As 2011 comes to a close, it is time to evaluate and plan for 2012.
2011 has been an eventful year. With many things happening. Qin and I changed our jobs. Massive changes in Ministry for both of us. And I have been flying and seeing places that I have never been before. Brother moved to be my neighbour. Parents relocated to Central Singapore.
As I was flipping my passport the other day, I noticed for 2011, my traveling has significantly increased compared to 2010. Both for work and non-work.
1X Taiwan
5X Vietnam
1X Thailand
5X China
4X Malaysia
1X Macau
1X Hongkong
With most of the travelling happening af the 2nd half of the year, it is like 2 to 3 times a week. Interesting. Wonder what 2012 will be like.
Will probably blog more about food the next time.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Hanoi - Dec 2011
Decided to put in some photos to my otherwise very boring blog. Hoping to revive this blog after a long while...
And so, my Final Trip for 2011 was to Hanoi. Huiqin came to join me for 3 days and 2 nights. It is a city that has nothing much. Or at least, nothing much caught my attention.
So I picked Huiqin from the airport and here we are in a cab.
After resting in the hotel, we decided to talk a walk out in the town area. We were putting up near the Hoan Kiem Lake. This is the place where there is the highest concentration of tourists.
Generally, it was cold, but not too cold that it was uncomfortable. The air was polluted like all cities and especially so in Hanoi.
We decided to watch the water puppet show but it was so dark inside and the photos didn't turn out well.
For dinner, we went to the famous "Cha Ca". It means grilled fish. Ca means fish. In fact, the entire street was named after this dish. There are a number of stalls selling this traditional dish, but this stall was the best or at least that was what I was told.
This was actually more like fried fish rather than grilled fish. The shop only sells 1 item and that is this dish. Plain Noodles go with it, however, I cannot remember what the noodles are called.
It was a really old building and I am sure it will not pass BCA checks. As you can see, this is really a touristy place. Ang Moh behind...
After dinner, we went to the lake for a walk. I was told that "when you feel stressed, just sit by the lake and you will feel very relaxed".
The Next day, we went to Halong Bay. This was what we have been looking forward to and seriously, this was the highlight of this trip. We were so looking forward to rekindling the times we had at Doubtful Sound in NZ. We are in a Chinese Junk here.
Halong Bay is famous all around the world and it is one of those heritage sites that conservationists are conserving. Imagine a hilly area that got flooded. That is how it is like. I was told that during the Qing Dynasty, the Chinese empire actually spread as far south as to Halong Bay. I'm impressed....
The symbol of Halong Bay is this so called "Fighting Cock" boulders. It is unique as it stands as if 2 fighting cocks are facing each other. I explain to Huiqin and she said I was "Talking Cock". but it is true...
There are people living here in the Bay.
We then decided to explore the inner caves and this was by row boat by the locals.
We walked the caves too...
The journey back from Halong Bay to Hanoi was again 3.5 hrs on a very bumpy road and in a very cramped van. It was not pleasureable at all.
Then it was more street walking the next morning before we leave for the airport back to Singapore.
Bought street food too. This is their "donuts". There's green bean paste inside too. The sasame flavor was the best!
Last cup of coffee at Highlands Coffee.
And so, my Final Trip for 2011 was to Hanoi. Huiqin came to join me for 3 days and 2 nights. It is a city that has nothing much. Or at least, nothing much caught my attention.
So I picked Huiqin from the airport and here we are in a cab.
After resting in the hotel, we decided to talk a walk out in the town area. We were putting up near the Hoan Kiem Lake. This is the place where there is the highest concentration of tourists.
Generally, it was cold, but not too cold that it was uncomfortable. The air was polluted like all cities and especially so in Hanoi.
We decided to watch the water puppet show but it was so dark inside and the photos didn't turn out well.
For dinner, we went to the famous "Cha Ca". It means grilled fish. Ca means fish. In fact, the entire street was named after this dish. There are a number of stalls selling this traditional dish, but this stall was the best or at least that was what I was told.
This was actually more like fried fish rather than grilled fish. The shop only sells 1 item and that is this dish. Plain Noodles go with it, however, I cannot remember what the noodles are called.
It was a really old building and I am sure it will not pass BCA checks. As you can see, this is really a touristy place. Ang Moh behind...
After dinner, we went to the lake for a walk. I was told that "when you feel stressed, just sit by the lake and you will feel very relaxed".
The Next day, we went to Halong Bay. This was what we have been looking forward to and seriously, this was the highlight of this trip. We were so looking forward to rekindling the times we had at Doubtful Sound in NZ. We are in a Chinese Junk here.
Halong Bay is famous all around the world and it is one of those heritage sites that conservationists are conserving. Imagine a hilly area that got flooded. That is how it is like. I was told that during the Qing Dynasty, the Chinese empire actually spread as far south as to Halong Bay. I'm impressed....
The symbol of Halong Bay is this so called "Fighting Cock" boulders. It is unique as it stands as if 2 fighting cocks are facing each other. I explain to Huiqin and she said I was "Talking Cock". but it is true...
There are people living here in the Bay.
We then decided to explore the inner caves and this was by row boat by the locals.
We walked the caves too...
The journey back from Halong Bay to Hanoi was again 3.5 hrs on a very bumpy road and in a very cramped van. It was not pleasureable at all.
Then it was more street walking the next morning before we leave for the airport back to Singapore.
Bought street food too. This is their "donuts". There's green bean paste inside too. The sasame flavor was the best!
Last cup of coffee at Highlands Coffee.
Monday, December 19, 2011
SMRT
How can any blogger resist the temptation to blog abt this latest, most happening event in Singapore. It is as epic as the great flooding of orchard road. Citizens are screeming to get rid of smrt's ceo. Our PM has done the popular move to call for an Inquiry of the incident.
What more can I say? everyone's attacking SMRT's profits over the past many years. I personally am not affected at all as I was overseas then. However, i though it would be nice to recap what we are all familiar with 1 year ago.
What more can I say? everyone's attacking SMRT's profits over the past many years. I personally am not affected at all as I was overseas then. However, i though it would be nice to recap what we are all familiar with 1 year ago.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)