The company

(W)(i)(p)(r)(o) Company

My id badge and new cellphone India.

Feel free to text me or call me when you are bored.

+91 ----- -----

There is no Korea national flag.

So werid... we are staying here for eight months!!

The way to the cafeteria.

I thought it was a gym at the first time. It is a cafeteria.

We take sessions in this room.

Oh... It is a tea break time.

Life in India

The first day.

The hotel room that I stayed at.

Finally arrived at Changi Airport again.

Even though I was staying for six hours, I was not able to go out of the airport to meet my friends.

Waiting for next Skytrain to get to Terminal 2.

It was raining. Yes, this is the Singapore I love.

I really hope that I would be able to live in this country.

Haha. YES

I was busy calling Singaporean friends using the free phones at the airport.

My flat mates. First group shot in India.

Sobha Carnation Apartment.

Overview of Sobha Carnation.

(Sobha is an Apartment brand. so famous here.)

OMG, I don't understand Hindi.

Cleaning up the living room. Everyone studies in living room except me...

I study (actually watch dramas) in my room.

with my flatmate at night. We were on our way back from grocery shopping.

M.G. Road.

Yay~! First experience taking the auto rickshaw.

Taking a photo in the auto rickshaw.

went to a Studio to develop passport photos.

It was fun watching people wandering around though the big window.

Can you see my big smile on the picture? haha.

Haha. We didn't take many photos in M.G road.

Maybe we were too busy looking around and buying exotic stuff.

I realized that I love holding on bars when my picture is being taken.

This is M.G. road. The most developed street in India.

Hum... is it? I don't agree. This is not enough to be described as "most developed"

My graduate trip : Day 3 - Part 2.

My first impression about Mui-ne was just one word : “peace”. It was not crowded and noisy, and everyone was smiling. I liked this village so much. When I got off the bus, Xe Om drivers holding many hotel business cards rushed towards me. Xe Om is a type of auto bike. There were some rules that I made to myself during this trip. One of them was ‘Do not ride Xe um’. The reason why I made this rule was that I saw many accidents on my first day. I looked for other method of transportation, but there was nothing except Xe Om. Since I wanted to resolve my passport situation as soon as possible, it was inevitable that I would have to ride Xe Om to go to TM Brothers Café in Mui-ne. Most travel agencies have branch offices in major cities. The Xe om rider was not good at English so I showed him the business card.

I explained my situation to the staff of TM. She seemed that she totally understood what I said. According to her, my passport would arrive at 2pm via the next bus. I thought the communication system of TM was quite good so they handled customer’s problems automatically before they mentioned it. My problem seemed solved. I decided to take a tour instead of waiting for my passport in the Café. The tour I chose was a jeep tour and it needed at least four people to start. As you know, I was alone so I waited for someone to join me.

Four Koreans came to TM while I chatted with the staff. After they got information on tours from the staff, they chose the same tour as I did. It was my first and last time to take a day-tour with Koreans during this trip. The first place we stopped was the fairy stream. This place was really beautiful in guidebook however, it was just a stream. I thought something was wrong but the others convinced me that the picture of the guide book was exaggerated.

The next place was the fishing village. The ships were catching fish near the coast by using a net. At that time, I didn’t know why they threw the net near the shore. I got the answer when I saw many fish were dead on the seaside the day after. Nearby the fishing village, there was a store selling some snacks. When I entered the store to buy bottled water, I realized it was just a family house. The girl pulled out a bottle from a small refrigerator containing some food for her family. That scene looked familiar to me and made me recall ‘escape summer’, the trip that I took with Filipino friends to the small island.

Dark clouds chased us while we were heading for the next destination, White Sand Dune, the small desert located beside the sea. It was drizzling when we got to the desert. The rain in the desert, doesn’t it sound cool? People who want activities are everywhere. And kids knew that. They were making their pocket money from offering a laminated sled. The other Koreans wanted to go sledding on the sandy hill. Unlike them, I just walked in order to feel the desert. There were some jeeps instead of camels on the desert. They may not need camels in this small desert.

