Ximplicity v2.0

gonna spend the coming week in a city where modern will meet ancient, where the ruler of the dragons once lived, where walls of bricks were built to fend off invaders from the north

i am going to spend my next 7 days basking in one of the oldest city on the map.

the best part is, this time i can finally bring a notebook with me, so i don’t have to delete photos every other night to make sure i have enough space on the CF Card for next day.

the worst part, however, is that i’m gonna miss her very badly, so bad i hope i won’t be sobbing alone in the night.

because it pains me whenever it reminds me that i’m 5000km away from where she is during her birthday…

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Now Listening: Corrine May - The Birthday Song

Vietnam, my first ASEAN country. i’ve always wanted to visit the neighboring ASEAN countries. to my personal opinion, though most ASEAN countries are still labeled as third world and developing countries, they are so rich in culture no developed countries could ever match. especially the Indochine mass, sitting right in the middle of 2 of the oldest civilization India and China, i bet we would be able to see one helluva scene.

On The Way to the Halong Bay Cave, i thought this view can only be seen in China

The Confucious Temple in Hanoi

A Pagoda by the lake

Influences of China, India, American and French cultures molded today’s Vietnam.. Chinese Temples that are still in use today, French styled buildings in the French quarters, Indian believes, culture rituals. the influences from these 4 main culture are very obvious from its architecture, buildings, people’s culture and even their daily livings. if you are ever a culture traveller, it’s a country you shouldn’t miss. torn apart by the bloody civil war, Vietnam has a painful history, but has given the world a very good lesson on how important peace is, and how war could bring a country down, by poverty.

“A Painful History”

“HUNGRY”

though it’s only Hanoi and Saigon, it’s already an eye opener and i had a minor culture shock… one thing i’ll never get used to is its traffic.. i can guarantee you it’s a million times messier than KL, being so expensive to get a car, the 2 wheelers are the main mode of personal transport in Vietnam. it’s so popular that there are 2 millions motorcycles in Hanoi and 4 million in Saigon. and practically there’re no traffic rules in Vietnam, it is not for the faint hearted, trust me. i was on it and it was a LIFE AND DEATH experience to me. at that very moment the kid who was pillaining me brought me through streams of bikes and cars that stampeded towards me, i thought Mat Rempit’s way of rushing through the traffics and do stunts on the street are actually nothing, kid’s play, or you can say, rubbish la!! totally no kick ah!!

Bikes, Bikes and more Bikes

Even Motorcyclists’ helmet has fashion too

“LOST” - An Old Lady caught in the middle of streams of Bikes

the one thing i know i could never pick up is the Vietnamese language which consists 6 different vocal tones, blardy hell!! Chinese language’s 4 tones can already be pretty confusing, imagine 6!! there’s one last thing i really need to say is that, Vietnam has incredibly beautiful kids. they are so beautiful i had a very happy time snapping the faces of the kids…

Run Boy, Run!!

School Kids in Assembly

The most beautiful face in Vietnam

The Mother and The Son

well well, let’s hope there’ll be a chance i can pay a visit to Central Vietnam, where most of Vietnam’s histroies took place, ancient ruins of historical kingdoms and a 20km coast line with beaches that have pearl white sand. frankly speaking, 2GB card was never enough for such trip, i’ll make sure i’m getting myself at least an 8GB CF card before i depart. all the images below are a small fraction from the 600 images i snapped from Hanoi, Halong Bay and Ho Chi Minh City(Saigon). if you’re interested, here are the links to the albums..

all sceneries are from Hanoi, HalongBay and Saigon
http://ximplicity.net/gallery/vietnam

my personal favorite album, the “faces of Vietnam”, where you see the people, their lives and their culture..
http://ximplicity.net/gallery/facesofvietnam

Halong Bay Cave Special
http://ximplicity.net/gallery/halongcave

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Now Listening: James Blunt - One of the Brightest Stars

In less than 5 hours time, i’ll be on the plane again..

