Phuket

On my final leg of my trip through Asia, I decided Phuket would be a good resting place before the transition to home. I'm staying at the Hilton Phuket Arcadia in the southwestern part of Phuket Island. The property has beach access to Karon Beach and is sandwiched between Kata and Patong Beach. The facilities here are amazing and the room rates can't be beat. At about $100 US per night, this facility has several pools, beach access, soccer facilities, mini-golf facilities, spa, several restaurants and still conveniently located to some local nightlife.

My little ragtag group is quite happy to sit and relax in this amazing place. On our first night, we went to Kata Beach which is a little beach town about 10 minutes walking distance. The little stretch of restaurant/bars has an eclectic collection of locals and tourists. My little group came upon an area where we have now nicknamed "Hooker Heights" because there are several little bars crammed into this communal space and is staffed by only women. No local men can be found but several tourists are patronizing these establishments.

On our second night, we went to Patong Beach. I think the area is as close to Ft. Lauderdale during spring break or other similarly reputed areas. Lots of little bars where the women are trying to entice tourists to come drink, several "go-go" shows hawked by street vendors. In the mix, several US chains like McDonald's, KFC, Starbucks, Haagen-Daz, etc were easily accessible. It was Kata Beach on steroids. All in all, still a friendly place as the girls will try to get you to play games like Connect Four with you. The ultimate goal for the girls is to play for drinks, gets that bar tab higher. The guys happily obliged as beer is less than $2 US.

Saigon

I'm back in Vietnam. This time, I'm with friends and have decided to tone down on the spending and be more frugal. Our little entourage picked up a new person to make this a five person group. We parted ways with one person from our travels to date. We stayed at Bich Duyen hotel, it is in the backpacker district. Not quite a hostel, not quite a hotel, it still suited my needs just fine. Stayed for about $10 US per person per night. Prices like that can't be beat.

My family was kind enough to take my friends around the city most of the time. Luckily, I was visiting the country when the fruit season is at its peak and stuffed myself with mangosteens, mangoes, and lychees. Caught up on all my favorite foods and got to see some family too. My friends couldn't believe how far the US dollar went in Vietnam. I think everyone tried to consume as much as possible. Of course, a visit to Saigon isn't complete unless you've had pho!


It appears that the economy is cooling and the exchange rate has hurt the Vietnamese economy. Currently, the exchange is 16900 dong to the US dollar. Craaaazzzaaayyy.

As an introduction to what Vietnamese cuisine was all about, I brought my friends to a cit institutuion, Quon An Ngon. They were so amazed at the prices and the exchange rate, they tried to get the bill to reach a million dong. Unfortunately, we could only get to 850,000 dong. One of my friends decided to pay for dinner and pulled out his bills. Definite baller status (for $50 US).

In this particular trip, I also did a mini day trip to the Mekong Delta. I found it very interesting and was able to see how the locals made rice paper, coconut candy, and enjoy some local fish. Being in the country reminds me of how much I should appreciate what I have at home.

Off to Phuket next! Unfortunately, one person left our group to go home early and our fivesome became a foursome.

Hong Kong

I'm going to be in and out of Hong Kong alot as the city is a destination as well as a hub for my future travels. Hong Kong is very much like New York City. Very cosmopolitan. If you have money, you can enjoy the city very well. If you don't...., well you enjoy being there but working harder to stay afloat. For those who don't speak any Chinese, Hong Kong is very easy to navigate given the British influence. I stayed mostly on the Kowloon side in this stopover.

I was housed in the Intercontinental Standford Court hotel in Kowloon. The hotel seemed a little bit older and smaller than the Grand Hyatt in Guangzhou. Given the space constraints and history of the city, I'm not surprised. The breakfast buffet was good, definitely catered to the Western taste.

The transit system in Hong Kong is amazingly fast as are the people movers. I don't think any city in the world can beat the speed and efficiency of Hong Kong's system. People around here don't mess around. I enjoyed walking around the city and taking in as much as it can offer. Visited the "technology" area to look for deals (didn't find much) and got to eat some local foods. It seems that people her never sleep as I visited a swap meet-like area at 9 pm. Even took up a friend's tailor tip and got a suit made.

As it was almost nearing the moon festival, alot of shops and restaurants were hyping it up. Even Western chains such as Haagen-Daz and Starbucks offered their own versions of moon cakes. Of course, ever curious, I bought some to try. I was pretty impressed with the quality of the products. I'm also surprised at the popularity of Starbucks....(not that I'm a coffee lover but there has to be better stuff than Starbucks!)



