2017 Myanmar Trip

This is another adventure

Penang to Guilin

Penang to Guilin

I guess maybe it's in us. We just love to travel. It's in our blood. We planned since last year for this trip, an overland trip northwards from Penang to China.

This is me, Eunice and Jeremy at the Penang ferry terminal.

Oh, just for the record. Jeremy is turning 6 soon.

A little more than 1 month to go, he is already asking for his presents. Happy Birthday Jeremy.

For your info, this trip is your present....

..... just kidding.

Well, here is a rough outline of our route:

Penang -- > Bangkok --> Siem Reap --> Phnom Penh --> Saigon -->Hanoi-->Guilin

Our journey starts with warm weather during the first few cities and gradually gets quite chilly as we move up northwards. We anticipated it, and we were right.

We have 2 backpacks and a school bag, Jeremy's school bag. Our bags are not big, so we really stuff and stuff them. It's pack, repack.. take out this , remove that.. and stuff again.

It's really not easy. We brought just enough clothes and we did our laundry at every opportunity.

The drawing board..

MALAYSIA (1 DAY)

22 Nov 2pm - Leave Penang

THAILAND (2 DAYS)

23 Nov 11am - Arrive Bangkok

24 Nov 5.55am - Leave Bangkok for Aranyaprathet

CAMBODIA (4 DAYS)

24 Nov 11.35am - Arrive Aranyprathet

- Tuk-tuk to Rongklua market(Thai Imigration)

- Cambodia Imigration

- Take goverment bus to Transport Depot

- Taxi to Siem Reap( USD45, 4 hours)

- eta Siem Reap, evening

25 Nov - Siem Reap Tour

26 Nov - Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, boat or bus (6 hrs, 300Km)

26 Nov evening - Arrive Phnom Penh

27 Nov - Tour Phnom Penh

VIETNAM ( 5 DAYS )

28 Nov 7.30am - Bus to Ho Chi Minh

- eta Ho Chi Minh 2pm

29 Nov - Tour Ho Chi Minh

29 Nov 11pm - SE4 train to Hanoi (USD62)

30 Nov - Train

1 Dec - Eta Hanoi 4.30am

2 Dec - Tour Hanoi **possible train to Nanning, 6.30pm

CHINA (7DAYS)

3 Dec - Bus to Nanning (USD16), push on to Guilin if possible.

4 Dec - Nanning to Guilin,

5 Dec - Train to Guilin

6 Dec - Tour Guilin

7 Dec - Train To Guangzhou

8 Dec - Train to Hangzhou

9 Dec - Eta Hangzhou.

Stay and fly back to KL

22/11/2008 (Day 1 , Penang to Bangkok) :

We started out with a high spirit. There is a lot of ground to cover.

I remember when I first told Eunice about our plan, she was more worried than excited I could tell. Later she said, she'll let me do all the worrying. It's a dad's job. ha!

What does long journey with plenty of uncertainties look like? adventure! We're adventures junkies.
“I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it.” Rosalia de Castro quotes

We carried a bag each, and a bag full of goodies for the ride to bangkok. Our good friend, uncle Lim fetched us to the ferry and took a picture for us. It sort of resembled a whistle blow to start a race.. an amazing race.. however in this case, we're not racing, but to us, it's still amazing.

The train from Penang to Bangkok was just lovely. We enjoyed it very much.It only cost RM110 for the lower bunk bed and a little less for the upper bunk. I would suggest the lower bunk as the bed is bigger and there is a window with a view.

If your are travelling as family of 3, your kid can share with mum and dad takes the upper bunk.

It's a nice arrangement. You'll love it.

Jeremy paid RM4.90 for the ride to Padang Besar, I was told to ask the Thai conductor how much it would take for the rest of the way. Later to my surprise, I did what I was told and the Thai conductor said " Noooooo problem, small boy... no problem", smiled and walked away.

That was it. That was what it took for 6 yrs old Jeremy till Saigon... RM4.90

This train only allocate 2 cars here at butterworth, seats were limited. Initially, when we saw the 2 cars waiting at the station without the engine, we didn't believe that that was it.

There were Car no.9 and Car no.10, our seats were at Car No.10. We boarded the train around 1.30 pm, and to our surprise.. it was like an oven!, the aircond at Car.10 was kapputt! just our luck.

I took 1 step into Car.10 and I turned back, it's impossible.

We went into Car 10 instead, kind passengers there shared seats with us till Haadyai. The train left for Bangkok at 2.20pm, prompt!

We went back to our seats at Car 10 at Padang Besar. It's evening and its much cooler then.

The train arrived at Haadyai around 7 pm, technicians came on board to fix the aircond. They didn't do much. We survived with just fan till Bangkok. During the trip, Jeremy made friends here and there. In the train, there were a mother and baby girl, an older boy with a gameboy ( his personal favourite ) and a malay family. Kids make friends so easily, don't you agree. What happened to us adults?

We had dinner on the train, we ate most the goodies we brought and saved some for breakfast. We ordered rice set from the canteen. As a family, going on a train ride is like a moving picnic. It's a lot of fun, card games, gameboy, books and even "opened up a random page in a book and add up all digits of that page number" became a game. Jeremy slept without his shirt that night .

