19 September 2016

Xin Ciao Hanoi .

Hi , I know it's long overdue . By that I mean , it's 4 months into passing it's magic moment . Maybe not , once I actually go through the series of photos . Hopefully I will manage to upload into the laptop . I have been shit , doing so . Anyhoo , many things have had happened and in between we have also been to many places . I will be uploading the time in Hanoi first before I do the one , where my manager and I were in Yogjakarta . Right at this moment , I m enjoying my day off although it's already 8:30pm . Also might I recommend you follow ;       Majestic Casual . For a chill day music .

Anyway , here's some pieces of my trip that I m able to share on .  Finger's crossed I dont mess it up .


So here we have a cliche af plane photo . 
Moving on .


It's really hot but windy  , which is surprisingly an okay combo . Sunglasses or a hat or both is recommended . We booked a tour guide , to make our lives easier as we are a group of 6 . Touched down Hanoi , MIGHT I SAY , THEIR TOILETS ARE SO CLEAN , SO CLEAN I CAN SIT ON THE TOILET FLOOR AND I WOULD BE FINE , CLEAN . Yeah I have an obsession with clean and dry toilets . HA ha . Anyway , we went to drop off our luggage at the hotel and we went straight to one of the attractions . Which is the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum , which unfortunately is closed on a Monday . So we only got the see the change of guards , which was pretty cool . As per crazy group , we smiled and waved at the guards which I think they were pretty happy . 


Allow me to present the group starting from the left is ; Ken , Alister , Me , Joanne , Keith and Sherman. 

After this we were super hungry so we left for lunch . 


Oh I forgot , we also went to the Temple of Literature dedicated to Confucius . There was a lot of student's who just graduated taking photos around the temple . I being ocd about there being a lot of pictures in my phone , I deleted most of them cause it's not as great . Photos here of me are mainly taken by other people . Thanks friends who upped your photo taking skills. 



We went to a cafe after watching the water puppet show , and our tour guide whose name I think is Jerry . I m so sorry if it's not . Brought us to another temple which is in the main lake that the city surrounds . Where there was a giant turtle living in , and where the kings who brought the sword to the turtle or the other way around so they could win the war . Clearly I failed in history , and I might have fucked up the whole story it's roughly around there , I m sure of it . 

The cafe in said pictures we went to have egg coffee , but this place isn't as good , I had the egg cacao which tasted like Marble cake consistency is like cake batter too . Almost . So I won't bother about going into where this place is . 


Most of the time we are travelling in the van , so I think this is when we were going to Ha Long Bay cause it wont be a trip to Hanoi without going there . Insisting to go there with your friends is a must , you won't regret it . Sleeping during your holidays is also a requirement . 

 





Staying on a cruise for a night is also the best decision we made , cause pft , we slept on the best beds . If there was one thing I could bring home from this trip is the bed on the " La Vela Cruise ". Their crew on board is nice and friendly , service is great . Also there's happy hour on board . We also went kayaking in Ha Long Bay , just be sure not to fall in cause apparently there are jellyfish in the waters . Not too sure , cause I have seen people jumping into the waters or maybe it's the place we were at that has jellyfish ? When night came and before dinner was ready , we stepped out of the cruise and onto a small boat or a speed boat where we catch squids , I CAUGHT ONE OR TWO . It was fun , I hope that the authorities and the people there will continue to keep the waters clean and make them cleaner. It was a really good experience . 



Cracked of dawn next morning , woke up , had breakfast and we went to TiTop Island , where we had to climb about 500 steps which I almost died . Trying to reach the top . The view though is fantastic once you're there , and it's also filled with tourist from China . Make sure the aunties and uncles don't push you off the cliff . Then we went to play in the water , not clear but good enough . After two good hours we headed to another small island or limestone cave , as actually all these are actually Giant Limestone . 




I will only show you this picture we took at the jetty , cause we all look like we are ghost or either possessed with the cave's multi colored lighting . The place is really beautiful , I just couldnt capture it on camera . At least my phone's camera  .  After that , we left and back to main land we go .


