Final thoughts on Asia 2006...

It's been so long since I've been on a vacation for longer than a week that it initially felt weird to be away from work for so long. But 'initially' only lasted a couple of days, and after that I was enjoying our vacation to the fullest. It was neat having everyone from Vancouver traveling with us halfway across the world. Thanks to all the planning of the logistics by Lisa, and a bulk of the research done by Darren… the majority of us were able to sit back, relax, and just enjoy our travels. Lisa and I spent a lot of time in airports traveling from place to place and that definitely took up a lot of our time, but with that said, I think at the end of the day, I’m glad we did it that way. We were able to experience so many places, and literally taste the best of all the places. Our intention on this trip was to enjoy the food at all our destinations, and I can honestly say that we did that to our best ability. We experimented, and experimented some more… and most of the time we weren’t disappointed. In addition, we were able to do this by the cheap, and we didn’t get sick! Which of course, I like! Hehe. Asia was amazing. I had the best time, and I know Lisa did too. Thanks to all of you that followed this blog, and traveled vicariously with us (As Jen put it). We really didn’t think that many of you would read and follow us through our trip, so we’re glad that our writings didn’t go all to waste! So to summarize, I’ve listed the most memorable moments of our trip below… just something to look back on =)

So where did our travels take us to? Lets see…

There was Osaka where we learned how to utilize the airport as a gigantic hotel room.

Then off to Shanghai where Lisa and I pretended to be models, tasted our first street food of our trip, saw and ate siao long bao everywhere, observed crazy drivers, noticed Christina speak Shanghainese everywhere we went, and experienced insane cab drivers.

We veered on down to Manila where we just ate and ate and ate. Who can forget Jolly Bee, all the great Filipino food, the excellent Chinese food at Gloria Maris, and finally the scrumptious (sarcasm) Balut… Manila was definitely where I gained the most weight! We were pampered by sincere and generous relatives, chauffeured around by drivers, and toured around by Cheryl and Aileen (Lisa’s cousins). We witnessed the contrast in the city in terms of the rich, and the poor. The gap is so incredibly large here; it’s hard to fathom how the local economy even keeps on rolling.

Where to next? Oh yes, my favourite part of the trip… Boracay. There is only word that can describe it… Beautiful. There was the incredibly blue water, the soft white sand, the great snorkeling, the fantastic food, the yummy fruit shakes, the seafood picnic, the cheap oil massages, and of course the awesome weather. Oh, and I can’t forget our scary experience on “Ghetto Air”, Darren Doo, and the foot spa!

Back to Manila we go where I must describe to you the excellent shopping that was available to us here. Vast malls of fake clothing, over runs, etc. If you wanted it, you could have it. Manila was very good to us, thanks for showing us a good time Manila!

Hello Hong Kong! What I remember most about HK is of course the excellent transportation system… it couldn’t have been easier to get around this city. What about other memories from Hong Kong? A small hotel room, chicken wings at McDonalds, relatives, expensive clubs, girls drinking lots and lots of beer, great fruit desserts, dinner at Fo Tan, Ladies Market, searching for leather samples, the HK skyline, seeing Kelly, and finally last but not least, Dom and Lieny’s beautiful wedding! Congrats guys!

Off to Ko Samui we go. Ko Samui was full of thai massages, and a lot of thai food. I must also mention our magnificent resort, and the buffet breakfasts. Who can forget Lisa jumping on Anthony’s bed, and Anthony sitting on Lisa, spas, and 4 hour pampering sessions, tan lines and swimming pools, and more beer! 7-11’s everywhere you walk, sunshine, and sweating. Herny being heckled by prostitutes and transvestites, Ron getting 30 mosquito bites on his left leg (or was it his right)… It was great having all 14 of us in one place, even though there were times where there was chaos but it was mostly calm. Dining beach side at Ark Bar, and countless stray dogs walking around, no, check that, countless stray dogs lying around.

Our next destination was Bangkok… Sofitel Hotel was 1st class, 5 star! There was happy hour with bottomless drinks, and excellent service. It’s amazing how a great hotel can make your stay so much more enjoyable. Our foray into Bangkok and it’s native street food, and Darren’s venture with worms! Hehe. Cab drivers that were incredibly untrustworthy, cab drivers that love Darren! “I love you” hahahaha. Some other things we won’t forget: More Thai food… the hugely gigantic enormous Chaktuchak weekend market, the Grand Palace, the relaxing Buddha, the polite Thai people with their two handed bow, being on top of the city at night, Tammy cheating at blackjack, Somboon seafood restaurant, MBK mall, transvestite beauty pageants, and Jimmy T and ‘IHT’.

Bonjour Cambodia (was briefly under French Rule). Hmmm… what are some things to reminisce about? The temples of course, Cambodian history, our smelly tour guide with the thickest accent you’ve ever heard, bugs, Cambodian food (which was basically more thai food but not spicy), hanging beds for tables, our cool boutique hotel, sweating, my stinky jeans, cash grab Cambodian visas, negotiating the steep stairs at the temple, cheap food, and cheap beers.

