So I visited Las Vegas these past few days with Chuck, Teresa, and my bro 12/27-12/30. I’m waiting for the flight back to SFO right now at the Vegas airport. Overall, it was a pretty awesome trip. As expected (I guess…), I ended up down $$, but not too bad… so i feel neutral right now I think I spent a total of at least five to ten hours total at the tables haha

A list of the casinos we hit:

• MGM Grand
  - I stayed at MGM Grand the last time i came to vegas. it’s still pretty much the same inside. i like the layout of the building. there’s a central circular area where you play poker or bet on games. also there’s a big cage area where you can watch lions. and the cirque de soleil show, ka, is inside the building as well. one of my favorite casinos.
• Rio
  - Pretty nice environment, nothing special but nice.
• O’Sheas Casino
  - Really old, quality of players and dealers lower than those of the newer casinos (e.g. Wynn).
• Harrah’s
  - Old, vintage. needs renovation to match up the vibe of the newer casinos.
• Venetian
  - Really nice, i won the most money here so i’m biased.
• Palazzo
  - Average, pretty good. not bad.
• Wynn / Encore
  - Encore is pretty new, it’s like the sister casino of wynn, they are connected by a walkway area. the encore environment was pretty nice. good design and very new / modern.
• Planet Hollywood
  - This used to be Aladdin, the inside of the casino still feels and looks the same as Aladdin back in the day. whoever designed the casino was pretty clever by having only ONE cashier area way in the back of the casino. hot, scantily clad dancers on stages and also as dealers, really nice vibe.
• Palms
  - Kinda dead. although i didn’t really gamble there much, ate buffet there which was also kinda weak (see below).
• Bellagio
  - This is where the classic skyhigh water show that shows up at the end of ocean’s eleven takes place. very nice casino. great shopping mall to pass time in between gambling too. beautiful inside, especially during holiday season. must visit.
• The Orleans
  - Nice architecture, live band inside. mediocre.

Buffets we dined at:

• Bistro Buffet at Palms
  - Not recommended, cheap (less than $20) but food is mediocre. not a long waiting time though.
• The Buffet at Wynn
  - Good buffet, lots of variety and the vibe / setup is pretty inviting and warm. costs about $40-50, we waited in line for a little over an hour.

Show we watched:

• V – The Ultimate Variety Show
  - Some really awesome moments, but overall mehhh. not worth the price in my opinion, $45 at half price for the ticket (go to the half price ticket place on the strip near mgm grand / across from New York New York for cheap tickets).

Clubs we visited:

• Tryst at Wynn
  - Pretty awesome interior setup, lots of people and big dancing area. didn’t end up staying that long, but i’ve heard that this nightclub and Tao at The Ventian are the two must-visit clubs in vegas.

I guess it’s those special attractions in casinos that make you remember the name. After these few days of constant gambling at so many casinos, it’s hard for me to remember unique traits of specific casinos. But MGM’s lion cage for instance sticks out in my mind. Or the scantily clad women at Planet Hollywood. All the others are a blur. Good food for thought when creating a business… Overall it was a pretty fun-tastic trip. We stayed at a friend’s apartment, it was really nice and new. 29th floor view of Vegas = priceless, photos to come!

Last day of our trip

Day 4 (Friday, 7/27)

Total money spent (in USD):

$45 – Round trip, ferry from HK -> Macau
$10 – Lunch at The Venetian
$XX – Money lost in gambling at Macau
$5 – Dinner at the airport

Net expenses: ~USD$60 + $XX

On our last day in Hong Kong, Wei and I headed to Macau to try our luck at the blackjack tables. We checked out of our hostel around 11am and took the ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui to Macau around 12pm. There are two types of ferries, Turbojet and First Ferry. I took Turbojet the last time I went to Macau from Hong Kong, so this time we took First Ferry. Seeing the two of us walk around was quite a sight, Wei’s backpack was basically the size of an adolescent lol

When we got off the ferry at Macau, we were uber excited to get our gamble on, but then… we witnessed mayhem:

This was what we saw as soon as we walked off the boat towards customs. We waited for about one and a half hours in that crowd before getting past customs. It was absolutely ridiculous. I’m not sure if that day was an exception (it was a Sunday BTW) or if it is First Ferry service, but it totally sucked like crazy. Bleh. After we finally got past customs, we headed straight to The Venetian and got some food at the food court (we were starving like mad). Venetian is probably the most high class hotel in Macau, this was my third time there.

