Dubai Cruise - Seoul Layover (Feb 7th - 9th)

Seoul was a quick layover for me. It was on my routing so I figured I minus well check it out. I was flying from Hong Kong which was 18 degrees to Seoul which is currently -17 degrees. I definitely wasn't prepared for this weather so I guess the first stop is to get some gloves and scarf in the morning.

Street stall on wheels...

....looked real yummy.

Had to try it.

It hit the spot!

This is my second visit to Seoul. The first time was about 12 years ago and to be honest, I didn't remember much of it. The things that stayed in my memory bank was that people were quite pushy and did not speak much english. My impression during this trip was better. People still didn't speak much english but definitely weren't pushy and were not rude. One thing that I noticed this trip and the last was that Seoul is very technologically advanced. 12 years ago, I noticed that they had Samsung flat panel monitors everywhere in the subway displaying their advertisements. This was when North America was just starting to go away from CRT's. This trip, they had the monitors even bigger and thinner. But what impressed me is that Seoul now has WiFi throughout the city; on the streets, in the subways, and in the buildings. All you need to do is buy a prepaid card like you would for a cell phone package and you have the convenience of the internet at your finger tips. Everyone was using a Samsung smartphone; the Note 2 was the most common, then the Galaxy S3. I saw some iPhones but that's about it for phones. You can tell that Samsung dominates the city. Samsung ads were all over and you see nothing but. In Korea, Samsung is a conglomerate that does much more than electronics; they have life insurance, heavy industries, construction and even operated a theme park. I wanted to go to the Samsung D'Light which was like a Samsung Electronics superstore but it was closed.

I got to Gangnam but didn't see Psy around anywhere.

Individualized stores of the Bukchon shopping area

A street stall that looked really good. 

Selling deep fried rice cakes

So I spent my one and half day layover looking for culture, history, and design. I visited the Bukchon Hanok area where I did a walking tour of heritage courtyard houses. These houses originally belonged to aristocrats and are pretty much the last remaining ones in Seoul. Over the years they have been demolished for new development and it was not until 1977 that these houses were designated as Local Cultural Asset and were slowly restored. Nearby this area were markets selling Korean antiques and novelties. They were small pedestrian only streets with quaint little shops all with individualized architecture. It made for a great walk and exploration. I also saw lots of little food stands along the way and couldn't resist trying the local flavours. The stall I stopped at in the Bukchon area was selling deep fried donut style cakes with fillings inside. I really didn't know what it was nor did they know how to explain it to me. It looked good, especially in this freezing cold weather, and I was adventurous. It turned out to be quite yummy. The dough was extra chewy and the filling was slightly sweet. That kept me warm for a bit then I continued on. Eventually, I ended up trying three different stalls and ended up skipping a proper lunch that day.

Looking into one of the Honok homes

The interior courtyard, fairly typical of these homes

Cold but happy in the Bukchon Hanok area

Evidence that it was cold

Looking down the street. Can you see the modern buildings beyond?

Next stop was the Myeongdong District, a young shopping area which is also the cosmetic capital of Seoul and maybe even the world. Korea had a lot of cosmetic brands and they all had their individual stores here. I was assigned a mission from my wife to hunt down a specific BB cream for her. So with a picture of the box, a smart phone, and a GPS, I proceeded to this area jam packed with young adults hanging out on a Saturday afternoon. I must have visited 10 different stores all of which didn't carry this specific brand nor could they tell me where to find it. So after all that walking without any luck, I aborted my mission and took interests in another street stall. This one was manned by a husband and wife team which were selling boiled snails, some sort of intestine with soup, dumplings and spicy rice cakes. I opted for the rice cakes cause I remember having them before at a Korean restaurant back home and the was tantalizing over how good the spice would taste in this cold day. On the way back, I headed over to the Agpujeong District where high end retail stores were clustered. It was recognized as the Redeo Drive of Seoul. My objective was to check out specific stores which I had researched to have nice interior designs. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, it was dark and many were closing. I guess I will have to resort to the internet images.

