Author: Pham Thinh

Hon Giao Pass Camping: an Awesome Story

Few people camping here and if you can be one of them, I can sure that the experience is really awesome.

Hon Giao is a famous pass. It slopes from Da Lat city downward to Nha Trang, gets by Bidoup – Nui Ba national forest. Considered one of the most beautiful and longest passes in central highland of Viet Nam, local travelers prefer “Omega”. It’s such a beautiful woman, abandoned and need you to have a talk to her at night – camping.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1Y0Pfq2VYriQ2OEujJdgIe6XT-Zw

I don’t know why people name it with the final one in Greek letters. My friends suggest that because of its top-down shape similar to the letter. Another assumption is that it’s the longest pass in Viet Nam. This is the top-down google map:

My adventure – Hon Giao pass camping overnight

The first time I’ve been to here, as a part of the road trip which I made with my friend, starting from Nha Trang en route through Da Lat to HCMC. It was memorable. And from time to time, my mind still remains the picture of cloudy roads stick to the sharp slopes while facing a massive landscape of breath-taking moments.

This time, it’s second day in my trip with new friends and our itinerary was just to ride down the pass for a while, then we would be back for Da Lat night camping.

However, at the height of 1500, we caught a big wave of cloud coming us, suddenly made every visibility zero. It was so impressive that we quickly closed a deal: we would set up a camp fire right there and right at that night. That’s when the idea of Hon Giao pass camping started.

We went on down to the foot of the pass to refuel (one of bike was exhausted and there’s no gas station at the middle). We had 6 people while we brought along only one tent, the other was left in Da Lat for storage because our initial plan was some place around the town. So some of us had to head back to obtain it.

After the refuel, we went together back to the appointed camp site. Then, we decided to divide into 2 groups: 2 boys (including leader) would ride back to take the tent and buy more supplies so that we had a wonderful night with delicious food and beer. The other (me and 3 girls) would be in charge of setting up camp while waiting for them back.

It was adventurous, truly. You will soon realize that there’s no light around but a far far away beneath are lamp posts as tiny as fireflies. Sometimes trucks, cars contribute their light running on road as comets flashing in the night sky.

For the sky, at first, we didn’t see any sign of the stellar. But gradually, when cloud was away, left the whole clear sky. Then we realized how beautiful moments we were enjoying: somehow lonely, little under milky way. As if the night digested us and we were natural as a part of the landscape.

The night at the middle of Omega, you can pack up a handy speaker to entertain, while cooking your meal and singing along lyrics. You can also choose to lie on rocks, look up and watch the sky, try to figure out various constellations,… . Just make your night full and wait for the gorgeous sunrise.

It was our luck when there’s no fog or cloud in the morning next day, so we could happily enjoy the sunrise in the (quite) clear sky. Make some coffee and enjoy moments. It’s worthy.

Pieces of advises

Camping is great when the ground was even, and the surrounding was tall enough to play as wind-blockers. There’s no difficulty setting up tent if you’d like to make a Hon Giao pass camping. It’s cold so you should have a heat reflective layer underneath to make sure you won’t waste your warmth. It also makes your sleep more comfortable inside.

For your vehicles, we rode bikes, so we decided to ride down a bit. So that if any thefts happens then they are likely to make noise to get the bike on road, which alarms us. You can also hide your bikes in the tall grass, it’s easier.

It’s essential that you prepare camp fire for heat and cooking. My experience shows that you should bring along some timber to produce big flame, so that you can heat your body and clothes (if it’s wet).

Cooking is not easy for the first time of Hon Giao pass camping, but as I learnt from other advanced trekking travelers, we successfully enjoyed our full dinner with some tips.

You can grille bread and food cans directly on fire, just make sure you won’t let them burnt out. Make handy instant noodle and coffee is more complicating a bit. You have to make sure that the water level inside container (cup) is always higher than heat impact area. Because the temperature required to make water vaporize is lower than one to smelt container material (usually plastic), so you can cook perfectly, as long as it’s watered enough.

There’s a little stream nearby, running every times so there’s no need to worry about water when camping there. It’s likely to be drier a bit in hot season, but in my trip, its flow was strong and full. I think you can even use it as a natural bath, but take it cautiously because if you fall off, you’ll face 1500 height immediately.

There’s still a little 3G coverage there. I was exciting when I finished an article and submitted easily with internet, so you can live your cyber life and push social posts at camp site. Sound great!

My last piece of advises is that if trouble comes, there’s a forester station nearby. You just ride upward Da Lat few minutes, and ask for help. I’ve never use it, so I don’t know whether officers can communicate English. I think google translate can solve it, just remember to type short sentences and the opposite work out easily.

Another adventure I love is the trip to Vietnam easternmost point . Very natural, beautiful and challenging.

Omega pass is very near Dalat so if you plan to stay there, don’t forget to check this top food list, it’s very useful if you’d love to explore culture through eating (well, I love eating).

19 January, 2025
Travel bucket list: 10 experiences in Phu Quoc, Vietnam

It’s over 6 months since I ‘met’ Phu Quoc island, I still remember ‘her’. The following bucket list is great moments I very enjoyed in the island. I love them all. And I wish them for you.

That was my first time on air to the beautiful island. I put my backpack down and looked up. In contrast to the very cool air flows touching skin inside the airport, the tropical sun then showed up her power. It was hot and dry outside.

I was new guy there, alone, and no idea what would be going on the following days. Indeed, I hadn’t had any plans or itinerary before the trip. All I got just a return ticket for 4 days, a contact, a backpack with sleeping bag and a few clothes, and a travel spirit.

But life is the way we can’t predict. It turned out I was not alone eventually, and my sleeping bag was even not in use, I’ve been to many places that I hadn’t expect to visit and my photos were not just me inside frame but my new friends, too. And I love those experience so much.

Around the island on motorbike

To enjoy full freedom there, you’ve got to rent a motorbike and ride around, even when you’re alone or surrounded by friends, motorbike rides always offer an exciting experience that you won’t regret: deeply explore the local culture through streets and local stores, get to remote region to sense peaceful moments, feelings of freedom every minutes away.

It’s very easy to rent a bike in Phu Quoc. At airport, the taxi-bike offer you a trip to town center or you can hire a bike, pay in advance and ride yourself. I chose the latter and it was the best choice I’ve ever made. By the way, riding a motorcycle should be in your bucket list in Vietnam generally.

