Hong Kong or bust

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Last week, my roommate Lisa and I went to the Philippines, finally making use of the Philippine Air tickets that we had purchased months ago (the original trip had been cancelled due to a typhoon and a Philippine Air strike). The original trip had been planned with a big group from Hong Kong, but the group plans fell apart after the original tickets were cancelled. In order to best describe the Philippines, think Mexico! Very Catholic, beautiful beaches, poor, bright colored buildings, tropical climate, corrupt government.

We flew from Hong Kong to Manila and then straight on to Boracay… only there was a thunderstorm right over the Caticlan airport (closest to Boracay), so the airline diverted us to Kalibo (which is about a 2-hour drive from Boracay). They then loaded us onto a bus and shuttled us 2-hours to the Caticlan port, where we boarded a boat to take us to Boracay.

New friends

This was all a bit disorganized, which created a good environment for making friends with other travelers. As it turned out, we were heading to the same hotel as a group of three Dutch guys. We had a great time with them for the next two days that we spent in Boracay.

Boracay beach

Boracay is only 6-7 km long, with a main road along the beach flanked by numerous hotels, restaurants and bars. The beach is absolutely gorgeous – tons of white sand, bright blue water and plenty of palm trees. The ocean water is extremely warm and calm, full of sailboats, para-sailors and kite-boarders. The sunset over the ocean was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. When the weather cools off in the evening, the town comes alive catering to tourists looking for nightlife. Music is playing everywhere and bars are hopping. However, at night is also when the very poor people come out to beg for money along the main tourist strip, which tugs at your heart and reminds one of the dire poverty that many Filipinos endure. These beggars actually appeared to be of a darker race, another reminder of the world’s inequalities.

Boracay

Our hotel - Nigi Nigi!

Pure relaxation

Sunset series in Boracay:

After Boracay, Lisa and I were off to Cebu. We flew into Cebu City, where we had a driver transfer us to Moalboal, a small diving town on the southwestern part of the island, 2.5 hours away from the airport. Moalboal was very different from Boracay – instead of the endless white beaches, the beaches in Moalboal were rocky, and the town was much less developed. Moalboal is known as a diving hotspot, and also offers many other outdoor adventure activities.

The main highlight of Moalboal for me was learning to dive! I had taken a PADI e-learning class to take care of the classroom training, which meant I was able to skip this and head straight to the water. Given the short amount of time we had, I was not able to get a certification, but I was able to learn enough to take an actual dive. It was very nice of the diver instructor – Guillaume – to take me out in the ocean to teach me, rather than a pool! The idea of diving took a bit of getting used to, but I finally got it. Was able to go down 12 meters, and saw quite a bit of sea life!

My first (and only) dive center

Dive teacher Guillaume

Our dive boat which took us to Pescador Island

The Philippines are full of “tricycles”, which are basically the same as rickshaws – consisting of a little sidecar attached to the side of a motorcycle. We took one of these to “white beach,” which was about 30 minutes away. It certainly wasn’t like a white beach of Boracay, but it was closer to this than the rocky beaches of Moalboal.

Bread delivery in Moalboal

Moalboal

Funky Bottle Museum in Moalboal

We also went for a bikeride in Cebu… our goal was to make it to a certain waterfall, but this turned out to be much too far away. So instead we called our outing a bikeride to nowhere. Just through numerous little towns where everyone called out hello.

We had to tack on an extra night at the end of our trip in Manila due to Philippine Air re-scheduling our flights. The airline paid for our airport transfer and hotel. We didn’t get to see Manila because it was just for a quick night – but nor did we really have much interest in this.

Now back in Hong Kong catching up on life here!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Heart and Seoul

Spent two jam-packed days in Seoul this week. Was a lovely city! Greatly exceeded my expectations. South Korea has developed tremendously, especially over the past five years, and now it is home to a growing middle class that enjoys nice restaurants, coffee shops, bars and stores. The city was extremely clean and everyone was friendly. Being a 3-hour flight north of Hong Kong, Seoul felt much more like fall - cool and crisp weather, and one of the best parts of fall - the leaves. There were all sorts of trees, including a number of ginkgo trees throughout areas of the city.

We arrived Wednesday night and took the airport train into Seoul Station. We jumped into a cab at the station to get to our hotel in Itaewon (a more international part of the city) only to find that the driver spoke no English, nor could he understand our English writing of Korean words. Thankfully we found someone to translate. Communication was one of the greatest challenges of being in Korea!

Upon arriving to our hotel, we met my friends Ed & Jenn (who have lived in Seoul for the past year) for a Korean BBQ dinner in the neighborhood. Ed ordered in Korean – though he claims to have only spoken a few basic words, he impressed us! Was a nice welcome to Korea.

The real sightseeing began the following day after our first stop for breakfast at The Flying Pan, popular brunch spot. We then moved on to Changdeokgung Palace, which had been built in 1405. The palace was built to blend into its surroundings, and has an extensive garden area that consists of a thick wooded area – which was especially beautiful given the falling leaves and fall colors.

The Korea crew

Changdeokgung Palace

Notice the monkey statues on the roof of Changdeokgung Palace. Also, the floors are raised because they heated the floors from below.

Changdeokgung Palace

Fall at Changdeokgung Palace

We walked from the palace to Bukchon Hanok Village, a nearby area consisting of traditional Korean houses, as well as a number of small shops. Next up was Insa-dong, which had been home to the aristocracy and public officials working for the king, but today is a fun area consisting of narrow streets full of shops, galleries and restaurants.

Bukchon Hanok Village

Lunch at Insa-dong

After eating a Korean lunch in Insa-dong, we continued to the Cheonggyecheon Stream, a 5.8 km stream which includes a nice walkway, always full of people, and 22 beautiful bridges. Currently Seoul is having a lantern festival in this area – was beautiful to see as it got dark outside.

Cheonggyecheon Stream

Cheonggyecheon Stream lantern

Cheonggyecheon Stream lantern festival

Myeong-dong

After the Cheonggyecheon Stream, it was off to Myeong-dong – a very busy shopping area, full of street vendors selling clothes, accessories, shoes, etc.

Dinner @ Han Jan Eh Choo Wok

For dinner we went to a very local, cheap and tasty fried chicken and beer joint that had come recommended by our Korean friend, who we met up with afterward at a Japanese restaurant/bar.

Soldiers at the War Museum

The next day – 11/11/11 – was Veteran’s Day. We went to the Korea War Museum where we saw soldiers commemorating the holiday through a sort of show. The museum was very interesting and a highlight of the trip.

B52 at the War Museum - note the size compared to the person

The women at Ewha Womens University

After the museum, we went to an area in the western part of the city around the Ewha Womens University, which had come recommended to us by a number of people. The university was gorgeous – felt like I was visiting a college in the Northeast U.S.! And the surrounding streets were busy and cute, like many university areas.

Ewha Womens University area

Waffle shop at Ewha Womens University - the Koreans love their waffles!

We moved hotels tonight, since our original hotel had been booked up. This gave us an opportunity to explore a new neighborhood – we chose to stay in the Gangnam area of Seoul, which is an extremely busy business area which is also full of hundreds of restaurants. We enjoyed one last meal of Korean BBQ, walked around a bit more, then went home for a bit of sleep before our early morning trip to the airport.