Hue, Vietnam - A Historical City, A UNESCO World Heritage Site

SPONSORED MEDIA TRIP


One wish of mine is to visit as many UNESCO sites as possible in this lifetime. I guess this will not come as a surprise since I love to travel, hence it seems that I will more or less travel to some UNESCO sites during my travel trips. Just last month in October, I had the opportunity to join in a media trip to visit Central Vietnam... Of which, I got to visit not one, but two UNESCO sites located in Hue and Hoi An. Read on to find out more about the two places that our group visited while we were in Hue, Vietnam.

WHERE TO GO IN HUE, VIETNAM:

(1) UNESCO World Heritage Site in HUE

Visit the historic Imperial City of Hue, a 19th century Citadel, modelled after Beijing’s Forbidden City. This UNESCO World Heritage Site once stood as Vietnam's former Royal Capital City. It was a city within a city, but all walled up and guarded. Here, the Perfume River winds its way through the Capital City, the Imperial City, the Forbidden Purple City and the Inner City. Marvel at its rich architectural and beautiful landscaping within the Royal Palace compound.

The Flag Tower of Hue Imperial City

Ngo Môn, also known as the Gate of Noon

Ngo Môn, also known as the Gate of Noon, is the main gate into the Imperial City. It was used by the sovereign as an observation point for troop movements and ceremonies. This gate was also once exclusively used by the royal family and their eunuch servants. This is also where you purchase the entrance tickets to visit the remarkable UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Thai Hoe Palace, also known as "Palace of Harmony'.

It was an important ceremonial venue.

The Duyet Thi Duong (Duyệt Thị Đường) Royal Theatre

One of the massive porch areas in the Citadel

The enormous complex features hundreds of monuments and ruins, such as the Forbidden Purple City (once the Royal Family’s residence but badly damaged during the Vietnam War), the Imperial City and the Inner City, royal tombs, pagodas, temples and a museum. Some buildings have been restored, whereas check out some others whose conditions have stood the test of time, hence the original rustic look.

(2) Tomb of Khải Định

One of the seven royal tombs in the former Vietnamese Imperial Capital of the city Hue is the Nguyen Emperor Khai Dinh’s Royal Tomb. Despite his unfortunate death in in 1925, the construction of his tomb was only completed in 1931, 11 years after it started in 1920. Located at the side of the Chau Chu Mountain, it is a total of 127 steps from the street level. Exhausting as it may sound, but the stunning Baroque-style architectural designs, influenced by the Europeans, will leave you amazed.

Reinforced concrete steel monument at 
Khai Dinh’s Royal Tomb

Upon completing climbing up the steps, one will reach the porch area where there are the twelve stone statues which act as the King's bodyguards. Take a close look at the concrete steel monument that has carvings that were done so intricately. Look towards the mountains and get a good view of the natural scenery right infront of you.

These are stone statues that are to "guard and accompany"

the King while he continues his "rest".

Enter into Khai Thanh Palace and marvel at the majestic glass and porcelain design around the hall. Look up towards the ceiling and admire the painting of nine dragons frolicking in the clouds. Also, check out the the tomb of the King, where there is a bronze life-size statue of him sitting on his Throne. One cannot help but to notice that the design of the whole place is heavily influenced by the European style... And this was because the King had a liking towards that.

Everywhere in Khai Thanh Palace are picture-worthy!!!

WHERE WE HAD LUNCH:

The Le Residence Hue Hotel and Spa building was built in 1930 as part of the former colonial governor’s residence overlooking Hue’s Perfume River. This architectural treasure was restored and re-opened in 2005 as a deluxe hotel, and is now a gem in the Accor Hotels’ stylish MGallery portfolio. A quick room tour was conducted after lunch, and I was VERY IMPRESSED with the room decor! How I wish to stay there! What exclusivity and luxury!

Indulge in a French-Vietnamese fusion meal at the

hotel’s La Perfum restaurant and have a

memorable gastronomic experience.