23/11/2008 (Day 2, Bangkok)

The next morning, I woke up last. We had our breakfast in bed. At around 11am, we arrived at Hualumpong station, Bangkok. We warned Jeremy not to wander about. Honestly, we are afraid for him. We know him too well. He is a kid with a mind of his own. Friendly and loves to wander off. That's what we are afraid of.

At Hualampong station, we came upon familiar sights. We were here before sometime ago on our trip to Chiangmai. We needed to find a place to stay in Bangkok. The plan was to catch the early morning train to Aranyaprathet. We love to go back to where we stayed before ( Sia Rangsit ), however time is not on our side. It's about 40 minutes taxi ride, Sia Rangsit to Hualampong. That means we must wake up really early to catch the train. So, we decided to stay in town.

We walked out, no destination. Hoping to come across something nice. Feeling hungry, we stop by road side noodles store. There were the usual noodles "Sand Lek" and pork rice.

There may be tons of backpacking foreigner in Thailand, but looking for budget accomodation isn't easy if you don't know where to look. The budget area is around Khao San road, however it is a congested area and not very safe.

We strayed about, aimlessly. We ask people we see, coughing out only spares Thai words and body languages. There were the Tuk-tuks, the Tuk-tuk drivers are ever so helpful to find you an accomodation. They are the last person you want to trust.

We found a travel agency after a bout with a sleazy Tuk-tuk driver. Instead of taking the train to"Aran", we've decided to take the Van to the border and a connecting bus at Poipet to Siem Reap for Bht1000 per person, hassle free and Jeremy's free too.

It's Thailand, what do you know? A travel agency deep in the city has UK national as a salesman. He was like a easy looking fellow, short, chubby and new on his job. He was helpful and whispered to us a budget area other than Khau San road, "Thewet".

We didn't go straight to Thewet, we took a tuk-tuk to MBK shopping mall instead. Walking round with our backpacks was certainly heavy. Jeremy wants a piggy-back ride too sometimes. After the mall we walked a little more, tired and undecided. I wanted to go to Thewet but Eunice was full of "adventure", she insisted that we should spend the night at the train station! "It'll be fun, that's what backpacking is all about", she said. Women! They are a mystery.

We wrestled a little and finally she gave in. We took a taxi for Thewet. It was quite a distance away, the taxi finally was caught in a traffic jam near Thewet. There were a concert of some sort with everyone wearing yellow. Didn't occur to me that it was politically motivated until the time we were in Cambodia. There we received messages from home that the airport was closed by demonstrators. Thank goodness we didn't fly.

We walked for about easily 3-4 km at least from the where we were left. Asking for direction all the way to Thewet. We checked in a reasonable budget and hippy guest house at Thewet. There were a few guesthouses here, prices hovering around Bht600 offering fairly acceptable condition.

24/11/2008 ( Day 3 , Bangkok to Siem Reap)

The budget guest houses lies just a stone throw away from the Thewet flower market. In the morning, it is bustling with people. Hawkers everywhere. Cheap hippy hotel, good food and a good rest. I was really thankful we didn't end up at the train station.

We woke up early the next morning. Packed and walked across the street for breakfast. The van came shortly afterwards and we're off to Aranyaprathet, eastern border of Thailand.

It was about 4 hours ride, nothing much to about the trip except Jeremy kinda made friends with all the passenger in the van just under 5 minutes and we ate pepper eggs without yolk, strange. The van stopped at a restaurant near the border. We ate lunch, a tour guide came over with the Cambodia Entry/Exit slip and insisted he fill in for us. I did mine, he did Jeremy's and Eunice's. I knew he was up to something. Just as I have finished mine, he asked for Bht100 for that little thing he did, which i did not asked him to. I gave him 20, he went along grumbling to his friends.

At this point onwards, it is a money making ring introducing scams after scams for tourist money. This is the place you need to becareful of your wallet. Your money , it's either they steal or they cheat it from you. That was scam no. 1 , filling passport details. Scam no. 2 was just around the corner. Moments later came another tour guide, he said " you from Malaysia?", I said "yes", he said " You no need pay visa, but you pay processing fee Bht1000 per person", I said "Ok,.... I don't think so, I know it's free". He was annoyed, he insisted that he will bring me to someone, and I must pay. After knowing that I am persistent, he said I might be able to bargain. Honestly, I wasn't very sure at that time and I almost fell for that one.

We walked to the Thai imigration, stamped out of Thailand, cross a bridge to the Cambodian imigration. In the picture you can see the gate to Cambodia, it reads " Kingdom of Cambodia".

The Cambodia border town is Poipet.

The immediate similarity you can see between Poipet and Tachilek, Myammar at the northern Thai border are the casinos.

Scam no. 2. At the Cambodia imigration, the tour guide brought me to an officer. The rest of the group queued up for their entry formalities.

The officer took our passport and asked for Bht1000 each. I bargained. "Cheaper, cheaper, too expensive", he said " no, no...". This went on for awhile. He finally gave me some discounts, I insisted more. Moments later, to my surprise, he was annoyed and he said " no.. no.. , you queue". What's this? I thought. There is an option? This is not a must? He was trying to get me to pay just to jump queue? Goodness. The line was just about 10 people long. It takes barely 10 minutes till I get my turn. Moreover, I also need to wait for the rest of the group even I get out of this office fast. Why pay?? That was what I need. His last few words made me so happy. Queue?? OK.. I took back my passports with much relief. Poipet imigration has quite a reputation, try search the net.

