Travelogue around Asia Pacific

Food Courts Many departmental stores have modern and international food courts with various choices of food - most popular I have seen are "Oporto", "MacDonalds", "Subway", Asian food and European food. The stall that served South East Asian foods are usually dishes with rice, noodles and laksa - most of the stall holders speak Cantonese - mostly likely Malaysian Chinese. Laksa is a Singapore dish - an equivalent of it comes from Malaysia and they called it "Curry Mee". The taste is about the same but with some ingredients that make this a unique Singapore dish. The most famous in Singapore is Katong Laksa - during lunch times, queue lined up waiting to savour this dish and they come from all over Singapore. Hailed as Singapore one of Singapore's national dish . For Asian food , the ones that I had tasted at food courts in Sydney did not taste good - like Laksa, Wan ton noodles or Char Sui (BBQ pork) noodles. Can you imagine pay...

G'day mate...It is a beautiful Autumn Sunday in Sydney - very cool at 20-24 degree Celsius. I took the taxi to the Hilton Sydney Hotel and that has always been my mode of transport in Australia - very expensive but I had no choice - and I think it is about 1 notch less expensive than taking a taxi in Tokyo within the whole Asia Pacific. About 45 minutes from Sydney airport to the City centre - it cost me A$37.30 (about S$48.49). The exhange rate to Singapore dollar is now S$ 1.30 to A$1.00. - it used to be 1:1, 3 years ago. About the same distance from my home to Singapore Changi airport cost me S$17.60. That is about 2.5 times - Wow! Hotel : Hilton Sydney Hotel @ 488 George Street Background : I have stayed here about 8 years ago - previously a tourist oriented hotel - quite old and run down. My room Hotel Review : Very modern renovated with 2 entrances from George Street and Pitt Street. The Lobby with high ceilings - staff very professional and the best par...

It is good that Korea is taking a constructive effort to celebrate marriage. May 21 has been designated as married couples' day. The Korean Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs on 24th April 2007 declared May 21 as the day to celebrate marriage - the root of family. It states that "Modern Society is suffering from broken families because of divorce. It is important to celebrate marriages as it is a big part in not only an individual's life, but also in society. The date is fixed by law and the date 21 stands for "two (2) become one (1)."

For a frequent traveller rushing through crowded airports, hotels and other public places make ideal targets for ID thieves on the prowl for personal information. "How do you prevent it from happening to you?" This is a growing problem and the bad news is that you really cannot prevent it but there are simple steps that you can take to minimize your risk and protect yourself when you are on the road. Dump your debit card You should never use a debit card when you travel, use credit card instead. Because debit card purchases are deducted from a checking account at the time they're made, which means that the cash has been siphoned out of your account before you are able to dispute fradulent charges. Put your wallet on a diet Never bring along your NRIC/Identity Card when you travel - your passport is good enough. In Singapore, your NRIC is used as identity in most places and thus it is important to keep it at home. Your driver's license would be necessary if you are int...

The Famous Seoul Tower Some Korean words are similar to Mandarin language - Nam San in Korean means South Mountain - sounds similar to Mandarin as South Mountain.   View from the cable car At the cable car station on top of Namsan Cherry Blossom in Seoul Cherry Blossom in Seoul This time of the year is the best season to visit Korea as the temperature is very nice at 15-28 degrees celsius and the Cherry blossoms are in full splendor. It was an awesome sight to behold. Cherry blossoms lined the roads Mr. Ko get blown by Cherry blossom wind

Korean Curry and seeing Green A Game of Badminton During lunch, my friends at LG Group decided to have a game of badminton which was fine by me since I have not played it for quite a while. They are very good - playing it every day during lunch time. We spent about 30 minutes trashing the shuttlecock and had a good work out. LG Canteen Then we took a slow walk back to LG building to their canteen for lunch. The lunch at the canteen was very systematic - at the entrance we had to choose one of 2 menus for the day and then walk left for menu A OR right for menu B. Once I made my choice I walked up to the counter, queued for for lunch, took a tray, put all the small side dishes and then your choice main course. K orean Curry Today's menu choice was Korean Curry or some soupy dish - I chose the Korean curry and I was not disappointed - it tasted good. Walk up the cashier and hand-in my coupon given to me by my LG friends. Green Tea Latte I had it twice here in Seoul - once @ illy'...

