I've been writing about different countries but wanted to touch base with my home which is Los Angeles, California. When people think of Los Angeles, naturally entertainment comes into play and Disneyland. Well most people may or may not know that Disneyland is not really in Los Angeles but in a totally different county called Orange County. I'm here to really write more about some of the best places to visit that really experiences the Los Angeles life.
Los Angeles is a very unique city. We sometimes lump Los Angeles into five counties which includes, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside (SB and Riverside collectively known as the Inland Empire), and Ventura County. There are three counties located along the coast which are Los Angeles, Orange (the smallest of the counties) and Ventura. What we will cover here are not your typical places you will visit when you come to Los Angeles. I will not be writing about Universal Studios or Disneyland in this series of segments, rather some of the unique things that makes each of these counties unique and makes Los Angeles, well........Los Angeles.
One of the interesting sites in Los Angeles is the Watts Towers. When people think of Watts, we think of the Watts riots in 1965. But here at Watts Towers is an interesting architectural piece. The towers are modern build and are at least 100 feet high. Originally built by an Italian named Simon Rodia who lived in a house nearby. The structure is basically steel rods and concrete with exterior base consisting of seashells, pottery and glass. It is an unique site. Rodia constructed this as art and deeded the property to the city after 1957 when a fire burned down his house. The city at one point wanted to demolished the towers, but has become an iconic symbol in Watts. You can make this an easy day trip here and spend an hour or two here.
We will explore more of Los Angeles in later blogs so do tune in.
Showing posts with label trips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trips. Show all posts
Monday, May 4, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
The Tuscan Sun
There have been many movies made in Tuscany, or in Italian called Toscana. If you've seen the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun" it captures a little bit of Italy. Sure we would love to own a villa in Toscana. Keep in mind, Toscana is a region, visitors sometimes think it is a city in Italy. Rome is NOT in this region, rather another region called Lazio which Rome is the capital for that region along with being the capital for the country. In Toscana, I will eventually cover a few major cities and provinces located in this great region of Italy. We will look at Firenze (Florence), Siena, and Pisa. But first we want to cover the highlights of the region before we dig deeper into those beautiful cities of the region.
Toscana is one of 20 regions in Italy (if you are in the USA, think of a region as a state). Five of the 20 regions are "special autonomous status" where they can enact its own local legislation. Toscana region borders the region of Lazio directly to the South, the Tyrrhenian Sea (part of the Mediterrenean Sea) to the West, the region of Umbria to the Southeast and the region of Liguria and Emilio-Romagna regions to the North. The capital of Toscana is Florence. Toscana is known for its arts and landscape, but it's agriculture consists of the wine and olives. Some of the best wines and olives in the world are grown and processed in the Toscana region. Potatoes, sunflowers, beets, rice, vegetables, and grains for cereals are other staples that are grown here in Toscana.
For people who like wine, you need to travel to the inland area of Toscana where the world famous Chianti wines are found. Chianti wines are the famous red wine in Italy found in the Toscana region. When you are in this region, it is a must to try their red wine with your meal, and it's one of the best tasting red wines in the world. Wine is not that expensive in Italy and you can have it with your meal for lunch or dinner. The wines from the Chianti vineyards are everywhere throughout Toscana, so missing out on it, you will be missing on a big taste of Italy.
Olives here are devine and they are so pure. You need to try olive oil here for they are very pure and they do not put a lot of salt in the olive oil unlike the ones we purchase in the USA. The olive oils that are pure are going to be bitter. Ask for olive oil anytime when you go to restaurants to eat it with your bread. You will get a bitter taste at first bite, but let it linger in your taste buds for a bit and you can see the after taste is much better and taste really good. In other words, don't give up on the taste after your first bite, you never know what you will be missing.
A note about bread when you are at restaurants, they DO charge for the bread at restaurants. It's usually a per person charge. If you don't eat the bread, do let them know so they won't charge you. But becareful also when you sit at the restaurant because they will charge you for just a sitting fee. If you want to avoid all that, just go to your local "cafe" like restaurants where you can see your food at a deli style and you can order it at the counter and take it back to your seat (usually no sit down fee there). Well hope this is making you hungry so it's now time to EAT!
