A Journey to The Past – Sun’s Day
17 Jan 2010 6 Comments
Unlike other hotel that usually has their kitchen, chef, and dining hall, Ipeace hotel offered their guests breakfast on the next-door restaurant. Luckily, along the alley, café, restaurant, and hotel were huddled, with the structure almost the same with those in Hanoi; 3 meters width, and 3-5 story building. We were told go to the restaurant stood exactly next to our hotel, a new way of having breakfast in a Hotel.
Breakfast in the Cafe next to our Hotel
The breakfast was pretty delicious, and like the other breakfast menu, they had French bread and noodle. The noodle was surprisingly delicious; they put extra vegetable on it *yippie….*
Exactly at 8 o clock, the pick-up car arrived in our Hotel. It was a 4 seated sedan, filled with 5 people; the driver and me seated in front, while the rest of the space was occupied by Mr. S, Mr. P, and Mr.Rooney (our beloved tour guideJ). To tell a story about Rooney itself may take another blog, he’s such a very boisterous, funny, cheerful, crazy, fast-talking, yet humble, friendly, fussy, and fun guy.
Rooney (his Western Name, & of course, he has a Vietnam Name), our Tour Guide
The first place we visited was Chu Chi Tunnel, the 250km-long tunnel (from Saigon to Cambodian border), one of the most popular battlegrounds of the Vietnam War. It was almost 2 hours to go in there, because it’s located far away from the center of the city.
When we got there, so many tourists had already filled the entrance, where we bought a 75,000 VND entrance ticket per person. As far as I could notice, none of them were Asian *wonder where those asian tourists* except us. We went down a descend entrance heading to the “area”. It was a huge park/jungle where the tunnel lies underneath. Only a few of a 40×40-square manhole were opened. And it was such an object for taking a picture on; go inside the manhole (1 meters depth) with your chest to the top out of it, pose a “peace” finger and strike a big smile. I was kind of using wrong clothes, a shirt and a frilly dress, not knowing we were going to penetrate the tunnel T_T. Anyhow, that was my first instinct on a travelling day; interesting outfit to make an interesting picture =P.
- Mr. S strike a pose on manhole
The park was set up so that tourist can embrace the life at the tunnel back then. A small manhole was just an opening. We then guided to watch the war movie in a room made from clay (perhaps) and a thatched roof.
Then we passed by the trap collection, where the trap they used during the war was still in place, inclosed, and there was 1 or 2 people work for the park demonstrating how the trap works. It was kind of scary, imagining a person would be tricked and fell to the trap. A soldier-like-sculpture using a traditional Vietnam uniform was also set like they were having an activity/ chat, making the tour trip brought us back to 1960s.
Mr.P and one of the trap
Trap Collection & Demonstration
In some spot, were set up a daily activity they had in the tunnel & its surroundings during the war, and there were several demonstration of how do they it. There was a Vietnam lady demonstrating the process of making food-wrapper-skin-like from bulled rice. There was also a man with soldier uniform demonstrating the making of the shoes for the soldiers. They made it using rubber tires, then shaping & cutting using traditional tools. Many others activities were demonstrated on spot, made us understand, and embrace the culture, the social & the life experience during the war.
A soldier statue
A lady demonstrate the making of wrapper-skin-like from bulled rice
A man demonstrating the making of the shoes for the soldiers
Beside all that, you can also see the bomb crater in several places, completed with information of its diameter. But most of the crater already full with dried leaves falling from the tree. Make it just like a land dredging. I wouldn’t have known that it was a bomb crater if Rooney didn’t tell me so.
Bomb Crater
The park has also a shooting range, where you can really grab & have a shot session using a real gun (AK 47 or M16) with additional cost of around 100,000 VND. Close to it is a small store selling merchandise and drink. We stopped by and tried to take a picture by pretending to have shot the gun. And it wasn’t an easy picture. The sound produced from the shot was very loud & shocking. You have to wear an earplug to resist it. We just use our hand to cover our ears while waiting the shooter took a rest (so we could strike a post without being disturbed by the shooting sound, voila!).
Mr. P (pretending) aim the target 
Our tour closed by entering a café-like in the wood, where tourists were free to taste Casava (ubi kayu in Bahasa Indonesia) and a green tea, served in a wood table. This is also a good stop/rest to continue the journey. What a historically interesting tour. I did not remember where was the last time I followed a tour in historical place, high school, junior high school?
Chu Chi Tunnel Cafe, perhaps the name of it
Although the complete history or the chronology wasn’t told really detail in the trip, at least I could capture & imagine what it was like the situation during the war, though I was sure, knowing & imagining it were nothing compare to the real life experience of the devastating & destroying war.
Second destination of the day was handicraft center. This was an unusual fine artwork, because it was done by handicapped/disabled people who were injured during the Vietnam War. And all I do in this place was just amazed by the art they made. The main attraction was the egg-shell lacquer ware. They use the egg-shell, glued on the design pattern, crack it softly, and color it. Just imagining how they make it made me absorbed to the process and wanting to try (perhaps somedayJ). The finishing of it is comprised of several steps, and it can be made a soft finishing or rough finishing (you can feel the rough surface of the cracked egg-shell, but still enjoy its harmony).
Amazed maybe poor to describe how I felt back then. Let me try this one: surprised, by the organized, fine art work they had, I saw couples of time the lacquer ware sold by local people in my country, but once never crossed my mind what is it made from or how they do it; fascinated, by the assiduity they put on the artwork, and how punctilious the egg-shells are compiled, colored, forming artistically systematic & unsystematic at the same time (I’m talking about those egg on an abstract pattern. Too bad I didn’t capture it on my camera, busy being mesmerized); at the same time I felt jealous for the skill they had.
Those are separated room between the workshop where they do all the stuff, and showroom, where tourists can enjoy and shop the artwork they made. Thousands of lacquer ware, with various designs, finishing, size and pattern were displayed. Drag me more to remarkable work of art. Me, Mr.P and Mr.S were busy having a notion of which one is best put in our cribs (Without imagining go to the cashier and carry one of those thru the airport). We ended up our chit and chat concluding that having one of those is just solitary presence of an art, losing a harmony thru its surrounding, but buying several might caught us burdened, both in the airplane and in our pocket J. Not a very match ending with the upheaval experience I had in the first place.
