Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
A trip to Pengerang (Sungei Rengit)
We arrived at Changi Jetty at around 9.15am, and could only get on the bumboat at around 10am. I had the sense of déjà vu when i arrived at the jetty. I saw the familiar arrival and departure hall. I saw the usual queue for boats heading for Pulau Ubin. Nothing’s change after so long – around 3 years?
The queue for Pengerang was kind of strange. It wasn’t as straight forward as Pulau Ubin. The boat owner will only set off when there is a maximum number of 12-13 passengers for his boat. No more or less in number unless the passengers are willing to pay more. They charge us $8 per pax now. It used to be just $7.
The journey to Pengerang was a smooth one, with only the exception of the arrival of unwanted ‘visitors’. The bumboat was stopped by a Police Coast Guard and a few police officers actually came down to search our boat for a very wanted man.
Anyway, we arrived at our destination safely and managed to eat our seafood lunch at Jade Garden Seafood restaurant situated at the town centre of Pengerang- Sungei Rengit. We had to take a cab from the jetty to that place.
I really enjoyed going trips with this clique. I feel so comfortable with them. Even though there might be quiet times when we are together, rather than feeling awkward like how I felt in other groups; I felt a sense of peace and mutual understanding. Who says a nice and close group must laugh and be crazy all the time? We need quietness sometime too. 
Picture from the drama series “Friends”
Looking forward to many trips in the future.
Tags: Friends, Pengerang, seafood, TravelDay 8/9 - Hezhou->Guangzhou->Singapore
My last post for the trip. You must be tired reading my travel entries by now, hahaa, but no choice. If i did not make an effort to blog them down now, i would forget more than 80% of the stuffs. This is the problem i faced in my past trips. I took too long a time to blog my thoughts down.
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Our main destination today is the famous Gupo Mountain National Forest Park. The mountain was named after a woman who chose to stay single her whole life.
The route to the mountain is a long one and we had to take a mountain tram in. If you climb higher up the mountain, you get a chance to take the photograph of the waterfall.
En route, we visit the Jiupuxiang Wine factory, we were given a chance to test their herbal wine. Do you recognize this place? It was used in filming in numerous Hong Kong movies/series.
Ah, that’s the end of our China trip.
My feelings about LongSheng/Guilin/Yangshuo:
- Way more advance than Vietnam (i was pretty amazed that i was back to the 80s/90s again after the 2 days in Vietnam. The two countries are linked by a border but the differences are really too great to believe)
- Toilets can be further improved. I was told by tour mates that the toilets have already improved a lot over the years.
- I like the scenic excursions. The air is really fresh.
- Most of the fish served are fresh water fishes.
- I had a taste of the sweetest and freshest vegetables there.
- Traffic condition is way better than Vietnam. At least most of the motorists follow the traffic rules.
Anyway, i would like to thank my China tour guide, Ms Fu, for her interesting stories about Guilin. She taught us a rather interesting word called ‘Gou Rou‘ (a.k.a Dog Meat in Chinese). It refers to good friend. 
So if i call any of you Dog Meat, pls dont say i am rude. hahaha!
I might go back to China again in a few years time. Hopefully i will see better toilets next time. By then, i guess it will be more expensive to travel to China. That’s the price to pay for better toilets.
Goodbye China!
Tags: china, Home and Family, TravelDay 7 - Guilin->Yinzi Cave->YangShuo->Xijie
This morning, our next destination was the Yinzi Cave. The rain from the previous night made the lake looked foggy. The pictures did not turn up quite well. But it sure feels like one is traveling through the celestial court short of fairies flying around. 
A nice fishermen came on board our ferry on our way to the Yinzi Cave. We have to pay to take photograph with his precious birds.
Look at the birds on the pole which i am carrying. They are real birds! and they made the pole feel heavy on my shoulders. They are a kind of kingfisher used by the local fishermen. The neck of the birds are tight up so that they could not swallow any fishes they caught. Their owners will remove the life fish from their mouth after they had done their job.
