Wow, it's been a long time since I last updated my blog. I've been lazy :). Anyhow, so my HS friend is visiting Seattle from HK and I am thinking where to show him. Here is what I came up with, what do you think?
Day 1:
- Pick up at 11
- Go to awesome Tom Thai for lunch
- Go take a tour of Theo Chocolate (2pm)
- Visit Gaswork park
- Go to Pike's Place Market, Waterfront, Olympic Sculpture Park, Space Needle/Seattle Center
- Some places in Belltown for dinner
Day 2:
- If weather is nice - Rainier
- If not:
- Portage Bay cafe for bunch
- Snoqualmie Falls
- Winery Tour
- Red Hook Brewery Tour
- Some places for dinner
- Kerry Park to see night view
Showing posts with label Trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trip. Show all posts
Japan Trip 2010 - Part 3
[This post is the last part of the three-part blog post on my trip to Japan. Please check here for the first part.]
The mountain we snow-mobile on in Niseko, Japan
We didn't have much left for sightseeing after the second day (actually, we stopped by Lake Toya and Hell Valley (see right) but then it was snowing pretty hard so we didn't do much). So what did we do for the last three days? We covered ourselves with snow, then with hot water, and then with lots of seafood! Well, not exactly like that but close. Let me talk about snow first.
We spent the third day of the trip on the mountains. The first destination was Niseko (二世古) where we went snowmobiling. The experience was great, especially when we slept on the snow on top of the mountain (see left). However, I wish we went a little faster. The second destination was Rusutsu (留寿都) where we went skiing and snowboarding. It was the first time I snowboarded in over 2 years but, luckily, it didn't take me too long to get back into it. Man, I LOVED it. The mountains were really nice and they were definitely nicer than those in Snoqualmie and Stevens in Seattle. I wish I had more time on the slope. Let see if I could go there for a snowboarding trip in the future.
I was dead tired after snowboarding. Luckily, I was in Japan and onsen was there to save me (that's what I meant by hot water). We stayed in two onsen hotels: Daini Meisui Tei in Date and Hotel Mahoroba in Noboribetsu(登別). Both of them were nice and they could easily be the best part of the trip. For those who haven't been to a traditional onsen in Japan, let me tell you what it was like. There is usually one for males and one for females (I heard that for some smaller one out in the rural areas, both males and females share one together). You usually change into a kimono provided by the hotel. You then go into a changing room to take off all your clothes. Yes, you are supposed to be butt naked when you go into an onsen. You then walk to the public bath area to clean your body before soaking yourself into the onsen. It is definitely strange at first, especially when you go with people you know, but it will be fine afterwards. Oh yeah, to complicate things a bit, a female steward would go into the public bath area to tidy things up. Yes, she goes into both male and female onsens. Awkward, isn't it?
Now that I have got snow and onsen covered, let's move on to food. Other than wagyu (和牛), seafood is also very delicious and fresh in Japan. We were lucky enough to visit a seafood market to pick out fresh crabs, clams, and other seafood (see right) and then go to the restaurant upstairs to "sashimi" them or "shabu-shabu" them. Very tasty! Man, I feel hungry from just thinking about it. Oh yeah, Japanese apples are great too! They taste so much better than the ones in the US or Hong Kong.
That's how we spent the last three days of the trip. I had great fun on this trip - had some great food, did some great snowboarding, experienced some great onsens, and met some great people. As you can tell, I really want to go back there again. So again, let me know if you want to go to Japan :).
