THE TRAVELERS

10 coffee should be tasted in your life

2014-11-10T23:42:00.000-08:00

This is the top 10 coffee from all over the world you should taste in your life including: Vietnam egg coffee, Finland Kaffeost, Japan Kan Kohi...

1. Egg coffee, Vietnam

The Vietnam egg coffee is a famous drink in Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. At the first taste, tourist may be surprise about its strange flavor. However, after trying, especially in the winter, you will be addicted to this type of coffee due to its rich taste and seductive smell. To make an egg coffee cup, they blend egg yolk, milk, sugar, butter together, then mix with Vietnam hot black coffee. Another Vietnam coffee that are famous to travelers is ice black coffee with sugar or condense milk.

2. Kaffeost coffee, Finland

According to the tradition in the Kainuum, Finland, people often drink coffee with a slice of cheese called Juustoleipa. After drinking the whole cup of coffee, you can eat this piece of cheese.

3. Kan Kohi coffee, Japan

Traveling to Japan, visitors can easily buy this coffee can because it is sold in almost all department stores, or vending machines. You will be served the hot and handy coffee cans in the winter, or cool cans in the summer.

4. Morocco coffee

Coming to Morocco, remember to visit the Café des Epices in Marrakech to enjoy an unique taste coffee including nuts such as sesame, black pepper, nutmeg which are well-kneaded grind.

5. Lagrima coffee, Argentina

When traveling to Argentina, you will have opportunity to enjoy breakfast with a cup of coffee called "tears of coffee"including sunshine milk foam mixed with coffee.

6. Turkey coffee

In 2013, Turkish coffee was honored as UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. This coffee is well-known by its rich and strong taste which make people drinking it stunned, even "drunk" after a small cup.

7. Traditional Mexican coffee

This is one of the tourists' favorite drinks which is served in a clay cup with cinnamon and brown sugar.

8. Milk coffee, France

Hot milk coffee in France is one of the popular drink, and many visitors are fond of this type of coffee in the romance France.

9. Bombon coffee, Spain

This land of gaurs attracts tourist with its famous sweetened espresso, with the same milk and coffee ratio.

10. Italian coffee

Italy is one of the countries owns the best coffee in the world. A cup of espresso is usually added a sliced lemon and bartenders will rub the lemon slice on the mouth of the cup to add the sour taste to the coffee.

Norway - Heaven of dreams

2014-11-10T19:26:00.000-08:00

Situated at Northern Europe, Norway is one of the most beautiful countries in the world with famous majestic mountains, bays, lakes, and lots of modern cities.

Found in 997, Trondheim is the oldest city in Norway. This city is proud of a rich cultural herritage as well as major center of Norway. Although the city's area is modest, there are various cultural and artistic events taken place in Trondheim.

Lysefjord is one of the famous fjords of Norway. Every year, it has 300,000 visitors come to visit and discover the exceptional natural beauty.

Rago National Park, located in Sørfold - Nordland county, has an area of 171 kilometers square. This is also a place where there are so many beautiful natural scenery that makes all visitors astonished to admire.

Geirangerfjord is a fjord in the Sunnmore, in the southernmost part of More og Romsdal county. It is considered the most beautiful bay in the world and was recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005.

Lofoten Islands is the place owning beautiful natural scenery which is attracted to tourists. Even though it is located in the Northern Hemisphere, the warm climate makes Lafoten difference in this icy land.

Bergen is a port city located in the southwest of Norway; it is considered the gate to the spectacular and majestic bays. Bergen is the second largest area in Norway after the capital - Oslo.

Coming to Berlevag, an urban county of Finnmark, visitors will have opportunity to admire the Northern Lights. This is an extremely interesting scientific phenomenon showing the full color of light in the night sky.

Gjende Lake in Jotunheimen is 18 miles long, with the blue color, and surrounded by towering mountains blue water color characteristics.

From Tu Le to Sapa Vietnam

2014-11-10T00:28:00.000-08:00

Admire the beauty of the way from Tu Le to Sapa Vietnam through these magnificent photos

Photographer: Xversion1 (Vietnam)

1. Near Tu Le

2. Tu Le Terraces

3. After vegetable harvest

4. Afternoon at the Lim Mong

5. Afternoon at the Lim Mong

6. Dawn at Tu Le village

7. Dawn at Tu Le village

8. Dawn at Tu Le village

9. Way to "O Quy Ho" Pass

10. On "O Quy Ho" Pass

11. On "O Quy Ho" Pass

12. On "O Quy Ho" Pass

13. At "O Quy Ho" peak - Heaven gate

14. Cat cat village

15. Cat cat village

16. Cat cat village

17. Way from Tan Van to Sapa

18. Smoke on Muong Hoa valley

19. Smoke on Muong Hoa valley

20. Rocky church

21. Sapa square

Photos by: Xversion 1 - Phuot.vn

Europe a humorous perspective on the map

2014-11-09T19:55:00.002-08:00

The entire Finland shaped like whales, while Italy territory is in the shape of a boot. You will easily recognize each European country from satellite map through these countries' funny shape.

Republic of Azerbaijan

The territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan look like a bird spanning its wings to fly in the vast sky. This country located in the middle of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Some countries share the same borders with Azerbaijan are Russia (North), Iran (South), and Gruzia (Northwest)

In the administrative area, Azerbaijan is divided into 59 districts, 11 cities, and one autonomous country which is the Republic of Nakhchivan. The major religion here is Muslim.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria is located in the Southeast of Europe; it has a long-standing history and culture. The famous tourist destinations include the capital Sofia, coastal resorts like Albena, golden sands and sunny beaches. This country is attracted by many travelers because of its Rila Monastery and Euxinograd castle. On the map, Bulgaria looks like a shadow of a warm fuzzy kittens.

Finland

On the map, Finland is shaped like a whale. In reality, this country has the least population in Europe. When coming here, you can visit the capital Helsinki, where you can feel the fresh air under the trees' shadows and admire many unique architectural buildings.

In addition, Finland has some popular destination for tourists such as the ancient capital of Turku, which used to be Finland's capital city until 1812; or the tourism city of Poorvo and Lapland, which are the lands of Santa Claus.

France

The magnificent and majestic France has the shape of an intelligent Owl in Winnie the Pooh cartoon. In the world, this country is outstanding due to the diversity in ethnic, architecture, and landscapes.

The French music is also loved because of its romance in each of the words and musical notes. Nowadays, travelers to France can visit the magnificent tourist attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, Versailles castle, etc.

Moldova

For those who have a rich imagination, the shape of Moldova is like a ghost. This country is landlocked in Eastern Europe, and borders with Romania in the West and Ukraine in the other sides.

The largest part of Moldova is situated between the Dniester and Prut Rivers. This country is the homeland of some songwriters with lots of popular recognized songs such as Gavrii Musicescu, Stefan Neaga, and Eugen Doga.

Slovakia

Slovakia has the area of 49.000 kilometers square, and shares the border with the Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Ukraine, and Hungary. Slovakia joined in the European Union in 2004, and be the member of Eurozone five years after. On the map, this territory looks like a tasty sandwiches.

Ireland

Ireland has the shape of a teddy bear for children. This country is located in the Northwest Europe with the capital city of Dublin. Today, Ireland is notable by tourists for its beautiful natural scenery and long-standing culture; it is also well-known as the birthplace of many famous people such as Mick Moloney - a folk musician, boy band Westlife, and poet James Joyce.

Spain

Spain is simply imagined by lots of people as a hand shape. This country is situated on the Iberian Pennisula in the Southwest Europe, and í famous for flamenco dance.

The country territory includes the Balearic Islands, Canry and two autonomous city in the North Africa which are Ceuta and Melilla. Coming to Spain, in addition to visiting many famous destinations, visitors can witness lots of dramatic and compelling bull-fighting.

Italy

Famous for tourism and fashion, Italy is memorized in visitors's mind with boot shape. Located in the Southern Europe, this country is sharing the same border with France, Switzerland, and Austria.

Italy is known as the paradise of art, cuisine, fashion and culture. Tourists can visit the heart of Rome, Genova port, the fashion capital of Milan, or enjoy eating famous pizza and pasta when coming to this boot-shape country.

Hanoi, a peaceful-ancient-bazaar city.

2014-11-08T09:12:00.000-08:00

Taking two days discovering the cuisine, culture, and people in Hanoi was the excellent travel experience. Hanoi is not as busy as Saigon, but if you like to explore the cultural city with impressive history and lots of delicious, this is the city you should not miss.