Yinzi is another beautiful cave of almost the same nature as the previous one. So not posting anything much on it.
I loved this view from the cave.
During the night, we went to watch “Impression Liu Sanjie“. Just like what was mentioned in the website, the natural environment was used as the backdrop. The number of performers was enormous at a number of 3000. Most of the performers were by the local farmers and fishermen. You could see how skillful they were when they row in the sampans onto the natural stage on the Li River. It’s pretty smart of them to use these professionals as part-time performers. They can save on the training cost Unfortunately i couldn’t show you any pictures. The night shots did not turn out very well.
Day 6 - Guilin->Liu Sanjie Cultural Garden
We continue our journey today from Guilin to Liu Sanjie Cultural Garden
Liu Sanjie is pretty well known all over the world, especially amongst the Chinese. I’ve heard of her from my previous history lessons but i’ve never actually know her past in details. We visited the cultural garden today.
This woman has never cut her hair before. See how well she maintained her hair.
This woman doesnt understand the common Chinese, but she came out from the house after hearing our warm applause. Look at her neck!
Day 5 - Guilin -> LongSheng
The next interesting item was the Shan1 Ge1 Challenge (Folk Song Challenge) . Some of our tour mates were called up to use songs to communicate with the local aunties. Even my bro was also called up to do a dance with them.
I really loved this place. It reminds me of my grandmother’s house many years back. She used to stay in Changi Village (Eastern side of Singapore) before the government decides to redevelop the whole area. If only the place was reserved back then, it could make a good tourist attraction. I was real lucky to be able to stay in such an environment for a period time.
Look at the Singapore kids nowadays, will they have a chance to do the following things which i’ve did when young?
- Feed chickens (I was surprised that kids nowadays did not even know how a live chicken looks like, they can only describe chickens with “oh, chickens are birds without feathers and lying on a plate”)
- Chase after snakes (Snakes are mostly locked up in zoos these days)
- Pluck rambutans, chikus and pick durians (Kids can only see them lying on fruit stall tables)
- Make sandcastles whenever i want (Now kids can only do that at Pasir Ris park or east coast)
- Play with 8 wild dogs (Now each dog in the household needs to have licence, so troublesome) and make a good mess
- Make-shift swings from trees (I doubt you can find swings in common playgrounds nowadays)
But if you were to ask me if i would go back to that environment, i would say “No”. I am too used to staying in the comfy zone. But it will be good to experience it once in a while. It’s a refreshing experience
Day 3/4 - Mong Cai->Beilun Bridge->Dongxing->Nanning->Guilin
On day 3 , we proceeded to the border checkpoint in Mong Cai. We walked across the bridge that links the Vietnamese border town of Mong Cai on the southern bank and the China Dongxing City of the northern bank across the Beilun River.
We spend a night at Nanning before proceeding to Guilin.
Day 4: We visited the Banyan Lake scenic spot. The lake is a new landmark of Guilin. Around the lake, you could see traditional chinese landscapes.
Day 2 - Hanoi (Halong Bay) Part Three
After an hour’s climbing and walking around the cave, we finally met the sun again. The air in the cave was pretty good and fresh, but i still prefer to be out. I cannot imagine getting lost all alone in the cave. The stones and natural carvings seemed scary after a while.
Today’s our last day/night in Vietnam.. pretty sad but we were on schedule.
Look at the stranger at the window. They are floating fruit sellers and they climbed up to our ferry to try to sell us fruits. So amazed. This is one of the spirit of Vietnamese. They are natural entrepreneurs. They could sell anything and anywhere. Some did not own any formal stalls etc. They just use a table or stool, sit on the floor, and they could sell things.
One of my favourite stone formation is the Kissing Rocks (a.k.a Fight cock). They are many others.
Gifts from Vietnam
We left for Guangxi the next day. We took our last photo in Vietnam with the Vietnamese tour guide, Ah Xiang. She is a lovely lady and speaks average Chinese. But i truly appreciate her efforts in trying to make us understand the Vietnam culture.
