Back to Malaysia
Finally, the 16-day year-end trip ends. Today, 4 Jan 2008, I took a 0830 bus from Singapore to Sunway. At 2pm, I was already at home!
The end of trip indicates the beginning of sharing, either via words or photos that actually complement each other. Before the "big project" starts, I'd like to provide a quick preview of the past 2 weeks.
Honestly, am feeling sick just now when I was trying very hard to scan through all the photos (taken by me and friends). Last 2 days, I started to drink a lot of water, and some bitter stuff at night (in Singapore) to suppress the seems-like-coming illness.
20 Dec 2008 (Day 1)
Flew from KL to Hanoi. My university mate, Binh, picked us (Andrew, Ivy, Wyng and I) from the Noi Bai airport using his 7-persons car. He bought a bouquet of flowers to welcome us.
Haan and Binh at the Noi Bai Airport, Hanoi.
Was a bit surprised. All this while, no one has ever given me any flower at the airport. So... took a photo to proof this super rare moment :) That night, we checked in to Thuy Lam Hotel, had dinner nearby, bought a local SIM card and walked around the Old Quarter area.
People said, do not eat fish in Vietnam, but our first dish there was grilled fish. Luckily, nothing bad happened!!
21-22 Dec 2008 (Day 2 & 3)
Joined the Halong Bay tour by APT Travel (USD35). In the morning Binh brought us to have Pho (noodle, pronounced as "fur") near the roadside. Nice experience.. we were so excited.
5 bowls for 50K VND (Vietnam Dong, appx RM10). The environment was a bit... not so clean.
Could you believe that at around 8am, the auntie already sold us the last 5 bowls and ready to go home?
While waiting for the tour bus to pick us, we just snapped the surroundings. A lady came over to say "photo, no money" then I just took a photo with her.
"Photo, yes banana!"
After that she wanted me to buy bananas from her, 10K VND (appx RM2) per banana. Crazy~~ for sure I didn't do that. Just gave her few mandarins and asked the Guest House staff to help ask her away.
We stayed a night on the boat. Tried kayaking and did some caves visit during the 2 days, apart from enjoying the nice Halong Bay view. It could be better, if there was blue sky decorated with white clouds.
I knew Wyng for about 11 years. This is our first photo taken together.
23-24 Dec 2008 (Day 4 & 5)
Sapa was the next destination. We spent 2 nights on train, 1 night at the Sapa town.
We were in a 4-person cabin going to Lao Cai, and were in a 6-person cabin leaving Lao Cai.
During our visit, it was around Christmas. The weather was cold and misty. We trekked the village and I fell down twice, inviting lotsa dirt to my jeans. I'm kinda abnormal. I like to take shower (hot one, of course) at cold weather... to make myself warm :)
Thick clothes were out for use! I do not miss winter at all, I prefer hot to cold weather.
Believer it or not, 5 of us consumed 2kg of grilled pork!
Very Europe feel, right? :P
Got crazy at the Lao Cai train station, before leaving the place back to Hanoi. Ivy and I were actually feeling dizzy and nauseous on the way to the station. But... photography could cure everything!!
25 Dec 2008 (Day 6)
Met Huong (pronounced as "H'ng") for Christmas Lunch and Dinner. By the way, we walked around the Hanoi city.
Not all Vietnamese girls are ugly.. this is the proof.
Huong (right) cooked nice food for us and brought us to try a lot of truly Vietnamese things during our stay there. She met Wyng before in Singapore. She also helped us book some accommodations and buy train tickets from the train station (avoid the additional charges applied by agents).
26 Dec 2008 (Day 7)
Had a day trip to Tam Coc, the so-called Halong Bay on the land.
Three photography geeks had a similar pose.
At night, said bye to Andrew and Ivy. They took night train to Hue. Wyng and I stayed overnight at Huong's house.
27 Dec 2008 (Day 8)
Left Hanoi for Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Walked around the HCMC from 2-9pm. Seven hours!!
Ben Thahn Market, HCMC.
More photos will be shown later. No time to process and edit. I mentioned that Community Hall, Central Post Office and the Notre Dame Cathedral are beautiful. I remember...