After we have stamped in Cambodia, we walked out to the corridor and waited for the rest of the passengers. If we paid the Bht1000 per person, the difference is we would have been out here at the corridor earlier and have to wait for the rest even longer.

We boarded a free shuttlebus to the transport depot. It was about 10 minutes ride to the depot.

Poipet was a terribly worn town. It has no tar roads, everything looks rather dirty. There are plenty of bikes, trucks and Toyota camry. It was barely 2 km away from Thailand, however there is a vast difference at this side of the border. The bus moved in and out of pot holes, honk everyone else on the road. It's strange to see a place like this stands in the shadow of multistorey high rise casinos.

At the transport depot, we waited for the the bus.

It was around 1 pm. The transport depot is the nest of the taxi touts, one after another will come by and tell you the same thing over and over again.

"The roads are bad, bus leaves only at 3pm, you have a kid, it's going to be difficult". Initially the taxi price was USD30 per person, exorbitant! and it goes down sharply if you are persistent. The last price I heard was USD10 per person. I almost went for it as Jeremy wasn't well, he complaint stomach ache. We suspect that he has taken too much sweets and soft drinks while in Thailand. Anyway, we gave him an aspirin from a kind fellow passenger. We waited for the bus and it came around 3pm. The bus was packed with westerners. We have a good seat and Jeremy fell a sleep shortly after. Thank goodness.

It was a 6 hours rock and roll ride to Siem reap. Few points to describe this ride, first, there were less than 5% of tar road, plenty of pot holes, dust brought up in the air by vehicles that looked like morning fog and plenty of road constructions.

The bus was not air conditioned. After a distance, I wiped off a layer of yellow dirt from my face. We didn't think that it was all that bad actually, Jeremy slept and we enjoyed most of the way. The scenery was just fine. Paddy fields, houses on tilts, pigs by the road side just to name a few. With all that construction going on, I think we shall see better days coming for this famed road to Siem Reap.

The bus turned into a guesthouse at 9pm. It was only charging USD5 per night and the room was quite acceptable. We settled in. The snooker table infront of the hotel caught his eyes, Jeremy was at it immediately. This guesthouse even offers free transportation to town.

A little later, we visited the town and got a feel of the night life. The Cambodian tuk-tuk is alittle different from the ones in Thailand. Over here it is actually a carriage attached to a motorcycle. Unlike the ones in Thailand, this is less steadier. Siem Reap has tons of 5-star luxuries hotels, in the night, the brightly lit hotel resembles huges palaces.

Amongst the first world hotels , lies the third world Siem Reap.

There is a street in town called the bar street. Just like the name, it filled with bars, pubs and westerners. Most of the businesses here aren't Cambodian. These bars here belongs to westerners.

We walked around, there isn't much to see or do. Unless you want to sit and drink. The food here is not cheap and does not appeal to us much.

We want local Cambodian food, not western. The tuk-tuk driver waited there for us while we walked around. He later brought us to his hawker friend. We ate Cambodian fried rice and noodle. Quite tasty but sad to say it is not very clean. Thailand still top my list when it comes down to good food.

Tomorrow, we plan to spend the whole day at Angkor. It is a vast network of temples and the biggest of them all is Angkor Wat. We paid USD15 per person (Jeremy's free) for the tuk-tuk to accompany us to the Angkor temples the whole day from sunrise to sunset. Later in Vietnam, we learnt from a friend, they only paid USD15 for 2 guest. I guess this is scam no.3? There ought to be a website somewhere with prices for reference, I guess. We usually learn we paid too much too late.

25/11/2008 ( Day 4, Siem Reap)

Angkor wat. The tuk-tuk took almost 30 minutes to reach the Angkor entrance. Adult ticket is 20USD per day. There were choices of 1 day, 2 days and 3 days. Some website wrote that every person shall need a photograph for the ticket. Well, now they don't. They have camera at the ticket booth to take a picture of you. You photograph will appear in your ticket. We bought the 1 day ticket. We hurried back to the tuk-tuk and continued towards Angkor Wat. It's 6am, we're racing the sun.

Sunrise on Angkor Wat is a famed view, people come from all over the world for this. We sure would not want to miss it. At an open space in from of the temple entrance, there were hundreds of spectators waiting. The rising sun behind the temple silhouettes was beautiful.

As it gets brighter, we went inside the Angkor Wat. A little about the history, this temple was built on the twelfth century as a mausoleum and temple for King Suryavarman II. It use to be a Hindu temple before becoming a Buddhist temple around the 15th century.

Once inside, at first look, we stand in awe. Amazing! Angkor Wat is huge! You have to see it to believe. It makes you wonder how could people thousands of years ago have such an impressive achitectural skill.

In layman's term, it looks like carved stones piled up on each other, 20 metres high at least. It is built without cement , volcanic stones was used as the main structural support.

This extraodinary sandstone structure is a prime example of the Khmer architecture. The complex underwent extensive restoration in the 20th century and is still on going now.

One day excursion like this should bring you around more than 10 temples. It all comes down to your physical fitness and your taste for temple hoppings. A couple and a kid on adrenaline like us covered 1 sunrise, more than 10 temples and a sunset.

The bigger and more famous temples are Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom ( Bayon & temples with faces) and Pra Throm ( Jungle swallow temple & Angelina Jolie, ring a bell?)

Angkor Thom

Ta Phrom
Elephant ride for the weary travellers.

