Tu Do Han Quoc

After landing at Incheon Airport, we had some time at the airport to change into our winter clothing as we were waiting for the local guide to arrive.

Out of curiosity, went out of the terminal building to check out the bus transportation into Seoul.

Before we made our way to the ski resort, we had a short tour of Seoul. Went to the lookout point located behind the Blue House (known as Cheong Wa Dae in Korean) - residence of President Lee Myung-Bak.

[Above: Security post manning the road leading to the Blue House]

Dulich o Han Quoc - Nam 2009

Went on a holiday to South Korea in end-2009 with Chan Brothers. Had a good trip especially with our first experience with snow at Yong Pyong skiing resort. Normally, we would not have the chance to see snow as the period we went was the start of winter. However, two days before we arrived at Yong Pyong, there was snowing at Dragon Peak. The pictures were taken by the South Korean photographer with our tour group.





The skiing part was fun but it was rather tiring humping the skis up the slope wearing the restrictive ski shoes. But no regrets and the weather was beautiful.






And as always, what is a group tour without the usual group photo but this is great!!! White Christmas

Lookout Point at Pattaya

If you do not have much time to spend at Pattaya, you can proceed to Khao Phra Tamnak (เขาพระตำหนัก) lookout point to get a great view of the beaches between Pattaya and Jomtien. The lookout point is also known as Khao Phra Bat (เขาพระบาท) and is located within the Royal Thai Navy's (RTN) Radio station 104.75Mhz. Besides the statue dedicated to the founder of the RTN, there is a small gift shop within the radio station. You can buy some RTN memorabilia such as base ball cap or stickers.

Interesting "Shirts", Oops Sights

Was travelling back to Bangkok from Chonburi. Saw this interesting sight along elevated highway into the city. The buildings, I believe has been left uncompleted since the 1997 financial crisis.

Ratchaprasong Interactions

During the trip to Bangkok two weeks ago, went to the shopping district at Ratchaprasong and noticed that life is slowing returning to normal. The crowds are back and the infamous Bangkok traffic jams have reappeared.

Alighted at Siam BTS interchange and headed for Zen/Central World. While shopping centres such Siam Paragon was not affected by the political protest in May 2010, Zen/Central World was really in bad shape. The damage by the indiscriminate arson attack has left Zen and the tower block badly damaged. Eventhough Isetan survived the arson attack, it was not opened to the public then.





Over at Siam Square, the damage to Siam Theatre was equally bad.

There were also damages to shopping centres at Victory Monument.



Nevertheless, it appears that the events in May 2010 has been quickly forgotten. Siam Paragon was filled with shoppers in the evening on a weekday. Noted part of the crowd are youths and a large portion consisting of students from nearby schools and Chulalongkorn University.

Some comments about the BTS:

1. Quite like the concept of a linkway running from Siam BTS to nearby MBK and also towards the Ratchaprasong interaction. This helps to cut down the need to go down to street level and dealing with vehicle traffic.

2. I was pleasant surprised by the orderly manner that Bangkokians adopted when taking the BTS.
While expecting passengers to surge into the train, Bangkokians at Siam BTS queued in single file beside the train entrance and waited for all passengers to alight before entering the train.

Bangkok - Heritage Hotel

Went to Bangkok last week after leaving the country in 1997. It appears that the city is slowly coming back to life after the political upheaval from Mar to May 2010. Speaking to the local residents, they are generally relieved that the political situation has improved for the moment.

Stayed at a relatively new business hotel near the business and shopping district of Silom. The one-year-old Heritage Hotel

is conveniently located along Narathives Road, less than five minutes walk to the Chong Nonsi BTS station.

The rates are generally affordable averaging about Thai Baht 2,000 a day.
We got a good rate probably because the take up rate was still improving in Jun 2010.

What I like about this place is that there are plenty of food joints just around the corner along Navathives Road. If you do not want to take the BTS, a 15 minutes casual walk would bring to the nearby shopping centres such as Silom Complex located next to the Saladaeng BTS Station.

Thoughts on Laos

Before I visited Laos in late April 2009, I did not think much of this land-locked country sandwiched by bigger neighbours all round (Thailand in the south, Vietnam in the east, Myanmar in western and China in the north).

Obviously, given the lack of foreign investments, I was already prepared for the lack of infrastructure development in Laos. That said, I was nevertheless charmed by the laid back nature in Vientiane. Although I did not intend to stay at Novotel as it was not conveniently located in relation to the places of interest, I found the colonial design of the hotel rather refreshing. The staff at the hotel were friendly and the lighting and decorations helped to enhance the atmosphere.

My interest in this country grew gradually and I was fortunate to chance across a Lao/Thai jointly produced movie titled Good Morning Luang Prabang (in Laotian Sabaidee Luang Prabang).
Sabaidee is a greeting used by Laotian in every day life (similar to sawasdee in Thailand or G'Day in Australia) while Luang Prabang was the former capital of ancient Lao.

