Vietnam Part One - The City of Hanoi

its spring time in Hanoi now, which means we are greeted with nice cool weather upon walking out of the airport. the temperature ranges from 18 to 24 deg c which makes it pleasantly cool and a welcomed changed from the hot and humid KL. jan to march is the recommended time to travel to hanoi due to the lovely weather so make sure you book your trip at these months :p

we spend the first day in hanoi city, the next day to halong bay and stayed overnight on the cruise boat (will update on part two) and then back to the city centre. here are the pictures and my review will be based on the pics okey :)

this is a common thing to see in hanoi, ladies carrying baskets and baskets of lovely gorgeous flowers on their bicycles and bikes. the weather apparently is perfect for flowers such as roses, lilies and gerberras and its imported everywhere.

because 70% of the people in hanoi uses motorbikes to get around, they tend to "fashioned" their bikes to suit their favourite designers. so you can see bikes sporting an Burberry print design, like the one below here :)

and my personal favourite, an LV design hehe.

and, just because you riding around on a bike all day, does not mean you can sacrifice your sense of style! these ladies rock their bikes with cool clothes and super high heels equal to the ladies of new york! and check out how their helmet usually matches their bike seats too!

so cute! who says you cant dress up and still look super cute on a bike!

check out her six inches heels!

Cho Hom is the heaven for those who wants to go shopping for super cheap and good quality chiffon silk, cotton and vietnamese silk. its quite far from the main lake at the city centre, about 30 minutes walk, yes we walked! but u can take a taxi as taxi fares adalah sangat sangat murah.

rows and rows of cloths! this place reminds me of pasar siti khadijah in kota bharu hehe :p

the night market in hanoi. its only on fridays, saturdays and sundays. and starts at 8pm to midnight. this is where you can buy extremely cheap fridge magnets, ceramic and bamboo plates, chopsticks, table mats, etc. elsewhere mahal, here you can get the best bargain! the market is at least one km long and we didnt even walked to the end cos its really really long!

pembunuhan teddy bear beramai2 hahaha

at one of the main streets of hanoi, you can see along the stretch of the road is this wall decorations made from ceramic! its really really gorgeous and they use small2 coloured ceramics to turn them into beautiful pictures of sceneries. such an effort and sangat2 lawa!

this is our hotel. its is located right in the heart of hanoi, 5 minutes walking distance to the main lake, where everything is! the location and cleanliness is good but we had some issues with the assistant manager, his name is Tom. so if you guys wanna go there, yes the place is recommended but let me know before you go so that i can advice you on that man. we booked our rooms through hostelbookers so we got a good and cheap rate.

we were ambitious on the first day and decided to watch this puppet show. entrance fee is about RM12 per pax. the show only started for a few minutes and we all fell asleep! hahaha ye la, all woke up at 3am to catch the 6.30 am flight, lagi ada hati nak tgk the show! dah la gelap and we didnt understand it cos its in vietnamese language! but the puppets are super cute and music is nice and soothing..tu yg boleh tertido tu haha

muka2 baru lepas bangun tido :p

this is the famous main lake in Hanoi - Haon Kiem Lake which is the centre of Hanoi.

one of the halal restaurant in hanoi is Nisa Restaurant. owned by Uncle Ben, who greeted us happily on our way in.

we ordered nasi goreng as starters hehe cos super duper hungry and being melayu nak jugak carik nasik kannnn :p

but actually we all ordered this! "pho"!! the original beef noodles soup..heaven!

so that's some of the pictures of our trip!

okey break down;

air tickets - RM260 per person. its a three hours flight so u might wanna book yr food awal2 on the flight in case by the time the cart reached you tinggal maggie sahaja hehe.

hotel - about USD45 per person for three nights at the hotel including breakfast.

cruise - USD 110 per person including transport from and to hotel, food on board the cruise, tido one night and all the activities included (will update next) actually can get cheaper but we malas nak carik and its already in our budget anyway so we ok saja. our boat memang nampak mahal sikit compared to others but yang lain pun mcm ok saja so up to you ok :)

food -oh food is so susah!! breakfast they serve toast and they have an omelete bar BUT ingredients included pork so sah2 guna kuali yg sama kan!! so thank god we brought lotsa of maggies, campbell soups, bread and cookies. on the cruise takyah risau cos the whole boat i.e. us and the rest of the mat salehs semua makan seafood sesajo, so dats allrite. restoran Nisa tu near our hotel but its not really that cheap la but ok jer nak makan situ tiap2 hari. lucky for us, on the last nite we got an invitation to dine at one of the malaysian embassy staff so the auntie masak sangat sedap and we all makan beria haha.

