Danang And Hoi An - UNESCO Heritage Town & The Hills

Travel here, travel there. See this, see that. Life is a wonderful experience which gives us an opportunity to celebrate it. Life is not boring but it depends on what you make of it. Life can be as exciting as you want it to be or as boring as dull as you're able to imagine it to be.

My travels bring me to Vietnam this time round. As we touched down at the airport, we took a cab straight to Hoi An where we put up for two night. During travels, I normally keep my mind blank, devoid of any expectations and would leave it to the location to satisfy my curiosity. As it is with every place that we visit, it never fails to make us leave with a tinge of sadness as we fly away into the skies.

Now, back to Hoi An.The cab took all about 45 minutes from Danang International Airport to Hoi An. No taxi touts to harass us but a commercially registered Toyota took us through Danang town to the stretch of seaside before coming to a rest at Thanh Van hotel (http://www.thanhvanhotelhoian.com/) which was recommended by a fellow traveller. A rustic building with air conditioning a pool in the middle of it. What did I tell you about visiting a place with a blank mind? This hotel already wowed me to bits!

After checking in and looking over the room, it's time for local food! What do you do in Vietnam? Get their pho, baguette and coffee, of course! And so, with our biological compass, off we went for a walk to check out the town. Old as it is, there's nary a plastic bag on the streets nor grafitti on the walls of buildings. It's a UNESCO heritage old town, befitting it's recognition. We plonked ourselves at one comfortable looking cafe and called for our pho and coffee. After 10 minutes, we were working our way through the meal that defined Vietnam. A meal of flat noodles with plenty of basil leaves and bean sprouts to go with it, not to miss the chillie padi accompaniment. Ah, this is Life.


With our stomachs filled, let's take a walk through the old town. And did I mention that it's 21 degrees here? It's a welcome relief after experiencing the 36 degrees back home. The whole town is on air conditioning! When it comes to purchasing, divide their dong with 5,000 to get it's equivalent in ringgit. After a while, you'll get used to it. And there's plenty of purchases to be made if you're not in control of yourself! Lots of handicraft to fill your imagination. However, be mindful how much you can bring on board the airplane.

The entire town is filled with tourists satisfying their curiosity of this little heritage town. Locals occupy the streets selling their stuff and wares, while shutterbugs click away and supported by the super fast, local free Wifi service to help upload photos pronto. It's a very good strategy and investment by the local council, to help themselves publicise to the world and promoting the heritage town in a big way. With more tweets and postings in Facebook, the world's attention will be drawn to it by the tourists who flock this quaint, peaceful town.

One thing's for sure. There's plenty of food around to satisfy your gastronomic curiosity. If you're not fussy about hygiene, you'll enjoy the local food more by squatting with the locals to enjoy the food in this paradise. If you're not conversant in their local language, it wont be a hindrance to partake in the food and culture. Just point your fingers to what you want, and the calculator will be used to display the price. Always bargain to half the price displayed. That's what I've learned when buying things within the Asia Pacific region. Unlike Malaysians who sulk if you don't make the purchase after the bargain, they will still offer a smile. Who'll not return, one may ask.

When we arrived, it just so happened that there was a Food Festival organised for the night. No need for such a grand welcome, we told ourselves. Ho ho ho The event only lasted the night and that too, while we there. How lucky we were! With all the fanfare and games, the atmosphere was electic. Laughter and merriment was the other of the night. The popular game was hitting a earthern pot hung in front of you while blindfolded. It looked easy but it's certainly not. The spectators certainly enjoyed laughing their hearts out, at the antics of the participants.

If you're planning to visit this town, take note that fees are collected to help maintain the place. So, do support them and it doesn't cost much. For a minimal fee, the entire town is offered clean and neat. The thing about little heritage towns is their abundance of boutique cafes, for you to enjoy their local cuisine. As you bask in awe at their creative designs to prick the interests of potential clients, take more photos if you'd rather keep yourselves out of these cafes. No worries about theft but it's good to be careful. But don't your worry hinder your enjoyment of the place.

