Beware of the Pickpockets!

Although the focus of the Vietnam trip was to visit the orphanages, we did manage to include some sight seeing of the city. I was impressed by what I saw in Ho Chi Minh city - a modern city that any guests would find welcoming. It's a mix of things East and West. You see the locals in their conical hats selling fruits along the streets and just a few shops down you will see a coffee house or a wine bar that reminds one of those you see on the streets of Paris.

One of the places we visited was the Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, located at the famous Paris Commune Square in the Ho Chi Minh City. The cathedral was established by the French colonists, constructed between 1863 and 1880. 

Next to the cathedral is the Central Post Office, another prominent feature of Ho Chi Minh City. This grand old edifice was constructed between 1886 and 1891 by Gustave Eiffel and the architectural design of this Central Post Office represents the French colonial style. 

The Central Post Office reminds me of the Central Train Stations that you see in most European countries. It's pretty awesome structure with the huge clock at the central pavilion. And when you walk in, you will be greeted by a huge poster of Ho Chi Minh.

Hidden inside these booths are phones if you want to make that overseas call home. There were also booths with ATM machines inside. Pretty neat way to conceal the machines.

And at the Central Post Office, other than writing postcards to send home, you can also buy little trinkets - local handicraft for your loved ones. They accept both USD and the local currency Dong.

Our local guide had warned us to be careful of pickpockets and always make sure our belongings were safe and within sight at all times. It was unfortunate that one of the team members had her camera stolen while we were at the Central Post Office. 

Am sharing this so that you too will be careful when you're there. The pickpockets usually work in pairs, pretending to be couples. They are young and look relatively harmless. They tend to prey on groups of school children visiting the countries. They will pretend to be looking at souveniors too, then casually turn to the children to ask where they are from and so forth. Unaware to the children, these pick pockets have already studied the children closely and were waiting for the right moment. Even with the adults standing close by, these pick pockets were able to snip off one of the girls camera that was hanging on her wrist (while she was picking some trinkets to buy). 

When we discovered the camera was stolen, we looked around and guessed it was the couple as they were watching us. But I guess they felt safe as we had no proof and being in a foreign country, we could not just go up to them to search their bags.

After that incident, we were a lot more vigilant. We came across another pair when we were at the Museum. I noticed the couple joining our group and they pretended to listen to the guide as he briefed us. I took a step back and that was when I saw how they were observing the children, walking around to see who they should prey on. They continued to follow us even though one of the adults asked who they were (they claimed to be university students doing a project - interestingly though, they had no paper or pen to take notes and understood very little English yet pretended to listen to our guide who was  briefing us in English). Thankfully, the adults were vigilant and kept a close eye on the children. This time round, they were not successful but one camera stolen was already one too many. If you're interested, check out this site for more tips.

Children of Vietnam ...

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit Ho Chi Minh City with a team as part of work. The focus of our visit was to provide our Singapore children the opportunity to visit three orphanages and they would have opportunities to interact as well as represent the items they had raised before the trip.

It was my first time to Vietnam and it turned out to be a trip that I will remember for a long while. This post is dedicated to the many children we met at the orphanages and I wished I could have done more for them. The orphanages are doing their very best to provide the basic needs for these children and any help that we can offer them will be greatly appreciated. 

The child below loves being photographed. He was more than happy to pose while I snapped away ...

During the visit, the Singapore children brought balloons that were quite a hit with the Vietnamese children.

       

Even after the balloons had burst while the kids were playing with them, a couple of the kids below were quite happy to chew and stretch the balloons.

I was more worried about the balloon snapping and hitting their faces but they didn't seem too bothered by that at all.

One of the orphanages had some of the boys with pretty cool hair cuts. We did ask the guide but he wasn't able to explain the reasons why. 

The children at the orphanages ranged from newly born babies abandoned by their mothers to teenagers who have been in the home for many years. The older teens were pretty camera shy. So you'll notice that I have more pictures of the younger children.

These two boys caught my attention because they were roughly the same age as my nephews and it was really really sad thinking that these boys had no one to cuddle them and spoil them silly. Very very sad.

The little fella below is a real sweetheart. Had the most beautiful smile that makes you want to just pick him up for a cuddle.

Equally as adorable were the little girls at the orphanages. This lil sweetheart is gorgeous and she was thrilled when I showed her the photograph of her after I took this shot. She happily pointed to herself and nodded her head. 

If you're wondering why the girl below has stickers on her face? Well, our Singaporean children brought stickers for the kids to paste on the cards but I guess some of the stickers ended up elsewhere. Don't worry, the stickers come off easily.

During the visit to one of the orphanages, there were some local University students there and we learnt that they spent their Sundays there with the children. It was heart-warming to see the youths spending time playing, feeding and just caring for the children there. It was meal time and some of the youths were helping to feed the younger children below.

Looking at this kiddo, made me want to just reach out and hug him.

This sweetheart below just caught my attention and I was just snapping my camera away. I think it's her sad eyes that made it very difficult to just walk away ..

Same girl again and yes, if I could bring her home, I would have ...

As mentioned before, the older kids were a lot more camera shy. But at one of the orphanages, I managed to take a shot of this girl. She and her brother were happily playing with the Singapore children and I think this photo captured how she felt then.

This boy below truly impressed me. He is camera shy and I had to trail after him to get a photo of him because I wanted to acknowledge his 'work'.