This was the second time I came back to Vietnam, after the trip to Ho Chi Minh city (a.k.a Sai Gon) last summer. As knowing a bit about Vietnamese culture before, I was very curious to know more about this country in “S” shape culture; thus, I chose Hanoi for my second visit, and the trip was really worth my choice.

Not taking any tour, I wandering around Hanoi by walking for the first day and rented a bike for the second day as most of the tourist sightseeing and attractions were not very far from each other.

Wandering around the Old Quarter on foot

When you love the very Asian culture, you will definitely not taking the tour because most of the time they are very rushing and what you only see is some information and the appearance of where they take you to. As my plan, I took a day wandering around the Old Quarter, which for me is a biggest retail market in old French architecture in Vietnam. It was my luck to be able to rent a room hotel inside the Old Quarter on the street next to the St Joseph’s Church; it is called Au Trieu St. The price for a superior double room is around 15 – 30USD / night, and of course it is 2 – 3 stars hotel only, and depend on which seasons you come here. Staying here help me have the best view of the people’s daily lives in the Old Quarter.

A corner of the Old Quarter

As I may know, this area was built by the French and under Tran dynasty. People often known as the “36 streets”, and after that, when lots of tourists began to choose Hanoi, Vietnam as their vacation destination, they called this area the Old Quarter. The interesting thing is that this really a big retail and wholesale market, and each street sells different products but specific; and in the past, the street was named by what the major products were sold. For instance, Silver Street (Hang Bac) sold silver, Hang Mam (Fish Sauce Street) sold fish sauce, etc. However, nowadays, retailers and wholesalers sell variety of products that are not mentioned in the street name (i.e. Hang Vai – Fabric Street – has lots of sugarcane juice vendors, or Hang Hom – Casket Street – is the street of souvenir daily and “Pho” (beef / chicken rice noodle) paradise at night. Walking around the Old Quarter, you do not have to shop here (but you might be interested in shopping because the price is very cheap if you know the art of bargain), but you will have opportunity to know more about the culture and life of local people

Having a day discover the Old Quarter, I decided to visit Hoan Kiem Lake (Sword Lake) at night. I had a quick glance of Hoan Kiem Lake in the morning before I walked deep inside the old streets. Nevertheless, Hoan Kiem Lake in the evening is way more beautiful in my mind. Locating at the center of Hanoi, and being considered as capital symbol, Hoan Kiem Lake is the favorite place of Hanoians and tourists. Sitting on a bench at the lake shore, I was amazed by the sparkling and mysterious scenes of Hoan Kiem Lake.

Hoan Kiem Lake at night

Ngoc Son Temple is located on a gibbou inside the lake; and it’s worth a visit here. To go inside the temple, visitors have to go on a red bridge which is called The Huc (means “catching the early sunshine”). As I went here at the full moon day of the month (or the 15th in lunar calendar), there were hundreds of people coming here praying for their family’s health, wealth, and luck; and the temple is full of incense smell. However, it brought me a real Asian culture feeling, and I felt absolutely relax after a day walking around the Old Quarter.

Taste a hot bowl of “Pho” (Beef/chicken rice noodle)

Have been traveling to many countries so far, Hanoi, in my eyes, is the biggest city of cuisines in the world, especially various delicious street foods. The most famous food in Hanoi is “Pho” – Rice noodle, which is rated as one of the best street food in the world that people should taste once in their life. I do agree with this point of view. There are many kind of “pho”: beef or chicken served with soup, rolled “pho” with stir-fried beef, fried “pho”, pho mixed with meet and eat with tamarind juice, etc. However, the most well-known type is “pho” eat with beef or chicken and served in a soup bowl.

Beef / Chicken rice noodle eat with fried bread-sticks

There are some popular “pho” restaurant like Pho Thin, Pho 24; but if you have time, you can go inside some lanes or alley and you will find many small delicious “pho” restaurant but very cheap. For example, there are many “pho” stalls on Hang Hom street (from Hoan Kiem Lake, take Hang Gai street, and you will see Hang Hom on the right hand side); I ordered a big bowl of chicken drumstick “pho”, a plate of 4 fried bread-sticks, and a cup of ice green tea; the total price is 40.000 VND (USD 2) and I am happy with the full stomach.

Experience Hanoi by bike

On the second day, I decided to rent a bike as I want to travel to some other place a bit far from the Old Quarter. If you are the one who like to discover the city by your own like me, better ride a bike. The price for renting a bike is 80.000 – 100.000 VND per day (USD 4 – 5), or electric bike is 15.000 VND per hour (USD 0.7).

Phan Dinh Phung street

Riding under the shadows of old-year trees in both sides on Phan Dinh Phung, Tran Phu, Hoang Dieu, Thanh Nien streets – the most beautiful streets in Hanoi, I could feel the romance and peace of Hanoi in fall. In addition, I also had chance to admire lots of villa built under the French domination times, and many famous attractions such as North Gate church (Cua Bac church), Thang Long Imperial Citadel, Tran Quoc Pagoda, etc, on the way exploring Hanoi.

Fishing at West Lake

Another memorable experience is riding around West Lake and feeling a peaceful corner of Hanoi. West Lake have an around shore of total 17km, and it is really a good dating place for couples (as I saw lots of couples here). I do admit that the scenes are absolutely romance, especially at the sunrise or sunset – when you can admire the red round sun coming up or down. If you want to stay here longer, you can stop at some vendors or café shop; drink coffee, fresh coconut, green tea; or eat boiled snail (if you dare), shrimp pancake, and feel the cool wind coming from the lake.

Life under Long Bien bridge

Same as West Lake, Long Bien Bridge is another magnificent destination at sunrise and sunset. Riding bike on this hundred-year bridge, I was sometimes surprised and little scared when a train runs at the middle of the bridge, but it was really an exciting to experience. Do not forget to bring a camera, because as a tourist, you will definitely need it to capture amazing photos of the bridge architecture, or life of Hanoians under the bridge, or the corn and vegetable fields, or the scenes of students in traditional long dress (the Ao dai) walking on the bridge.

Drinking beer

Like many other city in the world, they sell different types of beer in Hanoi. However, I was impressed by the fresh beer (or local people call “bia hoi”, “bia co”), a speciality of the North Vietnam, and the cheapest beer in the world. “Bia hoi” is sold in almost everywhere in Hanoi, and you can easily drink fresh beer at a street vendors. Just sit down on a small plastic chair and the servers will bring you cups of fresh beer and a plate of peanut. The best place to drink “bia hoi” in Hanoi is at the corner of Ta Hien street inside the Old Quarter, where you can enjoy drinking beer on the pavement, watching the Hanoi busy traffic, and sometimes bringing your beer and chair running away from the police.

Drinking beer on Ta Hien street

Traveling Hanoi tips

- From Noi Bai airport to city center, you can take taxi (400.000 – 500.000 VNĐ / USD 20 – 25), or by Vietjet air or Vietnam airline shuttle bus (ticket: 40.000 VNĐ – 70.000 VNĐ / USD 2 – 4. Last station: Quang Trung st)

- Price: renting bike: 80.000 – 100.000 VNĐ /day (USD 4-5); electric bike: 15.000 VNĐ /hour (USD 0.5-1); motorbike: 100.000 – 200.000 VND/ day without gas (USD 5 – 10 depend on type of motor); cyclo: 40.000 – 60.000 VND / hour (USD 2-3) plus tips (depend on you)

- When you visit Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and other temples and pagodas, you should wear politely, you should not wear skirts and shorts. Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum only open in the morning, and close on Monday and Friday.

- The roads in the Old Quarter are quite small and narrow, you should prepare a map.

- When going shopping in the market, you should bargain. The sellers in Hanoi are sometimes impolite; therefore, if you intend to see not to buy, you should go in the afternoon. When bargaining, do not bargain too hard, you should bargain once; even if you do not buy those things, you should go with a smile and say thank you to the sellers.

- After 11 PM, you should not walk around alone.

Long Bien Bridge – Vietnam history witness

2014-11-07T21:47:00.000-08:00

Formely known as the Paul Doumer Bridge, the Long Bien Bridge – one of Hanoi icon – is a historical witness for 12 decades and has become a symbol of courageous capital in wars. Visiting Hanoi, tourists will have chance to contemplate the beauty of this bridge.

