Universal Studio, Singapore

14 Aug
A newly opened attraction of Singapore, Universal Studio in Resort World Sentosa, one of the two Integrated Resort in Singapore. It's our team outing with a big group of people attending. We booked the tickets like one week before. On the day itself, no tickets were sold anymore. So if you plan to visit Universal Studio, it's better to book the ticket before. Universal Studio opens at 10 am, I had to come early to collect the tickets and distribute it to the whole team. The ticket cost SGD72 for adults, but they give SGD5 voucher for meal and another SGD5 voucher for retail shop.

I took some photos around, took some rides, and that's all. Started with Shrek 4D show, it's just a 3D short movie where they will move your chairs and splash some water to your face. Then we waited for 1 hour to take Rapid Adventure ride in Jurassic Park just to get me soaked. The mummy's ride is scary but good. Waterworld performance is interesting to watch as well. Lunch inside is pretty expensive, SGD8.80 for combo lunch of wrap, fries and soft drink. SGD2.00 for a bottle of mineral water.

Overall, I feel Universal Studio is nicely built, but it's all artificial, no natural scenery. It's worth visiting once, but only once is enough.

Universal Studio Singapore entrance

Battlestar Galactica

Egypt

Voted as best rides by my friends

Shrek 4D Castle

My SGD8.80 Lunch

Waterworld

Hanoi, Vietnam

We reached back Hanoi at 5 am in the morning and we were picked up to Hanoi Boutique Hotel. They gave us a room for bath and rest. When I booked the tour, I thought the city tour is optional, and I won't join it as there is no point joining tour to go around a city. However, it's part of the whole tour. So we think why don't we give it a try as we paid for it already and we regretted it.

10 Aug
The van picked us up at 8 am in the morning, go around half of the central Hanoi to pick up other guests, there were 13 people in the group, way too big for me. Once we got into the van, there is a fuzzy auntie there already. There were 4 local people who don't speak English at all, I don't know why they arrange non-English speaking people to English speaking tour, and when the last one got into the van, oh God, another noisy auntie. I directly had a bad feeling already.

The first site we visited was Tran Quoc Pagoda, which is located near the West Lake of Hanoi. The pagoda looks very Chinese, with all the Chinese characters on the wall. While the tour guide explained about the pagoda, the 4 locals who don't know English started giving furious faces. We didn't have much time in Tran Quoc Pagoda as we needed to rush to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum which will close at 11 am.

Hanoi West Lake (Ho Tay)

Tran Quoc Pagoda

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is kind of sacred place in Hanoi, lots of guards patroling around, no camera and bags are allowed inside. There is surprisingly a very long queue to go in. Beside the mausoleum, there are some places to see as well, like Presidential Palace and Old Residence of Ho Chi Minh. He is really a great leader of Vietnamese people. When the tour guide explained about Ho Chi Minh, again those people made noises, then the noisy auntie wanted to buy T-shirts etc etc.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Lotus Temple

After Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the tour brought us to a shopping place, oh God, I'm fed up! The itinerary of the tour doesn't include Hua Lo Prison, the place that attract us the most. So we decided to drop out of the tour, we took a cab to Hua Lo Prison and get another friend of mine, Linh, who happened to be in Hanoi that day to join us.

We had our first Vietnamese street food for the trip, it was glass noodle and very tasty. Only when a local accompany you, you can have the real street food. Hua Lo Prison is interesting, that is where the French lock up Vietnamese people and also where Vietnamese people lock up US pilots during Vietnam war. The cold walls are the witness for all the inhumane cruelty of the past.

Hua Lo Prison (Hanoi Hilton)

Temple of Literature is a nice place as well, and I found that Vietnamese culture are quite similar to Chinese. We end our trip in Hoan Kiem Lake and again we bumped into the tour group. I really pity the tour guide, he was like squeezed in between.

Temple of Literature

Hoan Kiem Lake with Ngoc Son Temple

The trip was really good, Sachini is a very nice travel companion, we had lots lots of fun together. Vietnam is nice country, the people there are friendly, except for the motorbikes everywhere. Crossing the road in Vietnam is like a struggle, motorbikes can come from any direction, even from a stair!I met lots of new people and all left a trace in my memory...

Sapa, Vietnam

The second leg of National Day long weekend getaway, Sapa, a remote mountainous area in the north of Vietnam, close to the border to China. The 3D2N tour was booked again from First Choice Travel

7 Aug
At 8 pm, we were picked up and sent to Hanoi Train Station. The train station reminds me of train stations in Indonesia. It looks similar with lots of people around and the noise as well. We were catching overnight train to Lao Cai, the nearest city to Sapa. The train left around 9 pm and reached Lao Cai at 5 am.

The cabin was shared by 4 people, there are a Spanish tour leader who was leading a group of tour from Spain accompanied by a local tour guide. Both of them made a perfect combination and they are so funny and friendly. We had a nice chat with them.

Train Compartment

8 Aug
The train reached Lao Cai at around 5 am, the officer knocked all compartment's doors around 15 minutes before it reached to wake everybody up. We stayed in Royal Sapa Hotel and they gave us free pick up at the train station. It's another 40km ride from Lao Cai to Sapa.