The mountain we snow-mobile on in Niseko, JapanWe didn't have much left for sightseeing after the second day (actually, we stopped by Lake Toya and Hell Valley (see right) but then it was snowing pretty hard so we didn't do much). So what did we do for the last three days? We covered ourselves with snow, then with hot water, and then with lots of seafood! Well, not exactly like that but close. Let me talk about snow first.We spent the third day of the trip on the mountains. The first destination was Niseko (二世古) where we went snowmobiling. The experience was great, especially when we slept on the snow on top of the mountain (see left). However, I wish we went a little faster. The second destination was Rusutsu (留寿都) where we went skiing and snowboarding. It was the first time I snowboarded in over 2 years but, luckily, it didn't take me too long to get back into it. Man, I LOVED it. The mountains were really nice and they were definitely nicer than those in Snoqualmie and Stevens in Seattle. I wish I had more time on the slope. Let see if I could go there for a snowboarding trip in the future.I was dead tired after snowboarding. Luckily, I was in Japan and onsen was there to save me (that's what I meant by hot water). We stayed in two onsen hotels: Daini Meisui Tei in Date and Hotel Mahoroba in Noboribetsu(登別). Both of them were nice and they could easily be the best part of the trip. For those who haven't been to a traditional onsen in Japan, let me tell you what it was like. There is usually one for males and one for females (I heard that for some smaller one out in the rural areas, both males and females share one together). You usually change into a kimono provided by the hotel. You then go into a changing room to take off all your clothes. Yes, you are supposed to be butt naked when you go into an onsen. You then walk to the public bath area to clean your body before soaking yourself into the onsen. It is definitely strange at first, especially when you go with people you know, but it will be fine afterwards. Oh yeah, to complicate things a bit, a female steward would go into the public bath area to tidy things up. Yes, she goes into both male and female onsens. Awkward, isn't it?
Now that I have got snow and onsen covered, let's move on to food. Other than wagyu (和牛), seafood is also very delicious and fresh in Japan. We were lucky enough to visit a seafood market to pick out fresh crabs, clams, and other seafood (see right) and then go to the restaurant upstairs to "sashimi" them or "shabu-shabu" them. Very tasty! Man, I feel hungry from just thinking about it. Oh yeah, Japanese apples are great too! They taste so much better than the ones in the US or Hong Kong.That's how we spent the last three days of the trip. I had great fun on this trip - had some great food, did some great snowboarding, experienced some great onsens, and met some great people. As you can tell, I really want to go back there again. So again, let me know if you want to go to Japan :).
Labels:
Trip
Japan Trip 2010 - Part 2
[This post is a second part of the three-part blog post on my trip to Japan. Please check here for the first part.]
View of the Sapporo City from Mt. Okura
After a full-night of food, I really didn't want to get up in the morning but then we were on a tour so we didn't have an option. So what was the first thing we did? Well, buffet-style breakfast! Seriously, I felt sick about food that morning even though the breakfast was really good. That being said, I still had a pretty full breakfast - 2 bowls of congee with some Japanese condiments and some eggs, sausages, and hashbrown. I guess I didn't really mean it when I said I was sick of food :).
Anyway, we continued with our tour around Sapporo on our second day. It was the nicest day of the trip and I took most of the pictures on that day. We first stopped by Mount Okura Ski Jump Stadium (see left). It was used by the 1972 Winter Olympic. The view on top of the mountain was spectacular (see above). Oh yeah, they sell cantaloupe-flavored and honeydew-flavored ice-cream on top of the mountain. It was great to have ice-cold ice-cream under a freezing cold weather.
We also stopped by Tanukikoji and Shiroi Koibito Park before heading to Otaru (小樽). By the way, the weather wasn't that great throughout the trip - it snowed almost every day. As we went from Sapporo to Otaru, the weather changed from sunny bright day to blizzard-like dark evening. It wasn't that pleasant; however, for Otaru, it's actually pretty nice. Why? The snow made the already-romantic city even more romantic. Imagine walking with your lover under snow along the canal (see below) with a music box in one hand and an umbrella on the other hand. I heard some girls like that (that was what I was told, haha...).
Otaru is a smaller city and it has a very rich history. What history does it have? Well, someone has already done a better job in telling all about it, so check this wiki page to find out more (I don't think I can ever be a tour guide since I am not that good with history; maybe I just need to BS.) We ended the day at Grand Park Otaru, where we stayed for the night.
Otaru Canal at night
[Stay tuned for more about my trip]
View of the Sapporo City from Mt. OkuraAfter a full-night of food, I really didn't want to get up in the morning but then we were on a tour so we didn't have an option. So what was the first thing we did? Well, buffet-style breakfast! Seriously, I felt sick about food that morning even though the breakfast was really good. That being said, I still had a pretty full breakfast - 2 bowls of congee with some Japanese condiments and some eggs, sausages, and hashbrown. I guess I didn't really mean it when I said I was sick of food :).
