Exploring Clamorous Hanoi

Hanoi was our destination after visiting Halong Bay, we stayed in a budget hotel, called Platinum (67 Hang Than - Ba Dinh Dist, Phone: 84 4 39274222, Fax: 84 4 39274223, eMail: sales@platinumhotelhanoi.com) which’s located in downtown area. It’s already 16:00 when we arrived in the hotel, Dong Xuan traditional market built in 1889, the oldest and biggest market in Hanoi, just in a walking distance. Dong Xuan Market is also a historical place where there was a combat of Vietnam soldiers against the French attack to the heroic zone I, in February 1947.


If you want to buy souvenirs, you could find various things here, such as keychain, Vietnam dolls, T-shirt, paper fan, painting, clothes, snacks, etc. The market is not only for tourists consumption but also for local people, it did not only sell the traditional stuffs, but also daily needs such as allspice, peddler stuffs, uniform materials and clothes, household, etc. The market was contained of 3 levels, it’s quite clean, but very crowded with many merchandizing, because the seller could display them outside their stand. You had to bargain in the market, so many stands provided the same thing, you could easily compare the same stuffs in different store, but most of them would give the same final price. Don’t worry with the language, although I could not speak Vietnamese, I could communicate with the seller using calculator to show the price.

The market closed at evening, around 18:00 o’clock, so we didn’t have much time to shop. However all of us managed to buy many souvenirs only in an hour for friends and relatives in Indonesia. At night the function of the market changed into the brightly-lit food zone, so many food stalls open serving late night guests to have dinner or just snack until early morning. Actually I wanted to taste some foods, but the seller could not speak English at all, so we had difficulty to understand what food it was, then we canceled to order.

We stopped by at Cha Ca La Vong restaurant (14 Cha Ca street, phone: 825 3929) recommended by our colleague to have dinner. The restaurant demanded a fixed price for the food, although you’re not eating, you have to pay 70.000 Dong/person for the drink you have to pay more based on your order. The place was quite small, it’s consisted of 2 levels. The first level was for praying place, we should climb a very narrow and steep ladder to achieve the second floor. Wow… it’s very crowded room upstair, so many people cramped in the room with some tables arranged very close to each other. If you’ve just shopped such us, you would find a difficulty to find the place to put the item purchased.


The restaurant only provided one kind of food, a white boneless fish cooked with yellow oil such as curry then adding vegetables on it, a full plate of white rice noodle as the companion to eat.

It’s served on a hot small frying pan on the brazier put on the middle of the table. The waiter will add the fish from the bucket after the oil and sauce boiled, you’ve to be careful to avoid touching the hot pan and sauce. Take some of white noodle to your bowl then pouring the yellow sauce, fish, vegetables and also fried peanut; the rice noodles was unlimited, you could ask more if you would like to. One of my friend likes it very much, while all of us could not enjoy it :-). Anyway it’s good to know the traditional dishes.


After eating we bought some breads for my mom’s friend (she could not eat in Cha Ca), water and snacks on the way back to the hotel. On the way back to the hotel, we saw many people sat on the small bench on the pedestrian streets in front of the shops, drinking and eating while chatting with their friends. Many shops were still open around 20:00, my friend’s mom was very tired, we tried to bargain for Xyclo, but the oarsman asked a very high price (60.000 Dong), although the hotel was only 2 blocks further. My friend’s mom decided to walk slowly, so many shops to visit on the way or just see the merchandise on the shop window, it could help reducing her exhaustion to reach the hotel.

At the hotel my friend run out of her money, so she decided to change her USD to Dong. The rate in the hotel was quite good, 1 USD could get 18000 Dong, she thought she’s rich at that moment, but it didn’t last too long. It’s finished so fast in a few seconds, only left a few hundred after she paid me and my friend, because she borrowed from us when shopping. We decided to take a rest after walking, eating and shopping that day.

