Life Is too Shirt!

We were amused by the slogan on the Ginkgo clothes shop: life is too shirt. A pun on life is too short.

Notice the hart above the shop name. Also the white lanterns in round or tangerine shape as well as the inverted cone style. I have shown coloured lanterns in another post.

You might also note in this photo other features of Hanoi in 2018-9, the uneven square paving stone. the motorbikes are parked on the pavement. The Hanoi coffee shops are every few yards, either ground floor or upstairs.

On looking at the photo again carefully I see that to the right of the shop is one of those dark alleys, which I mentioned in my post on the food tour and toilets.



Life is too shirt, in Hanoi, Vietnam. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Travel information
For hotels
booking.com
Comparison site:
https://www.clicktripz.com/rates/search/index
For airlines
travelok.com
vietJetair.com (Comprehensive list of budget airlines in Wikivoyage.)
For transport
https://www.grab.com/vn/en/

Language
Duolingo.com 
(Remember to click on the sound symbol to hear how words are pronounced.) 

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
Please share links to your favourite posts. I have several more on Hanoi, Halong Bay and Vietnam.

Cat Café at Bugis in Singapore

Across the road from Bugis MRT station is the Cat Café. While waiting to cross the wide road at the traffic lights you can see the Cat Café sign across the road on the top floor.

ook left of Burger King on the ground floor down the shopping stall alley. Just the place for an alley cat, is the entrance to the Cat Café. Look up and you'll see the sign to the doorway. 

You'll need the cat's agility to climb the narrow stone staircase to the top floor. Not the perfect place for walking sticks and wheelchairs.

Cat Cafe on the top floor. You can see the sign from outside at night.

Down the alley - there's the overhead sign.

Cat cafe sign and indoor staircase. Come back in daylight and daytime when they are open.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

More Instant Indonesian and Malay words

Problem
How do you remember Malay and Indonesian words?

Answer
Read my previous posts.
I covered words which were almost identical in my previous post. Here are words at the next level, words you will see or use or want to use a lot, which are reasonably easy to remember.

Tips
Easy to remember words:
English - Malay
alley - l o r o n g
banana - pisang
chicken - a y a m
food - m a k a n
fish - i k a n
fried - g o r e n g
street / walk - jalan

Malay - English
My computer is set to English and the Malay words keep being changed by the spell checker.I can toggle between two languages, which is a great time waster if you are doing a lot of typing of cautionary type word lists. I don't yet know how to have two languages being accepted.
a y a m - chicken
g o r e n g - fried
i k a n - fish
i k a n g o r e n g - fried fish
j a l a n - main road
j a l a n - j a l a n (no spaces, hyphenated) - walk-walk meaning let's go for a walk.
l o r o n g - lane, alley or narrow road, side street
m a k a n - meal / food
m i n u m a n - drink (memory aid - a minute for you for a drink, man?)
pisang - banana
pisang goreng - fried banana - absolutely delicious freshly fried in fresh batter - but very fattening and unhealthy, if bothered you can strip off the batter, the way you might do with friend fish or chicken

Author
Angela Lansbury, B A Hons, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, English teacher and home tutor.