"how's ur trip?"

yes i repeat, the qn to ask is..

"hows ur trip?" and not "how's ur honeymoon?"

Here's a selection of 10 pix for every stopover. It all began with Hanoi (15th-18th June)..

St Joseph Cathedral where i was blessed to attend the evening Mass. Despite Mass being conducted in a language i cldnt understand, i cld follow thru because Mass is celebrated the same way in every Catholic church.Water puppet show which we almost fell asleep watching, not becoz it was boring, but tt we ate a very full dinner prior to that
Hoan Kiem Lake behind us..myth has it tt if u manage to see a turtle in the lake, u'd have very gd luck
Day 2(Tues 17/06/08): We went for Halong Bay tour. Btw Halong = 下龙--descend of the dragon
lady selling fruits as a livelihood
natural caves..the light at the end of the tunnel
tiz is the place we spent 3 nights at..very friendly staff and clean rooms. free breakfast too! USD$7 per night for double room
Day 3 (Wednesday 18/06/08) @HCM musuem. Uncle Ho..Ler Ho Bo?? hee..*paddle shake*
Diz salad rox i tell u..one of the many 街边 food tt we chow down hungrily
spring rolls got us damn high..yummy! ;p
Hoi An(19th-21st June)..This was a very bad night on the sleeper bus. There was smtg wrong with the bus suspension, so even though there was no real hump or potholes on the road, the 10hrs ride was like on sleeping on Osim's i-gallop set to the max. My neck n back hurt like crazy and i cldnt sleep at all coz every bump got me jolted out of the bed. Well..unlike someone else who slept like a log. -_-^

Ironically, the one n only english soundtrack tt they played on the bus was Mariah Carey's 'When u believe'..

"There can be miracles...when u believe"

I tried against all odds to believe n pray for a miracle to cure diz painful journey which definitely made me believe tt wad fails to kill me indeed made me stronger.The miracle tt happened: a more comfortable sleeper bus frm Hue to Hoi An..thankfully. Got off the no-suspension sleeper bus n boarded a better one at the stopover. Breakfast in Hoi An..french toast with honey for her, and banana pancakes for myself.
Here we are at on the Heritage tour..in the small town of Hoi An

We smuggled in for free to watch (supposed to cost 75,000 VND = 4.68USD to visit 5 separate destinations) but i juz act blur and told the lady tt we tried to find the ticket seller in vain..*pitiful*

Ok i noe i shdnt have lied but we are seriously on a tight budget and any dollar saved is an xtra food dollar. or in angela's case, an xtra shopping dollar.
tiz is the church beside the orphanagewe got damn high tailor-making clothes here. she made 2 dresses, while i made 3 working blouses. 3 blouses added up to USD$47..damn value for money can? N the quality is gd too..
Hoi An's specialty--Cao Lao (yes i laughed at the name as well..hahaha) wad i disliked abt the dish is definitely the mint leaves. yucks! other than tt, it was pretty deliciousVietnam coffee..kicks ass i tell u!
Here we are at Dalat (frm 21st-23rd June) aft a 22hrs ride frm Hoi An. during our practise session. chk out the 观音菩萨 statue on the left. to bless and ensure safety n well-being of the adventurers
Look who's Canyoning man? USD$30 for the advanced route which wld have included 5 decends. Tiz was the 2nd descend, i think abt 20m high
our 3rd descend down diz 15m cliff
i was trying so hard to display a brave front while the village doctor, aka sinseh, popped angela's dislocated left shoulder back. its 1 thing being the 当局者，and another being the 旁观者. its like though i was bleeding like crazy in Penang when i rammed into a sharp edge, i honestly didnt feel any pain at all, but the on-lookers felt like it was damn painful to bear?

anw i was plainly standing there providing 精神上的支持 and juz reassuring tt it'll be over in a flash n hence to bear with the pain of tt 'instance' when the shoulder pops back. Mayb i'm a great pretender..cool cookie in front, but totally freak out inside. ha 独臂侠女
black humor huh..saw diz pic in the village doc's house
wah check diz out..injured but still can enjoy. i call diz comfort food..hahahha
we were very happy all the time in Dalat, with the extremely mouth-watering 街边小吃 and also the weather, which was as cooling as tt in Genting.
wah diz meal was so timely..esp with the chilly weather in Dalat. can so feel the warmth exluding frm the steamboat热豆浆the Easy-Riders took us to different places of interest in Dalat, including diz train station
Our 'lady-killer' Easy-Riders who brought us ard Dalat on their motorbikes
Bottoms up! Saigon beer..
Saigon beer..well u cant blame me for the belly man.
Dreams Hotel.. USD$10 pax n check out the bathroom man! its so freaking conducive to bathe i tell u
hearty breakfast included at Dreams Hotel..wad a spread!
And then it was Ho Chi Minh City (23rd-25th June):Just another day in Ho Chi Minh City..the traffic is seriously chaotic
Ice cream at Fanny's..an expensive mistake. i'd choose Swensen's if i cld choose again..
me and my chocolate ice creamclaypot rice tt was one of the best proper meals we had during the trip We followed the walking tour as featured in the Lonely planet n got to see diz..the spectacular Hotel de Villa
Notre Dam Cathedral..pretty awesome. In front of tiz Mother Mary statue was a grp of pple who gathered to honour Our Lady
the post office, where i sent back my 2nd postcard home. i only received it 10 days ltr!
The Reunification Palace
Someone decided not to eat roadside food, and opted for Lotteria..
Here we are at Phnom Penh (25th-26th June), Royal Museum and Silver pagoda
Stupa of King Ang Duong
Tonle Sap River, Phnom Penh. Observed a moment of silence for our 5 worthy sportsmen.
Diz was featured in the book, but walau it was closed down can!? we spent like 20min+ walking here only to find it closed down. But it was a blessing in disguise coz we found a better restaurant further down, it served food tt had the sg zi char flavour.