Singapore, you sure are clean! What will we remember most about Singapore? Well, I’ll remember that we wanted to stay there for a longer stay, that’s for sure. The food here was yummmmmmmmmy! With the influence of Chinese, East Indian, Malaysian, Western tastes, it definitely makes the food here original, appealing, and exciting to say the least.

It’s time to turn the page on this month long journey. We are sad to say it’s over, but reality has finally checked in.

‘Flip’ (yes, that's the page)

November 3, 2006 Bye Bye Singapore =( End of our trip! =(

Whoever said Singapore was boring? Maybe we didn't stay long enough to get bored! One full day in Singapore definitely wasn't enough. But it was enough to have us think that it's a great place. Out of all the places we've travelled through during this trip, this is the only place we all said we could live in. It's almost like Vancouver, but warmer, with better transportation system, and a 6% personal tax rate if you make about $80000.

Bex tried to convince us to stay longer so we could shop with her, but no can do. Most of us had to go back to work, and needed at least a day or two to recover from the jetlag. But from what I hear, she bought 10 pairs of shoes so it doesn't sound like she had a hard time shopping after we left!

At about 9:30am, James, Chris, Wes and I left the hotel for the last time. We were on our way home. =((( So Wes and I flew to Seoul first via Singapore Airlines (SQ) and had a connecting flight to Vancouver via Air Canada. Needless to say, SQ was awesome! Service was impeccable! Each seat had it's own personal TV with your choice of 80 movies to watch! The seats fully recline so they're flat like a bed! And then we got onto the AC plane and it was a whole different story. Plane was old. They had to give you a portable DVD player if you wanted to watch movies. And the service?! We basically got ignored by the attendants even though we were on first class. OK so we were dressed like bums, but hey they didn't have to ignore us! I mean we used points, but we coulda paid good money for our seats and deserve better service!

Anyway, we landed back in Vancouver safe and sound. Overall, this trip has been a blast. I feel very lucky - not only to have been able to go on this trip, but to go with all my good friends as well. Trips like this will be few and far in between from now on, I'm sure. So it was nice to get one in before everyone starts having babies!

So till our next trip....... See you in Europe in 07!

November 2, 2006 Singapore Day 2

First of all, our hotel (Sheraton) was a disappointment compared to all the other hotels we stayed in. Can't really complain since we only paid $45 for the room (on points), but if we had paid full rack rate, I would be really disappointed considering it's a Sheraton! The rooms are old and smelly. The pool was a disappointment because it seemed dirty and run down. But the bed was VERY comfortable. I think maybe the most comfortable one during this trip so far.

So since we only had one day in Singapore, we had to make the best out of it (as in eat as much good food as we can!). James, Wes and I took a cab from our hotel at about 9:30 to meet Anth, Bex, Dar, and Dar’s uncle at a Prata place for breakfast. (Chris stayed in the hotel.)

It’s an Indian place that basically serves prata/roti with filling like onions, cheese, mushooms, etc. Kinda like crepes. Very yummy!! They serve it with a curry sauce for you to dip in. Why don’t we have this in Vancouver?

And Dar’s uncle brought along this awesome dish for us to try (I forget what it’s called). It’s basically little, round, bland, white flour cakes (kinda like turnip cake texture without the turnip). But what makes the dish is the sauce they put over it. I think it’s made of pickled veggies, chili and lots of oil. It was sooo good! Again, why don’t we have this in Vancouver?

After breakfast, we went to the newest and biggest mall in Singapore called Vivo City. It's a very nice mall, and I think we bought the most at this mall so far during this trip! Bex bought some clothes and shoes, I bought a pair of shoes. I'm not sure why but shopping here seems to be cheaper than Vancouver?? I think we might be more in a shopping mood because we actually have luggage room now to take stuff home since it's the last leg of our trip, or maybe it's just nice to be shopping in a nice mall instead of a crowded flea market! The boys also went around the mall testing out massage chairs, and finally landed in OSIM. OSIM is store that sells all kinds of massage products. We basically hung out there for about 1.5 hours and got sucked into buying a whole bunch of stuff that we didn't need!

After Vivo, we took the MTR to a mall called Far East Plaza to have some Hainan chicken but the girls got distracted along the way! Stuff in this mall is cheap!! And shoes, shoes everywhere! Chris and James were there before us and, of course, she was already busy trying shoes on. The boys ended up going to eat first while the girls kept shopping. They finally got us to take a moment to eat lunch at around 5ish, but we had to order more because James ate all our chicken! (James hasn't had Hainan chicken in years and it's his fav so he's forgiven.)

The boys didn't want to stick around to hold our shopping bags so we went our separate ways after. The girls kept shopping and they went back to chill out at our hotel.

