Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, Taipei 2014

The Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall is an interesting piece of architecture. According to exhibitions within the hall, architects were directly inspired by a number of iconic buildings, the most obvious of which is the Tian Tan (in Beijing). As a memorial to Chiang Kai Shek, there was a comprehensive exhibition detailing his life and times, a little corny at times with the food reproductions of what his family ate but it did help as an introduction to the man.

Memorial Hall Square, Taipei 2014

Twilight in Hanoi, Hanoi 2013

After the heavy rains of the past few days, we were rewarded with a very golden hour in the Old Quarter on our last night.

Halong Bay Part 2, Hanoi 2013

A highlight of the Halong Bay cruise was a stop at Hang Sung Sot or Surprise Cave. The cave was discovered in 1901 by French explorers and discovered to contain many naturally-forming rock formations. Locals have identified forms such as a dragon, a Buddha and a tortoise.

The cave was much bigger than I thought. Following the defined path, it took us about 20 minutes to walk through the various caverns, eaves-dropping whenever possible on other tour groups (because we lost our own guide) for interesting snippets about the cave, and attempting to take photographs in the dark.

We emerged out of the caves into a Halong Bay caught in the midst of a thunderstorm. Tourists were huddled tightly together in what little shelter there was available. After being squished around and already more than half wet, we decided to brave the rain and run to the jetty. I will always remember that mad crazy run down the rough hewn steps and the flooded bridge-paths to the jetty. 

Halong Bay Part 1, Hanoi 2013

Halong Bay has been on my travel bucket list for a long time and I am so glad that I finally got to check off this amazing place this year. We booked a 2-day tour with the V'Spirit Cruise company. We had asked for recommendations from our hotel, and V'Spirit was the most affordable for our means (somewhere in between budget and luxurious).

V'Spirit was a great choice! The cruise ship was clean and one of the better looking boats out there, even when compared to other cruise companies with a similar range. We were also ever so lucky to be assigned a corner room with an outdoor deck! Our fellow passengers were so jealous when they found out!

We endured the entire gamut of different weather conditions. We started the cruise with blue skies but as we sailed deeper into the bay, it started to rain heavily, rendering the bay even more mysterious and eerie. We stayed wet the rest of the day, but it just made our experience even more special.