Air Asia enters the Philippines, Thank God

Air Asia will soon start a branch in the Philippines, Air Asia Philippines. This is similar to Air Asia Thailand, Air Asia Indonesia and will focus on domestic flights and hopefully popular hubs like Cebu to other places like Kuala Lumpur,Bangkok,etc.

This is good because..Cebu Pacific is a very hard airline to deal with..its almost like they do not want your business.

Air Asia is not perfect, they do not most US based credit or debit cards, they do take American Express.
Cebu Pacific accepts no US cards, does not tell you they do not accept them(your transaction is not approved but the bank says everything is 100% ok).
But Cebu Pacific...for the love of God, please either hire some customer service experts or set up more sales offices...

I only hope they will offer more expanded flights to China and maybe the mythical and mysterious Bangkok to Manila flight.


For more info hit up the article href="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/1099760/1/.html">here

Do I have a Cebu Pacific bias? Maybe...I have tried to book flights with them on several occasions but the shear annoyance of it made be book with Jet Star Asia or Air Phil express.

The Korean "Blackout"

One thing that people notice when they first move to Korea(I have lived in South Korea) is the public blackout/passing out occurrences.  In most places I have visited or lived, its fairly rare to see someone passed out drunk in public, unless they are homeless.

In South Korea, its not that uncommon to see "normal" people blacked out in a park, bench, subway station,etc. I suppose partly its because of the relative safety of Korea. There are not many instances of serious crimes and robbery, so people do not limit themselves drinking and get totally smashed.

Soju is the drink of choice, cheap and power. CHEERS!


For more Black out madness in Korea, checkout black out Korea

Dicapac a review!

So once upon a time, I said "I need a new point and shoot camera that is waterproof". Well there goes like 250-400 dollars.

Then a friend told me about these cheap plastic bags that work really well underwater..

Hmm, cheap plastic bag surrounding a semi-expensive digital camera? I was a little bit of a skeptic.

But I bought it and decided to test it.

The guide included says to first put the test papers inside it, seal it up and put it in a bucket, sink or tub..I did that and clear sailing.

First practical test was in Coron, Palawan Philippines, where I went to travel and do snorkeling.

I used it all day and I have to say...

It works GREAT

Basically its like a triple sealed poach, and I put some tissue paper inside of it to really see if it was 100% sealed and for a more perfect fit(more on that in a minute).

At the end of the day, it was still airtight. The front lens even can come off if you need an above water shot, without undoing the whole bag, Velcro and seals.

So the bags come in different sizes, depending on your point and shoot model..as they are not model or width/height specific there is alittle bit of movable space in there.

That translates to having to push the camera back into the l

ens space for shooting, so I put in some paper/tissue paper so the fit was tight and the camera did not move around, no big problem.

Highly recommended!

Thai university uniform girls.

Thailand has many sights to see, from bustling and busy Bangkok to white sand beaches. If your trip starts with a few days in Bangkok, and its your first time to Asia first thing you might notice is EVERYONE is wearing some kind of uniform.

Now, the university girls tend to first catch peoples attention with their black skirts/dresses and white tops. Apparently the government wants them to catch less attention as they constantly ask schools to enforce longer skirts, ehh those ......

Somehow I feel a man originally came up with the uniforms for Universities.

They start arriving at the malls in packs, sometimes you might be surprised when you see closer that one or more are ladyboys.

Super best top cities in the World part 1

By no means definitive or back in solid statistics, but rather on personal experience, perception and heart.

Number 10.

Tokyo, Japan: Tokyo is an amazingly big, bright, fast moving crowded city. It has a little for everyone. Tokyo is alot like New York in that the average person seems to always be moving from point A to point B but the less popular or known areas are full of great small mom and pop noodle houses. Tokyo for a massive city, has very little serious crime and people are honest in regards to prices, lost and found, etc. Its a shame its so expensive.

Number 9.

Mexico City, Mexico: Mexico City or the DF, would place much higher, if its negatives were lower. The good, wow very cities in the world pack as much history into one place(albeit, the DF is a huge area). Mexico city's history spans well over a thousand years as a large urban center, the capital for a few distinct people. Teotihuacan is a sight in its own right, add in the Spanish imperial period, beginning of the Republic and you have a city literally packed with history.

Being a city of 20-25,000,000 people and the capital of Mexico, it has food from the entire country(and the world).

The climate is very agreeable due to its elevation and latitude, it enjoys warm days but never overly hot and cool evenings. The negatives? Unlike Tokyo, in the DF you must take safety into account, you can't just grab a taxi off the street because unlicensed cabs do still rob people or set up robberies. High speed robberies are common, so are ATM express kidnappings. Ahh this is Mexico, I guess.

Number 8.

Vancouver, Canada(when its sunny)

Vancouver, Canada next to Rio and a few places has one of the best placements of any city, water is basically on three sides of the downtown, a big amazing Stanley Park next to downtown, the Canadian rockies rising up on a clear day, quite a scene. Vancouver is a busy city, but even in downtown, it has a sort of neighborhood feel, lots of cafes on the sidewalks, people walking their dogs and it sets a nice backdrop. Culturally Vancouver is an immigration mecca with waves of Chinese, East Indians, Eastern Europeans and others moving into the city in the last 15 years. I think its safe to say Vancouver has the best Chinese food from San Diego, US to Alaska on the west coast of North America.

