Don Wai Market/Hanoi & Halong Bay

I was recently in Cha Am, Thailand over Songkran Festival which is an increasingly popular beach holiday destination not only for locals but also foreign travellers and tourists. I was here in Cha Am about 2 years ago and during that time, it was still much unknown or less attractive to holidaymakers. But since then, the number of people visiting Cha Am has jumped markedly. The structure of the beach in Cha Am as in any others within Thailand are rather similar if not the same, with hostels, guesthouses, resorts and hotels, restaurants and cafes lined up the roads bordering the beaches. You can see these in popular beach resort cities including Krabi, Phuket, Hua Hin and Pattaya and Cha Am is no different. But still, Cha Am maintains the less commercialised status in comparison to its peers in Thailand, mainly because Hua Hin, the nearest neighbour in the beach resort town category being more popular with foreigners as well as locals. Hua Hin became popular due to the access to more choices of bars, pubs, seafood outlets, night markets as well as quality accomodations that suit the expectations of travellers and tourists there.

At Cha Am, 3 most important "things to do" will be sampling the roast pork & grilled chicken, try out the fresh seafood and swimming of course. There are many roast pork and grilled chicken (kai yaang in Thai) shops dotting the road leading to Cha Am beach and these shops can easily be identified because large roasted pork sometimes the whole pig ready to be cut into pieces for consumption as well as the grilled chickens were being displayed on display case on the entrance to these shops. And in Thailand, when dining out at roadside food shops and seaside restaurants, you will see that all dining tables are equipped with large bottle of drinking water and either large glass bottle or Pepsi or Coke. All you need is to ask for a glass and bucket of ice cubes and these beverage are ready to quench your thirst. Seafood is also a must try when in Cha Am, where you can get very fresh ones which are still alive chosen from the varieties of seafood choices including fish, crabs, prawns, squids, clamps and cockles. Once chosen, you can get the shop to cook the preferred style and served to you while relaxing at the beach side. Just as in Pattaya, there are many sunshades umbrellas with tables and beach relaxing chair for rent at affordable rates. Seafood restaurants are also available at the port where fishermen unload their catch of the day to be sold to seafood wholesalers, restaurants and seafood traders. The port is located towards the end of of Cha Am beach on the left side of the beach town. All seafood in Cha Am were fresh as they were chosen alive from the prupose-built small tubs placed in between the main entrances. And if you want to freshened up yourself on a hot, sticky sunny beach day out, swimming will be the best thing to do. After all, Cha Am is a beach resort town. There are still many affordable guesthouses and hostels available along the beach front establishment as there are currently less classy hotels being built, so a holiday in Cha Am is still a much attractive destination for those who seek to save on accomodations. In the morning, many mobille traders set up their stalls on the roadside along the beach including those who sell food, souveniers and dry seafood items as well as fruits. At night, the best thing to chill out would be a dine out at some of the restaurants with live band or singers. Some also featured live football games over the weekend. You can enjoy food, have couple of nice Singha, Leo or Chang beers while enjoying the songs from the band/singer and watching live football match.

I was back in Ubon Ratchathani for the Songkran or Water Festival and had the opportunity to travel to some places which I had been to and not been to during my last travel here to this northeastern city of Thailand. Songkran Festival has seen tremendous evolution since it began where what started as flower water pouring to ask for forgiveness on the elderly by the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren had been turned into water fights between the children and young adults. Of course the tradition still stays but the way Thais celebrating their new year has diverted to a dangerous affair, at least this was what I thought. The convoys of 4-wheel pick-ups with children and young adults equipped with water buckets and water barrels ready to be splashed on whoever they can targeted on while their vehicles move on the road. Not only did this act caused heavy traffic congestions due to vehicles need to stop or slowdown to make ways for these convoys of water splashers to get their job done, the number of people that filled up the rear of the pick-ups could well be overloaded. This means the vehicles may not be on a stable condition which may resulted in the vehicles overturned unexpectedly or the rear passengers fell to the ground of the road due to slippery base on the vehicles or pushing. I am not against such festivities spririt among Thais or foreigners whom have seen increasing participation not only in Bangkok's Silom, Khao San or Central World but elsewhere in Thailand but such celebrations will need to incorporate precautionary measures or restricted only on certain hours of the day of the celebration. The number of people on the rear of the pick-ups will also need to be restricted and the water barrels or buckets will required to comply with the max weight of the items the vehicles could carry. Aside from these, other dangers noted including people who stand in the middle of the road who stop vehicles at their own whims and fancy, may caused them to knock down by speeding vehicles while those who stand on the roadside with water barrels waiting to splash on-coming vehicles may also resulted in the same fate. Thus, only several spots identified as safe should be allowed for such activity with metal barriers set up at these spots to preven the party doers from breaching the lines. Drinking of alcohol for those on vehicles while making their rounds should also be restricted while those who are on the ground with barricades maybe allowed as long as they are not drunk. These are some of the suggestions but whether or not they are to be implemented will be on the hands of the authorities to decide. Some of the good practices noticed on Songkran Festival will be the set-up of small Buddha sculptures in wats, shopping malls and hypermarkets where the people could sprinkle/pour water on the sculptures and pray for their wishes as they do so. Also can be witnessed on the Songkran Festival were the many funny faces of the people on the streets participating the water splashing activities where there were impersonators of women, nerds, hogs and katoeys (transvestites). Having mentioned about the dangerous Songkran celebrations, I took this opportunity to participate for half a day water splashing do but maintained precautionary measures from the kerbs of shophouses. It was fun day out on an auspicious festival but even half day will already be too much for me.

