MATco polo...travel corner.......anything pasal travel

SQ154

Originally posted by rosslyn at 2-12-2005 01:56 PM


ya, i agree.:ah: very handy kalau ade wet tissue.
you suggest lah kat thread 'travel kit'..never leave home without it..

Gd suggestions thanks  

SQ154

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Airasia offering 2,000,000 free seat to all destination across asia



   

[quote]Originally posted by SQ154 at 7-12-2005 11:59 AM
http://www.airasia.com/site/en/home.jsp

Airasia offering 2,000,000 free seat to all destination across asia



   

...krabi is very laid back....will write report soon.....


makan punya makan tak tengok timbang.......dah naik 4 kilos.....aiyah.....nak kena diet lagi...


btw....food is good...and cheap.....

deaf4ever

Originally posted by matz_rockz at 7-12-2005 05:38 PM
...krabi is very laid back....will write report soon.....


makan punya makan tak tengok timbang.......dah naik 4 kilos.....aiyah.....nak kena diet lagi...


btw....food is good...and cheap.....

welkam back matz

Originally posted by deaf4ever at 7-12-2005 05:43 PM




welkam back matz

thanks blood......

this is near the jetty kat sungei krabi....waktu pagi and petang bila mata hari nak turun cantik the sight...clouds cover the cliff

don't pray pray like phua chu kang says....

my taxi is NUMBER ONE

SQ154

Good morning, Vietnam

By Adeline Chia
20 September 2005 - The Straits Times

Forget the war and welcome to the budget traveller's and gastronomic haven

STEP out of the airport into the warm air of Ho Chi Minh City, and you walk into the embrace of a boomtown flinging its doors open to international tourism.

Taxi drivers accost you, offering tours and hotel recommendations.

From the comfort of an air-conditioned taxi, the sights plunge you into the city's churning cogs.

Shophouses sit next to squat small temples. Welders in motorcycle shops shower sparks dangerously close to a street manicurist.

Tables and chairs from food stalls spill onto sidewalks. Traffic moves in an endless charge of motorbikes.

Slender women perch daintily on their mopeds with long gloves and masks, both protection against the sun and dust.

Crowds of Western tourists pad by tourist-friendly signs in English, or sip beer in watering holes around the area.

With budget airline Tiger Airways jetting Asian passengers into Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and the low cost of living, Vietnam is a budget traveller's haven.

Vietnam is a place, not a war, but it is hard to remember that, when so much of the tourist dollar is spun from the fixation with the Vietnam War.

If the conflict in the 1960s and early 1970s is your primary frame of reference, hotspots such as the War Remnants Museum and Reunification Palace should be high on your itinerary.

The Reunification Palace (106 Nguyen Du, tel: 829-4117) is a whitewashed concrete building whose many re-namings and re-constructions follow the upheavals of a troubled nation.

Erected for a French colonist in 1868, it was South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem's home in the 1950s, after the French left.

But so hated was he that the air force bombed the palace in 1962 in an unsuccessful attempt to kill him.

Following his successful murder by his own troops the next year, and the eventual fall of the South, the palace's name was changed from Independence Palace to Reunification Palace.

The building is an unsettling mix of 1960s architecture (kitschy bubble chairs, warm mustards and browns) and elegant Vietnamese arts and crafts (exquisite lacquerwork, rosewood and silk).

A short walk away is the Museum (28 Vo Van Tan, tel: 930-5587). Its small collection of exhibits showcases the horrors of war.

Outside the building, take a short tour of mock-ups of 'tiger cages', the prison cells which the South Vietnamese military used to house Viet Congs.

But not all of Ho Chi Minh City's sights revolve around planes and tanks.

The red-brick Notre Dame Cathedral (Han Thuyen), for example, is a serene refuge from the city's frenetic pace, and a reminder of its French colonial past.

Ben Thanh market is a bustling place near a roundabout with a statue of Tran Nguyen Han, the first person in Vietnam to use carrier pigeons. He is portrayed on a horse.

The market sells hats, straw bags, coffee and tableware.

Towards the back of its main hall, stalls sell com, pho and cha gio (rice, rice noodles and spring rolls respectively).

Indeed, one of the pleasures of visiting Vietnam is its cuisine, which veers towards two extremes.

On one end, you have simple dishes like spring roll. Vermicelli, veggies and prawns are wrapped tightly in translucent rice-paper.

