Ho Chi Minh

It's been a while since that Hanoi backpacking trip in 2011. It was a “说走就走” kind of traveling as Misses Bear scoured the SIA deals and queried the group on who wanted to go Bangkok. I replied never while the other demurred due to their own conflicting travel plans. So Miss Bear counter-proposed Ho Chi Minh and I said sure, let's go. It was a really good thing that I hate to go Thailand because of the bombs that went off in Bangkok last week (just a few days before we flew to Ho Chi Minh).

So it was a short 4 day 3 night trip. We all stated our must-dos and our deal-breakers for the trip, which was a wise thing to do, given our very varied interests and thinking. They wanted the Cuchi tunnels and Ben Thanh market, whereas I was obsessed with Pet Shop bags and Mekong Delta (decided against making new cushion covers and tailoring this time *lol*). In the end, we did both side trips and a massive load of shopping. And the best part of it all, we didn't kill each other, except maybe on the last day where we fought over chocolate ice-cream. Nobody stands between me and my Fanny (omg, the name) ice-cream. LoL.

Cuchi was kind of eerie, and its tunnels were claustrophobic. It made my hair stand as badly as Dachau did. I much preferred the Mekong Delta tour where we covered the predictable tourist route of boat -> rowboat -> horse carriage -> boat amidst visiting a bee farm, and coconut candy factory. And despite the dire prediction by the tour guide, it turned out that my tummy was strong enough to withstand the dirty river water used to make their potong coconut ice-cream. 

Ho Chi Minh is more my cup of tea than Hanoi was, but I still think that Halong Bay is the best part that I have seen of Vietnam till date.

Floating along the #mekongriver with the sounds of the mangrove palms rustling in the wind. #Vietnam

A video posted by Gardening Duckie (@meinkleingarten) on Aug 22, 2015 at 9:29pm PDT

Neffe artwork

Vater pointed out that this picture was drawn by my soon to be 5 year old Neffe last week while the rest of us were chatting outside.

I know I have a putrid mind because the first thing that popped out at me is that green phallic-looking thing on the right.

"It's impressive, the size of that thing," I said to Mutter. "Neffe is a confident little boy."

How do you know you have a serious addiction?

It's when it is 2300hrs on a Thursday night and you have been flipping pints of häagen-daz at the supermarket downstairs like a mad woman looking for the elusive chocolate flavor.

Not the belgian chocolate flavor. The one and only chocolate flavor that is created using cream, condensed skimmed milk, water, sugar, egg yolk and cocoa powder.

Gott sei dank that after flipping like 30 over pints, i finally found 2. almost did a victory lap up the supermarket aisle. Dear häagen -daz, i know we live in Singapore but there is no need to stock more than 10 pints of green tea ice cream. It's a total waste of SPACE.

Yours sincerely, 

Your chocolate flavor fan.

Hard copy vs soft copy

I was reading and walking (a fond bad habit I am doomed to repeat with reads I consider engrossing enough, to the detriment of my eyesight) when I bumped,  not literally,  into an acquaintance.

"You're reading a book. How retro," was the dry comment.

At first I did not comprehend his remark. Was the act of reading retro? Or did he mean my reading something in paper format and not electronic format was retro?

My query answered:  the latter.

I don't think I have a specific preference for either format. My preferences when it comes to reading are limited to 2 specific criteria; (1) is it free (library copy or online copy)? (2) Romance/Travel/living in a new country or culture /wwii / cooking (there was a recent expansion into gardening related books)?

I.e., I will read a book if it is free. Even if it is a super heavy tome.

Nowadays most people prefer to read books in electronic format, e.g. kindle or handphone. I totally understand the attraction, its portable and takes up less bulk in the bag.  And we are all used to reading our friends' getups and great walls of text in measy font via Facebook already so what's reading a 1000pg book in equally tiny font, right?

Yet there is something soothing about flipping a page (less so for the odd smell of old stationery glue between the pages or what the previous reader was eating/ drinking when he /she was reading). The act of reading a physical book is a quintessential complement to a hot cup of cocoa on a rainy /wintry afternoon. And that is something that an electronic copy cannot replace.

PLUS, come on, lets face it, we look more intellectual with books on the shelves,  right?

Can't you see I am sleeping?

Came across this cat dozing on a motorcycle while we were at Jiufen, Taiwan. I was drily commenting to Alex that I see lesser two wheeled vehicles nowadays as compared to our trip five years ago.

Also realized that this is the second time Mr B has been to Taiwan. Cheers~!