This trip was made possible with the kind cooperation with Jetstar Asia airlines and the participating hotels and tourism board in Central Vietnam, via Sylistic.com. Will be having future posts of the trip in more details, and more photos... Be sure to stay tuned to check them out! :)

Brunch at Hatched cafe (Evans Road)

For someone like me who finds delight in having brunches, good coffee and cafe sessions, Hatched was always one of the brunch places that I would want to visit. Particularly the one at Evans Road, as I have drove past the place plenty of times but didn't stop by, yet I liked how this cafe is housed in Evans Lodge, a relatively 'old-looking' building that has those non-modern windows (It's a hostel building, by the way). So on one weekend afternoon, I made heading to Hatched for a meal as a 'To-Do' thing.

But before I share with you those food pics,

Imma bombard you with my self-taken shots! :p

Camwhore time!

My favorite Dior shades!

I liked my OOTD. :)

"The best feeling in the world is realizing that you're 
perfectly happy without the thing you thought you needed".

I felt that the decor around the counter area was interesting.

 


My 'Pancake Party'!
Thick pancakes served with maple syrup berry compote.

I dare say that I have tried better pancakes, so I had quite a difficult time eating this. These pancakes could have been better. Perhaps my brunch experience at the all-day breakfast place, Hatched, could have been better if I had chosen something else to eat. And nope, I did not finish my Pancake Party... Not quite the party that I was expecting. But I must add that the berry compote paired well with the pancakes.

Pancake Love. Yes. But perhaps not at Hatched.

One of my dessert weakness is this. So it was a 'must-order' item

for me when I saw the Chocolate Fondant on Hatched's menu.

The warm chocolate lava cake was good, thus it made up for my pancake disappointment. We had a cup of coffee each, which was clearly a disappointment. So much so that I even thought of driving down to the nearby Papa Palheta once I leave for a good cuppa coffee. Should have not ordered the coffee. Instead, we should have left the coffee-drinking to be at somewhere else after brunch. But what's brunch without a cuppa coffee?

We were there till 4.45pm. Last order was at 4.30pm.
2 hot girls who came specially for Hatched (overheard their
conversation) after 4.30pm were turned away. So be there early!

Hatched has another outlet (started its operations a few months back) at Holland Village, which I came across many negative reviews and comments on that outlet. Sadly. A pity, you can say. Perhaps there are certain 'must-order' or 'star' food items served at Hatched which I didn't order during my visit? If not, how else to explain the hype about Hatched? Maybe it is the 'all-day breakfast' concept? I have totally no idea.

It has been so long since I went to a F&B place and left with disappointment. Maybe I placed too much expectations on it with the hype and all. But of course, I braced myself for some room for disappointment since I read those negative reviews before I made the visit. If you ask me what I liked about Hatched at Evans Road, I will say it is the service, the decor and the ambience. And if you do want to experience Hatched dining, reservations are advisable especially at the Holland branch.

(Wrote this blog post with a heavy heart. Learnt that I shouldn't expect too much, else I will be more disappointed. Life~)

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Hatched @ Evans

26 Evans Road

Tel: 67350012

Opening Hours: Tuesday to Sunday (8am - 6pm, last order at 4.30pm)

Hatched @ Holland Village

267 Holland Avenue

Tel: 64630012

Opening Hours: Tuesday to Sunday (9am - 11pm, last order at 10.30pm)

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Review: Dinner at Oso Ristorante

The dinner that I had at Oso Ristorante was very memorable. Other than the fine company and conversation that I had with my dinner partner, the food was lovely and service at Oso was impeccable. In fact, I have to say that all, if not most, of the staff were very attentive and meticulous to my needs, yet they were warm and friendly at the same time... And I have to say, such splendid service provided was not seen in even some of the other fine dining places which I had previously dined at.


Oso Ristorante is opened by world-renowned chef Diego Chiarini. The Italian-decorated upscale restaurant is situated on the second level of the building that also houses the French restaurant, Absinthe (Well, this is one of the restaurants in my 'To Dine' list, as I love French cuisine. And the reason why we dined at Oso was because my partner likes Italian, so I chose that.)

