N E P t u n e: Travel

Super-fun on Bach Ma

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 14:52:52 GMT

Jamaica and her husband Jon came here last Tuesday. We went up to Bach Ma and stayed overnight there and came back Hue in the next morning. It was super-fun up there and we had a great time together even though pretty tired walking for a long way.

Jon did not know how to drive a motorbike before but we still decided to drive to Bach Ma when we knew we could not take the bus to go up there. I showed him some basic things on driving a motorbike and he learned so quickly. I was a bit surprised at his driving skill in the next morning; much better than I thought. The trip began with the good breakfast at Phuong Nam restaurant. We drove slowly in town and sped up a bit and a bit on the highway. Everything had gone so well until Jon's bike stopped working on the way with no reason when we had only 3 Km left to arrive Bach Ma. And we found out the bike was out of gas finally. So I had to drive back the highway to get some gas for his bike. Yes, it's worked again and we kept going up the the park.

And we arrived Bach Ma finally. Parked the bikes at the foot of the mountain, we took a van to go up the top of Bach Ma and it took about 45 minutes to go there. The weather was getting cooler and cooler and I felt a bit cold then.

We got our rooms and walked around the guesthouse until lunch was ready for us. Wow, that was one of the greatest meal while everyone was so hungry. We began our adventure in the jungle after lunch and had a lot of fun walking on the way. We had a bad map of Bach Ma but it was useful sometimes. Going down first is easy but when we had to go up back, it was sooooo tired. 689 steps down the bottom of the falls is no problem but walking up back is a big deal. They forgot showing that one step is about 40 cm deep. We had to take a short rest every 100 steps down but when we went up, it is every 50 steps and a long rest every 3 short rest. We were so tired and breathed so hard.

After dinner, we played card in my room and had a big laugh on the bad cheat of three of us. And went to bed early cause everyone was so tired.

In the next morning, we walked up to the summit to take a huge look at the whole lagoon area. It is wonderful and impressive. We had to go back the guesthouse at 10.00 to take to van down the foot of the mountain. We drove back Hue and I enjoyed horning on the highway with Jon. Anyway, I had a great time with Jamaica and Jon. Super-fun!!!

These are some pictures I took on Bach Ma (Be sure to click on the pictures for the larger view). And more pictures on the trip are in the new photo album "Bach Ma". Enjoy!

First arrived Bach Ma and taking picture in the convex mirror.

Enjoying lunch with the great food, we were so hungry then.

On the way to five lakes and at the lake number five.

Happy on the top of the falls and a wonderful view from the bottom.

Exploring something on the way to the summit and standing on the very top of Bach Ma.

Beach, beach, beach,...

Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:04:20 GMT

Just got back from Nha Trang where the beach is the most wonderful one in Vietnam and then went to the beach here, in Hue with a friend and then went to Lang Co, also the beach in the South of Hue, near Da Nang with the colleagues at my department. So, beach and beach and... beach; and maybe once more with family and the uncle from France this weekend.
I had a lot of fun and great time in Nha Trang. I went to swim a lot, especially, swimming at the bay, when I took a tour to go to the islands around Nha Trang.

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Could you see me wearing the diving stuff? I swam for long time there and the sunlight at noon burned my skin, so I look really dark at the moment, like an African. The coral there are not really nice and some parts were broken but the fishes are so pretty. They swim under your feet and look very nice.

People also organized a fun party on the boat. Look at the pictures and you could see how fun it was. I don't need to explain to you I think.

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I did join the fun with a funny Vietnamese song and dancing too. Look at the drum on the pictures, they said it was made in Japan and they bought it with $US 2,000 , that's so funny.

Have you ever seen a bar on the water? They did have one there and so interesting, even though the drink were not really good. Look at this!

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And also went to the mud bath place in Nha Trang the day after that to relax. That was the first time I have mud bath and it was so comfortable. You should try it once. And remember that it has only in Nha Trang.

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Back home and face work, wow, I am so lazy and don't want to do anything, just want to keep being on vacation as long as possible . No, no way; I am trying my best to finish work and waiting for the summer break at the end of July...

She's gone !!!

