SUPER ALIEN THE NICHOLE MARR

View from the Grotto

The Grotto

Red Crab Migration in Christmas Island, 2007

The crabs go marching 1 by 1
Da dum, da dum
The crabs go marching 1 by 1
Da dum, da dum
The crabs go marching 1 by 1, be careful of the very hot sun
They all go marching down to the sea to breed

The crabs go marching 2 by 2
Yahoo, yahoo
The crabs go marching 2 by 2
Yahoo, yahoo
The crabs go marching 2 by 2, think about what you can do
They all go marching down to the sea to breed

The crabs go marching 3 by 3
Yippee, yippee
The crabs go marching 3 by 3
Yippee, yippee
The crabs go marching 3 by 3, some get squished by cars you see
So they can’t go marching down to the sea to breed

The crabs go marching 4 by 4
Galore, galore
The crabs go marching 4 by 4
Galore, galore
The crabs go marching 4 by 4, don’t wham them if they’re on your door
They all go marching down to the sea to breed

The crabs go marching 5 by 5
Survive, survive
The crabs go marching 5 by 5
Survive, survive
The crabs go marching 5 by 5, do your best to keep them alive
They all go marching down to the deep blue sea

The crabs go marching 6 by 6
To mix, to mix
The crabs go marching 6 by 6
To mix, to mix
The crabs go marching 6 by 6, down in the burrows doing tricks
They all go marching dow to the sea to breed

The crabs go marching 7 by 7
This ain’t crab heaven
The crabs go marching 7 by 7
This ain’t crab heaven
The crabs go marching 7 by 7, help them and be home by eleven
They all go marching down to the sea to breed

The crabs go marching 8 by 8
Migrate, migrate
The crabs go marching 8 by 8
Migrate, migrate
The crabs go marching 8 by 8, down to the sea so they can mate
They all go marching down to the sea to breed

The crabs go marching 9 by 9
In line, in line
The crabs go marching 9 by 9
In line, in line
The crabs go marching 9 by 9, look out for a song or sign
They all go marching down to the sa to breed

The crabs go marching 10 by 10
Again, again
The crabs go marching 10 by 10
Again, again
The crabs go marching 10 by 10, back to the jungle safe again
They all go marching back to the jungle to live

I woke up in that Monday morning, facing up to the whole picture of Hanoi city, West Lake on my left hand side and Red River on my right, sparkling and sunny. So I knew this was our last morning in Hanoi. Hours later, we would land in Saigon. We had some decent food for breakfast, said goodbye to everything and everyone, especially to our “Hanoi No.1 Love”. Surprise, surprise, she got to know that we were checking out… So did we, as we kind of realised that we probably would never see her again… It was a long way to the airport followed up with another 2 hours flight afterwhich we were finally in Saigon!

We missed out a monkey in Hanoi so I would like to have this dinosaur or crocodile or whatever to be our guide??? Yes…

We drove pass by this church twice but never stoped for a single second for it. THE CHURCH in Saigon…

The hotel we lived in - Hotel Continental Saigon

We met her in our first Saigon evening

A bar located in the famous Phạm Ngũ Lão

Very… Socialist Republic…

The place appeared in Ann’s book…

Lah~ Mekong River at night

Lotus, apparently…

Erik’s greatest shot ever!!! -_-;;

Last dinner in Vietnam - Pennywort Tea, Vietnamese Pancake, Vietnamese Hot Pot, Garlic Crab…

Last breakfast in Vietnam

Goodbye, Vietnam…

Believe it or not - this wasn’t a holiday and I decide to put everything simple as I’m a very bad writer!

From Christmas Island to Singapore and we stayed overnight in S’pore Airport. Really, we didn’t need to stay in a transit hotel as the airport’s got everything we need to have a beautiful night - Xbox, Internet, Food, Movies and shopping. But we did check in and live in that hotel for only one reason - to have another glance at our “Singapore No.1 Love”, however, he wasn’t on duty and this made us sad. -_-;;

Oh, we did some important shopping before really entering the hotel room. We bought a new camera as the previous super hero one has been diagnoised (by me) as “Zooming Disabled” and I “eventually” bought that EA Mediterranean Perfume.

Next morning, we took off from S’pore and landed in Hanoi just after 3 hours. On all the way to Sofitel Plaza, we tried hard to love this city but we simply couldn’t - pullution, traffic, hawkers, everything is sort of out of order, until we met someone outside the hotel gate - eventually, she became our “Hanoi No.1 Love”… When we left for Saigon, we so realised that how much we’ve loved about Hanoi and its people, although Saigon is a very fancy and very westernised city.

You know why I’m a very bad writer? Cuz when it comes to the point, I can’t make it! So just pick up some and here we go:

A. Old Quarter - With over 3 million people, the capital of the socialist republic seemed like it was alive… Alive with people and motorbikes, all trying to squeeze onto roads that seemed like they never emptied. Therefore, me and Erik spent our first afternoon in Old Quarter, or as the French called it “Cité Indigène”, the history of which spans over 2000 years…

B. 69 Bar, 69 Ma May Street - A house of 300 years old with fairly ricketty staircase, local authentic Vietnamese food and drink - spring rolls, garlic crab, sesame coverd squid, lotus tea and Vietnamese coffee…

C. Cyclo - Only comment: You haven’t lived until you have had a night-time ride in a Hanoi Cyclo!!!

A sunny day in Hanoi, Vietnam

Mask Shop in Old Quarter, Hanoi, Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh Square, Hanoi, Vietnam

Next stop - Saigon, Vietnam

(To be continued…)