Japan
Travel Tokyo Bangkok HCMC
Travel Tokyo Bangkok HCMC New York starting with Japan, I’ll list the 5 countries in alphabetical order rather than by personal preference. The photo above is Shabusen at the Ginza A terrific restaurant for Kobe beef, go at lunch time for special prices. Check out my first post in this series here.
The train system is fantastic, from Tokyo it’s a 40 minute trip to Yokohama or 3 h0urs by bullet train to beautiful Kyoto.
One square meter of land in the Ginza center is worth more than ten million yen (more than 100,000 US dollars), making it one of the most expensive real estate in Japan. It is where you can find the infamous $10 cups of coffee and where virtually every leading brand name in fashion and cosmetics has a presence. To me Tokyo is all about food, food and more food, interestingly the Michelin guide has Tokyo comfortably ahead of Paris (10 three-starred restaurants), New York (7) and London (2), with a total of 350 establishments making it into the guide this time around.
Kabukicho Harajuku girls Tokyo
Kabukicho is an entertainment and red-light district in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Kabukicho is the location of many host and hostess clubs, love hotels, shops, restaurants, and nightclubs, and is often called the “Sleepless Town.” Make sure you check out my post called “Piss Alley”.
I don’t know any other person who has travelled more than I during the last 20 years. Perhaps I can provide you with a few ideas on where to go for your next holiday.
Thailand
I sold my home in Australia October 20th 2011 and have have been living in Thailand since then. My first trip to this great country was in 1980, however it wasn’t until 1997 when I started visiting 2 or 3 times each year. In the early days Koh Samui was a favourite destination, however in my opinion progress has not improved the island, it was far better before all the modern gold shops etc moved in. These days I prefer Koh Chang near the Cambodian border & of course Bangkok is fantastic with so many great bars, restaurants & shopping malls.
Chiang Mai Pattaya Chao Phraya river
Chiang Mai tiger warning, the sign could not have been clearer. It was placed a metre from the cage which was at the rear of the zoo away from the other tiger enclosures. It simply said “danger, don’t go past this sign”. Looking back I have done many stupid things in my life and this certainly ranks highly in the “stupidity stakes.”
Naturally I ignored the warning and moved past the sign and put my camera lens through the wire to get a clear shot of the magnificent beast sitting quietly in the pond two meters from my lens. Within one second of taking the photo there seemed to be an explosion in front of me and suddenly I jumped backwards totally soaked with water.
I could barely hear my brother’s raucous laughter from several meters away due to the rapid beating of my heart. The 240 kilo beast had lept from the pond and hit the wire full force with all his four giant paws. My luck held as did the wire, which without exaggeration saved me from being torn to pieces.
I e-mailed the tiger zoo and inquired about this particular tiger. They told me his name was Tone, he weighed 240 kilo and was far too dangerous to allow the public to get close, he was just used for breeding.
United Kingdom part of my Travel tips five great countries photo blog.
So many places to see & so much history. I travel there most years making London my base, then visit cities & towns all over the country either by train or car. Apart from London some of my favourite places are Brighton, Bath, Glasgow & Bradford on Avon. The photo above is Gold Hill is a steep cobbled street in the town of Shaftesbury in the English county of Dorset.
London pubs Lands End Hyde Park
Travel tips. Great Britain has an excellent rail service, save up to 80% by booking your ticket before you arrive, just click here. London Underground’s Piccadilly Line provides the most cost-effective rail route between Heathrow Airport and the capital, so look for accommodation around Earl’s Court, Gloucester Rd or Knightsbridge. For more information click here.
United States of America
Another huge country offering everything from snow capped mountains to desert, beaches & exciting cities. New York of course is everyone’s favourite however hotel costs are so expensive. I really enjoy Miami with the wonderful Cuban influence, but I must say the last time I was in San Francisco I was quite disappointed by the high numbers of beggars on the city streets.
Miami San Francisco New York
Car hire and internal flights are reasonably inexpensive. In Los Angeles I always stay in Santa Monica where I enjoy the restaurants and Venus beach.
Travel Tokyo Bangkok HCMC Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City is Honda heaven, it is quite a shock when you see the number of motorbikes on the streets, crossing the road seems like a game of Russian roulette. My main memories of this wonderful country are the beautiful ladies and the terrific food. My first visit was twice in 2003 then 12 years later in January 2015. Halong Bay is a magical experience, make sure you stay overnight on one of the many boats, it’s an experience you will never forget. Vung Tau and Nha Trang are two of my favourites places in this great country.
Hoi An Chill Sky Bar HCMC 2015
Warning, when catching a taxi in Saigon stick with Vinasun or Mai Linh for clean honest low priced taxis. Many other companies are rip off merchants who will try to rob you.
Don’t under any circumstances use the company below.
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This is the view from Horizons the amazing rooftop bar. A great five star hotel located opposte the beach & above the Central Festival shopping mall. Just book through THIS LINK for an excellent room rate.
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Pattaya storm water solution involves digging up part of Beach road and laying a 2 meter pipe underground to stop the storm water flooding the road & footpath.
Lets hope this strategy works, the current system has never been able to handle the huge volume of water from storms in the wet season. It is not just the water that falls on Beach Rd, most of the Soi’s in North Pattaya run down hill from 2nd Road bringing a huge volume of water that runs over the footpath and destroys huge sections of the beach.
This has been the case for many years. For more storm damage just follow THIS LINK.
It’s a very noisy disruptive project, let’s hope it works.
All the disruption is on the actual road, traffic of course move very slowing with on one or two lanes to use.
I must give them credit, they are making good progress.
Trucks and excavators all along Beach Road.
It’s now March 2023 & I think we are in for another 6 months of pain before this project is completed. Having said that I really believe the workers are doing a great job & as fast as possible.
Progress is being made.
This fabulous gizmo is probably only 30 years old. 🙂
This one will leave you rather flat. Steam, what steam? I don’t see any steam. 🙂