It is a place I would recommend to you to visit at least once in your lifetime.
Back from the trip and "Hungry like a wolf ". We're even hungrier than "Hungry like a wolf" , we're so hungry, we could eat the wolf! Back to the hotel, shower and had our dinner at the hotel bar. We ordered Cambodian vegetable curry, fried rice and beer.

If you have a love for good food, this is another reason the be in Cambodia other than the Angkor temples. You have got to try the local Cambodian vegetable curry.

People, after this trip, I truly believe the good food around South East Asia region stretches from north Malaysia onwards all the way up to Thailand, and moves east to Cambodia and Saigon.

26/11/2008 (Day 5, Siem Reap to Phnom Penh)

It's coming to be about a week already. It felt so long. At home, doesn't it feels strange how years just whizzz by as though as they were just minutes? I think there is no "pill of longevity". In order to live longer, we all should not be caught in a monotonous life. Enjoy your life..have a bit of everything.. eat, travel and be merry.

We bought our tickets to Phnom Penh at the hotel. We got up early, we to the market for breakfast. Oh.. "we" were just me and Eunice. Jeremy was still asleep in bed. We got back from the market and found him at the lobby snooker table! He cried a little, he said. Apparently, to my surprise he called it quit and enjoy the snooker instead. At-a-boy! Jeremy.

The ride to Phnom Penh took about 5 hours. The road is quite narrow, however there were tarmac all the way. Narrow road, big bus, plenty of slow traffic, "overtaking the overtaker", honk- honk kinda ride, nothing too difficult.

Arrived at about noon. Phnom Penh is the capital and the largest city in Cambodia. It is known for its traditional Khmer and French influence.

We checked in a Lonely Planet "ourpick" guesthouse for USD8 per night and went for a tour of the city.

Walked about the market and the streets. The food were still good. Jeremy and I had our Cambodian haircut.

That's all there is today, there were nothing much that caught our eyes. We planned to go to the palace , Wat Phnom and Tuol Sleng genocide museum tomorrow.

27/11/2008 (Day 6, Phnom Penh to Saigon )

This guest house has a distinctively authentic taste to it. It's relaxed welcoming atmosphere, I cannot forget. It's ran by a kind old lady with a dog. The rooms are spacious and clean.

We had a comfortable sleep that night. We needed it.

In the morning, we went out for our breakfast. Just a few steps away from the guesthouse, there were street vendors. We enjoyed porridge and rice by the sidewalk. We shall push on for Saigon in the afternoon. We bought our bus tickets at the guesthouse.

We headed first for the Wat Phnom temple, it is a temple on a hill which the city Phnom Penh get its name from. As we climb the stair up the main entrance of the temple, the security guards stopped us and demanded USD2 per person. It's definitely for personal gain as they could not produce any receipt. We bargained and decided not to give in. We went down, became creative, walk around and came up at the back entrance!

Next we took a motorcycle taxi to the Tuol Sleng. Along the way we stopped by the national monument.

Of all the place I visited, never in my life have I encounter such a horrific place. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979.

Prisoners there were repeatedly tortured and coerced into naming family members and close associates, who were in turn arrested, tortured and killed.

A vast collection of torture methods and equipments was used for their interogation and control purposes. Children and woman were not spared.

Next we headed for the Palace, it's situated near the bank of the Mekong River. It's magnificent architecture resembles the palaces in Thailand.

We were lucky there were prayer festivals by the river side at that moment. Colourful flowers attached to coconut were made beautifully as an offering to the gods. Birds were sold to be released. Jeremy released a bird that day.

That's all there is at Phnom Penh. We had our lunch and headed back to the hotel.

Shower and got ready for our pickup van to the bus station.

Goodbye Cambodia, Hello Vietnam.

The ride took at least 7 hours. We arrived at the Vietnamese border in the night. It was windy and cool. In the bus, I sat beside a french man. He was in his 70s, I believe. He was well dress with cotton white long sleeve shirt and pants, soft spoken in English with deep French accent.

He asked me where I was from, I said "Malaysia".. "Malaysia?" he said, then came a long silence, it took me a while to remember.. "Malaisie"... "ahhhhh Malaisie" he said, with comfort and relief. He has that style and charm even at this age. No wonder people all over the world regards French as romantic people and Paris the city of romance, I digressed.

On the bus we met a school teacher from Singapore. He flew from Singapore to Saigon, took a 15 hours bus to Siem Reap for Angkor Wat and now he is on another 15 hours bus back to Saigon!

I was quite sure his buttocks are as flat as the runway.

The bus will stop at Pham Ngu Lao. I have no information at that moment. I worry most about a place to put up for the night. It was getting late. Later, to my relief, I learnt that Pham Ngu Lao is a center for backpackers and budget accomodation.

Vietnam is much more well to do than Cambodia. It is a world capital of "motorcycles!" If you've been to Penang, and you think Penang has a lot of motorcycle, take one look at Saigon streets motorcycles, it will put Penang to shame. It resembles the number of bicycles in the street of China.

Pham Ngu Lao is in the town center, burstling with traffic, hotels and street vendors. It should be a good place to stay. We hunt about for guest houses, our first try.. full, second, third and later 10th.. still full. What holiday is it here?

How come they were all full? We never found out, it doesn't look like a holiday, maybe Saigon is just this popular. After much effort, we managed to find a room later, costing about USD15 per night.