Toscana is one of 20 regions in Italy (if you are in the USA, think of a region as a state). Five of the 20 regions are "special autonomous status" where they can enact its own local legislation. Toscana region borders the region of Lazio directly to the South, the Tyrrhenian Sea (part of the Mediterrenean Sea) to the West, the region of Umbria to the Southeast and the region of Liguria and Emilio-Romagna regions to the North. The capital of Toscana is Florence. Toscana is known for its arts and landscape, but it's agriculture consists of the wine and olives. Some of the best wines and olives in the world are grown and processed in the Toscana region. Potatoes, sunflowers, beets, rice, vegetables, and grains for cereals are other staples that are grown here in Toscana.
For people who like wine, you need to travel to the inland area of Toscana where the world famous Chianti wines are found. Chianti wines are the famous red wine in Italy found in the Toscana region. When you are in this region, it is a must to try their red wine with your meal, and it's one of the best tasting red wines in the world. Wine is not that expensive in Italy and you can have it with your meal for lunch or dinner. The wines from the Chianti vineyards are everywhere throughout Toscana, so missing out on it, you will be missing on a big taste of Italy.
Olives here are devine and they are so pure. You need to try olive oil here for they are very pure and they do not put a lot of salt in the olive oil unlike the ones we purchase in the USA. The olive oils that are pure are going to be bitter. Ask for olive oil anytime when you go to restaurants to eat it with your bread. You will get a bitter taste at first bite, but let it linger in your taste buds for a bit and you can see the after taste is much better and taste really good. In other words, don't give up on the taste after your first bite, you never know what you will be missing.
A note about bread when you are at restaurants, they DO charge for the bread at restaurants. It's usually a per person charge. If you don't eat the bread, do let them know so they won't charge you. But becareful also when you sit at the restaurant because they will charge you for just a sitting fee. If you want to avoid all that, just go to your local "cafe" like restaurants where you can see your food at a deli style and you can order it at the counter and take it back to your seat (usually no sit down fee there). Well hope this is making you hungry so it's now time to EAT!
Monday, April 13, 2009
We Like Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of the most vibrants locations in the world. It is a territory located in China and has one of the best Chinese foods in the world. Known for its great food, tall buildings, vibrant shopping and night life, and a financial and business mecca in Asia.
My first time in Hong Kong was October 2007. I regret not having been to Hong Kong prior to the the British handing over the territory to China. I would definitely want to go back to Hong Kong again and explore Hong Kong more. I went to Hong Kong and explored more of Lantau Island and Macau, which I will feature in additional posts.
Hong Kong is very easy to get around and very pedestrian friendly. Yes it does have its traffic but what major city doesn't in the world. No need to rent a car in Hong Kong, they have good public transportation system with buses and subways. Taxis aren't that expensive either, but always check rates with your hotel as to how much fairs are.......cause you don't want to be taken for a ride. There are honest cab drivers, but there are a few checkered ones (no checkered yellow cabs in Hong Kong). It is always best to check with tourist information centers or your hotel (if you say in a "good" hotel) for rates anywhere you are going.
Hong Kong is easy to get around for non-Cantonese speakers. Although some of the older restaurants that are hole-in-the-walls, probably speak more Cantonese and not a lot of English. Gradually the special administrative territory of China is coming to its own with the Mandarin language so if you speak some Mandarin, you can use that there too.
When you go to Hong Kong, you can try fine dining, but I'm the type that loves good foods with good value so I like to go to the hole-in-the-walls, because it's the only way you get to explore Hong Kong's small alleys. Hong Kong has the best wonton dumpling with egg noodle soup and their Gai-Lan there are the best. Roasted duck seems to be another staple and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
When I was in Hong Kong, I stayed at a hotel on Nathan road close to one of the Star Ferry stops on the Kowloon side. It's better to stay on the Kowloon side so you can take nice pictures of the high rises from across the harbor, especially at night. The area I was at was called Tsim Sha Shui which I will cover later below.
One of the features I like about Hong Kong are some of the buildings are interconnected with an above ground or underground tunnel system. That way you don't have to walk along the streets that much. Usually these tunnels if they are above ground are on the third floor of the buildings. This will save you time from come downstairs and going to the streets, plus on a humid and hot day, you get to be in nice air-conditioned tunnels.
