Impressive Vietnam - Mui Ne

Venue: Mui Ne

Date: 17 August 2009

 

It was officially Yan’s birthday.  Yan is actually very sweet, you’re welcomed to let me know if you want to get to know her!

 

The weather was incredible, the sun must be in love with us!  We got up really early today and had a very nice breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel, though I didn’t really eat much.  The most interesting thing about Vietnam is that they have green bananas instead of yellow mature bananas, which are actually quite small but super tasty!

 

That’s the hotel where we were staying. It was considerably cheap by Hong Kong standard, nevertheless it’s got a swimming pool, a bar with free Internet access and a gym (though we never got the chance to go in), the view of the sea (and a perfect beach!) was simply superb.

 

 

Good morning Vietnam!

 

Alright, here comes the typical Vietnam banana - well, this one was yellow but never mind :p

 

Later on we paid 300,000 Dong for the very exciting jeep trip that we never had before (special thanks to Nam, our new Vietnamese friend, who confirmed us that it was a very good price for such a trip)!

 

  

We were on the highway in no time, there wasn’t anyone around and it made me wonder how other tourists see this place without driving or renting a car…

 

 

First time in my life to ever lay eyes on sand dunes.  It wasn’t any other sand dune either, it’s the RED sand dune!  We didn’t stay very long but we had enough fun jumping on the sand dune and taking pictures :D  Gosh, it really was beautiful!  I just wished we had stayed longer!

 

Literally speaking, we were being roasted under the sun….

 

Don’t underestimate our power in enjoying ourselves :D  We were driving along the coastal line, wah, no one absolutely but us!  If the taxi driver were to rob (and kill) us, I strongly believe that we wouldn’t be able to make it back to Hongkong alive… well, too much thriller movies these days, haha!

 

Basically you see all sort of things on the road… from cows eating grass among so many graves to a plain to red rocks… to…

sheep, to mountains, and to OASIS!!!!

 

Sitting in the front seat, [ONLY] my right arm was getting a tan, oh well, I’m still glad we were in the jeep anyway, aren’t you?

 

A silly picture of Yan waiting for the toilet on our way to the WHITE SAND DUNE!  There was a store where we got some bottles of water - how could you survive without water under the merciless sun?

 

Finally!  360° sand view!  Amazing!  To be totally honest, I didn’t know sand would burn your feet before, eh, I mean, I knew but it didn’t occur to me back then… but now I do know!

 

By the time I’m writing this, my heart is filled with joy and a sense of contentment.  Suddenly every single detail in our trip I remember, and the laughter we had, the freedom and easiness of things.

 

Damn, I think I was born to be a nomad!

 

del.icio.us Tags: Mui Ne,birthday,breakfast,beach,sand,white sand dune,red sand dune,jeep,trip,toilet,joy,freedom,contentment,cows,sheep,rocks,mountains,swimming pool,bananas

Unlimited Sky

Venue: On the way back to Hong Kong

 

I really just wanted to share this breathtaking view with you.

This world is amazing!

 

 

I have to sigh.

 

del.icio.us Tags: Plane,Sky,Mountain,Snow,Wing

Impressive Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh

Venue: Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City

Date: 15-16 August

 

It wasn’t so easy when it came to this trip to Vietnam, it was quite eventful, but it all turned out quite well, lucky for us!  It was my first time to Vietnam, people told me that it would be a boring trip but the other said the exact opposite, finally I’ve got the chance to see it for myself.

 

Starting off by getting Dong, the Vietnam currency, upon arrival.  Wow!  Suddenly Po, Yan and I became millionaires!  Money money money!  Our hotel was not an expensive one - we were just some poor backpackers! - therefore there wasn’t any car to pick us up from the airport.  After hassling with a local taxi driver, we agreed to pay around HK$70 for a 20 minutes drive to the hotel.  Hm, that was the first mistake we ever made in our trip, we gave up asking for further discount too quickly, the hotel manager said we should’ve paid half for the drive from airport to hotel (!!!).

 

 

According to the guide book, the hippest bar in town was called Q Bar, Po thought it would be a good idea to check it out.. so we did.  Aw.  I swear I didn’t enjoy any of that.  Well, at least we tried the local beer.

 

We then headed back to the hotel and slept for the night.

