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Long weekend


I still have not blog the things i have done on the trip I made to Vietnam. I am supposed to do that as a third entry but I cant find time to really make one. Lately I find it hard to compose a detailed entry, the reason maybe is that my mind is not there and was pretty occupied with work. Though the building upgrading job is not demanding technically but more so on physical aspect that keep me distracted from blogging. As our work is concentrated on residential flats where there are residents in it. The job while requires you to supervise thoroughly the ongoing construction but more so on the safety and convenience of the residents occupying the building undergoing construction. Mind you its a challenging work, whoever might say it is an easy job compared to a normal construction site must experience it firsthand, as the responsibility is more like to hell freezes over thing heheh.

Anyway last saturday is Deepavali and it's a national holiday, so it was busy weekend for me. And since Monday is my off day too, I have three days to spend last weekend.


Being Deepavali, the Istana, the official residence of the president of Singapore, was open to the public for the whole day. So I spend the late morning around the palace grounds and toured inside the palace, though not all but portions of the ground floor only. These were the Banquet Hall, the room where the president receives state visitors, and the main lobby. At the banquet hall, instead of foods on the dining tables, the items the presidents receives from other head of states are the ones on display. Its quite interesting to see the items as it is labeled by the giver country and groups according to items received. The gifts were really reflects the identity of the country were it came from. Too bad taking pictures were not allowed inside the palace.

But outside you can free to do anything that pleases you, I mean you can take pictures as what I did, picnicking, kidsplay, things like that. I have the grand time taking pictures.


Arriving Ho Chi Minh City


It's my first time to travel to Vietnam yet I have no apprehension whatsoever for the travel. I booked the flight 3 months ago so though I have to wait that long, it didn't cross to my mind to feel fear for the trip.

My flight was scheduled 7:35 in the morning, so I was at Changi terminal 1 at 5:45 and waiting for boarding at gate C15 by 6:30. My ticket says I will arrive Ho Chi Minh at 8:25am, which means the travel time will be less than an hour. Considering how far apart the two countries are, I thought it's a mistake, but was confirmed by the check in counter personnel that Vietnam is one hour behind Singapore.

By 6:55am, the line for boarding started. My assigned seat is 3A so I belonged to the last batch to be boarded.

theJetstar plane that will bring me to Saigon

My Ho Chi Minh Escapade



I just came back from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. A holiday trip to this southeast asian city. To sum up the trip, it was an exhausting yet educational trip indeed. Upon arriving home, it was the Ho Chi Minh City leg of the amazing race show currently playing. Nice, it was exactly what I did, sort of.

Enjoy the photos.
Binh Tay Market

Chinatown lights up


Last night was the Mid-Autumn Festival street light-up and marked the official opening of the Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival 2009. The street lights are mix of flowers, butterflies, lanterns. The festivities will be month-long which will end on October 18, 2009.

What a superb occasion to baptize my new gadget. Since its my first time and have no time to study the features, I rely mostly on the camera's scene modes. I hope i labeled the pictures below correctly as I kept constantly rotating the mode dial.
The show is about to begin. This was captured using dusk/dawn mode.


This shot using high key

Before the lights on, using blossom mode I guess :)

Lights switched on. Captured using food mode

This one I think is night landscape mode

This one using high key. The Higantes :)

The after-show

One of the floats


After that I took the opportunity to walk around Chinatown to captured new and old buildings. The pictures can be found in iBen on the loose