Closing of a Chapter, Opening of Another

Hi readers, I know my Vietnam posts have been dangling for over a week now, but I guess it’s only appropriate to have a final post for 2009, as I’m sure most bloggers would have one. But instead of the usual..

“Oh, 2009 has been a awesome/dramatic/great/wonderful year, so here are 12 photos representing each month of the year, hope you guys enjoy!!”

I’m gonna do something mind-blowing, something earth-shattering. Rather than going from January to December, I’ll do it BACKWARDS!! xD

Completed Trinity College Foundation Studies in December!!

 

Performed Puppet Master with Jack 8 in November!!

Trinity Ball: What Happens in Vegas, in October!!

OKAY THIS IS BORING. I can’t go through the entire year cause whatever I’ve blogged about throughout the year, those ARE the highlights of the year! And if you’re thinking that there’re so many posts, that’s probly just cause there are that many highlights this year, and even in the previous years, and the years to come as well!

Well, I guess the main point is that this is the last post of 2009, so I wish all my readers a very Happy New Year and may 2010 be as awesome as you make it to be!!

Expensive Taxis

 

Day three in Vietnam. As usual, we got up early, had breakfast, hopped onto the van, and headed towards the dock where we boarded a ferry and left Cat Ba Island.

 

Once again, just a few shots taken along the way.

 

Simpulan & Ikatan.

 

When two become one.

 

Sometime during the journey, we switched boats once more and headed towards Halong City.

 

Docked, took even more shots as we waited quite a while for the van.

 

This fella collect ferry tickets also syok sendiri.

The van took us and other tourists for lunch somewhere in the city. Other than the vegetables, the other dishes weren’t good at all. No, I wasn’t being picky. For example..

Pumpkin soup = Pieces of pumpkin in a bowl of water with coriander leaves?

 

Anyways, mum got us some huge cikus from the woman outside the restaurant after the meal. Not a huge ciku fan but it was really sweet.

 

Then we waved goodbye to Halong City and went back to Hanoi.

 

It was a two to three hour drive, and I was stuck at the front seat with the driver and our tour guide as all the other seats were filled by the other tourists, mostly French, who were of course, bigger sized than me.

 

Finally, home sweet home. Back in Hanoi!!

 

Okay not really home but you catch my drift. We headed back to the hotel to check-in once more before we were supposed to meet up with our tour guide once more as he agreed to bring us out to dinner as well as to the night market.

 

He ffk-ed us. Last minute call from office, had to go back. So we got a taxi from the hotel and headed to this shop on this street which he said had great beef noodles.

 

It was just one of those little shop lots which doesn’t stand out in any way.

 

Appetising, no? xD

 

Fortunately, it tasted good. Not overwhelmingly great, but good.

 

After dinner, we took another taxi, wanting to go to the night market. No surprise, as we just flagged one down by the roadside, he conned us. Like seriously conned. The first trip was like 20,000 Vietnamese Dong, whereas this trip was 148,000 Dong. Joy ride man.

 

So we walked back to the hotel from where he dropped us off and got another cab from there, and finally got to where we wanted to go, which wasn’t the actual night market.

 

Amongst the many shops and stalls: Caps, hats, and motorcycle helmets.

 

Also spent quite some time in this handicraft/souvenir shop.

 

Which was packed with all sorts of.. stuff.

 

Then we continued walking round and round, up and down the streets.

And wound up at another souvenir shop.

Don’t remember if we took another taxi or if we walked back to the hotel. IF we did take a taxi, we didn’t get conned again. So back in the hotel for another night’s rest! Stay tuned for the final day in Hanoi (excluding the last day when we left in the morning).

HA-very-the-LONG Bay

 

Early morning yo. After having breakfast, we got onto a van and went around Hanoi picking some other tourists up. It was more than a three hour journey from Hanoi to Halong Bay. Hence the title of this post. Here are a few shots of the Hanoi streets taken in the morning.

 

Beef noodle breakfast? No idea what the sign translates to.

 

Heavily masked motorists.

 

Berat sama dipikul, tiada yang ringan untuk dijinjing. xD

 

“Watchu lookin’ at?”

 

Friendly old chap who was by the traffic-jammed road.

 

Later that afternoon, the van/bus driver took us for a break at some shop/building somewhere next to some road/highway, where they sold local handicrafts and snacks.