A rave reviews have been written about the movie, the first Lao language movie in more than 30 years. Albeit the simple story plot, I felt that the movie had managed to convey the view that Laos does have really nice sights

Lan Xang - Food

Vientiane is a small city with a population of more than 700,000. With such a small base, it is not surprising to find that they have only one air-condition shopping centre. Known as Talart Sao (Morning market), the centre operates from 9am to about 5 in the evening.

The three levels of shops offer a limited choice for tourists. Level one has shops selling clothing, electronic goods, antiques, a cafe and a fast food restaurant. At level two, there are a whole collection of goldsmith shops. Level three offer a varied selections of shops selling souvenirs, bags and wallets and DVDs. There is also a food court offering local delicacies.



Photo of food coupon. Unused coupons can be refunded.











Lao-style wanton noodle. They do not add tomato ketchup.









Laotian tuk tuk stand beside the shopping centre.

Visit to the former Land of a Million Elephants (Lan Xang)

From 29 Apr to 1 May 2009, went on a short trip to Vientiane, otherwise known as Vieng Chan in Indochina. The journey from Singapore to Vieng Chan took slightly more than four hours as there is a need to transit at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport (New Bangkok International Airport).






We arrived at Wattay International at about 1.45 pm and went straight to Novotel Hotel located about 10 minutes away. The hotel is situated at the junction of the main road from the airport, Luang Prabang Road and Samsenthai and Setthatirath Road. The four-storey hotel is designed in old colonial style.
The room where I stayed overlook a park dedicated to legendary Chao Fa Nguom the Great who established Lan Xang empire.

Culture Shock

Observations While In Vietnam

If you have not practice defensive driving, Viet Nam is a good place to start

Sometimes it makes me wonder if they have highway code tests

WHY?

The ratio of motorcyclists versus motor vehicles

WATCH OUT FOR THE MOTORCYCLISTS

- Safety helmets is a fashion item. They have all sorts of designs, most of them would not have pass our safety standards

- Talking on your mobile while riding your motorbike

- Sit up to four to a motorcycle (grown-ups)

- Motorcyclists or cyclists riding abreast as if they own the road

- Motorcyclists riding in the middle of single lane road

- Motorcyclists filtering from a minor road to a major road without looking out for oncoming vehicles. It is amazing as I have still not seen a single accident of such nature during my time in Viet Nam

BUS PASSENGERS - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Get on the bus as fast as you can as the bus driver does not wait for you to get on before moving off

- Get off the bus as fast as you can as the bus driver does not wait for you to alight before moving off

- The bus driver decides at his pleasure whether to stop and pick up passengers

PADESTRIANS

- Walking across a major circle/road crossing without a care to the world

HOW NOT TO "RUN OVER" ROAD USERS

- Blowing your car or motorcycle horn every five minutes (sometimes it makes me wonder if it has become a habit)

- Be ready to do emergency stop

WHAT ELSE?

- Passengers on buses get motion sickness. Plastic bags are readily available if you need one. What puzzles me if that when Vietnamese ride their motorcycles, they do not suffer from the sickness

- It takes more than nine months to resurface a stretch of road

AS ALWAYS IN A FEEL GOOD MOVIE, THERE IS A HAPPY ENDING

There is still some good like

Giving up your seats to the elder, expectant mothers, young children

National Science Museum

Who says that a visit to the museum is boring. Well, a visit to the National Science Museum in Tokyo changed my perception. In 2006, my wife and I brought our kids to Tokyo for holidays. Sure, everyone knows about Tokyo Disneyland. I love Tokyo Disneyland too. Actually, it was my second visit to Disneyland, the first was about seventeen years ago during our honeymoon. But you cannot survive just on Disneyland with kids in Tokyo. While researching on what to do in Tokyo, I changed upon the National Science Museum and decided to include it in my itinerary. I had some apprehension, of course, as I do not know how my children would feel about a visit to the museum.

Just a bit of history. The National Science Centre was established in Oct 1871 and went by the name of Ministry of Education Museum. It adopted its latest name in Jun 1949. The main museum is located in Ueno with a branch in Shinjuku. Besides being known as a major train station in Japan, Ueno is a nature locale signified by the spacious Ueno Park (which include the zoo). Of course, Ueno is also home to some of Tokyo's finest cultural sites, including the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum of Western Art, and the National Science Museum, as well as a major public concert hall (extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ueno,_Tokyo).

Given the limited time (we went in the afternoon), we decided to focus on the new building at the museum. We were not disappointed as it is basically an all-in-one museum covering themes such as evolution of life to a look into the future -the mystery of space. I would say my children were definitely attracted by the dinosaurs display ranging from T-Rex to the genial plant eaters. In the section covering Science and Technology, there were many hands on experiments for visitors - young and old- to try out. This is something like our very own Singapore Science Centre.