Making friend: on road and in dorm

I initially was a lone backpacker and had no ideas how to make friends in strange places. But a event happened and I unpurposely have nights in a dorm. And it changed my experience completely.

The first one, a junior worker – same age as me – is the major factor leading me to dorm, which is a historical decision. (ok, it’s boast a bit). I took him a lift to his apartment. That was his last hard working day in the construction site. He tended to leave the next day but I successfully persuaded him to explore the island with me, because it was actually his first time there. So after long riding,

Most of people taking advantage of low price dorms are inter-to-advanced travellers. They’re full of experiences, information and passions of destinations, foods, cultures and so on. I met a man who has travelled for years – a real full-time wanderlust that made me thought of how easy and joyful a travel life is.

Another guy is a sort of photography lover, and we had beautiful moments together. After the trip, I had a collection of so many nice photos of me. He’s a kind man that teach me how to be a good boy. (laughter). And we’re planning to have our next trip at the end of the year. Hopefully I have another beautiful collection.

The last one is dorm host, older than me a bit, looks like a geek guy. He’s very useful and gives a lot of help. He’s fun and running some outdoor sport. And he can cook. I think one of the reason why I should turn back to Phu Quoc is to meet those interesting people as him.

Trekking in Duong Dong reservoir

Duong Dong forest is just 20-minute riding from town. It’s a quiet place, a reservoir for people living here. The pathway is rough and requires handling well or your face hits surface sometimes. It’s quite terrible but exciting when you finished it.

The trail is amazing. I saw big ants and their loud voice under my foot while I was walking through cracky leaves on the surface. Sometimes tree trunks and bushes blocks the route, you’ll need to use knife to chop off and open path. The air is fresh, love to breathe in.

After a long walking, there’s a stop. The landscape is amazingly silent and natural there. It’s a combination of rocks, water and green surroundings, and blue sky also. The local usually come to fish. I noticed many rods and fishing equipments underwater.

Having an ice-cream rolls in night market

Strolling around night market and you’ll see stalls sell ice-cream rolls. It’s admitted that there’s no significant difference between this one and the other kind of ice-cream, but the way they are created is awesome, so much skillful performance.

From preparing ingredient to mix, slash and then spread out to cut off into equal parts, finally make it roll and ready to enjoy. I bought one pax for 30.000 vnd just to shoot whole the process and it’s completely artful.

Admiring sunset at Ganh Dau

Ganh Dau is at the western point of Phu Quoc, and a great location to enjoy sunset. Far away from the land, there’s several isle playing as focal points for your picture of sunset. There’s a fishing village nearby, and at the end of the day, people riding around on their boat make it perfect for shots.

You can buy a couple of beers, lie lazily on the ancient coral reefs and watching sun goes down, paint the whole sky with its splendid red.

Having a seat on speed boat

Thrilling and exciting, speed boat drops you in adventurous moments. You soon perceive the water surface becoming as hard as rock and the boat just surf above it as a car on a rough way.

On boat, you see floating houses in which families are living, they also feed fish, crab and other seafood in cages underwater.

When you’re out of people living area, a sight of sea birds soon comes. They greets you with sounds and dances in the sky, or just get along your boat. It feels like a sailor.

Snorkel and isle exploration

On “hon Mong Tay” (Finger nail) – a tiny isle far away from the southern port, We had wonderful time exploring the marine creatures hidden beneath clear-as-crystal water.

Many many coral reefs with colorful, moving sense. Sun light penetrated through the water and put their track moving along coral, as a guiding sign for us. We touched, felt, experienced the smooth, living, flowing by our own hands. It was very impressive.

I’d never seen sea fish at close range, watching them moving around, some alone, some gathering into shoal and performing various fantastic transformation. It’s absolutely memorable.

After snorkel, you can even explore the local living in the biggest isle – Hon Thom and then having lunch full of sea food, coconut and cool beers in nearby isle which I even don’t know its name, just a stall, some people, hammocks and tropical sunlight make it sound. They are just minutes far away from one another.

Riding through the forest

There’s national forest in the north of Phu Quoc. Go north and ask for the route to Ganh Dau and experience an amazing trail: full of tropical trees with creeper plants hanging, dust in the wind, rough surface, monkeys welcome you too.

Sometimes the tree covers so thick that you have to go dark for a while, just some tiny sunlight getting through leaf dorm, landing on the path as shiny yellow topazes.

Just a few people travel through so it’s really a lonely moment, you can even listen to bird singing, monkey crying, voice of streams flowing when passing over bridges,… It’s a great idea for a road trip.

Walking on the bridge made of trunk tree

In the north, there’s not only a forest but also a unique bridge to explore. After reaching Thom beach, you should ask the local for Hon Mot (“one isle”). There’s a vestige reveal that it used to be a resort project then abandoned for long and finally ended up as a destination for off-the-beaten-track travelers. There are 2 special things there: the mangrove forest at a glance and a timber bridge over water.

Litte mangrove forest offers quite a still water, as a huge mirrors looking up the sky, great for shooting landscape while the bridge is a wonderful place for posing without wet feet. I think many bridal photography happens there.

Visiting an old fishing village

After a long day of exploration, what should we do? Relax and enjoy food at the end of the day. Ham Ninh fishing village is one of the best choice for this.

The seafood price is so reasonable, and you can buy seahorses (this was the first time I’ve seen them swimming lively) or processed starfishes. Traditional medicines, teas and herbs are also available there such as ganodermas, white seaweeds, …

That’s for souvenirs. For food, you can enjoy food which is as fresh as from-sea-to-table style. Sooo delicious!! Then you can take a seat in coffee shop and feel the breeze. Huhm, it’s great, right?

19 January, 2025
Bad guys in Cambodia

These travel tips originate from odds, especially in third-world countries, when you travel, and one of them is corruption. This is the travel story for my first time experience “travel bribe”. It happened in Cambodia, August, 2015.

My opinion is that these “bad guys” doesn’t represent all Cambodian people. For me, they are still hospitable, lovely and welcome after all. I tell these stories so that you know what occurring in the country and have plans to deal well with these weird experience and enjoy better moments instead of crying as a victim. No, we should learn to become a professional, experienced traveler after years, not amateur anymore, right?

You’re ready? Let’s go!

1. My first story – land border gate

It was at the check-in counter in the Vietnam-Cambodia land border gate. I had read information suggesting that tourists would be asked for money as if a fee though they have a free visa.

