Photos from 8D7N Hanoi Halong Bay & Sapa Valley Photography Trek

[SereneXMM]

Hi Serene!!
Heard you're feeling better now. I must say your medications really work! I should know!! Haha!

Haha. I can super fly liao! You leh, where's your super pictures?! Quick, quickly post.
My neck getting longer liao. Haha.:bsmilie::bigeyes:

 

[SereneXMM]

Captain Juker, welcome aboard! It's good to hear from you again. We missed you alot alot alot......:bsmilie:

Hey bro Captain Juker, can join us for our next trip?!:bigeyes:

 

[AlexK]

Nice shoots, everyone. Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:

limwhow, your travelogue is great. I enjoyed each one of them.

 

[Captain Juker]

CAPTAIN!
Good to see you here on board!
Like what we told Scanner, we missed you very much too!

Hi Captain Juker,
It was a GREAT trip!! :thumbsup: Thanks to my fellow Trekkies!

Hey, scanner misses you too. Sgtrekkers :thumbsup: well done for all these nice trips.

 

[chubbykei]

SereneXmm : Aiyo, then I think you'll have to grow a few more inches before anything happens on my side. Haha! I just got tips from limwhow on how to post a picture :sweatsm: I'll have to explore-explore a bit when I get some time off.

But to all the other Trekkies out there, keep those photos coming! And limwhow and serenexmm, keep up the good work with the travelogue!! :thumbsup:

Just me, chubby Kei :cheergal:

Haha. I can super fly liao! You leh, where's your super pictures?! Quick, quickly post.
My neck getting longer liao. Haha.:bsmilie::bigeyes:

 

[limwhow]

T R A V E L O G U E - Day 3 ~ Hang Song Sut & Ti Top Island, Halong Bay... continued

I was personally hoping for an after-lunch nap.
But 'twas a nap that was not meant to be, because Adrian wasted no time in getting us off our butts
and onto the Bum Boat for the long-awaited tour of the scenic Halong Bay (sigh... Photography trip lor...).

There are many accounts, some say that Halong Bay has 1600 limestone islets (Lonely Planet) and others claim it has around 1900 islets.
Most of the islands and islets have been named.
Quite a number of these are indeed very fascinating with odd shapes and features.


limwhow #76-#80

My eyes were fleeting from one view point to another, trying to take in the islets, the waters, and the boats and junks.

Adrian he is the man of reds. (Some more wearing Laos T-shirt in Vietnam.... hehe...)
If we kept close watch on him, we would notice that he wore lots of red. Almost all the time.
If not red, then it would be some other intense intense colours - deep blue etc. etc.


limwhow #81

On our way, Tommy pointed out the Eagle head islet.

 

[SereneXMM]

SereneXMM #25
Hang Sung Sot - The Cave of Surprise was very colourful. It was very dark, I jacked up high high highest ISO to shoot this picture.

 

[SgTrekker]

Oh yah, divinemoment, thank you for your compliments.
Maybe I can consider a mid-career switch to food photography... hehehe....!
Since we are on the subject of food, fish and sotong, I thought this may be a good time to slot in
a Montage of a series of record shots of our Dinner at Cha Ca in Hanoi on the 2nd night.

I am sure all of us remember walking a few streets away from our hotel at Bat Su Street to Cha Ca Street
for the reputable steam-plate stir-fried Vietnamese fish.
It was 130,000 VND for a set for three persons.

Hi WHow, Actually it was VND120,000 per pax haha, but they served in portions of 3. Yes i know the portions were rather small, but this is the original restaurant, they have been serving that ONE dish since 1871. I thought it tasted pretty good, and i got to eat a little more cuz i was sitting next to Hai Won!!! haha! Just kidding...

 

[limwhow]

limwhow #82 - #86

Such a huge cavernous space Hang Song Sut was!
No wonder it was named the Cave of Surprise.
Chambers after chambers, separated by narrow passages... opening up to yet another surprise.

Enthralled we were by the colours, the sheer size and the magical quality of this wonder of Nature.
Tommy said: "Please speak softly and please walk carefully. Do not use camera flash to take photographs.
Be careful of your head. Do not care what the other tour group people do when they speak loudly or use camera flash.
We just do what is right in our group..."

limwhow #87

Some more.

