The Lighthouse

YES! I'm a tourist that day! On 5 July, Silas & I, together with his colleague and wife (Hock Loo & Jinyan), went up to The Lighthouse, one of the few tourist attractions in Vung Tau.

View of Vung Tau City

We were the very few who actually walked up. The rest, either they rode up or took a taxi. Quite many people went up that day, probably coz it's a weekend.

Along the way, we saw a mix of some nice and not so nice houses. Some people also had their declaration of love on the tarred road. There were also some cafes along the way. The locals just sat there to relax over cups of coffee/tea. Hammocks were tied on bamboo poles for them to catch some rest or take a nap. I feel that the people here are so used to the slow pace and cho bo life. Dun think we can tahan doing that everyday.

On our way... ;)

I think this was the first time in dun know how many donkey yrs that I walked so much! :p Good form of exercise indeed. We walked up the winding slope for at least a good 4km before we reached the top. Though we had to walk so much, it's quite relaxing. After having to teach for so long, it's really good to enjoy the slower pace and fresh air here.

We made it to the Top! There's a management office, with a guard on duty. Very nice view. The weather was very cooling but a pity the sky wasn't at its best that day. We could see the deep sea, big mountain, small mountain with the Jesus Statue.

Stay Healthy! (",)

刚刚看完换换爱，戏里嘉蒂与霍达对彼此的爱令人佩服，不过在现实生活中。。。偶像剧就是这么令人陶醉。嘉蒂说了这么一句话，“如果我对你有一百个讨厌，会不知不觉自动兑换成一百个喜欢。”好简单的一句话，但却是件很不容易做到的事。如果我们在生活中珍惜喜欢的, 也能把坏的，讨厌的事，兑换成喜欢的，我们肯定会更幸福! :)

虽然是虚构的故事，但多少有些感动。。所谓戏如人生，人生如戏，突然觉得生病是件很痛苦的事，特别是身边有你爱的人和爱你的人。健康真的很重要。 可能是我最近胃挺不舒服，更有所感触。

Stay healthy! (",)

Darling 艺达, 你要好好照顾自己的健康. 看到你这么累，又帮不上什么忙，真的很心痛。老公，加油！我会一直陪在你身边。Remember, You’ll Never Walk Alone! :)

Fine Dining

Talking about saving, we actually splurged on our dinner last Saturday, after cutting our hair. Haha...to celebrate the New ME! ;p We went to this restaurant facing the beach called Waterfront.

Nice ambience, somewhat like a fine dining setting, though we aren't dressed for that. Quite pricey, for local standard. But if you compare back in Singapore, then it's quite reasonable, considering the ambience and quality of food.

We wanted to have some sausages which was recommended by one of his colleagues but could not find it on the menu list. Hahaha...puzzled. :s But we just went ahead with what's on the menu. :)

Our Order:

• Specially Aged, Waterfront Black Angus 'Diane', smeared with mustard, fried in butter with onions and mushrooms, flambeed with Cognac finished with cream & Worcestershire sauce.
  
  

• Waterfront Fish Pie, chunks of Barramundi, salmon, prawns and smoked salmon in a cream sauce topped with cheesy potato.
  
  


• French Onion Soup
Too salty for me, else will be a very nice soup with bread.

• A glass of white wine
  


• A glass of red wine
  
  

Besides what we ordered, they served us some sides, my all-time favourite Bread & Toast. Very nice and there's also a special Pate Toast. Another all-time favourite of mine - Roasted Potatoes! That's not all, there's a plate of healthy vegetables. Lastly, they served us a complimentary dessert - Choco Truffles! (But I don't quite like it, taste powdery) Total spending (incl. 5% Credit Card surcharge): 829,000D

Haha...after we settled down for about 20min, while enjoying the bread and toast, everything went into total darkness. A blackout! Truly a candlelight dinner :) Well, it's quite common here in VT. Heard from Silas' colleague that our apartment also experienced blackout then, think the whole stretch was affected. Hee... a 'romantic candlelight' dinner experience!

Enjoyed myself very much...a good meal after a long day...Yummy! Satisfied! (",)

A New ME! (",)

Wonder where I got my courage from… I cut my LONG hair SHORT! =O Could it be that I’ve been mistaken twice as a Vietnamese? 1. That day at a Chinese restaurant, the waitress gave Silas an English menu and a Vietnamese menu to me. 2. Silas’ company driver commented that I looked like a Vietnamese! Haha…but actually wanted to cut my hair already back in Singapore, but didn’t have the time and strong urge to do it.

The Old ME!

When I was watching 败犬女王, the female lead’s hairstyle attracted me and struck upon me to have a haircut.

Female lead, 单无双 acted by Cheryl Yang, 杨谨华

After that, I did some ‘homework’ before going for the haircut. Scared that communication may be a problem, so printing out the hairstyle that I wanted to show to the hairdresser may be one good option. The receptionist at my residence kindly helped me to print it out without any charge. :) I found this on http://www.shoppinglifestyle.com/

Ashley Greene’s Sleek Chin-length Bop

This is the hairstyle I’m planning for – but I’m not used to having short hair, hence decided to to tell the hairdresser to make it longer, shoulder-length!

