Chat with Geine!

Geine is a vietnamese friend I got to know on www.Localyte.com. :

Segment 1:


love_canna89@yahoo.com says (3:08 AM):
i was in sapa
it's not very nice
why don't u choose Nha Trang
it's a beautiful place

zQ: Quit excusing, Mambo/Butter Fac this Wed. Butter Fac Free Flow says (3:08 AM):
hahahah how come?
zQ: Quit excusing, Mambo/Butter Fac this Wed. Butter Fac Free Flow says (3:09 AM):
how come not very nice?

love_canna89@yahoo.com says (3:09 AM):
oh because

zQ: Quit excusing, Mambo/Butter Fac this Wed. Butter Fac Free Flow says (3:09 AM):
we may go Nha Trang when we are in HCM. maybe try some sea sports

love_canna89@yahoo.com says (3:09 AM):
the view is nice
love_canna89@yahoo.com says (3:10 AM):
but in the evening, it's boring
there's nothing to do

zQ: Quit excusing, Mambo/Butter Fac this Wed. Butter Fac Free Flow says (3:10 AM):
icic

love_canna89@yahoo.com says (3:10 AM):
there are many bar
but the music is low
love_canna89@yahoo.com says (3:11 AM):
well i dont like but may be u guys like
heh

zQ: Quit excusing, Mambo/Butter Fac this Wed. Butter Fac Free Flow says (3:11 AM):
hahahah ... u like high music too?

love_canna89@yahoo.com says (3:11 AM):
because i'm younger than urs
)
yes

zQ: Quit excusing, Mambo/Butter Fac this Wed. Butter Fac Free Flow says (3:11 AM):
hahahaha
so there are bars & disco/club at sapa?

love_canna89@yahoo.com says (3:11 AM):
yes

zQ: Quit excusing, Mambo/Butter Fac this Wed. Butter Fac Free Flow says (3:12 AM):
!! huh? hahaha .. i thought it's a natural countryside place at sapa?

love_canna89@yahoo.com says (3:12 AM):
yes
beautiful
beautiful place

love_canna89@yahoo.com says (3:13 AM):
well i really want to go with u guys
so interesting
except go to Fansipan
)

Segment 2:

zQ: Quit excusing, Mambo/Butter Fac this Wed. Butter Fac Free Flow says (3:19 AM):
so do u know of any natural places which are nice and not many tourists go?

love_canna89@yahoo.com says (3:19 AM):
hmm

love_canna89@yahoo.com says (3:20 AM):
may be u should go to Cat Ba

zQ: Quit excusing, Mambo/Butter Fac this Wed. Butter Fac Free Flow says (3:20 AM):
hahah ... where's that?

love_canna89@yahoo.com says (3:21 AM):
it's a beach
but it has a forest
or u should go to Cuc Phuong forest
Cat Ba is in nord in Viet Nam

:))

haha.i usually dun post a title.

anw, i just drop by to say hellO!hahaha.
hehs!

BIG Picture & Transports

Blog Admin: I have corrected the blog time from GMT -8hrs to GMT +8hrs. Yup ... So dun be confused. hahah

I welcome readers who could be of help to give some contribution as well! :) Thanks!

BIG Pix

Let's start with a big picture of vietnam. I din choose a simpler map coz some relevant places are ommited from those. Click on the image & I know you cant see the word. It's meant to give you a feel of the locations of places. From top left to right red circle it is Sapa Area and Mt Phanxipan, Hanoi, Halong Bay near the coast.



Then in the central area, the northern (upper) one is Hue city, where the tombs of the past emperors. the southern (lower) one is Nha Trang, a favourite sea sports location in the country, where my suggested wind surfing is held.



At the southern most (lowest) part of the map, the top 2 circles are Ho Chi Minh City & Mui Ne, Mui Ne having a nice sun dune site according to Jie yang. The lower circle is the rough area of where the famous Cu Cui tunnel(Vietnam War) is, where I can't pinpoint. At some parts of the tunnel, we have to get on all fours. Hardcore adventure indeed.



For the original very big & clear map, see:

http://www.asianatravelmate.com/images/maps/vietnam-map.jpg

Journeys!

To give a sense of the scale of the map, according to Jie Yang, from the top left circle (Sapa) to the circle to its right (Hanoi), it takes about 7hrs on a damn slow train which probably go forward 1 step, go stun 2 steps. hahaha ...

More accurately, from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh(left circle of the 2nd lowest row), along the seaside, it takes somewhat a day, like 20+ hours with stopovers.

http://www.orientalcompass.com/blog/2007/02/27/two-new-bus-services-from-ho-chi-minh-city-to-siem-reap-and-hanoi/

http://www.travellerspoint.com/forum.cfm?thread=21601

On train, it's slower according to Jie Yang, but cheaper, and is the usual way of travelling by the locals. On plane it's just 2 hours. hahaha ...

So other than these long journeys, usually from Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh, it takes like 2 to few hours of bus to respective nearby attractions. But self-explorations I'm not sure liao ... haha ...

Ok I think it may be much clearer if Jie Yang could brief you guys verbally & discuss his experience as there were really many places he went, along the 20 hour bus journey. And he could show you guys the hard copy brochures, guidebook, price list, timetable etc that he collected. I should be quite free to meet this week from Tue - Thur in the evenings if you guys want. :) cya!

Venture on the net!

Here's one website that have some information about vietnam:

1)HANOI

http://www.vietnam.com/travel/1/Hanoi

Since vietnam was once colonized by the French, i think it would be a bit interesting if we can take a look at some of their history stuffs if you guys don't mind! =)

In fact everything described under" Things to see in Hanoi" looks so interesting to me~! If we have the time i dun mind visiting all those places they mentioned there, especially 'The Old Quarter', 'French colonial architecture', 'Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum'.


2)Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

http://www.vietnam.com/travel/2/Ho-Chi-Minh-City-Saigon

Just looking at the first picture is so mesmerising! i love the colours of the structures! haha, ok, enough of getting personal. Anyway, scroll to the bottom of the weblink, don't you guys think the last picture, which is the place Mui Ne tempting to explore into? Provided it'll be a good weather if we wants to visit :)

Everything that i see on the website i wishes to visit, including 3) Halong Bay! but can anyone tell me if need to have internal flight to all these places? hehe.

Language they speak:
As mentioned from the website,

"Since the Vietnamese language has six different tones, it is difficult for most foreigners to speak, despite the fact that the Roman alphabet is used in modern Vietnamese. The same word can have six different meanings depending on the tone used to pronounce it. In the cities and larger towns, English is becoming popular and is now spoken by many younger people while some of the older generation still speak fluent French. Russian and Chinese are also spoken by some people."

An advice from my sister, think we should prepare paper and pens. haha! in case they don't understand a single thing, we can fall back on drawing it to them.

I'm so into searching all the stuffs now! Hope to see you guys comments soon :)

Started a blog!

Hey ppl,

This is a good way to have a slow start, for all of u to just drop your ideas & feelings for the adventure along the way so that we can progress the planning as and when each of us have time! :)

yay yay! let's start by putting down our most ideal wishes that we want to get out of the trip so that we know what one another want and can understand why we're doing what we are and acommodate to one another and finally work towards a nice trip for all of us! :)

so for me, it's to find all the adventure and culture which we can't find in Singapore! be it wild road rides and sea sports or trekking the depths of nature, anything that adds to our experiences and broaden our horizon will be what I'm looking for! :)

will send you guys the budget & rough initial timeline to u guys when i have time & attention to get down to them! :) anyone at all can volunteer to take over those coordination and post those here if u r interested! :) com'on! it's OUR trip!

have a fruitful holiday for now!