316. The Hòa Hảo Brothers

In Hòa Hảo religion they call each other member either brother or sister, therefore these two men are not actually relative. There were about five Hòa Hảo guides but I was only able to capture photos of these two.  The younger one was a trouble maker before he turned around and joined the religion. The older one was the organizer of the trip to the Forbidden mountain that I took last December.  They were very accommodating and caring on the trip, we slept at temples and the guides brought their own food supply to cook all vegetarian dishes.  They even tolled all the food supply to the base camp up on the mountain by foot.  Each place we stop they lead  us with a prayer follow with stories to keep our spirit and energy level up for the rough hide.  Without their guidance we would not have make it to the top.  Thank you for the wonderful experiences.

315. Food & Drink

On my first trip to Phú Quốc with my aunties and uncle, everyone had a great time. We stayed at a resort right on the beach, Moon's Resort. For our last night meal, we had a picnic at the resort private beach with beers and two bottles of bailey, and by the end of the night everyone was laughing so hard.

314. Phú Quốc Island

I began my journey in Vietnam with a trip to Phú Quốc island last October and here I am ending my travel in Vietnam with Phú Quốc.  (^.^)

313. Cầu Cần Thơ - Cần Thơ Bridge

On my second visit

312. Chợ Nỗi Cái Răng - Floating Market Cái Răng

Sông Hậu Giang( Bassac River), Cần Thơ, Việtnam

This is how they fish?

Chợ Nỗi Cái Răng, Cần Thơ

This market open from early dawn and end around eight or nine am.  The Mekong delta region of South Vietnam was and I believe still is the main form of transportation for the locales therefore almost every farmer has a boat.  They would transport their goods to this market for wholesale.  The item that tied to the top of the pole located in front of the boat indicates what type of product that they are selling.  During the harvest season I bet it would be very busy.

311. New Friends

@ Main Post Office, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

I signed up for a tour of Ho Chi Minh city with a group of colleges students.  It was part of their class activities.  They incorporated the Amazing Race challenge with the tour and the whole group divided into smaller group for the game.  This was my group, they were so sweet and welcoming. Thank you everyone for the great tour.

310. Help the Poor

Long Xuyên, Việtnam

309. At Dawn

Bãi Tắm Hoàng Hậu, Quy Nhơn, Bình Định, Việtnam

308. Prayer at Chùa Thiên Mụ

307. Hếu's Citadel

In mid-summer when hot winds from Lao blew through caused the air to be over heated and unbearable, and as the result the place was almost empty during my visit.

306. Misty

Bà Nà hills, Đà Nẵng, Việtnam

I took this photo around mid morning, because of it's high altitude the weather for this location can be vary throughout the day.  The mood of  it just reminded me to those old classic movies of the 60s.

305. Ngủ Hành Sơn - Marble Mountains - Part 2

On The Way Down

304. Ngủ Hành Sơn - Marble Mountains - Part 1

On The Way Up

Đà Nẵng, Việtnam 

I hiked up the Marble Mountains early in the morning.  It was quiet, and there were no other groups beside my group.  It has an elevator to the temple on the top of the mountain but it was not open until later.  My group included mostly of older folk and I was the youngest one, they were all in good spirit  so it helped to make the hike more enjoyable, it took us about 45 minutes to get to the top. Along the way I stopped by two temples, the top one was built inside the enclosure of the these mountains range. 

303. Remnant of War

Buôn Mê Thuột, Vietnam

I took a short walk through the center of the city before our tour bus take off to the next destination. The atmosphere felt cool and quiet just like the distanced memories of the war, that had stopped over three decades ago, to the current generation.

302. See

Do You See It?

I Think I See It! 

Oh!!! I See It Now.

301. Feeling Like A Warrior

Buôn Đôn Village, Daklak Province, Vietnam. 

Located north-west of Buôn Mê Thuột city, it is well known for elephant hunters and trainers.

I was hesitated to ride the elephant on my first visit to Buôn Đôn village earlier year,  but on my second visit that I finally gathered all my courage to give it a try with my mom, and aunty.  It felt like I was sitting on a slow moving ferris wheel.  As my well being was placed on the elephant and it's trainer, I hold on tight to the wooden rails and could not believe how high it was.  For the first part of the ride, the elephant walked through a rugged down slope path to get to the water bank.  Few times I thought the elephant was going to nose dive down the slope and I was going to get throw out of my seat but it was just my anxious thoughts since the elephant had make it to the water edge without any problem.  Next, it was half way submerged in water, I wondered if the weight of the four human being was over barring for the elephant while the elephant took it time to march through the water and back to the where we began. Thank you to my mom and aunty whom had encouraged me to give the elephant a chance, without them I would not have gone through it.  (~.~)

300. Cầu Cần Thơ - Cần Thơ Bridge

Vĩnh Long Province, Vietnam

Amid its construction on September 26, 2007 section of the ramp collapsed.  It was inaugurated almost three years later on April 24, 2010.

299. Typical Night

A typical Night in the City. 

Nhà Hát Thành Phố - Opera House - Saigon, Vietnam

298. Veggie Hut

Cook heaven!

297 Thung Lũng Tình Yêu - Valley of Love

Dalat City, Vietnam

It was my first visit to the valley of love, not much to said about it. I had hear people talk about it when I was growing up but the hype disappeared as I got to visit it now.

296. Prenn Falls - Dalat

A trip to Dalat would not be complete without a visit to it many water-falls, Prenn Falls was the one I visited. I believe it was privately run park therefore it required visitor to buy ticket to enter the park. A short walk, part of the path was under renovation had make it a little difficult some time, leaded to the fall and the small bridge cross it's path. I walked by 5-10 groups of visitors so it was not that crowded. The place was more like a short stop for about an hour on the way to Dalat.

295. Trúc Lê Gia Trang Resort

A pigeon in hiding.

On the way to Dalat City, I visited Trúc Lê Gia Trang Resort, about 15km away from Dalat city,  they just opened couple of weeks ago and the place was not completely finish. It had a private collection of bonsai and embroidery art works.  It can be a nice place for a relax vacation.

294. Went for A Hike - Day 2

The hike for today was a little easier as the group moving like a train up than down those steps.  The big rock hanging there was part of a local folk story about their deity had stored rice inside this mountain so that when the farmers did not have a good harvest season they can live off it.  I thought of the rock as a big grain of rice.

At the Top

On the second day, we moved to a Hoa Hao Temple and the sleeping arrangement was similar to last night, concrete platform with straw mat.