Today was our last day before Mike, Lee and I travel to Cambodia.
We had a full day at RMIT, it was going to be a productive day, but instead, it was more of a planning day. We had a really long meeting, and not much work got done, but we did plan what we are meant to do when we get back to Melbourne, etc.
After that, we headed to the Majestic hotel for our farewell dinner as we were all going to split our own different ways. The hotel was a fancy 5star which had 2 levels of rooftop sections to eat and drink. The top one is a small private section, the lower rooftop was public and had an open kitchen and grill. The top part was exclusively booked for us, we felt famous!
After drinks, photos and speeches, we went to the temple club for dinner, this was the "fanny" place I mentioned earlier.
This place was very fancy, and again, lots of staff. The toilets were what made me laugh. They look like big wardrobe doors on one side of the restaurant. If you don't get guided there by a staff member, I don't think you'd guess it was a toilet. Then, once you get in to the toilet, there is a 3/4 divider wall between the male and female rooms, and the actual cubicle for the toilet, looks like a towel cupboard! You open these 2 tiny doors to get in, and when you get out, it feels like your sneaking out of a cupboard.
It was weird, but looked cool.
We all kinda met up at a hotel room for a little, but I had to go to bed, I was feeling sick and I was really tired.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Day 13
Today was an easy day.
We did a little shopping and finally found a place that sells Midori!
Ever since we saw how cheap alcohol was, we have been looking for Midori to make QF's. We asked taxi drivers, liquor shops, markets, and randoms, but we couldn't find it anywhere, then we just happen to walk down a small street near our hotel and finally found it! I also got this 9lt water bottle with a little tap on it that worked really well.
That night we had a little drink up, but nothing compared to Day 11!
We did a little shopping and finally found a place that sells Midori!
Ever since we saw how cheap alcohol was, we have been looking for Midori to make QF's. We asked taxi drivers, liquor shops, markets, and randoms, but we couldn't find it anywhere, then we just happen to walk down a small street near our hotel and finally found it! I also got this 9lt water bottle with a little tap on it that worked really well.
That night we had a little drink up, but nothing compared to Day 11!
Day 12
Today I was feeling sick again.
We spent the majority of the day at RMIT.
I tried to take a photo of the uni, but the security guard told me off before I had a chance. Cant understand why, if anything its free advertising for them... I dont think they have a business course at this campus.
Nothing too exciting today except a bit of work on the project.
After uni, we headed back to the hotel then out for a night on the town.
We started heading towards this place called "lush", thinking it was a "fully sick club" - not really my cup of tea, but I followed anyway.
We got into a 7 seater taxi and fit 10 people in there! the taxi driver was having as much fun as us, so he didn't charge us the full amount, it was very funny tho.
We got to "lush" and decided to go get some dinner first. I felt sick, but the others got pizza at this place called the "feeling room". Apparently the pizza was good.
We then found out that "lush" is not a club so we went to this place called "volcano", which was a "fully sick club". It was a trance and RnB club, Robert, you would have loved it. It had cool lighting, lasers, etc. and plenty of staff.
There were people all over the place offering drinks, guiding you to and from the dance floor, door people and many more.
The club was called "Volcano" but the whole place was made to look like it was under snow. It was a good experience if anything, and a change from having to line up at the bar, they come to you instead!
Check out this quick video of the lasers here
We spent the majority of the day at RMIT.
I tried to take a photo of the uni, but the security guard told me off before I had a chance. Cant understand why, if anything its free advertising for them... I dont think they have a business course at this campus.
Nothing too exciting today except a bit of work on the project.
After uni, we headed back to the hotel then out for a night on the town.
We started heading towards this place called "lush", thinking it was a "fully sick club" - not really my cup of tea, but I followed anyway.
We got into a 7 seater taxi and fit 10 people in there! the taxi driver was having as much fun as us, so he didn't charge us the full amount, it was very funny tho.
We got to "lush" and decided to go get some dinner first. I felt sick, but the others got pizza at this place called the "feeling room". Apparently the pizza was good.
We then found out that "lush" is not a club so we went to this place called "volcano", which was a "fully sick club". It was a trance and RnB club, Robert, you would have loved it. It had cool lighting, lasers, etc. and plenty of staff.
There were people all over the place offering drinks, guiding you to and from the dance floor, door people and many more.
The club was called "Volcano" but the whole place was made to look like it was under snow. It was a good experience if anything, and a change from having to line up at the bar, they come to you instead!
