Chasing my love…all the way to Bien Hoa

There have been some blog-worthy events these past couple of days…but I’ve been quite tired (and super lazy) so I am going to try and sum up everything in this one post. AAAAND…as always, when I make you wait for something worth reading, I also fill it to the max with lovely, lovely photos. Now that I’ve said that, I should put a disclaimer here – some photos are pretty, some photos are fun (or funny), and others are just a tad boring. But I have decided to share them with you anyway. So, ENJOY!

On Friday it was Elliot’s last day of work. Were we all said to see him go? Sure. Did we mean it when we said we should have a celebratory dinner? Definitely. Just kidding. It was more of a “farewell; we’ll miss you dearly…for a week” kinda party. I don’t think I will have something similar. I will say my farewells on my last day, take a few pictures, and skip out of the Metropolitan into (hopefully) the lovely Vietnamese rays.

what's with the face, buddy?

my replacement mother...i'm still just a child, really.

dare i say this girl has the most perfect skin...ever.

Alright, I do feel sorta bad that I have almost 0 pictures of Elliot or with Elliot, but eh, those are all on Elliot's camera or his friend's cam or Tuyen's. Must remember to bug them for pictures...

Ah - I do have a not yet seen picture of Elliot. I shall post it now in hopes that he never stumbles upon it.

Here he is...one day at work after lunch..taking a nap...and he says he is the hard-worker...well, there is some truth in that! =P

On Saturday, I had a lovely date with Tuyen and Thinh to grab some Kichi-Kichi, followed by some shopping – namely the purchase of a second suitcase (since my little souvenir shopping has left me with minimal space in the only one I brought along) and some “thanks for giving me space in your office this summer” cards. As always we had fun.

Of course, Tuyen being the sweetheart that she is, had to go meet Elliot at the firm to help stash one of his large suitcases and a bunch of fragile souvenirs in the office while he hopped around SE Asia for a week or so. So after lunch, the three of us headed to the firm and waited for a late arriving (and very sweaty looking) Elliot.

After safely stashing his stuff away in the firm somewhere, we all headed to The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for a drink. It seemed befitting that the first and last time Elliot and I ate/drank together would be at the same place. Especially since I had not been to the Coffee Bean in quite a while, and with Elliot too.

He hurriedly left in order to meet his friends as their flight to Malaysia was only some hours away. We three happily continued our day in search of cards and luggage (without Tuyen who left for her hometown). And that was the end of my Saturday. I went home after purchasing a somewhat pricey (ok. It was $40 so maybe not soo pricey..but still, this is Vietnam!) suitcase and did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. And yet I did not go to bed until 3 am, knowing very well that I was expected to be up at 8 am.

Well, I did wake up on time, a bit tired of course. As my last full weekend in HCMC, I could NOT spend it without my love (Tuyen). And so, I hurriedly chased after her to her hometown, Bien Hoa. Sigh. What a person does for love…Just kidding. We had planned to join Tuyen and Ly (who are both from Bien Hoa) for a day trip on Sunday. Nhan picked me up in his car and we drove for an hour, had bun bo hue (very good) for breakfast, and met up with the two gals plus Nhan’s guy friend who also lived in Bien Hoa. Then we headed out to a pleasant little park (I’m not sure if it was a park or resort or whatnot, but it seemed pretty park-ish to me). It was beautiful. Unfortunately, the weather was all gloomy and rainy to start out with. There was no sun…but luckily, the majority of the time we were at the park was very cool, random slight drizzle, so I’d say it was almost perfect. We began with a fresh cup of coffee…or for me, milk tea…YUM!

What is this exactly? No idea...looks like a penguin with a rice patty hat..

Ooh...floating yellow flowers...picture please!

The decor of the restaurant was refreshing and rather beautiful..

We went to check out the waterfall, which we were supposed to “shower” in, but because of the rain, it was running less than clear. Looked like my milk tea; hmm, a waterfall of milk tea sounds delicious!

We visit the distant red bridge further in the post!