A small restaurant in Bukchon that got my attention. Notice the rubber chicken?

He was selling grilled chicken skewers

It was apparently quite famous and decidly very yummy!

The street stall I stopped at in Myeongdong

This was a great sight on a cold winter's day

The next day, I really only had half a days time because of my flight time. I chose to spend the time walking around Gwanghwamun Gate. This was one of the few historic city gates of Seoul. I didn't expect much initially, but when I got here, I realized that Gwanghwamun was actually the main gate for Gyeongbokgung Palace. This palace complex is about the same size of Disneyland and was originally built in 1395, three years after the Joseon Dynasty was founded. I took lots of pictures and spent an hour walking around the palace grounds. I learned that this complex was destroyed by fire during the 1592 Japanese invasion. It stood derelict for 276 years until it was rebuilt in 1867. In 1915, during the Japanese occupation, all but 10 buildings were demolished since it was the symbol of Korean sovereignty. I'm not clear on the history, but I presumed that the Japanese coveted Korea and kept on attacking them within a span of 300 years. The current palace is an effort of restorations that took place in 1990 and was completed in 2010.

Gwanghwamun Gate 

Me in front of the gate

A guard at the gate.

A few more guards at the gate.

Seoul turned out to be very interesting. It's a high tech city where the people are very fashionable and presentable. I was walking around the streets in -17 degree weather, bundled in layers and layers of clothes but I can see the Korean women wearing short skirts. They might have been cold inside, but they looked good on the outside. In fact, Korea is rumored to be the plastic surgery capital of the world in terms of how much gets done. It's very common for people to have multiple plastic surgeries to improve their face. I heard that moms would give their daughter a plastic surgery as a gift when they are 18. When I was walking around, I did see many advertisement of plastic surgeries showing before and after shots. I also saw many plastic surgery clinics so I guess these operations may be as common to them as north americans going to the diet clinics.

Korean drum with Gyeongbokgung in the background

Writeup on the history of Gyeongbokgung. Can you read it?

The changing of the guards

Further inside the palace grounds

Looking up from under the incense urn

Seoul also offered a lot of history and culture. One thing that I am dying to find out is the original roots of the Korean people. I suspect there is some correlation to the chinese, because there are many similarities. Koreans and Chinese share the same new year and I've noticed some words in Korean mean and almost sound the same as they do in Chinese. The current day written characters are different but the signs in the historic palaces and gates use chinese characters so maybe it was an evolution from the same tribe? If anyone knows, please enlighten me.

The wonders of the Coast Mountains from the air

This trip felt like a long time for me. I started to miss home and work about 12 days into the trip. It was a clear winter's day as I was flying back to Vancouver. I could see the majestic coast mountain range and that familiar comfort of seeing Vancouver from the air made me smile. 

I'm home.

Dubai Cruise - After the Cruise (Feb 3rd - 6th)

Classic Hong Kong skyline

After the middle east, I flew over to Hong Kong for a few days. The original plan was to allow some time in my trip in case I had to go up to Guangzhou to present a project my company was working on. It didn't turn out that way so I guess I had a chance to experience Chinese New Year in Hong Kong for the first time.

Care bear celebrating Chinese New Year

The Big Buddha at the top of Lantau

Karen, Kirsten, and me at Lantau Island

I spent a lot of time with my dear friend Karen who I've actually known since high school. It was great catching up with her and she showed us around to some "tourists" sights of Hong Kong like Lantau Island and Stanley. This actually made my Hong Kong visit more enjoyable. To be honest, I usually find that Hong Kong doesn't have much for me, probably because I prefer more cultural attractions. Hong Kong, the way I know it, is pretty much shopping, walking, and eating. But this time, I had a lot of fun seeing other aspects of Hong Kong.

Heading up to the Big Buddha

Getting closer...

... just 300 more steps.

