i'm a little teapot, short and - hello. i am a great kid with a naive mind. feel free to share your thoughts with me. 'would you care for some bread with your Earl Grey ?' i like tall and handsome korean men. currently married to Howl of 'moving castle' fame. adios amigos. :D

OCIP STORY.

Pre-Trip: you could say I was apprehensive or even reluctant to embark on this journey at the beginning. I was actually wondering if I had made the right choice and leaving behind all the advance technology and stepping out of my comfort zone? It sounded rather bleak to me. At the budget terminal [my first time], I was surprised by how sparse and minimalistic it was. It was akin to a warehouse and all I could think was – MAN, I wished I was being sent off somewhere better-looking. The check in was harrowing. I was worried my bag was too heavy [12 pt smtg kg] and they couldn’t read my fingerprint. I think its because I had sweaty palms. AGAIN. :( On the plane, I sat beside josie/Lollipop Girl and all I can remember was that we were lamenting about how we were bidding our mp3s, televisions and computers goodbye for a long time. She was using her handphone constantly during this conversation. HAHA. :D [just kidding – im exaggerating] I got really hungry on board the plane. Lunch was like so far back and I could only think about dinner.

Day 1: Touched down at night and finally got onto a bus/van and we ventured into the streets of Hanoi. The traffic lights are cool – there’s a timer for both green and red. The bus/van occasionally stops at the side of the road abruptly [high possibility of accident there] but most of the drivers in Hanoi are skillful. We stopped for dinner at some roadside shophouse to have BEEF PHO. [pronounced as FUR] It’s a little like kway teow soup and its one of Vietnam’s common dishes. Quite nice. Went to the outhouse – Tiger [our tour guide and translator for this entire trip] calls it the HAPPY HOUSE. The toilet was WOW – there were numerous spiders and webs hanging from the ceiling. NO FLUSH AND NO TOILET PAPER = ZERO CLEANLINESS. I held my breath as I went in.

But think about this >>> the family lives on the same level as the eatery/noodle shop and they are exposed to this amount of dirt EVERY SINGE DAY. Their idea of cooking was a few little gas stoves attached to sockets that look almost hazardous. There were a few kittens gamboling around the area as well. It was the first night in a foreign land and we spent more than 11 hours on the bus/van to our homestay.

THE BUS RIDE: IF I DON’T MENTION THIS IT WOULD BE ONE LESS EXCITING EXPERIENCE. After dinner, we were all full and ready to get a good night sleep. SO WRONG. The bus ride was hellish for some as it jerked and rocked and swayed and jolted and shook and lurched and bounced. Nobody threw up but many had motion sickness, although I have to proudly admit that I’m NOT one of them. Maybe I’ve been duly trained by the many rollercoaster thrill rides in my past years. The bus/van stopped occasionally for HAPPY TREE AND HAPPY SOIL/GRASS – ALL OFFSPRINGS OF HAPPY HOUSE. :P Breakfast was welcomed and we had scrambled eggs and sme special sweet smelling bread, all this at the break of dawn. [I could only think of the word French as I ate my hearty breakfast.] Had a banana as well and this was the beginning of many FRUITFUL [pun intended] breakfasts. :D

Continued up the mountains and the view of Vietnam is gorgeous. It made the sleepless night and uncomfortable [Tiger called it free massage] ride worthwhile. All these while the bus/van was tottering dangerously at the edge of the mountain. To quote one of my team mates, “I must REALLY THANK THE DRIVER when this trip is over.” He was really skillful but as the days passed, he proved to be more of a nuisance. [THAT’S HOW I FELT ANWS.] Met with a landslide that hindered our trip but we took it in our stride. PHOTO OPPURTUNITY OF THE SCENIC VIEW. We got to our homestay at around 10/11 smtg in the morning. We bought our boots and gloves in the “town” area of the Bac Ha village. That’s where I learnt that most motorcyclists in Bac Ha/Lao Cai/THE WHOLE VIETNAM have little need for safety regulations – they don’t even bother. The kids just sit at the front of the bike and the BIKES are swerving in all directions. I don’t think there were any traffic lights. Oh, and a sidenote – Vietnam is rather near to China cause there were some Vietnamese in Bac Ha that knew how to speak Mandarin. Very interesting. :O

Our homestay was nice and clean and AWESOME, I think. THE FOOD WAS DAMN GOOD, NOT SPICY AND I THOUGHT – DIE LIAO, LOSING WEIGHT WOULD BE A DIFFICULT TASK. After lunch, we trekked half of the route to the 08 site to work for a few hours before taking baths and having dinner. It got colder towards the night and after debrief, I knocked out almost immediately. LONG DAY indeed.

[TBC.]