Enter MY puny Mind.Y.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

knock knock...

shall continue with the days in Hue... took an 11-hour train ride from Hanoi to Hue... was rather jerky to begin with... Alexis n I were playing scrabble again n i really felt like puking initially... met a Vietnamese-French couple... a botak French man n a beautiful Vietnamese girl who could speak French very well... the French taught us a new bridge-like game but played with Tarot cards... rather interesting n super brain juice wasting... well, moi prefer to play straight-forward games... his lady partner didnt catch on fast enuff n sorta got teased by him den she kinda lost her cool... was rather awkward for a moment but he defused the moment later by suggesting we had a break n they had some romantic time in the restaurant carriage... i suppose. arent French men supposed to b romantic?

Alexis n i decided to jux go to bed instead of carrying on with the game when they'r back... din realised they actually managed to squeeze into a single bunk. i was shocked to see an alien in the bed across coz i thot he was sleeping in the lower bunk... den smelled something burning briefly... realised only much later dat it was bcoz the couple smoked cigarettes... how considerate... i had a good sleep in the bunk. Thank God i managed to wash the poo off my shoes otherwise every1 dun need to sleep in dat small enclosure man...

reached Hue at about 8am... the train was really punctual... was raining... passed by the pink Saigon Morin Hotel... one of the famed pink hotels in Hue... thot of Debra n Huiwen... found Binh Minh Hotel which was a rather comfy place... one of the accomodations dat was really decent n good... did our laundry too... den had brekkie at the tiny coffeeshop next door n rented a bike too... cycled to the citadel n to Dong Ba market b4 some meanie tampered with my bicycle lock n made me carry the bicycle n ride on a trishaw! thanks eh! but the bicycle ride was really thrilling considering the lousy condition of the bike, the crazy traffic flow n our unstable riding... lesson learnt : park ur bicycle out of view! saw a man peeing in the open there too... hahaha, chk this out!

hahaha, sorry... din rotate... u rotate ur screen yea? seen this like at least 3 times in vietnam... not counting the little boys pissing... had a lady do it next to a hill of seashells... hahaha, mandy> ur seashells smell good?

went back to the hotel n decided to go to the Thanh Tan Hot Spring which was utterly disappointing... simply a miniature n pathetic version of our water theme parks with short slides n hot water pools... ultra lame... to think we spent quite a bit to get there... in fact the motorcycle ride was so much more exciting... so fast n we din hv helmets... i wanted to chk out the speed of my motorcyle but the speedometer was not functioning... i was thanking God every moment on the bike for preserving my life!

finally found my bao after we came back from the hot spring... crossed to the other side of the perfume river n wandered about... went to their bookstore n wanted to buy a map but they totally din hv a queuing system so gave up... had an early nite to prepare for our hike up to Bach Ma... took the open tour bus to Cua Hai den got a motorcycle to send us to the Bach Ma National Park Entrance. there was no vehicle to send us up so we had to walk up 16km for 4 hours... the initial part was really tough but it got easier km by km... there were cars going up along the way but the unkind ones simply passed us by... some kinder ones really could take more... at last at the 12km mark... after bout 3 hours of climbing, den we got a ride in the back of a van. Thank GOD!!!!! it was really steep!!!!! when we descended... we could hardly believe we could persevere dat long!!!!! but the sights along the way were really breath-taking! quite worthed the trouble coz if it was by car, we wouldnt b able to capture all the lovely sights... there'r always reasons y God allowed some things to happen...

when we got near the summit, realised many of the guesthouses werent opened. found a rather nice one... the moment we've settled the lodging, my next most impt concern was FOOD!!! imagine trekking since morning lah... without lunch... hungry k... by 4pm... with only chocolates n sweets to fill up my fat tummy... i kept repeating to the guesthouse-tender, "FOOD, FOOD, U HV FOOD?!?!?!?" he said he had a little only but he cooked enuff for 5 ppl lah. gosh... i must really look v v v v hungry...

the summit was truly awe-inspring... really, i wonder wat God saw in us when He had already created more fantastic things... den i realised dat it really made no sense unless there were creatures to appreciate all the works of His hands... the clouds, the blue skies, the waters, the mountains... the wind while u'r at the top... the air was so refreshing... so different from the towns dat had plenty of motorcycles n horning... it was all so soothing, so calming.. it made me feel so small yet thankful dat God loved us so much dat He made all these so dat we could enjoy them... wished u all were with me at dat moment... to share in dat glorious moment of rejoicing in His works!

n that wasnt all... at nite... in the almost complete darkness, the stars were the ones dat lit up the earth we were standing on... in the spine-chilling cold of the black nite... i marveled at the starry hosts above! never in my life hv i seen a more magnificent view of a nightsky totally covered with thousands n even millions of stars. the entire sky was filled with stars... twinkling stars dat were soooo vivid. it literally flooded the sky. multitudes n multitudes of stars... i thank God for eyes dat could see such pictures... n memories dat remain so dat watever cameras can't capture, the heart can... n i was truly touched by the wisdom of God in the things He has made for us... God is great! n He's sooo real. But do our eyes see? or do we hv eyes but not see? Bach Ma was really amazing n i cant wait to return... was a piece of beautiful memory dat's gonna stay for a long long long time... enuff to negate the bad experience dat's bout to come...

couldnt get transport down the mountains the next morning so ended up walking... but thank God He provided again... somewat at dat particular 12km mark again... how interesting... got a car driver who offered to give us a lift... the walk down was a walk in the garden compared to the ardous climb the day before... by den our butts were aching big time... but was a good time of immersing in His creation on the way down n as we calculated the sharp bends n slopes, it's jux fantastic how far we can push ourselves mentally n physically... if only we could love God with the same strength... we can. we can.

got problems uploading the photos... so gotta bear with pure literary narrations... haaa...

shall continue with the bad experience in the next entry. jux continue to imagine the sights of Bach Ma for now... n immerse in His supreme love in His creations...

11:32 PM

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