We walked around after dinner , once we got back to the city . Why were we sitting on the side walks ? I was googling which cafe's are still open then , and we went to cafe giang . 


This I recommend . It's packed with their locals , you know its good .
There are actually many other things that we saw and did , like sitting by the road side , drinking juices from one of their fruit stores , they make the best mango smoothies as well . If you are into eating dried squid they have that by the roads as well , Sitting on tiny stools and chatting the night away with the cool night breeze . Also we find that a lot of Vietnamese will go out for an evening walk after dinner around the lake , it's really happening , till it's 12 am cause there is a curfew . 


On our last night in Hanoi , we stumbled across the night district . We were wondering around the few nights and couldnt find it , until we walked far enough and upon this we found the bustling nightlife of Hanoi. A couple of drinks after , people were chased by the police . It was the first time any of us were in that kind of environment . And people getting high on laughing gas . We tried some , but there wasnt any effect ? Maybe we just didnt inhaled enough . hahaha . After awhile we decided to go back . We got lost on the way back , and getting lost wouldnt be getting lost until you walked passed the row of shops that sells coffins and other stuffs for the deceased . 

Oh I forgot to mention, we went around and ate a lot of Pho . My apologies , this post doesn't have a proper sequence . I didn't take any photos , cause we were too busy downing them . I also didn't take any dinner photos or photos about the food we ate , cause they were the kind of meals that you will eat when you are with the tour . So you can basically picture , rice/noodles , vege ,fish and meat . We were stuffed . 

I would recommend if you ever visit any country , to visit their local supermarket or hypermarket . They have some pretty good things , for Hanoi , besides their coffee , you should check out their cashew nuts ( buy the kinds that still have their brown layers on them ) , marie biscuits , and their instant noodles . Mind you were all in our 20's if not late 20's we enjoy the supermarkets like the old aunty's and uncles . 


Before we left we went to Tam Coc , to ride the Sampan or little boat as well . It was hot af , please remember to apply loads of sunblock . I took pictures , but it didnt upload on dropbox . So I will just save it for the next round of unusual uploads . 

Thank you to the lovely group , who decided we can go travelling . It wasn't easy but none the less it was fun . I would summarise this as a historical and fun trip . If you only enjoy shopping and air condition places then maybe this is not for you ? Or if you decided to step out of your comfort zone , I think Hanoi would be a nice place to be . Hopefully the next trip there will be up the mountains of Sapa . Cause I saw really nice pictures of that place, and maybe we could extend our stay there as well.  I m pretty sure I left something or a lot of things out of this trip , I have really bad memory . 
I swear I can't even remember what I ate for yesterday's lunch . 

So here you go , a mixed up submission of a blog post . That if you stumbled upon . I hope you enjoy reading my jumbled up mind . 

Till the next travels ;
x. 






  



15 March 2016

hi.

It's me . After a billion years of not , being here . So , I m here to fill in the blanks of what had happened over the past year . Mostly , I think I will fill this space with my travels . 
First off , for this year's goals . To travel to places I have not been before . So one of the places that got ticked off the list this year was Hat Yai , Thailand . 

Before I begin to explode the mini photo series that you might or might not have already seen on the instagram sphere or one or two on Facebook . Why did we even choose to go to Hat Yai was because one day , I happen to attend a Chinese client who I may say , drove to Singapore then made a stop in Malaysia , FROM CHINA . CHINA ! DROVE, FROM CHINA . WHAT INSANITY IS THAT . I LOVE IT . Anyway , shocked and amazed , I asked them how long did it take them to do so , I can't remember which part of China they were from , but it took them 7 days to get down to Singapore . They told me it wasn't hard , you just have to get your car's papers , road insurance and your passport and you are set . So , after they left , I could only go to my craziest colleagues coughKencough , to indulge with me on this road trip to Hat Yai cause I don't think we want to drive to China . Yet . Anyway , later on Joanne joined us and we begin our "When are we driving up to Hat Yai adventure" . We went after everyone whose finished with their Chinese New Year holidays to go on ours . We made a pit stop at Ipoh on our way up , and it took us almost 6 hours to get there , also a lot of sighting of fires starting at the side of the highway as the weather was ridiculously hot . Oh , yeah . BIG THANKS to the two amigo's for driving , cause I slept majority of the time at the back seat if not shot gun . HAHAHA . 

