Jeremy Lin

piranha27

Jeremy Lin

Hi, thanks for visiting. I'm an ex-cop and ex-finance guy from Singapore, quit my job to travel. Decided to start in my own backyard here in Southeast Asia. Pleased to have you follow me on my adventure...



Asia » Taiwan » Taipei » Zhongzheng August 26th 2015

Kinda late with this post, but well as they say, better late than never! After leaving Japan en route back home to Singapore I decided to pop by Taipei in Taiwan for a bit. I'd been there just a few years ago, but that was a really short two day stay so I thought I'd re-visit and check things out at a more leisurely pace. I have to say for some reason I had rather high expectations for Taipei -- everyone talks about the friendly people, the great food in the night markets, and the cute and pretty girls with their pleasant Mandarin accents. And they're all true. But for some reason Taiwan just didn't quite grab me like Korea and Japan did. Taipei reminded me a lot of Chongqing on the mainland -- old, rather ... read more
National Palace Museum
Taipei 101
Addicted to Capsules

Asia » Japan » Tokyo » Asakusa August 20th 2015

And before I knew it, I'd come to my final destination in Japan, the capital of Tokyo. It was a longish 6h bus ride from Nagoya, but as usual thanks to the incredibly efficient and pleasant JR Express, the ride was quite a breeze as I've come to expect in this wonderful country. What's there to say about Tokyo that hasn't already been said? It's one of the largest metropolises in the world, both by population and physical size, and certainly one of the most storied Asian cities, especially in modern times, and in light of Japan's emergence as a global economic power in the 80s. It really ought to be considered an amalgamation of several cities or large districts, each of which would probably qualify as a meaningful destination in its own right. And the ... read more
Imperial Palace
Scramble Crossing @ Shibuya!
Neon of Shinjuku

Asia » Japan » Aichi » Nagoya » Sakae August 19th 2015

After five days in historical Kyoto to cap off my sojourn in the Kansai region, I made my way eastwards for a brief stopover at Nagoya en route to my ultimate destination that is the capital Tokyo. Not exactly a particularly famous or popular tourist destination, Nagoya nevertheless is in fact the third largest city in Japan, and its economic importance comes from being the automotive heartland, in particular the headquarters for Japan's car manufacturing giant Toyota. Along with Yokohama (other automotive hub and industrial city), one could think of the two as Japan's version of Detroit in the US, though roaming Nagoya's streets, its rather difficult to think of the two as being alike in any other way at all. In any case, with this in mind, I couldn't help but be reminded of an ... read more
Nagoya Castle
Noritake Garden
Nagoya Wasabi Guesthouse

Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto » Gion August 12th 2015

This was it! The cultural heart and soul of Japan. All that wide-eyed foreigners imagine when the country's name is evoked -- centuries-old temples set against perfectly manicured gardens, lantern-lined quaint alleys, white-faced geishas shuffling along in clogs...Welcome to Kyoto, another ancient capital of Japan, and culturally probably its most important. From small town Nara it was barely an hour's train ride to Kyoto, but what a difference an hour makes. Kyoto is like Nara on steroids in terms of temples and shrines. Throw in some serious nightlife and shopping malls, and maybe half of all tourists currently in the country (the other half probably being in Tokyo), and you've got yourself a real city! And to top it all off, I arrived coincidentally the week of the festival of Gozan Okuribi, a very popular week ... read more
Kiyomizu-dera
Salsa Dancing in Kimonos @ Cafe Rumbita
Nishi Hongwangji

Asia » Japan » Nara » Nara August 10th 2015

From Osaka, it was a quick ... read more
Shika-senbei for sale
Toka-e @ Fokuji
Katsu-don & Zaru-soba set

