Bangalore new MRT

'Know thyself' - Socrates

Bangalore - The city of Bangalore ran its maiden MRT on 20 Oct 2011 after much delay of more than a year.    The next time,  I will try this service...

http://bmrc.co.in/

It was originally mean to start operations in March 2010, the metro rail project missed three subsequent deadlines before it was inaugurated with great fanfare.  In the 1st phase, the metro will run from the city's Mahatma Gandhi (MG) Road to Byappanahalli, a distance of 6.7km, six stops away.  When completed in 2014, the metro will have a network extending to 42 km.   This will alleviate Bangalore bad traffic problem with a city population of 9.6 million and still growing.

The train services starts every morning from Byappanahalli to MG Road at 6am each direction.  The frequency of trains will be 15 minutes between 6am  and 8am, 10 minutes between 8am and 8pm, and back to 15 minutes 8pm onwards till closing at 10pm.

Airport Express train to Incheon Airport

"To educate a person's mind and not his character is to educate a menace." Theodore Roosevelt

Seoul - I took for the 1st time the airport express train to Incheon airport and it was hassle free.  As I stayed in Courtyard @ Timesquare - the bus services to Incheon airport is always not on time.  The reason it is a commute bus and not a schedule Airport Limo bus.   As I had limited time, taking the Airport Express to Incheon Airport was the best decision - cost W13,300.  The train leaves Incheong airport every half an hr and on the hour - 5am till 9.30pm

The Airport Railway Express (AREX) train comprised of two lines: an express line that goes non-stop from the Incheon Aiport to Seoul Station (a 43-min ride) and a commuter line, which runs parallel and makes stops at major subway stations in the downtown area.   The AREX extension to Seoul station was only completed on 29 Dec 2010.

Back to Seoul

Daegu City/Seoul - My alarm woke me up at 8:30am as I  have to meet Young Jin and Tony in the Lobby to check out.   Our KTX express train leaves at 9:55am bound for Seoul.   I was half asleep and catching my bearings after a late night with HanaIT and only got back to the room @ 3am.  It was a very short nap.  So quickly brush teeth, bathe, pack my backpack and to check out.   I called Tony to ensure he is awake.  I do not know Young Jin room number but since he's room is next to mine it should be # 1304 but then the phone had an engaged tone.  I tried a 2nd time without success.   I then realized that there are no number 4 in this Hotel so I called room # 1305 and got hold of him.  

Took a taxi to the Daegu KTX station and had a quick bite of Croissants.  The croissants at Paris Barquette was just heavenly.   Tony got for me water and it was in a cute container which I took home to show my kids.

Upon reaching Seoul, we had lunch together and I had bibimbab with raw beef.   Young Jin said
it is very delicious, and trusting him I tried and in fact it was.

The red stuff is 'raw beef'

Supper Time

Daegu - Supper time was Daegu famous dish - pig's intestine and lots and lots of Soju.  The beloved liquor of Koreans - we had at least 8 bottlkes of Soju.   It was great fun and supper was a good way to wind down the evening.  With the fermented bean curt soup, it will stave off any impending hang-over.

Beef Ribs over hot coals

Young Jin, Tony and Cho

Pig's large intestine

Super spicy baby octopus

BBQ Dinner with HanaIT

Daegu - Dinner was arranged by HanaIT for an outdoor BBQ session.  To route to this restaurant was difficult as it was off the grid down a narrow path - without a Korean friend it would  be near impossible to guide a taxi to this location.

Garden Park or Garden Part

Arrived @ Daegu City

Daegu City - Departed Seoul on the 10am KTX bullet train and arrived Daegu City about 400km away @ 12pm.    We were zipped off in Mr Do car upon arrival at Daegu to his office.  We had a signing ceremony as this is an important event for both companies.

Tony signing the agreement

Mr Lee signing on behalf of HanaIT

Shaking hands to conclude agreement

After the signing ceremony, we were for a Traditional Korean restaurant.  We had lots of dishes on the table.

This is the Korean Traditional Restaurant

Tony posing for a photo

"My chair has no legs"

Tony's long legs fully stretched out under the table

Korean Pine nut souop

Pine nuts are edible nuts from Pine tree.  In Asia, Korea pine nuts are the most important species for international trade because the Korean Pine tree producces the pine nuts that are large enough to be worth harvesting.

Different types of mushroom in the foreground

that's rice

Korean pancake

Marinated Hong Eo - fermented fish

I wrote about this expensive Korean dish on one of my trips - http://countrytravel.blogspot.com/2010/01/meetings-after-meetings.html

Three slices pork wrapped with Kimchi

Chilli marinated fish with a type of Ginseng

Slices of beef over bean sprouts

Cod fish, Eel and Mussels

Gimpo & 75th trip to Seoul

Seoul - Flew out of Haneda Airport to Gimpo (Seoul) Airport and the flight took 2 hrs.  But the best part was that Gimpo Airport is near Seoul City and took about 30 minutes and 18km.   There were 2 emails sent to me from Courtyar Times Square informing me that my current credit card cannot be processed and my room will be released.   I was in Tokyo at that time and was hoping mad as this credit card was used throughout my trip in Tokyo.   I wrote back to the Hotel to express my disappointment and was surprised when I checked-in that they upgrade my room and Tony's to a suite.  Nice!