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Picturesque beach in Bali

If you like beach, you should visit Bali. Last October 2009 our groups went to Geger Beach, Nusa Dua and Kuta. Most beach in Nusa Dua are private beaches, just entitled for specific hotel’s visitors. One of the public beach in Nusa Dua is Geger Beach, it took around half an hour, it’s around 40 kilometres south of Denpasar. A large open-air parking lot was available for cars and motor bikes, after you went through a narrow street and passed by a narrow wooden bridge.


Geger beach was awesome with its splendid white sand and its lucid sea. The beach was very clean and calm wave, it was very hot at noon, but the western people like it very much for sun bathing on the beach, even some tourists sunbathed topless. Some chairs with big umbrellas were available to relax and enjoy the beach scenery.

The beach was very quiet, fewer sellers than Kuta, if you like a placid place for sunbathing and enjoy beach, Geger beach is the right place to go. Geger temple could be seen at the right side of the beach. If you’re hungry or thirsty, there were also some small restaurants provided foods and drinks.

Kuta is the most popular and favourite beach in Bali, because it’s near to some hotels and near to center of Bali activities for shopping, eating and night life. It is a nice place to watch the fantastic sunset. Kuta is always crowded with many people, tourists, sellers and others. Although the sand beach is black, it’s still clean, it’s maintained well by the guard and visitors. Sellers were everywhere to offer clothes, wide hat, foods, water, bracelet, and others. So many activities could be done in Kuta, such as playing kites, swimming, surfing, etc. You don’t need to bring your own surfing board, so many surfing board were there for rent. The wave in Kuta was higher than Geger beach.

In the morning you also could see some dogs were playing with the waves together with its master, it’s so fun to see it. You don’t need to worry to find food, on the beach with only Rp. 5.000,- you could get a package of rice with meat or egg or chicken based on your choice. Some tattoos makers were also available there, it varies from Rp. 15.000,- to Rp.. 50.000,- depend on the tattoo size and complicated pictures. It’s not a permanent one, so it would last only for around two weeks.

If you feel tired after shopping at Kuta square or other places, you also could do massage on the beach. They have prepared some blanket for you to lay down. Braid service was also available for girls who would like a different hair style.


Many hotels are available across Kuta beach, the tourists could easily walk to the beach whenever they would like, no need transportation at all. Restaurant and souvenirs shops were also available around Kuta to pamper the tourist. Don’t forget to bargain whenever you buy souvenirs or clothes, because the seller always offers a higher price.

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Shiny colorful light at Bukit Bintang

If you like to go for shopping and eating, Bukit Bintang in downtown Kuala Lumpur is the correct place to go. I was staying in Novotel KLCC, at 2 Jalan Kia Peng - 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Phone: (+60)3/21470888 in Sep 09. The hotel location is quite convenience, it's just a walking distance to Bukit Bintang area, it's strategically located within the heart of Kuala Lumpur's Golden Triangle.


Across the street is Pavilion Bukit Bintang, the world-class shopping center which was launched last 20th Sep 07. It's a shopping paradise for the people who loves branded stuffs. You could find famous designer brands like Aigner, Club Monaco, Coach, Ermenegildo Zegna, Hermes, Hugo Boss, Prada and Versace, etc. There are also many restaurants to visit providing from Malay food, Japanese food, Chinese food, Western Food, and still more variety of foreign foods are available.


From Novotel I crossed the bridge, I entered at the street-level directly to the 3rd floor of Pavilion, it's welcoming ambience with large airy premises framed with high ceilings and wide corridor pavements is complemented by an exciting tenant mix. It also have many leisure outlets such as GSC Cinemas, RedBox Plus or Times The Bookshop.