Anyway, we continued with our tour around Sapporo on our second day. It was the nicest day of the trip and I took most of the pictures on that day. We first stopped by Mount Okura Ski Jump Stadium (see left). It was used by the 1972 Winter Olympic. The view on top of the mountain was spectacular (see above). Oh yeah, they sell cantaloupe-flavored and honeydew-flavored ice-cream on top of the mountain. It was great to have ice-cold ice-cream under a freezing cold weather.We also stopped by Tanukikoji and Shiroi Koibito Park before heading to Otaru (小樽). By the way, the weather wasn't that great throughout the trip - it snowed almost every day. As we went from Sapporo to Otaru, the weather changed from sunny bright day to blizzard-like dark evening. It wasn't that pleasant; however, for Otaru, it's actually pretty nice. Why? The snow made the already-romantic city even more romantic. Imagine walking with your lover under snow along the canal (see below) with a music box in one hand and an umbrella on the other hand. I heard some girls like that (that was what I was told, haha...).
Otaru is a smaller city and it has a very rich history. What history does it have? Well, someone has already done a better job in telling all about it, so check this wiki page to find out more (I don't think I can ever be a tour guide since I am not that good with history; maybe I just need to BS.) We ended the day at Grand Park Otaru, where we stayed for the night.
Otaru Canal at night[Stay tuned for more about my trip]
Labels:
Trip
Japan Trip 2010 - Part 1
[This post is a first part of the three-part blog post on my trip to Japan.]
Hi everyone. I have been busy the past 3 months and haven't got a chance to update my blog. Sorry, folks. Now that my schedule is getting a bit better, I am going to share with you some of my trips in the past few months. To start off, I am going to talk about my Japan trip.
Why did I go to Japan? Well, whenever I visit Hong Kong, I would go visit some places with my family trip. Since my mum really likes Japan, we decided to join a 5-day tour with Worldwide Package Travel Service (縱橫遊) to go to Hokkaido, Japan this time. I definitely would have preferred visiting there without joining a tour but I guess next time. If anyone wants to visit there, let me know :).
A street in Sapporo (you can still see some snow).
Let's talk about the trip. On the first day, we flew from Hong Kong to Chitose (千歳). After some crazy snow delays, we landed in Chitose and went straight to Sapporo (札幌). On a side note, Hokkaido is really cold in January (well, compared to Seattle) and it was all covered in snow. It really reminded me of those Boston snow days. I don't miss them :).
Anyway, Sapporo is just like any other city - nothing special :). The dinner was pretty good though - we had Shabu-Shabu. As most folks know, I am not a big fan of Shabu-Shabu but we got to try out those A5 wagyu (和牛), and man, they were AWESOME! I highly recommended them. I was told that Japan doesn't export A5 wagyu so you can really only have them in Japan. They are expensive but I think for a once in a lifetime experience, you have to try it. For the vegetarians, I am sorry :).
We went back to our hotel (Sapporo Excel Hotel Tokyo) after dinner and then the highlight of the day began - late-night food hopping in the city. Japan has lots of awesome food and you can find some even in convenience stores. So what did we have? We had some Ramen, Takoyaki, dumplings, some buns, and some dessert. It was amazing! Too bad I was already somewhat full from the dinner or I would have eaten more! We called it the day at 1am...
For part 2, please go here.
Hi everyone. I have been busy the past 3 months and haven't got a chance to update my blog. Sorry, folks. Now that my schedule is getting a bit better, I am going to share with you some of my trips in the past few months. To start off, I am going to talk about my Japan trip.
Why did I go to Japan? Well, whenever I visit Hong Kong, I would go visit some places with my family trip. Since my mum really likes Japan, we decided to join a 5-day tour with Worldwide Package Travel Service (縱橫遊) to go to Hokkaido, Japan this time. I definitely would have preferred visiting there without joining a tour but I guess next time. If anyone wants to visit there, let me know :).
