China – Beijing, a walk back in History (4)

After visiting the Great Wall, another place that we visited was the Beijing’s Hutong.

What are Hutongs? Actually they are a type of narrow streets or alleys; formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences. The best way to get around and to see was on trishaw.

Just look the the row of trishaws waiting for customers or more like tourist like me….

.

One of the residence in the Hutong area

Yup… a row of trishaw bringing tourist around the Hutong area…. going through the small alleys passing along a river .

What a sight!!

Mini red fire engine that I saw in the Hutong area.

More trishaws….

Moving on… we stopped at southeastern corner tower of the city wall where it was built during the Ming & Qing Dynasty. What’s left was the remnants of the southern section of the Inner City wall near the Southeast Corner.

Stay tune for more……

Vietnam – The Trail of Hanoi (14)

My last posting on my trip in Hanoi. Vietnam. Yes, still in Old Quarters.

Me on trishaw following another trishaw in front of me. It kinda nice to sit in one of them and seeing the motorbikes zooming past you.

A spontaneous shot.

Look at all those wires on the electric pole!!

Sunset it approaching soon…..

Another stall selling all sorts of things…..

… and locals hanging outside a stall and having their dinner.

That’s all for my journey here. So… the next question, where to next? If you want to know, then follow me on my blog to find out. =)

Vietnam – The Trail of Hanoi (11)

Today we are heading back to Hanoi’s Old Quarters which is near Hoan Kiem lake. It has the original street layout and architecture of old Hanoi. The city consisted of only about 36 streets, most of which are now part of the old quarter. Each street had merchants and households specialized in a particular trade, such as silk traders, jewelry, etc.

Our first stop was St. Joseph’s Cathedral; a church on Nha Tho Street in the Hoan Kiem District of Hanoi, Vietnam. The cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hanoi to nearly 4 million Catholics in the country.

Exterior of the cathedral

Interior with the view of the alter.

From the church we took the trishaw to get around the old quarters. Socialist statue by Ho Kiem Lake.

The locals on their motorbikes and lots of trishaws too.

It is always nice to slowly walk along the road or little small alleys in the old quarters as you can really see the life of the Vietnamese people there.

Vietnamese dolls ….. So many types and so colourful as souvenirs.

A common sight of stalls selling specialize in just one thing.

More pictures to come on old quarters. Stay tune….

Penang – Visit to the Snake Temple (2)

This is 2nd part of my visit to the Snake Temple.

Worshipers jostling around to put their josticks ….

The offerings … and look at the size of the roasted pig. This was just one of the roasted pigs. If I am not mistaken, I think I saw another few more roasted pigs there.

More worshipers..

Look at the various sizes of the josticks…

and also colourful ones too.

This portion of the temple is where the snakes are kept or sleeping. They also created hand made giant snake to mark this year of the snake.

More shots of the temple.

Penang – Visit to the Snake Temple (1)

Yesterday I dropped by another famous spot in Penang; the Snake temple in Bayan Lepas. There were prayers and activities happening there, and lots of worshippers and tourists seen visiting the temple.

I managed to capture some interesting pictures. Hope you enjoy them.

The entrance of the temple. A matter of fact the temple is smack in middle of an industrial area or more like the area was developed around the temple.

A short write up about the temple but it is in Malay language.

Chinese New Year decorations can be seen around the temple.

Trishaw….

Another shot of the entrance from another angle.

‘God of Prosperity’ among the crowd

The temple entrance where the worshippers are praying.

To be continued.