A year look back - 2015

There were not many struggles in my 2015, so summarizing the journeys I made during the year is a good way to review it.

Long An, June 13rd - 14th

This trip was not prepared well. I planned to go just the night before.

Tan An city, the central of Long An province, was nice with a lot of bridges.

It would be interesting walking alongside the river banks.

Actually, It rained from late in the afternoon to the midnight.

So I had to have my dinner in a supermarket. 

The meal was a pizza which costed 23.000 VND - about $1

Then I bought 4 comic volumes and spent the rest of the night reading them.

Later the electricity was cut until the next day's afternoon.

Singapore, July 17th - 19th

This trip was also not prepared so well.

Last July, Arsenal FC came to Singapore for some friendly matches.

I booked the match tickets, the flight and hostel bed just a month before I departured.

I stayed Bunc @ Radius, a hostel was managed by chinese guys in Little India.

The building was really pretty but the visitors were a bit messy :3

There was self-serving breakfast with bread, milk and some kinds of butter, jam

There were a lot of hot chicks there. Just find a seat and talk. 

I was also impressed by the MRT system. The staffs were good, too.

When I asked an old MRT employee for direction, 

he drew a simple map for me as a precaution if I forgot what he told.

The game was beautiful with awesome goals. It was a friendly match, 2 teams played very gently.

After all, Changi airport is large, I saw them moved inside with many types of vehicle.

I almost lost my brother there in the last days when he went finding the toilet, because we didnt have SIM cards. Thank god he returned right before I looked for him.

Dong Thap, August 15th - 16th

I wanted to go to Cao Lanh City but I had postponed many times.

That weekend I decided that I could no longer wait.

I started the trip without sun-protection: no sun glasses, no sun gloves, no sun lotion.

In the afternoon, there was a game between HAGL FC and Dong Thap FC.

 Luckily, my hotel was next to the stadium, I did not have to ride to the match.

I like Dong Thap a lot, though they was derby rivalry of Long An FC, my once favorite team.

It was extremely sunny and hot in the stadium stands but the fans enjoyed excitingly.

After match, I had a bowl of Hu Tieu at a street corner shop.

While eating, I met an middle-ages man who confirmed himself as one of former leaders of Dong Thap fans club, and a young man who was HAGL fan followed the team from Pleiku.

In the evening, I rode my bike around the city.

It was like every other small towns, quiet at night.

Finally I got a "happy ending" message and spent a little time on chatting with the masseuse.

The next day, I returned to HCMCity by Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway.

It was not built for motorbike, so at the half of the way, I changed the route to Long An and rode on AH1

Lagi, October 2nd - 4th

Different from the previous trips, this one was planned quite well by me.

But it took time to gather a group then go. Lagi was a new destination for tourists.

There was an island 2km far from the shore. We could see it from the beach.

I would love to go to that island, but the local told me that it was only possible in the third lunar month.

Then my group spent 2 drunk nights there. 

We also visited Ke Ga lighthouse, which was located on Ke Ga island.

The water around the island was wonderful. 

And we, brought no swimsuits, swam there :))

In the last morning, before leaving, we bought some fresh seafood at the beach

 with a very lovely price. This was enough for our lunch, 3kg and we were so full.

Vung Tau, November 14th - 15th

This time was so-call a team-building trip for my TVTS team.

People had been so busy for a while and this was the chance for them to relax.

We visited some interesting places like White Palace or Vung Tau lighthouse.

Then, we went to the beach which was very close to the hoel, alot of people there.

But the waves were too big for swimming or diving under.

At night, we had party and played game. I was so drunk and still tired the next morning.

Overall, the trip was full of fun.

Da Lat - Buon Ma Thuot, December 12th - 14th

I went to Dalat when I had a few days before starting the new job.

I arrived there at 2AM and grabbed a bike to the central, rent a hotel room.

Because the hotel was run out of single room, 

the first morning I stayed in a very large room with 3 double beds. 

It was weekend and I forgot to told the reciptionist to keep a bike for me,

so I had to walk to the market for breakfast. It turned out to be good.

I saw a girl sitting in the bench, under the sunlight, writing something into her notebook.

That moment was so attractive, and I had to run after her for a while to ask for her info.

In the afternoon, I got my rental bike, so I could go visit the suburban.

Dalat was a colorful city with so many kinds of flowers.

Some said Dalat was "the city of eternal spring"

At weekend, they blocked some streets around the city central, so visitors had a walking town.

They slided the skateboard, rode bikes, did aerobic exercises or just sat down and drank hot nut juice and chat-chitted with friends.

I decided not to take the bus back to HCMCity and go to Dak Lak instead.

As I planned, I departured from Dalat at 5AM and would arrive at 10, then I would have several hours to walk around before the flight from Buon Ma Thuot to HCMCity took off.

Here was a picture I took at Bao Dai's Palace.

That emperor built a lot of palaces in the highland. He must love the cool weather.

Here was the picture of Irvingia tree - Kơ nia in Vietnamese - in Dak Lak Culture Central,

where I asked for using the canteen toilet for free :p

Here was Khai Doan temple, a large temple with wooden buildings.

I told the taxi driver to wait for 5 minutes, he told me that it would be 10, and actually I needed 15.

Because of spending too much time at the temple, I was almost late for the flight.

When I entered, the check-in counters had been closed for 15 minutes.

But the flight was delayed too, so happy.

Last year 2015, I really spent a lot of time and money on travelling, exploring new places, exploring myself. All the journeys were worthy. To conclude, I will quote from a blogger who I like "Always go for what you want. You might strike out… But at least you tried. And if you don’t try, you will never know!"