Hawaii trip: Day 2

We spent our afternoon out in the sea on Day 2. I do not know how to swim so I thought snorkelling would be a good way for us to explore the undersea and get close to the wild animals. Prior to the trip, I started looking for Groupons for outdoor deals in Honolulu. :) My effort was well paid off, I managed to grab a snorkelling deal for two at $59.

We joined the Hawaiian Diving Adventures for afternoon snorkelling, the weather was simply perfect for snorkelling! Sea water was warm enough to make us feel like the sun was kissing our skin gently. We met the 2 owners at the jetty at 2:45pm and they brought us out to the sea. On the way to the destination, they  educated us on the proper ways to put on the gadgets and briefed us on some safety precautions.

Glad I made the choice to snorkel. We actually saw a big sea turtle while snorkelling!

 Photos credit: Hawaii Diving Adventures

Despite the awesome trip and blessed weather, baby caught cold and felt dizzy after snorkelling. We decided to get on the boat early for some rest. I also spent some time photographing the sea landscape. The view at the sea and at the beach were completely different, having close encounter with the nature felt surreal yet comforting.

And close view to hot guys at the sea, why not?

The trip ended at 5pm and I was more than happy for my choice. Glad that we forked out significant amount of time for the best thing in Honolulu- sea! 

The jetty is quite close to Kua 'Aina, a famous local burger shop which is on my to-eat list. We took out the burgers and had our dinner in the hotel.

Burger was not disappointing but not very impressing either. It wasn't flavourful enough and didn't have the juicy texture like I expected it to be.

 I was more fond of the shoe string fries, it was so crunchy!

Walking around the flea market at Honolulu stadium was another highlight of the day. It is a swap meet and market place, whereby swap meet is held on every Wednesday while flea market is held on the weekends.

The stalls were lined up in circle around the stadium, so basically you're done after going for a full round. This was a spontaneous plan which popped out just the night before. I was browsing through trip advisor for some travel advices and saw many people recommended this place for souvenirs and unique local wares.

I've always enjoyed shopping in flea market, so I thoroughly enjoyed my time there scrutinizing all the little things around! Some of the stuffs were repetitive, especially souvenir items, but I also managed to find some good deals exclusively. :) This is absolutely a place for souvenirs, with more selections and cheaper prices.

Hawaii Trip: Day 1

Japanese visitors take up quite a significant tourist population in Waikiki, hence many things are customized in favor of the Japanese culture. That's absolutely the place for a Japan lover like me!

I even spotted One Piece shuttle bus in Waikiki, which I don't see in Japan at all!

Being the state capitol, Honolulu is a vibrant and blessed land filled with beautiful nature, historic landmarks and the inevitable shopping district. That means you can easily get a hang of everything from surfing to shopping, awesome isn't it? However, we spent more time at the beachside relatively to other places because beaches are still the main attraction of Honolulu to us.

If we haven't been to the beaches here, we haven't been to Hawaii.

Despite the heat, sitting at the beach can be a truly blessing here with such an amazing view and clear blue sky.

Sunny weather+breathtaking beach views, what more can I ask for?

After some leisure beach time, we moved on to the next destination- Downtown. Good thing about public transit here is that lots of buses pass by Downtown from Waikiki. Tada, we reached downtown in merely 20 minutes. We were immediately welcomed by the King Kamehameha statue and Iolani palace.

     King Kamehameha statue

Iolani Palace

State Capitol Building

Honolulu landmarks have very unique architecture compared to other parts of the U.S, where skyscrapers blossom in the heart of the big cities. Buildings are relatively lower and less commercial in Honolulu. In fact, some of the buildings even remind me of the Southeast-Asian architectural design back home.

Among all, State Capitol building is one of its kinds as it portrays the history of this land through architecture . It incorporates the Aloha spirit and landscape in it to resemble the Hawaiian open political system. 

We went back to Hilton beach by evening to catch the Friday fireworks which is held on every Friday. :) Catching the fireworks by the beach with the crowd was just fantastic, it was definitely a romantic moment which spiced up our trip.

The entire performance took about 4 minutes. I think it's a must-do-thing in Honolulu as you get to see good performance for free, in this Aloha land where passion is all about. :) It's a nice bonus to the trip!

Always want to be inspired :)

One thing I love to do after coming home from work is browsing through traveling images.

After one whole exhausting day at work, all I want is simply returning to my source of rejuvenation and be inspired. Many of the pictures I find online are so surreal, they motivate me to work harder to make the surreal to real.Especially when my job is highly repetitive and partially disconnected from the outside world, seeing images of these breathtaking scenery widen up my sight and allow me to join in the virtual world temporarily. Hmmmm, I want to step foot on these places and breathe in the awesomeness myself.

The world is just so big and full of wonders, it never fails to amaze me.

33 Unbelievable Places To Visit Before You Die – Earth Is So Amazing

Sea of stars in Maldives is definitely on my list now! I will make my way there in 5 years.

Hawaii Trip: Hotel Review (Aqua Palms Hotel)

We booked an evening flight so it wasn’t too tiring. The 6-hour flight was so smooth and we even got to watch the beautiful sunset on plane, what a romantic way to start our journey!

