Christmas colors on the sunset deck of our junk at hazy Halong Bay

I didn't like Hanoi very much to be honest, and this time round we also had a series of unlucky/ unpleasant little incidents on the trip... :( Sadly my experiences with Vietnam haven't been that great; also ended up with like a bad throat/ nose due to the bad air, so I was pretty thankful to be back in clean and green SG heh.

Later part of this week was split btwn some bridal stuff and house renovation business. I got rather upset with the bridal studio's pricing policy for my made-to-measure evening gown (design with too many folds = $, two diff colors on gown = $, extra bow = $, cheongsam cut = $, extra crystals =$$$). On hindsight, I shld have asked more questions before taking up the package, but oh well sometimes you really wouldn't have known better beforehand. 

Quite a bit of the old house have also been stripped free of old wall/floor tiles; and it was interesting to see all the hidden pipes/ wires beneath the false ceilings and such.. This evening we also visited a SMEG showroom to checkout their bright and retro-looking fridges; but concluded that chio things can be rather impractical... so will prob give up idea of buying a very chio fridge and in turn try to settle for a relatively chio but more functional and reasonably-priced one. The Harvey Norman salesman at Millenia Walk also gave us a very informative overview on induction cookers, ovens and dishwashers... but need to do more homework and research bit more on which brands are more reliable/ durable... The 3 main contenders for the kitchen appliances (esp a good oven!) I want to get are BOSCH vs BRANDT vs ELECTROLUX... recommendations are most welcome :)