Anyhow, lunch couldn’t wait for us. We stopped by the Diamond mall, the biggest shopping center in HCMC, and we eat pizza (not that I complained, but I hoped to eat a more-Vietnam dishes for the lunch). But I enjoyed it, and couldn’t wait to continue the journey.
If Hanoi and Catba Island provide us much nature scenery, HCMC provide us with a combination of historically, modern, traditional & artistic tourism of a city forward (CMIIW). We stopped at the Independence Palace (which is also known as reunification palace; Mr. S: you’re also right), the presidential residence during the Vietnam War. It was like a museum, of what is the president cribs looks like. Really, I didn’t feel well informed of the historical story of the place itself, coz it was just sightseeing. The real historical experiences take place during post-holiday, where I google places I visited. So another tip for travel: best knowing places you’ll visit prior to the trip.
at Independence/Reunification Palace
Since the objects were close to each other, we moved from one place to another by walking around the city. It was an old church, really beautiful one, in the middle of the city. Notre dame Basilica church was established by French during his occupation in Vietnam back in 1800s. That was the first time for me entering church with such an interior, though I believe, there are many more look alike.
Notre Dame Basilica Ho Chi Minh
Inside of Notre Dame
Center Post Office Building was our next destination. Looking at the design, you would’ve noticed that the building was also built by French and it stood right next to Notre dame Cathedral. Inside you can find that the roof was half-cylindrical curved, same with the cathedral. There were many phone booths, a locket for posting mail and a stand for merchandize. We were only like 10 minutes over there, considering our tour should be closed at 5 pm (and it was 3:30 already).
HCM Post Office Center
Inside of Center Post Office
We then ran to war museum, the only place where I really feel & embrace the history of the Vietnam War. It was like 3 stories building, with the yard are placed by tanks and US Air Force One warplanes, and it’s quite crowded by tourists back then. Inside the building are so many pictures of events, people, or writings, numbered sequentially & put in order to narrate & explore what the war has caused the Vietnam a sorrowful & years of misery. I can tell that this was narrated on the Vietnam‘s eyes. But it doesn’t matter on what eyes; war is always resulting in physical and mental unbearable suffering. Thus, it was quiet a blue afternoon for me, having that knowledge of what impacted Vietnam, the land where I stood, to have some fun, kind of contrast. My admiration is for them, who defensively and vigorously stand up for their freedom.
A View of the War Museum's Yard
War narrated in the picture sequence
I spent like –24 hrs in the 1st floor, didn’t have chance to explore the other stories of the building, and time was quite close to the 1-day-trip end. We then headed to Ben Thanh market, popular with tourists seeking local handicrafts, textiles, souvenirs and local cuisine. We bought some souvenir with reasonable price. Best place for tourist to corner the market.
Ended the trip wasn’t that easy, remember me of the more close we are to back to reality (and it wasn’t quite like one). We said goodbye to our tour guide, Rooney, and went to our Hotel. It was time for dinner!!
That night we spent our time travelling near the center of the city, took pictures anywhere we could, and dropped some money in some stores (Mr. S and Mr. P did), best way to spend the last night in Ho Chi Minh, especially when city was gracefully decorated with sparkling Christmas tree and light all over the place, bringing you away, like the night was never about to end.
Right after Mr. S got his Bally Wallet
Right after i got "Someone's" Bonia (ha..ha..ha...)
“A new year is unfolding – like a blossom with petals curled tightly concealing the beauty within.”
~ Journey to the Past ~
To the days or weeks ago during my trip to Vietnam, as I’m pouring these words, string back all the began-to-disappear memories.
Travelling was never felt that enchanting & moved like that, especially when you are defenseless, and open your every sense to grasp the people, the culture, and beat & wave it draws you in. and I think the art of travelling, is about taking everything the yet-uncovered journey to reveal, never judge on them of the bad and good, keep your eyes & camera open, never hope for anything too much, put a smile in your heart and in your face, and most importantly; live the present to the fullest, your future is now.
“I hoped that the trip would be the best of all journeys: a journey into ourselves” – Shirley MacLaine
Note: “Sun’s Day”, Day of the sun, where Sunday came from.
A Journey to The Past – Saturn’s Day
17 Jan 2010 3 Comments
Like it’s never enough, that morning we headed back to Hanoi, to catch up air plane to Ho Chi Minh. And another journey took place…
We took the same route that brought us to the Catba island by using bus-boat-bus ticket. The difference is that I was a bit piss-easy during the trip >_<
After 1 hour bus trip to Catba Harbor, I lead myself straight up to nữ vệ sinh (a.k.a toilet for ladies). I thought I was okay in the boat. But when I got down from the boat, it came again, while the bus was already full with passenger. I held it up, ensure myself it only less than 1 hour before I could reach the toilet in Haipong.
But things wasn’t easy for me (I kind of lost my luck in Halong Bay T_T), as another bus that took us from Haiphong to Hanoi was already there. Using the best hand signal, I asked the driver where the toilet was, and ask him to wait for me a little while. Poor me, he said there was no toilet *so I caught from his hand moves* and the driver would not wait for me, since the schedule was very tight *kyaaa….*. I stuck in that bus holding it for 2 hour T_T.
The only thing i could focus on was the kilometer indication sign, put in the middle of the road left-right barrier every 2 km to indicate how many kilometers more was Hanoi from that place. Anyhow, I flashed myself straight up to the toilet and left the boys *I think they knew where I was heading to* soon as we arrived, and thanks again for carrying my luggage down from the bus* (v^^)
We hurriedly headed to Hanoi Airport, caught up our plane to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Lucky us (not really), one day before Mr. P checked his email and got the notification email from the airline (Jetstar Airways) that the flight will be put earlier by 1 hour. Soon we got there, we checked-in by Jetstar counter. Apparently, the flight was pushed back to the original time, which was 16:25 hour.
There aren’t many stories i can share during long waiting time in the airport. i sunk myself on my “Imperium”, take several time of looking at surrounding, and a small chat.
I noticed a view on a small kids, that was so attractive. She was cute, innocent, but at the same time emit firmness and sturdiness (she showed it when repulsed me trying to make a fun of her ). She perhaps only 2 or 3 years old, accompanied by her grandfather (i assume). Her grandpa seems very protective to her, and her delinquency (she dropped a box of meal, and many other) didn’t seem to bother him. I saw a full-affection mutual need from a granchildren and her grandfather, something i didn’t see for quite a while.