On our way down. What does the red sign say again?

Celebratory ice cream for surviving the big trek.

Apparently her own ice cream was not enough.

Picture with the gambler

The view we got riding the cable car down.

Since it was Chinese New Year, we attended the traditional chinese "flower" market. This is when vendors sets up stalls selling products, usually specific for the new year like flowers and traditional foods. We went there but had to migrate with the sea of people that it was next to impossible to get to the edge where the merchant stalls were. It felt like the we were in the middle of a massive cattle herd and we had no choice but to go where the herd was going. It wasn't long before we gave up and left, but not before we took some pictures to show the classic Hong Kong bamboo scaffolding canopy.

We're in this cattle herd somewhere.

Kirsten doesn't take long to tire out 

So dad and mom had to pitch in to help

In comparison to the many other times I've been here, Hong Kong is a lot busier. Every time I've been on their subway system, it has been packed with people. I remember my first night here, I was going home at about 11:00pm on a Monday night and the subway was still packed like sardines cans. I just didn't understand it. Talking to some friends, they suspect its the chinese new year traffic. Also, in the recent years since China have taken back Hong Kong, there have been a lot more mainland chinese going to Hong Kong because it's so much easier to get the visa now. Because of the many cases of imitation products causing harm in the mainland chinese market, people are regularly going to Hong Kong to buy goods because they know that they are real. I've heard that the Hong Kong stores are always running out of baby milk powder because the chinese come over the border to buy them up by the cases. While I was in Kowloon, I also noticed that people were lining up in front of the luxury brand name stores to buy products. I guess the mainland chinese impact did not just affect Vancouver alone.

Sneaking a shot in the MTR

Sampan in the waters of Stanley

Kung Fu panda at Stanley

So Janey won.

Having some street stall food; famous french toast.

Dubai Cruise - On the Cruise (Jan 26th - Feb 2nd)

The main purpose of this trip was a to attend a cruise to visit various cities around the Arabian Sea. Dubai was of course a huge interests and that's why we came a few days earlier to check it out. This cruise is my fourth cruise with Royal Carribean and this was one of the smaller ships that I've been on with them. The routing was to leave from Dubai (UAE), head over to Fujairah (UAE), Muscat (Oman), Abu Dhabi (UAE) and then back to Dubai. I wasn't overly thrilled with the routing but I thought a cruise was a good way for my first explorations of the middle east. The convenience of cruising is a great appeal to me, that's probably why I've been on so many. My sister Julie said it best that "on a cruise, the hotel and sights follow you, where as in traditional traveling, you go to the hotels and sights".

Mom and Julie on the ships first Formal Night

Janey looking pretty

Acrobatic show on the ship

Acrobatic performers

On this trip, I brought Kirsten along, my youngest daughter so a cruise was even more convenient. A great service that Royal Carribean has are kids camp where we are able to drop off the kids and they can participate in their age appropriate events while the adults do their things. Everyday, we gave Kirsten a choice to come with us or go to camp, and most of the time, she would pick the camp. Of course, we can pick her up anytime. If it's a sea day, we would spend time with her in the kid's pool. Her favourite thing was the waterslide. On her first ride, she was timid and she wanted to sit on my lap going down. Now, you have to understand that this is a kid's waterslide and the angle on this slide was super shallow. Her sitting on my lap only created a "point load" weight in one small area, mainly the circumference of my bum. So I was not really sliding, but mostly doing the "worm" all the way down the slide while pushing against the curved side walls. On the 3rd ride, she had built up more confidence and I was able to get her to ride in front of me while holding onto my leg. It wasn't long though that she was racing down and I can't even catch up to her. She had so much fun going down and even tumbled around a few times. After every ride, I would hear her sweet little voice exclaiming "Again! Again!".

Kirsten having fun on the ship

Janey & Kirsten

Jack and the Bean Stalk Show

Amazing peformance...

...and all this on a ship!

