1st helicopter flight

Ever imagine yourself standing 9000 ft above sea level and look straight at the clouds? Yes I always imagined I would do that one day. And yes. I did it! It felt really incredible to have a chance to land on somewhere on the Southern Alps and capture the blueness of the sky. So someone asked me, did you hike all the way there? HAHA. That's like the funniest joke of the year. Well, I would like to do that but I am not available for that now but maybe in the future..? 

It was really exciting to look over those mountains' peaks from the helicopter but at the same time, it's quite scary. It feels like you're in an airplane but everything decreases in size. The windows are like just beside you and as you look out, yes the views are superb but I felt a little bit of chill at the back. 

We flew over the Southern Alps like an eagle! Mr. Pilot introduced us the peak of Mt. Cook, Mt. Tasman and some others which I couldn't remember but they all look the same to me haha! We landed somewhere really random I guess (to me it's random), and it was actually not that cold up there but the sunlight was like so dem strong! I could feel the scorching Sun is real close to me. 

So this is it. The mighty Southern Alps, right in front of your eyeballs haha! Really hope I have my own professional photographer that knows what kind of photos and angles I need at that time. I felt so helpless to have my tour guide to take photo of me and all I did was smile awkwardly. THIS PLACE IS PERFECT FOR INSTAGRAM PHOTOS, but urgh. Trust me I will be back my dear, with someone who knows how to take photo probably. 

But yeah, I am so in love with this world that has only white and blue colours, feel like transforming into the White Queen or Elsa and lives here happily ever after.. Hey you, waiting for you and your white horse to come *wink*

Kia Ora!

Kia Ora, it means Hello in Maori language. Yes, wonder how do I know this? Because.. *drum rollsssss* I just got back from New Zealand! The land of sheep! Actually I was back in Malaysia for 3 weeks already, finally here I am to write my adventures in NZ. First of all, I feel so blessed to travel to such great place at this age, thanks to my parent. New Zealand, is a country which I have longed to go to since I was young. I think I was influenced by my dad because when I was young, he would always say, one day in the future he must visit NZ, the land that has blue skies and huge clouds. That's sort of his dream and also it became my dream. And years later, which is this summer in 2016, our dream, came true. Apparently it took us years to be able to afford to visit this dream place of ours, so I do appreciate this trip a lot. Also, the preparations for this trip were quite troubling. At first, it said that there weren't members to make it a group trip, no flight tickets on the dates we wanted, I ended up preparing myself that this trip would be called off. But fortunately, it was an ON at last. 

So, it's a 10 days 8 nights trip and we spent our first night in the plane. This was my first trip travelling on a plane for more than 6 hours and I think it's quite tiring. After hours of flying, we finally landed at Auckland at around 12pm on 14/8/16. After going through all the customs and bio-safety checkpoints, btw NZ has really strict rules on foreigners' hygiene tho, you aren't allowed to bring any fruits into their country and if you bring biscuits you'll have to declare it. The days here end at like 4pm, and it turns dark after four. We went for some simple city tour in Auckland before we headed for dinner and lastly, back to hotel after our really long day. The bad part of the first day in NZ was, we had to wake at 4am the next day because we gotta catch a morning flight to Christchurch. And the funny part was, I slept at 11pm NZ's time and woke up at 4am, and I realized my friends were still chatting in the Whatsapp group even after I woke up because it's only 1am in Malaysia haha! And I was like "goodnight" and "good morning" ?

It's only an hour flight from Auckland to Christchurch. After reaching we headed to Cashmere hill (NZ version of Cashmere). Along the way I saw people jogging, it's such a nice weather for jogging tho, the weather is so chilling and the scenery is superb. I wish I have the chance to do that! I should have walked myself up the hill instead of sitting in the bus huh? 

You could have the best view of Christchurch over here and I have deeply fallen in love with this place although it's only the first day. The scenery is demmmmmmm! I can't help mysely taking selfies because the weather was so niceee! Also it's perfect for swag Insta photos yoyo. Please do not judge me for taking photos just to post it on Instagram haha. 

We went to a local botanical garden in the afrernoon. Because it's winter so the trees are like, bald. But nevermind, I still love it in every way. I really feel like taking photos of every thing that is shined into my eyes. It's too beautiful I wish to record everything I see. After that, the long road trip began. We had to sit on the bus for hours as we head to the South island of NZ. But it's worth it, the best part of NZ, south island. Blue skies, super huge clouds, greeneries, lots lots of sheep, cows, you name it, it has it. Also it's nearer to the Southern Alps. 

The scenery along the road makes me feel super excited and at the same time amazed. I was taking photos and videos all the way. How I wish there's a hole on the window which I could extend my camera out for better qualities of photos. Check out the snowy mountains, it's the Southern part of the Alps! yes the ALPS! I was that near to it tho. 

And finally before sunset, we reached Hokitika, a small cool little town! This town was developed due to the discoveries of green stones over here. People came here to exploit green stones and slowly there it develops into a small town named Hokitika. And tonight, we stayed by the beach, accompanied by cool sea breeze ~ 

I would have to say, this town is really peaceful. It is so quiet after 6pm and I barely see people walking around on the road. I felt like there's only one group of human beings which was us at that place at that time haha. Although I might feel bored if I were to stay at such peaceful place for long term, but at that moment, I was truly carefree. Like any problem couldn't bother me at all. This is what New Zealand makes me feel, the real kind of peace. 

A day with my flowery pants.