We ended up missing our flight by a few minutes but were lucky enough to hop onto the next flight at 12am. It was a pretty hilarious slash pathetic situation for Wei and I when we were buying dinner at the airport. Collectively, we only had a bit of pocket change left due to our luck in Macau. Luckily (again), we had JUST enough to buy ourselves Burger King hamburgers. lol

Conclusion, Hong Kong trip:

This was no doubt a really fun trip and a breath of fresh air from my Taipei life. It was also a reminder that it really does matter WHO you go with on a trip or any outing for that matter. I think it’s safe to say that both Wei and I had a blast from cracking a slew of esoteric inside jokes to speaking with an English accent to Hong Kong folks. Hong Kong is a great place to visit for anywhere from a few days to a week. If you enjoy shopping, nightlife, or sight-seeing, all of the above and more are do-able in Hong Kong. Set the date!

On the streets at Tsim Sha Tsui

Day 3 (Saturday, 7/26)

Total money spent (in USD):

$10 – Transportation costs
$15 – Dinner at PRC
$30 – Shopping in Mong Kok
$10 – Drinks at Lam Kwai Fong

Net Expenses: ~USD$65

Wei and I left our hostel around 11am and went our separate ways. I went to have lunch with my dad and Wei went to Hong Kong Island to have lunch with his buddy Doug. Lunch with my dad was nice, I hadn’t seen him since the last time I visited Hong Kong in February. We had some traditional Hong Kong dim sum at Tsim Sha Tsui.

Afterwards, Wei and I rendezvous-d and headed to Mong Kok. BUT before we did so, we loaded up on some vitamin C ’shots’ at the local Watson’s store:

Yes, super nerdy galore, but we had to try it. The bottle form and label of these little badboys had made us curious since day one. Seeing that we were lacking in energy, it seemed the perfect time to try them out. I don’t think it did much for us in the end :p We got to Mong Kok via MTR around 2pm, it is basically the biggest street market area in Hong Kong, I did a video about Mong Kok on my last visit. We shopped around for a few hours, bought a few items here and there. We encountered a super rude and very low-class street vendor there. She basically got upset when we tried to bargain on a pair of sunglasses (which is a totally normal practice at street markets) and started insulting us left and right. I was close to telling her off in Cantonese but resisted. :p

After a few hours of perusing Mong Kok, our legs were pretty much begging for mercy. So we began what became a surprisingly long search for a coffee shop or cafe (hence the title of this post). I kid you not when I say that we searched for a cafe for an hour. ANY cafe would have worked for us at that point, but there were absolutely none in sight. So we decided to head to Causeway Bay, because we remembered seeing some cafes there yesterday. Unfortunately we still didn’t find any cafes there either. But just as we were about to give up, Wei saw a random sign that had the words “coffee shop” in its title. Without thinking, we headed towards that shop. Turns out it is a very unique hole-in-the-wall bookstore/cafe with a very cool vibe:

The place is called “People’s Recreation Community (PRC)”, they have a lot of Mao ZeDong posters around the shop, it seemed to be their theme. We chilled and ate dinner there for an hour or so, then my buddy Sherman met up with us. We then headed to Lam Kwai Fong to see a jazz band perform at The Fringe Club. It was super cool how everyone was jammed inside a small venue just watching a 15-piece jazz band perform (as opposed to treating them as background music). Six or seven us then headed to Half Past Ten, a lounge in Lam Kwai Fong. We chatted and had some drinks and then Wei and I headed back to the hostel.

Bottom line:

• Mong Kok = street market galore, get cheap stuff there
• PRC = only cafe in Hong Kong haha just kidding, but cafes are damn sparse in HK

Me and Wei, view on the ferry ride from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island around noontime

Day 2 (Friday, 7/25)

Total money spent (in USD):

$20 – Lunch at Isola in IFC
$10 – Transportation costs
$40 – Shopping, clothes
$20 – Dinner, dessert
$10 – Drinks at Lam Kwai Fong

Net expenses: ~USD$100

We left our hostel at around 11AM and took the ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui to Hong Kong Island to have lunch with Wei’s Stanford buddy Doug. The view on the ferry was amazing as usual and the weather was bright and sunny. Since we were going to eat inside the IFC building (tallest building in Hong Kong as of now), we shopped around there a bit and checked out this cool CD store with very aesthetically-pleasing listening booths. We met Doug at a restaurant called Isola Bar and Grill. It was on the third floor and we dined outside, amazing view of Kowloon:

Lunch was nice, a bit expensive but pretty reasonable given the awesome view. Doug recommended that we check out Causeway Bay, so that we did. We headed there via MTR and came across a cool Japanese candy store along the way. I’m a sucker for candy, both Wei and I bought some candy we’ve never seen before. We got to Causeway Bay around 3PM and shopped for a few hours there. There is a Times Square and Sogo area over there, basically a modern shopping center with lots of stores and restaurants. We bought some clothes at a G2000 store because the deals were simply too good to be true.

