Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Vietnam Service Learning Trip Day 1

I was away in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) for the past few days with the girl guides from Queenstown and Henderson Secondary School. Me, Kevin and Joshua were responsible for them, quoting what one of the teachers always said, "Vietnam is a foreign country, we have to be with the girls all the time..." Ya ya ya... I understand...

Anyway we gathered at Changi Airport Terminal One on 24th Nov morning. And boy oh boy, we were there very very very early. We were already there around 5.12am. I don't really like the idea of waking up so early... but then, I don't I have a choice.





So after we had checked in, we were all set to go to HCMC. The flight was short and within 1.5 hours, we landed at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport. And there, we saw Gary and Nhat waiting for us outside with the bus arrived shortly. The rooms weren't ready yet as we were there early; the checkout time is 12pm and we were there around 11am. So we left our belongings in the Tan Hai Long Hotel and set off for lunch at Mega Parkson where we had curry chicken that wasn't spicy, a plate of onions and some veggies that looked mashed. Perhaps I was hungry and hence I didn't mind the food that was given to me. Or maybe I found it tasty. I don't know but definitely the girls didn't enjoy it. Haha...

And after lunch, we proceeded to the Revolutionary Musuem.







The museum was actually pretty good but everybody - YES everybody - including myself and the teachers were tired, hence we were following the tour guide around without really listening to her explanation. Hence, instead of heading for Ben Thanh Market straightaway, we went back to the hotel to rest.

After an hour of rest we then headed to Ben Thanh Market which is really impressive; they sell almost everything. But personally, I would still prefer Chatuchak Market in Bangkok any time. So the girls shopped for a while before heading back to the hotel for dinner. And that more or less concluded the first day.