Exploring the Casinos in Macau

12 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by in Asia, China

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Mr. Selfish and I took a day trip from Hong Kong to Macau. We had recently learned that Macau has far surpassed Las Vegas in terms of casino revenues and braced ourselves for hoards of Chinese tour groups. I am not much of a gambler, and Mr. Selfish only dabbles in black jack, so we didn’t really gamble any in Macau. It was still fun to visit these beautiful casinos and enjoy the free transportation that they provide.

We took the ferry from Hong Kong to Macau, which only takes about an hour. It is a very comfortable ferry and cost about 652 Hong Kong dollars ($85 USD) for both of us round trip. We showed up around 10am to take the 11am ferry but it had been cancelled due to visibility issues. As a result, we had to take the 12:30pm ferry instead. We therefore bought our return ticket then and there since we didn’t want to chance an evening ferry selling out.

Macau Casinos 01

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Searching for the Best Dim Sum in Hong Kong

11 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in Asia, China, Food & Drinks, Searching for the Best . . .

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Mr. Selfish is partial to the dim sum in San Francisco, particularly the baked barbeque pork buns, since he’s had it since he was a kid. Since we were in Hong Kong for five days, we decided to try to find the best dim sum in Hong Kong, or at least some that would rival the baked pork buns from Mr. Selfish’s childhood.

First, we went to Tim Ho Wan, which is one of the few dim sum restaurants in the world with a Michelin star. It wasn’t fancy and the décor was quite lacking but the dim sum was delicious. Mr. Selfish was quite anxious to try their baked barbeque pork buns. Although they were sweet and fluffy with an egg custardy top, the barbeque pork was thick and savory. These baked pork buns are quite different from the ones in San Fran. Mr. Selfish still managed to eat four of them, and I had two. There are three buns in one order, which is a steal at 16 HKD ($2.06 USD) per order.

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Hong Kong Disneyland – Part 2

10 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by in Asia, China, Disney

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In yesterday’s post, I went over my general impressions of Hong Kong Disneyland (HKD). Today, we’ll go over the specific rides on which me and Mr. Selfish went. One common denominator for all of the rides was the wait times were usually about 5-10 minutes. This is a very short wait time compared to the rides at Orlando parks or even the rides at Disneyland Paris.

We’ll start with the rides that were unlike any other Disney ride. In the area known as Grizzly Gulch, we rode Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars. Although the ride has a long title, it was a very enjoyable roller coaster. In fact, it is very similar to Everest in Animal Kingdom, which is one of my favorite rides. Both Big Grizzly Mountain and Everest both contain fuzzy characters that mess with your track and cause you to ride backwards for a bit. Mr. Selfish and I enjoyed this ride so much that we rode it three times – in the front, all the way in the back, and (for posterity) in the middle.

HK Disney Rides 01HK Disney Rides 02HK Disney Rides 03HK Disney Rides 04HK Disney Rides 05

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Hong Kong Disneyland – Part 1

09 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by in Asia, China, Disney

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As I’ve mentioned previously, Mr. Selfish and I intend on visiting all of the Disney parks in the world. We went to Hong Kong Disneyland (HKD), which is a rather new and small Disney park. Opening in 2005, HKD adheres to the rules of feng shui in an attempt to avoid any cultural backlash from the Chinese.

HK Disney 01

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Hopping Around Hong Kong

08 Monday Apr 2013

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Mr. Selfish and I first visited Hong Kong in 2009 during our “homeland honeymoon.” We saw a lot of the major sights then and decided to take it a bit easier on our second trip there.

Our first full day in Hong Kong had good weather so we chose to go up to Victoria’s Peak even though we had already been in 2009. At 1,811 feet, the Peak is the highest mountain in Hong Kong. We rode the cable car up and down for 75 Hong Kong dollars (~$9 USD) per person.

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How Suite it is… at the JW Marriott Hong Kong!