Too many restaurants made me confused to explore, lucky there was a map directory signage for restaurant that could guide me to the one that I wanted. I selected Madam Kwan's restaurant at the 1st floor that provided Malay food, I wanted to eat Nasi Lemak, the waitress was very welcome and helpful. The waiter who served me, said that Nasi Lemak is spicy, he suggested me to select Nasi Bojari which's contained of a red rice with a very huge roasted chicken, shrimp and boiled egg, then I ordered a very yummy ice kacang as the dessert. The food portion here is quite big. It made me very full, so I decided to go for a walk for sight seeing.

I went back upstairs to the 3rd floor heading towards Bukit Bintang entrance. The signage was quite clear, so you wouldn't get lost. Anyway if you need to ask for direction, so many security officers around the area would be happy to show you the way. In front of Pavilion there was a beautiful colorful fountain, most people stopped by to take pictures which I also did it :-) I offered a couple to take their picture, so he could take my picture. That's the disadvantage to go alone, your friend could not help you to take pictures he..he..

Bukit Bintang area was quite crowded with vehicles and people. It's very bright and colorful suitable as the shopping and entertainment district in Kuala Lumpur. There were many shops, restaurants, cafes, hotels and also souvenir stalls. Bukit Bintang has always been popular and fashionable however in the last few years has undergone gentrification and come away as both historical and chic at the same time. Whether you fancy haute cuisine or hawker stalls, brand name fashion or quirky local boutiques it’s all available in Bukit Bintang.

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Surprise Cave at Halong Bay

In the shiny morning, after a very mini breakfast with one croissant and a glass of juice we were ready for exploring a cave. Sung Sot or Surprise Grotto is on Bo Hon Island, and is one of the finest and widest grottoes of Halong Bay. To go there we had to go by a small boat again, passing a small floating village. We passed a wooden bridge with some boat sellers on the side of the bridge.


Some paved stone blocks have been built to make guests easier to reach the cave entrance. It’s still heavy for me who seldom does exercise :-). I was sweaty although the way was covered by trees. The scenery to Halong Bay was very beautiful seeing from the steps when reaching the cave. Many times I stopped to take beautiful pictures of the bay, although I’m not a professional photographer, the scenery itself could create a magnificent picture. Lucky that it’s not too high, there were many visitors came to the cave from different junks, so we had to be patient queuing.

In the cave, so many stalactites hang from the high ceiling and stalagmites created a beautiful sculpture as if carving by God. Colorful lights were installed to create more stunning environment. The cave is quite large, we felt such as in different world. It is partitioned into two chambers; the first one being similar to a wide theatre hall. The guide shows us a sculpture looked like a camel, Budha, Kwan Im, a horse, dragon head and tail, etc. The cave could be captured by camera without using flash, unfortunately I didn’t bring any tripot, my hand was not steady enough, so that most pictures were blurred.

We should go through a narrow passage to the second rooms, where a flow of light meets visitors, the chamber is so spacious. At the deepest point of the grotto, a "royal garden" appeared with a clear pond and a seemingly fascinating landscape of mountains. In the middle of the cave, there was a stalagmite such as giant turtle, where people threw coins there to wish for a good luck. On the way out of the cave, I still got a chance to take pictures with colorful stalactites and stalagmites as background.

All of us were tired, on the exit cave there was a bench to take a rest with pretty Halong Bay scenery as the background. If you like shopping, there was also a small shop selling pearl and some Vietnam souvenirs. It’s windy, with beautiful scenery, I felt that I didn’t want to go back to the ship, I wanted to stay longer, unfortunately we could not do it. All our friends from the same junk have been returned to the boat, they were waiting for us.

We had to rush to step down the stairs, but I still had a chance to take some more beautiful pictures. After finishing the stairs, we had to cross a long bridge where there was some Vietnamese selling snacks, water, etc on the boat. This scenery were completed the scenery, the ethnic situation was very high and made people love to see it. The visit to the cave is quite worthy, beside seeing the beautiful of God creation, it’s also healthy because you did exercise by climbing the stairs

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Fantastic Beauty Halong Bay in Vietnam

Have you heard about Halong Bay? My friends and I have decided to visit it since November 2008, we've booked the flight on that month for flying on July 2009. There were 6 of us, we found difficulty to find Dong (currency in Vietnam) in Indonesia. Money changer seldom provides it, so only in black market Dong is available. The rate is not good either, Rupiah were valued less than Dong. My friend who works in Vietnam suggested us to bring USD and change it in Vietnam with much better rate, and she is right. In the airport we could get a good rate around 17500 Dong for 1 USD, even in the city you will get much better rate, around 18000 Dong for 1 USD.