 

[SgTrekker]

Hey Whow, Serene, i must say your photography skills have improved dramatically since we first met, especially Serene! Her composition is pretty outstanding and she has the knack for capturing the right moment!

WHow, great shot of the eagle islet with an eagle above! And your food montage is fantastic, see already make me wanna abandon my non-carbo diet! haha! Serene, love your shots of the Old Quarter, especially the one with Whow and the lady selling the sticky rice!

By the way, the reason i wear red is so that you guys can see me from a distance! You guys are always running around, causing me serious worry! haha, so red kinda stands out from afar if you guys lag behind...

So far we have only seen from Divinemoment, Serene, Whow and Mr Pow... I'm sure there are more photos to come, especially from the rest!

Hey Captain Juker, Scanner, AlexK and KS, thank you for visiting our Vietnam thread. Just to sidetrack abit, our Jiuzhaigou is almost confirmed with 9 pax in already. As for the model shoot, not really a professional model, but i'm hoping to get a Tibetan couple (brother and sisters) in real life to pose for us in an abandoned Qiang Village with the mountains in the backdrop during golden hour, hopefully it will turn out to how i imagine it to be.. haha

See you guys soon!

 

[scanner]

Hey, scanner misses you too. Sgtrekkers :thumbsup: well done for all these nice trips.

We should have kopi session one of these days.

 

[limwhow]

Some more of our adventure at Hang Sung Sot.
Adrian and Tommy brought us all out to an out-cropping mid way at Hang Sung Sot.
We all could just see the two feet sticking out of the ledge.
What a scene!

limwhow #88

Here we were deep in the belly of the Cave.
I was talking with Tommy as he was showing me the Dinosaur high up in the roof top.
Suddenly we both looked up and we saw, in the distance at a higher ledge, helen, chubbykei and acpical pointing and shooting.
My Tua-leng-kong to its job...

limwhow #89

 

[SereneXMM]

SereneXMM #26
Halfway up there, saw many bum boats anchored at the side of the bridge.

SereneXMM #27
Tourists getting ready to board their bum boat.

SereneXMM #28
Atop from Hang Song Sot, saw many Junks arriving from afar.

 

[SereneXMM]

SereneXMM #29
The guide, Mr. Tommy happily telling history of how The Vietnamese won the Mongolians!

SereneXMM #30
Our young and handsome Acpical walking through the narrow passage way.

 

[limwhow]

Actually, I was quietly observing our team mates - George, Jim, Stevepow, Divinemoments, Acpical (Yah! Acpical!), Chubbykei and helen
- they all were all over the place here at Hang Sung Sot. Peering over their shoulder, I saw spectacular previews on their LCD's.
You guys are just waiting for the FIFA World Cup soccer match to go to half time before you all start to quickly post up your pictures. Hehehe...


T R A V E L O G U E - Day 3 Halong Bay ~ Ti Top Island

Anyway, I will just move on slowly to Ti Top Island first before I continue the Soccer match.
We had only just landed on Ti Top Island when there was a loud crack and the noise of shattering glass behind us!
We all turned back and saw two Junks banging into each other, as one was reversing.
I am sure this kind of accident is rare.


limwhow #90

Here is a record shot of that accident with the necessary enlargement and emphasis.
[That is why all of us were saying this trip was quite eventful... hehehe...]

limwhow #91

So here we are, Ti Top Island, named after the Russian Astronaut who was a good friend of Ho Chih Minh.

limwhow #92-#96

Adrian said the 400+ steps climb is chicken feed.
Should be no problem one.

But little did we realise that on my way up (siong ah, I literally had to push and shove SereneXMM up cos she was kao-beh-kao-boo-ing tired!),
I dropped my hard-to-find Cokin filter holder. I only found out at the top.
Cursing under my breath, I walked all the way down that 400+ steps to look for it.
It was my fortune that Chubbykei found it for me and cleverly Walkie-Talkied me to come up.
My second ascend was torture.
I almost didn't make it up. Luckily Bleach147 and Divinemoment helped me carry my cameras.
Otherwise I would have taken my sunset shot at the foot of the hill... hahaha...

