April

April has been a good month. I smiled a lot, ate a lot, sloshed down gallons of coffee and juice and exercised a fair bit. I use the term exercised loosely, it really depends on who you're talking to and your definition of exercising. And no, I'm not talking about sex, in fact, I haven't thought about it in a while. I've filled my calendar with activities and even made some short-term plans which are, of course, subjected to a long string of other considerations. But that's another story. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. All's been good except the bitch of a weather that had me sweating my pants off at the Fort Canning Park on Monday. It was Stereophonics' first concert in Singapore and I'm glad I caught it although I was slightly disappointed that Kelly did not do his guitar solo for Dakota. Still, it was surreal, hearing them live, complete with close up visuals. I so wanna marry a musician. Okay, that's pushing it, perhaps in another life.

So, Vietnam. First impressions were ruined both by the horrendous traffic and the taxi-driver who couldn't leave his horn the hell alone, he was at it the whole time from the airport to the hotel, which was a good 30 minutes ride. I tried to distract him by initiating conversations but he scared the shit out of me by turning his head around each time I spoke, putting all our lives in jeopardy. Anyway, that was that. Katie's song was playing in my head the whole time we were on the roads. If there are, in fact, nine million bicycles in Beijing, there must be an equivalent number of motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh City. The roads are teemed with motorists in their 2 wheelers bearing merchandise of all sorts, coming at you in all directions. Forget traffic rules, there are none so to speak. For inexperienced riders with poor sense of navigation like yours truly, riding a motorcycle in Saigon can be awfully intimidating. I find myself sweating and shaking uncontrollably whenever i climbed onto the seat of my black Yamaha. Yes fear, of endangering not my own, but the lives of innocent and unknowing Vietnamese. Here's a tip, once on the road, always act like you've done this a million times, it'll help boost your confidence.

Notice how i went on and on about the one thing we did? I'm almost ashamed to admit that we didn't get around much, not that i didn't enjoy the trip. We did visit the War Remnants Museum and the Notre Dame Cathedral, we rode past the Central Post Office and the Reunification Palace. (at least that's what i thought they were) We got lost at one point, which I found strangely comforting. We walked a lot and climbed a lot of stairs. Met some annoying people and a couple of amiable ones. A lot of late dinners and long showers. Some people lost a small fortune at the casino, I wont name names, you know who you are. :p It wasn't over the top fantastic, it was just good. And of course our trip wouldn't have been quite so pleasant if not for Chanh, who had to wake up at ungodly hours every single night to let us in and to park our bikes. A big thank you for your patience and kindness and guess what, to repay you, we'll be back. Right, till then, y'all have a good one.