Turkey Trip 19th Dec 2015

On the airplane otw to Istanbul 19th December 2015

Hi all, I'm back from Turkey actually so the subsequent posts will be like a throwback for me. Okay so lemme continue. My family booked the tour under EU costing about $1100 per person, it's not a muslim tour but since Turkey is a muslim country, finding halal food won't be such a big issue. Anyway there's no such thing as halal sign there like there is in Singapore.

Our 11-hour SQ flight was at 1am, super tiring, it was difficult for me to stay awake. Really. no kidding. Anyways, that day was my lucky day as I was give a $75 in-flight voucher by the ever so helpful steward, Amir, after realising that my seat's remote control is spoilt. He eve went all the way to help me switch movies from the control room to entangling my earpiece to lavishing me with snacks and even offering me his favourite which was the dried fruits snack. Honestly, I wasn't even planning to watch any movies and wanted to sleep throughout the journey but seriously, helping me change the movie from the control room and giving me snacks was enough. Well that's a great way to start my trip in Turkey.

A trip to New2U thrift store

Today I have decided to visit the thrift store which I have heard about online. It's called New2U and is located at waterloo street. It's just a 4 mins walk away from Bras Basah Mrt station. It's actually quite a challenge to get there without having to stand in the middle of the pathway trying to figure out the correct path with our Google map. Soooo, I'm here to give you a rough guide on how to get there with ease.

First, exit the mrt station through Exit E. Then once you've went up the last escalator, you should see the Singapore Arts Museum which is on you right hand side. Then walk towards that museum. Walk to the right of the museum then turn left and left again, it's like going around the museum. Then walk straight, you should see this place:

And when you turn back, you'll see this nice street art:

Once you see this church, turn to your left. This is how the church looks like when I've already made the left turn.

Walk straightttttt and you'll see this building which is where the new2u shop is located. YAYY

Once, we've reached the shop, we had to rummage through the numerous amount of clothes. The place is rather warm so maybe you could bring a bottle of water along when you're there. There's so many sections of clothing ranging from ladies' tops to winter clothes to children's items. There are soft toys, male clothing, down jackets, office wear, shoes like heels, scarves, handbags, school bags. All items today are half priced so look out for discounts on their website! What I know is that every Tuesday, it's half price day for students so bring your student ID! I heard that it's closed for a month and only will reopen on 18 January next year. Take note that the shop opens at 10.30 am to 2.30 pm. I arrived there at 11 am and it was kinda crowded surprisingly. 

We bought a total of 7 items for $21. Good deal or whatttt!! hahaha. You really have to have the energy to find something that is appealing to you. We spent an hour and a half there before we literally felt like fainting. Oh and the long john top costs $6 so since it was half day price that day, I thought I could get it for $3 but nope, it's brand new so $6 it is. I could take a pic of the items we bought if you want :) just say it under the comments ya!

After losing much of our energy (lol), we decided to get lunch from yellow submarine. It's Halal which I didn't know until this year (yes I know, so lag hahaha). It's at B1 of Bugis junction, took about 5 mins to walk there from the shop. Just go back to where the church was and you'll see a red maroon squarish building which is bugis plus. Walk straight. Further down, you'll see a hawker centre across the street located at the base of a bright red low-rised building. That's bugis street. So cross the main road, you'll see the white building which is Bugis Junction.

We got these for lunch, yumz. One baked rice costs $5.90 which is considerably cheaper than the ones you find in other restaurants like pizza hut. You can choose either chicken, beef or vegetarian mushroom. Oh and to add the cheese fries (best seller) and a drink, just add $3.

See how 'clean'  it is. This is the result of being hungry for the past hour.

We continued our journey to eastpoint mall, simei to get a present for my sister's birthday! I seriously think that this year's presents is one of the best among the previous years!

Feeling kinda tired now so I'll stop here. Do follow or give a like to this blog post ya! Thank youuu

Vietnam (Hanoi, Sapa, Mai Chau) 6-day trip

Day 1: Sunday (6th Dec 2015)  

heading to Sapa

We took a Tiger Airways flight to Hanoi from Singapore, this 2-way flight ticket costs a bout $200+. It was a 3.5 hr flight and it's discouraged to eat outside snacks :S. Just eat secretly lah hahaha. Okay, moving on.... we reached Hanoi at around 12pm, Vietnam time (Take note: Vietnam time is 1 hour behind SG). When we stepped outside the airport, it was coooollldd!! It feels like you're in an air-conditioned room. So better bring a sweater!

