Ba Na Hills 2018

I have never heard of Ba Na Hills before until I was researching for things to do in Hoi An. It has piqued my interest as it looks like somewhere in Europe and not in Asia. In addition, it has a long cable car to take guests up to the resort. It looks very lovely and since Joel agreed, we went there after our short stint in Hoi An.

Ba Na Hills was discovered in 1901 by Paul Doumer, the General Governor of Indochina. With its lovely weather, the French built it to become one of the most luxurious resorts in Vietnam. However, time and war devastation made it lost its beauty. Thanks to Sun Group, Ba Na has been restored and  and is now called the "Europe in the middle of Central Area". Now it has a 4 star hotel, restaurants, a modern entertainment park and much more.

Our hotel in Hoi An was very kind to help us arrange a taxi towards the cable car station in Ba Na Hills. Since it was about an hour ride, the price was 500,000VND (22 USD) for the car. Excitement started to come to us right after we stepped off the taxi. Who wouldn't be with this view?

The counter for cable car wasn't hard to find.We mentioned that we are staying at Grand Mercure and the lady at the counter called a butler to assist us. We rode what seemed like a golf car towards another building where the hotel reception was. Joel asked if that was already the hotel. I was confused as well but the receptionist assured us that the hotel is at the top :) She gave us a map of what we should expect over there.

Check in was very fast and we had to pay 18 USD for the cable car. This cable car is one of 10 most impressive cable car systems all over the world as voted by CNN. It was so exciting and when we finally queued up for the cable car, we were overjoyed that we had one to ourselves!

With soothing music, good weather and spectacular views, me and Joel were so impressed.

Our hotel, the Mercure Ba Na Hills French Village Hotel, is beautifully designed with European architectural style in the 19th century. We presented ourselves again at their reception which looked lovely!

They also surprised us by upgrading our room!

The room's main colour was purple and which gave it a royal feel.

Loved the hotel's spiral staircase as well. 

I was in doubt why the flyers and maps said that we can experience 4 seasons in a day in Ba Na Hills. Well, I saw it and it made me believe! One second there is sunshine, then fog will envelop the place and then sunshine again just before the rain and winds come. Like this fog just outside our window.

Right in front, or where our hotel was, is the French Village. It represents a classical and romantic France. It really does not feel that you are in Asia if your here at the French Village. There are a lot of tourists so getting a decent photo is a challenge.

It is easy to get hungry from all the walking and picture taking so fret no more. Scattered in the village are street food stalls such as grilled sausage, crepes and pop corns. I saw souvenir shops around as well.

Unfortunately, the clouds descended so fast when we were about to come out of the hotel to explore what's around.

We decided to have dinner at the hotel (because we didn't realize other restaurants close early). The hotel restaurant was grandiose.

Afterwhich, we checked their heated pool with free movie screening.

The next day, we had our buffet breakfast and checked out from the room.

The staff was very kind to let us leave our bags in their storage room while we roam around to see more of the resort.

We then ventured into Fantasy Park. This is the largest indoor entertainment park in Vietnam and it has about 3 levels of fun! Most of the games and rides are for free except for the Wax Museum.

We had fun with the many entertaining games.

There were also live shows of talented artists on a stage.

We looked for the Funicular to get to other interesting places. At first we were not sure if it had an additional fee but there was none! So we reached Le Jardin d'Amour first which included 9 gardens such as Lover's Garden, Secret Garden, Grape Garden, Dream Spring Garden and Legendary Garden.

We also went into Debay Ancient Wine Cellar which was built by the French People in 1923. It was about 100 meter long and the exit lead us to Bar Debay. They are serving wine, BBQ roaster, apple cinnamon tea and Sangria which we tried out.

We also headed to the Buddha Statue and Linh Ung Pagoda.

Restaurants are abundant in Ba Na Hills. Italian, European, Asian and even Russian food is available and some even offer buffet. But, as a resort, these places are really pricey.

