XYUENX: Vietnam Vacation Part 1 (D1 & D2-Hanoi, Halong Bay)

I'm back! :D

I'm sure none of you here miss me because I've been scheduling posts for the past week while I'm away. But I'm back with a four-part Vietnam vacation post series to update the blog and while away some free time. :D
I don't go on overseas vacation often, so this should be new content.

Most unfortunate thing: I couldn't bring Ethan (my dslr) go. Super unfortunate because he would love all the scenery that he could take there. :(
Plus I would have better photos here. :(
But the kit lens was in repair (yeah it took ages, 'cause we took it back without repairing from Canon and then took it to another place again).
I would have made do with the prime one, but everyone in the family who's going have been like "it's too big too heavy too inconvenient to carry around", which made my parents felt the same way, so we ended up not bringing Ethan because I'm too lazy and not in the mood at all at that time to do any persuasion.

But never mind. Since I used my phone to take the photos (digital compact cameras aren't much better anyway, and my phone is much easier to snap fast photos due to its wider screen and easier to keep), I would like to apologize for the bad, washed-out quality of many of the photos posted here.

For this four-part I've compiled the chosen photos into collages so that it will save more space. I've got in total about 300 photos per day, chosen 100 of them on average per day, and that would have been 700 photos in total for the four-part!

And so I made collages since the photos aren't really that great enough to deserve a large sized space for each of them anyway. In this post I have 34 collages comprising of over 150 photos, and I have also added a few nicer full-sized photos. :)

Time for storytelling. ;)

Day 1
Woke up at 2.30am to get ready and catch my 6.30am flight to KL. The airport was freaking cold. =.=
Had some hot hot hot coffee to warm up.
Oh well. I'll have to get used to living in icy cold conditions. Taylor's gonna be colder. O.O

From top left, clockwise: Pushing the luggage trolley; holding the first plane ticket to KL; selfshot; plane flying over the sky; my plane ticket from Penang to KL; at the check-in counter @ Penang International Airport.

My first flight since 8 years ago. Super high when the plane is on full speed on the runway. I love takeoffs. It feels really, really exhilarating for me. :DDD

Reached KLIA about an hour or so later. Ready to catch the next flight to Hanoi. As this is an international flight, I was served lunch. Contrary to popular belief, plane food doesn't taste bad at all. In fact it was quite yummy. ;) Plus they gave me Hershey's. :P

From top left, clockwise: My plane ticket from KL to Hanoi & passport; a screen showing my flight to Hanoi @ KLIA; me waiting for boarding; plane models at KLIA; Harrods bear display at KLIA.

Reached Hanoi! :D

I caught a sunrise while flying over the sea. Very very beautiful. I've never seen a sunrise before because I couldn't wake early enough. :P

Hanoi looks like great blocks of paddy fields from above. House areas are in patches as well, always near a river of some sort.

From top left, clockwise: colourful sky from plane window; aerial view of Hanoi's wide paddy fields; screen showing luggage belt of various flights @ Hanoi airport; plane flying over a glorious sunrise; plane arriving at Hanoi airport.

Super in love with this photo! Taken from inside the plane. The azure sky and sea are just lovely.

Grabbed our luggage from the luggage belt and headed out for the bus. The guide was a Chinese-speaking guy, about thirty-ish. He talked really fast though. >.<

Headed for lunch first.

From top left, clockwise: Highway toll outside of Hanoi airport; our travel bus and I; first view of Hanoi from inside bus.

Lunch was at a really grand kind of restaurant. O.O Looks like a hotel on the outside.
Food was okay. Not too horrible. :)

From top left, clockwise: hand towels are provided at every Vietnamese restaurant; waitress wearing Vietnamese traditional dress (called Ao Dai) pouring tea; front door of restaurant; inside of restaurant; hotel-like front look of restaurant; Vietnamese version of koay teow theng (very common there); gas stove for heating food (also common).

Then headed for Halong Bay. About 2 hours distance away. The only scenery was great stretches of paddy fields that go on for miles and miles, and some houses. Narrow, tall houses. This was because as Vietnam is a Communist country, each family was given a part of land, which was small, so they had to build their houses really narrow and really tall for more space.

From top left, clockwise: selfshot in bus out of boredom; paddy fields by the roadside stretching for miles; bags for sale by roadside; reached Halong Bay (the signboard states: Welcome to Halong Bay).

