Family trips

Our little princess Abigail has been traveling with us since 4 months old. Stay tune for more of our family trips!

Honeymoon in Maldives

A place where romance begins... And there is never a blue as beautiful as the waters of Maldives!

Sinchow Vietnam!

Go to Vietnam. Indulge yourself in the peaceful Hmong villages in Sapa, or experience cruising at The New 7 Wonders of Nature - Halong Bay.

Go West to U.S.

Napa Valley! San Francisco! And Monterey!.

Bali oh Bali~

We've done it 3 times!! Couple trip 2009, friends trip 2010, and family trip 2014.

Hello Macau, the oriental Portugal

Walking the oriental Europe. Remember to taste the most authentic Portuguese tarts!.

London

I was just a touch-and-go tourist in a short 3 days...

Babymoon in Boracay

Sea, sand, sun. And a new family member in my tummy!

Marrakech, a hidden jewel

Of palm groves, fire dancing, and dromedaries.

Siem Reap - day and night

Back to the ancient kingdom and find the tomb raider in you.

Home Cooking

Just some recipes and home cuisine for my family and baby.

Welcome to my blog!! 欢迎到访!!

No matter how you get here, I wanna say a big THANK YOU for visiting my blog. Do come back often for more! Blessed because we're given the chance to share. Thank you for visiting! 无论你是刻意或者不刻意的来到这里,都进来坐坐、聊聊天吧。幸福不是必然的,而是懂得分享人生的喜悦。谢谢到访!



Showing posts with label **Vietnam 。越南. Show all posts
Showing posts with label **Vietnam 。越南. Show all posts

June 9, 2020

Top Vietnam Popular Destinations For Malaysian

It's easy and fast for Malaysian to traveling to Vietnam as they are many direct flights from major city in Malaysia. Most of the travellers will consider Air Asia because of its unique route, flight frequency, and competitive pricing. You can consider to plan your holiday after covid-19 pandemic. You can check Vietnam tour packages here.

Northern of Vietnam 
Hanoi - you can tour around nearby cities including Halong Bay, Sapa, Tam Coc, Trang Anh for 5-7 days. You must visit to Halong Bay as this is listed as one of the world heritage unesco site. Choose to stay 1 night in cruise definitely is a good experience. Hanoi tour packages 

Halong bay cruise
Ha Long Bay
hanoi tour
Hanoi City
sapa tour
Sapa
tam coc tour
Tam Coc

Central of Vietnam
Da Nang - 5-6 days is good enough for Malaysian, this place is most recent booming place as everyone want to visit there because of the golden bridge (Ba Na hill). This city can be considered 3rd or 4th largest city in Vietnam but it has low density as you can find less busy traffic on the road compared to Hanoi and HCMC. We will also visit to Hoi An and Hue to cover central part of Vietnam. You can check Da Nang tour packages here.

da nang tour
Da Nang
da nang tour package
Ba Na Hill (Golden Bridge)
Hoi An tour
Hoi An
Hue tour
Hue
South of Vietnam
HCMC - A city of for shopping, foods, and historical. You can choose to shop around in the city or choose to out side of the city for culture and historical tour such as Mekong delta sampan tour and Chuchi tunnel. 3-5 days in HCMC is enough for short vacation. You can check Ho Chi Minh tour packages here.

Phuc Quoc - An island holiday in souther part of Vietnam. Place for water activities and seafood. Typicall spend there for 3-4 days in the small island. You can check Phuc Quoc packages here. 

Nha Trang - Another city famous for beach, many Chinese tourist from China like to visit here. Many of travellers choose to Nha Trang and Dalat at the same time. Dalat is a highland similar to our Cameron highland in Malaysia. You can also enjoy Dalat red wine and back to nature experience.  You can check Nha Trang tour packages here.

hcmc tour
HCM City
mekong delta tour
Mekong Delta
Nha Trang beach
Nha Trang Beach
dalat tour
Dalat Tour
Picture Credit - https://pixabay.com

November 9, 2010

Hanoi's Old Quarter: Water puppet show and Cyclo tour around the 36 Streets

最近很蓝。。对,很懒又很蓝(very blue),且今天生病了。。喉咙怪怪的!
帖子更新速度好像也越渐慢了,所以今天一定要上传些什么的啦。
我的漂亮宝贝星期六就出嫁了,我的确很紧张。。
(不是我出嫁干嘛那么紧张呀?)
因为。。我必须走教堂。。而且还要比新娘走在更前面。。
万一摔了一跤。。怎办?!!婚礼就此破坏了。。噢。。
哎。。别想不好的事情了。先 update 一下越南的游记。。
写了停,停了写,还好就来到尾声了

x     x     x     x     x     x     x     x     x     x

...continue from previous post...

Have written quite some posts on outskirts of Hanoi (Sapa, Ha Long Bay) until one of my posts on Sapa being linked back to the restaurant’s page - Viet Emotion. We only spent 2 days in Hanoi through the trip, and what I found about Hanoi is basically – a nice shopping place in a heritage district!

