Euro Travel & More

When we were in Korea many years ago, well – when i was a kid – i went with the church to the prayer mountain – what a waste of time then.  We didn’t really get to see very much then – but when I was much older and a girlfriend showed me all the Louis Vuitton handbags she got from Korea – i told myself, I had to go there for sure.  So when i was posted there for a meeting for carpark meters some years ago – i was darn happy.

Besides the normal shopping and touristy places and drinking holes that we went to – we also had to see the world’s largest indoor theme park – Lotte World of course!   We should have taken the subway but instead a co-worker there drove us and we ended up using roadside assistance because his car broke down.

Lotte World reminds me a lot about DisneyLand and Sanrio World and you can find a theme park hotel, a museum, many shopping malls and monorail, movie theatre and lots more – both adults and kids will enjoy this place.  We spent like 6 hrs in the theme park and never even finished all the rides.

Opens as early as 9.30am and closes at 11pm – we only waited for the fireworks to end and left – but if you go after 5pm – entrance fees are cheaper.

Pretty magical eh.

Don’t forget to try the Gyro Drop !  It’s awesome awesome!  a great view from the top but hold on tight when you are coming down.   The drop is about 400 feet down and it was really breath-taking – or rather – you can’t breathe.

We all love the carousel but we were too shy to go on it – but some of our co-workers did and made a fool of themselves.

I love an county fair – they are an awesome place to be in with friends and family.  I haven’t been to a large scale fair like this on in Orange County and when I found a picture of it – i had to share it with you.  If you are around the area – don’t forget to get your corn dogs and corn plus go on the La Grande Wheel – one of the largest ferries wheel in the world.

Yes, like all fairs, it is pretty commercialized but what can you expect – i love the color and love walking around and tasting the different kind of food.  It’s so fun to see kids walking around with cotton candies and huge huggies – i think they are just so thrilled to win something.  A little kid in all of us emerge when we are at the fair don’t you think? which are the best fairs have you been to?

The Peak in Hong Kong definitely has the most magnificent view of all of Hong Kong.  I used to go to Hong Kong a few times a year and I see there had been changes of late in Hong Kong and The Peak has also changed a lot too.   While looking for ipad warranty in Hong Kong, a friend also told me about the many restaurants up at The Peak these days.   We all know that while traveling, eating good food is one of the most important part of a travel, so I’m pleased to let you know that have all sorts to cater to just about everyone – from Burger King (they never had that when i visited them last) to Kyo Hachi Japanese Restaurant – dining with a view.

So how did I get to The Peak ?  we drove up there since we had friends and co – workers in Hong Kong but we never fail toi take the famous Tram down the Peak.  It was really fun but awfully crowded if you asked me.  But make sure you go at a time where it isn’t the summer holiday for the kids because the Peak is not only for the tourists – local residents go to the Peak all the time.

Don’t forget to go to Madame Tussauds – at about HK$160 for entrance fees.  You can also do some shopping although I don’t remember buying much there.  Oh ! i did get a Giordano t-shirts and stuff – Oh ! i so miss Giordano!!   They also have a Swarovski store too now! Mann!! i need to go back to Hong Kong for a visit.  Anyhow, Hong Kong is a wonderful place, I could spend days there – and I really missed it – if you haven’t been to Hong Kong – you have to go there for sure – if you are traveling around Asia.

If you have watched the Da Vinci Code you will know or recognized this picture.  So i thought I would share it with all of you – since I am currently reading the Da Vinci Code and am quite fascinated by it, the spouse even stopped playing his ps3 when he started reading it.

This interesting glass upside down pyramid can be found in front of the Louvre Museum in France. Many who may not be looking out for the inverted pyramid may even missed the pyramid from the outside and just think that it is just another glass window/building.  Honestly, i think the inverted pyramid became famous after this Dan Brown’s book because I myself didn’t pay too, too much attention to the pyramid when i was in France many years ago.

The Sutera Harbour Resort is located in Sabah, Kota Kinabalu – it is a huge property with wireless internet surrounding the entire resort.  The resort is located about 15 mins away from the airport and it’s is so central – i like it that I can get out of the resort and go to the heart of the city within minutes.

The resort was very crowded but surprisingly – people leave you alone to do your own thing – like sitting in a cabana and enjoying a view.

