Land of the O-mans (and ladies)

Just to retain the allusion to the country's name, the plural of man is mans.

An eye opening experience. People as warm as the weather. Food which is ironically better to my liking than Thai. The experience here cleared all preconceptions I had before I came to Oman.

It almost feels surreal to thread the desert and be out in the sweltering summer heat, or even to see a camel saunter by, and to top it up, a desert BBQ.

I was dead wrong to think that I need not a single dime in the desert because there's a barber and a convenience store out here.

Water here is inherently hot. In UTP I had to first jump under the shower head due to the chill, here I jump too but due to the heat, and being extra cautious to not overheat one particular part of the body. There's absolutely no need for a water heater here. My brother would relish in this. I always rebuke him for blasting the water heater back home.

Education level here I believe is of higher standard. Most of the folks here hold a diploma or a higher diploma and they can well get a good paying job. Not to mention very good English command of the people here. There really is not difficult at all to make yourself understood.

Owh and have I mentioned about a joke cracked a fellow local Omani: as of now, there are 300 dicks and 1 pussy here on camp. Poor kitty cat.

Living in containers, despite well furnished and air conditioned for the first week is fine, but the subsequent weeks, I think I'm getting sick of it. Initial weeks in the desert are fun, too long I think I'll go bonkers. Nonetheless I know I will miss my stint here. It's after all the human nature to be contradicting, yeap, grass (sand) is always greener (finer/browner?) on the other side.

Pool

My brother and I decided to go for a swim in Shah Alam but to find the pool closed to our chagrin upon arrival. Oh well, I'm still too pumped from Vietnam to fret about it.

Another pool related thing which totally slipped my mind was this awesome concept introduced by Aiting called, well, the Pool. It's a collection of ante put in by all members of the group. Payment related to shared items like food, accommodation and transportation will then be made from it. Saves the hassle of producing loose change and money handling too. Kudos to Aiting the treasurer.

I Left My Heart in Vietnam 2 (Too)

WARNING Long winded post ahead!

In a nutshell it was a blast, which is already an understatement. Our experience was priceless. I had many firsts in Vietnam, many discoveries, encounters and many bonds either strengthen or formed over the duration of the trip. For photos visit Dean’s Facebook.

The Destination

Saigon (I still prefer Saigon over HCMC cause it does not sound aesthetic) is a bustling and thriving city with motorbikes outnumbering cars by at least 3 times they seem to be swarming like ants. Traffic is crazy. I dub it humans left to their own devices which is actually safer than one might think. Accident rates are lower than Malaysia (surprise surprise).

Dalat is similar to Cameron Highlands, but much larger (it’s a city and not only a one road town), with colder climate and great sceneries. Many lakes and valleys dot the outskirts of the city, not forgetting the huge Xuan Hong lake smack in the centre of the city which spans 5km in radius. Strawberries here are dirt cheap and yet still tasty.

Nha Trang is a beach city with great night life and smorgasbord of activities such as island hoping, water sports, diving and spa. Coffee and food here is undeniably the best of the 3 cities, or it could be attributed to our host’s discernment in choice of restaurants and food.

The Experience

Wouldn’t be a blast without Phuong, Kim Chi, Mai Chi, Ha, Huong, Nam, Zui, Zum (if I got the spelling right). Hospitable, accommodating hosts with such great hearts. A million of Cảm ơn to them. I have to hand it to them, with me now conferring the title of Hosts of the Year to Vietnam. People there are so friendly and contented with life. Their apprehension is so blatant when they try to swindle you. Totally different from my encounter with overseas born Vietnamese in Melbourne.

Ate, slept did almost everything we could to our heart’s content yet we under spent. What’s more pleasing than to be in the blacks? Being able to divide costs by 5 (1MYR = 5000VND) was so much better than multiplying costs by 5 (1EUR = 5MYR). 7 days and 7 nights only cost us RM600 (with change!).

We were intrepid enough to try dog’s meat and ducks embryo, not forgetting our crash course on motor biking without licence.

Pampered ourselves in a mud and mineral bath, tasted so much Vietnamese food till we fell deeply in love with it, did an island hoping tour which culminated with a floating wine bar where we sipped wine while drifting in the sea.

Owh not forgetting Edrea and our wretched duck ride in the Valley of Love. We went in circles to get ashore cause we got a lemon duckie, but ended up being rescued after the others managed to convince the operator there really was a problem with our duckie. Not forgetting all the wacky stuff we did on the Lang Biang, on the beach and on the sleepers train. We actually spent more than an hour at it on the train!

Street food was fun, clean, yummie and very affordable. Had my best sour soup and sapodilla juice in my 23 years of life, not forgetting how Dean got converted to be a coffee lover after our insistent shot of coffee everyday. The chance of lunching in Kim Chi’s place just like how the locals do – priceless.

Post trip

Midway we were already contemplating on our Northern Leg (Hanoi, Sapa, Hue, Hoi An). That’s how much we love Vietnam. Phuong is already prebooked (no escaping).

It was hard to part, from Vietnam, and even in KL Central. As much as we enjoyed each other’s company we will also miss them dearly. Curtain officially closed in 1U’s Camp 5 where we went for rock climbing a day after our return.

I felt very rejuvenated from the trip returned with elevated spirit level and better skin thanks to the tanning and the mud bath! Great way to kick start 2010. To those who say Vietnam is no fun, come talk to Aiting, Dean, Edrea or me. You will instantly be a convert.

“A toast to Vietnam” (insiders joke).