Ubon Ratchathani (Ubon) province is a unique place because this is the Thai province where you can access to the most Vietnamese food within Thailand. Due to its close distance to southern Laos, which has good road connections to central Vietnam, vietnamese food can be found easily in certain part of Ubon. Some of the famous vietnamese cuisines which are favourites among the Ubon people and widely available are salad rolls or Goi Cuon in vietnamese where this food include a mix of fresh green salads and mint leaves with accompaniments consisting of grilled porks in sticks or without, unripe mangoes sliced into small pieces as well as garlics and chillies both chopped into small pieces wrapped with softened rice paper roll (dipped into water 1st to soften it) with some peanut sauce spread over them and wrapped them up with the green salad before eaten. Very nice, simple and healthy food and this can be found in most restaurants serving Thai/Vietnamese food in Ubon. Another popular vietnamese dish is the fresh and deep fried spring rolls. The fresh spring rolls consists mainly of green salads with mint leaves and eaten with a dip into sweet clear chilly sauce. The deep fried spring rolls is filled with sweet turnip as the fillings and also dipped into sweet clear chilly sauce. You will ask for more of these as it never fullfill your appetites because they were fresh and tasty. Banh xeo, a southern vietnamese cuisine of HCM city, which I had a good try while there sometime end of 2006, is also popular among Ubon folks but not as good as those available in HCM city. Banh Xeo is made of stir fry of egg mix wrapped with the minced pork and sliced onions, cut into smaller pieces to be eaten with green salads. A dip into sweet chilly sauce will add the flavour to it. Other vietnamese food also found in Ubon is banh cuon a rice flour stuffed with minced pork and mushroom and dip into sweet chilly sauce, banh mi, a french bread spread with butter and stuffed with sliced cucumber and celery, minced pork with choice of fried egg or sliced moo yor (grounded prok mix with flour and black pepper wrapped in banana leaves). Vietnamese noodles such as bun bo in Hue is also widely found in Ubon but has been integrated into the Thai style. Bun bo is a type soup noodle where the soup is boiled with beef bones mix with shrimp paste, lemon grass and dried chillies which give the soup a special flavour. The soup noodle is served with mint leaves to be mix into the noodle before eaten. Another good food to note when in Ubon is the mouth-watering suckling pig. These baby piglets were readily marinated and ready to be grilled once chosen by customers. There are not many such shops around in town. Only locals know where to buy them as the famous shop was located in secluded area near the river opposite Ubon Buri Hotel & Resort.

I had previously been to Ubon and witnessed the distinct culture unique only to Ubon Ratchathani in Thailand, which was the Candle Festival, a festival that marks the start of the rainny season where monks will be staying in the wats for 3 months where they will focused intensively on meditations. I had been written about this in my past blog with pictures of the parade of candle floats. This festival usually takes place in the early week of July. Apart from this unique festival that drew thousands of tourists to this northeastern province of Thailand, it is also a gateway to Laos, through the Champasak province's town of Pakse. Thais also travel to Ubon to cross over the Vang Tao, a border town in Laos which connects thereon to Pakse from Chong Mek in Thailand. Vang Tao is a popular small border town that attracts many Thai visitors mainly to shop for value for money consumer items made in Vietnam, China and also Lao PDR. Some great changes had taken place since my last visits in Chong Mek (Thailand)/Vang Tao (Lao PDR) as well as in Phibun Mangsahan which is the connecting town between Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand to Pakse in Lao PDR. The road connecting Phibun Mangsahan to Chong Mek is currently undergoing significant improvements where works are being carried out to widened both sides of the road. It used to be a lush green lung with trees lining both sides of the roads but has now those trees and bushes had been cut down and clear off to make way for the road widening works. Over at Chong Mek, the front for the Thai immigration border checkpoint to get in and out of Thailand from and to Lao PDR, the pedestrian walkways on the Thai side is also currently undergoing improvement works. What used to a small walking lanes for both in and out will now see major changes. While on the Vang Tao side, the major changes that had been taken place were the street before the trades bazaar are now lined up with more mobile traders on both sides of the street. Previously, only a handful of them were seen trading with their humble setup on the street displaying their goods mainly on the grounds. A new duty free mall has also been up over at Vang Tao where visitors can shop comfortably for duty free items including coffee, liquors, chocolates, cigrattes and also to enjoy some food and drinks over at a small cafe within the small mall. The traders over the main bazaars remained unchanged which still attracts many visitors from Thailand with inexpensive value for money items but I forsee that this will soon changed with the traders relocated to a much comfortable building structures. As of now, these has yet to be seen but with the improvement in the road networks and immigration structures, both governments are putting efforts to accomodate the increasing visitors to both countries. The current bazaar will not be able to cater if the number of vistors are to be increased each year. Not only that, the current bazaar conditions are not condusive with rundown structures while the pathways were uneven and not properly paved with tiles, which is basically a natural outdoor ground.