- Grandpha and his grandchild
look at the cute & sturdy face
Another story took place was the confiscation of some my belonging . But the intrigue wasn’t the loosing of it, but the unpredictably way & sequence it was confiscated. Here is the sequence:
1: Singapore Airport (flight to Hanoi) – I lost my bottle of mineral water (scissor, matches, nail scissors, fork, spoon, shampoo, soap were saved –slipped away from their interest, i guess)
2: Hanoi Airport (flight to HCMC) – I lost my scissor and fork (matches, nail scissors, spoon, shampoo, soap were slipped off)
3: Ho Chi Minh Airport (flight back to Singapore) – I lost my matches and nail scissor (you may list yourself what’s left of me)
All were put in hand-luggage actually, so it wasn’t surprising thing. The astonishing thing was the inconsistency of the officer in detecting my luggage *sigh…*
Anyway, the plan was delayed again, from 16:25 to 19:30, and it was nothing before the actual bad news came: Our plane was cancelled (heaven forbid it!). We were very dither about it, and searched for another flight to HCMC, before it was too late.
Mr. P and I went back and forth searching for a flight to HCMC. Finally we got Vietnam Airlines with additional cost, and the fee for JetStar flight was refund. Thanks to Mr. P for busy making it done to HCMC.
And there we finally flew . 2 hours flight is a long time, especially when you have nothing to do. But things went well for Mr.S, as he seated next to a beautiful plastic surgery Vietnamese doctor. They had a very pleasant conversation (so I noticed) not less than 2 hours, he was even allowed to borrow her car for travelling around HCMC. But I didn’t know whether he was offered a free plastic-surgery for nose-do or not (peace…).
We arrived in HCMC around 9pm and a taxi brought us directly to our Ipeace Hotel, located in the 1st district of Hanoi, the center of the city, and the busiest place.
HCMC is a completely different experience compared to the Hanoi. HCMC is a city forward, full with modern building, shopping center, tall building, and at a glance, it looked flashy and alive. I’d rather compare HCMC to Singapore during the end of the year, or probably Jakarta. The city was decorated by flower-motives, Christmas tree, and a snow-ball-like flashy light. It reminded me much of Singapore.
Anyway, there was nothing much we could do since it was already 10 pm. We just bought some mineral water & instant noodle for dinnerJ. You can always count on instant noodle for critical situation. But yes, so many restaurant, bar and café ware still opened. I thought they were even started. Besides that, we also stopped by the tourist agent (that was still open until 11 pm J) to book a private one-day-tour in HCMC for the next day. Perfect City, check! Perfect Trip itinerary, check! Dinner, nope, not yet…
We went back to the hotel brewing some deliciouza instant noodle…sluurppp…
Day Five, 2 January 2010, the Ho Chi Minh City
“Come dress yourself in love, let the journey begin” – Francesca Da Rimini
Note: Saturn is Roman god of agriculture, justice and strength. Saturn’s Day is where the “Saturday” comes from.
A Journey to The Past – Freyja’s Day
17 Jan 2010 2 Comments
I slept very well that night; the room wasn’t so cold compared to the outside temperature. And i woke up fresh in the morning, could not wait to try the breakfast menu.
The food was delicious, and they offered so many kinds of food. The breakfast was just the red-herring from my detained passion to lead the heart of this journey… Halong Bay (Even now when I say it, I can still feel a sweep of the strong wind, invites me to grasp the every hilly jade of the bay). Anyway, my buddy trip were waking up late, I had to go ahead to the meeting point first, avoiding the tour group leaving us behind. And It wasn’t too long till they caught us up.
It was a small group of 8 using the same agent. 4 of them are 2 couples, 1 couples from Sweden (so Mr. T said, I don’t really know from where they were), 1 couples from France (the friendliest among all, of course we were friendly, but they were the first to say hallo :) ), 1 single traveler from Germany, and us. We were taken to by a small bus to another part of the island, a harbor, where some small cruise ships were moored.
- Our Boat
Boats and Halong Bay
- at the updeck
The Boat & The Twin Towers
Every rocky hill as it emerge from the ocean emit its own aura from its unique shape, made me unable to rest my desire to keep staring and staring. And if you are not too be pull inside by the near hills beside you, and you far oversee the view in quiet a distance, the array of the hills itself is a mesmerizing view.
Array of the hills
Mr.P, which is a geologist, revealed a little story of how all the hills were emerged and shaped. That the horizontal line on the rocks shows in what age was it shaped, and the vertical line is the cracks against it (he told us so many more, but the layman can catch was only this ^^, but don’t worry Mr. P, I got what you said).
Stroke on the rock
The ships track was just passing through the bay, between the jade, and somewhere twice to let the passenger kayaking. It took almost 2 hour trip to reach the area with calm water, where we had our first kayak session. Everyone was very excited about it, although I wasn’t quite sure to start, considering the cold wind.
For the first round, I was in a 2-seater boat with Mr. S, we had a quite difficult time at first, balancing our body with the wave motion. Set some strategy to move the kayak ahead, pedaling the oar right and left against the wave. I knew he had a difficult time, since I didn’t produce enough energy pedaling the kayak (so sorry for that, Mr. S). But we made a good kayak team, heading our canoe to places we aimed. One of the most mesmerizing experiences was when we aimed our boat tracing down underground cave of the rock. Other kayakers from another boat also fill the area around to Taste the underground cave. Looking at the rock from the boat is astonishing, but grasping it from the close distance while kayaking is another wonderful experience. You can see the rock towering high against its surroundings.
Kayak penetrating the rocky hills
Like it was not enough, our lunch surprised us (not the lunch actually, but the ship captain ). He happened to be not only the ship captain, but also a chef (Voila!). Helped by 1 crew, which was turned out to be his nephew, he prepared our lunch. In my previous experience while travelling, lunch was always provided in a meal box (hygienic, clean, and looks good). Knowing the lunch was prepared by a ship captain in the nearly-difficult-to-cook-kitchen didn’t make me quite happy. You should see the bathroom as well. Overall, with such impossible good sanitary situation, I doubted my lunch (T_T, sighed), although pleasing smell kept emerging from the kitchen, yumm…
It seemed I was the only one that nervous about our lunch. Mr. S and Mr. P chose to blend with the other passenger. They were headed to the deck and had a pleasant (so I heard) conversation with the French couple, while the loner tourist seating calm in front of me, and the impossible Sweden couple busy with themselves. I tried to make myself sleep, awaiting the lunch to be served, but the waves made it impossible.