Siam Reap (26th-29th June): Check out the price of Swensen's Icre cream! it's USD$1.80. Our eyes nearly popped out of sheer disbelief tt it was so..value for money! We shared a brownie with ice cream which cost USD$3 (i think..)
Temples of Angkor..divine inspiration! tt's Angkor Wat at the background
Bayon Temple at Angkor Thom
Terrace of Elephants
Posing as elephants At Ta Prohm, where the monuments of Angkor is left to b swallowed by the jungle. Apparently its a hot-spot in Angkor bcoz Angelina Jolie shot Tomb Raider here
Catching the sunset at Bakheng..we endured 2 light showers when camping here frm 430pm-6pmMarvel at God's priceless works.. aft the sun had fully set
Emo shot..aka 拍 MTVHere's where we settled breakfast for 2 mornings, n 1 lunch coz we were so broke n poor. i'm serious..
my budget lunch which cost USD$1.10
Temple of Preah Khan (Sacred Sword)
At Ta Som..where nature meets man-made monument Last stop of Grand Circuit..Pre Rup

We call diz prata in sg..but they call it pancake. "A rose by any other name will smell as sweet.."
It tastes as gd as it looks, esp with the condensed milk tt makes its sweet to tentalise the tastebuds
poseur shot..playing with camera while waiting for food to arrive
Angkor beer ;]
me n my Angkor beer
1 of the best meals in Cambodia..at Khmer Kitchen. the author's choice in Lonely Planet tt was as gd as described in the book. had Thai Panang curry, whilst Angela had Mussaman (i dunno how to spell) curry. oh n if there's 1 thing tt we really loved abt diz place, it was tt there's free flow of rice!

we are pretty easily contented, considering the fact tt we were seriously running low on money n even had to resort to living on cup noodles at Carltex (meal cost USD$1 for cup noodles + drink)
Sunrise anyone?
At Siam Reap International Airport
supposedly, tiz was how i assigned it. Clockwise from top: Orange--Raine, Green--Jul, light pink--Wenting, Reddish Pink--When-yah, Black--Yirang, Brown--Myself. In the end, i got pink..wahh! wtf? hahaha but its ok lah lolx.
On the airplane, posing with the 6 bracelets


well the trip was pretty intriguing n at the same time, it was a self discovery to awake my senses to capture works of God. be it sight, sound, taste (yummy!), touch or even smell.

As usual, i'd irritate the hell outta my travel buddy by juz craping lame stuff, or juz harping abt stupid things such as:

1) how i forgot to bring my Cambodia Lonely Planet book (yes u won't believe it..i forgot)
2) how we were scammed to pay a fruit seller 'photo money'
3) how my backpack was stained with dirt/greese/wadever it was, as a result of the dirty bus compartment
4) how unethical someone was to take a pic of me when i was sleeping (i still havent forgot ok?)
5)how my backpack was suddenly so heavy, only later realising it was heavier coz there was an addn 1.5l filled bottle load
.
.
.
the list goes on.

i guess the reason why i harp abt it, is coz i'm an angel..wahahahah. when u think of harp..wads the 1st thing tt comes to ur mind? Angels rite? i'm an angel in disguise ok..sent by God lolx. Angels keep harping!

Smtg else i irrevocably took home was the following message:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres

No thanx to the book that i read during the trip coz i had no other books with me..

Each day i'd pray not for a lighter load, but stronger shoulders.

i guess its also alot abt putting aside individual differences n coming to a compromise, eg in terms of agenda mine is definitely food, while for her it wld b shopping.

There's so much we ought to be thankful for, each time i backpack to a less developed ctry, it serves as stark reminder of the nd to treasure, cherish and juz be thankful for wad we have. the nd to have contentment in our lives.

though id still keep harping indefinitely..hahaha