28 Dec 2008 (Day 9)
Spent 12.5 hours on the bus travelling from HCMC to Siem Reap. Slept, woke up, slept, woke up all along the way. Reach Siem Reap and checked in accommodation (not pre-booked) at around 8pm.
29-31 Dec 2008 (Day 10-12)
Bought a 3-day Angkor Wat pass and visited the temples. Also, we walked around the town to try different food and shoot candid photos of the locals.
It's very unlikely that I could look so small, right?
Thanks to my zoom lens. I spotted something from an old man and 2 little girls. This is never introduced in the Lonely Planet travel guide.
On the last day of 2008, we stayed at the Pub Street till 12am+. Nothing too special there, just very little kindergarten-level fireworks. Some more there was short period of blackout before 12am!!
Remember that Cambodia is a poor country... which I feel they do quite well in the tourism development.
1-3 Jan 2009 (Day 13-15)
Flew to Singapore. On the first day, stayed at home for clothes washing, mail checking, photos transferring and rest! I started to check work email :) but read only specific emails.
Luckily, no negative feeling arose from that action. The next days, walked around the city, tried the famous bakeries. Also met with a fortune teller friend to let him say something about me.
See the giraffes behind?
On Saturday, we spent 5.5 hours at the Singapore Zoo... then did some local and tourist things. Walked a lot.. though we also frequently swapped the EZ Link Card for MRT and buses.
4 Jan 2009 (Day 16)
Left Singapore early morning and arrived at home in the afternoon. This is also the "last day" for my current sport shoes. Will wear the new pair of shoes tomorrow onwards.
The holes have got bigger..
There are also "crocodile mouths" for both left and right shoes. Definitely the time to go now...
Special thanks to Feng also, for lending this useful bag to me, so that I didn't have to carry another bag for my camera gears (1 body, 2 lenses).
Really really tired now. Need to go to sleep. Haven't even packed my stuff to go to work tomorrow.
Go to work again, should I feel happy or sad?
Update on 13/6/2009: Summary of the trip write-up can be found here.
The end of trip indicates the beginning of sharing, either via words or photos that actually complement each other. Before the "big project" starts, I'd like to provide a quick preview of the past 2 weeks.
Honestly, am feeling sick just now when I was trying very hard to scan through all the photos (taken by me and friends). Last 2 days, I started to drink a lot of water, and some bitter stuff at night (in Singapore) to suppress the seems-like-coming illness.
20 Dec 2008 (Day 1)
Flew from KL to Hanoi. My university mate, Binh, picked us (Andrew, Ivy, Wyng and I) from the Noi Bai airport using his 7-persons car. He bought a bouquet of flowers to welcome us.
Haan and Binh at the Noi Bai Airport, Hanoi.Was a bit surprised. All this while, no one has ever given me any flower at the airport. So... took a photo to proof this super rare moment :) That night, we checked in to Thuy Lam Hotel, had dinner nearby, bought a local SIM card and walked around the Old Quarter area.
People said, do not eat fish in Vietnam, but our first dish there was grilled fish. Luckily, nothing bad happened!!
21-22 Dec 2008 (Day 2 & 3)
Joined the Halong Bay tour by APT Travel (USD35). In the morning Binh brought us to have Pho (noodle, pronounced as "fur") near the roadside. Nice experience.. we were so excited.
5 bowls for 50K VND (Vietnam Dong, appx RM10). The environment was a bit... not so clean.Could you believe that at around 8am, the auntie already sold us the last 5 bowls and ready to go home?
While waiting for the tour bus to pick us, we just snapped the surroundings. A lady came over to say "photo, no money" then I just took a photo with her.
"Photo, yes banana!"After that she wanted me to buy bananas from her, 10K VND (appx RM2) per banana. Crazy~~ for sure I didn't do that. Just gave her few mandarins and asked the Guest House staff to help ask her away.
We stayed a night on the boat. Tried kayaking and did some caves visit during the 2 days, apart from enjoying the nice Halong Bay view. It could be better, if there was blue sky decorated with white clouds.
I knew Wyng for about 11 years. This is our first photo taken together.23-24 Dec 2008 (Day 4 & 5)
Sapa was the next destination. We spent 2 nights on train, 1 night at the Sapa town.