The suite room is about twice the normal room with a cosy living room.  My room was ready whilst Tony's wasn't so we decided to put our luggage down and hunt for lunch at the Mall next door.   We walked around 5th floor and then took the escalator down to the 4th floor.  Finally settling at a Thai Restaurant called ' Ahan Thai'.

The manager was not able to communicate conversantly in English and kept saying that both of us must take the set.   Why can't one person take the set and the other choose ala carte, he said no with no reason being given.  We finally settle to take the set - 3 dishes - spicy seafood glass noodles, main course 'Pad Thai' - stir fried rice noodles and tea/coffee for Won 11,000.   This was one of the worse Thai dishes I have ever eaten - the Pad Thai was not smooth and a bit tough on the palate plus it's too oily.

At about 5:30pm, we had a congratulatory sessison with Young Jin for the sizeable deal he brought in for the APAC region - toast of whisky.   Then we are off to meet Kevin for dinner.   Dinner was good as it was at a Bulgogi restaurant.  The beef bulgogi was so good we had 5 seets of it with lettuce wraps.   Simply delicious....

Bulgogi

Spicy dry cold noodles

Cold Noodles

Sushi Restaurant

Tokyo - The weather was nice and chilly at around 25 degree celsius.   I took a nice photo outside of my room.  In the background is Tokyo Tower.

The Hotel East 21 toilet mirror is heated so that you are able to see your reflection without the fog.  This is what I meant.....the only hotel that I have stayed in that does it.

For dinner, Terry brought Tony and I to a sushi restaurant about 2 subways stations from Toyocho station - roughly about a good 20 minutes walk.   The weather was good, windy and around 23 degrees Celsius - so walking was really nice.  Furthermore, this will heighten my appetite for good sushi.   It has been a while since I have to this sushi restaurant.   We sat at the sushi counter and was served by the chef cum owner of the restaurant.

Tuna sashimi

The sashimi just melted in your mouth and it was so fresh.  

scallops and squid with Japanese sauce

2 types of Tuna sushi

Just looking at the 2 sushi makes my mouth water....

Sushi making is an art by itself...

Sushi Shellfish

Male Cod fish genitals

Another type of Shellfish sushi

Hoi An Restaurant in Saigon

Ho Chi Minh City - We walked around Renaissance Riverside Hotel looking for breakfast and came to Bon Sen Hotel cafe.   Bon Sen Hotel is within walking distance from Renaissance Riverside Hotel and opposite Sheraton Hotel.   It was so near - Outside of Renaissance Riverside Hotel, make a left turn and the first junction turn right and walk straight down the road and you will surely reach Bon Sen Hotel.
The breakfast was reasonably priced.

Vietnamese sandwiches

We went to visit a customer and was offer fruits - some rambutans on a plate.  The Rambutans tasted very sweet but it's very small as compared to the ones in Singapore.  The Rambutan skin is very thin.

Rambutans on the plate

For dinner, I decided to go to a Vietnamese restaurant called 'Hoi An Vietnamese Restaurant' located @ 11 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1.     We were directed upstairs and the atmosphere was fine dinning and most of the patrons were foreigners.   The waiter gave me a menu of drinks, which I put aside and asked for the food menu.  He then brought me a set menu and the special set menu of the day started at USD 45++ per person.  So, I asked him again - can you bring me the ala carte menu?  of which he reluctantly brought it for me.   This is a very expensive Vietnamese restaurant and you come here once for the experience.   You need to be really 'street smart' in this restaurant. 

I observed that when you sit down, they will served you the wine menu.  If you are Japanese and European, they will immediately put a bottle of wine on the table.   Next, they will slip you the set menu.  Avoid that as the prices starts at USD 35++ with simple dishes.    On the ala carte menu, stick to the Vietnamese dishes rather than go for BBQ steak or Lobster.  If you ask the waiter, they will always recommend the most expensive dish on the menu.    

They had live traditional Vietnamese performance, which was pleasant to the ears.

Traditional Vietnamese performances

So, I ordered the apetitiser of scallops pancake which is so delicious.

Scallop fried pancakes

The next dish was intricately sculptured by the chef out of carrots and its a vegetable dish of flower buds and beef.  Also another delicious dish - the beef is so tender.

The next dish is rice vermicilli (Tang Hoon) with crab in clay pot. 

Another interesting dish was fish; also tasted good.   It was still cooking over solid fuel keeping the fish steaming hot.

Our next dish was Pork Ribs in Mulberry leaves.  You feel that the Chef has taken extra care to prepare the food with utmost professionalism.

As for desert, I order mango flambe.

Flambe is a french word that means flamed.  Thus it is a cooking proceedure whereby Alcohol is added to the hot pan to create a burst of flames.  The waitress roll out the cart to prepare this desert in front of us with flaming fire.  The result was a nice sweet taste of mango and alcohol.

This is the wine which made the flambee