16 days on 2012

Wow! I can't believe that we're at 16 days of 2012. How fast time flies by!It has been a while since I blog. Always the delay in time and work that makes me become lazy. I hope I am not the only one.

I had one of the longest nap earlier and thus making me awake at this midnight hour while having one of my favorite singer's music playing and memories of IHOP Pancake.

To think about it, this whole past week had been a dull week for me. Hoping this week would be better. I am just not into doing anything. It's the holiday blues that I've been having all along. Damn it! I really need to get my ass move things around and stop goofing. Otherwise, I am in serious deep shit. :(

Well let's see what I have done in 2011 that I can make 2012 a better year.

- Managed to do a last minute Christmas Dinner ( a lot of improvements could be done)
- Managed to pull together a Charity Dinner for orphanages (I'm really happy and honour to do this! )
- Managed to run a retail shoes business (I am so suck at this!)
- Failed to lose weight!!!! (Every year's failure!)
- Managed to send pendants to my BFFs across the miles (Really thankful that it happened)
- Managed to meet some new friends (trying to open my door and heart to someone)
- Attended Jacky Cheung's 1/2 Century Concert (I don't mind going for another one, he's a awesome and talented singer)
- Visited Da Nang and Ho Chin Minh in Vietnam (I wanna go back and stayed there forever)
- Visited my sister and her family in Frankfurt (Wish she could be nearer)
- Toured France, Switzerland, Austria on a train (It was a wonderful experience)
- Settled in my room after 3 years (Seriously, it took me that long!)
- Successfully broke a chest closet within a month of purchase (Oh sucks!)
- Got myself a Longchamp bag and a few other bags (Is it matter?)
- Clean up and gave away unwanted things (Hallelujah, that I manage to do this.)
- Permed and highlighted my hair (I really like it very much with the long hair)
- Rearrange my room (It looks better and going to decorate it more)
- Spoke to a person that I thought I'm not going to forever (SOS situation and I felt it sympathy)
- Started to blog (It's one of the things that I want to do for so long and finally achieve)
- Picked up a reading behavior in line (I really need to read more)
- Managed to do a simple website (Believe me, it's not easy)


So what is my resolution this year? What I want to accomplish in 2012? Stay tune..... 

My Da Nang's Story!

	Some friends told me that you have to book ahead of time to fly with Air Asia in order to get a good deal. It wasn’t for me at all. This was my second trip that I considered booking last minute and had a wonderful experience of a lifetime especially this one! The excitement of this trip began when I first initiated to book the trip a month prior. Yet, we got the best deal to Ho Chi Minh City (HCM), one of the busiest traffic cities in South East Asia. Thanks to web check-in otherwise, my travelling buddy would have missed the flight! She managed to get her passport in time so that she won’t miss it! (Definitely no jokes when all you can forget is a passport to board!) We both have forgotten on saving our host’s contact number and no idea where shall we wait when we arrived. A wonderful thing called Wi-fi internet connection appears. We managed to get it thru a friend before we took off. We spent a night in HCM and had one of the best noodles in town, Hủ Tíu Nam Vang. Despite Vietnamese food is famous with their pho, we decided to have something different and it turned out good. Keep in mind that in Vietnam, every stall makes their specialty pho so it is pretty easy to order. In the morning, we boarded to another low-cost carrier to hop on to Da Nang, the third largest city in Vietnam. Travelling in monsoon season is definitely challenging because we’ll need to deal with rain and the shorter daytime.
My wonderful Vietnamese friends managed to get a motorcycle rental for us and we travelled around with this two-wheel vehicle, which is the most popular transportation mode in this country. Now, let me remind you it’s not easy to drive around even in a city like this. We managed somehow to survive Da Nang’s road despite that it is a light traffic compares to HCM. After indulging into a homemade cooking by our lovely hostess, we drove around Da Nang town. We managed to catch the fishermen back from the South China Sea and selling their daily catch by the roadside.  Drizzling rain definitely made the Vietnamese Coffee taste so much better after all.
In the evening, we ride to Hoi An, a UNESCO approved world-heritage.  There are a lot of similarities with Hoi An, Malacca and Penang in Malaysia which was a trading port in the 15th to 19th century in South East Asia. They are all rich in the culture heritage. One thing you must try is their chicken rice. Yellow rice with boiled free-range chicken and vegetables on the top while spicing it up with chili paste is finger licking good! The next day, we woke up for a sunrise at 5am. Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy and foggy. Don’t be surprised that the sea is filled with people who swim, jog and exercise even before the sunrise. After breakfast, we went to the wet market to get some fresh seafood and vegetables. We ride thru Hải Vân Hill drove by mountains and passed thru waterfalls which gave us a good view of Da Nang! My host and hostess brought us to a secluded fishing village, Lập An where you can find the friendly yet warmth of Vietnamese hospitality. They both managed to arrange a homemade seafood lunch for us to fill our hungry stomach where the seafood was freshly caught.
Upon returning, we went to a private beach (for now) which they are all going to be developed as a 5-star hotels and resorts soon. To sweeten our day, we spoilt ourselves with Chè Thái (fruits in coconut milk) and Rau câu dừa (coconut jelly with milk) to complete our wonderful and memorable day.
Despite the cloudy and foggy weather, we still wake up to catch the sunrise in case we got lucky. But we were not that lucky. We enjoyed people watching facing the South China Sea while listening to the ocean waves. We soon need to board the plane back to HCM, and really going to miss this place.
The flight that we had booked was scheduled at 7:50 am thus arriving at 7:26am gave rooms for the low-cost carrier to deny our boarding for a domestic flight. Forever I will remember that not to fly again with this particular carrier again. We have to wait until afternoon to board another flight back to HCM. We then went on with a motorcycle ride to Ba Na Hills which has the longest cable car in the world. They offer amazing sceneries of mountains, waterfalls, and clear water from the mountain.  On our way down from Ba Na Hills, we were told that the cable car would not allow passengers to ride down. Somehow, my host managed to pull some strings and got us down within minutes! Before boarding the plane from Da Nang, we managed to get a bit on Bánh tráng cuốn thịt, a type of Vietnamese summer rolls before saying goodbye to our wonderful friends who has treated us with a world-class hospitality. This is a wonderful travelling experience that I would treasure. Travelling with a good buddy that can make you laugh all the way, warmth hospitality from good friends, indulge in the savory food and nonetheless magnificent view of mountains and oceans which takes your breath away!