We checked into Kangaroo Hotel, located at Hang Luoc at the old quarters. It's small and tall! You have to carry your huge ass luggage up the stairs, one storey, one room so if you're room is at the higher levels, I just wanna wish you good luck! Oh and, it does not provide Halal breakfast! so for the rest of our days having breakfast at this hotel, we just ate the small french loaf they gave us with the packed butter and a banana and avoided using their utensils. I know this isn't a filling breakfast so I suggest you bring a lot of instant noodles, canned food, bread, jam, and snacks. Good news, there's a halal restaurant nearby called, Zaynab stall, right beside the mosque. It opens from 11am-5pm (Vietnam time) It's just a 5 mins walk to the right of the hotel, but you have to cross the road which was definitely a challenge! The trick is to walk slowly and steadily as though you own the road like a boss hahaha. Whenever we cross the road filled with never-ending vehicles especially motorbikes, I feel like I'm in a real-life Frogger game LOL.

Well 5pm came and we had to get on a taxi to the Train station to get on a train to head to Lao Cai (the base of Sapa) and then take a van up to Sapa. 

The train has 4 bunk beds per cabin, so if your travel group consists of less than 4 ppl, you'll have to share your cabin with strangers. There's no kettle or hot water provided so I suggest your eat a hearty meal before taking the train or bring a meal along. The space between 2 beds are very small so it was difficult to open your luggage there. The train leaves at 9.30pm and arrives the next day at 6am. The crew would knock on your door to wake you up 1 hour before reaching the train station. Don't bother bathing or changing your clothes coz there is no time, the toilets would be occupied so just brush your teeth. Once you leave the station, we were greeted by a van driver. (we booked a halal tour for Sapa, otherwise, you have to search a van yourself) They took in more ppl than it could accommodate so we had to squeeze in. 3 seats for 4 ppl. Your butt will hurt after sitting in between the seats for 1 hr....

In Train

Lao Cai

Tip: Get a map from the counter so you'll be able to get to attractions near your hotel.

PS: There's another halal Indian restaurant. Both shops closed on (every???) Sunday from what we observed today.

SGD$1 = 15,600 vietnam dong

Day 2: Monday (7th Dec 2015) 

2km trek in Sapa, cat cat village

It's super cold about 10 degrees celsius, when you talk, you could see the 'smoke' coming out of your mouth. That just proves that it's extremely cold. So please bring your long john, and down jacket. We checked in Cosiana Hotel which serves Halal food yay!!! We ate breakfast there, omelette with toasts and one pho bo (which means beef noodle soup) After settling down into our rooms, we were greeted by our tour guide,Phuc, for the next 2 days.

 view outside hotel (amazing huh)

The trek for today started at 9.30 am and ended at 12.30pm and was about 2.5km around cat cat village. I gotta warn you, the tribal ppl there are very persistent in selling you their handmade stuff. They would first approach you and ask for your name and how long you are staying in Sapa blah blah blah and then hand you a small horse made of sticks and tell you it's 'free'. Nothing is free in this world okay! Once, you accept that 'free gift' which I did, they would keep asking you to buy their stuff. You might be thinking, just walk faster and further away from them, I did just that and it didn't work. They would keep bugging you till you agree to buy from them. They would charge a heft amount for just a small pouch. It was initially priced 100 000 dong and you could bargain them for 50 000 dong (which is still much more expensive than the handmade stuff you can find in Mai Chau village)

Today was a sunny day so it was too warm to wear your down jacket. The village was nice, and there were a lot of wild pigs and dogs. I was almost attacked by an enormous wild pig  hahaha. 

There were a lot of steps to climb up and down, yeah it was exhausting.... There's also a waterfall there, well to sum it up, it's a nice place la. Go there to experience it's beauty yourself :D

It was a half-day trek so you have the other half of the day to jalan-jalan and explore sapa yourself! We went to visit the church nearby and the shops there. You can get a down jacket even a north face jacket, not sure if it's authentic but the quality is good and it's light too! I bought my purple down jacket, not north face one though for 250 000 dong which means about $18. Where can you find this in Singapore or even on qoo10 (maybe except carousell but still...) I did buy one before from qoo10 for $32, and all the feathers inside started to come out and kept poking my body :( I realised their size S is more of XS so a sized S person like me bought a size M.

PS: the aircon in the hotel room can be set to heater mode

Day 3: Tuesday (8th Dec 2015)

12km trek in Sapa, travan village

Today was not a very good day to trek. It was drizzling at first so not having a poncho or umbrella was okay since we had our waterproof down jackets but soon it started raining cats and dogs throughout our 12km trek (mostly downhill) so about walking 2km in the rain, we reached a shop that sold ponchos. So please bring a big poncho that covers your feet as well if possible or if you can, wear waterproof shoes like boots. My socks and shoes were soaking and couldn't be dried for the next few days so bring an extra pair of shoes! bring a pair of gloves too coz it will be freezing, it was 7 degrees Celsius btw. And could you believe that there were 3 tribal women who followed us from the start till the end(almost) of the 12km trek so that they could sell their goods to us. That is what I call sheer determination.

