Being a Tourist, Part 2

26 Dec

The morning sight-seeing and shopping stops were less than 2,000 steps and about 1.1km but I feel so tired despite the interesting stops and good deal purchases. So much history and choices but the lack of sleep could be the reason for the tiredness. Then again, I am not a shopping person. Maybe also because this morning, I heard the news of the passing of George Michael, one of my favorite singers. Not the way to start the day. Sigh…

Our itinerary today includes a buffet lunch at Hoang Yen Buffet before we make our way to Cu Chi Tunnel. Hubby tried the Balut and thinks I shouldn’t. So I didn’t. The rest of the spread was pretty good. A little bit of everything, it was enough to get us going for the rest of the day.

Sated after the meal, a nice snooze in the van during the hour long or more journey would be just nice!

   
    
 

   

That’s a Balut on the lil’ plate

 

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Being a Tourist

26 Dec

The bed was actually comfortable but I couldn’t get into a deep sleep and waking up at 6.30am today, I don’t feel rested. Oh dear… Today we will be doing the city tour, stopping at all the photo-op places before heading to Cu Chi Tunnel. Hubby and I have been there before during our first trip to HCM many years ago but it will be interesting to revisit.

The girls groaned with the first morning wake up call. Back home, they have never woken up before 7.00am during this holiday. Well, with the van coming at 8.00am, I don’t want us to rush through breakfast and it should be a hearty one to fuel us, being full-fledged tourists today.

  

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Familiar Grounds

25 Dec

I didn’t realize until our van stopped in front of Sunrise Central, our hotel that it was right next to Grand Silverland, the hotel I stayed at in June! I thought it was several doors away but nope, right next to it. When I checked on Google maps, it looked further apart but I am not complaining.

What this means is that walking over to the Street Food Market is closer than I thought. Yay!

Dinner was really nice with an array of choices. After dinner we walked the night market street a little bit to work off the dinner. By nine, we headed back to the hotel to rest so that tomorrow we will be ready for the long adventurous day ahead.

What an interesting Christmas Day this year. Sure beats being a couch potato year in year out.

   
    
  

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Hello Vietnam

25 Dec

It wasn’t as crowded at KLIA  as I had feared–being a festive time to travel–so we had plenty of time at the airport. Queue lines weren’t too bad. We lunched at the Premium Lounge and thereafter took our time to head to the departing gate.

Take-off was on schedule. The B737-800 was stuffy and hot when we boarded and remained like this until we took off, hit a turbulent patch before it cooled to a comfortable degree. 

The two girls were dressed contrastingly and I thought it was amusing. The one staying in a hot country was dressed as though heading to a cold place while the one studying in a cold country dressed as though going off to a hot place. 

Upon our arrival, it was smooth and fast. Immigration was efficient despite a large crowd and the bags came out before us. Within a short time, we met up with our tour guide, a short petite lass with a pretty good command of English. 

Our bus, a 16-seater(!) was very comfortable made its way through the waiting vehicles and we were on our way to the hotel.

It’s nice to be back in Ho Chi Minh. I look forward to a nice shower after checking in and then hit the streets with the family. The real adventure starts tomorrow.

  

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Merry Christmas

25 Dec

I don’t normally post on a Sunday but since it’s a special festive occasion, I decided to… Merry Christmas people! 

This Christmas we decided to travel instead of staying home like we always do, year in year out and we are definitely looking forward to it. 

Last night’s family Christmas Eve dinner was sumptuous and satisfying because everything on the table (save for the drinks) was homemade – from the turkey right down to the cranberry sauce and everything in between. Everyone contributed and was very good.

Still feeling full from the dinner, we are flying off to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam this afternoon! The girls are excited, hubby’s looking forward to the break and I am eager to take them to the places that I visited six months ago when I was there for golf.

A much deserved break and time together for the family.

   
 

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Spring Cleaning, Part 2

23 Dec

The cleaning bug have gotten the best of me because I am also cleaning out stuff from the office. Two decades of design work sure has a lot of portfolio pieces to show! 

To my utter delight, I unearthed a couple of pieces of drawings on my desk, done by the girls when they were very young. Now for the life of me, I cannot recognize whose style it was. It could be M2 when she was probably four or five years old but there are also some elements of M1’s style. Hmm… memory has totally failed me on this. 

But it does not matter, these are treasures and stick figure drawings are totally so us! And very cute that everyone’s names are listed even for the flowers. Tickles me to no end that my last name is spelled backwards – EEL instead of LEE. Angie Eel… hahahaha. This is definitely M2.

What’s even more delightful was the clever use of space when typographically challenged. The letters go downwards, a horror scenario which the graphic designer in me would never do but trust a child to do it. And I think she did it well.

Such treasures, I will have these framed up!

   
 

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Newbies, Part 2

22 Dec

Just when we thought the Tuna trio were happy, tragedy struck again! This time it’s like a scene from a horror movie.

It looked like Tuna 2 got devoured by Tuna 3 while Tuna 1 hid in the dark potty cave. Yes, devoured. Hubby suspected Tuna 2 was molting, thus weakened and at its most vulnerable, when it was attacked. Even its old shell was not spared.

