While we meet .....: 2009

Nostalgia - Banking Souvenir

Although still having a vague memory of the old “China Building”, the owner does not remember since when and how this money box, which is a scale model of the old “China Building”, appear at a corner of the living room.

Trekking in Singapore (Lim Chu Kang - Kranji)

We took a bus from the bus station near Choa Chu Kang MRT Station to the end of Lim Chu Kang Road.

An Impressive Mini Car

That was a Saturday afternoon in March this year, HM and I saw this mini car while stepping out of the Singapore National Museum. It was very impressive to me so I took out my handphone immediately to have it captured.

Trekking in Singapore (Paya Lebar - Marina Barrage)

We start from Paya Lebar MRT station at 8am, via City Plaza, old army camp, and then made a left turn after NorthLight School to the riverside of Geylang River.

Trekking in Singapore (Buangkok - Paya Lebar)

I came to know about this trekking group that trek in Singapore monthly by chance. They used to start the journey at 8am. The unofficial leader does not take attendance, whoever wants to leave the group half way can always do so freely.

8 Days Hanoi, Halong Bay & Sapa Tour - D8

The hotel normally start serving breakfast at 6.30am, as we need to leave for airport at 6.15am, they advanced the time of serving breakfast to 5.45am for us.

8 Days Hanoi, Halong Bay & Sapa Tour - D7 (Hanoi)

We arrived at Hanoi railway station at around 5.15am, the staff from Golden Sun Hotel picked us up to the hotel, although it was not dawn yet, there were a lot of people exercise and joging around the Hoan Kiem Lake.

After taking a rest and freshen up, we followed a ‘36 streets’ walking route which we got form the internet to explore the Old Quarter.

8 Days Hanoi, Halong Bay & Sapa Tour - D6 (Tribes Village)

We left the hotel at 7.15am to visit tribes villages. Our guide noticed that we had interest in bird viewing yesterday; he arranged a short stop over on the way at Hoang Lien National Park.

8 Days Hanoi, Halong Bay & Sapa Tour - D5 (Pha Long Market)

We joined the Pha Long Market package organized by the hotel (for their guest only) today. We were told that Bac Ha Market is already much commercialized, sometimes tourists there are more than the locals. The Pha Long Market they recommended is far at the border between Vietnam and China, and takes about three hours drive to reach there. The Market is actually not open to tourist yet; therefore the fare to there is higher than to the other markets as it is inclusive of some “coffee money”.

8 Days Hanoi, Halong Bay & Sapa Tour - D4 (Sapa)

We reached Lao Cai at 6.15am, took another hour’s drive to reach Mountain View Hotel at Sapa. By the time we finished checking-in, taking breakfast and booking the tour packages for the following two days, it was about 10am. I stick to my original plan, not joining them for the Ham Rong Botanical Garden.

8 Days Hanoi, Halong Bay & Sapa Tour - D3 (Cat Ba Island)

Today we trekked for about five hours, up and down, slipping, sliding and falling, at Cat Bat National Park. We were told that there are many wildlife in the park, but we only saw a green snake on a big leaf, perhaps it is a good thing that we did not have the chance to meet the rest.

8 Days Hanoi, Halong Bay & Sapa Tour - D2 (Halong Bay)

AH had booked on line a Halong Bay & Cat Ba Island package before we left Singapore, it save us from the hassle of asking around about the transportation and accommodation. The guide and the driver picked us up at 8am at Golden Sun Hotel, four of us were the only passengers in this tour group.

8 Days Hanoi, Halong Bay & Sapa Tours - D1 (Hanoi)

We reached the Changi budget terminal at 4am, the plane took off at around 6am and we arrived Hanoi at around 9am (Hanoi is one hour behind us), it took us another hour to reach the Golden Sun Hotel which located quite near to the Old Quarter ‘36 streets’.