http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/MichaelandKathy/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from MichaelandKathy en-us Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:09:52 +0000 Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:09:52 +0000 In my last entry I said I was headed out of Daejeon but a stomach flu kept me in bed for an entire two days At first a doctor even thought it might be swine flu But with my trip effectively shortened to 8 days I had to really move it to squeeze in all that I wanted to do.I would be in Daejeon for a couple more days before and after my trip to Daegu and I saw a lot of local sights. Temples http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Taejon/blog-421703.html After a late night flight and some worries about SK customs the nice man at customs didn't charge me for bringing too much dutyfree alcohol I arrived in South Korea.Incheon airport is on the very northwest corner of South Korea and Daejeon is smackdab in the middle so it was a 3hour express bus ride to get to my uncle's place. Daejeon is a medium sized city 1.5 mm pop out of 48mm total c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Taejon/blog-417833.html Our last day in Thailand was spent in absolute comfort. We spent the day relaxing in our great hotel watching Transformers 2 at the mall and having lunch and dinner at the Mall's wonderful food courts.Bangkok was a far friendlier experience than Chiang Mai. Taxis are plentiful and dirt cheap 13 a ride and the food is more accessible as well. If you are going souvenir shopping in Thailand http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-417323.html First day in Singapore Met up with my cousin at the airport and stayed with her for the night. The next day we got a late start. After running some errands contact lenses are expensive in singapore we went to a hawker market and had some famous chicken and rice. The rice is the best part Then we went to the river where we hit up all the touristy places Raffles city hall Clark Qua http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-416826.html Picturevideo Update. Underwater pics were taken by my normal digital camera with an underwater case. Enjoy http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Terengganu/Perhentian-Besar/blog-416266.html After a day in KL we arrived in Chiangmai. We experienced some culture shock. Few people speak good English and most of those who do work in the tourist industry and are trying to get ur money. But soon u get used to the hustle and enjoy the cheap food and bustling street markets. As soon as we arrived at our hotel and dropped off our luggage we were off to the Wats. They are really beautif http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/blog-416780.html First day traveling together For our last day in Singapore we decided to hit up the zoo. We saw a bunch of monkeys hanging around the trail and got to see a sea lion show The elephants kinda sucked but it was a great day especially because the monkeys and deermice were literally on the trails with us. We saw lots of giant spider webs more pics to come in a later update. Afterwards we had http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Terengganu/blog-415782.html I woke up at 730 today Today I went to Kampong Glam the muslim area Sim Lim Square electronics store and Pulau Ubin undeveloped island. It was a short yet intense day.Mag got me a special breakfast today. She got me some Kaya toast toast with a buttercoconut spread along with a cup of softboiled almost raw actually eggs. The toast was so good The eggs were a little strange but http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/Pulau-Ubin/blog-414400.html Waking up at 530 am getting better I was treated to a huge downpour that seems to be a daily feature of Singaporean life. The whole room was emptying out with a pair of Brits who were teaching primary school and a city Councilman from the Philippines both heading towards Kuala Lumpur. They were all awesome funny people and hope to meet them again The people are surprisingly nice and alt http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/Little-India/blog-414011.html Alright well nothing new has transpired since the last entry other than my dinner which is explained through pictures below. However I'll bullet point a few thoughts before heading off to bed.The de facto form of begging in Singapore seems to be selling tissues. A large portion of beggars are blindTaxis are mostly Blue HyundaisSingapore is by far friendlier at least at first than Tokyo. Any fi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/Chinatown/blog-413704.html been so exhausted lately. hopefully I'm not getting sicks cuz the journey is just beginning tomorrow. some quick updatesin shenzhen stayed mostly in hotel. next day boarded flight to HeFei China. Stayed in hefei for several days. hung out with the 'rents and the g'rents. left for yunan china with dad for 6 day tripday 1 arrive in lijiang late in the evening. late tired raining ugh.d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-413689.html The moment you step outdoors in Singapore you are blasted with an incredible humid heat. Right now it is 90F feels like 97F and it is not pleasant at all. It's no wonder that Singaporeans take so kindly to shopping malls with their air conditioned goodness. Also I am getting bitten by a gajillion mosquitoes. I don't know how much more I can last at this computer before I dive back into m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/Chinatown/blog-413606.html And so my Tokyo leg comes to an end. Tokyo is a fantastic place that everyone should visit at least once in their lifetime preferably when they're still young enough to appreciate all the hustle and bustle. I may not have travelled enough to compare Tokyo to other cities but it really strikes me as a place of extremes. Walking around urban Tokyo you won't see a single bit of greenery. During mor http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-413484.html Whew what a day. My 45 capsule hotel has been the most luxurious experience I have ever had. But I'm getting ahead of myself so let's start from the beginning of the day I woke up at 6 in the morning and was unable to get back to sleep my body still thinks its 7PM NY time. Luckily it turns out that Thierry is also awake so we decide to get an early breakfast McDonalds... thank goodness http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/Shinjuku/blog-412962.html After some frantic last minute packing I'm packing light enough to fit everything in one backpack and some issues at Airport security about 4 different people looked through my luggage... once to examine my iodine water purification thing and another for a random security check I arrived in Tokyo in one piece. I had planned out a whole Jetlagprevention strategy that entailed sleeping on http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/Ueno/blog-412826.html Currently on Day 5 in Hong Kong. Past few days have been a blur rushing from one tourist spot to another so let me just recap quickly might be mispellings610 depart from Washington DC. Everything went smoothly. Watched 3 AWFUL movies Paul Blart Confessions of a Shopaholic and Last Chance HArvey. Finally arrival in Hong Kong.611 transport to our hotel in Yau Ma Tei. The room is http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-408606.html