I still remember the man at the check-in counter, he’s quite black, bald a bit. When I approached him to receive my visa, he whispered somethings like “30.000 vnd” in Vietnamese, not loud but enough to grasp if you know a little the language or basic numbers.

I couldn’t understand why I gave him that amount of money without any hesitation or suspection. It might be my tense for the first time abroad or I was in a hurry, that I couldn’t deal well with what I was expected to do perfectly. That’s memorable and next time, there’s no excuses.

Travel tips #1: check your visa requirement before-hand and just give the officer right amount of fee, or you’re likely to lose it.

2. My second story – Angkor Wat

The other encounter was at the Angkor Wat. In the morning, we were riding bicycle to the site then stopped by a tourism police. He asked for tickets and we were confusing where to buy them.

The Angkor is a huge area including Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. While the local is free to pass, the tourists are required to buy tickets. I thought that there would be booth tickets at every gates to the site. I was wrong. And the police confirmed me.

And then he pointed me the direction back to the ticket station on the Charles De Gaulle street. I didn’t grasp it, so I showed my smartphone with google map on and asked him where was the station in the map. He couldn’t make it. Then he suggested that (I thought) HE would take us back, and we had to leave our bicycles and got on his police motorbike.

It sounded great, a police officer offered you a free-ride to buy ticket to the beautiful world wonder – true good to be true. It was not a fairy tale.

He said that we had to pay 3 usd/ person (that totally paid 6 usd for both if we accepted and he would have a taxi bike ride together to the booth. Oh, it was so surprising that the officer were offering me a out-off-duty deal.

I believe that there’s no reason why people have to pay anything to traffic police officers but fine. So we gentlely denied, and turned our bicycle back to find the booth.

Do you believe that I heard the police bargained: “5 usd for 2,… 3 usd for 2,.. ok, 1 for 2….”. And I just “no, thanks” repeatedly. I hadn’t experience anything odd like that before, a police was doing his own business without any shame for what he was doing.

Travel tips #2: You can have police help, with a price. How much? Ask them ! *LOL*

3. My third story – next day in Angkor Wat

When we found the booth, It was noon, so we decided to buy ticket for the next day. And in the morning, we departed from our hostel, on a tuk tuk small tour with a young rider.

It was usually when we visited the Angkor Wat, but when we moved to other areas, we witnessed some polices stopping our tuk tuk. At not far distance, we used our camera to track what happening and it turned out that the rider was bribing the police with some money.

I had no idea how much but our tour was around 12 usd for a half-day ride, it’s not much to being taken. But it seemed that bribe has become a street custom in Cambodia that people do it fluently. It’s so sad.

Travel tips #3: if you tend to ride a motorbike in Cambodia, make sure you have right license or you will have big trouble on road.

Troubles make you experienced, so expect them, don’t be a victim

19 January, 2025
A quick travel guide to Chiang Mai

There are 4 kinds of people who will love Chiang Mai: natural-oriented minds, budget travelers, culture explorers and adventure challengers. The quick Chiang Mai travel guide below will explain in details.

Get in

The cheapest mean of transportation to Chiang Mai is ordinary train, there’s one at Bang Sue station, only 270 baht. Overnight train but very basic equipment so you’re expected to deal with noise, dust and back ache because they are all wooden seat. It’s cheap but very fatigue.

I’ve taken bus, which I thought it was quite more expensive than train at first (488 baht for a class I seat) but then I found that Bus was really worthy because you’re having comfortable seat, a small convenient meal, air-con whole trip with blanket and window offering landscape view.

The Chiang Mai is close to the city center, the budget airlines as Nok Air usually offer prices at 900 baht, plus 20-50 baht for a songthaew ride, it seem not bad choice for limited-time travelers while still considering budget transportation.

Get around

The old city (center area, square shape if you see its top-down map) is just 2 kilometer square, so it’s relaxing to explore it on foot.

Bicycle is the cheapest mean (if you don’t mind walking), just 50 baht/ day, most of hostels offer these. I rented one, no locker, support light equipped (but you should turn off when day riding because it drains more your stamina).

Motorbike is quite popular, but I read an information mentioning that in festival occasions, you sometimes probably get caught by police and fined for 500 baht if you don’t have helmet or IDP. I didn’t have much to waste 500 baht by chance, so no rental was done.

Songthaew is popular public transport, and I prefer it if time is not your enemy: 20 baht from bus station to old city gate park. If you rent whole ride, it’s 100 baht as songthaew run in taxi mode.

Bus is another good choice, but most of them look outdated. You should avoid them in the evening because of the heavy traffic jam, which you suffer exhausted fume, slow going and so much noise. The price is fix, depending on your travel distance. Ask the conductor to be clear, especially open bus.

Stay

Budget travelers will love the town because there are many budget-friendly dorms/ hostels in town. The lowest price I found was 3 usd/ night (requires at least 2 nights up), usually 5-7 usd/ night is good choice. I experienced 2 dorms – and they are really good compared to the price offer.

My first night I spent in Cham-cha hostel, dorm room with 6 beds for 5.5 usd/ bed. Check-in was quite slow. You will receive a key to open door to dorm area, so it senses secure.

The unregistered guests are even fined 300 baht if they get caught. It is generally clean and neat. Bathroom is awesome. Guest space was relaxing and cosy with bed right at front, you can lazily read book on shelf.

The second dorm I stayed in was Chiang Backpack house, for only 4 usd/ night. I extremely love their coffee space at front, very cosy and open. I ordered a cappuccino and very enjoy while working on writing there. However, the facility was not good, there was a leaking faucet in the bathroom.

My dorm room was not clean at all. The junior staffs were not speaking English, only senior ones (I counted for three). No book area to read but full of tourism brochures. Laundry costs 40 baht/ kg / 24h service and double for fast service. Bicycle rental costs 50 baht/ day as neighborhood standard.

Eat

Don’t forget cho check Food when you read a Chiang Mai travel guide, because food really cheap and truly local.

First, the option for tightest budget travelers (like me in the very last day in Chiang Mai) is instant noodle in 7-eleven shops. You should buy a canned noodle (just 10 baht) plus additional one (6 baht), pour hot water right inside and pay at cashier.

Along some roads in the center of old city, there are stalls selling food for labors, just 15-20 baht/ pax, and it’s as delicious as you have in restaurant with a lot of traditional Thai foods.