At around 7PM, we met up with my friends Queena, Winnie, and Cliff at Causeway Bay. Cliff drove us all to a very authentic Hong Kong style restaurant in Happy Valley. Wei and I discussed this name ‘Happy Valley’ quite a bit It’s actually a very high-class, expensive area on Hong Kong island and also where the horseracing arena is. The name is a bit funny, no? Anyway, we had a really nice meal there, it was totally packed. Even though Queena had made reservations, we still had to wait 10-15 minutes to get our table. Well worth the wait though!

During our dinner, we had a long discussion about the Thailand fruit, durian, that is very popular in Hong Kong. If you are not familiar with durian, it is this super stinky yellow, slug-like fruit that is IMO disgusting. We had a long debate about durian because Queena and Winnie love it while the rest of us are not such big fans. It really is a hit-or-miss food. I had actually never tried durian before, smelling it was enough for me. But as you know, I’m always up for trying new things. So after dinner, we headed to a popular dessert place called Lucky Dessert and ate some durian. My long-time Hong Kong buddy Sherman also met up with us. Along the way, Wei and I tried some shaomai, which is very well-known in HK:

Wasn’t that great, I guess there are two primary types of shaomai: fish and shrimp. We had fish, which was …ok. The durian was pretty disgusting as I had predicted haha but it was definitely worth trying. Winnie and Queena were quite delighted with the dessert, here’s Winnie with her scrumptious and stinky durian :

After our durian session, Wei, Sherman, and I went to Lam Kwai Fong (the nightlife area) for some drinks. It was fun chatting with Sherman, hadn’t seen for about half a year since the last time she visited Taipei. We went to a bar called ‘D26′ which was pretty nice, there was a jukebox there so Wei and I invested a few coins and chose some tracks. If I remember correctly, we chose four songs: 1) Jamiroquai – Cosmic Girl, 2) David Tao – Airport song, 3) Blur – Song 2, and 4) Oasis – Don’t Look Back in Anger. We stayed there for a few hours and then took a taxi back to the hostel. Me and Sherman in Lam Kwai Fong:

It was an awesome day!

Bottom line:

• If you want to shop at a cluster of modern stores, Causeway Bay it is.
• Dining at IFC = expensive but phenomenal view of Hong Kong.
• Durian is disgusting. lol

A glimpse of Hong Kong from The Peak at night

We just arrived back from [tag]Hong Kong/tag] late last night, departed at midnight on Sunday and arrived around 2AM this morning. I must say that this trip was really fun and we certainly made the most of four days i.e. we did in about 80 hours what a lot of people would probably need a week to do. Since 1) we did a lot of things and 2) I want to give you all a play-by-play, I’m going to split the recap into four posts, daily recaps if you will. So here we go:

Day 1 (Thursday, 7/24)

Total money spent (in USD):

$135 – Flight, Taiwan –> Hong Kong
$4 – Bus ride, HK Airport –> Hostel
$20 – One night stay at hostel
$10 – Transportation costs
$5 – Dinner

Net expenses: ~USD$174

Wei and I took off from Taiwan around 4PM that day. We spent most of the plane ride either sleeping or vigorously competing each other in electronic trivia games courtesy of China Airlines. We arrived in Hong Kong at around 6PM that night and took a bus ride to our hostel. The bus ride from the airport to our hostel was about USD$4+ and took about an hour. We stayed at New Garden Hostel for about USD$15-20 per night (yes, dirt cheap), it’s located at Tsim Sha Tsui right next to Victoria Harbor. It’s the ideal location for traveling to Hong Kong Island and back. The hostel is on the 13th floor of a typical somewhat broken-down building and our room was as small as a room could be for two people. Basically two beds, a small bathroom with a bath and toilet (no shampoo or soap), and a mini, inoperable TV. But despite the small size of the room, it was very clean and equipped with air conditioning. Again, I think the key is its location because we only spend minimal time resting in the hostel at night anyway.

