Page 6 of halefg Travel Blog Posts



Beaufort (pronounced Byu-fert) is located at the heart of the Low Country of South Carolina. Just like the typical southern town, Beaufort is filled with Spanish Moss hanging off from any visible brances in any trees, old and new. As we were driving around the town to see annabellum houses across a lake and historical structures, we noticed that strong influence of Marine Corps was evident throughout the town. Parris Island (the Marine Corps Recruitment Depot) is only miles away. Parris Island is one of two locations, apart from MCRD San Diego California, where the recruit Marines go to bootcamp. Every recruits from east of the Mississippi River and all women have to fulfil their bootcamp in this island. After passing through the full inspection routine at the entrance of the island by a young Marine, ... read more


I've always heard that Atlanta rush hour traffic is one of the worst in the nation, but not until we were trapped in it, I realized how lucky I am, not to have to commute to work everyday like millions in Atlanta. Jason, Ryan and I were leaving for Savannah, Georgia right after work on Friday, and the traffic out from Atlanta was bad. How did driving through the 'Spaghetti Junction' sound like? Four hours later, we finally arrived in Savannah. Ryan has reserved a hotel in a somewhat sketchy area, and the accomodation is not something I can brag about here. Savannah is like a box of chocolate, or at least this is what I can conclude about the charming town after watching my favorite 'Forrest Gump'. In the movie, Forrest was sitting on a ... read more
Mississippi?
Westin of Savanna, GA
Spanish Moss

North America » Mexico » Distrito Federal » Mexico City February 27th 2005

Hey ya’ll, My roommate Ryan and I just got back from Mexico City as a weekend getaway trip out of boring Atlanta. I value this trip as an eye opening for Mexico; before, I had always looked down on Mexicans (and Mexico), simply because the stereotypical Mexico we’ve learned from the States, such as illegal immigrants and border towns (I have visited Nuevo Laredo prior to Mexico City). Mexico City has proven itself to be a place where culture, different social economic classes and heritage blend together to define a sense of proudness of whom they are and what they are. We stayed at a hostel by the National Cathedral, close to Plaza de la Constitution, the third largest main square in the world after Tiananmen Square in Beijing and Red Square in Moscow. Remember the ... read more
Corona truck
A Mexican flag van
Hostel's view

Asia » Singapore January 12th 2005

Immigration experience After a couple of hours riding a bus from Melaka to Johor Bahru, finally we arrived at the Malaysian/Singapore Immigration border. The immigration/custom process is simple, if you know what you're doing: (1) getting off the bus at the Malaysian side of Johor Bahru to receive the Malaysian exit stamp, (2) getting back on the bus, just to drive less than a mile across the bridge, (3) getting off again, with all of your belongings at the Singapore side to receive the Singaporean entrance stamp. If you don't know how it is done, the drivers will gladly yell it to you. That was what happened when Beau and I just standing there, as we looked like idiots, tried to follow everybody that was obviously having the process as their daily routine. As we thought ... read more
Cable cars
Stacked roof
Action!

Asia » Malaysia » Melaka » Melaka City January 11th 2005

Our bus ride from Pudu Raya station in KL to Melaka took roughly two hours. As soon as we arrived in Melaka, we hauled a cab to bring us to the center of the action: the history quarter. I’ve always heard about the City of Melaka, where the great Malay culture, which defines Malaysian and part of Indonesian cultures, started. Malay history was famous for its regional exploration and sea navigation achievement, just like Christopher Columbus of SE Asia. Most of the names started with “Hang”, so all these heroes named Hang Tuah, Hang Jebat, Hang Lekir, and some others I can't think of now. We decided to ‘tourist-hopping’ Melaka, so the plan was to check out these tourist spots, quickly. We got off our taxi near the Porta de Santiago, or AFamosa, which was built ... read more
Welcome to Melaka!
Porta de Santiago
Sultan's palace

Asia » Malaysia January 10th 2005

Flying from Bandung, Indonesia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was an amazing experience. We had a chance seeing a glimpse of Indonesian Archipelago from above, which was promising to be a good trip. As soon as we landed in the KL International, we went through immigration like a breeze, then hopped on the Express Train to Sentral Train station in downtown KL. Our first destination was Petronas Towers, the then-tallest building in the world. To get there, we rode the metro system to the KLCC stop, which leads to the towers. We found out that the skybridge tickets are given for free, first come first serve basis. There was a limit on free tickets per day, and obviously people would fight for it, thus the tickets for the day were given away when we arrived. A little ... read more
Petronas Towers at night
Petronas Tower skybridge
Petronas Towers waiting line

Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Kuta January 8th 2005

Back in Bandung, Java. After what it seems to be an eternity of Mom knocking on my bedroom door around 4 in the morning, I finally got up and proceeded to wake Beau up at our guest bedroom. In a nearby minaret, Muslim cleric chanting some prayers as a living proof that more than 85% of Indonesia’s population is devoted Islam. This is when I feel to be very spoiled, when you have several full-time maids to do your laundry and to do almost anything you want them to perform, including our long time chauffeur, Pa Enip, who has been serving our family for more than twenty years. He drove us to Bandung’s Husein Sastranegara regional airport to catch our 5 am flight to Bali via Surabaya. Bali is one of few places in the world ... read more
Besakih Temple
A Balinese statue
Santika Resort

Asia » Indonesia » Java » Bandung January 4th 2005

Java’s train system is very reliable for a third world country, passing through the remaining of lush green rice paddy field of West Java province of Indonesia. After a 2.5 hours train ride from Jakarta, Beau and I arrived in hectic Bandung train station which was built by the Dutch during Colonial period. It is a modern station now, with some stores and restaurants, including the Hoka Hoka Bento, a franchised Japanese fast-food restaurant which was my favorite restaurant. Growing up, I remember many times my sister and I went to the restaurant to have their teriyaki beef served with sticky rice. Although being the fourth biggest city in Indonesia, Bandung is very different compared to Jakarta or Bali. Needless to say, Bandung has a long way to become an international city; most of the native ... read more
A tea-lady
Angklung
Gedung Sate

Asia » Indonesia » Java » Jakarta January 1st 2005

Friday, December 31, 2004 - Jakarta, Indonesia New Year’s Eve is on tonight! It was around nine in the evening when Beau and I arrived in Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta, after roughly eight hour flight from Seoul, South Korea. Mom, Dad, my sister Leona, brother in law Julius and niece Kayla, were meeting us at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport arrival lounge, and we were fortunate enough to experience the notorious Indonesian street ‘riot’ celebrations for New Year’s Eve on our way to my aunt’s house in Kelapa Gading. I was expecting many New Year’s Eve festivity chaos and wild things to happen throughout the mega polis. To start with, we drive at the ‘wrong’ left side of the road, as Beau describes it, and everybody seems to be in close proximity to each other: pedestrian, ... read more
Bajaj
MoNas
Tropical fruits of Indonesia

Asia » South Korea » Seoul December 30th 2004

Receiving the first stamp in your brand new blank passport is like a christening to become an avid traveler, and for that reason, I’m excited for Beau, my fraternity brother who decided to join me for my South East Asian journey, regardless the US Government’s travel warning for its citizens to Indonesia. He is willing to risk his comfort level to experience something different that the rest of the world can offer; it will be quite a shock for him, coming from the first world into a developing country. For that particular reason, I believe that developed South Korea, which definitely is a different place compared to the USA, is a good transition to bridge the two before finally jumped into the chaotic third world Indonesia. Arriving at the Seoul’s Incheon International Airport, South Korean’s immigration ... read more
Roof detail
Roof details
Korean tea ceremonial




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