Dinner was at 7, and the girls took a cab to meet everyone at the restaurant. (I have to say we really didn't want to leave since we had only been through one floor of the mall!) Dar's family wanted to take us out to dinner and chili crab was requested. So they chose a place called Jumbo. This seafood restaurant is in an area by the waterfront with lots of other restaurants around. It's a huge place and it was very busy - good sign! The 1st floor of the restaurant is open air, but good thing they got a table on the 2nd floor with AC (it's hot here!). Dar's grandfather, two uncles, aunt, and cousin Ian were all there. They ordered great food! It's great having locals to take you around, especially when it comes to ordering food because they always know what to get! We had satay skewers, black pepper crab, chili crab, and lots of other yummy stuff. I love Singaporean food! The crabs here have HUGE claws! Needless to say, we all left very full and satisfied.

We had planned to go to the night safari after dinner, but it was too late to go so we ended up hanging out at Ian's (Darren's cousin) place. He just moved into his place 2 months ago, and had his projector all set up. He's also an amateur photographer so he had all this cool equipment and his own studio! Wes was all over it and salivating over all his equipment. Here's some pictures we took in his studio:

We wanted to go somewhere for dessert but it was already after midnight so I don't think a lot of places were still open. We ended up at a hawker place and had ice slush desserts. Not bad. These hawker places look more like mall food courts than anything. All of them seem pretty clean, not like the stuff we were eating at on the streets of Bangkok.

It was 2am by the time we got back to the hotel. BOOO! Going home tomorrow!! =((

November 1, 2006 Bye bye Siem Reap! Hello Singapore!

So today is our last day here in Siem Reap. We've been lazy while we were here. We could have gone to see the temples 3 days in a row like Bex and Dar, but we were too tired and cheap to pay to go into the temples. I kinda regret not going yesterday because we didn't get to see where Tomb Raider was filmed! Our driver was like, you guys are weak! There are 70 year old Japanese tourists who climb the temples 3 days in a row!All in all, Cambodia has been better than I expected. A lot of us (and our parents) were kinda apprehensive about us coming here. But it doesn't feel dangerous at all and people are very nice. The two things that bothered me the most here were the bugs and the very dusty roads.

Today was basically a travel day. We got to the Siem Reap airport, checked in, and hung out at the airport for a bit. I checked the score on the nucks game and found out that they had lost =( (I can't wait to watch the Canucks again) . When we got on the tar mat to walk to our plane, we found out that it was one of those ghetto planes again. Here's a photo of us on the tar mat:

Our flight was about 55 minutes back to Bangkok. 2 beers for Lisa and a meal later, we had arrived. We had to go through Thai immigration, and go outside the security check points to get our luggage, and then we had to check back-in for our flight to Singapore which was on JetStar Airlines. JetStar is a discount airline with no frills. When we got to the Bangkok airport and looked up at the departure screen, we found out that our flight had been CANCELLED!

Did JetStar go bankrupt? Was there a replacement flight? Where were the JetStar employees at the check-in counter? We freaked out because we didn’t have had a place to stay, no where to sleep, etc. I think the most disconcerting aspect of the matter was that we would be missing our flight to Singapore, and wasting our already booked and paid for hotel at the Sheraton Towers in Singapore. With that said, Terry immediately called the Bangkok offices of JetStar and they notified us that the flight was only delayed. Geesh! All that worrying for nothing! Anyhow, thank goodness, because we would be headed to our final destination after all.

Because of the 4 hour layer over, well 5 hours now, we decided to lounge around the airport and surf the internet. We hung out at Starbucks for quite sometime before heading back upstairs to the departure gates. The girls went on a shopping rampage throughout the whole terminal trying to acquire every last package of dried cuttlefish (first off because it was really good, secondly because it was only 30 cents Canadian a package). After they cleared out every store in the airport, we went through the security check points and headed to our departure gates. Singapore, here we come!

Darren, Becky and Anthony flew from Bangkok to Singapore via Singapore Airlines... so we would seem them later on that evening.

November 1, 2006 Singapore Day 1

Tammy and Terry were greeted at the Airport by a couple of friends whom they know. They were staying at their house and they would be taking them around for the next couple of days, so we said our goodbyes and parted ways. I guess we would see them back in Vancouver.

Lisa and I were starving because we didn't eat on the budget flight to Singapore. So once we got settled in and checked-in to our hotel, we went to go eat!

Darren, Becky, and Anthony took a taxi over to our hotel, and we walked over to the 24 hour hawker centre, called Newton Centre. It's basically an outdoor food fair with all these chinese restaurants selling seafood. You order, pay and then sit on the bench seating in the middle. There must have been 30-35 stalls selling seafood. The problem? It's expensive, there's alot of competition, and there are old women harassing you trying to get you to eat at their restaurant. "Chili crab sir? Sting ray sir?" blah blah blah. It's so annoying! Anyhow, most of us ended up eating noodles in soup cause they were cheap! And they were good too! Here we are eating at about midnight!

Jimmy T, Christina, Lisa and myself walked back to our hotel rooms. I didn't get to bed till 4am! I'm trying to sleep later because I know I'll be jet lagged when I return home. Might as well try to adjust a couple of days early.

Anyhow, see you tomorrow... so sad, only 1 more full day in Asia.