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Years before skyscrapers were built elsewhere, this little city in Yemen had skyscrapers built out of mud bricks, some ranging almost over 10 stories tall. Seems like this could be a great place for photographers to get some great footage of one of the earliest skyscrapers in the world that still exists today.

Constructed out of mud bricks made from local clay, around 500 of Shibam’s buildings are tower houses standing between and 5 and 11 storeys tall. These are the tallest mud buildings in the world, some of them soaring over 100 feet high. Like the fortified wall that surrounds this fortress city, the building practice was employed to protect inhabitants from attacks by marauding Bedouin tribes.

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Travel Router Review!

max — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:28:00 +0000

For those of you always on the go, staying in hotels strapped with wired but no wireless, you might be interested to learn that you can simply take a WiFi router with you and turn any hotel room into a WiFi hotspot.

For that, this mini Travel Router from ThinkGeek is perfect as you can easily fit along with your laptop and take it everywhere with you.

The Travel Router support Wireless B, G, and N plus it can act as an access point or as access point client.

The world’s smallest Wireless N Travel Router is a high performance router so small it can disappear into your front pocket. It comes with a convenient carrying case, a thin 3-foot Ethernet cable, an Energy Star Certified external power adapter, a handy alternate USB cable to power the router from a computer

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Fashionable Leather Travel Bag!

max — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:53:26 +0000

Leather is great when you are traveling as they are durable plus they feel good. Not only that, you will look more fashionable by wearing a leather travel bag when you go abroad.

Here’s a great fashionable leather travel bag that has perfect compartments for your weekend getaways.

This carpenter-style leather bag has a frame wide enough to stay open on its own for easy packing or unpacking of clothes. Made with a full-grain cowhide that’s more rugged and sturdy than other luggage, the bag is large enough for a weekend trip or for use as a carry-on bag. Its microfiber lining is easily spot-cleaned and includes interior pockets for pens, credit cards, and a cell phone, while two large outer zippered pockets hold additional items. The adjustable shoulder strap is easily removable and the self-mending zippers will provide years of worry-free use. Antiqued pewter hardware adds an additional classic touch to the buttery-soft,

Price: $199.95 @HammacherSchlemmer

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Places to Go in San Francisco!

max — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:36:34 +0000

San Francisco is one of the best cities in the world to visit (or live) in my opinion. As a resident of San Francisco for the last 3 years, let me show you the “best” places to go in San Francisco if you are going to San Francisco for a vacation.

First off, if you follow my guide, you won’t need to book your vacation with one of those travel agencies and go along with a big group in a big bus. My best advice is to simply rent a car for a few days or you can even get these GoCars.

For booking a hotel, if you want to be near shopping, you will want to book a hotel near downtown.

But for those of you who do rent a car, don’t go downtown, there’s way better places near the beach, Ocean Beach. Why stay in smoggy downtown when you can enjoy the best of SF beaches.

Also, the beaches are the nicest during summer when weather is at its peak near 70s. Best time to check out the beach is during summer. There’s also a surf shop where you can rent some surf gear to go surfing too.

Hotels near Ocean Beach

If you are planning to get a rental car and you like the beach, you might want to stay at hotels near Ocean Beach. There’s not that many hotels near Ocean Beach so you might want to book way ahead of the time but it will be worth the extra effort being able to hear ocean waves before you go to sleep.

Seal Rock Inn is about 1-minute walk from Ocean Beach and some of the rooms will have awesome ocean views. Just make sure to ask for an “ocean view” room if you are booking ahead of time, you should be able to get it. (location on Google Maps) Rooms are fairly decent at about $114 to $152 per day.

Great Highway Inn is on the other side of Ocean Beach, it’s much cheaper and crappier hotel but if you are traveling on a budget and you want ocean view, this might be a good place to stay for less money. (location on GoogleMaps)

There’s many, many other great hotels but for beach-access, the above two are probably the best. Hotels near Fishermen’s Wharf are not too bad either but there’s no real beach access there.

Video of Ocean Beach: (Not the best day but a typical day in fall, my recommendation is to go in the summer.)

