My Trip to Hanoi : Day 4

 My last day of my trip to Hanoi Vietnam was a tour to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and its nearby attractions. After breakfast at the hotel I took a taxi that brought me direct to the mausoleum. I have to deposit my bag before I can enter the mausoleum, that turned out to be inconvenient since coming out from the building I have to follow the route that passes all the attractions before I can get back my bag that contains the camera. So I have to retrieve back my camera, and return to where the exit point of the mausoleum by passing by Ba Dinh square front of the mausoleum.

My Trip to Hanoi : Cruising Halong Bay

Day 1 in Hanoi

The next day of my trip to Hanoi Vietnam, was a cruise to Halong Bay on board  Elizabeth Sails Junk. I booked a two days one night cruise arranged for me by the hotel tour desk manager. The cruise cost me USD109, inclusive of 2 lunches, dinner, and a breakfast. The tour guide will pick me up at the hotel supposedly by eight in the morning, but arrived in the hotel almost an hour later because of the traffic and being I was the last to be picked up.

My Trip to Hanoi Vietnam, Day 1

This month travel happened last weekend for four days to Hanoi, Vietnam. I filed a two days annual leave to coincide with the National day holiday here in Singapore. This is another last minute trip since I really can't decide where to go in the first place. I have been wanting to go to Hanoi to visit the Halong Bay, but due to inability to find a cheap airline fare the plan has never been materialize until only last week when I chance upon a cheaper one coinciding the holiday. And I have a blast in Hanoi.

A Birthday Trip to Hong Kong

I have never been out of the country for months now, three months to be exact. So I decided to treat myself a birthday trip. I'll be going to Hong Kong, Macau, and hopefully Shenzhen this weekend. It sounds like a long vacation, but it's not since will cover only four days more or less. I'll be arriving Hong Kong in the evening of Saturday until late afternoon of Wednesday. I am not sure how much I can cover the number of places I want to see and check during these four days but I am pretty sure I can maximize my time. 

I have a hard time finding a hotel to stay in Hong Kong. It was only last night that I finally find one. I didn't realize that hotels in Hong Kong is quite expensive even those nice few budget hotels. Should I have known beforehand that this would be the case, I have had booked a room on the same day I booked the flight. Though I have already found two hotels with reasonable rates, I waited until a week before the departure that I decided  to book a room, so the result was that the rooms that I have selected were no longer available. So I have no recourse but to book an expensive hotel since I don't want to stay in the infamous hostels at Tsim Sha Tsui area. Though the hotel room is pricey but it is located beside a mtr station somewhere in Kowloon area. This is the most expensive hotel so far that i'll be staying. I hope that the room and the service will be proportionate to their rate.

During the trip I want the see the following attractions in Hong Kong; The Peak, Giant Buddha, Noah's Ark, either Ocean Park or DisneyLand, the Avenue of Stars for the Symphony of Lights, temple night market, all in two days! A day in Macau and another day in Shenzhen but it is only I still have time.

This trip is not on my task list this year, but what the heck :).

My Trip to Bukit Tinggi, Malaysia

I spent three days during the chinese new year holidays in Kuala Lumpur and Bukit Tinggi in Malaysia. As the trip was not a planned one, I was having difficulty booking for a trip ticket and the hotel room.  The trip is to check the Colmar Tropicale in Bukit Tinggi in Pahang Malaysia, I bite the price for the late booking, and the land travel. The resort online booking site says there were no more available rooms for the holidays, but when I checked Agoda, where I usually book hotel rooms for my travel overseas, I was able to get a one bedroom room. I might consider myself lucky to be able to book a room on the last minute and be able to secure a bus ticket. I travelled in the morning of Sunday and arrived Kuala Lumpur at around 2:00 in the afternoon. Spend the afternoon at Bukit Bintang, and KLCC until the evening. I purposely waited until the evening at the KLCC to take night shoots of the Petronas Twin Towers. I was literally entertained by the kabayans who were there doing pose well for me is entertaining. Then I went back to the hotel to refresh and spend the rest of the evening at a bar in Bukit Bintang.