Travelogue around Asia Pacific

Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival , which is China's equivalent of America's Thanksgiving holiday - this could be recognized as one of China's happiest holiday besides of course the Chinese New Year! Like Thanksgiving, it is a time when people reunite with their families and get together, be with loved ones and celebrate the year's harvest. In China, people come together and enjoy a feast of mooncakes. Like many Chinese tradition, this one stems from ancient legend. A long time ago, 10 suns circled the earth. One day, all 10 suns appeared in the sky together and the heat caused a great drought. A famous archer named Hou Yi came to the rescue, shooting down nine of the suns and earning himself vast acclaim. The Emperor awarded him a beautiful wife, as well as an immortality pill. One day while Hou Yi was out, his wife ate the pill. She became a fairy and floated to the moon, leaving a heartbroken husband at home on Earth. The gods noticed the couple's deep love and ...

TOKYO - I was determined to see this fish market which I understood is the larget in the world. Told the front desk to wake me up at 4.30am - had to repeat to her several times before she understood it was 4.30am. Got the morning call as expected..to be even "kiasu" - I set the alarm on my hand phone and the bed-side clock too. At 4.30am, I did not want to wake up but I dragged myself out of bed and took the taxi (about Yen 17,000) from Hotel East 21 to Tsukiji about 20 minutes away by taxi. Tokyo Central Wholesale Market handled 787,782 tons (2,888 tons a day) of marine products, 748 billion yen (2.8 billion yen a day). Some 450 kinds of fish are received; this figure is unparalleled in the world. Marine products sections are set up in three markets: Tsukiji, Ohta and Adachi. Above all Tsukiji Market, handling 87% of the total amount, is one of the biggest markets in the world. There are plans by the Japanese Government to relocate Tsukiji fish market to another locati...

TOKYO - After a day of meetings, Terry brought us to a French restaurant - this is really high class fine dinning. The restaurant is Ochanomizu Ogawaken and has 2 floors - 1st and basement. 1st floor is used only for Lunch and the basement is only used for dinner. The basement has only less than 10 tables. The food is excellent and came in minute portions. They served 5 rounds of apetitisers, and then the main course. It is the ambience that made this place very cosy and classy. I understood the bill for 3 persons came up to over US$400 - wow!

TOKYO - Arrived today from Seoul and stayed at Hotel East 21. The good news is that there is a direct Limo Bus to the Hotel but only twice a day from Narita to Hotel East 21. My first trip to Tokyo was on 7 Aug 2000, thus making this trip my 21st trip to Tokyo. Leaving @ 10:25am and 5.25pm. I caught the 5.25pm Limo bus that took me directly to the Hotel - this is much more convenient. Next time, I will time my SQ flight to catch this Limo bus transfer. Hotel East 21 rooms are much smaller but for the price I am paying - it's ok. This Hotel is also popular for families going to the Tokyo disneyland as there are shuttle to and fro provided by the Hotel. This time I travelled with Mahboud and he wants to try Okonomiyaki (I tried it once before) and the concierge told us that it is around Kiba station, could not give us an exact location. It was quite a distance to Kiba station and we manage to find the restaurant with the help of a convenience store boss. I was not disappointed with ...

SEOUL - Meetings after meeting, we finally had a good dinner at a good sashimi (raw seafood) restaurant few kilometres outsides of Seoul City. It was a good drive but worth the time taken as the restaurant had a homey ambiance - Hari Sen Bon (tel: 031-707-6777, 2577, 1477) is the name of the restaurant. We had plates and plates of sashimi of many types of fishes. The fresh taste of sea urchin does not go well on my palate - it's taste is bitter even after dipping with strong wasabi (also known as Japanese horseradish). Wasabi is the root of the Japanese horseradish. I have not seen the origination of wasabi - mostly in Japanese restaurant it comes in a small dish of green paste. But I was once introduced by my Japanese partner (Kinya) in Tokyo which he demonstrated to me the art of eating Soba. He took the greenish root (Wasabi) and grated it on surface of a small board made of shark skin. The root eventually became the green wasabi paste.

SEOUL - Arriving on a Sunday was good because of lesser traffic on the highway, so I got to the Renaissance Seoul Hotel much faster. It was a tiring flight as I just got back home from Beijing on Saturday and had a turnaround flight to Seoul on Sunday. I slept most of the time on the flight to Seoul. I had an aisle seat which I reserved and had two unpleasant experience of passengers trying to take my seat. I stood firm and say this is my seat and I am not going to move, since I took the time to reserve it over the net. Upon arrival at the Hotel, Young Jin was already waiting for me at the Hotel. He looks chirpy after a week of work cum vaccation with his family in Singapore. Dinner was at the Eel restaurant (same restaurant I had on 18 July) - it was very crowded this time with many Koreans. It's summer so the weather was hot so we sat near the air-conditioner. After dinner, we adjourned to a traditional drinking house serving dong-dong ju.

BEIJING - You have not tasted Beijing till you had your Beijing Duck. I have tried numerous Beijing Duck but this restaurant in Beijing was the best ever. Beijing or Peking Duck it is the same. Peking is the former name for the Brits that cannot pronounce Beijing. Restaurant: Beijing DaDong Roast Duck Restaurant - The dish is mostly prized for the thin, crispy skin with authentic versions of the dish serving mostly the skin and little meat. Most Chinese restaurants will make two dishes out of one duck -- one with thin slices of skin with a small layer of fat, or none at all, underneath, and another one with the duck meat. The latter is often a stir-fry dish or made into duck soup.

BEIJING - The flight from Singapore took about 5hrs to reach Beijing. The plane was packed like on most SQ flights. The last time I was in Beijing was more than 7 years ago. I don't remember the city being covered with so much smog. It would be amazing to see how the municipal government plans to rid of the smog covered city especially since the Beijing Olympics is only next year. Apart from that, there are many foreigners everywhere trying to catch a glimpse of what ancient Beijing was. Beijing has a rich culture and for new comers it would be good to visit the Great Wall of China, Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, Summer Palace, etc. I have visited these places of interest before and would like to revisit them again next trip. I stayed at the Trader Hotel (part of the Shangri-La group) @ 1 Jian Guo Men Wai Avenue. The Shangri-La group is owned by a rich Malaysian tycoon family - Kuok, whose family are called the sugar king. They now based themselves out of Hong Kon...