Today is my second day in Langkawi and effectively the last day of this holiday (tomorrow is all travelling). I still have a few days off before I have to return to work, but believe me, they're already spoken for. Probably a good thing I have a bit of a break, they say one needs a vacation after a vacation anyway...
So today I got up early and I was expecting yesterday's light shower to have blown away by this morning. Wrong-o. It was completely overcast and raining steadily. The cool air must have accumulated last night because the temperature was much less than yesterday, and it didn't look like it was going anywhere.
I called and asked how much a later checkout would be, and they said I could have until 1pm on the house. Boo yah.
I went to visit the pool or the beach, but it was colder than I thought and blustery anyway, so I didn't feel like swimming. On a whim, I decided to check out a local waterfall, which turned out to be a nice decision. It's called Seven Wells Waterfall, or Telaga Tujuh, and it's rumored that fairies come to frolick there because it's so nice. It was a bit of a hike and I was only wearing my flip-flops for the pool, and it was raining, so my feet kept slipping off my shoes. When I got to the top of the hill, it was really nice. The water has carved several pools into the top of the falls and made the area smooth, almost like a waterslide. At the bottom of the falls, there were some more pools, so I was walking among them and enjoying the seclusion.
Then I saw it.
There, in the water at my feet was something shiny, shinier than what should be there. I bent down to pick it up, like Bilbo Baggins, and claimed my prize....
No one else may have it....must keep it safe...it is mine....my precious.
After that, erm, experience, I returned to the hotel to quickly take a shower and check-out. I still had the beach towel I signed out from the pool shack, so I went to go lay under one of the cabanas on the beach and relax. And relax I did. I ordered a fancy tropical fruit drink and watched the rain and wind make the palm trees sway in one direction.
Finally, it was time to go to the airport. I took a taxi and then had a quick bite to eat at a restaurant. The place I chose happened to serve Teh Tarik, which is the Malaysian version of milk tea. It's the best kind I've had on this trip so far! Satisfied, I did a bit of shopping and then boarded the plane. Oddly, I had a row to myself, but I was sitting behind a seatbelt-refusing family with a small child, so as soon as possible I relocated to an empty row at the back of the plane.
I'm not sure if I'll write about tomorrow, since it won't be interesting (actually, when it involves Koreans or travelling to/from Korea, there's almost always drama...so maybe I will write).
One thing I do want to write about is just a...cultural note. Asians are terrrrrible at lining up for things. "Oh, there's a spot beside you. It was obviously meant for me to use to get ahead of you". If you ever travel here, be prepared to be cut in front of like crazy. It's so irksome.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Langkawi Day 1
Langkawi is an island paradise off the northwest coast of Malaysia. It's practically in Thailand it's so far north.
I woke up, watched an episode of Recess (surprise!), and then caught a cab to the best place I've ever stayed, save for Cannon Beach, the Berjaya Langkawi Resort.
I checked in, had my card declined for the deposit (seriously Desjardins?! I gave you a trip notification weeks ago, and you do this to me in Hong Kong too... :( and went to my room. I'm literally staying in a cabin in the rainforest. It's beautiful.
There's a sandy beach nearby and you can smell the flowers and hear the birds. How lovely. :)
It's quite hot and humid here today, As soon as you stand up you've worked up a sweat. Thankfully, the resort has a pool.
Langkawi is designated as a duty-free island, so I took a shuttle to a local shopping place so I could pick up some snacks. It had started raining by this time, so when I got back I decided to stay in and relax at my jungle house (no sunset anyway, on account of how socked in it was). I watched a bit of the academy awards on TV and finished the movie (Memoirs of a Geisha) I had started watching on my tablet. I opened all the windows of my jungle hut and turned on the celing fan so I could still hear the rain on the palm fronds outside and feel the warm breeze of the jungle.
This place is bliss.
I woke up, watched an episode of Recess (surprise!), and then caught a cab to the best place I've ever stayed, save for Cannon Beach, the Berjaya Langkawi Resort.
I checked in, had my card declined for the deposit (seriously Desjardins?! I gave you a trip notification weeks ago, and you do this to me in Hong Kong too... :( and went to my room. I'm literally staying in a cabin in the rainforest. It's beautiful.
