As usual i have to take flight from Sandakan to Kuala Lumpur then to Hanoi. That mean i have to depart early and will arrive Hanoi around late afternoon.
This time i travel alone so i will be meeting some CS members in Hanoi. I arrive Hanoi airport about 3 pm, after coping my passport i had to claim my beg then look for the bus to Hanoi.
Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million.
Vietnam is blessed with a ravishing coastline,
emerald-green mountains, breathtaking national parks, dynamic cities, outstanding cultural interesting and
one of the worlds best cuisines, Vietnam has it all.
This is my friend on the left and on the right is her friend, the owner of this hotel where i will be spending my night :-) . From the airport while iam on the bus i can hear only horn from the bus. It's really noisy with the sound of the motorcycle, dusty and air pollution from the smoke from the motorcycle. Most of the Vietnamese people like to move around by motorcycle rather by car. Iam not really sure why maybe it is because its cheap, fast and easy.
Today not much to do, after meeting my friend and check in, we walk to the park nearby that is the famous Turtle lake.
It was last winter when i arrive here in Hanoi, petty soon it will be hot. Today is really nice weather. We walk and talk about many things. This is the lake and this is the walk way along the main road.It is a very pleasant location to take a leisurely walk and experience urban Hanoi. We stopped off and look out to the little buddhist temple that extends out into the lake.
There is a little temple that houses a large stuffed turtle that used to live in the lake
This is the center of Hanoi and the lake is just at the right of the round about. This area quite busy day and night. Night life is here, restaurant and hotel easy to find here.
From the lake it's not far from my hotel, so i choose to walk and look around. On the way at this alley you can see women sale all kind of vegetable, fruits and not forget DOGs BBQ, Turtle and all kind of animals. heeemmmmm........
Here along the alley just beside all the shop, you will see people sale food and they dont really care people passing by watching them setting and enjoying their meal.
Someone order this turtle for their meal
Beside Motorcycle, you still can use three-wheeled bicycle as your transport. Motorcycle always can be rent and also as a public transport for them.
To night i have to catch a night train to Sapa. I have to take taxi to the train station and buy my ticket. The train have few type of class, so i choose only 2nd class private with 4 beds. 2 Upper bed and 2 below, i got upper bed all cabin are full.We depart around 8.30 pm and should be arriving in Sapa early in the morning, can't remember what time already. This is how it's look like in the train station and its time to boarding.
Remember i was mentioning about the bed that i got the upper bed, oooohhhh!!! when i went to the cabin, it was small and the upper bed are very low from the ceiling till hard for you to seat. OMG!!! there is not ladder to go up to the bed, you need to climb up and i dont use to do that so i decide not to sleep that night, it's really sad for me with this situation. In the same cabin with me is 2 Chinese people and 1 foreigner (female), she is so nice when she knew that i don't want to sleep on the upper bed she offer her self to take my place and ask me to take her place on the low bed. And i was very thankful with her. Now i can sleep and i was so tired since i just arrive from Malaysia this afternoon, so i slept soundly.
DAY 2 - HANOI - SAPA
I arrive Sapa town early in the morning and someone with transport was waiting for me. The bus took us to the hill top of the village town in Sapa, they brought us to the Hotel and get some breakfast while waiting for my guide to come around 8.30 am. While waiting i took a picture with some local village that is waiting for their guest too.
So friends!!!!..... this is my guide, she is so cute and so slim and we are having fun together. But just be careful for the other locals, they will offer you things and help but in the end they will always ask money from you. So just say NO if you dont really need it other wise they will talk bad to you.
Hill-tribe people from surrounding villages go to the Sapa market most days to sell handicrafts and ethnic-style clothing. Saturday is the most frantic, as tour groups from Hanoi visit for the evening ‘love market’, which sees hill-tribe teenagers trek into town to find a mate. It’s still very coy, but has become commercial in recent years.
Beautiful Sapa rice field
We will stay in that village for a night before going back to the town.
I think everyone know about how beautiful, amazing view at Halong Bay. Some product are using this Halong Bay picture to their business.
There are many ground tour that organize Halong Bay tour that is 2D1N stay on the classic boat.
I book my tour from Hanoi, they pick me up from the hotel and few guest as the Van is a SIC basic. We took about 1 - 2 hrs drive to reach Halong Bay Jetty.
When we arrive i can see many seller try to sale
postcard, pearl and many thing's for souvenir that you can buy if you are interested. Once our agent bought our ticket we can enter to the jetty where more then 10 boats moored at the jetty.Once all the guest jump in the boat, the boat start to move backward and start to sail.
Halong Bay, located in the Gulf of Tonkin, covers an area of 1500 square km with 3,000 limestone peaks soaring from its crystalline emerald water. The calm sea provides an ideal location for sea kayaking as we paddle through a maze of islets amid dramatic natural scenery. we explore the open sea and the many hidden lagoons and stalagmite caves that are difficult to access by any other means. We visit hidden caves, lagoons, unspoiled beaches, floating fishing village and talk with local fisherman.
Ba Be is Vietnam’s largest natural lake and is now the centrepiece of an
extensive National Park. The park and the surrounding area is limestone
country, so lakes, waterfalls, caves and unusual rock formations
abound. Ba Be National Park has been recognized as a Natural World Heritage Site byUNESCO.
Some new friend that i met during my tour at Halong Bay.
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independence and freedom of Vietnam.
Today, Ho Chi Minh City is the big tourism center in Vietnam, attracting a large of visitors to Vietnam
If you are fun of War collector, you come at the right place, here you can see many stalls that selling many kind of things that you can buy for your collection, all are been use during the war.
The tunnels of Củ Chi are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Cu Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam, and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country. The Củ Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War and were the Viet Cong's base of operations for the Tet Offensive in 1968.
The tunnels area is about 200 miles to the Cambodian border and it began sometime in the late 1940s
The tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerrillas as hiding spots during
combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes,
hospitals, food and
weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. The
tunnel systems were of great importance to the Viet Cong in their
resistance to American forces, and helped to counter
the growing American military effort.
Really amazing and I was really impressed with their work
Can you see above of them is the enemy camp.
As you can see from the map on the right it just like the ants house and this is under ground, no body know how the location looks like before, only after the war and since now it's become a history from the war, the Vietnam government allowed the world to see how the tunnel works.
Now Cu Chi Tunnels open to public and this hole is the exit way, can you see how small it is.
U.S. soldiers who tried to infiltrate the tunnels faced multiple challenges: the cramped tunnels were too small for most American servicemen (though just right for the slim, short Vietnamese), and the passageways bristled with stinging insects and lethal booby traps.
hahahahah....... i dont want to be stuck on that hole.
This man is a Vietnamese, he show us how they can go in and out from the hold, Can you see the different between that lady and this man.
This is the tunnel inside, where you have to walk by by bending or walk with bent legs. OMG!!!!..... i tell you it's not easy, i can only walk till the fist exit and cannot continue because i cannot
breathe.
This is the replica of the Vietnam Army. There is woman and man solder.
Entrance to the tunnels
The Vietnamese solder family who is staying with them in the tunnels
Be careful of the booby traps, they are very clever in this too.
A "slipping armpit trap", usually covered with leaves, grips shut when a foot comes down on it, penetrating the victim's leg with sharp iron spikes.
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