Anyway, when finally the lunch was served, my anxiety was useless. It was a 4-main-course: omelets, fried fish with tomato sauce, seafood spring roll and sauté vegetable, and it was all nicely served. My anxiety was replaced by surprise & hungry. I was surprised that the kind of food can be produced in such situation, and it was the captain that making it. We hurriedly try the meal one by one, tempted by the pleasant smell and the looks of the food.
Lunch cooked by The Ship Captain
Mr. S also had some conversation with the Germany (when he dropped the sliced cucumber 4 times by chopstick, amazing! I’m not sure of what made his hand shaking anyway, was it the conversation itself, or he was afraid of being shot by him, peace v^^).
I felt full at last, another power gained for the rest of the trip, kayaking part II. After 1 hours of making way back in opposite direction (I supposed), we stopped by again in an area with the calm water. This time I teamed up with the Germany. He was a quiet guy, and I didn’t have so many coordination conversation compared when teaming up with Mr.S, which made me confuse for a while. Mr. Germany seemed to have a quiet an experience, and strength, made me only pretending pedaling the oar ^^. He said to me to relax, coz he could do it all (hahaha…). Anyway, I tried my best to pedal, coz I’m a good teammates 
. Basically, he let me aim the boat anywhere I like.
We stopped by the nearby sandbar. The sand was very clear and soft that I couldn’t hold myself back to make a small jump on it. There were 3 local people picking up a small seashell that were attached to the rock. According to our captain, they live in the boat house, and survive by selling the seashell, another story of people in Vietnam. Makes me thinking, that the exciting thing about every journey is not just visiting nice places, but to observe & to learn the people.
Blend with the locals
We went back to Catba Island in the next half an hour. This time, we were accompanied by the Captain. We had a nice & an inspiring conversation, starting with his background, his age, and how did he come up with the boat. He was a 40 years old guy with 1 wife and 5 children (Mr.S & Mr. P, correct me if I’m wrong). He started his carrier as a boat captain since the age of 18 (if I’m not mistaken, I kind of forget the detail). The boat he drove sailed through the ocean heading Hong Kong and so many other places. In Short, I think he was a truly sailor. It’s too bad I didn’t dig much more on his cooking skill. Way back to Catba didn’t feel that bore, thanks to the Captain!
We arrived at Catba Island at 4:30 pm, and back to the Hotel for a shower. It didn’t take us a long to have another walk in the city (not shop till drop, but walk till drop). We explored another side of our hotel, played by the private beach of our hotel, and explored the circling route on the rocky hill that flanked our hotel. The track was ascending in at first, some of them are plain, then ended up descending. The view was very wonderful; I was pretty disappointed that we didn’t take the morning picture in that place. In the boat we could see the jade stood up from the ocean, but the road on the rocky hill served us a view of all those beauty from altitude, another point of view to enjoy its beauty. The route seemed circling us out of our hotel, and took us to another part of the island.
Hai to Catba from distant curvy route
We walked down the route until 7 pm and it was quite dark. It was only us down that road. At first, We didn’t know where the route’s gonna end. But when we saw a group of sparkling light under, we knew we were heading to another resort, number 1 resort in the city, so they say. We took some night shot out there. We’re closing our trip by passing the Sunshine resort, while comparing it to our hotel. It was a fancy hotel, but our Hotel had more space & playgrounds.
Magic & surprise couldn’t wait when it’s ready to be revealed. Our next object was: RESTAURANT. We tracked down the city and went inside the alley, searching the best place to have a dinner. We stopped by the restaurant named: nhà nghĩ – nhà hàng vịễn dưong (I tried the online Vietnam dictionary and typed the name of the restaurant using ‘vietnam keyboard’ option the website has. And yes, I still keep the dinner invoice ^^). It was a regular seafood restaurant from outside. Living sea animal was put outside, so the guest can choose by their own. There was a fish, seashell, shrimp, crab, and many more. We were welcomed by an old Vietnam lady who totally unable to speak English. Let the dinner begun!!
We were given a menu list (There was a Vietnam name of the food and the English version of it, thanks for that) to be looked at, while the lady standing near to us equipped by a pen and a paper. She continually talked to us using Vietnam, while us striving hard to explain the menu we would like to have in English. The funny thing was, every time we point a name of the food on the menu list to get an explanation (not ordered yet), she then said something in Vietnam very vast, wrote that name directly on the paper, and directly asked their chef to cook it (???). We were defenseless with her naughty funny act. We spent 15-20 minutes finding the right menu & had a weary yet fun conversation with the lady. It was reliefing when finally we finished order and the dinner was served.
But it didn’t stop just that. I found that the food named: fried rice with egg was filled by perhaps only a half egg, and it was very salty. The lady that finally understand that I’m a vegetarian (fiuh…) brought some compliments, like soya, etc to make the rice more tasteful.
It wasn’t a 5 minutes, until she came back, circling our table, talking to us in Vietnam while pointing the corn soup my buddies ordered. We were totally blacked out of what she meant back then. Until she grab a spoon in our table and take a spoon of the soup in her mouth. Then she showed grumble-like expression while saying in Vietnam we didn’t understand, and then said something to the chef in the kitchen. (What I could capture was, she tried to make another one soup since that one tasted plane). And it proved to be correct, less than 10 minutes; a bowl of a soup was brought to us with a bigger portion by her. And she said something again in Vietnam with a big smile (perhaps saying: I bet this one is better, now you guys enjoy it, I give it for free). What the best dinner in the trip!
We closed our dinner by taking a picture with the lady, and the entire family work for the restaurant. Amazing Vietnam!
Mr.S, "The Lady", and Mr. P
The Family Restaurant
Day four, 1 January 2010, Welcome to the surprising Vietnam
Note: Freyja is the Anglo-Saxon name for Venus (Roman’s Goddess of Beauty), from where the “Friday” came from.
