Living with Sarah

I'm listing 10 things we did in Vietnam. We didn't go sightseeing tu semua. Semata-mata shopping. Ok, I teman Linda shopping mainly. In the end, bag I cuma 18kg saja. Saja je bawak beg kecik supaya tak buang duit! Kat sini I bagi guide sikit ye untuk mereka yang nak travel ke Vietnam. Travel Guide / Tips Shopping Vietnam: 1) Pasar malam start dalam jam 7mlm sampai mid night. Despite what people say - jadilah pelanggan pertama supaya dapat harga murah - tak payah lah. Kalau nak pegi pasar malam, dalam jam 8mlm ke atas baru sesuai. Bukan apa, suasana agak bahaya. We walked around the area at the time when the sellers started to arrange their goods. Havoc gila. Dengan tarik khemah guna motor bersimpang-siur. Besi khemah tu tercacak je... Fuh! Seriau... Seriously bahaya. Tak apa, kalau membeli bargain saja. Asalkan selamat! 2) Kalau nak beli jeans, sila lah ke gerai Lyna di pasar malam Ben Thanh. Cantik orangnya :) 3) Kalau nak beli telekung, tudung, jubah, boleh try Rohani...

Our last day. Linda still has things to buy! Aduhh... tak habis shopping lagi. Plan asal nak buat pedi, mani dan urut kena cancel sebab takut tak sempat. Cho Ben Thanh - tempat berkampung selama 3 hari! Ini gerai jual Prada lace dan Vietnam silk yang agak famous. Very nice and cheerful ladies manned the shop. Tempah baju kat sini jahitan agak bagus. Kedai no 323 warna pink. Last day lunch again di Kampung Melayu. Set lunch nasi ayam with ayam bakar. Quite sedap. Air kedondong asam boi kat sini memang sedap gila. We finally checked out and headed to the airport. Di airport memang ada peristiwa agak meng"stress"kan jiwa. Tapi semua Linda punya problem. Nak pergi Vietnam ni, especially kalau nak beli barang buat business, kena tuntut ilmu. That's the key.  Bye Vietnam. It was such an experience :)

Next day we went to Saigon Square. Cuaca Vietnam sangat panas lebih kurang je macam kat sini. Baju basah dengan peluh. I like Saigon Square better. The goods are of better quality compared to Ben Thanh and the night market. Kat Saigon Square ni boleh beli beg Kipling. Geram. Macam-macam design dan colours. I got myself one sling bag :). Sports goods also of quite good quality. Shoes, T shirts... I got Hubby this Nike dri-fit shirt yang kat sini harga dekat RM150++. I memang tak pandai tawar-menawar. Tanya sikit, agak-agak rasa macam murah I beli. I just don't have the energy and patience to bargain. Malas lah... But if you bargain, things will get really cheap. I wanted to get Deuter bag to use for hiking... but then, Hubby is the best person to buy such stuff. I beli nanti takut dapat yang tak berapa tahan je. Ni lah Saigon Square. Jalan dalam 5 minit dari Cho Ben Thanh.  Lepas tu, back to Malaysia street dan ikut Linda beli telekung, tudung, jubah. I ikut saja. Beli cuma ...

Survived Vietnam :). Pagi-pagi dah tumpang Linda ke airport walaupun flight 11.10am. Siap pegi breakfast, duduk-duduk, borak-borak... KLIA2 kan besar. Takut tak sempat boarding, tu yang awal dah sampai. Adventure dah nak mula! I was armed with my "travel book" full of notes, maps, names of shops, even the dishes to eat at the restaurants (so that I don't waste money eating food yang tak sedap). Siap ada table with currency exchange. At one glance saja dah tau! Tak payah nak convert guna calculator. Touch down saja plan dah lari. Instead of taking the bus which is very, very cheap (baru RM2), Linda wanted to take the taxi. Oklah, dia yang nak bayar kan. So, bermulalah exposure kepada culture Vietnam - the people, the traffic... especially the traffic! Very mind-boggling :). Our hotel is a bit far from the Ben Thanh market. Sebenarnya tak lah jauh but across the main street. Nak ke sana kena cross jalan tu yang nampak macam jauh. Jalan dalam 150 meter je. Lepas ch...

It's been a hectic week. I'm still stuck with the UAT. I was supposed to join the 2-week long workshop for the module that I'm currently working on, however, since I won't be around Wednesday to Friday, I was asked to focus on the UAT instead. A blessing. But quite stressful. I'm constantly on Telegram with the developer and team leader to work on errors. Just finished the whole end-to-end workflow for 2 main users. At least, I believe, I achieved so much in just one week compared to the months of stagnant development work. I promised a summary :). Aliyah improved her exam results, so we took her out for nice dinner and bought her a present. Simple one she requested. Nike water bottle to replace her old water bottle.  Mak je buat duck face Nowadays Aliyah would take selfies with me every time we go out. Dulu-dulu tak de nya. Macam-macam perangai teenagers ni... Went out for dinner with the girls on Sunday night to celebrate Jay's actual birthday....

