LIFE IS WONDERFUL

This is a 7 days' back pack trip. The 1st day did not start out well. Our original flight schedule was to leave Penang at 10.50 am and when everyone was onboard, the captain announced.............. "We are sorry to keep you waiting. There are some technical problems with one of the engines and we are looking through manuals to resolve it". I was shocked when I heard the words "looking through manuals to resolve it". It did not sound right to me. A good and experienced aircraft engineer or technician does not have to rely on manuals to resolve problems.

After about half an hour kept us waiting in the plane, they finally announced cancellation of the flight and delayed it to 4pm. We had to leave the craft and went back to Penang Airport. This almost 5 hours of flight delay basically interrupted our whole plan. Our original plan was to leave Penang at 10.50 am, arrived at KK around 2pm, took a cab to Inanam main bus terminal and headed to Kinabalu Park, stayed over nite there and got ready for the next morning's hike.

The luck did not start out well, we ended up arriving at KK airport around 7.30 pm and upon enquiry at an information counter, I was told that there would be no more public buses leaving KK towards Kinabalu Park after 4pm. The lady advised us to take a cab from KK Airport directly to Kinabalu Park at RM150/ cab. That seemed to be the last choice we had. In order to keep to our budget as close as possible, I decided to try my luck with some other tourists waiting outside of the airport. I approached a group of guys waiting outside the airport and asked them whether they were heading to Kinabalu Park? They nodded and said yes. There were 13 of them from Sungai Petani Jail Department. They had previously arranged for a bus to transfer them from the airport to Kinabalu Park, however they could not commit whether there would be vacant spaces for us to hitch hike. We decided to wait with them until the bus came in order to check out availability of seats. When the bus came, BINGO.............. it was a huge Jabatan Penjara bus with enough space to accomodate two of us. They were kind enough to take us along to Kinabalu Park. Even though we arrived there late at nite after 10.00 pm, it was still better than been late or bursting our pockets by taking a cab. If not due to generosity and kindness of these guys, we could have ended up spending big bucks on taxi or been late to the park and missed our hiking schedule. At the end of the first nite, we were exhausted. After checking into Kinabalu Park hostel, we went to sleep as soon as possible in order to preserve more energy for the next morning's hike.

It was really a bad starting on the 1st day of our trip. Everything turned out so unexpectedly! We just hoped things would get better in the next morning and also days after that!

Not many photos were taken on the 1st day except some shots of Penang Airport (too boring while waiting for the new rescheduled flight) and Airasia aircraft wing!! I cursed AirAsia and Tony for screwing up our plan! &#@^@#&*@^#^&$^*@&$(.............................

Lesson #1 learned............. if u were to travel with AirAsia, do not plan to have connected flights or other transportations on the first day of arrival. Give it a one day tolerance, so that in case there is any delay, you will not screw up the whole plan.

This was meant to be a simple and easy trip. The main purpose was to sample seafood dinner at a Malaysia/ Thailand border town by the name of Kheng Thai. We left Penang in the early morning before 8 am. Arrived in Hatyai before 12 noon. The 20++ big group automatically subdivided into small clans. Some went to have their preferred lunch, some could not wait to start shopping and my group chose to enjoy massage upon arrival. We went to a local hotel and had a two hours' massage for only RM24. The lady masseurs were very funny. Some of them even spoke Mandarin and Hokkien. She told me .... “it's very tired to massage you.........two hours enough,three hours I die”! We all laughed! I think that is very true. So far I have never seen any masseurs whom never complain after massaging me! So it's only logical to give her more tips! Then we headed to a local restaurant to try out Thai foods lunch which I supposed was not cheap either. RM100++ for four of us. The foods were not bad but not the best Thai foods I ever had either. Subsequently we headed to Odean just to kill our time before heading to Kheng Thai for dinner. I could not really recall what I saw in the mall. The only thing I could remember was Wacoal...... Wacoal...........Wacoal..............

We arrived at Water View Restaurant in the early evening, perhaps around 5pm++. It was a very hot and humid day. The road leading to Water View Restaurant was narrow. Our charted bus could not go in. Thus we engaged a mini van to bring us there. The dinner was served right away when we arrived. The restaurant was on a lake, no fans, no breeze, very warm and hot. Foods served were spicy and hot, coming out right away from kitchen. Some dishes were served on charcoal stove in order to retain the heat, however that basically killed us. Heat dissipated from the charcoal stove and lingered in the air, hot enough to kill our face if not the whole body! It's like in a tomyam kong sauna. Spicy, hot and warm!