Check out this quick video of the lasers here
Monday, December 17, 2007
Day 11
Today we went to the Mekong Delta, about two hours drive south of Saigon.
It is a much more tropical looking area, nothing like the Ho Chi Minh City.
Once we arrived to our location, we got onto a big boat and went for a cruise down the Mekong river. Then we stopped at a small platform (below) to get onto a smaller boat that held around 8-10 people. Then later we needed to get onto smaller boats, that only hold 4 people!
This boat took us to the first of four islands where our tour guide "Mr. Lovely" showed us how the Mekong people make coconut candy and banana wine (35% alc.). Coconuts are used for so many things from drinking the milk, eating it, making candy, tools and little gifts.
The next island we saw how the Mekong people extract the honey from bee hives. We sat at had honey lemon tea made from the bee's that were flying all around us. As we drank the tea, "Mr. Lovely" brought out a very large snake for us all to touch and hold. Poor Nina was terrified of snakes and everyone made her hold it.
The next island was for lunch where we got an included meal and had the option to buy the famous "Mekong River Elephant Ear fish" (see below). The fish wasnt included in the price, but we got one to try, and it was very nice, despite what it looks like on the outside.
The last island was for fruit and music from the "Unicorn people". All the islands actually had names (i.e. unicorn island) but I couldnt make out what the names were over the speaker on the boat.
Finally, after a great day of sight seeing, we all headed back to Paco and my room for a bit of a party. Long story short, Alot of alcohol was consumed and my room was an absolute mess! Between spilt drinks, food and pistachio wars it was pretty bad. After we quieted down a bit, we managed to clean it quite well, the cleaners did the rest. Oh yea, and I need to mention that Mike got drunk enough to sleep Paco for the whole night... enough said... lol
It is a much more tropical looking area, nothing like the Ho Chi Minh City.
Once we arrived to our location, we got onto a big boat and went for a cruise down the Mekong river. Then we stopped at a small platform (below) to get onto a smaller boat that held around 8-10 people. Then later we needed to get onto smaller boats, that only hold 4 people!
This boat took us to the first of four islands where our tour guide "Mr. Lovely" showed us how the Mekong people make coconut candy and banana wine (35% alc.). Coconuts are used for so many things from drinking the milk, eating it, making candy, tools and little gifts.
The next island we saw how the Mekong people extract the honey from bee hives. We sat at had honey lemon tea made from the bee's that were flying all around us. As we drank the tea, "Mr. Lovely" brought out a very large snake for us all to touch and hold. Poor Nina was terrified of snakes and everyone made her hold it.
The next island was for lunch where we got an included meal and had the option to buy the famous "Mekong River Elephant Ear fish" (see below). The fish wasnt included in the price, but we got one to try, and it was very nice, despite what it looks like on the outside.
The last island was for fruit and music from the "Unicorn people". All the islands actually had names (i.e. unicorn island) but I couldnt make out what the names were over the speaker on the boat.
Finally, after a great day of sight seeing, we all headed back to Paco and my room for a bit of a party. Long story short, Alot of alcohol was consumed and my room was an absolute mess! Between spilt drinks, food and pistachio wars it was pretty bad. After we quieted down a bit, we managed to clean it quite well, the cleaners did the rest. Oh yea, and I need to mention that Mike got drunk enough to sleep Paco for the whole night... enough said... lol
Day 8
Today we paired up with a local RMIT student and did a "tresure hunt". This involved receiving an sms and then working out what it means, then going to that location and taking photo of it, once we have acquired that, sms back to get a new clue. It was fun and we got to know at least one local sudent pretty well.
My partner's name was "chop" and we spent from 2pm till dinner time together
First, we went to a park called "Cong Vien Van Hoa Park". It was very nice, and really green compared to home.
There was hedges of different animals everywhere including a cool elephant and dragon (see below).
There was alot of kids everywhere, a playground, and plenty of room for sports. There was a temple with a shrine for the first king of Vietnam (I think). There was a guy there who voluntarily stays there and maintains it. He showed us how to prey with insence and took some photos for us.
After that we did a couple more smaller items on the hunt like finding a particular place to eat, etc. After that, "chop" showed me where to get all the dvd's etc. But we were warned that these can be checked at customs, and there wasnt that much there anyway, then we headed off to the "Rex" hotel to take some photos and see how classy it is. It was a bit of a tease that we were going to stay there, but then it got changed at the last minute, but it was still good to see, very nice hotel.
Finally, we ordered (real) Pizza Hut and had a bit of a drinking session in Jess and Nina's room. I was still feling a bit sick, so I stayed out of it, but it was a great night anyway.