We went for this Water Puppet Show on the first day in Hanoi. It’s located at one of the busy streets of Old Quarter.

Thăng Long Water Puppet Theatre. Read a bit more about them here.

Water puppet show 1


Performance of the water puppet theatre Thăng Long in Hanoi. The puppets are made out of wood and then lacquered. The shows are performed in a waist-deep pool. A large rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by the puppeteers, who are normally hidden behind a screen, to control them. Thus the puppets appear to be moving over the water.

Water puppet show 2

I don’t find it interesting though because I fell asleep in the dark… embarrasing... Must be because I was too tired, haven't been sleeping at the airport the night before.

After the show, we went for a cyclo tour around the 36 streets at the Old Quarter. These streets can represent the original street layout and architecture of old Hanoi. It’s very near to Hoan Kiem lake, meaning if you stay around this area, you get to enjoy nice lake scenery in walking distance.

Cyclo tour 1


Sometimes you'll find yourself in a cyclo race instead!

Cyclo tour 2


Don't complain about hygiene when you're in Vietnam.

Cyclo tour 3


Because somewhere around the rubbish bags, you find masterpiece of the artisans.

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Super crowded, as if you're riding together in a cab or so. The honk never stops, as long as you're awake, that's why the hotel windows are usually sound proof.

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Local delicacies.

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Riding around the streets. There are actually more than 36 streets. It is believed that "nine" makes it plentiful to the Asians. So "nine" times the four directions turn 36! Now take a ride with me down the streets.

Cyclo tour 7

Cyclo tour 8

Cyclo tour 9

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Đồng Xuân market, located in the heart of the district. There's a night market nearby that opens for business every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening with a variety of clothing, souvenirs and food. (share with you in the next post)

Cyclo tour 10


Have you ever wonder why the buildings in Hanoi are thin and tall?
Because the land is super expensive! Second most expensive after Tokyo. Believe it or not.

Cyclo tour 11


Just before the cyclo tour ended, I saw thissss!! That's why I said it's a good shopping place right at the middle of a heritage district. :P

Cyclo tour 12

...to be continued...

October 5, 2010

Temple of Literature: A temple of Confucius in Hanoi

My first afternoon in Hanoi was spent on history lessons in Temple of Literature. Temple of Literature (Văn Miếu (文廟) is a temple of Confucius in Vietnam. This one in Hanoi is the most prominent and famous one, it also functioned as Vietnam's first university - the Quốc Tử Giám (國子監) or Imperial Academy. It is featured on the back of the one hundred thousand Vietnamese đồng banknote.

temple of literature 2

September 21, 2010

Hanoi: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Presidential Palace Historical Site and One Pillar Pagoda

One of the few highlights to visit in Hanoi is Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (Lăng Chủ tịch Hồ Chí Minh). It is located in the center of Ba Ðình Square, which is the place where Uncle Ho read the Declaration of Independence on September 2, 1945, and formed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Securities guarding at the gate. No camera allowed in the mausoleum.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum 1

September 8, 2010

Sen Restaurant (Buffet) @ Hanoi

Orite I don't feel like describing much on my own words because I'm lazy to blog today... but since I still drooled over the lunch buffet had in Sen, let me share with you in case you're travelling to Hanoi and wanna look for nice buffet.

Nestled by a lotus pond near West Lake, Sen (Lotus) Restaurant is the ideal enclave for nature and food lovers alike.

The owner has designed the restaurant to overcome the narrow lanes of the area, giving the space a good view of West Lake. Inside the two terracotta-roofed villas, the wooden furniture, Vietnamese paintings and vases of lotus evoke the feeling of an ancient house of the Orient.

With the idea of designing the garden as a northern rural village market to provide patrons a beautiful setting to enjoy a meal, food stalls were made from rattan or bamboo frames baskets, round bamboo trays, and low bamboo tables. Female stall servers wear traditional four-paneled traditional dresses, and male servers wear plain brown clothes.

The special buffet is offered in the garden, which is out of the air-conditioning, but is still cool from the breeze off the lake and sweet-smelling from the blooming palm trees.

With the evening buffet at VND110,000 and lunch at VND90,000 – not including drinks, patrons have a wide variety of favourites to choose from – 60 traditional foods from three regions.

Traditional dishes such as thenem sen (lotus rolls), cha ca (grilled fish), bun cha (grilled pork with noodles) or banh duc look particularly tempting.

Nice environment. Spacious and relaxing.

Sen Restaurant2

Sen Restaurant3

Sen Restaurant4


The interior. I am not sure why we were seated inside instead of in the garden per described. Everything was arranged by our Vietnamese friend. Really wide variety of food to chose from!

Sen Restaurant5

Sen Restaurant6

Sen Restaurant7

Sen Restaurant9

Sen Restaurant10


Food time! See what did we get.

