Euro Travel & More

While I go to Farmer’s Market as often as I can while traveling for the food – I also loved the ones in Australia – Sydney best because of all the trinkets you can buy.  But yard sales are fun too because you can get things you need for really cheap – I found all sorts of stuff that I want from both the Farmers market as well as the yard sales nearby.  As much as I enjoyed the organic and home made stuff – i love hand made jeweleries and hand made bags & shoes too. I used to buy Beading Tools online but also found some lovely handmade stuff  online as well but it’s nice to be able to try it first before buying them.

These are lovely right?  yes great presents to bring back for the kids – your nieces and friend’s daughters.  I found some gems to bring home – because you can’t bring that much jam home can you and fly home with you – too heavy.

Another pretty store in a yard sale in Australia.

More food – and home bake stuff

Fresh bread – organic anyone?

I haven’t been to Beijing for many years but the friend who just came back from a study trip showed and shared this pictures with me.  This was his first time there – and lets look at Beijing from another eye.

While there were many places that I’ve been to already – there were some new ones that I haven’t seen for myself in Beijing.  But like any Asian country that is flourishing both in natural resources and the tourist industry – Beijing continue to grow and continued to build more high rises.   They retained the old but never stuck in the old – amazing these Chinese are.

One of the few temples that I haven’t been to.

More of the same temple.

Wonder what this mean – hahah!  probably saying the Chinese people are as hardworking as their animals?

As for this pink statue – seriously i still don’t know what it meant and what is the purpose of it?  I will be going to Beijing again – that’s for sure – i’m just in awe with the many changes.

The girlfriends from Asia were invited for the soft opening in April and had shared these pictures with me.  As we all know – if it is a 5 star hotel in Singapore – it has be a  good hotel.   The Marina Bay Sand  owns by Las Vegas Sands is complete with a casino, conference/exhibition hall, business center  and shopping center in its 55 storey high hotel.  2650 room later – the hotel costing i heard $8 billion – excluding the cost of prime land.  Grander than the Westin Hotels when it opened in the 90s – if you are in Singapore – its a must see place.

The big business center/convention/exhibition hall.

Interior of the hotel

Entrance to the hotel – more about the stay at Marina Sand Bay Hotel in the next post.  Did i tell you they have a food court in this hotel too?

Going home to Asia for a vacation with the entire family may not be a real good idea for now – because of the long flight – which is about 28 hrs on the plane – not counting the lay over time and transit time.  In fact, going to the States is cheaper than going to Vancouver for us – so our other alternative are  Branson vacations or a trip to New York city to visit a long time friend or Maine, Portland – which is only a ferry away from Digby.

We have been to Maine before – and New York seems like a very long drive – and we still have to cross over with the boat in Digby – plus a family vacation – you need to take the kids to a place where they have plenty to do.  Ours is no longer young kids – so Disneyland is out – so is SeaWorld.  We want to cater to  our teenagers or bigger kids more than 10 – then family fun like Branson would be the ideal.   Rates are pretty great too – as we can see – lets hope no hidden charges eh.  But soon – we’ll head back to Asia – I promised.

Shopping in UK need not be in London alone – in fact – there are different part of UK – that one can travel and see lots of historical and cultural stuff.  I was once in Leeds, UK for a festival in the summer and found that I can come to like Leeds a lot too.

I love all the old buildings in Leeds – they make me think of the Kings and Queens in this modern world of ours.  So where is Leeds – I hear everyone asking me – when i returned from the festival – well it is in West Yorkshire, England.  So how did i get there?   We took the railway from London up to Leeds and if i remember correctly – it didn’t take too long to reach Leeds from London Kings Cross.

Look at the beautiful and majestic looking arch – i lived for old constructions like these.

More shopping if you want to.

My favorite store.

We started early in the day after breakfast – therefore you don’t see much people around – but later in the afternoon – this area was bustling with people.

Gotta love these independent shop houses.

English bears! i know of someone who has one since 1982.

The Light – plenty of shops here – from exclusive shops to the luxury – and have a cup of coffee in one of their quaint cafes if you are tired.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to the museum nor watch a sport game – which Leeds is very famous for.  Maybe the next time eh.

The Koh SaMui that I know and missed is the old one – although it is still as pretty as ever – these days – Koh Samui is flocked with tourist and lots of local trying to earn a buck or two.   Not far from Bangkok, one can now catch a plane to Koh Samui where else when i first visited – i had to take a bus – a local one at that.  So you can see the huge change – but nevertheless – very beautiful and lots of relaxing to do when we arrived.