Asia » Japan » Osaka » Osaka August 8th 2015

After a memorable time in Hiroshima, it was another 5h+ bus ride eastwards to what is often thought of as Japan's second city and one-time commercial hub Osaka. This was in fact my second time here, though my first visit was over twenty years ago when I was still a kid. For some reason, my only memories of that first visit was walking through many underground passages (there are probably even more these days!), and eating grilled unagi (eel) and chawanshi (steamed egg). Well, I just had my first taste of unagi in Hiroshima, but truth be told, the Osaka I now saw as an adult was nothing like in my distant memory at all. Coming from relatively sedate Hiroshima, crowded and bustling Osaka definitely showed a somewhat grittier side to Japan, more neon, some dodgy ... read more
Shinsaibashi Shopping Street
Capsule Inn Osaka
Hankyu-Hanshin Shopping Street

Asia » Japan » Hiroshima » Hiroshima August 5th 2015

After Fukuoka, I took the 5h bus eastwards towards Hiroshima, and I hadn't planned it at all, but after I arrived I found out I was in town just in time for the A-bomb memorial week, and it would turn out to be a particularly poignant and memorable visit to the city. The city of Hiroshima will perhaps always been remembered for that one tragic morning at 8.15 a.m. on August 6th 1945, when the world saw for the very first time the horrendous power of the atomic bomb. In one fell swoop, virtually the entire city within a few kilometres of the hypocentre of the explosion was destroyed, and tens of thousands of people killed instantly, or in the immediate aftermath. And that excludes the many thousands more who would succumb to their gruesome injuries ... read more
Floating Torii
The Humble, Unsung Hiroshima Tram Operator
A-Bomb Dome

Asia » Japan » Fukuoka » Fukuoka August 2nd 2015

And so, after some two plus weeks, it was time to bid farewell to wonderful Korea, and say hello to enigmatic Japan, as I took the overnight Camellia passenger ferry from Busan to Fukuoka. Long ferry trips always cause some apprehension in my mind, given my past less-than-pleasant experiences in the likes of Myanmar and Indonesia, but I was of course fairly confident that this would be a much more comfortable trip. And how so! Despite purchasing the cheapest available 2nd class ticket, which pretty much entitled me to just a mattress in a room, the ferry ride was as pleasant as I could have conceivably hoped for, and I arrived in Fukuoka satisfied and hoping it's a sign of good things to come. Fukuoka is considered a relatively large Japanese city, and certainly the largest ... read more
Traditional Fukuoka Yamakasa
Kushida Shrine
Busan-Fukuoka

Asia » South Korea » Busan » Gwangalli Beach August 2nd 2015

And after the quick look at Daegu, it was a short train ride southeastwards to the my final destination in Korea, the port city of Busan, also the second largest city after Seoul. Geographically almost exactly at diagonally opposite ends of the country vis-a-vis the capital Seoul, Busan nevertheless has much importance of its own to boast of. It was pretty much the only large city standing after the initial wave of attacks from the North during the Korean War, and it was using Busan as the military base that the Southern and allied UN forces were able to eventually beat back the Northern troops, retake Seoul, and in fact even temporarily capture Pyeongyang, before a Chinese-backed counter-offensive eventually pushed forces back to the infamous 38th parallel, leading to an uneasy armistice stalemate that still remains ... read more
Yongdusan Park
UN Memorial Park
Gwanggali Beach

Asia » South Korea » Daegu » Dong-gu July 25th 2015

From Gyeongju, it was another short bus ride (1h) westwards to South Korea's fourth (or third, depending on who you ask) city Daegu. Not especially renowned even within Korea for any particular must-see tourist attractions, Daegu does boast some economic and historical significance, with its Yangnyeongsi district being the centre of traditional Korean medicine since hundreds of years ago. Daegu was also close to the last military stronghold frontier of the American-supported Southern forces during the first phase of the Korean War, when they were beaten back and close to relinquishing almost the entire territory. And Daegu was also the birthplace of Korea's most famous family conglomerate (chaebol) Samsung (which started out as a tiny trading business), as well as its most fondly-remembered (and simultaneously infamous) military dictator Park Chung Hee. On the KTX railway route ... read more
Gyesan Cathedral
Yangnyeongsi Oriental Medicine Museum
Daegu Modern History Museum




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