A street in Sapporo (you can still see some snow).Let's talk about the trip. On the first day, we flew from Hong Kong to Chitose (千歳). After some crazy snow delays, we landed in Chitose and went straight to Sapporo (札幌). On a side note, Hokkaido is really cold in January (well, compared to Seattle) and it was all covered in snow. It really reminded me of those Boston snow days. I don't miss them :).
Anyway, Sapporo is just like any other city - nothing special :). The dinner was pretty good though - we had Shabu-Shabu. As most folks know, I am not a big fan of Shabu-Shabu but we got to try out those A5 wagyu (和牛), and man, they were AWESOME! I highly recommended them. I was told that Japan doesn't export A5 wagyu so you can really only have them in Japan. They are expensive but I think for a once in a lifetime experience, you have to try it. For the vegetarians, I am sorry :).We went back to our hotel (Sapporo Excel Hotel Tokyo) after dinner and then the highlight of the day began - late-night food hopping in the city. Japan has lots of awesome food and you can find some even in convenience stores. So what did we have? We had some Ramen, Takoyaki, dumplings, some buns, and some dessert. It was amazing! Too bad I was already somewhat full from the dinner or I would have eaten more! We called it the day at 1am...
For part 2, please go here.
Labels:
Trip
Planning for a 4-day trip to HK
My friends will visit me in HK for about 4 days this Christmas and I need to figure out where to bring them. Here is my first draft, what do you think?
Day 1:
Lantau Island:
- MTR to 東涌纜車站 and take 昂坪纜車 (http://www.np360.com.hk)
- Visit Big Buddha and Temple; have lunch in the temple
- Vist 大澳 (http://www.discoverhongkong.com/tc/attractions/outlying-taio-fishing-village.html)
- Visit 梅窩 (http://www.discoverhongkong.com/tc/attractions/outlying-mui-wo.html)
- Take ferry back to city
Day 2:
Hong Kong Island:
- Take a tram to 上灣 to check out some old shops
- Go to 金鐘 to take peak tram (during the day) to the Peak
- Go to 香港仔, 赤柱, 淺/深水灣, 石澳
- Go to 灣仔 to take a ferry to 尖沙咀 to catch this: http://www.tourism.gov.hk/symphony/
- Go up to the Peak again for the night view
Day 3:
Kowloon:
- Mongkok (女人街, etc)
- 黃大仙, etc (don't really know Kowloon, so need to figure out what to do there)
At night:
- Lan Gwa Fang (night life)
Day 4:
- Causeway Bay
- Shopping etc
Day 1:
Lantau Island:
- MTR to 東涌纜車站 and take 昂坪纜車 (http://www.np360.com.hk)
- Visit Big Buddha and Temple; have lunch in the temple
- Vist 大澳 (http://www.discoverhongkong.com/tc/attractions/outlying-taio-fishing-village.html)
- Visit 梅窩 (http://www.discoverhongkong.com/tc/attractions/outlying-mui-wo.html)
- Take ferry back to city
Day 2:
Hong Kong Island:
- Take a tram to 上灣 to check out some old shops
- Go to 金鐘 to take peak tram (during the day) to the Peak
- Go to 香港仔, 赤柱, 淺/深水灣, 石澳
- Go to 灣仔 to take a ferry to 尖沙咀 to catch this: http://www.tourism.gov.hk/symphony/
- Go up to the Peak again for the night view
Day 3:
Kowloon:
- Mongkok (女人街, etc)
- 黃大仙, etc (don't really know Kowloon, so need to figure out what to do there)
At night:
- Lan Gwa Fang (night life)
Day 4:
- Causeway Bay
- Shopping etc
Labels:
Trip
Hiking at Burroughs Mountain
There are two national parks that are close to Seattle (Olympic National Park and Mountain Rainier Nation Park) and I tried to go there once a year. I have already been to the Olympic National Park for a camping trip back in July 4th. As for Raininer, I had been planning a trip there since May and after many setbacks, the trip finally happened last weekend.