 

Just some of the stuff on display.

 

When we finally reach Halong Bay, we had to wait for quite a bit for our tour guide to get our ferry tickets or something. No idea. He just disappeared for a long time.

 

We boarded a ferry with the others in the van/bus and got ourselves a table.

 

Stuffed crab, clams, fish, spring rolls, and other dishes were served for lunch.

 

This is supposed to be the cock-fighting rock formation. Obviously taken at the wrong angle.

 

But yeah, being one of the former Wonders of the World, Halong Bay is freaking huge. Don’t get me wrong - the scenery, view and everything was nice, but it just went on and on.

 

Fortunately, we stopped by this floating fish farm? More like an aquatic organism farm cause they also have prawns and rays and other creatures there.

 

And look what we’ve got here! This guy (not one of the creatures) even posed for me after noticing that I was taking shots of him over and over again. xD

 

Catch of the day: I have no idea what that is. People were holding em up to take photos with so my sisters and I just joined in the fun. That thing was not light.

Then, we said bye to the floating platforms and hopped back onto the ferry. Literally.

 

Not long after that, we docked at an island and began to climb up some rather steep stairs. But it was all worth it. Just check out the view yo. Not only that, these stairs also led us to..

 

A HUGE LIMESTONE CAVE !!

 

Which had really cool formations everywhere. This one resembles a couple making out. xD

 

And this a laughing Buddha with a big tummy.

 

The many chambers of the cave were just breathtaking.

 

Not to forget the lighting that illuminated the walls.

 

I’ve been in a few caves before, but none of them were as vast or as magnificent as this.

 

Don’t you just wish you were there? :p

 

After spending some time walking along the trail in the cave, eventually we emerged.

 

And got back onto the ferry for another long long long journey in Halong Bay. The other tourists were actually gonna spend the night on board in the cabins, and the ferry would be anchored at a designated ‘parking area’.

 

Fortunately for us, as my sister gets sea sick easily, we had arranged to be transferred to Cat Ba Island to spend the night. So sometime in the late afternoon, we hopped onto a smaller boat which brought us to the island.

 

It was really dark by the time we got there, which was around 6pm. Seriously, from the small ferry, all we could see were shimmering lights coming from the island in the distance. It was pitch black all around.

 

After checking in our rooms, we headed out to the ‘night market’.

 

Wasn’t sure if that was the night market or if they were just a row of souvenir stalls by the road side. Probly the latter as it was already getting late.

After bargaining and purchasing some stuff, we walked back to the hotel for our dinner, which wasn’t all that great. Once again, had to head to bed early for another early morning.

Till the next post!

The Land Surrounded by Rivers

 

Last Wednesday, after a couple of days returning to Malaysia after spending 10 months in Melbourne, I was back on a plane with the family at six in the morning heading towards Hanoi, Vietnam. Three hours later, we arrived at the airport.

 

We were picked up there and brought to the Platinum Hotel in the “old city” of Hanoi, which was in the midst of many other narrow shoplots.

 

First impression of Hanoi? Wow, there sure are a lot of motorbikes here. Second impression? WOW, they sure love honking their way through the roads (even when there’s no reason for it at all or when they’re not moving). It was sure difficult to cross the road over to our hotel.

 

After checking in, Amy, a friend of mine from Trinity met us at the hotel before bringing us to the Ho-Chi Minh Mausoleum, which closed at 10am. == So we just took a couple of pictures on the outside.

 

After that, Amy brought us to a temple which name I can’t remember.

Once again, a number of shots here and there.

With the family in front of a pond there.

 

Then we went to the Temple of Literature, which was the first university in Vietnam.

 

According to Amy, this is where students usually come to pray before sitting for their exams.

 

We were then brought to Cha Ca La Vong, a.k.a. the Fish Restaurant.

 

That’s its name cause that’s the only dish they have - grilled fish. But it looks more like fish being deep fried in a hot wok doesn’t it? xD Or maybe that’s just cause Vietnamese grilling involves more oil. Aight I just made that up.

 

But it was pretty cool. There were bowls of fresh herbs which you dump into the hot wok and stir around with the fish to wilt em. Think the guy refilled our bowls thrice during the meal. It was really that good! Had the fish and herbs/vege with some noodles.

After lunch, we visited West Lake, the largest lake in Hanoi. There’s also another one called the Hoan Kiem Lake, which translates into the “Lake of the Changing of Swords”.