My partner's name was "chop" and we spent from 2pm till dinner time together
First, we went to a park called "Cong Vien Van Hoa Park". It was very nice, and really green compared to home.
There was hedges of different animals everywhere including a cool elephant and dragon (see below).
There was alot of kids everywhere, a playground, and plenty of room for sports. There was a temple with a shrine for the first king of Vietnam (I think). There was a guy there who voluntarily stays there and maintains it. He showed us how to prey with insence and took some photos for us.
After that we did a couple more smaller items on the hunt like finding a particular place to eat, etc. After that, "chop" showed me where to get all the dvd's etc. But we were warned that these can be checked at customs, and there wasnt that much there anyway, then we headed off to the "Rex" hotel to take some photos and see how classy it is. It was a bit of a tease that we were going to stay there, but then it got changed at the last minute, but it was still good to see, very nice hotel.
Finally, we ordered (real) Pizza Hut and had a bit of a drinking session in Jess and Nina's room. I was still feling a bit sick, so I stayed out of it, but it was a great night anyway.
Too bad :(
Hello,
Its been a while since I've blogged, but I have decent reason, not completely laziness.
For a long period of time, ive been sick. Ive had colds and stomach problems for alot of the time, even now I still feel a bit sick.
Also, as of about the 8th of this month, windows on my laptop would not get on the internet at all! Linux would, and so would my phone, but not windows. I am using Picasa to blog, which is only available on windows. I could have used the web interface, but its easier from Picasa, and I felt sick and tired so I couldn't really be bothered.
Anyway, enough of my sooking, I have a couple of back dated blogs I wrote in text files to post, so ill upload a few more photos coming up.
Its been a while since I've blogged, but I have decent reason, not completely laziness.
For a long period of time, ive been sick. Ive had colds and stomach problems for alot of the time, even now I still feel a bit sick.
Also, as of about the 8th of this month, windows on my laptop would not get on the internet at all! Linux would, and so would my phone, but not windows. I am using Picasa to blog, which is only available on windows. I could have used the web interface, but its easier from Picasa, and I felt sick and tired so I couldn't really be bothered.
Anyway, enough of my sooking, I have a couple of back dated blogs I wrote in text files to post, so ill upload a few more photos coming up.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Day 7
Today I was feeling very sick. Most people went to RMIT today to work and came back a little earlier than normal, except 4 people who stayed there till very late, a couple of others took the day off today and caught up on some rest, shopping and photography. I got to bed around 9:30ish last night, so today I stayed back at the hotel and slept in till about 9:15. I had breakfast (which finishes at 9:30) and went back to my room. At about 2:30 I was so hungry, so I went out to our usual lunch place with a few other people who were actually at the hotel rather than RMIT. The luch place is called Pho 2000 and I got one of my favourite meals, a nice and basic meal :) see below.
Chicken, flavoured rice, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, carrots, white carrots and one chili
From there, because I was actually up and about, I went for a walk with my group to the market. I did a little bit of shopping and then returned to the hotel just in time for the 6:30 meeting. After the long, but productive meeting, we went out to a fancy restaurant. A very nice place and they had the english word "fanny" everywhere, I thought it was the name of the restaurant, but was later informed that it was called "The Temple". The other thing about this place was they had a "western corner" on the menu. I was still feeling pretty sick, and I didnt have an appetite so I ordered "fish and chips" which was a small meal, and couldnt even eat 1/4 of it.
When we met up with the four people that stayed at RMIT (AB, Mike, Lee and Ralph) they informed us that they had basically cracked the problem of color and had written some great scripts to make things happen automatically. So although I didnt have a very productive day, alot of work got done today at uni.
Chicken, flavoured rice, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, carrots, white carrots and one chili
From there, because I was actually up and about, I went for a walk with my group to the market. I did a little bit of shopping and then returned to the hotel just in time for the 6:30 meeting. After the long, but productive meeting, we went out to a fancy restaurant. A very nice place and they had the english word "fanny" everywhere, I thought it was the name of the restaurant, but was later informed that it was called "The Temple". The other thing about this place was they had a "western corner" on the menu. I was still feeling pretty sick, and I didnt have an appetite so I ordered "fish and chips" which was a small meal, and couldnt even eat 1/4 of it.
When we met up with the four people that stayed at RMIT (AB, Mike, Lee and Ralph) they informed us that they had basically cracked the problem of color and had written some great scripts to make things happen automatically. So although I didnt have a very productive day, alot of work got done today at uni.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)