I got a new phone. Hand-me down from Hubby :). One day while I was grocery shopping with Aliyah, he came a bit later with a small unassuming-looking bag. Rupanya dalam tu ada iPhone. So, he gave his Note5 to me. My Huawei Honor dia ambik for his second number. I memang tak payah beli phone lah kan :) Best tu memang lah best :)

Our last day there. Pagi yang sejuk dan nyaman sebab the night before hujan. Pagi-pagi terus keluar jalan-jalan kawasan Ajlaa. Banyak pokok buah. Since kami dah dapat kebenaran untuk petik buah, petik lah sebiji-dua :). Lepas tu tengok pool cuma ada budak kecik 2 orang. Test air sikit... Waaahhh... sejuk-sejuk suam (ada ke?). Lalu terus berkubang dalam tu. Memang best!  Hear no evil, see no evil, say no evil  Jalan slow-mo dengan harapan nampak macam berjogging   Jay panjat pokok jambu?  Kabus-kabus morning dah terjun kolam  Dah, dah. Naik kemas baju lepas ni kena check out!  On the left is the owner.  Lepas check-out, we drove back ikut jalan Semenyih. Tekak meronta-ronta nak cari nasi lauk kampung sebab dah 3 hari makan haiwan BBQ dan Western. Akhirnya jumpa gerai ni kat Sg Lui. Very simple gerai, with simple lauk dan sedap macam home-cooked. Nama kedai? Entah. Tak de nama kot. Tapi banyak lauk ikan darat. I cuma makan keli ...

We were among the earliest to reach the Asli Adventure Base Camp. The first to sign in on the logbook. But the last to reach the top. Hehehe... We took our own sweet time. Bila penat, rehat kejap. Jumpa anything interesting, we stopped, had a look, took selfies :). We started at around 8.30am and reached the waterfall at 11am. Ramai je orang yang kita orang bagi laluan. Sila-sila... :) The trail was quite easy to follow. I have been worried sick that we might get lost because none of us have hiked there before. Considerate and kind-hearted hikers left signs to follow - ribbons (and pink tissue papers!) tied to trees to show the way. Yang nampak confusing cuma satu - jalan cabang dua early during the hike. Take the one on the left. Ada ribbon ikat kat pokok. Other than that mainly follow saja jalan tu. The small jalan tikus tu jangan lah ikut. Parking fee RM5. Nice asli chap yang bersungguh-sungguh jaga kereta. Siap letak bata kat tayar kereta takut melungsur:) Sebelum naik...

Pagi yang agak huru-hara. Bila ada plan, masa tu lah ada deadline kan? I've been doing testing and drafting UAT script for that system for the past few days. The night before buat carrot cake for Jay's early birthday. Pagi baru buat cheese frosting. Jam 9.30 baru nak pack bag. Timing yang sangat off. Letih dan risau asyik fikir UAT script dalam kepala. Hubby hantar sampai meeting point untuk jumpa Ude - SK Batu 9 Cheras. Ude pulak delay. So, I duduk kedai Mamak minum teh ais tunggu dia sambil buat ulasan secara live conversation dalam group Tele ;). Around 12.20pm Ude sampai and we went ahead. Ies & Jay rupanya were quite close behind. Jadinya, sama-sama sampai simpang masuk ke Sg Lepoh (or Sg Lopo as some call the place).  Our room was quite big, just nice for the 4 of us. Clean, bright, nice... Very satisfied. Siap ada space at the back for eating and storing stuff. Right after lunch keluar cari hidden river. Tapi jalan nak turun tu agak steep walaupun bunyi air s...

We did it! At our own pace. Ude, Jay, Ies and I. Bak kata Ude - kita naik sama-sama, kita turun pun sama-sama :). It was not just a hike up to the waterfall and back. It was the spirit of sisterhood that got us through. I have been practicing, ehem... I hiked and walked in anticipation of climbing up the hill. Bila baca blog orang lain pasal Sg Lepoh ni, mesti cakap pasal that hill yang sangat steep dan tinggi. Even my nephew Ijjul pun cakap dia dulu pancit kat situ. Berhari-hari rasa nervous sebenarnya. Boleh ke naik sampai atas? Apparently, Jay pun cakap dia nervous :). But it was not so difficult actually. I guess having started my fitness regime of walking at least twice a week and also having to walk quite a distance every time I go to meetings gave me good preparation. Actually senang saja - kalau larat jalan, kalau penat rehat. Settle! That's what we did :) We stayed at Ajlaa Village Resort from Friday to Sunday. Nice place, friendly owner, interesting environment. Most ...