There’s no spoon/ fork available can be fixed with cans from instant noodle which you’ve already bought before.

The restaurants often price from 40-60 baht/ dish, mini buffet for 100 baht. Drinks are the same price, which you can easily access in the old city bars or vendors. There’s one more thing: sweet soup is just 7-20 baht and they really delicious.

Chiang Mai center market is also a ideal place if there’s a kitchen in your dorm. All ingredients are fresh, clean and colorful.

Things to do

Chiang Mai is the city of “Wat” (pagoda in Thai), so you are free to access and photograph as much as you can to most of pagoda in the City.

If you don’t have much time, rent a bicycle and cycling around old city, spend 10-20 minutes for each so it takes merely a morning to experience “Wat tour”.

Many Chiang Mai travel guides suggest traveler attending the famous Yi Peng – Loy Krathong festival, where you have chance to release big flying laterns into air with thousands of local people, watching the sky glowing beautifully in very sacred ambiance.

The first time visiting Chiang Mai, I missed it after all. So to avoid any nonsense reasons preventing you from taking part in full course of festival, do some research before backpacking to Chiang Mai.

Read more: Yi Peng festival in my mind

If you love adventurous sense then Doi Inthanon – the highest spot of Thailand– is a great choice. There are many gorgeous waterfalls, adventurous trails and a peak to challenge. The temperature is quite hot but when you get higher, be aware that it’s getting cold quickly, especially in raining case, so taking along some warm clothes is better.

Doi Suthep is another choice, but it doesn’t brand the highest spot and just another pagoda complex which is very popular in Chiang Mai. That’s why Inthanon was chosen.

Many Chiang Mai travel guide lure travelers as Thailand is Elephant country so people make it become a must-do experience while plentiful activists warn us not to put the elephant shows in our checklist due to the animal protection. Indeed, I prefer see wild elephants South Africa safari then.

And don’t forget to visit various night markets in Chiang Mai, you will be full of surprise for what you see.

19 January, 2025
My first time with Yi Peng festival

Yi Peng festival is a famous attraction in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Though pictures of air floating lantern lure travelers, it is really an occasion for all people to wish for merit. It was sad that I couldn’t attend it to the end due to limited schedule.

All the experience below will cover my 3-day trip, including a day before and the first day of the festival. My second night experience was actually a view of flying lanterns from a bus window. To be honest, it’s still worthy than just looking through images with imagination, though just a few lanterns in the air.

Day before

As a highland city, there are many adventurous choices around Chiang Mai, so the first hours in Chiang Mai. I indeed spent on trip to Doi Inthanon. It’s really a must-have experience and worthy a place in your bucket list in Thailand – check-in the highest spot in pagoda country.

First evening, the old walls are well lit by hundreds of tiny candles, put neatly on bricks, creating unique spaces for the city. Both foreigners and locals enjoy walking along these ancient walls accompanied by cool breezes bringing moisture from artificial fountains in channels which cover around old city.

I spent my second morning walking around the town to watch monks decorating pagodas, transforming these ancient religious structures into very colorful look with flowers, hanging laterns, sacred flags and pictures. I read that some guy even suggest attending memorable rituals or a friendly monk chat, which definitely will be in my bucket list for next trip to Chiang Mai.

It’s interesting that you possibly meet a rainbow if standing in right angles. Imagine there’s no raindrops but still a colorful event happening. How great it is!

Doves are fed widely in the city, but most of bird grounds locate near ancient wall gates. You can buy some dried corn snack and feed them to take photos. Many people take their children there to play with doves while I completely enjoy photographing the kids.

First day of Festival

I asked my hostess where the best locations to enjoy the festival were. She used a pen and rounded Thapae Gate as the starting point and following Thapae road to the riverside, turned left to China town and headed to Nakom Ping Bridge as the final destination, that would be a parade.

So in the evening, I came back Thapae Gate, surely I would get what I expected in Chiang Mai trip: a landscape of thousands of lanterns in the air as many many websites covered with such a incredibly beauty.

When I reached the square, the local organizer started setting up candles on ground, the King altar had been done completely while the stage was playing some songs, which I guessed, to remember the King.

After the open ceremony had done, people spread to take photograph. I didn’t see any air lanterns preparation, which made me suspicious a bit. I quickly joined the crowd and hopefully thought it hadn’t come yet.

While I was trying to have someone photograph me, coincidentally I met the Chinese girl in Hua Hin (who had greatly contributed to my go-with-the-flow Chiang Mai decision). We shot for each other some photos.

Admittedly, I did do some research on Yi Peng festival 2016. There were many sites mentioning Yi Peng but lacking of the essential information like the official schedule, even on Thailand Authority of Tourism website. So it was considered I was a blind traveler for anything happening that night.

There was no sign of mass lantern release still, which made me afraid of something wrong. That was my last night in Chiang Mai, I had to take advantage of any chances. I remember that the parade would head to the riverside, so I quickly walked there, hopefully any good news came up.

The road was crowded, but it wasn’t like a really parade happening but a big traffic jam instead. I search for “Yi Peng schedule 2016” and finally got my answer. As you can see it below, which I knew immediately that I would enjoy the beautiful flying lanterns from window bus view.

Yi Peng festival 2016 schedule draft

My steps stopped at China town. There were REAL people dropping the floating lanterns onto the rivers, not in mass but, yes, it happened. My stomach started crying and my eyes searched for some dish to feed myself. There was a crowded food vendor. Getting closer and I found that thay offered a noodle dish only 15 baht, quite cheap for dinner, and it was wrapped conveniently.

I looked up the schedule of Yi Peng festival 2016 again for any useful information then a destination showed up – Three Kings monument. I typed the name into google map and followed the arranged route. That was shorter way but quiet, sometimes only me alone in dark corners.There were few people strolling around until I got the the old walls.

Passing through massage road, finally I reached the square. Many people gathered there with dozen of lanterns both hanging and lying on the ground, which seemed I was at right place after all.

I really enjoyed the surroundings, feeling lost in light yellow hanging lanterns. There was two areas: one by organizers and one for tourists to light up their own candles. You could buy your own candles and light them up, choose to put them into lantern rows or simply shaping them in your own imagination.

The monument was exhibited as King altar and many people came to worship. That was one of the most peaceful moments in Yi Peng festival 2016.

