kw june

Hanoi, i would say, is a fascinating blend of the east and west. less developed than saigon, but still pretty much modernized. the thing about vietnam is that they have such a weird mix. chinese roots, french colonial (alot of them can speak french and you can see french everywhere), vietnamese language and their accent sounds so like cantonese. we stayed at the old quaters (like the real old chinatown, streets are really narrow), near the famous Hoan kiem lake. since we got sick of museums, we only went to the temple of literature as it was recommended. it was the first university in hanoi and is really chinese-like (since kong zi is worshipped there). the lake looks better at night than in the day time but you can go into the jade temple to have ... read more

Hoi an is a gem, you will either love it or hate it. it's listed in the UNESCO world heritage. for my personal preference, i hate it. because it was sooo hot (i've never felt so hot and there was virtually no clouds in the sky) and we were so unlucky to have the electricity cut off for 2 days. so from 6am-6pm, we had to wake up early because there was no ventilation, hang ard and wait for time to pass. you cant do/see much in hoi an because it's really small and the number of tailor shops are even more than restaurants. and you cant really do much shopping around because they won't let you off once u step into the shop. but the tailors are really good and that is why alot of ... read more

Saigon (Ho Chin Minh City) - every man's paradise literally, most of the vietnamese girls wear really low cut shirts. it's my fav. city too because of the bustling night life. we stayed at pham ngu lao district (cant rem how to spell) and it's reallyyy charming in a way. love the small streets and small cafes here and there. but i hate vietnam's traffic. not because it's un-orderly, but it's too irritating and noisy (it would be a miracle if u can avoid hearing horns for 10 seconds). but at the end of the trip, we both have been masters in jaywalking. capitol guesthouse was the boyfriend's fav. because of the old granny and the homey room. the family was really nice and even though we do not know what the granny was rambling, she ... read more

Don dhet brings fond memories because i hardly had any sleep while i was there. i was mostly at my hammock with 3 straying dogs coming in and out of the room in the night. swaying to the music and giggles of 3 german girls, night was esp. quiet and long. the boys had no trouble sleeping. (2 japs n the bf because they were so intoxicated from beer lao and lao lao(local whiskey)) The boyfriend even acquainted a brother there! an old carpenter who kept forcing him to drink the disgusting local whiskey and even kissed him on the cheek and asked him to join him at building new houses.he said he will pay him 3USD a day. the boyfriend would have pick up another skill if we had more days. Miss noy's guesthouse was ... read more

the previous night was specially short for both of us due to the morning flight in wee hours. arrived at udon thani (thailand) at 8.45am and got into a minivan to nong khai (friendship bridge btw thai and laos). then we squeezed (like sardines) into a local bus after crossing the thai border and decided to take a tuk-tuk with this holland guy(there's smth about him). our first guesthouse (sasouly) was good for a start and so we kicked start by exploring the city via foot. a sleepy town with lots of monks, tuktuks and wats. i think it's the place we saw the most monks. Patuxai was pretty over-rated. so while the sleepy town has nothing much to offer, we decided to take a ride down to Buddha Park and the cranky two was snapping ... read more