History

Over a hundred years ago, in 1899, Long Bien Bridge was completed and became one of the longest bridges in Asia. Designed by Gustave Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame, the bridge sustained significant damage during the Vietnam war. It was named Paul Doumer, but the Hanoians still call it as Long Bien Bridge or Cai River Bridge.

Designed by Gustave Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame,

the bridge sustained significant damage during the Vietnam war.

With the 3000 finest and skillful Vietnamese workers, under the guidance of French engineers, Long Bien Bridge was built certainly with 20 spans, 30m depth, and 13.5m height from the lowest water level. The detail made the unique of this bridge was the railway at the middle.

More than 100 years with decades of war, Long Bien Bridge was bombed many times by air attacks by American army in 1967, 1972 due to its strategic placement in connecting Hanoi to the port city of Hai Phong; and many spans of the bridge were destroyed. The left spans still remaining today remind us of an unforgettable past. Nowadays, only half of the bridge retains its original shape, but a rebuilding project supported by the French government is currently in progress to restore the bridge to its original appearance. The bridge, hence, is not only a traffic construction, a nice architecture, but also a living historical relic.

Location

The location chosen to build Long Bien bridge was right at the place that French battleship opened fire to North Gate and Quan Chuong Gate. Long Bien Bridge is now located at Dong Xuan ward, and easily found on Yen Phu street (along with Tran Nhat Duat street).

Starting from a busy local market of Hanoi Old Quarter, Long Bien Bridge is the way to get out the hustle city to explore serene villages on the other side of Song Hong. You can combine your visit to Long Bien Bridge with half day or full day tour to Bat Trang and Kieu Ki villages, two famous handicraft villages in Hanoi suburb. Here you explore another face of Hanoi when study the secret of handicrafts and even can try your hand with some items.

Long Bien Market

Travelers can also visit Long Bien market – a wholesale market famous for fruit, vegetable, and fresh food – which is located under the bridge and on Yen Phu street. This is the second-biggest wholesale market in Hanoi after Dong Xuan market. However, visitors who are not wholesalers can also buy fresh food, fruit, or veggie.

About nearly 2km along Yen Phu street is Thanh Nien street, where travelers can admire both West Lake and Truc Bach Lake. West Lake is the biggest lake in Hanoi with a peace and tranquility of the lakeside walk of 17km (about 10.6 miles), and numerous café, pagoda, and shopping areas nearby.

What to do

Long Bien is one of the five bridges crossing the Red River, connecting the centre of Hanoi with some provinces. It is a unique bridge with the history of over 100 years, witnessing Vietnam historical times. Long Bien is also the only bridge in Hanoi where all the riders have to go on the left hand side, where tourist can take a walk and taste mouthwatering desserts offered by vendors, where Hanoians can buy fresh vegetable or fish for the dinner from the small afternoon market on the bridge opened by vendors and housewives living under the bridges.

A beautiful and ancient background for bride and groom wedding album

Due to many travelers, the best time to admire this majestic bridge is at the sunrise or sunset, when you can take lots of nice photos of alluvial patch. Therefore, it is a favorite place of youngsters and teenagers who want keep their memories of youth by photos. Long Bien Bridge is often chosen as a nice background for wedding albums, so if you visit this place, you can see many beautiful couples, brides and grooms in traditional costumes or glamorous wedding dresses. Travelers can also ride a bike or take a walk on the bridge, enjoying the scenes of daily life of Hanoians, and the peaceful moments at the present but not forgetting memorable past.

The best time to admire this majestic bridge is at the sunrise or sunset

How to get there

Long Bien Bridge is about 1km far from the Old Quarter of Hanoi, and over 2km from HoanKiem Lake. If you are at Hoan Kiem Lake, you can go straight Hang Ngang, Hang Dao, and Dong Xuan street.

You can rent a motorbike (5-10USD/day) and remember go on the left hand side of the bridge. If you want to discover both Old Quarter and Long Bien Bridge, you had better take a walk.

Dong Xuan Market, a busy trade center in Hanoi, Vietnam

2014-11-06T23:43:00.000-08:00

Known as a big and crowded trade center in Hanoi, Viet nam, Dong Xuan Market is an attractive attractions for many travelers all over the world. The market has lots of diversified goods with cheap price for each item: from foods like candy, wine, fresh or dried seafood to clothes, shoes, handbags, hats, etc.

General information
Name: Dong Xuan market (ĐồngXuân market)
Address: Dong Xuanstreet, HoanKiem, Hanoi.
Opening time: 8:00 A.M to 6:00 P.M
Most traded items: Clothing, househoud goods.

Location

About 1km far from HoanKiem Lake, Dong Xuan Market is located inside the Old Quarter, on the right side of Dong Xuan Street. In the West of the market is Dong Xuan St, Hang Khoai St is in the North, Cau Dong St is in the South, and Dong Xuan Alley is in the East.

As located inside the Old Quarter, visitors can also discover places and sightseeing near Dong Xuan market. When Dong Xuan is the biggest wholesale market in Hanoi, the Old Quarter can be considered as the biggest retail market in Vietnam. If you love shopping clothes, come to Hang Dao street, in the South of Dong Xuan market, and about 500m far from the market; or you can go to Hang Ma and Luong Van Can street to buy toys for your children.

Hang Dao St

In the North of Dong Xuan market is Long Bien Bridge – a historical bridge in Hanoi, where you can take lots of photos about Hanoians’ life on Red River coast at the sunrise or sunset. In the South of the market, travelers can discover history of Hanoi and Vietnam during walking along HoanKiem Lake, visiting Ngoc Son Pagoda, and Ly Thai To statue. About nearly 2 km far from Dong Xuan market, in the South-West, you can visit St Joseph’s Cathedral – known as little Notre Dame, which is located on NhaThostreet next toNha Chung and Au Trieu street.

Long Bien Bridge

History

Among lots of market at the capital (from Mo market, Hom market, to South Gate market, Ngoc Ha market), Dong Xuan market is the biggest. Dong Xuan.market was built in 1889, when the last vestiges of the To Lich river and Taichi Lake (Thai Cuc Lake)weredisappeared completely; the French re-constructed the city and moved all the vendors and shops to a vacant land of Dong Xuan ward, forming Dong Xuan Market. In the very first year of opening, the market was operated outdoor or behind the covering roofs.

The French re-constructed the city and moved all the vendors and shops to a vacant land of

Dong Xuan ward, forming Dong Xuan Market (Photo: Panoramio)

In 1980, new French government re-constructed Dong Xuan Market with five arch doors, and five rooms of 54m length and 19m height. The front door was French design with metal roof and five triangle parts sculpted like a honeycomb.

Around the 90s, Dong Xuan Market was again re-built; the two blocks aside were demolished, and the other three rows left were built up to 3 floors. The two side doors were also taken away, but they still kept the outer columns. Later, in 1994, the market was destroyed in a fire that resulted in the death of five people and the loss of an estimated USD4.5 million in stock.

Nowadays, Dong Xuan Market has been rebuilt with larger scale consists of 3 spacious floors, but still keep some of the architecture of the old market façade.

Dong Xuan night market

Shopping

Located near Long Bien station and the Red River, Dong Xuan Market is a convenient location for trading products from different places. Commodities sold from Dong Xuan market are abundant and belonging to different styles of models. Hundreds of stalls, with thousands of workers, trade extremely fresh produce, dried foods, household goods, appliances and more.That's why it is suitable to every taste and customer. There are even some items in Dong xuan which is so hard for customers to find at other markets.

Hundreds of stalls trade extremely fresh produce, dried foods,

household goods, appliances and more

Low-price commodity is a strong point of Dong Xuan market. As a wholesale market, it provides products for retail shops in Hanoi and nearby provinces. Therefore the price of products at Dong Xuan market is the original cost which is lower than other markets and local shops. With large space, it's not difficult for customer to go sightseeing and shopping at Dong Xuan market because the market is sectioned. Each section has its own item. For example, shoes and sandal are sold at first floor; clothing is sold at second floor.However, customers can hardly buy anything from this market because just wholesale buyers are able to buy products. Although there is some retail shops on the second floor, you must know the art of "bargain" and you had better avoid buying retail goods in the morning because the shop keeper may feel uneasy with a retail buyer. Anyway, if you have chance to come there, you may want to enjoy just going sight-seeing.

Dong Xuan market – Hanoi cuisine paradise.