This time to the Emerald of the Orient..

once torn by the bloody civil war and brothers of the north and south were seperated. yet ironically, it took down the world superpower and gave them a very hard time.

i just can’t wait to take pictures of this beautiful country and its beautiful people

See you guys in 6 days time !!

have a great weekend !

it’s been a very pleasant and eye-opening trip, despite the really cold weather….

Just imagine yourself standing inside a huge freezer. within the first 5 minutes, you would alread start to feel that your skin tightened up, and in the next 5 minutes, you couldn’t even feel your fingers and face anymore. every breathe you take will become mist, serious, i couldn’t differentiate whether it was my breathe or it’s the smoke from my ciggarette. and your lips dry up so fast you’ll finish half a stick of lip balms in just a few days.

back to the trip, if you haven’t been to Shanghai, HangZhou and SuZhou and you love breathtaking sceneries, please go. you’ll be awe by how beautiful a place can actually be. my jaws were simply dropped while i was at the West Lake (西湖) in HangZhou. truly amazing, a masterpiece of art by mother nature.

really, must say a big thanks to Cavin, i got the new baby, the Canon 400D a day prior to my departure.

View at West Lake, Hang Zhou

View at WuZhen, the centuries old Water Town

Night View of the dwellings beside SuZhou Canal

with this new baby, i was definitely indulging myself of the “snapping desire” for pretty sceneries as well as collecting the necessary snaps to fulfill my “dream”. in total, i’ve killed almost 2300 rounds during this trip, after 1st round selection, i’ve came up with around 900 photos, then picked some of the highlights and made it into an online album. if you’re interested to see more of the images i took, you can find how truly amazing are the sceneries in China in the Full Album here.

and of course, i just couldn’t resist taking the faces, because i think the a face really tell a lot about where you’re at, every night after work, when all the clients were resting in their hotel rooms, i would just sneak out of my room to take a stroll along the streets and start happily snapping away the faces of the local people.

Night Stall at FuTze Miao Street, Nanjing

“PAPA, WHERE ARE YOU?”

“Dragon Moustache” Candy Maker

so, if you would love to see more of the faces of China, i’ve got it all here as well…

looking forward to going to these places again, this time on my own to really experience the people’s life…

am going to be away for 7 days during this CNY period to the land of the dragon

this is the third time i’m setting foot on this mighty land of my ancestors

and this time i get to see the bund and the part of the world where they claim has the hottest eastern woman.

Happy Chinese New Year peeps

and

GONG HEI FATT CHOI !!

Surprisingly, India is a very beautiful country.

it was a very mind opening trip to India, indeed.

the monuments, the culture, the people and the scenery altogether.

seeing all those suddenly reminds me that India is one of the oldest civilization in the world.

and by the way, i was only at Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. which is like only 1% of whole India. according to people who were there previously as well as the tour guide, there are a lot more in India to be discovered.

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just in case you’re interested in some of the snaps i’ve taken during the recent trip to India..

here you go. SNAPS OF INDIA

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Now Listening: Lenny Mcdowell - Ain’t No Sunshine

so, is my 200 photos from the Egypt tour is going to be a 200,000 words long novel?

enjoy the images, travel logs will be in pages.

and please don’t mind the low quality of 3x optical zoom, 6.0megapixel Canon IXUS60, that was the best i could do, and all photos are enhanced using Picasa

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and stay tuned, India’s images is coming up next.

it’s going to shock you, because India was never what you’ve been thinking it’s supposed to be. at least it wasn’t like what i thought it was.

Now Lisening: Nickelback - Rockstar

this time, to the cow god land…

now i know, due to the job nature,

there won’t be a single chance to come online at all.

so, stay tune until i get back on the 23rd Dec this time

have a great pre-X’Mas week !!

Now Listening: Teri Moise - Il’ Sait

a teaser before i successfully make the photo albums

there you go..

Now Listening: Chaka Khan - Funk This

am going to be away to the pharaohs’ land for a week…

will try to online when i’m there.

otherwise, i’ll see everybody on the 15th Dec

have a great week folks !!

Now Listening: Vanessa Carlton - Come Undone