We ate some pretty good food; one dish was a sort of frog soup and I must say, it’s the best way I’ve had frogs. There was also this delicious fish dish but it was overly salted; these types of dishes are meant to be simultaneously stuffed into your mouth with rice. I wouldn’t have it any other way, regardless, but the amount of salt on this otherwise tasty fish really required you to do so. I didn’t take any pictures of the food but I did take some pictures while we were lounging around waiting for our food.

Oh, the red was just too beautiful. I couldn't just walk pass without even taking a single picture.

After lunch, the girls and I went walking about the park and we took a whole lot of pictures. You’ll see why in a sec. the two guys chose to stay behind and sit around, which sadly prevented us from riding couple bikes, and I really wanted to try!

And we were very shutter-happy as we snapped crazy and countless photos...such tourists we were!

 This place was full of flowers! I loved it!

An old village house (or something) in the middle of nowhere...of course I had to get some pictures..

Hmm...apparently used by another minority tribe in Vietnam...not the H'mong though.

What was this called? A monkey-bridge? It was scary...I was afraid I'd snap the two pieces that was holding me up, with all seriousness; I could feel them bending under my weight.

 This is inside that old wooden house. We are grinding rice grains...it's hefty work...

Oh, rice field...and birds!

Our trip to visit the "waterfall" ends with discovering the beginning of the waterfall.

And after being hassled by the boys who were growing impatient, we gathered in the car and headed to"get coffee'...I have never, ever gotten coffee at such a breathtaking place before (actually, I got milk tea again, so technically I still haven't).

At the entrance, I was dumbfounded...coffee,

 Coffee? Really?

Koi pond...and coffee?

 Hmm...this must be ancient!

 Coffee yet? Nope...just a building with a lot of old decorative items.

 An entrance that we didn't go through.

 Instead we followed this path to what seems like a deeper part of some great park.

 Crossed a small bridge and stopped for a group (minus one) picture.

 Whoa! I've no idea what that's doing there...but we didn't go up there for coffee..

A beehive?! I never found out; I was imply told it was "not natural"...

 In the middle of the big grand park area that we had to trek through to get to our coffee...

 Another bridge...this one was more beautiful than the last which was made of just wooden planks.

 One last glimpse at the beauty behind me..

 Ooh, little dragon statues...or is it a lion?

 Whatever these are, they're beautiful...

 This room is for VIPs only. I suppose it's meant to give you that 'underwater' feel...but not for us and our coffee either..

 Another entrance...that we didn't go through.

 Another dragon decor...

 Gasp. A tiny man just chilling on some rocks...

 And another one!! I think this one was fishing though..

 And the best...a frog relaxing...reminded me of the genius singing frogs from Meet the Robinsons. Ridiculously cute!

And that was it...we were all pretty tired at this point and were ready for a nap!! It was also around 6ish in the evening, so I think we spent a good amount of time out and about...


BUT...the post does not end here! I have saved the best pictures for last...this is partially why we were sooooo exhausted by the time we were sipping coffee and tea and fruit smoothies at the above scenic place...

JUMPING pictures...

Of course this one was one of our first attempts (I had to show the girls what I meant when I requested for us to take jumping pics), and though successful, it is overall terrible and still considered a fail.

But we were persistent...we were NOT going to leave without getting a few good shots of us jumping...and finally, finally...we got them!! You know what we realized the secret was??

You've got to be doing some KUNG FU!! Otherwise, the camera will only get you before or after the jump!!

We tested out the theory...

But I strongly believed that we could get a "normal" jumping picture....we could..and we would!!

And FINALLY....WE DID!!!

YAY!!!

We were literally jumping for joy!

One of my faves - from the photos that I have...

...Because if you saw the picture where I was standing in the field, the plants were at about thigh level...
Here, I'm jumping happily above it all! =D
Also love that it's sort of a picture of a picture...

And that, folks, was a Sunday well-spent!

[I'll upload other pictures when I get my hands on them.]