Last Day at HUBT and Hanoi

My students made me tear yesterday in class. I made them do a reflection of the two weeks they had with me: 3 things I learnt, 2 things I found difficult and 1 thing I will never forget.

Most expressed that they will never forget me! Haha.. They said I was a funny teacher and made them interested in learning English. Some were even inspired to go to Singapore to study after the project I made them do to find out more about Singapore.

At the end of the lesson, all of them started taking photos and really, all of us felt like movie stars. Despite the fact that we've been there for only 2 weeks, they have gotten so close to us, they had no qualms about hugging and clinging on to us! The monitor of the class did up a video of me teaching in class, and they made it so funny it got me in stitches. I'll see if I can post it up on you tube so you can view it.

Students from the Virgo man's class and my class always migrate themselves from one class to another so both of us get very confused which student belongs to which class! So here's a combined class photo of both our classes!



As we left the university, we waved goodbye to the people we've been in touch with all these while, the people that made our stay here at Hanoi more enjoyable, from our driver, Mr Bang to Mr Dau, Mr Phuc, Vincent, and Miriam's "favourite" Mr Long - we were all beginning to miss them. We appreciated the warm hospitality the have extended to us so much so we wished we could give them better gifts than those we had brought along. I guess it was worth the while staying up til 2am the previous night writing Thank You cards and wrapping the gifts up for them.

We were free in the afternoon and so we headed back to the street near the Cathedral in search for more gifts for friends back home after some drinks at the cafe by the lake. I came across a shop that sold beautiful embroidered clothes and I got myself one top. I felt it was a good buy and had I known this shop existed before, i would have made PInkHippo's top here instead of the shop at Ma May. I spent almost an hour plus in the shop and really, I know Ah Bao will love the clothes there! I'm even thinking of bringing the brand into Singapore...

We browsed further and came across Nagu. It sold some of its products at the Hilton and so we had wanted to see the full range at its shop. We had a few good buys there and I had one piece custom-made. It'll only be ready next week so the guys will be collecting it for me after their trip to Sapa and Halong Bay - so nice of them. I had wanted to walk more but we had to rush back to the hotel to meet the studenrs who will be bringing us out for dinner.

We were all touched as the students bought every one of us gifts, even for the Korean star from the HUT! I guessed they must have loved him cos they got him the biggest gift and the wrapper had the word "Love" all on it! And the girls were so eager to take pictures with him, outside the opera house and at karaoke - he had a whole bevy of ladies crowding round him!

Here's him and some girls in my class with the present he got from the students.. Notice the wrapper!



Today is my last day at Hanoi before I head back to Singapore tomorrow morning. I have to leave the hotel by 3.30am so we plan not to sleep tonight. It's raining, and maybe Hanoi is sad that we're leaving. The temperature has risen again and it's very much like Singapore now.

My friends have gone to do their tailoring and visits to the museum. As for me, I'm just spending some time alone as I sit by my favourite lobby at the Hilton for one last time to blog.

I'm beginning to like this place just as I'm about to leave. With so much more to explore in Vietnam - Hue, Hoi An, Sapa, Halong Bay... I'm quite sure I'd be back.

As Mr Dau and Mr Phuc said, in Hanoi, we don't say "Goodbye"; we say "See you again."

I'm sure I'll see Hanoi again... :)

Dinner with our students

Our students hosted two dinners for us when we were here. Yesterday, we went to eat at some corner coffee shop that apparently serves the best Pho Cuon - beef wrapped in rice noodles. Amongst other food, we had fried corn, goat's chest meat, roasted duck and fried rice noodles with vegetabels and beef...

Here's the name of the stall



There were some 40 over of us squeezed onto the top floor of the coffee shop..



Here's the Pho Cuon (Fer Kwoon). You have to dip it in some sauce before eating it.



Here's the fried corn. It's like steamed corn covered in flour and flavoured with coconut then deep fried.



And the fried goat's chest and fried rice noodles with vegetables and beef.