 

On the next day, first thing first, we went to a street stuffed with travel agencies, originally we were planning to go to Nha Trang on 17th August for a day but there was no seat for the return flight (which comes back to Ho Chi Minh city ridiculously early, leaving at 4pm!), so out of the blue we found bus tickets in our hands to Mui Ne in the afternoon.  We always take what we can get, so it was alright.

 

On the first day, already we saw many “spectacles” in Ho Chi Minh city.

 

One the top left, there was a homeless man sleeping right under the tall building.  The weather was really hot that day, and the sun was burning.  Life isn’t so easy in Ho Chi Minh as you can see.  On the top right, there were 2 tires appeared out of no where, on the far end there were so many motor bikes… The telephone box on bottom left was a container for rubbish (!!) and the electric wires crawling all over…

 

 

We don’t understand any Vietnamese… (actually we do!) whenever we needed help in directions, we just walked right up to people and pointed at our travel guide book, and they showed us the way.  In this regard most of them were really helpful, unlike Shanghaiese!

 

 

This definitely has something to do with the bad economy.

 

In Ho Chi Minh they’ve got those mini size traffic lights for bikers.  Po’s tall (and she looked like a sailor)!

 

Right in front of the gothic Cathedral.  It was a mimic of the Dotre Dame Cathedral built back in 1877.  There were people taking wedding pictures there and many tourists.  Shame that we didn’t get a chance to get in, it should be really beautiful inside.

 

Next to the Cathedral was the Central Post Office.  Really French, no?  It wasn’t very interesting inside, nothing much to see... but still I got my own souvenir - some very nice stamps :D

 

And we went to the Reunification Palace which was not so far from the Cathedral and the Post Office.  We were in such a hurry (needed to catch the bus to Mui Ne!) so we didn’t really take many pictures… but this is one of the funny ones, we were pretending being ravaged by the tank :p

 

And the famous Ho Chi Minh, and silly Yan :D

 

A very nice picture taking in the highest of the Palace.  I think it looked quite like the Champs-Elysees in Paris!  Most of the buildings in Ho Chi Minh were not so tall.

 

At 3pm local time, we got on the bus to Mui Ne, talked to a German guy and a local girl on the bus and worried about the weather - it was raining like crazy (and flooded!) on our way to Mui Ne - finally we got there at around 9pm.  After swimming in our luxurious hotel, we were so terribly hungry that we went to a nice restaurant nearby - the hotel restaurant was closed by then.  Befriended a Vietnamese kid and learned some more Vietnamese :D

 

 

After all that, Yan and I got on a taxi to a pub which was closed and Po was already sleeping like a pig in the hotel.

 

That was when we called it a day.

 

del.icio.us Tags: Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam,balloons,dinner,restaurant,rubbish,motor bikes,tank,Reunification Palace,traffic lights,Cathedral

7.1 March

Venue: Causeway Bay to Central

Date: 1 July 09

 

Not much to say.  Just want to post some pictures.

 

There were more than 100,000 people marched peacefully that day.  I was so proud.

 

My favourite of the day :)

 

After all that… we went to eat SUSHI :D

 

 

Hahahahahahahahaha!  Creative, eh?!

 

I LOVE WASABI!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

del.icio.us Tags: March,7.1,Hong Kong,Sushi,sticker,Donald Tsang,demonstration

A day at the Beach!

Venue: Stanley beach

Date: 10 May 2009

 

The day wasn’t particularly beautiful - there were even patches of showers, but well, the “major” elements were there: the sun, the suffocating heat and the desire to spending a day at the beach.

 

The first thing we did after arriving at Stanley… we went to Taste.  Haha, we came back out with one box supersized strawberries, 2 boxes of Sushi and 4 bottles of water.  It’s a shame that you can’t really see those Sushi in the picture… SUSHI!  I have already started to miss them.

 

There was the beach! :D  Despite a few showers, it was packed with people!

 

Hmmmm, it’s not so easy to post pictures that I consider “appropriate for all” on here… we didn’t take many pictures then, the main reason was that, I was too lazy to move my arse.  We all were too lazy, it was just too relaxing…

 

This is one of the best shot I took of the day.  I assure you we all look better in real :D

 

The father was obviously having fun with the kid and the mum smiling sweetly :)  It all looked really beautiful!  To our surprised, we bumped into my colleague!  With his girlfriend and brother (?)! :D  Hong Kong is indeed small.

 

The time was passing by very slowly but still too quickly.  We didn’t even have time for HAAGEN DAZS!!!  Though we still had Green tea Frappuccino :D  The little sparrow was stealing food :)  Actually there were many sparrows dancing around…

 

del.icio.us Tags: Stanley,Hong Kong,beach,sunny,chocolate cake,sparrows,sushi,strawberries

Tai Mo Shan (Foggy Mountain)

I didn’t write for a while again, my reason for this is that, there are so many things going on in my life at the moment.  I can’t complain about it, life is still very beautiful!  Right now I’m sitting on the balcony, hearing the sound of the running tap water, the sun was shining right outside - the rain has gone, the sky is as clear as crystal.

 

Po, Yan and I had been real lazy, we didn’t manage to hike at all over the pass couples of months.  It was on 9 May, when the sun was shining and the humidity in the air had finally evaporated under the mildly warm sun, it meant we had to go out.  Here we came, Tai Mo Shan :D

 

This is the beautiful and hilarious trio.  Joey the fly, Po the mask, Yan the Beatles lover.  (Note: The Swineflu didn’t even attack Mexico yet - that is crazy Po with her fake cold!)

 

Just in case you’re wondering what happened… I assure you, I was wondering about the same thing too.  With Yan running towards me with her distorted face and HK Po *yeahing* at the back.  What a beautiful picture!  (Actually I amaze at how energetic we really are!)

 

I bet Po would force me to post a really beautiful (and feminine) picture of her just so she could clear her name.  HEY! SHE’S MY VERY BEAUTIFUL FRIEND!  DON’T YOU DROOL OVER HER!

 

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Tai Mo Shan (Foggy Mountain) really was breathtaking!  I was stunned when I saw the view.  I didn’t even know we had such a beautiful plain here in Hongkong!!!!!  The last time when I saw such a plain was when I was in Germany then.  As the name suggests, there is *forever* foggy, no matter how clear the weather is - trust me, it’s not because Hongkong is *forever* smoggy :p  Being the highest mountain here, of course it’s crazily windy… and chill.

 

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3 pictures taken on the mountain.  Aw, suddenly I miss the mountain!  (Fact #1: Po went back to the mountain top the week after this, she was smart!  I want to go back again too!)

 

*warning: I’ll be posting extremely funny pictures here, if your heart is not up to the excitement, please stop reading.  Thanks*

 

Hahahaha this is very Po-typical picture!  HAHAHAHAHAH!  She’s the Kungfu Master, I tell you that!  We, every Chinese, can do Kungfu!  Huh!  Don’t you look down on us!

 

Well… we’re still young and imaginative, we love “dirty” snacks :D  For the sake of carving my beautiful image inside of your head, I decided to NOT post all those thousands of crazy posing pictures of us girls here.  Sorry but you have to be in the exclusive club (which only contains 3 members, bye bye)!

 

 

When you laugh too much after posing crazy poses… this is how you’re gonna look when others took your picture!

 

My friends had done a great job to entertain me that day… this is the final picture I’m gonna show in this entry, as you can see… hey, Po is not crazy :)  She won’t just beat anyone up, you’re pretty safe!

 

del.icio.us Tags: Tai Mo Shan,Hong Kong,Snacks,chill,clear,mask,Swineflu,sunny

Holga pictures

Finally I got my Holga pictures from the traditional photo store (the one in Yau Ma Tei).  Those stores are being ‘wiped out’, people use digital cameras now - too many really and we hardly develop pictures, er, not for me.  I love *real* pictures.

It shocked me, when I got them. 

They sucked.  My pictures sucked!

Overexposed, underexposed, out of focus, shaking… here are some of my first-attempted Holga pictures.

These were supposed to be good pictures among the lot…. hm, I guess they are not as good as I’d wanted.

Haha, one of the best!  Flowers!  Could you imagine!

These pictures didn’t turn out quite as what I had in mind…. Hmmmmm.

I can’t quite manage the skill just yet.  I’m giving myself 3 cartons of films to do whatever I want to with my toy camera.  I am sure it’d be fun.

Right now I’m working on a project.   Hold your breath and wait for my upload in the future!

del.icio.us Tags: Holga,toy camera,TST,clock tower,sandals,flowers,harbour,reflection