I could say we didn't expect how cold it is up there in Bana Hills. But it does make sense because people come up there especially during the summer. 2 days and 1 night is not enough to enjoy the whole place. I've read an update that they had built a long and grand overlooking bridge up there which the guests loved. Not sure if I could come back to Ba Na Hills but it was a good experience to have "Europe feels" while still being in Asia.

Thank you for reading and 'til next blog!

Penguin Parade Experience 2018

Last November 3, 2018, we originally planned to fly to Perth but due to airline issues, our flight was cancelled. Not wanting to waste the day, me and Joel thought of something else to do and finally decided to drive down to Philip Island. It is just 90 minutes away from Melbourne and is Victoria's wildlife island.

We arrived at Philip Island at about 4pm and had a bit of time to eat. We chose to eat at the Fat Seagull.

With this amazing view in front of us.

We knew from the website that penguins arrive at sunset every evening but we also checked their penguin arrival time calendar. Since it was November, they were projected to arrive starting at 8:15pm.  We went to the center at 7pm and we had time to look around. It was also suggested to arrive an hour early to explore the visitor center which contained information about different kinds of penguins and facts about them. It also had penguin merchandise being sold as well as refreshments.

We chose to pay for General Viewing, the rate for adult is $26.20. Other ticket options on their websites include Penguins Plus, Underground Viewing, Guided Ranger Tour, VIP Tour, Ultimate Adventure Tour and Little Wonders Family Tour. 

After going around the visitor center, we then started to walk towards the viewing platform. We chose our seats nearest from the shore. This is clearly one advantage of being early. We braved through the cold and sat there for about an hour waiting for the penguins to come back home. We were given the instructions not to take photos with flash to protect the penguins and that we can grab photos from their website instead.

Also, we were fortunate to get the seats on the side since the rangers/ park staffs said it is a good spot. At first, it was hard for our eyes to get used to the dark and see their beaks from afar. But it did not take long when our eyes can spot them.

They were in groups and sometimes can't make up their mind if they would like to go to the shore or return back to the water. Understandable as they don't want to be eaten by their preys for dinner. It was fun spotting them and in total we saw 4 groups of penguins parading to their homes.

photo taken from https://www.penguins.org.au/photo-gallery/

Then people started to go. We thought that was it but much to our surprise the penguins can be seen on the side of the walking platform. It was much fun to watch them closer this way. 

photo taken from https://www.penguins.org.au/photo-gallery/

They were so cute to see but its just that they smelled fishy! Well, if you're out in the ocean catching fish all day then that explains it haha! There were other things to do such as Antarctic Journey, Koala conservation and exploring Churchill Island but it was already late and maybe we'll come back for it soon.

We drove back to Melbourne feeling accomplished with what we have experienced.  I almost gave up on making that day productive because of the unfortunate thing that happened with our first plans but our day turned out still interesting. One more tick in my Melbourne things to do! Thank you for reading and 'til next blog!

My Son Half Day Tour 2018

Since I cannot travel yet, I am reminiscing about the travels I had at the beginning of 2018. I will try to remember them as best as I can as I feel that a lot of things have happened after coming to Australia and starting a new life. So here it goes..

One of the things that we did in Hoi An, Vietnam was visit My Son Sanctuary. The temples built there were from the 4th to 13th century. We booked our ticket through the Sinh Tourist shop in Hoi An. We could have easily bought it online but we chose to physically get it from the shop the day before the tour. We originally planned to have the sunrise tour but it was not available. We then decided to just do the half day bus tour for 99,000 VND or 5 USD. 

At 8am the following day, we were picked up by a bus from our hotel. I remember it wasn't full and only a total of about 10 people. I remembered I was sick from cough and colds during this time but I can still manage to smile for a good photo! It's really hard to be sick while travelling, over the counter decongestants helped me to live during these times lol

It was a 2 hour drive from Hoi An and we arrived at about 10am. The guide collected the entrance fee from each of us which was about 150,000VND or 7 USD. 