You might have your curiosity and appetite titillated as you try to choose from a wide selection of exotic Hanoi dishes: fried frog or fish meat pastes, rice and duck meat soup, fried rice, tietcanh (duck blood uncooked, only if you have a brave heart and strong stomach), snail noodle, rice vermicelli and beef cooked in the south Vietnamese style and even just beefsteak and bread. Here you can find real Hanoi food, as favored by true-blue Hanoians. The dishes might cost a little more than elsewhere, but you have to taste it to believe it, they are truly delicious, such as a steamy hot dish of pho cuon (beef wrapped in long wispy strips of rice vermicelli, served with aromatic herbs and spicy sweet-sour fish sauce).

Visiting Dong Xuan Market, travelers should not miss Dong Xuan Alley – a food paradise. Some delicious cuisines reviewed by travelers are:

	Roasted pork rice noodle (Bún chả): Sophisticated from fresh material to process techniques of roasted pork meatballs rolled with blumea leaves, eating with sweet and sour fish sauce made with homemade dracontomelum. Price: 25.000 VND – 35.000 VND (1 – 2 USD).
	Shizuka sweet porridge (chè xuka): To taste this special-name sweet porridge, you have to go deep inside Dong Xuan Alley (if you drive car or motorbike, park before going inside). This soup is the combination of coconut milk, dried coconut, dried banana, and jellies with sweet and fresh tastes. This porridge is called Shizuka because the owner loves Shizuka in the famous Doraemon manga. Besides Shizuka sweet soup, Dong Xuan Market Alley is also famous for other delicious sweet soup such as sweet green bean soup, grapefruit soup, and jellies. Price: around 1USD.
	Meatballs rice noodle with bamboo shoot: This stall has 20-year experience of making this cuisine. The quality of 1 big bowl is so so, but its location and price have attracted lots of visitors. You can also order for fried bread-sticks and extremely spicy chili sauce to eat with noodle. Price for 1 delicious bowl is 15.000 – 20.000VND (0.7 – 1 USD)
	Snail-crab rice noodle: The stall selling this cuisine which is right at the beginning of Dong Xuan Alley is a longtime and stand-out stall in this “food paradise” lane. The stall use big snail instead of small snail in other stalls. The snails are clean carefully so visitors do not have to worry about its cleanness. This shop does not use vinegar but tamarind juice as one of the ingredients. The opening time is in from morning until early afternoon.
	Night market rib porridge: Rib porridge at Dong Xuan market is only sold from late afternoon at around 5:00 – 6:00 PM until mid night, and it is more and more crowded at night. This porridge is made from bone juice and eaten with crunchy rib cartilages. You can also order fried bread-sticks and salted shredded pork to eat with porridge. This stall is located on Dong Xuan pavement, opposite Dong Xuan market.

How to get there

From HoanKiem Lake, take Hang Dao Street. Along the way, it changes name to Hang NgangSteet and then Hang Duong Street. Eventually it becomes Dong Xuan Street. You will see Dong Xuan Market on the right side of the road. The distance is about over 1 kilometer.

If you come here at the weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun), you can enjoy walking along the night market from Hang Dao to Dong Xuanstreet and buying stuffs. Night market starts from 7:00 PM until late night.

In the morning or afternoon, you can catch the electric bus from HoanKiemlake to Dong Xuan market.

Electric bus in Hanoi

Shopping tips

- If you want to buy items at wholesale price, you’d better gather all the orders from your friends, family members, or travel-mates to be able to buy and have a better price.

- If the items you want to buy are not for retail sale, you can find them in other stalls nearby with wholesale prices. There are some retail stores at the second floor, but you have to bargain and avoid buying in the morning.

- Visitor should go around the market to learn the price before purchase, and avoid bargaining many times.

- At the weekends or in the holidays, you should use public transports.

- Be careful with your properties.

Decoding Japan by questions

2014-10-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Which time to travel to Japand; why is everything in Japan so adorable, etc. Those are some questions that travelers often wonder about this beautiful country.

What is the most ideal time to travel to Japan?

Japan has a lot of festivals, and they are taken place in all four seasons; Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. However, the best time to travel to this country is in the early of April, when cherry blossoms bloom everywhere and you're like entering into a wonderland. Besides, this is the time that companies are working hard, and students are busy to go to school, so most of the attractions are not too crowded.

The worst times to travel to Japan are at the big and long national festival, when expenses are increasing and the roads and attractions are full of people. There are 3 times you should avoid, they are: New Year Eve, golden weeks, and Obon festival. In addtion, you should also avoid coming to Japan in the rainy season.

Are obese people discriminated in Japan?

The answer is YES. Japan is one of the countries with low rates of obesity in the world. Most Japanese are slim. However, fat people are not discriminated too much.

Is Japan large?

Japan has an area of 377.944 kilometers square, rated at the 62th in the world above Germany, Finland, Italy, etc. Japan has 6.852 islands, and four large islands which are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku.

Is Kyoto the capital city of Japan?

Kyoto used to be capital city of Japan from year 794 to 1868; after that, the new government moved capital to Tokyo. To many Japanese people, Kyoto is their "official capital city". Nowadays, Kyoto is one of the historical city, and is a famous destinations for travelers from all over the world. There are over 240 temples and tombs in this city. Many people praise this ancient capital as the most beautiful city in the world.

Japan is not only a modern country but also retains many traditional value

Does Japan has poisonous snakes?

Snakes appear in Japanese history as often as Geisha, Samurai, and Ninja. Poisonous snakes are found in the major islands of Japan; Okinawa has the most. Therefore, Japanese government has erected lots of warning signs of poisonous snake throughout the country.

If you are hiking or jogging in Japan, you will be encouraged to wear long pants, socks and shoes carefully. Each year, thousands of people are hospitalized after being bit by snakes, but the number of people dead because of poisonous snakes are very low, less than 1%.

What is Kappa monster?

Kappa is a monster living in rivers, streams, and is a legendary monster in Japanese folk culture. Kappa's height is as tall as a child and have many similarities with lizards. They are very good swimmers. On their head has a hole to contain water, and if the water in the hole are filled, they are still powerful.

Kappa - the scary monster in Japanese culture.

This species love eating cucumber; therefore, in the Edo period, parents often engraved their children's name on cucumbers, and throw them into the river with the believe that they will protect their children from the attack Kappa.

Kappa is an imaginary character, and it is not true, but in many periods, the Japanese still believe it existence. At some rivers, they still put warning signs of this species Kappa.

Why is Japan called Japan?

In Japanese, Japan is read as Nippon. In the last century, Portugal was one of the first countries to trade with Japan. They are also the first to try spell the name Japan (Nippon) into Latin for easy call.

Initially, they translate Nippon into Jippon. Then the French pronounce as Japon and finally, in English, it is pronounced as Japan. Therefore, today, Japan is called Japany in English.

Why is everything in Japan so cute?

According to many tourists traveling to Japan, this country has many adorable things, cute products; simply because the Japanese like that. Since people like cute things, products produced by many Japanese companies should also follow this trend if they want a great sale.

In Japan, everything is decorated the cutest.

Thailand flower garlands and coloured lanterns Festival

2014-10-14T23:55:00.000-07:00

Coming to Thailand in November this year, you will have the opportunity to admire one of the world's most beautiful scenes voted by Lonely Planet; when the sky and water will be lit by thousands of coloured lanterns at Loy Krathong Festival.

The outstanding beauty of Thai girls in traditional costume with the glowing lanterns is the easy to see in any travel magazines and posters when November is coming, and it is a sign of Loy Krathong festival.

Beautiful Thai girls in traditional costumes dropping flower garlands and lanterns.

In Thai, Loy means "drop" and Krathong means "flower garlands" decorated in lotus-shaped with banana leaves, flowers, candles and incense. Loy Krathong takes place on the night of the full moon of the 12th month according to the Thai calendar (about November in normal calendar). This year, Loy Krathong will take place on 6th of November, but in many places, the formal rituals of the festival takes place from 5 - 7/11.

The purpose of the Loy Krathong festival is a tribute to the water goddess who gives people plenty of water, and excuse people from the actions muddied water. Dropping the coloured lanterns is also a way to repel bad luck in the past and pray for blessings in the future. Many people believe that if the candle is still lighting until "krathong" out of sight, then their wishes will come true. Besides the ritual of dropping flower garlands and coloured lanterns, many other interesting activities will be also taking place during the Loy Krathong festival such as making Krathong lanterns contest, Noppamas beauty competition, folk games, art and fireworks performance...