As usual, the students brought us to the restaurants on their bikes. Here I am with one of my students.. I call him "Superman" cos when i asked him what he wanted to be in the future, he said "Superman". His classmates tease him that he's a different kind of Superman since he flies downwards!



Just got from Virgo man the pictures our students took during the dinner they had for us last Friday. Go figure who's the Korean star and who's the prosperous one! :)

Group picture with my teammates, Korean guy and my biker student.. I rode on his bike and despite the fact he was smsing, talking on the phone and talking to me while meandering the busy roads of Hanoi.. Well, he kept me safe and yup, I'm still in once piece!







Picture with Miriam and the pretty girl in my class, Hue and her boyfriend who is in the other class...

More Food in Hanoi

I met up with my teammates after blogging yesterday and we headed to the Old Quarters. The tops I asked to be tailored still needed alteration and so I haven't seen the finished product as yet. I hope they will be nice and ready by Friday evening when I go collect it together with my 50 "chun chun".

We had wanted to head to 69 cafe to have dinner but it was fully booked and so we walked along Ma May and came across an Indian restaurant. We ordered a few curries and naans and wow.. It was really really good! The Korean star decided we should have some meat and so he ordered tandoori chicken and it was not only tasty, it was succulent, juicy and tender. Simply perfect!

We decided to walk back after the meal and by the time we got back, we were so dead tired, we just fell asleep!

Today, we met up with the Dean of the English Faculty at our university. It was a really good meeting with him as we evaluated the attachment, shared the experience and explored future opportunities for collaboration.

The meeting ended early and so we headed to the nearby coffee shop to have the Vietnamese drip coffee. My teammates were hungry and so we ordered a baguette with omelette which was just heavenly!





Then we headed for lunch at the staff canteen.. We had Miriam's favourite fish... And a picture of her with the fish for her mum back home in Singapore to see...



Only 10 students turned up for class today. I made them do advertisements and with their limited vocabulary, I was quite impressed with what they had come up with. I hope the whole class turns up tomorrow since it will be my last session with them. I dropped by Tran Tien Plaza just now to shop for some chocolates and cookies to give out tomorrow.

Dinner with the Direct-General of the Minstry of Education and Training was at 6pm. I wasn't exactly hungry and I was in pain actually from gastric. My teammates assigned me to do the PR part for the dinner and so I duly did. I think I did quite an OK job. The Director-General is actually a very down-to-earth man.. I learnt he collected bells as a hobby. Very interesting.

The dinner was a sumptuous spread of around 8 - 10 dishes. The one dish i have to share with you is this shrimps in coconut.. then they light a fire round the coconut to kinda burn the prawns and let the coconut juice evaporate to sweeten the prawns.. I don't know how it tasted cos I can't eat seafood (damn!)... But I'm sure it was good... I know someone back in Singapore who'd simply love this dish!



Thankfully, dinner ended fairly early and so we headed back to the hotel and now, I'm blogging with two of my teammates at the Hilton.. Boy am I thankful I have this place - great music, great WIFI!

Visit to the "Flying Dragon" High School

I woke up slightly earlier today cos PinkHippo replied to my sms at about 5am (Hanoi time). I tried cleaning the memory card of the camera like she suggested but to no avail. I was slightly disappointed that I could not take anymore pictures and I didn't recall seeing any shops selling memory cards.

My teammates were nice to offer their cameras, knowing fully well that I had to update my blog with pictures for my friends back home. Still, I felt bad that I had somehow spoilt the camera.. Did I?

Mr Phuc came by our hotel at around 8am to pick us up to visit one of the top high schools in Hanoi. I can't remember the Vietnamese name but Mr Phuc told us it stands for "flying dragon".

It was quite enlightening sitting in the classes of the level 12 students (equivalent to JC2). We realised that they had a better grasp for grammar and were certainly better than us! They were going through Gerunds, and the students could easily list down the form, the function, the usage etc.! And I only learnt it when I was in NIE!