As I was in Hong Kong on my birthday, I decided I should try and head over to Macau and have a taste of what Chinese gambling is all about. I've heard of their famous local hotel casino, Hotel Lisboa (?), and wanted to see how it compared to the Vegas branded ones in Macau. It is a very different kind of atmosphere, something similar to downtown Vegas. The Wynn and Venetian made the area more upscale but Macau pales in comparison to Vegas.

All in all, I like the city but it isn't on the top of my list of repeat visits.

Guangzhou

Not much to the city, probably due to the time I had in this town. I was put up at the Grand Hyatt Guangzhou. The hotel was very nice, it is the only fully built building in the immediate area. From my understanding, the city is building an economic zone where the Hyatt is located. Because the government is developing an economic city center, the hotel is fairly isolated from the rest of the city. It also means that the heart of the city is a five minute taxi ride away. On a bright note, the Hyatt has very nice facilities. I didn’t have the chance to visit the pool or spa facilities but I heard it was really nice.

I'm convinced that new Asian hotels must love the modern decor look. This hotel room had sliding walls everywhere which could open up the bathroom and leave it very exposed. I was surprised at the class level of hotel given that we are here for school. AND they love white alot!

I didn’t do much sightseeing. The only afternoon free in my schedule was sapped up by logistical issues. We got in 3 hours later than scheduled and had time for a very late night dinner of dim sum. The only Chinese person in the group didn't speak the right dialect so we were totally lost and had to do alot of finger ordering. The food was good considering what was ordered.

I will have to come back to China and visit Beijing. I certainly don’t feel as if I’ve actually visited a Chinese city. It is a good thing that my visa is good for a year, I’ll probably head back when I graduate next June.

The great expedition to Guangzhou

The group was faced with an arduous task of transversing multiple modes of transportation to get from Tokyo to Guangzhou. We lost one person who was going home instead of travelling with us to Guangzhou. Lucky him!! (or not...) We woke up at 5 am to take a taxi from the hotel to the city bus terminal. Narita is about an hour outside of Tokyo, similar to Dulles and DC. Unfortunately, a direct taxi is about $250 USD. Yikes!


Caught the 5:45 am airport bus and got to Narita. Suprisingly, the airport counters were only beginning to open and we had to wait in line. We were travelling on the Star Alliance Asian Airpass. Unfortunately, the direct flight to Guangzhou was not an option with this particular program. We were going to have two flight segments and pssing through Beijing. Ironically, all our picture shots look like we are in the same spot. I guess airlines and buses have the same seat configuration! We went through security and got on our first plane segment to Beijing.

At Beijing airport, you can feel the level of pride the Chinese governmen has by hosting the Olympics this year. Tschokes were everywhere and the airline stewardess even made an announcement about the success of the games. The entertainment options on TV included a snippit of the opening games ceremony. Also was given a toy replica of the plane we were flying - Boeing 737. Although a part of me wonders if the thing had lead....


Interestingly enough, a transit traveller through a Chinese airport still requires a Chinese "transit" visa. Luckily we had a multiple Chinese visa. This will make for an interesting stamp page later on.

We boarded our second leg of the plane itinerary and made it to Hong Kong International. The flights were uneventful and half of our transit day has passed. It was pretty easy to get through customs, most seem fairly relaxed in comparison to the Beijing airport. Exchanging money at the airport was also reasonable if you are carrying cash.

As the flights were an unknown factor in determing the actual arrival time into Hong Kong (never know what kind of flight delays are in store), we had several strategies to get to the train station to catch our train to Guangzhou. Option 1) take a cab - likely two given the group size and luggage, 2) take an express bus, or 3) take the subway in a circuitous route. As we exited customs, the MTR pounced on us and sold us an airport train pass into the city. It worked out for us as we needed to get to Hung Hom station and was ahead of schedule. Hong Kong airport and MTR website didn't mention that they had a direct route to Hung Hom station, you take the airport express train to Kowloon and take a complimentary shuttle to Hung Hom station.




With the day nearing an end and a possible end to our travelling, we ate at McDonald's at Hung Hom station and waited for our train. We could have caught an earlier scheduled train but it would require us to forgo dinner. Bad idea....

