0302 Vietnam – Arriving at Hanoi

Figure 1: Asia flight AK761at 6:30 a.m

 Figure 2: Noi Bai Airport

Our flight was depart by 6:30 a.m. and arrived at Noi Bai Airport by 10:00 a.m. After taking our luggage, we walked to the exit to find available transport that can transfer us from the airport to Hanoi city. At Noi Bai airport, there are various type of transport one can take to transfer between airport and Hanoi City. By taking a taxi, it will cost you about 10 USD to 15 USD.  If you are not sure the location of the place you want to go and you are in group of 4, it is advisable for you to take taxi. Beside taxi, one also can take Mini bus. Compare with Taxi, mini bus will cost 2 USD per person. Mini bus will transfer their passenger between Airport and Vietnam Airline Head office at Hanoi. If you travel alone, you can think of Mini bus. The problem of taking mini bus is the bus will only move when the bus is full. Sometime you need to wait for a moment until the bus full. The distance between airport and Vietnam Airline office is about 35km and it is about 45 minute driving time. We did some survey on the cost of transportation before we reach Hanoi. We managed to get 12 USD taxi fee from Airport to our preference hotel. Among four of us, each one of us paid only 3USD.  One thing you should always alert is the exchange rate. In Hanoi, one can buy things using USD or Vietnam Dong. However the seller may not using the latest exchange rate for the pricing. For example, they may use 17000 Dong = 1 USD instead of 17600 Dong = 1 USD (actual exchange rate). You should alert on this because you may overcharge or sometime you can get things even cheaper.

 Figure 3: Taxi Rate

 Figure 4: Peace.. Capture inside the taxi

Tips at Airport:

·         Ask few quotation on the transport cost before you decided which one to go.

·         You should always alert on the exchange rate between USD with Vietnam Dong and your countries currency.

·         If any driver required you to pay the money first, ask for receive immediately after you paid.

   Figure 5: On the way to Hanoi… look at their Electric Post

 Figure 6: New Sign Board I learn (No U-turn for the Car)

About 10:30 a.m., we left the airport to Hanoi city. Their driver seat is located at left hand side inside the car.  While car is moving, the driver will keep pressing car horn to give a signal to the motorists and car to give way to them. The highway and the normal was noisy not because of the car moving but sound from the horn. In Vietnam, if you wish to rent a car or motorbike, make sure you are brave enough to handle your vehicle on the road as most of them not follow the rule. I still remember when I wanted to cross a road at a junction, the traffic light shown that pedestrian can cross the road but the motorbike still cross over the road until we cross the road without depending on the traffic like. Our conclusion on the rule of the road is all traffic lights are just a reference, to stop or to move over is up to you.

From airport, we went straight to the hotel. Before coming to Hanoi, we did some research on the budget hotel, and Little Hanoi was one of our choices. From the web site, we found out that a lot of people gave a good comment on this hotel.  From internet, you should able to able to get some good information on the accommodation either you want to go for luxury hotel or budget hotel. However my suggestion is not to book the hotel through internet or by phone. My friends had bad experience booking their hotel through internet. The room was difference with what they saw through internet. The staff told them that the room that they booked was taken by other people. The hotel staff changed their room to another room, and the quality was bad compare with the room they saw on internet. Therefore I suggest you can find the hotel when you reach at Hanoi but you need to list out those hotels that you interested.

Tips about Hotel:

Search hotel information from internet and read the commend from people who stayed there before

   Figure 7: Hanoi Glory Hotel

We reach little Hanoi Hotel but the hotel was full. The hotel staff brought us to another branch call Hotel Glory Hanoi. It was located at Hang Quat. We get the hotel room rental price and it is 15USD per room for 3 persons. Extra mattress we need to add 3USD. We also get the quotation for the trip at Sapa and Ha Long Bay. The good thing we have the itinerary is you can always negotiate with the tourist agency to get to the place you want at the good price. We manage to get Sapa package at 110USD which is included

• Bus transfer to and from Hotel to Railway Station
  
• Express to Lao Cai with 4 bed in a room (25USD per trip)
  
•  Bus to and from Lao Cai to Sapa (45minute to 1 hour  driving time)
  
• Breakfast at Royal Hotel, Lunch at Sapa valley, dinner and breakfast at home stay and lunch at last station before back to Sapa and dinner before get back to Lao Cai
  
• A tour guide that can speak in English.
  

For the Halong Bay package, we manage to get 60USD which is included

•  Morning breakfast after back from Sapa
  
• Bus to and from Ha long Bay (135km from Hanoi)
  
• Lunch, dinner and breakfast on boat
  
•  Accommodation on boat (passport needed)
  
• Ticket for cave
  
• Kayaking
  

Since we book the package from the same hotel, we could leave our luggage at the hotel even we didn’t rent the room on the first day and they allowed us to take a shower before left Hanoi to Lao Cai

Figure 8: Bargaining on the Package – Guy in white shirt..Mr Mark working as the travel Agency.