What sucks? Well those big mountains sure make for a pretty picture and supply great snow but they also make sure Vancouver gets more then its fair share of rain. On the plus side, a week of great weather in the winter in Vancouver will really draw people to outdoor activities.

Number 8:
New York City.

New York City?  Yes, NYC...Wall street came crashing down, finance industry is a wreck and even some rents dropped, but New York is still a dynamic, world class city.  Whats the best thing about NYC?  Maybe its sheer amount of representation from the entire world, being the headquarters of the UN and a large finance hub helps but so does its image of an immigrates dream.

NYC has history, architecture, energy and a unique feel compared to other American cities(which tend to want to be stale boring downtowns with cookie cutter suburbs), Not NYC, in NYC people love the city, love living in the busy, noisy, crowded city and love all the benefits it offers.

Number 7:

Istanbul, Turkey

Pop Quiz, What city can you visit and go to Europe and Asia at the same time?  Thats right, Istanbul.  The only city in the world to st rattle two continents.  That bridging of Europe and Asia is symbolic of Istanbul too, its a bi-polar city, not quite fully European, not quite in the "middle east".  Its Islamic but tries to remain ultra secular.
Istanbul is a place where there is literally history coming out of the streets, you will pass under ancient aqueducts, can visit centuries old churches and mosques.  Rome, Byzantine Empire, Ottoman Empire, Modern Turkey, it has it all, right here!

Number 6:

To be continued....

Getting a phone and sim in Taipei, Taiwan

I am not really sure why but it is very challenging to get a sim card in certain countries(Ehmm Korea).

So you have a unlocked phone for Taiwan(GSM)and want to buy prepaid minutes? In many Asian countries you can just walk into 7-11, but a sim, buy a prepaid load and your done.

In Taiwan? Nope, of course it can't be that simple.

Taiwan phone companies require TWO forms of ID.

So your passport is valid to get in, get a 60 day visitor visa, register as a student, get an apartment but getting a Sim card requires two ID's?

So I have no other US ID, I attempted without any luck to get a poor little sim...in the end..I had to have a Taiwanese friend cosign to get a prepaid card. Booooo

Off the beaten Path, Coron, Palawan,Philippines.

I can't exactly say Coron is way off the path but not very well known either.

So Coron is a small town on Busuanga Island, not Coron Island.  Coron is becoming very well known for excellent scuba diving options.  During World War 2, several Japanese ships were sunk in the bay, most of them are able to visited by novice divers.

Also to see is Coron Island, which is government by a group of native Islanders, the Tagbanwa tribe.  The island has several crystal clear lakes to swim, snorkel or dive in.  The interior of the island is off limits to outsiders, so the sites access is controlled by the tribe.

Palawan province is a very interesting place to visit, lush and green its also slower paced then most places, don't go here expecting everything to be on time.

Coron town is small, about 30-40,000 people and pretty easy to walk around, there is also a ferry from Coron to El Nido(Very popular beach on Palawan island).

Hotels and upgrades,refunds or discounts

So you want an upgrade??

I have worked in hospitality and travel industries previously so here are a few starters.

They know you...Hotels/Airlines are much better able to track how often you have stayed at that hotel, what you spent and when.

Join the member program(gold passport, Asiana miles, hotel.com)

Before you visit the hotel, if you visited before just have an idea when you were there last,etc.

Always pre-request your room...such as "view rooms", "high floor","non-smoking", if you are really concerned with non-smoking, indicate you have an allergy or allergic reaction to smoke/strong oder, that way you have a written backup if you are placed in a smelly room.

Certain types of hotels are not very willing to help you, the worst are Resorts...resorts tend to view guests as one hit wonders.  If you have stayed there before and have an issue, ask to speak immediately to the manager on duty and recite your stay history.

Business style hotels have more frequent guests and are much more dependent on frequent guests, so if you can make it known to them that you do/will stay or not stay there in the future, they will be more willing to budge on an upgrade, room move,etc.

If you have any problems, always just ask for the MOD(Manager on duty) after all, why pester the desk agent with the issues and generally they desk agent is going to ask the manager for the go ahead on any perks anyhow.

Don't be afraid to voice your displeasure or say you want to change hotels...in the age of smart phones, ipads and internet all the time, its easy to look and show a better deal to a merchant.

Tourist Bus versus the Real bus

Recently on a trip to Laos, I was lazy or perhaps not thinking and jumped on a tourist bus instead of my regular way of taking a regular bus.

Well, the tourist bus dropped us off away from the city center, in the bay of taxis and tuk tuks(three wheeled taxi's) who wanted play games with getting into the center.

Tourist buses assume that you will be taking that bus once in your life, so they are quite willing to take money from people willing to make a fast buck off you.

Other typical things they like to do is drop you off at the wrong hotel, certain hotels.

The tourist bus=full of other foreigners
Local bus full of locals, usually cheaper.