Travel - Travel With A Butterfly

Tony Bennett’s song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”, isn’t a good impression of San Francisco. He makes the song so silky, smooth, deep, vibrant and charming, but my impression of San Francisco didn’t give me that.

After my PCH trip, I started driving up to San Francisco and of course, I had to be greeted by the severe traffic that doubled the time for me to get to downtown San Francisco.

From my car window, you can see a pile of cars waiting behind me.

While driving there, you get to see some cool train tracks. Not the best weather that day btw. Continue reading I Didn’t Leave My Heart in San Francisco

Travel

Missed My Bus at Napa Valley and Sonoma County

ByRyan Lee

As a day trip on my stay in San Francisco, I decided that I had to visit Napa Valley. So, I signed up via Viator for a Napa and Sonoma Wine Country Tour that picked you up at your designated hotel before 9am and ended the journey at 5pm (well it ended up being around 6:30pm since we also stopped by Golden Gate Bridge to take pictures). You will be joining the tour operator Gray Line actually.

The drivers / guides were funny, informative and professional and in general I had a good time. During lunch time, I even missed the bus (more on that later) but another driver from the same tour operator was able to drive me back to catch up with my old tour group. Continue reading Missed My Bus at Napa Valley and Sonoma County

Travel

Pacific Coast Highway, Not Really

ByRyan Lee

I got the idea of driving along the Pacific Coast Highway from one of my Bucket List links illustrating some of the top 10 drives in America. Since I had to be in the west coast, and I wanted to minimize my time in Los Angeles due to the lack of things to do as a tourist visitor, I thought to myself… why not drive PCH?

I was extremely excited by the prospect of driving along the sea coast; I was imagining all the magnificent views I would be getting. Continue reading Pacific Coast Highway, Not Really

Japan

Nagoya Again and Also Kanazawa

ByRyan Lee

Having to find a destination that can fit an itinerary for 5 days, wasn’t hot in the summer, wasn’t raining, was affordable from a trip from Hong Kong, was easy to get around and walk around, and a city that we haven’t been many times before or recently, we settled on Nagoya.

To visit the major sites of Nagoya, you could probably do it in 3 days. So since we were there for 5 days, including the flights, we decided to also pay visits to Shirakawa-gō, Kanazawa, and Tojinbo.

Nagoya is actually the fourth largest city in Japan, but you definitely wouldn’t see it that way when you arrive here. The city represents a sense of calmness, serenity, peace, and all things that a city wouldn’t possess. Yet at the same time, there is everything you want from a city – interesting people, convenient transportation, lots of food, and more. It’s just organized and cleaned up well here.

I’ve written about a post about Nagoya before, so if you haven’t already, please check out Let’s Drive: Nagoya (Japan Part Three). I’ll try my best to not overlap any sort of information. Continue reading Nagoya Again and Also Kanazawa

China

Haikou is a No Go

ByRyan Lee

Of all the countries I’ve been, China somehow continues to disappoint again and again (exception of Chengdu). This was how I felt in Lijiang and Shangri-La, and especially this time in Haikou.

Coined “China’s Hawaii”, Haikou has semi resemblances with the beautiful island of US, except we don’t use the word beautiful in this case. Haikou does have beaches and sunny weather that reminds you of other islands or beachy places like Kenting, except it’s so polluted and quite dirty and rather boring. Haikou is definitely one of those cities where going once is enough, in fact more than enough. Continue reading Haikou is a No Go

Spain

Barcelona Architectural Design and More

ByRyan Lee

While my trip to Barcelona was mainly for work related purposes, I had such a phenomenal time that I had split my trip experience there into three different posts. One of the posts covered was Mobile World Congress, the biggest mobile trade show in the world. The food in Barcelona deserves an entire post itself, hence I’ve given the name Barcelona, the City of Gastronomy to give my respects to cuisine in this city. In this post, I will focus on the other aspects of Barcelona, and one thing that sticks out in this city is the beautiful and unique architectural designs notable from block to block.

Some cities in the world are not walking cities; one such city that sticks out in my mind is Dubai. Barcelona has some fantastic cool weather in late February / early March, with beautiful people on the streets and remarkable architecture with many things to see along the way that you would prefer to walk all the time, unless of course you have to go somewhere quite the distance.

I heard that there may be strikes in Barcelona time to time, but lucky for me, there was no such thing when I was there. Usually if I wasn’t walking, I had the option to take the metro, which was easy to understand and takes you near the places you need to be as a tourist. If anything, there’s also the option of taking a taxi as well. Continue reading Barcelona Architectural Design and More

Travel

Los Angeles – Fun For A Few Days Only

ByRyan Lee

So I grew up studying university in Los Angeles for 4 years, and those were some of the best years in my life. I think to a certain extent it was also because I was situated in Los Angeles, and as a university student, it was a good place to have fun there, especially when you have a car.

LA during the night

After graduation and moving out from the city, I would periodically come back to Los Angeles every few years, for differing reasons (nostalgia, music festivals, weddings etc.). Each time finding myself needing to do more and more research to find out what else is there to do in Los Angeles besides typical city stuff, like eating. Continue reading Los Angeles – Fun For A Few Days Only

Travel

What Happens in Vegas, Stays In My Stomach

ByRyan Lee

Las Vegas has always been one of my favorite destinations to go to; no other place matches its sinfulness, its exoticness, and its desirability. My favorite time to arrive to Las Vegas driving from Los Angeles has always been when the sun is just about to set so that the lights from the Strip start to light up… it’s one of the most beautiful and exciting scenes to enter into.

Las Vegas strip at night – what a beauty. This is the view from the Eiffel Tower Experience. Continue reading What Happens in Vegas, Stays In My Stomach

Spain

Barcelona, the City of Gastronomy

ByRyan Lee

The reputation for Spain and its marvellous food is undoubtedly some of the best and most creative food I’ve ever tasted. The struggle to find a fitting title that Barcelona deserves gave me hesitation; it deserved its respects. The City of Food wasn’t even thought of and would have been outright rejected. The City of Taste was too simple and too surface. The City of Flavor was a bit better as it brings out the meaning of tasting in depth that is all too important in Barcelona restaurants.

What about Gastronomy? A simple definition look up indicates that gastronomy is “the art of choosing, cooking, and eating good food” (Merriam-Webster). Perfect, this exact word was what I was looking for. The good restaurants in Barcelona contained all the requirements of good food – flavorful, creative, generous and ideal portions, unique combinations of flavors, fresh ingredients, and the ability to ‘wow’ you when it touches your tongue. Other bonus factors, while not necessary, include atmosphere, service, and presentation of food, and all the good restaurants excel in those criteria as well. Go to a Barcelona restaurant’s website and you can just tell that they take their food seriously. Continue reading Barcelona, the City of Gastronomy

Spain

Mobile World Congress 2017 – The Next Element

ByRyan Lee

I had the extreme privilege to attend Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year. Mobile World Congress (MWC), the largest annual mobile and telecom show, is hosted by the organization GSMA. This year, there were over 108,000 attendees and 2,200 exhibitors attending the show.

Just before I continue, I have to make a disclaimer – I currently work for GSMA, and that is why I was able to go to MWC. But this post is in no way affiliated with GSMA or represents the opinions of GSMA, it is just my own personal experiences and opinions (as with all my other posts) going to the event . Continue reading Mobile World Congress 2017 – The Next Element