Singapore: Part One - The proposal

The first morning in Singapore Justin got me up early and bustled me down to breakfast.  When I asked why the rush he said he had a special tour planned.  After breakfast we went outside and there was a limo-cab waiting for us! The driver had already (somehow!) been told by Justin exactly when and where he wanted to go - I just thought we were going on a tour of Singapore - but in a really nice car!

The first stop was the famous Raffles Hotel, it is an amazingly beautiful building and the birthplace of the iconic Singapore Sling.  It was fairly early in the morning so we didn't have cocktails just yet.... 

 But we did get a cheesy tourist snap with the doorman!

Then we went to Chinatown.  It was really quiet (again it was fairly early morning) and Chinatown really gets going after dark.  The decorations for Chinese New Year were still up and the place looked very festive

 Then we drove over to Sentosa Island.  This is where they have a Universal Studios, a crazy cable car ride and a few other theme parks.  Its also where the MERLION lives.  Half mermaid/half lion, it stands about ten stories high and is UG-LY.  But you know - it is very famously Singapore. Its one of those things you need to tick off while being a tourist :)

After this the limo-cab didn't seem to be driving anywhere near any more touristy things....eventually I found out that he was driving to 42 Faber Drive, the place that mom and dad and I lived in when we lived in Singapore! What a surprise! The place looked like I remembered it, although I was only 6 when I lived here.

I like this photo a lot.  About ten seconds after I took this photo he asked me to marry him.

And I said YES!

Back in Saigon

After the luxury and relaxation of Phu Quoc we went back to the crazy fast paced city-ness of Saigon for a few days.  What an amazing city (and what an amazing place to go and EAT!)

This place is pretty much like Vientamese McDonalds.... there is one on every corner, it is cheap, dependable good food and fast.  They make pho which is usually a beef broth with slices of beef cooked in the broth, noodles, corrainder (cilantro) mint and chilli.  It is one of my favourites!  This place is known for serving up pretty good pho and you can pick the cut of meat you want to have in it too.

I don't think I want to be a Vietnamese Electrician.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silkie While over there I was keen to try black chicken.  A much loved Asian dish it is pretty much unheard of in Western cuisine... Also the appearance of the dish doesn't contribute to increasing its popularity...... It tasted nice - just like chicken soup really!

More crazy power lines....

The Benh Tanh markets - a crazy place but great for souvenirs and food.  You need to bargain with the stall holders to get a decent price.  Justin is the bargainer out of us two so I generally walk into a shop, pick what I want and tell Justin and walk out.  If it was up to me I always just pay what they ask for it - sucker! We had read up on this place before we went there and learnt that they give you plastic bags to put your purchases in in different colours according to how good a bargainer you are so as to forewarn the next stall holder.  We had prepared and bought a back pack with us so we could conceal the coloured bags that marked Justin as a hard bargainer!

 Another thing I absolutely wanted to try while we were over there was weasel coffee... the idea of it is a bit gross but trust me it tastes great! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_coffee

 I like this photo..... I think the sales girl was glad she had a stool handy to be able to serve this giant man!

Had to have Margaritas at the Hard Rock Cafe - Saigon.  And get a photo with the friendly security guy!

We went to a Dim Sum restaurant that was really amazing.  It had a guy there who just made noodles from scratch the whole time we were there.  It was amazing the way he pulled, stretched, whacked and hey presto here are all these beautifully uniform noodles!

We really had such an amazing time in Saigon... I would go back there for a holiday anytime!

Phu Quoc Island

Ok so a few more photos of Phu Quoc Island.  We splashed out and stayed in a really fancy place and somehow we all got upgraded to presidential suites! The resort was called Saigon Phu Quoc and it was a really great place to stay.

The beds were HUGE.

We went to a couple of pearl farms on the island.  The had so many different sizes and colours of.

There is a pepper plantation on the island.  They let you wander around and have a look at the trees but there is no formal tour as such (there is really no tourism industry set up on the island).  The also sold some products at the farm, a really nice mix of salt and pepper that you commonly see on the tables at restaurants (usually it has salt, pepper and msg and then you squeeze lime over it and dunk your food into it) and a pepper paste that we have used since we have been home as a coating on steak. Delish!

It was amazing to see the place so untouched by tourism... yet.  I wonder if I came back in ten years if I would recognise it? This photo is on the way back from the pearl farm, lots of tiny shack type houses along the beach, dirt roads and not another tourist in sight.

There is a famous fish sauce factory on the island - again no formal tour in place but they let you go in and walk around.  The smell is COMPLETELY OVERPOWERING - fish sauce is pretty much just made from rotting fish after all....!

We had to get up and have a look in the big vats at the fish sauce fermenting.  There is only about half our group here - the other half were a fair distance away avoiding the smell!

Cocktails on the beach. 