 

[limwhow]

limwhow #97

Here is my humble sunset shot with all the glorious filter dust, lens dust and sensor dust included at no extra charge due to the use of f/18.0...!

limwhow #97B

Faced with such a lovely sunset, it is hard not to fall in love all over again...

limwhow #98

And my attempt to take an evening shot after we have descended the hill and were on our way back to the Bum Boat.
It was almost 7pm already and it was getting quite dark.
Adrian was seriously quite worried for us for any delay would have meant that we would be walking down the steps in darkness.
As divinemoment said "...any later, we would have been in darkness already...".
Heng ah.... Luckily this time round SereneXMM and I did not delay the whole team...

 

[SereneXMM]

Actually, I was quietly observing our team mates - George, Jim, Stevepow, Divinemoments, Acpical (Yah! Acpical!), Chubbykei and helen
- they all were all over the place here at Hang Sung Sot. Peering over their shoulder, I saw spectacular previews on their LCD's.
You guys are just waiting for the FIFA World Cup soccer match to go to half time before you all start to quickly post up your pictures. Hehehe...


T R A V E L O G U E - Day 3 Halong Bay ~ Ti Top Island

Anyway, I will just move on slowly to Ti Top Island first before I continue the Soccer match.
We had only just landed on Ti Top Island when there was a loud crack and the noise of shattering glass behind us!
We all turned back and saw two Junks banging into each other, as one was reversing.
I am sure this kind of accident is rare.


limwhow #90

Here is a record shot of that accident with the necessary enlargement and emphasis.
[That is why all of us were saying this trip was quite eventful... hehehe...]

Hey stevepow, you know what to do huh?! Haha.
Our next trip, all free. Haha.:bsmilie:

 

[limwhow]

T R A V E L O G U E - Day 3 Halong Bay ~ Photo Sharing Session

It had been a long, eventful day.
We finally dragged our tired bodies up our Bai Tu Long, longing for a nice warm dinner, a nice warm shower and a good sleep.
Alas, it was not meant to be...
Adrian: "So you guys want to do Photo sharing tonight? Or you want to fish for sotong?.... Hmmm... I thinnk we'd better do photo sharing."

Ok lor.... Boss says photo share, then photo share lor...
Anyway, jokes aside, photo sharing sessions have been one of the key highlights of treks with SgTrekkers.
There is never right or wrong, never good or bad.
Only amicable sharing of opinions and pointers on how to make a good picture even better.
I enjoyed these Photo sharing sessions. And I have learned from many an experienced shooters.
And here we are, all showered and changed, comfortably fed, sitting across the nice dining table with laptops laid out...

limwhow #99 - #104

I enjoyed these sessions also because everyone was so animated and so candid when discussing their own and others photos.
We all could see Chubbykei pointing to the laptop, and Stevepow head wai-wai (slanted) laughing away.
The way helen, Acpical and SereneXMM stared intently on the screen, the way George looked wisely with thoughts running through his mind,
the way Jim smiled relaxly, and Adrian (AGAIN!) in red even though it's night time already..... hahaha...

 

[stevepow]

Hey Whow, Serene, i must say your photography skills have improved dramatically since we first met, especially Serene! Her composition is pretty outstanding and she has the knack for capturing the right moment!

WHow, great shot of the eagle islet with an eagle above! And your food montage is fantastic, see already make me wanna abandon my non-carbo diet! haha! Serene, love your shots of the Old Quarter, especially the one with Whow and the lady selling the sticky rice!

By the way, the reason i wear red is so that you guys can see me from a distance! You guys are always running around, causing me serious worry! haha, so red kinda stands out from afar if you guys lag behind...

So far we have only seen from Divinemoment, Serene, Whow and Mr Pow... I'm sure there are more photos to come, especially from the rest!

Hey Captain Juker, Scanner, AlexK and KS, thank you for visiting our Vietnam thread. Just to sidetrack abit, our Jiuzhaigou is almost confirmed with 9 pax in already. As for the model shoot, not really a professional model, but i'm hoping to get a Tibetan couple (brother and sisters) in real life to pose for us in an abandoned Qiang Village with the mountains in the backdrop during golden hour, hopefully it will turn out to how i imagine it to be.. haha

See you guys soon!

I thought for a moment you're one of Taksin's men and we're in Changmai.....:bsmilie::bsmilie::bsmilie:

 

[divinemoment]

You're right to steal some time and its interlude now before the next match start.

You're great joker. Anybody buy? Fatt ah !