I passed to the night market nearby and got interested in dozen of colorful hand-made lanterns shaping something like a A-roof. But it’s not well lit, half of lanterns had gone dark so it was very difficult to capture photos because of the low light condition.

MANY many many products were shown in the market. From t-shirt, paintings, scented incenses, handicrafts to fresh fruits and juice They were so impressive that I bought some things, even though my budget was very tight at that time.

When I was back home, my feet hurt so I had to sit down for a while to recovery. At that time, there’s young Thai bring along a guitar with something like a pot with many cents inside.

He said he played as a street artist with the guitar and revealed his triump with dozen of coins inside. That was really creative and interesting. I noticed him had done some practices on the day before but I doubted he just did for fun until he earned true money that night.

Last hours in Chiang Mai: a new look for “local Chiang Mai”

The next day, in contrast to my thinking, there was no such a big event happening. So I’d waited for the Bangkok bus since the afternoon. I knew I wouldn’t have a chance for close-up experience releasing air lantern and many days in Thai would make me fed up with “Wat visit”. Another reason was to make sure there was no sorry because of traffic jam reason.

But after dozen of bargain for a cheap fair to the station, I eventually chose to walk to enjoy neighborhood daily life. You should walk in shady side of road or it would very hot under direct sunlight.

The area near bus station actually new city of Chiang Mai which many government buildings and school/ academic institutes situate. Walking through these roads and I sensed a modern Chiang Mai but very local Chiang Mai.

You would face difficulty because road names are mostly in Thai and people mostly speak Thai instead English. All they can show you is product price. But it was more peaceful than the old city. A walk tour is good in some term.

P/s: When my bus started rolling its wheels at 20:00, the air lanterns started their journey into the sky. It’s surprising that there were much fewer lanterns in Yi Peng festival 2016 than it is in in 2015. Maybe because of King’s death limiting the range of festival. It’s so sad!

19 January, 2025
2016: A travel year to look back

My travel year 2016 look back all my travel memories, where I traveled, friends I met and experience i did. A useful post to glance at a travel blogger life

January – Tay Ninh, Vietnam

I started the new year with a trekking to Black Virgin summit via challenging Ma Thien Lanh route. Imagine you have to try with all your body and strong mind to get to the top. That’s what I love in mountain hiking. The moment when you see the peak after dozens of time you told yourself “I can’t do it” is really melting.

The night was not comfortable, the ground was rough, cold and hard to sleep well though the whole day was really stamina-draining. But it was worthy for a breathtaking sunrise. That was one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.

Another small trip was to Bamboo stream in the dry season with my close friend. The landscape was very brown dried.

February – Vinh Long, Vietnam

I had no idea what my life would be at that time. I doubted what I was doing. So I rode unintentionally and my instinct guided me. I stepped away from main route – 1A highway. Instead, I chose unbeated-path to follow.

At first, I was afraid that maybe I didn’t want travel anymore, that my joy in road was exhausted. But the roads, people, landscapes and somethings new raised me up. After the trip, whenever I don’t feel alright, I think that I am just too “old” and need somethings fresh. Travel is one of my cure.

March – Phu Quoc, Vietnam

This was my life-changing trip. I hadn’t flied before, so I broke my virgin. The first time flight was memorable. When the plane nearly descended, many rocks hit the hull made me think of the death for seconds. Finally, it was alright. Thank god!

I planned to play very tight budget plan: rest in sleepbag, ride motorbike along the main island and never think of cruising to far far away isle, it’s expensive. But my fate happened in a very way, that made me believe that if I was born to travel, then I would travel.

I met a guy, we rode together, he was sick, we found and lived in a dorm, with 2 travelers. We soon made friend, next morning, we cruised to a paradise isle, one became my guru in budget travel, one became my companion and photographer, one is a chain to connect us together. I’ve believed my travel life since then.

June – Tay Ninh, Vietnam

An environmental incidents happened in the country – Viet Nam. Four provinces witnessed a severe destruction of a Taiwan company. The whole sea water contaminated resulted in millions of fish floating dead.

So I held a small program to clean some typical sightseeing spots, one of which is Bamboo stream, near Dau Tieng lake – a natural border of Tay Ninh – Binh Duong province.

The stream was stunning, the flow was amazing, the water was cool, but people littered everywhere. I and my friends, we tried to collect as much as we could to make it clean a bit, then made a clip to raise people’s awareness of the environmental issue.

July – Dalat, Vietnam

I wasn’t planning for the trip, just a friend invited me to join her ride because of the lack of vehicle. That’s my chance to first visit Dambri waterfall, which did amaze me with its natural beauty.

I met new friends, they were all wanderlust souls. We did many crazy things memorably.

I learnt much about riding, biker world,… Dalat was also a good place: good food, wonderful landscapes, dozens of spectaculars. I loved Dalat, for thousand times.

August – Bao loc, Vietnam

My friend held a trip to Bao Loc, I just simply sat in the back, following his plan. The roadtrip was perfect. We had lunch – Pho – in the most famous local restaurant in town.

Next, we headed to Linh Quy Phap An pagoda, an very attractive spots at the time, which offered a incredible panorama. It was not easy to reach the place and when we were there, I thought we was not lucky because it was cloudy. The photography was very bad.

But as a compensation, the following ride was very interesting, we took sequent turns in Da Mi pass, watched the sunset in hydropower reservoir, enjoyed the moments time stood still.

I caught a speed accident, which made me think much of the safety in my trip, and how my death may cause distressing consequences to my family. I started to stay more safer in my planning trip.

September – Can gio festival – Dalat, Vietnam

I hadn’t attended a Can Gio festival before, so I was very surprised when the experience was far more than I expected. I watched human chess matches, boat races, water puppet shows,… Those I’ve never seen before.

The stunning moment was I had courage to embark to a festival boat, and enjoyed the very different angle. That night, I slept so adventurously: no dorm, outside and on a hammock, swinging, completely local.

I helped two girls and received a snack for breakfast, which made me come up with a idea that I would help people for free and just take whatever they help or not.

At the end of the month, I also attended another trip to Dalat but in very more painful way but very memorable. Friends were great, roadtrip was amazing, especially the night in Omega pass. That was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

October – Bau trang, Vietnam

Another roadtrip to Dalat and back via Bau Trang, a mass desert road in Vietnam. I do love this road, very panoramic, very freedom, very open, very (sometimes) lonely. At some points, I see it as a road to heaven, when it slope upward to the sky.

