Last thing about Hanoi...
The sweetest smile...rememeber, the photo of the little girl sitting on my travel mate's lap, I posted a few days ago.
Her name is Tao. ( second sound for hanyu pinying)
She is such a sweet girl...and everytime I say Xin Chao! which means hello in Vietnamese...she will say xinchao shyly and runs away....
But she sometimes...she will talk to you in vietnanmese...which I wish I understand what she means...
She sings to me too once...
I will miss her smile.
Good bye, Hanoi!
Good bye, Tao!
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Die die also must enjoy...
This is a singaporean expression....
"Die die also must..."
Which means...you have to do it (die die=even if it is going to cost you your life...)
And yes, I want to have this spirit, right here right now.
Technical difficulties -->My flu is currently at the stage of...
"I don't think I will die or need to rest all day in bed, but is having a heavy head and horrible throat to live with...plus occasional cough attacks...and the weak feeling of a typical sick person "
Fever will strike usually after sunset for a while....
The good thing is....
I defintely lost a lot of weight..., I should.
Meanwhile, something about Laos
which makes me want to "die die also must enjoy.."
It was the ordeal that I had been through at the border
It was a horrible first impression, at the border crossing....
It was NOT the problem from the Laos immigration office...
it was the chaotic crowds that charges into the border office as if they are catching the last train of the day...and throw their passports on the desk in stacks...
As a singaporean who grows up in an orderly environment, THIS IS CULTURE SHOCK!.
If there is anything wrong with my upbringing... that will be the failure of the government to train us to survive in this kind of harsh environment.
Naturally for me, I would try to observe if there is a queue...
Apparently there should be, if there are booths...
People simply rushed in....there is NO QUEUES...just crowds...
The person standing right in front of the booth was NOT being served....
while the people standing around, like 20 of them...simply throw their passport into the booth windows...
leaving the person standing right in front of the booth looking bewildered and not know what to do...
Not learning from what I have observe....I thought I should still squeese in front to check out the real situation...trying to be smart...
Then, I manage to squeese in front of the booth...thinking it was finally my turn...
the officer...simply just took the passport that people throw at the counter but ignore me.
And so...I gave up being polite and did the same, I throw my passport on the desk and wait...
It was after like ages....the officer return me my passport and told me to fill up a departure card, which I asked for but was ignored a century ago...I am pissed. I filled up the card, throw the passport back to the officer and left the booth....
This whole crazy situation lasted for almost 30minute...when people simple don't know what is next until a fellow traveller pointed out that we had to pay an admin fee to collect our stamped passport.
Finally someone is making some sense.
For a simple procedure as simple as...
1. People being issue arrival/departure card before they enter the booth area to fill in the forms...
2. Ushered into queues to pay for the admin fee with money exchange booth nearby for people who do not have local laos kip.
3. Finally get their passport nicely stamped.
It becomes,
1. A crowd of 30 plus people attacking the booth like placing bets at a horse racing centre last minute....
2. I went to all the wrong booth because there was no obvious order....as to how it should be done...
3. Get pissed off when people around do not queue up and simply throw their passport across the booth...and the officer just collect the stack thrown to him...
4. I learn to do the same...and dump my passport together with the rest of the piles...
5. Got my passport back like 5 minutes later with the departure card to fill up...
6. Gone to the money exchange to get local Laos kip to pay for the admin fee..
7. Paid for the fee and collect my passport finally.
8. Left the border with GREAT RELIEF.
So much for the first impression, bearing in mind...I just woke up from my 19 hours bus journey all the way from Hanoi to the border before I was ushered into this chaotic mess...
For all that I have been through to get into Laos...
Die die also must enjoy....right?
If you know what I mean.
"Die die also must..."
Which means...you have to do it (die die=even if it is going to cost you your life...)
And yes, I want to have this spirit, right here right now.
Technical difficulties -->My flu is currently at the stage of...
"I don't think I will die or need to rest all day in bed, but is having a heavy head and horrible throat to live with...plus occasional cough attacks...and the weak feeling of a typical sick person "
Fever will strike usually after sunset for a while....
The good thing is....
I defintely lost a lot of weight..., I should.
Meanwhile, something about Laos
which makes me want to "die die also must enjoy.."
It was the ordeal that I had been through at the border
It was a horrible first impression, at the border crossing....
It was NOT the problem from the Laos immigration office...
it was the chaotic crowds that charges into the border office as if they are catching the last train of the day...and throw their passports on the desk in stacks...
As a singaporean who grows up in an orderly environment, THIS IS CULTURE SHOCK!.
If there is anything wrong with my upbringing... that will be the failure of the government to train us to survive in this kind of harsh environment.
Naturally for me, I would try to observe if there is a queue...
Apparently there should be, if there are booths...
People simply rushed in....there is NO QUEUES...just crowds...
The person standing right in front of the booth was NOT being served....
while the people standing around, like 20 of them...simply throw their passport into the booth windows...
leaving the person standing right in front of the booth looking bewildered and not know what to do...
Not learning from what I have observe....I thought I should still squeese in front to check out the real situation...trying to be smart...
Then, I manage to squeese in front of the booth...thinking it was finally my turn...
the officer...simply just took the passport that people throw at the counter but ignore me.
And so...I gave up being polite and did the same, I throw my passport on the desk and wait...
It was after like ages....the officer return me my passport and told me to fill up a departure card, which I asked for but was ignored a century ago...I am pissed. I filled up the card, throw the passport back to the officer and left the booth....
This whole crazy situation lasted for almost 30minute...when people simple don't know what is next until a fellow traveller pointed out that we had to pay an admin fee to collect our stamped passport.
Finally someone is making some sense.
For a simple procedure as simple as...
1. People being issue arrival/departure card before they enter the booth area to fill in the forms...
2. Ushered into queues to pay for the admin fee with money exchange booth nearby for people who do not have local laos kip.
3. Finally get their passport nicely stamped.
It becomes,
1. A crowd of 30 plus people attacking the booth like placing bets at a horse racing centre last minute....
2. I went to all the wrong booth because there was no obvious order....as to how it should be done...
3. Get pissed off when people around do not queue up and simply throw their passport across the booth...and the officer just collect the stack thrown to him...
4. I learn to do the same...and dump my passport together with the rest of the piles...
5. Got my passport back like 5 minutes later with the departure card to fill up...
6. Gone to the money exchange to get local Laos kip to pay for the admin fee..
7. Paid for the fee and collect my passport finally.
8. Left the border with GREAT RELIEF.
So much for the first impression, bearing in mind...I just woke up from my 19 hours bus journey all the way from Hanoi to the border before I was ushered into this chaotic mess...
For all that I have been through to get into Laos...
Die die also must enjoy....right?
If you know what I mean.
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