Shafiee Yakob

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Sunday, September 7, 2014

"Alone in the city"

On Friday, I took a taxi sapu to go to the city. He drove me to a place where there's dirt road and thought to myself, 'he's going to kill me, isnt he? Im going to die!" Just so you know, as a Bruneian, we are prone to stereotype people especially whilst abroad. Apparently, he took a short cut. I was relieved when he entered the road I'm familiar with. It was pretty cheap; my journey to Big C only costs around 300.000VDN. The conversation was limited (like always) as I recall him emphasizing hardly on the name "Big C". He did speak Viet to me which took me a while to understand. Turns out that he is going to leave me at Big C due to the fact that he has little knowledge enroute to Hoan Kiem. Its a bless that this driver left me here as I have never been to this place. This bless leads me to the idea of checking what Big C has to offer, before taking another taxi. I found out that Big C is just like Giant Brunei but way bigger. I was being extra careful as I was travelling alone, while the girls stayed at the dorm. Izza had her orientation so they decided to go to city the next day.

So, in Big C, I explored the mall from top to bottom & saw this cute bakery shop. I picked out some food; strawberry sandwich, buttermilk bun, plain croissant & this sugary sweet roll. As i looked around this beautiful bakery, i sliced my strawberry sandwich and realized strawberry means pink n pink here in vietnam shouts Pork! Thank god i didnt eat it but i did eat the bread. It was scrumptious. The pork, on the other hand, was pink & raw. Disgusting.

After exploring and salvaging to the things i want to buy, i took a taxi to my hotel named Hanoi A1 Hotel. I booked a room that was a veranda and costs me around BND$35. Upon reaching to my destination, i was pickpocketed by this guy & luckily, nothing was lost. He did stole my panadol though. As i reached my hotel, the receptionist was very friendly & very welcoming. It was nice to hear some viet speak english. He asked me what was i doing here in Hanoi to which i replied the course i'm doing. It was surprising she gave respect to me as she holds her hand ad bow down. Mind you, she's 39 and she bowed down to me. A 24 year old boy.

After unpacking my stuff, I then roamed around the city & experienced the things i couldnt get in a normal tour guide as he introduced the side of hanoi i like to see. It was a personal private tour. I cant say much in this blog post but what i can say is that i had fun. I cant post his pic nor his facebook account due to that one word that will make my parents flip. So, let me just keep it & tell you all about it - personally. Dont worry! Ask away hehe!

Eventhough my plans with this girl who was introduced to me was cancelled, I did meet some new people: Vietnamese 'out of the closet' people. I managed to ask a few questions while having a hot cocoa. Besides having the time of my life, my dinner was also perfect. Seafood pizza & vegetarion fried rice was all i need. I forgot to take the name of the restaurant. My phone couldnt wait any longer and died the whole night. Perfect!

I ended the night at 2.00am - feeling happy & worn out.

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Hello there!

Hello. My name is Shafiee Y. A boy from Borneo Island (Brunei, to be specific) who loves to meet new people whilst traveling. This blog is a blog where i share my moments - mainly for my friends and family. Join me in my wicked adventure around the world. Let's be honest, I know you want to.

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