Sigh. I have no words to further elaborate. These crayfishes are not easy to handle.

Hubby decided to separate the two remaining Tuna’s for fear of another murder. Tuna 3 was regrettably banished to the big aquarium to be with Meow-meow. Uh oh. Bad move.

Two days later Tuna 3 was never to be seen again. The murderer became the murdered. Super sigh…

Suddenly the little aquarium was reduced to just one inhabitant. I decided to ignore Tuna 1 for a few days to let things settle. And lo and behold, it decided to change shell! It must have occurred yesterday when we were out because in the morning, it still looked fine and no indication of its intended molting act.

Thankfully, Tuna 1 survived the process as there were no lurking big or small predators to eat it in its weakened state. So now, after the demise of Luna, Tuna 2 and Tuna 3, we have one surviving crayfish and it looks healthy.

Let’s hope this newbie will last longer.

 

Devoured!

  

What’s left…

  

A new newbie literally

 

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Some Things Do Change

20 Dec

While some things never change, some things do and we have to learn to go with the flow. Otherwise, we will be more dinosaur than ever.

When I went off to college and came home for the holidays, the aircrafts that I flew in were mostly the Boeing 747-400 model and I thought this aircraft was very comfortable. I loved the B747.

When M1 came back last week, she flew on United Airlines. And for the SFO-NRT leg, it was a B747 and because there were no personal entertainment units, she did not appreciate the aircraft like me. The final leg home was with a Boeing 787-8 and she thought, thankfully that was much better. 

I believe the B747 model has been replaced with newer and younger fleets by most airlines of the world except a handful like United Airlines. And you realize things change when your experiences that you cherish differ from your offsprings.

When I was younger, I would save every penny of my allowance and waited until there was an opportunity to go buy a cassette or two of my favourite musician(s). Then with my Sony Walkman (also purchased with endless savings), plugging in to my music was the best thing in life.

These days, like me, my M2 says she cannot function without music. So her iPod and a set of headphones go wherever she goes. And how does she get her music?

Spotify.

In fact, recently she asked if she could subscribe to Spotify Premium and hubby allowed; she ‘paid’ for the monthly subscription with her allowance. Now this makes you really open your eyes and acknowledge that things and time have changed when the need for the same thing has evolved with technology. Going out with the girls, I have also evolved, allowing them to plug in their music in my car instead of subjecting everyone to my CD choices of Jacky Cheung or Michael Buble.

Hmm… Maybe I should consider getting Spotify and perhaps plan a vacation flying off somewhere long haul with any aircraft other than the B747-400.

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A Solid Return

19 Dec

Last Monday was a public holiday so hubby and I went to play golf. And we had the ‘bestest’ weather ever despite a constant downpour in the wee hours of the morning during this wet season. I thought we may have to cancel. Luckily the rain stopped and we teed off at 7.43am, taking the slot of a cancellation, eight minutes earlier than our intended tee off time.

Throughout the 18-holes, the weather was perfect – cool and cloudy. The sun did not even peeked out. Even the pace on the golf course was perfect, no flight in front of us to slow us down nor a flight behind chasing us to hurry on. I guess there were many cancellations when the morning downpour occurred. We had the most enjoyable outing and I must say it was a solid return to the game for me.

After all those months of rest and therapy, it has worked wonders. What made this game different from the few that I dabbled with after my doctor approved for me to play? The confidence in striking the ball well with no more fear of pain recurring upon impact. 

This positive mental approach was key and it showed. I played the game so solid, I raked up 6 pars! Never have I had 6 pars in a game in my home club ever. So this was quite an achievement.

My ball striking was good and every department worked out well – the strength, the distance, the short game and the putting. There were some fumbles due to lack of play but overall, I was very pleased with the outcome. The best part – the pain was none existent which was good. 

But I will not play any games for the remaining days left of the year because M1 is back and I’d rather spend time with her.

Well, it’s nice to keep this good outing to heart so that next year, there will be more pain-free games, something definitely to look forward to for 2017 after M1 goes back to the US. 

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Newbies

16 Dec

Hubby just cannot stand the fact that the little aquarium remain unoccupied after the demise of Luna. Even I felt it too as every evening when I walk up the stairs from the living room, the empty aquarium sitting at my ascending path looked… well, empty.

So prior to M1’s return, he bought some cute fat fishes to fill it up. But the innocent looking fishes were not so innocent. They were rather carnivorous, devouring each other up! As days passed, one by one met their untimely departure. Horrified, he decided to change plans and gave in to getting a crayfish again.

And not only he bought one, this time he bought three! Yup, three crayfishes. I was speechless.

But these newbies are full of character and voracious too. One of them quickly made short work of the dead fishes that we have yet to get rid of! Smaller in size compared to Luna, I decided to name the three, Tuna 1, Tuna 2 and Tuna 3, just to rhyme with Luna’s name.

 

Spot the Tuna’s!

  

Tuna 1 having a feast

  

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