1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #314 - Xiamen, Fujian, China

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #314

- Xiamen, Fujian, China

 

(Chinese New Year in China for me this year, with mum and sis. It's a bit of a homecoming for hubby, whose forefathers have roots here in Fujian's Yongchun, while mine were from Hainan. The tour leader whisked us quickly from the airport and straight south to Chaozhou, or the old Teochew, crossing into Guangdong province. Most of the cities here are so big and built-up, with hardly any farmland in between towns. Looks like outside of the Tier 1 cities of Beijing and Shanghai, the Tier 2 cities like Xiamen and Chaozhou are huge too)

 

 

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #313 - Kevin Hart 'What Now?' Tour, Singapore

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #313

- Kevin Hart 'What Now?' Tour, Singapore

 

(Okay, we have never paid for a proper 100% comedy show but having seen this guy on TV a couple of times, we decided to check it out, 'live' in his "What Now? Tour" here. And it was worth every dollar of it! When we walked in, all seemed so sombre, with ushers popping into everyone's ears like a rash, telling all, "No photos!..or you will be ejected, like 300 people in Sweden". Really? The hostile mood turned quickly into barrels of laugh when Kevin took the stage. It was the best stand-up comedy that we have ever seen - 'live' or on-screen. Who can forget his raccoon and shark stories?)

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #312 - Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral and City Hall, Ho Chi Minh City

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #312

- Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral and City Hall, Ho Chi Minh City

(Both the Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral - which was built in 1880 - and the City Hall are distinctive buildings, within walking distance from each other. The French influence in their architecture is obvious. We didn't get the chance to walk in to view them inside, but the surrounding area is now dotted with new shopping malls and coffee outlets. But it's good to see that some ladies on the streets are more than happy to don their old traditional clothings, which are so distinctively Vietnam)

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #311 - Thanh Mai Noodles and Pho2000, Ho Chi Minh City

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #311

- Thanh Mai Noodles and Pho2000, Ho Chi Minh City

(Vietnamese noodles are a joy to eat. We came across this corner shop called Thanh Mai which dishes out an excellent bowl of noodles with clear broth, slices of fish cake, plus a stick of pork rib. Yummy! We came back for seconds. Before we flew off, we decided to also try Pho2000, a noodle restaurant tucked above a coffee outlet. Although it's beef noodle soup was a bit average, it's prawn-wrapped spring roll was excellent. The fact that President Bill Clinton was here probably gave it permission to charge a premium for its dishes)

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #310 - Ben Thanh Market, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #310

- Ben Thanh Market, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

(Ho Chi Minh City is pulsating! This old Saigon is a real commercial hub now, unlike Hanoi which still gives one that old-town Vietnam feeling. And the massive Ben Thanh Market represents that buying-selling perfectly. The streets beside it are no slouch too when it comes to selling clothings, shoes and such. I had a field day picking up my 100,000-dong Under Armours shirts. The market  is a hive of activities, both day and night time. I still prefer the cool of Hanoi in January though)

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #309 - Sistine Chapel, Vatican City

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #309

- Sistine Chapel, Vatican City

(The most famous chapel in the world, the Sistine Chapel, is in front of me, at last. And look, the most iconic of Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling - the Creation of Adam - depicting the creation of man by God. Many regard this painting as equal in fame and impact to the Mona Lisa. Inside, it is a wonderfully peaceful chapel, even with visitors standing almost wall-to-wall, craning their necks to look up at the ceiling. With earplugs from the museum's audio guide, we sat by the side for 15 minutes, just to soak it all in - imagining his every paint brush strokes, which took 5 years to complete on his back, apparently. As we walked out, we decided to send a postcard at the post-office with a stamp showing Pope Francis, right inside the museum itself, capturing this once-in-a-lifetime experience)

 

 

 

 

 

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour #308 - The Vatican Museum, Vatican City

1001 Places/Experiences to See or Savour After Remission #308

- The Vatican Museum, Vatican City

(We were off at 530am to get to the Vatican Museum, on our last full day in Rome. Our hotel tried to get tickets online, but due to this being 02Jan, the first day in 2016 that it's opened to the public, agents pushed it over 50euro per ticket. We were content to queue for it, for only 16euro at the museum gate. The 2hr queue from 6.40am was an experience in itself. The Vatican Museum is huge, carrying some of the world's masterpieces of the Renaissance period by Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Raphael. Once inside, you can feel how special this museum is. You get to see views of the Vatican City that you won't get by only visiting the St Peter's Basilica, which our 2 previous tours covered. Here, all the museum pieces seemed alive!)