Over at Chong Mek, on thai ground, there is a large bazaar just before the immigration checkpoint with many consumer goods available at affordable prices can be found here but not as attractive as those over at Vang Tao, mainly because these proprietors over here sell what you could usually get within Thailand, while over at Vang Tao, the goods are from elsewhere including China, Vietnam and Laos, so items there were rather diversified. In Chong Mek, some of the restaurants here served some good and nice food to deal with ones hunger before and after a long day shopping. Prior to arriving at Chong Mek, I visited the Wat Phu Khao Kaew in Phibun Mangsahan. This wat was located in a secluded spot surrounded by lush trees. The wat is brown in colour with the main building sits on the upper level seperated from the ground level, which is the viharn/meditation hall for the monks of the wat. There were 2 stairs leading up to the main wat/ubosot, one at the front entrance while the other at the rear of the main wat. However, the is only 1 entrance into the main wat. The side doors decorations reflected the skillfully crafted designs which focus on the Thai theme. The doors were made of wood which were also crafted with Thai architecture design. Inside the main wat, there are 3 Buddha sculptures which sit on the upper level from the other 3 monk sculptures which were displayed at the far end of the wat building. The floor of the wat is made of wooden planks. The upper walls were decorated with various theme of wats and pagodas in the Indochina region. The main entrance of the wat facing a water fountain with a garden on the front area of the main entrance on the lower ground. At the main entrance a Buddha sculpture was also on display. There are also 4 salas (open sided small pavillions) on 4 sides of the lower ground of the temple.

In Thailand, in particular south of Ubon Ratchathani province, Surin province and Sisaket province, there were various khmer ruins still in existance. The on-going disputes between Thailand and Cambodia on the Phrea Vihear temple, is an example of how important are these khmer or hindu ruins in thi modern days playing major role in the tourism industry. Phrea Vihear temple was listed in the Unesco World Heritage Site and belongs to Cambodia, while Thailand claim that it actually located on its soil in the Kantharalak districk of the Sisaket province. Such ruins were so unique and distinctive that attract keen interests of visitors to visit the sites to have closer view and to snap as many pictures possible for their own keep or various other purposes that may include personal interests, arts and advertising. In south of Ubon, in Det Udom province, I visited 2 such ruins, namely Phrasat Ban Ben and Phrasat Thong Lang with the former being the larger site while the latter a smaller one. In fact there are various such Khemer ruins within the southern North Eastern Thailand including Sisaket and Surin province bordering Cambodia. Phrasat Ban Ben is one of the larger khmer ruins still remained and located within secluded location of open space of villages or Baan. This ruin has a rectangular bricks border dated since its constructions with 3 ruins tower. The middle one being the largest among the 3 and the most well-preserved while the other 2 with parts of the tower already been damaged. Nothing was seen inside these ruins apart from some prying items inside the middle ruins, On the rectangular fence border, there are 3 entrances with the mid entrance being the main among them. However, one of the 3 entrances had already been damaged and not visible. The ruins are surrounded with tall tree with and administration office adjacent to the ruins. On the front or opposite of this ruins was a small flat square with various holes which already been filled-up noticed on the side of the square. Over at Phrasat Thong Lang, these ruins did not have a border fence like Phrasat Ban Ben, but also have 3 ruins which were larger than those at Phrasat Ban Ben. One of the 3 has most of its structure collapsed. The ruins are surrounded by open space without trees within its location. Inside the ruins, there were nothing visible. However, upon inspection, it was noticed that one of the tower with an opening at its top enclosure. So, with the ongoing border clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops, you can still get to see such khmer historic ruins within peaceful north eastern Thailand provinces.

I had been to Ubon for several festivals including the Khao Phansa (Candle Festival) and over Songkran holiday and visited some of the most notable wats in the province. Recently, I went over to Wat Nong Bua, which is a distinctive wat with a tall "prang" or pyramid shape tower surrounded by a well maintained garden within its compound. The prang with overall structure in white with interval of gold colour on the side and flowery decorations on the wall of the prang. Inside the wat is another smaller prang which was gold in colour on overall structure surrounded by 4 Golden Buddha statues for devotees/visitors to pray. This is a very nice wat which also display the ever creative artwork skills of Thai people. Another wat that I visited here in Ubon during this 2011 Songkran Festival is Wat Sa Prasansuk, which is built on the boat like concrete structure surrounded by a lake. Before reaching the main wat area, the entrance compound has another wooden temple structure which also built on a boat like stucture. The whole architecture skills of the builders of this replica wat is much to be admired about. On the main gate, visitors are greeted with a large white coloured chang (elephant). The wat of Wat Sa Prasansuk is very similar to the design of Wat Phra Keaw but not as grand as the one in Bangkok and the one which has been converted to musuem in Vieng Jan (Vientiane). Inside the wat is a large Golden Buddha in the middle of the wat on the altar section with several windows on its left and right side. The entrance door structures have beautiful outer layer decorations similar to Bangkok's Wat Phra Keaw. The last temple I visited was the lesser know wat in Ubon town, named, Wat Ong Teu. This wat have several decorative structures within its compound and has a distinctive large white Buddha sculptures on the left of the main wat. Upon entrance to its compound, there is a small bridge heavily decorated. Before the main entrance is aBuddha sulpture on display for visitors to pray. Inside the temple is a large Golden Buddha and also the upper walls decorated with the pictures of Buddha with multiple windows on the left and right side of the wat building.

Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam, is rapidly catching up with its southern counterpart, Ho Chi Minh (HCM) city. This city was just as chaotic as HCM city with the endless traffic filling up the streets almost every parts of the city at least until the end of the office rush hour on daily basis. To cross the road from one end to the other, it can be very challenging and stressful, so get ready to be bold when doing this in Hanoi. Arriving at Noi Bai Airport around 1 in the afternoon, the weather was hot with temperature as high as 30 degrees though it was the spring season. Travelling from the airport to the city centre was surprisingly without much hassle. There were many transport options available in which the easiest would be with the airport taxis, which are white in colour costing anything no less than USD15. The less costly options would be through the airport shuttle bus which cost around VND30,000 or less than USD2 for one way trip. The bus stops very near to the Old Quarter or the backpackers' street as well as the landmark of Hanoi, the Hoan Kiem Lake. The journey from airport to the city was only about 50 minutes. It left the airport with more than half the seats empty, which could sit up to 40 passengers or so. When the bus reached the city, I got down just at the centre of the Old Quarter near the Red River area. Being first time in Hanoi and second in Vietnam, it was a challenge to get to the right place to settle down, what's more with the language barrier. My first encounter was with a motorbike taximan. As I opened up the conversation by asking him on the directions to the Hoan Kiem Lake, it was evident that he couldn't speak english. The only words that were uttered by him that could be understood by me were "moto" and "hotel" with some hand gestures and short writings on a small piece of paper on how much it costs. After a quick thinking (it would be better to walk and explore a little bit), I thanked him and continue to walk to ask the people around for directions to my intended destination hoping that I will encounter someone who can understand simple english. I have some ideas on where I should head to, to book the room through some research on the net, so I hope I could get to the place I want to. As I walked on, I noted a coffeeshop with a sign board reads "Trung Nguyen" on top of the entrance to the shop. Having done some research on coffee, the name "Trung Nguyen" was never a stranger to me. This is the place for a cup or two of vietnamese coffee when you travel to Hanoi or Vietnam. The franchise of this brand name which originated from the central highland of Buon Ma Tuot has been so significant that almost all coffeeshops in Hanoi are the franchisee of this coffee. It is also widely available in prepacked boxes at shops along the streets around Hanoi. This shop I went to was operated by a family of 3, husband and wife and the mother-in-law and was located just opposite Boss Hotel. I initially ordered a cup of coffee with milk from the in-law but she couldn't quite well understood me, then, the daughter appeared from the 1st floor repeating my "order" and that was when I was relieved that I have finally got the right person that could lend a helping hand in giving the right directions and get my coffee prepared correctly. We had a brief chat while I was sipping off the coffe. Though she could only converse limited english, she was very friendly and tried hard to understand each and every word uttered. I told her that I would like to go the specific street. She got up and while she walked out, she told me she was getting the help from her "network" who later was known as the owner of the Boss Hotel. This guy was only in probably his mid 30s but is an owner of a 3 star hotel. Impressive I thought. So, there he was bringing along a copy of simplified city map ready to offer his help. He asked me what was the price range of accomodation I have in mind. I told him what I had wanted. He gave a thought and then shown me on how to get to Ngo Huyen. It was already about 4 and I decided that it was time to leave and head to the place suggested. I thanked the both of them after paying VND15,000 for the coffee. Quite costly considering the fact that it was half filled in a small glass cup, which I noticed later that this has been the norm where all coffees are only half-filled instead of full. Weird?

Just a short walk accross two streets, Ly Thai To and Dinh Tien Hoang from Lo Su, where I came from, I reached Hoan Kiem Lake just in front of me. The atmosphere around the lake was busy, with people sitting on benches chatting with friends, tourists walking about looking for best spots to snap pictures, locals and tourists walking in pairs, groups and single heading to their respective directions while traffic on the streets was decribed earlier as "mad" with endless honking. Bangkok was notorious for its massive traffic congestions while here in Hanoi, its large number of motorbikes on the streets. On the right side of the lake, was where the white HSBC building located with trendy cafes on the ground floor of the building catering to the travellers. In front of this building there was a roundabout and as I walked further down to the left of HSBC, this was where the Bao Viet Bank building is, along Le Thai To St. Further down on the side lane of Bao Viet was the Bao Khanh lane, which was a L shape lane where the inner lane has some Australian style cafes and restaurants as well as hostels available. On the main lane, most vietnamese restaurants are found. I continued my walk up to Hang Trong, where here were the 3 stars hotels located mostly refurbished to attract mid range travellers. At the intersection was Hang Gai, where you could noticed some jewellery retailers and a vietnamese traditional "greenbean cakes" bakery were located. At another intersection was Ly Quoc Su St, where the St Joseph Cathedral was located. Ngo Huyen was located at one of the side lanes here. This lane was filled up with mostly 2 stars hotels, budget hotels, backpackers hostels, travel agents, sundry shop and a coffeeshop selling "pho". In my opinion, this is the backpackers' street of Hanoi with many foreigners in particular westerners, europeans and australians holed up to stay, mingle with fellow travellers, enjoy bottles of beers and to party all night long. The original buidlings here were 2 storey shops for private dwelling but most had been converted into hotels and hostels as well as travel agents with extension of up to 6 storeys. The infamous Hanoi Backpackers Hostel was located here and was known to be the busiest hostel at this area with its premise extended to a 2nd building on the opposite direction. The dorm bed costs as little as USD5 or 7. There was also a Sinh Cafe travel agent here but I noticed that Sinh Cafe travel were found almost every place around Hanoi city centre in particular the Old Quarters and it seemed to me that the main owner of this travel company has franchised its name to the others. Therefore, the quality may not be of the same standard as the original one.

