Hanoi 2016 (Day 2 & 3)

Hello! I'm back to write about my Hanoi trip (since I'm being ignored) hahaha! Can barely remember the sequence of event, let's see... 

Day 2

A trip to the renowned Halong Bay was included in the package we booked with our hotel. We joined the Aclass Legend Cruise for this 2 days and 1 night trip. The pick up was around approximately 8:30 AM from our hotel (can't remember). 

It was a long journey, about 4 - 5 hours bus ride before reaching Halong City. You will see many cruises at the harbor, each operated by different companies. 

Saw this at a stop over rest point, wonder how it taste like...

Waiting to board our cruise! Many of them!

Leaving the harbor! That's another awesome looking cruise!

You'll basically be admiring these as you travel around the bay.

A smaller cruise, probably for day tours

I didn't have photos of our en-suite room but I assure you that the condition was great! Simply retract the curtains to enjoy views just like those in the photos above. Strong air-condition, clean with television and safe box. 

After checking out the rooms, we had lunch at a common area. Be prepared to share tables and food with other travelers if you are travelling in groups lesser than 4. It was a 5 or 6 course meal, service provide by the crew was impressive. Shortly after, we reached the first destination of the tour, a visit to some limestone cave.

Taking a smaller boat to the cave

This is the name of the cave.

Be prepared to climb some stairs. The view mid way wasn't too bad!

It was cooling inside. All you'll probably see are limestone and humans.

Limestone, baby and me. With creepy setting.

Beautiful view towards the end of the trail.

On the way back to the cruise.

Relax & chill!

We were supposed to head for some water activities like kayaking after the cave visit but was instead informed by the cruise operator that a typhoon warning had been issued by the Halong Bay authority and no cruise was allowed to remain in the bay overnight. However disappointed we might be, we had no choice but to head back to Old Quarters with a refund. Another 4 - 5 hours of bus ride.

We were so exhausted from the bus ride that we simply ordered food through room service for dinner, stayed in the room and researched on stuffs we could do the next day (since our Halong tour was shortened). By the way, the food from room service was actually bought across the street. Hahaha, awesome right?! 

Day 3

Despite our shortened cruise trip, day 3 turned out to be pretty damn fun! I mean any day with my love is fun! Hahaha! :D We visited a couple of museums today, 1 of them is the Ho Chi Minh Museum. Do visit this museum for history of Vietnam, you'll definitely gain some valuable knowledge. Note that I used "some" because most of the captions on the displays are in Vietnamese, hahaha!

Nice sunny day!

After our Hanoi Ethnology Museum, we headed to Lotte Center for some AC and shopping! You can find luxurious goods like Rolex, LV, etc in this mall. Spent some time in the super-mart grabbing food for friends and family in Singapore. We also went to the observatory deck for some breathtaking view of Hanoi City. I love it! 

View A.

View B.

View C.

These is also this Sky Walk thing with see through glass bottom.

Tada! (Combining our names. Ok, lame!)

Headed back to hotel to unload our stuffs and roamed around Old Quarters. I think we caught the puppet show near Hoan Kiem Lake too. Can't remember... Did we even had dinner that night? Got to check with baby again, hahaha! 

Our hotel is pretty near Sword Lake (Hoan Kiem Lake).
About 8 minutes walk?

Alright, that's all for now. Got to shower and hope onto bed! Till then!

Hanoi 2016 (Day 1)

It'd been sometimes since I'd traveled to a new country. I mean I'd been to Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia a couple of times in the past few years so going to Vietnam would be something new.

Don't know why I'm writing this post now. Maybe I just want to relive those beautiful moments. Isn't it strange that how we can be so happy together and all of sudden it's just bittersweet memories? This was just 3 weeks ago.

So we traveled to Hanoi for 5 days and it costed us approximately S$750 each (everything included). Air tickets was about S$320 (2 ways) and we signed up for a hotel plus tour package with B & B Hanoi Hotel for USD$199 (about S$270). You can check the deals out here. Pretty decent hotel with friendly staffs. It's located in Old Quarter and has plenty of nice cafes and restaurants in its vicinity.

Day 1

Ready to depart!

A random photo while on our way to the hotel.

Hanoi is 1 hour behind Singapore time and it took about 4 hours to get there? Can't remember, probably knocked out during the flight, haha.

The view from outside our room.

Went food hunting after we checked into our hotel and the first Vietnam delicacy we had was Bun Cha. You should have heard about it from social medias when Obama ate it when he dropped by Hanoi recently. We did not go to the same restaurant though.

It consists of some vegetables, rice noodle
and grilled pork in soup.

Dig in! Yummy!

The place was empty so we kind of  had the entire area to ourselves.

We didn't have any tours on the first day so we simply explored the Old Quarter. Did I mention that the temperature was intense at 37 degrees?! It was so warm that it felt like we were on one of our hikes! Hahaha!

Interesting name of a cafe near our hotel

Sword Lake. Just 8 minutes walk from our hotel.

I guess you can call this the central area of
Old Quarter.

Grabbed our SIM cards, chilled at some cafe and headed back to hotel in the evening. We were both drained from the early flight and the immense heat. Besides, we had to wake up early for our Halong Bay Tour the next day! I will write about it another time, not feeling so well now...

Let's go on more hikes!