The food in Cambodia resembles Thailand. Saigon enlightens your taste bud in another style.

Food in Saigon is so good.

Even if it is just for a gastronomical feat, I would sure like to be there again. Evidently Vietnamese restaurants can be found all over the world.

Our room was at least 8 floors up and there wasn't any elevator. Every trip up to the room left us breathless. It was just yesterday we were at the Angkor. This climb brought back a dejavu kind of feeling, "Did we just do this earlier?" we wonder.
Food, all about food. The food is so good here, we enjoyed every meal, every between meals and every between the between meals, get it? It's not everyday you get be in Saigon, you know?.. that was our lame excuse. Anyway, we loved it.

Saigon is the economic capital of Vietnam. Life here resembles most Asian capital cities, constructions and chaotic urban traffic. If you ask me, a person coming from another Asian city, I would tell you the immediate one distinctive different you see in Saigon is the hoard of motorcycles. I wonder what it would be like to be on a motorcycle in the middle of the sea of motorcycles at a round-about. Could this be a "thing to do before you die"?

28/11/2008 ( Day 7 , Saigon to Hanoi)
About the street food. Just to name a few, Spring rolls, tauhu with fried spring rolls in sweet sauce, banana in sticky rice with coconut milk, noodle, koey teow, beef slices with mayonaise and vege sandwiches, koey-kak with egg and herbal tea with assortment of sweet things. The economic rice has so many choices of dishes too, but they are not very economical if you know what I mean. I think Vietnamese is as crazy about food as a Penangites.

We toured the city, our first destination, the Ben Tanh market. We took a trishaw from Pham Ngu Lao, it's about 20 minutes ride and 40,000 Dong. 10,000 Dong is equivalent to about RM2.35.
The Ben Tanh market is a busy place. Wet market fresh produce, nothing special. Something that you would notice is that some of the Vietnamese still wears the conical grass hat. Farmer, housewives, cyclist, elegantly dressed business people can wear these hats. It's a norm, an everyday thing in Vietnam.

We headed to the Notre Dame Basicillica next. The cathedral is located at the downtown of Saigon. It a symbol of French influence. There are two bell towers reaching a height of 98 metres. Standing at its foot and looking up, it is an awesome sight. We walked the area alittle more.

and headed for Ga Saigon train station to buy our train ticket for Hanoi. Walked back to Pham Ngu Lao from the station. The journey was 5 km at least. We checked out in the noon time before we went out to the Notre Dame. By the time we reach the hotel from Ga Saigon it was already dark. The hotel owner , a lady, she was kind enough to lend us a room free of charge for shower. We're tired after a long day, had our dinner there and headed for the train station. We're going on a very long train ride. 1700km and 29hours northwards to Hanoi.

It's will be the longest train ride we ever had. There were choices of aircond sleeper , 4 or 6 beds and aircond seat.
The sleeper cost USD56 and seat USD36. Jeremy's half price.

We tried to be economical and went for the seat. Moments after I purchased the tickets, the thought of having to sit for 29 hours hounds me. It will not be anything like the train from Penang to Bangkok. It's longer than the train from Penang to Bangkok, and we choose to sit ! I tried to change the ticket after that but it was too late.

I must agree, after the trip I was glad I didn't manage to change it. There were special moments at the seat car, we literally immersed ourselves into a Vietnamese community. We mixed with the locals and made friends all over. The journey was an adventure of its own.

I try to document most of the things and people around us so that we can remember them. These are all that will make up our journey.
There was a man and his mother sitting behind us, there are both very fond of Jeremy. A particular young man, sitting behind us on the other row, played with Jeremy throughout the trip. What he would do is he would catch Jeremy into his arms and refused to let go, Jeremy struggled, they both had a lot of giggles and fun.
I remember on that night, Jeremy wanted to go to brush this teeth, he had a lot difficulty getting pass his friend.

There was a kind old man sitting beside me, he was 74. He shared his food with me even wrote his name on our dairy. We tried to communicate, there wasn't anything we could understand other than our names and age. He was definitely a grandpa, I could tell. He has that loving look for kids, when he took jeremy into his arms for this photo.

In that photo, on the far side you can see another old man. He was kind to us too. We tried very hard to communicate. He wrote messages for me. I could not understand.
At the end, when we're at Hanoi, I found someone to interprate it for me. Part of his message actually was an invitation for us to visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.

29/11/2008 ( Day 8, On the train )

It was really cold last night, Jeremy curled up in his seat, he slept with his head on Eunice's lap.
I felt sorry for them. Today is the day we're going to spend on the train. The train is expected to arrive at Hanoi early tomorrow morning. I woke up last that morning.

It was getting colder and colder.
The view outside was amazing. It was drizzling, the train pass by many paddy fields flooded, submerged under water. At a distance, we can see beautiful mountains. It was picture perfect. I told Eunice," someday, we're coming to these places."
Along the way, the train stopped a few times at small towns. We had time to get down from the train and do some shopping at the road side vendors.
This train accelerate pretty well. Unlike Thai trains, minutes after it started moving, it's almost at its full steam. "Probably its in a hurry"
, I think. "It is a long journey you know"

A little later that day, the train stopped at town call Danang. It is near the famous Hoi An. Hoi An lies on the coast of the South China Sea. It is an ancient town and an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South -East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century. It is one of the UNESCO heritage site.