Tsim Sha Shui area of Hong Kong is popular with tourists and locals. Along the Tsim Sha Shui waterfront has lots of hotels that are on the waterfront. There are pedestrian tunnels in Tsim Sha Shui that connects metro lines of Tsim Sha Shui station to the East Tsim Sha Shui station. When you go outside of the East Tsim Sha Shui station, you will find lots of four and five star hotels along with the famous Ave of the Stars. The Ave of the Stars is a Hong Kong walk of fame similar to the one in Hollywood and have bronze statues of famous Hong Kong entertainers including Bruce Lee
Victoria Peak is a lovely place to go and you can get there easily without taking a cab. You can take the Star Ferry to Central terminal on Hong Kong Island side. From there there is a bus that takes you from the terminal to the foot of Victoria Peak. If you on the Kowloon side the whole trip shouldn't cost that much, probably no more than 10 US dollar for round trip to and front your hotel on the Kowloon side. The bus is usually a double decker bus. At Victoria Peak you can either climb up or take the tram up and it gives you a nice aerial view of the entire Hong Kong territory, including the New Territories (which is a growing suburb of Hong Kong). This is where a lot of honeymooners go to take pictures if they decide to go to Hong Kong for their honeymoon.
Special Notes to Honeymooners: Hong Kong is a bit more open than other Asian nations, where public display of affections is OK to holding hands and occassional kissing consist of quick kissing, not a full make out. Hugging and cuddling in public is OK, so you can do that on Victoria Peak and other modern areas of Hong Kong especially along Tsim Sha Shui.
At night, the streets are bursting with people as people in Hong Kong love to eat late, or eat at any time of the day or night. People there are slim cause they walk so much, and have high metabolisms and they do eat a lot.
Note of Caution:
1) Be careful of pickpocketers at any time. Hong Kong is quite crowded anywhere you walk, inside or outside. Be mindful of your purses and wallets at all times.
2) Water, do NOT drink tap water there in Hong Kong unless you boil it first. Always try to get hot tea at restaurants if they ask you for something to drink, otherwise they will bring it to you, or bottle water. Bottle water there is not that expensive. In restaurants (and this goes for most Asian countries), ask them to bring the bottle out unopened, there are some unscrupulous restaurants that may just bring you a bottle of water that they recycle water from the tap.
3) Always look before crossing the street both ways (even on a one way street.......trust me on that).
4) Always take tissue paper or something to wipe with cause napkins are not necessary available in some dining areas, especially hole in the walls or food courts. But that's where you get the best food.
5) Always carry a passport with you cause police can stop to check your ID to see if you are an illegal immigrant if they suspect so.
6) Avoid buying any electronics there in Hong Kong. Clothing there is good quality so get T-shirts etc... as souveniers. Don't be amaze by the inexpensive price of electronics cause it's not worth it.
7) Don't buy any inexpensive VCDs there and bring it back to the USA, if the US customs checks you, you could get in trouble. Plus some VCDs may not work here in the USA.
8) Rickshaws are something that you might want to take pictures of, but rickshaw drivers will want to charge you.
Enjoy your time there. Kowloon and Hong Kong, as the song says, "We Like Hong Kong, that's the place for me." I would love to go back there again and enjoy this unique metropolis.
My first time in Hong Kong was October 2007. I regret not having been to Hong Kong prior to the the British handing over the territory to China. I would definitely want to go back to Hong Kong again and explore Hong Kong more. I went to Hong Kong and explored more of Lantau Island and Macau, which I will feature in additional posts.
Hong Kong is very easy to get around and very pedestrian friendly. Yes it does have its traffic but what major city doesn't in the world. No need to rent a car in Hong Kong, they have good public transportation system with buses and subways. Taxis aren't that expensive either, but always check rates with your hotel as to how much fairs are.......cause you don't want to be taken for a ride. There are honest cab drivers, but there are a few checkered ones (no checkered yellow cabs in Hong Kong). It is always best to check with tourist information centers or your hotel (if you say in a "good" hotel) for rates anywhere you are going.
Hong Kong is easy to get around for non-Cantonese speakers. Although some of the older restaurants that are hole-in-the-walls, probably speak more Cantonese and not a lot of English. Gradually the special administrative territory of China is coming to its own with the Mandarin language so if you speak some Mandarin, you can use that there too.