I requested for a table in a quaint corner, and I was offered one beside a window, looking out to the balcony where tables are also set up for patrons to be seated at. Quaint it may be, but the girl (yes, girl, not lady) that was seated near us spoke a tad too loud and it seemed that she had so much to talk about that she did not seemed to stop throughout the whole dinner. That really killed the whole mood, somehow. (No, that 'loud' girl is not in the pic above. I'm nice like that.)


On a happy note, I felt we made a good selection in selecting the bottle of Prosecco Extra Dry sparkling wine as our choice of wine for the evening. When I saw Prosecco, the thought of my fave Bellini cocktail drink came into my mind, for it is the (original) main ingredient in the Bellini drink. :)

A bread basket was served to us, which I like the bread sticks most.

The starter plate as a perfect combination of the below, which definitely acted as a teaser, arousing my taste buds for the rest of the dinner.
Buffalo mozzarella tartar with basil pesto and tomato sabayon
Slowly cooked pork belly with honey served cold and thinly sliced "Porchetta"
Marinated tuna loin and mixed vegetables in tartar "Scapece"

Thick and creamy potato and white truffle flavor soup


Other than the warm soup that was served, a small amount of the soup
(cold soup, in fact, and that's really creative) was served in the cute little eggshell.

And so, one is to drink the cold soup from the eggshell using the straw provided.

With such a cute face doodle on the egg, it was no surprise that I was full of smiles! :p
You see it, you feel happy too.

Homemade tagliatelle with fish and seafood in tomato-dry oregano base

My partner's main: Stewed seabass fillet with mixed mushrooms and spinach cake

My main: Braised and deboned duck leg served in timbale
with mash potato and orange "Gremolata"

I enjoyed my main course thoroughly. It was something different from the usual duck confit. The orange gremolata brought out the duck meat's deep flavor. The meat was tender and it was presented in its shredded form but as a whole piece/block. One thing to mention was that my mains was served with mashed potato, which was rather repetitive since I already had the thick and creamy potato soup - Thus, something different for the sides would have been good to have.

Dessert: 70% dark chocolate soup served with saffron frozen parfait

I always believe that a good dinner must end with an unique dessert. Oso didn't fail to surprise me! I smiled widely with excitement when the waiter presented our desserts to us. The beautiful flower montif and the 3D butterfly biscuit captured my heart totally, almost too pretty to consume, hehe! Taste-wise, the parfait that contrasted with the dark-colored chocolate liquid paired off really well.


Overall, it was a gastronomic dining experience, coupled with great wine and company. The service is fantastic, same goes to the food pairing and presentation.... And all these, are enough for me to render a second visit, someday. :)



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Oso Ristorante

46 Bukit Pasoh Road
Singapore 089858

Tel: (65) 6327 8378

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Canon EOS M - Canon's First Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera

I was invited to a media event by Canon, for they were unveiling a much-awaited, soon-to-be-released camera into the market. All was kept mum about what the launch was about and for what product. But certainly there were rumors about it as discussed online and I went to the event with heightened hope and anticipation... Reason being that the rumors mentioned that Canon would be announcing its very first Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens camera! And THAT was what I have been looking forward to!!!

For the past many Canon events which I attended, I always hoped that it would be for the release of a Canon micro four-third camera, but that wasn't the case so far until this particular event, where we were introduced to the Canon EOS M... I was ecstatic! Especially so, since I almost caved in to get an Olympus Pen Mini  (E-PM1) during PC Show 2012. BUT I hung on.... I hung onto the hope that Canon would announce that they are coming up with a micro four-third. And boy, I'm glad that I did. ;)

The event was held at Stellar @ 1-Altitude,  a fine-dining restaurant that offers a spectacular view of the city, situated 282 metres high! Indeed, it certainly matched up to the event's statement of 'A New Era of Heightened Standards'.