transport - taxi adalah sangat sangat murah!! so naik jer taxi, tapi make sure yang ber meter la kan, dats normal everywhere you go :) otherwise if yr like us, we WALKED everywhere! cold weather kan, so jalan2 pun relax jer tak panas!

shopping - we went crazy shopping for - Kipling bags, Crumplers and all those vietnamese silks and wat nots. for the bags, expect to spend about RM30 each and for the kains, around 2 - 3 USD per meter. i only brought about 250USD to spend, change it all to Vietnamese Dong and spend in VND as its cheaper. i ended up only spending slightly more than half and i got about 6 bags and 10 pasang kain (4 meters each) and tons other stuff like silk robes, fridge magnets, chopsticks and table runners and mats!

currrency - change all to USD, once you reach vietnam cari kedai EMAS, yes GOLDSMITH to change your USD to VND. tak tau kenapa kat kedai emas the rates are THE best! kat mana2 boleh jumpa senang jer. make sure you changed all your VND back to USD BEFORE you leave, at aiport the rates are pretty good, cos kat Msia they dont accept VND sangat so rugi.

so dats my simple review of the city of Hanoi - next i will update on Halong Bay!

home

Dah sampai KL.

Hanoi was FANTASTIC!

Will try to update by end of this week.

Eh jap, am off to Genting Highlands pulak this weekend.

Best nye busy busy hehe keeps me from missing someone TOO much.

But that someone tengah demam now, kesian dia. He usually wouldn’t tell me if he’s sick and he especially usually refuses to take any medicines.

Tapi tadi dapat message ckp dia demam and dia dah makan ubat pun. Which means the demam must be pretty serious L

Wish im there dearie, boleh masak kan bubur nasi for you, force (haha) you to makan ubat, buy you some orange juice and tolong letak kan kain sejuk on your forehad to reduce your fever kan kan.

L

Get well soon, take care..miss u L

im off to hanoi!

flight is at 6.30am..which means i gotta be at the aiport at 5am which means i have to gerak by 4am which means i have to get up by 3am! yikes!

the above is the boat which we will be in at halong bay on friday, aint it gorgeous??

will write more once i get back :p

meanwhile, be good and have a great weekend folks! (^_^)

new york! new york!

last friday i took a leave from work to get some errands done, one of it, the most important one, is to check out matta fair at pwtc. our mission - to buy our tickets to New York.

we arrived at pwtc around 10am, and already there's a HUGE crowd. word of advice, dont ever ever valet park at seri pacific hotel, we were ripped off there as the rates are rm15 for the first hour, then rm5 for next hours onward! who have heard of valet parking who charges by the hour, right? even the most expensive hotels in KL charges one rate and that's it, so our lessons learnt the hard way, they were just ripping off those peeps going to matta fair, probably the only way they get business otherwise, greedy people.

anyway, back to the matta fair. for those travelling to europe, all parts of asia and australia, then the fair is definetely for you. the offers are abundance and amazing! we were going from one ticketing agent to another to find good rates for nyc and it was expensive! to the point we were half thinking of going to europe, AGAIN! not that would be much of an issue but we really want to try other parts of the world too, so we still persists on, until we found one that gives the BEST rate in the entire fair! finally!

so ehem2..announcement - IM GOING TO NEW YORK!! yippeee!! wuhooo!

i also managed to secure the tickets for my christmas in london hehehe :p but this one sure all of you would have expected it already so no need to announce right? :p

so what else i did over the weekend, lets see;

friday
went to klcc, printed out my latest epf statement at rhb - been meaning to get it for ages and stop by for a drink at dome with the babes.
then we all went to pavillion to catch Alice in Wonderland which is GREAT! a must watch in 3D! i love love Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter and even Anne Hathaway was super cute in the movie so it makes a really fun watch :)
managed to catch up on my shopping too, i finally bought a new pair of sunglasses, having lost the old for ages and finally bought the ipanema sandals that ive been eyeing.
we then decided to spend the night at crown plaza hotel! but before that, another round of karaoke! for sure when we get together that is a must do hehe.