The road is in perfect condition at the time I went through, and white sand is another plus point. You can ride max speed there, as you can see anything from far away, few roads offer that experience in Vietnam, so I highly recommend it for that.

November – Thailand

The very fateful trip. At the beginning, I planned to visit Chiang Mai for Yi Peng festival, but an distress event happened – Thai King passed away, so the lantern festival was cancelled. I joined my friend’s plan to Hua Hin, and had wonderful time here in recreational park and peaceful beach.

in the final day in beach town, we met a Chinese girl, and she told me that the festival was resumed but in smaller scale. So I headed back to Chiang Mai, conquered the roof of Thailand – Doi Inthanon summit. However, as my return flight was very conflicting, so the night when people flied their lanterns, I just watch them from my seat on the bus back to Bangkok. So sad!

December – Con dao, Vietnam

Con dao is a remote beautiful island. There are many interesting natural trails, if you love outside activities, especially wildlife, so Con dao is definitely a must-go destination.

There are also a pretty dorm I love very much. There are many books, woods and plants there. The island is also a historical landmark, so when you travel Con dao, don’t forget to visit the prisons, scary a bit but you’ll stunning walk around there.

Yeahhhhhhhh!

19 January, 2025
Doi Inthanon tour – check in the highest spot in Thailand
I didn’t plan for this, it came to me by chance. Doi Inthanon tour wasn’t in my head firstly, but the phrase “the highest spot in Thailand” really lured me when I was searching for anything matters around Chiang Mai. And It turned out the right choice.

Why Doi Inthanon?

Waking on bus seat, a beautiful morning outside the window. Green vegetation, white clouds, a blur on the window, it was such a highland sign. I visited Chiang Mai by chances. A Chinese girl told me that would be festival in town instead of cancellation because of the King’s death as I’d known before.

Not well-equipped information, so I opened some website to research, hopefully found something interest. There are usually 3 main things to do in Chiang Mai: visit Wats (pagoda), join adventurous tours and meet elephants.

Doi Inthanon seemed the best choice. The idea of check-in the highest peak in Thailand really made my eyes open wide and my adventurous blood running fast. I found a map which showed points of interests: Waterfalls, Caves, Bird-watching, trekking trails and for the top of it: Doi Inthanon summit.

But Doi Inthanon tour was not a budget choice as I consulted more on cost: transportation in long distance, with a songthaew ride, thousands baht for a day trip, hopefully to meet a group to share or get over it and stay in Chiang Mai. So many things I hadn’t done before in a strange place (That was my FIRST TIME to Thailand and FIRST TIME to Chiang Mai). My comfort zone suggested staying at Chiang Mai only, but my adventurous heart encouraged me to challenge the highest spot of Thailand.

After a long negotiation between heart and mind, finally, I decided to take risk.

I persuaded myself “Life is too short not to do something matters right? And this experience would not be a deadly trip, maybe I get lost, but it is not a big problem when we have smartphone with googlemap installed,… C’mon. I’m traveling, let’s do something memorable. OK?”

– Huhm, OK, fine – my mind nodded

Travel to Doi Inthanon

Read more: Doi Inthanon – a complete travel guide

So right after putting first steps in Chiang Mai bus station, I asked for songthaew to Doi Inthanon. There were many songthaews in the bus station, most of them are in red. A driver approached me and asked for 2000 baht for a full-day Doi Inthanon tour. After some bargain, the fixed price was around 1500 baht.

It was not a bad deal because the mountain is quite far from the city center. But I preferred a share ride. Poor me that all travelers I met simply chose to get songthaew to the city center instead of countryside. It seemed a dead end at that time.

I told myself: there would be another way, hopefully got a better one. I wandered around for a while, then the driver faced me again, and showed the city map which his finger pointed at the old city gate – “station, songthaew, to Chom Thong”.

I knew what he meant: Chom Thong is where Doi Inthanon locates. Reaching the town and I could transit to the peak.
- “How much”
- “40 baht”
- “20 baht?”
- “Ok!”
“Ok”, just go with it. “Chiang Mai is very cheap” said my guru. And I had to figure it out myself. Solo travel is somehow scary at that moment. You would feel not sure for anything, and have to trust that everything would be okay after all.

The red songthaew took me to somewhere near a market, and guided me to take an yellow one. I waved a songthaew and a friendly face asking where I would like to go. “Doi Inthanoi” “How much” – and my hand dancing to describe I was asking for the price.

The man was not speaking. Instead, he showed me two 20-baht, which means my trip would cost 40 baht.

I remembered my friend’d suggested it was just 40-50 baht to Doi Inthanon, so I firmly knew the price was good and no need to bargain with a non-English-speaking driver, which quite tough and time-consuming.
I jumped to the back and joined the passengers. There was a foreign traveler couple, I asked them whether that was the right songthaew to Doi Inthanon. You know, all they wished me just “hopefully you get the right car”. Yes, hope was only mean I had.

After minutes, the songthaew was far enough so I could see how Thai countryside was. It’s nearly the same as ones in neighborhood nations like Cambodia, Vietnam. Dusty, green, quiet, sometimes interrupted with noisy local markets. The songthaew played as a open bus with hop-on-hop-off passengers. It’s quite interesting to meet many sorts of people.

I tried hard to establish a conversation with the local but it seemed that few Thai on the car could speak English. If any, very limit words. So you shoulld write down your destinations (better in Thai) and show them. Yes/ No answers are almost what they can help you.

Eventually, I got to Chom Thong. The driver kindly put me right at the bus station, so that I could easily get on another songthaew to Doi Inthanoi. It was 12:00 PM and It was dry and hot extremely but not really bad weather for a exploration day.

My initial plan of Doi Inthanon tour was to camp a night and wait for the next morning to experience trekking through adventurous trails, check in the summit also because Doi Inthanon is a real complex requiring a full day to get around. I’d just visited Dalat 3 weeks before and love to check whether they had any difference, Vietnam highland and Thai one.

Steps on Chom Thong center, my next mission was to get another songthaew to Doi Inthanon. After minutes, I found a yellow one nearby, which there were 3 people inside. They confirmed me that was to Doi Inthanon peak. Phewww!

The new friends were from Bangkok, and they rent a half-day Doi Inthanon tour, and waiting for other people to share ride. After a while, the driver approached to discuss whether we could share the ride and started the tour. Some bargain was made.

