Music! in the Month of October, 2015

Making a diversion from my Viet Nam posts for a summary of my musical activities for the month of October, 2015 including several music-themed films.

Boychoir, a film

Loud Park 15, a metal festival, over a two-day period @ Saitama Super Arena

Behomoth @ Club Quattro

Candy Dulfer with Hans Dulfter @ Blue Note Tokyo

David Sanborn @ Blue Note Tokyo

Pitch Perfect 2, a film

Peter Barakan’s Live Magic!, a music festival with lots of bluesy, folky rock and other adult music @ Ebisu Garden Hall

Risa Junna in-store event @ Tsutaya Tokyo Roppongi

Ex-colleagues’ birthday party @ Jazz Bird

Mary’s Blood, an all-female Japanese metal band @ Astro Hall

Straight Outta Compton, a film

Mary’s Blood in-store event @ Disk Union Shibuya

Went to see a screening of Straight Outta Compton coming to Japan in December. The biopic is about a hip-hop group N.W.A. that emerged out of Compton, California, in the ’80s.  Felt it was a bit long but the actors were great and behind-the-scenes story interesting.

More of Ha Long Bay

The pix do not do justice but just for my record, here are some more shots from the boat ride in Ha Long Bay.

 

Kayaking (Not!) in Ha Long Bay

I could’ve kayaked which all the guide books/websites seemed to suggest was THE way to explore Ha Long Bay but I chose not to as did the three Korean ladies, my new friends on this day trip from Hanoi, who apparently were colleagues at the Seoul Police Department (!) on the advice of our tour guide.  We instead went on the “bamboo boat” with a Vietnamese navigator which I thought was definitely a wiser choice.

The “bamboo boats”

The Portuguese couple we had lunch with who btw were both architects.

Our navigator.

And we are off!

Some brave ones do choose to kayak.

And it’s quite busy.

At certain scenic points our navigator advises us to take off our life vests for photo opps.  We oblige.

I loved these Korean girls making poses. So full of life and fun they were ^^

Lunching Out at Sea

My real destination on my second visit to Viet Nam in less than a two-week time span was Ha Long Bay outside of Hanoi.  Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994, it is one of the obvious and most popular tourist spots in that area and there are many tours offered from the city.  I signed up for one of them at my hotel.

I was picked up by the guide a little after 8 am from my hotel.

Our ride for the day.

Fast forward three hours with an obligatory souvenir/bathroom stop along the way, and we are at Ha Long Bay!!

At pier

Finding our boat

And here we are. All aboard!

The place was set up for lunch and we were ready to sail.

The view

What’s a little extra.

Other boats out at sea

I was sitting with three Korean ladies from Seoul and a Portuguese couple living in China near Macau

The boat had a kitchen and all the food was being cooked in it.

Went up on the deck after lunch to take in the scenery.  So far so good.

And Back to Viet Nam!!

So the day I got home from my Viet Nam-Brunei trip on September 23, 2015, I booked another trip to Viet Nam leaving the following week, on October 2, 2015.  It had something to do with my visa I had to buy on the first trip and for which I paid quite a lot of money and while I did not have to go back, I thought it would be worth it all things considered.  It was!!

At NRT

The drive to hotel from airport in the capital city of Viet Nam, Hanoi.

Checked into a small boutique hotel in the Hoàn Kiếm District of Hanoi.

View from room

Hotel at the end of an alley.

Breakfast

Around hotel.