There's a sandy beach nearby and you can smell the flowers and hear the birds. How lovely. :)
It's quite hot and humid here today, As soon as you stand up you've worked up a sweat. Thankfully, the resort has a pool.
Langkawi is designated as a duty-free island, so I took a shuttle to a local shopping place so I could pick up some snacks. It had started raining by this time, so when I got back I decided to stay in and relax at my jungle house (no sunset anyway, on account of how socked in it was). I watched a bit of the academy awards on TV and finished the movie (Memoirs of a Geisha) I had started watching on my tablet. I opened all the windows of my jungle hut and turned on the celing fan so I could still hear the rain on the palm fronds outside and feel the warm breeze of the jungle.
This place is bliss.
Kuala Lumpur Day 1
Last night I got to Kuala Lumpur after dark. The presence of the sun apparently has no effect on the amount of heat here though :( it was hot and humid. Blech. I suppose that's what you get for being near the equator.
I made my way to my hotel. KL (the locals love to abbreviate things: LCCT, KLIA, KL, KLCC, ERL, Mohd, etc) is kind of like Korea in that there's lots of garbage everywhere. One thing I noticed is the amount of idleness though. People are just everywhere, but they aren't doing anything. In Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, people are still everywhere, but they don't stand still. They're usually on the move. But in KL, people just congregate and stare at you and then speak loud, foreign words about what they think.
At midnight, I was awoken by the sound of firecrackers on the street below. It's not even a holiday...
For my day in KL, I went to Batu Caves, which is a very famous Hindu temple in some caves in the north part of the city. There were lots of other tourists there speaking Swedish, German, Spanish, Russian, and some English.
The caves are pretty interesting and you have to take a million steps to get there. The complex is guarded by a giant, golden, silent statue of Murdugan, a Hindu god or something like that.
Along the steps and inside the caves, evil monkeys scatter about, preying on tourists who think they're "cute" and naively try to feed them or pet them.
After Batu caves, I went to KLCC, which is the complex for the Petronas Towers. Petronas is the oil company that controls derricks off the coast, and has consequently made Malaysis wealthier than its neighbors (not sure if state-run company or not). Anyway, they run a science centre called Petrosains inside the mall at KLCC, so I went to have a look. It was pretty interesting, all about how petroleum is produced and why it exists and what we use it for. They had a large scale mockup of a sea rig, which was pretty neat. I especially enjoyed the dark ride at the beginning and exit of the exhibit.
Finally, I made my way back to the airport to catch my night flight to Langkawi.
I made my way to my hotel. KL (the locals love to abbreviate things: LCCT, KLIA, KL, KLCC, ERL, Mohd, etc) is kind of like Korea in that there's lots of garbage everywhere. One thing I noticed is the amount of idleness though. People are just everywhere, but they aren't doing anything. In Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, people are still everywhere, but they don't stand still. They're usually on the move. But in KL, people just congregate and stare at you and then speak loud, foreign words about what they think.
At midnight, I was awoken by the sound of firecrackers on the street below. It's not even a holiday...
For my day in KL, I went to Batu Caves, which is a very famous Hindu temple in some caves in the north part of the city. There were lots of other tourists there speaking Swedish, German, Spanish, Russian, and some English.
The caves are pretty interesting and you have to take a million steps to get there. The complex is guarded by a giant, golden, silent statue of Murdugan, a Hindu god or something like that.
Along the steps and inside the caves, evil monkeys scatter about, preying on tourists who think they're "cute" and naively try to feed them or pet them.
After Batu caves, I went to KLCC, which is the complex for the Petronas Towers. Petronas is the oil company that controls derricks off the coast, and has consequently made Malaysis wealthier than its neighbors (not sure if state-run company or not). Anyway, they run a science centre called Petrosains inside the mall at KLCC, so I went to have a look. It was pretty interesting, all about how petroleum is produced and why it exists and what we use it for. They had a large scale mockup of a sea rig, which was pretty neat. I especially enjoyed the dark ride at the beginning and exit of the exhibit.
Finally, I made my way back to the airport to catch my night flight to Langkawi.