Last few things to note about Vietnam, from my two days experience:
1. People there knows how to speak little English and some chinese. Maybe because Vietnam is quite near Guangxi (southern part of China)
2. Some younger salesgirls will ask for Singapore dollars as souvenirs.
3. Most shops there accept RenMingbi (RMB), USD and Vietnamese dollars. But if you are going Vietnam ALONE, better change to full Vietnamese dollars as some shops do not have change for RMB.
4. Their famous delicacy is: Green Bean cake/paste
5. Most of their fishes are fresh-water fishes, so there’re lots of bones. Be careful if you are ordering fishes from restaurants.
6. Be careful when crossing roads. Traffic came from all directions, there is no fix direction. Don’t hesitate when you start crossing the roads else you will never get to cross. (if you have been to Taiwan, you will know what i mean)
Goodbye Vietnam!
Day 2 - Hanoi (Halong Bay) Part Two
We arrived at one of the caves in Halong Bay. I don’t remember the actual name of the cave but this is the cave which the ferry from the mainland brought us to. I guess there are other caves around the bay but this is one of the popular one.
There’s one island which our tour group have the majority votes to give it a miss, that is ‘Tian Tang Dao’ a.k.a Paradise Island. Unless you are one who loves to swim or sun tan, you can probably go there and have a look. During that time when we were there, the weather was rather cold to do that though.
Upon entering the cave, i was mesmerized by the lightings. The cave itself seemed pretty normal to me but the lightings inside rather enhanced the cave structure well. The tour guide in the cave gave us a rather interesting tour.
Each stone/rock has a name and if you have good imagination, you can actually “see” different kinds of animals and legendary figures amongst the stones.
Day 2 Hanoi - Halong Bay (Part One)
Day 2 - Hanoi (Halong Bay) Part One
If you ever had a chance to go Vietnam, you will definitely NOT give Halong Bay a miss. Else you might as well don’t go Vietnam. (At least this is what colleagues told me) It’s the main tourist attraction in Vietnam.
Today we had a full day excursion to Halong Bay - the world natural heritage place. It represents the miniature Guilin in the sea and the locals called it the ” 8th wonder of the World.” You can find Halong Bay at the northeastern part of Vietnam.
We took a cruise around Halong Bay towards one of the caves in Vietnam. Some photos below for your reference.
Day 1 - Singapore to Hanoi
1st March 2008 - Day 1 (Singapore to Hanoi)
This was my first trip abroad with my family. We (total 6 members) hardly had a chance to travel together. Going to Vietnam/China was never on my mind as i am a eat-potato person (in dialect, it’s call jiat gang dang a.k.a one who prefers to speak english and eat western food). But due to the fact that my parents are coming along this time round, i decided to give in to their wishes. I don’t wish to bring them to a place where language is a great barrier to my parents, especially to my chinese speaking mum. It’s a trip to thank her and dad for all their hard work in keeping the family together all these years and it’s surely not for my own personal enjoyment.
At the boarding gate, I could see their excitement when they stepped into the plane. My mum has never ever stepped into a plane in her whole life! Not even a plane model. So this time, it’s really an eye opener for her. Even though this trip has burnt a rather big hole in my pocket (probably will take months to mend), but seeing her excitement makes me feel that it’s all worth it.
This was the shortest flight i’ve ever taken so far. We reached Hanoi within 3 hours and our first stop was at Ba Dinh Square. It is situated in the center of Hanoi.
It is a meeting place for the great important events of Vietnam. President Ho Chi Minh at the Ba Dinh Square on Sep 2, 1945 read the Declaration of Independence. giving birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
- quoted from ASAHolidays
Ho Chi Minh was a good leader. We even went to visit his residential area around the vicinity. According to the tour guide, he led a simple life during his ruling period. He did not want to stay in a luxurious place while his countrymen are suffering from lack of food or accommodations. He only had 2 simple meals a day and decides to save up the excess for the rest of his people. Wow…….. rather touching….
Day 2 : Hanoi -> Halong Bay (To be continued) Tags: Home and Family, Travel, vietnam