You can enter Rainier National Park through three entrances:
Sunrise is the highest visitor center you can get to (~64ooft) and you can get the closet view of Mount Rainier via the Burroughs Mountain trail and that's the trail we chose to hike last weekend. The trail is a part loop trail and part out-and-back trail; the total distance round trip is about 9 miles, the elevation you need to climb is about 2500ft (the trail goes up and down at a few places), and the highest point you'll get to is about 7800ft. This trail has three peaks (Burroughs Mountain 1, 2, and 3) and each peak gets you closer to the Rainier and the view gets more and more spectacular but, of course, the difficulty level increases as you go along.
We were lucky enough to get a really awesome day and we were able to see Mount Rainier very close up. The hike is tough towards the end (on the way to peak 3) but the view was totally worth it. I highly recommend to anyone who want to visit Mount Rainier National Park. Where is the details about the trail? Well, I am going to skip them as as you can find it from the link above. How about pictures? Well, it'll be available some time in the future :).
You can enter Rainier National Park through three entrances:
- from the southwest side through the Nisqually entrance to the Paradise visitor center
- from the east side through the White River entrance to the Sunrise visitor center
- from the south east side through the Stevens Canyon entrance (have never been there so don't exactly know where it goes)
Sunrise is the highest visitor center you can get to (~64ooft) and you can get the closet view of Mount Rainier via the Burroughs Mountain trail and that's the trail we chose to hike last weekend. The trail is a part loop trail and part out-and-back trail; the total distance round trip is about 9 miles, the elevation you need to climb is about 2500ft (the trail goes up and down at a few places), and the highest point you'll get to is about 7800ft. This trail has three peaks (Burroughs Mountain 1, 2, and 3) and each peak gets you closer to the Rainier and the view gets more and more spectacular but, of course, the difficulty level increases as you go along.
We were lucky enough to get a really awesome day and we were able to see Mount Rainier very close up. The hike is tough towards the end (on the way to peak 3) but the view was totally worth it. I highly recommend to anyone who want to visit Mount Rainier National Park. Where is the details about the trail? Well, I am going to skip them as as you can find it from the link above. How about pictures? Well, it'll be available some time in the future :).
Visiting Bay Area
I'll be visiting Bay Area this coming weekends; specifically, I'll be in SF city on Friday (9/4) and in Mountain View area on Tuesday (9/8). If you are free and up for coffee, let me know and we can figure something out.
Labels:
Trip
Trip to HK - confirmed!
My friend and I were talking about making a trip to HK earlier this year since I go back to HK once every two years and this year is "the" year. As with any thought, it was just an idea and we hadn't actually done anything about it until last week. My friend initiated the conversation last Wednesday and we spent about 20 mins discussing about the trip over the weekends. I then confirmed it with various folks (family, boss etc) yesterday, and then we got our tickets today! All this happened within a week for a trip that isn't going to happen until 4 months later. I thought it was pretty amazing especially for someone like me who has a commitment problem - I don't like to commit to any trip until the very last minute.
Anyhow, so I'll be back in HK this December if you would like to meet up, shoot me an email. I think I'll actually be in HK for only a few days and I'll be in Malaysia, Japan, and mainland China for the rest. I am very excited about it. Now that the HK trip is booked, we need to look into the Malaysia trip.
Anyhow, so I'll be back in HK this December if you would like to meet up, shoot me an email. I think I'll actually be in HK for only a few days and I'll be in Malaysia, Japan, and mainland China for the rest. I am very excited about it. Now that the HK trip is booked, we need to look into the Malaysia trip.
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Trip
Vancouver, Canada
No blog post for the past few days because I was up in Vancouver, BC, Canada (fyi, there is also a Vancouver city in Washington state). Why did I go there? It was for my cousin's wedding (on Friday) and decided to spend a few extra days over there to enjoy the place since I haven't been there for a while now.
Vancouver is pretty close to Seattle - it's only about 2.5hr drive (excluding border wait time). So if anyone of you decide to come to Seattle (and visit me), we can totally visit Vancouver (of course, you need your passport). When people talk about Vancouver, they usually refer to the Greater Vancouver area, which includes Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby, and maybe a few other cities that I have never been to. Some of you may have heard that there are a lot of Cantonese-speaking folks in Vancouver. Well, that can't be more true; according to my cousin, 40% of the BC population is Chinese and they are mostly concentrated in a few spots. Seriously, you only need Cantonese to get around, especially in Richmond.
