Author: Alex Yip

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Europe / Spain

18 Oct, 2014

Revisiting Barcelona for the FIBA Games

A good friend of mine just celebrated his birthday in august. His wife wanted to give him a gift that he would love, a ticket to the semi finals to the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Barcelona. Me and another friend decided it was a nice idea and so we decided to tag along for the game and a quick city trip to Barcelona! She wasn’t that into basketball anyway so it was good that us guys could join to make it an even better experience! He had no idea until he saw us queueing up at the airport to...

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South East Asia / Thailand

1 Aug, 2014

A quick visit to Pattaya – Sin city of Thailand

In 2014 I gave myself a trip to Thailand as a birthday gift. The difference this time is that I won’t be traveling as a backpacker, but rather a “flashpacker”. I didnt even bring a backpack but a trolley that I borrowed. The goal this time was also to kick back and relax rather than going on the road everyday and sightseeing everyday. This time I also brought my buddy Greg with me as he hasn’t been to Thailand before but if you remember he did travel to Japan with me. He’s not so much an adventurous traveler, but more...

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South East Asia / Thailand

28 Jul, 2014

Winding down with the hippies in Northern Thailand: Pai

So after some intense partying in Pattaya, I felt I needed to relax and get away from all the busy and hectic life down south. So I made my way up to Pai, a small town north of Chiang Mai. From Pattaya it was a loooong day of traveling. First I took the taxi from Pattaya to Bangkok DongMuang airport, then took an AirAsia flight to Chiang Mai. Once I arrived in Chiang Mai airport, I took a taxi to bus station. There are several buses you can take depending on your budget and your taste for adventure. You could...

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Planning / South East Asia / Thailand

14 Jun, 2014

Asian flashpacker – Thailand (pre-trip)

So for my birthday I rewarded myself with a trip (back) to Thailand. I’m bringing a friend who’s never been to Thailand before and to be honest, this time around I just wanted to relax and take it easy. Compared to my previous travels where I was being the adventurous backpacker, I decided that this time I’d up my comfort level a bit more and become…. Asian flashpacker! Eventhough this is relax and tourist vacation trip, I still wanted to check out some places I haven’t been to before. Touching down in Bangkok, I’m gonna try to put in the...

Strawberry shortcake 0

Asia / Hong Kong

28 Oct, 2013

Small selection of foods in Hong Kong

It’s not the first time I’m in Hong Kong, in fact I come to Hong Kong quite often and last time I already went out and did a bunch of adventure stuff. This time around, I didn’t do anything new really, but I did go out to eat a lot more often, albeit not the most adventurous foods but it’s still food! I had a personal food photographer this time so it wouldn’t look as pathetic if I was eating and taking pictures myself. 🙁 Some of the pictures were taken with a smartphone so it might not be the...

Charming hotel/tea house in outskirts of Yangshuo 0

Asia / China

26 Oct, 2013

Biking around the outskirts of Yangshuo and boatride to Yangdi

When you come to Yangshuo, they often recommend you to take the bike and bike around the outskirts and visit the villages and fields around the mountain areas. Since our hotel was already in the outskirts, we were kinda “halfway” already. We rented a pair of bikes and headed off towards one of the more popular sights, Yulong Bridge to get a nice view of the Yulong River Valley. We didn’t manage to get there since we left kinda late so if we did go to the Yulong bridge it would have been dark already on our way back. Since...

Downtown Yangshuo 0

Asia / China

25 Oct, 2013

Strolling around in the city of Yangshuo

In the morning we took the express bus from Guilin to Yangshuo, it took us roughly an hour and half, no stops in between. You could already see a lot of limestone rocks and karst peaks along the way to Yangshuo. It’s also possible to go from Guilin to Yangshuo by boat but that would take you a whole day. We opted to take a boat cruise instead once we were in Yangshuo. Yangshuo itself is a huge tourist city for both domestic and international tourists, that’s why I’ve booked us a room outside of the city, which was more...

Local specialty: Beer Fish 1

Asia / China

25 Oct, 2013

Food in Yangshuo

The most famous dish to try out in Yangshuo is without a doubt the beer fish. Tons of restaurants on the main street advertise it and prices are pretty much the same in all those places. We just randomly picked the cleanest one from outside and went on with our adventure to order Beer Fish. We looked at the menu and ordered a fish with no bones in with the help of our waiter (who didn’t speak English). On the side we ordered some Chinese cabbage since we wanted to be healthy as well. I’m not a big fine dining...

Night time night markets and restaurants 0

Asia / China

24 Oct, 2013

Quick transit through Guilin: Street food goodies!

We arrived in Guilin a little past midnight so we had to take a taxi out to our hotel in the city center. It took us roughly 30-40 minutes and cost about 100RMB, not too bad to be honest. I did notice that at night it is fairly dangerous to drive fast on the highways. There are still people driving around on their electric scooters without their lights on and turning at big crossroads. People don’t exactly use their common sense here in traffic it seems…. Anyway, I picked a hotel right in the center close to where the action...

Water cube spa complex - lounge area 0

Asia / China

23 Oct, 2013

Shenzhen – Visiting a Chinese spa complex

The main reason why we stopped by Shenzhen for our last day was to get a spa treatment at one of the many places around the city. A lot of Hong Kong people come over the border and get pampered here. We looked up some on the internet and eventually picked Water Cube, which was about 5 minute walk from one of the border crossings. The place was FREAKING HUGE! About 4 floors all with massage rooms, big and small and private, there were lounge chairs in a big area for you to chill at and get other services. Services...

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