We thought that we were to trek to where the ruins are. Here is the main entrance of the protected site. 

I was so excited to see the ruins but I cannot see it from here. We stopped after crossing this land bridge to ride a shuttle bus to get us nearer the ruins. The ride lasted for about 2-3 minutes. 

Then our guide showed us this miniature model of the whole place. Giving us the details of where we are to go and of course the history of the place. 

There were a lot of tourists with us and it was quite difficult to get a good photo but nonetheless it did not bother me. 

These tower temples were constructed over ten centuries. The Champa's unique culture owed it spiritual origins to the Hinduism of the Indian sub continent. With this influence, many temples were built to the Hindu divinities such as Krishna, Vishnu and above all Shiva. 

I love that our guide was very knowledgeable and explained a lot of things about the ruins but still I could not remember any of them. I was just awed at how the temples were still standing even if they were made centuries ago.

During World War II, many tower temples were damaged. However, conservation work has been carried out and have been maintained and preserved. 

Weather conditions especially the rain, has made the temples conducive to plant growth. 

We were given ample time to explore on our own as well. 

By 12 noon, the tour has finished and we arrived back to Hoi An at 1pm. 

It was another tick off my bucket list of Unesco world heritage sites! For me, nothing beats the temples of Ayutthaya in Thailand but I could not be more lucky to have the chance to visit both sites in this lifetime. 

Thank you for reading and 'til next blog!

Gunther Von Hagens' Body Worlds Vital in Melbourne

This excited me the first time I saw this exhibition being featured on the news. I find it interesting and at the same time educational especially that I work in the healthcare field. The exhibition is called Body Worlds Vital. It is an original exhibition of real human bodies by Gunther Von Hagens, the inventor of Plastination. Usual admission price for an adult is $30 which was a bit expensive for me. But then, they had a promotion for $50 for 2 people and so I dragged my cousin along last 25 October 2018.

Before going in, we were given these tokens. The staff informed us that at the end of this exhibition, we could choose which change we would like to do with our lifestyle.

We also chose to rent an audio for AUD 5 to hear more information about the displays. All we had to do was press the corresponding number and place the speaker near our ears.

At the start of the exhibit, I saw this on the wall. All the exhibits here are from an ethically reviewed Donor Program managed by the Institute of Plastination in Germany. Also, all anatomical specimens on display here are authentic.

The exhibit was divided into bodily systems. The first system discussed was about the muscular system. It showed how the muscles looked like to achieve our bodily movements. 

It also featured about the skeletal system. From my anatomy class before, I've learned that the smallest bones in the body are found in the ear. These are the hammer, anvil and stirrup. But I didn't really realize how tiny they are until I saw it in this exhibit.

photo courtesy of Paolo Ungab

I was particularly impressed on how the nervous system looks like in the entire human body. It is an amazing sight. And just amazing how the messages are sent to the brain in less than a second for the brain to interpret.

Another striking thing I saw was the obvious difference between a normal lung and the black tarry lung of a smoker.

The exhibit also featured video presentations like this which is about cells behaving badly and becoming tumours and cancer. Also, I saw a very interesting and educational video presentation about dementia and how it affects the human brain.

These are the small blood vessels running underneath the skin in our face. No wonder we blush quite easily!

The man behind this exhibition.

At the end of this exhibition and after seeing all the lifestyle changes that we can do to make sure our bodies are kept healthy and strong, we were then asked to drop our token in one of these choices. The choices were sleep more, exercise more, less alcohol, less sugar, stress less, work less, stop smoking and switch off.

There was also a gift shop wherein more educational books and toys where on sale. 

All in all, it was an afternoon well spent and I felt happy I got to see it while they are here in Melbourne. I do hope that they get to visit more cities and spread these awareness to adult and kids.

P.S. Before I released this blog, I was watching a James Bond movie called Casino Royale and just realized that it was featured in the film!Proud to say I've seen the display in real life :)

Thank you for reading and 'til next blog!