It rained heavily when we got back to TM. The staff who promised to keep my passport from the bus driver said that it had not arrived yet. I asked her a few questions and I realized that she pretended to understood what I said. We needed a pen and paper. I wrote my situation by using every expression I could. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?” she asked. As you know, I did. She made me crazy. She put me through to the staff of TM in Nha Trang. After the call, she promised again that I could get my passport tomorrow. I asked more than ten times “Are you sure?” and she replied same times “I am sure”. So the problem was absolutely solved. Because of this, she smiled at me every time I showed up at TM.

In Vietnam, a passport is needed to check to a hotel. Since I didn’t have my passport, I stayed in the hotel that the staff’s relative manages. The hotel was perfect in every aspect except one thing : I was not able to see the beach in my room. It was a long day. Before going to bed, I read the guide book in order to plan what to do tomorrow. And I realized that I didn’t see all of the fairy stream area, just the beginning. We just walked outside of the fairy stream. I knew it! I decided to go to the fairy stream again.

My graduate trip : Day 3 - Part 1.

Day 3. Wonderland.

It was 5am when I woke up in the dirty blanket. After taking shower, I went downstairs. The staff grinned at me as usual. When I got to The Nha Trang Beach to see sunrise, many natives were already there. They were dancing, cycling, running or swimming. I saw two girls dashing into the sea as soon as they arrived by bicycle. Although the view that they were running on the coast was beautiful, I was afraid that they would have a heart attack. Anyway, the sunrise in The Nha Trang Beach was as fatastic as people say. Everyone on the beach looked so happy. I found a weird-looking building. I wanted to know what the building was for so I asked many people. However, nobody knew. I don’t know what that building is for even until now.

I thought that people who live under Communism were all unhappy. However, everyone I met in Vietnam was smiling at all times. I sat on the shore and thought about Communism for a long time. Since I don’t know much about politics, thinking about Communism made me confused. The sunrise was still beautiful when I left the beach.

I felt hungry, so I decided to go back to my place. I saw a group of travelers who waited for a bus to Mui-ne City in the front of Shin Café. Even though I was supposed to tour Nha Trang that day, I suddenly wanted to go to Mui-ne. I asked them when the bus leaved and I noticed that I had only one hour left. I began to run to TM Brother’s Café. While I was packing my stuff in the hotel, I was worried that I might not be on time. When I got to the reception of the hotel, the staff asked me to pay the fee in US Dollar. I did so. She told me the dollar I used was worn. She meant that she didn't want accept the bill because it looked fake. I tried to persuade her that it was not fake dollar. I explained to her how I got this money. In the end, I paid in Dong with anger. I didn’t understand why she wanted me to pay in US Dollar.

I was running out of time when I got out of TM. At that moment, I was starving. I thought I would die if I didn’t have breakfast before I got on the bus. So I stopped by a stall which sells fruits, drinks and bread. I bought bananas, my favorite fruit, and some bread. And I ran again. Fortunately, the bus was delayed. I saw an angry traveler having difficulty, communicating with the staff of the travel agency. I recalled a man who kept saying during the boat tour yesterday “What did he say?” Yes. I was not the only one who experienced difficulties communicating in English.

When I took the bus, I was surprised the bus was made in Korea. Signs and warnings were all written in Korean. I felt comfortable, but I didn’t know that my feeling would change to worry soon. I was checking how much my money I had left and what to do in Mui-ne while eating bananas. I noticed that I didn’t have my passport! I tried to think, "Where did I put my passport?" The truth was that I didn’t receive my passport from the reception desk when I left the hotel. I was in a panic. The bus was already one hour away from Nha Trang. It didn’t seem that there was a way to go back to the city. In the end, I realized that I had to deal with this problem in Mui-ne. I looked outside of the window to get rid of my worry. To my surprise, I started to think about other things. The scenery was so beautiful and similar with the countryside of Bacolod City in the Philippines. It seemed like that I was back in Bacolod. I indulged myself in the happy memories of the Philippines, until I got to Mui-ne.

My graduate trip : Day 2.

Day 2. Solitude.