One of my favorite activities in Vancouver is to EAT (what else. haha...) as the food is pretty awesome. You can pretty much get all kind of cuisines (actually, other than Denny's, I don't remember seeing any other American restaurants...) and most of them are of pretty high quality. On this trip, I only had a catering meal, a formal Chinese dinner (for the wedding), dim sum, and Japanese all-you-can-eat. By the way, the Japanese all-you-can-eat place is of pretty good quality. A lot of sashimi & sushi selections and the fish was very fresh. I think my cousin and I had our fair share of food. haha...
Other than food, you can also find hiking spots in Vancouver, much like in Seattle. This site will give you a lot of information about trails around Vancouver. I have actually never hiked in Vancouver until this trip. Where did we go? Since my aunt and uncle want to join us, we picked a rather easy one at Capilano Regional Park in North Vancouver. It was a very good and easy hike and I recommend it for those who can't really hike.
Overall, I like the trip and really wish I could spend a week over there to visit the outdoor more up there. If you are coming here and want to visit Vancouver, let me know. I may join you :). By the way, when you plan your trip, you should allocate time for border crossing as it could take forever! On my way back to Seattle on Sunday morning, I thought I was early and got to border at 9:50am. Well, I was wrong; It took me 80mins to get passed the border! I think the best is to pass the border at night on a non-weekend day. You can check this site for traffic status.
Enjoy.
Vancouver is pretty close to Seattle - it's only about 2.5hr drive (excluding border wait time). So if anyone of you decide to come to Seattle (and visit me), we can totally visit Vancouver (of course, you need your passport). When people talk about Vancouver, they usually refer to the Greater Vancouver area, which includes Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby, and maybe a few other cities that I have never been to. Some of you may have heard that there are a lot of Cantonese-speaking folks in Vancouver. Well, that can't be more true; according to my cousin, 40% of the BC population is Chinese and they are mostly concentrated in a few spots. Seriously, you only need Cantonese to get around, especially in Richmond.
One of my favorite activities in Vancouver is to EAT (what else. haha...) as the food is pretty awesome. You can pretty much get all kind of cuisines (actually, other than Denny's, I don't remember seeing any other American restaurants...) and most of them are of pretty high quality. On this trip, I only had a catering meal, a formal Chinese dinner (for the wedding), dim sum, and Japanese all-you-can-eat. By the way, the Japanese all-you-can-eat place is of pretty good quality. A lot of sashimi & sushi selections and the fish was very fresh. I think my cousin and I had our fair share of food. haha...
Other than food, you can also find hiking spots in Vancouver, much like in Seattle. This site will give you a lot of information about trails around Vancouver. I have actually never hiked in Vancouver until this trip. Where did we go? Since my aunt and uncle want to join us, we picked a rather easy one at Capilano Regional Park in North Vancouver. It was a very good and easy hike and I recommend it for those who can't really hike.
Overall, I like the trip and really wish I could spend a week over there to visit the outdoor more up there. If you are coming here and want to visit Vancouver, let me know. I may join you :). By the way, when you plan your trip, you should allocate time for border crossing as it could take forever! On my way back to Seattle on Sunday morning, I thought I was early and got to border at 9:50am. Well, I was wrong; It took me 80mins to get passed the border! I think the best is to pass the border at night on a non-weekend day. You can check this site for traffic status.
Enjoy.
Labels:
Trip
Caribbean Cruise
I just talked with a friend about my cruise vacation today and I thought why not sharing with my readers? Here you go and hope you can make good use of it.
Back in May of this year,
I went on a 7-day Caribbean cruise with my friends and the cruise boat was Carnival Valor. This link shows the exact cruise we joined. We got Ocean view cabin and each of us paid $625 for the cruise. Before I went on the cruise, I thought it would be one of the most boring vacation I would have ever had. Well, I was totally wrong. I have to say it was one of the best vacations I have ever had. Why was it good? First of all, it was super relaxing since we really didn't have to plan for anything other than getting airfare down to Miami, booking the cruise, and booking some tours at port of calls.
