I’d have to say that, out of all my travels, my trip to Taipei has been the most gastronomical of all. About 80% of our trip comprised of visits to famous night markets, restaurants, etc., and that all just literally translates into food, food, and even more food!
Aside from famous night markets, Taiwan also has so much more to offer. We also got the chance to visit some prominent landmarks like the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, the famous Taipei 101, and much more.
Last days in my Japan trips always leave me feeling a bit down, but at the same time, extremely pumped up to maximize my remaining days in the country. At this time, I felt like I already had a good fill of what Nagoya had to offer, and hoped that I could come back again one day to experience whatever I may have missed out on.
I tend to forget how different it feels like to step into a place of historical significance. Though, heritage and conservation wasn’t exactly my specialty back in architecture college days (I took Environmental Management Planning as an elective), that does not go to say that I have no interest in history and culture! (In fact, I am deeply interested in it, with my love for art museums and such! hehe :p)
On a slightly rainy day, we were finally being able to visit Nagoya Castle. Once arriving, after stepping past the gate, I felt my imagination stretch a little bit and began to picture what life must have been like many years ago. I was very impressed with how they were able to preserve and maintain the place, since I noticed how the pathways were spotlessly clean and the built structures were still in very good condition.
I’ve always wondered what winter felt like in other countries. I remember the last “winter” (actually closing to spring already, so it didn’t really count?) I was last able to experience was back at Los Angeles, USA. I was still in the second grade of primary school. We were able to catch up with the last few hints of snow up towards the mountain area. It felt like such a surreal moment as a child to actually be able to experience those generic fantasies of being to build your own snowman, having snowball fights, making snow angels on the ground, and the like. Although being able to feel the snow was an enjoyable experience on its own, the main difference was that the cold in the atmosphere was not the same as that of an actual real winter. Thus, leading to this thirst to experience it one day.
Getting lost in an undersea forest can be such a captivating and sublime experience. I’ve always had this thing for sea creatures and the random mystical concepts of their existence that play in my head—ideas of mermaids, the Loch Ness monster, and the like. Being in The Lost Chambers of the Atlantis made me experience just that.
The Ibn Battuta Mall is one of the most uniquely designed malls I’ve ever seen. Coming from an architecture background, it makes sense to me for a mall to maximize space by stacking it up to a couple of floors; however, this mall only stands with a singular floor with areas branching out into different kinds of “zones.” Because of its design, you can say that it’s highly accessible for all kinds of people (wheel chair friendly, easily walk-able, etc.).
Though, what stands out the most about this mall is its interior design. While its exterior is interesting in its own way with the massive circular hole that punches through the facade of the building, to me, its interior is what makes it even more of a gem of an architectural beauty. I’ll let the photos do the talking.
A trip Dubai will never be complete without experiencing an actual real desert (redundancy for emphasis!)! This was the day that we looked forward to the most, since it was whole day fixed on an immersive experience of the Desert Safari.
If you’re planning to book for the Desert Safari, I suggest you plan it a bit in advance so that you can find out when the drivers are available. For ours, we were actually supposed to go two days before, but had to reschedule due to the driver’s availability. We were lucky enough to make flexible adjustments, since our friends in Dubai already had contacts. But, if you’re coming in as independent tourists, I suggest you do your researching and planning in advance. The research will also help you land cheaper bookings.
It would be difficult for me to write about our day at the Mall of Emirates, since we were so wound up in our shopping, the word “shopping” would just literally be the main description for that day! (lol) I’m not too sure if you can count the Mall of Emirates as the counterpart of the Mall of Asia in the Philippines, but, to me, what mainly stands out about the Mall of Emirates is its gorgeous exterior design AND interior design, plus the fact that it has a space for indoor skiing (yup, you read right!) which is called Ski Dubai.
Recently, I have been getting a lot of questions from friends regarding planning a trip to Japan–questions such as, when is the best time to go?; what places should I go to?; where is the best place to stay in?; etc. Having done a lot of research about Japan, as well as having gone there a few times, I thought it best to come up with a blog entry that simplifies all those questions by providing the most direct answers.
With Tokyo being the most popular area to visit, I decided to focus on that area first by sharing some pieces of experience from my trip there during last year’s summer (Tokyo’s summer, i.e. June-August), and by also sharing whatever knowledge I have gained about it during all my research. So, let’s get down to it!
I cannot begin to imagine just how much spare land Dubai has in order to come up with such massive projects. Currently coming up with such feats in built projects, such as the Burj Khalifa, and the Burj Al Arab, it just seems that Dubai is such a huge clean slate with so much spaces and opportunities to conceive ideas and build on them. For today, we visited just one of those kinds of projects–a massive theme park called Global Village.