First time in Vietnam

I decided to go to Vietnam with my sister during the five days in a row holiday last week. Without any money, we had to fly with a low cost airline. The appearance of the plane reminded me of Air Crash Investigation programme on National Geographic Channel. However, we arrived at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi safely. The airport is 45 km away from the city centre. The local bus did not seem to be frequent, thus, we decided to took a minibus to town[2USD plus 1USD from the bus terminal to a specific hotel]. Vietnam currency is "DONG". It contains many zeroes, however the US dollar is widely accepted.

Day 1
The day after our arrival, we went to Ho Chi Minh Museum, which dedicates to the former Vietnamese leader, Ho Chi Minh or uncle Ho, and the Vietnamese revolution against foreigners. Ho Chi Minh body is located in a grey building in the front of the museum and could be visited without any fee. Any image recorders were not allowed. After this, you could visit Ho Chi Minh residence and the main museum. The fee was applied for foreigners.

In a walking distance, It was the first university of Vietnam known as the Temple of Literature. The temple is established in 1076 and had educated Vietnamese for 700 years. Those who had graduated would be named on steel turtles in the temple.

By walking back to the hotel, I passed Ho Hoan Kiem lake, which was a place to chill out. It was surrounded by tourism shops and cafes.

In the evening, my sister and I booked a tour to Ha Long Bay [40USD each] before having dinner at a restaurant near by, where pho and fresh spring rolls were superb.

Day 2
We presented at the tour agency early in the morning for the minibus before joining another 14 foreigners to Halong Bay. The minibus took 3.30 hours to cover just 173 km because of the traffic and the road condition.

The shore at Halong was full of foreigners waiting to board the boats. Our boat's name is "Emerald Junk". She had 3 storeys; the deck, the restaurant and the hotel-like rooms on the bottom. The boats no longer used sails any more. The smell of fossil fuel burning was strong at the shore. After the welcome drink, We had 40 mins to rest while the boat was departing.

The first stop was "Hang Dau Go" cave [Wooden Stakes Cave], which was full of limestone. The artificial light in the cave was quite unpleasant for me though. Not far from this cave there was a smaller cave to visit. I like the last, which was left decorated by nature.

From the cave, it took one hour and a half to reach the kayak site. It was time to exercise back muscles. One kayak was for two people, thus, having a lazy partner might be frustrated :). All kayaks were guided to a closed sea by going underneath a tunnel. I was warned not to bring my camera because it could be wet, but actually it was not that wet. Putting the camera in a plastic bag should should be o.k.

The boat anchored not far from the kayak site and now it was time to show-off your diving skill. Jumping from the restaurant roof to the sea was challenging, but if you are looking for more, go to the deck, where I was standing for more than 20 mins with shaking legs before I jumped :). An american guy could even run, stamped his feet on a sun bed and jump with his head down :o . 2 thumbs up for him. After dinner a chilled out time on the deck is recommended.


Day 3
The boat traveled back to the shore and we had to be ready to get back to Hanoi. In Hanoi, we stayed near St. Joseph Cathedral, in a franchised hotel. There was a very good pho restaurant near by. A cafe' near the cathedral also served a really good set of fresh spring rolls.

Day 4
We had to leave the hotel early morning. It was quite frustrated that the hotel did not have change and when I used my card they had not yet even plugged the machine. It took us a while before we could pay the bill. We took the 2USD minibus back to Noi Bai Airport. The passport control in Vietnam did not take the immigration card [so why did we have to fill it at the first place?]. A few hours later, we arrived in Bangkok safely.

A new pizza box design

I believe all of you must have ever ordered pizza delivery. The bell on the door rings, you run to the door, a handsome pizza man is waiting. Then you pay and take it to your kitchen. What next? You take out a few plates, which you have to clean up later, and manage half of the pizza to your children and yourself. You then try to keep the rest in the fridge but you cannot fit a whole pizza box in.

With this new pizza box design, you would overcome those inconveniences. The top half of the pizza box could be applied to four small plates. The rest of the box could be fold and form a half normal sized pizza box, which is easier for you to put it in the fridge. Isn't it cool?

The sky is leaking

Today the sun is perpendicular to Bangkok surface. This should have caused the temperature to rise up to more than 40 C. However, just before noon, the clouds had been gathering and blocking the sun light. I started to walk quicker to get back into the office and almost without any notice it started to rain.