Because we were blind of Vietnam environment and language, so we booked the tour from internet since we were in Indonesia. A nice van picked us up in Noi Bai - Hanoi airport, directly going to Halong Bay, it takes around 2.5 hours from Hanoi to Halong Bay. The driver could not speak English, so we should use symbolic language to talk. My friend gave a nick name for him "Mas Tek". Mas is Javanese language for Mr. He didn't mind we call him with the nickname. During the journey to HalongBay, my friend kept trying to communicate with him, unfortunately no luck, the communication barrier was still high :-) It's ok as long as we would arrive safely to the destination.

We arrived on the pier during lunch time, the scenery was amazing. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes decorating with beautiful modern traditional ships. With a small boat we crossed the sea to our magnificent lovely "Victory Star" ship. We were welcomed by the crew with a wet towel to refresh up. On the second floor, the key was submitted to us, the luggage were taken care by the crew. Entering the bedroom surprised us, the room was very nice, with air conditioning (AC), shower, toilet and wastafel, and you could look through the window for the magnificent scenery of Halongbay. There was a balcony outside your room with 2 rattan chairs and a table.

Hạ Long Bay (literally: Descending Dragon bay; Vietnamese: Vịnh Hạ Long) is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Quảng Ninh province, Vietnam. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. We stayed a night on the boat, so we could enjoy the morning on the sea surrounding by beautiful rocks. The bay consists of a dense cluster of 1,969 limestone monolithic islands, each topped with thick jungle vegetation, which rise spectacularly from the ocean

Floating fishing village was one of our journey visit, we went there by the real traditional boat rowed by a real Vietnamnese fisherman wearing the traditional costume, all of us as passengers were lent the ethnic cap for avoiding the sun shine, it's very hot. When we tried to row the boat, it's very heavy, we could not move forward, it moved backword or even went round and round at the same place until we gave up :-) My friend's mom was quite excited, she could row well quite a long time, of course she gots sweatening. There were hospital and school in the floating village. They made a living by maintaining pearl and fishes. We stopped by at the school, trying to feed the fish.

After visiting the village, we stopped by at a pier in the middle of the sea. The passengers were divided into 2 groups, I was in the different group with my friends. We were racing on the dragon boat rowing accompanying by the cheerful sound from the drum hit by a person at the head of the boat. The rower sat on 2 rows at the left and right side, all of us were very enthusiastic to win the race, luckily my team was the winner, what a lovely experience.

We returned to the ship for taking a bath, some of the passengers were swimming. The activity was continued with a cooking class, then we could take a leisure by enjoying the lovely sea view on the deck, chatting with others. Not a long time after a complete seafood dinner set which was served by the ship crews with colorful Vietnam traditional costumes, we tried to fish the squid, it's quite difficult. Only 3 kids tried to fishing, a large light was spotted to the water to attract the squid, unfortunately after an hour, they only got a squid. FYI in the ship, you could order various wine, meal was included in the tour but for drink including water you have to pay separately by yourselves. Anyway the ship was very nice and luxurious, you won't regret to have journey with it. Wanna make a try?

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Fun Carnival on "Dirty Thursday"

I visited my friend in Oberburen, fortunately on that day there was a carnival at 14:00 o'clock from the church yard to the school auditorium. Her children, Carina and Adrian would like to participate to the parade. Carina painted her brother face using a special paint that's not dangerous for the skin, he wanted to become a soldier. While she also painted her own face, but she just wore her sporty costumes.