Macau Day 1
Today I had a flight to catch from Macau to Kuala Lumpur. However, I've been feeling kind of sick lately, so I rested for most of the morning. When it was time to check out, I exited my hotel, went to a nearby Subway restaurant and ordered a nice, delicious, genuine sandwich, and then headed to the Macau ferry terminal. They have sailings basically every 15 minutes, and most of them are pretty full. I would expect the last ones of the day to be most depressing, as people return from Macau, either penniless or feeling quite lucky.
Anyway, I bumped and bounced along in the ferry for an hour along with other loud and yelly Chinese people on their cell phones. Surprisingly, there were quite a few Portugese speakers along for the ride. Perhaps due to Macau's heritage as a Portugese colony.
Macau is basically Las Vegas for the Chinese. It's a special administrative region of China (think Puerto Rico), so I suppose if you think about it, it's an excellent method for the communist regime to capture more citizen money than just by taxes alone. However, seeing the damage this vice causes in South Korea (especially when Koreans aren't allowed to enter casinos in Korea), it makes me sad to see it taxing the poor of China as well.
Nevertheless, when casinos take your money, they do it in style! When you get out of the ferry terminal, you can take one of many shuttle buses to each casino in Macau. I unfortunately didn't have time to see the downtown area, so I took the shuttle to Galaxy Macau because I could connect to its airport shuttle there.
That was an interesting ride to say the least.
As you are driving, you can see all the other amazing casinos along the way. These buildings are quite something! The shuttle bus has TV screens which tell you about people just like you who have won millions of dollars, seemingly without any risk or loss.
Once we arrived at Galaxy, I was blown away by the architecture of this building. It was so luxurious! A long-legged beauty showed me to where I needed to go for the airport bus, and I got to witness a gigantic glass diamond rising dramatically out of the hotel fountain.
I got a few stares going through the place, probably on account of my touristy appearance and large backpack. Fine with me, take money from someone else.
Anyway, I bumped and bounced along in the ferry for an hour along with other loud and yelly Chinese people on their cell phones. Surprisingly, there were quite a few Portugese speakers along for the ride. Perhaps due to Macau's heritage as a Portugese colony.
Macau is basically Las Vegas for the Chinese. It's a special administrative region of China (think Puerto Rico), so I suppose if you think about it, it's an excellent method for the communist regime to capture more citizen money than just by taxes alone. However, seeing the damage this vice causes in South Korea (especially when Koreans aren't allowed to enter casinos in Korea), it makes me sad to see it taxing the poor of China as well.
Nevertheless, when casinos take your money, they do it in style! When you get out of the ferry terminal, you can take one of many shuttle buses to each casino in Macau. I unfortunately didn't have time to see the downtown area, so I took the shuttle to Galaxy Macau because I could connect to its airport shuttle there.
That was an interesting ride to say the least.
As you are driving, you can see all the other amazing casinos along the way. These buildings are quite something! The shuttle bus has TV screens which tell you about people just like you who have won millions of dollars, seemingly without any risk or loss.
Once we arrived at Galaxy, I was blown away by the architecture of this building. It was so luxurious! A long-legged beauty showed me to where I needed to go for the airport bus, and I got to witness a gigantic glass diamond rising dramatically out of the hotel fountain.
I got a few stares going through the place, probably on account of my touristy appearance and large backpack. Fine with me, take money from someone else.
Hong Kong Day 3
Today I checked out of my hotel and got on a Star Ferry to the other side of the harbour. What a surprise when I found out this major tourist attraction costs $0.25! It offers fantastic views of the skyline as you motor across the waters.
Disembarking, I was met with another pleasant surprise. A real-live Triple O's! In Hong Kong of all places. I enjoyed a very delicious original burger.
I went to my new hotel, and was very confused as the check in desk was nowhere to be seen and the valet desk was unmanned. I found someone and they told me to ascend to the 5th floor. Once there, I checked in and asked for a nice room.
Boy was I rewarded! I got an amazing room with a million dollar view on the 29th floor. I could spend a long time watching the harbour and all the boat traffic.
I Skyped with Amanda for awhile, and didn't feel like going out. By the time I was ready, the thing I wanted to see was closed, so I decided to go for dinner.