Before I share with you about the camera, here's some pictures of the 3-course lunch that I had! :)

*Pics taken using Canon IXUS 300HS (that's one of three Canon cameras which I have bought and using concurrently). Yes, that's how much I support Canon and my brand loyalty comes into play even before I was invited to Canon events. So, for me to ever buy a non-Canon camera, that means there is something about that camera over Canon, at that point of my purchase. But so far, nope... I have not found other camera brands/models which really attract me. I am not very price-sensitive afterall - Features and image quality are what I mainly look for in a camera.

Wild Mushroom Soup with Gruyere Toast
(I am rather picky on mushroom soup, and THIS was exceptionally nice!)

Spinach & Ricotta Stuffed Roulade with Mashed Potato, Steamed Asparagus and Porcini Sauce

Mango Mousse Sponge with Passion Fruit Coulis
(Quite sour, would prefer something sweet. So thankfully the sponge layer helped a lil)

A shot glass containing colored M&M chocolates for each of us...
Colored in the various colors that the Canon EOS M comes in! - Red, Black, White and Silver!
Totally brilliant, guys!

And now, on to the Canon EOS M!

The Canon EOS M is the very first mirrorless camera introduced by Canon. In all honesty, it has been a long wait for them to release this into the market as all other major camera manufacturers have entered into this particular market. And yes, all these years... I waited, with the high hopes that Canon will release one, that I forgo the various mirorless cameras which caught my attention. One reason why I have been waiting for a Canon mirrorless camera is because I figured out that I could easily buy the camera mount adaper to mount on my existing Canon lenses which I have been using on my Canon DSLR camera.

And yes, the EOS M shares the EOS ecosystem, thus it is fully compatible with all EF and EF-S lenses! And yes, Canon will be releasing a new mount adapter, EF-EOS M, which allows full compatibility with all EF/EF-S lenses. Of course, you may feel that it will look weird if you fix up your existing external flash or zoom/telephoto lenses onto the EOS M (see below pic, quite an amusing sight, I must say!).


And the mount adapter is of some thickness already... So I reckon getting EF-M lenses may be a good idea... But that means extra cost, especially for those who already have a collection of EF/EF-S lenses! :(

No integrated flash in the EOS M, so that's where the compact and lightweight
Canon Speedlite 90EX flashgun comes in!
It can also be used as a master unit for a wireless flash set-up.

Comes in these 4 colors, as mentioned already.

The first two lenses released for the Canon EOS M are the:

(1) EF-M 18-55mm f/3 5-5.6 IS STM (as seen in above pic) 
A versatile zoom lens well-suited for everyday usage, and can be used as defaultlens for casual users as it cap capture both wide-angle and portrait shots.


(2) EF-M 22mm f/2.0 STM (as seen in below pic)
A compact and lightweight "pancake" lens for ultra-portability.

Ok... This looks really weird. We should really get EF-M lenses. Haha!

Lovely roses! I LIKE!

The Canon EOS M is equipped with a 18.1MP APS-C CMOS sensor, DIGIC 5 imaging processor, which is the same sensor that is used in the Canon 650D DSLR camera (You can read more about the 650D in this blog post of mine - Click [HERE]). As mentioned in the press release,

The increased light sensitivity of the sensor coupled with the DIGIC 5’s improved processing speed work in tandem to produce impeccable images, and earns the EOS M its place in the EOS family. The high ISO sensitivity of up to 12800 (expandable to ISO 25600) also ensures that the EOS M is comfortably equipped to handle low light situations. The compact build of the EOS M is achieved by removing the optical viewfinder, the main mirror as well as the mirror drive systems. The EOS M body weighs a mere 265g and measures just 108.6 x 66.5 x 32.3mm in size.

And I feel two interesting features of the EOS M are these: 

When shooting in a room where bright sunlight is shining through windows, the extreme contrast in lighting makes it very difficult to capture a shot with the right exposure. The EOS M’s HDR Backlight Compensation function solves the issue by taking three images – one with normal exposure, overexposure and underexposure in rapid succession before merging and automatically aligning it within the camera. This produces an image with minimal loss of highlight and shadow detail, even in backlit conditions.