The hostel I stayed was towards the end on the lane which was much quiet, as this was slightly far from Hanoi Backpackers Hostel. For the amount paid, about VND300,000 a night, with breakfast and internet service provided, this was a good bargain coupled with its clean room and bathroom. Ground floor with 2 rooms, 1st and 2nd with 3 each and 3rd floor with another 3 but 1 reserved for hostel's staffs. Not too many rooms available, so more relax and peaceful. Immediately after checking in, I had already booked for the tour to Tam Coc and Hoa Lu in Ninh Binh province, south of Hanoi for the next day. This hostel do not doubled as travel agent but it does provide tour bookings in which it collaborates with established travel agent to serve the needs of the guests who stay here. This was an added value service provided by the management and also provide the convenience for hostel's guests. As such, it is fully recommend place to stay for the complete range of service provided including free city map. Dinner at one of the pho restaurant in Ly Quoc Su street was full with many locals as well as travellers during dinner time. For VND22,000 a bowl of beef pho, that was something with good value with generous portion of pho as well as well prepared beef briskets, which has plenty of it.

The next day, after breakfast at around 8, the tour guide arrived at the doorsteps of the hostel. He was all ready to greet me as I have been waited at the entrance for his arrival for the last 20 minutes. After some short introduction, I was ushered to the tour van with some of the tour members already seated inside. There were a few more others needed to be picked up from here, so, it took about additional 30 minutes time to get all in before the departure to Tam Coc and Hoa Lu. The journey took about 2 hours before reaching the 1st destination Tam Coc. The traffic along the way was brutal to say the least with many vehicles cutting its way notoriously, drivers driving impatiently and the constant honking by drivers of these vehicles as if there were no traffic rules. Traffic was rather slow due to slow moving vehicles just as the van got out from the city, where it was rather busy but it managed to reached Hoa Lu on time. Hoa Lu (pronounced Hoa Ler) is an ancient capital during the rule of King Ding Tien Hoang of the Dinh Dynasty and later, King Le Dai Hanh. This ancient city is surrounded by mountains of limestone hills as well as rice fields scattered all over the old city on the base of the limestone hills as well as open land. There was a temple in rememberance of King Dinh which has a main entrance arch, a small garden, an open compound and a main temple with the structure of the king placed inside for the visitors to worship. Most visitors will placed some monetory notes while they pray in the hope that their wishes may come true. At the time of visit, there was construction works being carried out to built an impressive large main gate to the King Dinh's temple. While the main gate has been 90% or fully completed, the road leading to the temple has yet to be. On the opposite direction of the temple across the road that leads to Tam Coc, there was a small restaurant which also provide bicycles which were neatly parked on the side of the restaurant. An additional USD5 will be added on should you chose to cycle from Hoa Lu to Tam Coc. Out of the 14 tour members, 8 including me decided to venture out with the bicycle. It would take approximately 1.5 hours to reach Tam Coc from Hoa Lu with the bicycle. It was a great and exciting adventure though the weather that day was hot with temperature hovering around 30 degrees. The sceneries along the journey was marvelous due to the fact of the whole area was covered with limestone hills and rice fields, thus, the entire journey was well worth it though it was equally tiring due to the heat and long journey. The journey mostly covered on small untarred and uneven and some muddy terrain which made the tour very safe because it was not done on busy roads. It also gives opportunity to get close to the nature and a good view of the hills and the fields where pictures can be taken clearly and closely making the pictures look good and authentic. Lunch was provided and the final destination of the cycle tour would be the restaurant serving our lunch. After 1.5 hours of cycling, we reached the restaurant at the Long Hotel, Retaurant and Bar in Tam Coc for lunch. This hotel was fronting the pier of Tam Coc where all the small boats or sampans will take visitors for a river tour around Tam Coc to witness the magnificent limestone mountains along the river, also dubbed as the inland Halong Bay. Buffet lunch was served with varieties of nice vietnamese and asian food, including fresh and deep fry spring rolls, vietnamese noodles, rice, fried chicken, grilled muttons, salad, desserts and fruits. After lunch, its time to set on the small boat with 2 people serve as the rowers while up to 3 visitors allowed to get into the boat. Ideally, it caters for 2 persons each boat, including the rowers, 4. I was in the boat with another 2 Australian girls. The journey was very pleasant as the sun was not too hot while the scenery was amazing. Many boats were seen going up and down the rivers with some moving up while some returned from their trips. On the left and right side of the river, along the limestone hills are many the rice fields. This explains why Vietnam can be one of the major exporter of rice apart from Thailand. In fact Hoa Lu and Tam Coc itself already have such huge rice fields covering its land, what more with the other areas of the provinces around Vietnam. The journey took about 2 hours. On the turning point of the kayak tour, there were some floating traders where these traders will pursuade visitors to purchase drinks, fruits and snacks for the rowers as they were tired with their work and that the drinks will help to reduce their tiredness. The 3 of us decided to contribute VND30,000 (each with VND10,000) with drinks and fruits. The drink was given to the lady rower while the Australian girls enjoyed the fruits. This river kayak provides another opportunity to photographed the nice and marvelous limestone hills which were very picturesque. The journey back to Hanoi took another 2 hours and when the bus reach Nanoi, it was already 6.30pm. Dinner was a vietnamese style hamburger that came with a frnech loaf with fresh lettuce and tomato with choice of omelette or chicken or beef chunk. This was at the intersection of Ly Quoc Su and Ngo Huyen where a vietnamese lady set a stall just by the side of the lane and was popular among the foreign travellers. It costs only VND10,000 for a piece.