I had read about a nearby restaurant with great food, so I went to give it a try. It was the worst experience I've ever had at a restaurant.
First of all, it was 6:30pm and no one was there eating. The middle aged Chinese waitress spoke at me with contempt the entire evening because I didn't want to order more food, and she hovered barely four feet from me the entire meal. Finally, when it came time to settle the bill, she charged me a hefty gratuity for doing nothing. My $78 bill came out to $119, and she made me settle right. There. At. The. Table. She watched and stood right next to me as I dug through my bag to get some cash, and then said "no change?" assuming I wanted to leave her even more money for her discriminatory and offensive "service".
I wrote a nice review for the restaurant and a nice letter to the hong long tourism board.
After the insulting ordeal at the restaurant, I went to take the Peak Tram to the top off Victoria Peak. It was really crowded and many people cut in line all over the place. The tram ride itself is actually pretty interesting. It takes you at a 45• angle, which is really impressive. What's even more impressive is that this same journey used to be done by rickshaw drivers, and before that, "chair men" (you can figure out what that entails).
Finally, I took a ubiquitous Hong Kong tram (the narrow ones that run on the street--the locals call them "ding dings") back to my hotel for some pleasant rest and some more time with that stunning view.
Disembarking, I was met with another pleasant surprise. A real-live Triple O's! In Hong Kong of all places. I enjoyed a very delicious original burger.
I went to my new hotel, and was very confused as the check in desk was nowhere to be seen and the valet desk was unmanned. I found someone and they told me to ascend to the 5th floor. Once there, I checked in and asked for a nice room.
Boy was I rewarded! I got an amazing room with a million dollar view on the 29th floor. I could spend a long time watching the harbour and all the boat traffic.
I Skyped with Amanda for awhile, and didn't feel like going out. By the time I was ready, the thing I wanted to see was closed, so I decided to go for dinner.
I had read about a nearby restaurant with great food, so I went to give it a try. It was the worst experience I've ever had at a restaurant.
First of all, it was 6:30pm and no one was there eating. The middle aged Chinese waitress spoke at me with contempt the entire evening because I didn't want to order more food, and she hovered barely four feet from me the entire meal. Finally, when it came time to settle the bill, she charged me a hefty gratuity for doing nothing. My $78 bill came out to $119, and she made me settle right. There. At. The. Table. She watched and stood right next to me as I dug through my bag to get some cash, and then said "no change?" assuming I wanted to leave her even more money for her discriminatory and offensive "service".
I wrote a nice review for the restaurant and a nice letter to the hong long tourism board.
After the insulting ordeal at the restaurant, I went to take the Peak Tram to the top off Victoria Peak. It was really crowded and many people cut in line all over the place. The tram ride itself is actually pretty interesting. It takes you at a 45• angle, which is really impressive. What's even more impressive is that this same journey used to be done by rickshaw drivers, and before that, "chair men" (you can figure out what that entails).
Finally, I took a ubiquitous Hong Kong tram (the narrow ones that run on the street--the locals call them "ding dings") back to my hotel for some pleasant rest and some more time with that stunning view.
Hong Kong Day 2
Today I lived the dream and worked on one of my bucket list items. I visited Hong Kong Disneyland.
I got up early, got some wrong directions from my hotel, doubled-back, and made it to the park a little before opening. There weren't too many people, which I was thrilled about. Surprisingly, they opened the park gates early, so people could walk around a little bit, but only as far as the end of Main Street.
Quick summary: Hong Kong Disneyland is the newest park of the Disney company I think. They were selling some 7th anniversary stuff. Unique to this park, they were still celebrating Chinese New Year (the actual event was a week ago) by having themed decorations, music, and costumes.
Because I really (I mean reeeally) like things Disney, I had read up on this park before I came. I'm a member on an Internet Disney forum, and the current buzz around this park is what will happen to visitor demographics once Shanghai Disneyland opens in a few years. Many mainland Chinese visitors make a holiday in Hong Kong and HKD is a very popular spot to visit (as was evidenced by the crowd of people today). I saw a few White people like myself, some Japanese, and some South Asians. Other than that though, they're all Chinese. Anyway, once the park opens in Shanghai, only time will tell if the mainland Chinese will still come to HKD.
