Posts under ‘Asia’

The Hong Kong tramways has been operating for over 100 years and has the world’s largest fleet of double decker trams. There are only six tram routs and the total lenght of tracks only totals 30 km but the tramways carry and amazing 240,000 people per day accross there 161 trams. Stops are around 250 metres on average and there are 123 stops on the network. The trams offer a quick and cheap way to see some of Hong Kong island, One great trip is out to Happy Valley the city’s racecourse you can visit the racing museum or if its a race day have a flutter. The Central Admiralty & Wan Chai line offers easy access to many of the Hong Kong sights including Central District skyscrapers, Statue Square, the Ocean Terminal and the Zoo and Botanical gardens which are a great place to enjoy a relaxing stroll and a picnic- and best of all its’s free. The trams operate from 6am to midnight and at only $2 HK for any stop you like you won’t find a better bargain in Hong Kong other than the Star Ferry. Read the rest of this entry »

Hong Kong is fast becoming one of the best places to holiday with kids, there’s Hong Kong Dinseyland, Ocean World and now Snoopy’s World. Located on top of the New Town Plaza shopping city at Sha Tin in the new territories Snoopy’s World features heaps of fun for the young. There are six themed zones including a huge playground, canoe ride, mini golf. Over 60 huge figure of Snoopy and all the characters like Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus are there and you never know who might show up for that special hug and photograph. The park is specially suited for toddlers and preschool kids but the larger ones should enjoy it too. Don’t forget to pack a few Hong Kong dollars for the gift shop at the end of your visit- there’s some pretty cute things to buy.

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Starting out as a two story garage complex for the French in the late 1950’s and later being renovated into a trading centre with cinemas, cafeterias and dance halls what is now Ho Chi Minh City’s Rex hotel has seen a lot of changes in this vibrant city. During the Vietnam War the building located in District 1 the hotel’s rooftop bar was a favorite place for the American troops to relax within a magnificent view of the city. It is also beloved the hotel was used by the CIA during the 60’s. Today the hotel is pretty interesting and fairly kitschy although it has had a serious makeover, bamboo detailing and huge crown shape lampshades and plenty of bud lighting to make it feel like Christmas. The location, atmosphere and history its of this hotel makes it worth cent. Even if you are not planning to stay there make sure you visit the upstairs bar, its open around the clock and serves great food and refreshing drinks. Read the rest of this entry »

The Senso Ji Temple in Asakusa Tokyo is the city’s oldest temple and is one of Tokyo’s most popular tourist attractions. The Buddhist temple which is also associated with the Tendai sect is a Shinto Shrine and the focus of a huge festival held each spring which sees the surrounding street closed off for the festivities. Huge crowds flock to the temple every day, to burn incense and pay respect or to shop and eat at the dozens of traditional shops which sell just about anything especially catering for the tourist. The legend of the temple dates back to 628 when two fishermen brothers found a statue in the Sumida River, this statue was then enshrined with a temple. The temple was bombed during World War II and rebuilt today the temple stands as a monument symbolizing rebirth and peace. To make a day out of your visit a five minute walk to the west of the temple will get you to Kappabashi, Tokyo’s kitchen town where you can buy just about anything to do with cooking from plates to plastic food models. Read the rest of this entry »

Japan has some of the world’s more interesting museums, there the noodle museums, sewerage museums, salt museum…you get the drift but now we have found one which is even weirder…The Kiseichuu Hakubutsukan or Meguro Parasite Museum. Here you can see jars and jars of interesting parasites in all shapes and sizes. The star attraction of the museum in their 45000 item collection is a 8.8 meter long tape worm which once happily lived in a woman. There are all sorts of worms and wriggly things enough to turn you off your lunch and probably tomorrows as well. The museum like all museums features a gift shop at the end of the tour, and yes you can buy your very own parasites one of the best sellers is a parasite key chain- beats that Hello Kitty one they are selling down the street and for only Y210 its a real bargain. The Meguro Parasite Museum is located Shimomeguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, and only a few minutes walk from Meguro Station. - Just a word of warning no eating is allowed whilst veiwing the parasite collection. Read the rest of this entry »

