Saturday is a free day for us, so we all decided to head to the nearby market for a look around, and also to get us some food for brunch. We had no means of transport at that point so we had to walk the long journey there. The sun was ruthless, shining upon us making us feel as if we’re all eggs on a frying pan. People started taking their sun screens our and umbrellas.

Today, we learnt about the government and politics in Vietnam. The lesson was kind of dull but I was really learning a lot of not only the Vietnam government, but our government in Singapore too as the teacher begun to interview us questions about our government systems.

We had another lesson of Vietnamese language and after it, we borrowed their visualizer to screen another movie after class. We had laughs and talks together in our group (Muhammad, Syafiqah, Katherine, Soo Min and Jesline). I was happy that we were able to work well with each other and share joy with one another throughout the 35 days I have in Vietnam.

I’m grateful to have them as my friends.

Happy Birthday Muhammad! Today is my roommate’s birthday. We had a surprise for him on the previous night back at our hostel. We couldn’t find any bakeries in the area we were in, thus we couldn’t get a cake for him. However, we did buy him a tub of ice cream. How about the candles? : Drawn fire placed on toothpicks and stabbed into the ice cream. Creative minds at work!

*Next Morning*
We had our first Vietnamese language lesson with Miss Hng. She was a nice and friendly teacher which is a great medium for us to be motivated to learn the Vietnamese language. She checks our pronunciations and makes us repeat word by word; correcting every single one of our mistakes. Some of the language contains words that are pronounced like the Chinese meanings of them, for example nam ren means male and nu means female. Quite similar to the Chinese: Nan ren and Nu.

After our lesson we had a short break and continued on to our core module (different perspectives, etc.)

The lesson ended fairly quickly and we headed back to our rooms for a quick movie screening on our laptops. As fast as night came, we were to attend an exchange activity with the students at the guest house. It was awkward but however we managed to had fun playing all the ice breakers and games held by the Vietnam students.

We headed back to our rooms feeling all exhausted and tired.

Morning started with a freezing shower followed by a lesson about the culture and geography of Vietnam. Surprisingly, despite being the fact that it was one of the subjects that were boring in my secondary years, it was interesting and I really had the intention to find out more about the place. For the geography, we learnt about the three sections of Vietnam (the north, south and central). Both the northern and southern sections of the country are high in production of rice crops whereas the central produces seafood. Unlike the other two, the central section is thin and narrow as land has been eroded and attacked by the merciless rains and storms by the sea. We also learnt about the 4 main “icons” of Vietnam, which were the coconuts, ao dai (national costume), paddy hat and chopsticks.

Hours after the lesson ended, we were to go on a city tour. But for the first stop, we had dropped off to an eatery for our lunch.

Our first stop for the tour was the zoo. The zoo was large but however there weren’t much animals in the place (or rather we didn’t have time to visit the area). We strolled around the zoo looking at animals, some I’ve never seen in the zoos or parks we have here in Singapore. Mostly the birds which were the toucan and the vultures (I didn’t know they were so big).

Orangutans, monkeys, large birds, deers, furry things and reptiles were the animals I’ve seen in the zoo.

Moving on for the tour, we went to a shopping mall. Similarly to the mall we visited yesterday, they had shops that we were familiar with in Singapore (or rather quite similar). We stopped by an ice cream parlour to purchase an ice cream, which surprisingly cost around SGD$1+. The quality was not bad at all! Some things were very cheap, whilst some were like the usually prices we have in Singapore.

Our last destination was dinner at a buffet restaurant, which were supposedly to be our welcome party. There were many dishes, including skewered chicken, fried rice, spring rolls, fries, onion rings and many, many mouth watering dishes. As a class we sat together talking while feasting on our food, happily spending our time together.

We strolled around the area as we waited for the bus to pick us up, cautiously crossing busy roads and visiting boutiques and shops around the area.

The thirty five days stay in Vietnam has officially begun today. I haven’t been away from home for that period of time; the longest being the 5 days muscle-aching-filled camps of my CCAs for school. Flight was fine (besides the food provided on the flight, not doing anything much for 2 hours and the inability to recline your chair as you were afraid you would accidentally disturb the people sitting behind).


As I set foot for the first time on Vietnam soil (technically airport concrete flooring), I had a feeling inside that I was going to like it here. The tour bus picked us up and drove across streets and buildings towards our next destination. Traffic was heavy and motorcycles were coming from everywhere and every direction.


We stopped by a checkpoint at Thong Xa Tax, which allowed students to convert their currencies and do a little shopping. However we had to cross a small road and this was our first challenge. Motorcycles were pouring in from every direction; there were no traffic lights, the cyclists did not show any signs of stopping or was there anyone to guide us across. Luckily, I had read up about this before my trip to Vietnam. On the topics I have read online, we were recommended to cross the road in groups as to increase visibility and were also advised not to stop abruptly nor run across the busy roads. Running across the road screaming at the top of your lungs were not mentioned at all in any of the articles (refers to the girls of the group).


My group ventured throughout the mall, discovering that the products they had were similar to that of Singapore’s (thus, not much shopping here although the prices were less costly).

We continued our journey to the Vietnam National University hostel, which was “conveniently” sitting far away from the city or areas to purchase our things. As we settled down in our rooms after exploring every nook and cranny of the place, we had to set off to Coopmart (a mall) to purchase any needed necessities and dinner for ourselves. Surprisingly, my first dinner in Vietnam turned out to be a two piece chicken meal in KFC.


Heading back home with bags of shampoo, soaps and food, we all had tired smiles on our faces as we were finally able to get some sleep after the long day.

PS. The internet connection here is terrible.

Luggage packed, laptop checked and family hugged.

Vietnam, here we come.