Once you've had enough of the town, head down to the beach which is just about 5 km away. An Bang beach, facing the South China Sea offered waves for your enjoyment, blowing off sand dust and mist with their strength. Although the beach was out of bounds for swimmers, tourists threw caution to the wind and jumped in. It was evening and winds were too cold for me to follow them into the waters. Therefore, I just stood there watching hoards of tourists getting themselves wet. For them, the free showers are available on the shore.

After two nights in this heritage town, off we went to Danang city and stayed the night at Sanouva Hotel (http://www.sanouvadanang.com/) with complimentary 30 mins massage,to enjoy the hills of Ba Na (http://www.banahills.com.vn/). Who would've thought there was a cable car ride to the hill top resort? Well, it's just a 30 minutes cab ride to the location and the cab'll wait for your return. You need to inform the driver about this, if you don't want to waste time waiting for other cabs to fetch you back to town. The view during the cable car ride was awesomely beautiful, stretching across tree tops over the 15 minutes ride, past clouds of mist. There's free Wifi at the top although there's no chance to send anything over the internet as the bandwidth is overcrowded.

This is one ride that's not available in Malaysia. It's like some kind of luge on rails, with you seated in the car, manipulating the brakes as you zip down the hill. I would release the brake all the way, if I were you, to enhance the excitement! Yes, it was fun and a unique experience indeed. There's cameras shooting you and a printed 8R sized print out costs only RM20. It's much cheaper than what we'd pay in our own theme parks. And who would not buy the photos if it was so cheap and affordable. It's a good strategy. Otherwise, they'd have to try really hard to convince visitors to buy and that's a waste of time and energy. A good strategy. With the printed photo fixed inside a cardboard frame, it'll be a collection of our memorable time on this hill.

The other local produce would be the marble carvings of statuettes, depicting the demons and angels of religious folklore. The temple at the hilltop reminds one of the Shaolin temples in China and the monks look like they're going to use their kungfu moves on you anytime. We came across one helper who guided us through the cave behind the temple while mumbling to himself. I was very worried for us because he behave like a psycho with his mumbles in the local language. Ho ho ho But it turned out well as we exited the various caves that housed Buddha statues. I was actually glad and relieved that the tour was over! Perhaps I shouldn't have over used my imagination but it's better to be careful, right?

Back to ground level, it's time to look for food again and here's another dish to satisfy our hunger. Noodles in small portions allows us to savour more of the local food varieties, so that's a good thing. However, the cost of meals isn't exactly cheap at RM6 for a bowl of noodles. At the local market, just point to the picture since the capability to read the local language is next to nothing. And that'll do, for the seller understands that perfectly well.

The flight and accomodation cost us RM2,000 for the flight was booked a year prior. Spending on land costs another RM2,000 for the entire family. It's an affordable holiday and it's good to see the world, so that we can appreciate what we have or not. Vietnam is a good place for a holiday besides Thailand. Take a break once a while and travel to a place you've never been before. Till the next travel, take an interest in the world!

Life's Pandemonium

Argue here, argue there. Fight here, fight there. Disagree here, disagree there. In Life, there'll be many opportunities for disagreements and hopefully, some will turn out to be agreements. Humans are a social lot and the need to communicate and express one's thoughts plays a big role in society. Likewise, blogs are one of the means of communication.

Life and strife borders strongly on two areas : politics and religion. Some may opine that religion is a bit like politics, where it's a matter of collecting people from the same group of thoughts. Money and might makes these two areas in humans' lives attractive. Is there anything free in this world?

In politics, there's elections and the contest to determine who's mightier and garners more support. Though money can be used to buy votes and promises of development can be dangled in front of the donkey, the voters are still 'free' to vote their favourite political party. However, violence shouldn't be part of it. But are the authorities strong-willed enough not to take sides? Well, in the events over the recent weeks, they have disappointed many of us and proven to be selective in persecuting the guilty, and they have chosen sides.