After Danang, the train went into an unusual turn. It slowed down and execute one huge turn after another. We looked out, we're at the mountain side. To our left is the mountain, to our right is the cliff. At a distance is the coast line, it's beautiful.

The windows cannot be opened, taking photograph of the view outside through the window is not practical.

I went to the toilet instead, here is the snap I took while enduring the smell !



30/11/2008 ( Day 9, Hanoi)
It was about 5.30am in the morning when the train arrived at Hanoi Station. In the darkness and bitter cold, we decided to stay at the train station till it gets brighter. Hanoi temperature was in the teens. It can get quite cold during the night.While we're waiting at the train station, we met 2 backpackers from the United States. They suggested the Hang Bong road. There are numerous budget accomodation there. It is just walking distance from the train station. Hanoi is not as big as Saigon. The town center revolves around a lake, the Hoan Kiem Lake.
We walked to Hang Bong, had our breakfast along the way. We're tired, it seemed like a long time since we had proper sleep. The second hotel we saw, we checked in. The Astoria hotel at Hang Bong street, 15 USD per night. The room we had would pass for a 4 star hotel, honestly. It is decorated in an authentic western style. King sized bed, water heater and a bathing tub. The same price, we paid for a hippy guesthouse room at Bangkok. Slept like a baby. We went out around noon for food and the train station for our ticket to Nanning, China.
Train to Nanning cost about 50USD per person and Jeremy is 70% of the full fare. It is expensive. We went for bus instead, it was USD35 per person and Jeremy is half fare. It can be cheaper if you know where to purchase these bus ticket. The actual price is around USD30 per person. We also bought the 2 days 1 night trip to Halong bay tomorrow for USD52 per person , Jeremy is free.
We didn't get proper meal that day. Hanoi isn't anything like Saigon. There wasn't so much traffic, there are fewer people and street hawkers were difficult to be found. We wanted rice, but we never found it. It's always noodle, everywhere we go.
Maybe we didn't look properly.
We went back to the hotel and came out again in the evening, we headed for Hoan Kiem lake. The city center revolves around this lake, the crowd and the shops are here. We did find a few things we like that night. It was the mini "eu chiak kueh" and ice fruit mix in coconut milk. We planned to come back for a second time round after Halong bay trip. We did one round around the Hoan Kiem Lake, and we also toured the streets in that area.
We headed back to the hotel without any proper meal that night. I went out alone a little later and bought back a bowl noodle.
That night we did alot of laundry, we dried our clothes with the help of a hair dryer. It was hard work. Jeremy was glued to the tv, catching up on the cartoons he missed.
There were 3 times we used the hotel hair dryer pretty well, 2 times to dry clothes in Hanoi and 1 time for a little extra heating in Guilin, China.
We slept very well that night.


1/12/2008 ( Day 10, Halong Bay )

We had breakfast in the hotel. The service was good enough and they even threw in a complimentary breakfast. I recommend the Astoria hotel. The only thing your should look out here are the bad exchange rate for Dong and marked up bus tickets. The rest is good.
Our bus arrive soon after breakfast. It picked up passenger from hotels around the city.
We found ourselves and 2 singaporean girls were the only asean in the crowd.
There were something odd about this crowd. Although the bus picked up people from different hotels, it seems that some of them already knew each other very well.
Journey to the Halong bay took around 4 to 5 hours. We stopped by a handy craft centre on the way there.
Jeremy was at it again, within minutes, he already got to know half the people in the bus. Regardless of whether they are asean or not.
Sometimes, I have difficulty communication with the westerners, mainly because of spoken language problem and their style of delivery. Jeremy doesn't have this problem at all. He speak few broken English words with confidence and joy, it is a breeze for him to communicate with them . Everyone is fun and a friend to him. They even say that Jeremy's English would match those of a 6 years old in England. I was surprise.

Around noon, we arrived at the port. We all boarded a Vietnamese junk. There were about 15 of us and the crew. Our tour guide speaks good English, he explained the precautions and rules on the boat. The rules are mainly money concern for their commercial gain. The crew wasn't very friendly at all. They looks suspicious all the time, just as though they were expecting some kind of an argument later on that trip. We had lunch on the boat. The food was simple, but it was filling.
On the boat, couples were given a room each, whereas the rest shared room.








There waves were gentle. The boat meandered lazily on tranquil water. This slow boat allows us to take in the beautiful sceneries while relaxing.We were free to roam about. Our favourite spot is the tip of the boat. There isn't any guard at all, you can sit here and hang your legs down. It is a wonderful feeling.
The cool breeze, the fresh air, the beautiful Halong bay. This is a very scenic place, it is another UNESCO heritage site and highly recommended. Our itinerary includes visiting caves and kayaking too.
Our first stop, the caves. The boat headed for an island, we needed to climb a little. At the top, we entered a cave. It was quite massive, colourful lighting were used to highlight the formations in the caves. We went about and nearly lost our way. At one time, it was exciting.
How much we enjoy a trip or a thing we do, depends entirely up to us. We decided to enjoy as much as possible, therefore we determine to make everything we do as colourful as we can.
At another island, it was kayaking next. All 3 of us fit into a kayak. Eunice at the front seat, me and Jeremy at the back. It took sometime for us to get use to the paddles. At one time, Jeremy nearly threw us out of balance. Lots of shouting , Jeremy this and that in the beginning. Yes, it was fun. I have a lot of confidence in this child, he has a good heart. I want him to see the world, I plan to take him as far as I can go.






