I took a quick hop to Beijing, China during Thanksgiving weekend with a couple of good friends. Looking back I realized that 4 days in Beijing was not enough to actually see the whole city but we walked (and there was a lot of walking involved) way with a great appreciation for the Chinese culture of balancing economic growth and old world tradition. Being part Chinese, going to the mother land for the first time was an amazing experience that I will never forget. Another thing I won't forget is how cold it was there in November. That wind just cuts [View Full Entry]

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Bangkok or what the Thais call it, Krung Thep is a city of enormous proportion. Occupied by roughly 10 million people, BKK is busy, crowded and nosiy . But what major city isn't. The great shopping, night life, food and the welcoming people made it a great place to visit. Either by boat, Tuk Tuk, Sky train, taxis or moped, the city is very accessible. I spent 8 days in the heart of the city on Sukhumvit Rd, the business central and had a blast there on the last leg of a 20 day trip. BKK is a fast growing city [View Full Entry]

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After arriving to Bangkok from Phuket, the next two days was all about lounging and vegging out. Suffering from jet lag, not enough rest, and too much sun in Phuket all I wanted to do was sleep and thats what I did. On the 3rd day I booked an all day tour to Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand. We rode a tour bus to the city and caught a boat back down the Chao Phraya river, well worth the 1500 bahts. The ruins of the city was beautiful. Even after been burnt and ransacked by the Burmese, you can visualize [View Full Entry]

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Sept 18-22 2007 Not being back in Hawai'i for about 4 years, made me miss the beautiful beaches (especially the warm and clear water). Don't get me wrong the beaches of Korea are nice but I was yearning for something more like Hawai'i. I was losing my tan living in the ROK for the past 6 months and since I was going to visiting relatives in Bangkok, I decided to stop over in Phuket. Had to call people up to tell them that I was not on the plane that crashed at the Phuket airport couple days earlier. I believed the [View Full Entry]

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Spent 3 days in Phnom Penh Cambodia after departing from HK. Cambodia is probably one of the poorest countries in the world that never rebounded from the numerous external and internal wars. Talking to the people about the genocide during Pol Pot's regime and seeing the killing field was very hard and disturbing. Its currency the Riel is very weak (4K Riel to a dollar) and is not available outside the country . The average monthly salary is about $50 and even though life is hard, this does not stop Cambodian from being one of the friendliest people I have ever [View Full Entry]

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Day 1 After an unforeseenable delay of my flight, finally got into HK on Sept 12 from Seoul. Only staying for 2.5 days so I had to really manage my time. I was planning to stay up 18+ each day for sight seeing, shopping and to grab a hop to Macau for some gambling (haven't played craps in a while). Got a map from the Tourist Info booth, arrived at my hotel and I was off and running. The ferry system was fairly easy enough to follow. Just look for what district/island you want to go and jump on it. This [View Full Entry]

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