Love all the island – surrounding the resort – look how peaceful it was.

Yay!! a sunset bar !! for those who needs a cocktail!

Love the surrounding ! so peaceful!

I’ve only been to Penang like 15 times in total and each time I visit Penang – whether it is for work or vacation – Penang never fails to amaze and amuse me where food is concerned.  Food is cheap!!  and when i say cheap – i mean really cheap – of course – one should visit the touristy places but one place you should go to is Gurney Drive in Penang.  The above picture reminds me of Clark Quay in Singapore – this open air vast space of eateries – you do not get here in the Canada.  I was on www.toprateddietpills.com when I was reminded of all the many wonderful eat trips I had made up with my friends and co-worker – eating in Penang is not for the weak hearted – i mean it in the real blood clotting way.

Penang is in Malaysia – further north of Malaysia with great food and lots of food – good and cheap.  One can experience all sorts of food – but make sure you have a local friend to bring you around because they really know where to find the best assam laksa or dim sum.

But of course – it’s not only street food  you can find in Penang – Penang has many good cafes and restaurants too.  And don’t forget to visit Hard Rock Cafe for that t-shirt or cap for souvenir.

Been to L.A (Los Angeles) lately?  I haven’t – it had been a long time – so when i came across some old pictures that we had taken on one of our many trips to LA – i can’t help but wanna go again this year.  So instead of looking for  prenatal multivitamin for the sister – I decided to look for cheap airfares to visit LA – this summer.   But in the meantime – i thought I would share some pictures we took many moons again.  I don’t know how much LA has changed but no matter how it has changed – I’m sure you would love LA.

The very famous Six Flags Magic Mountain, we never miss going especially when you have some kids with you.

Earl Carroll/Nickelodeon Theater, 6230 Sunset Blvd.  Lavish supper club that opened in 1938.

No explanation needed here right?

The very famous cupcakes

UCLA

Another very famous fast food joint – we always go to – best ever burgers!

Burger!!  see i need to go for a visit really soon – even if it was just for the burgers.

i’ve written about Taiwan before and the many wonderful food and best buys  even the  best testosterone creams can be found in Taiwan – until I found this old picture from an old album.  This is in Jiufen Lao Jeh, Taiwan.

Jiufen is a very small town in northern side of Taiwan, I liked this place a lot – it reminds me of home in the 60s – with many old streets and lots of good food and the ocean view was magnificent.  It is said that this town was a gold mining town in the 1800s and when the gold started to decrease the people of this small town also started to move away.   It is now a tourist spot because of the many famous movies that was made here.  Plus I’ve heard that this was a favorite weekend away from home for the Taipei resident.

I’ve heard that another movie Spirited Away used this place as it’s model for the anime in 2001.

Lovely isn’t it.

As promised – i’ve shown you the outside of the CourtYard Marriot on the previous post and now for the inside of the hotel.  The bedroom given to us was a very nice room – spacious with 2 queen bed.  The receptionist at check in was very nice and polite – but the bell hop was helping someone else during check in – so we carried our own luggage – to our room.  But it was a lazy Sunday – so having only one bell hop is understandable and we didn’t have very much – just 2 luggages and lots of shopping bag with acne body wash that we had bought for a friend’s kid.

The view was very pretty – as you can see here.  And our fear that the road may get too noisy from the reviews that we read – were unfounded – we didn’t hear a thing outside of our room.

I thought we had read that our tv was going to be an LCD tv – therefore we had brought along our xbox 360 to be hooked up to it for our stay.  But alas – it was a normal tv and what made it even more frustrating was the tv didn’t allowed us to play our xbox 360 onto it.  But – the saving grace was the receptionist had offered to give us the one in the conference room if it wasn’t in used.  Now that was very nice of her – but it came with a huge rack and totally took up part of the room.  By then we were too tired to try and return it and just left it in the room because it was already late – 9pm.

This was the breakfast room – it’s located right in the lobby – a really small area – no restaurant or a drinking hole but the wait staff and the kitchen staff were great – they made a waffle for my kid even though they didn’t have it in the menu.  Very sweet indeed!

This is the hotel’s pool – it’s tiny!

Boy! i sure missed those pools in Asia! hotel pools in Asia are Olympic sizes.