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it was finally saturday, we’ve finally finished all the work we came here to do and today’s the day we can enjoy without worrying about work.

slept in till around 11am before a sleepy charlie came over for his morning smoke…managed to snap these 2 pictures of that sleepy head…

washed up and went downstairs for breakfast at the hotel…the usual rice noodles with beef and a cup of orange juice. somehow the orange juice in vietnam has this particular taste and i just can’t describe it, all i know is i love it!

another couple of pictures of charlie waiting for his caffeine rush to kick in

“argh, where’s the kick…”

“it’s coming it’s coming! i can feel it!”

we were supposed to meet up with charlie’s sister and cousin but we were still early so went back to our room to take a nice long hot bath and rested a little before going out again.

went to this place that resembles the old bubble tea houses in singapore during the late 90s. felt kinda old there but what the heck.

his sister and the fat girl were already there and they bought these cut fruits that really tasted good.

they even had this dip which tasted salted and sour but yet a little sweet and spicy, went very well with the fruits.

ordered a plate of fried bacon with cheese, looks very good in presentation but tasted like shit. finished only 1 stick and the rest of them refused to have any.

didn’t know what to order for my main dish so i allowed charlie’s sister to order for me, i still have no idea what it is but at least it tasted a little better than the bacon with cheese.

this cup of bubble tea really brings back memories…too bad they don’t have it in singapore anymore

here are the 2 girls

here’s what charlie ordered…it’s smells damn hot

here’s charlie enjoying it…

the brother sister pair posed for a final picture before going seperate ways

took a cab back to the place where we saw the badminton rackets yesterday and went on a shopping spree…

charlie bought 4 rackets, all yonex armourtec 900. at just s$40 each, it’s a steal seeing how queensway is selling at s$200+ each but then again, they are vietnam goods.

the rackets were actually a gift, besides 1 for himself, the other 3 are for trond, uncle jimmy and me!

i also bought 3 badminton bags, the big blue racket bag and wilson haversack for myself and the black badminton bag for charlie.

also bought 2 shoe bags, the adidas one for myself and the other for charlie

charlie and i also bought some shorts, they don’t have my size but i bought them anyway as gifts

also bought 2 tops, the adidas one for charlie and the fugly orange singlet’s a free gift from one of the shops

charlie also bought a pair of shoes, i wanted to buy the same pair but they didn’t have my size…in fact all the shops had the same design and only 1-2 sizes.

also bought a set of chinese chess, something for us to play when we get back to the hotel

last but not least, bought a portable hula hoop for my mom

instead of giving us many bags for everything, the shop gave us this super huge garbage bag and chucked everything inside. went back to the hotel to drop off the stuffs and got rushed out again by charlie.

charlie wanted to visit a few relatives and insisted i came along as well, didn’t want to at first but gave in after much persuasion. sigh, i got weak will power sia…

took a cab to this super huge supermarket and charlie grabbed some chocolates and biscuits before walking over to his uncle’s place. according to charlie, this uncle was the old chief of police in the whole of vietnam until he stepped down a couple of years ago. even in singapore, i could usually detect people in the police force, there was always this evil aura around them but this old man seemed to be just any kind old man you see on the streets.

stayed there for about a hour before going back to the supermarket, it’s time for our own shopping.

here’s a picture of the supermarket

today’s my 2nd last day before i fly back to singapore and i’ve not bought anything for my mom yet so decided to just spend all my remaining money at the supermarket.

chips of all kinds, bought some for my colleagues as well

vietnam coffee, loads of them! probably enough to last my mom for a few months. those 2 silver tins are actually for the coffee powder, there’s a unique way to brew the coffee, vietnamese style.

they used to sell these hotdays in singapore but can’t seem to find them anymore…bought loads of them. charlie’s sister also got me another bagful of them just before my flight

chewing gum, they’re compulsory everything i travel

assorted food

loads of sour plums and other sour stuffs for my mom and granny

the all new colgate toothbrush that i always wanted, i actually bought 1 on my first day in vietnam but i gave it to charlie cause he lost his toothbrush and so i bought another one…

a new nail clipper and 2 tweezers

i actually didn’t have enough money for everything and had to borrow 50,000 dong from charlie.

yes sir yes sir, 3 bags full

also got a wrap for my iphone, it’s just like gmask in singapore cept that the workmanship isn’t as good but the price is much cheaper. paid s$10 for a picture of a tiger, no picture cause my iphone’s not with me by the time i wrote this post.

we were rushing for dinner at charlie’s aunty’s place so we had to bring everything along with us. 3 huge bags.

dinner was simply fantastic and delicious…

a huge bowl of weird vegetables, something i just refuse to eat

3 bowls of chut chut, a kind of snail that’s available in singapore as well

a huge plate of clams

and another huge plate of something that really resembles garden snails

i would very much love to give charlie’s some face and eat something but i couldn’t bring myself to eat any of those…her aunty finally gave up pursuading me and gave me a bowl of fruits.

went back to the hotel and starting packing up, wasn’t easy to squeeze everything into my luggage bag. went out around 10pm for a last supper in vietnam before going back to have a good rest.

2 Responses to “7th day in vietnam”

1. Aaron Says:
   August 21st, 2008 at 4:07 pm

   dude. what happened to your shoutbox?

   i just wanted to say.. you bought so many shirts but nv buy anything for me
   And that you have too many pics of charlie dude.

2. JT Says:
   August 22nd, 2008 at 1:58 pm

   i where got buy shirt? the shirt is charlie’s one!

   the singlet is for another friend…

   i also never buy for myself

   and yeah i agree, too many pics of him but then again, it’s just the 2 of us vietnam…

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