Compared to Japan, the Chinese rail trains are not as impressive. At times, I felt that they were purchased used. The seats were comfortable. If you ever travel by train, try to opt for the higher class level of seats. It is only a $40HKD difference from the base fare. Once we arrived into Hong Hum, had to pass through CHinese customs. I'm sure the guy who gave me my stamp was puzzled why I would arrve and leave and arrive again into China. If you have ever went throug customs, there is always a spot where the government allows you to dump your fruits/vegetables before "entering" the country. In this case, not so much. I wasn't actually worried about it until one of my groupmates was anxious for me to rid of the stuff. By trying to throw away my grapes before scanning caused a greater commotion than if I hadn't. My lesson learned!

We are now at the end of our journey as we tromped off to the hotel via taxi.

Tokyo

Checked out what Tokyo had to offer. It took me time to understand the subway system and has become easier to navigate once entrenched in the system. Visited various parts of the city. As we only knew general areas and not specific street directions, we wandered aroun alot to figure out where we wanted to go after emerging from the subway stations. At least there were general maps of the immediate area nearby.

Visited the Tsukiji Market near the hotel. Like any other wholesale market, the place was a madhouse and I'm sure everyone wanted the dumb tourists our of their hair. It was interesting to see all the hustle and bustle of the market. Nearby, there was a farmer's market style of shopping and I consumed as much sushi as possible. For traditional sushi, this has been one of the best meals in Japan and probably sushi eating, in general, for me.

Akihabara is the mecca of all things anime, videogames, and electronics. It was interesting to see all the 'otaku' roaming the streets focused on the flashing demo games. Even walked into an arcade, I would be completely addicted to video games if I had access to these types of facilities. On a bright note, I was able to get a 4 GB SDHC card for $17.80. Pretty darn cheap.

The other areas of Tokyo seemed very focused on shopping. Roppongi and Shibuya reminded me of Century City and Times Square, respectively. Lots of shopping and eateries. Both areas have extensive amount of Western influence. What was surprising was the number of Africans in Roppongi as they hung out on the pedestrian sidewalks trying to get guys to visit the girly bars. Shinjuku is another area where there is suppose to be alot of nightlife but we never found it. One of the drawback of being a tourist... :D

On our final day in Tokyo, we decided to stay near the hotel and check out the Ginza district. Ginza reminds me of Rodeo Drive and Sunset combined. The number of high end retailers combined with the number of bars in the area is an interesting combination. By day, I felt I was walking around Beverly Hills with the extraordinary number of Bentleys and Rolls Royce rolling down the street while hordes of Japanese women were shopping. At night, the streets were lined with taxis for all the people out drinking at night. Even caught sight of a Hummer limo. We finished out our final day with a pretty nice sushi restaurant recommended by a local shopkeeper. We were heading to another restaurant and the shopkeeper was kind enough to ask where we were trying to reach. When we mentioned the name of the restaurant, he said there is a better place for a better price and it turned out to be a great recommendation. Despite the high end price of drinks, we ended the night at the Conrad lounge. Us bummy Americans were sitting with well-heeled and -dressed Japanese people and enjoying ourselves.

The next transition is going to require around 17 hours to get to our next destination. I will update everyone on how it went!

Travel Day to Tokyo

For a three hour bullet train ride, it felt that it took all day to get to Tokyo. Before we left Kyoto, we found out that Kyoto is widely known for their green tea. Of course, this meant an expedition before getting on the train to find the "best" green tea in Japan. With a sick member in the group, I dragged everyone to the area in Kyoto Station where it might be sold. In the meanwhile, came across one of the food courts in the station. The whole complex was impressive and I was able to buy an assortment of sushi that was extremely tasty and reasonably priced.

When we got into Tokyo in the afternoon, I think most of the group missed Kyoto. We left a very intimate, friendly, navigable city to a big metropolis with an amazingly confusing subway system and ornery folk. I take my earlier comment about Japan's transit system back. Yes, in places it is easy to use. When it comes to Tokyo, the city planner's must have done a brain fart. LA has different municipalities in the general transit system but there is reciprocity. There are several companies that operate Tokyo's system and is not always user friendly.

When we emerged from our subway station, we got a taste of Tokyo's hospitality. As a city dweller walked by, he waved us off when we attempted to ask for directions. Welcome to Tokyo! Luckily, we came across a city employee to point us in the right direction.

For the rest of the trip, we've split between two hotels, Villa Fontaine Hotel and the Conrad. I'm staying at the Conrad and it is an amazing hotel. The rooms are huge and I love the bathroom facilities. There is a glass wall between the bathroom and the living quarters. So you can soak in the tub while watching the TV in the sleeping area. There is privacy with the automated blinds that will drop down. The city views are very nice from any floor of this hotel. Luckily, I'm near the top of the hotel and appreciate the city views. I am very impressed with the location and ambience. The hotel staff's level of English skills are also very impressive. Nothing less than expected from a Conrad.