We're still on the kayak when the sun sets.

That evening, I went for a dip into the cold water of Halong Bay.
We took shower and headed for dinner. There wasn't anything special about the food, however the atmosphere sure is. It is special to spend a night on a boat. After dinner, we were tired and we slept. I remembered earlier, Jeremy said to me, he wanted to go up to the deck to see his friends.
I got up a little later that evening and woke Jeremy up. We went up the deck and to our surprise. There were a group of friends enjoying themselves, chatting and singing. Jeremy was excited, these are his friends. He went about imediately and played along with them. They know him pretty well too.
They went "Jeremy... "..
It was fun. These group of friends are special, they come from different parts of the world, met and decided to get together.
To name a few, there were Mark and Girlfriend from Canada, Jacqui from South Africa, Eve and friends from Britain. Wonderful people. We joined in the fun, they sang, drank and chat away. Jeremy took a sip of the Volka too, he didn't believe me when I told him that that was alcohol. He fell a sleep soon after, Eve was kind enough to cover him with her scarf.
A little later, we went back to our room. We enjoyed ourselves very much that night, it was sweet memories. My only regret is that I didn't wake Eunice up. She wanted to come along too.


2/12/2008 ( Day 11, Halong Bay, Hanoi)
We wake up the next morning. Open the room door and there it was, the sea. We came this far, we love every moment of it. There were taste and colour , sweet moments and little sour moments too. Those sour moments were especially when try to get Jeremy to eat. We're never bored, we wake up everyday to a different place and experience.

We toured around more islands. Later, we paid a small fee for a trip into James bond island. A small boat brought us into a cave. On the other side , we're surrounded by lime stones hill. It was like a hollow place in the middle of the hills. Facinating. Part of the fee went to the proceeds for the orphanage at that area. We headed back to mainland soon after.
Waited at least half and hour for the bus, Jeremy played with his friends. The bus brought us to a restaurant for lunch. After lunch, we headed back to Hanoi.
I checked into Astoria for another night. The next morning we shall be on the bus for Nanning, China.

We reached Hanoi in the evening. I was hoping we could spend some day time at the Hoan Kiem lake. Maybe next time. We settled down and went out again for food. We tried the "Mini Eu Chiak Kueh" again, the fruit mix, noodle and sweet soup. It took us quite awhile to find the fruit mix, we nearly gave up.
My small camera does have trouble capturing under low light. If target moves, it would result blur image. During this snapshot, I said "freeze" just before I took the picture. Check out their expression.



3/12/2008 (Day 11, Hanoi to Nanning, Guilin )
Today we leave for china. We had breakfast at the hotel while waiting for the bus. The hotel people made some calls and surprised me " the bus won't come here, you will need to make your way to the bus stop". That's new. Anyway, there wasn't anytime to argue.

They called taxi for us and said that it should not cost more than 30,000 Dong.
35,000 Dong was all I have with me at that moment. Later, we had a round and survived a scam taxi driver who tried to cheat.

Our bus to Nanning China would take at least 7 hours including imigration formalities.
We're excited, this is the final league of our journey. I would recommend this trip to everyone. It is inexpensive and a wonderful experience. After this trip, I must agree it actually made the world look a little smaller to us.

We had lunch at the border town. The imigration formalities was a breeze, nothing like Cambodia mafia imigration officers. It was express all the way to Nanning.
Chinese express ways is one of the best in the world. Considering such a vast amount of land, it is well connected with world class quality express ways. The road to Nanning took another 4 hours.

Arrived at Nanning, China in the afternoon. The bus stopped at the South Bus Station. We alight and wondered. Where would we go next? We had an itinerary, but at this moment, we're undecided. Eunice said "we've been to Hangzhou before, maybe we can go Guilin and end the trip there". I favoured Hangzhou, mainly because it is a place I am familiar with. It has been 2 years since I last been to Hangzhou. It was a tug of war and undecided for awhile. Fancy coming so far and still is undecided where we will go next. Flexible isn't it. This actually highlights the freedom we had, we can choose to stay or go as we like. In this case, we're undecided where we would go next.

Finally, "let's go to the train station" I said, we will take a look at the train schedules and decide there. So we took a taxi. In the taxi, the lady driver asked "where to?". "Train Station" I said, the taxi made a U-turn. Then I asked, "is there still train to Hangzhou?", " no, it already too late. The last train to Hangzhou was around noon, so do you still want to go to the train station?"she said. My mind jammed. " Is there train to Guilin?", " Oh, if you want to go to Guilin, you should take the bus, it's hourly, more convenient and cheaper", she said. The taxi was still moving, but she drove slowly as we were so undecided. Finally she decide for us. " You go Guilin, it's better there. You can enjoy the beautiful mountains and river". ..."Well, ok". How strange is that? We actually needed someone else to decide where we would go, in this case a kind taxi driver.. She made another U-turn back to the bus station. With RMB10 taxi fare, 2 U-turns and a kind taxi driver, we're going Guilin.

We will fall short of our original plan to Hangzhou. It is alright, we've been there before, we comfort ourselves. The extra time we gained, we have the luxury to slower our pace and relax at Guilin.

