We’re flying to Hanoi
Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is a fascinating blend of east and west, with Chinese influence from centuries of dominance, and French design from its colonial past. It is largely unspoiled by modern architecture of the 1970s and 80s, and is now going through a modernization that is making it a rising star in Southeast Asia.
Hanoi travel guide – Wikitravel
Sure sounds fun doesn’t it? Yh is gonna be on a mission there with her company and I decided to tag along to have a look around. Will be going to Perfume Pagado and a few other places to explore. Just got a new camera Canon S3 IS so hope to get some nice photographs from the trip!
2006-10-25 – Day 2 – Yeh Liu – Jiu Fen – Hua Lien
Yeh Liu (野柳)
0600 We woke up early (0600 morning call!). The good thing about tours, is that you wake up early and get to see more.. The bad thing about tours? Waking up early 
0845 Our first stop of the day was windy Yeh Liu. It was about an hour travel from our hotel (Kilin Hotel). The day was very sunny and great for taking photos. We spent about 30 minutes or so walking around, looking at the famous queen’s head rock. Managed to catch a photo of a lady as she struggled with her umbrella and the wind (she won).
Almost couldn’t get a nice shot because of all the tourists but in end managed to catch a snap of a fisherman who was walking back from a day’s catch (wonder if he’s the same person I saw three years ago?).
Also took a photo of this little guard house up on the hill when we were leaving although it doesn’t seem to be in use anymore.
Jiu Fen (ä¹ä»½)
1030 Our next stop was Jiu Fen (ä¹ä»½), a kinda touristy place which has this long lane along the slope of the moutain we were on. Sam mentioned that the place used to have nine families (hence the name Jiu Fen). Of course, its a crowded place now.. Lots of tourists visit the place.. They do have quite nice food there. First stall sells beef noodles and a few shops down there is a nice fish ball shop also. Walking all the way up brought us to a nice place to take in the scenic coastal view… With a little more time, I think it would be worth it to relax at the numerous cafes and enjoy a morning there.
Su Ao Harbour (è‹æ¾³æ¸¯)
1430 We stopped at è‹æ¾³æ¸¯ on our way to Hua Lien. There was temple with three different types of 妈祖 (Wooden, Jade, Gold) on 3 levels. Was rather interesting to see the sculptures and carvings on the doors. There wasn’t much else to to do since it was a rest stop after all… Bought us a huge fried prawn tidbit and off we went.
Hua Lien
(花连)
1630 to 1700 Had a traffic hold-up on è‹èŠ±å…¬è·¯ due to repairs to the mountain face to prevent rock slides on the mountain roads so Sam was worried we would be late reaching Hua Lien (花连).
1730 We managed to reach in time after all for Ami Aboriginal Show in Hualien. The show was okay.. not sure I would go watch it again since its all rather showy. Didn’t really feel that the person performing the tribal chief was authentic but then I guess its all part of the show. Dinner was just next to the performance which was great since we were pretty hungry by then.
2000 Reached Union Hotel (国统大é¥åº—)! We quickly headed up to our room (326) to stow the luggage. Since it was really too early to go to sleep, we wanted explore the town a little but quickly realised we were on the quieter side. Luckily, we managed to head in the right direction where most of the activity was and did some quick shopping at a department store. That’s when we chanced upon a nice litle cafe “Les Duex Magut Cafe n Tea” on Jian Guo Rd. Sec. 1 (建国路一段).
The cafe was a two-storey building where the top floor had swings for chairs! Felt very cosy and certainly interesting as we enjoyed our desserts. The bottom floor actually had half of the area dedicated to cats! There were all sorts of cats that drew close when we approached and definitely glad we explored to end the second night.
2006-10-24 – Day 1 – Singapore – Taipei
It’s time for our honeymoon! Our parents picked us up to head to Changi T2 very early in the morning. (tip: next time we’re going to do internet check-in!) After a quick 4 hour flight from Singapore, we were picked up by Sam from Polo Travels at Taoyuan Airport. All thoughts of it being a cosy tour were vaporised when we realised we were travelling with 7 other groups on the 40-seater coach. Well, this was going to be interesting…
Xi Men Ding (西门町)
Since we had some free time and I was pretty familiar with Xi Men Ding, we headed out as soon as we got our room at Kilin Hotel (definitely not our first choice of a 3-star hotel). Our first stop for food was of course Ah Zong Mian Xian. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in Xi Men Ding. Also note the push carts full of food. (they mysteriously vanish into small alleys once the cops arrive)
Taipei 101 (å°åŒ— 101)
Not wanting to waste any time, we took the Metro (Taipei’s MRT) to Taipei City Hall Station. Was pleasantly surprised to see they had implemented and ezy-link type system and even had barriers for safety at the open tracks (wonder when we’ll get this?). After walking out of the station, there was a free shuttle service (Shuttle 101) to Taipei 101 to catch the night sights. We spent 350 NTD each to take the lift up one of the world’s tallest building (My last time was in Shanghai and I must say lift technology is amazing… very quick rides both ways!).
