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I was invited by a friend to visit Vientiane - the capital city of Laos PDR recently. Apparently, Air Asia just started direct flights to Vientiane last December. Only two and a half hours away, it's rather accessible. Being my first visit, I was excited that I'm going to see one of the most underdeveloped country in South East Asia. Laos as I eventually found out is actually bigger than Peninsula Malaysia alone. Landlocked among 5 other countries - Myanmar, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, & Thailand, Laos is situated just east of the Mekong River. It has a population of about 6.5 million people and Vientiane itself is a city of about 464,000 people.
We arrived around noon and stayed at the Don Chan Palace hotel, owned by a fellow Malaysian. The rooms were very modern and comfortable. At 14 storeys high, Don Chan Palace Hotel is the tallest building in Laos. There were actually quite a lot of cars besides motorcycles and bicycles on the roads, much more than I had expected given its reputation as a poor country. I was told that as recent as six months ago, there were mainly gravel roads but had since been paved with tar roads courtesy of China's charitable contributions.
Laos it seems is a very religious country although the government is Socialist. There were many Buddhist temples and monastery in Vientiane. There aren't many tourists sites in Vientiane, the famous ones are - Pha Tat Luang, the most important national monument; Patuxai, the Arc de Triomphe of Laos! I visited both sites. If I had more time, I will perhaps head north to the historic town of Luang Prabang, a Unesco World Heritage site. Was told the scenery was beautiful there and time stood still.........relatively untouched by development........no modern highrise hotels there, motorized traffic also minimal unlike Vientiane.
Meanwhile, walking around Vientiane, I have to say it's indeed very laidback. People here know how to enjoy life and they work at a very leisurely pace. Although the country is supposed to be poor, you never see any beggars here! Everyone has something to do and they all seemed contented. I was told the average monthly salary here is just a mere US$50!
October is special. It's the month, Chloe and I first met. And on 22 October 2007, we celebrated our 2nd Anniversary of our First Meeting ! In celebration, we made a quickie escapade to Cameron Highlands. The cool crisp air at Cameron Highlands was refreshing. We stayed at the majestic Lakehouse, an old English style mansion that sits atop a hill overlooking the "Lake" (it's actually a dam)! After checking-in, we drove towards Tanah Rata and Brinchang where we visited the vegetable and strawberries farm along the way. On the way back, we stopped at Smokehouse for a few pics. After a long day cruising up and down the highlands, we returned to our "mansion" for the night, for a romantic candlelight dinner. After dinner, we returned to our room where Chloe was to be surprised by a bed filled with red roses and I presented to her a bouquet of white lilies and white roses! She was ecstatic! Love you dear !
Day 2 started off with an off site breakfast where buffet were served. It was to be another tiring day for us as we headed to Chungu Lake for a boat ride. The scenery was nothing spectacular, Vietnam's Halong Bay was better. Furthermore it was drizzling. An hour later, we moved on to Suwon to visit the old fortress city of Hwasong. From Suwon we proceeded to Everland, Korea's version of Disneyland! Just as we were to enter the themepark, it started to rain heavily. However, there was no turning back, and we went through the guided tour in the rain.
We ended the day around 6:00pm when we arrived at our destination - Danyang Hotel. Another shabu-shabu dinner awaited us at the hotel restaurant. We were soon to be shocked when we checked into our hotel room, an empty room with no bed! Never in my whole life have I stayed in a hotel with no bed. We panicked and searched for help only to realized that the floor mat was our accommodation for the night! As we were too tired, we slept right through to the next morning while it rained heavily outside.
" Anyong Haseyo ! ", greeted us, as we walked into the Incheon International Airport of the land of kimchi. We finally arrived in South Korea, tired and restless at 09:00. There was a long queue that day and it took us almost 1.5 hours to clear immigration and collect our luggage. From the airport, we arrived at the Yeongjong Ferry Port where we took the Wolmido seagull cruise to the mainland. Along the way,we stopped by the old Chinatown of Incheon. A few picture moments later, we proceeded to the War Memorial Park. Our stomachs grumbling, we couldn't wait to have our first taste of Korean food. Soon, we reached our lunch destination, where we were treated to our first real meal for the day after the long flight - Korean Ginseng Chicken ! After lunch, the guide brought us to "Antique Street" - a tourist souvenier place. About 6:00pm, we finally reached our hotel. The Co-op Residence was near to Dongdaemun shopping area, where many of the city's fashion and accessories wholesale outlets are located. Excited, we had a quickie dinner next door and immediately wasted no time and went shopping around the Dongdaemun area. Our conquest ended around 12:00 midnight, and we were totally wrecked!
