Waterloo, Belgium (2007)

Waterloo. Known mostly for the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon’s last battle. It’s about 12 km from Brussels, it makes a rather interesting day trip from Brussels. You need to be interested in history, and better in Napoleon. Otherwise, the place is rather boring. The view from the top of the lion is not breathtaking but worth climbing if you have a bit of imagination.

You probably need to drive to reach the place. Again, nice to visit for a relaxing day-visit, but definitely not for whirlwind backpackers. Go to the visitor center located just at the foot of the lion-hill. Pay your entrance fee for 6.50 euro. The tour with bus is less interesting unless, again, if you are a fan of Napoleon. Make sure to take the benefit of student discount.

Visit the cyclorama. Go to the museum across the street. When time is appropriate, get into the show (two parts), via the entrance next to the place you pay for the ticket. Manage your time well so that you won’t end up waiting for the show while you can be elsewhere.

In the cyclorama, make sure you have the imagination. Otherwise, it will be boring. At very least, appreciate the paintings.

   

After the show, don’t forget to step out and climb the stairs to the top for a view of the battefield. The Lion Monument is accessible from the visitor center, after entering the waiting room for the show. So, don’t forget, otherwise you need to explain why you need to reenter. It is rather unfortunate that the monument is not free.

  

Is Waterloo worth visiting? Yes, if you love history. No, if you don’t have much time and prefer spending your time reading books on Napoleon.

San Francisco, California (2004) – Part 1

San Francisco. A must visit in California. I love San Francisco. I keep on returning to San Francisco and have never been bored. Of course there are many must-see’s in San Francisco. The Golden Gate, Alcatraz, the cable cars, Fisherman Wharfs, and last but not least, Chinatowns.

Don’t miss places such as Lombard Street. See the twists.. run or better, drive on it.

   

Manila – Philippine (2004) – Part 1

In Manila, eat like the pinoys. Go to “Kamayan” (532 Padre Faura Street, Makati City) and go wild. Skip the Western and Japanese parts of this all-you-can-eat restaurant. After all, you are in Manila. Kamayan means eat with your hands. Go ahead, you can later claim that it is finger-licking good!

If you are a bit adventurous, buy some baluts. Balut is an egg with surprise. You can buy it when you hear street vendors shouting it. Go, buy one or two and try them. Superlicious.

 

Seoul, South Korea (2004) – Part 5

If you are getting impatient and worried about losing the tourist attractions, here are a few best places to go to. You can always consult the guide book.

Visit the Royal Palace (Gyeongbokgung). There are five palaces in Seoul. See all of them here.

    

Go to Seoul Tower to see Seoul from top.

   

With the remaining time in Seoul, do stop in one of music/dance performance. It’s rather expensive but it sure allows you to see the beauty of colors, movement and traditional music instrument. Go to DMZ (DeMilitarized Zone), to have a view into North Korea. A unique experience for not a too cheap price.

Seoul, South Korea (2004) – Part 4

Not to miss in Seoul is hanjeongsik. Ask you hotel/hostel for the nearest one. It’s rather difficult to find it by your own. Hanjeongsik is a meal for the royal! See some pictures and you will understand. It’s a meal of 18 dishes or more, depending on the restaurants you go to. Don’t worry, most of them are vegetables. It’s rather ‘healthy’ indeed.

Find a typical restaurant for hanjeongsik. You will see only floors. It means pick you place and sit wherever you want. There won’t be any tables. Don’t forget to pick your pillows as your sit-mat. The floor is heated, so it’s very pleasant. The side sections are mostly for events.

Don’t worry about the lack of tables. The table comes with the food. It’s in fact the easiest way to carry all your dishes: on a table instead of on trays. And guess how easy it is to clean up! With so many dishes, just eat what in front of you. In doubt, you really need to use your common sense. Other wise, go with a Korean friend if you can afford it. After all the meal is too much for one.

   

Seoul, South Korea (2004) – Part 3

Continuing your observation, do stop at major stops for pedestrians. Very likely something is going on. Ask the local next to you, and you will get an insight into the local scene and a deeper understanding of daily life in Seoul.

Look at this seemingly a food stall. The TV camera betrays the reality. The lady in front is actually a famous actress in Korea. It a TV-show around the corner. Go to college area and enjoy the scene. You might even see rehearsal for the college choir. How else to get “good” live performance for free in Korea. (less-than-good live performance is abundant in public karoake: next pic).

   

Night life is also interesting. Do walk around. Karoake is still going on. It’s part of daily life in Seoul. Note that people is abundant. In some places, you will think that New York is awfully under-populated. If you see crowd running, join them. It’s probably a celebrity hunt. I was running with a bunch of Korean girls toward a Starbuck, not knowing what was happening. In fact I got the first row by the windows and learned later that the guy in black jacket is a famous actor and an owner of local television network. Fiuh.