07 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, Asia, China, Marriott, Travel Hacking

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For our stay in Hong Kong I booked a last minute 5-night award to the JW Marriott HK only a week before we arrived.  Under the old category definitions, the JW was a category 7 hotel, meaning it cost 35,000 Marriott reward points a night.  Thankfully, Marriott Rewards gives you the 5th night free on award bookings, so our stay cost 140,000 Marriott Reward points.

Since Mrs. Selfish and I both applied for the Chase Marriott Rewards card, we both had a free night and 70,000 Marriott Reward points to burn!  Marriott is also nice because multiple family members can apply points toward one award, allowing me to Mrs. Selfish’s points if I fell short.  This was especially useful, because for our time in China I was planning on getting platinum status.

Unlike other hotel chains, Marriott allows just about anyone to try their “Taste of Platinum” challenge. By completing 9 paid stays in 3 months, plus the month you request the challenge, you’ll earn Marriott’s platinum status for the next calendar year.  Although it’s an amazing shortcut, the biggest benefit is the “taste” itself – for the duration of those ~3 months you’ll actually get platinum status, which gets you free internet, breakfast, a welcome gift, your choice of amenities, and an upgrade to a better room. We pulled a similar trick in Spain with Mrs. Selfish, but the AC Hotels didn’t really recognize platinum status quite the way Marriott-branded hotels in Asia do.

In Asia, they do one better, since there’s a great chance you’ll be upgraded to a suite.

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One last day in Singapore

06 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, Asia, Hilton, Singapore, Travel Hacking

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After surviving many cab debacles in Kuala Lumpur, Mrs. Selfish and I finally got wise and arranged for a cab to pick us up from the Sheraton Imperial.  After 3 days in Kuala Lumpur, surprisingly our most honest cab driver was the one that took us to the airport.

Nevertheless it was slightly uncomfortable with all of our bags.  The standard cabs in Kuala Lumpur were slightly different from home, and we found we always had to put one of our bags up front next to the driver.  The reason being that a lot of the trunk’s space is occupied by a natural gas tank!

But no matter!  We were off to our last stop in South East Asia, a one day stopover in Singapore.

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Enjoying the Night Life in Kuala Lumpur

05 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by in Asia, Food & Drinks, Malaysia

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Mr. Selfish and I are not really party animals. Truth be told, we’re pretty much old farts when it comes to partying and clubbing in a big city. However, we do enjoy nice cocktail bars with fancy drinks. We hadn’t been to a swanky cocktail bar in a while, so we decided to go to Tate while in Kuala Lumpur.

The Tate’s website states the following as the introduction to the bar:

“Some days, Batman just wants to be Bruce. Not Bruce Wayne, just Bruce.

He wants to lounge about with his other hero friends, all of them in stealth mode. They stand at the bar and recount their adventures; play pool and puff on cigars. They are at ease, undisturbed by fainting damsels in distress . . . .”

It was an interesting introduction, and I was intrigued.

The Tate is located in the Intermark and is behind an unmarked door next to a hanging top hat. The bar is themed like a speakeasy during the Prohibition Era. All of the televisions were playing old Superman episodes, which me and Mr. Selfish found surprisingly hypnotizing.

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Mmmmmmmm…Malay Food!

04 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in Asia, Food & Drinks, Malaysia

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While still in Orlando, Mr. Selfish discovered a beef rendang recipe on allrecipes.com and fell in love with it. Since there were no Malay restaurants in Orlando, we kept cooking this one recipe of beef rendang, which epitomized Malay food for us. We knew that we would try as much Malay food as possible while in Kuala Lumpur.

During our first night in KL, we walked to Kampung Baru to feast on Malay street food. The view from the night market of the Petronas Towers was magnificent, and the food was great to boot. First, we tried some delicious chicken and pork satay. They were cooked over an open flame to perfection.