To make it even better,
the food was pretty much bottomless! I love eating so much and the bottomless food just made me super happy. Mind you, they are not those crappy buffets that you get from college or some Chinese restaurants; they are definitely above (or even way above) average restaurants in most cities. Sit-in dining is a given every night and they serve a 3-course meal - appetizer, entree, and dessert. They have quite a lot of options for non-vegetarians and the best thing is that you can order as many as you want. Any example of food we ordered? Well, to name a few, we had lobsters, tiger shrimps, halibut, steaks, prime ribs, sushi, and all kind of fancy desserts (which I don't care much about since they were too sweet for me). Man, I feel very hungry now after thinking about them. I have pictures of some of the dishes and will post links here eventually.
Where exactly did we go and what excursions did we do?
We had four ports of call, Grand Cayman, Roatan (Honduras), Belize, and Key West (it was a replacement for Cozumel because of swine flu). At Grand Cayman, we joined a sailing tour to see the sting rays and to snorkel; sting rays were amazing and the experience was awesome. At Roatan, we joined a private tour to see the islands; we got to see the local people and try out some local fruits. We originally planned to snorkel over there but then it was too wavy so it got canceled. We went hiking in a jungle and chilling out around a beach instead. At Belize, we visited a Mayan ruin and did a river touring (kinda boring though). As for Key West, well, it's in the US so it wasn't that exciting and we just went to a beach to hang out. A piece of advice, it's much better to join a local tour than to join the excursions through the cruise as local tour is usually cheaper and better. Of course, you need to do some research to make sure that the tour has good review (see end of post on how to do that).
A lot of people asked me if it was boring to be
on the boat. Let me tell you, not at all. You know, you can always eat when you are bored :). Eating aside, you have a lot of other activities you can choose from. There is a main show every night; it could be a musical/dance show, a magic show, or a stand-up comedy. Other than the main shows, there are some smaller game shows (indoor or outdoor) that you can participate or be a spectator of. For days when you don't have any port of calls, you'll have formal nights - it's a night when you have to dress up for dinner. It was actually pretty fun and it was great for photos. If you want to be more active, there is a gym, a basketball court, and a running track (which is pretty awesome as you are jogging and looking over the ocean). By the way, the cruise boat has 13 levels and it is always fun to explore what's there on each level. To top it off, there are also parties, casinos, and clubs.
Considering how much cheaper it is now, if you haven't cruised before and have the time and money, you should consider taking a cruise. It's totally worth it. Carnival is awesome. If you do decide to plan for a cruise, I highly recommend the Cruise Critics froum. I learned everything from them. Of course, you could always ask me.
Back in May of this year,
I went on a 7-day Caribbean cruise with my friends and the cruise boat was Carnival Valor. This link shows the exact cruise we joined. We got Ocean view cabin and each of us paid $625 for the cruise. Before I went on the cruise, I thought it would be one of the most boring vacation I would have ever had. Well, I was totally wrong. I have to say it was one of the best vacations I have ever had. Why was it good? First of all, it was super relaxing since we really didn't have to plan for anything other than getting airfare down to Miami, booking the cruise, and booking some tours at port of calls.To make it even better,
the food was pretty much bottomless! I love eating so much and the bottomless food just made me super happy. Mind you, they are not those crappy buffets that you get from college or some Chinese restaurants; they are definitely above (or even way above) average restaurants in most cities. Sit-in dining is a given every night and they serve a 3-course meal - appetizer, entree, and dessert. They have quite a lot of options for non-vegetarians and the best thing is that you can order as many as you want. Any example of food we ordered? Well, to name a few, we had lobsters, tiger shrimps, halibut, steaks, prime ribs, sushi, and all kind of fancy desserts (which I don't care much about since they were too sweet for me). Man, I feel very hungry now after thinking about them. I have pictures of some of the dishes and will post links here eventually.Where exactly did we go and what excursions did we do?