When I woke up in the bus in the middle of night, I heard a man behind me snoring loudly. The beautiful scenery through the window made me emotional. The bus reached a rest area on the highway after a while. It was 2am. Still five hours left to Nha Trang. Everyone got off the bus to buy some snacks and fruits. Since I didn’t need to buy anything, I just wandered slowly around the resting place. There were many dried fruits, but nothing special in my opinion. I already saw these snacks many times in the Philippines. The resting time ended and the bus moved again towards Nha Trang. I couldn’t sleep again because of the beautiful scenery.

Finally, The bus arrived at Nha Trang at 7am. I was supposed to take a boat tour which usually starts at 8am. Since the guide book recommends “Mah Mah Rinh Café” for a boat tour, I needed to find Mah Mah Rinh quickly. I thought I could find the café easily if I asked for directions, but it did not turn out that way. Most people in Nha Trang didn’t speak English!! After I failed to find the way on my own, one fact popped in my head. ‘I am really good at body language.’ I tried to talk to people with body language. Yes! It worked the first time! I got to know the way to mah mah rinh, plus they also gave me some good advice. (Body language is amazing!) That was “to see the name of roads”. So smart! Why didn’t I think that? I had confidence not to get lost any more with this tip. I found mah mah rinh café. Unfortunately, it was closed. I needed to find another café.

The guide book says TM brother’s café is the biggest café in Nha Trang so I decided to go to that café. TM Brother’s Café was the biggest café I’ve ever seen. I asked many things to the prettiest staff in the café. She said “only for you” a lot with big smiles during the talk but actually she did nothing for me. Anyway, I was too tired to walk around at that time so I decided to book a room in TM. She said I needed to wait for more than one hour for a boat tour. You know it was a solo trip so that when free time arose suddenly, I didn’t know what to do. Luckily, I was really hungry so that I went out to try Banh mi which is a baguette stuffed with local vegetables. It was so good that from then on, it was my breakfast everyday during the trip in Vietnam. When I got back to the café, I was told the boat tour was delayed. So I went to the staff and had a conversation. She didn’t know much about the city she lives in. I gave up getting some information about the city from her right away.

Finally, the tour bus came. Many people on the bus I thought were Korean,. There were many couples in the bus. I didn’t know that this tour was for couples. I suddenly became lonely. My instinct told me that it would be lonely tour, and I felt a bit homesick at this time. I wished that I was with someone at that time.

Actually I cannot remember much about the boat tour. My memories were overwhelmed from the fantastic snorkeling experience. I saw such colorful corals and schools of many species of fish under the sea. It was the experience which I wanted to have since I was very young. I repeated to myself that “I don’t care even if I die right now”. One of my dreams has just come true.

During the dance time on the boat, the Vietnamese girls were openly aggressive. One of the girls approached me and danced ‘booby booby dance’ beside me. I didn’t dance with her even though she was pretty. This was because my head was already full of corals, no more space for her.

After the dance time, we had lunch on the boat and went to an aquarium. The appearance of the aquarium was truly magnificent. Because of that, my expectations were really high. Unfortunately, the aquarium quickly let me down. There were only some aquatic plants inside not very impressive, I realized why foreigners didn’t go to the aquarium. After watch, we went to a small island. There were many attractions on the island but I was just enjoying the wonderful sea view by sitting on a comfortable wooden chair. This was just what I wanted. I felt as if I became Richard of the movie “The Beach”. I promised myself that I will come again.

On the boat coming back to the café, everything looked so beautiful above the sea. When I got back to the café, the staff asked me how the tour was. I gave the "thumbs up" without a word. I still cannot believe it that this tour was only $7USD.

It was 7 pm when I decided to go out for dinner. I tried to find restaurants that the guide book recommended but the book was already out of date. None of the restaurants were there. I walked around downtown twice and went into one restaurant that looked luxurious and expensive. However, the food in the restaurant was not expensive. I ordered “Fried rice with fish” and it was quite nice. One waitress asked me many questions and she explained why she did. This was because she didn’t see solo Asian travelers. Although I saw many solo western travelers, I never saw even one solo Asian traveler during the trip. No wonder she thought I was unique. Anyway, it was hard to understand her accent so that I couldn’t reply properly.

The staff in the cafe told me that sunrise in Nha Trang is wonderful. I went to bed early so I could get up at 5 am.