In religion, where it's ideology espouses peace and harmony, recent cases have cast doubts on whether religion does what it's supposed to do - spread peace and harmony? Bodies have been snatched and weddings disrupted, only to see the victims suffer in agony over their lost ones and the ceremonial hosts embarassed. Are these crimes against society to be allowed to propogate and permeate every level of society?

Freedom of speech and actions form the basis of our constitutional rights. However, the constitution itself is being challenged by the ultras and the justice system seems powerless to act against the vile actions of these select group of people in authority. Or will they summon enough courage to set in place, a true system of justice where the judgements will be respected? The perception has to be corrected and may they succeed in doing so. Failing which the people will take to the street law, in getting what they want.

Freedom of religion is an ideal philosophy and the faithful should steadfastly remain true to this claim. Freedom means that one has a choice of embracing and leaving the religion should one cease to believe. Freedom should not be institutionalised into a law that prevents one from leaving the religion. This freedom is part of a human's rights and should be respected, if the masses are to be convinced.

Religion, is a set of beliefs, similar to politics, except that there's an ethereal entity involved. The mystery surrounding religion dates back many eons, setting in place many discoveries that beguils the current minds. Having said that, it remains that words are written by mankind. In politics, it's also about a set of beliefs that sets the party in motion. And the words are also written by mankind.

Do we need religion and politics in this world? Well, it certainly adds colour to our lives. From the basic of the main religions and political thoughts, it has led to the iteration of beliefs into many others and causing many more splits in society as they group under the umbrella of religion and politics of their choice. That being said, if the division causes strife - then it should be prevented from disrupting our lives. We need a voice of Sense. We need to live in Peace. We need to work in Harmony.

The Coagulated Political Community

Condemn this, condemn that. Criticise here, criticise there. Profanities flying everywhere as supporters of the political community try their best to outdo themselves, trying to make

themselves stand out and hopefully, their respective parties will get some votes from the citizens. Quite a few have even earned themselves the title of racists as they tried too hard to 'defend' their community, not realising that the country is made up of many races who are also struggling to make a living like themselves, people who desire to have a sense of belonging in this piece of land they call home.

It had been a tiring 5 years since 2008, with many of us glued to Facebook, Twitter and other popular social media sites daily,updating their statuses with their opinions on the political drame unfolding as GE13 approaches. Some even let their political selfs take over their 'normal' lives, providing 'analysis' after analysis on the local political scene. These people make it their mission to spread political awareness to those who have been sceptical as to their influence on the election's results. They breathe and sleep politics, as some might rightfully deduce.

Back in 2008 when FB was still at its infancy stage, there were no high speed broadband

connections quite as speedy as they are these days. 514 kbps or even 1Mbps were 'super' speeds those days but yet, the netizens were busy tapping away on their keyboards as they put forward their opinions and tried to cultivate the same school of thoughts politically. And one's updates were viewed by the 700,000 odd FB members then. There were no groups like what we have these days. The groups were designed to make it difficult for paedophiles to reach out to children.

Race and religion were the hot topics debated back then, as we tried to rationalise the differences in opinion. In summary, we agreed to disagree. However, politics was what kept us together through the years and we have made each others' friends and stuck through the years. Malays, Chinese, Indians...we were the citizens of Malaysia.

When citizenships are mentioned, foreigners invariably come to mind, as to their actual role in society besides earning their rice bowls, far away from their homeland. Socially inept, they kept largely to their own communities, living in squalid conditions that beggars disbelief, that one could live in a chicken coop. However, their roles in society have 'diversified', as observed in the recent polls. Their presence in the country is much needed by the people of a certain political divide as the foreigners provided an easy avenue of political support in the form of votes.

Now, this will rile up the citizens as the government allowed them to have a say in the running of the country albeit in an illegal way. Despite the denials, evidences of these foreigners at voting stations continue to be ignored by the officials who merely 'reassured' the citizens that as long as these foreigners are on the electoral list and posses an IC, they're allowed to vote. Coupled with the blackouts, the winning votes were rigged and Voila! we had the winner at 1.00 a.m early Monday morning.

