Our Hanoi trip - Day 4

Day 4 : A visit to Ninh Binh province

Early in the morning... we had to catch this bus for this trip. Bas ni comfortable actually... but the journey.... mak aiii... and the bus terhenjut2... in the end makcik terrrrmuntah! :(

Welcome to Ha Nam :)
By the time I reached this place... I was so sick! Baru lepas muntah...

Welcome to Hoalu Ancient Capital of Vietnam! Hoa Lu is within Ninh Binh province, located 100 kilometers from Ha Noi. Recently became the magnet to tourism due to its magnificently scenic view of mountains, rivers as well as historical relics.

There are two temples in this area dedicated to the kings Dinh Tien Hoang... so we visited these 2 temples lah..

Scenaries around the temples...
Sakit2 pun boleh posing lagi ek?;)

What a FAT buffalo!! Kat Malaysia ada tak agaknya kerbau segemuk ni??

Later, we went to Tam Coc. Tam Coc means three caves. I was quite excited actually coz we were scheduled to make a boat trip through these three exotic caves during this trip :)

Sampai2 je kat Tam Coc.. kita makan dulu!.
This was where we ate lunch.. but I was so sick that I could not eat a thing! Tapi mmg tak byk halal choice pun... so we ended up eating rice and fries aje.. no lauk :(


Sementara tunggu turn naik boat... sopping around dulu...

Beli bag kecik (with nice embroidery) tu for my bibik... for just USD2!

Bags.... quite nice.. and cheaper price compared at Hanoi. Ingat nak beli.. tapi takut nanti nak balik Malaysia our luggage over loaded pulak... dah sopping byk bags yesterday maaa!! Air Asia limit kan 15kgs ajer tau... :P

Permandangan sekitar Tam Coc's Hoang Long river

The 'jeti' where we take a boat which will be rowed by one or two local persons in Hoang Long river and see the limestone mountains, which will run along their river way for several kilometers.

Beginning of our journey... the old lady behind me was assigned to row our boat... tak sampai hati rasanya tenguk dia row for us! So ada extra pengayuh tu... hubby tolong la jugak kayuh.. But surprisingly memang kuat makcik nih!! Tabik lah makcik!!

Beautiful scenery around this place...

Makcik yg row our boat tolong ambilkan gambar...

Makcik ni la yg kayuh our boat.... giler power! Ntah bape kali agaknya dia ulang alik bawa tourists ronda2 tempat ni... (about 6kms per trip you see!)

2 is just nice. 3 is a crowd.. but 5??? In one motor??? Bahaya tu dude...

Beautiful nature!

This is a normal scenery in Tam Coc. After tired of rowing using their hands... they'd use their legs expertly... phew! dasat diorang ni... I tell you!

Mat and minah salleh ni sure seronok :)

We went through 3 tunnels (of the 3 caves).

So many locals and tourist around this place...

So many local people trying to sell food from another boats like this one....

'Lomantic couple'? Rasa cam kat Venice la pulak... ahak! :D
Again... makcik tu yg tolong ambilkan gambar.

Errr... amoi sesat mana la pulak nih??

Beautiful scenery!

Wondered what that handsome Vietnamese boy doing...

So cute.. at that young age, the little girl is learning survival skill....
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After Tam Coc... we went back and reached Hanoi dekat time Maghrib kot... exhausted giler! But in the evening... again... we all rayap2 ronda Hanoi city to do our last minute shopping... esok dah nak balik Malaya :)

That amoi was waving at us in this pic. This was the only shop who said " You can pay in Ringgit here!" :D So I asked her why she wants our Malaysian Ringgit.. and she said "I can use them when I visit Malaysia next time"... wahhh!! Kaya ini amoi :)

While hubby was choosing souvenirs at that amoi's shop... I snapped this boy's pic.. so cute! :) He was having dinner with her family outside the shop :) Orang2 Vietnam ni suka makan kat tepi jalan kot...

Snakes, scorpions and other exotic animals in these jars. You think Vietnamese eat these thing?? Or just as deco??

Dah malam ni.... last shop to visit... the very first shop we went on the first day in Hanoi. Tapi kali ni makcik tu takde... husband dia la kot tu.. :)

DAY 5 : Kids.... we are homeeeeeee!! :D

Our Hanoi trip - Day 3

Day 3 - HaLong Bay to Hanoi...

