UP IN THE AIR: HALONG BAY

Tuan Chau Island, it glitters?

Bat Trang Village highlights pottery making class (I got humiliated)

How typhoon Doksuri was ignored

Us adding more sandbags to neutralize the impact of the
strong current of water to the resort's concrete walkway.

 Who cares about typhoon Doksuri? Try asking our Vietnamese guests in the resort and they will probably say, “rain or shine, typhoon or not we have activities to follow.”  

While my team and I were running all over preparing for the impact of the typhoon, our Vietnamese guests tried swimming in the beach.  Funny how people think sometimes, they knew the current was strong and they still don’t care.   They don’t have idea how worried we were for them.  The security had to chase them away from the beach. 

Our  Vietnamese guests whom if not being watched will
sneak in to the beach and swim.  

Just to let them enjoy their holiday without causing us problem, we cordoned them around the swimming pool area. And we had to have security on standby because if you don’t watch them they will run to the beach and swim, like a herd of kids.

Put it this way, if our western guests were hiding in the room, our Vietnamese guests were everywhere, letting us chase them away from danger. They don’t care how strong the current was or how the wind can swept them away to the ocean.

That's how strong the current was.

At night, while it was raining they just put on a raincoat and hang around the swimming pool for the party.   They just ignored typhoon Doksuri.  Some of our western guests commented they can’t believe how tough the Vietnamese face the situation that No typhoon, rain or wind can stop their activities.

And because they are inhouse guests we cannot do anything but ignored typhoon Doksuri too. We have to watch them while taking care of the property.  It was a long day for us working in the hotel. I feel sorry for my team but it’s our duty to ensure safety of our guests. 

Our guests don't have a clue how happy they made us when they already went to their room.

 For hotelier like us, it’s an achievement to be able to put the guest safely in their room in rough time like this. 

What to do in Halong Bay

How thick is your skin to be in Youtube?

Are you a vlogger? If not, here’s the thing you should know before joining the crazy world of Youtube.  I have signed up Youtube long time ago but my account was not really active until I joined the vlogger’s world recently.

At first, I thought it was easy. Imovie is free, on default with Iphone, so I posted videos I made from old photos.  But I got criticized how crappy the videos were, so after two uploads I stopped. 

However, I’ve seen few viewers even my videos were crap, so I thought I will try again. 

Recently, a friend of mine told my guests I was escorting to Hai Au office to buy plane tickets back to Hanoi that my videos were improving.  That compliment was a real motivation especially that the only tool I have is just an Iphone. It’s not even 4K and not so big space to store music, photos and videos.

Anyway, here’s my difficulty as a beginner.

1.     Equipment- I want subscribers in Youtube, so it’s a must to have good quality of videos but I am only using my phone without 4K quality of videos.

2.       Content– I want people to engage in my videos, so I need to spend enormous time after work thinking of good content. A content that has purpose for people to get interested.

3.       Consistency – I want fast growing number of viewers and subscribers, so it’s a must to be consistent with my uploads

4.       Investment – to come up with good content I need to invest equipment and time (no more dates for me as my night is already taken from editing and finding content on my days off). OMG, I can’t believe I am taken! Where’s my freedom now?!  

5.       Thick skin – I have to wear a thick skin not to be affected by criticism because the internet world is quite big and a lot of haters out there.  I can delete messages criticizing my videos but dislikes nope, so I adopted the “who cares” attitude otherwise if I won’t, I better give up before people hiding in the internet kills my self-esteem.  

6.       Eat Healthy and exercise regularly – I slept late, so I need all those before I get sick.   

7.       Patience – I always make sure I have this otherwise with criticism and limited equipment I quit already.

Now, if you are ready to face all of that then join us in the crazy world of Youtube.  If you are a beginner with very limited equipment like me, then apply patience.  I am still confident that one day I can make a break- through with Youtube. I am taking it as a positive challenge.  Trust me, when I got seven subscribers, I thought I will throw a party already. You may laugh at it because seven is nothing to you as a vlogger. 

But for beginners like me, it’s a big achievement already!  See you in the vlogging world of Youtube! 

BLOG vs VLOG banner captions

        Eight years ago I’ve created this blog as I wrote a diary which I could not sustain.  I only jot down my thoughts when I feel like writing, so I decided to just create a blog that I can publicly share. The URL itself explains what was in my thoughts when I signed up for this. 