We had planned this trip sometime in Jan 2007. It was not exactly a dream location, but what the heck, we got cheap tickets from AirAsia then, and we haven't been to Hanoi. So about a month before the actual departure in May 2007, we did our itinerary planning and accommodation sourcing on the internet. It was a 4 days, 3 nights trip. We picked a rather new hotel in the heart of the Old Quarters - Hanoi Elegance Hotel. The pictures from their website looks good and we have to say the rooms are indeed pretty comfortable. The staff too were excellent and helpful. The weather in Hanoi was very hot and humid. We spent our time mostly walking and shopping in the Old Quarters and also visited some tourists sites. Vietnamese food was generally good but after a few days, you are certainly to miss the variety of taste of Malaysian fare. Shopping was mostly for house decorative items, oil painting, clothing & silk, etc. Taxis are not cheap, walking around is easy if you don't mind sweating. As Halong Bay was supposed to be a must see, we made a day trip there where we boarded a boat to tour some of the islands there. While there, we visited some floating villages and old limestone caves. It was a very tiring 6 hours journey from Hanoi and back.
We had planned for this holiday to celebrate Chloe's birthday which falls in end June. However, due to overwhelming work commitments, the trip finally took off in Sept 2006. It was a free and easy trip and we planned our own accommodation and tour itinerary. The hotel we selected - The President serviced apartment at Sukhumvit Soi 11, turned out to be a pleasant choice. At 2000 Baht a night, we didn't expect 5-star service and facilities, but nonetheless the room was clean and the location excellent! We soon found out that the area was happening. It
was about 10 minutes walk to the highly efficient BTS Skytrain - Nana station. As we walked along the road to the BTS, there were several interesting restaurants and nightspots - Contrazzi, Bed Supper Club, Zanzibar, Cheap Charlie's etc.
As this was a purely shopping trip, we spent time visiting most of the shopping destinations including the famous but hot & stuffy Chatuchak market, the ultra lux Siam Paragon, Siam Centre, the affordable Siam Square, the Bangkok version of Sungei Wang Plaza - Mabunkrung (MBK), Central @ Chidlom, etc. Also took the opportunity to visit the watch fair at Emporium Central Chidlom.
Shopping was good but could be better if we had more money! We bought lots of stuff - for him, for her, for our families. Food was in my opinion rather bland. The Thai food back home taste better! Not much choice, Thai food was all hot & spicy.
It was my first visit to Beijing, the metropolitan capital of China. I was thrilled. We were here at the courtesy of Zenith. Just like the luxury watch brand, everything about the trip was sheer luxury ! We were put up at the 5-star The Peninsula Beijing and were treated to the best food at 5-star restaurants serving the best Beijing cuisines. Unfortunately, I was not really a fan of Beijing cuisine as I found out during the trip. Beijing cuisine as I came to realized was very different from my regular diet of pork, seafood and chicken. Instead, there were duck's tongue (local delicacy), alfafa grass, cold yam, fish dipped in oil, & the very famous Peking duck!
Food aside, we visited a number of key tourist sites - the not-to-be missed Tianammen Square and the Forbidden City, the Great Wall of China at Badaling. Most importantly, we visited the Zenith boutique at the Beijing Grand Hyatt. It was the first Zenith boutique ever ! Elegant and modern, it reflected the Zenith spirit. We also visited some famous mausoleums of past emperors on the outskirts of Beijing.
Didn't expect much shopping but I was wrong! Wangfujing Street was like Orchard Road of Singapore, 700 years old and 1.6km long, the street is filled with shopping centres and small retail outlets selling mostly fashion items. For a good bargain, we went to the famous Xiushui Street shopping centre - the place for all your shopping needs, from souveniers to sneakers, from silk to watches, you get it and you get it cheap.
It was certainly an enlightening and enjoyable trip, opening my eyes to one of the world's largest cities!
It was our first trip together. Singapore was the natural choice as I was shuttling between KL and Singapore in the last 2 months for work. Chloe came down with her good friend Ellen & Ken. As I was more familiar with Singapore roads, I drove them around town. We met Ellen's Korean friend Kimmi for dinner and drinks. Went shopping along Orchard Road.
On Christmas Eve we had a very nice cosy dinner at the Crystal Jade Golden Palace. There was a huge crowd of Christmas revelers outside Paragon as we left the place. We later went to the Shangrila Hotel for some Christmas jingle time. We made our way home the very next day.
I was invited by a friend to visit Vientiane - the capital city of Laos PDR recently. Apparently, Air Asia just started direct flights to Vientiane last December. Only two and a half hours away, it's rather accessible. Being my first visit, I was excited that I'm going to see one of the most underdeveloped country in South East Asia. Laos as I eventually found out is actually bigger than Peninsula Malaysia alone. Landlocked among 5 other countries - Myanmar, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, & Thailand, Laos is situated just east of the Mekong River. It has a population of about 6.5 million people and Vientiane itself is a city of about 464,000 people.