The ports of call weren't that interesting. Our first one was Fujairah, a small industrial town of the UAE. We were so uninterested that all we did was take the free shuttle to the local mall and walked around for half a day and then went back to the ship to chill.

Bustling streets

Shops at a local market

Kirsten in a local market

Kirsten on the move

Muscat was next and this was in Oman, a bordering country to UAE. This city was more attractive. I found the city to be better maintained than Dubai and was more attractive to me. I'm not saying that Dubai was dirty or anything, but in Muscat, there were carefully manicured flower beds along the streets compared to the 8-lanes each way of nothing but highway pavement in Dubai. The buildings are more of aboriginal character compared to the international glass towers of Dubai. I think this gave me a very good impression. We had a two day stay here so we decided to hire a driver with a van since there were 10 of us. There are benefits to volume because after the artful bargaining skills of Julie, our 2 hour private guided city tour came out to only $7USD per person. It was good way to get a quick overview of the city and there really wasn't much to be honest. They had a beautiful Grand Mosque which was closed to visitors because due to the time of the day. I made a mental bookmark of it though so I can come back tomorrow. Other than that, we went to the beach front for some photos and also stopped by the Sultan's palace, which was also closed.

The Grand Mosque, backlit

Rear entry of Mosque

beautiful archways

Looking up at a pendant

Janey on the beach front

Picking some shells for the girls

The next day, I wanted to get out there early because I really wanted to see the Grand Mosque which was only open to visitors until 11:00am. The routine negotiations had to ensue before we hired a driver. This time, my mom was able to secure a good bargain. In the middle east, it is common, no mandatory to negotiate so for those of you thinking of coming, it is advisable to brush up on your skills. This taxi driver was quite nice although his english was more limited than yesterday's driver. We learnt that his name was Mohammed and that he had one wife and 5 kids. I was thinking to myself, don't the middle east people all have Mohammed somewhere in their name? He drove us to the Grand Mosque and even had some spare sarees for my sister and my mom. In Islamist mosques, your elbows and knees had to be covered. For women, they had to have their entire head covered. I suspected that this was out of respect for Allah but did not press for the answer like I normally would. Women even had to be in their own prayer room, separate from the men. I really didn't understand why the segregation both in the mosque and in society itself.

from the courtyards of the Mosque

Carved limestone archways

Ornamental ceiling details

When I first landed in Dubai, I was reading up on the local customs and culture. One thing that I learnt was that it was not accepted to show affection towards the opposite sex in public. The woman traditionally was completely covered in black, even their face and hair. My first guess was that it was some sort of protectionist movement of the men so that other men do not see their wife or wives, but I never really got to the bottom of that. What really baffled me though was that the first day I was on the streets of Dubai, I noticed two men holding hands. My first thought, being from the westcoast was that this was a gay couple. Thinking that, I was very surprised how open the middle east was about homosexuality. I later then saw another man (on a few occasions) hold another man's pinky. It didn't take me long to reconsider my assumption that they were gay. I later learnt that it was very common for men to hold each other's hand or pinky to show that they are very close friends. I guess it was their version of "Bromance". The part that I really couldn't make any sense of was why it was ok to show affection towards your homeboy but not your wife in public. If any readers have an answer to that, please save me the sleepless nights and enlighten me. Normally, I would've asked our driver, but after a few failed attempts with other questions, I thought it was best not to try such a complex question. The previous attempts were quite comical actually because we were asking him A and he would respond B. There was good intent though, just no beneficial results. There was one time, we had asked him to take a picture for us. He misunderstood and thought we wanted a picture with him so at least now, we have a picture of what a local taxi driver looks like.

