After a long 9 hour overnight train ride from Hanoi to Lao Cai and another hour van ride up the mountains from Lao Cai, we found ourselves at the elevation of 1650m above sea level at mountainous village of Sapa, Vietnam. We were having breakfast at the Little Gecko, a pleasant small restaurant at the side street near the plaza. It was just opening that morning that chairs and tables were still being arranged by the lone staff. It’s funny how she just left us all alone the restaurant to buy/get the needed ingredients for our 30,000 VND breakfast meal.
Category: Travel
Batanes: Cliffs of Chanarian
Batanes has always been compared to Ireland when it comes to its cliffs. Though I myself haven’t been there, I know a couple of friends who has been there and had told me that the Cliffs of Batanes does remind them of Ireland. When in tour in Batanes, one of the favorite stops along the road is the Chanarian Viewdeck where you can have a closer inspection of the cliffs.
China: Chengdu Street Foods
I have been getting interesting emails on the food China Olympics 2008 Patrons were able to sample lately. It’s an amusing to see as it reminded me of our last day in Chengdu, China. After having visited the Panda Adventure, we decided to go around the city since our train ride going down south of China will be in the evening. Riding a bus, our eyes caught this highly ornament looking street that we just decided to go down.
Transit: Journey to Sapa, A Train to Lao Cai, Vietnam
I enjoy taking train rides. I think because it’s one of those means of transportation that’s not really prevalent in use here in the Philippines. Well, there’s the PNR (Philippine National Railways) alright which I have yet to try but I think it there are still a lot of work to be done there. Maybe one of these days I would try that. I was looking forward to our 9-hour train to Lao Cai that night since we’ll be sleeping in a soft-berth room. And from Lao Cai we’ll be heading of to Sapa.
Batanes: Imnajbu rugged country
I am currently arranging and archiving all of my photos from present backwards. I’m a bit of a sloth when it comes to organizing my digital files but it seems I need to systematize my work flow from now on. Anyways, with all these organizing, I realized I haven’t posted a lot of my materials yet. Will be posting some left over series from my most recent visit to Batanes for my local destination in between posts from Vietnam and China. First up is one the rugged beauty of Batanes, Imnajbu country.
China: Chengdu Panda Adventure
Since the 2008 Beijing Olympics just a few days ahead, I thought I feature one of China’s beloved National Treasure, the Pandas. Those droopy blotched-eyes and thick white fur are just so adorable that a kid would easily mistake them for a living stuffed toy. Pandas have been considered as a “living fossil” since they have walked among the saber-toothed cats in the Pleistocene period and have miraculously survived the changing earth conditions until this time. They have been a symbol of conservation that’s why it’s no wonder the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) used the Panda as their main logo for their cause. In China Chengdu, we were lucky enough to get up close and personal with these creatures at the largest Giant Panda Eco-Park in the World – the Panda Adventure.
Vietnam: Cha Ca La Vong
We arrived late in the afternoon in Hanoi, coming back from Ha Long Bay. We stayed for a while at the Handspan office to rest and confirm our train tickets for the night. We are set to take the night train to Sapa that evening as well. Since we had some time to kill, we decided to do a brief walk around the Old Quarters. Pretty busy street, mostly of low rise houses with old French facades. Would have been great to take a lot of photos but it was sun down already and the way the things those motos drive by, it’s kinda hard to take out your cameras in the streets. For dinner that night we decided to eat at Vietnam’s oldest restaurant which opened in 1871, Cha Ca La Vong Restaurant.