 

A tall pagoda.

This is a “prawn-like” bridge.

And this is a preserved turtle/tortoise(?) on display at Hoan Kiem Lake. Apparently there still are many of these ancient creatures lurking at the bottom of the lake and whenever one surfaces, it’d be in the newspapers. If I’m not mistaken, the last time that happened was in December 2007.

 

Later in the afternoon, we headed back to the hotel. And well, as you can see, the traffic jams in KL are nothing compared to the ones in Hanoi, where the cars, motorbikes, and bicycles are just all over the place!

 

So the family stayed in the hotel to rest whereas Amy and I joined Sunari and Vizu (also from Trinity), who were waiting at the hotel for us.

 

Took a cab to the Vincom City Towers, which was in the more modern part of Hanoi. It’s an office building slash shopping mall.

 

Vizu, Amy, and Sunari.

 

After hanging out at a newly opened arcade there, they brought me to Highlands Coffee, Vietnam’s equivalent of Starbucks, which isn’t present there.

 

I had the hazelnut something something. It was pretty good.

 

Myself, Sunari, Amy, and Vizu.

 

So after chilling at Highlands Coffee, once again, they brought me to this board game shop which was.. somewhere in Hanoi. Guess the concepts similar to the one of My Cube Cafe on Lygon in Melbourne, only difference is that the interior of this place was really warm and cozy.

 

We played some fast-paced card game, Bluff, and this monkey-falling-sticks game. Let’s just say besides having fun, we got hit on the head by each other really often.

 

Vizu, Sunari, Amy, and myself, plus those hammer things we hit each other with. xD

 

Later that night, we went to Quan An Ngon for dinner. The place was packed mostly with international tourists as it serves a wide variety of traditional Vietnamese dishes.

 

As you can see here. Haha the food was definitely awesome, and the variety was also great. Who said Vietnamese food’s all about spring rolls and beef noodles? Okay no one actually said that. That’s just what I thought before this. xD

Another shot of the four of us at the restaurant before heading back.

Hang Than street, where the hotel’s located. Only thing is, I don’t have all the Vietnamese characters on my keyboard. They’ve got so many symbols like Han Yu Pin Yin.

Final group shot at the hotel lobby before the three of em had to go back home.

So that was the first day spent in Hanoi, which is also one of the more interesting days. Remember to leave a comment and stay tuned for the posts on the other days! Till then.

Valedictory Ceremony

[2 December, Wednesday]

 

It was Trinity College’s Valedictory Ceremony, also known as our Foundation Studies Graduation, which was held in Wilson Hall in the University of Melbourne. After sending Nick off at the airport, Heng Cheng, Mizi and I rushed home to get ready before meeting up.

 

Yearbook Committee 2009: Grace Yew, myself, Delima, and Kar Hao.

 

400 plus of us attended the ceremony, excluding the parents and guests.

 

The Academic Procession, with most of the lecturers and tutors there, though not all of em.

 

I’m sure no one will be able to forget Clarence of the Student Committee’s speech, especially his comparison of Trinity College Foundation Studies with a packet of Indomee. Savoury, enjoyable, over in a blink of an eye, but definitely not cheap. xD

 

Then Dr Tan Hooi Cheng and Glen Jennings took turns to read out all our names while we took turns to stand up for recognition. This took a really really long time, but it was necessary of course. And it beats having every single person going on stage on at a time.

 

Then we - Student Committee, Yearbook Committee, Yearbook Subcommittee, and Gift Committee took turns to go up stage to receive our certificates and plaques.

 

After that, the lecturers and staff left the hall whereas most of us headed to the Trinity College Main Campus which is bout a five minute walk away for refreshments.

The moment of truth. This was when we first set our eyes upon the actual Keepsake yearbooks. Although the colour of the cover pages are not as rich as we expected it to be, the overall product was definitely awesome, as I’m sure everyone would agree with. So we started to give em out and managed to sold a number of copies there and then as well.

 

Me and Henry.

Lam and I.

EAP mates: Jeremy, Jack, and myself.

With Jeremy & Jojo.

Kee Keng & Mizie.

Last but not least, Shereen!

I guess this is the last post of Melbourne, just wanna get started on the trip to Hanoi, Vietnam with my family, which I just got back from yesterday. Till then, enjoy cheap food. xD