First day of our trip was.. Intense - in a few different ways. Physically, mentally and emotionally.
05:15AM
Never had to pack and bring over 110KG worth of baggage for a trip.
I was the one who came up with the idea of using these fashionable bags to store most of the children clothes and toys cuz I thought they were damn hardy but I WAS WRONG cuz two of the bags actually tore due to the weight and then the zip spoilt so everything fell out.
What a way to start a trip 😂
Plus, we look like we're relocating back to our hometown in Vietnam or smth.
We had initially collected about 150KG worth of clothes which obviously exceeded the check in baggage limit, not having mention our personal bags full of gears.
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| Mel still can secretly giggle behind cuz she know confirm exceed the weight but I still act blur |
7 checked in bags in total; 2 bags storing our gears each to last us from the city in Ho Chi Minh to the mountains in Sapa, and the remaining 6 are packed to the brim with children clothes and toys. The check in counter staff was shocked to see the amount of things we were bringing over but she was the sweetest lady who helped us tape our freaking fail torn bags too.
We even resorted to stuffing some into our Arai helmets to bring as much as we could over 😂.
Despite being allowed to exceed the baggage limits by quite a bit, and carrying on as much as we could, we still had to leave some clothes behind and donated it Salvation Army instead.
I had to wear my riding boots because my bags had literally zero space left to fit anything. Not even tissue paper.
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| pc: flyscoot |
And off we scooted from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh!
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| pc: pastpresentforward |
08:23AM
After grabbing some shut eye during 2 hours+ of flight time, we arrived at Ho Chi Minh airport and the first question I received from the Customs officer wasn't the usual
"How long do you stay in Vietnam?" or
"You come here for holiday?"
but
"Your mother or father is from Vietnam?"
😂😂😂
My last name, Phan, happens to be common among Vietnamese, hence he thought there was a chance I was local haha but nope, I'm pure Singaporean Chinese, born and raised there :)
Next, Mel and I braced our arm muscles to carry all the baggage off the belt.
Two petite girls who aren't exactly strong, struggling to carry all the bags while laughing and dropping it halfway while getting up the trolley, it was hilarious. The uncles standing at the side also just laugh only.
Well, what matters is we managed to collect all of it!
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| Luan, Bang, Mel, Myself |
Went to check out their very cool container office located in the heart of Ho Chi Minh city and there, we have our rides for the day waiting for us - The BMW R1200GS.
This adventure motorcycle weighs more than 5 times my weight, and man it just looks huge!
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| Our fellow Singaporean Tommy Lee from Touratech gave us some really helpful tips on riding the GS and in Vietnam |
Neither Mel nor I have ridden it before, nor are we used to handling such heavy tourers, but Touratech Vietnam thinks we can handle it so yes! We're going to ride it to the orphanage through the insane traffic.
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| Found some adorable newborn puppies before moving off |
No doubt we were intimidated by the size of the beemer but wait a minute.
Boy.. Do we look good on the GS or whaaaat? Hahahaha.
The second we entered the main road, we were engulfed by a sea of motorcycles. Thank God for tinted visors to hide those nervous eyes.
Looking all calm and cool on the outside but underneath that helmet, I was screaming through our the Cardo comm set like some chicken while Mel was quietly trying to calm her nerves. HAHA.
Learning to handle the BMW R1200GS in Ho Chi Minh's erratic traffic was pretty intense. The adventure bike was surprisingly smooth when we're on the move, steering felt light and easy to manoeuvre too but it was the that traffic got me gritting my teeth.
There was so much going on at once; people crossing the road, cars cutting across your lane, bikes carrying heavy loads of goods riding in the opposite direction, dog/chicken dashing across etc.. And all I was trying to do was ride straight to the orphanage.
It took us 30 minutes to navigate through 10KM but most importantly, we arrived at the Christina Noble Children Foundation (CNCF) orphanage safely!
So thankful to also have Touratech Vietnam join us along for this meaningful visit and assisting us with transporting all the donated goods over.
Giving is not just about making a donation.
It's about making a difference.
I didn't know what to expect at my first orphanage visit but during the three hour visit at CNCF, I've learnt that they're actually so much more than just a children's home.
It's a Non-Profit Organization (NPO) founded by Christina since 1991 that not only provides a loving home for thousands of vulnerable abandoned children,
but they heavily invest in educational activities, vocational training, and job placements to give these kids a bright future as they strive to maximise the potential of each child.
They're also the only one in Ho Chi Minh who provides medical care and nutritional rehabilitation.
Social and community development programmes are constantly being introduced to help these kids adapt well in society. All of these are things that no child should ever be deprived of.
Witnessing the efforts of the volunteers at CNCF has taught me how much each of us as an individual could contribute in one way or another, to help change the lives of these children.
Learning about how so many children had to grow up in heavily disadvantaged environments didn't only encourage me to explore ways on how we could play our part in protecting these vulnerable young ones, but it also served as a strong reminder to never take what we have for granted.
I'm sharing all of the above on my own personal accord because I truly believe that every child deserves an opportunity to learn, grow, live and be loved.
After all, we were all once a child too.
There's so much more work that can be done for the less fortunate but with each and every one of our efforts put in, we make progress while countless lives are being transformed.
If you'd like to learn more on how you could help a child in need, you can check out this site.
Still digesting everything I learnt and saw at CNCF, we returned back to Touratech Vietnam's office to pick up the two KTM 390 Duke that we have originally rented from KTM Vietnam for our entire ride through Vietnam.
If you're confident to take on the BMW R1200GS, Touratech Vietnam offers customised tour that includes the bike rental. Rates are subjected to the tour package so feel free to check them out.
Thank you guys for arranging the BMW R1200GS and showing us that small girls can ride big bikes too! Hehe.
What a way to start off our #ridevietnam trip!
Time to sleep.
Tomorrow, the ride up North begins!
[Singapore. Ho Chi Minh.]
[Mileage Clocked: 23KM]
[Terrain: Tarmac Roads]
[Traffic: Erratic, Congested - Jammed up like sardine]
[Terrain: Tarmac Roads]
[Traffic: Erratic, Congested - Jammed up like sardine]
[Temperature/Weather: 26°C/Sunny/Humid]
Next stop: Da Lat