Little Red Dot Press - Screwed up Friday 01 Dec 2006

The once-efficient Editor made an arse of himself. Really.

Imagine of all documents, he have chosen *well.. absent-mindedly* to leave behind his PASSPORT with the hotel. Hotels require guest to deposit their passport behind. *!@#$% regulation... never had to do this all over Asia* The receptionist also forgotten to hand it back *grumbles*

Anyway, reached my destination and had to do an about-turn. YES, BELAKANG PU-SING! *more grumbling*

So came back to HCM and made another round of arrangements, this time to Nha Trang. Was suppose to be in the breezy beach of Vung Tau by now... *more grumbles !@$!@#$ * Argh!

Seems like Vung Tau was not meant to be. *Quaint little place, totally void of people..erm.. beach-goers*

Will be leaving on the 2000 hr bus to Nha Trang, where I should stay and BEACHED myself, have a tan, swim, whatever for the next couple of days before my last stop, Hoi An.

===

Last round of Ho Chi Minh brought some pictures. Wandered into the smaller alleys and found a cottage industry of ladies in auntie-ish pyjamas sewing away.

Also managed to catch some stall-owners whipping up a storm in the alleyways. As the Editor is quite health-conscious, the palates were left untasted.

More to come, details of what the editor had left out on Day 1 of HCM.

The Reunification Palace - though described as VERY boring, does have its points of attraction, if any of the following DOES attract you.
- Map room of the last President
- War Room of the last President
- An underground tour of the rooms filled with antique radio sets (any SAF Signallers interested?) and maps, overlays (I was intelligence-trained, the overlays did arouse a slight interest but it nevertheless fizzled out)
- Meeting room for the cabinent ministers
- Sleeping quarters of the President
- Gambling room of the President
- Reception Room of the First Lady etc etc

Any Takers? The guided tour takes about an hour. I cut myself short, finished it in 30 mins.

Central Square - an oversight and left out yesterday
The statue of Ho Chi Minh with a child is made famous. Against the backdrop of the municipal building, the statue and building looks fantastic when endowed with the night lights (It does look nice on the postcard though)

Rex Hotel - next to the Central Square
A relic of the French and hosted quite a fair share of guest since its heydays. According to my motorist, it is still very expensive these days.

Botanical Gardens and Zoo
One might wonder what in the world the Editor was doing in the Botanical Gardens.

Anyway, the place is a great retreat from the scorching heat that bore endlessly on the people, motorists of HCM.

And it is also the green lung of the city. With the endless horde of motorists on their hondas, tooting away, they might as well form up to being the 3rd Div Motorist Calvary. Regardless male or female, everyone seems to scrambling from place to place on their Hondas.

Asthma-patients be warned! The amount of exhaust spewing out from these motorbikes might cause an attack anytime!

Every owner are usually armed up a mask (which I, a paramedic, knows this is a rather redundant means of filtering) and long gloves (for ladies) to shield themselves of the hot sun bearing down on them. I guess I better have my lungs X-rayed when back in SG *cough cough*

One very interesting feature along the backpackers' zone: You might find cyclists going around shaking a bunch of coins. From my recce sources, these people are actually touts for massages! No wonder I do not see any palours around as compared to Thailand. Rather discreet over here.

Very innovative. I failed to realise this when I first saw them, but then again, spekaing in English - a foreign tongue - would give me away immediately.

I recognise one-two of them now, I had a long walk around the neighbourhood and had formed the general picture where the *ahem* massages would take place.

So much for today. More to come tomorrow! Stay Tuned.