Think this is going to be a long long entry, so without further ado, lets begin.. with more picts and less words..
Vietnam (Hanoi, Sapa+Lao Cai, Ha Long Bay)
The last entry ended very abruptly because the guide for Halong Bay came half an hour before schedule and 'Quick Quick' was the 2 words commonly heard thru out the trip. I felt like we were rush from places to places, why? I do not know. That's why, I guess.
Halong Bay (Day 5th and 6th), the supposedly 8th wonder of the world.. huh? From where one?? I also do not know. One word.
Disappointed!
The 3.5 hrs bus ride to and fro Hanoi was super bumpy. It was fun (ya rite) sitting on the last row because you get to fly off the seat every say 35 seconds. Luckily we only fly up and not forward else.. I do not want to think of that.. But it was an experience not to forget. Thinking back now, it was funny, the looks the last rowers gave each other after we flew up in unison.
Upon arriving at the dock of Halong city, we have to wait for our guide to BUY the tickets. Again, everyone started shooting 'You must be kidding me? Now then they buy the junk boat tickets?' Then its back to 'Quick quick' and we were ushered to our junk boat. There were tourist everywhere and anywhere and junk boat waiting for their next board of pigs ready to be slaughter. There must be hundreads of junk boat waiting at the dock and luckily it was big enough.
This 2D1N package cost us about USD$65 which includes a night onboard, all meals but no drinks and the journey to and from your hotel. It’s a "middle-class" junk boat, hence costing around USD$60+. The more expansive one with the crew wearing white uniform can cost up to USD$400+ while the cheaper one with no air conditioner can be as cheap as USD$40. So, that’s the average rate.
Anyway, upon boarding the junk boat, we leave the dock at 1pm, they serve us our seafood lunch (the steam fish was yummy, the prawns are not tt fresh but alrite lar), went to a cave (Hang Thien Cung) named 'Amazing cave'. It is call amazing for three reasons which I do not remember, but I know I’m amazed that it can be amazing. Sigh… But one thing, its large. Very large. (yeah.. amazing!!)
After which, we went for a kayak trip around the karst 'Turn right, turn right, turn right, into a cave' That was what our tourguide told us. So, we followed the other tourists infront of us and turn right turn right turn right into a cave. Ok, this time itis fantastic. Coming out from the other end of the cave, it opened into a large area enclosed by the karst and we can hear nature’s orchestra with surround sound here. Everyone was quietly listening to the melody of the different birds singing, finally a place where peace can be found. (Until a tourist decided to join in and started banging on his kayak ~_~) We went back, and rest on the deck, soaking in the last sun rays, enjoying the sunset and at the same time, waited for dinner.
Dinner was at 6.30pm, had a chat with an European girl and an Aussie girl bout ours and theirs trip so far. When discussing the topic on the locals here, everyone cldnt think of a proper word to describe them (because all of us dun want to be deem as complaining), so we just used the word 'different' on the viets. 'Yes, they are… just different. (with a shrug)..'Went back to our room at 8+, had a HOT WATER shower, read my book, wrote my journal and slept at about 12am. Didn't wake up for sunrise as I know it will be hidden by the rocks so I slept till 8am, woke up for breakfast, stay in the dinning area for the rest of the trip reading my book and finally finished it.
While heading back to Halong Bay, they made one last stop for us to go to a lookout which required a climb up say 30m. I stopped at midpoint upon hearing from our Malaysian friends which we met in SAPA that its not worth it. Sat there and read my book while ET climbed on. Call me lazy but come on, be realistic lar.
We reach Halong Bay at about 12pm, waited for an hour for our bus, had lunch at some nice restaurant and headed back to Hanoi. Finally reach our hotel at 4-5pm. Mr Ha(owner) was there to welcome us. We had heard so much about him and finally we get to meet him. He had heard of our complains on SAPA trip and wanted to hear from us personally. We told him and he said he will check on it.
Lets just leave it at that. He is a good manager and a good host is all I will say. He gave us a compensation by paying for our cab ride from the hotel to the airport on the following day.
That night, we went to have a seafood dinner. Crab, beer prawns, coconut prawns, seafood springrolls (super good cause its crispy on e outside, soft on the inside) and steam fish. Cost us about S$58 for both of us. Alright. Den we rush to the water puppets theatre for the 8pm show. (20k dong for normal, 40k dong for 1st class) We were 5 mins late and two words to describe 'Dun understand' But it’s a good experience. Lasted for about 40-50mins. Went back to our room and sleep the night away.
Last day (yippie!!)
Went out early in the morning for shopping at Hang Be mkt, along the streets, went for a massage (where we both have to strip naked in the same room. Think I wld rather go alone next time.. **shy**), shopping at Fivimart, Pho bo (beef noodles, 32k dong a bowl, viet coffee 10k or 18k dong) for dinner, went back to our hotel by 5.50pm and saw that the cab is already there(it was suppose to reach at 6pm). The staff at the hotel carried our bags into the cab while I went to the toilet and we were usher into the cab to drive us to the airport.
