30 Jan 2009
We reached Nanning early in the morning 2am, took a 5 hours bus ride from Yangshou after watching Liu San Jie. Is kinda scary to travel on a bus at night, I was awoke throughout the journey. We checked in to Huaxing Hotel, washed up and slept for around 5 hours before checking out again, journey to the border of China Dongxing. Haiz, this is the best hotel we had stayed so far but yet only for such a short time :(
Before we headed to the border, we had our last meal in China and we took a transport bus together with our luggages to the custom (10 RMB per pax). At the custom entrance, we made our way to the custom counter by pulling and pushing our luggages across, it was quite fun though :) And in the process of doing so, the wheels of my hubby luggage were damaged, the rubber wheel worn out and one of the wheel was flattened. My poor hubby was struggling to drag his luggage from point A to point B.
After passing through the Vietnam custom, we had another bus ride. This round has to travelled almost about 6 hours to Halong. Half way thru, we stopped at a petrol station to relieve ourselves...(first row, second pix). The ride to Halong was an breathe taking hell ride, the road was extremely bumpy, narrow, and our driver kept horning througout and overtaking whatever vehicle in front. My hubby told me he kinda felt a little bus sick due to the winding road. Along the way, while everyone was dozing off, out of a sudden we had an awful bumps that shock all of us, and my hubby injured his forearm during the bumps by hitting at his arm rest, he suffered blue black. Vietnam look so much like our 60s Singapore just like our Vietnam tour guide, Ah Tu (see second row, centre pix) agree? He gave each of us 2000 VND note (equvienaint to 0.17779 SGD) for good luck cos it was still Chinese New Year.
We stayed at the Bach Dang Hotel, a 3 stars hotel located along the main Halong road in Bai Chay, facing the Halong ferry station. It has a very retro feel, you have to start the switch board before you can turn on the lights. The bath tub was horrible, it had black stain on it, I have no choice but to wear slipper to shower. After our dinner, we went to the Vietnamese amusement park for a Water Puppet show, the show started with the musicians playing a Vietnamese folk song with traditional instrument. Through out the show I did not understand a word as it was in Vietnamese, therefore I couldn’t follow the story line. From visual perspective I think it’s fantastic. The puppets were very colorful. I found the puppeteers very skillful and clever on how they are able to move the puppets in different and accurate way. I think water puppet is a lot harder to operate compare to land puppet. In the Water Puppet Show there were many complex moves. Imagine trying to control and manipulate the puppets of using a long pole against resistance of the water. Also the movements have to be in harmony with the music. Even though we didn’t understand a word we enjoyed the show because it was different and I respect the puppeteer’s skill. Where else can you see puppets show performs on water. They say if you haven’t seen Water Puppet Theatre you haven’t come to Vietnam. After the puppet show, we proceeded to the cultural show where dancer perform various dances. Me, my hubby and another couple went for a coffee at one of the cafe before heading back to our hotel.
After passing through the Vietnam custom, we had another bus ride. This round has to travelled almost about 6 hours to Halong. Half way thru, we stopped at a petrol station to relieve ourselves...(first row, second pix). The ride to Halong was an breathe taking hell ride, the road was extremely bumpy, narrow, and our driver kept horning througout and overtaking whatever vehicle in front. My hubby told me he kinda felt a little bus sick due to the winding road. Along the way, while everyone was dozing off, out of a sudden we had an awful bumps that shock all of us, and my hubby injured his forearm during the bumps by hitting at his arm rest, he suffered blue black. Vietnam look so much like our 60s Singapore just like our Vietnam tour guide, Ah Tu (see second row, centre pix) agree? He gave each of us 2000 VND note (equvienaint to 0.17779 SGD) for good luck cos it was still Chinese New Year.
We stayed at the Bach Dang Hotel, a 3 stars hotel located along the main Halong road in Bai Chay, facing the Halong ferry station. It has a very retro feel, you have to start the switch board before you can turn on the lights. The bath tub was horrible, it had black stain on it, I have no choice but to wear slipper to shower. After our dinner, we went to the Vietnamese amusement park for a Water Puppet show, the show started with the musicians playing a Vietnamese folk song with traditional instrument. Through out the show I did not understand a word as it was in Vietnamese, therefore I couldn’t follow the story line. From visual perspective I think it’s fantastic. The puppets were very colorful. I found the puppeteers very skillful and clever on how they are able to move the puppets in different and accurate way. I think water puppet is a lot harder to operate compare to land puppet. In the Water Puppet Show there were many complex moves. Imagine trying to control and manipulate the puppets of using a long pole against resistance of the water. Also the movements have to be in harmony with the music. Even though we didn’t understand a word we enjoyed the show because it was different and I respect the puppeteer’s skill. Where else can you see puppets show performs on water. They say if you haven’t seen Water Puppet Theatre you haven’t come to Vietnam. After the puppet show, we proceeded to the cultural show where dancer perform various dances. Me, my hubby and another couple went for a coffee at one of the cafe before heading back to our hotel.
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