~ Journey of Mine ~

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

~ 2011: Sabaidee Lao PDR ~

In August 2011, along with my little buddy, we went to Laos for a 4D3N trip.
We departed on Saturday afternoon and arrived Vientiane. Soon, we headed to the North Bus Station to take an overnight bus to Luang Prabang.

Wattay International Airport

VIP bus to Luang Prabang

We met Celine from Malaysia.

The bumpy winding road condition made the journey longer and the only highway connecting Vientiane to Luang Prabang is prone to landslide. We met one the following morning. All the vehicles came to a stop for the clearing process. It might take for whole day. Hence, we decided to walk over the landslide with our luggages. From there, we took a van to reach Luang Prabang.

Finally, we reached our guesthouse at 12pm. Hurriedly we took a bath and had our lunch and started our programme of the day.

USD20 (twin room) per night inclusive of breakfast

Wat Sene

Wat Xien Thong with the colored mosaic stones

RM3.50 for this coconut ice-cream. Yummy!

Posing with King Sisavangvong

City view from the Phousi Hill

National Museum and the Night Market

Local delicacies

Souvenirs

The next morning, we took a boat ride to Tham Ting cave and the local village for whisky and handicrafts.

Afterwards, we were brought to Whisky village whereby the local produces rice wine, whisky and other handicrafts for sales.

Hehe. since our bus back to Vientiane would be in the evening, hence, we went for massage at Lotus du Laos (recommended by Lonely Planet). The spa/massage packages offered at a cheap price (cheaper than Thailand), which was a good bargain! Must try if you ever come to Luang Prabang :)

Patuxai (Victory Gate)

City view from Patuxai (7th floor)

Due to the unexpected landslides during our visit, it was kind of rush for us to cover the intended places that we wanted to visit. Perhaps, there will be another time for us to come back and continue our exploration here :)

Sunday, May 22, 2011

~ March 2011: LIMSC, the Netherlands ~

Again, i went to the Netherlands for participating the 7th Leiden International Medical Student Conference in South Holland.

Again, i went there alone.
This time the feeling of going there was rather mixed up.. I needed to calm myself down while doing my best for the presentation of my project.

The decision to take part in this conference was not well-planned. What i meant was a day before the closing date, i submitted my abstract and i was selected for an oral presentation of 8 minutes with 2 minutes of discussion. I did not plan to go for this conference initially, but due to a sudden incident, i had to go, but i was glad that i'm part of the LIMSC family.

I was the only one from Malaysia, so it was a good opportunity for me to meet friends from around the world, exhanged our ideas and opinions on the issues being discussed during the conference, and was able to learn a bit more about culture of other students. Sometimes, being alone was nice, i walked to someone and started a conversation, and that was how i expand my social circle. We just have to make the first move. :)

Leiden, was the venue for the conference. 15 minutes train ride from Schiphol Amsterdam airport. In fact, Leiden was strategically located, which i think i will come back again to visit other cities from here. Of course, this time i will bring my mum along since she wants to admire the beauty of tulips :)