At night when we reached, we went to a casino in a hotel. Muahahaha I was allowed in! Age limit is 18 and above in Vietnam. My first time inside a casino. :P It was not big though, just a small one.

Watched people play. Made neither head nor tail of it. >.< But was exciting.

From top left, clockwise: Entrance of casino; dealer at the table; slot machines in casino; selfshot in casino bathroom LOL.

Went to dinner and then checked in at the hotel. Had doormen bring up our luggage. Shared the room with my aunt. ;)

That's all for today! Will be seeing Halong Bay tomorrow! Good night! :D

From top left, clockwise: luggage carried in on luggage rack by doormen; our hotel card at Heritage Hotel @ Halong Bay; last selfshot of the day, good night!

Day 2

Good morning Halong Bay!

From top left, clockwise: sea view from hotel room; good morning! selfshot; restaurant decoration of different cultures (sorry it's not clear).

After a full buffet breakfast, we headed to the pier. There were lots and lots of people there. Lots of ships too, and boats.

From top left, clockwise: sampan boats; before entering the ship; my ship tour ticket; the crowd there; ships flying the Vietnam national flag.

Went on a cruise!

From top left, clockwise: Me with the Ubah fan; inside the ship pic 1; inside the ship pic 2; interior of ship (dining table and chairs).

Went up to the upper deck so that I can have a full view of the breathtaking scenery. They said it is comparable to China's Guilin, with all the islands and rocks. It's really beautiful. :)

From top left, clockwise: selfshot inside the ship; a view of the islands from the ship; the significant kissing rocks; a view of the islands.

From top left, clockwise: me with the islands behind; another ship passing by; our ship's name; selfshot with the flag flying behind me (only put this up because of the flag, love the way it's flying); lots of ships on tour.

Islands: A Guilin, China remake.

From top left, clockwise: Reaching one of the islands; the welcome signboard of Halong Bay.

Visited caves at an island too. Had to climb quite some distance. But the awesome sight inside was totally worth it! Coloured lights made the limestones and staglatite/staglamite so much more stunning. It's great that my phone can take a fraction of the beauty inside. Lots of digital cameras could not take pictures as good as the ones below.

Various stunning five-photo views inside the caves.

Also visited a wide cave where tiny swallow-like birds fly in earnest.

From top left, clockwise: Another cave view; selfshot; tour ships anchored at the island; steps leading to the caves.

Hungry now! Had lunch on the ship. I had a flower crab all to myself. :P
Very yummy! I love crabs. :P

THE crab. :P

From top left, clockwise: Ship behind me; islands behind me; flowers in full bloom; flowers behind me; smaller boats for fishing.

Left Halong Bay for Hanoi. Fell asleep along the way.

Various street views. Note the narrow, tall houses and shops.

Stopped by a rest stop where they have a shop that sold Vietnamese stuff.

From top left, clockwise: Embroidery workers at work; A glorious embroidery piece of Vietnamese culture; embroidered animal pieces.

Various foodstuff, coffee and embroidered art for sale.

On reaching Hanoi we visited a huge lake in the middle of town. A giant tortoise once lived there which according to legend saved people. It died during the war and a temple was built for it.

From top left, clockwise: Pillars with chinese lines; fruit tree inside the temple; entrance to the temple; selfshot with lake behind.

From top left, clockwise: Selfshot with tortoise behind; the legendary tortoise inside a glass box; offerings to the tortoise who lived in the lake some years ago.

From top left, clockwise: the lake in the middle of the city; pillars with tiger carving; me and the pillars.

From top left, clockwise: A lake view; the temple doors; selfshot with temple behind; lakeview.

After that strolled through the streets of the Old Quarter of Hanoi.

From top left, clockwise: Blooming yellow flowers (love this picture!); flowers blooming in earnest by the road.

I witnessed a heartwarming scene where a Caucasian tourist knelt down and offered a Vietnamese little girl some hotel-brought combs and gels as a gift. The little girl was too shy to accept. Her father came up a while later and accepted the gift. I was so engrossed in watching them that I didn't take photos until the father came up, LOL.

A kind tourist giving free stuff to a Vietnamese child.

Various street views of Vietnam.

Then we watched a water puppet show at the theatre, which was supposed to be a traditional show.
Unfortunately my culture level isn't so high....
So I almost fell asleep. :P

From top left, clockwise: Outside of theatre; water puppet program brochure; stage set; programme brochures in various languages; stage before show starts; show ended with performers coming out.