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Peaceful Taiwan
I visited Taiwan in February 2014 from Shanghai where I worked at the time. Many mainland Chinese grew prosperous over the years of 2-digit rate fast economic expansion. Everyone was talking big as if they were on top of the world. China’s central bank had been printing money and injected the economy with cash that fueled the housing boom and infrastructure revolution. The whole society was buzzing and restless. After a crazy year of working, it was customary for everyone to relax during the Chinese New Year holiday. Instead of running endless reunions of friends and family, I quietly booked my family the flight to Taiwan. Although China self-proclaims that…
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Barcelona Architecture
Not a paid advertisement. If this is your first trip to Barcelona, the two-day hop-on-hop-off bus tour is your best bet to get the most out of the city. I have done similar bus tour of many urban areas, such as DC, New York, Toronto. Barcelona bus tour was the best. I think it has to do with the size and traffic of the city, and the amount of attractions that pack into the tour. Plus, you get a good orientation of the entire city. It is well worth the price. Plaça de Catalunya is a hub of culture events as well as transportation. The tour bus starts on the…
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The Magical Barcelona
Founded as a Roman city, Barcelona is the capital and largest city of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within city limits, its urban area extends to numerous neighboring municipalities within the Province of Barcelona and is home to around 4.8 million people, making it the sixth most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, London, Madrid, the Ruhr area and Milan. (Sited from wikipedia.) I did a little comparison from the data on Wikipedia. Barcelona is the most densely populated urban area among Atlanta, Shanghai and New York. Shanghai and New York are similar in terms of urban density, but outside of the city limit, Shanghai still has the high density while…
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Bulgari Resort Bali and the Buffet in Mulia Resort
Disclaim: Not a paid advertisement My girlfriend and I were both in our 40s when we made the trip to Bali. Our purpose of the trip was to have some girl time and to catch up. If you are young and restless, Bulgari Resort may not be your best choice; and if you have young children, Bulgari is definitely not for you. The individual villa concept fits the ocean cliff site perfectly. Instead of building an all-in-one hotel, the architect chose to arrange villas along the coast. The small footprint of a villa requires less cut-and-fill grading, reducing the amount of difficult site work on the cliff. Each villa was…
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Bulgari Resort Bali (3)
Disclaimer: Not a paid advertisement. The hotel buffet was excellent and western. No. I think they had Chinese. The staff was very nice. My girlfriend doesn’t speak much English. In jealousy, she watched me having fun talking with handsome young guys. LOL. We went back to our villa. The staff had reset our suite. We found out in the next few days that every time we left and came back, the interior was reorganized to perfection. I wonder how they knew we were out. In the next few days, we explored the resort and the surrounding areas. The resort has all the amenities a regular hotel has. The spa treatment…
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Bulgari Resort Bali (2)
Disclaimer: Not a paid advertisement. Promptly waking up the next morning, we found ourselves looking into the ocean over the luscious green. Coming from a maga metropolitan, here, it was surreal. Driven by our occupation, we survey the villa. The one-bedroom villa had a relatively small bedroom with a huge bathroom, which was twice the size of the bedroom, and a separated toilet room, powder area, and lots of closet space. Even the bathroom was enclosed and private, it felt as if you were in the wild. The moss-covered privacy wall next to the glass offered a shield but also a connection to nature. The open living area had a…
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Bulgari Resort Bali (1)
Disclaimer: Not a paid advertisement. In March 2013, my girlfriend treated me with an all-expense-paid luxury vacation to Bali. Her husband was on a business trip out of town and she thought we could have some girl time together and catch up with each other’s lives. I was working in Shanghai at the time, and my architectural design firm had just been in business for two years. My mind was at work. I felt guilty for leaving the staff. Our flight was from Shanghai to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. From there, we made a short transfer to Ngurah Rai International Airport, which was close to our hotel. As soon…
