vietnam hanoi & halong bay 2013

Halong Bay, one of the new seven wonders of the world? No doubt deserves this title for the view. 

The father wanted to visit (god knows why) and chose this over taiwan (WTF ikr) He looked so happy in this picture tho like he's enjoying this trip.

Gave a patronising smile because I was really hungry and not up for the camera. For my brother, he can pull off any gay pose to piss my mom off anytime of the day lol

This french dude is the captain of this ship. He would always walk around and talk to every group of passenger. When he reached our group the first time he told us he could hardly understand our english. Since then, I spoke a lot of singlish (unnecessarily, also see: fk the world). 

We had all our meals a level lower than the deck, which was nicely air-conditioned. (even in this insane nine-deg-celcius weather)

This is my mother trying to smile without revealing her teeth and my dad covering his face with the menu.

Drinks on-board were charged separately, like it's just juices and coke. They seriously need to amp up their service 

He was always seen sleeping at the table because there wasn't any wifi for reddit/youtube.

Even if you got a SIM card, reception wouldn't reach the northern part (Halong bay area). 

The sea view compensated for that tho.

Some cave we went to.

Also went to Confucius temple (not pictured in this post because i literally didn't take any photos), and historical parts etc. 

worse experience ever: It was raining in 9 degree-c weather, cold wind consistently gushed into our faces. Whatever they've said about sweater weather in Vietnam, seriously. I was really thankful that I brought my winter jacket (being kiasu). 

Parents were ALWAYS taking photos on the deck. I just wanted to stay indoors to avoid the crazy wind.

YASSSS finally checked into sheraton hotel. But those stars meant nothing because we could only use wifi in the lobby (???) additional charges are to be incurred if you want wifi in the comfort of your own room. like seriously? this is even worse than the korean place we went (no nothing but wifi in every single darn room)

Of course, in terms of food, the hotel serves the best food anywhere in vietnam. We were stuck on the ship for 2D1N, and wanted to cry cause the food that was served were edible but mediocre. 

For the rest of the trip (4 days?) I had croissants with scrambled eggs and bacons for breakfast!!!

Out of the meals I've had in Vietnam for seven days, I can only remember breakfast in hotel very clearly, while for the local dishes I don't even vaguely remember what I've eaten (very serious here, stroking my non-existent longgggg beard) 

Maybe that's too much of an exaggeration, but still, I can only remember Pho and Springrolls with fish sauce. They are very bland dishes but still worth a try. 

Also, on the topic of food, our local guide recommended us to try this local delicacy (see: trap). It's a dead hatched chick that is cooked and supposed to suck the 'juice' out of the egg through a small hole cut at the top of the egg. Nobody was gungho enough for it though hahahaha

In any case it was kinda nice trip when you reach Halong Bay (not the travelling parts) and reach the hotel in hanoi for bacon, croissants and scrambled eggs.

Notice that the longest paragraph is about food. LOL okay till the next post 

probably about food too