Author archive
1 June 2011
Hoi An is an old trading port that has earned the Unesco World Heritage status. Cars are banned from the old town; likewise with motorcycles for most of the day. The shophouses are all protected from ghastly renovations … except that many have been tastefully converted into cafes, galleries, souvenir shops etc. Many Chinese settled […]
31 May 2011
From Hue to Hoi An, we took a tourist bus which picked up guests (Vietnamese and foreigners) from various hotels before heading on the journey south. We passed through Danang and having had more than a glimpse of the city now, I’m pleased we decided to bypass the city … apart from resorts and golfing, […]
30 May 2011
We had planned on exploring Vietnam’s old capital Hue and its surroundings by ourselves, including on bicycles. It became too easy when our hotel offered a USD10 (per person) bus tour which included a buffet lunch. This would cover all the sights we had planned to do over two days … compressed into one day. […]
29 May 2011
Above: Typical bar/cafe. We flew Jetstar Pacific’s Boeing 737-400 at 1040 today, reaching Danang at 1155. We wanted to get to Hue but its airport was closed while the runway was being resurfaced. We travelled from Danang to Hue by public bus. The driver collected the money before we departed … soon after, I saw […]
28 May 2011
There’s actually not much time for pure relaxation on Halong cruises. Travelling time between stops is short and the days are filled with excursions. This morning we stopped at Vung Vieng fishing village. This is a collection of floating homes tucked between some islands. We were taken around on sampans for 45 minutes around the […]
27 May 2011
I skipped the Tai-Chi at 0615 and went for breakfast at 0700 so that we would be ready for our excursion at 0800. We transferred to a smaller boat, the Bhaya Spirit with only two other people. The crew to customer ratio was 1:1 on this smaller boat, with the captain, the cook, attendant and […]
26 May 2011
We had decided to go a bit upmarket for our Halong Bay experience because we have friends who didn’t enjoy their budget outings. We were collected at 0800 for our 3.5h transfer to Halong City’s port. We took a stop a handicraft centre en route for a break and shopping (for the gullible). We departed […]
25 May 2011
We visited Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum this morning. The queue was a couple of city blocks but it was very orderly and moved at walking pace for most of it. To be honest, he didn’t look very different from Lenin. We then taxied to the Temple of Literature. This Confucianist temple is a quiet oasis […]
24 May 2011
Singapore’s Tiger Cub Check-in in around 0730 at Singapore Airport’s Budget Terminal was a surprise to me. It was much smaller than KLIA’s LCCT … and the place was more like a quiet hospital … whereas KL was like a busy bus station before Hari Raya. It became obvious that Tiger Airways is not of […]
23 May 2011
We overnighted at my aunt’s place in Singapore. I hadn’t seen them for many years. But the delay to our scheduled 1800 arrival meant that my elderly Uncle was already asleep when we arrived. He wakes early, so we should be able to chat to him in the morning before we head out to the […]