Sen Restaurant11

Sen Restaurant12

Sen Restaurant8

Sen Restaurant14

Sen Restaurant15

Sen Restaurant16

Sen Restaurant17


Drinks not included. But at reasonable price.

Sen Restaurant13


Lotus deco everywhere in the garden. 'Sen' is the name of the restaurant, meaning Lotus. Great value of food quality at the price paid.

Sen Restaurant1


My rank: 4/5 (for buffet)

No 10, Lane 431, Au Co Road, Tay Ho District, Hanoi
Tel: (04) 7199242, 9135225, 7199857
Hours: 11am – 2 am (lunch) and 6pm – 10pm (dinner)
Comment: Outdoor atmosphere, view of West Lake, traditional food

April 11, 2010

Halong Bay - they call it Guilin arising from the sea

As the legend told, there was a family of white dragons sent by god to defend the land when the Vietnamese were fighting Chinese invaders long long time ago. To protect the land against the invaders, these dragons spitted out jewels and jade, which later became the islands and islets surrounding the bay. By then, the family of dragon defeated the invaders and the land later became the country of Vietnam today.

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After that, dragons were interested in peaceful sightseeing of the earth, and then decided to live here. The place where the mother dragon descended was named Hạ Long, the place where the dragon's children attended upon their mother was called Bái Tử Long island (Bái: attend upon, Tử: children, Long: dragon), and the place where the dragon's children wriggled their tails violently was called Bạch Long Vỹ island (Bạch: white- colour of the foam made when Dragon's children wriggled, Long: dragon, Vỹ: tail). (adapted from Wikipedia)

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Hundreds of junks and boats available, only the quality and sightseeing route differs. Usually one day sightseeing route does not allow kayaking/canoeing, but ours yes.

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Dragon head.

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My junk.

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Private junk. Only for us.

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Jina, Cheryl and Steve.

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Another loving Korean couple. They're taking a train ride (3D2N in train!!!) to Ho Chi Minh City the very next day.

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See how many more junks out there!

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Ninh and us.

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The complete group: Malaysia, The Philippines, Korea and USA.

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Windy day!

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Jina, my Hanguk chingoo (Korean friend)

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Fried squid. Fresh!

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Omelet, fish, chicken, squid...

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Our scrumptious lunch~


The bay consists of a dense cluster of over 3,000 limestone monolithic islands, each topped with thick jungle vegetation, rising spectacularly from the ocean.

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Posers at Halong Bay.

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Arriving at Hang Sung Sot (Sung Sot Cave).

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Funny looking limestone cave.


We made a stop at Sung Sot Cave (Cave of Surprise). See if you feel surprised too.

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Feels like Guilin arising from the sea?

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If you want to capture a good background at Halong Bay, this is it.


Here we are inside the cave or 'surprises'!

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This is definitely the most attractive part in the cave. Tell me what do you see??

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Uh huh.. Now you get it.

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The "male".

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...pointing towards the "female".

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Very well-maintained.

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The beauty of nature enhanced by colors and lights.

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They name this part of the cave as "The Opera".

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Coming out of the cave.

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Strolling along the bridge at the fishing village

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Big butt... Gotta slim down a bit... But I couldn't help eating when I travel!

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Going to the fishing village.

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Life of a boatman, perhaps I should call her boatlady. She was selling fresh oysters and clams. But the thing that attracted me was the shells!! I love shells!!

My reflex action -- "Hello lady!! Are those shells for sale??"
She looked up -- "1 dollar each."
Then she put all the shells into the net and raised them up to the bridge for me to choose.

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Yippie!!! I got 2 of these!


We always go canoeing whenever it's available during nature excursions. Same for Halong Bay. Initially I wanted to overnight on the junk, but we were running out of time due to the lousy flight schedule... Sigh.. So we only spent an hour plus at the fishing village for canoeing.

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Simple life. Survivors.

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Fresh seafood for sale at the fishing village.

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Sometimes we really need to balance our hectic working life with the peaceful rural life. That's why I love nature excursions whenever I go travel. To relax. To rejuvenate. And then back to work with a fresher mind. Life's about working smart and playing hard. If you always find that you're working too hard, then something must have gone wrong in your way of working.


Canoeing in Halong Bay is not easy. There are big junks and cruises coming along when you paddle around. I didn't bring along my camera because there's always high risk of falling into the water.

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Canoe time! 

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Taken by Jina.

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A baby learning to crawl.

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Boat people selling goods to the tourists.

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Sigh...if we could have another day here...


So I guess I'll come back here the next time. I might opt for the luxurious cruise next time, if our friend (the owner) could offer us VIP service at "VIP" price...hahahaha... LOL. (Interested? Ask me.)

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Luxurious cruise.

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More cruises coming when we're about to leave. These cruises will park here for the overnight tour at Halong Bay.

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Waving goodbye to Halong Bay!~

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