KL 025Satay with a ViewKL 024

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The Most Awesome Bird Park Ever in Kuala Lumpur

03 Wednesday Apr 2013

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Mr. Selfish and I stayed in Kuala Lumpur for three nights. When I found out that Kuala Lumpur had a bird park that it touted as the “world’s largest free-flight walk-in aviary,” I knew that we would visit it.

I had to take two photographs because the owls don’t play too nicely with the other vegetarian birds. I loved the Malay Eagle Owl (on the right). His feathers give him so much character!

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Last stop in SE Asia: Kuala Lumpur

02 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, Asia, Malaysia, Starwood, Travel Hacking

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After catching breakfast at the Double Tree Phuket, Mrs. Selfish and I were ready for Kuala Lumpur!  We weren’t really sure what to expect, but having grown somewhat familiar with Malaysian cuisine, we were excited to see what Kuala Lumpur had to offer.

After a little research, I settled on booking the Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur, which was a little bit out of the center of town, but was highly ranked on Trip Advisor.  Since we were running low on Starwood points, I decided to pay in cash. A little searching found an offer online – 3 nights for the price of 2 at Starwood Properties in South East Asia – score!  The price was normally 444 MYR a night, which is roughly $143, so at 66% we were getting close to $96 a night before taxes.

Getting there, was a little bit of a challenge, but fortunately Kuala Lumpur removes most of usually airport taxi headaches.

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Honeymooning in Phuket

01 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, Asia, Hilton, Thailand, Travel Hacking

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After escaping the tetanus-ridden raft houses of Khao Sok national park, Mrs. Selfish and I were ready to high-tail it out of there!  Unfortunately, this meant spending the night in Phuket, one of Thailand’s seediest cities!

After leaving the decidedly-beautiful-but-extremely-rustic Khao Sok national park, we were transported back to the Bamboo Orchid Tree House to pickup our suitcases. Unfortunately, midway through the hour long drive it decided to rain, and we were in a semi-open air pickup truck.  We arrive at the Tree House, slightly soaked, grabbed our bag, and hopped in a car to Phuket!  Two hours later we arrived in civilization at the Double Tree Resort Phuket, on Surin Beach.

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They have baby elephants in Khao Lak!

31 Sunday Mar 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, Asia, Thailand, Travel Hacking

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When planning the Thailand portion of our trip, Mrs. Selfish and I decided to spend a week on the west coast of Thailand.  We knew we wanted to dive Richelieu Rock, and visit Thailand’s Halong Bay, the man made Khao Sak lake, but getting there was a problem.  The closest airport to both natural wonders is in Phuket, which is known as one of the seediest places in Thailand – even the natives warned us against going there.

Fortunately, Khao Lak was only a one hour drive north.  While searching for accommodations, I found Le Méridien Khao Lak Beach & Spa Resort with one important benefit: a baby elephant.

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Khao Sok – Trekking Around Cheow Lan Lake

30 Saturday Mar 2013

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Our 2 day/1 night trip to Cheow Lan Lake included two treks. The first trek was to Namtaloo Cave. It took about 45 minutes of hiking through the jungle to reach the cave. Our guide’s name was Ya Ya, and he was good-natured and easy going. When we told him that I was a slow walker, he assured me that we would take lots of breaks for photos.

Trekking 01 Trekking 02Helloooooooo

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Khao Sok – Boating on Cheow Lan Lake

29 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by in Asia, Thailand

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Other than the accommodations on Cheow Lan Lake, Mr. Selfish and I enjoyed our 2 day/1 night to the lake. Cheow Lan Lake is a man-made lake that resulted from the construction of the Ratchaprapha (Rajjaprabha) Dam in 1988. The lake measures approximately 168 square kilometres and is full of beautiful limestone cliffs. Riding a long-tail boat on Cheow Lan Lake was certainly one of the highlights of our tour.

First, we arrived at Ratchaprapha Dam for our last bathroom break before heading off on the long-tail boat. We had one of our big bags with us, so Mr. Selfish had to haul it down to the boat.

The Lake 01 The Lake 02The Lake 03

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