Geo: 21.0243, 105.855The architecture in Hanoi is very peculiar. I was to realise later that this type of architecture was not present only in Hanoi but through-out Vietnam (at least in the North as I haven't seen the south yet). I am talking about tube houses. Back in the days, peoples had to pay taxes depending on how many meters the front of their house would occupied on the street. So the people started to build long and narrow houses. They used to alternate building/courtyard/building/courtyard to insure a good ventilation but it is not the case anymore. Now they cover the all length with building and they also build upward. Space is expensive in Hanoi!L'architecture à Hanoi est très particulière. Je me suis rendu compte assez vite que ce type d'architecture était beaucoup présente au Vietnam ... read more

The main reason I planned to spend a week in Hong Kong was to have time to apply for a new Chinese visa. The all process was a lot easier than anticipated. It took only 4 days. I have been sick since Thursday morning, I think I didn't digest the Japanese mushroom very well. So the only think I did on Thursday was getting my passport back. On Friday, I gattered some forces to go to the Ten Thousand Buddhas monastery. The entrance is not easy to find, I knew it was up a hill. I first got it wrong and ended up taking elevators to some sort of cemetery for cremated people. The entrance of the monastery was hidden a bit further. What a crazy idea to climb up there in that heat (it's warm ... read more

Hong Kong is actually huge and it is not just a city. There is a lot of mountains covered with forest and on the coast line one can find plenty of sand beaches. So today I was on the metro and then bus for almost 2h to go to the Tian Tan Buddha. It is the biggest statue of a seating Buddha in the world (62m tall). The statue itself is impressive but you only get a feel of its size when you see it from afar. I am glad I decided to spend some time here and took the time to walk the wisdom path and then to off track to go around the mountain and get a glimpse at the statue for the top of some rocks. It required a little bit of climbing ... read more

I have met lots of girls at the hostel and all of them have been doing shopping here. Apparently things are much cheaper. I knew that was the case for electronics and even before I got here I was planning to get a new camera. One of those fancy waterproof and shockproof compact. I had done a little bit of research beforehand but not so much. So I had to go to few shop to compare offers. Well it was kind of easy to compare as they all have the same model and only that one, the Nikon Coolpix AW110. However, prices range from 2,280HKD to 2,780HKD! Can someone explain to me why? Anyway I got mine in the shop with the cheapest price. So I now have two cameras. To my defence, they don't serve ... read more

Geo: 24.4798, 118.082I only went to XiaMen to use it as a base to visit the Tulou (see previous entry) and I was not planning to spend any time here. Well, the good thing when you travel with no schedule is that you are very flexible and can adapt. So I spend about three days here (1.5 days before and after the Tulou) and I really enjoyed it. I could have probably spent one more day.Part 1: Sunday is a good day to visit a city because it is bustling with life. I like cities at the week-end. I went to NanPuTuo temple. The temple itself is nice but you can't see into the halls because there is too many tourists. That's a pity. But you can climb the mountain/hill behind it and get a good ... read more