Hakodate, Hokkaido: The Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse (金森赤レンガ倉庫・函館)

Hakodate has a lot of European designed buildings and i think this is the only place in Japan that does not look like Japan? We like the warehouse very much as it has everything in it, including food, souvenirs, even Samurai costume and electrical appliances. There are a few of pharmacies here which you can buy the 'Made in Japan' cosmetics. Some might ask is this place children friendly. Well, there is a playroom (kind of a Lego room) for children and it's FREE. Yes, free entrance.

Posing in front of the warehouse. The mountain behind me is Mountain Hakodate, which has a very beautiful night view. 

The sea view just in front of the Red Brick Warehouse. 

  The playroom. Free entrance. 

The Samurai 

The view from Mountain Hakodate 

Restaurant 'Hokkaido' at Shinjuku Island Tower, Tokyo Japan

I would like to take the opportunity to thank Japan Foundation, Mr Hayase and Ms Shion for the dinner. The restaurant is located at 44th floor of Shinjuku Island Tower. The location of this tower on Google Map. This was my first dinner in Tokyo and the food is very delicious. Let the photos do the talking.

Cu Chi Tunnels, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: April 2014 #CuChiTunnels

According to History.com, in order to combat better-supplied American and South Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War, Communist guerrilla troops known as Viet Cong (VC) dug tens of thousands of miles of tunnels, including an extensive network running underneath the Cu Chi district northwest of Saigon. 

Soldiers used these underground routes to house troops, transport communications and supplies, lay booby traps and mount surprise attacks, after which they could disappear underground to safety. To combat these guerrilla tactics, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces trained soldiers known as “tunnel rats” to navigate the tunnels in order to detect booby traps and enemy troop presence. 

Now part of a Vietnam War memorial park in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), the Cu Chi tunnels have become a popular tourist attraction.

These are some of the photos taken during the trip with the final year students of International Relation Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.

Ticket counter:

The souvenir stall: 

Don't know how to convert to USD? This is the formula: 
For example the item is 120,000 Dong, ignore the last 4 digits. It becomes 12. Then 12/2 = USD6.00
Another example, if the item is 100,000 Dong,  ignore the last 4 digits and it will become 10. Then 10/2 = USD5.00. Got it?

The staff at the entrance:

Briefing by our tour guy:

The Trap:

Demo by the staff:

The entrance of the tunnel... I couldn't imagine how they can live in the tunnel for months and years...

The Tank:

There is a shooting range in the park for those who want to shoot!!! The photo is showing the price of each bullet according to types of gun. Minimum purchase is 10 bullets. 

The bomb...

At last, bought the hat before leaving Cu Chi Tunnels. It cost me 140,000 Dong here. The War Remnants Museum is selling the same hat for 100,000 Dong only...  

I'll update this post soon with some other photos which were taken by another camera.

Langkawi Conference Trip 13-16 November 2012

The first time i been to Langkawi was in 2005. If not because of the conference, i don't think i have any chances to visit Langkawi again after seven years. 

In overall, it's a beautiful island and i rented a car this time to explore the island by myself. At first i wanted to rent a smallest car but it was out of stock due to the public holidays. Therefore, i ended up with a Honda Civic which is too big and luxury for a solo traveller like me... haha. 

The only thing that put me down is the price of the goods in Langkawi. I was expected 'duty free' prices for all the goods in Langkawi but at last i realised that only alcohol, cigarettes and chocolate are under the category of 'duty free'. Frankly, some perfumes are even more expensive than the retail shops outside Langkawi. 

Anyway, these are the photos taken along the trip.    

At the Eagle Square!!!

       

Looking toward the Jetty Point

The hotel, Bella Vista

The hotel, Bella Vista

The night market (pasar malam) at Kuah Town

The most famous seafood stall in Langkawi, Wonderland Seafood

Waiting for my turn to present paper at the conference, One Helang Hotel

One of the shops in Jetty Point. Quite expensive even with discount... G-Shock...

The car that i rented (about RM160 per day)

Perdana Gallery (to showcase the collection of gifts and awards given to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad) 

Some of the gifts...

Some of the gifts...

When he was young...

Black Sand Beach, Langkawi

Stop by to take photo while on my way to Oriental Village 

The entrance of Oriental Village and the cable car to the hill top is inside here

Shops in the village

Wonderland Seafood Langkawi!!!

Reasonable price!!!