So total up the confirm payment for the first day are as followed:

Date	Time	Activities	Expenses per person
25/02	Morning	Arriving at Hanoi Airport	3 USD
	Afternoon
	Night	Leaving to Sapa	110 USD
26/02	Morning	Arriving at Lao Cai and reach Sapa
	Afternoon
	Night
27/02	Morning	Overnight at Sapa
	Afternoon
	Night	Leaving Lao Cai and back to Hanoi
28/02	Morning	Arriving Hanoi and leaving to Ha Long Bay	60USD
	Afternoon
	Night	Overnight at Ha Long Bay
01/02	Morning
	Afternoon	Return to Hanoi
	Night	Overnight at Hanoi	3 USD
02/02	Morning	Hanoi Trip
	Afternoon
	Night	Return to Hanoi	3 USD
03/03	Morning	Departing from Hanoi Airport
	Afternoon	Arriving at LCCT
	Night
		Total	169 USD

 

To be continued:

Kindly check the photo at y2chong.multiply.com.

Further Info:

Hanoi Glory Hotel

Add: 24 Hang Quat Str, Hoan Kiem Dist, Hanoi, Vietnam

Tel: (84-4) 8243423

Fax:(84-4) 8251519

Email: Info@hanoigloryhotel.vn

Website: http://www.hanoigloryhotel.com

 

081204 空中游戏 Skytrex Adventure

This is the Pulley I use to Play Flying Fox

我用来玩飞天狐狸的工具

Picture with one of the staff at the game center

和中心员工合照

With one of the staff and the instructor (Right Side)

和中心的员工，右边是游戏的指导

Group Photo with my Friends

全体照

今天早上和一班朋友去Taman Pertanian。几天前他们一组人就报名参加Skytrex Adventure。 我一向对高有恐惧再加上那几天的活动又非常忙碌，所以迟迟都没有决定去参加。昨天晚上看完了电影，决定和他们去Taman Pertanian，不过我去的目的只是为了微距(Macro)摄影。

清晨起来，天已经开始下雨。绵绵的大雨在启程时还没有停止过，心理一直祈祷希望雨可以停止。大约八点左右到达了目的地，心里还是叽咕着雨为啥还没停。Taman Pertanian 的大门贴了一个告示今天开放的时间延后到11时，后来友人联络了skytrex adventure 负责人，我们通过另外一条出口进入了植物公园。 我还是依然抱着要拍照的心情，直到载送的巴士开车到skytrex adventure中心时，我想既然雨还是不会停，就加入游戏当中。

在游戏还没有开始时，我们先把安全装穿上。接着我们的指导就带领我们到一个比较小型的 空中游戏站。指导做了一系列的示范，从安全措施到如何越过每个挑战点，都详细的解说。解说完毕，我们就开始在这个小型游戏站练习。当我们把所有的简单的演戏做完，我们开始挑战正真的空中游戏。其实这个时候我开始犹豫了，在17米高空上飞来飞去，跳来跳去可不是开玩笑的。可是都给了钱只好上去了，而且我在我这组里可是唯一的男生。

从地上一直攀爬到17米到的树上，其实真的需要很多的力气。我这个天天运动的家伙也要在半空中休息。恶劣的天气使到这次的游戏难度加深了，雨水不断的打在身上，到处扶手都非常的滑。开始的攀爬和过吊桥我都还可以，当到了第一个飞天狐狸时，我开始有点害怕，要悬挂在半空。不过没有办法下，由于后面还有其他人正在过着来，所以只好跳了下去。原来悬空飞过这么爽快的。我花了1个小时30分左右完成整个游戏。Skytrex Adventure的入门票成人RM35小孩RM25。那里的工作人员的态度真的很好。

游戏给我一个启发。整个旅程就像我的人生。

在攀上树上时，我发现自己原来不能一次就可以上去，我需要休息。

在过吊桥时，我要小心翼翼的过，就像我的工作，要做的好

在要飞过障碍时，我要面对选择，飞或不要飞(虽然一定要飞)。就像人生总要面对一些难关必须去克服。

在抓住绳子往前跳时(Tarzan swing )，我必须相信自己可以克服也可以面对.

人生就像当我到达终站时，回头一望原来我可以那么精彩。

This morning I went to Taman Pertanian with a group of my friends. They plan to go for Skytrex Adventure but I plan to go macro shooting. While we leaving from our house, it was raining.  I was expected the rain will be stop when we reached Taman Pertanian. However, even we reach at Taman Pertanian about 8:00 a.m., it was still raining. Because of raining, I can’t do anything beside went together with my friend for the Skytrex Adventure. I chose to go for the Skytrex Adventure. After wearing all equipment, we were lead a instructor to a mini Skytrex Adventure section. With a demo from the instructor, we did some simple practice before we went for actual games. The games were located at 17m from the ground. I had to climb up to 17m from the ground. While at 17m from the ground, we did flying fox, Tarzan swing and so on. The game is really cool, and I am very excited with it.  Actually I had phobia of high, but I overcome this in this game at least.

