Singapore to Saigon

@ Midnight on Monday I begin my long awaited journey to la la land! I head from Bangalore to Singapore (where I'll spend a few days with close friends) and then on to Vietnam!

I've been planning this trip for close to 5 months now. Well more than planning, the task was to save some money so I could afford to bugger off!!! And touch wood I'm all set & ready & waitingggg!!!!!!

The excitement is killing me, and I can't seem to do an ounce of work! Lucky for me, everyone at work is just as excited and not giving me anymore work to do!!! I've also been happily handing over jobs left right & centre!! DELEGATION, I think I'll continue the trend when I get back ;-) hehehe!

Anyway, so far on my list of to dos...
Laundry - to doooo, ugghh!
Hair Cut - done
Buy Shampoo & other bath stuff - done
Buy Batteries & film stuff - done
Convince Benny to lend me his i-pod - doing!
Print Info. - almost done
Wax - to do
Self pedicure - to do
Travel Insurance - done
Currency - waiting for the man with the money as I type
Practise riding a scooter - this weekend, I hope
Buy medicines - to do
Buy cigarettes for Miss Bul & me - to do
Buy Old Monk for Liz - to do
General presents - done

I hope I haven't left anything out, coz if I have, it means I'll never remember till I'm on the plane, hitting my head!!!! eeeeee!!! Already have butterflies in my tummy!!!

When I'm there (in Singy), the plan is to just hang out and chill with my friends on the first 3 days, drink LOTS being the POA! and, then wait for my cousin to reach and do the touristy stuff on the next 2 days.

We fly to Saigon on the 8th. I love the name Saigon, its so much more exotic than Ho Chi Minh City! Gawdddd I can't wait to get there! eeeeeee!!! Ok so from Saigon we go to Hanoi for a night, & then off to Halong Bay - for a night on a junk boat - fingers crossed the weather is good & we get bookings etc, coz I have nothing booked yet!!!! Then back to Saigon, and on to the gorgeous little island of Phu Quoc with my friends, for the weekend! Then we head to Shoe Paradise... a small town called Hoi An, which also happens to be a UN Heritage Village! Lets hope my footwear demons get their fill ;-)

Next month this time, I'll be back in good ol' Bangalore, hopefully uploading pictures & telling more stories & wearing some funky new footwear! In the mean while, Tạm biệt và may mắn!!!

This used to be my playground

I got a call from my sister last week to tell me my old home - in Calcutta had been demolished. We lived on campus in a school, and I'd heard the buildings were heritage sites which weren't supposed to be pulled down - but left to ruin on their own (hmmm, how kind)! Either way, it made me feel awful everytime I went back to visit and see our home looking like a deserted ghost house!!! For a while they made our lawn a dumping ground for old, unwanted furniture, unused building material, garbage - the works! Considering it was the place I grew up in till I turned 16 - and new every crack & crevice off - it was horrible to get a weird eery feeling when I once attempted to enter the building, & found it cobwebby, dark & filthy!!! Together with the building I wonder if they've erased the ghosts of our past.

Here's a Google Earth image - I just had to see for myself if the building had really been pulled down or not. The gap between the 2 white-outlined squares is where I lived! Top floor, Qr. No. 7 (I think)!! Since I'm tripping down memory lane, thought I'd add a few more moments on the map of my wonder years!