A Journey to The Past – Thor’s Day
16 Jan 2010 2 Comments
.From there, we went straight away to the bus station and saw our bus (Thanks God, the bus looked nice ). We were scheduled to board at 11:20, but we were called to get in by 11. The bus went on around 11:05, and there were several non-asian tourist, that somehow made me relief, “OK, there are another tourist taking the same choice”. The bus was full with both tourists and local people. We travelled for about 2 hour to the Haiphong City, to change the Bus (we had to wait for about 1 hour to go to the harbor).
- a scene inside the bus
Funny things happened (funny, or annoying, you name it). We were so starvvvinggg…and decided to stop by in the nearest restaurant. There was a fancy restaurant, with its supervisor wore a coast, neat one. Each one of us ordered meals, and as usual, I ordered vegetarian fried rice. Like several events before *no more surprise*, the waitress served a fried rice with pork slices on it *cried inside*. Well, that wasn’t my lucky afternoon, and we had no more time to order the correct food. So Mr. S and Mr. P helped me eaten up the fried rice *should I be thankful?*
It was about time at 2 pm when another bus came by to pick us all to the harbor. Several tourists from another bus apparently had come during the time we took lunch. The bus took us to the harbor, where we used a ferry to cross over (around 45 minutes) to the Catba Island. Not quite a view I could say, the ferry window was blur, I couldn’t see outside clearly, and as obvious I looked, nothing special about the view outside. So I spent my time chatting to kill time.
Catba island harbor wasn’t a view as well. As we arrived in Catba’s harbor, another bus took us away to the other side (catba city) of the island. Along the way, the view was beautiful, with green chronic hill spread out on the landscape. It brings me the view of a lonely island in the country of nowhere from “King Kong”, or even the strange island in the end chapter of “Deep Rising”. Shortly, I felt quite blown away in the island of fantasy. The road itself was zigzag, descent and declined. The more we approached to the city, more local housing stood up, school, market, and finally the bus took us to the main street, where broad paved road are spread right beside the small harbor. The left side of the road was full with hotel, store and restaurant/bar/café, and on the right side was the ocean welcoming us to the free ocean. Welcome to the Catba city…
There we took a 10 minutes’ walk to our Hotel, Catba Island Resort and Spa, where another surprise waited for us. We took an upward stroke towards the Hotel and it wasn’t that easy with my luggage (thanks again to Mr. S & Mr. P ^^). The Hotel was FUN-TASTIC, and I really mean it. It stood up in a top plain, with its down plain are a mesmerizing view of pool park, eccentric restaurant building, wriggling glide of the water park, and direct view to the sea, where boat were sailing and anchoring, and it was nothing without the embellishment of the stony testimony sprout out by the green plant flanked the hotel area as if it was a secret, exclusive area for those who only deserve it (please forgive my little exaggerationJ). If I was alone, I would certainly scream uncontrollably, mesmerized by the view. The room itself was awesome, sea view room with many compliments served for us. Mr. S quickly grabbed a piece of dragon fruit, something fresh he always craving for during our travelJ, not to mention a fancy bathroom with quite a design. What a luxury…
Smile of Catba Island Resort & Spa
A smile for Catba Island
And yes, it was 6 hour before the year 2010. The hotel offered us an entrance ticket for a new year’s party held by the hotel for $6/pax. We took it for the sake of delicate buffet (as it was shown from the menu list) and a live music for celebrating New Year.
The party started at 9, so we walked around the sidewalk to take a picture & enjoy the view. The catchy thing about the city was the half-circle mast inscribed with “welcome to Catba”, located right in the middle of the city harbor. It was bluish fluorescent that embellish its stood during the evening.
Welcome to Catba Island
Stony Frozen
Along the street, local merchant offered pearl jeweler, animal-shaped-like statue made from shellfish, and many other merchandise. We also stopped by the tourism agent, arranging our trip to the Halong Bay for the next day.
We took a 1-day trip to Halong Bay, includes the kayak session in one or two area around it, and lunch at the boat. The tour biro was a good one, the owner speaks English easily, show some options and photos, make us easier to make decision.
Photo session, Check! Halong Bay trip itinerary, Check! Dinner for vegetarian, Check! Party is on !! We went back to the hotel, and waited until 9:30, rushed to the party. Things weren’t exactly as I expected. The wind blew very strong and cold, especially when our hotel located right next to the ocean free. I trembled as I walked to the party area: an open air spot with small stage where Philippines singer sang a stomping song. I remember, that I could not focus on anything but trembling inside my double jacket and wonder how the singer (2 girls wore a sleeveless shirt with a very short skirt) survived the weather. Weren’t they told the weather in the Catba was freaking freezing? Anyway, I’m amazed not by their performance but their mass strength against the freezing wind.
I enjoyed some desert anyhow, with delicious salad and the calming French fries (hot French fries was never felt that way before, yummm), my two buddy seems okay with the wind blows, they eat some huge meal (from their expression, I think they pretty enjoyed the dinner, I think the food carried them away from the weather). Around us are 5 tables of 5 up to 10, only 1 table (if I’m not mistaken) was occupied by non-Asian tourist couple. And there was a table full with local people toasting their glasses, yelled something in Vietnamese I didn’t catch. As I luxuriated my own tremble and salad (what a combination) while keep wondering how the Philippines did survive, I ensured myself it wasn’t too long for me to stay there anymore. And I excused myself to go inside (it also happened that I need to get a drink in the room, the buffet did not include the drink, holla!). As I left the party area, a soft drizzle touched my skin, and a minutes after that I heard indistinctly the MC said that the dinner will be closed soon due to the weather). What a weird New Year dinner party. It was 22:30 pm…
New Year Party's Stage
My fight turned out didn’t finish just that, I had to walk back and forth 4 times from my room to the receptionist, went through a pretty ascending road multiple times, caused by the key card that didn’t work. 4 times! First, the receptionist Guy #1 said “okay, now you can use this card”. I went back to my room, found it fail again for the 2nd time. Then I walked again to the receptionist, and the guy #1 made something on my card using card machine or something *I didn’t sure of what exactly he did to my card*. And I went back to my room, only to find that it failed again. I went back to the receptionist, welcomed by Guy #2, told him my problem I was having, again, he did something to card using card machine and made me sure that I won’t be back for the 4th time. Relieved, I waved myself back to the room, to find my card didn’t work, AGAIN. And as you might guessed, I travelled back to the receptionist, and the Guy #2 finally said that he will reset all the cards I was having, and make another new one *something I wonder, why didn’t he make it since the first place*, and guided me back to the room, and tried the card, that finally can be used to open the door. What a weird night…
Day three, 31 December 2009, Welcome to the Catba Island
“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” – John Steinbeck
Note: Thor is the Anglo-Saxon name for Jupiter (God of Lightning, Kings of all God of Roman), where “thursday” came from.