While the country did not Change! or Ubah! as the members and supporters of Pakatan Rakyat had hoped, the struggle will continue although they deserve to take a rest after intensely rallying the 1st time voters and fence sitters to put their votes for the cause. Mammoth street gatherings were organised to speak out against unfairness in the electoral system, as they struggle to cast the demon out. However, the demon remained entrenched in the system for yet another 5 years or that's what it seems until the internal revolt takes place.

Until then, the winner is allowed to bask in the glory or winning or wallow in shame for a reduced majority, thereby casting the entire coalition into a risky situation where a sudden change of heart may result in cross overs which will transform the political landscape once again. Malaysians have spoken up, and they have shouted loud enough, that fairness and a corruption-free society is what the country direly requires, to secure a better future for the next generation. It's not a 'Chinese Tsunami'. On the contrary, it's a Malaysian tsunami as the well-read and well-connected join hands to alter the future of the country and steer it out of the quagmire of rot that it's submerged in at the moment.

Congratulations to the people who have made it possible to win with a bigger majority than before and kudos to those who stuck through thick and thin. Change! and make sure it's complete at the next opportunity.

Polls A-Calling

Pakatan Rakyat this, Pakatan Rakyat that. Barisan this, Barisan that. Opposition this, Opposition that. Revelations this, revelations that. We're right, you're wrong. Conspiracy this, conspiracy that. Gatherings here, gatherings there. Tear gas here, tear gas there.

These are some of the words splashed across the mainstream media daily. Whether the internet, the age old newspapers, the idiot box or the radio. We have no choice but to see or listen to these words being bandied around as political parties and their supporters up their ante on campaigns as the polls loom closer around the corner (or at least that's what most of us think, although the last call for polls would be in March 2013).

Many of those well-meaning folks, would have adviced the young voters to register themselves as voters. The apathical young voters who have the influence and might to decide on governments. The ones who spend most of their waking hours on the internet, scouring the web for information relevant to their areas of interest. But one can't put aside the influential and formidable online news website : Malaysiakini, the select choice of news agency that's credited for being the more neutral and brave in putting forward their views on the local political scene.

Fence sitters are the bane of political parties. Either they're not interested in carrying out their patriotic duty for the country in ensuring their government of choice rules the motherland or they're still lounging in the thoughts that their will never amount to anything. Well, they must be told in no uncertain terms that every vote counts, as the battle against illegal voters is an uphill task, legitimised by a corrupt regime that strives to ensure it's political survival albeit against an uprising new tide of new generation of voters who're more vocal and dare to exhibit their thoughts and actions in the open arena.

While the youth are allowed to absorb the political news from both sides of the political divide, one must already have decided on which party he/she will vote for. Being pussy footed about this decision may cost the country another 5 years of political struggle as corruption and racial anarchy reigns supreme. It should be clear to the youths by now, which side is the more peaceful and forward looking, and potential choice of government for the next 5 years. There is no right or wrong party to support. Make the choice and openly support the side which has been chosen.

While youths may be the decision makers, those who have not cast their votes before, may also cost the future of the country. These potential voters, might not think that their votes will amount to much. However, it should be hammered into their grey matter, that every vote counts. They are potential kingmakers. Both these groups of potential voters are being reached by the agents from sides of the political divide. The youths being closely in touch with technology and information, are called upon to spread the word of truth against the lies and might of the great propaganda machines of the current leadership and convince their brethern to cast their votes when the time comes.

Whether a better government comes into rule or not, these group of potential voters must realise that's indirectly their fault for not performing their duty as permitted by law. The apathical voters must cast their doubts aside and make their choice so that their government of choice is given an opportunity to proof their administrative skills, in managing the country well and free from corruption so that the citizens are able to enjoy the benefits, funds which are apportioned from taxes on their incomes.

Spread the word and convince all voters and potential voters alike, to carry out their patriotic duty to protect and serve their country from further plunging economically into an abyss. Take a look at our closest neighbour down south and dream that one day, Malaysia, may achieve the prosperity and efficiency of a well managed country that rose from an island swamp. To a better world, Cheers!