The main prayer room

Looking up at the Swarovski chandelier

The mosque itself was beautiful and very majestic in a subdued way. Not quite like the grandeur of the european cathedrals and not so simple as an Asian temple. It had a very large plan but was relatively humble in height. It consisted of separate single story buildings interconnected by corridors and courtyards. The exterior was limestone and the ones which formed the entry archways had arabian scriptures of the Qoran carved into it. The interior of the main prayer room was one large room with tall ceilings and a large main domed ceiling. The walls and columns were white marble with carved scripture accents. Certain walls (important, I presume) had colorful arabian artwork on them. Their doors were also finely detailed with ornate carvings on them. I loved the space and being in it reminded me how much I appreciate cultural architecture.

Looking up at book niches spread along the mosque

Door knob detail

Beautiful carved wood doors

When we got back to the ship, I realized that I didn't have my cell phone. I went back out to look for it and concluded that it must have dropped in the taxi. By that time, Mohammed had already left. So I asked the other taxi drivers if they knew him and can they call him? They were all really helpful and everyone gathered around to help me figure it out. I told them that he was driving a new model Toyota Camry and his name was Mohammed. This didn't really help because all the taxi drivers were named Mohammed so after a little chuckle to myself, I continued explaining that he had 1 wife and 5 kids. I tried explaining to them what he looked like and what he was wearing. It really wasn't much help, because they were all wearing the same single sheet white robe with their local headgear. The only difference that I was able to point out was that Mohammed had a green/blue pattern versus the tan/brown pattern that some of the others had. I must have tried for 15 minutes and nothing rang a bell until one of the driver's asked "do you have a picture of him"? That was when I remembered the accidental photo with him and sure enough, everyone went "Oh!" when I showed them the photo. It was ironic that an accidental photo from a misunderstanding had saved my bacon! For those who don't know me, I am prone to loosing things like cell phone and sunglasses, especially on trips. This was the 2nd time I had nearly lost my phone on this trip.

Janey, Kirsten, & mom

Lisa and Cadence looking pretty

The man behind the woman

Lisa, Dave, & Cadence

The family portrait

Everyone looking pretty

...especially little Kirsten.

Daddy's little girl.

Mom looking good.

Our third port of call was Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE. Unlike Dubai, with the many glass towers to facilitate commerce, Abu Dhabi is more of an industrial city with the main resource being oil. The two big highlights that got my attention was the Grand Mosque and the Ferrari World theme park. It wasn't possible to see both so the speed demon in me chose to go check out Ferrari World, claimed to be the largest indoor theme park. The building itself was amazing with a sleek curvaceous design clad in Ferrari red of course. Besides the Ferrari store and museum of cars, there were also many rides for all ages. The most anticipated one is the world's fastest roller coaster which accelerates you from 0-240 km/hr in 5 seconds! I just knew I had to experience that! While waiting in the line up, we can see the coaster before us accelerate and was literally slung like a sling shot forward. The roller coaster took off like a rocket and I was left with my jaws hanging while I watched! It was scary as hell already being a spectator. When it was our turn, the acceleration was like nothing I've experienced, and the fastest car I've accelerated in was a Lamborghini. This roller was a whole other level. My heart was pushed way and all I can hear were people yelling while I hung on for dear life. After what seemed to be a lifetime, we were done and our legs were still shaking. Next, we checked out the other rides and Ferrari displays. All in all, it was a great theme park, especially for the speed inclined. Word of warning though, some of the rides do make you nauseous.

Ferrari World rendering

We made it inside

Sensual lines by Ferrari

Fastest coaster in the world!

Formula 1 in front of the main vortex structure

Ferrari FF 

Unmistakable!

Overall, I would say the Cruise was mediocre compared to the other ones that I've been on. I can't pinpoint why, but in comparison to the other cruises; the food wasn't as good, the planned events weren't great, and the routing as mentioned was so-so. The one good thing was that I won 2nd place in the Poker tournament. I noticed that this cruise was not full and the average age were seniors; so I'm sure all this affected my experience. However, it was still a convenient way to take in the sights of the middle east, especially because it's my first time here. It's like taking a sampling of the buffet table. Next time, when I go back in, I will probably zoom in on specific areas I liked.