We just got off a bus, went on a taxi, now we're going on another bus again. This time 5 hours to Guilin. That day we spent more than 12 hours on bus. I felt sorry for that kid, he curled up and slept on the seat. We arrived at Guilin in the night, checked in a budget hotel for RMB80 per night.

4/12/2008 ( Day 12, Guilin, Yangshou )
The temperature was less than 10 degrees. In the morning, we had our local chinese breakfast of soya bean milk and dumpling "JiaoZhi". Seeing others there drank the soup right from the bowl, our boy did just the same.

Guilin was indeed just another Chinese city. If you want to enjoy the beautiful mountain and river, you would need to go to the outskirt. Another option would be Yangshou. It is a town 2 hours bus ride from Guilin. The local chinese would say,enjoy the beautiful "Mountain and Water".
We choose Yangshou. We headed for the bus station and bought a 12.00pm bus to Yangshou.
The connectivity between Yangshou and Guilin is quite good, there is a bus every half and hour leaving for Yangshou and vice versa. We had time to stroll about Guilin a little bit more.
Around noon, we set off for Yangshou. The bus left promptly in time. The ride was uneventful. On the way we can see the beautiful country side. As we approached Yangshou, limestone hills were everywhere. It is a beautiful.
We arrived at Yangshou in the afternoon. Got down from the bus and was imediately surrounded by touts. It is a common sight at all tourist destination here in China. We kept quiet, refused to speak a word in chinese and decided to get away from them.
One really persistent lady followed us. She was so hot on our tail, no matter how we tried to shake her off, she was still there. I got a little irritated when she started on Jeremy. She tried to ask Jeremy whether we speak Chinese. Earlier we told Jeremy no to speak to her, he didn't say a word. Here and there, she went about promoting her hotel even though she was speaking to deaf ears.
We went into a KFC restaurant in our bid to shake her off. We thought we lost her. Settled down, bought some tarts. Jeremy went to the toilet, when he came back he said " I met that auntie at the toilet ! she ask me if papa and mama speaks chinese". This is an extremist don't you think? A stalker. We went out, she was there! I finally gave in, "I said , ok" . I follow her back to her hotel to view the rooms. I told her I would consider, came back to Eunice and Jeremy. We went to that area, and we stayed at her neighbouring hotel, her competitor !
It looks grim enough, when we met her again in that evening. She could still cough up a smile. Never found out how sincere that was however we're not interested to know.

It's colder here in Yangshou than Guilin, probably because it has more greens. We roam about the town and we came across this game the local play.
It's called "Cian Zhi" in chinese. A group of people would gather around and balance a shuttlecock like piece with only the foot. The more the merrier. Jeremy joined in the game and was pretty good at it too, I must agree.
Everywhere we go, when there is a game. He would join the game, and the elder sisters and brothers were patient enough with him.


Yangshou is scenic. The towering limestone hills surround the town. At the west is the YuLongHe river, to the east is the famous Lijiang river. We toured around town and visited the night market. We had our dinner at a restaurant that night. Called a few dish, sat and relax. That night we even dropped by the bar, had a drink or two.


5/12/2008 ( Day 13, Yangshou )
The next morning, we walked out. Had our breakfast of soya bean milk and the hardest "Eu Chiak kueh" in town. The ones we had in Hanoi was by far the best. We bought tomorrow's bus ticket back to Guilin. We have the whole day to relax. Tomorrow will be a long day and a long way back home.

We rent bicycles, planned to cycle to a few scenic spots out of town. They were the Moon Hill and the bayan tree, both were just along the same road. I rented a 2-man bicycle for me and Jeremy and a single for Eunice.
Off we go, cycling far away out of town. It a different feeling, we enjoyed the ride. On the map, those places indeed look quite near, but in actually fact , it wasn't. It took us a least 30 minutes to reach the edge of town. We asked around for the direction to the Moon Hill, a man said "That way, another 8 kilometres" . Another 8 km? no kidding. We were having second thoughts. Let's give it a try, Eunice said. I believe we cycled at least 20 km that day. Jeremy help to paddle a little, at times he just rest his leg and I said " Why aren't you paddling?" , he said " my legs are tired". There are up hills and down hills. We raced each other. There were lot of noise.

Those tourist spots , the moon hill, the bayan tree, they were nothing to shout about. Along the road there were a number of scenic places. I believe we enjoyed the journey most. We arrived back in town again somewhere in the afternoon. We're hungry, we went back to the same restaurant we had dinner yesterday. This time we ordered the beer fish. Beer fish is Yangshou's famous local dish. It was fresh water fish, cooked with chili, beer and spices. It is a little on the sour side, however it tastes awefully good. We love it. In the evening we went for bamboo raft boat ride at the Yu long (He) river. The water was crystal clear, the hills, this is what Guilin is about. Beautiful "mountain and water". It was good. The boat brought us about a kilometer up stream. We stopped by the river side. Jeremy threw stones and he shouted. There were echoes. He was intrique. He went on and on calling at the mountain and listening to the echoes. That was Yangshou.

6/12/2008 ( Day 14, Yangshou, KL, Penang )
We're heading home. The itinerary that day was Yangshou -> Guilin -> Kuala Lumpur -> Ipoh -> Penang. With help from my brother and our good friends, we reached Penang in the night. It was good to be back. We enjoyed ourselves very much. We like to do it again , someday.


Cheers,

Jeremy, Eunice and Jackson