Let me explain some ... I was going around taking photographs of the children at the orphanage and when I came to this boy, he was dodging me because he was real shy. So I turned my attention to the others, not realising that he was watching what I was doing. Each time I take a photograph, I would show it to the child so that s/he could see it. He was curious and took a look. Next thing I knew, he grabbed my DSLR and peeped into the camera window and tried to press the buttons but I think his little fingers weren't strong enough. So I held the camera for him and helped pressed the button. After each shot, I showed him what he took. And after two or three shots, he knew what he had to do and I was impressed by what he took. At that moment, I wished I had a spare camera to give to him to let him explore. Let me share with you three shots by him ...

Above is one of the little boys who was in the room when he took the shot. Below is one of the care-givers who was looking after a baby in the room.

He then dragged me and the camera to his friend below so that he could take a shot of him too.

Although we did spend a day doing the touristy thing and visited some of the local attractions (will do a separate post as I do not have as many photographs of those), the visits to the orphanages ... those memories will stay with me for a long while. To the children, we were probably some people who came and left, but to many of us who visited the orphanages that day, these kids truly touched our hearts ....

I caved in *hangs head in shame*

Yes, I caved in and watched, not ONE but TWO korean dramas in a week (weekend to weekend). It has been so long since I watched one, I think it was Grand Chef that I watched last. So I was itching to watch one and yeah, that meant watching till wee hours in the morning and going to work a little tired. But usually a can of coke did the trick to wake me up so that was my daily perk up. Not good for the health but things are back to normal. At least until I stumble upon the next korean drama *grins*

Let me just share the two dramas that I saw. I prefer the romantic comedies where the storyline is ALWAYS the same. Yes, ALWAYS. There will be one lead gal, with two guys usually going after her. And there will also be another supporting female character in there. Somehow, the lead gal and guy will start by hating each other and of course along the way, you need to through in some obstacles (how else to sustain to at least 16 episodes yah?) like an accident, family objection, you name it, there's usually a drama that will cover it. But the ending is such that the lead gal and guy will end up happily ever after. And I have no idea why these dramas still manage to hook me in when stories are so predictable. So if you're asking me if you should watch either one of these dramas? I'll say go for both and enjoy!!

First one I saw was The Vineyard Man and here's the synopsis from DramaWiki:

'In this romantic-comedy, (an adaptation of the book The Vineyard Man by Kim Rang), Yoon Eun Hye (same girl in Coffee Prince Shop) plays Lee Ji Hyun, a clothing designer in Seoul, who reluctantly leaves home for one year to work at her grand uncle’s vineyard in a small village. However when arriving in the country, she reunites with a Jang Taek Gi Oh Man Suk, a local resident who had been wrongfully arrested in Seoul by police after Ji Hyun reported having a dress-which she had designed-had been stolen. The two clash frequently as Ji Hyun has a difficult time adjusting to life in the country and working with Taek Gi. However, after many twists and turns Ji Hyun adapts to rustic life while falling in love with Taek Gi.' 

On a personal note, what I like about this drama, other than the gorgeous vineyards and sunflower field, is that it's a reminder to not be too quick to judge people based on what you see. Often there's more to the 'story' that what you see on the surface and it often takes time and patience to find our the true person or story. I guess this holds true for me at work or even outside work, where I may meet with a range of people, from adults to kids and often, I'm in a hurry that I may not even realised that I need to stop, put everything down and just devote that time (which may not even be that long) to listen, and I mean really listen to that person. I realised that it has become a bad habit for me to multi-task, like answering a call while checking my emails. I don't like it when that happens because I remember I never used to do that before. But for the last few years, pressed for time, I had to learn to multi-task and it meant cutting things down to the dare essentials and deleting what's 'extra'. But I guess it's from these 'extra' information that one gets the true sense of the situation and maybe even a better understanding of what the other person is REALLY trying to say. Hmm ...

Second one I watched has the same guy from 'Grand Chef', Kim Rae Won (mugshot below), and he looks as cute in this 2006 drama, 'What Star Did You Come From?' (mind you, there are several variations to the translated English title for this drama).

Here's the synopsis from DramaWiki for 'What Star Did You Come From?':

'Seung Hee, after losing his girlfriend in a tragic accident, left for 3 years. When he came back, he sought to make a film in a rural area. Someone caught his eye – Bok Shil, who looks exactly like his deceased girlfriend, Hye Soo. Seung Hee followed Bok Shil in order to get some answers, and ended up falling for her. Still the questions remain, is he attracted to Bok Shil because of the memories of his ex-girlfriend, or does he like Bok Shil for who she is? What happens when competitors come into the picture and families opposing their love?'

Hmm, for this drama, it's about being true to yourself. You're probably screaming right now, 'Liz, it's just a bloody korean drama!!!' *laughs* Hey, I have to justify the time watching these dramas lah! At times, when we take on new roles, we are expected to conform to the new norms or expectations. Which is fine yah. But when you are in a situation where the 'new' you and the 'true' you are in conflict, then you need to decide which is important. And I have a feeling that most of us will pick the easiest path of conforming (especially when, for example, the other path requires giving up the kind of lifestyle one is use to) but ultimately, we need to be okay with that choice. It's about choices. Some may see it as 'selling' out. I don't. I see it as a choice one makes as an adult, and then living with the consequences as a result of that choice. with no regrets. Forgive me my friends, I am rambling some ... guess this is an issue that I have been thinking about, and still thinking about *frowns* and have not reached a point where I am 'okay' with my choices. Hey, I didn't say it was going to be easy so bear with me ... *grins*