saturday
had a lovely breakfast at crown plaza courtesy of missy suvani - the food was lovely but the service was horrible. what i dont get is malaysian hotel staff/waiters who falls all over foreigners in their effort to serve them but to a malaysian guest, they turned "kampung" and treat us so rudely! like for example right, when a foreigner asks for a glass of water, they would answer "yes sir, will send to your table right away" while looking at the foreigner with a smile, but when i ask for a glass of water (and i was sitting outside) he just rudely answered and not even looking at me and said "ya, ya nanti kami hantar, ada orang kat luar tu, tunggu la sekejap!" and actually raised his voice a little to me!!!!!!! and you know wat, the water never came! upon checking out, the hotel staff asked my friend (who is quite regular there) how was her stay, and she let them have it!! they were so shocked and apologise profusely to my friend. anyway, we got the breakfast for free, but still its not we wanted, the lovely experience was already spoiled and we doubt if we would stay there again.
saturday was also a productive day, got quotations at true fitness and toyota and had yummilicious lunch at nirwana banana leaf :)

sunday
spend the morning in the office - finishing up some stuff. then met up with my brother for lunch as he wanted to introduce me to his new gf. im not sure if he's serious with her, as he just broke up with his gf of 4 years and barely few months later he's going out with this girl? if its just a rebound thing, that i hope he told her straight. she's nice and allrite i suppose. nothing extraordinary to shout about. unlike his ex whom we all loved..sigh.
after that i got really bored and i felt like going shopping but i cant since im dead broke (read: tickets to new york and london :p) and realised i got some parkson grand vouchers that ive had for ages and never used! i also decided to redeem my bonus link and got some more vouchers! and parkson is on sale! from using the vouchers only and only spending rm1.50 for my parking ticket, i managed to buy two pairs of shoes, one for work and one for fun (of course of course :p) bought a gorgeous dark brown liz claiborne purse, carolina herrera chic perfume and a top at dorothy perkins! yes, i have that MUCH vouchers. the thing is, when i bought the shoes and wallet, i got more vouchers as per their promotion, then i bought the perfume and i got even more vouchers which then is enough to buy the top! i love getting vouchers as gifts! (^_^)

so that's my long perfectly lovely productive weekend! the only thing i didnt get to do is my facials as they are fully booked and the voucher expires next week, yikes! (yes, even more vouchers! hehe) and now im off to wash the cars, all three of them, may can squeeze in a hair wash and a mani pedi too :p

next week, another 4 days of work and im off to hard rock hotel penang for some fun! (^_^)

menunggu panggilan telefon

ye...awak lah yang saya tunggu nie..

busy nye sampai tak ingat tanggungjawab (hahaha poyo, tak pasal2 kena bebel ni nanti hehe)

sementara tu, tengah google H&M nie..so many menarik stuff...

nanti sampai la parcel2 tu yer...abai kan price tag tau :p

cepat la telefon...banyak benda nak citer nie.. (aha, baru 3 hari :p)

ok, dah2 pi wat kerja.

terima kasih daun keladi

weekend yang best.

jumaat mlm tu meet up with the babes for karaoke. first time ke wangsawalk mall, boleh tahan jugak that place, lots of shops and lots of people. the karaoke place is called superstar and not bad la. sound system dia agak kureng sikit but otherwise not bad. mike dapat dua jer, so had to share2. kalau kat red box kan boleh sampai 3, 4 haha. after penat nyanyi2, went to lepak at nz. had maggie soup. yummehhh! lama tak makan maggie sup nz. borak2 gelak2 cerita biasa lah, kerja, gi jenjalan, men and lagu apa nak nyanyi di karaoke session seterus nya haha. i adore my friends nye karaoke songs, ada yang nyanyi lagu lama2 mcm from khatijah ibrahim la, rahim maarof, ada yang suka oldies like hetty koes endang, or broery (betul ke spelling nie), carpenters, then ade yg minat those new2 songs like hafiz-masih jelas tu, faizal tahir, lagu matahari-tak ingat sapa nyanyi..me, i like taylor swift, pink, dewa, jewel etc. so our mix memang sangat2 random and menarik!