Mon, 05 Jun 2006 14:41:41 GMT

I want to write something at the moment but I don't know exactly what to write. As you could guess from the title, my best friend Julie, she has gone back the US. I came to the train station this afternoon to see her off but... I did not say anything to her. I don't know why and feel a bit sorry about that but, sometimes you don't know what to say when you have a lot of things in your mind that you are going to say. Is that right? I gave her a call after dinner and that was when her train stopped at Donghoi. It sounds like she did not have a good dinner I think cause the food on the train are always bad.

Many people (friends and students) came to the station to say goodbye to her this afternoon even though it was really hot and muggy then. Everyone sweated a lot but no one complained; no no..., I heard some one did and that includes... me; yeah, maybe .

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About 2 years and a half spending time with her in Hue, I have learned a lot of things from her, not only English. We had fun hanging out together and always enjoyed that. We have a good memory of joke that we did with each other. She has a great skill and spirit and from that, I learned some better way of living. Her dedicated way of working is also one of the things that I respect. And a lot, a lot more. The only one thing I learned from her (and many other Americans) that brought me a little bit trouble is American accent when I took the IELTS exam (which uses British English) . I am just kidding; don't worry!

Anyway, I am glad meeting her, getting know more and more about her and becoming close together. Thanks for being my best friend and giving me a wonderful period of time in my life. I will miss you a lot, Julie and will save a great memory about you. You have a special place in my mind and hopefully, we will have chance to meet each other again some day. I wish I will see you with your lovely family and your dreamily husband .

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Bye, my friend. Take care and good luck in your life!

New pictures from Philippines

Tue, 23 May 2006 12:55:10 GMT

Hello all of my friends and close people,

I have just posted some new pictures that I took in two first days here, in Philippines. That is at the new photo album. Actually, Iloilo, where I am staying is a small, old and pretty poor city. I stay outside of the centre of the city, near the beach, so I don't have chance to go to the centre recently. I had a quick city tour last night on the car of a friend here after finishing the welcome party on the beach. More than 80% people here are Catholic and they have a lot of old churches. The oldest one was built in 1800, but sorry that I could not get out the car to take the picture last night.

Poorer than Hue but it seems that everything goes more smoothly than at my hometown; especially, transportation. And restaurants and bars here are designed and decorated very nice. I saw some strange vehicles here and that's very interesting. They look not really safe and people here drive pretty fast but they always make the concession when the streets are busy or at the crossroads. So maybe that's why they don't have many accident here.

Tomorrow would be the 3rd day of the workshop and it would be my turn giving the presentation. I was the presenter today at the workshop and people say I did a good job. Hope so. And also hopefully, I will have a good presentation tomorrow. Okay, I think I should go up my room to take a look on my PowerPoint file once again and get ready for the presentation. Talk to all of you soon.

Getting ready to go to Philippines

Tue, 16 May 2006 14:30:25 GMT

I am doing paper work these days to get the permission from the Director of Hue University to go to Philippines. And luckily that everything is almost done, except the signature of the highest person at Hue University. I have to join a military class for 5 days at the College, from last Monday to this Friday and that keep me stuck everyday. I can't do any work even though I have not prepared for my presentation in Philippines, even not being ready to leave on Friday. The class is so boring. The instructor repeats some few things about using the gun and most of people didn't care much about what he was talking about. They want to bring military in school and worry if there is any war happens here, they will have a team to protect the school. That's a good thing to think of but ... I am not sure if when there is a war again, what can I do to really protect the school as my duty? I am wondering if I can protect myself and family? not talking about anything bigger like protecting the school. I think they need the professional national army then, much better than us. Anyway, I can't absence from this class if I don't want to be in trouble; yeah, not kidding, serious problem.

So I need to bring my laptop with me to Philippines to work on my presentation when I am there cause I will present on the fifth day of the workshop, so maybe have some time to prepare. I got the schedule of my trip this time. I am leaving for Saigon in Friday afternoon, that is on the 19th of May. And fly to Manila in the next morning and stay there until we have the flight to Iloilo in late afternoon. The workshop will begin on the 21st and finish on the 27th of May. I will probably get back Saigon on the 28th and come back home in Hue on the 29th.

