Minsk / Минск, Belarus II (08/29/2019 - 09/01/2019)

Preface: at time of this post, Belarus is a very different place. I feel for the people who are the victims of a dictator whose desperation to stay in power has made him an accessory to the most heinous act of aggression and tragic loss of life in Europe since World War II.  

As hinted by my previous post, I knew I would be back to Minsk soon enough.  This time it was during the summer and I had the fortune to partake in a few of the cultural festivals that happened to be on (don't miss the cute dancing video!), as well as visit the serene parks in the center of the city. 

Most of my time, however, was spent at the Robinson Club, to the west of the city for a work related event, and I had the chance to see how some of the more well-to-do of the country spend their time. Not to be missed is the video of the most insane wedding performance I've ever seen in my life.   

Like my previous trip, I found Minsk to be very clean, walkable, the people kind, and quite livable as a city.  I feel it doesn't deserve the negative representation it gets in the media (at least not all of it). 

Vietnam II (08/23/2019 - 08/27/2019)

It has been 12 years since my last visit to Vietnam, and my goodness has it changed. It kind of reminded me of the same sort of transformation that China saw a decade earlier (and kind of fitting given how much manufacturing is shifting to this country). 

Ho Chi Minh City really cleaned up - and in more than one sense! While it was still a sprawling metropolis with rivers of motorcycles, the low rise dilapidated buildings have been replaced by fancy new high rise condominiums and offices buildings.  Traffic had gotten significantly worse, with higher density, and more cars, but still not yet as bad as some of the other ASEAN metropolises. 

The food was always great, although now it is a whole lot more diverse - both with new experiments and takes on what modern Vietnamese cuisine is, as well as some fusion concepts.  The coffee culture, which was legendary to begin with, similarly saw new creations (at least new for me) like egg lattes. 

Hanoi definitely still had its slower charm, and still felt more like a European city than an Asian one.

The people were still nice, although there was this sense of new urgency or energy, like they were sprinting towards something - maybe moving towards building something greater, or something else I couldn't quite put my finger on.  I will definitely be back more often and can't let over a decade go by again before getting to know this country better. 

Ho Chi Minh City

Hanoi

The Western Cape, South Africa (07/27/2019 - 07/30/2019)

Following the 'work' part of my trip, I headed down to the Western Cape province, beginning in its capital, Cape Town, one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to.

Anyone who has seen photos of Cape Town and its iconic view of Table Mountain likely saw it from the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, a trendy part of town with many small artisanal shops, and great places to eat. This is by no means the only place to enjoy the city - there is no shortage of colourful and unique neighbourhoods, as well as many opportunities to enjoy nature. I ended up hiking Lion's Head one afternoon, and discovered it was fully of dassies (or the rock hyrax), an animal that looks like a rodent but is actually more closely related to elephants and manatees. 

Playing the culinary tourist, I couldn't resist visiting GOLD Restaurant for a 14 course 'pan-African' dining experience on one end, while sampling more local fare like bunny chow, a dish originating from Durban, invented by Indian labourers brought by the British to work the sugar cane plantations.

Outside of Cape Town, I had a chance to visit the vineyards of Stellenbosch (no good photos :)), a colony of cape penguins, and going down to the Cape of Good Hope, which is *almost* the southern-most tip of Africa, and where the currents of Indian and Atlantic oceans sometimes meet (including the day of my visit). 

Overall, I really enjoyed my first trip to South Africa (and Africa, period0, and would love to spend more time here in the coming years. 

Note: I just realised the videos below don't show up unless you click on them outside of the gallery viewing mode.