Best Place for Photos of Golden Gate Bridge

If you follow the tourist route, you might miss the best place to take photos of the Golden Gate Bridge, which is at the Golden Gate Pier on the east-side of Golden Gate Bridge. (You can see location here.)

There’s also a lot of lawn here where you can have a picnic or even barbeque.

Try to come here during the week as parking is almost impossible during the weekends.

Also, you can go fishing on the Pier without a license. You can expect to catch a lot of crabs at the Pier if you bring a net. I like coming to this spot as it’s not quite as busy as Golden Gate Bridge itself and also you can take much better pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge.

(This is actually a picture I took on a chartered boat, that would be most ideal for best GG bridge pics, you can charter a boat here.)

Hiking Trail Along Golden Gate Bridge

This “hidden” hiking trail along Golden Gate Bridge near the Richmond district (where I used to live) is really another great place to hike and take pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge. I don’t see many tourists here but mostly residents who go there so this might be a great hidden spot you can check out.

Fisherman’s Wharf

Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco is one of the most fun tourist spots with a ton of things to see.

If you are into some good chicken wings and girls, make sure to check out Hooter’s at Fishermen’s Wharf.

For best crab food, check out Nick’s Lighthouse, it’s the best crab you can get at Fisherman’s Wharf in my opinion. (and opinions of my peers)

For the best San Francisco style clam chowder, check out Boudin’s Bakery, which should be easily visible at Fisherman’s Wharf as they have multiple locations.

There’s a lot of shopping to do here, make sure you check out at least 3 different shops before buying as prices can be much cheaper at some stores. (especially for souvenirs.)

Of course, don’t forget to save a day for trip to Alcatraz Island, where the movie Rock was filmed and also used to be America’s most wanted jail.

(Above is map of Fisherman’s Wharf)

Video Tour of Fishermen’s Wharf:

You can expect to see a LOT of street performers here, this is where all those street performers are from on TV.

Twin Peaks

For city-wide view of San Francisco, you will want to make a trip to Twin Peaks, one of the highest points in San Francisco. Try to get up there on a good day with no clouds for best photos. Also, you can drive your rental car all the way up to Twin Peaks.

Here’s a YouTube video of Twin Peaks and what you can expect:

Lombard Street – World’s Most Twisted Street

Of course, one of the most fun places to visit in San Francisco is this part of Lombard Street where the road is twisted like crazy. Bring your GoCar or rental car to experience the dizziness. It won’t be fun just taking pictures of it on a tour bus so…

Lol, check out this guy who’s skateboarding down Lombard:

Lincoln Park Golf Course Website

Shopping in Downtown

San Francisco downtown offers one of the best, premier shopping experiences in the world. There’s many high-end shops near downtown, you can expect to see major brand name stores located here including LV, Gucci, and whatnot.

This whole area is really for shopping so if you are staying at a downtown hotel, you certainly won’t miss it. I won’t go too much into this and leave the exploration options up to you. Also, the high-end stores are actually on the east-side of downtown, sorta hidden so just make sure you check them out if you are into that.

Public Golf Courses

I tend to play a lot of golf in San Francisco. If you like playing golf, the best place to start out would probably be Lincoln Park Golf Course (I used to live right next to this golf course). It’s not the most high-end golf course but you get to enjoy plenty ocean views and frontal views of Golden Gate Bridge. Even if you don’t play golf, you can walk along the hiking trails as it’s open to the public. The course rates are decent and pretty cheap, usually around $25-35 for a full round. Again, this is a great course to play if you want to be near the ocean and feel the ocean breeze.

The other high-end golf course if Harding Park Golf Course (which I live practically off the 3rd hole now), you can expect to pay about $100 for a full round. This is where they held the 2009 President’s Cup couple days ago. Harding Park offers a great challenge, especially if you play right before or after big tournaments like President’s Cup where they will have the fairways mowed tight and rough grown long.

There’s also Presidio Golf Course, which is nicely situated between Golden Gate Bridge and Lincoln Park Golf Course. This is somewhat in-between Lincoln Park and Harding Park, meaning it’s the “medium” rate golf course. Course rates around around $50-60.