The next morning, I was all geared for another trip. This time it was the Halong Bay cruise for a day tour. Here we have the Vietnamese boasting about the UNESCOS's World Heritage award to be proud of. As usual, after breakfast, the guy from the tour agent came. This was another guy, in his early 20s, young and baby faced look. As he came and introduced himself, we immediately proceeded to the tour bus, as there were still other members to be picked up. There were about 16 of us but not all were included in the tour as some had chosen to just booked for the transport and self-arranged for the cruise as well as other sort of tour services arrangement upon arrival at the pier in Halong Bay. The journey to Halong Bay was much pleasant with nice views along the way, while traffic was less hectic, though the ugly incidents of drivers' behaviour were still evident. There were many rice fields all around the places while houses and shophouses were all equipped with the Vietnamese national flag. The red cloth with the bright shining yellow star were all flagging nicely as the weather was cool with light winds blowing which made the atmosphere such a patriotic feel. I thought , this has got very close association with how nationalistic the vietnamese were in fighting against the US dominance led by Vietnam's independence hero, Nguyen Sinh Cung. It took about 4 hours of travel from Hanoi to reach Halong. Upon arrival at the pier, it was so busy with many travellers alike including locals from all other provinces withing Vietnam. Many of the junks and boats were docked at the pier awaiting for their passengers to board them. Some had returned from the island such as Cat Ba and ready to pick up new passengers for the day. These boats were indentified by unique names including Ha Noi 8, Ha Noi 10, Viet Anh 28 and all sorts of others. After we got the boat ticket ready, it was all set to board the boat and begin the Halong Bay journey. The journey started slowly with the boat sailing quietly out from the pier that would take those on board to witnessed the many pictureque limestone hills and the Thien Cung cave tour. Legend has it that, many years ago, the Jade Emperor sent the Mother Dragon down to earth to protect Vietnam from the invasion of its enemies. The place the Mother Dragon landed was Halong Bay. The Mother Dragon in her conquest to arrest the invasion, brought along her children dragons, where Bai Tu Long was where these smallers dragons landed. They decided to stay on and not returned to Heaven when they had completed their duties and that was how Halong Bay and Bai Tu Long were formed. There was also a visit to the floating fishing village where visitors could buy varieties of seafoods and get the cook in the boat to prepare them just in time for lunch. The seafood were fresh as they were just captured freshly from the water but the price can be costly. Lunch was served on the lower deck of the boat with dining tables and chairs. There were several dishes served such as cabbage, steamed fish, fried beancurd with sweet and sour sauce and deep fry spring rolls with hot steam rice. However, the portion served were liitle too small for a table of 5 people, some tables with more people while no drinks were served, unless you pay for it. After lunch, the boat continue its journey with many opportunities to snap photos on the nice background of karst hills. We then reached the Thien Cung cave. This cave has been carefully preserved by the authorities with steps leading to the cave constructed to the upper level of the karst hill. The interior of the cave was lit with neon lights to brightened up the cave. Some of the staglagmites and staglatites resembled some animals can be seen here. Upon getting out from the cave, there was a viewpoint overlooking the bay from the cave and the scene was beautiful. The cruise, lunch and the cave adventure were completed in about 5 hours which were nevertheless satisfactory for me. By the time the bus reached Hanoi, it was already 830pm.

