Semi holiyear

2013 is not a huge holiyear for me since I spent most of my vacation going back home for Chinese New Year and I have some investment plans in mind. I decided to forgo a little bit of fun this year for more fun in future, if you get what I mean. :)

Having said that, I still managed to have brief tours around different cities in between my flight transit time and catch the beauty of different cities through walking. Yup, I'm one of those people who believes that walking is one of the best ways in capturing a city's beauty.

So there you go,  here's my travel update for the first half of 2013. That's the most economical way for me to travel around while saving my pocket from getting burnt. Glad that I'm able to keep up with both goals- Have fun and save money at the same time!

1. Seoul, South Korea

Seoul is more of a shopping city to me, my main goal was to shop for skincare/cosmetic products and bring back the whole MyeongDong to Vancouver *dreaming *. This is the place I'd observe street fashion and skincare condition because most of the Koreans have glowing skin that are very hard to be neglected! I wonder if it was hereditary or an obvious result of their advanced skincare technology, but either way, people with fair and nice skin walking by you create such a pleasant view for a foreigner like me. 

 I'm very concerned about a person's skin condition since young, not just myself but my partner as well. When I was in high school, I chatted with my best friend about ideal boy friend and I demanded a boy friend with decent skin as the most critical quality I looked for in a boy's appearance. It isn't just about self pleasure but I think a guy who has clean skin also reflects a big part of his hygiene habits. In my opinion, a guy with decent skin must have been quite clean or willing to put some effort to keep his face clean. If he is willing to spend some time on some thing that many guys don't give a shit about, he might be quite particular on his general hygiene habits as well. I experimented that on Kareshi and I think my theory is validated, it really works for me!

2. Victoria Bay, Hong Kong

Considering that I haven't been to Hong Kong for at least 10 years, I decided to take a walk during my transit time to Kuala Lumpur. I haven't been there since HK Disneyland and walk of fame were constructed, you can imagine how long that was! I only had approximately 8 hours for my trip, and I chose HK walk of fame because I could also enjoy the magnificent night view at Victoria Bay. Unfortunately, the weather was bad for a night view picture, but my disappointment was quickly offset by Bruce Lee's sculpture. I'm not a fan of Bruce Lee, but I think he together with Stephen Chow are 2 actors who best represent Hong Kong film industry in the past. They are epic, enough said.

3. Seattle, WA

Went to Seattle twice in a month and I've already witnessed a change in such a short period of time. Skagit River Bridge collapsed before my second trip and I kinda had a detour of it.

Hmm...the collapse looked terrible, not sure how long would the reconstruction take.

Otherwise, the tiny bits of my Seattle trips are shared previously  :) 

Seattle Trip Part 1

Seattle Trip Part 2

4. White Rock, B.C.

Funny how it took me so long to set foot on White Rock although it's only about 35-40 minute drive from Burnaby. WX kept telling me about this superb Japanese restaurant which sells amazing aburi sushi, Kareshi got that message and brought me to White Rock last Sunday. I'm very spoiled by Kareshi's effort in satisfying my travel desire, so I usually cook nice meals to satisfy his tummy instead, win-win situation *chuckle*. Anyway, White Rock is a good place for halfday trip, it's a place for beach walk and cheap seafood :). We took a walk at the beach and enjoyed a light meal at Taka's.

Aburi suhi at Taka's, WX said it melts in your mouth and I agree to that. I like the Salmon one, it has a soft texture and didn't taste as fatty. Yup, I'm not resistant to seeing animal fats visually and I'm still trying to overcome that.

2013 semi holiyear has been doing its job greatly so far, hopefully I could think of more short trips for the coming months to tie up my 2013 traveliciously ;)

Seattle trip Part 2

Frankly speaking, I did not perform a thorough research on Seattle before my trip because we just booked the trip 3 days before departing. So I decided to go spontaneous and relaxing this time, realizing that the person next to me is what matters the most for this trip. As much as I wanted to join my friends for the tulip festival at Harrison, I decided to turn down the offer and support his rare travel enthusiasm.

Kareshi is a typical libra and he kept asking about the places I wanted to go throughout the trip and he would just accompany me to anywhere I go. Fortunately we had a map in hand and we relied on it so much, besides wifi because I obtained all of the useful travel information from tripadvisor.