Wufenpu Fashion Area (五分埔)
A quick 2 stops away to Houshanpi Station and 5 minutes of walking later, we were at Wufenpu Fashion Area.. There were streets and streets of different apparels for bulk purchase (or the occasional shopper). Scooters and staff weaved through the small roads to deliver goods. Definitely interesting place visit if you’re into shopping for clothes! (We saw so many types and variations it was hard to know where to start).
Raohe Night Market (绕河夜市)
Further down from Houshanpi was a night market I had visited 3 years ago, Rao He Night Market.. This time round I entered from another entrance since we crossed Songshan Station (Railway). Yh and myself had a nice dinner of Lu Rou Fan (é²è‚‰é¥) and also ice topped with mango, strawberries and kiwi. Packed ourselves a nice bowl of almond jelly back to hotel for supper. Pretty eventful first day for us and we were quite tired since we walked to most of the spots but definitely more fun to walk around and see the sights
Our Wedding – Banquet
Right after our tea ceremony at Yh’s place, we headed down to OCC and checked into the bridal suite to rest. Thank goodness we had a spare room so that the boys and gals could have their own place to freshen up. We tried to get some sleep but after awhile, it was time to do a dry run with our banquet manager so I headed off with Anthony to do a quick briefing on the sequence of events for the evening. OCC provided us with a nice box of chocolates and also our wedding cake (since the evening cake is just a prop). It was a pretty uneventful evening as we sat around and chatted away the time (tip: bad idea to let your bro and sis start plotting about the after dinner events 
). Pretty soon, it was 6+ and time to get ready for the guests to arrive.
Wan Peng (our photographer) worked tirelessly with us as we greeted our guests and chit-chatted. Glad the function area was big enough to cater to the crowd of 60 tables (Thank you helpers who coordinated the whole logistics of the night!)
Everyone worked tirelessly to get the guests to their tables and of course looking good at the same time
I’m glad we managed to get in so many photos with friends and relatives that night .. OF course it makes it all the more harder to go through all the photos since everyone looks so good!
Our walk down the red carpet had friends blowing bubbles and then red rose petals as we headed towards the stage.. Was great to see family, friends and relatives beside us smiling away. Wow.. we felt like celebrities!
Our wonderful MC’s Julian and Linda bantering away. Also the first dish performance made us wonder when he’d throw the flaming sword in the air
Our second march in felt like a presidential ceremony as we came in on the wedding buggy. The traditional yum seng with everyone on stage and a whole lot of brothers cheering for us…
Both our dads beaming through our thank you speech.
It was time to same goodbye to our guests… has been a great evening and want to thank everyone who could make it (and those who couldn’t) for your well wishes. It’d soon be time to head off to Taiwan for our honeymoon.
Our Wedding – Morning
Yah I know… its over a month late but still hope you enjoy reading about our wedding day.
Both of us had to get up bright and early to get ready for the hair-combing ceremony by our parents at 0600.
I took some photos and posted them online for Yh to have a look
Yh all made up and parents putting on veil for her
Vicki also gets dressed up for the morning
Yh’s sisters get ready with some “obstacles” for the groom and bros.
Our bridal car comes along with Eunice’s Celica right at the back.. Its quite an entourage of cars Hanyong helped to open the car door and sure looks handsome ya? Josh, Zhihua, Anthony, Joseph, KC, Eugen, Eunice, Sean and Aunt right next to me.
Wanjoo, Karpeng, Xiao Lin, Tingfang, Mag and Linda and all ready to “welcome” us through the gate. We had to answer a few questions like make up a poem with Yuhui’s name and also answer what’s Yh’s parents full name (Haha which i couldn’t answer and poor Anthony had to have his face drawn like cat!). Thank goodness there wasn’t any sweet/sour/bitter stuff to “torture” us Josh also had to endure putting on a sexy panties (Thx Bro!) while I had to put on a pair of kid’s swimming trunks! Luckily, after much negotiation from Zhihua (aka cash incentives), we managed to into the house!
Of course, it wouldn’t be so easy because Karpeng immediately blocked our ways with two bamboo poles… Soon everyone’s laughing away while we performed the sexy pole dance by men in formal wear routine.
It seem like many moons ago when I knelt in front of Yh at Esplanade’s Roof Garden to ask her to marry me (actually it was on Feb 16th 2005). Definitely feels different all dressed up and with audience
We headed off to our new house first.. quick quick gotta reach there by auspicious time.
We had a quick stopover at our new home to have some tang yuan which I diligently rolled the night before (uhmm got commented that a lot of big n small ones :p). Next stop is back to my parent’s house for tea ceremony.
After the traditional tea ceremony, we proceeded to take photos with relatives who came to partake in the fun.
After some lunch, we were ready to hit the road again to Yh’s place for tea ceremony
We had the tea ceremony and more photo taking .. and more food! After a morning of rushing around.. we were finally headed off to OCC to prepare for the evening.
Our Wedding Photos are here!
Many thanks to Ah Peng Peng (Wai Peng) for our wedding day photos.. Had a great time looking through them (and an equally tough time deciding which photos to post online!)
We hope you have a fun time browsing through our memories
(More to come as we post photos from our honeymoon to Taiwan!)