Finally they three agreed to pay 1500 baht in total for three stops at waterfall, twin pagodas and summit. I paid 200 baht as an extra seat because I planned to stop at camping site, which was just a quarter of journey.

First time fare invasion

The hosts of Doi Inthanon tour were among Thai: Nok, Boom and Bird. Their english was limit but we happily trying to communication with all hearts, hands and imagination. That’s was the most lovely ride in my first trip to Thailand after all.

The funniest thing of the journey was fare invasion. As usually, the foreign would be charged 200 baht/ adult, but Thai was only 50 baht. So the driver and three Thai friends decided to keep me as a local! I had to keep silent in any circumstance not to reveal my true identity (Asian is really a strength here for budget experience).

Nok went out. After few minutes, she came back with four tickets, cost totally 200 baht. The feeling when you’re hacking something was cool.

Wachirathan waterfall

The first destination was Wachirathan waterfall. The road was rough sometime, with V-shape turns forced the driver to slow down and carefully handle the wheels. I loved the kind of road, reminding me memories of my road trips around Dalat, touch-and-go driving feeling.

We stopped at the parking lot and walking via stairs to reach the waterfall. For the ambience: very moisture, green grass plantation with rocky stepping stairs. It’s really cool! When you get close to the waterfall, make sure your electric devices are waterproofed or you’ll be sorry for the malfunction.

We didn’t stay for long, because there’s nothing much to explore, just take some check-in photos and call the driver, head toward the next one: Doi Inthanon summit.

Doi Inthanon summit

There is a radar station there that you can see at a distance. Went deeper through rock stairs, we encountered the Memorial Shrine of King Inthanon, featuring a rock column at the center, accompanied by two elephants. All in moss and decorated wreath.

There were also incenses and neat-wrapped flowers available so that you can worship if you’d like.

A grave stone elected nearby shows you a piece history of the shrine: It was on an excursion to the peak of Doi Inthanon, a royal consort ordered to establish the shrine to deposit her father’s ashes, King Inthanon, the 7^th ruling prince of Chiang Mai.

There is another rocky board to the left but the letter are completely in Thai, which I had no idea what it meant.

Head to a wooden trail, you will discover another shrine. The moss wooden path was really stunning, well-preserved and surrounded by big trees and thousands of shrubs, herbs, grasses, ferns, and mosses.

Really green and cool so just slowly walk and enjoy the atmosphere! At the end of the path, there is a big temperature banner, but I don’t think it’s updated continuously.

Twin pagoda

The final visit was to Twin pagoda. It was impressive, colorful, well-designed with King’s pagoda in brown and Queen’s one in Purple.

There are many beautiful flowers, which make it look like a park than a religious site. A truly must-visit location for a Doi Inthanon tour.

Getting close-up and you’ll see walls which features reliefs depicting story of the pagoda. From there, a majestic scenery lures your sense.

A combination of floating big clouds sometimes hiding the surroundings, a nearly top-down view of plantations below and human works.

Each pagoda is accompanied by a distinctive garden. I really loved every moments there, like you get lost in a paradise.

The only shortage which prevents you from fully enjoyment is dozens of tourists around with noise and no really clear shots are likely to be made. But we should happily share our space with the other because it is a tourism attraction.

When you get tired, just leave the pagodas for cafeteria at the gate, it offers delicious roasted pork, sweeter a bit than usually, for my own judgement.

The toilet is amazing too. I was impressed that Thai use the local lemon to de-odour, which I appreciate as it is very natural and creative. The lemon smells very good compared to any artificial deodorants.

Back to Chiang Mai

On the way back to the Chom Thong town, we passed stores which are well-displayed with so many various specialities that you will love to spend some money to purchase. I think you should do it. They are very fresh, unique taste and beautiful. Many ones pick some as gifts for friends.

We bought a roasted sweet potato and very enjoyed splitting it, smelling and tasting every bit. A hot food is perfect for cool ambience like Doi Inthanon usually offers.

After getting the ride, I felt like it was enough for me for Doi Inthanon travel experience, that I started to miss Chiang Mai and wonder how it was instead of setting a camp. I revealed my thought with Thai friends and saw them confusing. Maybe they wonder why I changed my mind so quickly.

I couldn’t answer the question at that time, but now, sitting in a cosy coffee and write these words, I think that I’ve experienced many highland camping in Vietnam before flying to Thailand, so I REALLY didn’t want it anymore.

This is Nok – my Thai friend on the tour

P/s: Many thanks to my new friends: Nok, Boom and Bird. I owe them alot for my Doi Inthanon tour experience. They are the most funny and kind people that really made up my first time travel to Thailand. This post is for them!
19 January, 2025
Black Virgin pagoda near HCMC, Vietnam

Fed up with crowd? Like to enjoy quite and religious, read my experience in the Black Virgin pagoda complex in Tay Ninh, Viet Nam and make your own choice.

If you travel to Vietnam, and stay for a week in HCM city, trekking around should be in your check list. There’s a mountain considered as the highest peak in East-southern legion at 996 m. It’s Black Virgin.

Black Virgin from far view

On a trekking to the peak of Black Virgin mountain, it’s nice to stay a night at the pagoda on the hill side. It generally offers travelers a peaceful atmosphere and good accomodation to reach the top through the “pagoda track” in the morning. The mountain is located approximately 90 kilometers to the north-western of the HCM city.

When you get there, a big gate welcomes you with big words “Khu di tích lịch sử văn hóa – danh thắng và du lịch núi Bà Đen” (cultural, history prestige – scenery and tourism zone Virgin Mountain). Well, many things in one, right? Leave the gate behind and enjoy the clean air and mass scenery. There’s a old map, if you need one:

On top of that, the pagoda is famous for its stairs. It’s about 1850 steps to reach complex, maybe you can verify it. Stalls and stops are at both side. Along the route, you observe the “cars” moving across the cable. It costs 4 dollar for an one-way ticket.

The stairs are enjoyable for a trekker. However, if you’d like to reserve your strength for the next day trek, using the cable service to quickly get to the pagoda is advised, then, on the way back, you’ll enjoy it later, when the steps take less stamina due to the sloping downward.

On the way to reach the pagoda, there is a fork and you’ll encounter a bridge over the waterfall. It’s flowing in the rainy season, usually from May to November. I loved the waterfall at first sight, and jumped down to reach it, touched it with my hand, felt the flow slipping over my fingers. It’s cool and as soft as a invisible silk. You can drink a draught, wash your face, or sit beneath a falling stream to get massaged by water. Well, everything is amazing, except for the only thing to notice: if you’d love to drink water, take it from a running flow, not a standing water area because harmful parasites are likely to reside there.

