Chill weekend

It's Monday again...

At least I had a good weekend which started on Friday night where I had a pretty decent buffet at the Equitorial Hotel (one of the Singapore Business Group gatherings) with a spread consisting of sushi, sashimi, chicken curry, prata, mee rebus, BBQ chicken wings amongst other things. It’s always nice to taste Singapore cuisine away from home! I ended off the evening by gambling away US$50 at a roulette table at the hotel and going for an hour long foot and body massage. What a relaxing way to end a long week.

I woke up on Saturday morning to the Scripps National Spelling Bee on ESPN (what da…spelling is now a sport?!). It’s amazing how those kids can figure out how to spell obscure words like periegesis, mycetophagous, sponson, pergelisol, and prosciutto. I tried to play along but found out that I would have been eliminated in the first or second round. Anyway, the Bee is not so much of a spectator sport (especially when it makes me feel dumb by watching it) so I turned my attention to sleep again. I figured that I probably wouldn’t use any of those words in this life anyway, and even if I do, I would leave the spell check to my trusty Microsoft Word.

At night, Linh and I tried to catch The Interpreter (I know I know, movies here are pretty old) at the one cinema that screened English movies in English. Unfortunately, the seating capacity of the theater is pretty limited so only the front row seats were available. Obviously, we rejected the idea and spent the movie money on purchasing DVDs instead.

It was a rather lazy Sunday, not unlike many others. Linh and I had a breakfast of bun bo hue (beef noodles Hue-style) and did some grocery shopping at a shop selling Hanoi specialties. We cooked chicken vermicelli and I made a mess trying to chop up the whole chicken. At least it tasted good... After that, I went over to Linh’s place for a nap and dinner.

Eat sleep eat sleep watch movie eat sleep – that pretty much sums up my typical weekend!

Weekend food:

Rabbit, wanton noodles, snails, clams, shellfish, duck’s embryonic egg, beef noodles, chicken vermicelli, spring rolls and a juicy pomelo.

Weekend movies:

Joe Dirt: In this comedy, David Spade plays an idiot who was abandoned as a kid and recounts how he spent most of his life searching for his parents while taking on blue-collar jobs along the way. Not too funny. 3.5/10 popcorns.

Madagascar: Cute little animation flick about a zebra, lion, hippo and giraffe who get shipped off to the wild and end up in Madagascar. Look out for the penguins – they are damn cute. 7/10 popcorns.

Hotel Rwanda: Don Cheadle delivers a stunning performance in this true story about a hotel manager who provides a sanctuary for a thousand or so Tutsi refugees by sheltering them in his hotel amidst the civil unrest and violence in Rwanda. Good stuff. 9/10 popcorns.

Weekend highlight:

On Saturday night, I rode on Linh’s motorbike around Phu My Hung in Saigon South. The traffic is light and the roads are wide – conditions for me to be an accident-free rider! My riding difficulties include having trouble balancing when starting to accelerate and change gears, and also, maneuvering through traffic. No way will I ride around the area where I live or work. Not yet at least…I need more practice!