Saturday, December 11, 2010

Vietnam Day 4 - Cu Chi Tunnel

Vietnam Day 4 - Cu Chi Tunnel

Woke up, checked out, breakfast then headed for TNK travel agency again to report for our half day cu chi tour which is at 5 usd each only, not inclusive of 80,000 dong (S$5.30) admission fee though… and another 1.5 hours bus ride at max 40km/h …

First, we were led to a hut and shown a video on the history of cu chi...It consists of 3 levels of underground tunnels of approx 250km long and varying from 1m to 9m deep into the ground. It housed 6 villages comprises of up to 16000 people then. These tunnels are between 0.5 to 1m wide, just enough space for a person to walk along by bending or dragging or for me, “duck-walking”. The tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerrilla as hiding spots during the war, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters.

Can view this video for the histroy of cu chi tunnel - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1919775245219225387

Then we went on the trail to look at the various kind of traps built by the different families to protect their homes during the war time....


trap door leading to....

a whole lots of bamboo spikes.... ouch!!



conclusion: they use alot of metal spikes...
all stolen from the american base...




Then we were given the opportunity to explore the tunnels...



look carefully... can you see the entrance to the tunnel???



maybe sweeping away the leaves will make it easier for u to see.... =)


remove the lid to the entrance to the tunnel ...
40 cm by 30 cm only... not for the fat ones.... oopx



an ant hill look alike ventilation ... built at interval of 10m along the tunnels...


us in the tunnel... so cramp...
we completed 2 x 30m in the tunnels...
first tunnel was slightly bigger, especially built for tourists
while the second tunnel was part of the real tunnel

at the end of the tour, we were served some steamed tapioca and a cup of pandan tea... the food the viet cong guerrilla had during the war time when rice were insufficient...

Overall, a very interesting experience and definitely a must go attraction in Vietnam … 5 out of 5 stars…. =) …but be prepared to end up with some mosquitoes bites and thigh & butt muscle ache… =P



The tour bus dropped us near the airport….and this was where we met another honest vietnamess... joyce offered 100,000 dong (S$6.70) to a cab driver to drive us to the airport... he refused to take it and insisted on using the meter... and the cab fare amounted to only 50,000 dong (S$3.35) ... =)

Flight home on tiger and home sweet home... bed sweet bed ... and lastly... dear sweet dear.... heee.. =)

Friday, December 3, 2010

Day 3 Challenge: Pictures of Me and My Friends

when i first saw this challenge and especially the one customised at xiaoxin's blog, it reminds me of a blog entry in my previous blog a few years back .... so went to xin ying's "inactive" blog to get the link to my own dead & abandoned blog...


the entry i was referring to was dated 27 July 2007 ... i had copied the entry below and as i read thru, i added in new comments and some photos... =)



...Here goes...

"I was having so much fun and laughters at michelle’s place just now...while I was laughing and laughing and laughing, suddenly the thought of ‘when was the last time I had such fun with another group of friends?’ pop into my mind.


So here I am, trying to list down all the friends/ group of friends that had hanged out with me in one way or another in the past 29 years…



K2 to Primary 3 - Tu Wanhui and her family

She was my neighbour when i lived in blk 114, AMK Ave 4. used to hangout with her and her family all the time as her mum was my caretaker as well... still remember that although we were besties, we quarrelled all the time as well... the last time i saw her was 8 years ago, at my house warming in mimosa park... recently saw her wedding photo on facebook... =) ... but have not been talking since the house warming??? .... =(




Primary 6 – Charlene Ho, Stephanie Choo and Everdene Cai

Favourite hangout was the arcade place at Thomson Yaohan and the playground at Braddell Heights… still remember how we were always trying to hide away from Gabriel and Derrick but they would always find us ... totally lost contact with all of them after we graduated from primary school... =(




Secondary 1 – Loh Jingmei

still remember how we loved to lie down on the tiled seats inside the toilet in Holy Innocents High to read… … what a weird place to enjoy our reading… but the toilet was so clean and so much cooler than anywhere else in the whole bloody concrete school ... will be meeting her one of the weekends this month... yippy... very very long never meet up liao... hope that we can carry on from where we left off years ago....




Sec 2 – Zhang Caiwei, Goh Meili and Ho Eevon

Caiwei was the first gal who came up to me when I transferred to Riverside and the one who tricked me into St. John to be bullied by all the seniors… !@#$%^&… But I m still glad that I got to know her….This is the group I hung out with to gossip at the Mac at the old woodlands interchange after school almost everyday… now to think of it, where did I get all the money to buy hot fudge almost every day too?

really happy that of the 3, i m still in constant contact with 1. she has grown to be like a family member whom i take for granted for most of the time... oopx...