A Journey to The Past – Woden’s Day
16 Jan 2010 2 Comments
The city seems to have the magic, I woke up in the morning couldn’t wait to have a trip around it. Not that I slept well, i got trembled and frozen, got prepackaged *very tight* on the blanked-and still got my hand slumped into my jacket number 2. I also wore jacket number 1 inside it ++double socks 
. Maybe that was another reason to be woken up. The only thing that helped me a lot was the hot shower water. It felt like all the “invisible” ice stuck inside my bones and flesh melting in *no exaggeration…
Breakfast provided by Hotel was shown in a menu list. There were French bread with pork, beef or omelets, another kind of bread with its complementary, and what attracted me the most was what ‘s on the bottom: Noodle soup with vegetable. Have I told you earlier? I am a vegetarian. Having imagination of last night noodle in the sidewalk combined with vegetable couldn’t make me happier back then, although, later on I taste that noodle was cooked in a broth *from the taste* T_T.
Breakfast was prepared by local Vietnam lady around 50s, helped by 3-4 Vietnamese teenagers, in a 1,5X2 m kitchen. While awaiting Mr. P & Mr. S took a shower & waken up, i sat by the receptionist table (all breakfast table were already occupied). There were 4 or 5 tables of four, occupied by western tourist. What I had noticed was, there were a small number of Asian tourists in Vietnam, most of them are non-Asian tourists (Germany, Sweden, Latin America, I knew it from the language they spoke in a second of time).
At around 9 am, we started to walk around the old quarter. The plan was to follow the lonely planet’s itinerary for one-day-tour in old quarter. Not different from last night, we started it from the Hoan Kiem Lake, the closest object from our hotel, to walk around it. The weather was even worse than the other night, the air was more jabbing cold and it was quite rainy & foggy. But somehow it added a whitish-curtain-like to the lake, separating us with the Ngoc Son Temple located in the middle of the lake from distance. We took a picture near the lake, on the sidewalk, where a group of many kinds of flower were tidily and gracefully set, served a small and beautiful garden for the pedestrians.
A View of Hoan Kiem Lake & Ngoc Son Temple
Mr.S, me, and Mr.P on the sidewalk garden next to Hoan Kiem Lake
Not until a full-circle we took a walk around the lake, there was a barricade, guided by local army/police, secure *I’m not sure* a certain area near the lake that were being decorated & set up. Local army/police (till now I don’t know if they were an army, or a police ^^) told us that the particular area was closed to prepare that night for an event (till know I also do not know what event it was). We then made a turn back, to visit the next place.
I can’t tell you the very detail of the trip (the path, the direction or the street name). It was a trip on the sidewalk surround the old quarter, with its buzzing, bustling nuance, aggravated by the amazingly ignorant motorcyclist. One thing about the road in old quarter, it is quite a maze, with very complicated bend and turn (that is why I can’t tell you the detail). Luckily we were equipped with 2 maps on us (Bible’s Map & Hotel’s Map), guided us through the many places we visited. I even had a moment when I felt pity on myself, for being a blind-direction-tourist . Especially thanks to Mr. S & Mr. P for their amazing senses of every bend, turn, intersection, and crossroad in old quarter.
An intersection in the uproar Old Quarter
All those messy cable hanging in the mast decking out every corner of the street
See how they fill their store sophisticatedly mess, yet attractive to look at
Nevertheless, the trip wasn’t giving any turn. Soon I got a bit bored with the buzzing bustling nuance of the old quarter (though I’m still amazed of how they set up things in their store & many things they offer from each store). The idea of old-quarter-tour perhaps just to have a city walk, observing & scoop the every nuance of Hanoi. If you like to take a glance on traditional market, antiques, local/traditional craft, then Old quarter is the suitable place for you. There you can find gravestone, herb, shoes, leather & PVC shops, and many others.
And don’t worry, if you are spontaneous, there were lots of Hotel and Tour information agent are in place to serve the tourists. You don’t have to book in advance. Well, a little effort might be need if the rooms are full.
Around 1 pm, we took lunch in restaurant named Ladybird. Ordered some menus including my favorite one: Vegetable Spring Roll (Mr. P told me that he thought it might be fried with pork oil, and it certainly hampered by intention to order 1 more portion). For non-vegetarian reader, sorry I can’t tempt you by mentioning non-vegetarian menu, since I can only remember mine . But I remember a bit Mr.P and Mr. S ordered noodle, cooked with pork I guess, corn soup with chicken * I guess, again*, fried rice with pork & seafood. The later was regretted by Mr. P, which is until now still holds his opinion on Vietnam fried rice: not so good and weird *I cite from him*. On the contrary, I found the fried rice is delicate *off from whether it is cooked by pork oil or not, i certainly hope not*.
The trip continued around the old quarter, passed by some small temples & pagodas (not that exciting to take the picture on, or explored in), towards a beautiful old church, Regina Pacis Church. It was the second object i admired after the Hoan Kiem Lake. Again, we spilled our narcissism by taking several pictures. Mr. P showed some skill by using his professional cameras (and its partner: amazing tripod, Roger), produced some pictures i knew it’s gonna be my favorite. And thanks to Mr. S for its revolvable screen camera, enabled us to take our own picture with all of us in, without the help of fourth-hand .
Church in Old Quarter (Not sure what's the name)
Though i hate this picture (coz i'm not here), i must admit, this is really a great picture, Mr. P
Journey was continued to somewhere i didn’t know (only Mr. P & Mr. S knew, I was a good amenable follower). and it was only a second before I found myself at Army Museum, where giant tanks & helicopters were displayed amid debris of falling war airplane; another lovely background to take a picture.
Mr. S posed in front of plane debris
Mr.P tried to aim the "Giant Gun"
Army Museum Yard
The Hanoi Flag Tribune was also a view, although we hadn’t had enough time to explore it.
