My Travelogue #4

I am now half way through my travelogue. In my last 3 blogs, I posted photos and shared my experience of 30 cities so far (in alphabetical order). Here I am going through the next 10 as rated by Lonely Planet:

Was I the only tourist there not spending a cent on gambling? I didn't even play the slot machine. I did watch a show (Cirque du Soleil), had a buffet dinner and did a bit of shopping though. I was supposed to go on a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon too, but it was cancelled at the last minute due to bad weather (oh well, tough luck).

Lisbon (and Portugal in general) was definitely underrated. With its beauty and rich history, it should be as popular as Italy or Spain. I truly enjoyed my stay in Lisbon, including an excursion to the World Heritage listed Sintra. But in fact, I liked Porto even more than Lisbon. It's a shame that Porto didn't make it to the Lonely Planet best cities list.

London was the first European city I visited. I can still remember the excitement of travelling in a strange city by myself for the first time, riding on the Piccadilly Line from Heathrow all the way to Russell Square and then went to the British Museum, Oxford Street, Soho, Chinatown, Trafalgar Square, the Big Ben and Westminster, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park (wow I walked a lot).

Since then I have visited London a number of times, but there are still so much more to be explored and I definitely haven't seen enough of the city yet.

I'm sorry to say that, but I never liked LA - its chaotic airport, ugly urban sprawl, over-the-top 16-lane motorways, artificial attractions and tacky souvenirs, snobbish people, terrible junk food...Griffith Park was nice, the Walt Disney Concert Hall and The Broad were interesting buildings, but other than that I couldn't think of anything else. Can someone prove me wrong please?

On the other hand, five spots below LA is the dreamy Luang Prabang. I would call it a town rather than a city though. It was small and everything was within walking distance. The ancient capital was packed with Buddhist temples, and one of the major drawcards was Buddhist monks collecting alms every morning across the town. Unfortunately it was way too early for me (like 5 or 6 am) and I never witnessed that. In the evening, the main road turned into a night market, selling beautiful local handicrafts. Laotian food was nice too; I even attended a cooking class and learnt few dishes. All in all, it was one of the highlights in my travel experiences so far.

This Portuguese cousin of Hong Kong is infamous for its casinos. As you already read above, I don't gamble. But there are so much more to Macau than the casinos. It has rich culture and its historical centre is a World Heritage Site. Its population are mostly Catholics and you will find many historical churches there. Macanese food is also very tasty, much better than the food in Hong Kong in my opinion. It is a unique mix of Portuguese, Chinese and Malay cuisines.

Macau is just an hour jetfoil ride away from Hong Kong, or nowadays you can catch a bus across the HKZM Bridge (which also takes an hour, what a white elephant). If you ever visit Hong Kong, make sure you go to Macau as well.

I visited Madrid twice, and both times I had a great time. There were great food, world-class museums, beautiful palace and cityscape. Its vibrant nightlife was insane. People went out for dinner at around 10 pm and wouldn't stop partying until the next morning. So if you are staying in the city centre, make sure the hotel is well soundproofed. Otherwise just join in the fun and have a siesta the next day. 😏

Manila is a huge city, in both population and area. It has a strong Catholic culture and Spanish influence distinct from its Buddhist and Muslim neighbours. I spent 3 nights there and only managed to visit a very small part of the city (well the traffic was bad and its public transport was pretty much non-existent). To be honest, I am still very unfamiliar with the city compared to Bangkok or Saigon. I need to travel there again to explore further.

As I said in my previous blog, Lonely Planet has an Australian bias. Melbourne has a grand grid layout in its city centre and its famous trams, a beautiful botanic garden, great museums, distinctive multicultural suburbs, a hip café culture, the Australian Open (and the Grand Prix and AFL, but I'm not a fan of these), and the huge Crown Casino across the Yarra River. But 11th in the world? It must be love in the eye of the beholder.

Why do I have four gambling hubs in one blog?! (And there are casinos in London, Lisbon, Madrid and Manila too). I DON'T GAMBLE!!! And even if I did, I wouldn't be rich enough to get through the entrance of the Monte Carlo Casino.

I only stayed there for few hours while visiting Nice. The country was tiny anyway. It reminded me of the southern side of Hong Kong Island - people were rich and shamelessly flaunting their wealth. While Monaco was fun to visit with all the Ferraris, mega yachts and fireworks from private parties (and you scored yourself one more country visited), Nice would be a more logical place to stay unless you are ultra rich.

This is the end of the fourth blog. 40 cities so far and 30 more to go. I hope I haven't bored you with my blogs yet. Leave me a comment if you want to share your travel experience, or have any question regarding these cities.