First, the good news: HKD is fairly large. If you come to visit, expect to do a lot of walking (not a lot of the areas are interconnected--they mostly connect to the middle of the park) in a wheel and spoke fashion. As well, most of the cast members can speak fairly good English. You shouldn't have trouble communicating your needs or inquiries. As well, the characters can understand English, and Disney has hired White people for the non-suit characters (I.e. the princesses, Tinkerbell).
Now, a special word of admonishment from myself. If you happen to find yourself visiting a Disney park overseas, please play along and chat up the folks in character. They can be lonely, having very few English speakers to interact with day after day. A little fun goes a long way to make a difficult life overseas easier.
That said, I really had a nice time with these folks. They're genuinely sweet people and they want to make your experience a pleasant one. I was able to get some great photos (HKD let's you take more than one photo with your camera) with them.
Now for the bad. I'll try to be brief, otherwise I could drone on for a long time.
Not a lot of bad things to say about the park itself to be honest. It's definitely up to Disney quality (garbage-free streets, no rust, painted equipment, smiling cast members). Cinderella's castle was a little short to be honest, which I didn't expect.
The worst part of my experience was a big one: the other visitors. Seriously, those mainland chinese people are the WORST tourists I've ever seen. They were pushy, loud, sometimes smelly, they would leave performances in the middle of the show, they would yell and talk during shows and songs, and they cut in line constantly. Now, I've been in Korea for awhile now, so I've gotten used to being tossed around in a crowd. That's fine.
This was something else though. People would try and take any open space to try and cut in front of me. Bratty little kids would weave through my legs and then proudly call to their parents to join them standing in front of me, as if they had done something worth actual praise. Unfortunately, most of my visit was spent developing a strong distaste for the mainland Chinese visitors.
After my day at the park was finished, I walked around the grounds to take a look at the hotels. Finally, I returned to Kowloon for the night, having beautiful Disney dreams in my head.
I got up early, got some wrong directions from my hotel, doubled-back, and made it to the park a little before opening. There weren't too many people, which I was thrilled about. Surprisingly, they opened the park gates early, so people could walk around a little bit, but only as far as the end of Main Street.
Quick summary: Hong Kong Disneyland is the newest park of the Disney company I think. They were selling some 7th anniversary stuff. Unique to this park, they were still celebrating Chinese New Year (the actual event was a week ago) by having themed decorations, music, and costumes.
Because I really (I mean reeeally) like things Disney, I had read up on this park before I came. I'm a member on an Internet Disney forum, and the current buzz around this park is what will happen to visitor demographics once Shanghai Disneyland opens in a few years. Many mainland Chinese visitors make a holiday in Hong Kong and HKD is a very popular spot to visit (as was evidenced by the crowd of people today). I saw a few White people like myself, some Japanese, and some South Asians. Other than that though, they're all Chinese. Anyway, once the park opens in Shanghai, only time will tell if the mainland Chinese will still come to HKD.
First, the good news: HKD is fairly large. If you come to visit, expect to do a lot of walking (not a lot of the areas are interconnected--they mostly connect to the middle of the park) in a wheel and spoke fashion. As well, most of the cast members can speak fairly good English. You shouldn't have trouble communicating your needs or inquiries. As well, the characters can understand English, and Disney has hired White people for the non-suit characters (I.e. the princesses, Tinkerbell).
Now, a special word of admonishment from myself. If you happen to find yourself visiting a Disney park overseas, please play along and chat up the folks in character. They can be lonely, having very few English speakers to interact with day after day. A little fun goes a long way to make a difficult life overseas easier.
That said, I really had a nice time with these folks. They're genuinely sweet people and they want to make your experience a pleasant one. I was able to get some great photos (HKD let's you take more than one photo with your camera) with them.
Now for the bad. I'll try to be brief, otherwise I could drone on for a long time.
Not a lot of bad things to say about the park itself to be honest. It's definitely up to Disney quality (garbage-free streets, no rust, painted equipment, smiling cast members). Cinderella's castle was a little short to be honest, which I didn't expect.