A draught from the waterfall

At the intersection, you can turn left and follow the other stairs leading to the Hang (Cave) pagoda. This route is narrow and sparse people. The landscape is clear and you can see to the horizon and plots, the massive lake nearby, and a lot of … tiny things.

Landscape from the stair view

After reaching the complex, there’s some options. If you’re tired and would like to get shower, take right turn, there’s a public shower area with rooms and WCs are included. The water sources from the streams flowing down the mountain, so it’s quite cold if you go to shower at night. It’s completely free of charge. However, if you’d like to pay for the service, there’s a donation box outside to collect money from the users.

In the late afternoon, when sun sets, you should find some resting box along the stairs and watch the beautiful cable cars moving up and down in the colorful sky. Take pics, that’s one of the most desirable moments when you’re at the pagoda complex.

Cable cars moving around

Over night requires a indentification confirm, which you have to ask for at the first room on the right, near the entrance to shower area. There’s a old man sitting there to proceed. Usually, if you plan to stay for a night only, there won’t be any inconvenience. The procedure takes only few minutes to fill out the forms. In some case, the man happily let you free from this responsibility.

By following the stairs, you would be surprised by a lot of interesting stuffs, people and stories. With a large number of people who visit here for worshiping and entertainment, making a great demand for goods. Porter service has been established. Those man who carry up to 50 kg can earn 1-1.5 usd.

The main-route stairs

And there’s also a rumor that if a person steps and then be at kneel in row until he reaches the pagoda, he might be blessed by god (or the Black Virgin). Therefore, when you see someone who’s performing strange actions like that, it’s likely he/ she is making a great effort to fulfill their wishes.

Some stalls along the stairs offer the viper’s fat, which is said that can cure burn or joint pains or whatever. They are yellow strings and swinging lightly. The other are toys, refreshment, souvenirs,…

The vegetarian meal is free of charge and will not be available after 6 PM, so if you wanna have dinner, be in time. There’s also a chamber for passengers, It’s large and you can take a rest there with a sleep bags. Because it’s a public room so be careful with your stuffs.

Vegetarian meal in the evening

When sun sets and night’s high. Everything seems quiet and peaceful, it’s great time to find some place and take a zen. It’s great to put all back and let your mind light. Deep breath and open your ears, enjoy the bell ringings, praying voices, and even, your inner voice.

You should set alarm to get up at 5:30 AM, as first sun lights begin to touch the ground. It’s so historical and sacred. The yellow as sun rises, the red roofs, trees turn to green after a long dark night and you can see a monkey jumping over above. Take a seat and observe the scenery change. It’s a moment like your life is lit up again!

19 January, 2025
The Two Cutest Coffees in Con Dao, Vietnam

After a long journey, we usually find a cosy place to get rid of tiredness and regain the balance. The coffee shops with beautiful design seems very nice to hang out. I’ve seen many Con Dao coffee shops but just really impressed by two names: Infinite and Lacasa. They are really unique in design with a reasonable menu.

Infinite cafe

This coffee includes 2 sectors with very specific style. The left house look young and modern while the right one is quite vintage. While watching the coffee, I came up with an idea that it followed a rule of design: a style of no style.

The exterior looks like a nest with a lot of brown leaves and timbers while the interior is more outstanding: it looks as if it was made completely wooden: from walls to roof. The roof is very charming with a piles of wood up-side-down.

The board is made from steel roof with a laurel wreath hanging on. They use heavy yellow as major lighting solution for interior, along with wood material, which sometimes, makes you feel not only warm but a bit hot. Hot! You know.

The price is higher than average and in some special occasion, it seem they charge very high for service: we ordered a bottle of white wine for price around over 100 000 vnd a bit but finally we had to pay 100000/ person (we are 4 people).

We experience the Christmas buffet there for 16$, the food was good, but drink was not free at all.

I recommend Infinite for ones who love somethings chaos a bit in design, like the way they combine modern and vintage.

Lacasa

Another coffee shop I visited after a long trail in national park. It’s simply beautiful.

The owner put on a modern design in every aspects from the signboard to steel-glass structure. You’ll love it if you are a fan of simplicity.

The bar is so lovely and very colorful with dozen of wine bottle arranged neatly on shelf. There are some artful light hung above, adding more beauty.

While it generally follows the modern architecture, there are still some corner of exhibiting the vintage art like paintings, racks and lanterns. You’ll love the way it is. Very simply but artful.

The price is also the same as Infinite. I ordered a pot of tea for 35 000 vnd and really enjoy my time there, very peaceful.

19 January, 2025
Something true about Yi Peng festival (Mass air lantern release)

Whether you have to pay for ticket to join Yi Peng festival?

Firstly, you have to understand the festival in depth. Following my research, there are 2 separate festivals but happening the same time: They are Yi Peng (air lanterns) and Loi Krathong (floating laterns on rivers).

While Loi Krathong is popular nationwide in Thailand, Yi Peng is actually local. They are held separately, then combined into one occasion for better organization and tourist attendance. The festival lasts for 3 days officially. However, you can visit days before to experience the local preparation works on their houses and pagodas, or extend your staying longer to access to a self-releasing lanterns event held for foreigners as I read in a website.

Most of travelers confusing the news this event is paid one but it’s proven wrong. Truth to be told, there’s a independent pagoda holding a latern releasing ground far away from the city (Maejo University). And after the attraction rising, they (initially a non-profit organization) start collecting tickets (100-300 usd).

Actually, this is a free event for all Thai people and foreigners. At the arranged time (usually 20:00) people are free to release their lanterns into the sky or drop floating ones on the rivers and praying for their wishes. Candles can be bought anywhere in the city and you can light them up and put them along the old walls as the local do.

I didn’t attend the mass lantern release so I’m not sure foreigners possibly buy one and release themselves but you can easily purchase decorated floating lanterns for 40-60 baht and so floating yourself.

For any confusion of destination and activities, consulting this schedule should help a lot.

It’s noticed that there’s no “Maejo University” mentioned in Venue column. Yi Peng 2016 is considered as least wonderful because of the King’s death event. However, it’s still worthy a look at flying lantern in the air and make some wishes!

19 January, 2025