Sec 3 / 4 – Lewei, lay teng, xiaofen, liping

Although somewhere in the middle some misunderstanding had erupted but I m glad we are still friends after all these years…. =0)… it’s also during this period that I really start mixing around and hanging out with the guys in class too… creating trouble at the basketball court where chunyang, weixiong, anthony and weichao used to hang out, playing and joking around at the Jurong East ice skating ring with the Malaysian guys and chit chatting with the guys for hours and hours on the phone… 

really dun understand why I had so many things to chat about during that time but now find it difficult to hold a conversation le oh… maybe I m just too tired le…. bad temper me and one of them ended up in a childish fight again... hahaha... and has not been on talking terms for close to 2 years le bah.... =P ...

but glad that at least i m still pretty close to another one of them... we just had high tea last weekend... =)




JC – mel, meixiang, liza

(me, mel, mx & zaza at zaza's birthday bbq in 2007)

The first time that I m no more a goody 2 shoe oh… learned how to skip school, skip lecture and even tutorial… still remember the time where all 4 of us coincidentally skipped Jude Yew’s GP lesson together. Luckily he was ‘kind’ enough to let us off with only a warning… =P… miss Miss Chong and Mr Paul Poh so much too… till now, they are still my Favourite teachers noh… =) ... our meet ups now depends on meixiang who always puts in the effort to arrange and coordinate xmas & cny gathering... =)




Uni year 1 – lewei, zhen yu, danny

Orientation friends who still hang out almost everyday during lunch after the orientation camp. Still remember how I, a business student, always had to walk from the South spine, passed through the coffee club, just to have lunch with this group of engineering friends. But I just enjoyed their company. They just know how to make everything so funny and fun. They really added tons to colours to my uni life. WU ZHENYU & DANNY, where are ur??? Me miss ur oh… miss the mobile juke box noh!!!!…haha ... managed to get in contact with danny to attend my wedding dinner... =) ... while zhenyu is still enjoying himself in china... but we have been keeping in contact and go for hunting trips together (in facebook...hahaha)




Uni year 2 / 3 – Vivian, rachelle and xinying

Vivian, a classmate from cj, but only got closer in uni. Someone who has slimmed down so very much and is so good at dolling herself up nowadays that make me feel like a frog in the well or a mountain tortoise noh. 

Then there is xinying who always have the most beautiful set of fingernails and shoes… =) and rachelle, the jappy looking gal who suffered with me during our attachment at NTUC… NTUC suck big big time ….. 7 years after we graduated, we still meet up at least once in 2 months...=)... xin ying has promoted to be of mummy status liao oh... while rachelle has been missing in action ... =(




Smartlab education centre – joycelyn and adele and uncle YC

(joyce, me and adele at adele's house warming in 2009)


(joyce, uncle YC and me on a cycling trip at pengarang)

they are the people who made working at smartlab such a joy… informal working environment with crappy and fun colleagues… I like… and am really glad that we remain in contact even after I had left the company for 5 years le... joyce has became one of my best buds... and we are going to vietnam on monday.... just the 2 of us... heee...




SSB – chunyang, anthony, siewmei, mengyuan, xiuting

(my best bud till 2009 and still)


(my favourite photo of the 3 of us - me, siew mei & yuan)

this is the group that had stupid and entertaining theme for festivals, especially when siew mei was around… we are the group that will all wear pink on valentine’s day, must have something in gold on Christmas day and the group that loves to take a hundred photos so that we can find at least a few that is nice for keeping… haha… 

the group that will send FORMAL emails detailing the programs planned and has rankings, promotions and demotions de wor… haha… the group that learnt roller blading and diving and rock climbing together too…so what’s next???? Haiz, but due to various commitments and events, things are just not the same any more le… miss the time before Anthony left… still dun understand y u choose to desert us just so suddenly… things are just not the same anymore... ='(
 
(Hawaii theme xmas bbq 2007)




NIE – Claire, Michelle, Mabelene, Laurice
(me, mab & laurice @ bintan in 2007)

This is the tai-tai group who, when get together, will usually be high tea followed by a few rounds of mahjong. The group that went Bangkok over a weekend, slept 5 people in a room and shopped like there’s no tomorrow… the image of how messy our hotel room is will haunt me for the rest of my life… but I m still looking forward to out next holiday oh… haha… mab used to teach in the same school as me... deserted me in sept this year... =(...




Woah… my friends really come and go… happy and sad.. happy is that I get to mix with different type of ppl as I aged… sad because nothing seems to last… so when will the current one end and when will the next one start??? "




realised that i don't have a lot of photos with my friends... think the wedding in jan will be a good opportunity to take photos with each and every group of friends...

Friday, November 26, 2010

Day 2 Challenge: The Meaning Behind my Blogger Name

I'm called Candy Chua.... not by choice....