Harding Park Golf Course Website

Presidio Golf Course Website

More stuff?

The above activities should be plenty for you to enjoy San Francisco for at least 3-5 days. There’s plenty more attractions to check out like Academy of Sciences and whatnot but I will leave more digging up to you, I only outlined the most “fun” stuff to do in San Francisco, in my opinion that is as a SF resident.

These are actually spots I go regularly to enjoy San Francisco, even though I’ve lived here over 3+ years. But my best choice for hanging out is certainly the Ocean Beach, there’s nothing like fresh ocean breeze waving your hair. Well, enjoy now and make sure to book your hotel near the ocean and DON’T book your hotel in downtown with 99.9% of the tourists. (unless you want to overpay for parking, food, and enjoy tourist traps… although there’s some great restaurants near downtown)

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Places to go in Bangkok!

max — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:53:29 +0000

Want to go to Bangkok, Thailand?

Well, you will have to know couple places to go in Bangkok, know before you go.

Tuk Tuk, is anyone there?

First and foremost, you will want to learn what a “tuk-tuk” is, it’s a 3-wheeled taxi, not the safest, but it might get you around town faster. Just remember to negotiate the price before you get in a tuk-tuk.

The temples in Bangkok might be worth a visit if it’s your first time.

Check out this video of the temples in Bangkok:

See ThailandForVisitors.com here and BangKok.com for more info on Bangkok temples.

Shopping in Bangkok

Chatuchak market is probably the biggest public market in Bangkok featuring all sorts of stuff from clothing to food. Definitely, you will want to check this market for deals on souvenirs.

For more info on Chatuchak market, see Sawadee.com and Into-Asia.com.

Tigers

You can get some awesome, hands-on experience at the Tigers Temple in Bangkok. Be sure to be nice to the kitties! (There’s also elephant camps but they are not in Bangkok so…)

Bangkok Nightlife

Bangkok is probably one of the best places in Thailand for nightlife, check the following sites for more info:

Bangkok.com
1StopBangKok.com
Bangkok2Night.com
The Bed Supperclub might be worth a look, I heard it’s a good club.

Here’s a video of the Bed Supperclub:

Well, as always, if you are traveling out of the country, USE COMMON SENSE and be respectful of another’s culture. And most importantly, have fun!

Some Basic Words in Thai

Sa-Wa-Dee-Kob (Ka for female) – Hello

Kob-Kun-Kon (Ka for female) – Thank You

These two are probably the most important, leave the rest up to your senses! haha…

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Travel DIY – How to Book Cheap Flights!

max — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:32:08 +0000

For those of you who want to get cheap flights for your next vacation/business trip, here’s a couple of great tips and resources you can use:

First and foremost, you might want to always plan early when buying tickets. Airplane tickets bought 3-6 months in advance could possibly be 2-5 times cheaper. This is a common-sense rule in buying anything including hotel rooms but a lot of us never plan ahead.

Second, try to plan your trip avoiding high-trafficked peak times like end of August when most of the population will be taking a vacation. Not only will you have a better time by not traveling with everyone else, you will find yourself some room to breath when you get to your destination.

According to Mahalo.com, temperature and weather may also have effect on flight costs. I am not sure if that’s completely true but seems like it would be for destinations with extreme weather conditions.

Of course, you want to check multiple sources when checking for the best deals, try the following sites for the best prices:

Expedia – I like Expedia the most since they have an insurance that you can buy that lets you cancel tickets if something happens. Trust me, I’d have about extra $5K in my pocket if I got insurance on every one of my airline tickets.
PriceLine – I’ve gotten some really awesome deals from PriceLine in the past.
HotWire – If you have a lot of time to spare for your next trip, HotWire might not be a bad option although you might resort to more than couple stops for the best deals. If you are traveling on a budget, HotWire might just let you plan your trip around the world. Just make sure you have enough “time” to rest, meaning you should plan to recover from your long HotWire trip. (e.g. like add 2-3 days to your trip)