Travelogue around Asia Pacific

Singapore - After reading about tea, I wondered what is English breakfast tea .  Doing some research, English Breakfast tea is actually black tea but the English likes to drink their tea with milk and sugar.   I love to drink without either - that is the way tea is to be drunk. There is the Earl Grey Tea - is a tea blend with a distinctive flavour and aroma derived from the addition of oil extracted from the rind of the bergamot orange, a fragrant citrus fruit.

Singapore - Tea is recognized as the 2nd most consumed beverage behind water.  Tea was first discovered by the Chinese in 2737 BC and has always been recognised for its purifying and fortifying qualities.  It also clears the mind.   I try to drink this everyday and everytime a request is made 'what would you like to drink?' - it will always be tea.  Strangely though there are many types of tea, it is basically the drying and processing of only ONE species of plant called camellia sinensis.  Herbal teas or herbal infusions are not really tea, but simply dried leaves and flowers of various other plants and herbs. Even though all teas come from only one species, there are 3 major variety:  The China (small leaves and generally thrives at higher altitudes); the India or Assam (small leaves and generally thrives at lower altitudes) and the Hybrid (in-between the Chinese and Indian). Tea making is an art - the processing of camellia's leaves into t...

Singapore - Whenever I travel, my iphone has been a blessing - snaping photos of places unique and interesting.   This is until I read an article that taking photos on iPhone can divulge more information that I really want to. According to CNet, pictures taken with the newer generation of cell phones can reveal your exact location through a technology known as geotagging.  The geographical location of where photos were taken - in the form of latitutude and longitude coordinates - is encoded, and anyone who has a copy of the photos can access this information. When posted on the social networking website or blogs, the photos - with the geographical coordinates analysed - can reveal such information as where you live, who you live with, who you go out with and your commuting patterns. The location information is encoded in the Exif metadata of photos.  Metadata is a term for the description information embedded inside an image or another type of file.  The ...

Jakarta - Going out for Lunch can be a big hassle because of the heavy traffic jam especially along Sudirman Rd.   Finally we reach Pacific Place - this is a classy mall with Ritz Calton Hotel beside it.  Ritz Calton has 2 luxury class hotels in Jakarta - One is located at Mega Kuningan district called Ritz Calton Jakarta (which got bombed by terrorist) and the other at Pacific Place.   The Ritz Calton Hotel and JW Mariott located at Mega Kuningan is around the Embassy street. I just checked the price for Ritz Calton Pacific Place and it's around USD 300 per night - wow very expensive. Lunch was at the Linkway half way between Pacific Place and Jakarta Stock Exchange Building - a Sundanese restaurant - Dapur Sunda - B1 # 17.   I like Sundanese food and enjoyed it very much - Gurame Goreng, Gurame Bakar and Kangkong chili.  One of the best known restaurant in Jakarta and have many branches around Jakarta. One of the dish was 'pete' w...

Jakarta - Upon arrival at the Jakarta airport, I walked past what looks like immigration for 'Foreigners' but thought nothing of it.  When I reached the usual immigration counters, I was puzzled as all the signs overhead read 'Indonesian' and I thought there must be some error.  Until I heard a Immigration officer shouted 'Foreigners' up there.  I looked and this officer was pointing back to where I just walked past.   I had to walk back a few metres to the location and there were immigration counters with signs overhead that read 'Foreigners'. Once I cleared immigration, got into a taxi limousine and the ride took about 1hr to each Le Meridien Jakarta Hotel.   There were traffic jams once we start entering the outkirts of Jakarta.   I was told by my driver that 'Golden Bird' are the black mercedes car with black license plate with any taxi sign and it looks like a private car.   'Silver Bird' is metred black mercedes...

Seoul - South Korea boast the world's fastest Internet connections - the fastest globally by far - but that is still not good enough for the government. The country intends to connect every home in the country to the Internet at one gigabit per second by the end of 2012.  That woud be a ten fold increase from its already blazing national standard today and that is more than 200 times as fast as the average household setup in the United States. The South Korean average internet connections are far faster than those in Hong Kong, which is ranked No.2 in the world, and Japan at No. 3.  South Korea cities also hold the top 11 spots worldwide for Internet connection speed, with four Japanese cities rounding out the top 15.  Hong Kong ranks 46th over all.  The US city with the fastest Internet speed is San Jose, California in 57th place. This is amazing that South Korea was once poorer than North Korea, and is now the world's 13th largest economy.  It recovered...

Singapore - I was there with my family in December and we had good fun and memories.   Unfortunately, on February 17 early morning, one of the many Tour boat plying Halong Bay sank and killed 12 people. Some of the breaking News worldwide http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_636192.html http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/vietnam-halong-bay-boat-accident-kills-11-foreigners-list-of-names-51466.html I read so much about Halong Bay and being a UNESCO site, I wanted to bring my family there.  But when I researched over the Internet - there were so many companies plying their tours and which do I choose.   Prices range from the low of US$75 to the high of US$300.     But the best advice is to read the forums and my best was TripAdvisor .   The forumers gave lots of tips but you also have to do your own research,  There were so many horror stories which you can spend hours crawling the tripadvior...

Bangalore - I had a harrowing time in getting onto the Internet.  It started in the Hotel room when the network went down.   So, the Hotel sent their technican to my room to fix the problem.  The technician tried all the ususal keys and it does not work.  I told him that their server is down.  Show him that I am not able to ping to http://www.google.com/ . He went back fixed the problem and for a short time it work and then it went down again.   Throughout my stay, I was not able to use VPN at all.  Tired everything but to no avail. So, quite pissed I called front desk and told them that I am not able to get onto the internet and I have already paid for it - 'No problem, sir.  We will not bill you'. Hotel woes => no Internet and cannot use VPN. Hmmm, maybe if I go to the Airport and sit in the lounge I can get access.  Arrived about 2.5 hrs earlier - sat in the Lounge, it is only free for 15 minutes.  So, after 15 m...

Bangalore - After having breakfast, VN driver picked me up to his office.   Look how dangerous it is to hang perilously outside the bus.  Obviously to me, the bus fare is free since there is no seat for him but he has to hang on for his dear life. Hanging on a crowded bus Sign in green says 'Follow Lane Discipline' This sign stems from motorist cutting in and out of lanes - 2 lanes can become 4 lanes.  Traffic ahead More Traffic Amazing tree of  bills

Bangalore - When I arrived, there was the Hotel taxi waiting for me and we left the airport @ 10:22pm but in Singapore it is already 12:52am (that is 2.5 hrs behind).   There are many touts for illegal taxi - AVOID at all costs.  There are authorized taxis that will bring you to your destination otherwise get the Hotel to fetch you. On the plane, I finally watch the movie RED (Retired and Extremely Dangerous).   Starring old folks in an action movie.  Solid casts - more laughable than action but I still enjoyed it. As I am still wide awake.  I decided to watch another movie - CONVICTION.  This is a true story of a sister that puts herself through Law School to get her innocent brother out of prison.  She succeeded after 20 years. From the airport, it was a straight road with cars honking at one another.  My driver was driving in and out at around 80km/hr and at times 110km/hr.   He was driving a Chevy of a mode...