Thousands of lanterns are releasing into the sky at Loy Krathong festival in Thailand

If you go to northern Thailand, you can admire spectacular Loy Krathong festival in Chiang Mai, and enjoy the atmosphere of releasing millions of lanterns into the sky, so called Yee Peng festival. You can also visit Tak province, where thousands of candles lighted in flower garlands and coloured lanterns along Ping river. Then you can see closely the flower garlands and lanterns made of 100 thousands banana trunks in Samut Songkram province. Festival specially recalled the heyday of the Kingdom of Thailand's ancient capital in Ayutthaya or Sukhothai province, with a series of activities such as beauty queens parade, fireworks, artistic traditions, and reapearing the floating market and local markets activities, etc.

Going on a colourful boat and dropping beautiful lanterns is one of the interesting activities during the festival

When coming to the "city of angels" Bangkok, you will be able to take beautiful pictures to record shining moments of poetic Chao Phraya River, where the flower garlands and lanterns activities of capital citizens are taking place. Many places in the city hangs red lanterns showing the the spirit of the people celebrating the festival. You can choose how to enjoy the flower garlands and coulured lanterns festival on a cruise along the glowing river, or enjoy the family dinner with delicious cuisines of Golden Temple country, or drop lantern with your wishes along the Chao Phraya River and in some few hotel pools along the river.

6 things to know when travelling to Mongolia

2014-07-13T19:27:00.002-07:00

(Gotravelings.com) The trusted drivers and special style tents have helped da harsh country as Mongolia attract lots of tourist from all over the world.

These are some suggestions for your trip to this beautiful steppe country.

1. Trust your drivers.

Even when you do not have maps, GPS, or any other detector equipment, you still can trust Mongolian drivers. With their skills, they will drive you to the exact place you want to go. Let your worry be vanished and enjoy the magnificent scenery here. However, if you find out that the driver is speeding up, do not hesitate to remind him to slow down.

The old Russian bus on the way to conquer Mongolia steppe

2. Time zones in Mongolia

Mongolia's time zone is UCT/GMT +8. You can compare to your country time zone to adjust your living mode. However, if you are in emergency, you can emphasize with the local people in order not to affect your expected plan.

3. Meet up and play with local children

The innocence of Mongolian children

Mongolian children are extremely friendly and cute with pink cheeks taking up most of their face. However, if you want to take picture with them, you'd better ask their parents for allowance first.

4. Taking bath

Dried shampoo is very popular in Mongolia. If you are not familiar with it, bring your favorite shampoo. In some luxurious tents, they may have solar shower. Nevertheless, you should get used to the fact of the lack of comb and mirror during your journey at this country, which is the reason for your messy hair.

5. Camping on the steppe

A tent on the steppe

There are a lot of famous destinations in this country, but do not forget to experience a night in the tent. The sound of rain dripping on your tent in a silent night will give you the unforgettable emotions. This is also an opportunity for you to explore the lives of the nomads in small huts among the vast steppe.

6. Gifts / Souvenirs

After a long trip is time for shopping whatever you like. It sounds strange to buy wool scarf in a country with harsh climate as Mongolia; however, there is nothing in the world better and smoothier than Mongolia sheep wool.

- Anna Pham -

Where to go when you are lack of money

2014-06-18T19:41:00.002-07:00

(Gotravelings.com) If you want to discover the world but your budget is limited, you can choose these cheap destination below to satisfy your travel passion.

Thailand

No one doubts the great service and scenery of this Southeast Asian country. It's like that winter does not exist when you come to Thailand. Thailand has countless fascinating tours for those who love to explore: from pilgrimage tour of temples or beach tour at attractive shores, to shopping for those shopaholics.

And the most amazing thing in this paradise is that it has a price on the ground. Looking for the dorm and affordable rental housing on the tourist route as Khao San, Bangkok, you can easily rent a house for 20 euro/month (if you want to live next to the coast, the price increases to 100 euro/month, but it is still an extremely pleasing prices). Thai Food costs around 150 euro/month. Paradise of low cost life is still exist, and it is Thailand!

Laos

Although tourism is the neighbor country - Thailand - is quite developed, in Laos, everything is still tentative. Therefore, the price for service here is pretty cheap and the landscape is almost untouched, and haven't been destroyed by human hands. Tourists can visit the Buddha Park in Vientiane, Plain of Jars in Xiangkhuang. The ideal time to visit is the dry season from November to March, when the heat is not too blinding and not have the constant rainfall.

Vietnam

On the list of the cheap-to-travel countries on travelling sites and magazines, Vietnam is also listed. Therefore, there is no reason why we can not backpack and explore this beautiful country. Vietnam is full of beautiful natural terrain, stretching from the North to the South as the sea, lakes, rivers, mountains, bays, islands, etc, which attract tourists during the dry season from November to March every year.

The ideal destinations which are cheap but majestic are: Moc Chau, Sapa, Ha Giang, Ninh Binh, Hoi An, Danang, and the West provinces.

Cambodia

Phnom Penh, you can live with only 250 euros/month and eat a meal in a restaurant for less than 2 euros! You do not want to live luxury? A fast-food meal is even much cheaper in the area of the historical Angkor Wat, and it will help you save quite a sum more in your budgets.

Souvenirs can be purchased for 1 USD - 2 USD. One night at the lodge costs about $15 but can stay up to 3-4 people.

Belize

Also located in Central America, Belize is not known by many tourists, but it is one of the most beautiful countries in the region.

Belize has everything, from a beautiful long coastline, tropical climate and rich flora and fauna. The official language in Belize is English which is quite convenient for tourists; and for those who love diving, Belize is truly a paradise.

The cost of living in Belize is the same as in Costa Rica with cheap food can be bought at the markets or from peddlers.

Prague, Czech Republic

Perhaps Europe is the most expensive destination in the world if you travel here. However, if you still want to explore Europe, Prague is the most perfect suggestion for you. Price for one night stay at the lodge can range from 10USD to 15 USD, price for beer is even cheaper than that of mineral water. In addition, there are also many other entertaining activities which are also inexpensive, the most simple activity is wandering around the whole city to sightseeing the peace and beauty of this place.

Nepal

With the beautiful, unspoiled, peaceful natural sceneries, along with long culture tradition, Nepal attract a lot of tourists to visit every year. According to Lonely Planet magazine, visitors only cost about 5 - 7 USdollars a night to stay in local guesthouses. The local food is delicious and cheap with very good quality of service. All of those will make visitors satisfied. Cost of visa to travel to Nepal is about 25 USdollars.

Bolivia

Like the above places, accommodation costs in Bolivia are relatively low, especially cheap but delicious food. But the greatest thing of Bolivia is the natural wildlife beauty, from Lake Titicaca to the Salar de Uyuni salt plains. In addition, Bolivia has many ancient and historical cities such as La Paz. Tickets to the Museum of La Paz is only 58 cents.

Basic things you should know for the first time traveling to Europe

2013-11-15T00:07:00.000-08:00

(Gotravelings.com) Instead of desiring to travel to all places or eat every foods, you have to calm down and plan carefully your journey to have the very first perfect backpacking trip to this old continent.

You want to eat pasta in Rome, stand on Eiffel Tower, come across the red street in Amsterdam, or join in the party in Munich .... It is just when you have the whole year traveling in Europe, or else, you only can choose places based on your capability.

1. Right choices

Europe is a continent which has rich culture and history, and countries here connect with each other strongly. You cannot go to all the countries in a journey (except you do not care about money and time). If you try to go as many as possible, your time spending for train, bus, plane will make your trip shorter.

Europe nations are small in square, but rich in cultural and historical places. Photo: Google Images

So what is the secret? You might choose the best 5 places must go. It can be drinking beer in Hofbrauhaus, Munic, Germany; or eating tapas in Barcelona; or visiting Tate Modern in London. Bookmarking all the important places that you have chosen, then spread the trip around those places. When you can define which countries or cities you want to go in the allowed time, the next step is find the way to get there.

10 days are normally suitable for backpackers' wallet. Traveling alone in Europe is easier than in any other continent, because most of European can speak English. You can book a hostel room or transportation ticket online. You should find (or hunt) cheap flight tickets for months before your trip start, sometimes even year before. You should remember that using inter-city or inter-country buses will be cheaper than that of train or plane. You had better find and compare the prices before buying.

