Amazing100: Sep 15, 2010

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

It was all started here...........Day 1 of 100 : Tokyo

Day 1 of 100: Arriving in Tokyo

I started planning this 100-day, once-in-a-life-time travel extravanganza since the beginning of 2010. How can I not be excited with the beginning of this amazing journey. My friend, WILL and I took Air Canada Biz class from Vancouver. It was only a 9-hour jouney and we finally arrived in Narita airport. I have actually been to Tokyo for many than 20 times. However, there is something about Japan, or Tokyo in particular that attract me to go back again and again.....The pace is so fast here so everytime I come back to Japan, there is always something new to attract my attention. So Tokyo is like a place that you will never finish exploring because new stuff, new technology, new gagets always pop up every time.

We checked into Tokyo Conrad which is a very luxury hotel (See Hotel section below!). After freshened up, we wasted no time to start our adventure: to get up to Tokyo tower. Everyone is saying that Tokyo tower was a copy-cat of the Effiel Tower in Paris. I tend to disagree with that. If you see the Tokyo tower during day time, it is actually orange in color and at night, it just sparkles......how can you take your eyes off it???? Also, unlike Effiel tower which is located in a park, tokyo tower is located in the middle of skyscappers. Therefore, it doesnt matter you go up the observation deck during day or nite, you can expect amazing veiw of Tokyo, one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world.

You can customize your own souvernir @ Tokyo Tower. I did mine!

Check out the Day & Nite View from Tokyo Tower...its a very cool video..

HOTEL RAIDER: Tokyo Conrad

Gorgeous hotel and very modern without being impersonal. The lobby was very tastefully done and the service was like no other. Every single staff member we met was extremely nice and helpful, everyone! And they go above and beyond to ensure you have a pleasant stay. I loved loved loved my room -- floor to ceiling windows with a great view. It had a sitting area right along the windows. The bathroom had automated blinds that separated it from the rest of the room, practically everything in the room was automated. Turn down service every night without fail. The hotel is in close proximity to the train station, which translates to convenient to anywhere, but there's not much of night time activities in the immediate area, good for those who want to get a peaceful, quiet, sleep. In fact I couldn't even hear noises from the lobby or adjacent room.

Personal Travel Highlights

o Avid traveler who is smart, creative, adventurous with a passion in international travel and travel planning.

o Traveled extensively to over 150 cities in 40 countries across Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and North America.

o During the past 34 months since January, 2008,
- I was on over 150 flights (on average 1.1 flights per week);
- I traveled over 300,000 miles (or 482,803km) which is equivalent to flying around the globe 12 times;
- I stayed in various luxurious hotels for >300 nights (on average 2 nights per week)

o Attended universities in North America (Toronto), Europe (Oslo) and Asia (Hong Kong).

o My Top 10 Coolest Travel / Vacation Moment:
1. Currently, I am in the middle of a 100-day self-planned once-in-a-life-time travel extravaganza to Maldives, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Fiji, India, Dubai, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, which is packed with some amazing activities.

2. Climbed up Ayres Rock (Uluru) in Australia. (Note: Ayres Rock is closed 80% of the time due to various reasons so it was a very rare opportunity to actually climb up the Ayres Rock.)

3. Snorkeling steps away from my water villa and dined at the world’s only under-sea restaurant at Conrad Maldives resort.

4. Zip trekking in the middle of the forest in Queenstown, New Zealand.

5. Took a helicopter to land on the top of Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand and hiked in the surrounding ice caves.

6. Enjoyed outdoor hot spring during heavy snow fall in Niseiko, Sapporo, Japan.

7. Floating on the Dead Sea in Israel with a brick on my abs while reading newspaper.

8. Being detained at the Belarus border because my visa expired by just 5 minutes which was caused by a train delay.

9. Took a 24-hour bus ride from Tallinn, Estonia back to Oslo, Norway & experienced the magnificent Northern Light inside the Arctic Circle in Norway.

10. Attracted turned-head attention from almost the whole town in Vilnius, Lithuania as one of the very few Asians ever visited the city right after strict travel restrictions were relaxed and 60 Polish School kids in a Warsaw hotel lined up outside my hotel room asking for my autograph thinking that I was Jacky Chan.