A major theme of our trip was visiting houses of worship. We went to the most famous temples in Hong Kong and Macau, as well as some lesser known ones. It was cool to see all walks of people practicing vastly different religious lifestyles. Sikhism – Khalsa Diwan Gurudwara Sahib This 3-story Sikh gurudwara in
HK & Macau 2024 (3/9) – Obsess
At some point during the trip planning phase, Hong said, “eat some egg tarts for me!” She was referring to the Portuguese egg tarts that Macau was famous for, because we hadn’t been to Macau. Those are usually brought up in contrast to the Hong Kong style egg tarts, which further branch into flaky crust
HK & Macau 2024 (2/9) – Move
I have grown to really enjoy different modes of transportation around the world and made it a point to experience them on each trip. Hong Kong and Macau, small chunks of mountainous land surrounded by water, had to devise ways of moving people without the luxury of placing cars on paved roads everywhere. They were
HK & Macau 2024 (1/9) – Visit
With Hong’s encouragement, Phil and I embarked on a guys’ trip to Hong Kong and Macau. Itinerary Phil had a long transit day from SD to SF, while I had to end the work week with an unusually rough email to an outside party. Then the fun began! We boarded the flight (Cathay in premium
My Journey to the Black Myth: Wukong
Among the biggest news of 2024 had gotta be Black Myth: Wukong. In summer 2022, I jumped on the PS5 bandwagon at the tail end of its global shortage crisis. This investment was primarily for two titles: God of War Ragnorak, an absolute masterpiece, and Black Myth Wukong, something I had just seen a teaser
Korea & Japan 2024 (10/10) – Misc. Japan
Return Flight To smoothly wrap up the trip, I was initially hoping to fly home on JAL from Haneda Airport. Award availability in economy was abundant through early July, but entirely disappeared for the rest of the summer. Cash prices looked ridiculous, too. After months of stalking different options, we ended up flying ZIPAir home
Korea & Japan 2024 (9/10) – City #5 – Tokyo
Another Shinkansen train ride later, we arrived at Tokyo. We pulled a pro move hopping off at Shinagawa rather than going all the way to Tokyo Station, saving a few minutes of travel time. Conrad Tokyo The family stayed at this awesome hotel for five nights. With Hilton’s fifth-night free, I was able to book
Korea & Japan 2024 (8/10) – City #4 – Kyoto
From Fukuoka’s Hakata Station, we took a Shinkansen train to Kyoto. It traveled the 661-kilometer distance in 2 hours and 14 minutes. Meanwhile, Bah and Mah flew from Taiwan into Kaisai Airport, and then took a hour-long train to meet up with us. Thus began our 3-day visit in Kyoto. Kyoto’s Top Attractions Hong and
Korea & Japan 2024 (7/10) – Gundam
Gundam is a lot like Marvel. I’ve never considered myself a fan and can’t tell you much about its lore. All I could do was name a few of the more iconic characters… like 3 of them. However, I did grow up with the franchise permeating the pop culture, and love similar media and products
Korea & Japan 2024 (6/10) – City #3 – Fukuoka
On Thursday morning, we stepped into the ferry port, cleared immigration, and officially entered Japan. We hailed a cab (our very first car ride in this country) to the hotel. The city center was only 1.5 miles away and I knew the path was fairly walkable. However, the sun was already scorching at 8am and