You should not miss the symbolic places like the Colosseum arena in Rome (Italy), Eiffel Tower in Paris (France), Charles bridge in Prague (Czech Republic), etc. Those are really amazing places. Many posts in a lot of forums engage travelers to discover new places, but you don't have to follow all of it, especially in your first trip to Europe.

You also don't have to follow everything written in the guide book. There are many restaurant you want to try but are not written in the book, but you can be more opened by experiencing new things. If you read about the Louvre museum (Paris, France) is the place you must go, but you are accidentally lost in the Blek Le Rat world (the famous graffity artist) with a lot of his works on the walls, you can spend times to discover both of them.

2. Travel by season

July to September is the high traveling season in Europe when you have to share spaces with millions of other travelers. Hotel, hostel, dormitory are mostly full or high price; train, bus, and plane are also harder to book.

Therefore, you can think about Autumn or Spring time, and if you are not afraid of the cold, you can go in winter. You will find everything easier and more peaceful like it is only for you.

Winter in Austria is cold, peaceful, and not very crowded will be an ideal place for your traveling. Photo: autocarhire.com

One thing you should take notice is to travel to Europe at the right time, participating into some festival in this old continent like Oktoberfest (beer festival in Germany), Biennale (modern art exhibition in Italy), La Tomatina (tomato festival in Spain), Tomorrowland (electric music in Belgium), Exit (summer music in Serbia), etc, you will definitely have the unforgettable memories. There also one thing you should consider is the fee and expenses, and you should book all the services 3 months or more before.

3. Know how to protect yourself.

The first time in Europe, you have to take care of yourself from being cheated. Sometimes, the offer for cheap price or some winged words might attract you. In this case, being wise and cold-head will help you to stand up from the attracted words from sexy girls in Amsterdam, or street vendors in Paris. The feelings of a backpacker this time have to be strong. If you don't feel safe, you'd better to quickly go away to another place.

If you still have times after traveling to main cities, you can think about Budapest, Krakow, or Lisbon. These cities will surely bring to you a lot of surprises.

Learning some basic sentences of local language, you can at least know how to greet and ask "do you know English" in local language.

Pack your baggage lightly, you don't need 3 jeans in the summer or big coat in the Autumn in Europe. The 1 liter shampoo bottle can be replaced by the small convenient packs or a soap. Remember, you are backpacker.

But you need to have at least one decent clothes such as a t-shirt, long trouser, or shoes when you plan to hear opera in England theater or eating dinner in a restaurant in Berlin.

4. Spend money at the right places

Although you are backpacker, sometimes you still have to pay a big amount of money to experience the special characteristics like going on the gondola boat in Venice, enjoy the afternoon tea in London, drink German beer and eat smoked pork, etc.

Bring as much money as possible, especially small money, visa card, traveler check (type of check for traveler which can be changed into money). Visa card will allow you to buy flight ticket back home, and you don't need to put it with cash. Cash should be put in different places. Europe is beautiful and the people are friendly, but there are bad and good people everywhere, so you should take care of your safeness first.

You should have visa card (or master card) and cash to guarantee the expenses for your trip.

Photo: us.123rf.com.

You go a thousand kilometers to go to different cities with lots of new things, so don't waste your time drinking beer or wine in a bar, hotel, or hostel. Step outside where a lot of amazing things are waiting for you.

Working hard and saving money for your own journey, sometimes, you can be mean to yourself when you are at home, but generous when traveling.

The final things is to enjoy every single moment on your trip.

- Hoai Nam -

6 cheapest places to travel

2013-11-12T00:11:00.000-08:00

(Gotravelings.com) Let's discover some most attractive as well as cheapest places in the world.

1. Cambodia

You should bring a long a lot of 1 USD and 2 USD because everything here is very cheap and the price is around 1 - 2 USD. A tuk tuk ticket, one meal, drink, massage, souvenir all can be bought at USD 1 - USD 2. One night at hostel is around USD 15 per room for 3 - 4 people. If you go to the South, the cost even cheaper because you only need to catch the 8 hour bus to go to Siem Riep, in which there is the famous Angkor.

2. Nepal

According to Lonely Planet survey, budget for one day in Nepal is just around USD 5 - USD 7 if you stay in the inn / hostel, and eat local food. Even if you join in a trek tour to the most beautiful area of Nepal, or climb up to the Everest Base Camp, the cost for one day is only USD 8 - USD 10 (including all the fee for tour guide, meals, accommodation, food, etc). The biggest fee you might spend is flight ticket from this area to another area.

3. Thailand

Thailand is now improving their tourism after the storm and the political issue in 2011. Therefore, this gold temples country is welcoming tourists with a lot of promotions.

In average, cost for one day in Thailand is USD 40, a little bit more than the other countries mentioned about; but Thailand has a lot of cities that you might want to visit. Street foods are cheap and delicious, and you have many choices for accommodation. Therefore, 40 dollars per day is still a suitable expenses.

In Phuket, price for a room for one night is around USD 10. If you can pay USD100, you can stay in one of the most luxurious hotel which might cost a thousand dollars in other countries. In the South of Thailand, if you go to Chiang Mai, the cost may be much lower.

4. Columbia

With the price for a room in hostel is USD10, a lot of attractions to visit, and the variety in culture, Columbia is a great country to come. In big cities such as Bogota and Cartagena, you can survive with the low cost (if you know how to avoid the tourism traps). You should learn a but Spanish because local people here are nearly do not speak English.

5. Prague, The Czech Republic.

Europe is always considered an expensive place to travel. However, if you want to find a place which is not too expensive but still can visit ancient works, palaces, and churchs, Prague - The Czech Republic's capital is the right place to go. The cost to stay in hostel is around USD 10 to USD 15 per night, and beer here is even cheaper than mineral water. Prague has a lot of activities that you can join in without any fee. And if you just wandering around Prague, you can see how beautiful and magnificent it is.

6. Bolivia

Just like the other places above, the cost for accommodation and food in Bolivia is quite low, especially you can find delicious food but very cheap. The most wonderful thing in Bolivia is the wild natural scenes, from the Titicaca lake to the Salar de Uyuni salt field. Besides, Bolivia has a lot of ancient and historical cities such as La Paz. Ticket to get inside the La Paz museum is only 58 cent.

In this list, you can replace Cambodia by Myanmar - the embodiment of South East Asia 20 years ago. This is the time that travel to Myanmar is the cheapest. One meal is around USD1.5 to USD 2, and the fee for a room for 2 people is around USD 15 to USD 20 per night. Bus ticket between every places are approximately USD 8 - USD 12.

10 stuffs that you might forget to bring along with your trip

2013-11-11T02:38:00.004-08:00

(Gotravelings.com) These small stuffs are usually be forgotten, and without it, you might get in troubles.

1. Bathroom stuffs.

Toothbrushes are always prepared in almost all hotels. Photo: Flickr.

Try to list all bathroom stuffs such as: toothbrush, toothpaste, shaving creams, mothwash, etc. If you don't see them in hotel room, you should ask the receptionist. Or in the long flight, guests are also provided a package of toothbrush and toothpaste. If you don't have mouthwash, you can use carbonated drinks or alcohol drinks instead.

2. Glasses and eye supported stuffs.

Forgetting glasses or eye supported stuffs are often happened to travelers. However, they are not easy to be replaced new like toothbrushes or toothpastes, and you might get into trouble when lack of them.

If coming to Asia, in the big cities like Beijing, it is not too difficult to find new suitable glasses. You can also book before you come, and request for urgent buy, but you might have to pay higher price. To avoid this issue, you'd better wear glasses, or eye contacted lens before you go.

3. Charging stuffs.

Nowadays, on your list of traveling stuff always have charging stuffs for your mobile-phone, computer, digital camera, etc. Before you are panic when finding that you forget to bring, you can borrow your traveling partners (if going with you).

The best solution is to borrow from the hotel reception. This issue is not too difficult to solve because electric shops are now everywhere, even in the airport also have free charging place. If you are type of person who always forget charging stuffs in almost all of your trips, you have to prepare a small bags for all the battery charges, and put it into the baggage as soon as possible.

4. The adapters.

Adapter is a necessary stuff when traveling. Photo: Flickr.

The professional international travelers always bring the adapter as a necessary stuff for almost all their trips. However, many people are easy to forget this small but important stuff before they packing.