Anyway here's a bit of photo's before you're bored to death from my grandmother story . 



If you are with a few good friends or an excellent company , stay at the "La Pause" hotel , it's affordable and their services from their staff's are so good . Warm towels , and a thai drink to welcome us . You must be wondering why the colour of my ice in my drink is violet in colour , or you don't I don't give a damn cause I'm going to tell you anyway . The drink is actually made from one of thailand's famous flower called "Butterfly pea" . And this was shared by the hotel staff when I looked at the tea . It taste pretty good anyway . 

By the time we got to the hotel we were real hungry , I could eat a horse kinda hungry . So the staff told us to walk down the street and to the left from the hotel there will be a restaurant that has really good noodles , sorry guys i do not know what the name of this place is but , everything about this bowl of fish noodles is good . Good . Really . Good . Also the fish is super fresh . 



 

It was really hot , I think we got ourselves two shades darker . Anyway , none of us really care so ..moving on . Meet Ken and Joanne , really , the three of us are the most non religious people . Although whenever and wherever we go during our travels if we ever stop by or visit a temple , we actually pay our respects . Oddly ever , I think we secretly enjoying doing so . It brings a peace of mind for that moment , and I think it has become a ritual . 



Brunch was pork leg rice and every other pork dishes you can think of , if you don't like pork or vegans . Look away . Dinner was at this place in the middle of nowhere .And these were the dishes we had or one of the few , also that omelette , ugh. I can't even begin to describe the texture of that , you can only imagine how hot the oil has to be in order to make is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside . Sorry , salivating . 



 

Seeing as we can't seem to sit still for a second even . We drove to Songkhla , where the Golden mermaid statue was . I m going to skip the beautiful beach stuff and say , that the waves there were the biggest I've seen then , and there were people wind surfing . Pretty fucking cool I will say ! Winds were strong . Hence extremely messy and sandy beach hair afterwards . Oh yeah , I forgot to mention , the sand is SO FINE . SO FINE . That when the strong sea winds blow that sand kinda just attacks your feet , like micro robots attacking the giant that is destroying their city . Anyway it just fucking hurts and we left as soon as we were done taking pictures of whatever we were taking of at the time . 



Thai dim sum , probably the cutest ever . Also bak kut teh , for breakfast . WIN . I think we over ordered . But it was good , and we went the second time , also cause mainly we didnt manage to eat their BKT the first time we went there . Thai dim sum and regular dim sum , is a little different , and I realised thai loves to put salted egg in theirs . 


Anyway highlight of the trip for me is this , I finally got another tattoo . After a year of mumbling . I got another addition . The thing is , so far only my mom knows , and none of other family members know . Not even dad , which I m a bit afraid . But then again , I never really cared . I could just hope that this won't get me skinned alive or worse . Dis-owned by my father . I love you daddy , I promise you , I m not doing anything that is harming or endangering others or the rest of the world . Asking them to go jump off a cliff for being a complete idiot doesn't count . 

PS: I m sorry I didnt proof read this piece of mess , before posting it up . Anyway , enjoy my scatter brain . 

x.
Amy .










13 September 2015

50 Questions

Hi , to those who stumble upon here or to those who occasionally see if there are still updates from to old ages . I just felt like blogging or the least writing something , so I will answer the 50 questions posted from the berlin-artparasites Facebook page . Because 1 its a sunday and I m having my day off  to indulge .

so here goes ;

1. What would you name your future daughter ?
 Valentina .

2. Do you miss anyone ?
 I miss some .

3. What if I told you that you were pretty ?
 Thank you . Still am .

4. Ever been told "it's not  you , it's me" ?
 Yes , yes and yes . It get's so fucking boring after the second time you hear it .

5. What are you looking forward to in the next week ?
 To have dinner with my beloved friends and just spend some time catching up . Because of irregular working hours , I rarely meet up with friends . Pros , more stories to hear and more stories to tell .