Last night... there was a party on this junk! All the crew members were having a great, great time celebrating the arrival of Ox year :) There were fire crackers, karaoke and many more activities going on at the dining area... but we didn't join them... ngantuk dan kepenatan lepas berkayak semalam! :) So on the 3rd day... our junk returned to the main land of Vietnam. He had to check out early after breakfast so that the crew would be able to clean the rooms earlier for the next guests. So... basically.. nothing much to do except enjoying the beautiful scenery :)

Our junk berlabuh jap kat another island ni... where some of us who opt for 2 nights in Halong Bay turun sini and bermalam kat sini pulak.... some new guests also get in our junk to go back to the main land.
Check out early.... so cannot lepak in our room anymore..

It was damn cold outside! But I had fun chatting with the others... getting to know them better...

That's me.... borak2 with Lawrance's mom (in blue jacket)... she travelled a lot and just came back from Alaska.. wow.. how nice!!

And that's hubby... who took my pic and Lawrance's mom (above pic) from top of the junk.. so I snapped his pic from downstairs pulak :)Ni pahlawan Vietnam mana plak ni.... hik hik! :D

With Lawrance (in brown jacket) and his dad (green and blue jacket).

From left: Lawrance, me!, a vietnamese girl (forgot her name -but she just joined us from the island where our junk landed earlier in the morning) .. and Tracy :)

With a new friend from Canada (aisay... tak ingat jugak nama dia... :P). She was really interested to visit Malaysia... so I was suggesting her some of my favourite place like Pulau Perhentian, Melaka, Penang, ect.

Finally!! After lunch... we were transported to the mainland in the little boat again. As you can see... ramai yg menggigil kesejukan kat dlm gambar tu... So coldd... Brrr!!

Yeah... safely landed.. alhamdulillah... :D
Met Jill and her family again! :) Oh yaa... forgot to tell you.. Jill (the one in grey cardigan) is actually a fellow Maybanker who also booked this trip via PYO travel.. small world eh? ;)Good Bye Halong bay... it was an awesome experience coming here!Among the scenary seen along the way to Hanoi..

Back to Hanoi.... it's the New Year Celebration!!! :) See the traffic?


In the evening, again... we walked around... just to see how Hanoi people celebrate their New Year celebration :)
A Vietnamese lady beautifully dressed in Au Dai for the New Year celebration... so pretty!

This family was getting ready to go home after having fun at the Hoan Keim Lake for this NY celebration. This is a normal view in Vietnam.... sometimes you can see 3 or 4 adults riding a motorcycle.. :) I guess it's their way of life in Hanoi. Motorcycles are the most famous and practical transportation.

At the lake... so many people gathered here for the celebration. They dressed up nicely.. so meriah :)

This little girl really dressed up for this occasion ;)

Balloons - variety colors and shapes for sale!

First shop we all singgah petang tu is kedai makcik ni.... beli pencil cases and make up cases.... decorated with beads. I like!!! :D At the back.. again lukisan2 yg di jahit dgn benang sulaman... so beautiful! Vietnamese are very creative!!Then singgah kedai makcik ni beli bag!! See the red bag that hubby hold?? I can't remember how much we bought it... but definately cheap laaa... That grandma was so excited when we took her pic :D

Jalan2... and saw these kids trying their new bicycle... probably their new year present :)

Pusing punya pusing... macam sesat pun ada gak... tapi pusing2 usually end up at the same place jugak :) See the yellow bag I'm holding? That's another bag we bought infront of the lakes... kali ni beli kat corridor je... not a kedai... dia just gantung2 all the bags kat dinding. Cheaper kat sini.. probably because they don't have to pay shop rent :D Then when we were just walking around... some 'mat salleh' girl asked me "excuse me.. where did you buy that bag?" Wahhh!! Glamour bag aku!! hehehe. So we told her where to buy the bag. And that made us think.... eh.. let's buy more bags lah for souvenirs.... for FIL, the kids, ect??!! Yeahh... let's!! So off we go to that place again to get more bags!!!


Night view at the lake.

The water puppet show theathre... mula ingat nak pi tenguk.. tapi rupanya ticket dah fully booked for a few days ahead!! Perghhh... dasat jugak eh?!

Happy Ox year!!! :D I was wearing a new bag in this pic. And inside that bag... got some bags!! Guess how many bags we ended up buying???
See below...
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Yeap!! 7 North Face bags!!
From left behind: That blue bag for Izzat (bag sekolah dia dah rabak!), the red one is hubby's, then ala2 grey+ blue bag.. for FIL, and the right most red bag is for Izzaty's school bag.
Behind.. from left (smaller bags) : The yellow bag that we bought at the beginning, then green one is for Adam - his 8th birthday coming soon in March, the grey one is for hubby (again! man.. he's a bag collector I tell you!).
Then kat depan2 tu... you can see the pencil cases and make-up cases that we bought earlier..
Nice meh? hehe... shopping.. jangan tak shopping!!! :P