When you go to Hong Kong, you can try fine dining, but I'm the type that loves good foods with good value so I like to go to the hole-in-the-walls, because it's the only way you get to explore Hong Kong's small alleys. Hong Kong has the best wonton dumpling with egg noodle soup and their Gai-Lan there are the best. Roasted duck seems to be another staple and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
When I was in Hong Kong, I stayed at a hotel on Nathan road close to one of the Star Ferry stops on the Kowloon side. It's better to stay on the Kowloon side so you can take nice pictures of the high rises from across the harbor, especially at night. The area I was at was called Tsim Sha Shui which I will cover later below.
One of the features I like about Hong Kong are some of the buildings are interconnected with an above ground or underground tunnel system. That way you don't have to walk along the streets that much. Usually these tunnels if they are above ground are on the third floor of the buildings. This will save you time from come downstairs and going to the streets, plus on a humid and hot day, you get to be in nice air-conditioned tunnels.
Tsim Sha Shui area of Hong Kong is popular with tourists and locals. Along the Tsim Sha Shui waterfront has lots of hotels that are on the waterfront. There are pedestrian tunnels in Tsim Sha Shui that connects metro lines of Tsim Sha Shui station to the East Tsim Sha Shui station. When you go outside of the East Tsim Sha Shui station, you will find lots of four and five star hotels along with the famous Ave of the Stars. The Ave of the Stars is a Hong Kong walk of fame similar to the one in Hollywood and have bronze statues of famous Hong Kong entertainers including Bruce Lee
Victoria Peak is a lovely place to go and you can get there easily without taking a cab. You can take the Star Ferry to Central terminal on Hong Kong Island side. From there there is a bus that takes you from the terminal to the foot of Victoria Peak. If you on the Kowloon side the whole trip shouldn't cost that much, probably no more than 10 US dollar for round trip to and front your hotel on the Kowloon side. The bus is usually a double decker bus. At Victoria Peak you can either climb up or take the tram up and it gives you a nice aerial view of the entire Hong Kong territory, including the New Territories (which is a growing suburb of Hong Kong). This is where a lot of honeymooners go to take pictures if they decide to go to Hong Kong for their honeymoon.
Special Notes to Honeymooners: Hong Kong is a bit more open than other Asian nations, where public display of affections is OK to holding hands and occassional kissing consist of quick kissing, not a full make out. Hugging and cuddling in public is OK, so you can do that on Victoria Peak and other modern areas of Hong Kong especially along Tsim Sha Shui.
At night, the streets are bursting with people as people in Hong Kong love to eat late, or eat at any time of the day or night. People there are slim cause they walk so much, and have high metabolisms and they do eat a lot.
Note of Caution:
1) Be careful of pickpocketers at any time. Hong Kong is quite crowded anywhere you walk, inside or outside. Be mindful of your purses and wallets at all times.
2) Water, do NOT drink tap water there in Hong Kong unless you boil it first. Always try to get hot tea at restaurants if they ask you for something to drink, otherwise they will bring it to you, or bottle water. Bottle water there is not that expensive. In restaurants (and this goes for most Asian countries), ask them to bring the bottle out unopened, there are some unscrupulous restaurants that may just bring you a bottle of water that they recycle water from the tap.
3) Always look before crossing the street both ways (even on a one way street.......trust me on that).
4) Always take tissue paper or something to wipe with cause napkins are not necessary available in some dining areas, especially hole in the walls or food courts. But that's where you get the best food.
5) Always carry a passport with you cause police can stop to check your ID to see if you are an illegal immigrant if they suspect so.
6) Avoid buying any electronics there in Hong Kong. Clothing there is good quality so get T-shirts etc... as souveniers. Don't be amaze by the inexpensive price of electronics cause it's not worth it.
7) Don't buy any inexpensive VCDs there and bring it back to the USA, if the US customs checks you, you could get in trouble. Plus some VCDs may not work here in the USA.
8) Rickshaws are something that you might want to take pictures of, but rickshaw drivers will want to charge you.
Enjoy your time there. Kowloon and Hong Kong, as the song says, "We Like Hong Kong, that's the place for me." I would love to go back there again and enjoy this unique metropolis.
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