Suddenly 2 of her friends from Albania were coming, they were very beautiful. As not as creatives such as Carina, they asked for her help to paint their faces. Carina was quite confident to do it, she could draw a nice pink heart on the smaller girl cheeks, while the older sister only wanted on her forehead. It's still snowing, the weather was cold, although they were beautiful dresses, they have to covered it with coats to protect them from frozen :-)

On the way to the church, the scenery was very beautiful. I like the magnificent view of the village, it's peaceful and very wonderful, I could not stop taking pictures. I was wearing my sport shoes, it's very slippery, so I had to walk carefully and slowly. Many times I was almost falling down, lucky that my friend walked close to me, so I could put on my hand on her shoulder.

We were waiting on the street to see the parade. Most of the village's resident were participated to the parade, to make it cheerful. A marching band with blue and gold costumes were opening the parade, all of the band members were wearing blue hair. The children with various costumes were followed them, there were princess, some superhero such as superman, spiderman, also witches, or animal costumes such as tiger, lion, etc. They were very cute and almost all of them brought a bag full of cutting paper inside to throw them to each other, that's why it's called a dirty Thursday he..he.. The last row was a car with a big cannon on it to explode the confetti to the crowd. What amaze, it's like showering paper on the weddings or stages :-)

The parade was ended in the school auditorium, that was decorated with so many confetti, banners and balloons, masks, and colorful curtains. Snacks and drinks were sold, if the parade participants need something to eat/drink. The band went to the stage through the audiences, they played a few songs. After that the children were racing to go to the stage, to throw the confetti to each other. All of them were very cute, unfortunately nobody arranged them to perform, so the only performance was the band. I wanted to communicate with the children, it's a pity I could not do it, because their language was Germany, poor me. Anyway, I love to involve in the parade to see them, it's a very memorable event.

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Relaxing Ouchy Area in Lausanne

During in Lausanne, I was staying in Movenpick Hotel, comparing to Indonesia, hotel in Lausanne is much more expensive. The location is quite convenience, beside the hotel you could find Migros, a mini market where you could buy fruits, bakery such as croissant and brownies, and instant noodles as one of my favourite for breakfast he..he.. It's also close to the bus station and metro. The nicest things if you are a tourist, you could get a free pass to go around Lausanne by bus or metro. They were so punctual, only during a bad weather, sometimes bus is rather late just a few minutes. Some restaurants are also available around the hotel, just by walking distance.

People is also very polite in Lausanne, when they are driving, they will stop whenever they see any person would cross the street, although there is no traffic light. The walking people is also very discipline, they always try to find the zebra cross to go to the other part of the street. Bus also stops only on the bus station, traffic jam is very rare. Most people speaks French, but some of them could speak English too, especially in the office.

The most nicest part is across the hotel, it's a Lac Leman (Leman Lake), some people call it Geneva Lake. It is the second largest freshwater lake in central Europe in terms of surface area. 60% of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland (cantons of Vaud, Geneva, and Valais), and 40% under France (Haute-Savoie). The view is magnificent, the lake is surrounding by Alps mountain, whenever the weather is shiny, you could see the beautiful Alps with its white snow, such as pictures in the postcard.

I saw many family went for a walk along the lake, sometimes they bring bread to feed many kind of birds there, such as swan, sparrow, duck, etc. They are so tame, they are not afraid of people, the weather was very fresh and rather cold. It's around 5 degree celcius in the morning, it's nice to inhale a fresh weather in the morning, no polution at all. There were many boats were berth on the pier. Most of them were private boat. Only at weekend there is a big cruise for bringing people to other city, such as Montreux.

There is also come bridges with fountain to adorn the scenery. A wooden stairs were made for children to play. The first day when I arrived, my friend wanted to take picture with me, but nobody were around, so he used put his camera on the top of a small pipe, unfortunately the wind blew so hard, it made his camera falling down. Lucky it's not broken, we cancel to take picture together.