The name was given by my mum who named herself Honey.... (*.*!!!)

and is registered on my birth certificate...


used to hate the name as i was always being teased for it... still remembered on my first day as a transferred student to marymount convent, class 1B in sept 1988... the whole class burst out laughing when i wrote my name on the board upon the request of the teacher... ( T.T )




and i'm always the hot favourite to be asked upon to answer questions in the first few weeks of school every year... i guess teachers just love my name given that it's just so eye catching and easy to pronoun bah...




but i have grown to love my name as it's easy to remember and gives me an excuse when i want to act all sweet and cute ... hahaha... but i guess i will be using my chinese name when i reached 40??? imagine an auntie called candy.... can faint lo....




Anyway, having such a sweet name comes with even sweeter pet names:

"tang tang (糖糖), tang guo (糖果), sweet sweet" are just to name a few...


i chose tangtang-land as my blogger name cos "land" to me means this blog is my land, my territory to write anything about what i want....


not tangguo-land cos it's not a blog selling sweets and definitely has nothing to do with sweets...

not sweetsweet-land cos i m not that kind of sweet sweet girl and also dun want other ppl to laugh at me for having such a girly and eeeeeeeeeee blogger name... hahaha...


Friday, November 19, 2010

angela's prom

today is angela's prom event... both of us were pretty excited over it since a few months back when she decided to attend the function... did some trial and error with the usual prom dresses and find that they are totally not suitable for her ... so decided to go against the norm and dress her in something which she finds it more comfortable and confident in ... the cute chic look we called it... =)

total damage:

hairband - rm$5.90, pants - rm$49.90, vest - rm$10 (sponsored by mummy)

blouse with chain - s$49.90, shoes - s$25.90 (sponsored by me)

how i wished i had bought everything in msia lo.... =(


anyway, with michelle phan on youtube


and the limited make up that mummy and i have


i created this.... =)...damn proud of myself la...

Saturday, November 6, 2010

bearbi's new dress

met charlene at ion last night and chanced upon diaso, my favourite shop... heee... went in and bought many many things once again... and one of the things i bought is a new dress for my Baby...  =)


pinky + multi-coloured polka dots
cute hor???



Baby trying out her new dress... =) ...
my baby is just so doubly cute lo...


She got so shy from all the photo taking that she went to hide inside her mini bedroom... hee....

Thursday, October 28, 2010

me on 女友 page 58

i must admit that i m a bimbo at times.... super thrilled at being featured in a fashion magazine.... hahaha.... cant describe my excitment when i finally see the november issue of 女友 on the magazine shelf in 7-11 this morning.... has been waiting for it since 1st september, the day i went for the photoshoot oh....

flip flip flip to content page and flip flip flip to page 58 and tatatata..... a whole page to myself.... and woah.... realised that i can be so pretty too with the help of professional make up and i believe there must be some photoshop too.... hahaha....


zoom (x 1)


zoom (x 4)


zoom (x 8)



zoom (x 4)



and according to zhuan, they will be using my photo to be the highlight of the month in their website.... hahaha... my once in a lifetime opportunity to be a model and be in the limelight.... so fun.... =)

Monday, October 25, 2010

floor plan



will be my designing canvas in the weeks and months to come... =).... fun fun fun....

Friday, September 17, 2010

funny wedding quotes

... Funny Wedding Stuff ...

was surfing the net for personalised wedding stickers which i m thinking of getting to seal the plastic bags for the 'Sweet Corner" and maybe also to stick it onto the wedding favours which we had ordered for our guests... (Yes, i had ordered the cards liao... Yippy...arriving on 2nd October).. just happen to chance upon some funny bumper stickers as such...







and one thing leads to another... i started surfing for other funny wedding sayings....


"I love being married.
It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.

Marriage requires a person to prepare 4 types of "Rings":
Engagement Ring Wedding Ring, Suffering, Enduring
Marriage is the only war in which you sleep with the enemy."

... and some wedding comic ...



Monday, September 13, 2010

Jelly Making

While revising the unit on 'matter' with Kartikraj for his CT2, we came across a recipe of jelly in his textbook. The question in the book was 'In what state is a jelly?' His question for me was, "Where can I buy the ingredients to make jelly?"


i didnt want to spend too much of our limited time on his question so i promised him that i would make some for him if he improves on his science results. Well, from a 60% for mid year, he scored 78.5% for his CT2 and even scored full marks for his MCQs (which also means he failed his paper 2) but anyway, a promise is a promise....


headed for cold storage one day and bought the ingredients... for the 'just in case i screw up the first time', i bought 2 packets of jelly mix instead....