6. Did you go out or stay in last night ?
 Stayed in , cause I m an old lady .

7. How late did you stay up last night ?
 2 a.m . shhhh , don't judge me .

8. Honestly ,has anyone seen you in your underwear in the past 3 months ?
 Uh . No .

9. What were you doing at 12:30 this afternoon ?
 Showering . It's too damn hot in KL right now .

10. Have you ever told somebody you loved them and not actually meant it ?
 No . If I tell you , means I mean it .

11. Could you go for the rest of your life without drinking alcohol ?
 HA HA HA . Yes .

12. Have you pretended to like someone ?
 HA HA . You have no idea .

13. Could you go the rest of your life without smoking a cigarette ?
 At the moment , no .

14. Is there one person in your life that can always make you smile ?
 Yes , there is . I m very lucky to have so .

15. Is it hard for you to get over someone ?
 It is , which sucks . But somehow or rather I will find a way to burn that muthafuckin' bridge down if I have to .

16. Think back five months ago , were you single ?
 HAHAHAHA , Yes . Still single , anyone wanna hook me up with a smart and cute guy ?

17. Have you ever cried from being so mad ?
 Yes . Because I never learn to not care too much .

18. Hold hands with anyone this week ?
 Yes , my colleague , cause the air conditioning in the store was too cold . So I told her to keep my hands warm . HAHA .

19. Did your last kiss take place in/on a bed ?
 Nope .

20. Who did you last see in person ?
 My mom .

21. What is the last thing you said out loud ?
 I can't remember .

22. Have you kissed three or more people in one night ?
 What am i ? No .

23. Have you ever been to Paris ?
 Nope , hopefully that will be soon .

24. Are you good at hiding your feelings ?
 No . If I m happy about something or unhappy about something , it will all be written on my face .

25. Do you use chap stick ?
 Not really .

26. Who did you last share a bed with ?
 My grandma , cause she is afraid of being alone and ghosts . I kid you not .

27. Are you listening to music right now ?
 Yes .

28. What is something you currently want right now ?
 Good company and more than enough money to do whatever I want .

29. Were your last three kisses from the same person ?
 Yes .

30. How is your heart lately ?
Better than before .

31. Do you wear the hood on your hoodie ?
 I would if I had one .

32. When was the last time a member of the opposite sex hugged you ?
 Well , I don't know = long time ago , please move on .

33. What do people call you ?
 Amy , or my full name for a more dramatic response / when they are furious about something . Amoy ( I m only called this by my grandmother , and my high school history teacher ) .

34. Have you ever wanted to tell some one something but didn't ?
 Yes , countless times .

35. Are there any stressful situations in your life ?
 At the moment , nothing too stressful that can't be solved .

36. What are you listening to right now ?
Taylor Swift - Wildest Dreams

37. What is wrong with you right now ?
 Nothing and everything .

38. Love really is a beautiful thing huh ?
 Depends on how you want to look at it , I guess it's pretty beautiful .

39. Do you make wishes at 11:11 ?
 Cliche but yes I do .

40. What is on your wrists right now ?
 My arrow tattoo , tiffany bracelet and a prayer string from the visit to the temple when I was at Phuket .

41. Are you single/taken/heartbroken/confused/waiting for the unexpected?
 Single and waiting for the unexpected .

42. Where did you get the shirt/sweatshirt you're wearing ?
 From my Aunt .

43. Have you ever regretted kissing someone ?
 So far , no thank god .

44. Have you hugged some one within the last week?
Yes , I have my colleague/friend .

45. Have you kissed anyone in the last five days ?
 LOL , no .

46. What were you doing at midnight last night ?
 Watching Scandal on TV

47. Do you miss the way things were six months ago ?
 No . I don't , there's nothing to be missed .

48. Would you rather sleep with someone else or alone ?
 Depending on who is it , if you snore REAL LOUD . I m sorry my friend , I would rather sleep on the couch than with you in the same room . I take my sleep , seriously .

49. Have you ever been to New York ?
 Anyone wants to sponsor me , accommodation and flight ticket ?

50. Think of the last person who said I love you , do you think they meant it ?
Yes , I do .

Thats about it .
x.