Hopefully, I will have internet at the hotel there so I can post something from Philippines for you. See you soon.

China

Sun, 07 May 2006 14:50:30 GMT

Too bad that work has made me so busy these days. And now, I have some time at the weekend to write something about the trip last week.

I arrived at the border gate of Vietnam - China after a long trip from Hue to Hanoi and to Laocai by train. I was tired and had to wait for long time to enter China because the computer system of Chinese border gate has been changed. I took the bus to LoTay, a district of China, on the mountain area. The roads are really bad and like zigzag so... I "died" on the bus. Too tired. On the way, I passed MongTu, a new city, where everything is plained quite perfect. The people's committee office looks like a park. I arrived LoTay at about 7.00 PM Beijing time, and had a super quick dinner and took a rest at a hotel. Most of people there are Di people. These people don't get marriage, both men and women. The women at teen age often go to the special market, people call "Love market" to look for boyfriend. Guys who like any girls will come and touch slightly on the girl's hand by a finger. And if the girl accepts that guy, she will wait for him that evening in a small house which is decorated romantically. And after the girl has baby, the guy can leave if he wish and has no duty. Of course, the girl will take care the baby, according to the Di people.

The next day, I waked up late after a long and tired trip in the previous day. Took a shower and had breakfast at the hotel. Chinese have so many food for a meal, even breakfast. And then, I visited a huge cave at the mountain area. Amazing, it's a big cave system but destroyed a lot. I mean people came into the cave to take the stalactites when the government had not managed the cave yet. I had lunch at a restaurant on the way to Kunming. There, I took the roast duck and that's wonderful. It's called NghiLuong roast duck and it's much better than the Beijing's one, that's what I heard from people there.

And I arrived Kunming finally. It's so big and the city has 3 belts. The 3rd belt is suburb area, like the countryside. The second belt has soooo many overpasses and the first one is the modern city; that's the centre of Kunming. I took a room at Jinsui hotel that is at the centre of the city to go shopping easily. I went out for dinner that night and went shopping a bit before got back the hotel. It's strange to find that shops in Kunming close at 10.00PM and won't open until 9.00AM. I don't understand why but that's strange with an modern city in the world.

The next morning, I visited an old pagoda which has a story about a carp became a dragon after passing so many differences to arrive the top of the mountain, where the pagoda is. It's at the level of 2,280 m high from the sea level so the weather is cold and dry but it has a wonderful looking to the city. And then, I stopped at another pagoda at the bottom of the mountain. This one has a huge and special architecture and a lot of statue. And you can see the thousand years culture of China and also the history of Buddhism at this pagoda through the old books and many other things. I went to the flower park of the city after lunch and that would be a great place to take a rest. I took a lot of pictures there and enjoyed the fresh air. And then, I went to a feet massage place for about an hour and that was great and very comfortable. I felt much better to go to the supermarket after that. I got some clothes but the prices are not cheaper than in Vietnam. Dinner was very special with the mushroom soup. More than 10 different kinds of mushroom cooked together and there was a person helped us how to cook, what kind of mushroom should be in the pot first and what is the next one. She did very carefully and professionally.

The third day in Kunming, I went to the zoo but bored cause not many kind of animal there so I just spent a short time there and went to an old place in the modern city, near the zoo. It looks similar with the other Chinese old buidings but has an exciting story about a Chinese King in the olden time. And then, I had lunch at a Muslim restaurant in Kunming. Food there are so good and I like them much better than the Chinese ones. Chinese food look so nice but taste bad to me. I was back the hotel and walked around the city, stopped at some shops but just looking around and did not get anything cause too expensive to me. The walking street in Kunming is so nice and stuff there are really good too. If you come to the shops of the famous brand, things are super expensive but coming to the stores on the side of the street, you can get some with the acceptable prices.

I left Kunming on the 27th on April after having lunch at a wonderful restaurant. But before that, I visited a jewelry company and I got a ring for my mom. And also visitng the flower market. Hundred different kinds of flower and so beautiful. I found dark blue roses and black roses there. I got something for friends there.