Flag Tribune
Information around Flag Tribune
It’s almost close when I couldn’t find either Mr. S or Mr. P, which turned out to be in a small store inside the museum, talked with local Vietnam girl name …. (She spelled her name; I triumphed by spelling her name back, but failed to remember it soon after leaving Hanoi). They were having a bargaining moment on a pair of hat (soldiers hat with a star on it, till now I do not know what is so interesting about the hat). I was more attracted to have a t-shirt. I bought one for my brother with 40,000 VND. Mr. T seems to have chemistry with the girl, and made a flirt couples of time, but not that strong to draw the price cheaper .
The journey pulled us to the place I admired, the Chu Tich Ho Chi Minh. A big monument or building with a huge capacious park, overgrown by a grass, separated by quadrates. There was also a huge capacious sidewalk, filled with pedestrians, tourists, even local people was having a Tai chi, and of course, an army, who walking around to guide the surrounding (it’s hard not to meet an army in Hanoi; and it’s too bad I didn’t count T_T). But that’s not all, the sparkling lights emitted from the haughty street light was the most attraction as the sun goes down. I don’t have to tell you what happened next: photo session, the best part of all…Mr. P took Sean&Shane out of his big black bag set some angle, lighting, and perfect composition for us to take the picture on. The Result: an amazing picture born by professional photographer from Duri. I already lost my shame on my pocket camera *sigh…*
Chu Tich Ho Chi Minh
Bluish phosphorescence emitted from the street light
Me, strike a pose
Last Shot before Dinner
It was quite dark, and my legs yelled at me “no walk no more”. Fine! You got it. We went back by taxi we stopped somewhere near the Chu Tich Ho Chi Minh. Have I told you? That not only the motorcyclist that raised my admiration. The car driver was sometime “awesome”. When he missed a turn, he directly (in the middle of the street) makes his way 180 degree turn back. No pulled over, no “wait until the road is clear”. Amazing Hanoi!!! Maybe I should learn from Vietnam how to drive a car, and then I can drive one in my complex where I live.
Hanoi, a place where super driver is born!
We drove back to Hotel, took a quick shower, and went back to have a supper. That was the night that rocks!!! Remember the event the army told us earlier? It was on! Till now I don’t know what they celebrated. All I knew was the road & sidewalk around the lake flooded by hundreds (or maybe thousands) of people.
After having a dinner, we took a walk around to see the crowd. Mr. P wanted to take a picture of the Ngoc Son Temple, which was conjured into a sparkling diamond in the middle of bluish magical lake. That’s why we traced down the sidewalk to get a space. But it was very difficult, since it was already filled with people crowding around. There were also some street merchant offering many things from food, toys, candy, and more. And….don’t forget, hundreds or thousands motorcycle was also took part . It seems that the isolated area we saw in the afternoon was set up as a huge stage for a show. We couldn’t see it from where we stood. But it seemed that there were a lightshow and music sounded from there.
Just a few moments after we stood there, suddenly, fireworks flared up from the stage, shocked us with their beautiful sparks on the sky. All of people enchanted in a sudden, raise their head to the sky, admiring its beautiful eruption on the blue dark sky. And it’s not new year yet people, it was 30 December 2009. Again, I didn’t know what they celebrated. There were couples of fireworks flared up by turns, sourced from the stage *I believe, though I couldn’t see clear where was it coming from*and then stopped. I sighed my breath deploring the short moment of the fireworks, before another fireworks started to flare again. This time it sourced from the middle of the lake, from the sparkling green-yellow bridge in front of us.
If I’m not mistaken, Mr. P straddled excitingly (maybe it was like “this is the moment I’ve been waiting for… Sean… be ready…”). Me and Mr. S busy taking picture as well with our camera.
The annoying thing was, there was a big *f*****g balloon, so Mr. P said*held by someone stood in front of us flying right and left waved by the wind, hampering our view to a perfect moment. I still remember Mr. P said “f*****g balloon” couples of time that day, and one time the day afterwards.
Fireworks at Hoan Kiem Lake
But time has paid back to him, as he stayed a bit longer near the lake, he got the most beautiful background for his picture (diamond-like pagodas in the middle of the lake beside him), something I jealous at (why did I take a pee?).
~ Sweet Revenge ~
Day two, 30 December 2009, still in Hanoi
Note: Woden is the Anglo-Saxon name for Mercurius, God of Merchant from Ancient Rome, from where ‘Wednesday’ comes from
“As much horror as we have always created, we are a species that keeps moving forward, seeing new sights in new ways, and enjoying the journey” – Martha Beck
A Journey to The Past – Tiw’s Day
16 Jan 2010 5 Comments
It’s been so hard for me to write something. I had never succeeded, either not sufficient time, difficulties of putting the idea into words, or something that was half-done lost its soul and direction in the middle of nowhere. At that moment, I thought that a writer is a genius. Writing book, column or news is not an easy job. Putting and string up ideas, notion, illustration, occurrence in the precise word, to perform an interesting, smooth flow narration may need a profound thought. Which is somewhere helps us to understand the thinking process itself.
That is why, when Mr. Photographer asked us of who’s gonna write the journal of our journey, I volunteered myself without any hesitant. I like to mention a quote: “A picture is worth a thousand words. An interface is worth a thousand pictures.” So hopefully, with all my limitedness to author, and the helps of some beautiful picture, I can borne you away along with the rise and fall of my every thought during the amazing trip in Vietnam.
It was not an easy trip for me anyway, not because the place is far away, hard to be reached, or unfriendly weather (although I admit, those are things I complained from this trip), but some precedent events I should took before taking the “journey” itself. Started from 2 days stressful meeting, 10 days of tight retreat practice in Puncak, West Java, and a quite intense family reunion in Semarang for 2 days. But I won’t take you to each precedent, since it will take another blog to start. I’ll take you to the heart of the journey…….Vietnam.
Before I start, let me introduce you to my buddy Trip: Mr. Shopper (a.k.a Mr. Ronny. let’s call him Mr. S), Mr. Photographer (a.k.a Mr. Henri, let’s call him Mr.P, along with his camera, Sean and Shane), and the holy bible (The Lonely Planet of Vietnam) and of course the Robert Harris’s Imperium (faithfully revealed its story during waiting time in airport, and many other places).