When the lesson ended, the teacher invited us to the front of the class to share with her students about Singapore. My teammates and I ended up playing some classroom games, singing a song and telling them about Singapore. It was nice as the students clapped and laughed. It was heartening to see the sparkle in their eyes as they expressed their interest in studying in Singapore.

We then had a short sharing session with the teachers of the high school, and they shared their difficulties in teaching English. We shared with them some of the teaching methods we used in our classroom, hoping that they will be able to adapt some practices. Personally, I feel for them. It is certainly not easy given the facilities they have and the constraints they have to work under. Once again, it made me appreciate the education system we have in Singapore.

We met our Korean star from the HUT team for lunch after the high school visit. It was a really big lunch as we indulged in pizza, pasta, sandwiches, beef, fries... Then we headed towards St Joseph's Cathedral, Vietnam's oldest cathedral.

Along the way, we saw a shop selling very attractive lanterns. We crossed over and was attracted to the shop next to it instead which sold beautiful hand painted cards. I got 3 of them as I thought they looked really nice and colourful. I definitely know people who will appreciate it as much as I do!

When I was waiting for the rest to figure out their buys, I realised that the shop next to it was a camera shop and it sold the memory card that PinkHippo's camera used. I got the man to help me figure out the problem and he successfully fixed the problem by reformatting the card. I really don't know how he did it, but he did it! He seemed to know the camera more so than I did! I felt bad not getting the new memory card from him as he took out a brand new one to try on my camera. And so, after bargaining, I paid 630,000 dong for it - about S$63 for a 1GB memory card...then he tells me I can take some 2000 pictures!

The four of us walked along the streets leading to the Cathedral and we realised that the shops there sold really pretty things. Though a little pricier, you'll know you're getting things of a better quality. My friends bought some bags from a designer shop that apparently exports her bags to Tyan - and really, if you know how much she charges, and how much Tyan charges back in Singapore, you'd get a few back home to give away

The visit to the Cathedral was nice. I've always liked visiting Catholic churches overseas as it had the kind of grandeur and old charm that our Singapore churches lacked. The cathedral was old, and really, I wished it was better maintained, but yet again, I understood why it was like that. I did a quick walk round the church and took some pictures cos I didn't want the rest to wait too long. I sat in front of Our Lady and St Anthony, and said a long prayer. Then I made my offering and left the church.

The two guys needed to get back to the hotel to wait for their students to pick them up on the scooters to watch a soccer match. So we headed back to the hotel.

I'm waiting for the guys to come back so we can head back to Ma May to get the top I tailored for myself and PinkHippo. Hopefully it fits better this time. Whilst waiting, I decided to head to the Hilton and do my routine. My teammates all know about me and WIFI and so each time they pass by a cafe, they'll tease me! This morning, they even said I may go into a fit soon if I don't get my WIFI!

They are a cute bunch, and I'm glad I'm on this trip with them! :)

I leave you with pictures I took of the Cathedral while I savour the music from the string quartet at the Hilton Hanoi...

Back to School on Monday - 4 December 2006

My students made me unhappy today as they didn’t do their homework. A few left the class and didn’t come back after the break, but it was heartening to see those who stayed trying even if the task was difficult.

We met up with the group from HUT after our lessons and headed to the silk village where they bought silk, scarves and shawls. Boy did they buy lots! I didn’t have the intention to get any tailoring done and the scarves didn’t quite appeal to me so I didn’t get any. I only managed to get a few silk/pashmina shawls that I thought would look nice on some of my close friends.

We headed to Ma May area while some others went to get their tailoring done. I went back to the shop where I had Pinkhippo’s top made. It wasn’t quite what I wanted and so I asked for it to be amended again. Will drop by again tomorrow to see if it’s better this time.

I was famished while waiting for the rest to come over to the Old Quarters to have dinner and so the three of us headed to some corner shop to have kebabs on baguette. I must either be very hungry or it must have been good cos I gobbled all of it down!



It wasn’t long before we met up with the other group and we went to a restaurant to eat. I had the Vietnamese coffee and I must say I do like it.