Here at Tripandom we really hate animal cruelty but this story was so bizarre we have decided to tell it. There is a tourist attraction just outside the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh where visitors can fire all sorts of military weapons including machine guns, grenades, rocket launches and anti aircraft guns and for a few more dollars you can shoot at different types of targets. For about $200 US which is huge dollars in Cambodia you can fire your weapons of choice at a coco-nut or for a few dollars more even take out a poor chicken. For those blood thirsty people who have another spare $200 you can take out a cow with a rocket launcher. If you miss the cow you get the $200 back and need to spend another $200 +$200 for your second shot. We can’t seem to find out what happens to the cow, that’s if there’s anything left, maybe hamburgers for dinner? Who knows? If you have any other weird attractions or even distasteful ones like this we would love to hear from you.. Drop us a line.

Singapore’s Jurong Bird Park is one of the island city’s most popular attractions. The park has recently completed a multi million dollar make over and offers so much for the visitor. Some highlights include The Waterfall aviary would have to be the parks most spectacular home to 60 species and over 1500 birds all living in a huge enclosure which includes a 30 metre high man made waterfall. The aviary is that huge it even has own monorail. Labelled the Panorail which travels through it. The Bird’s and buddies show is also a crowd favourite with parrot and cockatoo performances and an exciting birds of prey show. And there is nothing as cute as the penguin exhibit more than 200 of these artic black and white feathery friends call the exhibit home, the exhibit includes Humboldt, the Rockhopper, the Macaroni, the Fairy and the majestic King Penguin. The Darkness exhibit is also a great chance to see nocturnal birds including fish owls, snowy owls and herons all living happily in reverse light conditions.

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Japan has a fascination with all things French, you might remember a few weeks ago we did a story on Tokyo’s Statue of Liberty, well they have a Eiffel Tower Too. Built in the late 1950’s at a cost of about 2.8 billion yen the Takenaka Corporation built a tower based on Paris’ much loved landmark. The tower is actually built with over 30% scrap steel recovered from war damage to the city and being made of steel it weighs in about 40% lighter than the Eiffel Tower. It stands 332.6 metres tall and is the tallest man made structure in Japan. The tower is used for communications and also has viewing platforms, plenty of dining options a huge aquarium and a host of shopping and smaller attractions. The tower is painted in a bright orangey red shade and over 28000 litres of paint is required to paint the structure. It was decided to make the tower this colour instead of the grey as used in the Paris tower for air safety. From Dusk the tower is light magnificently with huge floodlights and can be seen from many points in the city.

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After a full stomach on a tasty hot and spicy lunch in Bangkok probalby the best place to keep away from is the Museum of Forensic Medicine. Here you can see some interesting and sometimes gastly body parts and images of terrible crimes and the bizzare. The museum has a huge collection of bodies, and organs including some horrible sights that would make the strongest person sick. Some of the exhibits have an artistic touch others are just plain in your face. there are victims with gun shot wounds, accident victims, deformities and plenty of organs in various states. A place you really need to prepare your self before you visit and deal with once you leave.. Only for the brave.

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Lamma Island is the third largest island in Hong Kong and home to approx 6000 people but unlike Hong Kong, Lamma Island is well known in the area for being peaceful and quiet. One of the most interesting things about Lamma Island is that there are no major streets on the island, instead it has a collection of foot paths and trails in amongst a very green town where low rise buildings are set amongst trees and shrubs. As there are no streets there are also no cars with everyone getting around the island on foot or by bike. The major town on the island is Yung Shue Wan with the smaller Sok Kwu Wan located on the other side of the island in picnic bay. Both towns are a popular spot for seafood restaurants and the whole island has a Mediterranean feel to it. Ferries run to both Sok Kwu Wan and Yung Shue Wan from central Hong Kong and can take any where between 30 to 45 min.

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