Ronny, a.k.a Mr.S
Henri, a.k.a Mr.P
Our bible, Lonely Planet of Vietnam
Getting to Vietnam from Indonesia is not that easy, especially if you want to go by north to south. It means we have to get an airplane from Jakarta to Hanoi, while options are limited with no direct flight to Hanoi from any city in Indonesia. The least we can do was departing from Singapore to Hanoi by Tiger airways with quite reasonable price and it was cheaper than my ticket from Semarang to Singapore . If you’d like to go to the Ho Chi Minh on the first place, air asia and lion star would be very pleased to have you on board . You can depart from Jakarta.
We depart from Singapore at 16:50 Singapore time by Tiger airways. The terminal was in the budget terminal. It’s not that sumptuous compared to other terminal. But I felt cozy out there. The thing is when you are already go inside the boarding room, there were not many seats available, so make sure you go there only when it’s boarding time. Although it’s a budget flight, the stewardess is very strict on safety regulation, not to mention their hospitality and smiley face!! One thing you can’t get *sometime, perhaps* on fancy flight. Got another story on this later on ^^
It took 3, 5 hours to reach Hanoi. We arrived at 19:20 and shocked *perhaps only me* by the refrigerating winds. I had no idea that the weather would be that cold. I stroked by mom face saying “don’t you wanna bring another socks, gloves, and trousers?” right before I finished my pack. I said: “no way, including this * I pointed my scarves, 2 jeans, soap & shampoo* I already reached my 8 kilos, I’m afraid the official won’t let me in”. The ticket was only included 7 kg hand-carried luggage. That is why I reached my longest time packing, choosing & tricking my clothes to reach 7 kilos. And yes, I used scales to measure my hand-carried luggage. Thanks to Mr. P for his kindness lugged my bag for most of the way, and thanks to Mr. S as well .
Anyway… it was so breezy winter time, I even forget when the last time I felt that cold (and I didn’t mean the time I spent in my office freezing). I didn’t know exactly the temperature, but perhaps it reached 16 degree, and sometime a very light, fine grain drizzle touched my unwrapped skin. I wasn’t even sure it was drizzling until I stopped for a while to really realize it was the drizzle sputtered on my skin. Welcome to December Hanoi!!!
We stopped by the exit door of the airport to read the recommended taxi in Lonely Planet (thanks to the traveler’s bible, and thanks to Mr. S for getting it ), and exchanged some dollars to Vietnam Dong (VND). We used taxi with fixed price to our Hotel: Hanoi Mike’s Hotel which is located on bustling old quarter, so they say.
For every trip, there’s something new and interesting. I would like to quote & modify of one’s say in an article: in every visit to a new place, all of our sense are revealed because we are adjusting to a new surrounding, therefore we are easily grasp the atmosphere& ambient. Along the way up to our hotel *Still breezing* some of the road, as I grasp the atmosphere, where the condition reminded me a lot of my birth place. Main road that higher than the houses stood along the way; fancy up to modest& rickety houses, low light, combines with plane landscape, and sometimes not to far-reaching farm land -with advertisement board stood on them. The closer to the old quarter, buildings are tied up, and I don’t have to wait that long to be amazed that the more we got closer to the old quarter, the buildings were more adhered that it had no space left among them. Most of them are only 4 meters wide, with 3 up to 5 or more stories building. Amazing!
Old quarter, like the name, are full with old buildings, yet few modern buildings are interpolated among them. Together with meticulous & complicated electrical & telephone wire hanging from one mast to another, thousand motorcyclist trafficking the street, and frenzy tourist & local people flooding the street forming a dense, disarray, gratify urban area, I couldn’t be more happier.
It took almost an hour to get to our hotel, another surprise in Hanoi. We were welcome by a local bell boy (later on in the website, I found out that his name was Khuyen ), opening our taxi and offering a hand for 3 luggage with a big friendly smile said: “ welcome to Hanoi Mike’s Hotel”. Not just that, the receptionist welcomed us with every hospitality of Vietnam. He wave us to a small table of four, sitting in front of us, welcoming us, and brief us a moment for the hotel location (he handed us with a map), explaining objects that can be visited in Hanoi, it’s location, and how to get there. Again, a surprising thing, of hospitality. He also allowed us to choose some welcome drink provided for the guests. All at once, I felt like pulled inside to the trip, especially to the city.
Hanoi Mike's Hotel
Although it was already 10 pm, the street was still full of vitality. Another interesting thing was the group of people sitting in a low chair (20 cm high) around the table of 4 to 6, eating something. They were everywhere in the sidewalk. At a glance it was like a noodle, with slices of pork or fish, or even beef, we never had a chance to try that or look closer, something me now regretting. Some of them were just sit to have some beer, to warm their body (remember? It’s freezing out there).
Just by 10 minutes walk we reached the Hoan Kiem Lake. It’s like the old quarter magnet for every tourist. Surrounded by the paved sidewalk, Hoan Kiem Lake offers a beautiful color, radiated from its green and yellow light, decorated along its bridge and its tree. The lake offers nothing but a perfect mirror to reflect the light, performed a perfect background for a perfect picture in a perfect night.
Night View of Hoan Kiem
We stopped by in the KFC (yes, Kentucky Fried Chicken) to have a supper. Some big building were also stood across the street from sidewalk, serve so many options of restaurant, bar, coffee shop or even tourist information centre. Our lovely KFC was one of the shopping center. We rushed ourselves for the dinner, since the perfect background were waiting for us to take the picture on (Voila!).
Cafe Center, right next to Hoan Kiem Lake ( A shot from 2nd story of KFC ^^)
The combination of the city and the lake belting out the rhythm that wove my body to keep walking to discover more. However, nights and weariness were much stronger. We went back to our hotel after channeling our narcissism, took some picture near the lake.
And before I forget, another amazing thing was the harmony *if you know what I mean* between the pedestrian and the motorcyclist. Catch this! Hanoi is the best place for you to train your skill of walking across the street. No traffic lights are prevailing. Each motorcyclists rush their way as well as pedestrians rush their feet. Don’t wait until the street is clear to cross over. Coz it won’t be. If you want to get by, you have to be brave, walk forward a little bit, step by step (don’t bother by the motorcyclist, let them noticed by your presence) and keep walking, until you get by.
Day one, 29 December 2009, Hanoi City
“The soul of a journey is liberty, perfect liberty, to think, feel, do just as one pleases” – William Hazlitt
Note: Tiw is the Anglo-Saxon name for Mars (the God of War in Ancient Rome History), used as the name of day : Tuesday.
