2 days 1 night Mai Chau trip(Day 1)

First of all, I drag my blog post update again.
I had my 2D1N Mai Chau trip in November, and I only have time and energy and mood to update this in May(when I already ends my HK, Khaoyai and Krabi tour).

Anyway, I hope this is another useful post from me.

So, most of the travellers will go to Sapa, but Go!Mitty really have no enough time to explore Sapa. Therefore I picked Mai Chau as our second(and last) pit stop in Hanoi after reading some reviews in Cari forum. Plus, the kids in my group love cycling, and they didn’t have chance to experience village life in Malaysia, so why not to take this opportunity to let the young one explore the village life and let the elderly “cycling down the memory lane”.

Mai Chau is actually a valley in Hoa Binh province. Compared to Sapa which offers the best mountainous view in Vietnam, Mai Chau is actually a simple village. But, we had a great time here.
Fyi, 11 of us stayed in the tilt house at Mai Chau Nature Place at USD60/person. So without further delay, lets explore this valley with Go!Mitty.

Day 1 itinerary

Pickup at hotel in the Old Quarter. Had traditional lunch in local village(vegetarian available). Then,bicycle ride with tour guide, see farmers working in fields, locals weaving scarves and visit surrounding peaceful villages.
At night, we watched Thai traditional dance in the stilt house and enjoy traditional alcohol (ruou can).

The AccomodationMai Chau Nature Place.
We didn’t stay in Riverside Bungalow.The tilt house
Just like the Rumah Melayu but it is taller.Our room.
We didn’t have bed, only a thin mattress, blanket and pillow.
We didn’t have a nice sleep though,
because the roosters wake us up at 3am~
So call village sound.

Our lunch upon arrival.
Very nice foods, and we settled them in lightning speed.Kids in Malaysia playing with ipad,
but in Mai Chau, they are playing with simple toys and the natural.

We then started our cycling tour around Mai Chau after the lunch.

We first dropped by to see and experience how the locals weave.Go!Mitty go weave.

Here are some “kampung views” in Mai ChauDad was enjoying his bicycle ride.
First time being that close with calf.Stopped by the community HallFarmer working in the field with buffalo

Actually there is nothing much to see here in Mai Chau, is just a place to relax and experience the village life. I think that’s why I only saw Vietnamese and Western travellers here. Malaysians has kampung too~haha. Anyway, I still not regret for choosing Mai Chau.

Then we end our cycling tour at the local market.

Cocoons!!!Ladies in the local traditional costume.Local art products.
Their scarfs are in good quality.

After that, we had our bath and took a short break before the dinner time. We are again being served with yummy local foods. Then we were entertained with the traditional dance performance. Last but not least, RUOU CAN time!!!!

Everyone was so excited when the ruou can being placed at the centre.
We drink it from the bamboo straws.
Seriously nice to drink…. <3Me, ruou can and our tour guide, Hung.

Ok, so this is my only post in May, some more updated at the end of May.
*Smack my forehead*
I should be more productive.

Must wait for my Day 2 post k?
Don’t abandon me!

Halong Bay, Vietnam (Part 2)

Hi all, so now Go!Mitty going to blog about Halong Bay again. So so so sorry for the slow and late update on this. Was busy doing research for my upcoming Krabi and Taiwan trips.
U all will forgive me right? (tqvm for ur kindness.. <3)

So, after taking our lunch, visited and sprained my ankle at Surprising Cave, and kayak at Floating Village, Halong Christina Cruise brought us to Titop Island before the sunset.
While I was surveying the overnight cruise, my first concern was the price,and second was: Will the cruise go to Titop Island. 

Sure you are wondering why I want to go Titop Island badly. Well, my pictures will answer the question.

Titop Island, here I was.
Finally I stepped onto this magical island in Halong Bay.

The kids are happy when the cruise dropped us at this island because finally they can have a quick swim in the bay. But, once I put my feet on this island, I told my parents, I am going to hike to the peak of this island. I want to immerse myself at the panoramic view of Halong Bay from the peak point. So, Go!Mitty. Hike alone. >.<

The loneliness and tiredness(I have poor stamina~) finally….. like really, finally! I am here!!!! Tadaaa… panoramic view of Halong Bay!!!!

We are allowed to stay on Titop Island for 1 hour and I spent 30minutes up there. I keep smiling alone looking at this wonderful view, one of the best view I ever saw in my life. The weather is overcast, that why it looks not so attractive from my pictures. But, trust me, you can feel my happiness when you are standing up here.

I LOVE TITOP ISLAND.

After spending an hour here, we went back to cruise and had our Vietnamese spring roll making class and dinner. Then, we sleep like a baby through the night.

On the second day, before we headed back to Halong Pier, we stopped by at this Pearl Farm. So, they showed us how the pearl is form, how they breed and harvest the pearls.

So, there is a shop selling accessories made from pearl.

Which one is nice on me?
Anyway, I didn’t buy any.

After visiting the pearl farm, we had our lunch on cruise and sail back to the pier. And, we saw the famous Fighting Cocks on our way back.

Fighting cocks

Hereby, I end our Halong Bay tour.

Next,
Mai Chau

Getaway Treat Campaign by Seeties

Everyone know Go!Mitty love to travel around. But every time it is not a free getaway. 

Everyone know Go!Mitty love to share good things, so today I going to share something good with you all.