Speaking about my encounter with Chihuly Garden and Glass, it was very spontaneous too! I only knew about its existence when finding my way to Space Needle. The moment I saw the official website, I knew this was absolutely the place for me! It's a small glass museum located near space needle, and the entrance ticket can be combined with Space Needle at $33. Seriously, this place is a diamond in the rough, the colour of these glass sculptures totally won my heart and earned my money deservingly. As much as I was amazed by the glass art, I was also impressed by  the staffs professionalism on things that were beyond their duties. One of them even assisted us on the best photography angle and took gorgeous pictures for us.

See?? I'm not lying to you at all!

We also went up to the observation deck of Space Needle but I wasn't mesmerized by the view at all. Really, I regretted it because I thought the above view could be found in K.L effortlessly.

Nah show you a 2-in-1 photo in line with the 2-in-1 ticket.

Being slightly disappointed with what the view has to offer, I have a general good impression on the services. I have to say, they are quite good at capturing visitors' heart. Both Chihuly and Space Needle have this free photo-taking service whereby the staff takes a photo of you and hands out a card or a paper slip with a barcode. You can then view your picture at the specialized photo booths and have it sent to your e-mail for free. I like the idea of adding services to customers instead of focusing on the intention of commercializing every service provided. The cost may have been incorporated in the ticket but I generally feel happier that way because they don't ask for more from me.On top of that, I get the photo and card as souvenir.

End the day with a 'cheesy' dinner at the cheesecake factory, I could smell, taste and see cheese throughout my meal. I had four-cheese pasta as main course, as if I didn't have enough cheese in my meal, the waiter went on asking if I needed extra cheese topping =_= .

Since the restaurant name is CHEESECAKE factory and it's not available in Vancouver, there's just no reason to leave without having a piece of cheesecake. We ordered 2 slices to take out and continued our cheesy meal at the hotel.

Ah~~the meal was so American, especially the food portion and ingredients. My sweet tooth was being fed satisfactorily.

Seattle trip Part 1

I visited Seattle with Kareshi last week. Although it was my second visit to this city, it was my first trip with Kareshi since we're officially together. One thing I'm very grateful is that he fully understands and grants my wish of leaving footprints on as many countries as possible, his support and respect really aid in strengthening our relationship.

Seattle is not very far from Vancouver,  approximately  4-hour bus ride would bring us across the border to a entirely different city relatively to Vancouver. We decided to have an on-foot tour around Seattle downtown due to the small city size. I enjoy the fact that the downtown map is not scaled down massively because 1 block practically takes about few minutes of walking, causing every part of the Downtown to be within walking distance. Moreover, walking tour allows me to capture the beauty of Seattle through its street culture, so I'm definitely buying this idea.

Despite the city size, there are several quirky attractions that make Seattle a worth-visiting city, and Seattle's gum wall is undoubtedly topping the chart. It is located at the Post Alley at Pike Place Market, a hidden underground which is very contrast to the merry atmosphere of the market. Being rated as the second world's germiest tourist attraction by trip advisor, I'm not surprised to see a long stretch of wall filled with colourful gums.

I felt delightful to see the variety of gum colours, simultaneously grossed out at the fact that a wall is plastered with human saliva, and that dilemma directly contributed to my short stay at the wall place. In my opinion, it's worth a single visit but I'm just not convinced to make a second attempt anymore.

Another recommended attraction on my list would be a place of interest for all the Starbucks fans. Seattle owns the first Starbucks cafe in the world which was opened in 1971. At this store, you don't see the typical green logo but the original brown logo, which adds a slight vintage sensation to the store.

Although I'm not a fan of Starbucks coffee as most of the beverages are overpriced and the brand is too commercial for my liking, this is still a place that's worth a visit just to tick off the must-do list. Yah I'm a typical tourist  and I know that. Kareshi bought a mocha frappucino from the store and he said it was not any different from any other Starbucks stores, so my two cents is just save the money but take some pictures when you come here.

Just like other typical Starbucks, souvenirs including mugs and coffee packs are also readily available here. I personally think that the coffee mug is a perfect fit for Starbucks lovers just because of the sentence 'the first Starbucks store', which may sound very appealing to many people. I've heard of people telling me the reason they like Starbucks is not really because of the beverages but the atmosphere as well as the successful branding（把环境也吃进去了).  That makes me think that this coffee mug is definitely a must grab for Starbucks fans under this classification.