The beaches are beautiful and so are the resorts – all lighted up at night with led christmas lights – very festive and very bright.  I love the beaches in the morning – but at night – with all these lights – it doesn’t look scary at all.

The weather is good all year round in Koh Samui and boost is even cheaper – i love the local folks there – they are ever so nice and always selling coconut drinks along the beaches.  We did a lot of scuba diving and ate on the boat at night with bbq fishes caught from the sea.

The beach is always packed with people it seems – so it was nice to be able to go on your own private boat – a lot of para – sailing available on the island as well.  Love the sunset – and the local pubs – let down your hair and take in a massage on the beach.

Very beautiful – turquoise water.

We took a trip one year to Canada’s oldest national park but we weren’t expecting it to be that cold and wasn’t really prepared for it.  Banff National Park is in the Canadian Rockies and the view was awesome!  In the province of Alberta – the forest is quite dense and the alpine landscapes were breath-taking.

The park is open for all 4 seasons – reason being because they have the best maintained roads I’ve seen in Canada.   We reached Lake Louise which wasn’t too far away from here using Highway 1.

We did checked out the hot spring (not natural but man made) – famous i heard – while the rest went on hiking.  I didn’t take any pictures there – for fear some guest/s wouldn’t like it too much.  We headed back to the town of Banff after the spring – too crowded.  Down at Bow Falls we could have opted for white water rafting but didn’t – we decided to take a walk instead.  Then we ended up having dinner at a pub – i think it is German if i recall correctly.  More pictures in another post.

My friends asked me why I am writing more and more about Asia – i replied maybe it is because i miss home very much? maybe it’s the traveling I am missing and all the interesting things that i missed sharing and the adventures I have had before.  I haven’t really been home for a long time and Asia has changed so much and this picture taken by a friend reminded me so much of the time we encountered the lovely apprentice Geisha when we were in Kyoto.

Before living in Japan for a few months because of work – I’ve often wondered if the shows with Geisha – were they just traditional ladies that doesn’t exist now – since Japan is so modern and if they do exist – what kind of benefits do they get.  For sure – this old trade – of cultural entertainment – may not be everyone’s cup of tea no more.  Normal companies in Japan offers good benefits like a retirement plan, insurance and disability insurance for those doing labor jobs – so what does these ladies who started training really young have in store for them?  But of course, we will never know because this trade is so secretive it seems – that even taking pictures of them are rare.

We did go for a Geisha show and it’s nothing like what we thought it would be – but a cultural show with dances, a puppet show and a tea ceremony.  The art of dancing by the Geisha – was truly precise and refine – nothing like those I’ve seen – it was an eye opener for me at least.   The Geisha are still pretty much a mystery and if only i can get to find out more about them – i certainly would.  Movies and stories portray them as a high class prostitutes/mistresses for rich men – during the olden days – but i’m pretty sure they are not just that.   Are you as curious as I?

The girlfriend who was visiting her in-laws in Colorado had invited me and some of my friends to go with her one year and we agreed.  The host were very gracious and brought us to the Grand Canyon for a day tour.   It wasn’t too far from where they lived and we took a road trip and arrived way before lunch.  The sight was breath-taking of course and we only managed to take a few photos because  – the in-laws wasn’t feeling too hot.

You can imagine how hot it was – but there are tour buses if you are not living nearby and want to go visit the Grand Canyon – we saw quite a few that day.

Some people do a little hiking – some a little rafting – some just sit around taking a sip of water and enjoying the wonders of the world – but we ?  we ate – hahah!! we brought a picnic lunch.

The Southern Rim of the Grand Canyon seems to be the most popular -  layers and layers of rock here.  And if you are a first time hiker – the Bright Angel Trail apparently will be your best bet.  The Grand Canyon is known as a very spiritual place. People come here to find peace and/or be amazed by the grandness of our planet.  So if you are in Arizona – make sure you make a trip up here – shuttle buses do come up here.

For those who have never been to Malaysia – the rustic part of Malaysia is usually the best part – not only do you really get to feel and experience the real culture of the Malaysians – one get to try out the famous durian – king of fruits – by the roadside.  You don’t see this very often in Kuala Lumpur but if you travel further into Malaysia like Batu Ferringhi – you will see many of these stores around – and these are the most awesome places to eat.  Don’t be deceived by the dirty looking environment – because they are not only cheap but they have the best durian here.

Some awesome view after taking the windy and spiral road up to Batu Ferringhi.