Arrived Stone Forest in the afternoon, I took a room at a hotel to leave the baggage and took a trip to the rock mountain. It was so fun climbing on the top of a high and big rock and take a look to all of the city. I had some great pictures there. I went to shopping for a while and had a lot of fun talking to people there in... body language. Got back the hotel early to get ready for the long trip back to Vietnam the next morning.

Back to the border gate of Vietnam, I took the bus to Sapa and stay there for only one day before going down Hanoi. It's was cold and raining then so I did not have much chance to go around Sapa. But it was good to stay at the hotel and sleep.

That's all about my trip. I hope you could imagine what I did in China and how fun and tired it was. I have learned a lot about China and compared with my country. I am not sure if Vietnam in 30 years will be like China nowadays or not? I am afraid not. I think Vietnam should learn from China, the neighbour country, not anywhere so far away from here.

Back home

Mon, 01 May 2006 15:09:01 GMT

Hey all

I just got back home this afternoon and very tired because of the weather change. So sorry that I did not find any internet place in China and also time there was very tight so I could not check my mail or post any new thing for you to read. Anyway, my trip in China is great. I had a lot of fun and learned many new things there. I am just trying to post the pictures I took there tonight and will write a lot more about China on my blog later when I feel better. I think I need to go to bed now if I don't want to be sick.

Bye all of you. I am happy to be home now and hope to talk to you soon.

Enjoy the pictures at the new photo album "China trip" !!!

Going to China

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 15:33:47 GMT

   Hi friends,
   I had not written since my last post about my friend's wedding. That because work has come repeated and time is not much to let me be unhurried. And you might think I was lazy writing on my blog; yeah, I was lazy doing anything after get back from work except playing badminton. Okay, just let you know a bit about my job at the moment that I am preparing for a seminar on GIS and get everything ready for the workshop at the beginning of May. I am a new member of the project so ... trying my best anyway. Also job at my Department that is finishing the Environmental Informatics course before June. I have not know how to do well this duty. I don't have much information, documents as well as instructions from professors who have experience on this field. So what can I do to have a course with good quality? Well, let think of it later, when the workshop finishes. I don't like thinking of two or three big work at the same time. That makes me crazy.
   Everything seems to be much better when I knew I would get a chance to going to China for about 10 days. Just traveling and being in Hanoi to look for some more information about sholarship program studying MA's degree abroad by the way. I don't know if I can get anything from Hanoi this time cause I will be there at weekend but anyway, the trip at the moment is great to me and that will be cool.
   I am leaving Hue this weekend for Hanoi and staying there for only 1 day and then, take the train to go to Lao Cai (a North province of Vietnam, in the border area) and change the train to go to China right after arriving Lao Cai. I will be in China for 6 days, visiting the South area of China and go back Sapa and stay there for 1 day before get back Hanoi to catch the train comes down home.
   Next weekend, we have a holiday in Vietnam so I will have one day off after coming back from the trip and that will be so good to me before the workshop starts on the 3rd of May. On the occasion of the holiday I am mentioning, my Department organizes a Badminton Game for students of staffs and I really hope it will be on next Wednesday or Thursday, before I leave, so I can join it. See? I am greedy, try to have everything that I can.
   How about you? any event, activities or vacation for the holiday? Maybe it's hard to have a vacation at the moment, right? I am just lucky this time that I got the permission from my Department, not from the College, I mean the rector. I am so sure that if I ask the permission from the rector, he will say NO; and that's right, I recognize, cause it's time to work, not for vacation. So I decided not to ask him, just ask the dean of my Department. And that's fine. But su...yt, that is a secret, don't tell anyone.
   Okay, that's enough tonight. I have to finish my work on the map of the lagoon system, I mean the seminar about applying GIS. I will take pictures in China and will show you the stories of my trip. But please don't forget that time is very tight so ... be patient!
   Bye bye.

Home

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 04:22:27 GMT

I was back home this morning after 3 weeks studying English in Saigon. I had a good speaking test yesterday and that brought me hope for a good result. Weather in Hue is so different with Saigon, it is overcast and a bit cold meanwhile Saigon is super hot and crazy. I wore just a shorts and a t-shirt on the way flying up to Hue and you can imagine how I felt when I landed at Hue's airport, ...tremble.

