A blessed month is casting its shadow upon us,
A night of this month is better than a thousand months,
Bear with patience for the sake of Ar-Rahman,
It's a continuous training to strengthen our Imaan.
Sincerely,
Salam Ramadhan
I must say,
However, I was particularly amazed by the design of their houses. Its very different.
I know its very wrong for me to say it, but I kept asking myself, why like that? A lot of houses were just 5 feet wide!
And the other thing that really caught my attention was:
One thing that was made available almost everywhere was the infamous Snake wine.I even saw it @ thei R&R!
It is an alcoholic beverage that includes a whole venomous snake in the bottle. The snakes (venomous ones) are not usually preserved for their meat but to have the snake poison dissolved in the liquor. They are often mixed with many smaller snakes, turtles, insects, or birds, and left to steep for many months.
Snakes are widely believed to possess medicinal qualities and the wine is often advertised to cure everything from farsightedness to hair loss, as well as to increase sexual performance. Would you try?
Ok, among all, one incident really made me laugh. I was on my way to somewhere and I saw this guy:
Everything seems normal? Let’s take a closer look:
That buffalo is alive!! And it was moving!.
Visiting
And if you know me well, you should know that I am rather fussy with food. I don’t eat seafood, I don’t like anything spicy and im not really a vege fan. Chicken is like a permanent daily dish.
Anyway, I have had similar experiences with my visit to other countries. So, I was prepared (and it was never a big deal coz I am so used of skipping lunch most of the time!)
A friend told me about this restaurant in
We stumbled into a mosque and thought it would be best to just ask for direction.
I must say, the Vietnamese are really friendly and helpful. Realising we don’t really get the direction, this dude offered to guide us to the restaurant.
A very nice dude who guided us to the restaurant
NISA Restaurant is the first Halal Malaysian restaurant in
He was very happy to welcome us, and I was extremely happy to know that my kinda food is there! Haha
Chicken Briyani
Naan & Tandoori
Everyone at the restaurant were able to converse in Malay, which was cute (coz they are Vietnamese). The food was really good! I’m not saying this because I don’t have much choice, but honestly the food was really something I’d say “worth waking up for” (The Breakfast show tagline.. hehe)
If you are a Muslim travelling to
Note: I also found a nice vegetarian restaurant there. That's coming out in a different story :)
~Cheers!
To be honest, I didn’t have a clue of what was it until I got out of the mausoleum. It was really early morning and I just got lost in translation (literally). The tour guide told us to get ready @ 8am and that was the only thing I processed. I thought it was a “museum”, and had a tiny heart attack when I saw Ho Chi Minh's body.
Ho Chi Minh or also known as “Uncle Ho” is venerated as a national hero and father of
Honestly, I find it quite weird because it’s against his wish (and their religion) but from a different perspective, it’s good to allow the new generation to be close to their hero.
Admission to this mausoleum is free but you will find a long queue almost every day. Don’t be surprised if the long queue to see embalmed corpse of Uncle Ho are mostly locals, because they truly respect and love him.
The queue at 8am!
“Uncle Ho” looks very peaceful and serene, his eyes closed as if in deep slumber. The wispy white beards on his face are still and his body is white and pale, almost aglow, in the orange lights. In the super cool air-conditioned room, and surrounded by plenty of army guards who stand motionless at all times, the room is hushed in enforced silence and the atmosphere is surreal.
I was informed that the mouseleum usually dont accept visitors for 2 months every year (Aug –Sept if im not mistaken) for preservation purposes.
I had a chance to visit
Mua Roi Nuoc or Water Puppet performed by Thang Long puppet troupe is the most well known in Ha Noi. One must catch this show in order to complete their trip to
It is a unique art which has it origin in the delta of the
Nowadays the show was performed in a pool of water with the water surface being the stage. They have enhanced the show with proper pool & great lighting effect.
The puppeteers stand behind a screen and control the puppets using long bamboo rods and string mechanism hidden beneath the water surface. If you are wondering, yes, the puppeteers are all wet!
The puppeteersA traditional Vietnamese orchestra provides background music accompaniment. I believe the singers sing songs which tell the story being acted out by the puppets. I don’t understand a single word but I understood the whole story because the actions were pretty straight forward.
This is the section for the orchestra
It was a brilliant show. It requires a lot of hardwork and precision. At one point, I almost forgot that there were people behind the curtain, choreographing the movements of the puppets.
I recorded parts of the show (coz I was just too busy enjoying it most of the time!). Enjoy!!
Let’s talk about one of the most important consumer items — water, or more precisely bottled water (be it still, reverse osmosis or whatev...
.jpg)