We had four ports of call, Grand Cayman, Roatan (Honduras), Belize, and Key West (it was a replacement for Cozumel because of swine flu). At Grand Cayman, we joined a sailing tour to see the sting rays and to snorkel; sting rays were amazing and the experience was awesome. At Roatan, we joined a private tour to see the islands; we got to see the local people and try out some local fruits. We originally planned to snorkel over there but then it was too wavy so it got canceled. We went hiking in a jungle and chilling out around a beach instead. At Belize, we visited a Mayan ruin and did a river touring (kinda boring though). As for Key West, well, it's in the US so it wasn't that exciting and we just went to a beach to hang out. A piece of advice, it's much better to join a local tour than to join the excursions through the cruise as local tour is usually cheaper and better. Of course, you need to do some research to make sure that the tour has good review (see end of post on how to do that).A lot of people asked me if it was boring to be
on the boat. Let me tell you, not at all. You know, you can always eat when you are bored :). Eating aside, you have a lot of other activities you can choose from. There is a main show every night; it could be a musical/dance show, a magic show, or a stand-up comedy. Other than the main shows, there are some smaller game shows (indoor or outdoor) that you can participate or be a spectator of. For days when you don't have any port of calls, you'll have formal nights - it's a night when you have to dress up for dinner. It was actually pretty fun and it was great for photos. If you want to be more active, there is a gym, a basketball court, and a running track (which is pretty awesome as you are jogging and looking over the ocean). By the way, the cruise boat has 13 levels and it is always fun to explore what's there on each level. To top it off, there are also parties, casinos, and clubs.Considering how much cheaper it is now, if you haven't cruised before and have the time and money, you should consider taking a cruise. It's totally worth it. Carnival is awesome. If you do decide to plan for a cruise, I highly recommend the Cruise Critics froum. I learned everything from them. Of course, you could always ask me.
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Trip
Trip to Mexico
I have never been to Mexico so I have been doing a lot of research on this country. Man, most of the tourist resources I found talk about Mexico as a beach paradise. It's not a bad thing but I want something a little more than just beaches - I am also looking for some nature wonders or culture and want to do everything in a week. Not sure if it's possible but I am looking...
Somehow I came across this nice nature wonder in Mexico, Copper Canyon. The total area is bigger than Grand Canyon and you can do a lot of outdoor activities. Also, there is a rail running through the Canyon. Based on what I have read, it's a REALLY nice ride. Granted, it's a 14-hour train ride but I guess I can stop half-way to visit some towns/villages in between. Let's see if I could add a beach destination to this trip. Copper Canyon + Beach is good enough for the first trip to Mexico. Another I need to think about is whether I would like to join a tour or not. I usually don't like joining a tour but then if I am going a country I have never been to, maybe it's good to have a tour guide. Will see if my friends know anything.
More links for those interested in Mexico:
- Mazatlan, one of the resort place I am thinking about. The train from Copper Canyon will get to a neighboring town (Los Mochis) which is about 4 hours away.
- La Paz, another resort place. It's about a 5-hour ferry ride from Los Mochis. The interesting thing is that it's a ferry ride. could be fun.
I went to Japan earlier this year; it'll be cool to go to another country again. Alright, time to go to work. Will update more about this Mexico trip and will talk about an Alaska trip.
Somehow I came across this nice nature wonder in Mexico, Copper Canyon. The total area is bigger than Grand Canyon and you can do a lot of outdoor activities. Also, there is a rail running through the Canyon. Based on what I have read, it's a REALLY nice ride. Granted, it's a 14-hour train ride but I guess I can stop half-way to visit some towns/villages in between. Let's see if I could add a beach destination to this trip. Copper Canyon + Beach is good enough for the first trip to Mexico. Another I need to think about is whether I would like to join a tour or not. I usually don't like joining a tour but then if I am going a country I have never been to, maybe it's good to have a tour guide. Will see if my friends know anything.
More links for those interested in Mexico:
- Mazatlan, one of the resort place I am thinking about. The train from Copper Canyon will get to a neighboring town (Los Mochis) which is about 4 hours away.
- La Paz, another resort place. It's about a 5-hour ferry ride from Los Mochis. The interesting thing is that it's a ferry ride. could be fun.
I went to Japan earlier this year; it'll be cool to go to another country again. Alright, time to go to work. Will update more about this Mexico trip and will talk about an Alaska trip.
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Trip
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