Lotte World, Seoul, South Korea

Lotte World is located on the green subway line (2) at Jamsil Station, which was quite far from where I was staying near Hapjeong. It took about 45minutes by subway. Having seen Lotte World in many blogs, movies, and Korean dramas, I knew I had to plan a day to visit and enjoy myself there. Luckily thanks to my friend, we were able to purchase discounted students tickets using our George Brown student cards, which meant our admission was only 26,000 KWN which is around $20 CAD. This was extremely cheap compared to Wonderland in Toronto, or other amusement parks in North America.

The park itself consists of an outdoor and indoor phase for rides and attractions. Unfortunately, the roller coaster was under maintenance the day we visited and there were many students visiting on field trip so it was busy and longer line ups. The rides we went on were all enjoyable including the Conquistador, The Adventures of Sindbad, Flume Ride, Boong Boong Cars, and the Gyro Swing to name a few.

Namsan, Seoul, South Korea

Namsan also known as "South Mountain" features the Seoul N Tower is the highest point in the city of Seoul and offers residents and tourists a panoramic view of the city, offering hiking, recreation, work out machines during the day, and is a very popular location for couples at night.

This was the first place we visited the first time being in Seoul, as our flight had arrived early in the morning at 6AM from Hong Kong, and was brought here by bus to explore the park and hike up the hill. It offers a beautiful trail flanked with green trees and flowers with older citizens exercising and hiking along.

The second time visiting Seoul, I wanted to explore it in a different view, at night. Also instead of taking the bus up or hiking up, I chose to take the cable car up.

Once up to Namsan Park, you will see locks of love placed all over trees, and the fence which symbolizes the love between a couple that their love will never be unlocked as they toss the key over the mountain.

I don't know why, but I went up on a Monday night and it was really busy. I remember most just lining up to go up the elevator to the N Tower, then again lining up to come down the elevator, and the cable car. But the views were breathtaking and the night lights of Seoul can be clearly seen for miles out.

I was most impressed with the view of the Han River and the bridges that crosses the river. I remember hanging out by the river, and looking up upon this mountain and the tower, the beautiful view reciprocates. By the end of it all, I was really tired from all the standing in line as I took the cable car back down, and a short walk from the station back towards Myeongdong.

Cars Land, Disneyland, Anaheim, California

The much anticipated opening of Cars Land was exciting for me and my little cousin being that he has a great admiration for Lightning McQueen and was dressed accordingly. We went on the second day of the park opening and arrived at the park early in the morning and was greeted with the new Buena Vista Street and the new trolley.

All the rides had long line ups, over one hour, but nothing came close to the Radiator Springs Racer, which was nearly two hours long! The first time, my uncle had lined up while we went on the Luigi's Flying Tires ride where the waiting area featured Luigi's store as close as seen in the Cars movies. The Mater's Junkyard Jamboree is also similar to the famous Tea Cup ride where the rider can control the spinning of the Mater's.

The main street of Route 66 is beautifully depicted and is flanked by various restaurants and shops displayed as a motel and gas station. At the end of the street was the City Hall of Radiator Springs.

By the end of the day and night, having lined up for the Radiator Springs for the SECOND time but was WELL worth it, we were all exhausted, especially the kids, but was lucky enough to have a picture with Lightning McQueen himself!

Paju, South Korea PT. 1

Visiting Paju to meet up with a friend for a day to visit a couple places the area offered. Luckily there was a long distant (red bus) from Hapjeong Station that goes to Paju including the Premium Outlets and Heyri Art Village. Similar to the Premium Outlets in North America, this one offers 160 outlet stores from around the world for shoppers. Unfortunately, the prices were relatively higher than what I was accustomed to from shopping at US Premium Outlets because of its import status.

The next place we stopped by was the Heyri Art Village closeby to the Outlet Mall. Surprisingly, it was so similar and after awhile, I finally realized "Hey, I was here before!" And I was right, I did visit this place the year before. The village offers many art galleries, displays, and scenic nature scenery.

We ended our day at a French style village that offer beautiful gardens, cute shops, and a light show at night. We spent around two hours just waiting for the night show, and it was well worth it. By the time the night was over, journeying back home was a mission, but luckily a nice Korean couple in their BMW picked us up and dropped us off at a bus stop to catch my bus back towards Seoul and my friend back home in Paju.

Legoland California- San Diego, California

On our trip to Los Angeles, in addition to visiting Cars Land at Disneyland Resort, it was a choice between Legoland California and Sea World to visit. But the temptation of enjoying a hot summer day in California at a water park was hard to refuse. Unfortunately, the day we were there, it was nothing but hot, just borderline warm at best.

 

The park features many different rides, mainly targeting children, but adults like myself are still able to enjoy most of the rides. There was a driving school ride for kids, a boat ride, and a water gun boat fight- pirate style as well where you get wet.

 

In addition to that, we took a boat tour to view the Lego displays of replicates of world known landmarks like the Taj Mahal, Sydney Opera House, and the Eiffel Tower.

 

There is also replicates of Hollywood, Las Vegas Boulevard, San Francisco, New Orleans, Washington DC, Star Wars to name a few. All showed great detail and replicated reality to a tee.

 

Ofcourse I thoroughly enjoyed the replication of San Francisco, but it was the New York City display that truly blew my breath away. It featured the entire skyline of New York City including the soon to be finish World Trade Centre Freedom Tower. Amazing...

Macau, P.R of China

The Ruins of St. Paul

Macau is a former Portugese colony from the mid-16th century to 1999, and is now one of two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China and is most known for its tourism and gambling at their numerous casinos and resorts.

This was my second time visiting Macau, the first being in 2007 in the scorching heat. Similar to Hong Kong, the weather can be quite daunting, both being hot and humid during most of the year. But being the first time for my cousin to visit Asia, it was really a must to visit here for a two day getaway.

Staying at The Venetian Macau

Having heard from some of our distant relatives about their recent trip to Macau and the promotion deal with the ferry ticket and accommodations at the Venetian. So we booked it with a room with two queen size beds for $1,600HKD including first class high speed ferry tickets. Arriving by ferry, there are numerous free shuttle buses that bring visitors to various hotels and casinos. Inside the hotel/casino, it was very similar to the one in Las Vegas with the artificial sky ceiling and the canals with gondolas.

The room itself was very spacious. It had a sitting/lounge area with a table and television (old one). The room featured beautiful decor and two spacious comfy queen sized beds. The washroom area was also really large, with both a separate bath, waterfall showers and double sinks. The pool area had many pools: regular, warm pool, and three hot tubs/Jacuzzi.

One feature in the Venetian Macau I was extremely interested to visit was the Manchester United Experience. Unfortunately, when I was there, it was under maintenance meaning the exhibits were closed, leaving only the retail portion of the store open for business. We also went to watch a Cirque du Soleil show called ZAIA; the most dazzling spectacle ever in Asia. Finally I enjoyed a meal with my cousin at one of the Portugese styled restaurants called The Madeira in the casino, bit pricey, but delicious.