It will be very hard for you when lack of it. Luckily, you can easily buy the adapters at the airport, or borrow from the hotel. If not, you can also use your flash driver to plug into the television to charge your phone battery. Do not forget to turn on the TV when charging :D.

5. Umbrella or rain coat.

To save your money not to buy a new cheap raincoat or umbrella, you can ask people around you to lend you a big plastic bag. Then make a hole at the bottom of the plastic bag and put it through your head. The smaller plastic bag can also be used as a plastic hat to cover you from the rain. It is not a really fashionable raincoat, but at least it is very useful in the light rainy day.

6. Cosmetics, cleansing tone, and perfume.

For lots of women, without cosmetics on their face is "disaster". After a long flight, you might realized that you have already forgotten your make-up stuffs at home, and it is very difficult to find the same ones.

You can try the new products at the cosmetics stores, ask the sellers to use the trial products, and do not forget to thank them before getting out of the shop. However, you have to take notice about the ingredients of the products if you are easy to get allergies. If you forget the cleansing tone, you can use milk soap to clean with fragrance water or olive oil to remove the cosmetics out of your face. If you don't have perfume, you can easily ask to try perfume at the fragrance shops. They always have the small bottle to give customer to try their products.

7. Cash

Todays, forgetting cash issue is not too difficult to solve when ATM machines are everywhere. If you travel abroad, ATM is always a best way to withdraw cash. However, do not abuse it too much because you will be charge extra money for withdrawing. Therefore, you'd better prepare before.

8. Prescription drugs / medicines.

If you travel while you have to sickness have to treat daily by doctor prescription, and you forget it at home, what should you do? You have to quickly contact to your doctor to get the prescription again, then go to the trusted pharmacy to buy. In another way, if you have travel insurance, you can call them for help if cannot contact to your doctor.

Bring necessary medicine when traveling. Source: Internet

9. Underwear.

Seemed to be the necessary stuff, underwear is often forgotten at home; and this is the no-replaced stuff. Therefore, you can go to fashion shops or underwear stores to buy new ones. You don't have to buy the expensive one, but washing the new underwear by soap and dry it into your hotel room. If you have dryer, you can use it to fasten the time.

Going to the underwear shops is the fastest way for you when forgetting them at home. Photo: ppunlimited.

10. Headphone

You only realize to forget this necessary thing when you want to listen to music, or watching movie on the plane. If you are on this situation, don't forget to ask the attendant to lend you a free headphone. Many airline don't provide free headphone when being offered, but they might sell it at the cheap price.

"Giant mushrooms" in Y Ty, Lao Cai, Vietnam

2013-11-11T00:57:00.002-08:00

(Gotravelings.com) Standing high above looking down, the rustic and ancient beauty of old houses with green moss roofs in Y Ty, Lao Cai make many people think of the beautiful giant mushrooms growing on the side of the mountain.

Y Ty is one of the poorest areas of highland Bat Xat district, Lao Cai. Here, the haze cover year round and the weather is extremely harsh. However, more and more tourists come to Y Ty. Besides the cloudy valleys and terraced fields at the height of 1500 m, people also come here the see the villages with houses located closely together, against a backdrop of mountains as in the fairy tales.

Houses in Y Ty is only arounf 40 - 60 meter squares. Photo: Duc Ky

Only about 70 km far from Lao Cai, the road up to Y Ty is very mazy. Go along the spiral and twisted back to the top of Nhu Co San peak, you will feel like "straight to heaven", then sinking in fog and white clouds. Then suddenly, Y Ty is out front with the poetic scenery of Ha Nhi women carry baskets of firewood to the market between vast mountains.

As one of the most ethnic minorities in Vietnam who live in Y Ty besides the other ethnic minority such á Hmong, Dao, Giay; Ha Nhi people, especially black Ha Nhi, make and unique charms for thís harsh land, with their mushroom house and unique wall. Unlike the common stilt houses of the highland ethnic minority, houses of Ha Nhi people located on the ground, walls and roofs made from clay that looks like a pyramid shape.

The house foundation is not deep under the ground but being placed just on the rock base.

Photo: Duc Ky

The most impressive in the architecture of the Ha Nhi houses is house's walls with the thickness of 40-45 cm, and height of 4-5 m , with two laps inside and outside. This structure is not only because of low economic conditions of a highland village, but it also shows the adaptation to harsh weather here. The houses built with very thick walls will help people here keep warm in winter Hanhi and cool in the summer .

Looking at the simple architecture of the houses, no one think to build the 40 m2 houses, Ha Nhi people have to spend months. The time for reconstructing houses usually follows each season. The first stage after selecting the suitable soil samples are building the foundation by mountain rocks. The foundation are placed on the ground without having to dig deep into the ground as the houses in the delta.

Next step is to build the wall. The land chosen has been put into formworks splinted strongly; then they use wooden pestle to pound together this layer to the other layers to create a solid and strong wall. Then assembling the wooden beams and rafters to make roof. This type of house does not have balcony, but the roofs are short and are covered by "gianh" grass.

The mushroom house keep warm in the winter, and cool in the summer. Photo: Duc Ky.

There is one main door and another door in the left of the house, or in the right of the house to go to the stall, and stables at the back. Look far away, the windows look very small like the arch holes. Compare to the H'mong minority people houses, the walls inside and outside of Ha Nhi house are retired, and finely polished to look smoothly. The shape of the house is often square instead of rectangle.

Although the original shaped houses of Ha Nhi people are not many, but its attraction to visitor is always remain, especially for photographer love shooting photos at the sunrise or sunset. Therefore, many people who have chance to admire the green moss house in the white fog have to utter that "heaven is here !".

Sillong, a peaceful city inside India

2013-11-07T23:59:00.001-08:00

(Gotravelings.com) Shillong city , Meghalaya state in the North-East India is known as Scotland of the East because of its natural peaceful and magnificent beauty .

Shillong is the destination of visitor all over the world. In Shillong, tourists can take from 5 to 6 days to explore the city without being bored . Police Bazar area (often known as PB) is a commercial area of the city, which is close to the main bus station with lots of shops, restaurants and hotels . It is very convenient for tourists to visit the city's sightseeing .

Laitumukra area has many cafes, bars, and entertaining places for young people. Cuisine in Shillong also plentiful with dishes from China, North and South India .

On Jaiaw road, visitors can go to the butterfly collection showroom of Mr.Wankhar, a resident of the city. If you prefer, you can buy all kinds of butterflies are framed as a souvenir . Gallery always welcome guests from 11 am to 4 pm everyday from Monday to Friday every week.

The majestic forests are still primitive with lots of picturesque waterfalls , lush green hills dotted with deep blue lakes . (Photo: Cherrapunjee)

Take a tour around the city, you might go to several ancient churches. Stepping into Christianity cathedral , you will admire the beautiful works with stained glass windows and arches. Nearby are Ward lake, the city library, and the church All Saints church which was built in the 19th century .

There is a place you should not miss , it's Burra Bazaar . In the morning Burra Bazaar will have a market called Iewdu , the largest market in the Northeast. This market will introduce to visitors lovely scenes of everyday life of city residents .

The Khasis market has many things for tourists to choose from. You can buy more local agricultural products, all kinds of souvenirs such as hand-woven scarfs, mountainous butterflies, wild honey, wild mushrooms, berries and many other things. Many tourists carry cameras to filming the normal life here .

Leisurely taking a walk up the hill to explore the huge forests, you will see a dreamy landscape with Elephant waterfall, the Sillong peak, golf yard, Lady Hydari Park, and Polo Ground . You can relax for hours at Ward lake, which is shaped like a horseshoe. In the lake, there are many carps. There are also many beautiful roads with cafe lounges along the two sides. In the orchid garden, where you can admire the orchid flower from Meghalaya and rich vegetation. The opening hours are from 9.30 am to 6 pm, and the ticket is free.

Visitors can relax and daydream in the sunshine in the early morning, and see that life seems to slow down . Photo: Heartyindia .

You also should not ignore Mawsinram and Cherrapunjee, the places where you can admire the world's highest waterfall as Cherrapunjee. The two places about 60 km far from Shillong. You can not go to two locations on the same day. You will have to take a day just to explore one place only. Car transport may cost between Rs 1,500 (30 USD) to Cherrapunjee and Rs 1,800 (40 USD) to Mawsinram .

