8 days in Morocco

Had been planning for nearly a month,

finally stepping to the blue city in the other side of the world.

Caught a cold before boarding, got off from the wrong train station, overcharged by the taxi driver, missed the coach to Chefchaouen, hotels were all full...... sounded not smooth huh?

but, saw nice view from the top of the hill, tried delicious chicken skewer with a cheap price, talked with nice hostel staff...... these are all laughs and smiles in my memory

This is an amazing journey, thank to my friend who went with me :)

Sitting in front of a bottle of water, finally I arrived the blue city I have been dreaming of — Chefchaouen.

In the morning we woke up early, or I should say, I didn't sleep actually, talking to my friend till the sunrise, luckily he understood no one could expect what had happened, just to find out what's next.

Had a coffee in a cafe, I even found difficulties in reading the menu. We tried to walk to the train station so that when we came back here for the flight to Hong Kong, we would know how to back to the Centre. It happened again, asking people the same questions got 3 different answers, we know the drill now :)

We gave up because of the time concern, bus was at 1pm, was a long long one. Don't know how long coach did I take, it was so so so long, and when we saw the destination, all people on the bus were excited, of course, including me.

After dropping off from the bus, nearly everyone was fighting for a taxi, area around us were silent, no people walking around. One of the passengers is nice and wanted to help us, but her boyfriend urged him to get on the van they booked in advance. Taxi drivers were picky to choose those tourists who can speak French or Spanish. Finally a man approached us and guided us to walk to the city centre, I knew he would ask for tips but again, we had no choice.

Walking up and passed through some crowded streets, I found that people weren't sleeping yet, just because the bus station is too far from the Medina. I felt like entering a fairy tale suddenly, people surrounding us not really pay attention on me, they were busy at what they were doing, yes, don't look at me with a weird of eyesight please, keep going on what you are doing is alright.

The man guided us to what we booked via Hostelbookers.com but the owner refused my booking saying that he NEVER received my appointment. Roarrrrrr! and his hostel is full already, so he transferred us to another one which is his business as well, 10 more dollars which is Dhr 70 per night.

Phewww, after taking the shower, I am now enjoying my cup noodles

I miss my bed at home :(

Surprised to hear though? Yes, even me feel surprised as well.

Arrived Casablanca and buy the local currency / money here which is Dirham, nearly HKD 1~ Dhr 1.1, we brought USD for exchange.

After that we took a train and wanted to go to our first destination — Chefchaouen. When I approached the Customer Service Counter the guy seems like casual and not professional enough honestly, not sure about my question but just pointing out the airport saying that the bus stop is over there; so I looked for another staff in the departure but she couldn't speak English.

Luckily asked the train staff and bought the tickets. He told us we have to go to the Centre of Casablanca first then change a bus from there, we had to drop off from the 3rd station.

What confused us is, we are not sure which one is the "3rd station" as there was a very very small station right after the airport one. The old man who wore a very tidy suit asked and tried to give us help, and thanked God he speaks very fluent English, answered us so sure to drop off from the last station and take another train. Before he left "Chefchaouen is a very nice place, enjoy your trip."

However, when we dropped off and want to transfer another train to Chefchaouen, the staff saying that there is NO such a train to Chefchaouen! Oh my God! why different people answer something different to the same question? At that time some guys approached us claimed that they could drive us to the station...etc I was nearly mad!

We had no choice, I could only take a cab and he charged us Dhr 60 :( We went back to nearly one station, I think we somehow counted the "3rd station" wrongly.

CTM bus station is what we wanted to find out, but the tickets to Chefchaouen is sold out and there is only ONE bus every day (well I should had prepared better)

We were extremely tired, the straight forward solution was looking for somewhere and stayed night. Hotels nearby are all expensive, they are either bad quality hotels rather than hostels. We first found one is at Dhr160 per night but we would like to ask for some other choices, sad that they were all full, when we went back to the first one it was booked already and only one left WITHOUT windows! oh my goshhh

How lucky were we!

After a long flight from Hong Kong to Doha, we are now at the Doha Airport, waiting for a flight transfer.

Sitting in the cross, seeing people around the world walking through in front of me, everyone doesn't know the other, and have their own destination, thank for the creation of plane, making us walking pass by each other today.

Since being bridesmaid for my best friend yesterday, I am really tired today. The first flight from Hong Kong to here wasn't good enough for rest, looking forward to a comfy seat in the next flight.

A photo album about Ho Chi Minh

Stella is not an organised person, but i would like to take this chance to make a photo album for her

Spots sight seeing, random market next to Mekong River

2nd Day

We mainly do something which other tourists also do:

Visiting the main spots like Reunification Palace first, which is an old government place but it's now only for tourists; Opera House, full of French style with an angle on the top of the roof, Post office which i like the most; People Committee Hall and the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Of course, for the food, we tried the Pho Le finally - the most local and famous Pho restaurant here; i cannot get rid of it even now back to Hong Kong. The soup they have is made by the beef bones we think, plus a big plate of herbs putting in front of us, you can add whatever you want, there at least 3 types of herbs for you, please serve yourself.

3rd Day

We joined the local tour from Sinh Cafe, driving us to Mekong River, connecting Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and India together. We had lunch in an old village and after that, we accidentally entered a very local market where not supposed tourists would find it. Stella and me had a quick noodles (probably is Pho as well) there and had a look in the market, they sell durians, mangos , pears, carrots etc

I really like watching them, it's something like a moving pictures, and this is what their live is, maybe from top of that, we would think they are poor, with no high-tech device, no air-conditioned but they keep their own steps, have a sip of coffee, take a nap in the afternoon, that's their perfect day!

5 Days in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

After researching a few from the internet, we are heading to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam!

This time, we have Stella, Julian and Louis

We mainly go there for the herbal Pho, heard that it is super good and smell so natural, and see what happen there in a layback city.

1st day we arrived, we walked around there in the city centre, going to the market near by called Ben Thanh Market, which is very close to our hotel. We first had a bowl of Pho in Pho 24 which is a franchise in Ho Chi Minh; then walked around the market, seeing people actually are preparing the night time dinner behind the market with chilli, peppers, herbs, pho, shrimps, fish......

Notre Dame Cathedral