Coming back home is so happy. I am enjoying food that mom prepares and some Hue food. But I prefer staying here because house and my room is much bigger and more comfortable to me. I am going to meet some close friends in few days and that is exciting to me cause we have not seen each other for long time. So now, my story returns Hue; hope you are keeping following it. I will be back soon.

Architecture shock

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 05:52:43 GMT

At first looking at these pictures, I am sure you are wondering where they are, where I took them because you have never thought they are the photos of Vietnam. Yeah, you are reasonable and that is the same thing happened in my mind when I first set food on that place, a new area locates to the South of Hochiminh city. It is completely different with what people think about this biggest city of Vietnam that is crowded, noisy and dusty and too many motorbikes. The new place that I am mentioning calls Phu My Hung.

Through talking to some people in Saigon, I have learned that in the past, this area was a bog in the suburb of Saigon and enclosed by many channel systems. Little by little, it has been extended and became a nice area with wonderful environment to live. Seeing the big potentiality of this area, an international corporation tendered for building a modern and planned town on it…

Coming to Phu My Hung today, your feeling is nearly the same with the feeling when you are in Singapore or some parts of China, Korea or Japan. Locates separately from the centre of Hochiminh city, Phu My Hung is not influenced by noise, dust or smoke from the centre as well as other districts. The environment there is really good (an unusual thing in Hochiminh city), the streets are so clean like the Singapore’s ones. Motorbike is limited so you seem to see only some cars and bicycles running on the streets. Tree is the first priority element in Phu My Hung so you can see shade of tree everywhere in this small town.

It seems that it is not deprived of any service there. Many places for shopping, supermarkets, restaurants, cafes, salons… anything you need. A salient thing that I found is there are many parks with a lot of different kinds of flower and toys for the children. Some customer service centers where the kids can find some pleasure from cartoons, games or movies. There are also some libraries for people there if they have the demand of reading.

If you come there, you can recognize easily some swimming pools on the second floor of some buildings. That is super cool. Phu My Hung has about hundred different buildings. They are apartments, offices, shopping zones, entertainment zones… Some of them are really huge and many others are building. Each building has a private barrier and security team so it is completely safe if you live there. Besides, there are many security personnel who walk regularly on the streets so you don’t need to be vigilant when you have to leave your property for a while (this point is completely opposite to in other districts of Hochiminh city).

So, the basic elements of a modern and civilized city converge in Phu My Hung. Architecture there as well as any activity is planned so everything looks very smooth. However, to get a place for you, you must be a billionaire, I mean VN dong billionaire. The cheapest apartment in an apartment building costs 1 billion VN dongs. But if you want to have a flat with a small garden, you have to pay 3 billion VN dongs at least. The most expensive houses’ cost comes up to 5-6 billion VN dongs. In addition, if you live in Phu My Hung, you have to pay 1.5 million VN dongs every month for service’s cost such as cleaning the building, the swimming pool, collecting the rubbish from your family, looking after trees and flowers around your building, security… and many other sundry services. Not finished yet, if you have car (certainly most of people live there have car, going around their building by bicycle but they need car to go to the center or other districts for work as well as other purpose), you have to buy a small place in the basements for parking your car and certainly you will have another payment that is rather expensive. Anyway, everything in Phu My Hung is so expensive with most of Vietnamese but that is worth it.

After visiting Phu My Hung, I have kept my mind thinking about what I saw and I have learned 2 following conclusions:

- It is completely wrong if you say the Vietnamese don’t know how to live civilly. In fact, people in many poor places in Vietnam are not civilized but in Phu My Hung, in that modern and clean environment, everyone proves they are civilized people as people in many developed countries and that is what I saw. And most of Vietnamese who is living abroad, they are civilized too. So the problem here is that the Vietnamese could not create the civilized and modern environment, NOT the Vietnamese is not civilized.

- Vietnam is changing rapidly. People began working on the planned areas in the suburbs or the countryside of the cities with a clean environment to live. Phu My Hung is an evidence proves Vietnamese economy is developing quickly and Vietnamese people are trying to approach the more modern and more civilized lifestyle.

How is your opinion?

Ben Thanh Market Tour Today

Sun, 12 Feb 2006 02:46:31 GMT