Today, I saw this Getaway Treat Campaign in Facebook and of course Go!Mitty get attracted by this AWESOME sites. 

Do you heard about Seeties?
Seeties is a website, and now a phone apps(you can download it from Playstore) where you can discover and experience the attitude of a new city. If you love to travel and eat around, you can share your stories in Seeties too.

Do you love having a free stay at luxury villa?
So, in conjunction with the launching of FOLLOW feature, Seeties is having a "Getaway Treat Campaign: Outdoors and Beautiful", which I can choose to have a FREE 2 days 1 nights stay at one of the private villas(can choose from The Dusun, Malihom, The Stable Malacca and Happy 8 Retreat. They are giving away 10(you are right, TEN, SEPULUH, 十个) getaway treats.

Are you interested for this exclusive campaign?

Here comes the rules(copy paste from the Seeties):

First, post at least 1 recommendation on "Outdoors& Attractions" category and 1 on any category you love at Seeties platform(Art&Crafts, Beauty&Fashion, Food&Drinks, Kitchen Recipes and Performing Arts) from 2 April-30 April 2014.

Second, each recommendation should have at least 3 photos, interesting and helpful info, and correct locations on Google Map.

Don't worry you can submit more than 2 recommendations, the more recommendation you sent, the higher chances for you to win the treat. They will select 10 expert's recommendation with most beautiful photos to win the getaway treats.

So, what for waiting?

Faster go and sign up as a Seetizen Expert of Seeties at HERE. Then, share and post the campaign poster with your own unique picture URL on your blog(just like what am I doing now)

I had registered as Seetizen Expert, kindly follow me at: http://seeties.me/gomitty#posts

Shout out to Seeties: Please...please.... let me win it~~~~

Halong Bay, Vietnam(Part I)

New7Wonders of Nature campaign was held from year 2007 to 2011, and Halong Bay is one of the 7 winners, others are Jeju Island(visited in year 2012), Iguazu Waterfall, Amazon Rainforest and River, Puerto Princessa Underground River, Komodo Island and Table Mountain.
Fyi, I will share the beauty of Halong Bay in 2 separate blogposts noh….
WHY? Hmm, just simply don’t want share it with you all in one go. blek~

So, lets sail through this wonderful place with Go!Mitty pictures…….(ai ai Captain!)

Halong Bay which literally means “descending dragon bay" has an area of around 1,553 km².Even though I never been to Guilin, but I know both of this tourist spots share the common beauty which are their limestone karsts. Ok, less talk, more pictures pls~~

The weather was slightly overcast, that’s why the pictures taken with this dummy Fujika camera was gloomy. Anyway, it still show the beauty of Halong Bay, right? 好像薄纱后的美女~ I keep on wondering how the mother of nature makes all these limestone karsts and isles appear in the middle of sea? Hmmm, it suits the title, wonder of nature.

Cruises in Halong Bay

There is 2 types of cruises in Halong Bay, which are overnight cruise and daytrip cruise. Then overnight cruise is divided into 2 days 1 night trip and 3 days 2 nights trip. The round trip to Halong City takes about 7 hours, so I HIGHLY recommend you to overnight on boat even though nothing much to do at night.(just sleep noh~). The cruise range from budget to luxury kind, which generally the smaller size cruise has the cheaper rate, and the details you can find it online. If you are lazy and is ok with budget cruise, just book Halong Christina Cruise.

As there are 300+ cruises operating, so is fun to see the cruises with different designs passed by us.

From top
First: Fantasea Deluxe Cruise
Second: Indochina Sails
Third:Halong Dragon Cruise

From top
First: Paradise Luxury
Second: Halong Emotion CruiseChio i-don’t-know-its-name cruise

Local "cruise"So, this is how the local earn for their living.

Surprising Cave(Hang Sung Sot)

The cave is found by French in 1901 and it is the tourist spot that 99.1% confirm-in-the-itinerary because it is the most magnificent, amazing and surprising cave in this bay. It was so magnificent, amazing and surprising that Go!Mitty sprained her crunchy ankle here. How embarassing!!! I sat on the staircase in pain after the fall, with several cute handsome boys asking “Are you okay~?”

Stop the silly stories and explore this cave.

Fyi, we need to do little hiking to get into the cave.

                                   The first chamber once we stepped into the cave is pretty small.

But this is not the prettiest part.

                                                         I love the wave like ceiling. Nice!

This is the surprising part.Colored and proper lighting of the caves made the
stalagmites and stalactites more attractive.Tortoise like rock where the head is biting bank notes.
Tour guide told us that, touching the tortoise head can bring good luck.
No wonder, the head so smooth.
Don’t need use sunsilk
Ain’t it looks like a waterfall.

You will be welcome by this wonderful view once you come out from the cave:Berry berry nice~~~Spotted 2 pairs of rocky legs

So our Surprising Cave tour comes to an end.

Kayak

This is another activity which is confirm-in-the-itinerary. Our kayak fee is included in the money we paid for Christina cruise. Do take note whether kayak fee is included in your Halong Bay tour payment.  

We kayak for around 30minutes at the floating village.

So, I end my first part of Halong Bay post here.
Next: Titop Island!(MUST GO!)


Roll roll roll your boat,
Gently down the stream,
Merily merily merily merily,
Life is but a dream