Vietnam Day 7: Cat Ba Island (Part 2)

We spent about half an hour in the hotel room playing card games and resting before heading downstairs for lunch.

View of Cat Ba coastline from the 6th floor balcony

Hotel room

Lunch

We had lunch and went for kayaking next! The bus brought us to a jetty about 15 mins away and we were whisked off in a boat to a floating kelong renting out kayaks.

We split into pairs and started our 1 hour kayak around Ha Long Bay. We were not issued with life jackets but proceeded anyway. The numerous limestone formations protruding out from the sea ensured calm waters within the bay.

We did not stray too far from familiar territory as the bay is huge and we can get lost easily among the identical limestone formations. We had a good time kayaking but we did not bring our cameras to capture all these as we did not want our cameras to get wet.

The trip to Monkey Island next was cancelled due to the rain and we headed back to our hotel.

After washing up, we headed back out to explore the shoreline of Cat Ba Island.

Water Park near the beach

Hundreds of motorists waiting for passengers

People flooding the popular beach

Picture of the beach

We got ourselves a hotdog each

Side view of the beach

We walked along the boardwalk which led to a further beach and the scenery along the way is beautiful.

At the less crowded beach

Huts along the beach

Islands and the dark clouds

As it was drizzling lightly, we headed back to the hotel area after staying at the beach for a short while.

Ferries anchored near the jetty

Gloomy weather but nice photographic effect

We had dinner at the hotel restaurant soon after and it was rest and relax for the rest of the night. It was raining cats and dogs soon after and there was a power failure in the midst of our dinner. Luckily, we had finished most of our food and proceeded to accompany Terence to a nearby internet cafe to book an earlier flight back home.

Then, we had more card games back in our hotel and watching tv shows while waiting for the rain to stop. After the rain stopped, we took a stroll by the bayfront and it was very lively with many people dining, shopping and walking around.

Bustling night life

By several roadside stalls

Vietnamese signboard near the jetty

End of Part 2 (12 noon to 11 pm)

Read more...

More Outings

Met up with Stephen and Jiayun on Thursday for dinner at Cafe Cartel and went to Ben & Jerry's for desserts next.

Met up with Daryl and Liyuan for dinner and watched The Golden Compass on Friday. The Golden Compass is a fantasy show adapted from Phillip Pullman's trilogy of novels. It is about a girl, Lyra, who possesses a golden compass that many desire and she sets off on a mission to save children from being "intercised" by the Goblers. The fantasy world includes human souls that manifest as daemons (animals that can talk), flying witches, and the fearsome armoured bears.

This movie boosts good acting from Dakota Blue Richards as the protagonist child hero and the supporting cast which includes Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig and Eva Green hold the film together. This film has some good special effects as well but i did not enjoy this film thoroughly. The story seems too rushed in the beginning and it is not constantly engaging. The climax of the show is a little lacklustre as i would have preferred it to be more exciting and rousing. Its fatal flaw is that there is little emotional connection with the audience and the characters. We feel detached from the characters and it is a pity as this movie could have been better.

Read more...

Busy Busy

Been going out almost everyday after work to meet up with my friends who had finished their exams.

Mon: Went out with Fuli, David, Bernard and Weiming to have dinner at PS.

Tue: Went out with Qi Yao and Yuan Sheng for dinner at PS and watched Enchanted next.

Wed: Went out with Clarence and Derrick for dinner in town and headed to Irish Pub next.

Now to the review of Enchanted. Enchanted is a perfect date movie and an absolutely delightful show. The tale is about Giselle, a princess waiting for her prince charming, who gets transported from the fairy tale world into the real world by an evil queen. She meets a guy, Patrick Dempsey, who helps her in difficult situations and they gradually develop feelings for each other until her fairy tale prince charming arrives into the real world to rescue her from the world "without happily ever afters".

The storyline is predictable but rather interesting with the numerous teleportations and the evil queen transformations. The acting by Amy Adams is wonderful as she totally inhibits her role as the idealistic and naive princess waiting for her prince charming to rescue her. She has an incredible sense of humour with her apparent lack of understanding of sarcasm, lack of knowledge of breakups, and many other earthly stuff.

This fairytale romantic comedy triumps as it successfully blends modern ideas into traditional fairy tales without losing its charm. A sugar syrupy show for everyone to enjoy.

Read more...

Grandpa Birthday

My grandpa's birthday was held at my house on saturday and tables were set up in the porch to accommodate all my relatives.

Having dinner

Buddha Jumps over the Wall


Extended Family picture

Family picture + sister's boyfriend

We had a very full meal and i guess i will only be seeing most of my relatives after i come back from exchange.

Read more...

Vietnam Day 7: Ha Long Bay to Cat Ba Island (Part 1)

We woke up early the next day as we were to alight at Cat Ba Island in the morning.

The early view

Lonely rock

At the jetty

Walking towards the island

Map of Cat Ba Island

We were brought to a bus and had a ride to somewhere in the island where we were supposed to trek. Most of us thought that we were heading to the hotel to unload our bags first. Anyway, we left our backpacks in the bus and started with the trek up Cat Ba National Park. Some of the other tourists were complaining coz they did not change into the proper footwear prior to the trek due to insufficient information from our guide.

Trekking

Deep inside the forest

Collecting tree sap

Gs and I

The trek was rather disappointing as we were not really prepared for it and did not know much about the area as the trek guide spoke minimal english. The view at the summit was not particularly spectacular as well.

On the way down

Rest stop at the foot of the hill

We went cave visiting next and this time there are no lights inside the cave. My sony ericsson handphone proved to be a useful asset with its torchlight function.

Going into the cave

Inside the cave

On the other side of the cave

Nice view by the sea

A shack in the hill

Next we headed to our hotel via the tour bus and the view from our hotel room is quite magnificent.

To be continued...

End of Part 1 (7.30 am to 12 noon)

Read more...

KTVs

Been singing ktv on consecutive days, sat and sunday, and luckily my voice turned out fine today.

Watched The Heartbreak Kid on saturday with Ed and Derrick. The comedy by the Farrelly brothers is a rather average one for me. Ben Stiller takes on a more matured role as the 40 year old bachelor who is constantly teased by everyone for being single.

He finally takes the plunge into marriage with a woman whom he only know for six weeks after perpetual persuasions from his family and friends. Soon, he finds out that his worst nightmare is coming true as his wife becomes neurotic, emotional and unstable. He finds another woman he grew to like during his honeymoon and chaos ensue.

This comedy is humourous but not hilarious, mischievous but not naughty enough, enjoyable but not a riot.

Read more...