       My nickname is Mic-Mic but some of my close friends call me Mickey, so I formed mickey-friends-places-events because I love traveling, meeting people and embracing culture and adventures. My nickname plus my passion equals the birth of my URL. The banner Colors of Vietnam- Asia was born because most of the stories are in Vietnam.

      Anyway, quite recently I found a new passion which is video editing, documenting my experience using IOS. Apple’s Imovie application is quite handy and since it was installed in my phone I thought I might as well use it. By just one video and I get addicted already. 

      I spent my sleepless night video editing and exploring social media, so I decided to instead join the Vloggers world to have direction of my videos.

      Having said that, I’ve created a "GOING PLACES" banner for my Youtube channel as my videos are all about documenting my travel. The culture, food and adventures that I will embrace will be captured in videos. I am passionate of what I am doing, so I know one day I can share to you good video copies.  

      Life is a journey, let's make it colorful!   

What else to do in Cao Bang?

I went to Cao Bang and landed at Chinese Border!

Cao Bang Trip, treading on Chinese borders

Hey everyone!

As I’ve promised in my Youtube video here’s the details of my trip to Cao Bang, visiting one of Asia’s most beautiful waterfalls. 

I cannot afford to get off work longer than my official day off, so I hired a private car for two days. 

It costs me $200USD which is a bit pricey against the normal charges.
However, if I calculate the destinations I visited it’s quite cheap already.

I visited three destinations in Cao Bang and because cars can access the road, so it was a door to door drop off and pick up in three attractions. 

I did not take the Hanoi route because I started the trip from Tuan Chau, Halong.  The routes we were using were all Chinese borders from Tuan Chau, Campha, Langson and Phuc Hoa, a total of 303 kilometers.   The green mountain landscape though were unending, so the 8-hour drive was not boring at all.  My eyes were used to seeing busy city environment and beaches. To see the beauty of the mountains were quite a big break to my eyes. 

I left Tuan Chau at 6:30AM and there’s no stopping for lunch, so we arrived almost 3pm.  I said no stopping for lunch because there’s no decent place to have lunch.  There were few restaurant outlets along the road but all of them were catering truck drivers, so not really conducive for tourists. I was just lucky I have fruits, chocolates and cookies with me, so it was enough to sustain until nighttime.

Ban Gioc closes at 6pm and so does Nguom Ngao

Cave, so the trip was a bit rush since I only have three hours.  We went first to Ban Gioc waterfall before heading to Nguom Ngao cave which was a mistake for the likes of me who was squeezing time schedule.  5:30pm the lights inside the cave was turned off already.  Exploring the cave would take at least 30 minutes and in the absence of lights you cannot enjoy the beauty of the stalactite and stalagmite formation. In my case 10 minutes I entered the cave, lights turned off and it was so dark already. I was just depending on the flashlight which was not good in videos and photos, so I decided to go back and not explore deeper the cave.  I suggest if you will be squeezing time, visit first Nguom Ngao and move to Ban Gioc waterfall. 

After exploring the two destinations I headed back to Cao Bang center where I booked a room to stay overnight.  The following day, we headed to Suoi Le-nin which is an hour away from Cao Bang center.  If you start your journey from Hanoi on a private car you can pass by Suoi Le-nin using the Babe Lake route. 

In my case, the driver has to go back Cao Bang center as we were heading back to Halong.  There were public buses from Hanoi or from Halong going to Cao Bang but it’s all about time. If you are like me chasing time, then you can’t make it in two days. You need at least 5 days enough to explore using all public transport. That if you want cheaper options.  The entry to the destinations not that expensive, 30,000VND each for Ban Gioc and Nguom Ngao while 25,000VND for Suoi Le-nin. 

As for hotels in Cao Bang, no need to worry so much because there were not a lot of tourists in the area. I can assure you there are always rooms available if you just walk in. One suggestion though, since the place is really mountainous then scooter is a good option. You can rent a scooter from Cao Bang. It is much handy if you intend to stop for video or photo shoot. 

The attractions in Cao Bang are worth spending your time.  I even wanted to stay longer and explore other destinations nearby but like I said I cannot afford to stay away long from work.    My trip was a bit rush but I still enjoy the breathtaking scenery.   You can see it from my Youtube video.  I only use my iphone and it was not even bad.  How much more if you see it by yourself? If you have questions or you want more details you can send me an email at gmorientalsaigon@gmail.com. I hope that helps. Cheers!