Category: Vietnam

Hanoi, Vietnam: Hoan Kiem Lake & Ngoc Son Temple

Say “Baguio City” and “Burnham Park” isn’t likely to be mentioned far behind and, along with it, Burnham Lake. These two have become practically staples for anyone visiting Baguio City, especially for the first time. The same thing goes for the nearby town of La Trinidad; if you are in the area, you just have to check out the Strawberry Fields in Km. 6. Well, what about Hanoi? That staple would be Hoan Kiem Lake and, by default, the Ngoc Son Temple.  Continue reading “Hanoi, Vietnam: Hoan Kiem Lake & Ngoc Son Temple” →

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Hanoi, Vietnam: The Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre

You don’t have to be an “artist” to be able to appreciate “art”, considering how there seems to be hundreds of art forms out there. So you can’t carry a tune? You have two left feet? That doesn’t mean you can’t tell a very good performance from a ho-hum one. That means you don’t have to be a puppeteer – or a puppet – to appreciate the art of puppeteering. Or making puppets carry out a theatrical performance.  Continue reading “Hanoi, Vietnam: The Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre” →

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Hanoi, Vietnam: The Hoa Lo Prison (Maison Centrale)

A word of warning: if you’re visiting Vietnam to get a glimpse of its culture and history, let me tell you, IT IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. If you’re thinking of having a vacation that’s all peach-and-roses and sunshine-and-rainbows, then you’ve come to the wrong place. You see, behind the rustic beauty and understated elegance, there’s like an air of heaviness surrounding the place. You can try to stick only to the glitzy and bright areas, but there’s always that shadow following you. So to get rid of that elephant in the room, you should just face it head-on and stare it in the face. Like we did, when we checked out Maison Centrale, also known as the Hoa Lo Prison.

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Hanoi, Vietnam: The St. Joseph’s Cathedral

Finally getting around to continuing my Vietnam travel series, which was put on hold because of RL. Out here in my little corner of the world, it gets colder and colder. When the temperature drops to a chilly 7.4 degrees Celsius, I tend to forget that I am living in a tropical country. But between this chill and the scorching, burning and sweat-inducing heat of summer, you know what I’d pick, right?

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odysSTAY: In Halong Bay… with Vega Travel

If you’ve been reading my blog posts – sporadic though they are lately – you’d already know how I love the mountains. Or how I love to be on land, in general. Oh sure, I also love spending time in various bodies of water, but at the end of the day, I always head back to land, where I can stand and feel the strong, solid earth beneath the soles of my feet. But last year I discovered that staying on the water for longer than 12 hours can also satisfy me… as long as I’m on a boat that, even for a day, can pass for a home. Vega Travel Vietnam made that happen.

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Cruising Halong Bay in Vietnam (Pt. 3): View from the (Ti) Top

No, this blog is not dead. Let’s just say it took a hiatus, coinciding with a particularly busier period of 2016 for me at work and in life (yes, those two are separate). I’m going to pick things up from now on, though, and will try my best not to let this corner stay quiet for longer than… a month? I still have lots of places to talk about and adventures to share, after all. So! Halong Bay. Cruising. Ti Top. Leggo~!

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Cruising Halong Bay in Vietnam (Pt. 2): Caving at Hang Sung Sot

I feel like it’s been ages since my last post (and, indeed, it was). I suppose it was because too many things happened at once, and one of them was…. it’s November (ikr, canyoubelieveit!). It felt like just a few weeks ago when the world was waving in 2016, and now. WOW. Surprise, surprise, 2017 is just a few weeks away. But here’s another surprise. More like, “Cave of Surprises”, which is the meaning of “Hang Sung Sot“, the most famous and most visited cave in Halong Bay.

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Cruising Halong Bay in Vietnam (Pt. 1): With Kayaks… and Monkeys

Sometimes, it is good to plunge into a new experience without any expectations. Or, even if you do, only with very little of it. That way, the surprises will be more than pleasant, you’d hardly note the disappointments (if there are some), and you’ll just be along for the ride. To be honest, Vietnam was nowhere on my “vague” list of places that I would like to visit, but as early as 2015, when my BFFs were making plans for us to go on a trip together to a place NONE of us have ever been to before, they said “Vietnam”. And I said, “Sure thing. Let’s do it.”

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