Angela helped out in my first try with the apple favour jelly and it turns out well... kartikraj loves them... and so did Mr Ang.... this is like the very very rare times that i even stepped into the kitchen lo.... so they better be appreciative....which they did.... hahaha....


anyway, received a very sweet message from kartikraj's mum last night...

"Hi, thanks for the jelly u gave to karttik. din realised until today (3 days later). he was enjoying them quietly! only told me today! You are such a nice teacher! He is really motivated by you!"


That's the reason why i love being a tuition teacher... the one to one interaction... the catering to a child's learning habit... the one to one encouragement for that 2 hours per week can make a difference to a child's life...this is something unachievable in a school setting...


anyway, her message reminded me that i have another pack of jelly mix at home and since i m free today... might as well make it before the term starts... which i can forsee will be one that is super busy, super bitchy and super wayang.... yes, that's life for me in school now.... sianx...


step 1: inserting the nata de co co and fruit cocktail into the mould....luv the flower ice cube mould....



Step 2: boiling the jelly mix - pineapple favour

stir stir stir....hot hot hot...


Step 3: pouring the boiled jelly mix into the mould...


step 4: creating a mess for kom (my super duper maid) to follow up... hahaha

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

I m a model today


... I m a model today ...
Last week thru msn,

zhuan: this coming wed teachers' day right?

me : yup yup

zhuan: u free?

me : yup yup

zhuan: then can help me with a photoshoot?

me : huh? me?

zhuan: yup. you. very difficult to find ppl to do photoshoot on weekday... me trying to find all my teacher friends.... so u okay???

me : sounds fun... okay lo..... =)
and that's how i was bestowed with the chance to be a model for the October issue of 女友 magazine which zhuan works as the fashion editor... =)... of cos not the paid kind of professional model la... is the passer-by kind of model... free one... hahaha....

i was informed to report at 35 hamilton road, #02-01 (photo studio) at 11am for the photoshoot... and oh boy, i was late.... 5 - 10 minutes late due to the 2 traffic accidents that jammed up the cte and the road outside bishan mrt... but luckily, i was still slightly earlier than the make up artist, the hair stylist, the fashion art director & his assistants (2) and the photographer & his assistant... din know that to take one photo shoot, i need to be "prepared" by 7 people lo.... and is that kind of good looking, stylish ppl oh .... 真的是让我大开眼界... abit 不知所错...i felt like a 村姑 in my bling bling flats and retro tube dress....

first, the make - up artist sat me down and helped to doll up my face...besides trying her very best to camouflage my horrible eyebags and dark circles, she also have to camou a super uncooperative big pimple which chooses to pop up next to my nose the night before the photoshoot... sianx....

anyway, she gave me a tip to reduce eyebags.... that is not to drink water after 8pm.... even if it's one night... she claims that effects can be seen oh ... i think can give it a try leh since she is currently the make up guru who is dishing out make up and facial care tips on FM100.3 oh.... and i likey the make up she gave me... very natural... not those super 夸张 type..is really 化妆 kind and not the 伪装 kind of make up... hahaha

second up was the hair stylist ... within 5 - 10 minutes, under his hairdryer, his comb and some hair spray, i was ready for the photoshoot... simple and nice...i likey also... i think i look quite good after the hair and face transformation... hahahaha...

third up was the fashion art director assistant... she had mixed and match my outfits and had ironed them while i was doing my make up and hair... she handed me a pair of super tight fitting jeans, a black tube and a dark vest to try on.... then added a chucky necklace (her own) and 2 heavy bangles as accessories... and not to mention the scary super high 4 inch strappy heels....
then all 6 (minus the make up artist) brought me to one of the small roads near the studio to take the outdoor shoot... really felt like a model lo... got photographer taking photos of me while instructing me on my poses, hair stylist with hair spray in hand, ever ready to adjust any naughty hair that is out of the way, fashion assistant with tissue in hand to wipe my sweat and to carry my shoes... hahaha.... then ppl in the area were all looking at us lo... so embarrassing yet so fun.... =)

then a second change of clothes.... a pair of high waist short, white long sleeved shirt to be matched with the same vest and heels....

second photoshoot at the same place but need to walk ...take bigger strides and swing your arms more, the photographer kept reminding me.... i shy la... hahaha... but i still think i did a good job for an untrained model... hahaha....

that's it.... all done within 2 hours.... had fun and that's my once in a life time experience to 'work' with professional make up artist, hair stylist, photographer and fashion art director..... now waiting for the fashion editor (zhuan) to call me up for an interview regarding the clothings and to wait till 3rd week of september to get a copy of the october issue of 女友 ....so exciting.... hahaha....
i was shy and scared of being labelled as a mountain tortoise, so i didnt dare to take any "in the process" photos on my own... but i was busy snapping away while waiting for the bus home.... heee...

i likey the look - sweet sweet one... just like my name... heee