It was night time when we touched down Honolulu.  We took the public bus to the hotel and it was a 45-minute ride. Fortunately, google map did its job accurately this time and the bus stop was only 5-minute walk to the hotel. The $2.50 bus ride saved our pockets from taking cab. However, just be aware if you are carrying big luggages as you may not be allowed to get on the bus. In that case, airport shuttle may be a better option. 

For less hassle, we actually took a shuttle to the airport on the last day and the price was reasonable, only cost us about $12 each person. The hotel bell boy was thoughtful enough to have lent us a hand in the arrangement.

We were pleasantly welcomed by friendly receptionists at Aqua Palms hotel. Room rates were reasonably priced at $125 CAD/night including tax. Considering the big room size and strategic location, I think this hotel was truly a gem and worth every penny we paid. On top of that, they even provided lemon water and fresh apples for free in the lobby.

Location was also quite ideal as it was right across from Hilton Hawaiian Village. It was only 5-minute walk to the Hilton beach, so you could catch the Friday fireworks night at ease. For shopping lovers, this hotel was about 20-25 minutes of walking to Ala Moana shopping centre. There was a bus stop near the hotel and buses and shuttles came by quite often, so we had no problem moving around.

J Best thing I love about the hotel is the blue theme of the room decoration. It makes everything looks aquatic and fresh! Bed is lined with tropically designed bed scarf and cushions which is just a perfect resemblance of the sunny island. It helps to boost up the Aloha spirit instantly.

Hawaii Trip: Fashion

I know I know.... I should have blogged about my Aloha trip long time ago but I was always caught up with something else before converting my trip into words. But there you go, I've finally sat down to work on this and decided to split my trip into a few posts to include more details.

Being a girl coming from a tropical country with summer all year round, there are times when I miss the sun and summer fashion back home. Only until I've come to Canada, I realize how being able to wear short sleeves and flip flops out at anytime of the year can truly be a blessing, really! And Hawaii is the closest geographical substitute to home from Vancouver. 

Another reason Hawaii is on my list is because of a Japanese drama I watched long time ago. Courtesy of Proposal Daisukusen, the last proposal scene filmed in Hawaii was just stunning and made me in awe of the beauty of this land. Really wished I could enter my laptop screen and be teleported to Hawaii at that moment! *fangirling*

Source: http://marinmusic.blog.163.com/blog/static/44757576200831824653559/

Source: http://archive.kaskus.co.id/thread/1465359/540

My trip finally came true when baby had some credits left from the previous flight cancellation and it must be used before September. That was just a perfect vacation time for me as my work was less busy at that time. August was the off-peak travel season for Hawaii I guess, the low airfares was a double bonus for me! :D I know I know...Hawaii welcomes me with open arms.

Going to Hawaii means a lot to me. It's a teenage dream come true, it's my first long trip with baby, and it's  the time to pull out my summer clothes and put them to use. Raincouver weather made me lazy and I just wanted to get away of the gloomy weather in exchange of a few sunny days.

 It had been a while since my travel luggage was so mini and light, thanks to the hot weather *Tee hee* And here I am, proudly presenting my fashion posts for the entire trip.

City tour day

Snorkelling day

 Half-day tour to Pearl Harbour and National Memorial Cemetery

Shopping day

Beach day

Hehe, I shall stop my narcissism here and write about my trip experience on the next few posts. Stay tuned!

5 things that make me a happy bee.

1. Boy totally understands my Pooh crave and he got me Pooh earphones 2 weeks ago. It's madly cute that I decided to leave it unopened to avoid any pollution and damage to it. I know, I know that I totally defeat the purpose of him buying this cutie to me, but I really treasure it so much that I don't want it to get dirty, not even a bit. ~_~ Help me with my dilemma please!

2. Round-trip ticket to Hawaii at the end of August. Hola, after so much of waiting, I'm finally going to step foot on my dream paradise, and it all happens within a few magical clicks. I'm so glad that I still keep up with the 'die die also want to go travel' spirit and I still value traveling as an important passion of mine and make it happen every year.

3. I'm a small eater but a little bit of snacks always lift up my day. I was grocery shopping for some Japanese snacks at a konbiniya today and I saw something sparkling ( well to me it was sparkling) at the shelf. I just couldn't stop screaming ( lol in heart of course) when I saw Tohato matcha flavour sitting nicely, waiting to come home with me tee hee~~~ Ah I will always love you, Tohato!

4. Had a lovely walk with Kareshi on a Sunday and it was nothing more than feeling blissful. We never really had a walk in a while because we are either busy or lazy to go out. But I feel that staying outdoor, enjoying relaxing talk are one of the best ways to gain the intimacy between couple. Yes, otaku needs to go out and breathe in fresh air once in a while too, I'm glad that he recognizes the importance of doing this. 

5. Went to my co-worker's son's birthday bash at New Westminster and I bumped into this super artistic tree which is growing upside down. It looks like a girl doing yoga pose-headstand to me, but some said it looks like a hula dancer waving her dress. Funny how a tree appearance can be interpreted in so many ways, but that again proves to me that humans can be very creative creatures at times. 

Anyway, I've reached the age of attending birthday parties of my friends' children, that is such a GAH moment. I can sniff the arrival of my aging process already -_-.

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.