We dropped our stuff off at the hostel and made our way to The Peak on Hong Kong Island. We took the ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui to Hong Kong Island (also dirt cheap, about USD$0.20), in my opinion, it is probably one of the best ways to spend USD$0.20 in this world. The view of the lit skyscrapers at night is quite amazing. From Hong Kong Island, we then took a bus and tram up to The Peak. The tram was somewhat expensive and very crammed. I think the line-up system for the tram is quite inefficient, because it basically is a free-for-all, push-and-shove session to get on the tram. Some ruthless tourists don’t mind pushing others out of their way in order to secure a seat on the tram. Maybe it was due to my high expectations, but the tram ride was pretty average. The view from tram towards the top was quite nice, but that’s about it.

The Peak, however, was awesome. It was my first second time there (but first nighttime visit). Luckily the skies were totally clear that night and we could see all the skyscrapers very well. It’s a must-visit spot if you are visiting Hong Kong, I definitely recommend a night visit. Our first day culminated in a delightfully scrumptious meal at The Peak of Hong Kong at… McDonald’s. We had Big N Tasty burgers with a side order of chicken mcnuggets. Yum. lol We ended up eating McDonald’s simply because it was late and most restaurants had closed already. Plus we were starving like mad. After The Peak, we headed back to the hostel and called it a night. We took a double-decker bus with no roof on the top level back to the pier. That ride was actually more fun than the tram for only about 1/4 of the price of the tram. We were exhausted and hit the sack at around 2AM.

Why?

I finally had a good look at Hong Kong Island today. For those of you who aren’t too familiar with the geography of Hong Kong (me before and still a bit now), it is basically split into three parts…

The island on the west is Lantau (airport where you fly in to HK), the island on the southeast is Hong Kong Island, and the top area connected to China is split into New Territories and Kowloon.  According to my buddy Sherman, Hong Kong Island is the area with the most history (started developing earliest). There are basically lots of skyscrapers and a major metropolitan vibe there. It reminded me a lot of downtown San Francisco or New York in America. A really great feeling.

Looks like this:

Three sweet places I visited this time…

1. Lan Kwai Fong in Central district (HK night life). I went to Lan Kwai Fong last night with some friends, what a vibe! It’s a really youthful and vibrant area full of upbeat lounges, bars, and clubs. I really dug the vibe a lot. People party pretty hard in HK and there are SO many foreigners, it’s unbelievable. There are tons of options too… American-style bars, classy lounges, packed clubs… We went to three separate spots last night, each had its own vibe. One of them (Dragon I) had a live drummer playing a set of Africa drums with the electronic music… really unique.
2. Victoria Harbor. Beautiful sight both at night and day. The fireworks display during Chinese New Year (two days ago) was amazing, the best 20-25 minute fireworks show I’ve ever seen in my life (yes it beat the 3-4 minutes of mayhem at Taipei101 during new year ). Also, they have a laser light show every night at 8:00PM where you will see laser beams of various colors firing off the buildings. Taking the ferry from New Territories to Hong Kong Island is pretty remarkable too (especially at night).
3. The peak (View from tallest peak of HK). Beautiful view of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and New Territories. I believe the view of Victoria Harbor from the peak is one of the finest views in the world. The ride up is pretty scenic as well. Not only is the view amazing, but there are also some really classy restaurants. Definitely a romantic place to go with your siginificant other.

Whenever I visit new countries, I think to myself… do I see myself living here? After today, I can kinda feel myself living here at least short-term… One of the key things I like most about HK is that it is very international. From the architecture to the transportation system to the culture… This is not something I can say about Taiwan. Hong Kong had me at hello?

P.S. Let’s not forget the oh-so-convenient one hour ferry ride to get to Macau… (I was there for two days this week…)

High-class Ginza district of Tokyo, Japan where there is an Apple store:

In summary, Japan was really awesome. I highly recommend you visit sometime if you’ve never been. Here are some key points:

1. Bring a lot of money (cash). If you plan to shop for clothes or buy music, bring a sufficient amount of money. Clothes there is actually very expensive, comparable to US prices but sometimes even more expensive. The reason why I mentioned cash is because we couldn’t find any ATM machines there to get cash. Yes you can pay with a credit card at the big stores, but there’s still the transaction fee per purchase. Food is also pretty expensive. Bottom line: bring more cash than you think you will need. Trust me
2. Good looking people everywhere. The rumors are true, prepare yourself. Japanese people know how to dress well and look good. Age 15-40, they all put some thought into their appearance. I respect that much
3. November to February = COLD WEATHER. It was below 10 degrees Celsius the entire time we were there. Super chilly!
4. Places to visit in Tokyo: (that I visited and were pretty worth going to) Shinjuku, Odaiba, Harajuku, Ginza, Asakusa. If you want to know more, leave me a comment and let’s talk more in depth!

