04/01/2025
Haiz.. the cruise manager knocked on my door at 7am, I thought there was a fire wtf. Told him not joining the rest for Tip Top Island tour urrggg... Then fell back to bed to sleep a little more.
After 8am, I walked out of my room and had the whole ship to myself (hadn't even wash my face).
Sleepy head - dirty face - swag - no sweat at the loading deck.
I didn't want to leave...
Prepared for the day with that rose on my head.
Last of my room's balcony, *sob*.
Everybody was back.
Tip envelope on every table.
Breakfast.
I waited 2hrs for the limo bus to arrive and it went down the road to pick up a few more passengers from other cruises.
Bursting bladder. Already told driver I needed the washroom, he drove so far when he could had stopped earlier. I needed diapers lolxx...
Surviving 3hrs on the road.
Landscape started to change with more and more hills in sight.
Entering Ninh Binh through this historical gate.
3D2N accommodation Fairy Mountain Resort (about S$60/night each room). Another resort experience for me after the luxurious one we had in Mauritius, this was more pocket friendly.
My sisters had reached earlier and were snoozing.
Pics of the room.
Kid sis freaked out as the window had no blinds. But it actually faced the mountain and below was a pond. So technically nobody can appear at the window unless he is Spiderman.
Pee poo bath "exposed" in the wild lolxx...
Looking down from the window, could see the pond right outside the bathroom with water lilies, so prrrrrretty.
The resort looked like this.
Heehee...
Individual houses surrounded the pond.
Alien looking fruits.
Chillax.
I could stay here without stepping out for the night but kid sis wanted to go supermarket 😂, so we were out for dinner later.
Fairy Mountain Resort had cats, dogs, goats, roosters (very noisy at night) and according to my sisters something else also which I didn't sense any...
Took Grab taxi and went Hoa Lu Ancient City recommended by the reception.
I knew about this place online, it was prettier than I thought, glad that we came.
I didn't look at this batch of photos until after a few weeks I came back from the trip.
The photos turned out to be GORGEOUS (to me).
Kid sis said this place reminded her of Shanghai.
It's really pretty, pity that we didn't make it early enough to see the the place during day light.
Reminded me of Hoi An except that the boats were stationery here.
Historical pagoda temple.
Was surprised by the beautiful sandstone carvings inside.
The carvings went ceiling high.
Next mission was to look for dinner.
This tree with metal support, it was going to kiss the earth liao.
We had escargot + beef steamboat and the corns corns CORNS!!! I love Viet corns oh my days...
Couldn't remember the actual price, I think it was less than S$30 for the 3 of us.
Instant noodles which I couldn't find in supermarket.
Steamboat on a chilly night with gorgeous view of pagodas on river, superb.
Tourist should do what tourist do, not lame.
The WinMart supermarket was a stone throw away.
They had mini shopping trolleys to keep children occupied, tickled me so much lolxx...
S$0.50 flat packed milk.
Muaahaahaa... first time to see milk packed in this manner, not sure if it saved space.
The jelly was like S$0.10 for 100g, about 2 or 3pcs.
3kg rice was about S$4.
We were amused by eggs in baskets, the locals must thought we were crazy lolxx...
It's really cute lah aiyooooo... but no way we could bring them back.
Not massive, under control haahaahaa...
For digestion.
We booked and had a bike tour the next day.
