2013 Hanoi Trip - Halong Bay Part 1 - Road to Halong Bay

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | One Pillar Pagoda | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater

Dining:           New Day Restaurant | Sketch Coffee | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:

Vietnamese Dong

I have been lazy in writing recently, and the trip to Halong Bay was nearly forgotten. I better starting completing the record of that journey now before such a joy fade into nothingness. This post is long overdue anyway.

One of the highlights of our Hanoi trip was a day trip to Halong Bay, which all Hanoi visitors would put onto their travel plans. After all who would want to miss a trip to one of UNESCO's World Heritage? However I found that there are certain things seldom highlighted about the journey from Hanoi to Halong Bay, so I decided to list down some points I found indispensable.

Guardian

Travel through Philately - The First Currency of United Arab Emirates (Emirates Post)

I have wanted to add some Middle Eastern first day covers into my collection but had been reluctant to pay a premium in eBay for it. Fortunately Emirates Post manned one of the booths in Singapore 2015 World Stamp Exhibition, and I got myself a few remaining ones. One of those sets depicted the first set of United Arab Emirate's (UAE) currency - the UAE dirham.

UAE'S first set of banknotes, featuring AED 1, AED 5, AED 10, AED 50, AED 100 and AED 1000.

UAE's first set of coins, featuring 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 fils, and 1 dirham.

Singapore 2015 World Stamp Exhibition

My first ever stamp exhibition visit coincided with Singapore's grand celebration of its 50th birthday, making this year's visit a memorable one. It is an honor for the nation to host this high profile philatelic event, which gathered showcases spanning 66 countries and trade booths from various nations for collectors to fuel their obsession. The decennial exhibition was last hosted by Singapore 20 years ago (in 1995), and is held with the full support and patronage of the Federation Internationale de Philatelie (FIP) and under the auspices of Federation of Inter-Asian Philately (FIAP), so it is natural for this exhibition to gather postal authorities and philatelic traders from different corners of the world.

The last time Singapore hosted the World Stamp Exhibition was 1995, and they returned to the position to coincide with the nation's 50th birthday.

Travel through Philately - The Silk Road 丝绸之路 (China National Philatelic Corporation)

Continuing my stretch of First Day Covers of China themed philately, I uncovered another of my collection - The Silk Road, coinciding with my recent fascination with the trade route made famous by the journals of Marco Polo. This is a 2012 issued cover, and unlike the previous sharing of the Grand Canal cover, I managed to collect the full set this time.

The 4 stamps depict different topics, namely "Millenia-Old Capital" 千年帝国 (description of Xi'an), "Magnificent Pass in the Desert" 大漠雄关 (describing the relentless desert scenery), "Mysterious Kingdom" 神秘故国 (describing lost kingdoms of the Silk Road), and "Extraordinary Scenery of the Western Regions" 西域胜景 (describing the wild beauty of Central Asia).

The miniature sheet, titled "Exchange" 交流, shows the epic Kumtag Desert of Dunhuang 敦煌 with the entrance to Mogao Caves (莫高窟) and an inset stamp of preserved Buddhist artwork.

Travel through Philately - Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal 京杭大运河 (China National Philatelic Corporation)

Seems like I am on a grand tour of China with my collection of China themed First Day Covers. I just bought myself a set of 6 FDCs on one of China's ancient architectural marvel that is inscribed in UNESCO's World Heritage List - the Grand Canal. Although I have heard of the name, I am quite unfamiliar with its history and significance so I decided to explore further online.

Like the Great Wall of China, the Grand Canal was a feat of civil engineering marvel - longest wall in the case of Great Wall, longest artificial river in the Grand Canal's case. Both were built and connected in different eras, lasted throughout the ages into the modern world, and were first breathed life in the riotous Spring and Autumn Period (春秋时期). 

Lantern Lighting Pagoda 雷峰塔

Travel through Philately - Old Town of Li Jiang 丽江古城 (Hong Kong Post)

I shared the 3rd from a Hong Kong Post series on World Heritage in China here, and had the first here, so where is the 2nd? Here it is!

There is still no lack of beautiful scenery in China despite the pollution as a result of their industrialization, and one of them was the Old Town of Li Jiang. Even though there were redevelopments targeted at wooing tourists, enough of the original remnants remained to exude an atmosphere of a historical town.

Hong Kong Post's World Heritage in China series #2: Old Town of Li Jiang

Travel through Philately - China Dan Xia 中国丹霞 (Hong Kong Post)

The long hiatus from my last philately post left me with considerable time to arrange and catalogue my collection. From within the collection I found another of Hong Kong Post's Mainland Scenery Sites series - this is the third of the collection, focusing on the colorful landscape of China Danxia (丹霞). And it is by preparing this post that I learned a crucial misunderstanding which I had held for quite some time.