Vietnam : I'm back!

To Travel.


I've been back in Malaysia for technically.. 1 week? But, I was in Thailand for a few days, so I don't know how to count the days that I actually am back in Malaysia. I'll talk about Thailand in a bit. =) Anyway, I'm back! That's it! My whole AIESEC exchange journey is over and I've left lots of memories in Vietnam and I've also learnt so many new things. =) I can honestly say that I'm really grateful to be back, because I was with my family and also, I get to see my boyfriend! But on the other hand, I miss the life, the people, the food in Vietnam and I do wonder when we will see each other again. =/ This picture that I've shared is taken when I'm about to leave Vietnam, it's the last picture I took in Ho Chi Minh City.  When my friends sent me off in Vietnam, some of them were crying, but I didn't. =x I don't know why I didn't. Is it because I don't feel as close to them as I'm supposed to? Ah, maybe. I'm honestly not sure. But there's also a part of me that really hates crying in public so I only cry in public when I can't hold it in anymore. I've been meaning to write this post for a while now, but was super duper busy the past few days, so it's delayed.

The first thing that I noticed when I touched down in KLIA was that, I understood the language that I hear. It was so torturing in Vietnam that I totally do not get what people are saying around me. And being constantly exposed to Vietnamese and French language, it was really giving me a headache. When I reached KLIA, there were many languages spoken around me; Malay, Mandarin, Hokkien, English, Cantonese, but I'm proud to say that I understood them all. It really feels good to be in my native land. =) And the currency, YAY! back to MYR so I don't have to do the conversion in my head to gauge how expensive something is. That felt really good too! =) 

In my whole exchange journey, there was a lot of ups and downs, but the one thing I regret about, the thing that I felt like I could do better, is to give more effort in the project I was in. I'm always like this, not giving all I can to push for something better. If somebody else is capable of doing it, by all means, do it. I didn't push for much change, or even if I could see fault in some things, I let it slide, because I could feel my laziness creeping up on me. My brain just wants to take a break, and I did not want to take up much responsibilities. I'm constantly hearing the phrase, "I know you can do much better." But when am I ever going to take action to "do much better?"

Vietnam : Mekong Delta

To Travel.

Being able to meet up with Melvin and Eng Jee in Vietnam was cool, as to how I also met two of my other coursemates; Yee Huang & Jia Pei! After much deliberation, I decided to go for this 2 days 1 night trip to Mekong Delta! :D It was honestly way better than my expectation because I've heard from my friends that there wasn't much to the tour and I might be wasting my money. But I still really wanna visit Mekong Delta, so.. For this tour, I managed to find a really affordable one which is only 500,000 VND  including tours, entrance fees, hotel and bus. What a steal! I really liked the tour and it was led by Jimmy, a 33-year old man with high spirits. It was really nice to see the countryside of Vietnam and also the numerous boat rides that I did not expect. Everything was amazing and I'm so glad I went for this tour.

Day 1:

1. Vietnamese traditional music. 
Which sounds pretty much like the Chinese one. 


2. Boat Ride. 
I'm telling you, this place is amazing for pictures!!! :D :D :D





3. Horseback Riding.

4. Free Lunch at Floating Restaurant.


5. Bee Farm, but I didn't take any pictures with the bees. XD



It feels like the perfect day to be out for the tour, because the skies were amazing. Vietnamese weather is a little unpredictable but these two days, the skies were really clear and blue, and it only rained once for a short while, so it was perfect!

6. Free time. Which we utilized to walk around Can Tho at the night market. We tried a lot of street food and it was really fun! :D





Day 2.

1. Floating Market.





Again, amazing pictures to be taken here. <3






2. Rice Paper Making Factory.





And that wraps up my Mekong Delta trip! =)

Border Run to Cambodia!

To Travel.
I just got back from Cambodia last night, and it was a fun but tiring trip. =) I had to go to Cambodia because I'm staying in Vietnam for more than 30 days, and that's why I went for border run, just to get my passport chopped at the immigration. The best thing about this is that; my coursemate, Jia Pei, is in Cambodia for exchange as well! So here we are, meeting up in Cambodia. =)




The food there is somewhat like Malaysian food, of course, I can't judge much because I was only there for about two days? But from the meals I had, yeah, it's like Malaysian food.

 But this fish curry right here, it tastes so much like home that I could cry. T_T it's called Fish Amok, it's some sort of nyonya curry with coconut in it and it tastes really really good. It was a good change from the Vietnamese food I've been having so far.





Oh boy, one thing I loved so much about Cambodia, it's their architecture. Seriously, their buildings are beautiful. Their temples, oh my gosh, it was divine. It has some sort of Minangkabau influence but still, it's unique in it's own way. This is the Royal Palace, which I did not manage to go in, because it was closed at a really odd time; 10.30am - 2pm? o.o 


This is the National Museum, it costs 5$ for the entrance fee. It was really nice, but I'd prefer if I had a tour guide to explain to me the historical/architecture/socioogical/??? part about the whole Cambodia. I'll read about it when I have time.


I enjoyed taking pictures in Cambodia, and wish I had a DSLR or something, but my camera is still doing a great job. =D


This is the Independence Monument, couldn't really get close to it.

One of their royal kings, Sihanouk.


Ah, this one, it's a temple, and almost all of their temples look like this. It's really beautiful because of the intricate carvings along the walls, sculptures, everything was new to me. I could really see the strong influence of religion in their country because when I was walking around, no matter how old the house looks, the altar that is placed in front of the house always looks really good.




Some really cheap and good street food that we stumbled upon the streets of Sihanouk Boulevard. =) 5$ only for the whole meal!


It was a really good but short trip to Cambodia. I wish I could've stayed there longer and had the means to travel further and interact with the people more, but due to the time constraint, we could only stay there for one night. =( I really want to go to the Angkor Wat, but maybe next time. But in that short trip of mine, I could see so much difference between Vietnam and Cambodia.

1. Cambodia has a higher proficiency in English, which was really awesome because we were lost and had no internet, so we couldn't really find our hostel.
2. The living cost in Cambodia is higher because the currency that they use is riel and USD, but for tourist spots, mainly USD.
3. The difference of their standard of living between the rich and the poor is really obvious when I compare the city and the outskirts.

In the streets, there were many beggars and homeless people living under trees and just along the streets. Their children were running around naked without any parental guidance and I could see flies around their hair because hygiene was not a concern for them. Sigh, I've seen so much poverty in Cambodia and Vietnam that, it really makes me feel grateful to be living in Malaysia, and it really really pushes me to do more for this world. And I've grown to love my course even more than ever because I could apply whatever I am studying everywhere, but I know I'm not good enough so I'm going to push for more.

And we are all stories, in the end.