Kyoto

With little snafus, my group made their way to LAX and boarded the United Flight to Tokyo. Our little group was scattered throughout the plane, couple of us was in business class, one in economy plus, and rest in economy. I snucked back to the other sections of the plane to give my friends the little alcohol bottles and ghiradelli chocolates. I've never been to Japan (if you don't count the number of layovers through Narita in my previous travels). Went through customs and got my first Japanese visa stamp. True to the stereotype, even the visas are 'advanced.' No stamps, stickers with some type of barcode. Got to the train station easily enough. I have to admit, mass transit is easy in Japan. Took a bullet train to Kyoto, it reminded me of a very upscale and cleaner version of the Amtrak system. After getting into the Kyoto station, we traversed miles of stairs both up and down to get to the subway station to get to our Ryokan. I was initially worried that our late arrival would leave us alone in the terminals but it seems that the Japanese never sleep. We slumped into our ryokan around 11 pm after almost walking past the entrance. Ryokans are almost like bed and breakfast plus hostel. The more upscale Ryokans are known for their cuisines and elaborate traditional architecture. Being on a long vacation, I choose a more budget oriented ryokan. As typical of ryokans, the pubic bath facilities is gym like where all the showers are in one room sans stalls. There is a huge hot bath tub for people to lounge after their shower. In general, the group seemed to take a fancy to the communal bath facilities. Luckily, we had a private toilet room in our room. Of course, being an American, using the 'facilities' can be an interesting adventure. I've never seen so much electronics connected to a toilet. Automatic seat warmer, bidet, sprayer combo plus an interesting way of filling the tank water. I wonder what would happen to Japan if electricity became extinct in this country.


On a bright note, I'm happy to have free internet access even if only in the lobby.

Walked around Kyoto the first day. I was ignorant of the bus system so we walked the entire day from one temple or historic site to another. The combination of humidity, heat, and foot traffic nearly killed us all. Nijo castle was pretty cool, I think the guys decided that their future compounds should mirror the estate. We also attempted to see the Imperial Palace and didn't realize that visits are by appointment only. My brother nearly got us arrested. Apparently, there are sensors/cameras around the exterior gates and the security guards didn't like the fact that: 1) my brother pretended cross the walls by squeezing through a cutaway in the wall and 2) where he touched the main gate and posed himself as climbing up the gate. Security was on us within 15 minutes telling us to get out of town.... Ok, not out of town but we got the message to not touch the building. Ironically, the security focused on giving us warnings through the one person in the group completely uninvolved with the whole incident. As far as food, I have been very impressed with the quality. I've been told that the mochi is very good here and I heartily agree. Tried a variety of mochi desserts and I'll never be able to eat them the same in LA. Even the quality of the red beans is different. In the Nishiki market, came across a place that specialized in mochi.
There was an open kitchen area visible from the outside and they were very dutiful in the making of mochi. There was rythmic chanting and a big mallet. I know it sounds wierd, if I get the time I'll upload the video. Visited a McDonald and was slightly disappointed. The pies were fried but the filling option is apple only and it was ok. It also seems that Kyoto is very noodle oriented as most of our meals have consisted of ramen. Tasty, I would definitely say that Kyoto is makes good dough! The second day of Kyoto, we decided to take mass transit as much as possible since we were all tired of walking. From the trusty Lonely Planet guide, went back to Kyoto station via subway to only discover we could have taken the buses from our hotel door. Hehe, luckily the subway was only $2, not too bad for a rookie mistake. The city buses are very easy to use and runs quite often. Even the system map was easy to figure for a foreigner. Sometimes I wonder if LA well ever get to the point where a convenient and logical mass transit system will be in place.
We took off with the plan of visiting four temples. A very ambitious plan and succeeded in visiting two temples. Visited the Ginkaku-Ji compound and Nanzen-Ji temple. Both sites were very impressive, alot of history and the level of preservation is quite high. One of my friends mentioned how they saw no litter, no graffitti, etc. Makes me wonder why I always see cigarette butts in Hawaii (a favorite Japanese destination). On our final day in Kyoto, visited the Kiyomizu and Kinkakuji temples. Both are impressive but I liked Kiyomizu more. It was a bigger compound and, although surrounded by alot of commercial stores, seemed to be livelier and prettier than the other temple. Kyoto is a very pretty city - from the shrines and temples to the general neighborhoods - makes me wonder what Tokyo will bring.