Shibuya is the place to be to witness the crowds. Here's the famous junction. It wasn't that crowded! I thought Times Square had more advertisements. I needed a pit stop, and visited a small, quaint ramen place. It took a while to figure out which button to press on the vending...

My friend recommended Cinque Terre to me as a great place to hike and enjoy a more laid-back vacation from the city-hopping I used to do. It was a change from my typical travel style, but nevertheless worth a try. Cinque Terre consists of five towns along the western Italian coast that has its...

If you like fish, you will love this thread. The Tsujiki Fish Market is very famous, and people get up before sunrise to capture the live auction of really expensive fresh fish. I opted for more sleep and went after all that action was over. Besides, tourists were banned from the auction because...

Yes, there's more! :) Oktoberfest has beer tents, and Japan has hanami. When the cherry blossoms bloom, the beer opens below. Quite a busy day at the park! Street food ... Japanese style! Even if I can't read the words, I can still point to my meal. Roppongi has a new...

But do Canadian credit cards carry that 'smart' chip that can be used for tap and go? I recall my old cards all did not feature that type of technology. Perhaps things have changed in the past few years. If this is tested technology, then I really wonder why the TTC cannot implement open...

In Hong Kong, our Octopus smart cards can be linked up to our credit cards so it recharges automatically upon reaching a negative balance. Users will never have to worry about being rejected at the gate if they go below 0. I think this is an effective way to achieve 'open payment' while not...

I return to Tokyo after 7 years. I have been focused on Europe and China quite a lot since my return to Asia, and with a free plane ticket, I wanted to maximize it and go to Japan for a short holiday. Space-sharing is necessary in the crowded city. Looks quite good from this angle...

I think as long as there is power passengers should be able to tap out. Or they can open the gates and the next time the passenger enters the system, somehow the system can be programmed to read the last entry, time, and deduct / waive the fare.

^^ Shenzhen itself is a new city, and Futian is supposed to be the planned new financial district. While commercial buildings dominate a quadrant of this zone, residentials wrap around it, and a major shopping mall sits in the middle, so there are some people flows within this area after office...

The checkpoint at Lok Ma Chau (called Futian on the Chinese side) is the less crowded way to get into China from Hong Kong, and is my preferable route. Once across the border, the subway line is just under the immigration building, although it doesn't go too far yet. This line is now...

A new big skyscraper is planned, and is already incorporated in the urban models. A traditional neighbourhood vs. new skyscraper developments You know you're in a tourist trap when it costs money to buy a map. You know people are not yet corrupted by capitalism when...

Hong Kong has a Visa Paywave, which is a credit card that works just like a smart card, and you can beep your purchase on a special reader, although it's not the same reader as our Octopus cards. We can link our Octopus cards to recharge automatically from our credit cards though once it reaches...

With Expo 2010 under way, I think it's time to showcase my Shanghai photos from last Christmas. I planned this trip for the first half of 2009, but various trips got in the way and I had to defer and defer again to year-end. But I got wonderful weather and was very satisifed that the smog...

I've never heard of an expiry date on my Octopus card.

^ Good point. I did go inside the Alcazar, and it was free that day as well. I need to go back and find where those photos went. 47. The beautiful sun never disappointed. The bright colours shone nicely against the sky. 49. I tried capturing more of these courtyards. There were lots of...

The views from Upper Town are quite nice. Just a short walk from the main attractions, a viewpoint opens up overlooking the entire old town. The streets are quiet though. Don't wear heels. The city walls are still intact and open to tourists for climbing!

I went to Spain in 2008 (Madrid, Toledo, Segovia) and enjoyed 3 days of blue skies, and hopes of lovely weather drew me back in 2009. 1. Surprisingly, London had a great day as well. Thanks to Ryanair, it didn't even cost 40 pounds. 2. Welcome! 3. The BBC weather forecast...

My visit started in March and went on until June although I wasn't always in Sydney during the whole period. The weather was perfect. Even June was like 20C! The Harbour Bridge Climb is quite expensive. If you're going for the vantage point only, then the Pylon Lookout gets you almost as high...

I realize I had some Sydney photos lurking around unposted to my website during my Chinese New Year housecleaning. Now it's time to bring them back to life even though I'm 2 years late. My backlog is slowly being cleaned up as automation accelerate the processing and posting steps! Taste of...

Bamberg was a pitstop from our drive into Munich across western Germany. It was a charming little town, and too bad we had so little time to explore. Emerging from the car, we crossed a bridge with this big landmark in sight. The red flowers seem to be a common decoration throughout...