is way beyond the scope of my high school US History class.

It was quite sad to leave this beautiful unMcDonald'sed country where I could really enjoy good coffee and a lot of fresh herbs. I'll never forget the near-to-death crossing the streets and reckless tour driver driving on the wrong wrong side experiences. Special thanks to Rensy and her family who have let us stay in their home, shared their dining table of delicious Vietnamese home-cooked meals, and showed huge hospitality during our stay in Ho Chi Minh.

Pre-Recess Week Post

So the moon cake festival at Takashimaya was not disappointing at all despite of what everyone said regarding "No need to go Taka, can do at any mall". What a huge festival with a LOT of moon cakes to sample. I've never seen so many varieties of moon cakes before such as durian, red wine, chocolate, caramel, red beans, even Angry Birds. Kudos to Matt, the local buddy of my UK exchange friends, who guided us through and took us for the fish and chips dinner long-missed by the UK chemists bunch (Yup they're all chemistry majors.No offense to the engineers, but eating with engineers is getting overrated after 4 years of Drexel).

After church Sunday, I went with Ann, Rensy, and Purun to Swensen's. We can say it was quite a spontaneous plan. As a buffet fan, I haven't tried to go to any self-serve buffet in Singapore. It was only a dessert buffet, but that's exactly why it's perfect for girls outing time :) First time I have a piece of real carrot cake in Singapore (as opposed to their carrot cake). We had such a great time that me and Rensy almost forgot that we had a Chomp Chomp dinner appointment with Louis and Rayden, local buddies of ours. More local tastes from the best hawker centre in Singapore (I had asked more than 5 locals to confirm this).

So what's next? Recess week is here! I just need to attend 2 presentations tomorrow morning then off I fly to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam. The 4 of us (Rensy, Ann, Diana, and I) are travelling together this time. We'll spend Friday through Wednesday exploring Ho Chi Minh and staying at Rensy's house. Another bunch of exchange friends is joining us on Sunday and Monday as they come down from Hanoi and would continue their journey to Phnom Penh. Comes Wednesday, we'll be in Bangkok until Sunday. Very excited for this trip of a lifetime ;)