Bul-Gal-Bi (Korean BBQ Beef ribs) Everytime I visit Seoul, I must make my 'pilgrimage' to a Korean BBQ restaurant. This is one of my favourite dishes when I am in Seoul. I have discovered that I cannot find a similiar Korean type Bul-Gal-bi in Singapore or around Asia. On this trip, I had twice Korean BBQ for dinner. Galbi literally means "rib" in Korean. Prepared typically from beef short ribs these succulent ribs are cut to cook fast without the toughness you'd get otherwise. It can be seasoned or unseasoned, and in the seasoned variety, the ribs are marinated in a sauce made from fruit juice (generally Asian pear juice), rice wine, soy sauce, garlic, sesame seed oil and sugar. When cooked on a grill, the meat is usually cut in thin slices across the bones. This permits the marinade to penetrate the meat faster, allows the meat to cook more quickly, and makes it easier to eat the finished dish with chopsticks. Galbi is generally served in restaurants known as ...

Koreans are drinking more alcohol - Today, it was reported that Koreans drank 80 million litres more alcoholic beverages last year compared to 2005. I know they are good drinkers but wow! 80 million litres - that is a lot of alcoholic beverages. Each adult drank an aveage 80 bottles of beer, 72 bottles of soju and 1.7 bottles of whiskey according to the Korean National Tax Service. The volume of alcoholic beverages produced last year amounted to 3.16 billion litres, rising by 80 million liters from 2005. Also alcohol production in Korea is on the rise since 2002 except in 2005 when it fell by 92 million litres from the previous year. It was stated that the increase in alcohol production is partly attributed to the rising number of female drinkers and the increasing number of beverages with low alcohol content being introduced to the market. What is Soju? Soju (소주) is an alcoholic beverage with origins in Korea. The main ingredient is rice, almost always in combination with other ingre...

SQ new plane - The first thing that struck me when entering the cabin of Singapore Airlines SQ 16 to Seoul was the ultra freshness of the cabin - it gives you a good feeling that this plane is "youthful". Just like getting into your brand new car - you can smell the newness oozing out from under the seats. The spaciousness of this spanking new plane is just awesome. It's the latest Boeing 777-300ER and it was nice - Boeing calls it the largest long-range twin-engine jetliner. Even the bath rooms are well thought out, with full length mirrors and well placed lights to make it look posh. The in flight entertainment is much better and more user friendly. I always look forward to the movies on board my flight because I do not have time to go to the movies with 3 kids in tow and work...nah. With the headsets on - I have my privacy and the latest movies to keep me occupied throughout the journey. I managed to squeeze two movies in the 5hrs+ flight to Seoul - James Bond ...

The flight into KLIA was brief just 50 minutes from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur - the best part was the fast and efficient KLIA express train from the airport straight into KL Sentral - cost me RM$ 35. From Sentral I catched the taxi to Federal Hotel . I usually stayed at Hilton Kuala Lumpur or Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur - both are 5-star beautifully designed hotels. Both have porters that will take your lugguage from the Sentral train station to the reception. Hotel Review: Hotel : Federal Hotel @ 35 Jalan Bukit Bintang Pros : The Federal Hotel is very near the main shopping area of Bukit Bintang. Cons : The hotel building looks old and badly needs a renovation. The reception was impersonal and this would be my last stay ever at that hotel until the hotel renovate or upgrade - the only reason I stayed there was because of my customer was located at Jalan Pudu - just a 10 minutes walk to their office. There is a musky and stale air in the room - the furnishings was just basic and old - n...