Vietnam Trip Review # 2: 11-18 May 08
Hanoi is a pretty busy town bustling with life and activities. Everybody seems to be in a great hurry to go here, there and everywhere and you see lots of locals zooming around on motorbikes. Motorbikes is the best means of transportation, but it is also scary the way you see the bikes zooming around. The result is very bad air pollution- you smell motor fumes on every street and the locals often wear masks to filter the air they breathe.
Am amazed that the locals can just eat and drink on the sidewalk (despite the air pollution), much like Singapore in the 60s??? Still we have come a long way.
We saw some quail (???) legs sticking out of Coca Cola cans. They look yucky to me, but I'm sure they appeal to some.
You can also see some of the locals wearing the famous straw hat, lugging baskets of fruit, local produce along the streets to sell. I suppose that is part of the appeal- a busy city that still keeps some tradition in the way of life.
On one side of the town, you have the old quarters- little dilapidated shop houses selling all sorts of stuff. See the stuff we saw being sold: Tombstones, Milk Powder, Lacquer ware (which Vietnam is very famous for), Tricycles, Shoes (but not the cat).
This is where you will find Shiseido Shoes,
Adidad Shirts and a whole lot of counterfeit goods.
The city is charming with french architectual that beautifies the place as well. The opera house here is a remnant of the period of french colonial rule.
And finally, these are the spoils of my trip:
2 windmills for Kristen, 1 pair of shoes for me, 3 pairs of shoes for CW which is amazing, cos' usually I'm the one that's buying stuff. 2 DVDs and 2 box sets (actually cheaper than China!), 7 T-shirts for me, 2 T-shirts for Kristen, 1 pair of jeans (do you know they only stock up size 25 jeans? I've never felt so fat until now!), 4 photo albums for ppl and ourselves, 3 sets of coasters for colleagues, 7 boxes for friends and ourselves, 5 silk scarves for relatives and myself and 3 bags of chips for colleagues.
:D
Vietnam Trip Review # 1: 11-18 May 08
Just went to Vietnam, Hanoi, on an official work trip, but managed to extend a few days for holiday. :)
Vietnam is considered a relatively cheap place to go- you can get relatively cheap food, lodging and do a reasonable amount of shopping on a relatively small budget and still have a great time. The average wage of a new graduate is US$100, so it is a pretty low standard of living, compared to Singapore.
As part of the conference, they brought us to
Halong Bay enroute the trip to see a coal mine. Which was quite cool. Some pics of Halong Bay shown here.
I thought Halong Bay was actually a pretty big area, compared to Milford Sound and just as scenic, but the road to Milford is definitely more scenic. But the limestone cave looks pretty much like any other limestone cave to me- all the formations look like jelly fish and other stuff. The cost of the boat ride is 40,000 vietnam dong, which is roughly S$3.63 and extremely good value for money for the 4hr boat ride. But that of course doesn't include the 4hr drive from Hanoi to Halong City.
They paid for us to be housed in a pretty good hotel,
Melia Hotel for the conference and this is probably the best part about the conference. I could never afford to stay there if I had to pay for it. Here is the view from my hotel room. Not that bad huh?
After my conference, CW came to join me. We meant to check-in to
Zephyr Hotel as recommended by a colleague, only to find out that the travel agent had (without any reason whatsoever) cancelled my booking. So we were stuck, and Zephyr Hotel made us pay for the cost of calling and faxing the travel agent. I call that bad service. I can see why trip advisor had so many bad reviews on the unfriendliness of the hotel staff.
Anyway, the travel agent finally got us a room at
Anise Hotel, which was cheaper, surprisingly good and actually in a better location- it was near the shopping area and hence more convenient. Meanwhile I am still seeking compensation for the difference in hotel rates and an explanation on why they cancelled my reservation and left me stranded. Some photos of my room in Anise Hotel shown here- pretty nice contemporary decor.
We tried this restaurant called Bobby Chinn which was highly recommended by travel books. I doubt the vietnamese can afford to eat at this high-end restaurant, but it was very nice indeed. The place was beautifully decorated and draped with red cloth banners and waitresses spoke good english.
The food was great and they even celebrated CW's birthday by producing a small chocolate dessert with a candle. I guess that is what you pay for at such a high end restaurant. All in all, a meal there cost me US$70 for 2.
Trip Review # 4 - New Zealand, South Island
After leaving Milford Sound, we headed for Wanaka. Wanaka is a small town very near Queenstown and is what I would describe as an expensive residential area. There is a beautiful Lake Wanaka there and I'm sure rich people pay to have lake-front houses there. Isn't the lake beautiful?
We stopped by at this place called The Puzzling World of Wanaka, where they had these whacky displays.
This is a Roman toilet and the painting looks almost like the real thing.
Then there is this display that challenges your perception: As you walk from one end to the other, you seem to be shrinking in size. How did they do it? The camera is still in the same spot, so I would think that maybe one corner of the room is nearer, creating a bigger size effect. Pretty interesting. I understand the same methos is used for some of the filming for Lord of the Rings to make the Hobbits seem smaller.
And of course slanted staircases which totally warp up your sense of verticality. He's actually standing straight as a plump line, but you think he is standing in a slanted angle.
And this is Queenstown- the city of extreme sports. Unfortunately we couldn't really try the extreme sports, but we did walk around the town which had pretty nice shops.
After that, we drove to Mt Cook Village which was beautiful. These are the type of views that you get along the road as you head towards there...
Although it was autumn, it got so cold that there was actually ice on the car which formed overnight.
And after these breath-taking views of the mountains, we drove back to Christchurch and flew back to Singapore.
Trip Review # 3 - New Zealand, South Island
We next drove to the famous Milford Sound. Milford Sound is considered one of the most scenic places in the world and someone had a vision to build a road there so that one no longer needs to do the week long hike there and back. And along the way, of course were beautiful views of the dramatic landscape and mountains.
Beautiful Mildford Sound...
One of the waterfalls that Milford Sound is famous for- some od them are over 150m high which is abt 50 storeys. And we got near enough to feel the spray on our faces.
We were lucky that it rained a few days ago and hence there were waterfalls to be seen. Usually in Autumn, things were dry as a bone.
One of the birds native to New Zealand only, called Kea. Apparently these are very destructive birds- once they decide to destroy your car, they can literally wreck it- peel off the rubber, then scratch the paint work, destroy the uphostry, etc.
Finally we reached Milford Sound. Beautiful how the water mirrors the mountains...