I think the group of us is getting more comfortable with each other as we are beginning to tease each other and be familiar with each likes and dislikes and idiosyncrasies! I must say the guys in our group has been really nice, taking good care of us ladies, not to mention bargain! It helps that we have a handsome one whom our students think is a Korean star, and a prosperous looking one whom our students think brings them luck.

After dinner, we proceeded to the lake to have chocolate tarts and orange cake and ice –cream. The lake is just as beautiful at night… and lots of lovers actually sit round it and well.. display their affection for each other!



We parted ways as we headed back to our respective hotels. My teammates and I decided to walk back to our hotel to burn off what we had indulged in. I felt a tinge funny not being able to do my WIFI today as we walked past the Hilton, but I let it pass.

Tomorrow, I visit a high school in Hanoi. My afternoon lessons have been cancelled cos there’s no electricity throughout the campus. That means I just have 2 more sessions with my students. There seems to be so much more to do!

Well, I hope the camera Pinkhippo lent me works tomorrow. I’ve cleared out the pictures but it still tells me the card is full. I’m hoping some miracle happens tomorrow…

I leave you with some night scenes of Hanoi... Quite beautiful...

The Day at Halong Bay - 3 December 2006

We set out early to Halong Bay this morning. It took us some 3 hours drive to get to the jetty where we were to take the boat down through the bay. We were told that the weather there would be colder, but surprisingly, it was warmer than at Hanoi.

Our tour guide, “Hero”, bought us our tickets and showed us to our boat. To our pleasant surprise, we had the boat all to ourselves and we didn’t have to share it with anyone!

It wasn’t before long that we started to leave the jetty and into the bay area. The weather was cloudy and I thought that I wouldn’t be able to get those nice shots of Halong Bay that we often see in the postcards and magazines. But surprisingly, as the boat began to move, the clearer the skies got, and it wasn’t before long that we began to see the many islands of the Halong Bay.

Our guide stretched our imagination as he pointed out “dogs”, “fighting cocks”, “junk boats”. Of course, if you looked hard enough at the rocks, you’d probably be able to see it!

Lunch was served on board in no time. It was a simple but sumptuous meal and really, of all the dishes, I loved the rice and egg best!

The sights around us were too nice to be missed and so I rushed through lunch and excused myself to catch a few shots at the top deck. For a moment, I had to pinch myself to see if I was really there. It was so beautiful and serene and quiet in contrast to the bustling city of Hanoi.

We didn’t know that there will be a stop at a limestone cave, and so when we were told to alight, we were surprised, but went along anyway. The climb up and down the stairs, between narrow pathways and all made me feel as if I were on some Indiana Jones expedition. Nevertheless, it was really enlightening to see the limestone cave as it was my first time.

We headed back to the boat before heading to Ti Top Beach. There wasn’t much to see, or perhaps we were tired and so we went back to the boat after some 15 minutes. It was close to 4pm and for us to get back to Hanoi by 7.30pm, we had to leave.

The weather became colder as we headed towards Hanoi. All of us sat at the top deck and as only us ladies went (the guys will be taking an overnight trip on their extension), there was some time to share about relationships and matters of the heart.

It was chilly when we reached the jetty, and all of us must have been really tired as we slept almost immediately on the van. It was another three hours’ ride before we would reach Hanoi.

We decided to stop over at the Hilton for a light snack and enjoy the music. My teammates have begun to tease me that I couldn’t live without my laptop and the WIFI at Hilton. Well, they are right in a way!

I headed back to the hotel and looked at the pictures I took of Halong Bay.. Boy do I love them! I must thank my friend who lent me the camera!

Mum sent me an sms to say she missed me. I called her and that made me miss home too. I missed talking to my friends back home too, and so I sent an sms to one of them. The exchange made me miss home less but still, I’m looking forward to being back!

More Photos on Halong Bay...

Halong Bay

I spent the whole day at Halong Bay today, and though we didn't get to see any junk boats, I think the place is really beautiful. We also visited a limestone cave and a beach. I won't blog much today, but I leave you with the pictures I took... Enjoy... :)