On the other end is gastronomic ferociousness heavily reliant on nuoc mam, a pungent sauce made from fermenting highly salted fish.

So powerful is this dip that it has been banned, together with durian, on Vietnam Airlines flights.

Fancier restaurants have sprung up in the Dong Khoi area, an upmarket tourist haunt.

Boutiques sell chic tourist fare - from hip communist-inspired memorabilia to lacquer tableware and clothes influenced by traditional Vietnamese wear, the ao dai.

Check out Chi Chi (138 Pasteur, tel: 824-7812) for lovely fabrics and designs at affordable prices.

A 30-minute taxi ride away from the city centre is Cholon, the city's Chinatown. Stores disgorge their wares from the narrow interiors of shophouses.

Enthusiastic bargaining takes place in Binh Tay Market where dried fish, pickled vegetables, coffee, slippers and fabric are sold.

The fury of buying and selling was as relentless as the baking heat.

We ducked into a cafe.

Sitting facing the sidewalk, watching busy bikes moving against the still, venerable Chinese temples, I thought, there were parts of this resilient country that the string of American combat movies had gotten all wrong.

Completely wrong.

The writer, a former intern with Life!, is studying literature at the University of Edinburgh.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ho Chi Minh highlights

EAT

Quan An Ngon, 138 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, tel: 08-8299449
Always packed with locals and tourists, this restaurant serves excellent Vietnamese fare at affordable prices.

Check out the individual stations where cooks prepare regional dishes.

Go for the steamed monkfish at US$6 (S$10) which is sheer value for money and good authentic taste.

SHOP

Khai Silk, 107 Dong Khoi Street, tel: 08-829 1146
This outlet does ready-to-wear and fitted outfits.

STAY

Spring Hotel (Mua Xuan), 44-46 Le Thanh Ton Street, tel: 08-829 7362
This hotel downtown offers comfortable and spotless rooms. Rattan furniture gives it an old-world charm, and friendly staff make for a pleasant stay.

Originally posted by SQ154 at 8-12-2005 01:42 AM
Good morning, Vietnam

By Adeline Chia
20 September 2005 - The Straits Times

Forget the war and welcome to the budget traveller's and gastronomic haven

STEP out of the airport into the ...

SQ...thanks for this article.

3 days in a row...makan swensen ice cream kat krabi only 69 bhat (S$2.86) size macam coit tower.

kat spore cannot afford to makan....

was at the sungei krabi early yesterday morning....this fisherman bawak ikan dalam baldi....

mata ikan macam pakai contact lens,very very clear.
saw the ikan selar kuning...the colour is more orange than yellow....ni fresh betul.

sotong pulak...masih hidup in the baldi...




pagi2 buta pergi tengok the cliff with the clouds passing by....what a sight....

angin tiup pun sejok alot...my wife pakai 2 baju...me as usual pakai t-shirt with my bermuda...

ni kedai yang i makan sotong,pucuk paku and lemak muchroom

dilah21

nice spread.. tell us more about krabi bang matz

most of the muslim woman yang we meet in krabi,dorang pakai tudung and decently dressed.tarak yang pakai terbukak2....very conservatives gitu.

kat pasar and kedai2 makan...mostly the woman yang jaga.
they are very friendly with tourist...i snapped this photo of ikan leper macam selipar.
she saw me,and she took out a big live octopus ...she ask me to snap the octopus as well.

ni tak tau apa.....telor mata lembu floating in kuah or lauk...

the kedai makan yang we patronise....ada bau this herbs....very very nice smell....

normally ada dulang on the table with all the ulam2....very appetising....and it's free

ni sedap...paes paes ikan.....kick betul...and it's only 10 bhat (40 cents)

SQ154

Originally posted by matz_rockz at 7-12-2005 05:38 PM
...krabi is very laid back....will write report soon.....


makan punya makan tak tengok timbang.......dah naik 4 kilos.....aiyah.....nak kena diet lagi...


btw....food is good...and cheap.....

You go on your own or ikut tour ?

Originally posted by SQ154 at 8-12-2005 08:53 AM


You go on your own or ikut tour ?

on my own brudda...spend less than $250.00 for the 3 days....with some extra cash left.

kat strategic places...ada mini bus yang will take you to the other district....

i think i spend less than $500.00 for 2 pax...inclusive of food,rooms and flight...