April 15th - 20th Hong Kong & Macau in between

"Business Central"

Back in Hong Kong. The lifestyle in Hong Kong is incredible. I've witness first hand people lining up to buy stocks on the stock market. Kenneth & I took the train to Disneyland and was warned not to go in. It was missing many rides compared to the one in California so we ending up taking pictures from the outside. We then continued on our day on to the business district of HK.

Macau took only three hours for us to finish, as we just did a round of sight seeing after being suckered in by an aggressive tour guide @ the ferry terminal. Vegas is going in with the Venetian being completed in July 2007 & the starting construction of the new MGM Grand. The Wynn is extremely short & small compared to its Vegas sister. I loved Macau for its history as the beautiful Portuguese settlements had a lot of beautiful buildings and architectures. Next time we will go back and spend a couple of nights to enjoy some of the food & nightlife.

Ngong Ping 360! Home of the Buddha... Incredible attractions! BTW, great hat selections for 1/2 the price @ the night markets! Once you take the cable cart up there that is... & great outlet stores. Why did we have to come here on our very last day??? if only we had found this outlet stores earlier on our trip! Overall HK was incredible... Thanks to Kenneth's Aunt for providing us with the accommodation!

April 13th - 15th Nagoya

"Ko-ni-chi-wa!"

Not knowing a word of Japanese, this was a very big learning experience for me trying to get to my hotel from the airport in the beginning was a challenge. You can get by with just English, better yet, I had Jon show me around for the couple of days I was there. My hotel room was super tiny!

Fashion, $, & friendly people. Japan by far is the most advanced society that I've experienced. In my short stay @ Nagoya, I can feel how different their way of life really is. Everyone looks like they just stepped off the runway. Fashion forward men & women are decked out in high end brands such as LV & Burberry. After the recent licensing obtained by Sanyo to produce Burberry line in Japan. Almost everyone had a Burberry product.

Oh yeah, who can forget their technology from high tech toilets to their cabs with automatic doors! Taxi drivers get really mad when you open or close their doors... Remember, just knock on the window & hop in.

The nightlife, fashion, & extremely hot women... Now I know why most guys go there & stay there to teach English : p "Japanese lessons anyone?"

April 11th - 13th Hong Kong

"Wow!"

Flew business class from KL to HK. I met up with Kenneth on the Wednesday and right away we hit a restaurant, met up with some new & old friends. We had dinner and wet shopping on the streets! The live atmosphere with vendors and rows of fortune tellers filled the streets @ night selling everything you can imagine. This particular street was packed with both tourists & locals.

While driving home on the first night we got to witness a police raid on a building and produce wholesale HK style! 24ft produce trucks unloaded all their pallets on to the streets, then wholesalers literally build their pallets on the streets to distribute to the retailers! Amazing what you do when you run out of space.

Time Square, World trade centre, Colour changing buildings. Hong Kong is filled with amazing sky scrapers & unbelievable shopping districts. The whole region is a shopping paradise! It's incredible train system goes deep underground! Of course there's the nightlife district, even on a Thursday night it is alive with tourists & locals looking for a good time.

April 3rd - 11th Kuala Lumpur, Pinang, Melacca, Genting Highlands

"Home of South East Asia's Economic Twin Icons"

Home of the famous Pretronas Twin Towers, KL is fascinating. With its beautiful highways & beautiful rest areas filled with fresh fruits & a downtown filled with gorgeous sky scrapers, famous brands, and excellent vacation destinations with just a short drive. I was fortunate enough to have my aunt & uncle welcome me into their homes and take me to almost all of the major attractions. I even had to extend my stay for three days because there was so much to see.

Georgetown Pinang, a tourist hot spot was alive and filled the streets at night as my uncle took me there on the second day I arrived in KL. I got to eat my "Toad & Alligator!"and I also tried the delicious Laksa at the foot of the temple. Malacca a tiny city filled with lots of western history and Genting Highlands the only legalized gambling facility in Malaysia was also a big draw to both locals from Singapore & Malaysia.

Besides the commercialized attractions, there were a lot of religious monuments like the famous Batu Caves. Did you know that Malaysia has a leaning tower? Got to see that on the way to Pinang and finally of course, it was F1 weekend while I was there, "Too bad our schedule didn't quite match up, maybe next time... :)"

March 24th - April 3rd Miri, Malaysia & Seria, Brunei

"Home is where the heart is."

My aunt came with me to Kuching as we visited my dad's younger brother, her older brother. I was happy to finally be home. The smile on my uncle's face said it all as we arrived @ the house in Brunei, after my cousin picked us up from the Miri airport. Both of my aunts were awesome and everyone is doing great. Finally got to meet my little cousin for the first time. It was important for me to come home and take a chance to head up to my grand parent's cemetery. I got to do that twice once with my aunts, and the second time with my cousin & uncle.

Having grand uncles in Miri, we headed back down driving back & fourth as I visited relatives as much as I could. Just remember for you that are planning to do the same, make sure to visit them with an empty stomach.

My family is known for noodles & Lo Choo Fen in Miri & Seria. Every where we went as my cousin drove us around, we had to eat. It was great times... Now, I'm off to KL to visit more family members. Waiting @ my cousin's place in Miri for a delayed flight from Air Asia...