saturday, went for my first swimming lesson! berjaya belajar bubbling, turun naik pool (ye, instructor itu sangat detail mengajar ktrg, sangat best!), float, mushroom float, star float, back float, nak move from floating to standing position. memang lengkap, and its not even considered our first lesson, baru evaluation! unfortunately due to my weak lungs, i had to stop the lessons for a while, tunggu dah baik betul2 baru continue balik. but at least dah dapat basic hehe. after the lesson lapar gile trus gi cari KFC hehe. then lepas solat and all, pegi the best pasar malam in the world. really! kat mana? hehe, kat keramat. actual add saya tak tahu, but its behind the Jusco tu betul2. nak tau nape the best? pegi la check it out, its every saturday k :)

sunday, went to work in the morning. some stuff happened. rasa perlu kan my bestfriends around me. terus message han who is in seremban and trus makes plans to visit her. ajak olyn and saza skali but only olyn can make it, so drove down all the way to seremban around 6 pm. picked han up - before that sempat browse through cake catalog nak pilih cake for another bestie's wedding in june nie, oh, han's mom makes the MOST beautiful wedding cakes ever! nak tempah bagitau k! :) we then drove to secret recipe. makan2 borak2. after secret recipe, ktrg gi mcd plak, yang betul2 sebelah secret recipe haha. beli food drive through tapi makan dalam kereta, parking dlm compound mcd tu jugak haha. gile takde kerja :p.

but i feel better after lepaking with the babes three days in a row. dulu we all always meet up quite often but now semua orang busy, dah susah nak cari masa huhu.

tapi takpe, papehal pun - i love u guys! thanks for making my weekend great (^_^)

what i like about you

suatu pagi while on ym..

Me: "ym nerd icon"

Him :
apasal tibe2 nerd nie
hehehe

Me:
konon serious tgh wat kerja
hahaha

Him :
hahhaa
thats why i like u
bit funny...check
bit manjerr...check
bit mengada2..check
bit gedik...check

(^_^)

letter to a friend

Hi you, ive been meaning to talk to you. but i dont how to start and where to start. so i thought i should write to you instead.

i know you read my blog, so here it is.

in life there's always ups and downs. sometimes things go your way brilliantly and you think your life is going perfectly, exactly the way you want, and you are at your happiest.

then unfortunately, sometimes, something bad and unexpected happens and you feels like the world is crumbling around you and suddenly you feel sad and in such despair that you thought you will never be happy again.

when these bad things happens, of course it is only natural for you to take some time to heal. whatever way you feel the best to forget what happened and move on with your life. some people takes shorter time to heal, some take longer.

but when does it stops being a "healing process" to being just simply "lazy" to move on?

you get too caught up in your own misery sometimes you forgot the beautiful things around you, you forgot the people who cares about you, you forgot that there's just so much things out there in this world for you to explore and do!

you get too caught up in being sad and misreable and perhaps, methinks, loving the fact that people still tip toes around you, being worried about you and you just love to soak up all that attention. you go around as if you carrying the weight of the world around your young shoulders when there's absolutely nothing to "carry".

life is hard.

yes.

but to be so defeated at such young age?

come on, put some life and spirit back into you.

life is also beautiful and amazing.

yes, really!

sometimes it feels like you're always either missing someone, or pining about previous life, previous location, wanting to go back to the past, whining about how unhappy you are where you are, always complaining about something or rather, always some sad news to impart to those willing to listen, its like the sun literarly just dont shine where you are and its just constantly cloudy and dark and lets face it - boring! like OMG, get up and get a life already!

sooner or later, your friends will get bored of this.

sooner or later, your friends will get bored of you.

make new friends, get a new hobby, make travel plans and have an amazing time doing them! yr still a student so go study and have fun studying! being in foreign places gives you endless oppurtunity to meet so many people and explore so many things! oh wow, if you could only see how great your life really is!

stop being misreable all time. you are not unhappy, you just refuse to be.

forget those little things, dont be too sensitive, enough is enough right? dont you get tired from all that misery? it takes a lot effort and you end up being to exhausted to even consider doing anything else!.

i hope im not being to harsh on you. but i know you needed to hear this. so please try ok?

go on, be happy already! (^_^)

love, hugs and kisses,
me