  

Don’t miss the food stalls. Follow the crowds. Get what you see. The more colorful, the more unique (I think). Don’t worry what you are eating, figure out later. If they are good for the locals, surely they are good for you.

 

Seoul, South Korea (2004) – Part 2

When in Seoul, remember that visiting touristic places is not your main destinations. Sure there are towers, palaces, and museums to look at. However, the best part to be in Korea is to be in Korea. Don’t worry about missing some touristic sites, the locals miss them as well. You definitely don’t want to be more knowledgable of local sites than the locals. So, you need to be observant and just look around. The magic is every where. Note the differences, the uniqueness, but don’t forget the similarity. After all, we are not too much different. This is even truer in big cities.

Stop by sweet shops and adore the art of food decoration. Decipher the pedestrian traffic lights. Wonder how to pronounce McDonalds locally. Look: there are four syllables for McDonald, so it can’t be just Mc-Do-nalds. Ask the locals and you will find out how to pronounce it correctly in Seoul. (Trivia: there are 5 syllables in Tokyo).

   

Look at buildings and wonder why there are so many circles in their alfabets. Look at the people and wonder why school children seem to be segregated. Apparently, co-ed (co-education, mix gender) schools are still not common. In fact, why not get into one of this school. It’s okay and legal to go to school. Look how the students have to clean their classes!

  

Seoul, South Korea (2004) – Part 1

I arrived in Seoul with Cathay Pacific in March 2004. According to my guidebook, Seoul has one of the FRIENDLIEST tourist information. So, I thought who needs to reserve a hotel if you can rely on the tourist info. I got help very well, and they did speak a very good english. In fact, it was the friendliest TI I ever found.

So, I headed to my hostel with all the instructions from the TI. I was guided to my room, but luckily I watched the movie ‘My Sassy Girl’ with my Korean friend. There is a scene where they were asked ”Korean or Western”, which means what kind of bed you want in the room. This is what Korean bedroom means (see pic), and of course this was the one I took. Don’t worry, the floor is heated (Ondol). It’s the best heating I have known of! So great!

 

Scandinavia (Oct-Nov 2005) – Part 9

Ah, HC Andersen. Tivoli for Andersen is what Disneyland for Mr. Disney, a tool to help not imaginative over-weight kids learn who little mermaid is. 

It was not raining, so it was not wet. The sun was definitely out. Tivoli was ready for Christmas. But it was closed. I was there during the in-between season. Closed because it was non-summer, and closed because it was not yet Christmas.  

What a good time to visit Scandinavia. When the timing is bad, when everything is closed and the weather is bad, you know that you can only enjoy the good stuff: the real stuff. A rocketing credit card bill after holiday.

Scandinavia (Oct-Nov 2005) – Part 8

Copenhagen

I took the overnight ferry from Oslo to Copenhagen with DFDS Seaways. It’s a nice cruise-like ferry with luxury facility for those with money. It will be very nice if the sun was out, it’s cruise-like, except that there was no sun. But there was a lot of rain! Rain on my face, rain on my back and surely rain in my only pair of tennis shoes. Take the cheapest room by the engine room, it is dirt cheap, it is less than $60 for an overnight cruise. The noise is not bad at all. Just survive the first 10 minutes.. or simpler, be elsewhere the first 10 minutes. The best thing is that stuff in the ship is Danish, not Norwegian. So you are paying Danish price, which is nice since Denmark is the cheapest country (among the Scandinavian, of course).

I have a few hours in Copenhagen to kill before catching my flight back to Brussels. The airport is conveniently located and just a few minute zip with the train from downtown (take the train from the Tivoli – the original theme park prior to Disney).

The park by the royal treasury/castle is nice. The treasury/castle itself is not so interesting, unless you have a few more hours to kill.

       

I noted this nice big tree – that how I name trees. Big nice tree, or nice big tree.. since I have no idea what is what. But it looks big and it looks nice. Nice big tree. Nice big colorful tree. I wonder if it will make a good burial place for me (someday).  Neah, I’ll just bury a time capsule containing Simpsons DVD season 6, biology textbook, and Mathieu Star&Mountain’s secret recipe for chocolate pizza. 

Where’s the ugly duckling? So many ducks yet so difficult to spot the ugliest one. A stone throw away is an expo on HC Andersen, the famous author of Ugly Duckling, Little Mermaid, and other million stories that filled my childhood. I am so lucky to know the original version before Disney came and change a fairy tale into a fiery tale. 

  

Now, everybody knows what a beautiful duckling looks like.  Although, I think duck makes such a nice pet. I think I would like to have Duck Jr. in my house, or even Chick Jr. Back to reality of ugly living ducklings. I am hungry…

Here is a park. Enjoy..