There were plenty of shopping for everyone to get something in Hanoi. Along the Hang Dao-Hang Ngang St, there was a weekend night market set up along the 2 streets right up to Dong Xuan Market. You can get variety of shopping goodies and with good bargaining skills, you should get something really on good price. During the day time, Hang Dau and Hang Ngang, there were many shops selling tshirts, clothes and other consumer goods perfect for gifts or souveniers for family and friends. Over at Dong Xuan Market, this is the place for the ladies as there were loads of such accessories suitable for them found here, while over at Hang Buom, this is the place to get vietnamese coffee.

Hoan Kiem Lake is the landmark of Hanoi, which was true if you stay around the Old Quarter area. You will most likely encounter this lake on daily basis throughout your stay. And the attraction of Hoan Kiem Lake is not only its scenery, but also the Ngoc Son (Jade Mountain) Temple in the middle of the lake surrounded by a people's park in which it has a bright red bridge across the lake to allow people to access to the main temple. This temple was built in honour of military heros and famous vietnamese scholars, such as the army general Tran Hung Dao and scholar Van Xuong. Confucian artist, Nguyen Van Sieu helped to restore the temple and constructed a Thap But (a big stone with brush look alike shape) and Dai Nghien (a rock resembles a writing pad). There was also a 6ft long tortoise in a special room dedicated to this structure in the compound of the temple. Entrance fee was VND10,000. Ho CHi Minh Museum was built in rememberance of the independence fighter, Nguyen Sinh Cung or Ho Chi Minh together with his comrades who had relentlessly unified the people of Vietnam to gain victory against external forces. It was a 2 storey building and inside, there were many photographs of Uncle Ho as well as his colleagues dsiplayed inside the museum ranging from the house he lived-in in various countries such as Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, Guangzhou and Guangxi, China, Hong Kong and France. The photos included those of which he engaged the people through a very personal approach including addressing the people thorough small group meetings and village visits to explain the struggle of Viet Minh force to gain independence. There were also original copies of the vietnamese first newspaper productions, the memorandums of independence under the communism, photos of conventions against foreign invasions and many others photos collections on the fight of Viet Minh and Viet Cong against the US and the southern Vietnam government. Entrance fee was VND15,000.

The One Pillar Pagoda was located adjacent to the Ho Chi Minh Museum. This pagoda was built by King Ly Thai Thong. The king who was childless dreamt of the Buddha giving him a baby boy while seated on a lotus flower. The king then married a young girl who gave birth to the king's first child. Then a monk advised the king to build a temple with a pillar in the middle of the pond which was same as the one he dreamt of. It was built of wood with single pillar resembling a lotus which is a symbol of purity in Buddhism. Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is a huge memorial building in whom the late Vietnamese independence fighter and chu tic (president) Ho Chi Minh's preserved body was being placed in for visitors to get a closer look at the late Vietnamese president. There were guards manning the main entrance of the mausoleum. The mausoleum has a very large open square for military marching purpose as well as to cater for other official ceremonies with a giant flag pole standing graciously on one side of the square. Van Miieu or Temple of Literature is another important historical sites that should not be missed out when in Hanoi. This is actually a Confucious Temple in which the 1st national university of Vietnam that produced the doctorates during the Ly and Tran Dynasties. Due to the difficulty of the exam's nature, only few of such doctorates were able to get through the exam and names of such successful scholars were being crafted on the stone steles. The architecture of the temple had been inspired by the chinese influence of the Confucious birthplace of Shandong province, China. It has several courtyards with the 1st and second having gardens filled with trees and ponds on the left and right side of it. The 3rd courtyard has a large pond in the middle of it with the left side where the stone steles were located. The 4th couryard was an open space with the main Confucious Temple towards the end of the Van Mieu boundary, which has a small concourse are for to offer prayers before entering the main temple. This was one of the most important historical buildings that was most visited by travellers or visitors around the globe. Over at the West Lake (Tay Ho), this is where the Tran Quoc Pagoda being located. This is one of the most beutiful pagoda in Hanoi due to its location which was sited in the middle of the romantic and nice landscape of West Lake. It was constructed during the Ly Dynasties of King Ly Nam De. It is the most important symbol of Vietnamese Buddhism and being one of the oldest pagoda in Hanoi. Inside the pagoda, there were many statue of Buddha trimmed with gold which represents the Vietnamese sculptural art masterpiece.

Hanoi is a city that has many faces, a combination of old and modern living experience. Its has a very strong connection with its northern neighbour though the language has a wide distinction between them. Still, it offers plenty of travel adventure that get travellers alike close to nature with its wonderful limestone hills, large ricefields, great lakes and spectacular landscapes in the countrside. The people on the overall, were friendly and down to earth, though in comparison to Thailand, there is still something lacking among the Vietnamese. Traffic was as chaotic as ever but this will not be a major point that should erode anyone's liking of Hanoi.