On the distance walk you could also find an Olympic museum, unfortunately I didn't get a chance to visit it, because we always worked until late, and the museum was closed already.

What amaze me is the tree, I never see this kind of tree in Indonesia, with a very big and thick branches, there was no leaves at all, because it's still winter time. In the picture you could see a car for cleaning the snow.

There were many benches provided in the area, it's wonderful, so people could rest after walking while enjoying the beautiful lake with its birds and ships. I enjoyed staying in Lausanne, it's very clean and peace. I want to go back again there someday.

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Historic Jewel Monument - Chateau De Chillon

On the rainy day on Saturday, 3 of my colleagues and I decided to visit Chateau De Chillon in Montreux. Montreux is also known as the pearl of the Swiss Riviera. The place could be reached by boat or by train from Lausanne, unfortunately one of my colleague easily get drunk on the boat, and the boat was only sailed on Sunday, so we decided to take the train, it cost CHF 20.4 for round trip. While waiting for my colleague bought a local phone card in the train station, I took some pictures of the train station, there’s a big clock in the middle of two beautiful guardian angels with the wings.


The train strolled along the edge of the beautiful lake which is surrounding by Alps mountains. Around half an hour we had arrived in Montreux, unfortunately we could not see the chateau when we went out from the station. I’ve informed that we could just walk from the station along the lake’s shore, because the castle is at the lake side, and you could see the castle right away. I didn’t bring any brochure or map about it, I think we would find it easily as informed. Unfortunately we could not see any castle, so under the rain and strong wind, I tried to find a person to find a person to ask the direction and any transportation needed. The worse thing that most people in Montreux speak French, they could not speak English. Lucky that I have written the place name, because when I pronounce it, people there could hardly understand it because of accent difference. Lucky that I could ask a girl at the bus stop, I tried to speak English with her, it seemed that she didn’t understand me, so I showed her what I wrote. Thanks God, she told me to go across the street and go down through the stairs that you could find many buses there. We didn’t know which the way, accidentally I saw a sign for tourist information office, I ran there to find the info.

The office was not too big, a girl at the receptionist desk gave me a very clear info with a map, she’s also so kind to give me coins change to ride the bus. It took 45 minutes to walk along the lake, while just 10 minutes by bus. I was confused to find my colleagues, none of them presented in front of the office. It’s very windy and chilly, I had to wear my gloves to avoid the chill breeze. Alas, finally I could find them at the lake shore, taking photos. Not taking along time for me to join them taking some pictures  Then, quickly we went to the bus stop, it cost CHF 3.2, we could see the castle when we step down from the bus.

An architectural jewel located in the most beautiful setting imaginable, between the shores of Lake Geneva and the Alps, this monument with over 1,000 years of history, has always inspired artists and writers, from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Victor Hugo and Lord Byron, from Delacroix to Courbet. Excavations carried out from the end of the 19th century, in particular by the archeologist Albert Naef (1862-1936), affirm that this site has been occupied since the Bronze Age. Entering the chateau costs CHF12, and additional audio guide (iPod) rental costs CHF6 with French, German, English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Chinese and Japanese language. It takes 1.5 to 2 hours to go around the place.

In its current state, the Chateau De Chillon is the result of several centuries of constant building, adaptations, renovations and restorations. The rocky island on which the castle is built, was both a natural protection and a strategic location to control the passage between northern and southern Europe. We didn’t rent the iPod, but we could go through the chambers because they provide numbers in each place, so the visitors could explore on the subsequent way, although they don’t understand exactly what’s the story behind each chamber. I met with cute children during the visit, I got a chance to take pictures with them. From the window of some rooms, you could see the lake with its beautiful scenery.

Unfortunately we could not finish visiting all rooms, because we’re starving. After taking the bus back, near the train station we stopped by an Indian restaurant, its chicken kebab was very delicious.

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