A great day always start off with a great breakfast! Not bluffing but the breakfast buffet in my hotel, (under my uncle's supervising) it was good. They served a lot of traditional Vietnamese dishes as we were still cracking our head googling what food must we try over here, they already served the real food for us. Of course without hesitating I tried most of it. One of the special ones should be the Vietnamese sticky rice, served with chicken floss on it. I personally like chicken floss and sticky rice very much, so yah. It's definitely a thumb up for this one from me!

First stop of the day : Independence Palace

In order to visit the museum you would need to purchase tickets, I could not remember the ticket price but it won't be more than MYR5. It's a cozy place with good view on top like blue skies and cotton candy clouds, and also good sunlight. But, I am not the kind who likes to research or study on history, on contrary I hate it so much. So basically I did not pay much attention on the information they provided in the museum, I literally just walked around with aimlessly and took some selfies whenever the lighting is great (I'm so sorry for being such apolitical). 

2nd stop of the day : Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica 

The cathedral was build back in 19th century, all using red bricks. We chilled at a park near the cathedral while my grandpa smoking (smoking is bad nah ah). While we were walking towards the cathedral which is located in the middle of a cross road. There was this beautiful park right at the roadside, and we had to walk pass it to reach the cathedral. There were some stalls selling street food at the park! YES, food. 

I really have to say, there are so so many kinds of street food in Vietnam! I've tried a few but i think there are endless to try! This one, was a really crunchy thing, but too bad I can't remember its name. See the white colour piece of thing? That's the crispy part of it, and inside there are some meats, spring onions etc. 

3rd stop of the day : Highlands Coffee Shop

 Highlands Coffee is just like Starbucks in our country, their shops are all over Vietnam. It is very easy to find. We tried Banh Mi, which is the bread. It's like Vietnamese Subway, but I don't really like it, because, hmm, there are raw onions and parsley and I'm like ewwwww. I will just focus on my drinks then. So one the left was the Green Tea Frap and on the right, their signature coffee. My fav - green tea *heart* ! It has some green tea jelly inside which makes it really special. A must try! Amazed by the space of our stomach? Dont be. Because you will be just the same like me, cannot even resist the food you see in Saigon.

Final stop of the day : Night Market (near Benh Thanh market)

Here we are, at one of the night markets in Saigon. I don't know what market is this called, but it's right beside Benh Thanh Market. Okay, so the original plan was, to visit Benh Thanh market. Benh Thanh Market is like the largest and a must visit place in Saigon. So I checked online saying that it is open 24 hours, and guess what happened? We reached the place at around 9pm, thinking of spending the rest of the night being a shopaholic. Aha, and 10 minutes after I stepped in the market, people started to pack up and clean their stalls. I was like, errr...? Apparently, what I saw online was a total contrary with what was happening right at that moment. There and then we found out another night market was about to open haha, lucky us! But most of the stalls are selling the same type of goods, hmm but worth a walk. 

So that's basically what we did on 2nd of the trip! Stay tuned for more hoho. Two swaggers spotted at the park, xo. 

Love,

Betty. 

Vietnam - The city of FOOD

Oh dear dear, I know. It's been a really long time. This time I would like to share about my sort of food trip to Saigon, Vietnam. or also known as 'Tan Family trip' coded by Raymond Tan (my uncle). He's working over there as a chef at a hotel there and yes, he is gonna bring us all around for food!

As I stepped out of the airport, and I was amazed by the amount of people waiting at the arrival hall. Luckily we were able to search our 'friend' quickly and he brought us to my uncle's hotel afterwards. After checking in, we had lunch at the hotel's restaurant, which my uncle is working at. He claimed that all the dishes we were eating he had tasted it for like hundred times haha! Of course the meal was really nice. After some brush ups, we went out for evening walk. 

Some random streets nearby our hotel. One thing I learned about Vietnam from these few days is, their traffic behavior are really, really, really, BAD. There are a lot of motorists and they do not care about the pedestrians at all! I nearly got killed when I was crossing the street. The cars can even drive on an opposite direction of the lane (imagine if this happens in Msia, the driver would probably be honked to death). Their traffic rule is 'as long as the driver does not hit anyone or anything'. So a kind reminder, just cross the street <like a boss>, because all vehicles will avoid you very naturally (literally like a boss huh?) 

The first thing I put into our mouth in Saigon was, ice cream! And it's drizzling at that time hoho. The ice cream has nothing special, but the fun part was we could not communicate with the seller. She cannot understand 'how much?'. Okay let alone telling us the price. So, I showed her my phone's calculator and ahhhh, *bulb lights up*. She showed me the price then! 

After some ice creams, aha, the real food is here. This roadside stall we accidentally found, sells the very well known 'carrot cake' which is also known as 'chai tau kuek' in msia. I bet all Malaysians are very familiar with it right. As you can see, it's different from our version of carrot cake, and it tastes different too. It is served with dried mango and chili. I personally would prefer to eat it with their chili because the chili is the main key! 

Oh yes, this one, my fav among all Vietnamese food! Hu tier nam vang *slrppp* 

It tasted really good especially its soup. It is served with kuew teow with soup, and fresh prawns, meat and some internal organs of pig..? Okay I don't eat organs but I eat prawns! (although I'm actually allergy of it but nah I dont care) The prawns are really fresh as if I was eating something crunchy. After we finished our first proper meal in Vietnam, we headed to Nguyen Hue Street, a very famous street in Saigon. 

See the city lights of the street, very pretty isn't it. I personally thinks that Saigon actually uses well of their lighting because everywhere is full of colourful lights! Also, right at the end of this street there it stands the statue of Mr. Ho Chi Minh, and the people's Committee head office. 

So the end of the first day in Saigon. 

To more food and pretty little things! 

Love, 

Betty.