The ground was completely soak in about less than half a minute. The level of water on the streets was rising up very quickly. This is another well known factor of Bangkok traffic jam.

It is two hours raining already. A senior officer just passed by, told me that the sky was leaking.

The red-shirted protesters have surrenderred

I left Bangkok on Saturday, two days after streets in Bangkok were blockaded. There was no internet connection at my grandparents' house, thus, I had to follow the situation through public channels. My heart sank watching the protesters broke a glass door and occupied the hotel where the ASEAN summit was held. The summit had been cancelled then all leaders left the country. At this point, I thought PM Abhisit had come to the end of his career. I was wondering if PM Abhisit could handle the situation. The protesters moved back to Bangkok and a new chaos restarted. The worse was the police and some parts of the soldiers were doubted to be under the influence of former PM Thaksin. It was very tense and made me hardly slept. I had followed PM Abhisit's every address. I believe that a lot of thais were doing so.

The troops started to quell the protesters on early on Sunday [12th Apr] morning and it ended yesterday [14th Apr]. Two people were shot to dead by the red-shirted protesters and many buses were used to block the troops and later burnt down. The city is now almost back to normal but the state of emergency has not yet been withdrawn.

The red-shirted interviewees said that they would come back to protest for their so-called democracy. From what have just happened to the city, I think they should learn more about it. Also they should learn how to analyse information from medias and more over from their beloved leaders and former PM, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Fried chicken with basil and a fried egg

I decided to meet my family at my grandparents' house in Ayuddhaya during Thai New Year [Apr 13th-15th]. Travelling by train is the most convenient way to get there. The train was very crowded as everyone was going home and escaping from the political situation in Bangkok. The 3rd class no air-conditioned trian smelled sweat from passengers. A few men with a big bucket full of soft drinks or bags of boiled eggs tried to sqeeze themselves through passengers, selling them. I paid attention on my book to filter out all these annoying environment. An old man was walking toward me. One of his hand was holding a plate, which contained packs of fried chicken with basil and a fried egg. Wherever you go in this country, this is the meal you can always order. It is one of our national dishes. Some call it "Aharn-Sin-Kid; the dish you order when you cannot think of anything else". A woman, who had been sleeping since the train departed from Bangkok, ordered one. She was fuelling herself while I was swallowing my saliva taking a picture of her.

The Red Shirt Protesters' Judgement Day (3)

It has not yet ended even the streets in Bangkok is now (2046H) back to normal. I just came back from outside and the traffic on the street in the front of my apartment could flow normally. News has also reported that the Victory Monument is now clear from the protesters as well. However, the red-shirted protesters gathered this morning in Pattaya, where the ASEAN summit was held, and tried to interupt the meeting. A red-shirted leader in Bangkok announced that most of the summit participants had cancelled to join. Later, the news reported that the particaipants had been brought to the summit through an unknow way (Ah! I love my brilliant PM). In the afternoon, the protesters had handed a letter to a participants' agent, thus, stopped their attempt to break through.

PAD has told the yellow-shirted members to stay clear from the situation, which I agree. Taking part might have caused violence through the country. I think PM Abhisit's law enforcement is on the way and stongly believe that he could run the summit to the end.

The Red Shirt Protesters' Judgement Day (2)

As I expected, the traffic in Bangkok has been paralysed since the rush hours started. One of my friends called me and told me that her company had told all employees to go back home as they might have been hold on traffic. After work I went to the gym near my office and while I was waiting for the bus, there was a huge thunder storm, lightening could be seen. This is not a good luck to the protesters. The traffic was very bad. The bus took very long time to move. I had decided to get off and walked. On the way to a motorcycle taxi I saw a group of about 10 to 20 red shirt protesters blocking the intersection between Sukhumvit and Rama IV road. They were shouting something through the noisy traffic. One of them waving national flag. I have arrived home safely, watching the news now.

Ratchawithi Hospital and others near the Victory Monument have been affected from the traffic blockage. Patients who have appointments with the hospitals tomorrow will be diverted to others. Only ambulances are allowed to go in and out, but still be checked by the protesters, thus causes delay.

I am now waiting for PM Abhisit's address for the action to solve this situation. Here he comes...

Da! PM Abhisit has applied the law enforcement and announced that tomorrow (Fri 10/04/2009) is an official holiday. Yo!