Amazing Bali

My first impression of Bali – I’m in a taxi (taksi) and there’s another taxi with no driver blocking our path.  My driver gets out and single handedly pushes the car away.

This is going to be an interesting place.

Within 10 minutes, I knew I was going to come back here – I had a good feeling about this place.  Twice have I ever felt this feeling – once in Las Vegas, then here.  And both times I’ve been extremely mesmerized.

While on the taxi ride to our villa, Bali reminded me of Cambodia a little bit, but a much more developed version of Cambodia.  You can also tell there were tourists left and right.  In fact, there was traffic even at 9:30pm – 10:00pm ish on a Thursday.  Even Hong Kong and Los Angeles doesn’t have this type of traffic at these time intervals.

In a way, it also reminded me of Phuket.  All the villas and stuff… but there were much nicer stores everywhere.  It felt much more urban and international.  You keep coming across Japanese and Chinese restaurants and the roads are very nice and not bumpy at all, very smooth (unlike Johannesburg and Cambodia). Continue reading Amazing Bali

Seoul – Shopping Heaven

Quick tips about Seoul:

  • It is a shopping paradise
  • It’s also a food paradise (especially if you like spicy and KBBQ)
  • We didn’t do any sight seeing, but based on reading from blogs, books and other guides, there isn’t an astounding amount of cultural / historical / scenic things to do (as compared to places in Europe).  A bit similar to Bangkok.  They EXIST but it’s not abundant and should be able to cover in a few days for the major attractions
  • The people there know very little English.  In fact, the salespeople in the retail shops actually speak Mandarin much better than English so prepare to bring some sort of translation book if you can only speak English
  • Transportation is very convenient
  • Although the transition between different train lines is a fair bit of distance… so plan your time accordingly
  • Many 24 hour restaurants
  • Felt safe the entire trip
  • very affordable (compared to HK)
  • actually Seoul is pretty much like Hong Kong except they speak Korean there instead of Cantonese

It’s definitely a trip well worth going, especially if you are into Korean Pop culture.  I’ll show you the places we went (for shopping and eating) so you can have a rough itinerary for your next trip. Continue reading Seoul – Shopping Heaven