MAKING NEW FRIENDS IN HO CHI MINH CITY

11th December 2014 ~ [2nd DAY HCM TRIP] I was lucky to meet two Malaysians in Ho Chi Minh City who were backpacking. Mr. Syafiq is a friend of an ex-student while Miss Amalina is his friend. Then I was introduced to their Vietnamese friends whom they were staying with, Mr. Nguyen and Mr. Trung Le.

Mr.Syafiq wanted to get something from the market first and we decided to get lunch after that before we continued exploring the city. We went to this one cafe called Cafe 4A which I found very comfortable and urban.

The three Malaysians chose to eat seafood spaghetti and for dessert we had banana ice-cream. The dessert was actually very delicious and I don't think we can get it here in Malaysia. I tried to buy this from a convenient store near my hotel a day after that but this particular ice-cream was not available.

can you see the tree trunk?

a clearer view

This should be the most environmental friendly restaurant I have ever been to. There was a tree growing through the roof of the eating place. Rather than cutting off the tree, it was left to live. It looked small enough not to cause any danger to the people in the shop. Perhaps we should also do something like this here. 

[MY HO CHI MINH TRIP MAIN PAGE]

MOVIE REVIEW: HOBBIT - THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES

This was the continuation of the previous Hobbit series. I vividly remembered the image of the dragon flying out of the mountain that contained the treasure, moving towards the village. It then continued to cause a mass destruction and people fled to save their lives when their houses were burned to the ground. Following that, there were more fighting scenes which were violent enough, you would not want your small kids to watch this kind of thing.

Too bad, I could not really recall the sequence of events of the whole series. Perhaps I should get the book the understand the story, and later how it is actually related to"Lords of the Ring". Anyway, it is always fun to watch Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf and the dwarfs on the big screen. This should be the last episode of the Hobbit series, shouldn't it?

THE NIGHT MARKET AT BAN THANH MARKET AREA

11th December 2014 [1st DAY HCM TRIP] ~ This place could be mistaken as the night market back home as there were too many Malaysians on the streets, especially with halal restaurants on both sides of the road bearing names like "Serai", "Aysah" or the huge "1Malaysia" symbol outside the shop.

I walked to this place every evening, just to buy fruits and the famous iced-coffee. Only on the very last night, I finally bought some souvenirs home. 

Too many things to see, too little time to decide what to buy. This would be a very dangerous place for women - not because of safety reasons, though. This place was like a shopping haven that operated right outside the hotels and people could conveniently shop whenever they wanted to do so, especially when Malaysian currency was very much welcomed for business transaction. You have been warned!

[MY HO CHI MINH TRIP MAIN PAGE]

THE LAST TWO WEDDING RECEPTIONS OF THE YEAR

The weekend that was spent attending two wedding receptions of ex-students. As usual, I had a great time meeting friends, students and ex-students. Here's the report in brief:

WEDDING #1

The wedding of Ms. Saniah Sahrom (SPM batch) and Mr. Nasrol

Venue: Taman Universiti

WEDDING #2

The wedding of Mr. Rashidi Abd. Kadir (SPM batch 2005) & the bridegroom :)

Venue: Pusat Latihan UTM

I guess that should conclude the wedding receptions of ex-students attended throughout this year. I am still expecting to attend more by next year.

BOOK REVIEW: JODI PICOULT'S "MERCY"

PLOT #1: A husband killed his sick and dying wife upon her own request to end her suffering, in the name of love.
PLOT#2: A devoted wife and a florist found out his policeman husband cum the chief policeman was having an affair with her own assistant.
When the husband who killed the wife surrendered to the police chief, PLOT 1 intertwined with PLOT #2, hence the drama.

If you have read Picoult's, you will know what to expect. The rising action and development is good and dramatic, but the conclusion is not. The ending is too abrupt, in my opinion. Other than that, I just don't understand how the wife could be so kind to easily forgive her husband of everything he had done to her. This is beginning to be like one of the Malay dramas on television. *sigh*

GASTRONOMIC RENDEZVOUS WITH OLD FRIENDS FROM COLLEGE

I am glad that a stream of old friends, i.e. my ex-coursemates of the TESL UPM group were here in Johor Bahru for reasons like going to Legoland, or Universal Studio Singapore, or some other personal matter. I took the opportunity to play host to them at least by taking them to some well-known eating places for distinguished local delicacies in town - and the focus this time: Kacang Pool, besides other food like Murtabak and Laksa Johor. The meeting time was always not that long but it was still good enough to exchange gossips and update some missing links in our lives that we are all staying far apart.

24th December:

Puan Zanariah Abdul Syukor,
Kuala Lumpur

23rd December:

Puan Maslinda Mohd. Dahalan and family,

Kuala Lumpur

22nd December 2014:

Mr. Fairuz Leman, Kuala Kangsar

21st December 2014:

Mr. Mohd. Azman Awang, Rembau

23rd November 2014:

Puan Shamsul Niza Shamsuddin,

Kuala Lumpur

I hope to see you all again and some other people when you come down to JB some other time.