Only 10 km from the city, if you are kind adventurous person, you can hike to the top of Shillong (1,960 m high) or Lei Shillong, where you can see the city. Or you can climb to Sohpetbneng peak, which is 20 km far from the city, and where Hynfiiewtrep tribes live. Additionally , you can choose for yourself a tour to Mawphlang, whic is 24 km far from the city to admire the 0.4 hectares pristine forest; or Cherrapunji (57 km from the city) to admire the great waterfalls Nohsngithiang , Kshaid Dain - thlen and Noh Kailikai.

From Mumbai , tourists can take a direct flight to Guwahati and then take a taxi to Shilliong, which is nearly 100 km far. Or you can go to Guwahati airport by train or flight from anywhere in India, then drive to the North-East to Shillong. From Kolkata also has direct flights to Shillong.

The nature here is to make visitors fascinated . Photo: Heartyindia .

Shillong is the preferred location of domestic and overseas travellers.

Underground death empire in Paris

2013-11-06T02:14:00.000-08:00

(Gotravelings.com) Beneath the magnificent Paris still remains of more than 6 million dead people and the city formerly known under the name Macabre - Empire of the dead.

Underground Paris (France) is the 321 km long network of old caves, tunnels, stone mines, the main tomb area full of bones and skulls.

The skull and bones were arranged in the wall of the tunnel in Paris Catacombs (Photo: cnn.com)

The origin of this creepy tomb began two centuries ago. In 1786, dead people who was buried in the cemetery of Paris and the church became overloaded. The dead which were usually buried near residential areas seriously affected people's health.

After that, they found the solution was to move all the entire remains of the dead to the stone mines underground. This space was the perfect solution to ease the overloading in the cemetery, but it also showed many disadvantages such as the risk of land subsidence. That is why there are few tall buildings in Paris, the great foundations can not be built because the tomb is beneath the streets.

To reach the tomb area, visitors must walk down 139 steps and walked along the dark tunnel seemed endless.

One of the museum's surveillance, Tram Nguyen, talk about common reactions of people in the tour: "When coming here for the first time, you are quite impatient, but then will get used to it. Sometimes you do not recognize the bones as the remains are not human anymore, but just think of them as a form of decoration. "

Most of the remaining underground areas are prohibited to be violate. Any violation can be fined up to 60 Euro, but it stimulated strongly people who prefer exploring, discovering.

The secret grounds walked deep under the ground, going on hidden paths around the city. Sometimes, they stayed in one place for several days, preparing oil lamps and handmade maps.

Street names are etched into the walls to help explorers to adjust their direction underground. Some groups even organize party and drink in the tunnel.

For followers of this tomb, feeling the deep silence of the tunnel is the experience that they find in nowhere but this place.

A local explorer Loic Antoine - Gambeaud said: "I think it is in the collection of the imagination. Everybody knows that there's something underneath Paris, something mysterious., But I do not think many people imagine what the underground is like this. "

10 places to travel in November

2013-11-06T01:43:00.001-08:00

(Gotravelings.com) November with the cool weather is the ideal time for traveling. Here are 10 places that you should visit in this month.

1. Maroc

In November, the heat in Maroc's desears is going down dramatically which is only around 32 celcius degree. That's why this is an ideal time for travelers who love sunbathing or discovering deserts. You also can visit the capital city Marrakesh to go shopping, or register for tours to the Atlas.

2. Canary Island, Cyprus

The weather in Canary is very beautiful in this season. The temperature is around 20 celcius degree which is a great temperature for wandering, or swimming. You can also visit Larnaca city to discover and learn about the culture and history of Cyprus area.

3. Normandy

The countryside Normandy in France with the magnificent cities such as Boulogne, Calais will definitely impress all the travelers. The fresh and cool climate also support visitor to travel around the area.

4. India

November is a great time for travelers who love parties and festivals. Especially, visitors can enjoy in the lighting festival Diwali of the Hindu which is taken place in 5 days. During this festival, Indian people will light up candles during the night, which makes India really beautiful and sparkling.

5. Germany

November is the time when the German start to shop to prepare for Christmas Eve. In all the markets, German people sell everything from sausage, photos to the sparkling pine tree decorated stuffs. The great places to visit in Germany is the ancient city Nuremberg, Munich, or Berlin.

6. Birmingham

The second biggest market for Christmas after Germany and Austria is in Birmingham, Enlang. At this time last year, 5 millions visitors from all over the world came to visit 193 shops in Victoria square. And this year, the exhibition taken place on 15th November is expected to welcome more visitors.

7. Zermatt

Zermatt is a famous skiing place in Switzerland in particular, and in Europe in general. Here, visitors can stay in the beautiful woody mountain house, and enjoy special delicious meals of North Europe area.

8. Sao Paulo

People who love sport will surely not miss Sao Paulo in November this year; because in the 25th of November, the Grand Prix Formula 1 will be taken place here.

9. Paris

Paris is always the city for people who love art and the beauty. In this November, there will be a paintings exhibition of the artist - Salvador Dali opened in this place. As a painter surrealist, to enter his exhibit, you will have to go through an egg into and out of a brain model.

10. London

This year is the year of events in London. This November, in the capital of United Kingdom, there will be a photography exhibition at Tate modern museum. The exhibition also shows famous costumes of Hollywood stars. There is also Bonfire firework festival in Battersea park which is expected to attract a lot of visitors.

Explore Heraklion - Greece

2011-06-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

Heraklion, where has the warm sun, the breeze, alcohol and a series of excellent local dishes, really peaceful place to stop on and explore ancient culture.

Heraklion city, the capital of Crete island, Greece traces of many historical events in the past. Heraklion that also called Iraklion, is the largest city on Crete island and also is the 4th largest city in Greece. Here, you can find the ruins of the famous Knossos palace, where the largest concentration of population on the Crete island during the Minoan. Although no archaeological evidence, but Knossos may also have a sea port located in Heraklion from 2000 BC. Although no archaeological evidence but Knossos may have a port located in Heraklion from 2000 BC.

Heraklion city today was built in 824 AD. Over a period of imperial conquest, the city carries a different name. Heraklion name officially changed in the early 19th century. The city became the administrative center of the Crete island in 1971.

Heraklion has picturesque villages, romantic resorts on the beaches and many differently beauty beaches. Heraklion has many restaurants and taverna serving Greek cuisine to meet every need and taste. Nightlife here is vibrant. There are many bars and clubs open all year round.

Besides, Heraklion is also shopping area with lots of shops selling clothes, shoes, jewelry. The knowledgeable visitor will be able to trace the past under the urban sprawl of the present.

The core of the city is still enclosed and defined by the Venetian wall, which includes seven outjutting bastions. In the southernmost of these, the Martinengo Bastion, is the grave of Nikos Kazantzakis, standing on a windswept hilltop with its moving inscription, "I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free."

Malaysia Mega Sales Carnival 2011

2011-05-30T06:21:00.000-07:00

"Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival 2011" held by Malaysia General Administration of Tourism coordinating with other organizations will be taken place from 15.06.2011 until 31.08.2011.

Beauty of Russia in Majestic Paintings

2011-05-30T05:47:00.000-07:00

I have never been to Russia, but the beauty of Russia was imprinted in my mind when I was a little child because of many Russia picture on the newspapers - especially the paintings of Russian artists. In the world art, Russia art plays an important segment in which Russia nature and scenes are painted with its special colors.

Money and Travel

2011-05-30T05:20:00.000-07:00

What credit cards do I need to take with me?

Take your major credit cards, such as, Visa, Master Card and American Express. Make sure they are really credit cards and not just debit cards with a credit card company’s logo on them. Many locations require a credit card and will not accept a debit card, so they may have limited use on your travel.

Hanoi, Vietnam - Brief Traveling Guideline

2011-05-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

Hanoi - the capital city of Vietnam - is a very important political, cultural, and tourism center of Vietnam. Hanoi is a long-lasting capital, which has just celebrated its 1000 years old last 2010.

How to take better travel photos

2011-05-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

Ever glanced in exasperation at travel photographs wondering why yours taken of the same landmarks or subjects never turn out as stunning? Great travel photographs share a few similarities even though their subjects may be as different as a sweeping landscape or a brooding portrait.

Wonderful Copenhagen - Denmark

2011-03-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

Copenhagen - the capital of Denmark - located on the Zealand island, the point of connection between continental Europe and Scandinavia, with diverse cultures and many distractions. The attractions of Copenhagen almost concentrated in the inner city, there are parks, recreations and entertainment around.