The worst part of my experience was a big one: the other visitors. Seriously, those mainland chinese people are the WORST tourists I've ever seen. They were pushy, loud, sometimes smelly, they would leave performances in the middle of the show, they would yell and talk during shows and songs, and they cut in line constantly. Now, I've been in Korea for awhile now, so I've gotten used to being tossed around in a crowd. That's fine.
This was something else though. People would try and take any open space to try and cut in front of me. Bratty little kids would weave through my legs and then proudly call to their parents to join them standing in front of me, as if they had done something worth actual praise. Unfortunately, most of my visit was spent developing a strong distaste for the mainland Chinese visitors.
After my day at the park was finished, I walked around the grounds to take a look at the hotels. Finally, I returned to Kowloon for the night, having beautiful Disney dreams in my head.
Taiwan Day 4/Hong Kong Day 1
Today I left cloudy Taiwan for also cloudy Hong Kong. I flew Hong Kong Airlines, which is a subsidiary of EVA Air (Taiwan's national carrier). We were on an EVA Boeing 777-300 ER, which is a massive, beautiful, quiet plane. Little did I know I was in for the best flight ever. Seriously, I had an economy class ticket, yet I felt like I was flying business or first. The seats were large and luxurious, had foot rests, a large personal entertainment unit, and most importantly, the most legroom I've ever seen in coach in my life. Seriously, with my arm outstretched I could barely reach the tv screen, and I could extend my legs fully. Wow!
When I got to Hong Kong, I took the sleek airport express train to Kowloon station where I was picked up by a shuttle from my hotel. Hong Kong is pretty neat, they're really into high density. The whole city feels...well, smushed together. There's not a lot of room to breathe.
After checking in, I hopped on the shuttle again to get to Tsim Sha Tsui, which is the southern tip of Kowloon. I walked by all the high end luxury shops, visited the space museum (happened to be free admission day), and bought some Doritos at Sogo, a Japanese department store. I visited the Avenue of Stars, which is like a Hong Kong walk of fame for famous Chinese movie stars (ie Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan). Then, at 8pm I watched (along with hundreds of other pushy, loud chinese people) the light show put on by the skyscrapers across the harbour. Pretty neat, minus the fact that two loud, middle-aged Chinese women standing on either side of me were trying to have a yelling match through my head...
After enjoying the light show, I walked back through Kowloon, on Nathan Rd. (sort of the main drag). Apparently I must have met many people here already, because they all seemed to know me ("Hey, my friend! Come over here"). Apparently they all work in the tailoring business and have some amazing deals for me.
After Nathan Rd, I tried some Hong Kong style milk tea, which is made with sweetened condensed milk. Then, I continued on to the Temple St. Market. Disappointing. There were many stalls peddling their trinkets of "jade" and other household things no one really needs, and surprisingly, many stalls selling cheap looking latex things for adults. Repugnant. I had had enough for today.
When I got to Hong Kong, I took the sleek airport express train to Kowloon station where I was picked up by a shuttle from my hotel. Hong Kong is pretty neat, they're really into high density. The whole city feels...well, smushed together. There's not a lot of room to breathe.
After checking in, I hopped on the shuttle again to get to Tsim Sha Tsui, which is the southern tip of Kowloon. I walked by all the high end luxury shops, visited the space museum (happened to be free admission day), and bought some Doritos at Sogo, a Japanese department store. I visited the Avenue of Stars, which is like a Hong Kong walk of fame for famous Chinese movie stars (ie Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan). Then, at 8pm I watched (along with hundreds of other pushy, loud chinese people) the light show put on by the skyscrapers across the harbour. Pretty neat, minus the fact that two loud, middle-aged Chinese women standing on either side of me were trying to have a yelling match through my head...
After enjoying the light show, I walked back through Kowloon, on Nathan Rd. (sort of the main drag). Apparently I must have met many people here already, because they all seemed to know me ("Hey, my friend! Come over here"). Apparently they all work in the tailoring business and have some amazing deals for me.
After Nathan Rd, I tried some Hong Kong style milk tea, which is made with sweetened condensed milk. Then, I continued on to the Temple St. Market. Disappointing. There were many stalls peddling their trinkets of "jade" and other household things no one really needs, and surprisingly, many stalls selling cheap looking latex things for adults. Repugnant. I had had enough for today.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)