We were in a 4-person cabin going to Lao Cai, and were in a 6-person cabin leaving Lao Cai.During our visit, it was around Christmas. The weather was cold and misty. We trekked the village and I fell down twice, inviting lotsa dirt to my jeans. I'm kinda abnormal. I like to take shower (hot one, of course) at cold weather... to make myself warm :)
Thick clothes were out for use! I do not miss winter at all, I prefer hot to cold weather. 
Believer it or not, 5 of us consumed 2kg of grilled pork! 
Very Europe feel, right? :P 
Got crazy at the Lao Cai train station, before leaving the place back to Hanoi. Ivy and I were actually feeling dizzy and nauseous on the way to the station. But... photography could cure everything!! 25 Dec 2008 (Day 6)
Met Huong (pronounced as "H'ng") for Christmas Lunch and Dinner. By the way, we walked around the Hanoi city.
Not all Vietnamese girls are ugly.. this is the proof. Huong (right) cooked nice food for us and brought us to try a lot of truly Vietnamese things during our stay there. She met Wyng before in Singapore. She also helped us book some accommodations and buy train tickets from the train station (avoid the additional charges applied by agents).
26 Dec 2008 (Day 7)
Had a day trip to Tam Coc, the so-called Halong Bay on the land.
Three photography geeks had a similar pose.At night, said bye to Andrew and Ivy. They took night train to Hue. Wyng and I stayed overnight at Huong's house.
27 Dec 2008 (Day 8)
Left Hanoi for Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Walked around the HCMC from 2-9pm. Seven hours!!
Ben Thahn Market, HCMC.More photos will be shown later. No time to process and edit. I mentioned that Community Hall, Central Post Office and the Notre Dame Cathedral are beautiful. I remember...
28 Dec 2008 (Day 9)
Spent 12.5 hours on the bus travelling from HCMC to Siem Reap. Slept, woke up, slept, woke up all along the way. Reach Siem Reap and checked in accommodation (not pre-booked) at around 8pm.
29-31 Dec 2008 (Day 10-12)
Bought a 3-day Angkor Wat pass and visited the temples. Also, we walked around the town to try different food and shoot candid photos of the locals.
It's very unlikely that I could look so small, right? 
Thanks to my zoom lens. I spotted something from an old man and 2 little girls. This is never introduced in the Lonely Planet travel guide. On the last day of 2008, we stayed at the Pub Street till 12am+. Nothing too special there, just very little kindergarten-level fireworks. Some more there was short period of blackout before 12am!!
Remember that Cambodia is a poor country... which I feel they do quite well in the tourism development.
1-3 Jan 2009 (Day 13-15)
Flew to Singapore. On the first day, stayed at home for clothes washing, mail checking, photos transferring and rest! I started to check work email :) but read only specific emails.
Luckily, no negative feeling arose from that action. The next days, walked around the city, tried the famous bakeries. Also met with a fortune teller friend to let him say something about me.
See the giraffes behind?On Saturday, we spent 5.5 hours at the Singapore Zoo... then did some local and tourist things. Walked a lot.. though we also frequently swapped the EZ Link Card for MRT and buses.
4 Jan 2009 (Day 16)
Left Singapore early morning and arrived at home in the afternoon. This is also the "last day" for my current sport shoes. Will wear the new pair of shoes tomorrow onwards.
The holes have got bigger.. 
There are also "crocodile mouths" for both left and right shoes. Definitely the time to go now... 
Special thanks to Feng also, for lending this useful bag to me, so that I didn't have to carry another bag for my camera gears (1 body, 2 lenses). Really really tired now. Need to go to sleep. Haven't even packed my stuff to go to work tomorrow.
Go to work again, should I feel happy or sad?
Update on 13/6/2009: Summary of the trip write-up can be found here.
6 comments:
waiting for your "big project", haha! don't feel stressed ah...
trying hard now, kun.. hope can achieve more over the weekend..
like the angkor. hope to go there sometime soon :) oh btw u went to see a fortune teller? wow! where? hehe
the fortune teller is a friend in Singapore..
a friend who does full time or part time? i heard of 2 very popular ones here!
think is full time, he also sees 'feng shui' for others, and got a lot of other 'kang tao' for sources of income :)
Post a Comment