To create a smooth picture in dark environments that require high ISO noise reduction, the EOS M features a Multi Shot Noise Reduction function where four shots are taken consecutively, and then merged and aligned within the camera resulting in a cleaner final image. For the creative at heart, the EOS M also comes with seven creative filters like Grainy/Black & White, Soft Focus, Toy Camera, Miniature, Art Bold, Water Painting and Fish-eye filters.

The EOS M has an intuitive 3.0-inch widescreen touch panel LCD monitor to simplify its controls, thus sporting fewer dials and buttons. Similarly to what the 650D screen offers, the ClearView LCD II technology makes it comfortable to view images and previews even in bright environments, and an anti-smudge coating reduces fingerprints. As of now, the Canon EOS M does not have an electronic or optical viewfinder accessory. So, composing images are to be done solely via the LCD screen.

This camera also offers full HD video recording, capturing motion pictures at a high maximum ISO of 6400.  In addition,

Similar to the recently launched EOS 650D, the EOS M is equipped with a Movie Servo AF which enables continuous auto-focus during movie recording. When mounted with STM EF/EF-S lenses via the new mount adapter EF-EOS M, users get to enjoy smooth, speedy quiet Servo AF on the EOS M during movie shooting. Found commonly in Canon LEGRIA camcorders, the EOS M also comes with the Video Snapshots feature which allows users to record short video snippets (2, 4 or 8 seconds) before stitching all of them sequentially into video snapshot albums.

We  did get the opportunity to try out the EOS M... But they were pre-production models, hence I can't comment much for now on its response speed, etc. But one thing to note is that there is no integrated flash in the camera, no sure if there will be a small flashgun attachment made available in the box. Also, I was quite disappointed that the screen is fixed, unable to swivel to various angles to shoot at difficult angles... Unlike the 650D. Which kinda puzzled me... If EOS 650D and M share the same 18.1MP APS-C CMOS sensor, why not have the swivel screen in the M too? Perhaps... perhaps in future Canon mirrorless cameras? Maybe! :p

In short, key features of the Canon EOS M:

• New EF-M lens mount (optimized for APS-C sensor size)
• 18MP APS-C 'Hybrid CMOS' sensor
• Continuous autofocus in movie mode with subject tracking
• 14-bit DIGIC5 processor
• ISO 100-12800 standard, 25600 expanded
• 4.3 fps continuous shooting, 3 fps with autofocus tracking
• 1080p30 video recording, stereo sound (with 25p or 24p options)
• External microphone socket and adjustable sound recording level
• 1040k dot 3:2 touch-sensitive ClearView II LCD (capacitative type, multi-touch support)
• Standard EOS hot-shoe for external flash (no built-in flash)
• 'Creative Filters' image-processing controls, previewed live on-screen

I found the image below online and I felt it helpful... Thus I want to share it with you, so that you can have a rough idea on the EOS M's size and compare it with other DSLR and mirrorless cameras that are already in the market.

Credit to foxfoto_archives for the image.

The EOS M, EF-M lenses, EOS-EF M mount adapter and Speedlite 90EX will be available from early October at all Canon authorized dealers. Pricing will be confirmed at a later date.

After the presentation and lunch, I went up to the 63rd level, where there is the 1-Altitude's rooftop bar. I was offered a spectacular view of Singapore city and it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Similarly to my liking for ocean views, I like to see sights from high heights, and thus that feeling was fabulous! Ok, I want to head up to the bar again... But at night!

Yes, we can view Marina Bay Sands (MBS) from the rooftop.
And when you thought that being at MBS rooftop is considered high, then you should check out 1-Altitude. :p

And yes, I took some pictures of the city while I was up there. But let it be for another blog post... Afterall, this is a special blog post for me, of my long-awaited Canon mirrorless camera (Finally...... After a long wait... Wheeee~). Till then, see you! :)