Along the way, we pass by streets that we had walked by during the last couple of days. Kinda sad that this holiday has come to an end, but at the same time, glad that I'm FINALLY on my way home. Saw the red sun sliding down and it reminded me of Cambodia's. They are similar. But well, we reach the airport and started stuffing our last minutes purchases into our bags. Luckily my bag was big enough or shall I say I didn't buy a lot so I do not need to be like someone to have to sit on the ziplock bag in Hanoi airport to squeeze out the air and maximize space in her bag.
Me? I was well composed, sitting there, looking all nice and cool, busy taking pictures of that unfortunate someone and making fun of her. What more can I do?
Finally we check in and started guessing if the plane will board half an hour in advance because this appears to be the culture in Viet. The tours all leave half an hour in advance to the point I started wondering if the time diff is 1hr or 1.5hr.
We went in with the knowledge that we only have 40k dong btw the two of us. Inside, everything is in USD. We started looking for something we can afford to eat as the plane flying at 8.45pm. It was so pathetic and while I was digging in my wallet to see if I can find some dong coins, I found USD$50! I was so happy that I started laughing out loud. Yeah, finally we can buy food. We were trying to get money for a 250g chips and upon finding cash, we bought the 500g bag and 2 cans of soft drinks at USD$1 each. Den we found a seat and had our 'dinner', wait for our flight and flew back to sing. Reach sing at 1am+.
Dad was there to fetch me. He waited for 1hr and I was surprised tt he nv learn frm previous experience not to reach earlier or same time as the flight is estimated to land. I bought Honey Choya and NZ Ice wine at the dutyfree. Hee.. Gonna find one fine day to sit back and sip my NZIW. Hahaha.. Dad drove to Yishun Nasi Lemak and we tabao a box back for supper (so unhealthy). Luckily I need not work the next day and can take my time to unpack a little, bath, load the picts and relax. Went to bed at 4am.
Friday (11/04/08) - Sing Flyer, that's another story to be told on another entry.
Lets just leave it at that. He is a good manager and a good host is all I will say. He gave us a compensation by paying for our cab ride from the hotel to the airport on the following day.
That night, we went to have a seafood dinner. Crab, beer prawns, coconut prawns, seafood springrolls (super good cause its crispy on e outside, soft on the inside) and steam fish. Cost us about S$58 for both of us. Alright. Den we rush to the water puppets theatre for the 8pm show. (20k dong for normal, 40k dong for 1st class) We were 5 mins late and two words to describe 'Dun understand' But it’s a good experience. Lasted for about 40-50mins. Went back to our room and sleep the night away.
Last day (yippie!!)Went out early in the morning for shopping at Hang Be mkt, along the streets, went for a massage (where we both have to strip naked in the same room. Think I wld rather go alone next time.. **shy**), shopping at Fivimart, Pho bo (beef noodles, 32k dong a bowl, viet coffee 10k or 18k dong) for dinner, went back to our hotel by 5.50pm and saw that the cab is already there(it was suppose to reach at 6pm). The staff at the hotel carried our bags into the cab while I went to the toilet and we were usher into the cab to drive us to the airport.
Along the way, we pass by streets that we had walked by during the last couple of days. Kinda sad that this holiday has come to an end, but at the same time, glad that I'm FINALLY on my way home. Saw the red sun sliding down and it reminded me of Cambodia's. They are similar. But well, we reach the airport and started stuffing our last minutes purchases into our bags. Luckily my bag was big enough or shall I say I didn't buy a lot so I do not need to be like someone to have to sit on the ziplock bag in Hanoi airport to squeeze out the air and maximize space in her bag.
Me? I was well composed, sitting there, looking all nice and cool, busy taking pictures of that unfortunate someone and making fun of her. What more can I do?
Finally we check in and started guessing if the plane will board half an hour in advance because this appears to be the culture in Viet. The tours all leave half an hour in advance to the point I started wondering if the time diff is 1hr or 1.5hr.
We went in with the knowledge that we only have 40k dong btw the two of us. Inside, everything is in USD. We started looking for something we can afford to eat as the plane flying at 8.45pm. It was so pathetic and while I was digging in my wallet to see if I can find some dong coins, I found USD$50! I was so happy that I started laughing out loud. Yeah, finally we can buy food. We were trying to get money for a 250g chips and upon finding cash, we bought the 500g bag and 2 cans of soft drinks at USD$1 each. Den we found a seat and had our 'dinner', wait for our flight and flew back to sing. Reach sing at 1am+.
Dad was there to fetch me. He waited for 1hr and I was surprised tt he nv learn frm previous experience not to reach earlier or same time as the flight is estimated to land. I bought Honey Choya and NZ Ice wine at the dutyfree. Hee.. Gonna find one fine day to sit back and sip my NZIW. Hahaha.. Dad drove to Yishun Nasi Lemak and we tabao a box back for supper (so unhealthy). Luckily I need not work the next day and can take my time to unpack a little, bath, load the picts and relax. Went to bed at 4am.
Friday (11/04/08) - Sing Flyer, that's another story to be told on another entry.
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