If you plan to be outside of your hotel most of your stay, perhaps you could try one of Japan’s famous capsule hotels. Basically, you are provided a bed and that’s it (plus communal bathroom). The bed is like a capsule (hence the name), very interesting

This past weekend I headed to Macau with my buddy Leeway. It was a fun trip no doubt. I came back with less money than I went there with (but that’s expected ). We stayed at the Hotel Sintra.

Here are some of my thoughts about Macau:

1. Macau and Hong Kong currency annoyances. Over there they accept both Macau and Hong Kong currency. This is a good thing (pretty much 1-to-1 ratio). However, some of their gambling tables ONLY accept one type of currency. So you end up with some Macau, some Hong Kong money in your wallet after a few rounds of gambling at different tables. This makes it really annoying when you approach one-currency-only tables…
2. Security checks before entering casino area… Yep, you go through airport-style metal detectors before entering most casinos in Macau. It was a bit strange but I guess it’s just their style…
3. It’s true. Macau gamblers are uber serious! Yessir. When I gambled in Vegas and Reno, you would encounter both the hardcore-serious AND chill-easy-going visitors. In Macau, basically people are there to win money. You see a lot of people with distressed expressions.
4. With the exception of the Venetian, Macau can’t match up to Vegas. Simply not the same vibe. Maybe it also has to do with the people. I just get a better feeling when perusing the Vegas strip.
5. Hotspot = Venetian. MGM opening in a few days. The Venetian was pretty amazing, apparently it’s larger than the one in Vegas. It is beautiful inside especially with the Christmas decorations during this time of the year. Lots of (expensive) shopping inside and definitely tons of gambling tables. The MGM will be officially opening in a few days, it looks amazing. I’m sure it will be a big hit.

Would I go again? Ehhh…… yea I guess. Mostly to check out the MGM and Starworld (didn’t get a chance to visit there). One funny fact is I did not see ANY poker tables. No poker in Macau?

Rather than blogging about my days here, I figured it’d be more worth your time to read 10 interesting customs that you will find here in Taiwan. So if you’re ever schmoozing with someone from Asia, you have something to break the ice with. “I heard that…”

1. Want a plastic bag for your items at the grocery store? Buy it. Yep, a few cents for a plastic bag, it’s not free. An environment-friendly gesture by the government?
2. Tea is in everything. This is true. Coffee tea, Mango milk tea, milk tea, etc. Some sort of tea usually comes with your meal. Nine times out of ten if you are at a drink shop, you will see various types of tea on the menu.
3. “Welcome to our store… farewell, thanks for coming!” At most stores, whether it’s a restaurant or a corner store, you will be greeted by the store clerk and he/she will bid you farewell when you walk out the door. Necessary? Not really. Makes you feel welcome and you might come back? Maybe (but everyone does it, so…).
4. Stray dogs everywhere. A bit scary at night…
5. Taxis. Taxis. Taxis. Mopeds. Mopeds. Mopeds. Yes lots of both. Mopeds because distances between areas are smaller here than in the US, so it makes sense to ride a moped instead of driving a fat car.
6. 7-Eleven is the Starbucks here. In terms of frequency. They are everywhere. Literally.
7. Guy purses are in. This is because it’s hard to find trash cans in Taiwan. They are not as prevalent as in the States. And also, many people here leave their house in the morning and don’t get back till the night. So in order to carry everything, males bring guy purses around… not as many backpacks.
8. Karaoke is THE entertainment source here. Much of the salary from my first album was from Karaoke sales. It’s the thing to do here. People even practice at home to show off when the time comes.
9. Very cheap LCD computer monitors. My widescreen 20″ (I think) was less than $200 I think.
10. CUGGI. (GUCCI backwards). A lot of night markets here, there you will find lots of pirated goods, like fake Nike shoes or “Junsport” backpacks, etc. I kid you not.

Whew! There you go. Now you’ve been to Taiwan.