sOleiLian

No, it wasn’t me who went for a holiday in exotic Vietnam. Last week, I lent my camera to my cousins for their trip to Hanoi, the bustling Vietnamese capital (also the former capital of French Indochina), and I’m here to share with you some of the 1000+ pictures they took there. Enjoy!

Hanoi in chaos by night

A bakery in the Old Quarter

Check out those wires! Total madness.

A lady with a shoulder pole walking past shops and stalls

Spectacular Hạ Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site about 170km east of Hanoi

Tourist boats docking at the port

Impressive cave formations at the bay

For your information, Hanoi will be celebrating its 1000 years of establishment in October next year. So anyone planning to make a visit there soon? ;)

And of course my cousins bought me souvenirs, LOL! I don’t need fancy stuff as mementoes. All I ask for are postcards. Nice ones, that is. :)

It’s no secret that I love the Eiffel Tower. I find it funny that the Vietnamese sell souvenirs featuring stuff related to their former masters instead of their own.

Ain’t this just fabulous? A pop-up card with the Eiffel Tower in 3-D!

c a t e g o r y | passport to nowhere
f l u f f e r p u f f | travel . vietnam

20 sOleiLians

The 1st stop of our study tour to the state of Perak in February was the famous Taiping Lake Gardens. The gardens are the oldest of its kind in this country and were first established in 1880 during British colonial rule.

A former tin mine, the Taiping Lake Gardens are renowned for the 10 scenic man-made lakes and ponds. The grass was nicely trimmed, and the trees that helped to define the gardens reminded me of a beautifully landscaped golf course.

The day was just plain hot. Though the paths were largely shaded by the trees, I think they were still not enough. Or perhaps we came at the wrong time. Oh wait… It was noon time, silly!

As we wandered through the vast expanse of the gardens, we spotted monkeys! The girls were particularly afraid of them and they tried their best to keep a distance from these naughty creatures. I wanted to take a nice shot of the primates but they kept running away from me as soon as I approached them. And I did put on extra alert lest the monkeys turned nasty and snatched my camera phone off my hands!

Then there was this huge lotus pond. Picturesque as it might seem, I was immediately disgusted at the sight of candy wraps and empty cans in the pond. Malaysians, Malaysians! When will they ever learn to throw litter in the designated bins? Talk about 3rd World mentality…

And guess what was our greatest discovery of the day?

Dragonflies mating!

c a t e g o r y | life as a student . passport to nowhere
f l u f f e r p u f f | lakes . malaysia . parks & gardens . perak . travel . university life

13 sOleiLians

When you have a new camera with you, you just couldn’t stop shooting pictures! More night shots of my humble city…

Alor Star’s primary roundabout which is situated just next to the city’s most celebrated Buddhist temple, Wat Nikrodharam

Another version of the picture shown in the previous blog entry

Located at the entrance of my residential area, the Wisma Darul Aman is Kedah’s state secretariat building complex

Wisma Darul Aman with its vast square against the moonlit sky

Istana Anak Bukit, the Sultan’s royal palace in the royal town of Anak Bukit, 7km from Alor Star city centre

Built by the country’s wealthiest Muslim corporate figure, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Shah bin Syed Nor Al-Bukhary, the Masjid Albukhary is one of the city’s newest and most stunning landmarks

The mosque with its bluish Persian-inspired domes by day

c a t e g o r y | alor star . my ville
f l u f f e r p u f f | alor star . kedah . malaysia . mosques & minarets . palaces . religions & spirituality

12 sOleiLians