The path was rocky and muddy and slippery and filled with buffalo poop so wear shoes with good grip. Luckily I didn't fall or anything hahaha but your pants will get dirty. It was foggy as well brrrrr. And we had to keep avoiding motorbikes every 3 mins or so. We stopped over at a shop but it wasn't halal so bring along your meal in a Tupperware!

Once, we reached the village, it definitely has the soothing and tranquil ambience to it. SO SO different from singapore.

We started at 9.15 am and ended our trek at 3.30 pm and we took a van back to our hotel or you could walk another 12km uphill which was a no no for meh.

We have already check out of our hotel room so once we reached our hotel we didnt have a room to freshen up so we just be thick-skinned and packed our luggage at the lobby lol. No place to shower but no worries, we didn't even sweat and it was freezing so I don't think you'll have the mood to bathe.

PS didn't take anymore pics since it was raining heavily :(

Day 4: Wednesday (9th Dec 2015)

lepak day at Hanoi

So we arrived at the Kangaroo Hotel at 5.30am and the road was empty for the very first time, like a ghost town. wooooh (ghostly sounds lolol). Unfortunately, the hotel was locked so we sat at the steps outside the hotel for 10 mins before the staff opened the door. We rented an empty room for awhile to sleep/bathe etc coz we were only able to check into our room at 2pm (vietnam time). 

We asked the counter for directions to our destination and we were given a map. The journey was about 20mins, but you won't feel tired as the cooling weather will make you forget about your fatigue. And do wear a sweater! 

We went to visit the Hao Lo Prison which is now a museum, each ticket costs 30 000 dong. No guide whatsoever but it's self-explanatory, so no worries! Then we walked around, sightseeing and took a taxi back to our hotel. Then we head to Dong Xuan Market which was just 7 mins walk away from our hotel. It's definitely not a market for tourists. They are an unfriendly bunch of ppl. Vietnamese are the most friendly people I have met but that market is where all the unhappy and grumpy ppl congregate hahaha. The stall vendors were busy taking stocks and we were constantly pushed whenever we walk through the squeezy aisles between shops. 2 shop vendors told me "NO" when I was browsing through their stuff..... They charged so high for smth that can definitely be found somewhere else at a cheaper price just coz we were tourists.... Such a bad experience. Didn't buy anything from there. 

So we rested for awhile in our hotel before heading to the hoan kiem lake where the night view is spectacular. That's where many Vietnamese couples go for dates. Sad view for single people jkjk. It's only about mins walk from our hotel. On our way there, we saw so many shops selling VERY CHEAP stuff from clothes to selendang to sneakers. You can get shirts from as cheap as 30 000, that's just ~$2 and shoes at 50 000 ~$3. The shops starts packing up at 10.30pm (vietnam time), not sure what time they open but we started our shopping spree at 9.30pm their time. 

PS my hp cam quality does no justice to the view you'll see there.

Day 5: Thursday (10th Dec 2015)

Cycling at Maichau

The van picked us up at 8.55am (V.t) even though we were told that they will come at 9-10am so always get ready early! 

The van ride was 3.5 hours, there is one stopover so that we could go to the toilet, bring an empty bottle if you want to beristinjak. We had another stopover nearer to Maichau and I really like the view.

I have no idea how that guy went up there 

Our trip to Mai Chau was only for a day though there are those who went there for 2D1N. It wasn't that cold so you dont have to bring your sweater. We had our lunch first before cycling.

The place where we cycled was at the leeward of the mountain so I dont think there's a need to bring a poncho. You have to be good at cycling as you're going to cycle with other tourists as well, you won't want to keep making them wait for you! The path to cycle on is narrow on some parts especially in between padi fields and there are motorcyclists honking at you to move at the side. I almost fell into the padi field, lucky I landed on the bush which was just beside the padi field. If I fell beyong the bush, I'll find myself in the muddy paddy field. 

We stopped over at the Thai Mai Chau homes and our tour guide showed us the inside of the house. He knows how to speak Malay, amazing right?

The guide's the one wearing the cap

And the shops which sell handmade items. A wallet costs 20 000 dong, a drawstring bag costs 50 000 dong and a punch/ bracelet cost 10 000 dong. How cheap is that! bring a big backpack so you can put the stuff you bought in it without having to hold the plastic bag while cycling. 

This ended at 4pm and soon, we were on the van heading back to our hotel at Hanoi.

We didn't do anything exciting on Day 6 so my trip to Vietnam ends here. 

This is my third time in Vietnam, I've been to Halong bay, Ho chin minh, perfume pagoda, tum coc river and rode a boat at the Mekong River, so if you have any queries regarding those places, do feel free to comment below! or follow me on instagram naqyy and pm me!