 

 

 

  

I did not find foods served were exceptionally delicious. However, the restaurant was unique where foods were prepared and cooked at a kitchen opposite the restaurant and brought to us by boats crossing the lake. The boatmen even played some stunts by igniting flames on those dishes prior to serving them. Perhaps that was the only attractiveness in this Water View Restaurant. For me, I was more interested in Angelina hidden in its toilet rather than dishes served! Don't believe me? Check out the pix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our last day in Sapa Valley. Woke up very early in the morning as we were told that it would take at least two hours to goto Bac Ha minority market. This market is very famous for its colorfulness as different tribes from the surrounding areas would gather and trade their produces here on Sunday morning. At least, this was what I read on most magazines and internet articles. Coupled with the two hours winding and bumpy journey, the expectation was high.

 

 

 

 

 

Four tourists from the same hotel were late. So the departure was delayed for at least 30 minutes. The road was really winding and bumpy and we reached Bac Ha around 11 am. Went straight to the market for a cruise. It was indeed colorful, contributed by fabrics, bags, wall hangers and toys sold in the market. Different tribes with different color costumes also added extra palates to the scene. The view of women carrying babies on their back was every where. Before I came to Vietnam, I had seen some fantastic photos of women carrying babies on their back and I thought it must be very tough for a photographer to spot one. This visit cleared up the doubt! It is almost omnipresence. Every corner. Every crook. No doubts, they were cute and beautiful but I think the government has to seriously think about family planning in this country!

 

 

 

The market was huge, covering almost the entire town of Bac Ha. However, things sold were pretty standard. Hand made colorful brocade decoratives, shirts, bags, wall hangers, toys, silk and etc. I walked down to the river bank area and found that even animals were traded here, not to mention electrical appliances and plastic wares inscribed with Chinese characters. Where else could they come from if not China? That really did not impress me much. Local food stalls were scattering everywhere and of course, only been frequented by local tribes. Generally people here were friendly. I saw a stall with low raised table and stools crowded by many locals, so I went closer to take a look. What I saw was this huge pot of soup broiled from all kinds of animal parts. While I was taking this photo, some guys sitting on those stools were waving at me and giving a gesture of inviting me to join them for the meal. They were very friendly and kind but I was very hesitant to accept the offer. So I grinned to them, gave them a thank you gesture and left.

 

No doubts Bac Ha market was colorful and beautiful but with such a long hour and bumpy journey, it was in fact over promoted. I would not purposely suggest a dedicated one day trip to Bac Ha just to witness this. Vietnam's vast array of colors and cultures among aborigines are every where. Not necessarily to go all the way to Bac Ha. This is also a place where we bumped into another friendly French couple whom we met during our Lao Chai and Ta Van trekking. They are Saida Fraszko and David Fraszko. They provided us their email addresses and we promised to keep in touch.

 

 

We had our lunch in Bac Ha. The restaurant owner was a Chinese but foods were very lousy. Most dishes were prepared with pork but the taste and smell were awful. Most of us ended up taking the lunch with only fresh vegetables, followed by bananas as dessert, just to make sure that we were full! The original schedule included a three hours' hike into Red H'mong's village. However, due to lack of time, we cut it short with only about an hour's visit to Red H'mong's village where we were exposed to houses made from cow/ buffalo dung, a type of plant which resembled Wasabi flavor, home brewed corn wine and etc before we departed back to Lao Chai.

 

 

In Lao Chai, we dropped by a river bank just opposite Yunnan, China. Both countries were only separated by a river and linked by a bridge. It was so near yet so far! Our last stop was at a restaurant opposite Lao Chai train station. A rather good dinner was served before we walked over to the train station and bid goodbye to Lao Chai and Sapa Valley. We took the so called luxurious Levitrain on the way back to Hanoi. The bed, cabin and toilet condition was a lot better than Victoria Train. The ladies were happy, however the bed size was too narrow for me. I could not turn and toss, thus ending up did not sleep well along the way back to Hanoi. It put a stop to our 7 days Vietnam trip. Day 8 was purely a flight from Hanoi back to Penang via a transit in KL.