After taking bath in the hotel, we had breakfast and our tour guide picked us up at 9.30am for a hard trek to Ta Van village and Lao Chai village. We are in a group of 7 people. The trek was all the way down but there is no proper road for it and it was raining the night before to make the soil very slippery. It was the hardest trek I ever done in my life. I almost fell a few times. A local tribe lady helped me throughout the trek. However, the view along the trek was really really awesome, worth all the effort to walk. We had our lunch at Lao Chai village, the village that lady is staying. She asked me to buy something from her, but I can't bring too many things with me, so I just gave her VND150000 as tips.

Sapa

Another view of Sapa

The trek after lunch was much better, it's quite hot under the sun. We ended the trek around 3 pm in the afternoon and all the time after that are free.

After having proper bath and a bit of rest in the hotel, we came out again. Yes, we feel guilty to just stay in hotel. We went around Sapa town, had traditional Vietnamese coffee in a local shop, and visited Sapa market. Sapa is a small town. We got back to the hotel by dinner time, we tried the famous Hanoi beer as well. At night, we really ran out of energy and slept very nicely.

Royal Sapa Hotel Room

Sapa Church

Sapa Market

9 Aug
The rooster woke us up in the morning, the morning air in Sapa felt so fresh. We started an easy trek to Cat Cat village after breakfast. It was supposed to be 5 people in the group this time, but two people were missing. So yeah, it was only 2 of us and an Australian old man plus our tour guide.

View behind our hotel

Cat Cat village is home for the Black Hmong people. The trek is very easy, it's a properly built road and stairs. The view is nice althought not as nice as the day before. We visited their shops selling all the handcrafts and leaf paintings, but we didn't buy anything. There is a waterfall at the valley where we stopped to have rest and take some photos. On the way back, we stop again at a small stall where we saw a group of French tourists quarrelling over photographs. It's a pity to quarrel in such a beautiful and tranquil place.

Black Hmong People

Waterfall

Afternoon after lunch is also free time. We decided to go to Ham Rong mountain nearby, just 5 minutes walk from our hotel. It's a nice garden although most of them are man-made. The entrance ticket is VND30000. There are Orchid garden, European garden, Stone Forest, etc. to see. We sat there, had the most expensive instant coffee in my life for VND30000 while enjoying the view of Sapa town.

Ham Rong Mountain

We were picked up to Lao Cai train station at around 6pm, it's a hard bumpy journey that will be enough to make you feel dizzy. The train left at 9.10 pm. This time we shared the compartment with 2 ladies, looks like a mother and a daughter, very quiet ones.

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

National Day long weekend, and I went to visit North Vietnam with Sachini. The trip was awesome, we met lots of people and now I miss the trip already. We booked the tour from First Choice Travel as we planned to visit some of the remote areas in North Vietnam. We took 2D1N trip to Halong Bay and 3D2N trip to Sapa.

5 Aug
We took flight to Hanoi by Tiger Airways and it was delayed for one hour. When we landed in Hanoi, it is 10 pm plus already and after Sachini's visa procedure is done, the airport pickup driver was waiting for us at the gate. We stayed in Hanoi Boutique Hotel 2. The hotel is good, it's clean and nice, better than we expected before.

Hanoi Boutique Hotel 2 Room

6 Aug
After having Vietnamese noodle or pho as breakfast, we were picked up for transfer to Ha Long Bay. The journey took like 4 hours and we reached the boat by lunch time. We stayed on Ha Long Dragon Cruise 18, the room on the boat is good, smaller than then hotel in Hanoi, but still better than I expected before. There are 15 people on the boat. I feel a bit cheated by the travel agent in the sense, they provided meals during the tour in Ha Long Bay, but they did not provide any drink, we had to buy mineral water at inflated price of VND20000 for 600 ml, which is sold for VND8000 in city. The tour guide is not a type of person suitable to be tour guide, he's not friendly at all and keeps rushing people all the way.

Halong Dragon Cruise

Room on the Cruise

Lunch was shared for 5 people in a table, we have an American lady and a Dutch couple sharing with us. After lunch, we went for a 45-minute-kayaking trip, and it was disaster for Sachini and me as we don't know how to do kayaking. In the end we gave up and didn't follow the kayaking group. The next stop after kayaking was a huge cave. At the entrance of the cave, we could see a very beautiful view of Ha Long Bay.

Halong Bay from the Cave

The Cave

The last stop for the day was Titop Island, there is a mountain there where we can climb. Sachini and I climbed to the top of the mountain and an awesome view of Ha Long Bay is waiting for us there. We almost gave up half way, but the French guy in our tour group told us far or not is in our mind only, keep climbing and you will make it. The view worths the effort.

Halong Bay from Top of the Mountain

We had free time before dinner. Some people went swimming and we just lied on the long chair on the upper deck, enjoying the view and the breeze while having chit chat with other people in the group. Dinner was again shared on table. We had a good mix on dinner and nice chat over it.

7 Aug
The weather was a bit cloudy and it was drizzling a few times. Normal breakfast was served on the boat, to my disappointment that they didn't really serve authentic vietnamese food. We had a couple of hour sailing though before reaching back Ha Long City. A van picked us up to transfer us back to Hanoi. Hanoi Boutique Hotel 2 was very kind to lend us bathroom to take a good shower before heading to our next destination, Sapa.

Halong Bay