You can click on the picture of the booklet for the detail if you wish to have a trial. Better hurry up, as this game still under maintenance. The fee for a game was RM35 for adult and RM25 for children. I strongly recommend this game to you all. All the staff there was very  “User friendly”.

Flying fox...

飞天狐狸

Click This Link for Bigger Picture

Click This Link for Bigger Picture

081101 Photo Marathon Asia 2008

Finally, I decide to join Photo Marathon Asia 2008 organised by Canon. It was a big event, and this year it attracted more than thousand people to join. 

I had to wake up by 5:00 a.m. early in the morning although i felt like very sleepy. After checking all my camera stuff, i drove my car to Puchong waiting another friend. We reach Time Square about 6:45 p.m which consider quite late. However, at that moment the queue was not that long. Because I did my registration online, I manage to bypass the queue and go to get my tag in another line. By looking at the online registration name list, I was in number 735 which is much more at the back. The problem not only this, there are a lot of people walk in to registered at the counter. After registration, and my muscular buddy - Muskular man and Maskular women arrived and did there registration as the compact categories participant was not as much as DSLR.

8:15 a.m. we get out first Theme which was "indulge metropolitan".  Sweat to me, I totally cannot think of how to get this theme. I only manage to get the one I felt ok in the evening time. Working from Time Square, we were moving toward Pavilion to get our second theme "Mess in rules" about 10:00 a.m. This theme, I also have no any idea what to snap. Finally we walk toward KLCC to get our last theme: Goes Green. And to me this is the most simple but how to get a creative idea on it was a big problem. 

Without thinking much it was 12:00 p.m. and we had our lunch at KLCC before walking back to Time Square to upload our picture to the server. (See it is a marathon)

We reach Time square about 4:00 p.m. sitting at star buck to choose the picture to upload to the server.

The result was expected announce about 7:00 but yet it was delayed to 8:30 p.m. (This is the part that made me not happy with the organiser as they never mention anything occur to delay the session.) For sure, I am a freshies in the DSLR world, and it is unlikely I can win the contest.

I should share some of the picture I took during the event. 

Gege Sweet Sweet look

Photo by Gege

Photo by Gege

Photo by Gege

Photo by Gege

leong, gege, me and brian

Photo by Gege

Photo by Gege

Photo by Gege

Photo by Gege

Photo by Gege

Photo by Gege

Photo by Gege

Photo by Gege

Photo by Gege

Photo by Gege

081002 - Kuala Lumpur Bird Park - Part 2

Sharing some nice picture i took while on my trip to Kuala Lumpur Bird Park. The ticket was so cheap. It just RM15 for Malaysian and RM 29 for foreigner. Some did complaint the ticket was too expensive. I just wonder why. The park need to keep so many animal. RM15 from everybody to maintain such a big park it is no easy. One thing, all birds were really beautiful especially their feathers. The management need to pay their staff, medical for the bird, maintainance for the park, food, new bird, to maintain the ecology in the park and so on. So RM15 is  no expensive, if you felt expensive, then i would like to recommend you to feed a peacock and see how much it cost you. :)

You can get more information about the bird park at www.klbirdpark.com

If you like to see more picture i took, do visit to my photo collection at http:// y2chong.multiply.com

Well, a white parrot having its lunch, apple before he start to work at photography booth.
This handsome guy looking for food. if you bring some peanut and give him some, he will follow you, like Digi...
This fellow actually is waiting for coconut drink. A family was having their tea time on a stall. This fellow come across and keep looking on their coconut drink. 
Handsome guy with more attractive hair

This is the only peacock I saw he open his tail. He knew we want to take picture of him. So he purposely saw it tail to us and turn around to show off its tails.

Nonstop marathon eating. 

I guessed this group of parrot was hungry ghost. Remember give them some sun flower seed and they will stand on your hand.  By the way, they may eat too much, then you need to give them some water.

This guy when I touched its leg, he bow down his head to me to allow me to “saying” him. So cute. However when anothe white parrot saw this, he felt jealous and shout to this parrot.

He look like smiling, don't you think so?

This fellow was fall in sleep when I trying to get some picture from him. I guessed he was too tired that day.

These 2 birds were standing on the timber finding some bugs. When my friend first saw them, she thought that it was 2 head bird. This picture was taken when I was watching the birds show. They were just 5 feet from my place.  

This fellow was looking for some fish. I hardly felt that there were any fish inside the pond.

I like this boy. He was dancing on the pedestrian street. When I try to shoot some picture from him, he gives me a few nice posts. The most attractive part I like it his eye

This handsome peacock was the first peacock in the garden I saw. He was working with another friend in the zone 4 finding some food.

Guess what was this animal? Initially I thought it was ostrich, but well my general knowledge fails. It was emu. He is looking for food as well. I did feed them with some vegetable. Anyhow quite dangerous when you try to feed them as they make accidentally bike you hand while getting the vegetable from you.