Oh my... Looking back at the date of my last post, it'd been almost 4 months since anything happened in this space! Guess I should give a little update since I've some free time this weekend.

I've been working hard at my job, looking forward to July to see if I'll get any recognition from the company. I know, we shouldn't held expectations since it'll only lead to disappointment most of the times. 

Work aside, I've been very blessed to have met a wonderful girl. Yes, the one you saw in the previous post. There were ups and downs but I think it'd been mostly ups since our Bangkok trip. We've been going on hikes for a few weekends now and it was real fun! I feel that hiking through the woods with your significant other can be a great activity for couples. The long walks in the presence of fresh air and therapeutic views of nature proved to be a harmonious combination for spending quality time together. And of course, not forgetting the delicious brunch or lunch that we'll usually end our hike with :D 

I'm looking forward to go on many adventures with her in the future.

First hike at Tree Top Trail! 

Followed by awesome brunch at Five by five (Thomson V One)

Second hike at Bukit Timah's Summit Trail!
The slopes were quite challenging... But we made it :D
Rather short trail though

Lunch at The Missing Pan (Upper Bukit Timah).
Not impressed.

Awful smoked salmon.

MacRitchie Reservior Park! It is connected to Tree Top Trail.

Walked to Hendersons Wave from Hort Park! Pretty long trail.
We have to go back & continue from where we left off!

Awesome lunch at The Selfish Gene Cafe! (Craig Road)
Smoked salmon tasted nothing like the one from Missing Pan.

That's all for now! Stay tuned for more updates! Probaby from our upcoming Hanoi trip :D

Ciao!

Special Bangkok Trip

The older we gets, the hard it is to arrange for meet ups with friends, not to mention an overseas trip. I, however, had the privilege to make a short trip to Bangkok with not only some close friends, but together with the company of a very special woman of my life. 

It was the first time that my sweetheart and I did not stay at the Pratunam area when having a vacation at Bangkok. We stayed at Siam Novotel this time round. The area appeared to be much "developed" and somehow reminded me of 西门町 in 台北. 

We also had the luxury to experience a cooling Bangkok! The temperature fell to about 17 to 20 degrees celsius after a rain on Sunday Morning. Alright, it's time to let the photographs do the talking :D

Some snacks before take off!

"Don't stick your tongue out at me unless
you intend to use it on me!"

We got upgraded from Standard to Superior Room.
It's strange how they only have rain shower
but not bathtub in Superior Room.

We only managed to reach our hotel at around 9 pm. Had some simple street dishes for dinner and headed to Big C to buy snacks for our friends and relatives back home. We ended the night with a foot massage.

Random shot near our hotel

Day 2. Where else to go on a weekend in Bangkok? It'd got to be Chatuchak market! The sun wasn't as strong as compared to the previous times when I was there, but still hot. 

Waiting for my Frozen Choco Banana.

It's done! With rainbow!

A "must-eat" for tourist when visiting JJ Market.

The babes of the trip!

The hunks! 

Frozen Mochi - Milk, Green Tea, Cookies & Cream

After checking out the animals and roaming around aimlessly for awhile, we decided to "fall-back" to Union Mall. If only the cold wave had hit us on Saturday instead of Sunday, then we'd probably be able to "comb" the entire JJ Market, muahaha! 

MK Restaurant for lunch. Best roast duck!
"可以吃了吗?" 

Went back to hotel to freshen up and rest before heading to the popular Talad Rot Fai (directly translated as market train). 

Eat first! 

Pastries in night market

All lit up!
You can find retro automobiles in this building.

I like the blinking lights.

Don't you think we look great together?

Person told babe & me that there was a promotion:
5 bottles for 300 baht.
Got a shock when they came, turned out to be 500ml bottles.
Had to recall the team to help finish up.
XL & HP came over after touching down too.

That's all for day 2. 

Loot of the trip, limited edition
"KENDA" t-shirt :D
You jelly bro?

Babe and me went to Hello Kitty Cafe for brunch! 

The counter for ordering food and they will deliver to you.

Kitty shaped door frame

Kitty Winter decorations

The sitting area at level 2

Our orders are here!

This was when it started pouring and Bangkok turned as cold as Genting Highland. We waited for the rain to get lighter before heading to MBK to get some stuffs followed by True Love Cafe to play with the Huskies! We were only left with around 10 minutes to play with the dogs when we reached. Time slots were allocated so that the dogs can go back to chill in their air-conditioned home.

Don't we look like a happy family?
Ahahaha!

Fluffy fur!

I was like "hmmm" when the dog licked my face

An entry fee of 350 baht per person is applicable but this fee entitles you to a slice of ice cream cake/cake and a drink. Pretty reasonable I must say. 

Headed back to the hotel to change and met up with the rest at The Dome. It is a sky bar at the Lebua State Tower. 

At level 64! 

Told you the view was quite awesome!
美景配美人
My favorite photo of the trip

Last venue of the night was the Asiatique Water Front. Had dinner and roamed around a little. Nothing much except for some counterfeit watches, bars and a Ferris wheel! 

View from the Ferris Wheel

In our "private" cabin

And so, we have reached the last day of our trip. We saved that 1 place where everyone goes to when they visit Bangkok. The legendary Platinum Mall! And the final destination for the trip was After You Cafe.

Is this supposed to be famous?
Shibuya Toast.

That's about it for our first overseas trip together! Looking forward to more (: