Anyone who goes to Hanoi should never miss out visiting Halong Bay. An amazing place that i would describe as heaven on earth! The scenery was totally beyond description... Both of us were mesmerised by its ultimate beauty... However, it was rather disappointing that we couldn't capture at least 30% of its actual beauty and the overall experience in Halong Bay paradise with my lousy dig-cam. The pictures below didn't do much justice to what we had seen. Maybe we should invest in Seng Keat's and Loong ee's kind of professional camera. The only thing is about the price of those camera. Too pricey for the masses.

It was about 3.5 hours ride from Hanoi, but it was absolutely worth the hours travelling. Mr g and i paid for a 2D/1N Halong Bay Tour for about USD40 plus if i was not wrong; a mid range one.

Side track abit. The temperature was very cold at Halong Bay in the winter season, especially at night. It could even go down to 13 degree celsius or below. Imagine how i tahan my 2 days there but everything was worth it! Meanwhile, the chill-ness actually make the whole experience more romantic. =)

At Halong Habour.


Tourists waiting to board their junks.


Our junk!


The dinning area where we shared table with tourists of other countries.


At the deck.

One of the islets.

Beautiful...

Inside the cave.

This picture was taken from the top of the cave.

The view was so stunning!

Dear g trying to act cool! hahahaz.

One of their floating market/houses.

Our tour guide told us that this was the "kissing cocks". haha! It sounds so comical.

The sun was setting. aww~

Purplish sky.

Our toilet.

Our room. Small but cozy. Time to sleep. Yawn~

Few day back, i met up with my uni girls ching, van and esther for a little exercise; that was to go for a walk at the southern ridges trail. It was nice seeing the girls again! =)

Below are some pictures i 'kapo' from esther's blog. Tried 'kapo-ing' from van's blog but couldn't seem to do so. Maybe will get the rest of our pictures from her some day. hahaz.

Right after our Mekong Delta tour, we took a train to Hanoi at night on the same day - 31 hours straight! We bought the seater tickets instead of the berths ones to stick to our budget, and also prevent sharing a cabin with strangers since there are 4 beds to a cabin. But i must say, 31 hours non-stop train ride was a nightmare. Nevertheless, it was an experience for the both of us, especially when we were the ONLY 2 foreigners in that particular seaters cabin. At the end of the day, we suffered from hunger as we only survived on self brought dry rations; butt and back ache after sitting on a "supposedly cushioned seat".

Meals were actually provided to the commuters in lunch boxes but we didn't dare to give it a try after seeing the condition of their toilets. We didn't dare to imagine having to visit their toilets and seating on the toilet bowl for umpteen since we didn't know how to have our "big bussiness" done standing up. haha. The food was prepared elsewhere in the train which was hidden from our view, hence we didn't know if our stomach could tolerate unclean food like the local. Why was that such a concern? Reason was their toilets were very dirty, plus the way the locals used it made it even worse. Pee was covered all over the toilet bowl seater and floor and they didn't flushed after use. The water level within the toilet bowl was higher than our typical ones, so the liquid content inside it only accumulated when users didn't flush. Moreover, the moving train was shaky, causing the content inside to sway violently from side to side, threatening to spill out. I'm not trying to gross you out because it was exactly as mentioned. Many times i tried avoiding usage unless i was really urgent; squatting but NO SITTING!

Not forgetting to mention about little "Ratatouille(s)" (name was given by mr g) running around our cabin. haha. Fortunately, there wasn't any "xian qiang(s)" around. If not, i couldn't imagine how paranoid i would be for the entire journey. Phew~



The interior of Ho Chi Minh's Train Station.


At the entance.

This was our train.

Quite a shock for us when we came to have a look of their "best" train. It didn't met up with our expectation or the pictures online. The thought of having to spend 30 hours on the train made us feel even more sian. The extra 1 hour delay was due to the breaking down of the train about 20mins after the start of the journey.

PS: An unintentional shot by mr g with a liitle boy digging his nose! LOL.

Us.

Mr g secretly took a sleeping picture of me while i was asleep! haha. He's so cheeky~

This was how the locals made themselves comfortable on the train.

Below were all sceneries between Hue and Danang taken on the train. Enjoy! They were very scenic! =)

The coastline.

Mr g had suggested in blogging our trip by the highlighted places we went and experienced instead of blogging by days, as there were way too many pictures to upload and things to blog about. Now, i will start off by blogging about Mekong Delta; a 3 hours bus ride from Ho Chi Minh.


On our way to visit some villages on the river. We were on a moto-boat.

The river.

This was where the chewy coconut candies were made.

Horse chariot.

This was our transportation within the village. So cool!

Walking in the village.

The toy snake taken at our the zoo last Dec.

The real snake taken at the village. He was brave, i didn't even dare to

carry it. haha.

Lunch Time.

One of their exotic food. Snake blood, snake heart and snake gut. It's not cheap k! They auction it for USD 60 if i was not wrong.

Darling g tried rowing the sampan. hahaz.

The place was full of tourists!