Vietnam 2006

OK, so this is my very first attempt at blogging. I know I should've started one years ago, but somehow I just got lazy and left behind, and it's only after my first backpacking trip in 3 years that I was finally motivated to write one. I guess this is not exactly filled with stories fresh from the road, but still you can enjoy some of the details from my trip which I would otherwise would be too lazy to include in my emails :-)

Saturday, 25 March

Anyway, my trip to Vietnam could actually start exactly on the evening of March 25, if only I didn't get a stupid call at 5am in the morning from Air Asia notifying me that the confirmed morning flight I am supposed to take to Batam at 7.40am has been cancelled and thus I have been moved to the next flight leaving at 11am. This last-minute change undoubtedly causes a great effect to my travel plan as I'm planning to catch a Hanoi-bound flight from Singapore leaving that very same day at 5pm! The logic is if I fly at 11am, I will arrive in Batam at 12.40pm, and the earliest ferry I can catch to Singapore will be around 1.40pm since it will take a while to take a taxi to the port, clear immigration, etc. After an hour's ferry ride I will arrive at Singapore's Harbourfront at 3.40pm local time, and it's already too late to catch that flight leaving for Hanoi, since I will still have to clear immigration, take MRT to Changi, etc. Of course I wouldn't have to worry about a thing if only my morning flight were not cancelled in the first place.

Unfortunately my problem doesn't stop there. Now I have to reschedule my Hanoi-bound flight, and since I do that on the very same day, I have to pay an extra charge which is actually more expensive than the price I paid buying it! In total, thanks to stupid Air Asia, my Hanoi flight to Singapore totaled around SGD 200 - almost the same price of return flight to Hanoi from Singapore on Vietnam Airlines. Needless to say, this will be my very first, and quite possibly, last experience flying return on Air Asia.

Anyway, after arriving in Singapore late afternoon, I go straight to Toa Payoh to spend the night at Chez Rakhmad (merci beaucoup pour tout!) Tonight we try local specialty "tulang merah" (cow's bones in red curry) - it's okay I guess, although I've had better dishes (6.5 out of 10).