Yesterday, Silas & I took a stroll along the beachfront towards the Ba Gu Street area, setting off to look for a decent-looking hair salon. We actually spotted one earlier on when we were on our way back home from Co-op Mart. So we walked to that same street. But we didn’t go into that particular shop in the end. We saw another one that looks more pro.

The salon that we had our hair cut!

The hairdresser is a guy, quite meticulous. For the whole process, 3 people attended to me. First, the hairdresser cut my hair according to the hairstyle in the paper that I put on my lap throughout the process… lol…Then a lady took over to blow my hair, next was another lady who continue with the same job, with a little styling. Lastly, the hairdresser came back to further trim my hair to give me the feel/look I want. All in all, took at least half an hour, and it cost only 50,000D (less than S$5)!!! Cheap & Professional!

Actually, I quite like the new look but just that I’m still not used to it yet. I prefer the back to the front. Haha... “背多分” Luckily, Silas said it’s NICE! And I guess that’s what matters the most! =)

Ready for my new LoOk...

“Thu Deng…” The New ME!

The New ME! (taken at the Salon)

Front

Back

Wet Look! Feels so boyish but younger…haha :p

Aiyo! Short hair is even more difficult to maintain. Have to be more hardworking to blow dry my hair and get a new comb for my new hairstyle… Hope it will grow long fast. :)

Dear also cut his hair, though not as satisfactory as mine. It’s OK, I told him that we are going back to the shop in 3 weeks’ time. Then, he can have a haircut again while I’m going to colour my hair. Price: 300,000D (~S$25) Cheap! And I think my short hair will look better then! Look forward… I’ll be back… for more! Plan for future visits: 1. Colour 2. Cut Fringe 3. Perm bottom half (wait til hair longer lahz)...

Hee…do miss my long hair… (“,)

My fourth post of the day!

Wow! This is the most number of posts that I have blogged in a day. Still stuck in Dear's office. Waiting to be rescued....hahaha. (",)

Dear's Messy Office :p

Tired le...Shall rest a while before I continue with my posting. :) Or maybe I watch my drama first...keke...

Hmm....aimless Ping... Ok, I take a rest first!

Our New Pairs of Slippers

Darling's slippers snapped when we went for dinner the other day.

Left foot: the strap bet. the thumb toe and index toe snapped

Hence, he needed to get one asap. We went to the Imperial Plaza to shop around. Found this 'Teva" look-alike, called Dep. It's very light and cheap. 89000D per pair. About S$7.50. He got a pair, and in the end, I got myself a pair too. Our first Lovers' Slippers! :) All in all, I have 3 pairs of slippers in Ving Tau now! ;p

We started wearing our Lovers' Slippers already. Yesterday, we stood by the sea while watching the sunset. Took this photo of our slippers... fun!

Till the next post... (",)

Weekly Marketing

As usual, we rode to the supermarket, Co-op Mart, yesterday for our weekly marketing for groceries. Silas' colleague lent him his motorbike, it's very convenient for us to explore the city.

Car Park outside the supermarket

It wasn't easy, now I understand what my Mum has been going through. Indeed, It's not easy to be a housewife, even though I'm only preparing food for the 2 of us. One of the problem is, the vegetables come in big pack and are highly perishable, so I have to sort them into packets and store them well in the fridge to ensure a longer kept period.

Darling gave me a monthly allowance, so we have to weigh what we need vs what we want to make sure we keep to the budget...haha...this is a real challenge to me indeed.

However, marketing is one of the look-forward activities of the week after having stay at home most of the times on weekdays. :) This week, we managed to spend less than S$40, the cheapest thus far. Haha, our monthly budget is bursting anyway...so must save! =)

There's a bookstore besides this supermarket. One of my facourite types of shops. I got a notebook and recipe here (though i can't read Vietnamese, I just look at the pics :->). Many items are sold here, including English storybooks, etc.

There's also a food court in the building. Selling a variety of food, such as 'Cai Fan', noodles, drinks and desserts. You have to queue at a cashier counter to order the exact food you want before you can collect it at the food counter itself.

Weird! So you have to go to the food counter to check out exactly what you want to eat first, then queue at the cashier counter before you return to the food counter to collect. But for us, how do we order at the cashier counter when we don't even know how to say what we want!!! Haha...Silas always got his Vietnamese colleague to order for him in the end.

Most of the times, after our grocery shopping at Co-op Mart, we will ride to the Davi Bakery to buy bread. I usually buy my all-time favourite: Square Bread (like Gardenia), Raisin Bread and Burgers. Total 32,000D (~S$2.70).

Sometimes, we will then stop by the roadside dessert shop. Darling usually goes for a glass of cooling 'cheng tng' while I will attempt to try a different one each time. I had something that looks like our singapore 'bo bo cha cha' that day...but it not only had sago, sweet potatoes and yam, it also had ingredients like tapioca and banana. Banana taste a little sour, overall taste is ok. We merely paid 9000D (~S$0.70) for both. Think my mum will like what I had (but i guess not by the roadside setting) Wonder if she dares to try...kekeke... :)