Travelling Thailand is never boring. Apart from its unique cultures, food, endless inexpensive shopping options and interesting sights and beaches, the tag "Unseen Thailand" seems to be a very suitable theme for this Land of Smile that also have variety of activties that are distinct from its counterparts within South East Asia. One of the example are the floating markets. Nevertheless, floating markets are not just unique to Thailand as these can also be found in Ho Chi Minh City in the Mekong Delta though they are less popular if compared to the ones found in Thailand. Recently, I was in Nakhon Pathom, Bangkok and went to the Don Wai Market. My last visit to Nakhon Pathom was a visit to the Phra Pathom Chedi, one of the oldest and biggest wat in Thailand. To get to Don Wai Market, it takes about 1 hours journey from Bangkok city by car. This market specialty is the sale of steamed marinated ducks and also the deep fried pork knuckles. You will find many stalls within the market that sell such food which can be mouth-watering if you are still deprived of your breakfast or lunch. The market are divided into 2 sections, the one on the left which have vendors involve in the sale of ready cooked, fresh, delicious thai/chinese varieties including desserts while on the right side of the market, there are vendors who sell fruits and also piers for a river cruise along Nakhon Chaise river. There are several cruise services available and its cost THB60 per person for a 1 hour 30 minutes cruise. Many floating restaurants were also set up along the river which go in tandem with the market. The place have been designed in such a way where all the food stalls are being placed fronting the walkways and the restaurants at the rear of these stalls so that the people can buy or order their food from these stalls and get to enjoy them from the restaurants facing the river. Also, the river cruise not only for your to enjoy the sights of the different style thai houses found along the river banks and vegetable farms, you can also buy the food from the market and bring it along to the boat during the cruise to eat them for breakfast or lunch depending on the time of your visit and cruise. Don't worry about having difficulty in eating the food you buy on the boat. There are table and chairs available on board and you can enjoy your food and the good snenaries along the river. The cruise will take the passengers all the way up to a wat, The Wai Rai King where the Buddhists can pay homage here. There is a fishing pond at the dock getting down to the temple where you can buy some dried bread to feed the abundant of cat fish. This wat signals the turning point back to the pier in Don Wai Market. Go early to Don Wai Market to avoid the busy crowd which can get you down and extermely exhausted coupled with the mid day heat, you would swear you had been here early in the morning. Its worth a visit to experience good food, pleasant cruise and a unique thai culture.

Another distinct Thai culture is the Theatrical Pupettry show or Lakorn. You can have access to this at the Suan Lum Night Bazaar. The show shocases the story of the Birth of Ganesha. To sum up the show, there are several personae involved:

1. Isuan, Brahma and Indra - the senior gods
2. Taraka - the senior demon
3. Kamathep - god of love
4. Kongka - godess of water
5. Visukam - the god
6. Warrior - deity and demons
7. Uma - a deity, reincarnation of Satee, Isuan's late wife
8. Kalee - a frightening, monstrous woman with 4 arms Uma, transformed by anger
9. Kumarn - a deity child who later becomes Ganesha
10. Ganesha - son of Isuan and Uma
11. Buangbuat - a giant serpent also known as Naga
12. Vichaya - Lady in waiting

The story starts with Isuan mourning for the death of his wife Satee. He has been down and loses his strength in governing the universe. Taraka, the demon seeing Isuan's grief situation, trying to overpower Isuan to overthrow him from his position. He engaged Brahma to turned him invincible. Brahma then thought that the only person who can kill Taraka is Isuan's son, but he is currently childless with the death of Satee. Brahma meanwhile granted Taraka his wishes.

With the powers obtained from Brahma, Taraka invaded heaven with his troop of demons and defeated Indra, the senior god. Indra then went to see Brahma and told him what happened. Brahma upon hearing the situation, instructed Kamathep to make Isuan fell for Uma, the reincarnation of Satee so that Isuan will have a child from the reunion.

Isuan went for a retreat and provided Uma with a spear. Knowing the absence of Isuan, the demons invaded heaven once again. Vichaya, Uma's lady in waiting informed Uma to have her doors guarded. Uma quickly gets Kongka, the water goddess to bless her with a child from the water. This was when Kumarn, a large child was born. Uma gave Kumarn the spear from Isuan and ask the child to guard the palace.

When reaching the palace door with Visukam after his retreat, they met with Kumarn who stopped them from entering the palace. Isuan was furious and instructed Visukam to send the child away but Visukam failed in doing so. Isuan who gets very angry kills Kumarn after spearing his head off. Uma who witnessed the incident was shocked and grieving in pain for the loss of her child. She turned very angry and changed into Kalee, a frightening, monstrous 4 arms woman. Isuan was shocked with this and consoles her by promising to bring Kurmarn back to life. Isuan instructed Visukam to go to the north and brought home the 1st living thing he encounters.

Visukam returns with a severed head of an elephant. Isuan then connects the elephant head to Kumarn's body and Kumarn's returned to life and was renamed Ganesha. Indra tells Isuan to get Ganesha to go and fight off the demons who were invading the heaven.

While the gods and demons were battling, Indra and Ganesha arrived at the scene of the battlefield and joined the fight. When the demons were defeated, Taraka, arrived with both Taraka and Ganesha engaged in war of words Taraka would like to know who Ganesha was and so Ganesha told Taraka that he is the son of Isuan and Uma. Taraka wouldn't believe it because Uma couldn't be possible given birth due to her being an ascetic. They continue with the battle and Ganesha instructed Buangbuat to surround Taraka who then kills Taraka with the spear.

Finally, the secene of the show ends with Ganesha sits on the great serpent with all gather around him to pay homage to his success in defeating the demons.