One of the guys was sick while he was over there and opted for some traditional medicine to help him get better - this is the aftermath of 'cupping'.  From what I understand hot cups are placed on the skin and as they cool they suck the toxins out of the body (and leave funny looking spots).  Its not my cup of tea but he seemed to think it helped him so there you go!


Leaving the resort to fly to Saigon... they gave us cool hats so we had to get a photo.....

The boys too!

A break from Vietnam....

I felt the need to share with you.... a moment I have had more than once in my life.  It's quiet.  I'm alone.  I've had a glass or two of wine.  And I'm playing this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLKiMbC6s2k

What an amazing piece of music.

I challenge you to DO anything while listening to this.  It is just about impossible.  It requires undivided attention.

Long before any lyrics are sung I have already had two or three sets of goosebumps.

I remember being a thirteen year old (and knowing it all by the way) and grabbing "The Delicate Sound of Thunder" double album from my mom's CD collection.  Of course she had educated me in Pink Floyd years previously with the record of a live performance of Dark Side of The Moon and I had enjoyed it (in a way that only a 13 year old can enjoy music their parent has encouraged them to listen to) but had always been particularly fond of this track.... all 12 minutes of it.

Loud.

Markets

One of my favourite things to do on a holiday in a foreign country is to go to a place where the locals shop to get their groceries.  After leaving Rach Gia we took a three hour boat ride to Phu Quoc Island - which is actually closer geographically to Cambodia than Vietnam.  While on Phu Quoc we stumbled upon this amazing wet market and spent a good couple of hours just walking through and looking!

Sea-horses for sale, not sure if they are for eating of for medicine.

Dried sea-food.  The little dried shrimp were served to us a few times as something to nibble on before a meal, like nuts or chips! 

Ribbit!

 Justin stands out a little huh? Even though there is another Australian friend of his walking behind him!

 The butcher shop.

 Refridgeration - Phu Quoc style.

Chicken on tonight's menu? They are fresh!

Rach Gia

Rach Gia was the tiny town we flew to, its where we accessed the river to be able to get to the bride's home.  It was tiny, no fast food places, a couple of grocery stores, no big shopping centre, no tourism and certainly no english.  There is no way we could have managed there without some Vietnamese friends! We stayed in the fanciest hotel there and it was $20 a night. It was ok! We stayed here for two nights as the only real reason we were in this particular town was to get to the weddings.  We did manage to fit in some amazing meals, some of the more memorable were a cold beef and rice noodle salad dressed with fish sauce, lime, vinegar and sugar with fresh coriander, mint and chili (for breakfast - YUM - that'll wake you right up!), a pork dumplings and noodles in a spicy tomato broth (again with fresh coriander and mint - that stuff gets addictive) and my favourite discovery (though not a meal) was Vietnamese Ice Coffee (or Cafe su da - i managed to be understood by the end of the holiday when I ordered this in restaurants!)

The glass on the right is cold ice green tea, nothing to do with the ice coffee but it is served as a complimentary drink as soon as you go into a restaurant. So the glass in the middle has the cool little percolator on top which has the coffee grounds in it (a particular type of Vietnamese coffee) and the boiling hot water running through it.  The white layer on the bottom of the glass is condensed milk.  After all the water has drained through you use the spoon (provided in the glass of ice -see?) to mix the coffee and condensed milk together and then pour it over the full glass of ice.  The ice melts and chills the drink and you are left with an insanely tasty ice coffee that is reason alone to go back to Vietnam.  We bought all the tools while we were thee to try to re-create this at home but I don't think I can recreate the atmosphere.....



Justin shopping in the local grocery store.  As you can see - people there are generally a lot shorter than Justin. Note the shelves that only go up to his shoulders and trolley that looks like a toy.  And in the trolley? Tiger beer - a great beer available in Asia.

1USD=20,000 Vietnamese Dong.  Equals difficulty when trying to stuff such large amounts of currency into your wallet. Yes they are $500,000 notes. 

 Walking to our hotel - it is the tallest building you can see there in the distance.

Taken from the boat when we were coming back from the weddings - this is in a larger section of the Mekong Delta.

Where do I start?



What an amazing holiday! So many experiences... where do I start? Well starting at the beginning would make sense.... We overnighted in Saigon and then flew to Rach Gia where we travelled 45 minutes by boat down the Mekong Delta to where the two weddings were held.  A totally foreign environment like nothing I have ever seen before.  The hospitality, food and sights were amazing.  More photos to come.

This is one of the brides's families homes (where I am standing taking the photo is just in front of their house) looking out to the river.  This is where the wedding was held (and the party .. and the fooooood! oh my...)

From left to right - Butch, Kieu, Ut and Iron Chef.  Beautiful decorations and photos, and of course the brides were gorgeous!

 Climbing back onto our boat to make the journey along the river back to Rach Gia.  There are two boats in this picture (one was taking friends and family in a different direction up the river.  There was no other way to access these houses other than by boat.